Archive for January, 2009
Detroit’s Kronwall and Dallas’ Ott Are Not Friends
by Matt Saler
Filed under: Stars, Wings, NHL General
Less than a minute into the third period of last night’s Detroit/Dallas tilt, Mike Ribeiro carried the puck over the Red Wing line on an average-looking rush. Henrik Zetterberg was trailing him, attempting to lift his stick. Apparently, Zetterberg was successful because Ribeiro lost the puck fifteen feet into the zone and in that moment, Niklas Kronwall made his presence known:
Clean, nicely-timed, shoulder to shoulder hit, right? One of hockey’s appealing plays? Not to Steve Ott, who very much took exception and decided to show it with a vicious cross-check to Kronwall’s back.Given the League’s inability to deal out proper punishments, it shouldn’t be surprising Ott was given just a minor penalty for what should have been an obvious intent-to-injure major.
I’m not sure what it is about today’s NHL that obgliates thugs on skates like Ott to exact violent revenge on players like Kronwall who just make a hit. The situation called for a face-wash at most, or maybe a returned favor if the opportunity presented itself. The cross-check was completely out of line and stank of bush league antics.
Kronwall’s demonstrated a nice talent for stepping up into guys coming over the blueline. At the moment, he’s one of the two biggest hitters on the team, being outdone by only Brad Stuart.
I wouldn’t be surprised to see Ott and Kronwall have a run-in Monday night in the rematch. Ott was ornery the rest of the night, taking a charging penalty before the final horn, and Kronwall will likely have his radar pinging for #29 in black coming out of the Dallas zone.
Detroit’s Kronwall and Dallas’ Ott Are Not Friends originally appeared on NHL FanHouse on Fri, 09 Jan 2009 20:34:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Ovechkin Skates with Crazy 8’s Kids
Check out Alex’s official website at http://www.alexovechkin8.com
Duration : 0:3:41
Battalion vs Wolves Jan 8th/09
As the OHL Trade deadline looms the Sudbury Wolves come into the bunker for the 3rd time of the season to take on the Battalion.
This would be the debut of two new Battalion players Josh Day and Andrew Merrett who had been traded to the Battalion the day before from the Niagara Ice Dogs. Also during this day Mathew Kang from the Kingston Frontenacs had been traded to the Battalion but he was unable to suit up for this game.
Also this was the first game back for Cody Hodgson and Evgeny Grachev after playing for Team Canada and Team Russia at the 2009 World Junior Hockey Championships in Ottawa.
Scoring Summary
1ST PERIOD
5:18 – BRA #9 Matt Duchene (18), (Grachev, Clark) (SH)
5:44 – SUD #18 John McFarland (12), (Sheleg, Aliu) (PP)
14:56 – BRA #9 Matt Duchene (19), (Clark, Day)
2ND PERIOD
8:37 – BRA #19 Cody Hodgson (21), (Pereira, Duchene) (PP)
13:03 – BRA #23 Kyle DeCoste (8), (Stajan, Tanski)
15:12 – BRA #9 Matt Duchene (20), (Clark, Grachev)
19:13 – BRA #15 Evgeny Grachev (20), (Duchene, Hodgson)
3RD PERIOD
19:11 – SUD #91 Eric O’Dell (21), (Staal)
Final Score:
Brampton 6
Sudbury 2
Duration : 0:5:26
Mason Building All-Star Caliber Season
by Ted Starkey
Filed under: Blue Jackets, Capitals, NHL General, NHL All Star Game
While Blue Jackets rookie goalie Steve Mason was overlooked as one of the reserve netminders for the Western Conference in this month’s All-Star Game in Montreal when they were announced Wednesday, he was selected to participate in the league’s YoungStars game on Friday.
However, that wasn’t the foremost on his mind before facing the potent Capitals lineup tonight, as he was bothered by upper-body spasms and nearly missed his scheduled start against the Washington team he blanked at Nationwide Arena back in November.
No matter the ailment, though, as Mason indeed made his start and simply shut out the Caps for the second time this season, turning away 45 Washington shots for his league-leading sixth shutout of the season, meaning a quarter of the rookie’s first 24 NHL starts have resulted in a perfect performance. He stopped all 18 Caps shots in the first when Columbus was outshot by a 14-shot margin, but got a lead thanks to R.J. Umberger.
While Mason afterwards was humble in talking about his performance, crediting his defensemen and saying the win was more important than the shutout, his teammates were a bit more blunt what they thought of their 20-year-old netminder.
“Forget the YoungStars. He’s an All-Star!” yelled one teammate while reporters were interviewing the goalie.
“[Expletive] the YoungStars!”
Mason Building All-Star Caliber Season originally appeared on NHL FanHouse on Fri, 09 Jan 2009 23:11:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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