Blogs Off The Posts

For once, I think people will agree with me.
John Tortorella is a jerk.
I mean, I understand he is a great guy away from hockey. And when he is a broadcaster wanting a coaching job, he is quotable and interesting. But his rudeness these days to the media – most recently his “I’m not going to tell you” reply to NBC’s Pierre McGuire, who had the audacity to ask the Rangers coach what he’s been working on to help the team’s struggling power play – is unacceptable.
We ask coaches and players questions on behalf of the fan base. And Tortorella, who is abrupt and ignorant unless he has just won a series, is basically telling the customers to mind their own business.
But his business is their business. He doesn’t have to reveal any secrets. He can be vague and even misleading if he wants. But don’t tell them to screw off either, which is basically what he is doing.
What a hypocrite this guy is.
Anyway, that said, I would love to see him lose to the New Jersey Devils in the Eastern conference final. But I’m not so anxious to see Lou Lamoriello to succeed either. And the Devils bore me, still.
I’ll take the Rangers in seven, to keep with the trend, and pick the Kings to beat the Coyotes in seven.
As previously stated, I was 6-2 in the first round and 0-for-4 in Round 2, leaving me with a 6-6 record thus far in the playoffs.
Bruce?

Couple things bugging me, but just a little bit ….
-It’s good to see TSN and CBC try out all these players, ex-players and coaches on their panel, but it’s starting to get a little crazy. Like the NFL networks who use every retired star or coach that has had any success. When are they going to run out of jobs to hand out? Somebody Tweeted the other day that Bruce Boudreau was so good on HNIC that he is sure to have a permanent seat among the expert analysts if the coaching thing doesn’t work out. Boudreau is okay, but thankfully Anaheim signed him to a two year extension yesterday. As for Sean O’Donnell, well, I know he’s from Ottawa and a good guy, but he just doesn’t have the demeanor for TV. His face doesn’t move. Sorta reminds me of Mike Peca in the nice-try-but-it-didn’t-work category.
-I love baseball, but Triple-A eventually flopped in the nation’s capital. People quit caring. So why is Double-A going to be any better?
-If I hear Alex Ovechkin say “it’s not about me” one more time, I’m gonna puke. Did he have that attitude when negotiating his long term contract?
-After a solid first round of predictions in which I went 6-2, I need the Caps to beat the Rangers tomorrow night just so I don’t go oh-fer in Round 2. Yup, I also had Nashville, St. Louis and Philadelphia making it to the conference finals. What’s the matter with those people? Don’t they realize they’re ruining my chances of being considered a great prognosticator?
-There’s more, but I have to take a break right now. I’ll be back.

I’d like to be different than the rest of them and write about how great the world championships are – but I can’t.
I gave it a shot. I watched parts of a couple of games. What better way to spend the morning, right?
But there’s just not enough desire there. From the players, I mean. But because of that, from the audience, too. At least this member of it.
I find the freaky, flexible finger tricks ex-New York Giant Michael Strahan can do as he co-hosts with Kelly Ripa more interesting. If you have no idea what I’m talking about, well, get your mind out of the gutter and just trust that it’s a more intense TV segment than watching Duncan Keith defend in front of his own net.
The problem, of course, is that we’re too spoiled by NHL playoff hockey. Those guys care. The protect their net like its their home. They take all sorts of abuse to help create a scoring chance.
When their team puts the puck in the cage, they celebrate like they’ve won a lottery.
None of that can be said about what’s going on in Sweden and Finland right now.
Can’t blame the players, either. For the most part, they left their hearts and souls on the ice surfaces of North America. They are in Europe to represent proudly their countries, yes, and as pro athletes, they are born with a high level of competitiveness.
But, generally speaking, they are there on vacation. And it shows.
Canada beat Switzerland 3-2 this afternoon, I hear. That’s right, Switzerland. The Canadians have 23 NHL players in the lineup – a collection Jason Spezza asked to join but was rejected – and all they can do is squeak out a one-goal victory over a Swiss team that has Mark Streit, Roman Wick, Nino Niederreiter and Luca Sbisa as its only recognizable names?
I don’t know, maybe things will heat up a little when the preliminary round finally finishes. But right now, my interest isn’t even luke warm.
Give me Kelly and Michael and his deranged digits any time.
And if its past 10 a.m., I’m going to opt for a nap over the world championships.
Gotta rest up for Round 3 of the NHL playoffs anyway, especially the late starts we’ll be getting in the Western Conference final.

Okay, so the headline is an inside joke.
But watching the Capitals and Rangers play three overtime periods Wednesday night, where you like me in hoping they’d go to a fourth? And a fifth? And a sixth…?
I don’t know, I always think that maybe I’m gonna get to see some type of history in the making in these things. Like 11 overtimes of sudden death or something. I mean, Ryan McDonagh only played 53 minutes and 17 seconds. What would he have looked after 100 minutes? How many shots would he have blocked by then? He was already halfway to 16.
Anyway, I would have never picked Marian Gaborik to end things, even though he was the Rangers top goal scorer in the regular season. That was his first in the playoffs since Game 1 against the Senators.
For a guy who earns a team-leading salary of $7.5 million, he’s not exactly what you’d call a big game player.
And who wouldn’t have bet that the Nashville Predators would rally without the boozin twins, A. Radulov and A. Kostitsyn? Think Barry Trotz will re-instate them for Game 4?
I wouldn’t.

Senators owner Eugene Melnyk sent the following to the fans today:

On behalf of our players and the entire Senators organization, we would like to take this opportunity to thank you for your tremendous support this year. Our 20th anniversary season was filled with memorable moments and historic milestones including:
- Captain Daniel Alfredsson scoring his franchise-record 400th goal
- Alternate captain Chris Phillips playing his 1,000th NHL game – all with the Senators
- Erik Karlsson establishing a new Senators record for points by a defenceman
- Hosting the 2012 NHL All-Star Game in Hockey Country and having Daniel Alfredsson, Jason Spezza, Erik Karlsson and Milan Michalek voted by our fans to the starting line-up
- The opening of the Rink of Dreams at Ottawa City Hall
- Installation of the Bell HD Screen, one of the largest in the NHL

Our season began with tempered expectations but under the direction of new head coach Paul MacLean and his staff, our team played an exciting brand of hockey and displayed a never-quit attitude. Their hard work all season resulted in your Senators returning to the Stanley Cup playoffs for the 13th time in the last 15 years – the best of any Canadian NHL team.
Our team success also resulted in a number of Senators receiving league-wide recognition. Captain Daniel Alfredsson has been nominated for the Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy, which is awarded to the player that best exemplifies the qualities of perseverance, sportsmanship and dedication to hockey. Erik Karlsson is the first Senator ever nominated for the James Norris Memorial Trophy as the league’s top defenceman. In addition, the NHL announced today that our head coach Paul MacLean is a finalist for the Jack Adams Award to the NHL coach judged to have contributed the most to his team’s success.
As proud as we are about how our team performed this season we are equally excited about our bright future. With our coaching staff, players and prospects, we believe we are on the right track to building a team that can and will compete for the Stanley Cup every year.
Throughout this season and the Stanley Cup playoffs our team was fuelled by your passion and energy. Never in our 20-year history have we been more proud of our team and our fans.
Thank you for believing and for being the greatest fans in the world.
Sincerely,
Eugene