Yesterday I had my first chance to take in one of the games. It was USA against Switzerland in preliminary men’s ice hockey and I was not disappointed.

ZAK PARISE

It was a different feeling than a typical NHL game.

You could sense the bulk of the crowd were not knowledgeable hockey fans, the jumbotron even explained the rules before puck drop. What you could tell however, was the passion that each and every fan in Canada Hockey Place brought to the table. Frequently throughout the game USA chants would begin, the crowd would chant GO SWISS. The two chants would trade off whenever a team would put on pressure and had Canada been involved it would have kicked the experience to a whole new level.

The passion of the game made it feel like the playoffs.

And to the game,

Everyone and their dog was aware that the Americans were the stronger team in this affair, it would have been a disappointment had they lost and it showed in the 3-1 victory. Some people really impressed me in the game though. It was my first opportunity to see Zach Parise live and I thought he looked great, this kid has loads of talent. I thought Ryan Suter and Erik Johnson looked alive on the back end and Ryan Miller was well Ryan Miller.

Being a Canucks fan at heart I found myself watching a lot of Kesler, he looked a little nervous and a little less like he knew where to be but I think he will find his niche and have a strong tournament. The thing about team USA is they have a team built unlike any other in the tournament. They have an NHL style team with every role filled. It is something we haven’t seen in this tournament and I think they could surprise a few people.

I was most impressed in the game by Mark Streit and Jonas Hiller. Streit was such a calming presence over the entire team, he kept his team in check and man is this guy smart with the puck on the point. He has a quick accurate shot and reminds me of a young Mathieau Schneider. Jonas Hiller is going to be up against it in this tournament but he looked great in this game, but that will make about as much difference as Mark Messier made to the Canucks playoff aspirations.

All in all it was exactly what I expected the Americans getting used to one another and the Swiss hanging in on and playing their hearts out.

Like I said team USA is built for the NHL so they won’t blow anyone out, but I love them in a close game.

I hope our boys come to play on Sunday.

*****

photo courtesy of cdn.nhl.com

One Sutter designed the building, bought the wire, conduit, etc. Another Sutter tried to connect up the right wires with the right wires.

And, what do you have? A giant cluster f..k.

The answer?

Don’t blame the tools and materials.

Get rid of the designer and the head electrician.

Those Sutters just can’t seem to turn on the lights….

The nucks youngsters learned a lot from Mathieu Schneider.

Keep your mouth shut, work hard, and your time will come.

Schneider did none of the above and after 17 games – 2 goals, 3 assists, and 12 penalty minutes – was sent to the peg.

And that was just before half the Vancouver D were injured, and Vancouver had to bring up players from the Moose and Stars.

In the American League Schneider did somewhat better, scoring three goals – on the power play – in 8 games and had 2 assists and was a -5.

Now, he’s injured and recently flew to Vancouver to get a second opinion on the knee injury.

It’s possible Schneider might need surgery to repair meniscus damage and could be out for 4-to-6 weeks.

*****

photo courtesy of rangerstribune.com

and stopped on a channel featuring a lusty couple in a dirty movie.

“I  don’t know whether to watch them or the game,” he said to  his wife.

“For heaven’s sake, watch them,” his  wife  said.

“You already know how to play  Hockey!”

The problem?

Why, simply its; do we need a third line centre upgrade?

Many fans have given up on Kyle Wellwood. He’s not producing the offence and he isn’t playing on the PK so what good is he? The number one favourite replacement seems to be Matt Cullen out of Carolina. And who do we offer up for this? Well the debate rages around Michael Grabner or maybe even Kevin Bieksa.

MATT CULLEN

I wrote a few months back that we needed a third line centre and a stud D-man. I speculated about Scott Neidermayer and whether Anaheim would move him…and what would we offer up?

And therein lies the luxury for Canuck fans.

Calgary is wondering whether they will make the playoffs…or whether they will ever score again (answers: in doubt; and, yes). Edmonton fans are rallying around the “Fall for Hall” which allows some small measure of comfort after each excruciating loss.

As bad as it is in Alberta, it’s worse in Toronto where Brian Burke’s shenanigans have resulted in Leaf fans facing the possibility that the pick traded for Phil Kessel could be a lottery pick. And Burke can rationalize all he wants, Phil Kessel arrived at the center of the universe with considerable baggage. Sure, he may be a great kid, but he’s more like Camalleri than he is like a Stamkos. Some little guys with speed are franchise players. Some are just streaky scorers. Phil is just a streaky scorer. If the pick Boston gets turns out to be a franchise player, it just adds more woe to this once storied team.

And again, therein lies our luxury. While other Canadian teams are worried about making the playoffs or which lottery pick they might get (or lose) we are debating an upgrade on our third line and maybe acquiring some more blue line depth.

Nice.

But rub those eyes Canuck fans because after the St. Lou game, it’s about to get real.

Very real.

Sure we have a bit of swagger and we have owned the east this year. But there is danger ahead…with a capital D.
I love the Luko story and Bomber has been a steady fill in as well. But if we want to stay in the race for the division lead, we’ll need a better than .500 showing on the monster road trip if we want to stay within shouting distance of Colorado.

Because if it all goes south, we’ll be debating more than a third line centre upgrade at the March trading deadline.

“It’s inconceivable for an official to tell a player he’d get him back,” Ron MacLean said. “It’s not inconceivable that he would do it.”

It was inconceivable to the Hockey Night in Canada commentator – and former coach – that a ref would hold malice.

Well, it’s inconceivable to me – as a former coach and teacher – that Graham James would have sex with one of his players.

And, it’s inconceivable to me – as the former president of a number of organization – that Bill Clinton “had sex with that woman.”

None of it is conceivable when you have your head up your ass….

*****

courtesy of temple3.files.wordpress.com

Mattias Ohlund: The defenseman, with zero goals and 10 assists, is the first to say he needs to contribute more offensively. But Ohlund is a calming influence on the blue line, and he was an early season anchor and mentor for rookie Victor Hedman. Ohlund is minus-3, but his team-high 23:57 of average ice time was almost all against opponents’ top players.

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His Olympic gold medal is tucked away somewhere in his father’s home.

There’s no grandiose display, not even a trophy case to celebrate any of the hockey achievements of Mattias Ohlund.

The Lightning’s rugged defense-man says he pulls the medal out sometimes but admits he’s not too sentimental when it comes to hockey games, even Sweden’s 3-2 victory against archrival Finland in the 2006 Olympics gold-medal game in Turin, Italy.

“I’m happy I was part of that tournament, and I’m happy we won,” Ohlund said. “You move on and look forward to the next day.”

Ohlund, 33, is surely feeling something after being selected Sunday to play for Sweden in his fourth Olympics, in February at Vancouver.

Rookie defenseman Victor Hedman was not selected but hopes to be picked as a replacement in case of injuries before the 23-player rosters are locked in Feb. 15.

For Ohlund, this Olympics will be a homecoming of sorts. He spent 12 seasons playing for the Canucks. Ohlund signed a seven-year free-agent contract last summer with the Lightning worth $25.25 million.

“Regardless of where the Olympics is, it’s going to be a fantastic experience, even more so when it’s in Vancouver, where I have so many friends,” he said.

Ohlund’s Olympic experiences have been interesting. He missed the final two games in ‘06 with rib and shoulder injuries after he crashed into the boards with Switzerland’s Patric Della Rossa. He left before the gold-medal game and was later awarded his medal.

In Salt Lake in 2002, he was on the Swedish team that was upset by Belarus in the quarterfinals, still considered one of the biggest Olympic upsets.

Ohlund has played in 14 games in the Olympics, collecting five points, all assists.

“I enjoy all of them,” Ohlund said. “(Belarus) was a big upset. You’re upset at the time, but then you look back and enjoy just the whole experience.”

Ohlund said he enjoys the camaraderie that comes with wearing the yellow and blue track suits many of Sweden’s athletes wear at the Games. He also enjoys spending time with all athletes, not just hockey players.

“It’s so much different than what we’re used to,” Ohlund said. “You’re eating, not at the fancy restaurants you’re used to and the fancy hotel rooms. It’s very different, and it’s very grounding in a way. It’s awesome to be a part of it.”

Hedman, 19, looked at his computer early Sunday morning to learn he did not make the team. He did not speak with anyone from Sweden before heading to the St. Pete Times Forum for practice, arriving by 9:15 a.m.

“Of course you’re a little disappointed, but on the other hand, (Sweden coach Bengt-Ake Gustafsson) knows what he’s doing,” Hedman said. “He picked the team that won the last (Olympics). I can’t blame him. Of course, I have a lot of work ahead of me.”

Hedman is averaging 22:16 of ice time, second to Ohlund’s 23:56. Hedman has three goals and eight assists and is second among the Lightning defensemen with 11 points. Ohlund has eight assists.

Lightning coach Rick Tocchet said Sweden’s coach had tough roster decisions to make.

“How young do you go? Experience vs. inexperience,” he said. “(Hedman is) the type of guy, I guarantee you, if the NHL (participates in) another Olympics … he will definitely be on the roster.”

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Sports were all the rage by the ‘90s – the 1890s.

Americans were spending some $150 million per year – the players’ salaries for three NHL teams today – on recreation, and by 1909, $1 billion on recreation and travel combined.

People had discovered this new-fangled thing called leisure, as their work weeks were shrinking – from 60 to 44 1/2 hours a week, during the first two decades of the Twentieth Century.

In 1910, Americans were dropping $73 million, just on sports, and businessmen were investing $105 million in sporting enterprises.

“…sports had been enjoyed mainly by the rich,” Walter Lord wrote in The Good Years, “Suddenly [the general public] were becoming part of the American scene … The World Series gate at one game was only six thousand … By 1910 (the next five-game series) attendance was double the 1908 figures, and the pattern of the future was set … the general public was eagerly moving into an area that had previously been monopolized by the rich. Big stadiums began blossoming over the land [Two large steel and concrete baseball stadiums were built in Pittsburgh and Philadelphia in 1909, and by 1916 there were seven more.] … poor boys started taking up tennis … the seeds were planted for [The Golden Age of Sports].”

“North Americans were on the move,” Ron Smith added, in The Sporting News: Chronicle of 20th Century Sport, “as the decade opened and the agrarianism of the early 1900s was giving way to a new urban industrial society – wealthier, more mobile and interested in expanding its sports and entertainment horizons.”

It’s estimated that during the late ’20s, Americans spent somewhere between $6 and $21 billion per year on their leisure activities.

The NHL saw a good thing, and expanded into the U.S. during the mid-1920s.

The league first established itself in Boston (Bruins) in 1924 (while creating a second Montreal team, the Maroons), and Pittsburgh (Pirates) and New York (Americans) the following season. The third year of NHL expansion was in 1926, when Detroit (Cougars, later the Falcons, and finally the Red Wings) and Chicago (Blackhawks) started teams, and a second club was permitted in New York (Rangers).

The 1920s were aptly called the “Roaring Twenties,” as society completely opened up, and people were rejecting traditional values. Many defied Prohibition, and indulged in dancing, dressing up and “making whoopee.”

“…the 1920s were a ‘party’ that resulted in a serious hangover,” Frederick J. Hoffman wrote in his book THE 20’S.

So, hockey was perfect for this generation.

Paul Gallico covered hockey’s arrival in the Big Apple for the  Daily News, and wrote in his memoirs, Farewell to Sport:

“…I have always suspected that the real appeal of hockey … [is] that it is a fast, body-contact game played by men with clubs in their hands and knives lashed to their feet, since the skates are razor sharp, and before the evening is over it is almost a certainty that someone will be hurt and will fleck the ice with a generous contribution of gore before he is led away to be hemstitched together again.”

BUILT IN 249 DAYS FOR $4.75 MILLION

The Americans took their first faceoff in 1925, the year before the Western Hockey League closed their arena doors, and many players migrated east to the new American franchises.

The Portland Rosebuds moved to Chicago, the Victoria Cougars to Detroit.

Amerks’ owner, “Big Bill” Dwyer, was initially lucky, as the Hamilton Tigers had been suspended – for going on strike – and he was able to purchase the players for $75,000 – on September 26, 1925. He had previously acquired Joe Simpson, John Morrison and Roy Rickey, from the cash-strapped Edmonton Eskimos, for $10,000 – on September 18th.

Both Detroit and Chicago would pay WHL teams $100,000 for their players.

The core of the Americans, had been the NHL’s regular season champs the 1924-25 season.

They went 12-22-4 the following season, however. And then they improved slightly to 17-25-2, and fell even further to 11-27-6 their third year (The year that the Rangers would win the Stanley Cup).

There were numerous reasons for the Americans’ failures.

Much has been written about the Culture of Winning – the Montreal Canadiens, the Los Angeles Lakers, the New York Yankees, etc.

Well, the Quebec City Bulldogs, who became the Hamilton Tigers, who became the New York Americans typify a Culture of Losing (As today are the Pittsburgh Pirates [baseball], the Arizona Cardinals [football], and the Memphis Grizzlies [basketball].).

The Tigers were terrible in Quebec and Hamilton (see spreadsheets), and only played well during the one 1924-25 season (They had more wins – 9 – by the mid-season mark, than they had ever had in a previous year.). And, they had started to slump during theit  second half in Hamilton, before being suspended from the playoffs.

If this culture of losing wasn’t bad enough, the former Tigers were transplanted into a terrible environment. Dwyer was pure and simply a gangster, and players would go into Dwyer’s office to get paid, and have to pass through a number of gunsels and hit men to get to his desk.

Also, they weren’t treated well in their own rink, Madison Square Gardens, which didn’t help their self esteem. Everything was, “The Rangers this … the Rangers that….”

And then, there were their bad habits.

To begin with, Dwyer spoiled his players by giving them too much money.

Dwyer at least doubled the salaries. At a time when NHLers were making $1,500 to $2,000 per season, he paid Shorty Green $5,000 – up from $3,000 – and Billy Burch $25,000 over three years. And he would continue to pay Lionel Conacher $7,500 per season, as per his Pittsburgh contract.

With the big bucks, the bad hockey environment, plus living in the Big Apple,  his players started gambling.

“…you could get betting actions in that club dressing-room,” Andy Lytle of the Toronto Star wrote, “from one and all on almost any subject under the sun involving debate and hence betting, from what the weather would be, to which way their press agent would be leaning when he stumbled in for a spot of scuttle-butting, and he a most noted lush.”

And if this wasn’t bad enough, some became heavy drinkers. Lionel Conacher’s brother, Charlie, once quipped that Dwyer’s star defenseman, seemed “bent on a literal interpretation of the soft drink slogan, ‘Drink Canada Dry’.“

The drinking was so bad, that Dwyer threw up his hands and dispatched Lionel to the Maroons, who also set him adrift (And yes, there is a certain irony here. Dwyer was – in a way – paying his alcoholic star from money acquired from bootlegging.).

The greatest reason for the Americans’ failure, however, was Dwyer himself. He couldn’t stick with one coach, and the team lacked continuity.

Dwyer went through coaches – one per season – faster than Harold Ballard would five decades later.

Dwyer’s first coach was Tommy Gorman, followed by Edward “Newsy” Lalonde, and then Wilfred “Shorty” Green. The Americans’ fourth season, Dwyer went back to Gorman for the 1928-29 campaign, and Lionel Conacher the next year.

I think that Dwyer’s total confusion may be seen in the fact that he would expand the duties – from player to player/coach – of a faltering alcoholic.

Dwyer’s team might be losers, but his bottom line was great.  On opening night alone, December  24, 1925, 17,422 arrived at the new arena, located on 50th Street at Eight Avenue.

This wasn’t a record for an opening night, however.

At the Indy 500’s inaugural race in 1911, 80,000 spectators had filled the stands. And, an amateur baseball championship in Cleveland, in 1914, had drawn more than 100,000 fans.

Ray Harroun had won the big Indy race, with a time of 74.6 mph. It was a controversial affair, as he had used some newfangled invention called a rearview mirror.

This 1926 pic doesn’t include Amerks’ owner, “Big Bill” Dwyer.

Shown in his place, were: Tom Gorman, Manager (on crutches), Honorary President Tex Rickard (with a cane), President Col. John Hammond, Chairman/Director Tom Duggan (in black suit, bow tie and hat).

THE NEW YORK AMERICANS - THEIR INAUGURAL SEASON - 1925-26 - THEIR RECORD WAS 12-22-4 - YOU CAN SEE IT IN THEIR FACES

Ray Harroun, and his yellow Model 32 Marmon “Wasp” retired from racing, but people were speeding all over the place during the 1920s. Canadians and Americans had become “nations of spectators,” with lots of money and a bad attitude. They wanted to go places and do things.

And they disliked rules, particularly Prohibition.

“It infringed too directly upon the personal liberty,” wrote Foster Rhea Dulles in America Learns to Play: A History of Popular Recreation, “and the right to enjoy oneself, upon which the post-war generation was so stridently insisting.”

Bill Dwyer had never been too concerned about personal liberty, and he believed that people should enjoy themselves.

Time: The Weekly News Magazine described Dwyer’s career in his December 23, 1946 obit:

“William V. (”Big Bill”) Dwyer … onetime ‘king of the bootleggers,’ who in Prohibition days commanded a fleet of 20 rum-runners, controlled the entry of liquor into New York Harbor … After spending “a little vacation” in Atlanta’s Federal Penitentiary (he was convicted of bootlegging in 1926), he tried to rebuild his crumbled fortune through sports promoting, bought the N.Y. Americans hockey team, introduced professional hockey to Manhattan, headed Miami’s famed Gables Racing Association.”

Yes, there’s a further parallel with Harold Ballard here. Both spent time in stir, while owning NHL hockey teams.

“Big Bill” Dwyer wasn’t in his team’s photo because he was in prison. He had been arrested eleven days before the Americans’ inaugural game, and missed more than the photo – his team’s pathetic first season.

The NHL’s Club Directory for 1930-31 listed Dwyer as the Americans’ Treasurer.

The Directory didn’t include Dwyer’s name, however,  with the Philadelphia Quaker Hockey Club.

The franchise had been the Pittsburgh Pirates the year before, and had been owned by Dwyer for nearly three seasons.

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Arthur Reeve, “What America Spends for Sport,” Outing 57, December 1910, p.303.

Walter Hiatt, “Billions Just for Fun,” Collier’s, 74, October 25 1924, p 50.

Jesse Steiner, Americans at Play. NY, McGraw-Hill, 1933, p 183.

Stuart Chase, “Play,” in Charles Beard, ed., Whither Mankind. NY, Longman, Greene & Co., 1928, pp.336-7.

Hockey salaries were out of control, prior to the NHL lockout, and the resulting agreement.

During that time, four players were earning $11 million plus per season – not counting Sakic and Fedorov, who had higher front-loaded contracts.

They were: Mario Lemieux, Peter Forsberg, Keith Tkachuk, and Jaromir Jagr (three seasons).

Name the highest paid NHL player, never to play in an All-Star game, or win a Stanley Cup.

Chris Gratton

Bobby Clarke, and the Philadelphia Flyers, signed Gratton to a $10,150,000 contract for the 1997-98 season.

The Victoria Cougars won the Stanley Cup in 1925, but lost to the Montreal Maroons in 1926.

The West Coast Hockey League then folded, and the valued players were purchased by both old and new NHL teams.

A group of 26 investors, led by a Mr. Charles Hughes purchased the Cougars, and moved them to a new franchise in the mid-West.

To which city did they relocate?

But, their arena wasn’t ready, and they had to play across the bridge, in the Windsor’s Border Cities Arena. The Cougars lost to Boston, and went on to a pathetic 12-28-4 season’s record.

Things would improve, however, when league icon Jack Adams took over the following season, and they moved into their new Detroit Olympia.

The Cougars became the Detroit Falcons a few years later, and when James Norris purchased the team in the early ’30s, he renamed them a second time.

The Red Wings were named after the winged wheel insignia of Norris’s old Montreal Athletic Association hockey team.