Red Wings G Dominik Hasek retires

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After 18 seasons in the NHL, 2 MVP awards and 6 Vezina Trophies, “The Dominator” Dominik Hasek has announced his retirement.

“Physically, I’m felling great—as well as ever,” Hasek said Monday as he announced his retirement. “I just don’t feel that I’m ready to compete on the highest level.“I need motivation. Right now, I don’t feel it’s there and I don’t want to disappoint anyone.”
- Yahoo! Sports

Hasek was drafted by the Chicago Blackhawks and spent his rookie years as backup to Ed Belfour.  In his career he spent 2 seasons with Chicago, 9 seasons with the Buffalo Sabres, 4 seasons with the Detroit Red Wings and a short 1 season stint with the Ottawa Senators.

During his career, Hasek has won:

• Hart Memorial Trophy for MVP twice (nominated 5 times)
• Lester B. Pearson Award twice (nominated 3 times)
• Vezina Trophy 6 times
• William M Jennings Trophy 3 times
• Stanley Cup in 2002 with the Detroit Red Wings
• The 2002 gold medal at the Nagano Olympic Games for the Czech Republic

Hasek has named on:

• NHL first All-Star Team 5 times
• NHL All-Rookie Team in the ‘91 and ‘92 season
• NHL All-Star Game 5 times (although did not play in 2000 due to injury)

In his NHL Career, Hasek played a total of 735 games, totaling 42836 minutes of ice time.  He collected 389 wins, 223 losses, 82 ties and 13 overtime losses with 81 shutouts.  His career GAA and SV% stand at 2.10 & .922 respectively. 

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The Defending Champs Curse Strikes The Anaheim Ducks

Not since 2003 has a Stanley Cup champion made it through the first round of the playoffs the following year.  That trend has continued today after a highly underestimated Dallas Stars routed the Anaheim Ducks 4-1 in Dallas, TX.

The victory in todays game 6 not only eliminated the defending Stanley Cup champions from the playoffs, but broke the “first round” curse that has plagued the Dallas Stars for 5 long painful years.

Marty Turco, who has taken the brunt of the criticism over the previous years showed that he is one of the elite netminders in the NHL, finishing the round with a GAA of 2.01, including a shutout in game 1.

Anaheim, who were one of the strongest teams going down the final stretch into the playoffs faltered under the constant Dallas Attack, and struggled to get past the Dallas Defensive group; a group that included 3 rookies and was missing Sergei Zubov and (for most games) Philippe Boucher.

“It’s disappointing because we believe we could do better,” said Anaheim defenseman Scott Niedermayer, the Conn Smythe winner as MVP of last year’s postseason who retired then decided to return to chase another Cup. “Our sights were set higher than this.”
- Yahoo! Sports

Dallas now have a few days to relax before the Western Conference Semi-Finals begin.  The Stars will face either the Colorado Avalanche or the San Jose Sharks in round 2, but wont know who until after game 7 between the Flames and Sharks on Tuesday evening.

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Coyotes Playoff Contendors?

When looking at the latest NHL standings, many are rather shocked to find that annual bottom feeders of the last few seasons, the Phoenix Coyotes, are currently sitting in 8th spot in the Western Conference.

This surge up the standings should not be attributed to top line offense or good coaching however.  In fact, even though the Coyotes have the likes of Shane Doan (17-34-51) and Radim Vrbata (24-18-42) leading their offense, it’s what, or more accuractly WHO is between the pipes that has made the real difference.

Since being acquired from the Anaheim Ducks, Ilya Bryzgalov seems to have found a team that is willing to give him the starting goalie label he desires, and he’s proving his worth by delivering consistent play night after night.  Bryzgalov, with 18 wins and 11 losses since joining the Coyotes has a respectable GAA of 2.38 and SV% of 0.920

Phoenix are just 2 points behind defending Stanley Cup champions, the Anaheim Ducks right now, and the way things are going, could pass them in the coming days.

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