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

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Toskala lets in 197 foot Shorthanded Goal

It was like something out of a hockey spoof movie. The Toronto Maple Leafs are on the Power Play and Rob Davison clears the puck out of his zone. It bounces like a tennis ball down the ice to a ready and waiting Vesa Toskala…

and bounces right past him into the net.

The announcer screams, the crowd don’t know if they should laugh or cry and Vesa, who just realized what happened, collapses in shock.

If this sound too good to be true, here’s the clip…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=osh7lz7NEUU

Tags: Clip, foot, goal, hand, hat, hockey, Ice, Leaf, Leafs, Maple, one, OUT, play, Powe, power play, puck, Read, right, Rob Davison, row, something, THIS, Toronto, toronto maple leafs, Toskala, vesa toskala, youtube

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

Sharks win 10 straight, push for Division

Joe Pavelski and Milan Michalek led the San Jose Sharks to a new record tonight, defeating the Nashville Predators 2-1 on the road.  The win, the Sharks 10th in row has them sitting atop the Pacific Division, 1 point ahead of the Dallas Stars and 4 points ahead of the defending Stanley Cup Champions, the Anaheim Ducks.

The Sharks, 10-0-0 in their last 10 games have been surging since acquiring Brian Campbell from Buffalo at the Trade Deadline.  They have been favorites to win the cup since the beginning of the season, and are starting to make the push at the right time of the season.

Ross McKeon commented in his latest column…

“It is a battle in that Pacific Division,” said Joe Thornton, the team’s leading scorer. “I believe we’re going real good right now, and it’s a good time to play those good teams and see how good we actually are.”

Three key factors have put San Jose on track. First, Jonathan Cheechoo is healthy. Second, Patrick Marleau rediscovered his game. And last, the addition of defenseman Brian Campbell at the trade deadline added a new dimension to the team.
- Yahoo! Sports

Threatening the Sharks for the Division Title are the Dallas Stars who are 6-4-0 in their last 10 games.  The Stars made big news recently by acquiring Brad Richards from Tampa Bay in a blockbuster move at the Trade Deadline.  The Stars have been leading the Division for the last month, but a few recent losses now see them having to compete hard to win the Division.

4 points back from the Sharks sit the Anaheim Ducks, who have also started to make a push.  They are 7-2-1 in their last 10 games.  The Ducks have been on again off again however and will need to push harder if they wish to compete with the Sharks and Stars.

The Sharks have 2 games in hand over both the Stars and the Ducks which could put them a few points ahead of their Division Rivals come the end of March.

Tags: addition, Anaheim, battle, beginning, Blockbuster, Brad Richards, Brian Campbell, Buffalo, Champions, column, cup, Dallas, Deadline, defenseman, dimension, Division, end, Game, hand, Joe Thornton, Joe Pavelski, Jonathan Cheechoo, March, Michalek, Milan, move, nashville, news, Pacific, Patrick Marleau, point, predators, push, RECORD, road, Ross McKeon, San Jose, scorer, season, Sharks, Stanley Cup, Stars, Tampa Bay, Team, Threatening, time, Title, tonight, track, trade, win, yahoo

Is There More To Forsberg Not Returning?

We finally have an end to the ongoing Peter Forsberg saga.

Today it was announced by Forsberg’s agent, Don Baizley, that Forsberg has chosen not to return to the NHL this season, due to him not having enough confidence that his ankle / foot injuries are up to NHL standards.

To quote Yahoo Sports;

His agent, Don Baizley, told teams Forsberg did not have enough confidence in the strength of his surgically repaired right foot to play this season.

“He’s been hopeful that he would get the level of confidence that he needed, but he can’t,” Baizley said by phone. “I don’t know how close or how far away he feels. He was hopeful up until this weekend that he would be able to do it.”
- Yahoo Sports

As one who never shy’s away from controversy, i have to ask the question; is this the real reason Forsberg has chosen not to return to the NHL?

Numerous news sources have reported that there was a big race on to sign Forsberg, and that at least 8 different teams were trying to get him signed.  Dallas, Detroit, Calgary, Ottawa, Colorado, Philadelphia & Nashville to name just a few.

We know that Forsberg turned down offers from Dallas and Nashville recently, the reason is rumoured to be that they did not offer enough money.  In fact, sources claim that Forsberg, who is a high-risk injury player was asking for $5 million for next year and $2 million for the remainder of this year.  In the world of the Salary cap, that kind of money for a semi-broken, often injured player is, in a word, crazy.

Is there a chance then, that due to offers from NHL teams being “less than desirable” for Forsberg, he has chosen to wait out the rest of the year and try his hand at the Free Agent market during the off season.

This hockey fan definitely thinks this is something to ponder.

Tags: agent, ankle, cap, chance, Colorado, confidence, controversy, Dallas, Detroit, fact, FAN, foot, Free, hand, hockey, injury, kind, level, market, nashville, news, NHL, Ottawa, peter forsberg, Philadelphia, player, question, reason, remainder, rest, Salary, season, something, strength, today, Weekend, word, yahoo, year