Archive for November, 2008
Buying new inline hockey skates. Mission Lieutenant? Or Reebok 8K Resurrektion? Which is better?
Just getting some new skates, and wanted to hear some opinions on those 2 skates, or any other good skates you know of. I was also looking at the Mission Assassin, little bit cheaper, but just as good as the Lieutenants? Thanks
idk what the rbk's r like but missions are mainly like roller hockey skates its a roller hockey company so i'd go with mission for roller hockey cuse thats what i have
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Doyle: Another weekend in the books…
With the most recent weekend in the OHL now wrapped up, it’s time to look at what we’ve learned in the past 7 days – and beyond.
Doug Spinger talks about quality of life.
In November's Profile Kingston Magazine their is an interesting one page article on “a few of Doug's favourite things”. I won't
editorialize on his comments on ” Frontenac Family “at this time.
Read the rest of this entry »
Turmoil in Tampa Bay.
When the Tampa Bay Lightning were bought by Oren Koules and
Len Barrie earlier this year the two promised the club would rebound from their
woeful finish to the 2007-08 season, which saw the Bolts miss the playoffs only
four years after winning the Stanley Cup in 2004.
Koules and Barrie displayed a flair for bold moves,
replacing Jay Feaster as general manager with player agent Brian Lawton and
John Tortorella as head coach with ESPN analyst and former LA Kings head coach
Barry Melrose.
The new front office crew significantly overhauled the
roster, acquiring forwards Ryan Malone, Radim Vrbata, Vaclav Prospal, Mark
Recchi, Adam Hall and Gary Roberts, defenseman Marek Malik and goaltender Olaf
Kolzig primarily through free agency, and dealt away veteran blueliners Dan
Boyle and Filip Kuba for promising young defensemen Matt Carle and Andrej
Meszaros respectively.
Toss in their winning the draft lottery and selecting center
Steven Stamkos first overall, and dealing away defenseman Shane Oâ??Brien to
Vancouver for Lukas Krajicek, and ?the
Bolts headed into this season with nearly a dozen new faces in the lineup. ?
Expectations were high but the criticism was plentiful from more
than a few fans and pundits. Koules and company were making too many changes
too quickly, and the one most questioned was hiring Melrose, who hadnâ??t been
behind an NHL bench in 13 years and was whispered as having gotten his job due
to his friendship with the ownership.
Koule, Barrie and Lawton were gambling that their radical
moves would provide the spark the moribund Bolts lacked last season.
Only 16 games into this season, the Lightning were a woeful
5-7-4, sitting fourth in the Southeast Division and 13th overall in
the Conference.
Things had gotten so bad this past week that Melrose took a â??personal
dayâ?? away from the team, but it did little good as the Lightning lost to the
Florida Panthers and Detroit Red Wings.
That was enough for the front office, who handed Melrose his
walking papers on November 14th, replacing him with assistant coach
Rick Tocchet.
Itâ??s easy to lay blame for the Lightningâ??s slow start on
Melrose, and he deserves his fair share. The team’s top scorers weren’t scoring enough and it’s been suggested by more than a few critics that he wasn’t giving young Stamkos enough quality ice time.
But the bulk of the blame rests with the men who hired Melrose.
Koules and Barrie professed their faith in him as the coach
their team needed to return to playoff contention. ?He gave it his best shot, and while itâ??s clear
he was struggling to adapt to todayâ??s NHL, he was also working with an
overhauled roster still adjusting to each other.
Optimists will look at their current record and say thereâ??s
still plenty of time for this team to gel and rebound, pointing out theyâ??re not
that far out of playoff contention and thereâ??s plenty of time to get back into
the chase. ?Theyâ??ll likely point to a
coaching change as just what this team needs to turn things around.
Perhaps, but this is also a team that was put together in
slap-dash fashion, and strong coaching might not be enough to turn them into a
contender this season.
The goaltending is in good shape thanks to Mike Smith, who
was acquired by Feaster at last yearâ??s trade deadline and has provided the
Bolts with the caliber of goaltending not seen since Nikolai Khabibulin
backstopped them to the Cup in 2004. ?
Without Smithâ??s stellar play the Lightning wouldnâ??t have as
many victories as they currently do. He was usually one of the stars in each of
the four games heâ??s won thus far and faced well over 30 shots in most of them.
Lecavalier, Prospal, Recchi and Martin St. Louis are the
Lightningâ??s leading scorers, although Lecavalier still appears to be feeling
the effects from off-season shoulder surgery. As Lecavalier goes so goes the
Lightningâ??s offense, as theyâ??re not getting the secondary scoring the Bolts
need to take the pressure off his line. ?
Defensively the Lightning lack skilled experience,
particularly on their blueline, where only Malik, Krajicek and recently
acquired Steve Eminger have more than five NHL seasons under their belts. Theyâ??re
lacking the kind of skilled veteran leadership young defensemen look up to for
encouragement and advice if theyâ??re to properly develop their skills. ?
Other acquisitions â?? Malone, Vrbata, Roberts and Hall â?? have
been major disappointments so far. Stamkos, who was expected to be a rookie of
the year contender, has only four points in 16 games and while he may not have received the ice time some feel he should get he was still struggling at
times to adjust to the NHL game.
Lawtonâ??s most questionable move so far this season was
trading Carle, who was considered the centerpiece of the return from the San
Jose Sharks in the Boyle trade.
?Granted, Carle
struggled during his short tenure with the Lightning, and Lawton claimed
trading him to the Philadelphia Flyers was done to create cap space, but had
the front office spent more wisely during the off-season there wouldnâ??t have
been any need to give up so quickly on Carle.
Even if the Lightning were justified in moving Carle based
on his play and salary it casts doubt on the logic for acquiring him in the
first place.
The constant changes in recent moves have garnered the
Lightning plenty of attention but not the right kind, making their front office
decisions appear to be knee-jerk reactions rather than well-thought-out moves.
They now appear a club in turmoil and unless things turn
around soon itâ??s only going to get worse. ??
