Been kind of a tough week so I thought I'd try to have some fun with this weeks blog.
If the following upsets some of you in anyway, either toughen up or relax. It is a hockey blog not Time Magazine......:)
"Hey coach, keep it clean!!!!!"
That's what a ref yelled at me when a few weeks ago while I was coaching my mite team. Couldn't figure out what I did wrong until I heard myself yell out the next line combination again, "Knipple, Buts, Godown....you're up, Godown, Knipple, Buts....you're up!!!!!" That's right, I have three little players with the last names, Knipple, Godown and Butler.....Ooops. Not a good idea to have them on the same line.
So it got me thinking about great hockey names and some strange names that I played against over the years. I played against a Tom Sawyer, Paul Macartney, Phillip Collins, Jesse James, Jack Nickelson and Walt Kronkite.....no joke.
We decided to get together a list of some of the all time great hockey names. I have commented on some, but for some, nothing really needs to be said.
Here goes.
The All Spice Team
Herb Brooks
Basil McRae
Ryan Pepperall
Bob Dill
Bill Root
Brian Lavender
John Sorrel
Floyd Curry
Moose Sage
The All Exclamation Team
Brian Bellows
Kevin Haller
Harry Howell
Douf Mohns
Stephane Yelle
Some other dandies.
Jeff BeukeBOOM!!!!! (god he could hit!)
Miroslav Satan (Devilish)
Zdeno Ciger (smoking shot!)
Jim Carey (funny guy)
John Madden (loves football)
Jim Playfair (rarely did...)
Valerie Zelepukin ......say no more.
Darren Puppa......
Ron Tugnut (groin injury)
Steve Passmore (uh he was a goalie...)
Steve Lyon (had a huge red afro...)
Rich Parent (never paid for anything...)
Steve Heinz (wore #57)
Zarley Zalapski (just like that name)
Al Iafrate ( I was Iafrate of his slap shot!!!)
Adam Deadmarsh
Larry 'Izzie' Goodenough (obviously one of my favourites)
Martin St. Louis (of course plays in Tampa....)
Bruce Shoebottom (I would have felt like a heel if I forgot that one....)
Hakan Loob (yuck!)
Frank Pieterangelo (the Apostle....I actually scored on him....)
Paul Tittman?
Jim Tittmore??
and finally...
Artem Chubarov
Johnny SanViagra
Paul Dyck
Harry Dyck
Dick Cockburn
Dick Duff
Cory Pecker ( a female commentator in Toronto actually used the line, "Pecker pokes it thru the five hole!!!" when doing highlights)
My two favorites, Bob Beers and former Canuck draft pick John Labatt.:)
If you have any other ones let me know!
The good news concerning my mite team is that next season we have two new players signing up. They are brothers, 5 yrs old and 6 years old, last name Johnson. That's right, our team will now have a big Johnson and a little Johnson.....Let's see how they fit in....:)
If you want more wacky hockey name fun, click on this link. (Grown ups only!)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DFJE6_EG1vw
Saturday, February 26, 2011
Monday, February 21, 2011
Does Size Matter?
One of the funniest stories that happened to me as a player was on draft day. After being selected to the Flyers, everyone was invited up to a suite in the hotel that the Flyers staff had rented. After quite a bit of celebrating, my Mom was in a conversation with one of the Flyers scouts. She asked the scout, "When it really gets down to it, what is it you look for in a player?" The scout looked at her for a while and then said straight faced....."We look at the height of the father and the weight of the mother......"Needless to say my mom was a bit taken aback. (you have to appreciate scouts' senses of humor) That was 1986.
But that story came back to me after an interesting conversation at the rink the other day with a parent. The parent was concerned her son was a good player but a bit small and that they could never really accomplish anything in hockey because of his size. We talked for a while about how the game is now and once we started looking closely at things, I think her opinion changed. Mine certainly has over the last few years.
It wasn't that long ago that the NHL and pro hockey was dominated by big players. It seemed for a span there 15 years or so ago that you pretty much had to be 6'2" to even be considered a prospect. No longer!
The rule changes have allowed smaller, but great skating players be a large part of today's game.
Once again the research team at Platinum Hockey went to work to see how many players in the NHL are 6'0" or under.
I was amazed to see that almost 36% of players on rosters were 6'0'' tall or under.
The other thing you look at when you watch the game today is that everyone is a good skater. The days of the past when your 3rd and 4rth lines were dominated by big guys that weren't always great skaters are gone. And forget about being slow and playing defence today. There is no way with these rules.
Again that is why I think the USA Hockey's ADM is going to be a great program once fully implemented. Our kids have to be spending a lot more time each week working specifically on skills like skating that doesn't happen in games. Today's coaches have to be aware the time that must be spent on skating not just as very young players but for all levels.
The great news is that scouts are no longer looking at the height of the father and weight of the mother. I am pretty sure they would love to see how they skate though!!!!!!
Congratulations to Rod Brind'Amour!!
If you didn't get a chance to see the ceremony for the retirement of Flyer Alumni Rod Brind'Amour's number in Carolina you have to click on this link. It is probably the best retirement speech I have ever heard.
Rod was a great teammate and one of the nicest guys I ever had the privilege to play with.
Awesome job Rod!!!
But that story came back to me after an interesting conversation at the rink the other day with a parent. The parent was concerned her son was a good player but a bit small and that they could never really accomplish anything in hockey because of his size. We talked for a while about how the game is now and once we started looking closely at things, I think her opinion changed. Mine certainly has over the last few years.
It wasn't that long ago that the NHL and pro hockey was dominated by big players. It seemed for a span there 15 years or so ago that you pretty much had to be 6'2" to even be considered a prospect. No longer!
The rule changes have allowed smaller, but great skating players be a large part of today's game.
Once again the research team at Platinum Hockey went to work to see how many players in the NHL are 6'0" or under.
| Team | Total Players | Below 6'' | Above 6" | |
| Anaheim Ducks | 33 | 9 | 24 | |
| Atlanta Thrashers | 31 | 13 | 18 | |
| Boston Bruins | 32 | 15 | 17 | |
| Buffalo Sabres | 32 | 10 | 22 | |
| Calgary Flames | 31 | 6 | 25 | |
| Carolina Hurricanes | 31 | 15 | 16 | |
| Chicago Blackhawks | 35 | 11 | 24 | |
| Colorado Avalanche | 35 | 15 | 20 | |
| Columbus Blue Jackets | 35 | 10 | 25 | |
| Dallas Stars | 35 | 14 | 21 | |
| Detroit Red Wings | 32 | 19 | 13 | |
| Edmonton Oilers | 36 | 10 | 26 | |
| Florida Panthers | 33 | 14 | 19 | |
| Los Angeles Kings | 33 | 13 | 20 | |
| Minnesota Wild | 38 | 14 | 23 | |
| Montreal Canadiens | 32 | 17 | 15 | |
| Nashville Predators | 34 | 12 | 22 | |
| New Jersey Devils | 38 | 11 | 27 | |
| New York Islanders | 39 | 19 | 20 | |
| New York Rangers | 36 | 11 | 25 | |
| Ottawa Senators | 32 | 9 | 23 | |
| Philadelphia Flyers | 32 | 10 | 22 | |
| Phoenix Coyotes | 33 | 10 | 23 | |
| Pittsburgh Penguins | 36 | 16 | 20 | |
| San Jose Sharks | 34 | 9 | 25 | |
| St Louis Blues | 35 | 15 | 22 | |
| Tampa Bay Lightning | 37 | 12 | 25 | |
| Toronto Maple Leafs | 35 | 10 | 25 | |
| Vancouver Canucks | 36 | 11 | 25 | |
| Washington Capitals | 31 | 6 | 25 | |
| 1022 | 366 | 657 |
I was amazed to see that almost 36% of players on rosters were 6'0'' tall or under.
The other thing you look at when you watch the game today is that everyone is a good skater. The days of the past when your 3rd and 4rth lines were dominated by big guys that weren't always great skaters are gone. And forget about being slow and playing defence today. There is no way with these rules.
Again that is why I think the USA Hockey's ADM is going to be a great program once fully implemented. Our kids have to be spending a lot more time each week working specifically on skills like skating that doesn't happen in games. Today's coaches have to be aware the time that must be spent on skating not just as very young players but for all levels.
The great news is that scouts are no longer looking at the height of the father and weight of the mother. I am pretty sure they would love to see how they skate though!!!!!!
Congratulations to Rod Brind'Amour!!
If you didn't get a chance to see the ceremony for the retirement of Flyer Alumni Rod Brind'Amour's number in Carolina you have to click on this link. It is probably the best retirement speech I have ever heard.
Rod was a great teammate and one of the nicest guys I ever had the privilege to play with.
Awesome job Rod!!!
Monday, February 14, 2011
Do you lean to the right or left?
I had a pretty interesting conversation the other day concerning left handed shooting hockey players versus right handed shooting hockey players. (well I guess it is interesting if you like hockey.) A dad from my Learn to Play Hockey Class asked me which way should his son shoot......
So it got me thinking about why players shoot the way they do and if had anything to do with where they are from. I looked at our clinic and a learn to play class of a group of young american players that I have been working with and realized about 80% of them shot right. I know from my past experience teaching schools in Canada that about 70% seemed to shoot left. It got me wondering why and have since asked a lot of people their opinion. The only somewhat logical response I got had to do with a lot of the American kids learning baseball first and the majority of them swinging right handed. Sounds good to me.....I guess. The other theory my coaching buddies came up with is that there were a lot of pure right handed goal scorers in NHL history. The reason could be that a right handed shot would normally be shooting to the far side of the net, which happens most times to be the goalies stick side, usually the weaker side for the goalie. Left shots normally shoot far side as well which turns out to be the goalies glove hand. (probably why I didn't score more, I am a lefty.....)
But a lot still remained a mystery so I put the cracker jack research team from Platinum Hockey on the case to come up with some more information to try to figure things out. Here is what they came up with.
We decided to look at the top 10 players of all time. (this can be argued in another blog as well so dont get mad....)
1. Wayne Gretzky L
2. Bobby Orr L
3. Mario Lemieux R
4. Gordie Howe R (but he could shoot pretty damn good Left as well)
5. Bobby Hull L
6. Maurice Richard L
7. Jean Belliveau L
8. Mark Messier L
9. Steve Yzerman R
10. Ray Bourque L
So that is 7-3 lefties to righties unless you count Mr. Howe as a lefty as I do. 8-2.
Then we looked at the top Goal Scorers of all time
Top Goal Scorers
1. Wayne Gretzky L
2. Gordie Howe R
3. Brett Hull R
4. Marcel Dionne R
5. Phil Esposito L
6. Mike Gartner R
7.Mark Messier L
8. Steve Yzerman R
9. Mario Lemieux R
10. Luc Robitaille L
Righties win that one 6-4......
So then we looked at the current breakdown of the NHL Players from the most represented countries as a percentage of which way they shoot.
So what did we learn?
1. It looks like there is not that much baseball in Europe........that is about all I can figure out.
2. Crosby, left. Ovechkin right. Malkin left. Stamkos right..... the confusion continues.
3. I am pretty confident that Barack Obama shoots left and there is no doubt that Sarah Palin shoots Right......:)
To Be Continued.......
So it got me thinking about why players shoot the way they do and if had anything to do with where they are from. I looked at our clinic and a learn to play class of a group of young american players that I have been working with and realized about 80% of them shot right. I know from my past experience teaching schools in Canada that about 70% seemed to shoot left. It got me wondering why and have since asked a lot of people their opinion. The only somewhat logical response I got had to do with a lot of the American kids learning baseball first and the majority of them swinging right handed. Sounds good to me.....I guess. The other theory my coaching buddies came up with is that there were a lot of pure right handed goal scorers in NHL history. The reason could be that a right handed shot would normally be shooting to the far side of the net, which happens most times to be the goalies stick side, usually the weaker side for the goalie. Left shots normally shoot far side as well which turns out to be the goalies glove hand. (probably why I didn't score more, I am a lefty.....)
But a lot still remained a mystery so I put the cracker jack research team from Platinum Hockey on the case to come up with some more information to try to figure things out. Here is what they came up with.
We decided to look at the top 10 players of all time. (this can be argued in another blog as well so dont get mad....)
1. Wayne Gretzky L
2. Bobby Orr L
3. Mario Lemieux R
4. Gordie Howe R (but he could shoot pretty damn good Left as well)
5. Bobby Hull L
6. Maurice Richard L
7. Jean Belliveau L
8. Mark Messier L
9. Steve Yzerman R
10. Ray Bourque L
So that is 7-3 lefties to righties unless you count Mr. Howe as a lefty as I do. 8-2.
Then we looked at the top Goal Scorers of all time
Top Goal Scorers
1. Wayne Gretzky L
2. Gordie Howe R
3. Brett Hull R
4. Marcel Dionne R
5. Phil Esposito L
6. Mike Gartner R
7.Mark Messier L
8. Steve Yzerman R
9. Mario Lemieux R
10. Luc Robitaille L
Righties win that one 6-4......
So then we looked at the current breakdown of the NHL Players from the most represented countries as a percentage of which way they shoot.
| Country | Total Players | Left Shots | Right Shots | % left shots (app.) | % right shots(app.) |
| CAN | 599 | 392 | 207 | 65.44% | 34.55% |
| USA | 250 | 136 | 114 | 54.40% | 45.60% |
| CZE | 50 | 31 | 19 | 62% | 38% |
| DEU | 13 | 11 | 1 | 84.61% | 7.69% |
| FIN | 39 | 32 | 7 | 82.05% | 17.94% |
| RUS | 37 | 27 | 10 | 72.97% | 27.02% |
| SVK | 19 | 16 | 3 | 84.21% | 15.78% |
| SWE | 68 | 57 | 11 | 83.82% | 16.17% |
So what did we learn?
1. It looks like there is not that much baseball in Europe........that is about all I can figure out.
2. Crosby, left. Ovechkin right. Malkin left. Stamkos right..... the confusion continues.
3. I am pretty confident that Barack Obama shoots left and there is no doubt that Sarah Palin shoots Right......:)
To Be Continued.......
Saturday, February 5, 2011
Georgia on my mind!!!
Ok, a bit of a break from just a hockey blog during the nasty part of the winter.....
"Hello, I am Jim Nantz, and welcome to Butler Cabin".........'and that is where I get so relaxed, I soil myself......'. That is a line my buddy tells me every time the opening broadcast of the Masters Golf Tournament from Augusta Georgia kicks off in early April. It refers to the silky, sedating voice of the legendary CBS broadcaster, Jim Nantz and his opening from the legendary wood panelled, fire burning comfort den that is called Butlers Cabin on the grounds of Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta Georgia.
What does this have to do with Super Bowl weekend and Hockey? Well here goes.....
Hockey and golf are tied together. Most hockey people love golf so bear with me....Almost all of the guys I played with are big time golfers and I know the current players are still really into it.
This weekend is arguably one of the hardest weekends to deal with in the winter. Why? Well football comes to an end and then we wait for Hockey Playoffs and try to get by with March Madness. Spring training is only about a week away but sometimes that makes it worst, getting pictures of the baseball guys down in Clearwater stretching...... It makes for a long couple of months.....
I find it amazing how fast the time from Thanskgiving to New Years goes compared to how slow the same amount of time goes from the Super Bowl to the Masters.......brutal.....
Now back to the relationship between golf and hockey.
My golf pro growing up in Peterborough, Ontario told me as a young golfer and hockey player, face to face, that the guy who invented hockey made the season in the winter so he could golf in the summer season. There you go!!! No further proof needed. Have you ever seen hockey players golf?? No joke. I got to see my buddy Dan Quinn play Mario Lemieux and it was unreal seeing how good these guys can play. Find a charity golf event in the summer and I am sure one of the hockey guys will be there!!!
So it got me thinking about both sports.
This time of year, suddenly the commercials for the Masters start to run and it gives you some kind of comfort that spring may not be too far away. But this has been a tough winter and we have a ways to go so back to Augusta dreaming.....
I was fortunate enough to go to the practice rounds at the Masters for about 5 straight years. There is no place in the world like Augusta National. If you get a chance to go, do it.....It is kind of a tough town but the course is beyond your wildest dreams. I have never seen anything as beautiful in my life! You can walk the hallowed grounds of Bobby Jones, Gene Sarazen, Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer and then walk about 200 yards down the street and see John Daly selling merchandise out of his RV in the parking lot of Hooters!!!! There is nothing like it!
One night we actually met the James Brown on James Brown Boulevard where he is from!
Only at the Masters!!!
Now then, enough of the dreaming. Back to waiting for hockey playoffs and working hard during the winter!!!!!
But always remember. Sometimes in a hockey season, it is natural to dream of warmer times.....
If you ever need to relax from the winter stress or are just constipated, remember.....
"Hello, I am Jim Nantz, and welcome to Butler Cabin".........:)
Hockey Guys are Pretty Cool!!
Saw a twitter report about a great hockey guy moment. Here goes.
NHL Player Mike Rupp during warmup of a game bumped up against the glass in the corner of the end he was warming up in. It ended up knocking down a beer of a fan that had placed it on the ledge of the other side. He saw what happened, went and talked to his trainer and told the trainer to go into his wallet in his pants in the locker room and get a $20.00 bill. He signed it and said sorry, taped it around a puck and threw it to the fan who lost his beer.....
Great stuff!!!!
Not sure how many guys from the other major sports would have done that......
"Hello, I am Jim Nantz, and welcome to Butler Cabin".........'and that is where I get so relaxed, I soil myself......'. That is a line my buddy tells me every time the opening broadcast of the Masters Golf Tournament from Augusta Georgia kicks off in early April. It refers to the silky, sedating voice of the legendary CBS broadcaster, Jim Nantz and his opening from the legendary wood panelled, fire burning comfort den that is called Butlers Cabin on the grounds of Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta Georgia.
What does this have to do with Super Bowl weekend and Hockey? Well here goes.....
Hockey and golf are tied together. Most hockey people love golf so bear with me....Almost all of the guys I played with are big time golfers and I know the current players are still really into it.
This weekend is arguably one of the hardest weekends to deal with in the winter. Why? Well football comes to an end and then we wait for Hockey Playoffs and try to get by with March Madness. Spring training is only about a week away but sometimes that makes it worst, getting pictures of the baseball guys down in Clearwater stretching...... It makes for a long couple of months.....
I find it amazing how fast the time from Thanskgiving to New Years goes compared to how slow the same amount of time goes from the Super Bowl to the Masters.......brutal.....
Now back to the relationship between golf and hockey.
My golf pro growing up in Peterborough, Ontario told me as a young golfer and hockey player, face to face, that the guy who invented hockey made the season in the winter so he could golf in the summer season. There you go!!! No further proof needed. Have you ever seen hockey players golf?? No joke. I got to see my buddy Dan Quinn play Mario Lemieux and it was unreal seeing how good these guys can play. Find a charity golf event in the summer and I am sure one of the hockey guys will be there!!!
So it got me thinking about both sports.
This time of year, suddenly the commercials for the Masters start to run and it gives you some kind of comfort that spring may not be too far away. But this has been a tough winter and we have a ways to go so back to Augusta dreaming.....
I was fortunate enough to go to the practice rounds at the Masters for about 5 straight years. There is no place in the world like Augusta National. If you get a chance to go, do it.....It is kind of a tough town but the course is beyond your wildest dreams. I have never seen anything as beautiful in my life! You can walk the hallowed grounds of Bobby Jones, Gene Sarazen, Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer and then walk about 200 yards down the street and see John Daly selling merchandise out of his RV in the parking lot of Hooters!!!! There is nothing like it!
One night we actually met the James Brown on James Brown Boulevard where he is from!
Only at the Masters!!!
Now then, enough of the dreaming. Back to waiting for hockey playoffs and working hard during the winter!!!!!
But always remember. Sometimes in a hockey season, it is natural to dream of warmer times.....
If you ever need to relax from the winter stress or are just constipated, remember.....
"Hello, I am Jim Nantz, and welcome to Butler Cabin".........:)
Hockey Guys are Pretty Cool!!
Saw a twitter report about a great hockey guy moment. Here goes.
NHL Player Mike Rupp during warmup of a game bumped up against the glass in the corner of the end he was warming up in. It ended up knocking down a beer of a fan that had placed it on the ledge of the other side. He saw what happened, went and talked to his trainer and told the trainer to go into his wallet in his pants in the locker room and get a $20.00 bill. He signed it and said sorry, taped it around a puck and threw it to the fan who lost his beer.....
Great stuff!!!!
Not sure how many guys from the other major sports would have done that......
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