–Senators Extra‘s Ken Warren writes about last night’s win (link) and agrees with me that it was Craig Anderson‘s best performance of the year. Daniel Alfredsson said, “I don’t know what the shots were for awhile there, but the coach wasn’t too happy with us on the bench and (Anderson) was keeping us in it.” Kyle Turris, meantime, talked about his first goal, “The biggest thing is confidence. The guys on the team and coach MacLean have given me that.”
–The Ottawa Sun‘s Don Brennan gives coach Paul MacLean most of the credit for the team’s success thus far (link) and it’s hard to argue that he hasn’t played a big part in getting the team to believe in itself and never quit. I think a pat on the back also has to go to Binghamton coach Kurt Kleinendorst, given that six players on the team were part of his Calder Cup winning roster from last year.
-Joy Lindsay Tweets Binghamton’s projected lines: Klinkhammer-Locke-Petersson, Hoffman-Da Costa-Grant, Dziurzynski-Cannone-Bartlett (O’Brien), Cowick-Hamilton-Lessard (Gratchev); Gryba-Borowiecki, Raymond-Conboy, Godfrey-Schira; Mike McKenna will start.
-Both the Edmonton Journal (link) and Calgary Herald (link) write about Sweden’s victory 1-0 over Russia at the WJC for their first gold medal since 1981. Mika Zibanejad scored the OT winner on a great individual effort. Canada won bronze against Finland in a game that was largely one-sided.
-Toronto GM Brian Burke finally acknowledged reality by sending one-dimensional Colton Orr to the minors, bemoaning the change in the game that requires enforcers to do more than fight (link). The myopia of people like Burke truly boggles the mind. Fighting came to prominence in the 1970s as a form of intimidation, not policing. Even in the 1980s, the heyday for the one-dimensional enforcer, the tough guy defended the rats too, so there’s no halcyon point in time when the NHL didn’t have dirty and borderline players. More to the point, the whole idea of having players police themselves is absurd–it runs counter to how sport is played and how society functions.
–Sports Illustrated‘s Stu Hackel is exasperated by Brendan Shanahan’s unwillingness to follow through with his tough talk and suspend players significantly (link). The inability to deliver shouldn’t surprise Hackel. Shanahan is from the same school as Colin Campbell and the entire NHL establishment. The only way NHL discipline will change is if it’s someone outside the inner circle who is given autonomy to make judgements (something I don’t see happening).
eyeonthesens 