The franchise didn’t waste much time after firing Tony Granato. From AP-
Joe Sacco envisions a fast and feisty team taking the ice, one that attacks and stays aggressive.
Perhaps a version of himself when he was a forward in the league.
Sacco, who spent 13 years in the NHL, was introduced as the new coach of the Colorado Avalanche on Thursday, a day after the club fired Tony Granato and shook up its front office.
Flanked by newly appointed general manager Greg Sherman on his left and assistant coach Sylvain Lefebvre to his right, Sacco talked about carving out a revamped identity for a team that’s coming off its worst finish since moving to Denver in 1995.
“We want to be a team that plays with a lot of energy. We want to play on our toes, we don’t want to play on our heels,” Sacco said. “We want to be a team that attacks, we want to be a team that doesn’t sit back.”
Most of all, Sacco wants this team to return to glory, when the Avalanche were perennially challenging for a Stanley Cup crown.
Sherman shares that vision.
“We all want the Avalanche to return to the standards that made this franchise so successful,” he said. “There will be no shortcuts to return to those standards.”
Sacco, 40, was promoted from the Avalanche’s American Hockey League affiliate, where he coached the Lake Erie Monsters the last two seasons.
Sacco should know the Av’s young players intimately from his AHL days. He has also been an NHL player.(A 13-year career with five teams) On the other hand, I think Colorado is in a rebuilding phase right now. Sacco will have to work hard just to make the Avalanche playoff contenders in 2010.
His best seasons were with the Philadelphia Flyers in the mid-1980’s. The AP article makes no mention of the controversy at the end of Zezel’s career. He had a niece who was very ill in the Toronto area, so Zezel requested a trade to an Eastern team. At the time Zezel was playing for the Vancouver Canucks. The Canucks traded him, but to Anaheim the team furthest from Toronto in the NHL. Zezel retired rather than play for the Ducks. The trade, made by then Canuck GM Brian Burke, was heavily criticized at the time. RIP.
Peter Zezel, a center who played 15 NHL seasons after breaking into the league with the Philadelphia Flyers as a teenager, has died. He was 44.
Zezel struggled with the rare blood disease hemolytic anemia for the past 10 years and died on Tuesday. Zezel suffered from the ailment off and on, but had rebounded after being in critical condition in 2001.
He was admitted to the hospital last week for scheduled surgery, but complications developed and his conditioned worsened.
“Peter will forever be remembered as a great teammate and a wonderful individual who touched the lives of many both on and off the ice,” Zezel’s family said in a statement released by the National Hockey League Players’ Association. “In his typical character of generosity, Peter donated his organs through the Trillium Gift of Life Network.”
The gritty center was known on the ice for his strong two-way game. In 873 NHL games with Philadelphia, St. Louis, Washington, Toronto, Dallas, New Jersey and Vancouver, Zezel had 219 goals and 389 assists.
His matinee idol looks also earned him a small role in the 1986 hockey-based movie “Youngblood” that starred Rob Lowe and Patrick Swayze.
Zezel was born in Toronto and played junior hockey with the Toronto Marlies before the Flyers chose him with the 41st pick in the 1983 draft. He made his NHL debut in 1984 when he was 19.
With three minutes to go in the game, it looked like the Canucks would return home up three games to one. From AP-
Andrew Ladd had perfect position. When the puck came flying off teammate Dave Bolland’s stick from far away, Ladd was right in front of Vancouver goalie Roberto Luongo to tip it in.
We keep waiting for this thing to fall apart, for the kids to show their age. But the Hawks keep proving us wrong, writes ESPN.com’s Pierre LeBrun. Story
Ladd’s goal less than 3 minutes into overtime Thursday night capped a remarkable 2-1 comeback victory for the Chicago Blackhawks and tied the Western Conference semifinal series at 2.
*****
Game 5 is Saturday night in Vancouver and the Canucks will have to regroup after losing a game they apparently had sealed up. Chicago’s Martin Havlat tied it at 1 with 2:44 left in regulation after Luongo had been unflappable most of the night.
Roberto Luongo had to be unflappable, because his teammates made franchise playoff history last night. They only took 15 shots on goal, breaking a record set twenty-seven years ago.
The Canuck offense has taken at least one similar snooze in the 2008-09 NHL season. For this reason, I can’t pick this team to make the Stanley Cup finals no matter how good Luongo is.
In the other Western Conference playoff series, normalcy seemed to take over.
Johan Franzen and Marian Hossa gave the Detroit Red Wings all the offense they needed on a new line with center Valtteri Filppula.
Franzen and Hossa each scored twice to help the Detroit beat the Anaheim Ducks 6-3 on Thursday night, tying the Western Conference semifinal series at 2.
I have already been proved wrong about this series. My prediction was a Red Wing sweep. Detroit will win here, and most likely make the Stanley Cup finals for the second consecutive season.
The team with the best record in the 2008-09 NHL regular season has been eliminated from the playoffs. From AP-
Right when the opening puck dropped, Ryan Getzlaf and Joe Thornton dropped gloves. The star centers’ simmering dislike erupted into a brawl dominated by Thornton, who pummeled Getzlaf with at least two flush blows to the face.
Getzlaf took it and smiled, knowing he still could win the only important fight.
And that’s exactly what happened in the waning minutes of Game 6. Getzlaf scored the knockout goal as the eighth-seeded Anaheim Ducks ousted the not-so-mighty San Jose Sharks from the postseason with a 4-1 victory Monday night.
Top To Bottom
With a 3-1 loss to Anaheim, the San Jose Sharks became the fourth team to go from winning the Presidents’ Trophy to first-round elimination in the NHL playoffs.
Season Winner Points Result
2008-09 Sharks 117 lost to Ducks
2005-06 Red Wings 124 lost to Oilers
1999-00 Blues 114 lost to Sharks
1990-91 Hawks 106 lost to North Stars
Teemu Selanne and Francois Beauchemin put Anaheim ahead with their first playoff goals on fortunate deflections 43 seconds apart in the second period, and the Ducks coolly finished off the Presidents’ Trophy winners in an upset that could resonate for years in this juicy in-state rivalry.
*****
Jonas Hiller made 36 saves to finish his phenomenal playoff series debut for the Ducks, who won a fight-filled clincher to complete a remarkable playoff upset two years after winning the franchise’s only Stanley Cup.
The clubs’ final meeting was a slugfest with 60 total penalty minutes and a long series of brawls between Anaheim’s goals and Hiller’s saves. It all started with the stunning fight between Getzlaf and Thornton, who traded shoves and harsh words two days earlier in San Jose.
San Jose was showing its frustration out of being beaten by their in state rival. Personally I thought Anaheim was capable of winning this series, and thought this was the series most likely to see an upset(After the Rangers-Capitals).
Hiller was brilliant in goal and should get most of the credit for Anaheim’s advancement to the next round. San Jose out shot the Ducks in each of the six games of their series.
The Western conference semi-finals are set now, as the other remaining series ended last night also.
Chicago downed injury-riddled Calgary 4-1 in Monday’s Game 6 to take the series 4-2. The Blackhawks’ previous playoff series win was a four-game sweep of Calgary back in 1996.
The Blackhawks were simply relieved after Monday’s game to have earned their first road win in the series and get a breather before facing the well-rested Vancouver Canucks in the next round.
I thought Chicago would win this series, which they did. Now here are my semi-final round predictions-
Detroit beats Anaheim 4-0. The Ducks magic runs out.
Chicago beats Vancouver 4-3. The superior scoring ability of the Blackhawks trumps Roberto Luongo in goal for the Canucks.
Stars center Steve Ott was suspended indefinitely by the NHL on Sunday after he received a penalty for attempting to injure Anaheim’s Travis Moen at the end of a game one day earlier.
Ott missed Sunday’s home game against Pittsburgh and won’t be eligible to play until after a hearing with league officials that will determine a specific length of the ban.
Ott and Moen squared off in a fight after the final horn sounded in Anaheim’s 4-3 victory Saturday over Dallas. Ott’s hand made contact with Moen’s eye, which game officials ruled was an eye-gouge and gave him a match penalty for attempting to injure.
Ott left the ice with two cuts on his face.
The bout ensued after Ott cross-checked Ducks defenseman Scott Niedermayer during the final seconds of the game. Once time ran out, Anaheim goalie Jean-Sebastien Giguere whacked Ott in the knee with his stick and punched Ott behind the head.
Moen saw Ott involved with Giguere and began punching Ott, who has a broken bone in his right hand and can’t punch back. Ott said the eye-gouging was an accident.
Here’s the You Tube video of the incident.
The video is too unclear to pass judgment. If its determined Ott tried to gogue out Moen’s eye(s), I’d suspend him for the rest of the 2008-09 season. Realistically I expect no more than a 10-game suspension.
The trade brings him back to the NHL team he started his career with. From NHL.com-
Montreal Canadiens General Manager Bob Gainey announced today the acquisition of defenseman Mathieu Schneider from the Atlanta Thrashers, as well as a conditional draft pick from the Thrashers at the 2009 NHL Entry Draft, in return for a second-round pick at the 2009 draft (Anaheim’s pick previously acquired by the Canadiens from Washington) and a Canadiens third-round pick at the 2010 draft.
Schneider, a 20-season veteran, made his NHL debut with the Canadiens in 1987-88. The 39-year-old, New York City native recorded 717 points (216 goals, 501 assists) and posted a plus-63 rating in 1,241 NHL regular-season games, with Montreal, the New York Islanders, Toronto, the New York Rangers, Los Angeles, Detroit, Anaheim and Atlanta.
Schneider is a good journeyman defenseman, and I understand Montreal is trying to rev up for the playoffs, but I feel a 2nd round pick for a player about to turn 40 is an awful lot to give up.
You may say Anaheim’s net minding last night was not at all like Swiss cheese. From AP-
Jonas Hiller figured that all the Edmonton Oilers’ shots he faced kept him sharp.
The Swiss goalie matched the Anaheim record with 51 saves, and turned aside three shootout tries in the Ducks’ 3-2 victory over the Oilers on Friday night.
*****
Corey Perry scored in regulation and added the shootout winner in the Ducks’ first game on a five-game trip. Rob Niedermayer added a short-handed goal to help the Ducks improve to 18-12-3 with their fourth victory in six games.
Hiller, in goal with Jean-Sebastien Giguere on leave in Montreal following his father’s death, tied the franchise saves record set by Mikhail Shtalenkov against Ottawa in March 1998 and matched by Giguere against Detroit in March 2004.
Saving that many shots has to be fatiguing. Which is one of the worries I have with my favorite team, The Florida Panthers. Tomas Vokoun and Craig Anderson have been regularly asked to stop 40 shots in a night. Can they keep it up?
A David Booth hat trick was the key to the victory. After last night’s win, Florida has a record of 5-8-1. More importantly, the Panthers five-game road trip is at an end. Florida has home games this week against Tampa and Detroit.
Florida’s win last night marked the second time the cats have been able to beat a high flying California team. Their last win before Anaheim, came against the San Jose Sharks. After their loss to Florida, the Sharks ran off a 7-game winning streak that only came to an end last night.
As nice as the win was last night,(I watched the game. Memo to FSN- Cut out the idiotic in game commercials that fill 20% of the television screen while the puck is in play. They are very disruptive when it comes to watching a hockey game) Florida didn’t play much different than they have all this season. No offense(Other than David Booth), poor special teams, and way too many shots on goal allowed. Last night it was 45-26. You can’t keep asking Goalies Tomas Vokoun and Craig Anderson to be almost perfect every game. It still looks like a long year for South Florida hockey fans.
Only 8 games into the 2008-09 NHL season and the Cats are already banged up at defenseman. From the Palm Beach Post-
CORAL SPRINGS — The Florida Panthers will turn to a familiar face to help get through its series of early-season injuries on defense.
General Manager Jacques Martin announced the signing of defenseman Jassen Cullimore on Tuesday. The 6-foot-5, 244-pound veteran played for the Panthers last season and was in training camp this year.
“I think he probably doesn’t need any transition time,” Martin said. “He’s familiar with our system. He was here in training camp, so he’s probably a good fit.”
Cullimore will replace defenseman Bryan Allen, who Martin said underwent successful knee surgery.
In 65 games last year, Cullimore tallied just 13 points, but his plus-21 ratio led the Panthers.
“He played real well here last year,” Panthers’ coach Peter DeBoer said. “He’s capable of playing in a shutdown role.”
Immigration issues in Canada may keep Cullimore from joining the Panthers before Thursday’s game against Ottawa. DeBoer had forward Wade Belak work with the defense on Tuesday to add some depth.
Martin also said that injured defenseman Cory Murphy will likely miss at least one month, but his injured shoulder will not need surgery.
Cullimore won’t be playing tonight against Ottawa. Cory Murphy is out for a month, Bryan Allen out indefinitely and Bryan McCabe isn’t ready to play after hurting his back. Wade Belak is going to play defense. Belak can fight and intimiidate but passing and shooting are beyond him.
I don’t think much of Cullimore, and neither does most of the NHL apparently. He couldn’t find work after not making the Panthers at the end of camp. On the other hand 38-year-old Bret Hedican(husband to Kristi Yamaguchi) got work again with Anaheim. What’s wrong with this picture?
Former Panther Alex Auld will be in goal tonight. Florida will also be without Center Stephen Weiss who is hurt too. Why then is Shawn Matthias still at Rochester then? I got the answer- The Florida Panthers management is hopeless.
Update- Florida called up Matthias. He is in uniform tonight.
The second of two head NHL coaching vacancies has been filled.
Craig Hartsburg is the new coach of the Ottawa Senators, the third time he has led an NHL team.
Hartsburg takes over from Senators general manager Bryan Murray, who finished the season behind the Ottawa bench after coach John Paddock was fired in late February.
Hartsburg also has coached in Anaheim and Chicago, and was an assistant coach for the Philadelphia Flyers from 2002 to 2004. The 48-year-old Hartsburg has been coach of the Ontario Hockey League’s Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds for the past five seasons.
Ottawa was, either the worst or second to worst(Only to the Florida Panthers*) underacheiving team in the NHL last year. The Senators are talented, but face troubles also. One of which is their goaltending situation.
Is Hartsburg going to help Ottawa? He has a lifetime sub .500 record, and hasn’t coached in the NHL for nearly a decade. To me the hiring looks questionable, especially with their being a large pool of experienced NHL head coaches available at the moment (John Tortorella, Pat Quinn, Marc Crawford to just name three).
*- Talking about the Panthers. When will GM(and former Head Coach) Jacques Martin get off his butt and hire his replacement? Martin is still doing interviews two months after being relieved of his head coaching responsibilities.
