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samwellwaffles · 7 years ago

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Thank You, Pittsburgh

by Marc-Andre Fleury

It started in Nashville, 14 years ago.

Kind of ironic right now.

The 2003 Draft was at the Bridgestone Arena. As a young 18-year-old from Quebec, all I was hoping for was to hear my name. Pittsburgh had the third pick overall, but at the last minute, they made a trade with Florida to pick first. I had heard rumors that I might get picked by one of the first few teams, but didn’t believe it until I heard Craig Patrick call my name.

Pittsburgh. I would have been happy anywhere, but I got drafted by Pittsburgh. What a blessing. I would, maybe, get to play with Mario Lemieux. I would, hopefully, get to play for the team that had won back-to-back Stanley Cups in ’91-92. I would have a shot at playing in the NHL.

The next 14 years were beyond my wildest dreams.

Saying that the last few weeks have been bittersweet would be an understatement. As we reached the Stanley Cup finals, I knew very well that my time as a Penguin was nearing its end. I love to play. I love the game, and everything about it. Putting the mask on, diving around, stopping the puck, feeling the intensity of the game, feeling useful. I wish I could have been in net for my last game as a Penguin. But we raised the Cup, again, and it made all the sacrifices worthy. I felt proud — proud of my teammates for battling through injuries, for showing a lot of character, and for winning two years in a row. I am grateful that I had the chance to contribute to our success through the first rounds. And I feel very fortunate that the last time I have skated with a Penguins jersey, it will have been with the Stanley Cup in my hands. Not that it wasn’t an emotional moment.

Fourteen years. Nearly half of my life. I remember my first training camp, in September 2003, like it was yesterday. I was so nervous. There are so many expectations on a first-round pick, and I didn’t want to let anybody down. I just tried to do my best, and wanted to leave a good impression. But when you face Mario Lemieux in training camp, it can be quite intimidating, to say the least.

Everyone knows him as Le Magnifique, a hockey legend. I always loved watching him growing up. I remember the first time I stopped Mario in practice. It was a simple warmup shot. But you better believe that I kept that puck — and still have it at home. Mario is a great role model for me — his loyalty to the team, his contributions to the community, how he handles himself and how he and Nathalie raised four great, humble kids. I’ll always be thankful for their support throughout the years.

My first home game was against the Kings at the Igloo on Oct. 10, 2003. My dream was becoming a reality. Maybe the excitement was a little high. So high, that, well … I forgot something. As everybody was getting ready to head out of the locker room, I made my way towards the ice, fist bumped a few guys (including Marc Bergevin and Mario) and then I realized that I had forgotten my stick. It was a pretty funny walk of shame past all my teammates to go grab my stick. As I was walking back, Mario cracked a little smile and said “You’re going to need that tonight, kid.”

I guess he was right. First shot of the game, first shot I faced in the NHL, and it goes in. That wasn’t part of my dream. But then, thankfully, it got better. I stopped Ziggy Palffy — a guy I watched growing up — on a breakaway. Then I stopped a penalty shot and finished the game with 46 saves on 48 shots. We lost that game, but that one will remain one of my best memories in Pittsburgh.

It was a pretty funny walk of shame past all my teammates to go grab my stick.

Even that first night, the fans were chanting Fleu-ry, Fleu-ry. They were holding up signs that said Welcome Home. I honestly couldn’t believe it. The rush from that, to tell you the truth, I can’t even describe it. It is just unbelievable. And it never gets old, trust me. The fans in Pittsburgh have been tremendous with me since the very beginning.

For a hockey player to get to play nearly 14 years in one city is a blessing. It wasn’t all fun and games, though. It was obviously difficult losing so much in the first few seasons. But then we got Geno. And then Sid. And then Staal (to name just a few). We started winning, and the Igloo was booming. It was a success built from figuring things out together, as a group. The loss to Detroit in the 2008 finals was one of the toughest experiences of my career. Being so close to reaching that Cup and then having to watch the Wings celebrate their win … it was brutal, but we needed it. I believe that, in the end, that loss helped prepare us for what was to come.

Game 7 of the 2009 finals in Detroit is without a doubt one of my favorite moments as a Penguin. Seeing my good friend Max Talbot score two huge goals for us was incredible. And then, of course, making that save against Lidstrom in the last seconds was something I will never forget. I proudly sported a deep bruise on my ribs from that save for weeks following that game. I’ll always remember my teammates jumping on the ice, racing toward me with the biggest smiles. The feeling of winning the Stanley Cup that night is indescribable.

Over the years, I probably don’t have to tell you, it’s been ups and downs. But one thing I will carry with me, long after I leave Pittsburgh — honestly, long after my playing career is over — is how amazing and strong the support was that I received from the fans.

One of my best memories is from earlier this season, actually. We had just been on a road trip and it was our first game back home against Tampa Bay. I had been struggling a bit. I couldn’t buy a save, and I wasn’t feeling great about it. Everybody was getting ready for the anthem, and the crowd started chanting my name. It made no sense. I wasn’t playing well. The game hadn’t even started yet. But they were behind me anyway.

Fleu-ry, Fleu-ry.

Maybe they could sense that I was feeling a little down, and I needed it. We ended up winning the game, things turned around for me, and I ended up having a great season. That moment was the turning point, and it was because of our fans.

So thank you, fans. I wish I could put into words how much of an impact your support has made on me and my family. We have become Pittsburghers. My wife graduated from Robert Morris University, my daughters were born at Magee-Womens Hospital (sorry our commercial has been blasting on your TVs for more than a year), and our first house was in Moon. Pittsburgh and its people will forever be in our hearts.

Thank you to the Penguins ownership: to Mario and Ron, for their support and for striving to be the best organization by providing the team with the best people and the best facilities.

Thank you to the organization: from the great GMs to the coaches who believed in me. Thank you to Gilles Meloche and Mike Bales, my goalie coaches, whom I’ve spent most of my career with, for always being there for me. Thank you to the medical, front office and equipment staff for all the good times and friendships.

Thank you to my teammates. My friends. I am not good with the emotional stuff, and this is not easy. Over the years I have seen a lot of good people come and go. It is definitely one of the toughest parts of the business — making good friends and having to say goodbye. I have played with a lot of good dudes in Pittsburgh, and made so many good friends.

Thanks, Sid, for all the years. We spent a lot of time together, always sat next to each other on the plane, behind one another on the bus, plus all the dinners before every game on the road. Thanks for helping me get through tough times and for being a good friend. It’s tough to say goodbye. I know we were both trying to avoid it. You’re the best. Next time we face each other, make sure you keep your head up. The poke check will be coming, like that one time in Rimouski.

Duper, Tanger, Geno, Kuni — it’s been an honor to go through all of this together. I couldn’t have picked better teammates and friends.

And I guess I will stop there. Not because I have run out of people to thank or things to say — when it comes to my time as a Penguin, I think I could just go on forever.

But thank you, everyone, for the support in the last week. All the calls, messages, pictures, the nice articles and videos. It has meant so much to me and my family as we are getting ready to begin a new chapter in our lives. It seems like just yesterday that I was a kid in this blue suit that my agent bought me for the draft, wearing this tie that I didn’t even know how to tie. (I later got fined a few times for coming to the games with it inappropriately tied.)

And now here I am. I have a wife, two kids, and three Cups. I’m talking about my memories and saying my goodbyes. It might be an adjustment for my girls. They love waving the Terrible Towel and chanting, “Let’s Go Pens.”

Actually, when they see the Pens logo they say, “Go Papa Go!”

But I think we will tell them that moving somewhere new at a young age — yes it might be scary, but we just have to hang in there. We’re going to figure things out, and we’re going to find our way. And then we’ll blink, and suddenly that strange and new place … It won’t seem strange, or new, at all. It might even feel like home.

I still have a lot to wrap my mind around. I am honored that the Golden Knights picked me and I am looking forward to continuing to play the game I love. I don’t know how it will feel when I set foot in the PPG Paints Arena in February as the Vegas goaltender. Truthfully, right now I can’t even think about it. But what I do know is that I will be thrilled to see you all again.

Thanks, Pittsburgh. I will miss you.

(x)

#irl hockey #marc andre fleury #pens #knights #long post #my sunshine #flower

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sumukhcomedy · 5 years ago

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The 20 Most Positive Moments of 21 Years of the “New Browns”

In the wake of yet another disappointing Cleveland Browns season, I tried to think about the more positive moments since the Browns returned in 1999. It actually made me sadder but I put together this list of The Top 20 Positive Moments of The First 21 Years of the “New Browns.” I made some ground rules. Nothing from this terrible season would be included (and, frankly, nothing actually was even worthy in my mind of the top 20). Only one “notorious” incident is included because I found positives in it whereas there’s none to be found with Dwyane Rudd’s helmet throw or Orlando Brown pushing down a referee or Myles Garrett swinging a helmet at Mason Rudolph or any of the many games the Browns managed to blow. I tried to factor in the impact of the moment on the organization as a whole, the particular seasons, and the fans. And, as I’d find out, finding 20 was still like pulling teeth by the end. So, here we go with links to each (YouTube is amazing if you want to watch bad football)!

20. Week 16, 2016: Browns 20, Chargers 17

Nothing really introduces you to how sad the past two decades have been for the Browns than them avoiding going 0-16 being a top 20 moment. In a year that the Cavs won the championship and the Indians almost won the World Series, the Browns delivered us this. Well, have fun watching RG3’s greatest moment in Cleveland.

19. Week 5, 2013: Browns 37, Bills 24

It was Thursday night football. It was Jim Brown night. The Browns were 2-2 and had actually looked promising under formerly 3rd string quarterback Brian Hoyer. But Hoyer then went down with a season-ending injury. This likely turned into the best moment and night of Brandon Weeden’s career in the NFL and that’s saying a lot considering he only threw for 197 yards and 1 touchdown. Hoyer’s injury proved deadly to first-year head coach Rob Chudzinski. He only won one game for the remainder of the season and was fired.

18. Week 9, 2010: Browns 34, Patriots 14

Coming off a bye week, the Browns were playing the 6-1 Patriots. They shockingly blew them out as Peyton Hillis had a field day and Eric Mangini beat his mentor in Bill Belichick. Of course, by the end of the year, Mangini was fired with new “football czar” Mike Holmgren coming in. But, a blowout of the most successful organization of the 20 years your organization has been incompetent is worthy of making the list.

17. Week 15, 2018: Browns 17, Broncos 16

I’ll admit to having a bias if the Browns actually show up in a primetime, nationally televised game. In a year where they fired coach Hue Jackson mid-season and were riding a wave of excitement with interim head coach Gregg Williams and rookie quarterback Baker Mayfield, the Browns held on in a hostile environment in Denver. It was highlighted with a Jabrill Peppers sack to end the game. Peppers was traded in the offseason.

16. Week 12, 2014: Browns 26, Falcons 24

I remember this game mostly because both head coaches (Mike Pettine and Mike Smith) did a great job in trying to get both of their respective teams to lose the game. Despite a last-minute field goal by the Falcons to go down 24-23, Brian Hoyer and the Browns managed to engineer a drive to win the game. They were 7-4 with the win. Of course, things came crashing down in subsequent weeks, Pettine had to push Johnny Manziel in to the starter role as I watched the game while experiencing one of the worst hangovers of my life and the rest is history. On a personal level, I quit drinking 6 months later. Sadly, Johnny Manziel did not.

15. Week 1, 2004: Browns 20, Ravens 3

Nothing makes a fan base feel better than to start off a season on a winning note. Of course, the Browns have only delivered this to its fans once in 21 seasons. For that reason alone, this game makes this list. Beating a division rival like the Ravens is great. Doing so to start the season is great. Other than, this game had no impact other than to spoil Deion Sanders’s first game with the Ravens. Yes, Deion Sanders was on the Ravens.

14. Week 6, 2008: Browns 35, Giants 14

2008 was a year of high expectations. The Browns were coming off a 10-6 season but they trudged out with an 0-3 record and one of the organization’s favorite things: a quarterback controversy. With those expectations came more national games and the Browns faced the defending champion New York Giants on Monday Night Football. Surprisingly, they delivered on the kind of expectations for the season by blowing out the Giants at home and giving something great to the fans. If anything, watching these highlights will remind that you Darnell Dinkins scored a touchdown on Monday Night Football and this is the easily the greatest moment in his NFL career. The season, of course, ended terribly with the Browns on a 6-game losing streak, being shut out by both the Bengals and Steelers, and the organization firing GM Phil Savage and head coach Romeo Crennel.

13. Week 14, 2001: Jaguars 15, Browns 10

This was Bottlegate. Sure, this is supposed to be a list of positive moments. But, even though notorious and likely not a great look for Cleveland, this season was the first glimmers of the Browns being on the right path to winning as an organization. It was a moment that questioned officiating and replay and the Browns needed this win to cling on to their playoff hopes. The moment was a raw response from a fan base whose team was stolen away from by the league and now it felt as if a game with playoff implications was being stolen away from them as well. I can recall, even as a teenager, saying, “If I were at the game, I would have thrown something.” So, even if regrettable, it somehow made sense at the time and spoke to the fan’s energy and desperation for a winner. The Browns dropped to 6-7 with the loss and finished 7-9.

12. Week 7, 2010: Reggie Hodges Fake Punt

As we’ll come to see in this list, the “New Browns” have managed to get most of their really memorable moments out of special teams players. That was the case when Reggie Hodges ran 68 yards on a fake punt as the Browns upset the defending champion New Orleans Saints in the SuperDome, 30-17.

11. Wild Card Playoffs, 2002: Kelly Holcomb

As devastating as the loss in the only “New Browns” playoff appearance is, quarterback Kelly Holcomb gave arguably the best performance by a Brown of this 21-year era. Holcomb went 26-for-43 with 429 yards, 3 touchdowns, and 1 interception. He also started a quarterback controversy for the next season that ultimately buried both his and Tim Couch’s careers.

10. Week 15, 2009: Jerome Harrison

The Browns won the game, 41-34, in a 4-game winning streak to end the season that helped save Mangini’s job. But what was most important was Jerome Harrison’s 286 rushing yards which currently ranks 3rd on the list for most rushing yards in a single game. It made the fact that #2 Jamal Lewis’s 295 yards was against the Browns a little better. It also is additionally better understanding where Harrison’s career went from here. After being traded to the Eagles, he was diagnosed with a brain tumor. Told by doctors that he would be a quadriplegic, Harrison has battled to now walk again.

9. Week 14, 2009: Browns 13, Steelers 6

The week prior to Harrison’s breakout game, the Steelers visited Browns Stadium for a Thursday night game. In front of a national crowd, Mangini and his team delivered an impressive defensive performance. There was something satisfying in watching the Browns sack Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger 8 times in the below-zero temperatures of Cleveland. It was the type of swarming defense and environment in the stadium that the Browns of the past brought to their fans. Sadly, Roethlisberger remains the winningest quarterback in the new Cleveland Browns Stadium history.

8. Week 2, 2007: Browns 51, Bengals 45

The Browns got killed in Week 1 against the Steelers. They traded starting quarterback Charlie Frye in between weeks. It looked like another dysfunctional season ahead. Then, strangely enough, the offense looked explosive. A shootout occurred at Browns stadium and they ended up victorious on the way to a season that saw the team nearly make the playoffs and produce 6 Pro Bowlers.

7. Week 3, 2018: Browns 21, Jets 17

The Browns looked lifeless on offense to start the game under Tyrod Taylor. After going out with an injury, rookie quarterback Mayfield entered the game and provided a spark for the Thursday night crowd in Cleveland. After an 0-16 season, the #1 overall pick engineered a comeback for the Browns’ first win in 20 games and hope for the organization.

6. Week 5, 2003: Browns 33, Steelers 13

On Sunday Night Football, Tim Couch delivered the best game of his career on the road against a bitter rival. Couch threw 20-for-25, 208 yards, 2 touchdowns, and 1 interception. The game put the Browns at 2-3. They of course fell apart ending the season at 5-11 but this was a dominating, road primetime performance (rare in this 21-year “New Browns” era).

5. Week 8, 1999: Browns 21, Saints 16

The Browns were 0-7 entering this game. They fell behind 16-14 in the last minute of the game and got the ball back with 16 seconds left. With 2 seconds left, Couch heaved a Hail Mary that was tipped and amazingly caught by wide receiver Kevin Johnson. It was an unthinkable way for the “New Browns” to notch their first ever win in their return.

4. Week 11, 2007: Browns 33, Ravens 30 (OT)

In an actually meaningful season with the Browns down 3, the always reliable Phil Dawson came in to attempt a game-tying field goal. It initially looked the ball hit the crossbar and bounced out as the Ravens rejoiced. But, upon review, the ball actually went in, hitting the stanchion and bouncing back out. The game went to overtime where Dawson kicked the game winner. It was perhaps the most exciting win in the Browns near playoff run in 2007.

3. Week 10, 2007: Josh Cribbs Kickoff Return

If it wasn’t for the fact that the Browns lost the game to the Steelers, 31-28, this would be the “New Browns” greatest moment of its greatest season. In what looked like it would be a terrible play leading to the Browns being backed up within their own 5, Cribbs did the magic that made him a legend to Browns fans and returning of the great kickoffs for a touchdown not just in Browns history but in NFL history.

2. 2007 NFL Draft: Browns Pick Joe Thomas

When you are incompetent for 21 years like the “New Browns,” you are always playing for the NFL Draft. In 2007, the Browns shockingly got it right. They picked Joe Thomas with the #3 overall pick. As sad as it is that an offensive lineman could be the #2 most memorable moment in 21 years, Thomas represented everything about Cleveland and the Browns. He will be a Hall of Famer and have his place in the Browns Ring of Honor. He’s a beloved legend who never wanted to leave Cleveland and wanted to be a part of a winner here for the fans until his body wouldn’t let him do it anymore.

1. Week 17, 2002: Browns 24, Falcons 16

A team needs to have an iconic call and moment and Jim Donovan screaming “Run, William, Run!” may not be the best but it’s all the “New Browns” have. It was a great run that ultimately catapulted the Browns into their only playoff appearance of these 21 seasons and made the stadium feel as electric as it did in Municipal.

Over the course of me writing this, the Browns fired Freddie Kitchens. So, once again, we’re waiting for next year…

#cleveland browns #browns #cleveland #freddie kitchens #joe thomas #josh cribbs #phil dawson #nfl

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mitchbeck · 5 years ago

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CANTLON'S CORNER: WOLF PACK TRAVEL TO PA TO BREAK STREAK

BY: Gerry Cantlon, Howlings HARTFORD, CT - Kris Knoblauch, the Hartford Wolf Pack's (11-4-0-5) first-year head coach, is taking the Wolf Pack’s first losing streak, currently three games, as calmly as he took their nine-game winning streak to open the season, calm, cool and collected. “Not changing too much. Guys are still happy to come to the rink, and that’s good. We're balancing things right now. The hard work continues.” Knoblauch didn’t highlight any one area that needed cleaning up. “We weren’t as sharp as we had been (defensively), and we had scoring chances and couldn’t finish. Our passing was spotty. We encourage our team to get faster, keep the feet moving, and how well you defend plays a big part in how other parts of your game are doing,“ Knoblauch commented. On Wednesday, Knoblauch ran a hard hour-long game that simulated one-on-one battle drills perhaps stressing that level of intensity that might have ebbed a bit over the last three games. It didn’t faze veteran Matt Beleskey. “Of course your gonna have moments like these (losing streaks). It's all about taking forward steps, not backward ones. We still have good energy in the room, if we keep playing hard, good things will come to us. Coach said it best this morning. 'Things that don’t take talent helps you win.' The tape-to-tape pass, winning that one-on-one battle and when you do the little things as a group, good things will happen.” As a veteran, Beleskey was able to understand what it was and draw parallels with tough practices in the past. “That was a tough practice hour-long battle drills, but he made it fun. That keeps guys competitive. It can be seen as a punishment, but it wasn’t. You could view it as a punishment, but there isn’t one guy in that room who doesn’t want to win and do better. It is, in its own way, a team-building (moment) and learning to come together as a group." When queried about one very nasty bag skate the Wolf Pack suffered under former head coach, Keith McCambridge, last year upon their return from an unsuccessful Canadian road trip on a Monday - the traditional off day in hockey. “I missed that practice by a week getting reassigned by the Rangers, but no question it left a really bad taste with players for two or three weeks afterward. It took the wind out of our sails. You feel you're being punished, and you're trying to win. It wasn’t a good atmosphere. Today doesn’t resemble that at all. It was a tough practice, yes. It was competitive. It was an hour-long battle to get better-together. I think it’s a good way to work toward breaking a losing streak.” The goaltending duo of Igor Shesterkin and Adam Huska did their usual split of playing time, but Shesterkin played his first back-to-back games in North America, and the formula will remain this week when they visit Lehigh Valley (Allentown, PA ) on Saturday, and Hershey on Sunday. “Both will play, but we really haven’t decided what our rotation will be for this weekend yet." Line changes may see some minor changes with Boo Nieves recalled, and Tim Gettinger returning after two games in New York. The biggest change is the addition of Shawn McBride, who was recalled from Norfolk (ECHL) where he was reassigned from Maine to get playing time for the injured Lewis Zerter-Gossage (upper body, out for the weekend), but are hoping he’ll be back next week. “I’m very happy we were able to recall a natural center and not convert one of our wingers.” He will likely be anchoring the fourth line. NOTES Knoblauch’s bench will be shortened-on the coaching-end this weekend. In an out-of-left-field move, Assistant Coach, David Cunniff, officially resigned this morning and took the Head Coaching/GM job with the Worcester Railers (ECHL), the Islanders Double AA affiliate. The team relieved their first-ever head coach, Jamie Russell, and assistant coach, Derek Army (Kent Prep), of their duties. “We knew for about two days. On Monday, they sought permission from the Rangers' Jeff (Gorton) or Chris (Drury) not sure who, to speak to David about the job. It was really a job he couldn’t pass up. He has been an assistant coach for many years, so he gets his first head coaching job and couldn’t be happier for him, but we're gonna miss him.” Beleskey echoed his sentiments “That’s close to home for him to be a head coach good for him. We're really gonna miss him because he was one positive guy on the bench. He was always talking and encouraging everybody. We all wish him the best.” He was an assistant coach for eight years with the Worcester Sharks under Roy Sommer, the all-time winningest AHL head coach. He was an interim head coach in Iowa for a period of time. His debut at the DCU Center in Worcester Wednesday night wasn’t a good one, a 4-1 loss to the Newfoundland (St. John’s) Growlers. When asked if he had a replacement in mind for Cunniff, Knoblauch responded, “Too fresh and too early for that. Gord Murphy is more than capable of handling more responsibility. We'll be able to handle things this weekend.” There's a troika of possibilities to take over for Cunniff. It could be Jed Ortmeyer, Tanner Glass, or perhaps assistant GM Pat Boller, who was on ice assistant under Ken Gernander, could dust off the skates and be in the mix. Defenseman Yegor Rykov was skating with the group in his non-contact jersey, #57. He is very close to returning as he was going to the doctor’s in the afternoon seeking medical clearance. “If he is cleared as we hope, he won’t this weekend, but hopefully next weekend,” said Knoblauch. Rykov hasn’t played since the Traverse City tournament in September where he suffered a nasty high ankle sprain. With his left arm in a sling, Gabriel Fontaine was actually feeling pretty good five days after his surgery on his left shoulder. "It was actually a lot less pain than I expected. It's not great, getting better every day, but its a tough break for sure." Sleeping has got to be a gymnastic feat. "I've been able to stay on my back, but when I try to go my left side, oh you feel it," Fontaine said with a smile as he rolled his eyes. Tough to have a season cut short at 13 games for one of the nicer players. The hottest team currently in the AHL is the Milwaukee Admirals. They have won ten in a row. The Admirals second-leading scorer is ex-Pack captain Cole Schneider with 19 points in 21 games. The Pack is now the sixth-best in the AHL behind Toronto, Milwaukee, Tucson, Rochester, and Providence. Ex-Pack, John Gilmour, was sent to Rochester. He has played only four games in Buffalo in the first two months of the season and last week just 7:53 in his last game. Ex-CT Whale, Jayson Megna, was sent to the Colorado Eagles by the parent Colorado Avalanche. Former CT Whale, Alex Krushelnyski, was loaned to Rockford after starting the year with Indy (ECHL). Ex-Pack goalie, Brandon Halverson, was returned to Norfolk (ECHL) by Providence. Former QU Bobcat, Craig Martin, gets a weather upgrade from Adirondack (ECHL) to Jacksonville (ECHL). -Jaxon Stauber, son of former Wolf Pack and New Haven Nighthawk goalie Robb Stauber after one NCAA game with the University Minnesota-Mankato a victory 4-1 win over University of Alabama-Huntsville (WCHA) returns to Sioux City Stampede (USHL) for the rest of the year. It preserves his NCAA eligibility and he returns to the defending USHL Clark Cup champions where Stauber had an 11-1 post-season mark win playoff MVP honors. Former Wolf Pack captain, Mat Bodie, is not having a good time in Sweden. He lost his assistant captain status, his ice time, and was then traded from Vaxjo HC (Sweden-SHL) to IK Oskarshamn (Sweden-SHL) Former Sound Tiger, Casey Bailey, leaves South Carolina (ECHL) for Vaxjo gaining the team’s import player license as it's known in Europe. Ex-Pack, Zdenek Bahensky, has gone from Mulhouse (France-FREL) to Cracow (Poland-PZIHL). Read the full article

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highbuttonsports · 5 years ago

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Made in China: Calgary Flames Past year & Future.

Made in China. We see it on everything. Don’t worry, I’m not going to bore you with the whole buy local, support home thing. Made in China had a different meaning for the Calgary Flames this year. The start of a new year, a new season, a new journey to the Stanley Cup. Anyone who has played hockey before knows that heading out on a road trip is the best time to get to know the boys, bond and hang out. Although the travel was gruelling, it was setting up to be a good start. The Flames were beginning the year with some fresh faces in the lineup this year thanks to some work by GM Brad Treliving. The additions of Noah Hanafin on the blue line, Elias Lindholm and Derek Ryan up front. Free agent signings of Austin Czarnik and James Neal, the summer sun wasn’t the only thing that was bright in Calgary. All these new faces mixed with this early road trip things were looking up after a lacklustre season in 2017-2018.

Fast forward to October, and the dreaded home and home with the Canucks is on the docket to begin the year again. The Flames got off to a decent start at the beginning of the year. Nothing that would of gave anyone the assumption the team was going to have a record year. The talk around the town was the same as usual. Win some games, lose some games, let’s see what this team can do. Goaltending this, forwards that, nobody was happy about all the pieces together. Talk radio was riding Mike Smith’s lacklustre starts, James Neal was bouncing up and down the lineup, it was a typical October in Calgary. I remember watching a game early on against Colorado when David Rittich absolutely stood on his head and the Flames won 3-2 in OT. I said to myself at that point, and although still early, this is going to be a fun year. Boy, was I right, to an extent. October was very mediocre for the Flames, basically winning a game, losing a game, winning a game, losing a game. October 25th, 2019 was the true turning point to the season, and you can ask everyone in the city, on the team, in the media about that game. I remember sitting up high in the 200’s, hands in my face sitting there saying WTF is this. What are we watching. Why did we just pay money to be here. Thank god the Saddledome beer is like gold, because it was needed by all. An absolute thrashing from the Penguins, 9-1. The only upside, James Neal scored, one of his 7 goals on the year. You don’t hear the term rock bottom thrown around a lot, but in those post game scrums it was used more than once. It was the low of lows. I think everyone in that dressing room used that thrashing as motivation, and if you look at the season totals after that game you can see it definitely struck a nerve. The Flames started rolling. A 9-6 win over the Blue Jackets in an absolute gong show of a game, a 7-2 win over the Blues, 7-2 over the Knights, 6-3 over the Jets. It goes on and on. Night in and night out the Saddledome started to fill up even more, get louder. The buzz was finally hitting this city like you’d expect any NHL city to do night in night out. Obviously there was still many speed bumps, many obstacles and many questions to be answered throughout the year, but one thing that was for sure, is this team was for real.

The real test was still yet to come, they still had the Christmas break and the All-Star break to get through. You know how easily that can cool off a hot team. Unfortunately it cooled the Flames off for a little bit. The true trying time was after the All-Star break followed by the mandatory 5 days off. Sure it was great for some ailing bodies, some lingering injuries, but I bet if you asked most guys in that dressing room they would of fathomed to keep going. Why stop now. You know when you get in that groove, and then all of a sudden you fall out of it. For most of us average folk how hard is it to get back into that grove. I can’t imagine the pressures of the NHL and being at peak performance all the time and hitting this lull. The Flames had a hell of a schedule coming up in February with multiple trips out east, back west, back east and then home. Let’s sum February up with this. 17 days on the road, finishing with a record of 8-3-2. That’s pretty impressive. Can you imagine travelling for 17 days straight, competing at the highest level of your profession night in an night out, and surviving like that. *Insert applause here*. The home stretch to the end of the year was now upon us, and the Flames were battling night in and night out.

St. Patricks Day, the ol’ luck of the Irish. The Flames were in. Playoff bound, here we go. As I mentioned earlier the city was buzzing for a good portion of the year, but now, the C of Red was alive. The city was taking it to the next level. We know our Flames were going to be hosting a Stanley Cup playoff game. We knew the city was going to be jumping behind the team as support whether it was the bandwagon or not. Do you know how cool it is to be in a city where everyone cares about the same thing for once. Political views out the window, life views out the window, nobody cares who you are, where you come from, we are all Flames. How cool is that? Calgary ended the year with home ice, and drew Nathan Mackinnon and his Colorado Avalanche in the first round. Playoffs, everyone knows it can go either way. It doesn’t matter where one team finished, who clinched when. It’s a new season. You can look at Colorado in a sense they clinched so late, they had to play at such a high level late that they could roll right into the playoffs with the hot hand. But hey, Calgary has had some guys get some much needed rest, they’ll be fresh, maybe they have the upper hand. Calgary opened with a win in game one, and everyone was satisfied. This is what was expected. What wasn’t expected is what happened in the next 4 games. Game 2, Saturday night live in Calgary. The city was insane. The rink was insane. It was a lot of run, and hey! We got overtime on a Saturday night. Anything can happen, and who finishes it but my hometown boy Nate. A pure snipe. What could you do. 1-1 heading down to Denver. I can go on and on about the rest of the series, but everyone knows how that ended up. Colorado absolutely dominated. They skated circles around Calgary. I was in the building for the final game in Calgary, game 5. A couple of jerseys were thrown on the ice late, and the building was silent. I don’t think anyone in that building had any thoughts running through their head. Sure there was frustration, but we all know you can’t think clearly during times like that. The season came to an abrupt end. Treliving described it perfectly, “It’s like running a 100M dash in a 80M gym”.

Everyone was in shock. There were so many questions, so many frustrations. Where do you begin? Everyone new this was stepping up to be a special year. Many thought it was our time. Such is hockey, such is playoffs, such is life. I can go on and on about where I thought it went wrong, what I wasn’t happy with, but realistically we just have to move forward. There were a lot of good things to come out of this year. Rasmus Andersson showed that he can play top pair minutes and stick there. Noah Hanafin and Travis Hamonic put them selves up as one of the top D pairs in the NHL. Jusso Valimaki although hindered by injury most of the year showed he can hang with the big boys as a 19 year old. Elias Lindholm, Johnny Gaudreau had career years. Mike Smith and David Rittich played the 1A, 1B tandem to a near perfect T. Although goalie questions came up all year long, Mike Smith showed he belonged in the playoffs. Sam Bennett was an absolute beast and truly found his own this year. Garnett Hathaway was probably one of the best penalty killers in the NHL this year. Let’s stick to the positives, and leave the negatives aside. We can build off both, but having a positive outlook on the negatives can go a lot further than tearing someone down. There were a lot of great things this year, a lot of experiences had that I truly think this can be built off of. Calgary can do it again, they will do it again. Looking into the future, there are many great pieces sitting in the cupboards. There were a few prospects like Dillon Dube had signs of a full time NHLer when he was called upon this year. Alan Quine played only 14 games with the big club this year, but showed that he can be a reliable speedy third or fourth line player. Although a few questions will be raised, and a busy off-season will be had. Brad Treliving reiterated that “there will be changes”. One can only begin to guess what changes will be made, but lots of rumours are floating around. Calgary qualified Matthew Tkachuk, David Rittich and Sam Bennet, all who are going to be key pieces moving into the coming pieces. Andrew Mangiapane was also qualified, and he turned out to be a firecracker out there this year splitting time between the third and fourth line. This goes to show you the depth that these scouts go to to find guys that can hang at this level after almost being counted out just based on draft position alone. The biggest question mark is who will be tending the pipes next year. Part of the puzzle has been all but decided, but that is one cupboard that is missing a few solid pieces.

I’ll leave you with one lasting thought until next time. Buckets. What the hell does this guy mean about buckets. Well let me explain. Buckets was a term that was used when describing last year. We had guys in this bucket, and guys in that bucket. One bucket was half full with guys that wanted it, the other bucket was full of passengers. Let’s up that size of bucket so everyone wants to be in it no matter how tight, and everybody is driving. The everlasting Flame from the C of Red is definitely shining a little brighter.

-Mike Murrant

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dnowit41 · 6 years ago

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The many stories of Mavs icon Dirk Nowitzki as told by Donnie Nelson, Rick Carlisle, and Mark Cuban

Brad Townsend

Donnie Nelson met then-19-year-old Dirk Nowitzki in the lobby of Dallas' Hyatt Regency late one night in March 1998.

A most likely drunk Mark Cuban briefly met Nowitzki and Steve Nash in Dallas' Starck Club in early January 2000, with the players not realizing that Cuban would become their boss the next day.

Rick Carlisle met Nowitzki at the 2004 NBA All-Star game in Los Angeles, then, more formally in May 2008, when Carlisle came to Dallas to interview for the Mavericks' coaching job.

The 2008 meeting was the merger - Cuban, Nelson, Carlisle and Nowitzki, gathered in Cuban's Preston Hollow home - that laid the groundwork to the Mavericks' 2011 NBA championship and the final 11 seasons of Nowitzki's 21-year career.

Cuban and Carlisle have unique perspectives of the Nowitzki Era. Here are their oral accounts of a 22-year timeline, from the Mavericks' great fortune of landing Nowitzki, to his retirement this week: Meetings, first impressions, pivotal moments and lasting takeways.

When Dirk met Donnie

Q: When did you first hear of Dirk?

Donnie Nelson: "The first time I heard the name, I was working for the Phoenix Suns and I was working on our draft board and I overheard Charles Barkley and Scottie Pippen talking about a kid that they played against and they couldn't pronounce his name - Numinski, Rumanski.

"It was just a pregame conversation and they were talking about this guy in Germany that was good. That was the first time I heard the name being attempted."

Pippen, Barkley, Michael Jordan, Jason Kidd and other top NBA players had faced teenager Nowitzki in 1997, when the Nike Hoops Heroes exhibition tour stopped in Berlin.

"The next time I recognized his name was when the list came out for the 1998 Nike Hoops Summit and I said, 'Man, that's got to be the same kid from Germany.”

Q: When and how did you meet Dirk?

Nelson: "In the lobby of the Hyatt Regency. I was the assistant coach of the [Hoops Summit] international team. I was the assistant coach for the event's first three years because I was the 'international guy' and was familiar with a lot of the players and worked the Euro camp overseas and was the Lithuanian [Olympic team] assistant.

"I just kind of donated my time, with permission of course from my team, the Suns. And then ironically -- this was very serendipitous because as you can remember I came to the Mavericks halfway through the season. If I still was with the Suns I would not have been able to help with the Hoops Summit because the Suns were playoff-bound and the Summit was moved [to late March] because they wanted to couple it with the Final Four in San Antonio.

"So all of a sudden, halfway through the season, I go from the Suns to the Mavericks and I find out that they're going to have the international team training camp in Dallas. And it just happens that I called and I said, 'Hey, listen, now that I'm with the Mavericks we're obviously not going to be playoff-bound, so I'm free to help again if you guys need me to help.'

"I think we can thank DFW Airport for having this be the training camp site because the players came from all over the world and DFW Airport is DFW Airport. Largely for logistical reasons, training camp would be in Dallas and that we would jump on a Southwest flight and go down and play in San Antonio."

Q: And that first Dirk meeting?

Nelson: "The first time I saw him, my first reaction was, 'Well, holy crap, he really is close to 7-feet.' Because a lot of these guys, you hear about them and then by the time they show up on American shores they've shrunk by six inches.

"I had really very little background. Him and Holger [Geschwindner] show up in the middle of the night, literally they were the last ones in, he and Holger. Because Holger thought it was very important for Dirk, he had to sneak him out in the middle of the night from his team over there, get him on a plane and bring him over here.

"It was so late, the team was already in the spaceball in the Hyatt having dinner. The Nike guy leans over to me and says, 'Hey, the German kid has shown up. Go get him and bring him up here.'

"I go down into the lobby, I guess they'd had some hellacious flight that had a couple of redirects. I didn't know Holger was going to be there. I called up to the spaceball and said, 'Hey, Dirk is here, his coach is here, should I bring him up?' The Nike guy was like, 'Dirk can come but his coach can't.'

"I took Dirk up to the spaceball up there and did like anyone would from the friendship state and that was went back down and there's Holger sitting on a chair in the same flannel shirt and jeans that he wears today, and the leather jacket that's like out of some movie. ... I bought him dinner and beer and just kind of made him feel welcome.

"And that's basically how our relationship started, which was just extending the hand of goodwill. Any red-blooded American would have done that, but I did it and that just happened to be how Holger and I kicked off our relationship."

When Dirk met Cuban

Q: When did you and Dirk meet?

Mark Cuban: "It was the night before I took over the team, at the Starck Club, and he was there with Steve. And I knew I was going to take over the team the next day, so I was out celebrating with my buddies and we were looking stupid and acting stupid.

"And I tried to buy him and Steve beers and they looked at me like, 'Uh, no.' I'm like, 'OK, I'll see you tomorrow,' and walked off. They just thought I was some idiot trying to buy the drink, and if you saw the picture you'd think I was an idiot, too.

"Then I saw them the next day when I got introduced to the team."

Q: How did Dirk react?

Cuban: "Dirk and his 20-year-old face, I'm sure he's was thinking, 'What a [expletive] circus. This is what we're getting?'"

When Dirk met Carlisle

Q: When and where did you meet Dirk?

Rick Carlisle: "The first time I met him was at the 2004 All-Star Game in L.A. I was coaching the East. There was an organizational meeting of both teams and coaching staffs. I ended up sitting near him. We struck up a conversation, talked for five or ten minutes about things.

"He had known that I had played with Larry Bird back in the day. We talked a little bit about that. For me, I could tell from that conversation the purity of who he was as a person and a player and a competitor.

"The next time I met him, officially, was when I came down here to talk to these guys about the job in the spring of 2008. It was a meeting at Mark's house and I just remember, when I said 'Hello' again it struck me, 'Wow, I can't believe how tall this guy is. He's taller than I even thought from coaching against him.

"We had a three-hour meeting at Mark's house with me, Mark, Dirk, Donnie. Just talked about a lot of things, philosophically, competitively. I just got the same vibe that I did in L.A., that the guy was a sincere competitor that was only interested in winning a championship."

First impressions

Q: In those Hoops Summit international practices, at the Dallas YMCA, what stood out about Dirk?

Nelson: "I actually didn't know what to expect. The first day in practice and then you're just seeing a 7-foot fluid athlete. And then when he started shooting I was like, 'Man, that's not bad.'

"You'll hear this adage in scouting: One look can be dangerous. ... But about the second, third day, I was like, 'Boy, that wasn't a mirage and that second day wasn't a mirage. He sure looks like he could be a player.'"

Q: When did you alert your father [Mavs coach and GM Don Nelson] and put Dirk on the Mavs' radar?

Nelson: "I would say it was probably a couple of practices in. We in the NBA, it's like a pretty girl walking into the room. You can't not notice those things. Especially if you're in coaching, you definitely understand that success is 90-percent Jimmys and Joes and 10-percent X's and O's.

"We get through training camp, go to San Antone, the first half, we had a challenged backcourt and the U.S. team in the first half literally was putting on the full-court press. Dirk, we just couldn't get the ball to halfcourt.

"After halftime, Dirk, on his own, starts coming over halfcourt. If you're one of these poor guys trying to get the ball in and you see this 7-foot target and you can just lob it up there and go over the press.

"It just shows the software of Dirk and the problem-solving and team player is he just starts, on his own volition, going to the backcourt and they hit him with the ball and he just does what he's been taught by Holger to do since Holger started coaching him and that's going coast-to-coast and shooting threes.

"Every NBA team was there in droves. The first half was, let's call it less than stellar on the part of the international team. But I think once Dirk started being Dirk and kind of taking the bull by the horns."

Nowitzki finished with 33 points and 14 rebounds as the international team rallied for a 104-99 victory over the USA Team.

"There again is the adage of one look being dangerous. Other GMs, they're literally going off a half a game. They didn't have the luxury of seeing him at additional times like we did."

Q: What did you think when you first saw Dirk play, as a Mavs fan, before you bought the team in January 2000?

Cuban: "Back then it was hard to know. Because our track record wasn't very good at picking international guys. Like every Mavs fan I had high hopes, but I really didn't know. All I knew is he did really stupid commercials about being tall and pulling things out of trees."

Q: Donnie Nelson has said he and his father are fortunate because when you bought the team, you could have cleaned out, brought in your own basketball people. It's not like the team was winning.

Cuban: "Yeah, but I didn't know any better. What was I going to do? How was I going to pick anybody? I didn't know (expletive). I figured I was just going to take time to learn and there was no downside. I mean, it wasn't like the pressure was on to keep winning games. There was no downside to me just keeping it as it was and learning."

Q: When did you notice the tide turn for Dirk?

Cuban: "The first year when I bought the team and was there and I got to pay attention. From the time I took over, for the rest of the year we had a winning record. You saw progress from Dirk and everybody. Teams weren't really taking us seriously because when I bought them we were like 9-23, but you could just see it from all three of those guys [Nowitzki, Steve Nash, Michael Finley]."

Q: What was it like coaching against Dirk when you were with the Pacers and Pistons?

Carlisle: "It was him, Finley and Nash together. And then their team changed. They became more defensive-oriented and changed their style when Avery [Johnson] got here. They presented different challenges then. But you have a 7-foot-1 guy that can score from any point on the floor, I mean, that's a big problem, trying to find someone to guard him.

"How are you going to deal with him in the post if he goes in there? How are you going to find him in transition? All those things. He sets a screen, it's like a double-screen on your guys because you've gotta hug him. It was a myriad of problems to deal with. It was very difficult."

Q: What was your perception of Dirk before you took over as coach in 2008?

Carlisle: "He was a perennial All-Star and a great player, a guy that I had really felt at that point of time had redefined the power forward position, for sure. I watched the 2006 series with Miami very closely. And I knew how close they had been and how painful that was.

"When I got here in 2008, we were fortunate to make some really critical moves to get the team in position and then get on a historic run, at the exact right time. He had everything to do with that.

"Dirk, one of his real legacies is going to be the way that he has helped this game evolve to what it is today.

"In the 90s and early 2000s, there was a real crisis. Scoring was down. It was, people in decision-making positions were trying to figure out what to do. But the way Dirk approached the game and the way Nellie converted him from a 3 to a 4, helped nudge the game along, open up space. Eventually the value of the 3-point shot to open up space became a reality.

"So the game today now, you don't hear anybody talking about how there's not enough scoring, or it's not exciting, those kind of things."

Q: What do you remember about your first game of coaching Dirk?

Carlisle: "The first game was an exhibition game. I do remember that. I think we were playing against Washington. He had a very short-hair thing going at the time. I was just trying to get the lay of the land around here. Dallas, I was so new. We had a new coaching staff, still getting used to what Mark was all about.

"But in that summer leading up to the first particular game, [Dirk] had established he was going to be on an even keel all the time, unwavering, all those kinds of things. I know he played well in that game. He was coming off of the Olympic appearance by Germany that year. We had kind of watched his reps in training camp and stuff. But it was pretty clear to me at that time that this guy was an absolute rock in terms of being that guy."

Pivotal moments

Q: What do you remember from the draft night of 1998 trade with Milwaukee that brought Dirk here and sent Robert Traylor to the Bucks?

Nelson: "That trade was contingent upon Dirk being there and available. And then we traded down and rolled the bones on Nash. So, yes, it was agreed to before, but if Dirk would have gone 3 or 4 or 5, the deal would have been off.

"When it got to 9 and he and Paul Pierce were still there. We had them both in the top three of that draft. We were floored.

"It's funny because when that happened, my dad looked at me and said, 'What are you going to do now, son?' It was tongue in cheek, but it was also, I think, in his mind, he knew the challenges that we were going to go through with Dirk. He also knew that Paul Pierce was plug and play.

"We're at the conference table and I think he knew we were going to do what we were going to do. But I think he wanted me to understand the weight of the decision of what we were about to do.

"When you're a guy like my dad and you've coached a lot, the difference between Paul Pierce that is a plug and play, he's going to come in his rookie year and he's going to put up 20, 8 and 6 and you've got Dirk and he's going to put up 5 fouls and three points. It's a much steeper learning curve.

"Even after we got him on draft night, we still had to convince him that we were the best option. Honestly, we were about two years ahead of Holger's plan. Holger's plan was to take him to the Hoops Summit and then give him a couple of years, whether overseas at Benetton or a Real Madrid or Barcelona, or go to colleges. He had Cal and Kentucky and I think it was Kansas. He had three full rides.

"In Holger's mind Dirk wasn't quite ready for the NBA. It became Nellie and myself, going to Germany, sitting down with Holger, mom, dad, Dirk, and a big part of it was playing time. We had to commit to, 'Look, Dirk's not just going to come sit the bench. We're going to take Dirk in like he's our own. We're going to put the ball in his hands. We're understand we're going to lose, to develop Dirk, that's part of the rebuilding plan.'

"Then, look, when Mark came in as owner, he really embraced us in our darkest hour. We had everyone who wasn't happy with the win-loss record at the time. Mark had every right to come in and say, 'Hey, I'll take the keys from here in, boys. I appreciate it.' And he embraced us and Dirk and Nash and the whole program."

Q: How has your relationship with Dirk evolved during the 19 seasons you've owned the team?

Cuban: "I don't how many players and owners have gotten drunk as many times together as Dirk and I have. Or sat for 10 hours together at a blackjack table. Or gotten kicked out of places.

"The good and the bad and everything. It's more off-the-court, really where you connect with Dirk. He's in his own little world when he's working out and when the game starts. The rest of the time, it's been an adventure, to say the least.

"We've been through a lot of hassles. A lot of sorrow, on the court and off. And we were always there for each other. That bonds you. You just can't help it. It bonds you.

"It's not like we're best friends, but it's like where we have a really, really strong relationship that we both know we can go to each other any time and we're always there for each other.

"We usually make sure we spent a couple of times over the summer just to hang out and have fun. Up until last year, we went to Vegas together 15 out of 16 years or something ridiculous."

Q: Is he a good gambler?

Cuban: (laughing) "No, he's horrible. He plays like $25 hands so he can sit there and drink. His drinks have evolved over the years, I guess. Being at his sister's wedding in Vegas was a treat, too."

Q: What were your impressions as you got to know Dirk, the player and person?

Carlisle: "One of the special things about Dirk is he is a guy who has never looked for attention, never wanted to be in the spotlight, other than to serve his teammates, fans and certainly ownership, because he and Mark certainly have a special relationship.

"The points were obvious. That's never going to go away. But for those of us who have had the great privilege to be in the trenches with him for a long time, the competitive integrity, the way he prepares on a daily basis, the way he gives of himself to his teammates, to the franchise, to the community in such a humble way, those are the things that, for me, really are big-time things about who he is."

Q: What did winning the championship mean to you personally, in terms of your relationship with Dirk?

Carlsile: "That moment obviously was a very emotional moment for him, but very gratifying for me and Mark and Donnie, too, because being able to get this team in a position to have that kind of success for guys like Dirk, Jason Kidd, Jason Terry, Tyson Chandler, Shawn Marion, was very special."

Biggest takeaways

Q: It's one thing to have your face of the franchise be a uniquely talented player. It's another thing for him to have an NBA-record 21-season career, all with one team. But it's still another to have that player be humble and self-deprecating and community-minded. How do you place a value in having all of these things in one player?

Nelson: "In this business, it's so easy to get big-head. With Dirk, he's in a lot of respects the same guy that had the Scottie Pippen poster his room and living in mom and dad's flat. He just never let any of that outside stuff get to him. He always saw himself as part of a team that wanted to win a championship.

"He didn't see himself as a brand. He could have had millions and millions of dollars of endorsements, his 'own this and that,' TV shows. He could have gone in so many directions, but his entire career saw himself as a basketball player that wanted to be the best that he possibly could be. And he let nothing else distract him. Nothing.

"One big reason is Holger. From day one, Holger was the one who saw him playing pickup and saw promise and wanted him to be what he's become and showed him, both on the court and off the court how to get there. Dirk's dad is an absolutely hard-working competitive former athlete, as is mom. They understand the value of athletics and staying humble.

"Things like power and money and fame and fortune, all that stuff that generally takes a young mind and twists it and warps it, it never happened. The only thing I can do is credit mom and dad and Holger and the people who surrounded him. When you're sitting there with a guy like Steve Nash and Michael Finley, Nellie back in the formative days, these are people that are honest, straight-shooting and are workaholics and passionate about the sport and winning. That's it.

"It's a very, very special human being who has occupied that locker and that uniform that's got 41 on it."

Q: What's next for Dirk?

Cuban: "Dirk's family. I'm happy for him in a lot of respects because the best part of his life comes afterwards. You think in any career that, 'OK, this is what you've done and this is who you are,' but Dirk's so much more than just being a basketball player.

"It's going to be hard for him to adjust initially, but the best part of his life is yet to come.

"Twenty years on the court here, plus when he was a kid. But he's got a lot longer off the court. I think that's where he'll continue to be the guy we all know and really blossom. Because I think everybody will get to know him better because he doesn't have to focus on being so disciplined. He doesn't have to have that same discipline.

"It wouldn't shock me if we saw him at 280, 290 with a pot belly."

Q: You're kidding, right?

Cuban: (laughing) "No, no, no. I'd be willing to bet. He already knows he has any job with us that he wants. He'll probably spend most of his time designing his statue."

Q: What will you miss most?

Carlisle: "I'll miss everything, but the way Dirk approached things, each day was a set of challenges. There was almost a checklist of things he would do to prepare. It was so meticulous. It was so precise, and yet it was so workmanlike. You could set an atomic watch to it.

"When it came time to throw the ball up, he was going to be ready to play. If he wasn't a hundred percent, you weren't gonna know it, really, because he was going to slug through it and he was going to find a way to make a major impact on that game."

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paradoxicalca · 5 years ago

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r/hockey NHL Power Rankings Week 7: Spicy Edition

/r/Hockey NHL Power Rankings Week Nov 11, 2019 - Nov 17, 2019Thank YouThank you to all of the volunteers doing the power rankings. Each ranker has their own system and have their own reasonings and analyis. It truly is a lot of work.RankersSpoilerOrganizersSpoilerVisualizationThe visualization contains historical data, so you can see how your team has done over time. Hopefully, we can run this for many years in hopes that we can see the rise and fall of teams by /r/hockey opinion.It automatically updates so feel free to bookmark. You can find it hereProcessHow does this work? Throughout the course of the week rankers are able to access an app that will allow them to rank teams. At the end of the period we calculate the average ranking for every team and collate all of the analysis provided by rankers.The app then generates a post that is first proofread and then posted to /r/hockey!Rankings (29/31 Rankers Reporting)Ranking (avg)TeamDeltaOverall RecordRecord This WeekComments1 (1.34)Washington Capitals-15-3-42-1-1Best team in the league, full stop.2 (2.2)New York Islanders114-3-12-0-0The magic continues. Point streak of 14 games, of which 13 were wins. It looked in danger down 3-0 in Philly, but the guys who have been really hot, Barzal and Beauvillier, stayed hot bringing the Isles back. Brassard is playing amazingly on Nelson's wing, currently looking like the best signing across the league this past summer. Goaltending showed some signs of regression this week but the team still found a way to win. Ladd looks to have returned to full health, or at least as close as he can get anymore, but is in Bridgeport for the time being. Will be interesting to see if he makes his way up to the NHL or gets hurt before he gets the chance.3 (3.69)Boston Bruins-112-3-51-0-2Well, at least it's a point streak as the injuries mount up with Krug joining the IR and Bergeron not playing against the Caps. I hope Bruce made the team bagskate penalty shots until they scored 3 each on Halak and Rask. In Bruce's tenure as Head Coach, the team has a record 3-14 in shootouts. I can't fault the goalies either but it's pretty much a given that if you take the Bruins to a shootout, the other team will get the W. I'm not expecting miracles there but at least near 0.500.4 (5.63)St. Louis Blues-12-4-50-1-2The Blues have been winning a lot despite relatively poor play for a while now, and this week they finally had some down games. Just from the eye test, they look good but not good enough. If they don't rebound in the next week expect them to severely drop5 (6.03)Edmonton Oilers-13-6-31-1-1This team needs to make up its fucking mind. Blown out by the Sharks then blowing out the Avs then tossing away a victory with an OT loss against the Stars. The team still lives and dies on the Powerplay. Best Powerplay in the league, but nearly all the offence is produced through the Powerplay. The 5-on-5 play needs substantial improvement. The bottom six is a disaster. And then the reason we still lead the Pacific: Leon Draisaitl and Connor McDavid. WE ARE MERE MORTALS IN FRONT OF THESE GODS. Solid shout-out to Nuge, Klefbomb, Bear, Koskinen, Smith, Khaira and Nurse. 4 consecutive divisional games next week. If the Oilers do well here, they will continue to stand above the Pacific, but any faltering here and they will take a dive in this competitive division.6 (6.4)Colorado Avalanche-12-6-22-1-0Injuries yay! This week started off taking out Francouz and having us call up our 3rd and 4th goalies to play games. Also RIP Calvert hope he is ok. Adam Werner stole the show against the Jets, but he had a lot more trouble with McDavid and Drai. Bibeau was serviceable vs the Canucks, but we would love Grubauer or Francouz to get healthy, both are on the trip as we carry 4 goalies. The good news is the team looked good with solid chemistry and MacKinnon and Makar have just taken over. On the bad side the defense looks scattered and it doesn't help our young goalies. Next up is the second half of our Western Canadian trip and Saturday finishes with a Hockey night in Canada game against the Leafs in Denver. Makalder Watch: Cale Makar is amazing, on track for the best rookie season by a defenseman in decades. He had 6 points in three games with another Game winner against the Jets. His defense has also been getting better and better he had some great plays against the Canucks.7 (8.74)Carolina Hurricanes212-7-13-0-0Rob the Bod has the team back on track but the competition they faced wasn’t overtly difficult and they barely eked out wins against the Wild and Buffalo. For a team that is considered to have one the best overall defense in the league giving up a tying goal late each game is unacceptable.8 (9.23)Arizona Coyotes612-7-23-1-0The Yotes went 3-1 over the previous week, setting NHL history by becoming the first team to sweep the previous 2 Stanley Cup Champions in back-to-back games (of 69 potential times in history). The success is being driven by the rock-solid goal tending tandem in net, with Kuemper picking up a shutout over Calgary, and almost picking up a goalie fight as well. Defense has also been rock tight. It isnt consistently pretty, but this team is finding ways to win, taking 3 of 4 games this week (2 through the shootout).9 (10.77)Pittsburgh Penguins-111-7-21-1-1"I need to be fire," he said with a laugh. "I will be fire." This is Geno Malkin as we know him stepping up in the absence of Crosby who needed surgery and will be out for a couple months. Geno along with the rest of the walking wounded that is the Penguins lineup, struggled to finish their many chances in losses against the Rangers and Devils this week. The Pens controlled possession, got solid defensive efforts from the backend, and played tough and resilient for a team whose players are dropping left and right. Saturday the Penguins got their bounces and lit up the Maple Leafs unleashing the power of Geno’s fire straight to the seat occupied by Leafs coach Mike Babcock who got an earful from his home crowd. The Penguins are no strangers to playing without Sid, and with a continued effort to solid defensive hockey they will tread water until he can come back and lead the Pens into the playoffs once again.10 (11.29)Montreal Canadiens811-5-42-0-1After earning 5 of 6 points in an emotional week highlighted by a stunning road upset of the NHL-leading Capitals, the Habs cruise to the quarter-mile post in 2nd place in the fierce and unforgiving Atlantic division. They've done it with a high-octane and well-balanced offense that's been a nightmare to defend. Even slumps by Domi and Drouin haven't slowed the Habs down, thanks (in part) to Tatar's great start and Suzuki's emergence as the most exciting rookie east of the Rockies. If Price, Petry and Weber stay healthy this team could do some serious damage in the 2nd half. Keep in mind GM Bergevin has the cash (cap space), the credit (draft picks/prospects), and the biceps to make a major purchase at the trade deadline. This is a team to watch.11 (13.31)Dallas Stars1111-8-23-0-0Where has this team been hiding all season?? The stars seem to have suddenly figured how to do that hockey well.12 (13.34)Buffalo Sabres-210-7-31-1-1We are playing for a top pick right now. I can't honestly believe we beat Ottawa, let alone in regulation. This incredible trainwreck would be unfathomable in a vacuum, but given that this same sequence happened literally last year, I'm less shocked. If we don't have either Jack or Sam for any length of time, we can write this year off as a straight-garbage-fire loss. How many games has it been since someone other than them has scored? Our secondary scoring is so cold that if you lined Jimmy Vesey up in interstellar space, heat would flow from space into his body. We were first in the league!13 (14.03)Winnipeg Jets712-8-12-1-014 (15.09)Tampa Bay Lightning39-6-21-1-0Tampa looked amazing against NY, but meh against the Jets. Did a great job of capitalizing on PPs during the NY game, but went back to spending too much time in the box against Winnipeg.15 (15.74)Vancouver Canucks-310-7-41-1-1The Canucks went 1-1-1 this week, finishing off a four game home stand with a total of 3 points. Underlying numbers remain promising, but results are sporadic and it appears we are seeing the Canucks settle closer to what can be expected out of a young team. I've seen people discussing the DJ again, which usually says more about dissatisfaction with the on-ice product than it does about whatever cheesy tunes are being played. That said, the Canucks still potted 11 goals in their last 3 games, Hughes had 2 assist Saturday night, Demko remains solid (and at times brilliant), and the hockey is fun as hell for a bubble team. The power-play remains inconsistent, because this is ice hockey and nothing is consistent. After a too-good-to-be-true start, fans may need to re-calibrate expectations in order to enjoy the grind as the season wears on.16 (15.77)Nashville Predators-99-7-30-2-0Well this is the easiest blurb I've written in my time doing these power rankings: something is fucked with this team right now, and the fanbase is quickly turning against itself questioning what the problem is. Has Lavi lost the room? Is Pekka on the decline? Is the defense breaking down too much? Was Duchene worth it? What does it say that Bonino is our second leading goal scorer? Is our third D pairing holding us back? Is everyone just overreacting to a cold streak? What should our next banner say? I don't really have any answers, but I do know watching the last few games has not been fun. Also, we're currently on the outside looking in at 5th in the Central so that's cool I guess. Oh look, Chicago won another game so now we're 6th. Fuck.17 (16.43)Vegas Golden Knights-610-9-31-2-0The most recent win can't hide the fact that the Golden Knights were just in a 5 game winless streak. Underlying numbers suggested that the Knights are playing better than their record shows but blown leads, missed opportunities, and 3rd period collapses we're a theme during the team's slump. We'll see if the win against Calgary is a start of fixing those issues.18 (16.94)Philadelphia Flyers110-6-40-1-2I mean taking the top two teams in the league (Islanders and Caps) to the SO means we can Fly with the best of em. But losing in regulation to the Sens means that we can Die with the worst of em. We still need the veterans to step up a bit more, but the young guns have been doing well to keep us in games (TK, Lindblom, Hart). Also can the NHL STOP SETTING GAMES ON THE ONLY NIGHTS THAT I WORK LIKE COME ON GUYS I LIKE WATCHING HOCKEY TOO. Ted Talk over, Praise Gritty19 (17.49)Anaheim Ducks-310-9-21-1-1This season feels like a rerun. Looks like a losing home stand came 1 month earlier than last year. A poor effort against the oilers after 4 days off. Similarly poor effort against the wild. I don’t see the fight. I don’t see the ducks ready to start any game lately. Song of the week: Free fallin’ - Tom Petty and the heartbreakers20 (17.89)Florida Panthers110-5-52-1-0The Panthers had a fantastic comeback victory against the Bruins early in the week. They showed a lot of character and determination. This team doesn't quit when they get scored on and fall behind which is great because goaltending has been, let's put it nicely, garbage. Overall it was a good week with a rare regulation loss and win.21 (18.51)Calgary Flames-610-10-30-3-0Oof. The Flames scored 1 goals in 3 games this week, and conceded 12. They have not led at any point in about 220 minutes. In short... the Flames are a bad hockey team right now.22 (19.54)San Jose Sharks210-10-13-0-0The San Jose Sharks are 6-0-0 in the (2019-20) Radim Šimek era! In all seriousness, the team is looking much better than they did for the first ~15 games. The offence is getting more creative and it's showing, and the D has tightened up. I really like the line of Meier-Hertl-Goodrow and I hope PDB doesn't blend them too soon, and Kane-Cooch-Labanc have looked pretty good too. Karlsson and Vlasic have cleaned up their play since they've been together, and Šimek has really anchored Burns, which is exactly what we needed from him. The Sharks aren't out of the woods yet and there's improvements to be made, but we're playing much better than we have been. G23 (20.37)Toronto Maple Leafs-109-9-40-3-0The weather is getting colder, and the leaves are falling. Big time. After a rough start for the backup Hutchison v Chicago, he was waived on Monday and the Leafs called up Kaskisuo to backup Freddy Andersen. On Wednesday, the Leafs fell behind twice but only came back once, losing 5-4. Then, a 4-2 loss to Boston extended the Leafs losing streak to 4 games. This was further extended to 5 after Kaskisuo's NHL debut against the Penguins, as he got completely hung out to dry, as the Leafs got clobbered 6-1. Offensively, it doesn't look like there's much effort or care. Too many passes. Defensively, too many passes to the other team. It's bad. Be sure to check out r/leafs for any information you need about leaves!24 (23.54)Chicago Blackhawks29-7-43-0-0The Blackhawks beat the Golden Knights for the first time in franchise history. The Hawks are 5-0-1 since tweaking their system, scoring 4+ goals in each of those 5 wins. Kane has 8G, 9A and points in each of our last 9 games. Dach has 4G, 2A and points in each of our last 4. 5-on-5 goals by Hawks defensemen: 1 in our first 17 games, 4 in the last 3. The Hawks are 4-0-0 on the tail end of back-to-backs, thanks to an excellent goaltending duo.25 (24.94)New York Rangers-28-8-21-2-0Shitty week overall. Started off solid with a OTW against the Pens with Kakko scoring two goals including the overtime winner. After that, the Florida trip got real bad real fast. The Lightning blew us completely out of the water 9-3. Chytil scored two goals, but beyond that there wasn't too much good. In the game against the Panthers, Panarin attempted to carry us to a W singlehandedly, but we came up short. Hopefully once Zibanejad comes back, we'll find a little more consistency and we can pull out some more wins.26 (26.46)Columbus Blue Jackets-17-8-41-0-1"We are one god damn uptight team" - John Tortorella27 (27.37)Los Angeles Kings38-11-13-0-0The Kings had a perfect week- despite being against mostly low opposition. The lower half of the Pacific is getting spicy- although the Kings still sit at the very bottom.28 (27.4)New Jersey Devils17-8-42-1-0Suspicious shifty eyes * 2 wins in a row? All that did was probably buy Hynes more time before the inevitable. 3 games upcoming, Bruins, Pens, Red Wings. *The Good:** We won 2 games against decent opponents in the Pens and Habs, back to back, with Blackwood in net both games. Simmonds has 3 goals in the last 4 games and the goals seems to be coming in from all over the roster in general. The Bad: We dropped the game against the Sens and let Pageau walk all over us and get a hatty. Hall still isn't putting the puck in the net despite leading the team in points. His shooting percent has now fallen below 3%. The Ugly: Cory might as well not be rostered. He's played once since Halloween. His save% is 0.852, and his GAA is 4.59. It's really, really hard to watch the player who was the reason the Devils weren't the worst team in league for several years get hurt and completely fall apart post surgery. In a span where we've played 3 back to backs, Cory has played once and lost.29 (27.91)Ottawa Senators-18-11-12-2-0Another unexpectedly strong week. Even if the Sens did hand Eichel 4 goals on a silver platter on the 2nd stage of a back to back, they were still hanging in the game (albiet barely) right up until the final backbreaker goal. Beating the Flyers was also pretty huge. This team is starting to be defined by a "work insanely hard" culture which is exactly what we've been needing! Somehow we find ourselves closing in on the Leafs in the standings...I think most Sens fans would honestly rather have a high draft pick instead of making a playoffs push this year. Still, with the Sens looking less awful than expected and the Sharks on a winstreak thanks to Radim Šimek - the Czech god of the blue line - one must already wonder who will make it to the wildcard spots and what draft day is going to look like. Even with barely a quarter of the season played out.30 (28.8)Minnesota Wild-37-11-21-1-1The Wild aren't as good as they could be, and not as bad as they should be. The one thing that's been consistent over the years however is reigning as the league's worst 3-on-3 team, and it's not even close. Since the implementation of the arcade-style OT, Minnesota is a laughable 12-30. Translate those results over to the first 60 minutes and it's Lottery City baby!31 (29.8)Detroit Red Wings-7-12-31-0-2This is the worst Red Wings roster in some 30 years. A defense this week led by Dennis Cholowski(21) and Madison Bowey(24). Seriously read that again, that’s the first pair! Despite this, the Red Wings have finally made a return to playing the kind of games that makes any rebuilding team successful. Down to the wire, come from behind, and battling hard for each win even if they come up short. Andreas Athanasiou has picked up heat scoring a couple signature goals with his speed and quick hands. Larkin is still creating awesome chances and looks fantastic in the faceoff circle. This team actually does a great job in that department despite not capitalizing on many of the opportunities. Furthermore, the league worst PK has actually been getting extremely better in the last two weeks. While it sits at 70.6%, the last five games the Wings have killed 12/14 PP. Things are swinging back up for Detroit lets hope they can maintain this pace for more than two weeks. r/hockey NHL Power Rankings Week 7: Spicy Edition Source

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jodyedgarus · 6 years ago

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Who Are The Best WNBA Prospects From The Final Four?

The WNBA Draft will be held on Wednesday, just three days after the women’s NCAA tournament wrapped up. It’s an incredibly tight turnaround for the players and their prospective teams, particularly for anyone who made it to the Final Four. The tournament therefore serves as both a fitting capstone on collegiate careers and a real-time combine for a league that doesn’t have one for its tops prospects.

Take Notre Dame, which fell 1 point short of a second-straight national title on Sunday. It has four elite seniors and one junior expected to hear their names called; they will have had less than 72 hours after finishing their work in Tampa to get prepared mentally and physically for the moment their professional dreams come true, then balance professional obligations with graduation.

“They don’t have time to search for agents and they don’t have time to make decisions,” Notre Dame head coach Muffet McGraw said Saturday. “Every game they go into, they’re thinking about their future because if they play poorly, they’re wondering is their stock going to drop, if they play well, is their stock going to rise?”

McGraw is right about this reality: WNBA coaches and GMs are scrutinizing every last possession to make sure their draft preferences reflect the most current reality. So at FiveThirtyEight, we decided to let the players and coaches make their best cases for themselves or their soon-to-be-former players, while measuring their claims against the statistical record. Here’s what we found on the best pro prospects at the 2019 Final Four.1

Notre Dame

We’ll start with Notre Dame. Arike Ogunbowale is best known for her dual buzzer-beater shots last season, and UConn head coach Geno Auriemma, whose team was victimized by one of them, called her “virtually unguardable one-on-one” this past weekend.

Ogunbowale will transition well into the WNBA “because she can play the same type of position she’s playing now,” McGraw said of her senior guard. “I think she’s ready. I think her body is ready…I think she’s ready right now for the next level.”

The numbers back McGraw and Auriemma up. Just four players have logged 800 offensive possessions this year, according to Synergy Sports. Ogunbowale is not only one of them, a tribute to Notre Dame’s reliance on her, but she easily leads that group. She does so in a variety of ways, shooting 44.6 percent from the field and 35.9 percent on threes, with a turnover rate below 10 percent for the third-straight season despite all her ball dominance.

At 5-foot-8, Ogunbowale will also be asked to play some point guard by most potential teams at the next level, and so her elevated assist ratee — 19.0 percent, an improvement from 13.6 percent in 2017-18 — only bolsters her WNBA case further.

Interestingly, the same is true of her backcourt mate, Marina Mabrey, who was forced into primary point guard duties due to other injuries last year and has proven herself to be a combo guard candidate for the WNBA, with most league evaluators expecting her to be chosen in the second round.

“I feel like it’s helped me because if there’s somebody at my position at the two, that’s playing, I can still play at the one,” Mabrey said Saturday. “It will give me a better chance at getting on the floor quicker.”

The numbers support this. Mabrey’s assist rate this season jumped to 23.9 percent, but it hasn’t come at the expense of her shooting efficiency (54.4 percent from two, 40.8 percent from three). So a WNBA team drafting Mabrey can add the fourth-best spot-up shooter, per Synergy, of the 1,212 shooters with at least 75 such possessions in Division I this season.

Forward Brianna Turner, meanwhile, has been a primary driver of Notre Dame’s improved defense.

“If anybody is looking for someone who can defend any position on the floor, I think she would be a tremendous fit for any team,” McGraw said of Turner on Saturday. Turner is slated to go early in the second round.

Her fellow big, Jessica Shepard, brings an unusual skill to the table: her passing.

“I think my passing is what will separate me from other things,” Shepard, also pegged to go early in the second round (or even late in the first), said Saturday. “And also my versatility to shoot the ball on the outside.”

McGraw, too, praised Shepard’s ability to share the ball, while lamenting that the Irish system didn’t allow her to shoot the three as she did in her prior college stop at Nebraska, where she shot 31.5 percent from deep her sophomore year.

“She can shoot threes and play on the perimeter probably more than I let her,” McGraw said.

Again, though, Shepard’s passing skills are on the record. Her assist rate was up to 18.3 percent this past season, extremely high for a 6-foot-4 big. And it’s been north of 14 percent in all four of her college seasons, even during the two years at Nebraska when she served as the team’s primary scoring option. Moreover, she is particularly adept at the outlet pass, which doesn’t lead to assists most of the time, but sets up her team in transition offense. The result: Notre Dame was sixth in Division I in points per possession in transition, at 1.107 per Synergy, and the Irish got more of those opportunities than any other team in the country, with transition plays accounting for 25.3 percent of their total possessions.

And that brings us to Notre Dame’s final top prospect: Once those chances came along, almost no one was deadlier on those fast breaks than junior Jackie Young, who renounced her final year of eligibility. Among players with 150 transition possessions, per Synergy, Young’s 1.236 points per possession ranked third in the country. Like seemingly everyone else in McGraw’s offense, Young is also an excellent distributor: She posted a 23.4-percent assist rate despite sharing point guard duties with Mabrey and Ogunbowale.

Baylor

Baylor coach Kim Mulkey has one crystal clear WNBA prospect in 6-foot-7 Kalani Brown. Mulkey has repeatedly made the argument that Brown is quick enough to dominate at the next level, addressing the primary weakness brought up by WNBA talent evaluators. But as Mulkey noted on Saturday, that conversation obscures what are the astonishing strengths Brown brings to the table as well.

Brown has always been fundamentally sound, Mulkey said — she’s always been able to shoot, defend and rebound. But, Mulkey said, she’s matured, working on her defensive mobility at the high post and her endurance.

So let’s take these each in turn. Brown shot 61.4 percent from the field this season, with more shots taken further from the basket. She shot 75.2 percent at the free-throw line, which traditionally suggests that she will be able to expand beyond the 3-point line at the next level. Her block rate also jumped to 7.1 percent this year, from 4.9 percent a season ago. Her rebound and assist rates remained static, but they were already pretty good. And Brown did start to play for longer stretches; her minutes per game, at 26.8, were almost double what she managed her freshman season. And most encouragingly, Brown logged 35 minutes in both the Elite Eight win over Iowa and the Final Four semifinal victory over Oregon; she reached 37 minutes in the final over Notre Dame — a tribute to both her conditioning and ability to stay out of foul trouble. Brown hasn’t fouled out of a game all season and has only reached four fouls in a game three times all season, remarkable for a big.

Connecticut

Despite its so-called down year, Connecticut still lost only three games this season — and reached a record 20th Final Four — thanks largely to a pair of Huskies who will get their names called very early on Wednesday night: wings Napheesa Collier and Katie Lou Samuelson.

For Collier, the key is less that she can do one thing amazingly, and more that she does everything well, according to her coach, Geno Auriemma.

“The competition’s going to be tougher, and she’s pretty good at putting the ball on the floor and getting to the rim,” Auriemma said. She also has something to fall back on if they won’t let her catch the ball in the lane, he said. “She makes just enough jump shots from the perimeter that you have to go out and guard her. She’s got a little bit of everything for whatever the occasion calls for.”

The results have been 1.152 points per possession this season, per Synergy, second in Division I among players with at least 600 possessions. Notably, too, Auriemma is right about her varied strengths. While she trailed Iowa’s Megan Gustafson in this category, 411 of Gustafson’s possessions came in the post-up this season (55.5 percent of her total). Collier accumulated points in post-up, cut and transition on more than 100 possessions this past season.

As for Samuelson, the numbers speak to what she can be at the next level — an assist rate of 20 percent means she will be the wing facilitator needed in the modern WNBA offensive sets, while her turnover rate finished below 10 percent for the second year in a row. She shot the ball extremely well from the field, 53.6 percent from two, 37.6 percent from three, a season after those numbers checked in at 59.6 and 47.5, respectively. Her free throw rate of 87.6 percent reflects the truth of her shot. Indeed, there’s no WNBA coach who won’t give her the green light, especially with her 6-foot-3 length that allows her to shoot over most defenders.

But what stuck out to Auriemma was her toughness, playing through a back injury to score 29 against Louisville in the Elite Eight and a team-high 20 against Notre Dame in the national semifinals.

“She doesn’t look it, but she’s a tough kid,” Auriemma said after last week’s 80-73 UConn win over Louisville to lift the Huskies into the Final Four. “There’s a certain toughness about her.”

You can be sure all that registered with WNBA front offices, busy finalizing their lists and checking them twice.

from News About Sports https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/who-are-the-best-wnba-prospects-from-the-final-four/

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thrashermaxey · 7 years ago

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Ramblings: Potential Play-In Game, Unusually High Point Totals & Overpaying for Unsustainable Metrics

Well Dobberites, the days of our beloved Managing Editor, Steve Laidlaw bringing sage advice and poignant takes is done for the season. Steve will be off saving our West Coast forests from the summer blazes and you’ll all have to deal with me.

As the season closes and the playoffs wrap up, I’ll be taking some deeper dives into some specific topics. Until then, expect a mix of rundowns from the night’s contests and a deeper think.

My self-proclaimed speciality is on the prospect side of the ledger and while you can still read my weekly Ramblings, Draft Rankings and Mailbag over on DobberProspects I’ll still bring that voice to these main Ramblings.

The league has never before witnessed such impactful results from the youngsters of the game and I believe that any leagues, including the one-years need to be well informed of who’s who in the world of prospects.

Before we tackle the NHL games, over in Sweden a triumphant series concluded between the Allsvenskan (tier two) champion Timrå IK squad and the SHL cellar-dweller, Karlskrona HK for the right to play in the top league for next season.

The storeylines ran deep in this one, as Canucks’ prospect, Jonathan Dahlén had an opportunity to exercise a contractual out-clause back in January to move to an SHL team (which he was heavily recruited) or cross the pond and join the Utica Comets of the AHL.

As the league's leading scorer and team leader, he instead decided to stay with the organization that he’d been a part of since he was 16 in order to push for the promotion.

Down 3-1 in the series, Dahlén and his mates refused to go quietly into the night, winning three straight contests including an exciting game seven victory on Friday.

{source}<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Jonathan Dahlen with a goal in Timrå’s incredible game seven victory for promotion to the SHL. <br><br>They trailed the series 3-1. <br><br>Dahlen finishes the playoffs with 14 points (8+6) in 10 games. <br><br>He leaves the team a living legend <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Canucks?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Canucks</a></p>— /Cam Robinson/ (@CrazyJoeDavola3) <a href="https://twitter.com/CrazyJoeDavola3/status/982348593196515330?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 6, 2018</a></blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>{/source}

It is expected that Dahlén will now join Utica for their playoff run.

Speaking of Canucks' prospects, the newest Vancouver signee and former Northeastern standout, Adam Gaudette was named the Hobey Baker Trophy winner as the NCAA’s top player on Friday. The rangy centre led the nation in goals (30) points (60) and power play points (27).

He’s the first Canucks’ prospect to ever win the award.

Friday night’s Chicago vs St Louis game was the marquee match and represented the tail-end of a home-and-home set after the Blackhawks stunned the Blues when Duncan Keith fired home just his second goal of the year with nine seconds left in regulation to rob the Blues of a crucial point.

The Blue Notes came into the evening trailing Colorado by a single point for the final wild card spot in the West and this time they weren’t letting their old Central division foe get the better of them.

The stars mostly took the night off as it was Patrik Berglund playing the hero by scoring a hat-trick, recording five shots on net and five hits in under 15 minutes of ice.

We now have ourselves a doosie of a Saturday evening tilt as the Blues will head into the Mile High city to take on the Avs with a playoff spot on the line. St Louis holds a one point lead and their 41 ROWs (regulation + overtime wins) stands one ahead as well.

It’ll be simple for Colorado: win in regulation and they’re in the playoffs. Anything else and it’s the dreaded bubble finish. They’ll be catching a tired Blues’ squad but there will be no shortage of incentive and energy.

We can only hope to see a tie game late and have the Avs yank their goalie for the dramatic push for the W.

In the early game, The Bolts had to fight off the 31st placed Sabres’ squad in a dramatic back-and-forth match in which both Casey Mittelstadt and Alex Nylander recorded their first career goals in the first period.

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Steven Stamkos sat this game out and will miss the final regular season contest as well. Word is he is expected to be ready for game one of the first round.

Brayden Point recorded his 12th game-winning goal – tying Stamkos’ club record set in 2011-12. What a season it's been for Point and we can only assume that his 66 points are just the tip of the iceberg moving forward.

With the 7-5 victory, Tampa moved two points ahead of idle Boston and back into top spot in the East. The Bruins hold a game in hand but trail in ROWs.

Whichever team takes that division and conference title will face off against the second wildcard team while the other gets the Maple Leafs in round one.

Speaking of that Eastern Conference wild card spot, the NHL dropped a bombshell on Friday announcing the potential for a tie-breaking play-in game.

{source}<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Should the <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Flyers?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Flyers</a> lose their final regular season game to the <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/NYRangers?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#NYRangers</a> by two goals, and the <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/FlaPanthers?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#FlaPanthers</a> win their final two regular season games in shootouts, a tie-breaking game will be needed.<br><br>And. That. Would. Be. Awesome. <a href="https://t.co/t41JtFBAm9">https://t.co/t41JtFBAm9</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/TSNHockey?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#TSNHockey</a> <a href="https://t.co/VjNQ1VSQdg">pic.twitter.com/VjNQ1VSQdg</a></p>— TSN Hockey (@TSNHockey) <a href="https://twitter.com/TSNHockey/status/982361600517640192?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 6, 2018</a></blockquote>

Basically, if all major tie-breakers are knotted at the completion of the 82nd game, Philly and Florida would play a winner take all game to see who gets in.

Talk about drama.

Speaking of playoff action, don't forget to check out DobberHockey's Free NHL Playoff Boxes

No big deal, but Phil Kessel just finished his season with 92 points, besting his previous career-high by 10. You can’t help but love this guy.

It’s been a historically offensive season in the NHL, and we as fantasy managers can only hope that it continues moving forward.

{source}<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Nine players have 90 or more points this year. <br><br>There have been 11 90+ point getters combined over the previous seven seasons.</p>— /Cam Robinson/ (@CrazyJoeDavola3) <a href="https://twitter.com/CrazyJoeDavola3/status/982078545886195712?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 6, 2018</a></blockquote>

Last July 1st gave a modicum of hope that GMs were learning not to throw massive term to UFAs the moment they hit the market.

Kevin Shattenkirk, last season’s most eligible bachelor, earned himself just a four year deal to the tune of 6.65 million. The yearly output is reasonable, but in season's gone by he would have likely had a bidding war going and an automatic term of seven years.

However, as some clubs steer clear and prefer to build through the draft rather than back up the Brinks’ truck for player’s ditching their original organizations – as is the appropriate method during this salary cap era, we still see teams become lost at valuing their own free agents – despite some overwhelming evidence to say it’s time to move on.

Last year, TJ Oshie converted on a historically high 23.1 percent of his shots – eight percent higher than his career average. That led to a career-high in goals (33) and an eight year deal worth 46 million.

He was clicking at 11.1 percent at even-strength – also a career-high.

Surprise surprise, this season he’s back shooting at his career averages during all situations and is on pace for a mere 18 goals and 48 points. He’s 31 years old and has seven more years at 5.75 million per.

Ouch.

Oshie was just a recent example of a team valuing a big performance in a contract year and (I guess?) hoping the unsustainable numbers could be replicated.

This offseason, we’ll see if teams have learned a collective lesson as, William Karlsson (RFA), Sven Baertschi (RFA), and Anders Lee (eligible to be extended July 1st) are positioning themselves to test the mental fortitude of their respective GMs.

Baertschi has clicked on 17. 1 of his shots to score 14 goals and 29 points in 53 games – four percent higher than his career average. As mentioned, he’s a restricted free agent looking for a substantial raise on the 1.8 million he had been earning. With Nikolay Goldobin requiring waivers next season and appearing to be a legit NHL player, the smart move may be to deal the 25-year-old rather than likely overpaying him.

We shall see though.

Meanwhile, Anders Lee has quietly become one of the most dangerous net front men in the league and sits tied for 12th in goals the past three seasons with 88. That has him wedged amongst Joe Pavelski, Filip Forsberg and Artemi Panarin.

Over the past two seasons, he sits tied for fifth in goals league wide with Brad Marchand and Auston Matthews. Ahead of players such as Sidney Crosby, Connor McDavid, and Vladimir Tarasenko.

He’s also been clicking on nearly 20 percent of his shots this season after converting on 17.8 percent a season ago – a far cry from the 11 percent his finished with over the course of his first three campaigns.

Lee does work around layup territory so it’s expected he’ll have a slightly higher conversion rate than an outside shooter, but it’s risky business to expect a near-20 percent rate to continue.

Lee has been earning a modest 3.75 million and will be eligible for extension on July 1st. The Isles will have their hands full trying to sign captain, John Tavares but expect them to begin talks with their big bodied winger as well, and expect it to be a costly venture.

Another RFA with massive red flags is also one of the best stories of the season. What William Karlsson has done with Vegas has been remarkable. His 43 goals thus far sit third in the league after his previous career high of….nine goals back in 2015-16 ranked an unimpressive 263rd.

These 43 goals on 184 shots works out to a 23.4 percent shooting percentage. That’s the fourth highest mark in the last 20 years. His career average before that was 7.7.

Top Shooters since 1997-1998

Mike Ribeiro 25.2% 2007-08

Sergei Kostitsyn 24.7% 2010-11

Curtis Glencross 23.6% 2011-12

William Karlsson 23.4% 2017-18

Karlsson is coming off a paltry two-year bridge deal worth a million per and is going to licking his chops at the opportunity to sign a lengthy and lucrative deal. The former Blue Jacket does own arbitration rights which could result in a one or two year contract if the team or player decided to go that route, but the Golden Knights could be left with an unhappy player heading towards unrestricted free agency.

Another bridge deal that buys a year of UFA status would be prudent but watch for the lucrative long term contract and subsequent dip in metrics bringing the whole party back to earth.

Players can get hot and skew metrics but often it’s over the course of a month or three. It’s when a guy beats the odds and maintains sky high conversion rate over the course of a full season that things get dicey and even more so during a contract year.

General managers need to be extra wary of those players just as fantasy mangers need to be. Selling a player after a tremendous season may be difficult to swallow but give me a consistent 60-point player over an out-of-nowhere 70-point guy any day.

The hockey community is in shock tonight as the SHJL Humboldt Broncos team bus was involved in a terrible accident. At the time of writing there have been an unknown number of confirmed fatalities.

It’s difficult to put into words the feelings that occur when something so devastating happens. This will be felt by so many people and alter lifes forever. Please hug your loved ones a little tighter tonight.

I speak for all of us at DobberHockey when I say that those involved and everyone effected are in our thoughts and we are wishing and hoping for the best.

Thanks for reading and feel free to follow me on Twitter @CrazyJoeDavola3

from All About Sports https://dobberhockey.com/hockey-rambling/hockey-ramblings-potential-play-in-game-unusually-high-point-totals-overpaying-for-unsustainable-metrics/

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flauntpage · 7 years ago

Text

Your Wednesday Morning Roundup

With the Flyers off and the Sixers overseas in London, we might as well discuss more about the Eagles. This question was brought up earlier in the day while I was interning at WIP for Big Daddy Graham.

Other than Nick Foles, which Eagle will be most important for the team’s success?

Answers given out were Brandon Graham and Jay Ajayi, before Halapoulivaati Vaitai came up.

I agree with the latter of the choices.

It’s not good that Jason Peters is done for the season, but Big V has done an okay job at times protecting the left side. But when you replace Carson Wentz with Nick Foles, his role becomes much more vital to the success of the team.

He’s going to go up against some good defensive ends in Brooks Reed (4.0 sacks), Adrian Clayborn (9.5 sacks), and rookie Takkarist McKinley (6.0 sacks). Clayborn’s sack numbers are a career-high, but almost 2/3s of his season total came against Dallas, where he had six sacks against two of Dallas’ backup left tackles.

They weren’t good, and that scares me a little bit when the game is three days away. At least Stefen Wisniewski will be at or close to 100% come gametime, which stabilizes the line a little bit.

But if the Eagles win on Saturday, Big V might have to face either Danielle Hunter from Minnesota or Cameron Jordan of New Orleans. Give us some hope.

The Roundup:

Before we get started, TOMORROW. Live pod at Carlino’s Market in Ardmore! Damn good food! Damn good sports talk! Be there!

Plus, a new edition of the Crossing Broadcast is up. #LookAtChu!

—

Sticking with the Eagles, the team practiced yesterday without linebacker Dannell Ellerbe. But he should be fine for Saturday’s game.

Lane Johnson isn’t enjoying the negative press and how some have been counting the Eagles out when Wentz tore his ACL:

“I think everybody perceives us as being the weakest and that is fine. I think that is good. I think if teams want to overlook us, that is good. We’ll just see about Saturday. … We’re excited. We know what people are saying.”

The bandwagon had some jumpers when Wentz suffered a knee injury last month in a win over the Los Angeles Rams.

It wasn’t long after that when Johnson took offense and declared a media boycott that ultimately didn’t last long.

“What bothered me was we were 12-2 [at the time] and treated like we were the Browns,” Johnson said. “It happens, but I think although we don’t like it, it’s a good motivator to have people not write good things. I think it’s the best motivator there is and you can go and change it.”

Nick Foles explains what Doug Pederson meant when he told him to “go be Nick”:

“It’s just going out there and playing and staying in the zone and trusting my instincts,” Foles said. “I’ve played this game a long time. There’s a reason I’ve been able to do what I’ve been able to do. …When I play my best and I’m most comfortable, I just go out there and play. That’s the big message.”

Foles had all of last week to reflect. He has this week to prepare.

Text messages and phone calls are going unreturned. He’s aware of the pessimism about how he’s played and the skepticism about the Eagles’ chances of reaching the Super Bowl with Foles at quarterback. He’s trying to remain unaffected by both.

Injured Eagles safety and special teams ace Chris Maragos understands Dan Quinn and what he brings to the table for the Falcons:

“Coach Quinn, the thing about him is, he’s just so personable. He’s got a lot of energy, a lot of excitement,” Maragos said Tuesday. “Really optimistic guy, really detail-oriented. Great person, great human being.”

This week’s referee: Bill Vinovich. He doesn’t call a ton of penalties, but with a different crew, that might change.

The Eagles signed center Jon Toth to a reserve/futures contract.

I love Dave Fipp even more:

Yes Dave Fipp. http://pic.twitter.com/sAhCE3WT3p

— Chris Jastrzembski (@CFJastrzembski) January 9, 2018

He’s jamming to “Black & Chinese” by HUNCHO JACK, Travis Scott, and Quavo.

—

With the team in London, it’s a great time for the team to build their brand internationally:

Dario Saric, Robert Covington, T.J. McConnell and Trevor Booker headed over to CitySport to teach basketball fundamentals to 60 kids at a Jr. NBA Clinic from 3:15 to 4 p.m. They were joined by players from the Crystal Palace soccer team, which Sixers owners Josh Harris and David Blitzer also own. Thirty minutes later, the four Sixers joined their teammates for a media availability, where for about a half-hour they talked about everything imaginable to reporters from all over Europe. Then after warming up, the Sixers had their closed practice.

Covington and Markelle Fultz also participated in a meet-and-greet with United Kingdom fans, sponsored by Tissot watches.

“We are going to treat this in a way that will produce a real enjoyable experience, with the bottom line we are coming here to win a game,” Brown said. “So somewhere out there, there’s a little bit of a juggling act.”

An interesting quote from Celtics point guard Terry Rozier:

“We have a great history and not knocking the 76ers because they’re a great team, but I think the fans are going to find out why they should support us over the 76ers come when we play them in London.”

Kevin writes how the turnover issue isn’t that bad.

Tim is thankful the Sixers didn’t draft Lonzo Ball, particularly because of LaVar Ball. And everybody is talking about LaVar, including The Athletic, even though they have a “no LaVar Ball” policy despite posting two previous stories before deleting them:

The Athletic pretended to have a "No LaVar Ball" policy bc SERIOUS JOURNALISM, got called out and then tried to delete their archives to cover their tracks

Links are cache'd versions of the deleted articles.

1) https://t.co/fde2IgrJPf

2) https://t.co/wTXB84mgfq http://pic.twitter.com/7UOXL2dApm

— Tyler Conway (@jtylerconway) January 9, 2018

—

The Phillies appear to still be in a war with blogs.

Carlos Santana was seen hitting balls in the Dominican Republic (h/t Mike Mullin):

Incredible experience getting to see newly minted Phillie Carlos Santana mash balls at BP in the Dominican Estadio Azteca @CSeidmanNBCS @CFJastrzembski http://pic.twitter.com/csw5FlNAd7

— Mike Mullin (@MULLINitover27) January 9, 2018

—

With the Flyers off until Saturday night against the Devils, Sam Donnellon caught up with goaltending prospect Carter Hart fresh off his gold medal in the World Junior Championships in Buffalo for Team Canada:

During a preliminary-round game against the U.S., played outdoors in the Bills’ stadium in a blizzard, the foam in the back of his helmet froze, icing the back of his head. No problem. Reaching for his water bottle after a series of saves, that too had frozen.

“There was so much snow, it was insane,” he said. “They were taking wheelbarrows of snow off the ice. It was crazy. But fun.”

And when it ended with another shootout loss to the U.S.? Hart shrugged it off, and ran off a string of stellar – and more meaningful — performances from there. “I’ve never seen a goalie that’s just so calm back there,” said Team Canada defenseman Cale Makar after the 3-1 gold-medal victory over Sweden. “Even when we’re down or have a few lapses, he’s able to pull us back together.”

—

Four local college hoops games tonight: St. Joe’s visits George Mason, and La Salle takes on UMass in A-10 conference matchups at 7 PM. Top-ranked Villanova hosts No. 10 Xavier at 8 PM at the Wells Fargo Center on FS1. And Temple looks to get back to .500 on the year with a road game against SMU at 9 PM on CBS Sports Network.

—

In other sports news, Jon Gruden was formally introduced as the next head coach of the Oakland Raiders. There were some crazy moments as well.

Cole Beasley released a rap single. Haven’t listened to it and it probably sucks, but Howard Eskin liked it (I guess) and suggests he continues to go that route:

So now @Bease11 is a rapper. Do have to admit Cole you are better rapper than receiver. That’s because not very good receiver any longer. New career is good idea. @SportsRadioWIP https://t.co/xOAd5O5mml

— Howard Eskin (@howardeskin) January 9, 2018

Over in Lithuania, LiAngelo and LaMelo Ball made their professional debuts in the Big Baller Brand Challenge Games for Vytautas in a 90-80 win. LiAngelo finished with 19 points and three rebounds, and LaMelo added 10 points and nine assists, but committed six turnovers.

More LaVar:

That spin tho. http://pic.twitter.com/6Mg3UWUEqS

— J.E. Skeets (@jeskeets) January 9, 2018

Former Cleveland Browns and North Penn head coach Mike Pettine is expected to replace Dom Capers as the Packers’ defensive coordinator.

Buffalo Bills GM Brandon Beane said there was a “misunderstanding” of what Richie Incognito said during Sunday’s loss to the Jaguars.

Georgia quarterback Jacob Eason, the guy that was replaced by Jake Fromm earlier this season, will probably transfer to Washington.

—

In the news, James Kauffman, the husband of former New Jersey radio host April Kauffman, was accused of having his wife killed in order to protect an alleged drug ring. Crazy.

Steve Bannon is leaving Breitbart News, again.

A magnitude 7.6 earthquake hit the sea north of Honduras. Not a lot of damage happened.

Kodak, which is somehow still a business, announced their own cryptocurrency called KodakCoin.

Your Wednesday Morning Roundup published first on http://ift.tt/2pLTmlv

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nbablog-blog1 · 8 years ago

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2016 NBA DRAFT RECAP / NBA Summer League Written by Jarrett Adams JULY 24, 2016

After the finals ended on June 19th there was an extremely quick turnaround for NBA fans as the NBA Draft took place just four days later on the 23rd. Due to the fact I can no longer speculate on which players are going to what franchise, I’ll try my best to sum up every pick in the lottery and discuss some sleeper picks in the remaining 1st and 2nd rounds.

1 Pick, (Philadelphia 76ers) : Ben Simmons

Surprisingly, if you were to type in “Ben Simmons” in Google these days during the opening weeks of the NBA season, most of the headlines surrounding the number 1 pick actually center around his new ShowTime documentary, “One and Done”. The documentary shadows Simmons’ lone freshman season in Baton Rouge capturing his experience coming from Australia to LSU to the NBA. I have not gotten around to watch it yet, but will soon. I can’t wait to see how it frames Simmons’ freshman season; while he definitely had his moments individually and did more than enough to warrant the no.1 overall pick, at times the LSU program struggled to remain relevant on the college basketball landscape.

For number one picks in the NBA Draft, it is extremely rare for the player’s college team to not reach the postseason. Since 2007, college basketball has produced every NBA no. 1 pick, with 8 being freshmen (Oden, Rose, Wall, Irving, Davis, Bennett, Wiggins, Towns) and one sophomore (Griffin). All 9 of those players at least reached the NCAA tournament.

None of this seemed to matter when the 76ers won the lottery and rushed to take Ben Simmons with the number one pick. Looking at his game-tape alone, his skillset, size, and athleticism reminds you of a Lebron James and Magic Johnson hybrid of sorts. On the draft board he was simply the best player available and the opportunity arose for Philly to get a franchise changing talent. To put it quite frankly, fired GM Sam “Trust the Process” Hinkie’s career died in Philly for this opportunity to draft Ben Simmons.

Simmons will likely miss a large portion of the NBA season with a foot injury. This has to be a cause for concern for Philly fans considering how the 76ers brain trust quickly shuts down their young, injured talent (Noel, Embiid both missed their rookie campaigns). However, while healthy, Simmons did show promise and ability in the 2016 Summer League, with decent mid-range and inside game and of course some devastating, jaw dropping passes we’ve become accustomed to seeing from the no. 1 pick.

No. 2 Pick, (Los Angeles Lakers) – Brandon Ingram

How about that young Lakers core post Kobe era? The Lakers couldn’t have been luckier to keep the no. 2 pick (this pick’s rights could have went to Boston, had the Lakers fell out of the top 3 draft slots), yet alone get a chance to select the lanky scorer from Duke. The selection here of Brandon Ingram was a smart one and filled a need on the wing for the Lakers. At the time of this selection, they desperately needed to balance a roster that already had Jordan Clarkson and D’Angelo Russell in the backcourt and Julius Randle at the 4. Brandon Ingram’s future with the Lakers resides at that 3 spot, despite coming off the bench his rookie campaign behind a veteran like Lou Deng. My biggest fear with Ingram right now is that he may be used as trade bait for a guy like Demarcus Cousins if the Lakers want to win now with high profile players.

As all the other scouts and pundits would agree, Brandon Ingram’s game is most comparable to Kevin Durant’s. From the slender frame, tremendous height and length to go with guard skills and endless shooting range, he’s name right now in the NBA is basically Baby Durant (until he works his way to his own nick-name). Early on in summer league and opening week in the NBA he’s shown a tendency to affect the game in other areas other than scoring, including rebounding and blocked shots. Ingram is also receiving a lot of minutes being a primary ball handler of the second unit of the Lakers. The Future is very bright for Ingram and the Lakers as they mold behind new head coach Luke Walton.

No. 3 Pick (Boston Celtics): Jaylen Brown

Boston was in an interesting position here with the number 3 pick. Jaylen Brown was not the best player available, but was the last projected lottery wing player with lots of upside. Through his game tape at his one season at Cal there was a lot to like but also some key flaws in his game. One key weakness in his game right now that’s pretty evident is his ball handling. While Jaylen Brown is very athletic, he has not been able to harness his combination of power and speed because the ball slows him down while driving. However, with a NBA frame he has the ability from Day 1 to take contact and draw a lot of fouls. From the summer league to the start of the NBA Season, he’s shown more polish that what we were led to believe. This gives me hope and promise that the Celtics brain trust made the right decision here with Jaylen Brown. With guards like Isaiah Thomas, Marcus Smart, Avery Bradley, and Terry Rozier, the C’s have more talent in the backcourt then they have minutes. So this pick gives them that swing forward they desperately needed.

No. 4 / No. 8 picks (Phoenix Suns): Dragan Bender / Marquese Chriss

The Phoenix Suns had an interesting draft night as they used their two top ten picks to select two players that play the same position. With so much money wrapped up in their backcourt, they used this draft to upgrade their frontcourt by taking two power forwards. Drafting another guard here while already having Bledsoe, Knight, and Booker could have been a disaster. TJ Warren has shown promise as a young wing scorer. So on paper, drafting two Power forwards gives the Suns two new projects at the 4 they can build upon. As of now Dragan Bender is an enticing international prospect as he’s the first non-NCAA player chosen. He can shoot from three and can also make a pump fake-two dribble-score move effectively. Think of a taller and slender Toni Kukoc. The question is can he ever make an impact defensively in the NBA? Just looking at his frame, it’s going to take him some time to adjust to the physicality of the NBA season.

Marqueese Chris on the other hand has shown some flashes to have impressive hops and raw athleticism. Unlike Bender, the Suns view Chris as a young player that can contribute from day one. He’s the prototype four-man that is best utilized for pick and roll opportunities and finishing plays over the defense. I think both players can contribute buckets on the offensive in, but their defense is very questionable. Whether these two picks pan out will be on their hard work in the gym and the Phoenix suns organization.

No. 5 (Minnesota Timberwolves) – Kris Dunn

Kris Dunn was easily my favorite player to watch leading up to Draft Night. I was really hoping he would fall to no.6 to the Pelicans, but the Timberwolves snatch him up here at the five spot. Dunn is a cross between John Wall and Eric Bledsoe. He’s able to use his physicality on defense and his steps wisely while driving like Bledsoe, but from baseline to baseline he’s more John Wall. Really fun player to watch play the point guard position. He’s a strong leader, determined and relentless scorer, not much of a shooter but makes up for it with his length and discipline on the defensive end. He’s going to be the type of guy that’s going to make an immediate impact from day one in Minnesota.

Minnesota made the right decision here for their franchise. While Ricky Rubio brings a lot of different things to the table, Kris Dunn can do Rubio’s job better as a better playmaker and defender in the starting point position. He’s a polished college player and the 2x Big East player of the year. This guy is the real deal, and I can’t wait to see him pair up with Minnesota’s young talented core of Zach Lavine, Andrew Wiggins, and Karl Anthony Towns.

No. 6 (New Orleans Pelicans) – Buddy Hield

This pick came as a bit of shocker to me, considering the roster the Pelicans are trying to build around Anthony Davis. Not to say Buddy Hield didn’t have the pedigree coming out of Oklahoma – he was the Naismith College Player of the Year, Sporting News College Player of the Year, First Team All American, 2x Big 12 player of the Year, and won the John Wooden Award last year. The pure slasher and shooter from Freeport, Bahamas is coming into the NBA with a lot of pressure to deliver with such accolades and high selection, considering the need for this pick to work out for GM Dell Demps.

Looking at the Pelicans roster, Jrue Holiday and Tyreke Evans are both entering the last year of their deals this season. In a perfect world, if Dell Demps wanted to completely rebuild after letting Holiday or Evans walk, pairing up Kris Dunn with Anthony Davis would have been a match made in heaven. Instead, Dunn is off the board, so you can’t blame Demps for taking Hield here. After the draft process was over Demps confessed that Buddy was “the player the Pelicans wanted all along”. Looking on bright side, if Buddy Hield lives up the hype of the number 6 selection, then this is a great pick. He can shoot the basketball and can score in bunches. It’s going to take time for him to adjust to the speed and athleticism of the game. As a four-year senior, Buddy Hield is under immense pressure to produce for the Pels considering Holiday and Evans will both start the season out of the lineup. This pick also could have been a way to replace Eric Gordon’s tenure with the team, as the sharpshooter joined the Houston Rockets in the offseason.

No. 7 (Denver Nuggets) – Jamal Murray

The Nuggets slip in here at the No. 7 slot and pick the best player available and a backcourt mate for Emmanuel Mudiay in Jamal Murray. The combo guard out of Kentucky easily had one of the most impressive seasons as a freshman last year as he displayed a knack for shooting 3’s, ability to get to the rim, and an impressive pick and roll game. I like this pick for the Nuggets simply because Murray is a scorer who also is a selfless passer. There were many times last season at Kentucky where the offense ran through Murray to make decisions to either score or get others involved. Also, Murray is a fierce competitor and displayed that many times when the games were big and the lights were the brightest.

Murray also has plenty experience in FIBA/ International play balling for Team Canada. His point guard skills are very Tony Parker–esque. He has great handle for a guard his size (6’5) and ran the point fluently for Canada in FIBA play. He won’t beat you with speed or athleticism but is extremely crafty in his movement and is underrated as an athlete overall. In my opinion, I was shocked the Pelicans did not select him at 6, as they went with Buddy Hield. Murray is much younger, has more experience in international play, can shoot just as good, is a better passer and ball handler, is about the same size, and can play multiple positions. Great pick by the Nuggets and I am looking forward to seeing how the Mudiay Murray backcourt matures in a few years.

No. 9 (Toronto Raptors) Jakob Poltl

After making the Eastern Conference Finals last year and having the best season in franchise history, they decided to give a raise to DeMar DeRozan and let Bismack Biyombo walk in free agency. In the playoffs last year, the Raptors prize center Jonas Valanciunas went down with an injury, making the way for Biyombo to step up (and cash in this offseason). This meant GM Masai Ujiri now has to use this lottery draft pick to get some more size in the paint and another backup for Valanciunas. They got that here with Jacob Poltl.

The 21 year old sophomore from Utah showed some fleshes of being a big physical presence inside with a good understanding of how to actually use his size to his advantage. I think Masai Ujiri recognizes Poltl’s skillset as a guy that can one day be a legit starting center in this league, which is probably his plan just in case the Raptors have to part ways with Valanciunas via trade years down the line. For now, Poltl will be relied upon to come off the bench of a veteran playoff team, making an impact defensively and in the rebounding battle.

No. 10 (Milwaukee Bucks) Thon Maker

Thon Maker is one of the most polarizing figures in this draft class considering how unorthodox his story is compared to other prospects. First, his audition for the NBA came through showcasing his talent at different AAU camps. He’s an international prospect that did not play overseas or play college basketball. By 2014, he was becoming an internet sensation for his draw dropping plays in basketball camps and AAU circuits. For NBA GMs and Scouts, Thon Maker had to be extremely difficult to scout considering the jump from prep school to the NBA and the higher level of competition Maker had not faced.

None of this stopped the Milwaukee from drafting him here at the number 10 spot. I thought it was a ballsy pick, but I pick worth making considering Thon Maker’s upside. He’s a big that can guard multiple positions and be a threat to score when he touches the ball. He lacks polish right now of an actual NBA player, but this should be expected. He has the length and speed to really affect the game on a game changing level on defense. When you look at some of the new age NBA big-men like Anthony Davis, Karl Anthony Towns, and Kristaps Porzingis, Thon Maker probably has the most upside in this draft to turn into a player that can impact a game along those same lines. The Bucks probably drooled at the prospect of adding a prospect with a lot of upside with their already talented core of Giannis Antetekuompo, Jabari Parker, and Kris Middleton. Look out for Thon Maker, because in a few years he could be the secret weapon to a playoff team coming out of Milwaukee.

No. 11 (Traded to OKC in Draft Night Trade Sending Serge Ibaka to Magic, Victor Olapido to Thunder) Domantas Sabonis

And finally a draft night trade of some substance! When OKC made this trade to send Serge Ibaka to the Magic, it was a move that would try to help entice free agent Kevin Durant to stay long-term. If you look at it from that angle, it’s a very risky trade, to trade away a veteran like Ibaka for a younger talent in Oladipo, another ball handler, taking away more time of possession from a player like Durant. However, with Durant gone, this trade makes even more sense, as OKC now becomes a team solely built around Russell Westbrook. Now Olapido gets a new start in OKC as Westbrook’s sidekick, and gets to benefit from learning from him every game and every practice.

I still can’t believe the Thunder convinced the Magic to also give up a first round pick in this trade – on paper Serge Ibaka for Victor Oladipo is a fair enough trade for both sides. If you’re smart, the Thunder still make that deal without the first rounder. But instead, I think being able to oversell the Magic on Ibaka’s value is key here in this deal. Ibaka at this point in his career was an overpaid role player (like a lot of players in the new CBA deal) whereas Oladipo still has room for improvement. That alone to me gives Oladipo way more value than Ibaka. Thunder GM Sam Hinkie has had a lot ups and downs – I’m still pissed at that James Harden trade – but I’ll give credit when its due and this was a great trade for the Thunder.

The 11th pick, Domantas Sabonis, son of former Trail Blazers center Arvydas Sabonis, was a reach pick here in my opinion. Does Sabonis really offer more upside then guys already on the roster, like Enes Kanter, or even Mitch McGary? I understand the need to fill the depth chart now with the departure of Serge Ibaka, but I don’t see any stardom for Sabonis in the near future. It will be interesting how he can contribute to this Thunder team built around Russell Westbrook. He has the skills to stretch the defense with his shot, and can make a few impressive moves off the dribble as a stretch four. But other than that, I don’t see a lot of upside in this pick. Only time will tell!

No. 12 (Jazz Traded to Atlanta Hawks) Taurean Prince

The Atlanta Hawks grab the second senior taken in Taurean Prince, the energetic rebounder and fierce competitor from Baylor. I measure Prince’s ceiling around a Gerald Wallace in his prime years as a Charlotte Bobcat. At worst, I think he can at least be the new Demarre Carroll for the Atlanta Hawks that they desperately missed since his departure. One thing Prince does not lack is his motor and effort, and in basketball, if you combine that with your athleticism, then you’re halfway to being a decent defender. If Prince is willing to ride the bench early and learn, he’ll end up a decent player based on his motor at Baylor.

No. 13 (Sacramento Kings via the Phoenix Suns) Georgios Papgiannis

Who? Sacramento trades back in this draft to pick another center that serves as a potential stash pick either in Europe or the D League. This pick got Boogie Cousins hot, as he took to twitter to question the Kings strategy plan specifically as it pertains to building around him. The Kings have had some really tough luck with picks over the past 10 years, and this one adds to the head-scratcher that has become the King’s brain trust. Looking at some Papagiannis highlights, he’s a hefty big man with decent footwork and good hands. He plays textbook back to the basket like an old school big man. Seems to me like a security policy to have another big man in case the Kings decide to move Cousins at this years trade deadline.

No. 14 (Chicago Bulls) Denzel Valentine

The Bulls round out the lottery with senior guard and swingman from Michigan State in Denzel Valentine. I’m a big fan of Valentine’s do it all game. He’s able to impact the game with a little bit of everything – long distance shooting, passing, ball handling, rebounding – Valentine is truly a jack of all trades. NBA scouts and pundits have doubted his athleticism and whether he can be effective at the next level. He may not even emerge on this Bulls roster, but when Valentine gets his opportunity, I believe he will prove to be an effective player and starter on a playoff team. I think that’s this guy’s ceiling.

No. 20 (Indiana Pacers) – Caris LeVert

A versatile wing scorer and Senior from Michigan, undoubtedly a lot of talent, but may not get a lot of minutes with the Pacers. Look out for Levert, he has a good ball handling ability for a guy that is 6’6.

No. 29 (San Antonio Spurs) – Dejounte Murray – Murray is a silky guard that uses explosiveness to get where he wants to on the floor. Could be a sleeper pick under Greg Popovich.

No. 33 (New Orleans Pelicans) – Cheick Diallo - Cheick has a lot to like and even more that you just can’t teach. He lacks polish at the NBA level but that has not stopped him from contributing put-backs, offensive boards, and instinctive blocked shots.

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mitchbeck · 6 years ago

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CANTLON: PACK LAST FULL HOME WEEKEND OF PLAY

BY: Gerry Cantlon, Howlings HARTFORD, CT - The Hartford Wolf Pack have a pair of weekend games in which they seek to snap a five-game losing streak against the Utica Comets Saturday night and the Binghamton Devils Sunday afternoon. The task got a bit harder on Thursday when defenseman Ryan Lindgren was recalled for a second time likely to play in either one or both of the Rangers last two regular season games against Columbus and Pittsburgh. You can just call them the Hartford Junior Wolf Pack for the final two weekends of play. In addition to Lindgren’s recall, the Rangers announced the signing of two more collegians and recent junior hockey signing to ATO deals and sent two players back to Maine. Pack added collegiate forward in Harvard’s Lewis Zerter-Gossage. A Montreal area native, Gossage completed his four-years at Harvard after playing two years of prep hockey at Kent School. Current New York Rangers head coach David Quinn and player Boo Nieve also attended the western Connecticut private school. Hartford signed a local Springfield college product, Shawn McBride, the captain of American International College (AIC) from the AHA conference. He will likely play this weekend as will Gossage. AIC knocked off St. Cloud State in their first-ever NCAA Division 1 tourney game in one of the biggest upsets in college hockey history. He is the second McBride to play for the Wolf Pack in team history. Brock McBride played eight games in the 2008-09 season but is no relation. He is presently an assistant coach with the Cornwall Colts (CCHL) one of the 10 Junior A leagues in Canada. The junior player is Jake Elmer of the Lethbridge Hurricanes (WHL). He was signed last month and arrives here after Lethbridge dropped a seven-game first round series to the Calgary Hitmen, four games to three. They lost Game 7, 4-2. Elmer had a goal and six points in that first-round matchup. Through 68 regular-season games, Elmer was third in team scoring with 81 points with a team-leading 39 goals. The Hurricanes finished second in the WHL Central Division with a record of 40-18-5-5 and second highest offensive output in the WHL with 268 goals. One of his junior teammates, Jake Lechyshyn, a Las Vegas draftee, is the son of former Hartford Whaler, Curt Lechyshyn, who tallied ten points in the series tops in the WHL. One of his opponents for Calgary the son of Ed Kastelic, another Whaler, in Mark Kastelic. Two players were returned to the Maine Mariners. Ty Ronning had four goals and five points in 23 games, and Terrence Wallin, who was returned for the third time this season, has just one assist in 23 games. The Wolf Pack have an influx of junior and college players. One of them has a Connecticut address, Ryan Dmowski. The East Lyme born forward, a veteran of four games, Dmowski played at UMASS–Lowell, but his hockey GPS has landed in various parts of New England. Dmowski played against UCONN at the XL Center back on November 16th tallying two goals in a 5-2 win over the Huskies. Dmowski garnered the game’s First Star and was on the ice for the opening shift. “I had about 40 friends and family in the stands that night. It was a good game and I liked playing here when I was with UMASS (Lowell). I loved the atmosphere, and so far, the crowd has been awesome to me and I am very happy to be here.” Finding his way to Hartford was something special. “It’s been amazing; a dream come true to go pro, and even more special being here in Hartford. (I'm) just thrilled to get the opportunity. To be honest, I never thought I would be back here to start my career in Connecticut. (It's) kinda crazy how it works.” He talked with Providence and a few other AHL teams, but the best opportunity came from the Rangers. His hockey road map started in Rhode Island at age seven. After school, his grandfather would take him to North Smithfield, Rhode Island. It's an hour away each time to begin his first skate lengths of hockey. “I would get out of school, and my grandfather picked me up or my dad (Dave). All the dedication we both put in was incredible, and all worth it so far,” Dmowski said with a smile. When he finished Bantam-level play, he headed in the opposite direction and played for the Springfield Junior Falcons program when after his freshmen high school year, he put a new address in the GPS for Gunnery prep school in Washington, CT closer to New York state than Connecticut. “To be honest, I had no idea there was a Washington, Connecticut until I went there,” Dmowski said with a laugh, who had a fellow Highlander (Gunnery’s nickname) Terrence Wallin, older by three years, just sent back to Maine on the Wolf Pack roster, “(It's) kinda weird we took about the same hockey path and wound up here.” He went to a few P-Bruins and Wolf Pack games as a kid, but he spent more time honing his craft and schoolwork. His adjustment to the Wolf Pack has been a stretch playing with a new line almost every game. “It's been a bit stressful, but part of being a pro, and I’ve been doing a pretty good job getting to know everybody and a new line this week too.” Pack head coach, Keith McCambridge had Dmowski with Bobby Butler, the vet, and newcomer Shawn McBride. Butler, Dmowski, and McBridge…sounds like a law firm. “It’s so different here. The speed is so much different just getting used to that now. I’m just trying to get the puck in and not rushing myself and taking my time and learning to keep my feet moving and developing that confidence I’m gonna be good to go.” McCambridge likes what he's seen so far. “He carries himself well. He is a big body, has played well with the puck, and he's handled several different situations well.” It's audition time for the 2019-20 Wolf Pack roster for Dmowksi and his GPS will be putting in another address for the summer. ‘My girlfriend is going to graduate school at Sacred Heart University (Bridgeport) so we're looking for a place between Hartford and Bridgeport now.” The pro hockey map Dmowski has just begun. NOTES: A story has been was broken by the Rangers long-time beat writer Larry Brooks of the New York Post on Thursday that Glen Sather’s stepping down as Rangers President. Sather's retirement makes an already complicated offseason going to be a palace of intrigue as to where the deck chairs will fall. With Sather’s departure, expect Jim Schoenfeld, who held the post as Hartford GM for 10 years and was a head coach for one and who has been Sather’s right-hand man, will likely also get a golden parachute by either retirement or might find another new gig. The question now is who will be promoted or hired to take the upper echelon reigns? Jeff Gorton, Sather's hand-picked successor, is the present GM. Will he make the move upstairs or add this role to his portfolio? Chris Drury, the present assistant GM, and Hartford GM, could he be promoted? Will there be an overhaul of the entire Rangers scouting staff, professional North America, Europe, and amateur by a new team President? How will the Wolf Pack be affected? They're on the verge of a potential sub-par, below .500 season. What will happen with its coaching staff? How will a future team President feel about Hartford and the unresolved XL Center business? The Rangers also have serious player-personnel decisions to make in New York and Hartford in relation to next year’s cap space and with a looming potential labor stoppage in two years, and yes, the expansion draft in three years when Seattle enters the NHL family. Many questions to be answered over the next three and half months in preparation for the NHL Draft in Vancouver on the organization direction under a new regime. Read more HERE NEWS & NOTES This next story is without a doubt the best hockey story of the year. Former AHL player and now Pro Scout for the Arizona Coyotes, Craig Cunningham, who nearly died two years before an AHL game in Tucson, and by the true Grace of God is still among us, released a video showing him skating with his prosthetic leg at the San Diego Gulls practice facility. It was simply amazing, spectacular great news for a young man who suffered so much and has triumphed in the most outstanding way. Hope he gets some shifts in a game in a league where there isn’t as much hitting or contact-like in the Asia League Ice Hockey (ALIH) or in Australia (AIHL) and New Zealand (NZIHL) to end his career as a player, not as a heart attack victim. Read more HERE Despite having the same last name, the reporter in that story is of no relation. With the arrival of McBride, and Zerter-Gossage, plus Quinnipiac’s Brandon Fortunato signing with Nashville (NHL), the number of Division I players that have signed is up to 150 and that the total number of college players that have signed over the past month is 168. The first college coach signing as Chris Bergeron after nine season leaves the Bowling Green Falcons (WCHA) to take the reigns of his alma mater Miami (OH) RedHawks (NCHC). Bergeron, graduated in 1993 when the school won its first conference title (CCHA at that time) and made their first NCAA tournament appearance. The NCAA announced the three finalists for the Hobey Baker Award that will be given out in Buffalo next weekend at the site of the NCAA’s Frozen Four. It's a hat trick of finalists for the Hobey Baker Award. All three finalists are defensemen. Senior Jordan Schuldt, St. Cloud State Huskies (NCHC) who just signed an NHL free agent deal with the Vegas Golden Knights. The second is junior Adam Fox of Harvard who is a Carolina Hurricanes draft pick who is weighing whether to sign or wait another year and go the free agent route. Then there's UMASS-Amherst Minutemen sophomore Cale Makar, a Colorado Avalanche draft pick who is likely to go pro after next weekend. A unique college commit right from a CT prep school in Cooper Moore (Cos Cob) Brunswick School (Greenwich) with North Dakota (NCHC). Overseas we see former Whaler great Sami Kapanen retains his franchise owner and Chairman of the Board title with KalPa Kuopio (Finland-FEL) but relinquished his head coaching duties to take the job as head coach with HC Lugano (Switzerland-LNA) in the fall. His son Kasperi skated with the Toronto Maple Leafs. Ex-Sound Tiger goalie, C.J. Motte, who has played most of the season with Allen (ECHL) and some games with Iowa signs with HC Innsbruck (Austria-EBEL) for next season. Philippe Hudon, who played prep school hockey at Choate Rosemary Hall (Wallingford) after finishing his Canadian collegiate career with the Concordia Stingers (Montreal) (OUAA0 played 14 games with seven points for Florida (ECHL) was loaned to Laval (AHL). Read the full article

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flauntpage · 8 years ago

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Down Goes Brown Grab Bag: Trash Talking, Boring Senators and Cookie Phil

Welcome to Sean McIndoe's weekly grab bag, where he writes on a variety of NHL topics. You can follow him on Twitter. Check out the Biscuits podcast with Sean and Dave Lozo as they discuss the events of the week.

Three stars of comedy

The third star: Team Italy scores a goal at the World Championships—Um, guys? I don't think you're hockeying correctly.

The second star: Jared Boll is laughing with you, not at you—The Predators ended up getting the last laugh in game three, but Boll's reaction to seeing his team take the lead after he drew an instigator penalty was…interesting.

The first star: David Poile would like you to stop playing X-Man—Be sure to stick around for the update.

Outrage of the week

The issue: Ryan Johansen called out Ryan Kesler after game two, accusing the Ducks' agitator of dirty play, saying that "it sucks when you have to pull a stick out of your groin after every shift," and adding that Kesler's "family and friends watching him play, I don't know how you cheer for a guy like that." The outrage: He's not wrong. But he's not supposed to say it. Is it justified: This is the kind of thing that we typically see a few times every postseason. Things happen on the ice, tensions run high, and eventually the unthinkable happens: Somebody actually says something interesting.

At that point, everyone falls into one of two camps. The first is the old school, where you're shocked and offended that anyone would say anything ever. This is the side that believes that if you have a problem, you deal with it on the ice. A small handful of guys, like Jonathan Toews and Jaromir Jagr, have been given a hall pass to occasionally express an opinion, but everyone else is expected to stay down and stay quiet.

The other side thinks that guys like Johansen speaking their minds is great. Athletes in every other sports do it, and when they do it inevitably it sparks more interest among fans. Surely the hockey world, with its notoriously boring personalities and cliched sound bites, could use a little more post-game bad blood.

The problem with Johansen's mini-rant is that it landed pretty much right in the middle of the two sides. He said something beyond "get pucks in deep", so the old-timers are mad at him. But as far as trash talk attempts go, this one didn't really land. The bit about family and friends was a nice touch, but other than that, the whole thing sounded a lot more like a guy whining about not getting the calls than anything else.

The fact that Johansen said so little and still drew the ire of the traditionalists is pretty much all you need to know as to why we so rarely hear players say anything at all. If we're going to have this argument every few weeks, here's hoping the next guy to speak up actually goes full pipe bomb and makes it worth our while.

Obscure former player of the week

With the Vegas Golden Knights expansion draft just a few weeks away, it's fitting that we're being treated to a Western Conference final that features two relatively new teams in the Predators and Ducks. So today, let's bestow obscure player honors on a player that links those two teams and their expansion histories: Russian goaltender Mikhail Shtalenkov.

Shtalenkov became an international name in 1992, when he was the starting goalie on the gold-medal winning Unified Team at the Olympics. He was picked by the (then) Mighty Ducks a year later in the fifth round of their first ever entry draft, a few spots ahead of future all-star Miroslav Satan. Already 27 years old when he was drafted, he made his NHL debut that season, playing ten games for the Ducks. He'd see part-time duty with the team for the next four years, playing a career-high 40 games in 1997-98. He went back to the Olympics in 1998, winning silver as Russia's starter.

That same year, the NHL welcomed its 27th team when the Predators were born. Nashville took five goalies in that year's expansion draft, including Mike Richter (yes, really), and future starter Tomas Vokoun. They also took Shtalenkov, making him the first ever link between the Predators and Ducks.

Sadly, Shtalenkov wouldn't get to work on his Hockey Tonking, as he never played a game in Nashville. He was part of a five-player deal with the Oilers, where he'd share starting duties with Bob Essensa before another trade to Phoenix. He'd last 15 games as a Coyote before another trade, this time to Florida for Sean Burke. At the end of the 1999-2000 season, he headed back to Russia to finish his pro career.

Shtalenkov later went into coaching. A few years ago, he was briefly part of a weird news story in which he was apparently reported missing by his wife, but later turned out to be fine.

Debating the issues

This week's debate: The Ottawa Senators are two wins away from the Stanley Cup final. But are they a boring team?

In favor: Good lord, yes. Game one on Saturday was nearly unwatchable. Game two was only marginally better. Off the ice they make for a great story, but when it's time to play the games this team can be tear-your-eyes out dull.

Opposed: Well, hold on. You're just cherry-picking a few bad games. They sure weren't boring when they went out and blew the doors off the Penguins in the first period on Wednesday. And what about that 6-5 OT thriller against the Rangers? The Senators aren't boring all the time.

In favor: Sure, but "not boring all the time" isn't exactly a ringing endorsement. So sure, congratulations on having played one entertaining period in the first three games of the series. You're still boring.

Opposed: But there's more to an entertaining game than goals. Just about all of Ottawa's games during this run have been close, with seven of them going to overtime. Not to go all hockey hipster on you, but I'll take a tight 2-1 game over a sloppy 7-3 one any time. And besides, even if they are dull, who cares? They're winning. Like Bobby Ryan said earlier this week, "ratings be damned".

In favor: And he's right, from Ottawa's perspective. Nobody is blaming them for playing a system that works. This league has spent 20 years watching this style take over the game and never does anything about it, so good for the Senators if they can exploit that. They're even starting to embrace the whole "boring" thing, which is sort of cool. But none of that means that the rest of us want to watch.

Opposed: That's fair. But still, any team that has Erik Karlsson can't be all…

Senators fan: EXCUSE ME BUT I COULDN'T HELP BUT OVERHEAR YOU TALKING ABOUT MY TEAM SO I AM HERE TO YELL ABOUT THAT.

In favor: Whoa.

Opposed: Hey man, can you turn the volume down a little bit?

Senators fan: NO SIR I CANNOT AS OTTAWA FANS ARE VERY SCREECHY RIGHT NOW.

In favor: Yeah, we've all noticed. But do you really have to interrupt us in the middle of…

Senators fan: YOU HAVE SAID SOMETHING BAD ABOUT THE SENATORS AND I AM HERE TO THROW A TEMPER TANTRUM ABOUT IT.

Opposed: I'm not sure we even said anything all that bad.

In favor: Yeah, we all acknowledge they're a good team on a great Cinderella run. It's just that they're kind of boring sometimes, and most fans seem to prefer…

Senators fan: LEAVE MY WONDERFUL PERFECT TEAM ALONE OR I WILL HAVE TO FIGHT YOU.

Opposed: Dude, chill out. Your team is in the conference final. People are going to talk about them. You guys are going to need to be able to handle some occasional criticism.

In favor: Yeah, seriously. You Senator fans have generally been pretty cool over the years, but during this playoff run you've all gone super-sensitive about every little thing and it's getting kind of weird.

Opposed: Maybe just take a few deep breaths and see if that…

Senators fan: THE TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS HAVEN'T WON A STANLEY CUP SINCE 1967.

Opposed: Yes but… wait, what does that have to do with anything?

Senators fan: ABSOLUTELY NOTHING BUT NO SENATORS FAN CAN GO MORE THAN FIVE SENTENCES WITHOUT MENTIONING IT OR WE DIE.

In favor: I always wondered what was up with that.

Senators fan: IF YOU DIDN'T VOTE ERIK KARLSSON FOR THE HART TROPHY YOU HATE PUPPIES.

Opposed: That's not true.

Senators fan: WE ARE CANADA'S TEAM NOW AND EVERYONE MUST LIKE US. THE PRIME MINISTER MADE A LAW.

In favor: That isn't how things work.

Senators fan: CHRIS NEIL FOR CONN SMYTHE. BOB COLE IS MEAN AND BAD. ALFIE DIDN'T MEAN TO SHOOT THAT PUCK AT NIEDERMAYER.

Opposed: Yeah, sure, we get it, but it's… wait, that was five sentences without bringing up the Leafs for no reason.

Senators fan: I… WAIT… I LOST COUNT AND … [explodes into fine mist, spraying stale Beaver Tail shrapnel everywhere]

Opposed: You have to admit, that last part was kind of exciting.

In favor: It really was.

The final verdict: This entire section is all Toronto's fault somehow.

Classic YouTube clip breakdown

Hey, speaking of the Maple Leafs…

One of the running themes of the Senators/Penguins series has been the budding rivalry between Phil Kessel and Dion Phaneuf, who mixed it up several times on Wednesday night. This is, of course, not the first time their paths have crossed. The two were the building blocks for Brian Burke's stint as GM in Toronto, and came to symbolize all the good and bad of that particular era. Eventually, both were traded away. But for several years, they were easily the two best known Toronto Maple Leafs in the world.

So today, let's travel back five years to watch as the two stars share a light-hearted bonding moment between teammates.

It's January 2012, and the NHL is in Ottawa for all-star weekend. Phaneuf and Kessel have both made the team, so they're in town to do a little pre-game promotion work. Standard stuff. I'm sure it will be fun.

Phaneuf is doing a sit-down, and our clip begins when he somehow hears Kessel approaching behind him. You're expecting me to make some sort of lazy "Phil Kessel is so fat you can hear him walking" joke, but I'm above that. There will be no weak and tired Kessel conditioning punchlines here.

"Oh, he's eating a cookie!" Um, OK, maybe Phaneuf didn't get the no-conditioning-jokes memo.

Phaneuf invites Kessel to join him for the interview, dropping a "You just interrupted it" in the process. Did that seem a little angry to you? It did to me. That Phaneuf is such a card, when he decides to playfully tease a teammate he really commits to the character.

"We better get you on the bike if you're going to keep eating these cookies, that's your fourth one today." See… playful? I think this is playful. Please tell me this is playful.

Kessel tries to claim that it's only his first cookie, at which point Phaneuf goes full-on dad mode while busting him with a detailed list of times and locations. I was fully expecting him to explain that he's not mad, just disappointed.

Anyway, now that Kessel's been thoroughly cookie-shamed by his friend(?), I'm sure we'll get to the friendly banter.

See, here we go. Kessel relates a funny story about being asked who'll choose the music for the all-star locker room. "I told them you." See, that's nice! "And I said you're the worst DJ in the league." Oh.

"Hey, you can go get your ipod," Phaneuf replies. "I know you're extremely cheap, but…"

OK, I'm going to just jump in right here. Do…. do Phaneuf and Kessel hate each other? I mean, do they legitimately want to fight right now? I think they might.

Just for context, Phaneuf being the Maple Leafs' locker room DJ was kind of a thing in Toronto for a while after Burke somehow used it as a way to praise his leadership skills. So this is Kessel coming in and just firing directly at the thermal exhaust port. These guys are not messing around.

By the way, can we give Kessel some credit for holding his own here? He's never been viewed as an especially intimidating guy, but he's pulling off a pretty decent "I'm going to stand right over you and keep eating my cookie and what are you going to do about it?" move here.

That face where you realize your fun sit-down is about to turn into a fist fight.

A flustered Phaneuf tries to resume the interview, but Kessel is still hovering semi-menacingly in the background. The interviewer asks if he'll be in the hardest shot competition, at which point Kessel comes storming back for more, asking if "You mean that muff of a shot?" I don't even know what that means, but it sounds bad.

At this point, Phaneuf calmly gets up, grabs Kessel in a headlock, drags him down the hallway and throws him down that escalator.

Wait, I'm being told I imagined that. What Phaneuf actually does is offer up a plaintive "Phil is all over me today. I don't know why… he's angry today". Which is probably the safe play. Would you want to mess with this guy?

I feel like we have to score that bout for Kessel. Phaneuf got the early takedown and landed some shots, but ran out of gas at the end and left himself open. I'm going split decision for Phil, but I'm willing to hear other viewpoints.

By the way, you may be wondering how we got this clip of the Maple Leafs' two most important players coming to within a few seconds of roundhouse kicking each other in the temple. Did some fan film it with their phone and upload it to social media? Is it security cam footage that the hotel didn't dispose of properly? Oh, no, it was uploaded by the official Maple Leafs YouTube account. And then they gave it this title:

The 2011-12 Maple Leafs missed the playoffs for the seventh straight season, in case you were wondering. No idea how that happened, with all that dressing room chemistry.

Epilogue: They eventually made up.

Have a question, suggestion, old YouTube clip, or anything else you'd like to see included in this column? Email Sean at [email protected] .

Down Goes Brown Grab Bag: Trash Talking, Boring Senators and Cookie Phil published first on http://ift.tt/2pLTmlv

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