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The man once voted as the “most hated man in the NHL” is coming to Dallas, and he plans to bring a winning spirit with him. Sean Avery has been signed by the Dallas Stars of the National Hockey League. Avery is considered the NHL’s best agitator; a player designed to get under the skin of opposing players.
The Stars made it to the Western Conference Finals last year and were just 2 wins from making the Stanley Cup Finals. Avery brings with him a big body and winning spirit that he plans to use to help push the Stars to another Stanley Cup.
One thing’s for sure, this coming season opposing teams wont get away with physical play so easily. Already fans of the Dallas Stars are looking forward to matchups between the Stars and Nashville Predators (due to the Jordan Tootoo issue last season) or the Detroit Red Wings (major rivalry issues there).
Each year the NHL provides us with video clips that will forever belong in highlight reels and best-of compilations. This year was no different. Possibly the greatest clip this last season however belonged to Mike Modano of the Dallas Stars. Going into the season he trailed Phil Housley in points, and as each game passed he moved closer to the moment that would place Modano in the elite group of “greatest” players. On November 11, 2007 he finally did it, scoring an amazing breakaway goal on Evgeni Nabokov of the San Jose Sharks. Below is the clip of that goal.
Peter Pocklington is well known in hockey circles, being the owner of the Edmonton Oilers during their glory days of the 80’s.
At an auction recently, Pocklington sold off a range of hockey memorabilia at auction. The value of the sales is believed to be worth $294,269 US.
Included in the sale are 5 Stanley Cup Rings (84, 85, 87, 88 & 90), 3 Edmonton Trappers PCL Rings (84, 96 & 97), a 1987 Clarence Campbell Bowl replica and a 1985 Miniature Stanley Cup.
“It’s just memorabilia,” Pocklington told the Edmonton Journal. “I remember being there in real life and those memories will last forever.
“To look at a hunk of gold, that I keep in a safe most of the time anyway, every five years, doesn’t make much sense,” he said. “I’d just as soon use that money and the interest on it to look after my grandchildren.” - Pocklington auctions off his Stanley Cup rings
Pocklington isn’t new to the sales game of course. He is the man who sold Wayne Gretzky to the Los Angeles Kings, and in past years has sold other items at auction, including another Stanley Cup miniature and a replica of the Clarence Bowl.
After the first round i find myself only just above 50% in my predictions. Here’s how I did for round 1:
East: Montreal Canadiens - correct
Pittsburgh Penguins - correct
Washington Capitals - incorrect (but they were close)
New Jersey Devils - incorrect
West:
Detroit Red Wings - correct - I predicted a sweep, so i was far off.
Calgary Flames - incorrect - it went to 7 though.
Colorado Avalanche - correct
Dallas Stars - correct (i nailed this one)
So, for round 2 we have:
Montreal Canadiens - Philadelphia Flyers
The Flyers only just scraped past the Washington Capitals, and pretty much fell apart the minute the Capitals put any offensive pressure on. They wont last long under the Canadiens attack.
Pittsburgh Penguins - New York Rangers
The Penguins dominated their first round opponent, but the Rangers wont be anywhere as easy. I believe this game will come down to M.A. Fleury Vs Henrik Lundqvist, and I simply don’t feel M.A.F. has what it takes to be the victor.
Detroit Red Wings - Colorado Avalanche
Detroit have just come off a long series with the Nashville Predators, and appeared to falter a number of times during that series. The Wings special teams were also a lot worse than they should have been. The Avalanche on the other hand are motivated and have their good players healthy again. I think special teams and netminders will decide who win this series.
San Jose Sharks - Dallas Stars
The Dallas Stars showed dominance in their round against the Anaheim Ducks. They outplayed, outskilled and out-believed them in all areas of the ice in all but 1 of the games. They also have shaked the monkey off their back as far as expectations of these playoffs - pass the first round. The Stars have nothing to lose now, and everything to gain, so expect to see them give the Sharks all they have. The Sharks have 1 good offensive line, and it’s been their checking line… the Stars however have 3 solid scoring lines, all which scored 8-7-6 goals per line respectively in round 1. Special Teams will play a big role here, and the Sharks may be in danger if the Stars get Sergei Zubov back on the blue line. Turco Vs Nabokov, Zubov Vs Campbell are the 2 key matchups here.
Washington Capitals - incorrect (but they were close)
New Jersey Devils - incorrect
So, the predictions:
Montreal Canadiens in 5 games
New York Rangers in 6 games
Colorado Avalanche in 6 games
Dallas Stars in 6 games
Todays article by Ross McKeon of Yahoo! Sports is all about the Brad Richards trade to the Dallas Stars, and talks about how Richards shines during the post season. Richards fit into the Dallas system didn’t come easy however. After a career best 5pt game in his first appearance for the Stars, the star forward went the next 11 games with only a handful of points.
“It was a lot tougher than I ever imagined,” Richards said in preparation for Saturday’s Game 2 of a best-of-seven Western Conference quarterfinal series the Stars lead over the Anaheim Ducks. “The last couple of weeks I wasn’t doing anything wrong but I wasn’t doing anything right either. I had clogged my head with too many things. It’s tough when you get traded and your new team loses. It’s a new experience for me.”
- Yahoo! Sports
And then there was 2 days ago in Anaheim, in the Dallas Stars post season opener against the defending Stanley Cup champions, the Anaheim Ducks. A game that saw the Stars, with Richards assistance win by a convincing 4-0 shutout.
…Tippett said it was Richards’ best game as a member of the team, and that includes the Feb. 28 score-a-thon against the Chicago Blackhawks.
“It’s like when a traded player finishes up and comes back the next season. Everything comes easier, and that’s what we’re looking for right now,” Tippett said. “And (Game 1) was a byproduct of that transition from one phase to another.”
- Yahoo! Sports
Anaheim Ducks players and coaches alike had nothing but praise for Richards after his impact on Game 1 of the series.
“You’re talking about an MVP of the playoffs, we’re not talking about a player who doesn’t know how to get around the rink,” Anaheim coach Randy Carlyle said.
“He’s one of those guys who can cause everyone a lot of headaches when they’re on the ice because it’s up to everybody to play smart and be in position to protect breakout passes and stuff like that,” Ducks defenseman Scott Niedermayer added. - Yahoo! Sports
Game 2 between the 2 clubs starts this evening, and the Stars can be sure to see a much more physical and determined Ducks team than they did in game 1.
Normally a team others look up for strong defensive play, a never say die attitude and gritty, hard hitting forechecking, the Dallas Stars of late have not fit the bill. In fact over recent games the Stars, who have gone 3-7-0 in their last 10 games are in a major slump, and have chosen the worse possible time to do it.
All teams go through slumps though, and in the NHL these days a slump means very little in the big scheme of things. The Detroit Red Wings, who lead the entire league in points went through a slump very similar to the one the Stars are in, and went on to a hot streak soon after. The San Jose Sharks had a slump before going on their current hot streak.
For the Stars then, it’s surely only a matter of time before the team gains back its confidence and gets back on track. Stars Captain Brenden Morrow spoke of confidence recently…
“That’s probably one way to describe it,” Stars captain Brenden Morrow said. “I think confidence is an attitude you have. We’ve had it at times, but right now we don’t, and it’s going to take more than just one game to get it back. It’s going to take a handful of games where you get ugly, where you dig in, and where you earn your bounces. That’s the way we have to look at this, we have to look at it that we have a lot of work to do.”
- Mike Heika, Dallas Morning News
The Stars face the San Jose Sharks later this week, and hope to break their slump in California. Word is BJ Crombeen has been called up from the minors, so maybe look to see a cold-streak winger be a healthy scratch during the upcoming games.
It’s that time of year again. The NHL Playoffs are just around the corner, and teams are already starting to prepare for the post-season. In the West it’s highly possible that the 8 Playoff teams will be made up of 4 from the Northwest Division, 3 from the Pacific and 1 from the Central. In the East it’s possible that there will be 4 from the Atlantic, 3 from the Northeast and just 1 from the Southeast.
One could argue that the Southeast and Central Divisions are the weakest in their respective divisions, and the current NHL schedule could be seen as biased towards strong teams from those divisions. That is a topic for another day.
Today I want to touch on something that can make or break a game in the NHL, or in fact in any hockey league; Refereeing.
Bad calls are something we learn to live with in professional sports. We must remember of course that the people in the black and white stripes don’t always see things the way we do. There are times however when bad calls have influenced the result of a game. Just this week referees made a bad call and caused a 2 minute minor on a team, then just 30 seconds later failed to pull up a goalie interference call on the opposition team, which resulted in a Powerplay Goal.
The Playoffs however are the be all and end all of NHL hockey. Teams battle it out all season to make the Playoffs and the last thing they want or need are referees not doing their jobs properly.
We can only hope then that we will have a relatively clean Playoff Series, not just from the teams, but also the Referees.
As we head towards the NHL Playoffs we start to hear phrases like underdogs, rental players or cinderella stories. The trade deadline is where these phrases really start to be thrown around. Teams battling for 7th and 8th spot on the ladders start looking to bolster their lineups with trades, often picking up players they know they will only keep until the end of the season. ie. rental players.
The most recent cinderella story team was the Edmonton Oilers who 2 years back went into the playoffs in 8th spot in the West and battled hard to make it right to the NHL Stanley Cup Finals, only to be beaten by the Carolina Hurricanes.
While the cinderella story teams are fantastic to watch, the fact is, the chance of them actually winning the cup is minimal. 30% of the time, top 3 teams have won the Cup. 80% of the time, teams in the top 5 have ended up hoisting the cup. In fact in recent years i believe only 1 team who started the playoffs in 8th place have won the cup.
But in a world of battlers, doing it hard and fighting to the end, there will always be that spark of belief that says the underdog, the great Cinderella team will once again be victors come June/July.
Peter Pocklington is well known in hockey circles, being the owner of the Edmonton Oilers during their glory days of the 80’s.
Todays article by 
