Week 9: Slashing teams like it’s a fire sale

Something amazing happens every day of the NHL season.

An amazing pass, an amazing goal, an amazing moment between rivals. You get what I mean.

If ever you want to see any one of those amazing moments, relive and replay them, you could always trawl through Twitter or games. Or you can go on NHL.com and look at Short Shifts. Here you will find the “funniest, craziest, silliest & sweetest moments” from the week.

One moment in Monday’s game between the Buffalo Sabres and Dallas Stars stood out to me. It was titled “Tyler Ennis nearly pulls off lacrosse move for Sabres”.
(Side note: if you have been paying attention you’ll remember Dallas was in my first round of cuts. Buffalo is still in – for now.)

Working at Grassroots alongside Quincy Kennedy, who is more than just passionate about lacrosse, I have developed somewhat of an interest in the sport. So I see a headline like that, I click on it.

Even if you haven’t seen the game, or the clip, I’m sure you can gather what it was about from the headline. Sabre’s player Tyler Ennis uses some sort of lacrosse move to try and score. Picture this: Ennis is behind the net, scoops up the puck onto his stick and skates around the side while trying to dump the puck over the goalie’s right shoulder.

You know what, go watch it. It’s definitely worth it.

My question is, how is that legal? Obviously it is because he wasn’t pulled up on it. But seriously, how are you allowed to scoop up the puck onto your stick, skate with it and attempt to bat it in?

Either way, it was pretty impressive (even though it didn’t go in).

 

What you’ll also find in Short Shifts this week is the reason why I have fallen in love with the Sharks a little more.

The Sharks released an AMAZING (told you there’s something amazing always happening in the NHL) ad on Monday featuring the fabulously bearded Joe Thornton and Brent Burns.

The Sharks for Life ad is probably one of the funniest and best things I’ve seen. Honestly. It had me literally laughing out loud. And the outtakes were just as good.

In the ad, Thornton and Burns, known for their stellar performance on the ice and their impressive facial hair, sit at a barber shop and pepper a fan with compliments on his “sweet chin curtain”.

Yes, “sweet chin curtain” was really used.

Other zingers were:

Thornton: “I love the way you moisturise”

Burns: “That’s some spicy salad you got rockin’”

Thornton: “Oil it up baby!”

But perhaps my favourite came from Burns (saved the best for last): “Chewbacca has nothing on you”, complete with the Chewbacca sound.

Definitely check it out.

What does this have to do with hockey and me picking a team? It’s hard to fall in love with a team based solely on how it plays hockey. You need other things too. Like a sense of humour. Which is clearly what the Sharks have (and a creative marketing team).

 

Anyway, how’s about that Pens-Caps game on Tuesday? 15 goals. OT. Described as a game for the ages. Big stuff!

I loved Nicholas J Cotsonika’s write up on NHL.com about this game. It really cut to the heart as to why this was such a big deal (for those who had no idea like me):

“The reason the Pittsburgh Penguins’ 8-7 overtime win against the Washington Capitals was such a stop-what-you’re-doing-and-turn-on-the-game event was that this isn’t an era of wide-open, no-defense, weak-goaltending hockey.

“This is the era of the salary cap, of parity in the standings, of video study, of defensive systems, of fourth-line forwards and third-pair defensemen who can skate, of goaltenders who are bigger, better and more well-equipped than ever before.

“And they still scored like crazy.”

I’ve noticed that the NHL and teams really keep track of all their history and stats. Each week you see a team celebrating a historic milestone, or a player milestone. It’s nice. But how? There’s been 100 years of NHL. How can you keep track of all that!

Kudos to the people that do keep track of it.

 

Speaking of history. Remember last week I went through and told you which NHL mascots I loved and hated? I noted a story about Calgary Flames mascot Harvey the Hound. In 2003 his tongue was ripped out by the then coach of the Edmonton Oilers.

It’s funny that this week the NHL has re-shared that story – complete with the video.

Now that I’m nine weeks into this journey of mine I have noticed something: I have more knowledge about the bigger name teams than others like the ones I have already cut (Florida, Minnesota, Dallas, Colorado, Winnipeg and St Louis).

I’m clearly attracted to the bigger teams like the Flyers, Pens, Habs, Rangers and Sharks. There’s others, but you get my drift.

You have your big names and your lesser names. And I care more about the big names than the lesser. I find myself going to the bigger name accounts, retweeting their content, seeking out stories about them.

Does that make me elitist? I said right at the beginning I was going to be honest and so I am.

And with that, I am going to cut the following teams from the contenders list (be prepared – this is where it gets truly brutal):

Anaheim Ducks

Edmonton Oilers

Boston Bruins

Ottawa Senators

Nashville Predators

Buffalo Sabres

NY Islanders

Carolina Hurricanes

New Jersey Devils

And last, but not least, Toronto Maple Leafs. Apologies to Grassroots co-host Mat Lindsay, a dedicated Leafs fan, but they’ve got to go. The Leafs don’t do it for me.

With this latest round of cuts, I’ve now scratched 16 teams.

That leaves 12: Columbus Blue Jackets, Washington Capitals, Pittsburgh Penguins, Chicago Black Hawks, Montreal Canadiens, San Jose Sharks, Calgary Flames, Philadelphia Flyers, LA Kings, Vancouver Canucks, Taps Bay Lightning and Detroit Red Wings.

Funnily enough, the Leafs are the first team I’ve cut that someone from Grassroots follows. Everyone else’s team (aside from Mat’s) is still in the mix.

Til next week!