The Guru Report: Thursday, June 4

by Hockey Guru


We are currently in the midst of the first Stanley Cup Finals in a number of years, that is clearly undecided, through the first four games. It's time for the Hockey Guru to post a few comments / random thoughts:

Is there really justice in the NHL? The suspension issues mentioned in several previous installments of The NHL Needs a Fix, prove the league's consistent inconsistency. That is, suspensions continue to be given not given in a bizarre, haphhazard manner.

While I am in agreement with the overturning of Malkin's suspension, how was Lucic's suspension justifiable? Moreso, how could Scott Walker not only avoid a suspension, but avoid an "automatic" suspension that required the league to overturn it? Lucic was suspended for the same infraction. It's foolish.

The Stanley Cup Finals may be teaching a lesson to the league offices. Let the players sort things out on the ice. The more the off ice officials back away, the more the game takes care of itself.

The on-ice officiating has been great. Not calling every ticky-tack "interference" allows the game to have some flow and not evolve into half-court basketball, with alternating powerplays rather than alternating possessions.

In Thursday night's Game 4, after Staal's shortie, The Igloo was ROCKING and play was fast and frantic. (Until a certain bank - I'm looking at you, Tito O'Dell - adds money to Mario's coffers, it will remain The Igloo).

Have a look for yourself:



I commented to a friend that someone was going to score. It could have easily been Detroit, but play opened up and culminated in Sid's goal.

The action in this final series has been great. Unfortunately, there are only two or three games left.

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The Guru Report: Wednesday, April 22

by Hockey Guru

Washington Preserves the One Goal Defeat

Down two games to one. Down two goals to one. Late in the third period.

Sean Avery takes yet another penalty away from the play.

The opportunity for the Capitals to tie the game was there. The powerplay had some chances throughout the game. And on the previous powerplay, the Caps did everything right. But they just couldn't get one past King Henrik.

Three minutes left, now.

A goal here is absolutely necessary, or the season is on the brink.

Under the new rules, the faceoff is automatically in the offensive zone. Why not pull the goalie right now? Make it a 6-on-4. Get an extra body in front of the net. That's the best chance you have, Bruce.

Sure, there's the risk that an empty netter puts you down two, but take your shot when it presents itself. If you go to the bar and the most beautiful girl there wants to leave with you, do you turn her down because it's not closing time?

Nope. Boudreau played it safe. He wasn't ready to sack up. A crucial situation and he didn't send the message to his team that the time is now - it's do or die.

Instead, he can hold his head high and think about how close he was - only losing by one goal. Lamenting how unfortunate that Ovechkin hit the crossbar, about all the posts, blah, blah, blah.

Sometimes a coach just needs to show some guts.


Random Thought

Must Win games in the playoffs.

Teams and coaches prefer to minimize the use of this phrase. It just doesn't make sense anymore. While the regular season is referred to as a marathon - and the playoffs a sprint - wouldn't it be appropriate for a coach to treat every game as a MUST WIN?

Wouldn't the urgency and importance of every shift be emphasized to the players?

If a play-off game is not a MUST WIN, does that make it an OKAY-TO-LOSE game?


An Old-Time Hockey Lesson

Watching the Flames' / Hawks' Game 4 brought to mind the story Wayne Gretzky has told many times, about the Oilers loss to the Islanders in the '83 Cup Finals.

In short, after the loss, the Oilers had to walk past the Islanders dressing room to exit the arena. Edmonton players had expected to see the Islanders celebrating and whooping it up. When they passed the doorway, however, they saw quite a different scene.

Most Islanders' players were still in uniform. Those that were undressed were covered in ice packs. There was no celebration. It resembled more of a M*A*S*H* unit.

Gretzky realized right there, the reason why the Islanders had won. The Oilers, by contrast, hadn't left it all on the ice.

How does that relate to last night's Flames / Hawks game?

Look at the TOI report for the game - particularly for the forwards. For Games 3 and 4. Chicago had a chance to win one of those two games, and take a commanding lead in the series. They chose instead, to keep the legs fresh for later in the series.

Well congrats, Coach Q. There'll be at least 6 games in this series now.


Top 4 forwards in terms of ice time:

Calgary: Iginla, Jokinen, Glencross, Bertuzzi

Chicago: Bolland, Havlat, Pahlsson, Byfuglien


Guess who won both games?

The Guru Report: Monday 4/20

by Hockey Guru


A great night of hockey on Monday. The Guru set the DVR and managed to view all three games in their entirety – almost in real time!

Through the magic of technology, sitting through commercials was unnecessary. The first five minutes of the Montreal-Boston game were watched – then paused – so the Guru could watch the first five minutes of the Rangers-Caps game.

It was hockey bliss.


Boston 4, Montreal 2

The Bruins defense looked shaky throughout much of the game. Whether this was due to bouncing pucks, frayed nerves, or the pressure of playing in Montreal, they simply didn’t handle the puck well, especially around their own net. Had the Canadiens been more opportunistic, they might have scored three or four extra goals.

Sure, Carey Price gave up some juicy rebounds, and the injuries impacted the Habs line-up. I know. But at one point early on, Kovalev had a wide open net to shoot at and he chose to simply dump the puck into the corner (all right, you could argue he was actually shooting at the net, but missing the net by 15 feet, from 15 feet isn’t exactly an “All-Star” calibre effort).


Washington 4, New York 0

Game three unfolded perfectly for Washington. Scoring the first goal of the game is proving to be more important in this series, than in the others. The danger for Washington is that they become complacent or to think that they’ve accomplished something simply by winning this game. Sure, it was a must win game, but they’re still trailing in the series.

The goalie change for Washington was the perfect move, but as the Guru stated in his predictions, it probably should have been made prior to Game 1. Washington is likely still a year away from a serious playoff run. The missing piece is still the goaltender. This season, it's time to find out just what they have, and to allow Varlamov to gain the experience and get a taste, so that he can be better prepared for the future.

Now, this year is not written off by any means – Washington can still make noise in these playoffs, and game 4 is much anticipated, to see if they are ready to compete now (the Guru's hunch is that they may be feeling too good about themselves right now, and that the Rangers and Lundqvist will now have a great chance to take a commanding 3-1 series lead).


Calgary 4, Chicago 2

This was hit-a-minute hockey. Not merely riding guys off, but finishing checks with authority all over the ice. Great hockey, great intensity, great drama.

Calgary got a major break on the go-ahead goal to extend their lead, and cruised to the Game 3 victory. This game was so much closer than the score indicated. This has been a physical series, with the teams trying to wear each other out, regardless of the score.

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The Guru Report: Thursday April 16

by Hockey Guru


Boston-Montreal

Great start by the Bruins and when Krejci put the B’s ahead 2-0 – Hockey Guru thought – here we go with another boat race.

But Montreal scored the first “gut goal” of the playoffs. “Gut goals” are the goals that teams score mostly because of desperation, determination and grit. There weren’t too many scoring chances to that point but Montreal desperately needed to answer back and Christopher Higgins scored the third goal of the game. Remarkably it was done 2 minutes after that 2 goal lead was held.

This series will be close and the score will likely be tied or a 1-goal game at all times. It’s how the hockey gods want it to be. It’s Montreal-Boston. It’s awesome!

Whether this series goes 4, 5, 6 or 7 games – these are must-see games.


Detroit-Columbus

With the Bruins-Canadiens game competing for the Hockey Guru’s attention – the occasional flip to check-in on this game showed what the Guru knew. Detroit is an amazing team.

When they have to – they can take their game up a level. They have the skill, they have the experience and they have the heart. They have been champions for a reason.

RJ Umberger is trying to prove he isn’t another John Druce or 1-year playoff wonder – he scores big goals in big games.

Perhaps the most impressive aspect from the box score is that Detroit held Columbus to 2 shots in the third period. At a time when a team is desperately trying to get back into a game – that’s IMPRESSIVE.


Chicago-Calgary

The Hockey Guru did not Tivo the game – so when watching the third period and 12 seconds of overtime – the feelings of regret about missing most of the first two periods eroding the enjoyment of this game.

The Chicago crowd was tremendous and this was an awesome game but there’s not much insight for the Guru to impart.

San Jose-Anaheim

Anaheim has captured the home ice in the series!!!

Many of the readers of that know how the Guru feels about that phrase. But Anaheim winning the first game of this series demonstrates how difficult the Stanley Cup is to win.

Having the best record in the NFL – your team doesn’t even have to play in the first round of the playoffs. Then, you get to face the lowest seeded remaining team at home when you’re rested and they’ve gone through a playoff game the week before.

Losing that first game is a major upset in the NFL.

But in the NHL – the disparity between the 1 and the 8 seed is not the disparity between the 1 and 8 seed in the NCAA tournament.

As a long time fan of Jumbo Joe and defender of his – this year there are no excuses. With San Jose’s regular season – he should be rested, healthy and primed for a run.

Game 1 saw 1 shot on net from Big Joe – and he was a non-factor on most of his 28 shifts. Through the Guru’s eyes (yes they were a bit heavy during this game – and distracted with a teething baby) – San Jose didn’t generate too many quality scoring chances. For the offensive juggernaut they had been – they certainly weren’t in game 1. Credit Anaheim’s defense, credit Randy Carlyle – or blame Joe Thornton.

1 game is not a series – but the questions and the pressure are going to make it harder and harder for San Jose in this series.

It’s often said that until a team loses on its home ice – a “series” hasn’t begun – well then this series has begun – and if San Jose doesn’t respond in game 2 – it could be on its way to being over.



The Guru’s forecast for tonight’s game is put on sunblock for the Philly-Penguins game as the red light should be lit often.

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The Guru Report: Wednesday April 15

by Hockey Guru


Opening night of the 2009 Stanley Cup playoffs has come and gone.

The expectations for Round 1 are high in Hockey Guru's mind (again, here I go with the 3rd person thing...) - almost too high and so night 1 is a bit of a let down.

But that's okay - even though there weren't the twists and turns anticipated in the games last night - knowing the playoffs have begun is gratifying in itself.

Opening night, the Eastern Conference saw 2 boat races and a hockey game.

(To clarify for readers that don't get my humour - I know there were 4 hockey games and all were played on frozen water. I know that the machine is actually a zamboni and not a boat).

By calling 3 games boat races - I mean that there was almost as much drama in the game as there is in a boat race. You see, in boating, whoever gets the lead at the start - goes on to win 6 days later or something.

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Pittsburgh-Philadelphia

The Flyers forgot that they are supposed to be healthy this year. The picked up where they left off last year in the Conference finals.

Then Penguins played game 1 almost perfectly - and did so without Malkian or Crosbian performances from their superstars.

This is the NHL though - and a best of seven series. The Flyers have been employing the "rope-a-dope" theory under John Stevens of taking it on the chin in game 1 and showing up for game 2.

While game 2 is not a must win for the Flyers - it is expected to be much more competitive.

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"Boat Race #2"

New Jersey-Carolina

Did I really pick Carolina to advance in this series? As Keyser Soze said - "The greatest trick the devil ever pulled was to make the world believe he didn't exist."

These Devils pulled that trick off again (well, almost - the unemployed vampire, aka Tito "TD" O'Dell, believed that the Devils still existed in his prognistication).

With so many bright minds in the hockey community picking the Canes based on their surge and the Devils malaise - last night, Sutter's boys proved that you can turn it back on in the playoffs - and cruised to a 1-0 series lead.

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Washington-New York Rangers

Something about surprise, the unexpected - makes sports so appealing to me.

The "Oh, my - did that just happen" thought goes went through my head as the Rangers built the 3-1 lead against Washington. And then quickly saw the high powered Caps even the score.

In the end, Brandon Dubinsky's snipe was the difference and the Rangers took the home ice advantage in the series away from the Capitals.

The Rangers will now play game 2 at Madison Square Garden. Game 5 will be at MSG.
Should the series go seven - the Rangers will have the decisive game in their barn and have earned the "extra" game at home in the series.

But don't buy tickets yet. You see, the schedule can and will change if the Capitals manage to win a game on the road in the series.

It's almost impossible. Road teams never win games in any sport - especially hockey.

(Again - for those readers that are having some trouble seeing the incredibly high-brow wit and humour in this post - I'm JOKING).

The home ice angle is one of my pet peeves. Home ice is determined going into a series and doesn't change.

Washington lost game 1.

Washington still has the home ice advantage in this series.

They now have to find a way to win one on the road to win the series - but, believe it or not, it is possible. Perhaps you want to see a list of the teams that have come back from 0-1 deficits after losing the first game at home?

Not my forte.

But Ovechkin's forte is goal scoring - and the guy is simply amazing to watch.

What I want to watch is if the Caps have a goalie change heading into game 2. As mentioned, the Hockey Guru would have started Varlamov in the series - as I think he gives a better chance to win - both today and in the future.

The Caps window of opportunity to win a cup is just beginning and Theodore's career is not.

As I recently learned - rookies can win in the playoffs. It may be Varlamov's time.

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