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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.
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.
Washington Capitals superstar Alexander Ovechkin made the NHL Awards night all about him today, capturing both the Hart Trophy as league MVP and the Lester B. Pearson Award as the players’ choice for the most outstanding player.
The complete list of awards and their winners:
Art Ross Trophy: Alexander Ovechkin
Calder Trophy: Patrick Kane
Clarence S. Campbell Bowl: Detroit Red Wings
Conn Smythe Trophy: Henrik Zetterberg
Frank Selke Trophy: Pavel Datsyuk
Jack Adams Award: Bruce Boudreau
Lady Byng Trophy: Pavel Datsyuk
Lester B. Pearson: Alexander Ovechkin
Masterton Trophy: Jason Blake
Maurice Richard Trophy: Alexander Ovechkin
Norris Trophy: Nick Lidstrom
Prince of Wales Trophy: Pittsburgh Penguins
Vezina Trophy (leagues top netminder): Marin Brodeur
William J Jennings Trophy: Chris Osgood / Dominik Hasek
To be awarded:
Lester Patrick Trophy (outstanding service to hockey)
After a conference low 71 points last season, the Los Angeles Kings have given head coach Marc Crawford his marching orders.
Crawford, who’s record over his 2 seasons with the Kings is a dismal 59-84-21. Last season the Kings tied with Eastern Conference bottom feeders, the Tampa Bay Lightning on points.
“In the end it just comes down to fit,” Lombardi said in a conference call Tuesday afternoon. “It’s just a gut call on fit.” - Yahoo! Sports
In a division that includes strong teams such as the Dallas Stars, Anaheim Ducks and San Jose Sharks, the Kings need to do far better to compete.
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.
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.
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.
When the Dallas Stars traded for Brad Richards on the day of the trade deadline, they knew they were getting a top playmaker and setup guy. They never expected however the impact he would have on the team in his first outing as a Star.
Richards led the Stars to a decisive 7-4 victory over the Chicago Blackhawks, setting up 5 of the 7 goals.
The team seems very happy with Richards;
“We brought in an elite player and he is going to make us better around him,” said Modano, who had a goal and an assist. “I think talent and skill guys never have a hard time adjusting and coming in and fitting in on a team. If anything, they raise their level and everybody raises theirs right with them. Those type of players are few and far between that can make an impact like that.”
- Yahoo Sport
The Stars next play the Nashville Predators on March 1 at the American Airlines Center.
Washington Capitals superstar Alexander Ovechkin made the NHL Awards night all about him today, capturing both the Hart Trophy as league MVP and the Lester B. Pearson Award as the players’ choice for the most outstanding player.
After a conference low 71 points last season, the Los Angeles Kings have given head coach Marc Crawford his marching orders.
After 18 seasons in the NHL, 2 MVP awards and 6 Vezina Trophies, “The Dominator” Dominik Hasek has announced his retirement.
Todays article by 
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.
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.
