Blue Tongues Clutch Victory

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With a huge win over The Bears in their season home opener, the pressure was on the Blue Tongues to once again prevail over the league leaders. Having been introduced to the smaller rink and hard checking style of play produced by Gold Coast, The Bears were expected to hit back, and fast, against the Blue Tongues in their second game of the double header.

The Bears did not disappoint, coming at the Blue Tongues early in the game and changing their tactics to not only start playing a physical game, but also stamping their authority over the control of the game. Both teams seemed to lack the energy they had during Saturday’s game, and some simple rookie errors caused a line change for the Gold Coast team, starting to run two lines instead of three. Despite The Bears claiming control of the puck for majority of the first period however, it was Dave Upton of the Blue Tongues who netted the only goal of the first.

Tempers flared in the second, with roughing calls on both teams, and it was clear that neither team were giving up on their race to be the next to pot a goal. Both Sydney’s goaltender John Daugulis and Gold Coast’s Simo Mustonen had their work cut out for them in net as each team made shot after shot on goal. However, once again the Blue Tongues made some silly mistakes, costing them dearly on the penalty kill. It was The Bears that led going into the third, winning the period 3 goals to the Gold Coast’s lone goal, ending the period 3-2.

Excitement ruled the third, as the Blue Tongues tied up the scores on 3 a piece, before The Bears took advantage of a lapse in concentration and took the lead once more at 4-3 with little more than 8 minutes left in the game. The Blue Tongues never gave up, and with just under 2 minutes left, tied the game 4-4.

Anticipation was high in the stands as the teams took to the face off after a penalty was called on The Bears, giving the Blue Tongues a powerplay with a minute left in the third. Their fans behind them, Gold Coast focused on the job at hand and with 46 seconds left in the game, defenseman Ross Howell netted the game winning goal. The Bears failed to even up the scores in the dying seconds of the game, giving the Blue Tongues their third victory in the last three games.

The first star of the game was Blue Tongues Captain and centre, Billy Crumm. Second star of the game was Blue Tongues Defenseman, Don Burke and third star of the game was Bears’ Roberto Franchini.

Next weekend, the Blue Tongues face the Newcastle North Stars on June 21 & 22 at Gold Coast Iceland, Bundall. Games start at 3.30pm.

Article Source: Gold Coast Blue Tongues

Tags: IceHockey, AIHL, Blue Tongues, Gold Coast, Brisbane, Sydney Bears, Gaetan Royer, Brian Lachance

Tags: amp, article, Author, back, Billy, blog, BLUE, Brian, call, cap, captain, chance, Change, check, checking, coast, com, cost, Cut, D, Dave, day, defense, defenseman, des, end, error, FAN, fans, First, Game, games, goal, Goals, goaltender, hand, hat, head, hockey, home, Ian, Ice, Ile, intro, John, June, key, lachance, lack, lead, league, league leaders, line, man, Me., min, minute, Net, New, Newcastle, news, one, opener, OUT, penalty, period, play, point, Powe, power, Powerplay, pressure, Produced, puck, rd, Red, right, rink, RIT, Rookie, ross, row, Roy, Saturday, score, season, second, shot, size, source, Star, Stars, start, style, Team, teams, th, Tie, Title, victor, victory, Wee, week, Weekend, win, work, www

Blue Tongues celebrate back-to-back wins

The Bartercard Gold Coast Blue Tongues have done what many believed to be the impossible.  After starting out 5-0 on the road, they have come back to win back-to-back games against the AIHL league leading Sydney Bears.  The game, a hard checking, end-to-end battle came right down to the wire, with the final puck going in the net just 40 seconds before the end of the third period while the Blue Tongues were on the Power Play.

The Blue Tongues now have a week to recover before playing the Newcastle Inski North Stars next weekend. 

Bartercard Gold Coast Blue Tongues Ice Hockey Club

Tags: back, battle, believe, blog, BLUE, cam, check, checking, club, coast, com, D, end, Game, games, hat, hockey, Ice, ice hockey, Ile, key, lead, league, man, Net, New, Newcastle, NY, one, OUT, OWN, period, play, Powe, power, power play, puck, rd, Red, right, road, row, second, size, Star, Stars, start, style, th, third period, Title, Wee, week, Weekend, win, www

Red Wings G Dominik Hasek retires

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. 

Tags: amp, back, backup, belfour, black, Blackhawks, blog, Buffalo, call, Care, career, Chicago, chicago blackhawks, com, cup, Czech Republic, D, day, Detroit, detroit red wings, Domi, dominik hasek, Draft, First, gaa, Game, games, Great, hat, hockey, Ice, image, Images, injury, key, lack, Les, level, line, loss, losses, Mar, Me., min, minute, Monday, MVP, name, New, news, NHL, NJ, NY, olympic, one, Ottawa, ottawa senators, OUT, overtime, Photo, play, point, rd, Read, Red, red wings, redwings, right, Rookie, row, Sabres, season, senators, shutout, size, Sport, Sports, Stanley, Stanley Cup, Star, style, sv, Team, th, Tie, Tim, time, Title, Total, Trophy, TWICE, type, Ward, win, Wings, www, yahoo, year

Game 6 Preview - Red Wings @ Penguins

NHL - Detroit Red Wings/Pittsburgh Penguins Box Score Wednesday June 4, 2008 - Yahoo! Sports

Just 5 minutes until puck drop in game 6 of the Stanley Cup Finals.  The Detroit Red Wings are looking for the win that will give them the Cup.  The Penguins trying to force a series deciding game 7.

Keys to the game:

• M.A. Fleury repeating his stellar performance that helped win game 6.  If he can, the Penguins can make a game of this.
• Pittsburgh need to shut down the Red Wings top line. If Zetterberg and Datsyuk are free to skate on open ice they will do damage. The Penguins need to shut that line down.
• Evgeni Malkin.  He was quiet in most games of this series, but got the assist on Sykoras game winner in game 6.  If Malkin can get on a roll, he could be the difference maker.

Game on!

Tags: detroitred wings, pittsburgh penguins, nhl, stanley cup, game 7, zetterberg, datsyuk, crosby, malkin, igloo

Tags: A., blog, com, Crosby, cup, D, day, Dec, Detroit, detroit red wings, end, Erie, Evgeni, evgeni malkin, Finals, fleury, Free, Game, games, hat, Ice, June, key, line, look, malkin, man, min, minute, New, NHL, open ice, OWN, Peat, Penguins, Pittsburgh, pittsburgh penguins, puck, Red, red wings, right, roll, row, score, Series, size, skate, Sport, Sports, Stanley, Stanley Cup, style, Sykora, th, THIS, til, Title, View, Wednesday, win, Wings, winner, www, yahoo, Zetterberg

Dallas Stars in a Serious Slump

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.

Tags: A., back, break, Brenden, call, cap, captain, check, checking, com, confidence, Dallas, dallas stars, Detroit, detroit red wings, fact, Game, games, hockey, lead, league, look, Matt, May, Mike, NHL, Other, point, recent games, Red, right, row, San Jose, san jose sharks, Sharks, slump, Star, Stars, streak, Team, teams, th, THIS, Tim, time, track, way, Wee, week, win, winger, Wings, word

Ovechkin about to be the first 60 Goal Scorer in 12 years

Alexander Ovechkin put the 60 Goal mark closer today after scoring the empty net goal in todays Washington Capitals 4-2 defeat over the Nashville Predators.

Ovechkin scored his 58th goal of the season while trying to clear the puck in the closing seconds of the game.

Ovechkin scored an empty-netter at 19:56 of the third with a bank shot off of the boards from inside his own blue line that barely made it over the Nashville goal line.

“I was just trying to get the puck into the neutral zone, so it was the luckiest score ever,” Ovechkin said.
- Yahoo! Sports

Regardless of whether it was shot in on purpose or simply pure luck, Alexander Ovechkin looks like he will pass the 60 Goal mark in the next few games.

Doing so will make him the first person to do so in 12 years, no small feat and evidence that he truly is the best Scorer in the modern game.

Tags: alexander, alexander ovechkin, BLUE, cap, Capitals, closing, First, Game, games, goal, goal scorer, hat, hockey, nashville, nashville predators, Net, netter, OUT, Ovechkin, predators, puck, Red, score, Scored, scorer, season, second, shot, Sport, Sports, today, Todays, Washington, washington capitals, yahoo, year

8 Games Suspension Not Enough For Pronger

NHL Disciplinarian Colin Campbell announced today that Chris Pronger of the Anaheim Ducks will receive an 8 game suspension after stomping on the calf of Vancouver Canuck Ryan Kesler.

“In attempting to free himself, Pronger carelessly and recklessly brought his foot down,” Campbell said in a statement.
- Yahoo! Sport

The suspension has raised an outcry among the public who are shocked to yet again see a double standard from the NHL when it comes to handing out discipline to players.

Earlier this season the NHL suspended Chris Simon for 30 games after he was found guilty of stomping on the ankle of Pittsburgh Penguin Jarkko Ruutu.  Does it not seem odd then that Chris Pronger would only receive 8 games?

The Chris Simon suspension was long because Simon was considered a “repeat offender”, and someone that needed to learn the hard way.

What does that make Pronger, who now has been suspended 8 times in his career.   Surely we don’t need to remind you of last season where he received 2 suspensions during the playoffs for rough / dirty play, including that elbow to the head of Dean McAmmond in the Stanley Cup Finals.

The answer is there, if you look hard enough.  Chris Simon is not an all star player, nor a big point scorer, or a crowd drawing player.  Chris Pronger is.  Chris Simon is not a Norris quality player.  Chris Pronger is.

Is the NHL too scared, maybe even gutless to come down hard on an all star player?   Chris Pronger has shown that these stupidly small suspensions do nothing to encourage him to clean up his game, so why don’t Gary Bettman and the NHL do something about him?

Something to think about.

Pronger will be able to play again on the last day of the regular season, meaning he will be free to throw his weight around in the playoffs. Let’s hope, for the sake of the opposition players that he learns to control himself before then.

Tags: Anaheim, ankle, cam, Camp, Campbell, Care, career, Chris Pronger, chris simon, com, D, Dean, ducks, elbow, end, Finals, foot, Free, Game, games, Gary Bettman, hand, hat, jarkko ruutu, line, look, man, May, NHL, one, opposition, Peat, Pens, Pittsburgh, play, player, playoff, playoffs, point, rd, Red, Round, row, Ruutu, Ryan Kesler, score, scorer, season, something, Sport, Stanley Cup, Star, statement, suspension, th, THIS, Tim, time, today, Vancouver, yahoo

Redwings “bottom” out

There were a number of games going on around the NHL today, but none caused so much gasps as the Los Angeles Kings Vs the Detroit Redwings.

Going into todays game these 2 teams were at the extreme ends of the ladder. The Redwings in #1 spot in the Western Conference (and league) on 86pts and the Kings right at the other end of the ladder in last place on 47pts.

Today proved that any team can beat the best team on the right day.

The Kings looked down and out going into the third period trailing 1-3. Patrick O’Sullivan kicked started the comeback just 39 seconds in and the Redwings never seemed to recover. Frolov, Stuart and Kopitar all put the puck in the net giving the Kings a 5-3 victory over the League leading Redwings.

The Kings gained the best praise from the Detroit Redwings themselves;

“Their team won more battles and got more pucks to the net,” Babcock said. “Their power play was better than our penalty kill and their penalty kill was better than our power play.

“Every once in a while in life you need to be reminded. We know you can’t just come to the rink and put your jersey on. You’ve got to outwork the opposition.”
- Yahoo Sports

Although the Kings hold no chance of making the post-season this year, they can still go into each game playing for pride. If todays game is anything to go by, they are doing just that.

Image courtesy of Yahoo Sports

Tags: babcock, Detroit, detroit redwings, extreme ends, frolov, Game, game play, games, hockey, kopitar, ladder, league, Los Angeles, los angeles kings, NHL, NY, o sullivan, opposition, post, power play, puck, third period, today, Todays, Trick, victory, Western Conference, Wings