Sunday, August 08, 2010

Deep In the Hockey Doldrums

But there's an app for that...





If you're a hockey fan you WILL take exception to this work.  Mine is that the piece should be called "The Top Ten Skilled Forwards," with the notable exception of Bobby Orr.  We won't even go into omissions.  (h/t for the vids: Kukla's Korner)

In other hockey news... Look out Western Conference.  Detroit signed Mike Modano to a one year deal and this is a GREAT good thing.  The Wings can roll four lines once again, as noted in this piece from the Detroit News:
Rolling four lines in the NHL is the equivalent of a batting order with 50-and-60-RBI men in the eighth and ninth slots -- it debilitates opponents, giving them little rest physically or mentally. When a team continually attacks, it also takes pressure off teammates responsible for the defensive end of things. From at least 1997 to 2002, when they won three Stanley Cups, the Wings confronted opponents with the need to defend three strong offensive lines, and a fourth that was reasonably capable at that end of the ice. The lines were full of players who could muster goals, forecheck and backcheck.
With the agreement with Modano announced Thursday, General Manager Ken Holland and Coach Mike Babcock have every confidence that the 2010-11 Wings could well play more like those teams, after a year in which free agency and injuries reduced them to low-scoring and playing a lot in their own zone.
History just might be made.  Again.

5 comments:

  1. Are byou gonna talk about blue lines, too? Do they still have blue lines?

    Or is that yellow snow?

    Sorry -- I'm feeling a little frisky today. I think it's heat stroke. Maybe I should find a hockey rink!

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  2. Buck, (left some catch-up comments below) what do you think of St. Louis? (My fave team after the Hawks & Wings mainly due to el neato uniforms with the historical name reference to the song--a natural--and fact I spent a lot of time in the area growing up due to relatives just across the river in Collinsville, Ill,--home of the KAHOKS, only school in nation w. that name--where my Uncle was Superintendent of Schools.)

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  3. Moogie: You GOT it! Defensemen (as opposed to forwards) are known as "blueliners" coz that's where they play. Good on ya, Girl! ;-)

    Virgil: The Blues are still rebuilding but with the acquisition of Halak, who knows? While he carried an under-performing Montreal all the way to the ECF last year I don't think he'll go as far with the Blues. My guess is they'll definitely make the playoffs but will prolly lose in the first round. They just aren't that deep.

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  4. It seems too hot to think about hockey, although I first read "honkey" and thought you were going to talk bars. It is the heat...

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  5. Goalies always get shafted in these things.

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Just be polite... that's all I ask.