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Archive for November, 2011

Carolina Hurricanes fire head coach Paul Maurice

Nov 28

Posted by Chris in News | No Comments

Apparently the Washington Capitals aren’t the only team doing a little bit of housekeeping today as the Carolina Hurricanes have also fired their head coach.

This marks the end of the second stint with the team for Paul Maurice, who coached the Carolina/Hartford franchise from 1995-2003 and then was rehired to coach the Hurricanes during the 2007-08 season. Maurice led the team to the Eastern Conference Finals that season, but failed to make a playoff appearance since. His combined record with the team during both stints is 384-391-145.

Carolina currently sits last in the Southeast Division and 14th in the Eastern Conference. The team remains only five points out from a playoff spot in a tightly contested Eastern Conference race. However, Carolina has lost 10 of its last 13 games.

Former Montreal Canadiens assistant coach Kirk Muller will replace Maurice as the head coach. Muller spent five seasons with the Canadiens as an assistant coach under Guy Carbonneau. He left his post there to join the Nashville Predators organization as the head coach of their AHL affiliate, the Milwaukee Admirals. In his first season with the Admirals, Muller guided the team to a 10-6-1 record so far in 2011.  

 

 

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Washington Capitals fire Boudreau

Nov 28

Posted by Chris in News | No Comments

The Washington Capitals have fired head coach Bruce Boudreau and replaced him with London Knights coach Dale Hunter.

Boudreau spent four years as the Capitals coach, accumulating a 201-88-40 regular season record over that period. However, Boudreau and his ultra-talented Capitals teams have consistently faltered in the playoffs, going 17-20 in playoff games over the past four years.

In 2009-10, the Capitals claimed the President’s Trophy with the most points of any team in the NHL and walked into the playoffs as a heavy favorite to win the Stanley Cup. However, their success that season translated into a disappointing Quarter Finals loss to the Montreal Canadiens.

The firing comes after weeks of speculation about a diminishing relationship between Boudreau and Capitals superstar Alexander Ovechkin, who has been benched during key moments this season as Boudreau preached accountability to his players and used benching as a punishment for subpar performances. Fellow superstar Alexander Semin sat out of the lineup as a healthy scratch as well.

The Capitals started this season with a seven-game with streak, the best start in franchise history. In the 15 games since then, however, the team has only managed a meager five wins and 10 losses, putting them 8th in the Eastern Conference.

The 51-year-old Hunter will lead the team’s practice this afternoon and make his debut behind the bench tomorrow night when the team takes on the St. Louis Blues. Hunter coached the London Knights of the OHL for the past 11 seasons and accumulated a 451-189-23-24 record during that time. He was the fastest coach in OHL history to attain 300 and 400 career wins. Hunter won the Memorial Cup with London in 2004-05.

In addition to his coaching accolades, Hunter is also a former Washington Capitals player and captain, playing with the team from 1987 to 1999. He is one of four players to have his jersey retired by the franchise. His career total of 3,563 penalty minutes ranks him second all-time in the NHL.

Boudreau’s assistant coaches will remain with the club as Hunter’s assistants.

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Finnish Hockey Brawl Reaches New Heights

Nov 28

Posted by Eddie in Media | No Comments

When something-hockey related is on the Yahoo homepage, it must be worth clicking.

 

When something related to hockey makes the front page of Yahoo!, it must be worth clicking to investigate what is being written. As I went to see the video being shown via our friends at Puck Daddy, I had no idea I would see one of the wildest brawls I had ever seen.

In the Finnish SM Liiga match between HIFK and Pelicans, penalty minute records that you’d never want to see were set. The game combined for a SM Liiga-record 465 penalty minutes for the game, with 439 coming in the final 30 seconds. Where they got 439 from I don’t know considering it should have been a divisible number as majors are usually five minutes, minors two and misconducts 10.

The first 1:10+ of the video features a run of the mill fight between Siim Liivik of HIFK and Arttu Luttinen of the Pelicans. After that is done, watch what happens at the face-off at the right end zone. Pretty much all hell broke loose with a line bawl. I don’t think the puck hit the ice before sticks, gloves, and helmets were flying in the air. I’m sure the referee keeping track of who was participating in the fight must needed multiple pages of his riot note pad. In all, seven players from each team as well as both bench bosses were ejected from the game. In the 14-team league, Pelicans sit third while HIFK are in eighth place.

To see the box score, check it out here. Hope you have Google Translate as it is in Finnish.

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HWB “Movember” Nears a Close

Nov 27

Posted by EB in News | No Comments

With only a few days left in the month of November, Hockey World Blog will be wrapping up their “Movember” Pancreatic Cancer Research Fundraiser. As we are grateful for those who have donated (George Brown, Kenneth Uy, Sophia & Aliyah Jaleel, Frances Chapman and Anthony Kaylin), we hope for one last push to reach our goal of $500 donations from our readership.

As a reminder, HWB writers have taken to growing a mustache for the month of November. Some have grown in better than others, but through business meetings, wives/girlfriends rolling eyes and friends’ banter, HWB writers have stuck it out for a cause that really hits home. In early 2005, Matt and Chris, two of the founding members of Hockey World Blog, were informed that their mother was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. After diagnosis, the doctors only gave her a few months to live. While she beat out the doctor’s initial estimations, Peggy Austin eventually lost her battle with pancreatic cancer in August 2005.

Over 44,000 Americans are diagnosed with pancreatic cancer each year. Of those, 94 percent will lose their battle within five years of diagnosis. A staggering 74 percent will lose their battle within the first year. The average life expectancy after diagnosis is just three to six months.

With the holidays and the gift of giving is upon us, we hope that our readership can contribute to our cause. We understand that not everyone is capable, but even a $5 donation goes a long way. Not quite convinced? HWB will match the first $500 of donations from our readership.

Please, take a moment to view our Pancreatic Cancer Research fundraiser page to the Hirshberg Foundation. Also, bid on either our Jimmy Howard autographed picture or a customized NHL team candle as proceeds will benefit the fundraiser.

Thank You for your continued readership and all who support our Pancreatic Cancer Research Fundraiser.

Reebok 20k Hockey Stick

Nov 25

Posted by Matt in News | 22 Comments

At this point, we’ve all seen the upcoming Reebok 20k skates. But now, thanks to HWB reader Anthony, we now have our first glimpse at the upcoming Reebok 20k hockey stick. He spotted the new Reebok 20k stick in a video where Matt Duchene talks about how he tapes his stick. At about the 22 second mark of the video, you can see the 20k stick hanging out next to Duchene, in the top right corner of the video. Anthony took a screenshot of the stick for us, which you can see below. You can take a look at the full video below as well.

Update 2/29/12: David Perron of the St. Louis Blues will be using the new Reebok 20k stick for the first time tonight against the Oilers. Take a look at the picture below that Perron took of the new 20k stick and tweeted to his followers.

We think the Reebok 20k hockey stick looks pretty nice, what do you guys think?

Reebok 20k Hockey Stick

Reebok 20k Hockey Stick

Reebok 20k Hockey Stick

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Hockey Deals on Black Friday

Nov 24

Posted by Matt in Gear, News | No Comments

Pure HockeyHappy Thanksgiving to all you hockey fans out there. As you enjoy a feast of turkey today, you might be wondering what kind of deals you can get on your favorite hockey gear tomorrow. Well let’s take a look at what a couple of the biggest online retailers have to offer for gear junkies this weekend.

Our friends over at Pure Hockey are offering 15% off all clearance items, beginning Friday, November 24th, and ending Sunday, the 26th. There are some great gloves included in that deal, such as Warrior Bonafide gloves, Easton E-Pro gloves, and the TPS R8 gloves. If you’re in need of a bag, you can grab the Easton EQ2 hockey bag for under $25.

The savings at Pure Hockey go beyond equipment though. For those looking at hockey apparel, you can grab any item for 25% off beginning tomorrow. That deal will most likely go through the end of december.

Don’t forget to use the coupon code HOCKEYWORLD to save an additional 10% at Pure Hockey.

If your game is inline hockey, and you are looking at a new pair of skates, head over to Inline Warehouse for some great deals on Tour skates. Beginning today, you can save up to $200 on a new pair of Tour skates so check out the deals below.

You can also save 15% on any Inline Warehouse gift card purchased this weekend. Be quick though, that deal expires November 28th.

So you’ve got some good options this weekend, whether you’re getting something for yourself, or doing some early holiday shopping. Take advantage of these deals, because they will not last long. Drop us a line in the comments if you come across any other great black friday hockey deals.

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51-Year-Old Dresses as Emergency Goalie for Wild

Nov 23

Posted by Eddie in News | No Comments

HWB is participating in “Movember” to raise funds for Pancreatic Cancer Research. Make a difference, make a donation.

From the department of “Things you’d have to see to believe”, the Minnesota Wild was without a backup goalie this afternoon prior to hosting the Nashville Predators. Starting backstop Niklas Backstrom had to miss tonight’s game for personal reasons. This meant Josh Harding would get the nod in goal while Matt Hackett boarded a flight to Minneapolis from the AHL affiliate in Houston.

The team wasn’t sure if he could make it to the game on time, so they quickly made a phone call to 51-year-old Paul Deutsch. You must wonder, “Where did they get a 51-year-old goalie from”? Well, Deutsch is a friend and former high school teammate of former assistant coach Mike Ramsey, and has been used in many practices when one of the top goalies gets an off day. He runs a screen printing and embroidery store in the area, and because the team wasn’t allowed to sign a goalie with professional experience they signed Deutsch to a Amateur Tryout contract today.

When you play senior men’s hockey and you show up to the rink, and there is no goalie….there is no game. So that’s how I started playing. – Paul Deutsch, who started playing goalie at age 37.

To make the story more strange, Deutsch was planning on being in attendance at Xcel Energy Center with his daughters hockey team. Now they were able to watch him face a few shots in warm-ups. Unlike with Cinderella, Midnight came before the puck dropped as he was scratched after warm-ups when Hackett arrived for bench duties.

Not often does a emergency backup goalie fields questions from the media, but Deutsch did. Check out the video from Fox Sports North below. Last year, Matt Caputo of the New York Times wrote a feature story on emergency backup goalies.

 

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Seat Could Get Hotter in District for Boudreau

Nov 22

Posted by Eddie in Soap Box | No Comments

HWB is participating in “Movember” to raise funds for Pancreatic Cancer Research. Make a difference, make a donation.

Things aren’t so peachy in Washington for Caps bench boss Bruce Boudreau. The Capitals currently sit eighth in the East with a 11-7-1 record. Expectations are always high for a team with one of the most profile players in the league in Alex Ovechkin. In the division, they are two points behind Florida but you couldn’t tell based on the way the team has been playing.

Team owner Ted Leonsis recently declined to comment when the media asked him about a vote of confidence regarding Boudreau. This doesn’t sound good. Especially on the heels of en embarrassing 7-1 loss to Toronto in which the Maple Leafs kept seven regulars out of the lineup and started their third string goalie. Last night when they defeated Phoenix, Boudreau healthy-scratched Alexander Semin for the first time in his career. There are a lot of things to blame, but the main source of the team struggles begins with the player with the C on his sweater:

The Washington Capitals will sink or swim with the production of Alex Ovechkin.

Number 8

For Boudreau to retake control of the locker room, he has to do it through the player the rest of the team listens to. A story in the Washington Post suggested Ovechkin and Boudreau aren’t on the same page. Boudreau wants Ovi to play on the wing on the power play but Ovi feels more comfortable running the man-advantage from the point. Boudreau and his staff have begged Ovechkin to be more responsible in the defensive end, yet he still routinely floats in Washington’s zone and leaves it prematurely. Through the season’s first 18 games, he has a team-worst plus-minus rating of minus-6.

For someone that loves to shoot the pick, Ovechkin hasn’t done that this season. He’s led the league in shots on goal each of his first six seasons, but has 67 in 18 games this season. In the Toronto loss Saturday he didn’t record his first shot on goal until 12 minutes remained in the second period- when they trailed 4-1. The coaches want him to get more of his teammates involved versus taking a high risk shot, but to decrease your shot production by that much is cause for concern.

Earlier this month when Ovechkin was benched when the team put an extra attacker on the ice, he seems to be in his own world. A player who sees 20-plus minutes of ice time every game has been averaging close to 18 minutes this month. That isn’t something you want to see out of your best player and deadliest sniper on the ice.

Could the Semin-scratching Monday affect the fellow Russian superstar? This team does seem to follow the way of Ovechkin: Ovi plays well, the team does well. If he can’t find the back of the net, neither can the rest of the team. In the end, Boudreau and his captain need to have a man-to-man meeting. If they air out all their issues and squash it there, the team could head in the right direction. If they fail to reach at least the conference final, some heads (both on the ice and on the bench) could roll.

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Fantasy Debate: Pavel Datsyuk

Nov 21

Posted by EB in Fantasy, News | No Comments

The beginning of the NHL season has been a unique one to say the least. The Toronto Maple Leafs and the Edmonton Oilers were leading the league while other teams seemed to falter. One such team, the Detroit Red Wings, left many fans to wonder if this will be the season that their playoff streak ends. Have no fear as both Toronto and Edmonton begin to drop while the Red Wings slowly climb the Western Conference Standings. Despite the Red Wings recent success, a question arises for fantasy owners, what to do with Pavel Datsyuk?

Pavel Datsyuk is one of the best players in the game with takeaways and dangles that few players can match. But 19 games into the season, will Datsyuk put up big numbers to help your fantasy team?

Some may argue that he has 15 points in those 19 games, a respectable tally for any player. But currently on pace for 64 points, a point total that fantasy owners expect to be nearer to 90, some owners might want to look at their options. Factor in Datsyuk has nearly a quarter of his total points in the last 2 games, it may be time to dump the Datsyuk.

On the flip side, to cast more confusion in your Datsyuk debate, Pavel is still one of the top players in the league. Coming off of a 2 game, 4 point performance, perhaps the dam has finally broken. Surely Datsyuk will not keep up a two point night, but Datsyuk has yet to let any of his fantasy owners down. Last year he was out for part of the season, only playing 56 games and he still put up 59 points. The 2009-2010 season saw him take a dip, only to 70 points, but the 4 season previous he did not fall below 87 points.

Well, what to do what to do? Datsyuk could be his dependable self, or perhaps he is slowly declining in his point production. As a fantasy owner you need to make a decision soon on what to do. If you so choose to make a trade offer, now is the time, coming off of a good couple of games, a point total respectable to the amount of games played, and the Red Wings are starting to win again. But if you so choose to hold onto him, the future is unknown, but hope for bluer skies red lit lamps.

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Did Jeff Carter ask for a trade from the Columbus Blue Jackets?

Nov 20

Posted by Chris in Rumors | No Comments

The Columbus Blue Jackets are off to a horrendous start with a 4-13-2 record – good enough for last place in the Western Conference. This is certainly not what Columbus had in mind after spending a ton of money to lure defenseman James Wisniewski to Columbus and trading for center Jeff Carter. Well, now rumor mongers are suggesting that Columbus may be looking to flip an underachieving Carter or that Carter himself has asked for a trade out of Columbus.

Carter himself has been a disappointment thus far with only one goal and three assists, but Carter has also missed half of the season with injuries making it difficult for him to establish himself with the team. Still, rumors are lingering that Carter isn’t happy playing in Columbus and has asked management for a trade, which harks back to over the summer when Carter was initially traded and rumors swirled after he failed to address the media that he was unhappy with the trade and didn’t want to play for Columbus.

Teams rumored to be interested include the Boston Bruins, who would love to have another goal scorer added to their lineup, the Montreal Canadiens and the LA Kings. Yes, the Kings may be in the running with Mike Richards rumored to be leading the charge to have LA trade for his friend and former teammate.

Blue Jackets general manager Scott Howson, Jeff Carter’s agent Rick Curran and Carter himself have all denied that he has requested a trade, but that certainly won’t stop speculation around the web that Carter wants out.

Carter did comment, however, that he is unhappy with his team’s performance thus far.

“I don’t think anybody is happy (in the dressing room) right now,” Carter said. “If anybody is happy in this room, they shouldn’t be. We’ve won (four) games.”

Personally, I have to call the bluff on this rumor. While the initial trade to send Carter out of Philadelphia caught everyone by surprise, it’s highly unlikely that Carter will be passed on by the Blue Jackets after only nine games. Injuries have hindered his ability to get comfortable on the ice with his teammates, thus causing his performance to suffer.

Besides, the Blue Jackets are more likely to fire their head coach, Scott Arniel, before they make any significant lineup changes. The team gave up a lot in order to acquire Carter. While he makes an easy scapegoat out of the gate because the team expects so much from him, it’s highly unlikely that they are willing to give up on Carter after so little time.

 

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