Memorial Cup Time!

The 2010 Memorial Cup sets up shop for the next two weeks in Brandon, Manitoba, and there's a good chance we could see a repeat winner. Last year, the Windsor Spitfires dramatically stole the show in Rimouski, Quebec after going 1-2 in the round-robin to finish fourth out of the four teams before tearing through the semi-final and final games to secure the Memorial Cup. Of course, Windsor is back this year as the OHL Champions, and they are joined by the Calgary Hitmen (WHL), the Moncton Wildcats (QMJHL), and Brandon Wheat Kings (host team) as these four teams battle for Canadian Major Junior Hockey's biggest prize.

This won't be a preview of each team as there are a number of excellent reports on the Interwebs already. The Sportsnet reviews done by Patrick King are top-notch, and I definitely recommend clicking that link above. King is one of the best when it comes to covering the CHL, and his reports on each team are excellent.

Last night, the defending Memorial Cup Champions and the host team opened the 2010 Memorial Cup. Windsor came in with the hopes of becoming only the fifth CHL team to repeat as Memorial Cup Champions, and the first team to do so since the 1995 Kamloops Blazers. Brandon, on the other hand, was looking to send a message to the other CHL Champions with an upset of the defending champs.

Let's just say that Brandon looked good on the ice in terms of their uniform choice, but had little else from which to rally. The jerseys, in keeping with the Memorial Cup tradition, saw the host team wear a specially-designed jersey honouring the men and women of the Armed Forces. Brandon has a special link with the Canadian Army as CFB Shilo is a mere 20 minutes away from the Manitoba city.

From the MeiGray site:

"The opening game jerseys were designed by the Canadian Hockey League in conjunction with the Brandon Wheat Kings in honour of the Canadian Army and specifically the men and women, past, present and future of CFB Shilo. CFB Shilo is Manitoba’s only army base and is located approximately 20 minutes from the Keystone Centre where the 2010 MasterCard Memorial Cup is being held.

The Memorial Cup was originally donated in 1919 by the Ontario Hockey Association as a memorial to those young men and women who had given their lives in the defence of Canada during World War I. The 2010 MasterCard Memorial Cup marks the 92nd time that the Memorial Cup will be awarded.

All proceeds from this auction will go towards supporting the Dominion Command Poppy Trust Fund. The poppy fund is designed to support veterans and their families, buy hospital equipment, support cadet groups, and provide student bursaries."

The Wheat Kings looked mighty impressive last night as they skated out in these beauties. I absolutely love Brandon's colour scheme, and, while some will say that this is a copy of the Blackhawks' alternate, the Wheat Kings pull it off extremely well with their colours. Of course, in comparison to previous Memorial Cups, it holds its own with Rimouski's Memorial Cup jersey and Kitchener's Memorial Cup jersey.

Windsor, not to be outdone, decided to shine on the ice. At 2:01, Windsor went up 1-0 on Kenny Ryan's first of the tournament. That was followed up by Scott Timmins' first goal of the tournament at 3:25. 1:02 later, Adam Henrique had the Spitfires out to a 3-0 lead. 18 seconds later, Taylor Hall had his first of the tournament to put Windsor up 4-0. Just 4:45 in, and the Spitfires were up 4-0. Wow.

And just for good measure, the Spitfires took a 5-0 lead into the dressing room after twenty minutes when Taylor Hall notched his second of the game and tournament on the powerplay at 18:23. The Spitfires showed Brandon why they had swept three of their four OHL playoff series, and had rallied back from a 3-0 deficit in their series against Plymouth. This Spitfires team is a well-oiled scoring machine.

There was a scary moment in the first period as Brandon defenceman Travis Hamonic lined up Windsor's Taylor Hall and drilled him into the end-boards face-first just 39 seconds into the game. Hall laid in a crumpled heap of humanity for a few minutes before skating off under his own power, but it seemed that was all Brandon could muster in terms of dominating the play in the first period.

Adam Henrique would score his second of the game and tournament just 1:15 into the second period to put Windsor up 6-0. The bleeding didn't stop for Brandon as Timmins had his second of the game and tournament at 6:47 for a 7-0 Spitfires lead. Dale Mitchell jumped in on the scoring with his first at 14:49 to pace Windsor to an 8-0 lead. Thankfully, Aaron Lewadniuk broke the goose egg for the Wheat Kings with his first goal of the tournament at 14:57 of the second period to close the gap to 8-1. However, Zack Kassian restored the eight-goal cushion on the powerplay at 16:21 with his first of the tournament. The Spitfires took a 9-1 lead into the intermission.

Brnadon's Matt Calvert scored his first of the tournament just 35 seconds into the third period to make it 9-2. Jay Fehr made it 9-3 at the 13:28 mark, but it was clear that Windsor was coasting in an effort to not suffer any injuries. When the final horn sounded, the 5381 fans saw the dominant Windsor Spitfires open the 2010 Memorial Cup with 9-3 victory, running over the hometown Wheat Kings.

The Calgary Hitmen will play the Moncton Wildcats at 3PM ET today, and you can catch the action on Rogers' Sportsnet in Canada, and on the NHL Network in the USA. While no expects a blow-out in today's game, anything can happen at the Memorial Cup!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

They Make Good Points

With yesterday's announcement that Vancouver's Willie Mitchell had spoken out against the NHL's disciplinary policy regarding how players are punished for delivering dangerous hits to the head, I received an email from a reader who asked if she could add some information to HBIC. Being that I'm an advocate for mandating some sort of rule that takes players to the woodshed for risking the life and well-being of another player with a check to the head, I thought this would be a great opportunity to allow Chelsea to have her say while I chime in on Mitchell's comments. After all, I've talked about how changes are needed time and time again, but it seems that no one is listening to me or to players with good ideas.

First, a little about Chelsea. To protect her privacy, I am withholding her last name, but she wrote me a brief biography to give you some perspective as to where she's coming from in her email. We'll start with Chelsea's biography, and then I'll post her email in its entirety.

Chelsea is an outreach representative for CareMeridian, a subacute care facility located throughout the Western United States for patients suffering from traumatic brain injury, spinal cord injury or medical complexities, such as neuromuscular or congenital anomalies.

Now that you know a little about her insight as to her experiences with seeing people who live with brain trauma, here is her email to me. I think it carries a good message which I'll bring into context below with Mitchell's comments. Again, here's Chelsea.

Hockey and TBI

Hockey is arguably one of the most physical professional sports. Hockey players are constantly getting body checked, slammed into boards, falling to the ice, slapped by a stick, hit by a dense, speeding puck or getting punched during a fight. If that isn’t bad enough, hockey players take part in one of the longest regular seasons of any sport, effectively taking on harsher pain for a longer amount of time throughout the year. Risk of injury couldn’t be clearer as you all too commonly see hockey players missing their front two teeth. With all of the injuries that can occur, one of the most dangerous is a traumatic brain injury (TBI). A TBI is a silent injury that can cause harm to the mind and body of an individual. An injury to the head or brain can alter someone’s life and can even require long-term rehabilitation and care from a skilled nursing facility. These injuries are often far too common in the sport of hockey and if not properly treated can permanently leave a hockey player's life challenging than the game they play.

TBI is an injury that Philadelphia Flyers player Ian Laperriere knows all too well. In game 5 of an NHL playoff game with the New Jersey Devils, Laperriere took a slap shot to the face that immediately caused him to bleed excessively from the wound above his eye and lose sight. Laperriere was diagnosed with a brain contusion after having a MRI a few days later. While Laperriere may have originally thought that losing sight in one of his eyes was the worst of the two injuries, in reality the bigger concern could wind up being the long-term effects of the brain injury.

A concussions have been dismissed as minor injuries because the physical nature of most sports causes them to occur regularly, but, frequently occurring or not, they are still head injuries where the brain is forced to move violently within the skull and the way it functions could change permanently. When the brain moves in such a manner, it can bruise, bleed, and even tear, which can cause irreversible damage to the victim. For a sport like hockey, this type of injury is very common and unfortunately at times ignored. Many hockey players don't take into account the possible effects of the injury and because it might not seem like a serious problem exists at first, they keep on skating as if nothing occurred. Their unawareness of the injury makes the it so much more dangerous because a mild brain injury can turn into a life threatening injury in a very short period of time without seeking immediate medical treatment.

Studies by the National Academy of Neuropsychology's Sports Concussion Symposium in New York have shown that since 1997, 759 NHL players have been diagnosed with a concussion. Broken down, that averages out to 76 players per season and 31 concussions per 1,000 games of hockey. That is far too frequent of an occurrence for such a serious injury. It's a frightening statistic that should send up a red flag to hockey officials that actions need to be taken to further prevent this type of injury from occurring.

The best, and sometimes only, treatment for TBI is prevention. For the National Hockey League new rules are being considered that preserve the game but also help protect the players. Rule changes concerning blindside hits, rink size (which effects players space from each other and their proximity to walls), and stronger helmet requirements all have been considered to help curb TBI and its effects. This demonstrates that the NHL is aware of the seriousness of the injury and is taking proactive steps to help prevent it from happening.

Hockey is one of the most popular sports in North America and has millions of people participating in it every year. Unfortunately, the sport comes with the risk of a TBI. With the right awareness of the injury and the necessary precautions in place, the game should be able to continue with players excited to lace up their skates and enjoy it.

Well said, Chelsea.

That frightening moment in Ian Laperriere's career has essentially put his hockey life on hold while his face and brain mend themselves. While a slapshot to the face is slightly different than a check to the head, Chelsea's statistics don't lie: 759 players with concussions in 13 years is essentially the entire roster of the NHLPA over that time. 76 players per year means that more than two players per team are suffering concussions per team every single season. That, readers, is a scary thought when it comes to quality of life after hockey.

Willie Mitchell hasn't played any NHL hockey since January 16, 2010. On that night, he was checked from the side by Pittsburgh Penguin Evgeni Malkin, and he fell awkwardly into the boards. His head and shoulder made contact with the boards, and it appeared that Mitchell may have escaped serious injury as he was able to skate to the bench while Malkin went unpunished.

Some have said that it was a "good hockey hit", and I feel that Malkin's intent was not to injure Mitchell whatsoever. It was shoulder-to-shoulder, and Mitchell fell awkwardly, meaning that Malkin should not be punished. After all, you can't take hitting out of the game, and I believe in that mantra.

However, Mitchell went on record with Jason Botchford of The Province about how things need to change at the Ivory Tower NHL Offices in order for the NHL culture to change.

"I know Colin Campbell has a lot of relationships with general managers and owners and stuff like that," Mitchell told Botchford. "It's very tough to hand down decisions on matters like this when you're friends with people.

"It's like saying I have to discipline my teammates. It's too emotional. You can't always make the right decision."

Campbell, of course, has worked in some capacity for the Pittsburgh Penguins, Colorado Rockies, Edmonton Oilers, Vancouver Canucks, Detroit Red Wings, and New York Rangers over his career. He has forged relationships with many players, executives, and general managers in that time, and Mitchell compared Campbell's relationships in hockey with his own. It would be very difficult to discipline the people that you've worked with and broke bread with for the last few decades.

Mitchell went on to criticize the NHL's head disciplinarian for basing fines and suspensions, if warranted, on the results of the hits rather than on the dangers of the hits.

"I am disappointed in the league, I'm disappointed in Colin Campbell," Mitchell said. "I am disappointed he didn't rule down anything on the play. That's his job. As we've seen, he's been very inconsistent in how he's handled himself in those situations. I think a lot of times he hands down suspensions and fines on results.

"I think that's the wrong thing to do."

I agree with Mitchell here. Far too often, we have seen players such as David Booth and Marc Savard receive brutal checks to the head, and the players that threw the checks nearly got away with murder. Mike Richards and Matt Cooke received no suspension for either hit, and it has led to some potential rule tweaks in this upcoming off-season. Instead, we see Campbell reacting by citing antiquated rules about "good hockey hits". Doesn't that seem wrong?

"I think we saw that this year, we saw that with players getting injured," Mitchell said. "The players have called for it where we want him to be more 'aggressive' you could say in these matters.

"What's it going to take? Someone hit from the behind where they are left lying on the ice dead? I hope not."

And that's where Chelsea's email comes into play. She sees how people struggle with brain trauma injuries everyday of her life. She sees how the quality of life for these people is put at risk by their injuries, and how the simplest of tasks become much more difficult when dealing with a brain injury. Yet the NHL and NHLPA continue to allow contact to the head, claiming those hits are rare and that offenders are punished.

I don't know about you, but it makes me scratch my head. Perhaps someone at the NHL Offices needs some head trauma of their own in the form of a smack upside the head. After knocking a little sense into their heads, we might see a little more sense coming from the NHL's head disciplinarian.

Godspeed, Willie Mitchell, in your recovery, and thank you to Chelsea for taking the time to email me with some very good information. If only the suits in New York were listening.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

My Computer Called In Sick

If you have noticed a distinct lack of posting on proper days on this very blog, I apologize up front to you. I have been battling a nasty virus that seemingly enjoys recreating itself on my PC in various locations. The good news? I think I may have finally found a solution to this unruly piece of software. The bad news? It has robbed me of some much-needed sleep over the last few days as I tackle the immunization. I do want to say, however, that this blog was not affected in any way, shape, or form, and that your computer will remain safe if you're visiting this site. Beware, though, as some people out there have a sick sense of humour.

I'll return tomorrow once I do my final checks and balances to ensure that this piece of rather annoying software has not left any remnants of itself behind. Again, I apologize to you if you came here to find the latest news and an occasional rant, but found nothing but old news.

Thank you for stopping by, though. I appreciate your readership, and I'll be back up and running on Friday at some point with a couple of posts I've been working on while my PC and I teamed up to battle this virus.

Until then, keep your sticks on the ice!

No Repeats Here

While there was a repeat champion already crowned in the KHL, and with the defending AHL and CHL champions still alive in their playoffs, it appeared that the chance to have repeat champions in the major hockey leagues around the globe were set. That is, however, until the Montreal Canadiens were invited to the party in the NHL. The Montreal Canadiens shocked the world by defeating the Pittsburgh Penguins in seven games, knocking the defending Stanley Cup Champions off the mountain. But I'm not that shocked. In fact, I'd go so far as saying that I saw this coming since the third period in Game Five. Let me explain.

Some people will say that Pittsburgh wasn't good enough to be a champion. That's fine to make that claim, but they were the defending Stanley Cup Champions. They did everything they had to in order to win last season, and that's all that matters.

Is Marc-Andre Fleury an elite goaltender? Again, it's debatable. But he does have a Stanley Cup ring on his finger, and has more Stanley Cup rings than Miikka Kiprusoff, Roberto Luongo, Henrik Lundqvist, Tuukka Rask, Jonathan Quick, Ilya Bryzgalov, and Ryan Miller combined. But I'm not here to debate the merits of one opinionated stats-nerd.

Let's go back to the third period of Game Five. While the Penguins led 2-0 after forty minutes, it was Montreal who applied some serious pressure on the Penguins in that third period, outshooting them 9-6 and outscoring them 1-0. Sure, they were losing, but Montreal went back to what they did so well against Washington: they outworked their opponents.

While Montreal would lose Game Five by a 2-1 score, the hard work they showed in Game Five would carry through the next two games as Pittsburgh was outworked on all the important areas on the ice: shot-blocking, defensive zone coverage, and turnovers. If a team dominates those three areas alone, winning becomes infinitely easier. All three requires an attention to detail, concentration on the task, and a willingness to put forth the effort required to bring the attention and concentration to the ice. In other words, hard work trumps talent.

Haven't you heard this story before on this very site?

Look, there's no doubt that Jaroslav Halak has been the story of these playoffs if you're looking for a one-man story. He's 8-5 thus far, posting a 2.42 GAA and a .933 save percentage, but it's his bottom-of-the-net coverage that has kept Montreal in games. Halak has been one of the better goaltenders at covering up the corners and five-hole this post-season, allowing almost no goals along the ice. Combine that fact with his excellent positioning and wide body, and he suddenly looks unbeatable.

Halak, however, has only been part of the story. Montreal, collectively, has blocked 320 shots thus far in the post-season. Putting that number in context, that's slightly less than San Jose and Philadelphia combined, and both of those teams are still playing. Montreal has blocked 130 more shots than the Chicago Blackhawks, who place second on the blocked shots list. That's sacrifice, and that's hard work. If Halak had faced those additional 320 shots and kept his goals-to-saves ratio the same, Montreal would have surrendered 51 goals through 13 games instead of their current 30 goals-against. 21 additional goals would probably mean no trip to the Eastern Conference Final.

21 goals don't evaporate into thin air, and 320 shots don't just disappear. It takes a willingness to pay attention to that detail, and to concentrate on preventing those shots from reaching the net. That means that Montreal's players back-checked hard to keep Pittsburgh's offence to the outside, and sacrificed their bodies by laying down in front of slapshots and sticking out limbs to deflect pucks off their targets. That takes hard work, and Montreal showed that in spades.

Where Montreal really bears down is on the road. Montreal has been a beast in levelling the playing field in an opponent's building, and a large part of that is owed to their defensive commitment. How are they doing that? Blocking shots. Montreal has more blocked shots on the road than any other team has total blocked shots. Montreal has blocked 195 shots while wearing white. Remember that Chicago has 190 blocked shots in total? Montreal is becoming the epitome of commitment, sacrifice, and hard work away from the Bell Centre as they lead the NHL in blocked shots without their home totals.

Let's run down the list quickly.

• Back-checking? Check.
• Forcing turnovers? Check.
• Blocking shots? Check.
• Skating hard up and down the ice? Check.

Kids, if you're reading this, watch the Montreal Canadiens this post-season. They don't play fancy, and they don't play with a lot of finesse. They simply work hard, do whatever is necessary to win, and they win.

A little luck has also benefited the Canadiens thus far, but let's not use luck as a crutch to explain series victories over two of the top teams in the Eastern Conference. Luck favors the prepared, and there's no doubt that head coach Jacques Martin has his troops ready for every team they match up against. Ralph Waldo Emerson once said, "Shallow men believe in luck. Strong men believe in cause and effect". For the Montreal Canadiens, hard work is the cause, and their playoff run through two improbable rounds is the effect.

I can't say this enough, and this should be a mantra for every single player and coach in hockey today:

HARD WORK WILL BEAT TALENT EVERY NIGHT.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!

That's All, Folks!

No, this blog isn't ending, despite some people most likely wishing for that to happen. What is ending, however, is the long-anticipated dream of the NHL returning to Winnipeg in the near future. The Glendale city councillors all but killed the idea of the Coyotes returning to the city where the franchise was founded with a unanimous 7-0 decision to give the NHL $25 million to cover their losses if no owner is found during this off-season. I'd say this feels a lot like 1995 if it weren't for the NHL's resolve to keep the Coyotes in their current location.

I'm not against the NHL's resolve, however, since the Southwest market is pretty much dominated by the Phoenix market once you look outside of California. They need a foothold there for any of the big television station to notice them, and walking away would mean no chatter whatsoever from ESPN when the next national US television contract comes up for renegotiation?

Now that the City of Glendale has bought another year's worth of time - much like Winnipeg did in 1995 with their $20 million payment - the NHL can focus on finding a new owner or ownership group that will pledge to keep the team in Arizona. If the Coyotes are sold to a group committed to keeping them in Phoenix, I'm happy for the fans in Phoenix and Glendale and surrounding communities who have been put through hell twice in two seasons. They deserve their team because they care for them just as much as Winnipeggers did in 1995.

Now, I'm not an economist or tax lawyer, but that special tax or fee or whatever they want to call it better be wide-ranging. I don't mean to sound like I want Glendale to pillage their own citizens, but if the NHL is going to need that $25 million, that's a heck of a boatload of money to raise in one year. I just want everyone to realize that they're not only on the hook for Coyotes' tickets, but the possibility of an additional $25 million. As long as we're clear on that.

This, however, needs to be said: congratulations to the City of Glendale, the fans of the Phoenix Coyotes, and the people of Arizona. Your councillors made a very tough decision when it comes to their future political careers, and are now holding an invoice that will cost them and all of their constituents $25 million if the NHL can't sell and ends up losing money next season.

I'm also thankful that Gary Bettman spelled out very clearly last night on Hockey Night In Canada that Winnipeg is an option for a potential move, but certainly not a guarantee in any situation. Winnipeggers need to realize that moving an NHL team into Winnipeg will not only cost more money to ice a team, but the costs associated with that team will sky-rocket exponentially. Winnipeg has the 29th-ranked arena in terms of size in the NHL's current arena seating charts. After all, we're talking about a league that is gate-driven in the majority of markets, so Winnipeg would have to post season after season of consecutive sell-outs just to break even. You read that last portion correctly: break even.

The Coyotes demonstrated that if you ice a competitive team, the fans will fill the arena. It's not secret that success attracts fans, so having the Coyotes play winning hockey - something they aren't known for in their history - will draw fans back to the rink. They filled the building through the last two months regularly, and they showed that they love the Coyotes.

The onus is always on the fans to support their team. Coyotes fans need to continue to make the trek to Jobing.com Arena. If they do that, the Coyotes-to-Winnipeg chatter won't ever reach the insanity it did like it was this week in both cities. And there's a good chance that the Coyotes will remain successful.

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!