Alfie at 1000...

Saturday night the Sens will be celebrating Captain Daniel Alfredsson's 1000th game (technically by Sat game 1002) and there's a big pre-game ceremony planned. I've been lucky enough to be around Alfie his entire career and have always admired how he handles the pressure, celebrity status and responsibilities of being an NHL captain in a hockey mad city. Anytime I've asked him for something a little outside his comfort zone, he's handled it with the same professionalism as he does on the ice.

When the Sens were off to Sweden last season, I approached Daniel to play along where I would look silly and he would have the last laugh.



Congrats Daniel, on 1000 games in the NHL and all with the Ottawa Senators. All things Alfie can be found here.

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NHL ..sloppy bad, sucker punch good

When NHL sideshow Sean Avery made comments this season about his former girlfriend, commissioner Gary Bettman came out with this:

"To be perfectly honest I wouldn't want to have to explain to my 12-year-old daughter what he said," referring to Avery's sloppy seconds comments.

So here's my question for the NHL boss...how do I explain Scott Walker's sucker punch on Aaron Ward to my 3 year old?

April Fool, Sens car flags, Strike 3...

APRIL FOOL

Well that didn't take long now did it.



I would have paid big bucks to be inside the Rangers locker room after that loss to the Bruins. With less then 6 minutes to play in a 1-0 game, this is what the NHL's sideshow thinks will wake up his team. My nomination for coach of the year, John Tortorella for having to put up with Sean Avery.

SENS CAR FLAGS
The Sens missing the playoffs for the first time since 97. It's going to take some getting used to not seeing the Sens car flags/cheer cards but don't worry my fellow Ottawans, there's baseball to look forward to.

Scratch that, no baseball.

STRIKE 3
The only ball hitting Ottawa stadium is potentially a wrecking ball as one Ottawa councillor suggested. Ottawans are debating a soccer stadium/hotel development in Kanata or a shopping/aquarium and refurbished Landsdowne Park when a perfectly good stadium could be a big box store or condominium within a few years. Living in Ottawa for 15 years I love how the city has grown and is on the world stage with NHL hockey, Bluefest, Winterlude etc...but am continually amazed at how narrow minded some are in this town are. I'll bet you that with the current city council nothing will get done. I don't get the impression there's any support for the growth of professional sports in Ottawa outside of hockey. I can appreciate that their looking out for the people that put them in office and who really wants to jeopardize their income given the current economy, but take a stand and make a decision.

After some long hard looks at both proposals, (both of which I like) whichever costs me less as a taxpayer in the city of Ottawa gets my vote.

Some fans are never happy...

I'm one of those NHL fans who didn't have a problem with Alex Ovechkin's 50th goal celebration. I suspect the next generation of fans also thought is was "cool". The league is growing and my experience going to games in the early 80's will be completely different from the way my kids see it. You're going to an NHL game to watch the best players in the world and if there's some fun theatrics involved, are you honestly that offended by what he did? Ovechkin was the story of this year's All Star competition with his sunglasses/hat combo because he did something different. He stands out, which is good publicity for a league that also employs Sean Avery. The NHL gets little attention in the US and if Ovechkin's bowing down to his stick is the lead story on Sportscenter, is that such a bad thing? If the Tampa Bay Lightning were offended by #8 on Thursday night, they should take a longer look in the mirror and fix their own franchise first (Seen Stamkos campaign, Melrose firing, Lecavalier rumors, and failure to keep Dan Boyle..just a few). I know the tradionalists wanted Ovechkin to "play it cool" like others before him have done, but Alex is a different guy and has....are you ready for this....a personality.

Why him?

August 1990, the Montreal Canadiens are holding a mini training camp at the rink 5 minutes from my house. In a world before text messaging and email (yes, there wz a time b4 email) my buddy calls me and says "get down to the rink, the Habs are there!!"

To my amazement, there they are...playing on our home rink. We'll after watching these guys for what seemed like an eternity most of them came over to sign some autographs and for the small group of 20 kids it was like we had won the lottery. Carbonneau, Roy, McPhee, Walter, Corson, and all came over and signed stuff for us. While signing my hat, a bold 15 year old, let's call him "Stu" asked Brian Skrudland for a tour of the dressing room. Looking a little perplexed, because they were training in our rink he said to come back in an hour and we did. An hour later, there he was ready to show us...our dressing room, except our jerseys were replaced with the "CH" and instead of one or two rolls of sock tape sat a case of it in the middle of the room. He spent time with us and answered every stupid question we could think of and then thanked us for cheering for the team. I remember thinking, this is Montreal you don't have to thank me for cheering for the Habs.

That fall with enough allowance saved up I ordered a pro Habs sweater (fighting strap and all!) and when the lady at the Forum souvenir shop asked which player I wanted on the back, my immediate reply was Skrudland #39. She said "are you sure you don't want Richer or Roy?", and I replied again with "#39, size 52 merci".

A few months into winter I'm standing outside the Forum freezing my butt off waiting to get #39 to sign my jersey. Not knowing what time they got off the ice for practise I arrived early in the morning and waited 4 hours. When #39 came out and saw the jersey he remembered meeting us the previous summer and how he got in trouble for giving us a tour. After the signature, he asks if I'd like to watch the Habs practise tomorrow and told the security guard to let me in.

My buddies who thought I was full of it didn't believe me, so I told them to come down and watch me walk right into the Forum while they stand outside. Sure enough, I presented myself to the security desk and walked right in. The only rule the guy gave me was to keep quiet, absolutely no autographs and don't bother the media either. I'm sitting in the reds, watching the drills and thinking it can't get any better. Once they left the ice, I made my way to the exit and just as I was handing over the visitors pass the old man at the desk hands me a stick from #39.

I wrote this story and went down memory lane because #39 came up in discussion on the show this morning after he appeared (rightly or wrongly) on TSN's top 20 Montreal Canadiens list, a list put together by guys like Scotty Bowman and Dick Irvin. There was plenty of debate on our show as to who should be on the list and one that will make for a fun debate among the 4 billion Hab blogs.

I never did get a chance to thank Skrudland for the stick, so if he ever does read this...thank you #39, I still have it.

Sens fans spoiled?

Have Sens fans had it too good?

From coming back into the NHL in 92-93, it only took the club 5 years to make the playoffs and 10 years after that they went to the Stanley Cup finals. Fans are calling for everyone's heads and while Spezza, Heatley and the Captain are having an off year, so is the rest of the club.

There's plenty of other teams who fail to make the playoffs and rebuild. Which leads me to my question, have Sens fans been spoiled? A trip to the finals will do that to a fanbase, and while it's tough to be so close and not win, ask Vancouver Canuck fans what it's been like for them.

They've been in the NHL 39 years and have only been to the finals twice, coming up short both times. Do fans in that city call in to the radio during the lean years and want the coach or star player fired? Sure they do. You think Montreal has been a fun place to play up until last year? I doubt it. A fun past time in Ottawa has been making fun of the Leafs last Cup win in 67, but they still come out night after night.

This is unfamiliar territory for Sens fans right now, watching their team slide into the NHL basement. It's okay to vent and be disappointed but stay with your team. When the Sens do eventually win a Cup, you'll enjoy it more.

Cherry said what?

By now Sens fans have heard Don Cherry's comments about Mike Fisher and how the players were dressed heading into Scotiabank Place prior to last Saturday's game. It doesn't take a genius to understand how broadcasting works in this day and age. Say something so ridiculous and the media outlets will pickup on it (like throwing scraps of food at pigeons) we wasted 2 segments on this today and the 5 minutes it's taking me to write this, I'll likely never get back.

I'm okay with the mustache wearing Sens rolling into the rink riding donkeys and wearing sombreros, as long as they win the game. I believe players should wear suits as a matter of
respect, but will cut them some slack for dressing appropriately for WINTER.

Now coming up on this weekend's Coaches Corner watch Grapes:

1. Bark like a dog
2. Burp the alphabet ($10 says he'd only make it to J)
3. Call out some NHLer who isn't from North America

I appreciate Don for what he is and just like eating pizza or hot dog during the intermission, Cherry is comfort food that we know is bad for us but we still eat it anyways. Since the King of Canadian fashion is calling out players for how they dress, I'd like to call out the PA announcer of the Leafs for being way too over the top. "you're Tarannna Maple Leeeeefs...arggggghhhh".

That, ladies and gentlemen is the best example of the pot calling the kettle black and a fun poke at Andy Frost who does a great job, despite the fact that he announces for the Blue Team. Speaking of which, I wonder when former Leaf Mats Sundin will make his announcement?

Oh never mind.