Trish Thornton's Sports Column Archives

There's a nip in the air and frost on the windshield, John Garrett is losing the hockey pool again and there's a goalie controversy in Montreal. All's right with the world!

Oh the irony. On the same night that the Montreal Canadiens honoured Ken Dryden, their goaltending hero from that incredible 1976-77 team, the city was abuzz with controversy. A goaltending controversy no less. Jeff Hackett was going to start in the Montreal net for the second game in a row. At home. Against the Toronto Maple Leafs. On national television! Oh the horror, the horror!

Jose Theodore, last year's darling who won both the Hart and Vezina trophies, has had a tough start to the season. He allowed 12 goals in 2 games in front of the hometown fans. With a big fat paycheck in his pocket and the silverware on the mantel, was he getting complacent? Was he under too much pressure? Or was he really just a one-year wonder?

For the record, no, no and no. This happens. A lot. Goaltenders are like pitchers or drummers. They're the freaks of the team who slip in and out of a groove at the drop of a jock strap. Jose hasn't found his groove yet but pity the poor opponents when he does! Remember his 7-game win streak at the end of last season that nailed the playoff spot? Hmmm? Do you? How quickly we all forget.

And how quickly too we forget that the three million-dollar backup man is a darn good goaltender. Jeff Hackett is not the bad guy. He isn't playing because the organization has lost confidence in Theodore. He's playing because that's what backups do; they step in to give Mr. Number One a break. Often they steal a game...or two.

And let's face it; Hackett is for sale. He's being showcased for the teams that didn't bite in the summer goalie sweepstakes. He's cheaper than Ed Belfour, Curtis Joseph and Mike Richter were. And he's showing Byron Dafoe that he's first in line if St. Louis, Pittsburgh, Atlanta or even Boston come calling. Jeff Hackett will help the Montreal Canadiens if he stays or if he goes. His play of late has certainly given Montreal more to bargain with; they will be able to demand a good defenceman or power forward should the right deal arise.

If this is controversy, bring it on! Remember when Ken Dryden took the 1973-74 season off to finish his law requirements? Now that was ugly! The goalie trifecta of Bunny Larocque, Michel Plasse and Wayne Thomas couldn't get the defending Stanley Cup Champs past the first round of the playoffs. And I ask you, after Dryden retired in 1979, who was Montreal's number one goalie? If you answered Denis Heron, Rick Wamsley or Richard Sevigny, you might be right. But then again, you might be wrong.

Not until Steve Penney emerged in the 1984 playoffs did the Canadiens feel like the Canadiens again. Even with Guy Lafleur, Mats Naslund and Larry Robinson in the lineup, the lack of a great stopper hindered Montreal's chances to compete with the Islanders and the Oilers. However, Penney was a good warm-up act for what was to come.

The Patrick Roy era. And if you're looking for Montreal goalie controversy... don't get me started! Like Theodore, Roy became number one as Penney started looking average. The rookie quickly became one of the best goaltenders in the league, which was a good thing since his backups included guys like Doug Soetaert, Pat Jablonski and Andre "Red-light" Racicot.

As for Jocelyn Thibault, the guy never had a chance. After the darkest day in modern Montreal hockey history, even a Martin Brodeur or a Jose Theodore would have been doomed. There is never any gray area when you're the number one goaltender in Montreal. You're the hero or the goat. That kind of pressure can kill a career and destroy a spirit. Rocket Richard and Guy Lafleur never had it that bad.

I suppose it's only fitting that Montrealers go a little crazy at the slightest hint of puck-stopping trouble. After all, the coveted NHL goaltending trophy is named for Montreal great Georges Vezina. And Jacques Plante's legacy is evident in every rink on the planet when every goaltender dons his or her facemask.

So if the muckrakers and the fans are running amok with this story, so be it. Montrealers have earned the right to get the shakes and blow a goalie story way out of proportion. This year's controversy involving a couple of solid winners like Theodore and Hackett is the kind of trouble we should welcome. What's so bad about having two competitors playing their best to win a starting job? In fact, if our crystal ball is right, there might be some more trouble brewing down the road as farm hands Mathieu Garon and Olivier Michaud hone their skills as the goaltenders of the future. Who will be number one? That controversy will be worth waiting for.

Posted by trish at 10:23 AM | Permalink

It's been called the fastest game on ice. This season, hockey is finally living up to that billing. With the referees calling the games the way they should be called, the 2002-03 campaign may be the most exciting hockey since the Oiler style of the1980's.

There's an added bonus or two as well. If the league continues to give the refs the authority to call obstruction penalties, they won't have to eliminate the red line. They won't have to make the ice surface bigger. That's three birds with one whistle, folks! Yes, the game has opened up that much in two short weeks. Combine that with those quick faceoffs and a night at the rink no longer feels like a night at an interminable rock opera. Halleluja! Less time between plays means less time for that awful thumping music and cheesy arena promotions. We're there to watch hockey, Mr. Bettman!

And we're finally seeing what the game can be. Those break-out passes up the middle ending in a chance and then a quick return down the ice the other way for another chance; end-to-end action that doesn't mean multiple turn-overs in the neutral zone. It's not just the Jagrs and the Mogilnys who are getting these chances either, it's Jan Bulis, Tie Domi, Chad Kilger and Brendan Morrow who have all found room on the ice where there used to be none. Teams that can adapt will be a treat to watch while those who live by the clutch will die by the trip to the box. Have you watched the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Toronto Maple Leafs this year? 'nuff said.

The Montreal Canadiens have already seen both sides of this puck. In New York, they were able to fly up through centre, creating two-on-one after two-on one. Size didn't matter, but speed sure did and Montreal has plenty of that across four lines. Which is why the game against the Sabres was so puzzling. Except for a short-handed Chad Kilger and Jan Bulis two-on-one and a Saku Koivu spin-o-rama in close on Martin Biron, Montreal looked slow. They rarely got to the puck first. They lost most battles along the boards. They just plain stunk.

Not to make excuses or anything, but perhaps the Habs underestimated their opponents. The Buffalo Sabres, a franchise on the brink of extinction, was supposed to be one of those clutch and grab teams that wasn't going to be able to adapt to this kind of hockey. They sure surprised me. They too have speed up and down the lineup - who knew? - and made Montreal pay break after break.

Am I worried? A little. Especially after the last game against the Flyers. Ugh! But there's a lot of hockey to go yet, and Montreal has always done badly against Philadelphia in the regular season. Ne panic pas. The first month of this season, all of the teams will be feeling each other out in a whole new way. Assumptions and scouting reports will have to be re-thunk. For Montreal, how they approach the Red Wings and the Leafs this week will say a lot about how they can adapt to the new NHL. Just look around the league. The Canadiens aren't the only ones having a mysteriously bad-to-average start. The Islanders, Colorado, San Jose and Carolina are all having a tough time. There will be rough patches and inconsistencies for a while.

The Habs know that already. They've seen some inconsistent refereeing in this short season. In the Ranger game, Eric Lindros blatantly smacked his stick across the back of Stephane Quintal's head. He got a 2-minute penalty (the NHL later reviewed it and assessed a 1-game suspension). At home against Buffalo however, Saku Koivu received a 4-minute high sticking penalty and Buffalo scored the backbreaking 4th goal of the night with just seconds remaining in the penalty. Same thing happened in the next period when Bill Lindsay was given 4-minutes for a high stick.

I know, it's early days for the referees as well as the players so there will be some adjustments over the next few weeks. I'm willing to put up with some of the inevitable confusion and error for a while. But please oh please let the games be called the right way and let the terrific speedy hockey continue. If we must watch this game for 10 months of the year, let it be worth our while.

Posted by trish at 10:11 AM | Permalink

Oh that nutty high tech equipment!

This is how we thought it was supposed to be:

1. You wear a helmet on your head to protect the little gray cells. It's got a chin strap attached so that the helmet stays attached to your head and the brain stays attached to your brain stem.
2. You wear elbow pads to protect your funny bone if you fall on the ice or get slammed into the boards. The pads should be small, simple and comfy, so you can still shoot a puck.
3. You hold a hockey stick in your hand that you must count on for all sorts of important situations during a hockey game. You want it intact when the perfect pass comes to you, and you want it intact so you can lift the other guy's stick as he sets up for the perfect pass.

But this is how it is: You race down to the boards behind your net to get the puck before the other guy and just as you clear it, the other guy "finishes the check" on you. His man-of-steel titanium-like elbow pad hits your head with extreme force, but you don't have your chin strap tightened because it's uncomfortable and it's just not cool and the helmet goes flying off your head, which continues into the rock-solid glass.

You remember nothing else. You don't even know you're drooling like a sick Chihuahua as the trainer leads you to the dressing room. But your teammates get to go on the powerplay, and they catch a break because the opposing big defenceman got away with a mild slash and his fancy blade fell off his fancy stick. It's like your team has a 2-man advantage! And wow, do they ever pass that thing beautifully, cycling until they find an open man at the top of the faceoff circle. He sees the open corner, he winds up, his stick breaks and the puck dribbles into the corner as his $100 state-of-the-art blade ends up in row 22.

High tech hockey? Gimme a wooden stick and little leather pads any day! Richard Matvichuk might be thinking the same thing, if he were able to remember...

Get the fat lady a cab, she's on her way.

PHILADELPHIA VS. NEW JERSEY -- Is that BBQ veal I smell?
The Flyers killed the fatted calf for the prodigal son this week. The Big E hit the ice (feet first instead of head first) for the first time since... gosh, could it really have been March? Yup. The last time Lindros played a game of hockey, dotcom stocks were high, Vince Carter was flying and Ray Bourque wore a teddy bear on his chest. So how did the big guy do? That depends how you look at it. He scored Philly's only goal in game 6, and he even scored their only disallowed goal as well (time ran out on him.) So that would give the impression that Eric Lindros's return was a timely thing.

BUT... where was Recchi? Where was Tocchet? Delmore and Langkow? Does 88's return mean the team gets below-average performances from the guys that got 'em here? 'tis a puzzlement. If you're a coach or a GM of one of the Big Name(tm) elite players, how can you bench him if he's healthy? If you're a coach or a GM of Big Time Choker(tm), how can you play him in the last crucial games of the season?

The fans in the CTVSportsnet.com forum had some thoughts:

stephen clement says: "Everyone has to admit Eric looked like he hadn't been out 2 1/2 months. His hands were perfect. He was a little afraid defensively and stamina-wise but was very impressive. The team didn't show up tonight. Boucher was spectacular yet again. Captain useless (Desjardins) was a friggin' screw-up all night. He turned the puck over 9 times, once causing a goal. Give the damn "C" to a reliable player like LeClair or Recchi. If the "D" doesn't smarten up they'll lose game 7 guaranteed. They were trying to play Devils' hockey last night & got away from their crash bang style."

D.W thinks: "Well whether anyone agrees or not with Lindros being put in the line-up last night is irrelevant now. He was by far the Flyers' best player and anyone who says he was a distraction should wake up. Desjardins showed his true leadership qualities last night by giving up the puck about 20 times in his own end. LeClair and Recchi didn't show up at all. Delmore -- who against Pittsburgh was the second coming of Bobby Orr -- has proven that if you come within 10 feet of him, he gets scared and gets rid of the puck (ie Lemieux's goal.) So besides Boucher and Lindros, the rest of the team just plain sucked!

If the team uses Lindros's comeback as an excuse, they shouldn't be playing pro hockey. Every Flyer player should just look in the mirror and get ready for game 7 because Jersey in going to be even better."

Have your say at:
(retired link)

DALLAS VS. COLORADO -- Look at the pants on that guy!
Ray Bourque has the biggest pants in professional hockey. When you watch him in game 7, just take a look and we think you'll agree. And what does that have to do with the Stanley Cup conference finals? Nothing, really, except that lucky for us hockey fans, we get to see ol' Ray fill his pants at least one more time.

The Avs forced a seventh game in the Lone Star State and it was mostly because of number 77. His instincts on defence and on offence make him the best defenceman in the league. Yes, you read that right. He knows when to jump into the play -- his goal scored on the 2-on-1 with Sakic is proof positive -- and he'll block a shot or take away a pass in his own end game in, game out.

And if you ever doubted his reasons for leaving the Bruins at the trade deadline, you won't anymore. After Thursday's game he said "I think we still have our best game in us. I'm expecting us to play it in Game 7. This is why I came here (in a trade from Boston on March 6), to be in this situation." Ray wants a Cup. And the way he's playing, it looks like he could win it himself. Colorado has been awful on the powerplay this series, at 3 for 30. So if you think Bourque is the selfish one in this race to the finish, you're wrong. The Avalanche traded for the guy in the big pants because THEY want the Cup!

As for the Western Finals, the fans in the forum think the series has been a bit... well.... dull.

armenius says: "I never thought I'd say this, but the east series is far more entertaining to watch than the west. This west series (while having its moments), has been boring to watch to say the least. Roy has been average, and Dallas simply isn't capable of turning on a light bulb with entertainment power. The Devils and the Flyers have been playing a lot of open ice with defence rushes, something I can't remember NJ doing all year. Maybe NJ is finding more success playing Philly's style, because the games they've won, were played more that way, rather than their usual defensive trap system. Maybe there's hope afterall. Anyone but Dallas...can you imagine first timers watching them? They would think that this is what hockey actually is. And that would be a shame."

00 thinks: "Well, if it's going to be anyone but Dallas, it might as well be Colorado. Philly winning shows that screwed up management actually works these days or any old day. New Jersey winning the cup shows that the NHL is headed towards boring hockey which includes the trap. Colorado winning isn't that great but it's better than what we've got left."

reality check adds: "It really wouldn't be that odd to see Philly win the Cup, I mean the entire world is run by screwed up management."

Touch&ecute;, buddy!

Posted by trish at 09:48 AM | Permalink