I caught some of Ottawa’s 5-3 win over Colorado and Ross A provides an excellent recap. Shane Prince had a fantastic game and fans can both cheer and wonder why it took Dave Cameron this long to truly given him an opportunity. I hope this gives Prince some rope to truly establish himself–time will tell. Sens fans need to keep in mind that the team gave up 43-shots and without a great performance from Craig Anderson they don’t win this game.
I haven’t written about Don Brennan in years–it seems pointless as the talentless hack is easy to ignore–but he shouldn’t be let off the hook when he says things like this:
Something else to like about the Stars — they are one of the remaining teams to still have ice girls scraping the rink during TV breaks
Absolutely disgusting, although Brennan is truly bulletproof so he can write and say just about anything and The Sun (and Postmedia) will back him up.
Somewhat related, in Andrew‘s latest piece he has a list of items the latter two of which relate to Patrick Kane and specifically comments made by Nik Kypreos:
Nick Kypreos made some pretty offensive comments regarding Patrick Kane during Saturday night’s Chicago-Vancouver game. Kypreos was referring to Kane’s offensive totals this season when he said Kane “wants to shove it down peoples’ throats”. It’s a totally inappropriate phrase given the rape investigation surrounding Kane to start the season but it highlights larger issues in the hockey broadcasting community. … But it also illustrates what too many in the broadcasting community believe: that assault victims lie and the true victim is Kane in this specific case.
Does it? I’m not a fan of Kypreos, but I can’t pretend to get inside his head andI seriously doubt the domestic abuse allegations were the reason he picked that phrase. That said, someone (John) commenting on the post made some salient points that I have to quote in full:
I enjoy a great deal of your commentary, mostly when you stick to hockey, but even when you go on a rant there’s generally at least one or two ideas therein that give me pause to think. Unfortunately that gets overridden far too often when you go way over the line and start indulging a passion for gross generalization: TV hockey experts think all women are liars; the NHL hates women, etc.
However, the biggest issue I have is the way you’ve succumbed to a very dangerous trend in which a specific incident is used to redress (or begin to redress) a widespread injustice. Women who report sexual assaults to the police or other authorities have always faced a long and difficult road to get justice and the odds have always been against them. Is this because of a societal misogyny that skews the justice system? Or is it an inevitable result of the circumstances under which the vast majority of sexual assaults take place (i.e. no witnesses, he said-she said)? No doubt it’s a combination of both.
This is a shitty situation, nobody’s debating that; however, that situation can not be rectified simply by blithely assuming the guilt of every man accused of sexual assault.
Is Patrick Kane guilty? I don’t know, and I’d go so far as to say that there are only two people in the whole world who do.
Well said.
I watched the BSens 4-3 OT loss to Wilkes-Barre in a game where Matt O’Connor only shares the blame for the loss (the team being outshot 41-21 is the other). The first line produced all the offence and the team continued to take too many penalties. Here’s a blow-by-blow recap:
–Paul with a great chance all alone in front
1. O’Connor let’s in a goal from a terrible angle short side
2. Carlisle with a brutal giveaway that leads to a 2-on-1 and O’Connor is beat five-hole (not a great goal); Carlisle sat for the rest of the period
–Paul tried to pass while right in front of the net, turning it over (I took it as a sign that he lacks confidence)
–Schneider misses the net from the hashmarks
–Mullen with a good stick to deflect a pass to an open Penguin in front
-a couple of bad turnovers by Lindberg (he had a rough first period)
–Puempel with a great chance in front
–Schneider with a steal gets a breakaway
-Great chance in the slot on the PP by Puempel
3. Fantastic cross ice pass by Schneider to O’Dell on the PP
Second
–Claesson with a chance in the slot
–Fraser with a brutal giveaway resulting in a point-blank shot from in front
–O’Connor throws the puck away and the resulting chaos requires a big save
-Nice little defensive play by Lindberg taking the puck out of danger from in front the net; a good shift overall as he kept possession in the offensive zone despite being repeatedly double-teamed
4. Great re-direct by Schneider to score five-hole on the PP
–Robinson takes a dumb tripping call while the BSens are already shorthanded
-Great stop by O’Connor point-blank (Fraser out of position)
–Harpur demonstrating one of his flaws: with no pressure behind his own net he ices the puck
–Fraser lobs a grenade at Hobbs who can’t handle it and on the ensuing play Ewanyk takes a dumb penalty
Third
-Great pass by Lindberg to Dziurzynski in front
5. O’Dell knocks the puck to a wide open Dzingel in front who makes no mistake
–Lepine loses track of the man behind him requiring O’Connor to make a great save
–Mullen gets undressed and O’Connor makes another great save
–Stortini turns it over and the Pens hit the post
–Puempel moves down to the third line as McCormick takes his spot on the second
6. Weak shot goes through O’Connor short side; after the goal the lines went back to normal
–Dziurzynski gets the puck out of danger with a traffic jam in front
OT
-Great pass by Mullen to spring Dzingel
–Lindberg undresses the D but neither he nor Paul on the rebound can score
7. Fraser moves out of the way to give O’Connor the shot and he’s beaten low far side
The teams blueline continues to be a major problem, with Fraser the main (but not the only) issue. Taking Stortini off the first unit powerplay has helped a lot. The fourth line remains pretty bad and I still want Robinson on the third and Stortini on the fourth. O’Connor did make some saves, but he continues to give up terrible goals that are due to him being either out of position or small in net–Wilkes-Barre continually shot at bad angles knowing he can be beat on them. Otherwise the usual players played well.
Turns out Vincent Dunn was a healthy scratch in Evansville’s last game–something that doesn’t happen to actual prospects that often. Mathieu Brisebois, on the other hand, had been recalled to the AHL.
The Berlin River Drivers, Evansville affiliate, is the worst team in the FHL (following the lead of both the ECHL and AHL teams above it), and one of the weird things isn’t so much that they’ve turned their roster over, but where their players are coming from–the Czech Republic. Five players, all from the 2nd and 3rd division, have been brought over. It’s a strange thing to see and I assume there’s some sort of Czech-connection with ownership.
This article is written by Peter Levi (@eyeonthesens)
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