ALL The Hockey!!

The NHL season FINALLY kicked off Wednesday night, and since then I’ve been lying on my couch in a hockey induced coma at night, occasionally getting up to say some very bad words that send my dog and some of my more timid family members scrambling for cover. They say nothing teaches new words quite like a game of scrabble but I say whoever said that never watched a hockey game with me.

There were some inventive curses being thrown around last night I’ll tell you, as the Avs collapsed in their season opener against Minnesota. Just typing that makes me angry. I hate the Wild, have I mentioned that? As they were losing, a few thoughts occurred to me.

-Two years ago the Avs would have found a way to close that game out.

-Varlamov let in five very saveable goals on 30 shots, and looked quite human. I hope that’s not an omen.

-As soon as the Wild scored to make it 4-2 I wasn’t wondering how the Avs were going to bounce back. I was wondering how they were going to manage to screw this one up. A sign of how bad they’ve been recently, I suppose.

-The Avs are nastier, and they scored as many goals as they scored all last season against the Wild, so there’s that.

-Matt Duchene needed to be better, but for that he’ll have to develop some better chemistry with his linemates.

-The Avs and their fans should start a petition to stop opening the season against the Wild. Ceasing to play them altogether would be nice, but let’s start small and work our way up.

Anyway, the Avs looked awful in the third, but for one or two glorious periods they looked like the team that won the division in 2013-14. I liked that team. Maybe next time they come back they can stay a while.

Oh, and the Jets won last night, so it’s not all doom and gloom. A 6-2 win to start the season? Yeah, I like that as opening night’s goal. That they had six different goal scorers was encouraging. The best part? The Jets are deep enough that none of those six could score tonight and you’d still have enough offensive options left (Perreault, Ladd, Little, Ehlers) to beat New Jersey.

That’s all for this week. If anybody needs me, I’ll be watching hockey most likely, overdosing on the game I love after so long away from it. Until next time, keep those skates sharp!

CHL Season Begins, and Other Notes

While the NHL season is still about nine days away (those will be nine long days, let me tell you), the CHL has helped scratch my hockey itch by graciously starting earlier. The WHL, OHL, and QMJHL are all well under way, but unfortunately I haven’t had a chance to watch any games live yet. Relying on what I hear from the all-mighty, all-knowing internet, I gather the Brandon Wheat Kings are off to a strong start, but I don’t gather much more than that. They did just get John Quenneville back from New Jersey, and coupled with the return of Jayce Hawryluk this gives them the WHL’s deadliest offense.

On the NHL front, the Jets suffered through a shellacking at the hands of the Minnesota Wild on Sunday, and I won’t autopsy that game here. Suffice it to say, I can’t imagine hating a team more than I hate the Wild, and this is speaking as a guy who lived through the Avs-Red Wings rivalry of the late 90s and early 2000s. What I wouldn’t give to see the Jets and Avs pound on the Wild a bit this season, and have them miss the playoffs.

Before I can even worry about that of course, the season has to start, which it is taking a torturously long amount of time to do. In the meantime, I have exhibition hockey to tide me over, much the way breadsticks tide you over at a restaurant while you wait, increasingly impatiently because you’ve been waiting for twenty minutes now and you have to get home and pay the babysitter and you’re worrying about whether she’ll remember to feed the dog, and the neighbours have been complaining that the dog barks too much when it gets left in the yard for too long sometimes and you hope… sorry, lost my train of thought.

Anyway, the preseason… yeah, that. Well, for some teams it’s already almost over, but for the Jets and Avs the real work is still ahead. Both teams have made cuts so far, but if cuts are a buffet, the Avs are delicately nibbling at the choicest bits, pacing themselves because they know dessert is going to be just decadent, sampling a little at the time. The Jets, on the other hand, waited in the corner just long enough to be considered polite, having that timed down to the second, then sprinted to the buffet table, trampling several children and an old lady, and began stuffing their face without even taking the food back to the table, breaking all kinds of health codes. When dessert rolls around, they’ll insist they couldn’t possibly eat another bite, right before devouring an entire cake.

Man, I’ve got food on the brain right now. Might be time to bid you all farewell and go eat something. Until next time then, keep those skates sharp!

Hockey’s Getting Closer: 3 on 3 overtime.

Still no official regular season NHL hockey to talk about this week, but the puck has been dropped on the preseason, and it’s like a weight has been lifted. I have things to write about again!

For starters, I love the new 3 on 3 format. It’s fast paced, exciting and just a little hard on my poor old ticker (but in a good way). I’m worried it’ll get to be too much of a good thing at some point, but for now it’s still more than welcome.

Listen, I like the shootouts as much as the next man. Probably more, actually, given the way public opinion has turned against it so quickly in the last year or so (I think it was it likely the introduction of 3 on 3 in the AHL that did that, as it showed everyone a better alternative). I appreciate the science of the shootout, as someone who’s proficient at it himself.

I’ve been in several shootouts myself, and I really enjoy them and appreciate the skill that goes into them. Of course, I’m a little biased having had success in it. I’m sitting on a record of five goals on seven shots. If an NHLer had that shooting record we call him a shootout specialist. Does it sound like I’m bragging? Probably. I mean, I am.

As much as I’d like to defend the shootout, I recognize the staleness of it. The 22 rounder last year between Washington and Florida, amazing as it was, was exhausting to watch, and I’d much rather have seen a skill play in overtime. It also seems remarkably few players have the shootout figured out properly (or maybe on the flip side the goalies all do) so we don’t see as many goals as we should. Maybe it’s because so many players just walk in and shoot. I slap my forehead every time a player does that (I’m a deker myself, and it works for both me and the dekers in the NHL).

So as hard as it may be on my poor ticker, with all the end to end rushes and each mistake being incredibly costly, I’ll stand behind 3 on 3 all the way. It may lead to some overtimes being disappointingly short, but it will lead to some of the most intense action you’ll see in any sport. I’m all for it, especially after the drop in goals scored overall in recent years.

One final, unrelated note, to close on. I know it has nothing to do with 3 on 3, but I have to touch on this. Ivan Provorov was returned to the Brandon Wheat Kings today. That team is just too good, and the Flyers just gave them back one of the best defenders in the CHL. Since I don’t see Jayce Hawryluk making the Panthers, or John Quenneville making the Devils for that matter, it looks like most of the Wheat Kings best are returning, instantly making them a Memorial Cup favourite. With youngsters like Kale Clague, Nolan Patrick, Tanner Kaspick, and Stelio Mattheos all ready for big time roles and a supporting cast including some of the WHL’s best veterans, I’d say anything less than a championship would be a letdown for Brandon.

That’s all for this weeks Board Play. Until next week, keep those skates sharp!

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Rookie Camps and Tourneys

So the Penticton rookie tournament came to a close today, and while the result wasn’t quite what the Jets wanted I’m sure (losing their first two games stung, no doubt) the last game against Edmonton finally yielded some good things. I guess if you’re going to pick one game to be trending up, the last one is perfect as it’s right before training camp.

For some of these players, training camp will be a token effort, as many if not most of them have no chance of making the Jets. For others, however, the Penticton tourney was a warmup for what could well be the camp that begins their NHL career. Nikolaj Ehlers and Andrew Copp, two of the Jets best players today, are among that group. Ehlers’ vision and creativity and speed and… a lot of other stuff with the puck, make him an ideal fit on the Jets’ roster.

Copp, meanwhile, nicely fills the fourth line slot vacated by Jim Slater. Another of the Atlanta Thrashers’ crowd bites the dust.

As for my other favourite team, the Colorado Avalanche, they don’t take part in any rookie tournaments, choosing instead to have a rookie camp in Denver prior to main camp. I suppose this has its advantages, namely getting the rookie accustomed to the city, but I wish I could see them play a bit. From what I’m hearing, Mason Geertsen and Chris Bigras were clear standouts today, along with newly drafted Mikko Rantanen. I’d love to be able to see them for myself.

Just a quick update from me this time around. As I said, when October rolls around and there’s actual hockey to be played and directed, this blog will have more meat on its bones. Until then, keep your skates sharp.

Is It October Yet?

This is the dead season for hockey, and it gets seemingly longer and deader every year. With September dragging on like it’s got an anchor tied to its waist and maybe a few smaller anchors on its feet, the dry period for hockey seems longer and more ridiculous every time the calendar turns.

It’s even a dead zone for news. This is the time of year where rumours get really interesting because, lacking any real developments, some sites seem content to straight up fabricate their own rumours and see if they can bring them to life like some twisted and infinitely less talented version of Doctor Frankenstein. “Hey, did you hear the rumour about Sidney Crosby secretly wanting to be traded to Arizona and the Coyotes offering up ten years worth of draft picks in return?” “No of course I #$*&**! didn’t, you just made it up this very second!”

Anyway, the only promise of nearby water in this vast, hockey-less desert is the upcoming young stars tournament, or series of tournaments. It never fails to baffle me that there are so many of them, with four or five teams in each and some teams abstaining from the mess entirely. It is, however, the first thing even resembling meaningful fast paced hockey since June, so you can be sure I, always in need of my fix, will be watching closely.

The Jets are involved in this tournament every year, and while I can’t give you any actual analysis on it because it hasn’t, you know, happened yet, I can tell you they’ve put together an exceptional roster even without their highly touted college prospects. Nikolaj Ehlers was flat out dominant at last years tournament and frankly, with him being a year older now, anything less than that would something of a disappointment for the dashing Dane.

I fully expect Ehlers and Nic Petan, among others, to run amok for the Jets, while at the same time getting less attention than Edmonton, who has Connor McDavid running amok on their behalf. Either way, it’ll be a fun tournament to watch and the first real hockey played in months, so I’m looking forward to it. I’ll have some analysis here later next week when the tourney is all wrapped up.

Until then, keep those skates sharp!

The Return (and Relocation) of Board Play!

So, after a hiatus of almost a year, which I spent writing elsewhere, Board Play has returned! I’ve switched over to WordPress.com and am ready to go. Just in time for a new NHL season too! Well, actually, just short of training camp. The dry period for the NHL is objectively short, but it feels frustratingly long when you’re stuck in the midst of it. What I wouldn’t give for some NHL hockey, or even some decent hockey news right now.

Just a refresher on what we’re all about, or what I’m all about, here at board play. This is a hockey blog first and foremost, with a focus on the Winnipeg Jets and Colorado Avalanche. That said, because I am extremely knowledgeable (read: opinionated) this blog will also cover various goings on in the hockey world at large. That includes junior hockey, which I follow very closely, with a focus on draft-eligible prospects.

It’s a bit of a dead zone for hockey right now, sadly. All is not completely quiet on the hockey front, however. The Penticton rookie tournament is fast approaching (though I wish it would approach, well, faster) and training camps will follow. Training camps are where some of the most fascinating battles of the year are waged, and this year will be no different. Both my favourite teams have open roster spots in their top 9 forwards for which youngsters and veterans alike will compete, with Winnipeg having the slightly more intriguing battles of the two.

Junior hockey isn’t far off either, with the start of the season now about three weeks away and many exhibition schedules having already started. The Ivan Hlinka Memorial Tournament recently wrapped up with Canada winning it’s eighth straight gold. This tournament is a complete reversal of the U18 World Championships in spring, as Canada tends to send its best players (since none of them are in the midst of playoff runs) while the Americans do not. That’s a shame. It would be nice to see the best of the USNTDP (United States National Team Development Program) send their best against ours.

Just a brief, re-introductory post this week ladies and gents. When the NHL gets started and hockey is in full swing once again, I’ll have more material for this blog than I know what to do with. Until then, keep those skates sharp!