Pocklington auctions off his Stanley Cup rings

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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.

Tags: PeterPocklington, edmonton oilers, nhl, ice hockey, wayne gretzky, auction, stanley cup ring

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Ron Wilson to coach the Toronto Maple Leafs

A month after being fired from the San Jose Sharks, Ron Wilson has a new job, one that to many, could be considered a promotion.

It was announced today that Ron Wilson has been hired as the new head coach of the Toronto Maple Leafs.

“I’m the happiest person in the National Hockey League today,” Wilson said. “I’m fulfilling a dream.

“Obviously if you lose your job in the league you often wonder if you’ll get another opportunity,” he said. “The furthest thing from my mind at any point in my hockey career was that I would have an opportunity—ever—to coach a team like the Toronto Maple Leafs with their incredible history.”
- NHL - Yahoo! Sports

When talking about the Maple Leafs as a team, Ron Wilson was quoted as saying;

Ron Wilson, who’s coaching career in the NHL stands at 518-446-127 has coached for the Washington Capitals and Anaheim Ducks before heading to his last post in San Jose.

Tags: sanjose sharks, toronto maple leafs, ron wilson, nhl, national hockey league, head coach, coach

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On the eve of Round 1 Game 1

The 2008 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs are here.  In just a few hours the pucks will drop on a series of Round 1 games, marking the start of 2 months of grueling battles to find an eventual victor.

This is a good time then to take a look at the battles for Round 1.

In the east

Montreal Canadiens (1) Vs Boston Bruins (8)
The Bruins struggled this year.  First they lost Patrice Bergeron to a season ending concussion, then later in the year Marc Savard goes down with an injury.   Yet,  somehow they scraped through to the playoffs, and they go into them equal to all other teams.  Montreal however are a hot team who have the leagues best Powerplay.  Boston, in order to keep in this series will need to stay out of the box.

Pittsburgh Penguins (2) Vs Ottawa Senators (7)
Ignoring the fact that Brian Murray accused the Penguins of throwing their last game, am I the only one who hopes to see the Penguins kick some serious ass this series?  Last year the fresh faced Penguins were routed from the playoffs in just 5 games by a stronger, more powerful Senators team.  This year the teams are evenly matched and both offensive powerhouses.

Washington Capitals (3) Vs Philadelphia flyers (6)
The classic Cinderella story.  Alexander Ovechkin is in the playoffs for the first time, and with him is a solid determined Capitals team.  The management of that team deserve awards for the progress and improvements they made with the team.  The Flyers have been inconsistent, and will need to be 110% on their game to beat the Caps.

New Jersey Devils (4) Vs New York Rangers
The battle of the creek, as it was referred to earlier on today.  These 2 teams have plenty of reasons to hate each other, and you can guarantee a very passionate series.  Unfortunately neither team can guarantee an offensive display, so expect physical defensive style hockey.

In the west 

Detroit Red Wings (1) Vs Nashville Predators (8)
There is nothing bad you can say about the Red Wings this year.  Top of their division, top of their conference and top in the league on points.  The best goalie duo (by stats) in the league.  Nashville don’t have a Crosby or Ovechkin.  They don’t have a Hasek.  They do however have a very potent young goalie in Dan Ellis, and a very effective Pack Mentality style play.  At the end of the day however, the Predators may find themselves a little behind the eight-ball.

San Jose Sharks (2) Vs Calgary Flames (7)
If there was going to be an upset, this might be it.  Going into the last day of the regular season, there was a chance that the Sharks may face the Avalanche in the first round.  In fact, most Sharks fans wanted them instead of the Flames.  Look for Iginla to lead the Flames to a long series against the Sharks, possibly even 7 games.

Minnesota Wild (3) Vs Colorado Avalanche (6)
Veteran leadership Vs Young blood.  That’s how this series may end up being.  The Avalanche have been reuniting old team mates, the question now is whether the likes of Sakic and Forsberg are able to content with the young speedsters like Marian Gaborik.

Anaheim Ducks (4) Vs Dallas Stars (5)
Defending champions the Anaheim Ducks have had a strange type of season.  If not for the controversial return of both Selanne and Niedermayer earlier in the season they would not be in the playoffs.  Their leading scorer, Corey Perry is out and Chris Pronger is likely going to do something to get himself a suspension.  Unlike last year the Ducks don’t have a powerful attack this time round.  They do however have the best Blue Line in the league with Pronger, Niedermayer, Schneider and Beauchemin.  Dallas will have to battle with their own demons however.  Getting past the first round is the goal of this team, and you can expect goalie Marty Turco to be on his game.  The inclusion of proven playoff performer Brad Richards in the lineup may have the desired impact.  The Stars, unlike the Ducks, can score this year, so expect a very hard hitting, physical game.

Predictions?

I know people like predictions, so here are my wildly unpredictable, highly unlikely, but what they hey predictions…

East:
Montreal Canadiens in 5 games
Pittsburgh Penguins in 5 games
Washington Capitals in 6 games
New Jersey Devils in 7 games

West:
Detroit Red Wings in a 4 game sweep.
Calgary Flames in 7 games
Colorado Avalanche in 6 games
Dallas Stars in 6 games

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Cinderella Teams

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.

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