In Case You Missed It

There was a pile of stuff happening in the hockey world this weekend that I never got a chance to post, so we'll bring everyone up to speed today. Yes, that is Shaquille O'Neal in the New Jersey Devils uniform. Yes, that might be the biggest skin-tight jersey I've ever seen. Shaq was in New Jersey this weekend and he was at the game on Saturday night between the visiting Florida Panthers and New Jersey Devils. That's where we'll start as we look around the NHL from the weekend.

I Wanna Drive The Zamboni

Shaquille O'Neal, the 7'1" former NBA star, was on-hand on Saturday night as a guest of the New Jersey Devils. The 41 year-old Newark, New Jersey native was invited down to the Prudential Center before the game where he got to drive the zamboni! That's a size-23 shoe on that gas pedal, folks! Shaq donned the jersey as seen above, and then dropped the puck for the ceremonial face-off before the game. The only question I have is why he wore #12. Alexei Ponikarovsky is a bigger guy, but nowhere near the size of Shaq. Couldn't the Devils have given him his own jersey with "O'Neal" and #32 on the back?

Miller Takes One Away

Ryan Miller was named to the American Olympic team, and there were questions as to why he may be going when he's playing for the worst team in the NHL. Sure, his stats have been great, but he hasn't exactly stolen any games for the Sabres this season. That is, until yesterday. Check out this save on Mikhail Grabovski.

Think he's gearing up to be the starter in Sochi? That save was made with 2:14 remaining in the game, helping the Sabres get to extra time with the Capitals. And wouldn't you know it, but the Sabres won the shootout, making that save all that more important. Amazing save, Ryan Miller!

Kane Gives One Back

Patrick Kane is second in league scoring this season. He's having a pretty good season on all accounts, and certainly is looking like one of the most dangerous scorers for the Americans as the Sochi Olympics approach. However, I'm pretty certain the Americans don't want to see this happen while playing in Russia in February.

Ouch. You never really want to see that happen to a player in any circumstance. In saying that, Kane and the Blackhawks did rally shortly after on the power-play, skating to a 5-3 victory over Edmonton last night.

Hell No, He Won't Go

The Buffalo Sabres find themselves in an unenviable position. The Sabres realize that Mikhail Grigorenko needs playing time, and he's not playing well enough to break into the top-six in Buffalo just yet. Because he's 19, the Sabres are forced to return him to his junior team, the QMJHL's Quebec Remparts. Grigorenko, however, has refused to report, stating he needs a better challenge than junior hockey. And Grigorenko is right.

In 92 QMJHL games, Grigorenko has put up gaudy numbers. He has 70 goals and 69 assists in those 92 games, proving that he might be slightly beyond junior-level talent. Because of the agreement the NHL has with the CHL and AHL, players aged 20 and younger cannot be sent down to the AHL. There is the quandary that the Sabres face.

What can they do? They can look at making an agreement with a European team, but not a KHL team due to the NHL-KHL friendly agreement. They are basically out of options in North America thanks to the CHL-AHL agreement. And Grigorenko continues to sit at home after the demotion.

No matter what happens in this situation, the management of the Sabres did a pathetic job with an immense, unrefined talent that may never be realized as a Sabre.

Hurry-Up Face-Off

Saturday night in Sweden was a normal hockey night between Färjestad and Leksands. Leksands was ready to go for the face-off. The linesman was ready for the face-off. Färjestad was still getting organized. Here's a little tip, kids: if the linesman is ready to go, get to the face-off circle.

Leksands' Gabriel Karlsson easily won the draw, checked out the Färjestad defensive zone coverage, and then fired the puck the length of the ice past a clearly unprepared Fredrik Pettersson Wentzel who was re-hydrating. Wentzel had no idea what had happened, and fished the puck out his net thinking that a fan had thrown it from the stands!

This should teach Färjestad that when the linesman is ready, so are you. No harm, no foul in the end, though, as Färjestad won the game 5-1.

That's all for today, kids. We get our first looks at the new Winnipeg Jets head coach tonight as Paul Maurice leads the Jets against the Phoenix Coyotes. I expect the Jets to show some real effort tonight, but the Coyotes will be a tough test for the new coach and his new team.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

This Feels Like Atlanta

If you haven't heard the news out of Winnipeg yet, you may have just woken up. The Jets announced today that they have relieved head coach Claude Noel and assistant coach Perry Pearn of their duties, replacing Noel with Paul Maurice, formerly of the Hurricanes and Maple Leafs. After last night's debacle against the Columbus Blue Jackets that saw the Jackets score four goals in nine minutes in the second period, the Jets felt that the time was right to make a move. I'll be blunt: this was NOT the right move.

Now let me be upfront here: I'm just a blogger. I don't know about the inner workings of the Winnipeg Jets and what may go on behind closed doors. I don't know if there were problems between coach and players, I have no information on how the team was being evaluated, and I certainly hold no title within the team that gives me any insight as to the timing and necessity of this move. What I will live and die by, however, is my own observations of this team that I see when they play. Clear? Clear.

The calamity that is the current version of the Winnipeg Jets is not the fault of Claude Noel. It is not Claude Noel who commits egregious turnovers in his own zone. It is not Claude Noel who doesn't show up to play each night. It is not Claude Noel who decides not to out-work, out-hustle, and out-grit the opponents on a nightly basis. It is not Claude Noel who should have lost his job with the Winnipeg Jets.

Granted, it is Claude Noel's job to have them ready to play each night. It is his system that the team is playing. It is his job to motivate this collection of players to work harder than their opponents. It is his job to assemble a line-up from the players he has been given that will compete for every point available. Claude Noel is not absolved from all the blame here, but the fact that the axe fell on him today is a sign that this team has not improved from its days in Atlanta.

Is that a coaching issue? Some could make a case for it, but here's why I disagree.

Claude Noel has never had a true number-one line in his three seasons with the Jets. He's had a couple of good second-lines to work with, but never a true, bonafide top line that he could put on the ice that would generate multiple scoring chances all night long. He worked with what he had - Little, Ladd, and Wheeler are good, but are any of them top-line material on a Stanley Cup contender? Do any of them strike fear in the opponents when they come over the boards? The sobering answer is no.

Secondly, the Jets aren't even in the realm of having mediocre goaltending, let alone elite goaltending. I will say that I believe Ondrej Pavelec can be a serviceable goaltender in the NHL, and he should remain with the Jets. The problem I see is that his confidence is shattered behind the patchwork defence assembled in front of him. He has been left hung out to dry far too often this season by the six defencemen in front of him, and he looks like his psyche and confidence are at an all-time low. When you are asked to routinely stop breakaways and odd-man rushes as well as bail out players after they make boneheaded plays night-in and night-out, you kind of lose faith in the whole process and in your own abilities. Especially if all those mistakes are finding the back of the net.

Again, Claude Noel is doing the best he can with the players assembled, but there are two defencemen playing regularly - Ellerby and Clitsome - that were waiver wire pickups and four guys who have regressed horribly this season. Rookie Jacob Trouba has been the lone bright spot for this defensive corps and, while still prone to some rookie mistakes, has been the guy who has been the most consistent Jet on the blue line.

Let me put this another way. Claude Noel has three AHL-calibre players in Ellerby, Clitsome, and Pardy playing NHL minutes. His "top defenceman" in Dustin Byfuglien is a team-worst -17 - the only Jets rearguard in double-digits in the minus category. In fact, if you took Byfuglien out of the equation, the Jets' defensive squad would be a combined -10 for all of the other defencemen who have suited up this season for a losing team. Anyone see a glaring issue here on the back-end?

People will pipe up and point to Byfuglien's 10 goals and 25 assists as a reason the big defenceman should be prominent in the Jets' plans going forward, but he's nothing more than a power-play specialist on a bad team. Don't believe me? At even-strength, Byfuglien has five goals and 13 assists. On the power-play, Byfuglien has five goals and 12 assists. Half of his points come while the Jets skate with the extra player on the ice.

"But Teebz," you say, "Shea Weber does the exact same thing in Nashville!" While I don't disagree with you as we take Weber's -14 into consideration, I will point out that both Nashville and Winnipeg are both out of the playoffs right now. Score all the power-play points you want, but there's still this little stat called "wins" that is far more important than some garbage power-play stats. Good players win awards, but good teams with championships. Neither Nashville nor Winnipeg are good teams, and I'm quite certain that Weber would trade power-play stats for more wins on the season.

I'm also going to point out that it seemed like Dustin Byfuglien had tuned Claude Noel out completely on most nights. I'll bring up the fact that he finished last season over 300lbs. as a clear sign of his lack of commitment to being a top player in this league. I'll bring up his refusal to play forward for any reason, often citing that that part of his career was over. I'll bring up the constant glaring defensive errors he made. I'll also bring up that none of this was caused by Claude Noel.

So in point all of that out, I will admit that there may have been problems between Claude Noel and Dustin Byfuglien for some time now. It also appeared that there was tension between Evander Kane and Noel after Kane was sat against Chicago after declaring himself injury-free after the morning skate on November 7. All of this could have factored into the decision today, but I still feel that Noel wasn't the problem with this team.

To me, this is a move by GM Kevin Cheveldayoff to put the pressure back on the players in terms of their performances. I understand that Cheveldayoff can't trade the whole team, so firing the coach is probably the easiest way to put the spotlight back on the players.

But this is the same team that collapsed under the pressure of making the playoffs last season. This is the same team that looked poised to earn the third-seed in the Eastern Conference by winning the Southeast Division last season only to see their season spiral out of control with about a month to play. This is the same team that is currently 3-14-3 against teams in their own division - teams they see more often than anyone else. So is it a personnel problem?

Perhaps the most telling sign that this team was built to fail as it is doing currently was revealed today. When asked at the press conference today at MTS Centre surrounding Noel's dismissal, Kevin Cheveldayoff was asked if he did everything he could to help Claude Noel succeed. His answer?

"I would say no."

So then who is really to blame here? If Cheveldayoff didn't do everything he could to help his coach and his team succeed, isn't this team just a reflection of the management style of the Winnipeg Jets' GM? That's a damning statement for a GM to make just hours after firing the head coach. Why would anyone want to coach here after hearing that the GM didn't do everything he could to help his club? Why would any players want to sign here in hearing that statement? While I appreciate the honesty of Cheveldayoff in assessing his role in all this, that kind of comment can kill a franchise.

Taking that comment into account, let's go back to the fact that the Jets have never had a legitimate first-line. Let's identify that the Jets have had average-to-mediocre goaltending. Let's remember that the Jets are using three AHL-calibre players in their top-six defencemen most nights. Let's remember that this is a team with little to no depth when it comes to an NHL roster. That's all on the GM, and Kevin Cheveldayoff has to be held accountable for his part in this debacle. Sure, Cheveldayoff has started to restock the cupboards with some good drafting, but the Jets simply aren't getting the results they need right now with the roster they roll out every night.

While this Jets team currently finds itself in an ugly funk, there's hope that the experienced Paul Maurice can bring some stability back to the club and put this team on the right track when it comes to wins and losses. When asked about Maurice, former player and current TSN analyst Jeff O'Neill had this to say about his former bench boss in Carolina: "He's dealt with adversity before. He knows how to handle these situations because in Carolina we had some teams that weren't very good and he did get a lot out of us for the talent that we had on the roster."

Jets fans had better hope that Maurice can find a way to squeeze a lot more out of this roster in a hurry. Otherwise, it will be another long summer in Winnipeg for the Jets.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

O-High-O State?

Here is Ohio State University's uniform that they are wearing against the Michigan State Spartans tonight. This is their home alternate uniform, and that's something you don't normally hear for a collegiate-level team. There's nothing wrong with the uniform as you scan downwards with your eyes, but there may be a few eyebrows that get raised when get to the sleeve hems and lower stripes on the uniform.

I'm not a botanist, so I'll ask: are those marijuana leaves?

I went searching for more information, and I found that the state flower of Ohio is the scarlet carnation. Perhaps that's what that is? You'd think that the flower would be front and center if they were promoting the state flower, though. Maybe it's not the scarlet carnation then.

According to several sources, the images are of the Ohio buckeye tree. Yeah, that doesn't seem right. Apparently, Ohio State blew up the image of the tree to get to the leaves, and that's from where images are derived.

Personally, alternate uniforms for an NCAA team seems a little excessive, especially when they aren't hot-selling items. I know the college crowd are avid users when it comes to cannabis, but I think Ohio State missed the mark here when it comes to "honoring the Ohio buckeye tree".

We can now add the Ohio State alternate uniforms to the list of "cannabis-endorsing uniforms", making it a total of two uniforms alongside that of the Macon Whoopee.

Many thanks to Nicole H. for tweeting that picture to me!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

The Olympic Team That Wasn't

With all of the debate over the recent picks made for the Canadian men's Olympic hockey team, perhaps the men chosen should feel a little lucky that they will represent their country on the world stage. The reason I say this is due to one men's team who didn't get the opportunity to represent Canada at the Winter Olympics due to reasons outside their control. They were the best senior men's team in Canada at the time and were scheduled to go, but other circumstances arose and these men were denied their opportunity. This is the story of the 1939 Port Arthur Bearcats.

I received an email from reader Will S. who pointed me in the direction of the Bearcats. Will provided some excellent photos and news clippings about some of the games, so I'll work through them and include some of that info in the article as well. Thanks for sharing all this stuff on the Bearcats, Will!

If we go back to 1920, the reigning senior men's team in Canada was given the opportunity to head to the Olympics to represent Canada. The Allan Cup was given annually to the best senior men's team across the land, and that's how we got teams like the Trail Smoke Eaters and the Winnipeg Falcons competing for Canada and winning gold medals. In 1939, the Port Arthur Bearcats, based out of what is now Thunder Bay, Ontario, won the Allan Cup, meaning that they would represent Canada at the Winter Olympic Games in February 1940.

As an aside, the Bearcats club had won the silver medal in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany after the Allan Cup champion Halifax Wolverines were unable to travel. The runner-up Beatcats were chosen to represent Canada and, despite some serious protests about the format of the tournament, Canada finished second to a Great British team "largely composed of Canadian Army officers and university graduates living in the UK".

Back to the 1939 team, the Bearcats would have been enjoying the off-season when Japan gave the Games back to the IOC in July 1938 after the start of the Second Sino-Japanese War in 1937. The IOC then awarded the Games to St. Moritz, Switzerland, but the Games were given back to the IOC after problems arose between the Swiss organizing team and the IOC.

During this time, the Bearcats were posting a respectable 14-6-3 record in capturing first-place in the TBSHL (Thunder Bay Senior Hockey League). The Bearcats would keep their winning ways going as they ended up in the Allan Cup Final against the Montreal Royals. All games of the five-game series would be played in Montreal, so there was a considerable disadvantage for the Bearcats as the series began.

Game One needed extra time, but Port Arthur took the first game by a 6-5 win in overtime. Game Two was played a little more defensively, but Port Arthur downed Montreal by a 3-1 score to take a stranglehold on the series despite the odds against them. Game Three saw the Royals break out offensively as they won 6-4 on home ice, but the series would end in Game Four after the Beatcats downed the Royals 6-5 to win the Allan Cup!

In the spring of 1939, shortly after the Bearcats won the Allan Cup, the IOC awarded the Games back to Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany, but Germany invaded Poland on September 1, 1939. The IOC wisely cancelled the Olympic Games as the world was preparing for war with Germany as the Second World War loomed.

It seems pretty unfair that a team like the Bearcats can work so hard only to lose a major opportunity like representing Canada at the Olympics. While I understand that missing the Olympics had little to do with the team itself, it just goes to show that one should relish every chance one gets to represent his or her country.

Here is the roster of the 1939 Port Arthur Bearcats that should have been the 1940 Canadian Olympic roster over in Europe:

• LW Gus Saxberg
• LW John "Bones" McCormack
• LW Bob Manahan
• C Joe MacArthur
• C Edgar Laprade
• RW Stan King
• RW Norm Wright
• RW Don Gordon
• D Bert Laprade
• D Hugh O'Leary (captain)
• D Mike Moriarty
• D Walter Harbluk
• G John Crompton
• G Jakie Nash
• Head Coach Ed "Jazzy" Manahan
• President William A. McKinnon
• Honorary President John F. Hewitson

There were a few other people listed on the image above, but the main men should be remembered for their contributions. Here's to the 1940 Canadian Olympic team, the Port Arthur Bearcats!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

The Hockey Show - Episode Seventy

The Hockey Show returns tonight with a ton of stuff to talk about, so gather the kids and settle in around the old radio like days of yore. Tonight on 101.5 UMFM, Teebz and Beans welcome back Columbus from her trip home for the holidays to parts unknown in the United States, and we welcome back a regular from a trip out east for work as Friend Of The Show Jared Keeso joins us!

We'll break down the various Olympic rosters for most of the countries. We'll talk about the World Junior Championship results, getting Jared's thoughts on how Team Canada did and where we should look at improving. We'll talk to Jared about the NHL, in particular the Jets and Flames, and get his opinion on how one fixes the hot mess in Winnipeg. And we'll also get an update on what Jared's been up to because he's been a busy guy! From filming new TV shows to pitching ideas to studios, Jared has a number of fires burning, and we'll get caught up with him on all the stuff happening in his life. Perhaps we'll even have a Letterkenny Problems update for you if you're a fan of the web series!

If you're not a fan or haven't experienced Letterkenny Problems yet, you're either new to the internet or you haven't been keeping up with the kids in terms of awesome stuff. Head over to YouTube immediately, punch in "Letterkenny Problems" in the search field, and get watching. And stay away from Jared's sister, eh?

Join us at 5:30pm CT for a full hour with Jared as we talk all things hockey once more. You can hit us up on the radio dial at 101.5 UMFM, listen live on the internet, or download the podcast later on. And if you're going to be online anyway, you might as well tweet a few questions to us at @TeebzHBIC. We'll do our best to ask Jared any questions you send in! Sound good? Let's do this then!

As an aside, I've decided to link the podcast on these articles as well, making it more convenient to find. As for the archived podcasts, you still have to hit the podcast page up above. Good? Good.

PODCAST: Download here. Make sure you check out Jared's new show, 19-2, airing on Bravo at 9pm ET on Wednesday, January 29. There will be a re-broadcast of the pilot episode on CTV for Canadian viewers on Thursday, January 30 at 10pm ET!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!