#i saved 3 of our overtime rounds and i sold

[soft-pwincess]

new valo name new me ☺️

[prorevenge]

Shady business owners don't like it when you call regulators.

Used to work in private security (rent-a-cop/bacon bits jokes go here). When I was first hired on, thought the company was fairly upstanding yadda yadda because the owner and I would bullshit a little about our respective military careers. "A guy who used to be in pararescue can't be that bad, right?"

First year was relatively normal security work, mostly fixed post (think Walmart door greeter but with a badge and handcuffs) and general "I'll tackle you if you steal things, but otherwise I'm just a breathing security camera" stuff. About a year in, I finish all of my qualifications for armed work and get assigned to patrol. Patrol is basically private police: companies would hire us to make rounds and respond to things at their locations (mostly apartment complexes, and mostly noise complaints or occasionally towing off cars and such, but occasionally managing residents during a fire or breaking up disturbances).

The company handled pay in a kinda wonky manner. Twice a month (on the 1st and 15th) we got paid for two weeks worth of work, and every now and again (it seemed like whenever they felt like it was getting too far behind) we'd get an extra paycheck slipped in with our normal one. I got my first paycheck five weeks after starting, and there was a point where we were receiving December checks in February. Pay rates were determined by the type of work: entry level stuff made $7/hour, more advanced made $8, and armed paid $10. Raises were available on top of that (for the record, I worked there for 3 years and never got a raise, and the two people I know who got raises each got 25¢ an hour after 4 years, also all of this was during a $5.15 minimum wage). Patrol required armed officers but paid as advanced, but was also a guaranteed 42 hours a week on a set schedule (three 12 hour days, a 6 hour day, and three days off) so most of us didn't really complain.

Moving up into patrol taught me a lot about the company that I didn't know. I figured the owner was a little sexist (ex-military types tend to be) but the depths of his sexism caught me a little off-guard. And then there's the racism. I'm Latino but I look white (because I avoid sun like the plague and got my bone structure from my [white] mother's side), though my surname is a dead giveaway: there's a state in Mexico to which I'm apparently related (must be a distant relative on Abuelita's side). I was apparently good enough to be on patrol, but not promotable (even though I worked my fucking ass off, even though supervisors routinely recommended me for promotion) for some reason. Or the fact that we had one black guy on staff, and he was fired for something that other people got away with. The female officer who was assigned the easiest shift because "it's all she can handle" and "this way, it's obvious I'm trying to work with the women." Those are as close to verbatim quotes as I can recall. Or the time he held a contest between patrols for excellence and canceled it after 2 months...two months in which it happened that the female officer won once and took second once, and the Mexican dude won once and took second once. Between those two months, I made an extra $30 in gas cards. WOOO! /s

For frame of reference, here are a couple of things white dudes did that they didn't get fired for: hitting 120mph in a company car in a 40mph zone (after over a year of doing 20+ over), carrying a gun without the proper permit, blatant sexual harassment, admitting to skipping stops on a route and just sending the business a false statement, writing racist slogans on the front of company-provided TASER cartridges (Homie Down is the one I remember), tasing people without proper justification, sleeping on the job, working drunk, etc.

I also learned about how they screwed over clients: this company pays for 12 hours of continuous patrol between their three properties, but the owners want more money so that route also covers 5 apartment complexes and handles cash drops for a couple of stores. Another business pays us $1M a year for 5.5 hours per weeknight and 7.5 hours per weekend night (approximately $450 per hour) and that route jumps off property like clockwork every night to take care of 3-5 other properties at specified times, leaving that client without their only security at key times. This group of apartment complexes pays for 1 hour on property per night, might get half of that if the night is slow because of the workload.

And then he decided to fuck over his staff (more). Patrol was offered a salary (that was 10% less than the minimum legal salary), with the strong implication that if we wanted any hours at all we'd take it. Once we were all salaried (or gone), things shifted over to 48 hour weeks. I did the math at one point and realized that if I watched a movie at the theater and ate twice at fast food on every day off, it was still cheaper for me to not work than to work (because of gas and food while working, considering I walked about 12-15 miles every night as part of the patrols, which requires a fairly brisk pace, which requires calories galore). But if you were scheduled off and they called you in, you either accepted the extra hours or you got chewed out, and if you made a habit of saying no you'd get written up for anything they could think of.

Then one of my colleagues got into an accident at work. He was hospitalized for like 9 days, ended up making a full recovery. But he was in the company car, so according to the company he was responsible for paying the $2500 insurance deductible. I'd had it at that point. I borrowed some money from my mother to talk to a labor attorney. Best $200 I ever spent.

Attorney gave me three pieces of advice:

If there's a problem with the way we're being paid, talk to the labor board.

My colleague was not on the hook for the car. That's why the company had insurance. It wasn't our fault that he was too cheap to spring for a lower deductible.

Document everything, but keep my name out of anything.

I passed word to the injured colleague about the insurance thing, and he lawyered up pretty much immediately (his family had enough money that he didn't have to work). I also made a not-so-anonymous phone call to the state labor board (asking that they not reveal it was me). 3 weeks later, I'm in the office handling post-shift paperwork when the rep comes in. I GTFOed as fast as I possibly could. I didn't want to be there for that whole thing.

Fast forward about 6 months, and the labor board has finished their investigation. Turns out that the salary was in fact too low to be legally allowable, but also that our positions were not legally eligible for salary anyway. So all of those 48/60/72+ hour weeks were full of overtime. Unpaid overtime. Unpaid overtime on which we were owed interest. Also, requiring patrol to be armed but not paying them armed rates wasn't legal (based on the employment contract, any work for which we required that license required we be paid the rate associated with that license). Also, the "twice a month you're paid for 2 weeks of work" thing isn't legal either. So we got several oversized paychecks covering back pay, plus others covering interest (which had to be noted in the check stub as interest on back pay).

The labor board rep couldn't do anything about the ways they were screwing over their customers, but she did have someone she could call. Someone she should call. Someone she did call. A couple weeks later, that investigation started. I don't know all the details (I left during that time to start some higher education) but a few months later they sold the company to someone else, and I heard through the grapevine that part of the reason was that they lost several contracts and all that back pay pretty much wiped out their savings (I got something like $8K in back pay, and there were another dozen patrol officers in that time frame, so I figure around $100K total went out just to patrol, and apparently there were some discrepancies in how they managed fixed post staff as well) and they had to move to a smaller house. The rumors also said that after the sale, the new owners renegotiated all the contracts (including getting a few that the previous owners had lost to being shady) and somehow they're still profitable (even after giving raises and whatnot). It's almost like the previous owners had just been trying to milk everyone for as much as they could get.

Oh, and an aside: I got to know the manager of that business that paid us $1M/year pretty well afterwards. She neither confirmed nor denied that $1M figure. So take it with a grain of salt, but if it's true (she manages the most affluent shopping center in town, which includes a restaurant where prices aren't on the menu because "if you have to ask, you can't afford it") that one contract would cover all the expenses of all of patrol. The owners always seemed really intent on keeping her happy (and made sure that we knew not to tell her we left the area for any reason except end of shift). And they always had money to spend on things like a large house in one of the more affluent areas, and the private school for their daughter, and buying a new gun or two (higher priced stuff, where the name stamp adds $1500 to the price) every couple of weeks...

(source) (story by m4dn3zz)

[atlanticcanada]

Rouyn-Noranda Huskies beat Halifax Mooseheads for Memorial Cup

HALIFAX -- Veteran Peter Abbandonato still remembers the heartache from his first Memorial Cup four years ago as a rookie. He wasn't going to go through it again as a veteran.

The 21-year-old Abbandonato scored the go-ahead goal early in the third period as the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies beat the Halifax Mooseheads 4-2 on Sunday to capture the Memorial Cup for the first time in franchise history.

The overage forward, who played 264 career games for Rouyn-Noranda over four seasons, was a raw fourth-liner with the Huskies when they fell in the final of the four-team tournament in 2016 against the London Knights.

He did everything to erase that memory though, finishing the 2019 Quebec Major Junior Hockey League season as the top scorer with 111 points in 68 games, and wrapped up his storybook ending on Sunday with the biggest goal of his career.

"It's a completely different feeling, I remember losing it in overtime (against London) and I was really down," said Abbandonato.

"This is the last game of my junior career and I couldn't be prouder. Amazing feeling, no words to describe it. Twenty guys in the dressing room pushed for 90 something games this season."

Rouyn-Noranda, a Quebec mining town near the edge the Ontario border -- about 625 kilometres northwest of Montreal -- with a population of about 43,000, joined the QMJHL in 1996 and won its first President's Cup in 2016 before adding its second this year.

Abbandonato, one of three returnees from the 2016 squad along with goalie Samuel Harvey and defenceman Jacob Neveau, almost missed out on this year's shot when he was diagnosed with mononucleosis before the third round of the QMJHL playoffs.

But his teammates got the job done while he watched from the stands and he was back in time to help capture junior hockey's biggest trophy.

"Sad moment when the doctor told me, I couldn't do anything about it but the guys pulled together and gave me another chance to play," he said.

"Jake, Sam, we stuck together, we were drafted together, we stuck together and are the proudest guys to wear this logo on our chest."

Huskies bench boss Mario Pouliot, fresh off being named CHL coach of the year, became just the third coach in CHL history to win a Memorial Cup with two different clubs, joining Don Hay and Bryan Maxwell, after capturing it last season with the Acadie-Bathurst Titan.

His top priority when he joined Rouyn-Noranda in the off-season was to meet with Abbandonato to discuss personal and team goals for the 2018-19 season.

"First guy I met during the summer when I got the job. We sat together, chatted, and he told me he wanted to be the best overage player in the Q, he wanted to get a shot at the next level. I told him I wanted him showing a positive example. All the credit to him. So happy and so proud of him," said Pouliot.

Felix Bibeau, Joel Teasdale and Vincent Marleau also scored for the Huskies while Harvey stopped 23 shots.

Samuel Asselin and Raphael Lavoie found the back of the net for the Mooseheads. Alexis Gravel made 31 saves.

"I thought we had a good start, kind of started playing on our heels (after that)," said Mooseheads captain Antoine Morand while fighting back tears.

"Have to give them credit. They never gave up... Don't even know what to say right now."

Rouyn-Noranda and Halifax played each other eight times in May following a hard-fought QMJHL final. The Huskies beat the Mooseheads in six games to win the President's Cup and then put up a 4-3 victory against Halifax in the round-robin portion of the tournament before meeting again in the final.

Chants of "Go Moose Go" from the sold-out crowd were in full force before the puck was dropped, with 10,595 fans packed into the Scotiabank Centre for the last Canadian Hockey League game of the season.

Asselin found himself alone to put back a rebound with 44 seconds to go in the first period for the game's first goal and a 1-0 lead entering intermission.

Lavoie got in alone from the Rouyn-Noranda blue line after a turnover at centre and beat Harvey with a forehand deke at 5:26 for a two-goal lead, but it was all Huskies from that point on.

Bibeau put the Huskies on the board at 10:27 of the second, with his tournament-leading fifth goal sparking Rouyn-Noranda.

Teasdale, who was named tournament MVP, tied the game at 15:11 with a wraparound that fooled Gravel, who was on the opposite side of the net expecting the puck to be cleared by his defenceman.

Abbandonato made no mistake to give his team its first lead of the night, cutting into the slot and scoring at the 3:02 mark of the third with what turned out to be the game winner.

Marleau put the game out of reach three minutes later.

"It's tough to describe, I feel fortunate to be here a second time," said Pouliot. "All the credit to the players, staff working with me. So happy for the Huskies fans. To bring back the two Cups will be amazing."

The Mooseheads pulled Gravel with two minutes to play, but couldn't get the two goals they needed and had to watch the Huskies celebrate a championship on their home ice for the second time in less than three weeks.

"We wanted it so much but it didn't happen," said Morand. "It sucks."

It was just the second time two teams from the QMJHL met in the final, with the Quebec Remparts beating the Moncton Wildcats in 2006.

from CTV News - Atlantic http://bit.ly/2EBVjYf

[marilynngmesalo]

Rookie Heiskanen scores twice, Stars beat Preds for 1-0 series lead

Rookie Heiskanen scores twice, Stars beat Preds for 1-0 series lead Rookie Heiskanen scores twice, Stars beat Preds for 1-0 series lead https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

NASHVILLE — Miro Heiskanen turned in a post-season debut to remember with the Dallas rookie defenceman writing himself into the NHL’s record book.

Heiskanen scored two goals, helping the Stars beat the Nashville Predators 3-2 on Wednesday night in Game 1 of their first-round Western Conference series.

He became the third teenage defenceman in NHL history with two goals in a playoff game, joining Phil Housley and Glen Wesley. He also became the eighth rookie teenage defenceman in NHL history and fifth-youngest with a goal in their first career playoff game, and first since Adam Larsson with New Jersey on May 1, 2012, against Philadelphia, according to NHL Stats.

Heiskanen also became the youngest in franchise history with a post-season goal at 19 years, 266 days. He said he was trying to treat the game like any other.

“It went in,” Heiskanen said of his goals. “I think Rads (Alexander Radulov) tipped the other one and was great goals and yeah, I just try to shoot it, shoot at the net.”

First-year Dallas coach Jim Montgomery has run out of words to praise the rookie.

“Just like I’ve said all year, I’m glad we have him,” Montgomery said.

Mats Zuccarello also scored, helping Dallas continue its success from the regular season in Nashville, where the Stars won twice.

Roman Josi and P.K. Subban each scored for Nashville.

Game 2 of the best-of-seven series is Saturday night in Nashville.

Subban pulled the Predators within a goal with 6:36 left in regulation, beating Ben Bishop’s glove with a wrister from the right circle. Nashville got a power play with 4:52 remaining, and coach Peter Laviolette pulled goalie Pekka Rinne with 3:13 left. The Predators couldn’t force overtime.

“We lost our way, we lost the game,” Laviolette said. “There’s nothing encouraging about tonight. We know we’re capable of playing at high speed with high gears and competitiveness. Like I said, it went their way.”

The Predators came in with much more playoff experience after reaching the 2017 Stanley Cup Final and going a full seven games last spring before losing in the second round. The post-season party started as usual with at least one catfish tossed onto the ice and fans who couldn’t get into the sold-out Bridgestone Arena watching outside at the park across the street.

This is the first time these Central Division rivals have met in the post-season, timely with Nashville scheduled to play Dallas in the Winter Classic in the Cotton Bowl next season. The Predators came into the playoffs having won five of their last six to win their second straight division title with a win on the final night of the season.

Dallas finished 5-1-1 to grab the first wild card in the West for the Stars’ first playoff berth since 2016.

The Stars went with Bishop after he posted a career-high seven shutouts during the regular season. He also led the NHL with a .934 save percentage and was second in the league with a 1.98 goals-against average. He made 30 saves for this win.

“Let’s not forget how good Bishop was,” Montgomery said. “I mean that first period, they controlled every part of the game except for the one power play we had, and Bishop kept us in. It could’ve been 4-nothing.”

Josi gave the Predators a 1-0 lead with a backhander from the slot as he skated across at 12:12 of the first.

Nashville forward Brian Boyle, acquired from New Jersey in a trade Feb. 6, sent Stars centre Jason Dickinson to the locker room after a collision about 9 minutes into the first. Dickinson returned in the second.

Heiskanen tied it at 12:37 of the second with the puck deflecting off the knee of Predators defenceman Mattias Ekholm. Dallas nearly took the lead off a shot by Roope Hintz with Dickinson following, only to see Rinne stop the puck on the line with the back of his skate 15:00 into the second.

The rookie defenceman scored his second at 6:10 of the third with a similar long shot that beat Rinne with Radulov in front of the goalie.

“What a game,” Dallas captain Jamie Benn said of Heiskanen. “The kid comes to play every night, prepares like a true professional, approaches the game like a true professional. He played a pretty damn good game tonight.”

Zuccarello padded the lead off a rebound, beating Rinne between the legs at 10:39.

“This series started, and we got to make sure we are ready for the Game 2,” Rinne said.

NOTES: Housley scored twice in Game 6 in a divisional final in 1983, and Wesley had two in the suspended Game 4 of the 1988 Stanley Cup Final, as teenage defencemen scoring twice in a playoff game. … Heiskanen set a franchise record with 33 points by a teenage defenceman. He also was one of only three Stars to play all 82 games this season. … Radek Faska was the last Stars rookie to score a goal in his playoff debut on April 14, 2016, against Minnesota, and Curt Giles was the last Dallas rookie defenceman with a goal in his post-season debut on April 8, 1980, against Toronto. … The Predators went 35-4-1 this season when scoring first and had been 24-7 all-time when scoring first in the playoffs.

UP NEXT

Game 2 in Nashville on Saturday night.

Click for update news Bangla news http://bit.ly/2IsXqAj world news

[easytravelpw-blog]

Full text write on https://easy-travel.pw/what-i-spent-three-day-road-trip-through-the-southwestern-us/magazine/

What I Spent: Three-Day Road Trip Through the Southwestern US

01 of 04

Upfront Costs

4kodiak/Getty Images

The upfront costs of vacations are predictable. It’s the little things—airport snacks, cocktails before dinner, tipping a tour guide—that can throw even the most well-planned vacation budget off track. In new series, we look at the spending patterns of real travelers in popular destinations, so you can estimate what you’ll actually spend. 

In this installment, two friends fly into Vegas and drive for three days from Nevada to Utah to Arizona.

Upfront costs:

Flights: $463.60 (Newark, NJ to Las Vegas, NV)

Accomodations: $156 (per person)

Rental Car: $102 (per person)

Antelope Canyon Tours: $78(per person) for the most popular tour time.

Continue to 2 of 4 below.

02 of 04

Monday

Michele D’Amico supersky77/Getty Images

11:00 a.m. The drive from Las Vegas to Utah is filled with gorgeous scenery. Driving out of the most over-the-top city in the U.S. and immediately being surrounded by miles of desert is a bit surreal. How can a bright, showy city exist smack in the middle of all this? This, mainly being the stunning purple mountains in the distance, getting ever closer as we drive past cactus after desert brush. Of course, as we approach the mountains, we realize they aren’t actually purple, but a red-brown color.

We are stocked up on road trip essentials (peanut butter cups, popcorn, cheese doodles, and granola bars, à la Trader Joe’s), the music is blaring, the sun is shining, and our spirits are high (fueled by a mix of caffeine, peanut butter cups, and the view). Cost: $13

1:15 p.m. When we reach Zion National Park, we are completely surrounded by those red-brown mountains, which are even higher and more awe-inspiring as we get closer. First things first: check into the hotel. We’re staying at Cable Mountain Lodge, and our suite is much bigger than my small Manhattan apartment. We stock up on waters, and hit the trail! Cost: $1.55

2:00 p.m. On our way into the park, we see a very enticing sign for salmon tacos next to the Zion Brewery (mental note saved for later). Admission into the park for the day is $15 each, which includes the access to all the hiking trails. We don’t have time for such luxuries, but instead we have our sights set on one of the most strenuous (and perhaps one of the scariest) trails: Angel’s Landing. Cost: $15

As we set off on the trail, I’m a little disappointed. The trail itself is a paved path. I grew up in the Adirondack Mountains of New York, so I can’t believe that a hiking trail is paved. Yes, the hike is steep, and yes, many parts of the trail wind around a cliff side with a sheer drop-off, but the path itself is steady, so no real need for worry. That is, until we reach the top. Oh, so this is what everyone was talking about. The end of the path greets us with a narrow ridge and a chain to hold onto so you don’t fall over the edge. I take a few steps and decide I’m not cut out for this kind of hiking today. I let my friend tackle the rest of the climb, and I sit down with the rest of those who decided not to do it.

5:45 p.m. Now at the base of the park (the climb down was quick–a bit of a jog at some points as the downhill slope and our excitement to eat those salmon tacos overcame us), we are ravenous. Charging straight into the brewery, we order 11 flights (that’s their full menu of beer, so might as well sample everything!), two orders of salmon tacos, and chili cheese fries (because we earned it). We figured that ordering all 11 flights was a normal occurrence, but with the surprised look we got from our server and others, we quickly realize we are maybe a little overzealous. Oh, well! We finish up and then order a growler to-go of our favorite beer that we tried—a delicious sour beer with fruity notes. Cost: $58.35

7:15 p.m. We proceed to the hot tub with our growler, considering it physical therapy for our soon-to-be-sore muscles. We relax with the sunset and chat with a few other visiting families before we call it a night–but not without first stopping by the brewery to buy a second growler to bring home with us. Cost: $15

Continue to 3 of 4 below.

03 of 04

Tuesday

Florence Dugué / EyeEm/Getty Images

8:30 a.m. Next up: we’re heading out of Zion and on our way to Page, Arizona. But first, breakfast. We stop at a cute little diner where my friend orders a giant savory crepe covered in hollandaise sauce and I get a bacon, tomato, and scrambled egg grilled cheese (I definitely helped myself to some of that crepe, though). Cost: $15.48

9:15 a.m. We had no idea what was in store for us, but we’re now winding through narrow, cliffside roads. We make our way up, up, and up, all the while, gorgeous textured mountains are taking over our entire view. It’s simultaneously beautiful and terrifying—one side of the road is a sheer drop-off, and as we get higher, the drop-off gets deeper. The mountain fairytale ends with a mile-long drive through a dark tunnel, straight into the belly of a mountain.

We get to the main road again (and pick up our jaws off the car floor), and stop for gas. Cost: $20.78

11:00 a.m. We arrived in Page about an hour and a half before our appointment with Antelope Canyon Tours, so we are hitting up a local bar. Finding wifi and a place to charge our phones was really our main criteria, but a couple of late morning beers doesn’t hurt. Cost: $11.50

12:30 p.m. Our scheduled tour for Antelope Canyon is at 12:30, which was the recommended tour, as the light is optimal during this time of day in the Upper Canyon. We take a bumpy, somewhat thrilling ride on an off-road path into the desert to arrive at the entrance to the canyon. The path is tight, and some parts require being squished up against the canyon wall as other tour groups make their way by in the opposite direction. Our guide seems to have the most uncanny ability to locate the best photos. “Here, give me your phone,” and after bending into an awkward position against the canyon wall to capture the perfect shot, the results were truly unbelievable. The guides have also named many parts of the canyon, as if the wind and waters had magically formed presidential faces overtime; we can see Obama, Bush, Trump, and Lincoln–the resemblance is actually pretty spot-on for some of these.

3:00 p.m. While on our way out of Page, we spot Big Texas BBQ and, stomachs rumbling, we’re sold. I ordered the sampler–ribs, pulled chicken, and smoked sausages. A side of baked beans and coleslaw and ice cream for dessert really rounded out the meal. Cost: $25.52

4:30 p.m. Barely five minutes out of Page, we’re immediately driving by Horseshoe Bend, and we decide to stop for a spontaneous exploration. We climb up and over a massive sandy hill, and we can spot the indistinguishable landmark. The colors are so vibrant this time of day, and the water bending around the rock is perfectly still. The breathtaking and slightly unexpected view makes Horseshoe Bend one of our favorite stops so far.

We’re back in the car, and on our way to Flagstaff, Arizona, and the landscape around us is slowly changing again. The flat-top mountains are gone, being replaced by trees (how long has it been since we’ve seen those?) and one gorgeous blue, snowy peak getting closer in the distance. The mountain is located near Flagstaff and a popular skiing destination.

6:30 p.m. Reaching Flagstaff, we come upon a quaint and cool little town. It’s an eclectic mix of old Southern-style architecture, artful graffiti, and neon signs—a hipster-millennial playground. Our hotel—Monte Vista—is apparently infamous for being haunted. Since the 1920s, quite a few people have died there, and ghosts are apparently rampant throughout the hotel.

7:30 p.m. After checking into our room, which is the very same room that actor Anthony Hopkins had stayed in, we head downstairs to one of the bars located off the hotel lobby. In the first bar, which has a fancy but hip cocktail menu, we try the Magic Eight Ball, which is a fruity gin concoction that tasted pretty good. Then, we head off to another bar, which is more of a dive bar–with karaoke to boot. Exhausted, we leave the bar and look out for the known elevator ghost on our way up to our room (no luck). Cost: $16

Continue to 4 of 4 below.

04 of 04

Wednesday

Dean Fikar/Getty Images

8:30 a.m. Recommended by our bartender from the night before, we head to MartAnne’s Burrito Palace. The colorful, quirky Mexican spot is previously a small, hole-in-the-wall restaurant (explained to us by a friendly local and our waitress, who once owned the place, but had now stepped aside for her daughter). The previous location became so popular and the line to get in so long, that they had no choice but to upgrade to a much bigger space. I order the Fiesta Potatoes with a fried egg on top, and it does not disappoint. Cost: $22.14

On our way to the car, we decide to stop for a coffee at a not-so-subtle shop called Whyld Ass, and I order the Mexican Specialty Latte. Unfortunately, it tastes like hot, steamy taco seasoning, not the caffeinated version of Mexican hot cocoa that I was hoping for. Cost: $6.02

10:00 a.m. The drive to the Grand Canyon is a bit of a longer one (about three hours), and we decide to veer off the main highways for the Arizona backroads. The sun is out in full force, and the landscape, yet again, is amazing. Bright green brush and strange-but-pretty cacti occupy the desert while red and purple mountains stand tall in the distance. The closer we get, the more I’m wondering where the Grand Canyon could possibly fit into all of this.

2:15 p.m. A quick stop for gas, and a bit of fumbling for directions later, we make it to the National Park. Since the zipline closes at 4:00 p.m., we try to hurry along to the canyon. We buy our tickets and board the shuttle. Cost: $93.31 (zipline tickets + canyon admission)

The zipline is brand new (opened January 2018), and the view, as anyone can imagine, is breathtaking. The actual thrills only lasted two lines and 20 minutes tops, which was a bit of a disappointment. We’re in our RV on our way back to the shuttle stop, but our driver decides to pull over at the edge of the cliff to show us Quartermaster Canyon. Closed off to the public, and once the scene of a historic expedition, it is hard not to feel a bit unworthy standing on such sacred ground and taking in the unbelievable view.

3:15 p.m. There are two more shuttle stops and two different spots to view the Grand Canyon. The second stop on the line is slightly disappointing. After being wowed by Zion, Antelope, Horseshoe Bend, and Quartermaster, the canyon we are staring at now felt a little less grand. The third shuttle stop, however, immediately stops those complaints. It turns out the Grand Canyon is most definitely worth the hype. We’re on a massive rock with miles and miles of canyon stretched out before us on three sides. On one side, there is an old abandoned guano mine that makes this scene that much cooler.

4:30 p.m. The drive back to Vegas is peaceful, both of us exhausted and satisfied from our journey. We stop for gas one more time and return our rental car before venturing back into Sin City. Cost: $5.01

Totals:

Food & Drinks: $184.56

Activities: $186.31

Accommodations: $156

Transportation: $591.39

#travel #airlinetickets #airtickets #cheapairfare #planetickets #travelinsurance #travelquotes #travelblogger #traveller #travelling #travelocity #travelodge #vacation

[republicstandard]

President Donald Trump is About to Change the Middle East Forever

A pair of routine looking press releases dropped last night from the White House Press Secretary.

Identical save for the persons President Trump spoke to, in context of recent events these two simple communiques are nothing short of revelatory. The first release covers a conversation with Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Zayed of the United Arab Emirates.

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The second and nearly identical release concerns a conversation on the same day with Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman of Saudi Arabia.

Naturally leftist clowns on Twitter see the flash of the lure and take the hook, line, and sinker. The problem with paying attention to only what lies directly in front of you is that you become blinkered, divorced from wider context and obsessed with the most obvious morsel thrown to you. This is in essence the fundamental flaw of the majority of people of all political persuasions you meet online. What many now recognize as Trump Derangement Syndrome has roots in this obsession- if you spend your time hate-watching the President, everything he does is offensive to your sensibilities. These people are unwitting cheerleaders for a diversion.

Focusing on the surface appearances, our fine friends here have found themselves hoodwinked. How terrible the President is, he just copies and pasted these releases. How stupid America looks now. This position becomes utterly myopic and laughable when we consider with whom President Trump was talking.

"Mohammed bin Zayed bin Sultan Al-Nahyan is the Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces. He is seen as being the driving force behind the UAE's activist foreign policy and is the leader of a campaign against Arab Islamist movements."

Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia fired their top generals last night in a move spearheaded by the new reformist Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman. According to professor of Arab politics Mahjoob Zweiri, while many see a link between the Saudi reshuffle and the war in Yemen, the move signals changes to come within the kingdom's internal politics. As reported in Al Jazeera:

"This development tells us one thing: the new king is coming sooner rather than later. It seems that he's setting the platform for his son to rule - we've witnessed serious changes to the economy, attempts to fight corruption and so on,"

Zweiri is undoubtedly correct on the succession plans being set out, but the war in Yemen is absolutely part of this reshuffle. If it was not, then there would be little reason for President Trump to speak with both the Supreme Commander of the UAE armed forces and the Saudi Defense Minister on the same day. Something is developing- and it's happening right now.

All this comes hot on the heels of leaked audio which confirmed news reports from two weeks ago that Russian contractors had tested the United States military- and paid the price. As Russia happily uses mercenaries in lieu of committing politically costly ground troops, the timeline is becoming clearer by the day. According to the leaked audio:

"So one squadron f--- lost 200 people ... right away, another one lost 10 people ... and I don't know about the third squadron, but it got torn up pretty badly, too ... So three squadrons took a beating ... The Yankees attacked ... first, they blasted the f--- out of us by artillery, and then they took four helicopters up and pushed us in a f--- merry-go-round with heavy caliber machine guns ... They were all shelling the holy f--- out of it, and our guys didn't have anything besides the assault rifles ... nothing at all, not even mentioning shoulder-fired SAMs or anything like that ... So they tore us to pieces for sure, put us through hell, and the Yankees knew for sure that the Russians were coming, that it was us, f--- Russians ... Our guys were going to commandeer an oil refinery, and the Yankees were holding it ... We got our f--- asses beat rough....  There was no foot soldiers [on the American side]; they simply f--- our convoy with artillery."

This corroborates the initial battle reports released on the 16th of February. Apparently, the squadrons referred to are the T-55 and T-72 tanks that are utilized by both Syrian forces and the Russian mercenaries. The US-led coalition responded with "AC-130 gunships, F-15s, F-22s, Army Apache helicopter gunships, and Marine Corps artillery," according to Lucas Tomlinson, a Fox News reporter.

U.S. counter-attack in Syria included Air Force AC-130 gunships, F-15s, F-22s, Army Apache helicopter gunships and Marine Corps artillery killing 100 Russian and Assad-backed fighters in 3-hour battle beginning around midnight last night.

— Lucas Tomlinson (@LucasFoxNews) February 8, 2018

"First of all, the bombers attacked, and then they cleaned up using Apaches," a Cossack paramilitary leader told Reuters.

The Russians know now -for the first time in Putin's long political career- that the US is no longer a walkover. Without a single infantryman, the United States Marine Corps and the USAF inflicted around 300 Russian dead for no losses. For some reason, this hasn't hit the front pages of every newspaper in America. Perhaps due to the ongoing gun control chatter and the conveniently timed announcement of President Trump's re-election campaign, there aren't column inches to spare for this minor engagement.

President Trump has co-ordinated with the Crown Princes as key regional allies. To what end? Perhaps the Syria engagement is coming to a close, but more likely the troublesome Yemen conflict is in overtime at last. Working with the Gulf Cooperation Council instead of leading from behind indicates that -unlike Barack Obama's disastrous tenure- the Trump administration does not treat the Middle Eastern governments like children. We know that the GCC has quite staggering numbers of high-quality infantry. We know that in excess of $100bn of military arms were sold to the Saudis last year from the USA alone- including precision arms and warships.

(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});

What can you say to that? Maybe we're wrong and the President is an idiot who releases copypasted press releases regarding his conversations with two of the most powerful men in the world- or, just maybe, President Trump is an astute man with great advisors working with regional allies on a strategy to reshape the Middle East for decades to come.

We know what we're betting on.

Thank you for reading Republic Standard. We publish this magazine and the Freebird Forum because we believe in free speech- but it doesn't come cheap! Will you make a small donation towards our running costs? You can make a difference by clicking here.

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Stanley Cup Final: 5 keys for Penguins vs. Predators in Game 2

The Pittsburgh Penguins and the Nashville Predators meet in Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Final on Wednesday night (8 p.m. ET). Here are five keys to this huge game, with the Penguins up 1-0 in the series after their 5-3 win on Monday.

Game 2 Trends

There are a few difference forces at work in Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Final. Will these trends continue? 

– The Penguins are 3-0 in Game 2s this postseason, while the Predators are 1-2, their lone win coming in their sweep of the Chicago Blackhawks in Round 1.

– Game 2 of the Stanley Cup Final has required overtime in five of the past six seasons, including last year’s Game 2 that saw the Penguins win in overtime on a Conor Sheary goal.

– The team winning Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final also has won Game 2 in nine of the past 11 years.

The Pekka “Correction”

There’s been this bizarre evaluation of Pekka Rinne’s Game 1 performance, as if a large swath of hockey pundits decided to judge it via the box score (four goals on 11 shots) rather than the game itself (one questionable goal on a 5-on-3, one goal off a perfect pass, one goal off a Predators defender and one perfect shot after 37 minutes of standing around waiting for one).

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But if you’re looking for a bounce-back performance, Rinne’s save percentage in four playoff games following a loss this postseason is .960.

“If you have a game, whether it’s good or bad, don’t get too high and don’t get too low. If you lose, you stay grounded. If you win, you forget about it the next day,” said Predators defenseman Mattias Ekholm. “He’s one of those guys that always has his mind right.”

The Other Pekka Correction

One of the things Rinne does better than most goalies is play the puck.

“I can’t stress it enough,” said Ekholm. “He’s like an extra defenseman back there. If they try and rim it off the glass, he’s jumping back there, he’s knocking them down. Otherwise, we’re going back to get the puck, and we’re getting hit.”

Some of the Penguins were saying that the Predators’ strong play in the attacking and neutral zones forced them to dump the puck and hope for the best in the Nashville zone – where Rinne was waiting, ready to hand his team possession.

Of course, you don’t have to worry about dump-ins if you breakout of your own zone effectively, which leads us to …

The Penguins Need To Break Out Of Their Own Zone Better

This was a major point stressed by the Penguins in their video work after Game 1: The Nashville forecheck.

“It’s not like we haven’t seen it before. It’s not like it’s something out of the world that someone has never seen,” said defenseman Trevor Daley. “I think these guys are a little more like Columbus. They come at you pretty hard.”

That they do, and they were effective, too:

They got away with it last night but what the Predators forecheck predictably did to the Penguins breakouts is something to watch for. pic.twitter.com/bcriCYM0jT

— Filipovic Forsberg (@DimFilipovic) May 30, 2017

So the Penguins need to improve here.

“Our ability to get out of our end zone as efficiently and effectively as we can is critically important. Ideally we’d like to get out clean with the puck, but that’s not always going to be the case because other teams have good forechecks, they’re defending hard. Sometimes we’re going to have to put pucks to areas and get in foot races. But the important takeaway is we’re trying to get out of the our end zone as efficiently and as quickly as we can,” said coach Mike Sullivan.

Finally, And Obviously, The Start

The Predators dominated Game 1, limiting the Penguins to zero shots over a 37-minute span and scoring three goals … but that was after a disastrous first period that saw them get down 3-0 after a P.K. Subban goal was wiped away on a coach’s challenge.

The Penguins are 12-2 when scoring first and 1-5 when they don’t. The Predators now have some proof of concept that they can shut down the Penguins when they’re on their game. The key in Game 2: Be on it from the start. No dumb penalties. No hole to dig out from. Come out hard, and get a goal on the board (and hopefully one that two linesman with an iPad can’t take away).

—

Greg Wyshynski is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Contact him at puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or find him on Twitter. His book, TAKE YOUR EYE OFF THE PUCK, is available on Amazon and wherever books are sold.

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Jonez on Jonez: The Falcons rose up to a new level of failure

#RiseUp doesn’t mean anything but Falconing definitely does.

Dragonfly Jonez is a full time tweeter, a part time podcaster and an aficionado of spicy Popeye’s drumsticks who will be offering NFL commentary this season.

Twenty-five points. Twenty. Five. Points. In the Super Bowl. A 25-point lead. In the Super Bowl. Erased. Biggest comeback in Super Bowl history. First Super Bowl game ever to go to overtime. Thirty-one unanswered points. Just when the Falcons looked like they weren’t going to go Falcons, the Falcons went Falcons in the most record-shattering Falcons way.

We’ve all seen some Falcon ass shit in our day but this? This? This was a new level of Falconing. I have no idea what that #RiseUp hashtag even really means but it definitely could apply to how the Falcons keep raising the bar when it comes to innovative and excruciating ways to blow games.

Thought losing on a pick two was unprecedented? That’s light work for the Falcons. There had never been a comeback of 11 points or greater in Super Bowl history. The Falcons doubled that margin up and threw a field goal on top just for good measure. The Falcons wanted to ensure that no one would ever out-Falcon them for this most dubious Falcons stat. Atlanta saved their absolute worst for the biggest possible stage. It’s the Falcons way.

There are a lot of extremely Falconsy stats that put in perspective how Falconsy of a choke job this was but I think this one perfectly encapsulates everything.

Pats never had a lead until the last play. NE didnt play a single down with a lead. My god that's the most Falconsy way to lose a Super Bowl

— Larry Beyince (@DragonflyJonez) February 6, 2017

Blowing a 25-point lead in the Super Bowl? Horrendous. A first-and-10 on New England’s 22 up eight with 4:40 left in the game that ultimately culminated in a punt from the 45? Atrocious. Edelman snagging a pass in triple coverage centimeters before it hit the ground after it rolled off of a Falcon’s foot? Unbelievable. A pass interference that put New England on your 2 for the Super Bowl winning score? Dreadful. But playing the only five-quarter game in Super Bowl history and never trailing until losing the game on the final whistle? That’s as Falconsy as it gets.

Also, notice how no one is discussing how we need to revamp the NFL’s overtime rules? I definitely think that they need an overhaul and need to at least do away with sudden death in the postseason. I, and countless others, voiced this last postseason after that Packer-Cardinals game. None of us give a damn about the merit of overtime in regards to this game though. Because it’s the Falcons. We’re all pretty much sick of their shit. Not a damn soul is going to take up a battle for a team that blew a 25-point lead in the Super Bowl. Tough shit, Falcons. Shouldn’t have Falconed this one off.

This Falcons collapse was a team effort. There’s definitely one person who can be singled out here to bear the brunt of the blame, however. I’ve got four words for you. Kyle. Shan. A. Han.

Remember when the Falcons would get a lead & run the ball then they got a lead in the Super Bowl and didnt do that? Congrats on Kyle,SF fans

— Larry Beyince (@DragonflyJonez) February 6, 2017

After going up 28-3, the Falcons ran the ball five times. Five. Devonta Freeman had 71 yards off of six carries and a rushing touchdown at the end of the first half. He finished the game with 11 total carries and 75 total yards.

Not taking anything away from the Pats’ defense. They clamped the hell up. Kyle damn sure made it easy for them with his horrendous second half playcalling however. Julio was only targeted four times. He caught all four. The Falcons had six drives in the second half. They scored a touchdown once, punted four times and lost a fumble, Ryan’s fumble. In the shotgun. On third-and-1.

A lot of coaches and coordinators suffer from the need to prove that they’re the smartest guy in the room. Sticking to conventional play calling, no matter how effective, isn’t viewed as innovative enough in their eyes. This often leads to disastrous results. As a Washington fan, I can tell you that Kyle suffers from an extremely acute case of this. And it proved to be Kyle’s undoing, as it often does. Have fun with that, Niners fans!

While this was a vintage Falcons choke job, it was also a vintage Patriots win.

Doesnt get anymore Patriotsy than a 5'9 fourth round, 4.6 RB setting the Super Bowl reception record.

— Larry Beyince (@DragonflyJonez) February 6, 2017

I know you’re probably thinking “Yeah but … he isn’t …” Well, his last name is White so that’s close enough. James White set the Super Bowl reception record with 14 receptions for a total of 110 yards. He finished with two receiving touchdowns, a two point conversion, and the game winning rushing touchdown. Brady himself said White should have won MVP and far be it for me to argue with Brady. He’s just a positive guy!

But the most surprising thing in all of this was that all of this wasn’t surprising.

I tweeted this on August 4, 2016. Sometimes things come full circle like this.

NFL season hasn't officially started until Arthur Blank comes down to the sideline to watch ATL blow a 24-3 lead with his arms folded.

— Larry Beyince (@DragonflyJonez) August 4, 2016

Joe Buck said this in the 2nd quarter. None of us were sold.

Joe Buck: No team in Super Bowl history has ever blown a lead of more than 10 points Everyone on the planet:Yeah but this is the Falcons tho

— Larry Beyince (@DragonflyJonez) February 6, 2017

This was what was going through all of our minds after the Falcons punted on the first possession of the second half.

Only the Falcons could be up 21-3 and have to punt and have you thinking "Atlanta needed to score there. They might be in trouble now"

— Larry Beyince (@DragonflyJonez) February 6, 2017

We all expected Atlanta to blow this. This is who the Falcons are. They are quite often a good team. At times, they are a really good team. But they are always a team that is never good enough. That is a special hell to be in.

This is a loss that will haunt Falcons fans forever. But time will pass. Hearts will mend. The 2017 season will start. In the opening ceremonies of Optimus Prime Asshole Stadium, the Falcons will raise that NFC Championship banner, emblematic of the Falcons’ patented meteoric rises and disastrous finishes, to uproarious (but possibly canned) applause. Because this year … this year is the year.

#RiseUp. Whatever the hell that means.

Until next time, internet friends.

[yahoo-puck-daddy-blog]

For Alex Ovechkin, another playoff failure and wasted year

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Alex Ovechkin stood in the Washington Capitals dressing room, his back pressed up against a flat-screen television, surrounded by reporters. His voice was a despondent mumble. Sweat had cascaded down his forehead to under his eye, resembling a teardrop. He was answering questions for which he didn’t really have the answers, because when you consider yourself the best team in the NHL and then fail to advance further than the second round of the playoffs, and do this annually, it’s inexplicable.

This could have been 2009, after Game 7 against the Penguins. Or 2010, when the Canadiens shocked them. Or 2011, when the Lightning swept them. Or those Game 7 losses to the Rangers in 2012 and 2013 and 2015. Or last season, losing to the Penguins in six games in overtime.

Instead, it was after Game 7 against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Wednesday night: a 2-0 loss at Verizon Center in which Ovechkin didn’t create a goal, contributed to a Penguins goal and apparently flummoxed his coach to the point where he wanted to defer comment on his star forward rather than assess his play in the series, when asked about it in his press conference.

“I just, yeah … emotionally right now, I don’t want to answer that question,” said Capitals coach Barry Trotz. “I think ‘you win or lose as a team’ is probably my best answer right now. Emotionally, I don’t think I want to answer that question right now.”

In 13 playoff games, Ovechkin had five goals and three assists, skating to a minus-4. Against the Penguins, he had two goals and three assists. He had 51 shot attempts, 21 of them finding their mark. He had 32 minutes and 12 seconds of power play time, registering two assists but no goals.

In the last two games of the series, Ovechkin didn’t have a point and was a minus-3. That included a turnover in the third period in his own defensive zone, leading to Patric Hornqvist’s back-breaking backhand goal that made it 2-0.

“It was one of those turnovers where Nate [Schmidt] got caught in between me and the puck,” said goalie Braden Holtby.

Ovechkin’s lack of offense wasn’t so much an issue in Game 6, when the Capitals were pounding the Penguins with their bodies and on the scoreboard in a 5-2 rout. It was very much an issue in Game 7, as the Penguins were more composed and effective, and the Capitals desperately needed some proof of concept that their offensive chances would eventually solve Marc-Andre Fleury.

One of Ovechkin’s nearly did: a one-timer that deflected off of Fleury’s goalie stick. An inch left, or an inch right, and it goes in. But this is the Capitals in a Game 7, so of course it didn’t.

“I didn’t see Ovi on the other side. When they made a pass, I just tried to get across as quickly as possible. I was fortunate enough to get a piece of it,” said Fleury, who, uh, stroked his stick after the save. “I talk to my stick, maybe. I say ‘thank you and say good job.’”

In moments like that, it’s hard not to think about another robbery in a Game 7 by Fleury vs. Ovechkin: a deflating breakaway stop on him in 2009 during the first period.

Ovechkin would eventually score in that Game 7. Except Pittsburgh had a 5-0 lead by the time that he did.

His Game 7 output this postseason was only part of the story for Ovechkin in the playoffs. He had a rough go of it, and was far too ordinary in most games.

Was there some lingering injury, perhaps from the hit that Nazem Kadri of the Toronto Maple Leafs put on him in Game 5 in the first round? But then everyone plays hurt in the playoffs, as they say.

Then there was the demotion to the third line in the series against the Penguins. Trotz dropped Ovechkin down to play with Lars Eller and Tom Wilson, promoting Andre Burakovsky to play with Nicklas Backstrom and T.J. Oshie.

Ovechkin’s ice time dipped, while Burakovsky thrived on the top line.

Trotz said it was intended to give the Capitals better balance, citing the Penguins’ use of Phil Kessel on their third line last season. But Tom Wilson isn’t Carl Hagelin, Lars Eller isn’t Nick Bonino and … well, Phil Kessel is a Stanley Cup champion according to Barack Obama, so Ovechkin isn’t Phil Kessel, either.

Ovechkin had 33 goals in 82 games in the regular season, after breaking the 50-goal mark in the previous three seasons. He was praised for playing within the team concept, and it didn’t hurt the Capitals thanks to their forward depth and the goaltending of Braden Holtby. But it was an uncharacteristic regular season; maybe we find out why now that it’s finished. Maybe we find out why he wasn’t a force in the playoffs, either.

I’ve been a staunch defender of Ovechkin in the postseason. The Capitals’ previous failures weren’t his fault, and they’re still not: He had three points in the opening two games of this series, and the Capitals lost both of them on home ice.

“We didn’t lose the series tonight, we lost it in the first three games, four games,” said Nicklas Backstrom after Game 7.

He’s also played well in previous Game 7s, for the most part, with three goals and three assists in his nine games.

But this one, against the Penguins, feels different. It feels like Ovechkin contributed more to another wasted opportunity in the Alex Ovechkin Era than he had in previous postseasons.

How is it possible that in a Game 4, a game the Penguins played without Sidney Crosby, that Ovechkin would go scoreless with two shots on goal and four shot attempts?

How is it possible that, in a Game 7 – a game where the Penguins has a patchwork blue line missing Kris Letang and Trevor Daley, that had been pounded into sand by the Capitals in the two previous games – Ovechkin couldn’t tally a point while Sidney Crosby, forever the Mozart to his Salieri, helped set up the Penguins’ first goal? And that, later, an Ovechkin turnover would help set up the Penguins’ second tally?

“Without the goals, you can’t win the game, and obviously blame on us,” said Ovechkin.

The blame game will be played by everyone who watched this series. The “trade Ovechkin” chorus that was silenced after the Capitals rallied from down 3-1 will be full-throated again. Much of the hockey world will point and laugh at his futility, while the rest of us mourn the notion that one of the greatest goal scorers in NHL history may end up with a “yeah, but…” attached to his legacy because the Capitals never won a Stanley Cup.

The futility is like a nightmare for Ovechkin, one whose details change with each sleep but whose psychological horrors are constant.

How the hell can you keep the faith after 97 playoff games and not one of them played in a championship round?

“We’re trying,” Ovechkin said. “We try to do our best.”

Perhaps, one day, it’ll be good enough to get past the second round.

—

Greg Wyshynski is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Contact him at puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or find him on Twitter. His book, TAKE YOUR EYE OFF THE PUCK, is available on Amazon and wherever books are sold.

More from Yahoo Sports: • Titans pair allegedly involved in violent assault • Charles Robinson: Why Kaepernick should get another shot at NFL • Report: Jeter ‘beside himself angry’ over A-Rod interview • Jeff Passan: Dodgers under fire over alleged vet discrimination

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NHL goalie interference and how to whine about it

Milan Lucic was angry.

The Edmonton Oilers had just experienced an epic collapse against the Anaheim Ducks in Game 5 of their second-round series, giving up three goals with the Ducks’ net empty in the last four minutes of regulation, before losing in double-overtime by a 4-3 score.

The third goal of that rally was one of the most controversial of the playoffs, as Ryan Kesler of the Ducks was shoved into Oilers goalie Cam Talbot’s crease by defenseman Darnell Nurse, and then appeared to hold down Talbot’s leg with his glove before Rickard Rakell beat Talbot with 15 seconds left in the third period.

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“I mean, guy falls on the goalie and wraps his hand around the goalie’s pad. I don’t even know what goalie interference is anymore to be perfectly honest,” said Lucic, as visions of a former Boston Bruin driving through Ryan Miller of the Buffalo Sabres like a Mac truck danced through our collective memories.

It was hotly debated:

And hotly contested, by Milan Lucic.

“It’s an absolute joke, especially two really good referees can’t make the right call at the right time, especially when the guy has two, three seconds to get up off the ice and he has his hand wrapped around the goalie’s leg and the goalie can’t get up to make a save and it’s still a goal. It’s unbelievable,” he said.

“I have no idea anymore what goalie interference is. If someone knows, call me and tell me, because it’s a shame that we are where we are right now with a call like that.”

So you have no doubt, then, that this was goalie interference?

“NO DOUBT IN MY MIND,” he barked.

David Staples was angry.

The Cult of Hockey columnist for the Edmonton Journal no doubt echoed the sentiment of Oilers fans when he saw the Ducks’ third goal was allowed to stand.

So Kesler is allowed to grab Talbot's pad, pull open his legs in the crease and allow shot to go in?

Fascinating league.

— David Staples (@dstaples) May 6, 2017

Sorry, I don't think Oilers choked.

Ducks got a couple lucky, greasy goals. Not good. But this was a 3-2 game until Talbot gang-tackled.

— David Staples (@dstaples) May 6, 2017

I'll tell you one thing.

If Oilers lose this, my TV goes off of @NHL for the rest of the playoffs.

Thanks, but no thanks.

— David Staples (@dstaples) May 6, 2017

Oilers and @NHL referees now tied in the series with 2 wins each.

Ducks also have a win.

— David Staples (@dstaples) May 6, 2017

Game 6 is really critical in a 2-2-1 series.

Todd McLellan wasn’t angry.

The Oilers coach was frustrated, and essentially said what Lucic said but in a minor key.

“Interference? You’re asking the wrong guy. I don’t know what interference is anymore,” he said. “Obviously, Kesler was pushed in. There’s no doubt about that. But we have a strong belief that he wrapped his arm around Talb’s leg.”

Here’s the thing for Lucic, McLellan and Oilers fans that think they were robbed by the NHL officials for a second-straight game:

We totally know what goalie interference is.

It’s right there, in Rule 69 (nice):

If an attacking player has been pushed, shoved, or fouled by a defending player so as to cause him to come into contact with the goalkeeper, such contact will not be deemed contact initiated by the attacking player for purposes of this rule, provided the attacking player has made a reasonable effort to avoid such contact.

As McLellan said, Kesler was shoved into Talbot. According to the current rules, that’s it. Full stop.

The rule doesn’t address when a player needs to leave the crease after having been pushed into it, or what the call is if that player holds down the goalie’s pad after he’s shoved on top of him. The current rulebook doesn’t address it. For all we know, Kesler could have taken out a shank and rapid-fire stabbed Talbot in the crease, and it wouldn’t be goalie interference. Although we imagine that’s a misconduct. Probably, like, for slashing.

(And frankly, that’s more of a Corey Perry move than Kesler.)

So we do know what goalie interference is in the NHL: a collection of standards that are subjectively open for League interpretation on a case-by-case basis, but that clearly don’t address what happened in Game 5. And if you want them to address what happened with Kesler, then the rulebook needs to be amended, which is what they do in the NHL: They have rules, something happens that’s not addressed in the rules, and then the GMs change the rules to reflect that.

(Except for that one time when Sean Avery waved his stick in front of Marty Brodeur and they, like, made up a rule on the spot in the playoffs.)

Peter Chiarelli wasn’t angry, either.

“I see two points of interference. One was caused by our player pushing him. The other was caused by their player, in my mind. So it was a difference in opinions,” he said on Saturday, via the Oilers.

Chiarelli was remorseful. Because the rules that he and his peers have established, including the coach’s challenge and video review, failed to help his team in two straight games.

“We, as GMs, have voted this stuff in,” he said. “We have a general framework. We’ve got incidental contact in the white. We’ve got incidental contact in the blue. We’ve got guys being pushed in. So we’ve set up criteria, the GMs have.”

In other words, an issue with goalie interference isn’t on Kesler or the referees or even NHL hockey operations. It’s on the rules themselves, and the general managers that have shaped them, including Chiarelli.

And now it’ll be on him to ensure this doesn’t happen again, should he chose to ask for further clarification on goalie interference. Which he should, because Ryan Kesler literally pinned down a goalie’s leg last night and that’s not a good look for hockey and pretty much sucked for Talbot.

Cam Talbot should have been angry, but he wasn’t.

He was angry when Corey Perry’s goalie interference wasn’t called on a critical Game 4 goal. He sounded dispirited when addressing the Kelser incident after a 60-save loss in Game 5, not only about the play but about the result.

“He has a chance to get up. It kinda looks like he digs in over my pad, makes it look like he’s holding on,” said Talbot, before dropping some much-needed reality into the raging debate.

“At the same time, we had a 3-0 lead with 3-and-a-half minutes to go.”

—

Greg Wyshynski is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Contact him at puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or find him on Twitter. His book, TAKE YOUR EYE OFF THE PUCK, is available on Amazon and wherever books are sold.

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[yahoo-puck-daddy-blog]

Ten reasons the Chicago Blackhawks flopped in Stanley Cup Playoffs

There are some glorious things to come out of the Chicago Blackhawks’ sweep at the hands of the Nashville Predators.

Like some new blood in the Stanley Cup hunt, NBC ratings be damned. Like a crazed hockey town finally, finally seeing its team get one over on its de facto arch rivals. Like the continuing adventures of the best line of the playoffs with Forsberg, Arvidsson and Johansen. Like the fact that our sweet hockey prince P.K. Subban could potentially play on longer than Shea Weber.

And there are some horrible things to come out of the Blackhawks’ first-round loss. Most of them involving idiots asking for Joel Quenneville’s head because the Cubs finally won and they’re bored.

Why did this happen to the Chicago Blackhawks?

Here are 10 reasons.

10 – Pekka Rinne

Many wondered if a 34-year-old goalie whose last two postseasons saw him finish with a save percentage under .910 had a dominant playoff performance in him. Or, more to the point, wondering when Juuse Saros would make his playoff debut in the series.

And then he wins four straight with two shutouts, a .976 save percentage and a 0.70 goals-against average against the Blackhawks. Wonder no more.

9 – The Game 3 Rally

This was the series, in hindsight.

The Blackhawks build a 2-0 lead by the 11:15 mark of the second period. They only lost five games in the 35 times they held a lead entering the third period during the regular season.

Then Filip Forsberg scored twice in the third, and Kevin Fiala ended it in overtime. That dug the impossible-to-leave 3-0 hole, and basically ended the battle before the final shots were fired.

“Whether it’s confidence or you’re in a bad spot, giving up the 2-0 lead in Game 3 was a tough one to swallow. That was the one where we could have put ourselves back in the series, and we let it go,” said Quenneville. 

8 – The Regular Season Told The Story

In the regular season, the Chicago Blackhawks were a top-heavy offensive team — with three of the Top 100 NHL Players of All-Time! — that wasn’t nearly as possession dominant as it was in previous years (53.22 from 2013-16 vs. 50.41 this regular season) and had problems on the blue line.

In the playoffs, the Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane were the only players with more than one point – they had two each. The supporting cast offered nothing in the way of offense, as a team that scored 2.93 goals per game averaged 0.75 in these four games.

The team lost the possession battle with the Predators: According to Corsica, the Hawks were at 47.44 percent when adjusted for score and venue. And that blue line was exposed all series.

They are who we thought they were, or at least many of us should have known they were.

7 – Pekka Rinne

Rinne faced 126 shots and made 123 saves.

I mean, seriously.

6 – The Youth Gone Mild

Throughout their modern-day dynasty, it’s been clear that the Blackhawks are only going to be as good as the reinforcements that replaced their salary cap casualties.

It’s easy to forget there were two quarterfinal losses between their first two Cups. That’s how long it took to replace the several players that had to go after the first Cup – Byfuglien, Ladd, etc. – with an emerging Brandon Saad and Andrew Shaw, and with foot soldiers like Marcus Kruger and Michael Frolik. Their third Cup had even more reinforcements: Antoine Vermette, Brad Richards and a young Teuvo Teravainen among them.

They went young this year, and it worked out in the regular season. Rookies Ryan Hartman, Nick Schmaltz, Tanner Kero and Vinnie Hinostroza did the job for a good portion of the year, and did it admirably.

The Blackhawks’ five rookies that saw time in the Predators series? They combined for zero points and a minus-9. They were not ready for prime time. (Especially Schmaltz, who managed two shots on goal in four games despite 15:22 TOI.)

But yeah, fire Quenneville or whatever.

5 – The Blueline And How It Got So Bad

Stan Bowman has made a lot of trades for the Blackhawks. Some of them to improve the team, some of them necessitated by the salary cap. He’s done well in acquiring talent in those latter deals, but overall, it’s the blue line that’s suffered in all of this annual turnover.

The defensemen acquired by Stan Bowman in the last two seasons: Johnny Oduya, Brian Campbell (signing), Christian Ehrhoff, Rob Scuderi, Jay Harrison and Michal Kempny (signing). Stephen Johns was traded to Dallas, and played 61 games this season.

Oduya showed you can’t always go home again, a sentiment that Campbell echoed a little too often as well. The rest of these pieces, outside of the Kempny signing, were ineffective or inconsequential.

Duncan Keith can’t do it alone.

4 – Pekke Rinne 

I mean, seriously: one even-strength goal against on 115 even-strength shots.

Stop it.

3 – Lots Of Miles On Them Tires

The Blackhawks were called “old and slow,” which really isn’t fair: They were just slow.

So while we disagree with the totality of Barry Rozner’s premise, he’s not wrong:

It’s worth considering that the Hawks, after a decade of dominance, are simply worn out. Their best players play in the Olympics, the World Cup, the All-Star Games and every other silly thing you can think of, while also having to carry a roster filled with spare parts and young kids, who look shaky at best on the big stage.

There may have been a couple of Hawks who showed their age in this series, but overall, it just seemed like a team that was half-a-step behind the playoff pace.

2 – Sometimes, The Bullied Little Brother Wins

As a Devils fan living in Rangers country, I can easily identify Bullied Little Brother syndrome.

The Predators had lost two playoff series to the Blackhawks, and the majority of their regular-season games to them. Chicago fans invaded their arena for years when the Blackhawks came to town. They are Original Six. Nashville is ‘Non-Traditional.’

Winning the Stanley Cup was important to both teams, but the Predators might have had more blood thirst to get one over on the Blackhawks. Combine that with the middling regular-season results that the Preds were desperate to not have define them, and there was just a little more wind in their sails all series.

It’s not quantifiable, but anyone who watched the series could see it: an unwavering sense from the Predators that this was their time.

Oh, and this helped too:

1 – Pekka Rinne

Stop it, man, this is absurd.

Congrats to the Predators.

Now, let’s see how Bowman and the Blackhawks respond to this …

—

Greg Wyshynski is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Contact him at puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or find him on Twitter. His book, TAKE YOUR EYE OFF THE PUCK, is available on Amazon and wherever books are sold.

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