I embedded a fight last season of Adam Burish for the Blackhawks and Byron Ritchie and I heard a funny story about it.
One of my brother's friends works as an attorney at Burish's dad's law firm in Madison. All of my good stories come from my brother's friends (not to say that any of you don't have any good stories, but you never tell me them).
Apparently after Burish and Ritchie sit down in the box, Ritchie asks him why he wanted to drop at the beginning of the game. Burish explained that Denis Savard got him so jacked up during the pregame and then started him. Burish told Ritchie at the face-off that he wanted to drop the mitts right there. Ritchie replied that that was dumb because he hadn't skated a shift or two yet. Ritchie told him that his legs would be dead the rest of the night. Sure enough, Burish had a horrible night, was a -1 with one shot and 12+ minutes of ice time. His legs were dead all night long.
So kids, remember that before you drop the gloves on the opening face-offs. Get some blood into your legs before it starts pouring out of your nose.
Showing posts with label The Quintessential Hockey Blog. Show all posts
Showing posts with label The Quintessential Hockey Blog. Show all posts
Saturday, September 27, 2008
Sunday, August 3, 2008
Gabby's A Goner
According to the New York Times Hockey Blog, Slap Shot, Marian Gaborik's agent, Ron Salcer (or more likely a European representative) approached the Russian Superleague team Spartak Moscow with an inquiry about playing there this coming season. This would be another wrinkle in the League-Jumping Story which has been weaving in and out of the July free agent signing events, but more importantly, it shows how much Gabby wants out of Minnesota and how he'll be gone after his contract is up after this season.
It appears that Gabby's agent approached Spartak's preisdent, Nikoli Tishchenko about signing a contract with the club and forgoing his final year at Minnesota. In an interview with the Russian "Sports Express" newspaper Tishchenko claims "His agents were interested to speak with our club..." but the salary offer was "simply astronomical sum. Some people naively believe that all clubs in Russia are willing to pay huge money." It would make sense that Gabby would inquire with Spartak since that's where his buddy Branko Radivojevic landed after last season. Its not known whether Gabby knew how tight they were with the pursestrings.
Gaborik testing the KHL Super League waters is another incident between the KHL and NHL as they battle for the top players. The KHL was formed this summer as a new league from many older Russian hockey clubs. Eurohockey.net ranked the top 250 European teams and the KHL had six of the top ten. With an infusion of "new" Russian money, from oil and gas revenues to new millionaires to (quite likely) organized crime, they've been able to throw big contracts towards NHL'er trying to lure them over the Atlantic. Jaromir Jagr signed a two year, $25 million contract with Avangard Omsk. Ray Emery, Kyle Wanvig, and Wade Dubielewicz have also made their way over.
The problem has been that many players from both leagues have disregarded their current contract in order to play for the league overseas. In the NHL, Nashville forward Alexander Radulov has jumped town to sign a contract with Salivat Yulaev Ufa when he still has terms remaining on his U.S. contract. On the other hand, a bevy of young talent has pulled up the tent stakes on their KHF contract in order to play in the NHL, including Sergei's little brother Fyoder Fedorov, and the Wild's Tomas Mojzis. The I.I.H.F. has been called in to resolve any conflicts, but it seems as if these two leagues will be battling for supremacy for some time. That could mean problems for the NHL when their new agreement with the players has a strict salary cap and the KHL will be throwing large bags of cash at their best players.
This is just another sign that says Gabby has no plans of staying in Minnesota long term. Risebrough should be ready to sign Gabby this summer or be ready to trade him away. If #10 hits the ice this season without a long term contract in his back pocket, it would signify another failing on Doug Risebrough's tenure in Minnesota and perhaps his most significant of all.
Since Gabby will make $7.5 million this season, not a lot of teams will be interested in him. Additionally, I'm sure a few G.M.'s in the league are willing to to cede the Cup to Detroit now that they have all of the pieces plus Marian Hossa. If anyone wants to compete with Detroit, they would definately be interested in Gabby, but 7.5 mil for one season could be a lot for a player whose heart for the game is questionable.
It appears that Gabby's agent approached Spartak's preisdent, Nikoli Tishchenko about signing a contract with the club and forgoing his final year at Minnesota. In an interview with the Russian "Sports Express" newspaper Tishchenko claims "His agents were interested to speak with our club..." but the salary offer was "simply astronomical sum. Some people naively believe that all clubs in Russia are willing to pay huge money." It would make sense that Gabby would inquire with Spartak since that's where his buddy Branko Radivojevic landed after last season. Its not known whether Gabby knew how tight they were with the pursestrings.
Gaborik testing the KHL Super League waters is another incident between the KHL and NHL as they battle for the top players. The KHL was formed this summer as a new league from many older Russian hockey clubs. Eurohockey.net ranked the top 250 European teams and the KHL had six of the top ten. With an infusion of "new" Russian money, from oil and gas revenues to new millionaires to (quite likely) organized crime, they've been able to throw big contracts towards NHL'er trying to lure them over the Atlantic. Jaromir Jagr signed a two year, $25 million contract with Avangard Omsk. Ray Emery, Kyle Wanvig, and Wade Dubielewicz have also made their way over.
The problem has been that many players from both leagues have disregarded their current contract in order to play for the league overseas. In the NHL, Nashville forward Alexander Radulov has jumped town to sign a contract with Salivat Yulaev Ufa when he still has terms remaining on his U.S. contract. On the other hand, a bevy of young talent has pulled up the tent stakes on their KHF contract in order to play in the NHL, including Sergei's little brother Fyoder Fedorov, and the Wild's Tomas Mojzis. The I.I.H.F. has been called in to resolve any conflicts, but it seems as if these two leagues will be battling for supremacy for some time. That could mean problems for the NHL when their new agreement with the players has a strict salary cap and the KHL will be throwing large bags of cash at their best players.
This is just another sign that says Gabby has no plans of staying in Minnesota long term. Risebrough should be ready to sign Gabby this summer or be ready to trade him away. If #10 hits the ice this season without a long term contract in his back pocket, it would signify another failing on Doug Risebrough's tenure in Minnesota and perhaps his most significant of all.
Since Gabby will make $7.5 million this season, not a lot of teams will be interested in him. Additionally, I'm sure a few G.M.'s in the league are willing to to cede the Cup to Detroit now that they have all of the pieces plus Marian Hossa. If anyone wants to compete with Detroit, they would definately be interested in Gabby, but 7.5 mil for one season could be a lot for a player whose heart for the game is questionable.
Friday, August 1, 2008
Colton Gilles is going to be a Stud!!!
Last year's first round pick of the Wild, Colton Gilles, has been impressing the masses at the Canadian World Junior Development Camp. From IllegalCurve.com -
From Michael Russo of the Minneapolis Star Tribune:
Heard from TSN/NBC analyst Pierre McGuire yesterday. Pierre was at Canada’s world junior development camp in Ottawa, and he reports Colton Gillies, who won gold with the Canadian world junior team last year, “looked great. Looked bigger, and faster than last season. He has huge upside.”
Still, Gillies has a shot at making the Wild next season, and if he does, it’s unlikely the Wild would release him for world juniors. But we’ll see.
Read more from Russo’s Rants here.
By all accounts, Gillies is going to be a terrific young player. I’m sure the Wild is hoping that he forces their hand this training camp and makes the team’s roster.
I plan on cherrypicking all of the blogs that cherrypick from all of the top hockey blogs in North America. This will be the best cherrypicking blog in all of North America.
From Michael Russo of the Minneapolis Star Tribune:
Heard from TSN/NBC analyst Pierre McGuire yesterday. Pierre was at Canada’s world junior development camp in Ottawa, and he reports Colton Gillies, who won gold with the Canadian world junior team last year, “looked great. Looked bigger, and faster than last season. He has huge upside.”
Still, Gillies has a shot at making the Wild next season, and if he does, it’s unlikely the Wild would release him for world juniors. But we’ll see.
Read more from Russo’s Rants here.
By all accounts, Gillies is going to be a terrific young player. I’m sure the Wild is hoping that he forces their hand this training camp and makes the team’s roster.
I plan on cherrypicking all of the blogs that cherrypick from all of the top hockey blogs in North America. This will be the best cherrypicking blog in all of North America.
Thursday, July 31, 2008
New Hockey Anthem
I don't want to take away from my most previous post - because the m.f.er took a while to write - but PuckDaddy threw this up on his blog and it's a pretty cool hockey anthem.
From PuckDaddy -
"Face Off" by Sean Chapin is a different kind of animal. It's a synth-pounding original song about hockey. It sounds very much like what Kenny Loggins would have written for a 1987 action/comedy about two FBI agents (Judge Reinhold and Judd Nelson) who go undercover with the Hartford Whalers (coached by Robert Urich, who we find out is really CIA right before the big gun fight at the end).
Nailed it.
From PuckDaddy -
"Face Off" by Sean Chapin is a different kind of animal. It's a synth-pounding original song about hockey. It sounds very much like what Kenny Loggins would have written for a 1987 action/comedy about two FBI agents (Judge Reinhold and Judd Nelson) who go undercover with the Hartford Whalers (coached by Robert Urich, who we find out is really CIA right before the big gun fight at the end).
Nailed it.
Ranting about the Rants
Some of you may know that I am a sometimes contributer to Russo's Rants, Michael Russo's blog over on startribune.com. I used to be a regular over when it started (my moniker = "ballgame"). Russo would post and a few of us, Bandgeek, toivu, smuggla, kj, Greenstar, and the mayor of Russoville, Nick in New York, to name a few, would open shop. We would go back and forth with strong opinions, witty banter, and the occasional beer or Star Wars reference (for a week, Pierre-Marc Bouchard was called "Leia"). However, like most things I become part of, the blog became kinda a big deal.
Nowadays the blog will host hundreds of comments on a single post. There have been posts during games that collect five or six hundred comments. Having a voice on the Russoville blog has become diminished. Add to that, the Strib's crack IT staff can't keep up with all of the posts and have had significant technical problems throughout the explosion. Posters would double post, lose their post or worse yet, be called a "Cowboy". Making a solid contribution to the blog is pretty much resigned to some one who is willing to sit next to their computer all day - not something I'd rather do. I mean, its not like I have a job right now, but I'd rather be shooting wristers at beer cans with my kids.
I always read Russo's stuff and once in a while, when I've got some strong feelings about something, I'll post. Yesterday, during the Mark Parrish aftermath, there was a thread bemoaning the lack of Minnesota boys on the team. Most of the Russoville townies love all hockey and would like Minnesota fellas to play for the Wild, but they understand that that in this day and age, that may not always be possible. However there is a significant minority that believe that Minnesota Hockey trumps all things which, I believe by reading the voracity of their posts, includes their jobs, their mothers, and Minnesota girls.
Many posts on the thread explained their feelings of why they didn't need a Minnesota hockey player on the Wild in order to like the team. There was also a strong contingent that strongly disagreed. They were passionate about their Minnesota hockey and needed a Minnesota hockey player on the Wild. I, for the life of me, cannot understand that line of thinking, but I thought I had an original thought that I would express.
Good topic today (and yesterday) - I’ll chime in…
Does anyone else agree with me that a lot of our boys are Minnesotans, albeit transplants? I’m from Wisconsin, myself, which may color my view, but I feel I am more a Minnesotan every day. I’m a transplant.
Burnsy, Koivu, Gabby, Boogey, Shultzy, Shep. They’re all local guys. They’re part of Minnesota hockey, whether they were born here or not & whether they played in the high school tourney or for the Gophs, or not.
Now don’t get me wrong - I’m counting down the days when Zach Parise’s RFA status is up, but because he’s a stud who happens to be from Bloomington, not because he’s from Bloomington.
There were some replies to the post - mainly positive until some guy named "Good Old Wally" called me out.
BALLGAME
You being a transplant is not the same thing. I am speaking of the stregth of the hockey program locally. I think it is safe to assume that we Minnesotans have pride in our home grown talent ? no doubt… A father takes his son to a game, and with out a doubt will mention to his son that the Wild have a homegrown player on the roster
I dont think it is wise to have no homegrown talent on a pro team in Minnesota, in Nashville sure !
Yes the Wild have players who live here during the season and leave to go back home during the summer, but that is not the same thing. THOSE PLAYERS ARE NOT PRODUCTS OF MINNESOTA HOCKEY. SO IF THE MINNESOTA PRO TEAM DOES NOT HAVE ANY PRO PLAYERS FROM MINNESOTA, THAT IS A SLAP IN THE FACE ? no doubt. I cant see how anybody cant see the point
Minnesota hockey = Passion and Passion is not wise for the Wilds front office to mess with…. Is it a pain in the ass ? Maybe… So live with it and do something about I say. Leopold bought the team in Minnesota and should know that Minnesotans have a passion for the hockey products here
I am sure that the Wilds brass will say they dont care about where the players are from and they will likely take a hard ass response, but I say that they are full of bull and in denial. If your in Nashville then you dont care.
DR in the back of his mind tried to meet the needs of the local fans by..
Mark Parrish
AJ Thelen
Maybe Sean Hill
Great move
Darby Hendrickson
All of those moves turned sour. If I look at the make up of this team, Jason Blake looks to be a no brainer for this roster
Bottom line DR … YOU HAVE A PR PROBLEM !! This in not Nashville
Is it me or does this guy think he's Jacque Lemaire? It reads like he's from Quebec and the "no doubt" is a dead givaway. Perhaps he's a big listener of KFAN.
A guy named "Beaver" (cripes I hope its not a gal) piggybacked...
Good Post Good Old Wally ! I agree its not wise to run with no Minnesotans. The Minnesota Hockey passion has much more history then the Wild do…. Were happy for the Wild for letting youth hockey sell the cute little programs before the games.. What does that make $ 200 bucks per association
Finally, a third member of the "Good Ole' Minnesota Boys Network", Mister Know it All, had his say...
Gentleman,
I must applaud GOW and the Beaver. I as Mister Know it all agree 100%. The Wild have failed miserably since Darby Hendrickson. AJ Thelen is an example of the DR mindset…. oh it must be the pressure of the local kid making it… please no excuses anymore DR. How can you use the local kid pressure with AJ ? The kid got kicked off of the Michigan state hockey program for cripes sake
DR- I think it would be foolish do blame you for your effort with getting Mark Parrish in Minnesota. Who could have seen that coming
How about a great big HRRUMMPHH!!! One of those guys had to be either Pat Reusse or Sid Hartman.
Since I was called out by GOW, I figured I'd respond. Being the well thought out blogger that I am, I soon began to craft a response. After a few paragraphs and fifteen minutes later, the IT folks at startribune.com failed me again by refreshing the post and losing my Polk worthy response.
My first thought was to start over, but the whole time I was wishing that there was a place for me to sound off where I wouldn't lose my post half the time and have more of an impact than a fart in a windstorm. Then I thought... why not use the World Famous, DiabloHockey Platform. This is the place where I will shout it from the mountaintop. I'm not sure if the world is ready for me to teach them about hockey, but they did handle Ninja Parades and a rant about Tiger Wood's vagina.
So Look Out, North American Hockey Purists. You're about to get some DiabloHockey knowledge cracked over your head. And if it doesn't work out, I can always delete this post and act as if nothing happened.
Nowadays the blog will host hundreds of comments on a single post. There have been posts during games that collect five or six hundred comments. Having a voice on the Russoville blog has become diminished. Add to that, the Strib's crack IT staff can't keep up with all of the posts and have had significant technical problems throughout the explosion. Posters would double post, lose their post or worse yet, be called a "Cowboy". Making a solid contribution to the blog is pretty much resigned to some one who is willing to sit next to their computer all day - not something I'd rather do. I mean, its not like I have a job right now, but I'd rather be shooting wristers at beer cans with my kids.
I always read Russo's stuff and once in a while, when I've got some strong feelings about something, I'll post. Yesterday, during the Mark Parrish aftermath, there was a thread bemoaning the lack of Minnesota boys on the team. Most of the Russoville townies love all hockey and would like Minnesota fellas to play for the Wild, but they understand that that in this day and age, that may not always be possible. However there is a significant minority that believe that Minnesota Hockey trumps all things which, I believe by reading the voracity of their posts, includes their jobs, their mothers, and Minnesota girls.
Many posts on the thread explained their feelings of why they didn't need a Minnesota hockey player on the Wild in order to like the team. There was also a strong contingent that strongly disagreed. They were passionate about their Minnesota hockey and needed a Minnesota hockey player on the Wild. I, for the life of me, cannot understand that line of thinking, but I thought I had an original thought that I would express.
Good topic today (and yesterday) - I’ll chime in…
Does anyone else agree with me that a lot of our boys are Minnesotans, albeit transplants? I’m from Wisconsin, myself, which may color my view, but I feel I am more a Minnesotan every day. I’m a transplant.
Burnsy, Koivu, Gabby, Boogey, Shultzy, Shep. They’re all local guys. They’re part of Minnesota hockey, whether they were born here or not & whether they played in the high school tourney or for the Gophs, or not.
Now don’t get me wrong - I’m counting down the days when Zach Parise’s RFA status is up, but because he’s a stud who happens to be from Bloomington, not because he’s from Bloomington.
There were some replies to the post - mainly positive until some guy named "Good Old Wally" called me out.
BALLGAME
You being a transplant is not the same thing. I am speaking of the stregth of the hockey program locally. I think it is safe to assume that we Minnesotans have pride in our home grown talent ? no doubt… A father takes his son to a game, and with out a doubt will mention to his son that the Wild have a homegrown player on the roster
I dont think it is wise to have no homegrown talent on a pro team in Minnesota, in Nashville sure !
Yes the Wild have players who live here during the season and leave to go back home during the summer, but that is not the same thing. THOSE PLAYERS ARE NOT PRODUCTS OF MINNESOTA HOCKEY. SO IF THE MINNESOTA PRO TEAM DOES NOT HAVE ANY PRO PLAYERS FROM MINNESOTA, THAT IS A SLAP IN THE FACE ? no doubt. I cant see how anybody cant see the point
Minnesota hockey = Passion and Passion is not wise for the Wilds front office to mess with…. Is it a pain in the ass ? Maybe… So live with it and do something about I say. Leopold bought the team in Minnesota and should know that Minnesotans have a passion for the hockey products here
I am sure that the Wilds brass will say they dont care about where the players are from and they will likely take a hard ass response, but I say that they are full of bull and in denial. If your in Nashville then you dont care.
DR in the back of his mind tried to meet the needs of the local fans by..
Mark Parrish
AJ Thelen
Maybe Sean Hill
Great move
Darby Hendrickson
All of those moves turned sour. If I look at the make up of this team, Jason Blake looks to be a no brainer for this roster
Bottom line DR … YOU HAVE A PR PROBLEM !! This in not Nashville
Is it me or does this guy think he's Jacque Lemaire? It reads like he's from Quebec and the "no doubt" is a dead givaway. Perhaps he's a big listener of KFAN.
A guy named "Beaver" (cripes I hope its not a gal) piggybacked...
Good Post Good Old Wally ! I agree its not wise to run with no Minnesotans. The Minnesota Hockey passion has much more history then the Wild do…. Were happy for the Wild for letting youth hockey sell the cute little programs before the games.. What does that make $ 200 bucks per association
Finally, a third member of the "Good Ole' Minnesota Boys Network", Mister Know it All, had his say...
Gentleman,
I must applaud GOW and the Beaver. I as Mister Know it all agree 100%. The Wild have failed miserably since Darby Hendrickson. AJ Thelen is an example of the DR mindset…. oh it must be the pressure of the local kid making it… please no excuses anymore DR. How can you use the local kid pressure with AJ ? The kid got kicked off of the Michigan state hockey program for cripes sake
DR- I think it would be foolish do blame you for your effort with getting Mark Parrish in Minnesota. Who could have seen that coming
How about a great big HRRUMMPHH!!! One of those guys had to be either Pat Reusse or Sid Hartman.
Since I was called out by GOW, I figured I'd respond. Being the well thought out blogger that I am, I soon began to craft a response. After a few paragraphs and fifteen minutes later, the IT folks at startribune.com failed me again by refreshing the post and losing my Polk worthy response.
My first thought was to start over, but the whole time I was wishing that there was a place for me to sound off where I wouldn't lose my post half the time and have more of an impact than a fart in a windstorm. Then I thought... why not use the World Famous, DiabloHockey Platform. This is the place where I will shout it from the mountaintop. I'm not sure if the world is ready for me to teach them about hockey, but they did handle Ninja Parades and a rant about Tiger Wood's vagina.
So Look Out, North American Hockey Purists. You're about to get some DiabloHockey knowledge cracked over your head. And if it doesn't work out, I can always delete this post and act as if nothing happened.
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