NHL playoff round one update: Blackhawks don’t fear The Reaper
After spiriting away the fourteen NHL teams that were not strong enough to make beyond the regular season, hockey’s Grim Reaper had a few days off to enjoy the opening games of the playoffs. But yesterday he had to gather up his hockey stick scythe, tear himself away from the Afterlife Bar & Café and make his way the windy city.
There the Chicago Blackhawks awaited his arrival, down three games to none in their matchup with the Vancouver Canucks
However, the Hawks were determined to not go quietly into the night and spanked the Presidents’ Trophy winners 7-2 to avoid being given the broom treatment.
David Bolland notched one goal and assisted on three others in the win while Patrick Sharp converted on a pair of power play goals in the third period to send the Reaper away empty handed on this night. Goalie Corey Crawford turned aside 21 of 23 Canuck shot for the win…and even helped out the offense by earning a secondary assist on Brian Campbell’s goal that broke a 1-1 tie in the second period.
The two teams return to Vancouver for game five Thursday night.
Also last night, the Los Angeles Kings died a painful death in game three of their series with the San Jose Sharks. After building a 4-0 lead early in the second period, the Kings watched as the visiting Sharks gnawed their way back with three unanswered goals. But just 15 seconds after Logan Couture got San Jose back to within one Ryan Smyth gave LA a two-goal cushion.
Ryane Clowe and Joe Pavelski then each scored in the final 1:25 of the period to send the two teams into the second intermission deadlocked at five apiece. The scored remained that way through the third and Devin Setoguchi capped off the comeback with a tally at the 3:09 mark of overtime.
Setoguchi, as you may remember, was the 8th overall draft pick by the Sharks back in the 2005 draft, a pick they acquired from the Atlanta Thrashers. Then-GM Don Waddell and the Thrashers eventually traded their way to the 16th pick where they snagged “the player they had wanted all along”…Alex Bourret.
…sigh…
Anyway…Hockey’s Grim Reaper will now make his way to Arizona where the Phoenix Coyotes face elimination tonight. There, the Detroit Red Wings will be looking to do what the Canuck’s failed to accomplish in Chicago…advancing to round-two via a four game sweep.
Prior to puck drop there, we’ll be treated to a quartet of game-fours. Washington will be in New York, Pittsburgh at Tampa Bay, Philadelphia at Buffalo and Anaheim is in Nashville.
The Caps, Pens, Flyers and Preds will all look to take a 3-1 lead in their respective series.
If those four teams are successful, it will set up a very hectic travel schedule for the Reaper later this week. However, hockey’s Angel of Death slipped me some 411 this morning saying that the Fat Lady has availed herself to sing the final song for teams facing elimination if scheduling conflicts should arise.
Cats to be Torched?
According to this tweet by Michael Russo of the Minneapolis Star Tribune, the Thrashers have given permission to the Florida panthers to interview John Torchetti for their vacant head coach position. Torchetti came to Atlanta from Chicago last summer as the team’s associate coach.
This didn’t come a huge surprise to me as I heard some buzz surrounding this during the closing weeks of the season. Plus, I think Torchetti is indeed worthy of such consideration.
If Torch does actually take over behind the Cats bench, he will become the first associate or assistant Thrashers coach to be tapped for an NHL head coaching gig elsewhere.
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83 comments Add your comment
Alan R.
April 21st, 2011
8:30 am
You guys want jerks? The Canadian announcers on NHL Radio have nothing on what went on in Phoenix last night.
At the beginning of the third period, CBC cameramen were pointing out members of the audiance, talking rather evenhanded about the possibility of Phoenix moving back to the Peg. After a little bit, they mentioned that there were actually people selling Jets gear outside Jobing. Thats right. I couldn’t believe it.
DWTOO
April 21st, 2011
9:00 am
That’s why I didn’t renew the Hockey News – tired of reading that drivel and actually paying to be insulted. When the NHL Live guys start talking this crap on the radio immediately switch to music.
ZAvalanche
April 21st, 2011
9:27 am
Lo Siento Phoenix. I really hope ‘Peg gets stoned on a deal and you keep your team.
Smoothie
April 21st, 2011
9:46 am
glove & Brendan makes some interesting points about the future of pro sports and the impact of HDTV on the future of the game. Real estate, financial markets and just about every other industry have had serious market corrections. Pro sports are next I imagine. The lockout in NFL and the potential lockout looming for the NBA are emblematic of the broken system that makes attending live sporting events too great of a financial burden for the masses who are struggling to not only make ends meet but put some savings in the bank for a rainy day.
I would write more but alas, I don’t really feel like typing anymore.
Good luck to the Coyotes, but both scenarios are rife with uncertainty and Winnipeg only seems like a good solution for the next 5-10 years. What happens when players refuse to re-sign and they start losing perennially? How patient will Thompson be?
ZAvalanche
April 21st, 2011
9:47 am
Also – Rangers!!??? WTF? You left your keeper out to dry. And based on Ovi’s comments, he is one egotistical dude.
ZAvalanche
April 21st, 2011
9:53 am
Smoothie – agreed. Pro sports are going to go through a situation akin to the ‘dot com’ bubble burst. Hockey is the only game I will pay for to watch in person consistently. I simply can’t afford to sit close to the lines for NFL, don’t care about NBA and baseball is more of a social gathering for me, and tickets are relatively cheap. College football I will pay for just because of the atmosphere and I won’t sit anywhere besides the student section – too much fun to be had there.
So yeah, the comments regarding HDTV are spot on unless you can be right in front at the game.
Smoothie
April 21st, 2011
10:00 am
z – I used to have season tkts for the Falcons during the Vick era, and thought it was the most exciting thing ever at the time. During that time I started going to hockey games again after the lockout. Now I can hardly stand watching football live. If I can’t DVR the Falcons and watch after I play a round of golf or something, I really don’t want to watch. Strange considering I can sit through 7-8 hours of a major golf tournament, but I’m a golf junkie and I’m always looking for things that might help my game. Plus, I just really admire how consistently they strike that little white orb when the pressure is on. I’m ecstatic if I can get through a round with 2 or less double bogeys and card a 82.
But that’s besides the point. Just about every sport is better on HDTV now, except hockey. The speed of the game is such that you either want to “feel” it up close or watch it high above so you can see the ebb and flow perfectly as plays develop and unfold. It really can be a beautiful game. I hope pro league executives realize this and gradually ratchet down salaries and find better ways to streamline operations to deliver better pricing. But until TV production companies start to feel a greater pinch, perhaps the market correction for pro sports will be a protracted and painful one such as the excrutiating drama in the desert of Arizona.
Daayum, guess the caffeine is kicking in. Now I’ve got to do some actual work, poo.
Red Light
April 21st, 2011
10:18 am
OK, don’t get me started, but I can tell you that the airwaves are ruining, yes ruining, all sports and the experience of attending hockey games still outweighs TV any day of the week.
Pro sports leagues and college conferences are on their backs, legs spread wide, waiting for any network to have their way with them. Corporate sponsors think the best way to engage fans is through TV broadcasts, but how many of you actually pay attention to the message? So, they are reluctant to spend money in the arenas and with the teams, and that means the TV broadcast portion of revenues are one of the only sources of additional revenues for teams, outside of merchandising. So, we listen to the diatribe about the new NHL TV contract, which simply means local broadcasts simply carry no cache with potential sponsors (except in select cities). If I am an owner, I broadcast not one single home game unless it’s sold-out. There is simply too much broadcast access.
Many here have said it before…”I’m not going downtown to put up with the high parking prices, traffic, overpriced concessions, ticket costs etc., when I can sit on my couch and watch a game in HD.” Therein lies the problem and it most certainly affects ticket sales, individual game and season tickets.
College football is a bit different, because there is an emotional and real investment (if you are an alumnus) in your school or favorite team. Some hockey franchises, particularly those who are the only game in town (Montreal for example unless you count the Alouettes), have that same kind of emotional attachment. As it has long been stated, Atlanta has so many options for your entertainment expenditures, but the only ones who are getting rich off these TV deals — particularly in a sport like hockey — are the networks. They get programming (cost is about $150,000 to broadcast a game in HD) and the opportunity to sell, sell, sell ads and sponsorships. One day they’l wise up when there are few potential owners for the franchises because it’s a losing proposition with most of them.
Why else would the Canadiens ever have been for sale? 24 Stanley Cups, A new arena. A feverish fan base and how many straight sell-outs. The quick answer is local sponsorship revenues can’t help offset the costs. Sure, they get a great share of national TV revenues and RDS TV revenues, but obviously, it simply is not enough to offset costs.
Think of it this way, if you’re a hockey fan and got to watch only two games a week on TV, wouldn’t you show up a little more often in person to watch the team/game you love?
Tom Lysiak
April 21st, 2011
10:31 am
There is so much greed in place that it is difficult to see salaries ratcheting back to affordable levels. I am old enough to remember when going to a Braves or Falcons game was an alternative to other choices of “things to do”. It wasn’t a major investment for a night of “entertainment”. I suppose one needs to look no futher than Andy Messersmith for the start of the demise of “affordable sporting events”. I go through this conflict all the time. I can plop down $150 +/- for two seats in the lower level, $30 for a couple of beers each, and $20 for something to eat…..totalling around $200 for 3 hours of entertainment. OR……..I can spend that same $200 to rent a cabin in the mountains for an entire weekend. That is when you realize things are out of whack. Or at least I do.
Red Light
April 21st, 2011
11:04 am
It wasn’t so much Messersmith, McNally or Curt Flood as it was the head of the MLBPA Marvin Miller. But, here’s the crux of the matter, according to an article written by Ross Porter in Feb. 2009…
“The free agency era has made a generation of baseball players wealthy. Only one—Ken Singleton—has ever thanked Andy Messersmith for his efforts.”
That figures doesn’t it?
Smoothie
April 21st, 2011
11:08 am
R/L – can you expound upon how the local network TV arrangement works? I understand it at the national level because it’s obvious Comcast/NBC is paying a large sum of money to the NHL for exclusive rights etc. But is it radically different at the local level when there really isn’t a lot of competition for hockey? IOW, if it costs FOX so much to produce a game in HD, and they only have like 4 or 5 main sponsors, how in the world can they justify paying to broadcast more than 60 games? Or is it more of a partnership b/w ASG and FOX to increase advertising and sponsorship revenues that a) defray production costs and b) help pad the revenue streams for each?
At any rate, you’d think in a perfect world, with the Thrashers playing well and selling out home games, it would make more sense to televise ALL road games and just a few select home games in the local mkt. And then offer to provide re-runs on-line for a per game or per month fee.
Red Light
April 21st, 2011
11:23 am
Smoothie: Local broadcasts are a losing proposition for teams like the Thrashers, but here is the truly diabolical part of the entire mess…Using Fox Sports as an example, approximately 70% their revenues come from cable and satellite TV providers like Comcast, Charter, Dish or DirectTV, et al, and they are substantial revenues. Of course, the cable/satellite providers make their money from subscribers like you and me.
As a result, cable networks like Fox throw a lot of the money they derive from the cable/satellite providers in hopes of earning their own advertising-based revenues, ie the “gravy” because they are in desperate need for both content and viewership. Content and viewership for Fox Sports are essential in order to get the providers to put them in their lineup, and thus charge their own clients. When Fox Sports negotiates deals, the cache is having professional sports teams, college sports teams etc from being part of that content and potential viewership numbers.
Imagine being part of the Comcast Cable Network, owned by Comcast/NBC and having to pay competitors like ESPN to be a part of their cable lineup of channels. A slippery slope indeed, wouldn’t you say? That’s why the merger took so long to complete…”potential monopoly.”
AtlFlamesFan
April 21st, 2011
11:26 am
I believe that the Canadiens former owner, George Gillett, had to sell the Habs because of the huge mess he got into when he and Tom Hicks went in together and bought the Liverpool Football Club of the English Premier League. They lost their shirts in that deal, incurring huge debts. Hicks lost the Dallas Stars and the Texas Rangers.
Tom Lysiak
April 21st, 2011
11:26 am
Enough of this “don’t televise home game” craziness. Silence, you fools!!!!
Red Light
April 21st, 2011
11:28 am
In order to watch the professional or college sports you want to watch on TV these days, you have to pay a cable or satellite provider, unless you want to use antiquated antennas or newer HD antennas on the roof of your house, to acquire the old-fashioned local VHF and UHF bands. So, the teams, the providers and the cable networks have you over a barrel, wouldn’t you say?
ChippersLoveChild
April 21st, 2011
11:46 am
Red Light,
I gave up cable and use Apple TV and my Roku Box to watch… I can subscribe to MLB.TV, NBA League Pass, and Centre Ice and watch all the games I want… my total bills are around $20 a month, the feeds are HD, and I haven’t missed any programs that I was watching before when I had DirecTV, so no they do not have you over a barrel, you just have to take action.
Red Light
April 21st, 2011
12:09 pm
Good to know CLC!
AtlFlamesFan
The Habs have been sold numerous times during their history but they always come back to Molson.
J. Ambrose O’Brien 1909-10
George Kendall-Kenndy 1910-1921
Jos. Cattarinich and Léo Dandurand 1921-1935
Canadian Arena Company 1935-56
Hartland Molson 1957-1968
David, Peter and William Molson 1968-1972
Placements Rondelle Ltée, Edward and Peter Bronfman 1972-78
Molson Breweries 1978-2001
George Gillett 2001-2009
The Molson Brothers June 2009 to present
Red Light
April 21st, 2011
12:15 pm
JF:
Niemi has played for two solid teams, but a record of 79-33-11 (playoffs and regular season) doesn’t seem “always shaky” to me.
World Be Free
April 21st, 2011
12:18 pm
Red Light-College football is my favorite, even more than hockey (tough to admit). Despite ESPN almost ruining the spirit of college football by employing buffoons like Bob Davie, Lee Corso, “Dr. Lou” and 1/2 dozen other idiots that have no business being in front of a camera or microphone. No wonder Keith Jackson “retired-to get away from the ESPN clowns.
Joe McGrath
April 21st, 2011
12:20 pm
Speaking of HD, did anybody catch th Vs camera goof last night? Prior to faceoff, Pierre McGuire (I believe it was McGuire and it was probably for TSN) was interviewing a Sabre in front of the Sabres bench. Darren Pang was was working for VS. and he was also in front of the Sabres bench intervieiwing a Sabre. As Panger’s interview is the audio, the cameraman pans back from MCGuire and then focuses in on Panger.
ZAvalanche
April 21st, 2011
12:24 pm
Hmm, smart move Chippers, I should consider that.
@RL – I understand where you are coming from, but I respectfully disagree. I am a HUGE hockey fan, as you can tell and love going to games. However, not everybody can afford tickets for every home game, much less, say, 4-5 a year. I cannot as I am still looking for work so the only way for me to see games is on TV (BTW the job market blows – anybody want to hire a M.S. in Aerospace from Tech?, lol, jk – mostly). When I do get gainfully employed, absolutely yes I will have season tickets and will cherish every moment. But until then, I really hope they don’t decide to blackout home games.
And yes I agree that Atlanta has a LOT of activities other than going to a hockey game, but so do a lot of other cities with 4+ major sports. For example: I am sure you know that Broncos fans are DIE HARD, win or lose. And when they were good, from 95 to 2000 they were selling out every game. Also during that exact same time span the Avalanche sold out 400+ games in a row and of course the seasons overlap. Will get to my point here in a sec……Denver Metro at that time was maybe 1.5 Million so there is a much smaller populace to pull from (I will concede that you have Boulder, Ft Collins and Colorado Springs which are all less than 60 miles from Denver, but I digress). Atlanta has the ability to be a HUGE market. So here is my point……the teams that pay for good players have good teams and everybody likes a winner, which is why even smaller market teams (Detroit, Phoenix, Denver, etc.) sell out games. Look what happened in CO, the team started sucking and people stopped showing up. Sure, I could use the $$ I use to pay for my hockey leagues to attend a game, but I would rather play than pay to watch a sub-par team. Sorry, that was very convoluted.
Glovesave29
April 21st, 2011
12:31 pm
The new tv deal pays each team $6.6m per season. More than any other major pro sport, the NHL relies on gate receipts. That is why we are all frustrated the asg has not reached out to the non converted with free or severely discounted prices just to get the building full. We know what a great sport it is…once you are in, you are hooked. The CFA deal is ok, but still pretty costly for some…plus it’s a family pack and there’s nothing for the single or couple.
The Thrash need tobe at local schools playing the kids during recess. Great way to co nect with the community.
The tickets could have a Marta pass barcode on them. Pay Marta a bit for each used…plus ridership goes up and subsequently, so can ad rates. What about party buses? Have a player join in on one…arrive a few hours before game time, have a behind the scenes tour, then a discount for the group at taco mac
ZAvalanche
April 21st, 2011
12:32 pm
Joe, yeah, I caught that too and was like “what the hell is going on?”. Still cannot believe the resilience the Sharks showed the other night – crazy strong determination. I am also impressed at how LA is doing without their leading scorer.
Tonight’s predictions:
Boston comes out P!SSED! Takes the game.
Lo Siento Chicago – it is lights out time.
San Jose – quickly get it over with so Detroit’s fossils don’t have time to rest up.
ZAvalanche
April 21st, 2011
12:37 pm
Glove – those are great ideas! Some of them I have not thought of. How about allowing kids with free-or-reduced lunch a voucher for a couple of games a season? Gotta have the star players in the schools, absolutely imperative. Back when I was a teacher in Fort Collins, John Michael Liles would routinely visit the kids and they loved it!
I like the MARTA idea, that is the only way I went to Thrasher’s games (mostly so I could spend the parking $$ on beer).
Does anybody know if ASG gets a part of the concessions? I know some owners don’t.
Glovesave29
April 21st, 2011
12:40 pm
This isn’t only a north american issue…watch soccer from Brasil, Spain, Italy…the stadiums are hardly full. Player salaries have escalated so much that average joes cannot attend games. Tv is fine, but even in hd, there is much missed versus being there live.
ZAvalanche
April 21st, 2011
12:44 pm
Another thought, and please don’t anybody take this the wrong way: have the NHL and Play It Again sports subsidize equipment and league fees for low income families. Hockey equipment is very expensive, as you all know. I paid something like $400 for my last pair of skates and a decent piece of lumber costs about $80 (very low end) and that stuff brakes all the time (though I have had my Grip Lite for over 9 years now – thing is a beast). In the span of 3 games I broke 2 Grip Bubbles, there goes $280. Until I am rich I am never buying a one-piece again. Anyhow, get the kids to skate and play they will never leave the game.
ZAvalanche
April 21st, 2011
12:53 pm
Looks like SJ is going with Neimi tonight. I think he will bounce back just fine after being a sieve on Tuesday. Too bad most of you will be in bed by the start of the game
Glovesave29
April 21st, 2011
1:00 pm
ZA…try playing the net. That’ll set ya back a bit!
ZAvalanche
April 21st, 2011
1:03 pm
Glove, oh, I know man. I have two good friends that play the net with me and every league we play the team pays their league fees due to that very reason.
Joe McGrath
April 21st, 2011
1:10 pm
ZAvs
http://1.usa.gov/eEtMTz
ZAvalanche
April 21st, 2011
1:15 pm
Ohh! That looks good Joe, my specialty is in safety/reliability engineering! Thank you for that, sincerely.
Rawhide
April 21st, 2011
1:19 pm
OK gang…now that the Detroit Red Wings have kicked the Phoenix Coyotes to the curb, one can’t help but wonder if we’ve seen the last of NHL hockey in the Arizona desert.
ZAvalanche
April 21st, 2011
1:50 pm
Thanks again Joe, just finished applying. Cheers!