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More people may be punished for their actions last week. From AP-
A senior staff member for Alberta Health Services has been fired for giving the Calgary Flames swine flu shots while thousands of people waited in line for the vaccine last week.
The board, which reports directly to the Alberta government, won’t name who was dismissed Wednesday and said more people might be punished for their roles.
“I am deeply offended that this circumstance has occurred,” Ken Hughes, chairman of Alberta Health Services, said in a news release. “The decision to allow preferential access to the Flames and their families was a serious error in judgment.”
Hughes said the “most senior staff member involved” was dismissed.
Flames president Ken King said Tuesday the players and their families received their shots on Friday at a private location. He said they believed they had gone through proper channels at Alberta Health Services, the agency that administers health services for the province.
King said they felt the shots were a priority for the players because of their extensive cross-border travel and the close-contact physical nature of their sport. He also said they didn’t want to cause a commotion by having the players stand in line at a public clinic.
What would have happened had the players gotten in line with the rest of the public? They would have gotten asked for autographs? I suppose these players and their families all live in a monastery so they don’t have to do deal with the little people.
You can turn the snark off now.
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The 3-1-1 Blackhawks continue to make case that they are the best Western Conference team in the NHL. From AP-
Before they could work up a sweat Monday night, the Chicago Blackhawks were trailing the Calgary Flames 5-0.
Their goalie had been benched seven minutes into the game and their fans were giving them an earful for their sloppy play.
*****
The Blackhawks did find a way to fix their situation and pull off an improbable victory against the team they knocked out of the playoffs in the first round last April.
Chicago matched the biggest comeback in NHL history, rallying from the five-goal deficit and beating the Flames 6-5 on Seabrook’s goal 26 seconds into overtime.
“We weren’t playing our game. Once we did, getting forechecking, getting pucks to the net, we realized we could get back in the game and get a win,” Seabrook said.
By rallying from five goals down, the Blackhawks tied the NHL record for biggest deficit overcome, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. The previous club record had been a four-goal rally.
“A pretty amazing game,” Chicago coach Joel Quenneville said. “From the worst to as good as you can get.”
Seabrook picked up the puck and shot it past Miikka Kiprusoff in the overtime and was mobbed by his teammates as the crowd at the United Center rocked.
“A couple guys skated over the puck and it bounced around a little bit. And I just snuck in there, got control and got the shot,” Seabrook said. It was his first goal this season.
The Flames blistered Chicago goaltender Cristobal Huet with first-period goals by Dustin Boyd, Eric Nystrom and Jarome Iginla in a span of 53 seconds, prompting Quenneville to pull Huet for Antti Niemi.
“We weren’t very good in front of him. We know our goaltending has got to be better,” Quenneville said.
But Niemi didn’t fare much better early on, giving up two more quick goals as the Flames built a 5-0 lead. Calgary’s five-goal rampage came on just six shots and took only 5:29.
But the Blackhawks regrouped. They got second-period goals from Patrick Kane, Dustin Byfuglien and Dave Bolland to rally within 5-4.
Patrick Sharp’s goal, when he deflected in a shot by teammate Duncan Keith, tied the game at 5-5 five minutes into the final period and sent the United Center into a frenzy.
The Flames were shut out in the final two periods and the overtime.
Chicago, who outshot Calgary 39-20, broke the franchise’s previous biggest comeback record set in a 1989 game against Winnipeg.
These Blackhawks look for real to me. Most hockey players(and their diehard fans) would give up after falling behind 5-0.
He still has to take a physical before the deal is finalized. From ESPN-
Alex Tanguay is off the market.
The sought-after free-agent forward has agreed to a one-year deal with the Tampa Bay Lightning worth $2.5 million, a source told ESPN.com’s Pierre LeBrun.
“We’re pretty happy he is with the Lightning and he’s looking forward to giving his best,” Tanguay’s agent David Ettedgui told the St. Petersburg Times
Though a separated shoulder sidelined him for most of last season, Tanguay finished with 16 goals and 25 assists in 50 games.
Lightning GM Brian Lawton told the Times that Tanguay was “the guy we wanted.”
“It’s a chance for him to play with some really high-end, high-skill players, which we think he is,” Lawton told the newspaper. “And we think together, it should be a nice combination.”
Nice combination, but does it really improve Tampa? The Lightning had a horrible 2008-09 season. They were weak at defensemen, average at best at goalie, and other than their front line, mediocre when it came to scoring. Tampa needs a whole lot more than Alex Tanguay to make it back to the playoffs and I don’t see that happening at the end of the 2009-10. Tanguay on the other hand is free to move on to his next sucker team.
The upcoming schedule was released yesterday. Right away I noticed something interesting. Florida has a home and home series with Nashville.
Nov 28 and Mar 29 are when the Panthers and Predators play next season.
What I find interesting is- Florida is playing Nashville home and home for the second straight season. In 2008-09, the Panthers and Predators played on November 1st and December 23rd.
In light of the way the NHL season is set up, namely that any Eastern or Western conference team plays only play 3 home and homes in any season, Florida and Nashville shouldn’t meet home and home more than once every five years 15 western conference teams divided by 3 home and home series equals five.
Here’s a link to the 2009-10 schedule. Anyone have theories as to what happened here or am I off base?
Another sad day for South Florida hockey fans. From ESPN-
The Calgary Flames added Jay Bouwmeester to their already impressive defensive corps — at least for the next four days.
Bouwmeester, who is eligible to become an unrestricted free agent on Wednesday, was acquired by Calgary in a trade with the Florida Panthers as the NHL entry draft wrapped up Saturday with the final six rounds at Bell Centre.
Florida acquired Jordan Leopold — also on the verge of free agency — and a third-round pick (67th overall), which the Panthers used to draft right wing Josh Birkholz.
The trade gives Flames general manager Darryl Sutter a window of exclusivity in negotiating a new contract with Bouwmeester and his agent, Bryon Baltimore.
This trade is risky for both teams, since both players are unrestricted free agents. Pierre LeBrun believes Florida made the right move by getting something for Bouwmeester. Maybe so, but as a hardcore Panther fan couldn’t the team have met the price for him to stay in Florida? Bouwmeester is arguably the best defensemen in the NHL and money talks in sports. How many times do we here athletes say they’re going to a great organization when in fact they’re going to a stinker and the only reason to do so is the big salary they’ll get.
Leopold is supposedly all right. The Panthers may have gotten a sleeper in the draft yesterday. Dmitry Kulikov, who played in Quebec last year. ESPN’s analysts were high on this player, something about his playing in Russia’s Continental League made other teams wary of Kulikov. I’m betting Florida doesn’t make the playoffs in 2010.
He lasted just two years at his latest NHL head coaching job. From AP-
Mike Keenan was fired as coach of the Calgary Flames on Friday, almost a month after his team lost in the first round of the playoffs for the second straight year.
Keenan spent just two seasons with Calgary, and general manager Darryl Sutter said expectations were not met.
“Taking into consideration all factors affecting our season-ending result, we believe this is a necessary change required to allow our team to continue toward our objective of winning the Stanley Cup,” Sutter said.
The Flames finished the regular season with 46 wins and 98 points, but they were ousted in the first round in six games by the Chicago Blackhawks.
Keenan, who had one year remaining on his contract, said following the playoff loss to Chicago that he believed he would be back to finish his deal.
“I have another year left on my contract,” Keenan said. “My expectation is to be here to fulfill my contract.”
Keenan was hired as the Flames coach in June 2007, replacing Jim Playfair. He leaves Calgary with an 88-60-16 regular-season record. His 672 victories rank fourth on the career coaching list.
Keenan has coached 8(Philadelphia, Chicago, the New York Rangers, St. Louis, Vancouver, Boston and Florida. Only with the NY Rangers in 1994 did he win a Stanley Cup) of the 30 teams in the NHL. I’d be willing to make a small wager he is coaching a 9th before 2010 is over.
As for Keenan’s firing, the Western is the strongest of the two NHL conferences. Calgary is a good team, but Detroit and San Jose are better for sure, with Chicago and Vancouver arguably better than the Flames. Without knowing more, Keenan may be a victim of unrealistic expectations.
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.
Gary Roberts is retiring from the NHL after 21 seasons.
The Tampa Bay Lightning left winger made the announcement Tuesday. He had already said he would retire at the end of the season.
Roberts retired in 1996 because of a chronic neck injury but returned the following season. A Stanley Cup winner with the Calgary in 1989, he has 438 goals, 471 assists and 2,560 penalty minutes in 1,224 career games with the Flames, Carolina Hurricanes, Toronto Maple Leafs, Florida Panthers, Pittsburgh Penguins and Lightning. He has three goals and four assists in 30 games this season.
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The cats won their fifth straight road game when Center Stephen Weiss got a shot past Goalie Miikka Kiprusoff in a shootout. Going back to November 30th, Florida has beaten the NY Rangers, Washington Capitals, Ottawa Senators, Edmonton Oilers, and now Calgary on the road. This marks a franchise record.
With the win, Florida goes to 14-12-3 for the season and are tied for 8th in the Eastern conference playoff standings. Which is incredible in light of how banged up the team is.
Florida’s road trip isn’t over yet. Next up is Vancouver on Sunday, then they come back east to play Carolina. Florida is overdue for a long string of home games. When they return to Florida, the Panthers will have played 19 of their first 31 games this season on the road. Could this be the year Florida breaks through to the playoffs for the first time since 2000?
Assorted notes-
*- This marked the third straight game Weiss scored the game winner for Florida.
*- Kamil Kreps got his first goal of the year. A short handed affair set up by a poor Calgary pass.
*- Tomas Vokoun in his first start since Nov. 26th, stopped 35 of Calgary’s 37 shots. Now who does DeBoer start against Vancouver- Vokoun or Craig Anderson?
*- Florida got off more shots against Calgary(29) than they did versus Edmonton(16). Still Florida was outshot 37 to 29.
*- Why don’t Vancover play their Sunday games at 5 p.m. local time like many other NHL teams? I’m going to have to stay up till 12:30 on Monday morning if I want to watch the Panthers.
From top to bottom, the standings
Detroit Red Wings 51-37-10-4-78
San Jose Sharks 50-28-15-7-63
Dallas Stars 54-29-20-5-63
Anaheim Ducks 53-27 20-6-60
Minnesota Wild 50-28-19-3-59
Calgary Flames 50-25-17-8-58
Vancouver Canucks 51-26-20-5-57
Colorado Avalanche 50-26-20-4-56
Phoenix Coyotes 50-27-21-2-56
Columbus Blue Jackets 52-25-21-6-56
Nashville Predators 51-25-21-5-55
St Louis Blues 49-23-19-7-53
Edmonton Oilers 53-23-25-5-51
Chicago Blackhawks 50-23-23-4-50
Los Angeles Kings 52-20-29-3-43
Note- The numbers above from left to right are- Games played, wins, losses, Overtime losses, total points
Teams in Bold are Northwest Division teams
I think its more than reason to say Detroit, San Jose, Dallas, and Anaheim are going to make the playoffs, while the LA Kings have no chance. Edmonton’s chances are slim also.
The closest division is the Northwest. Three points separate first to fourth place. I like Vancouver because of Goalie Roberto Luongo. The division is both talented and very tight and I could see anyone but Edmonton could come out on top and deservingly so. The Avalanche, Wild, Canucks nor Flames rate as mediocre or badly underacheiving teams unlike members of the Southeast Division.
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