Well I’ve been here in Everett for a week and a bit now and its already been a hell of a time. I spent most of the first few days in various states of unconsciousness on couches and beds as I tried to get over the most wicked jet lag I’ve ever experienced (I’d never had a problem with it flying to the States before) and adjusting to the cold.
In the first week I’ve been here, the team’s gone 4 from 5 games (I like to think I’m lucky because they’d won 3 from the last 12 before that), made some minor rights trades and a released a player. Sadly, the player released was a very good friend of mine, Dale Hunt. Unfortunately this meant the most time we spent hanging out involved packing his life into a suitcase so he could head back to Manitoba. However, with the team also releasing his rights (a classy move) he’s able to carry on his hockey career whether in the W or another league where the opportunity presents itself. He’s received a lot of interest from MJHL teams back towards home and with one more year left on his eligibility he’s looking forward to atleast another good year of hockey ahead of him.
It was rough though, to see first hand the necessary business side of hockey when it is someone you care about and know well, and particular when it is kids, teenagers who are being shipped around the country between what they know. However, as any of them will tell you, its what they agree to in order to play the game. I know if I had the option, I’d agree to the exact same thing And that’d just to be able to work for the team!
A lot of my time so far has been spent observing and I’m learning a lot about ticket sales and promotions, different marketing and merchandising initiatives and coming up with some great ideas and plans to implement when I get back home. So far I’ve already emailed my team back home with Sponsorship Proposals and merchandising plans, and I’m working on something regarding season tickets at the moment. They’re going to get sick of me soon enough!!
Anyway, the team’s off the ice from practice, JR’s got some adjectives for me to look up for the broadcasts, and I’m off to Seattle this afternoon for the night’s game. So it’s time for me to scoot. Blog to you all soon.
My plane leaves in a handful of hours and I’ll be heading North towards Everett on my next big adventure. Keep your eyes peeled to this space to read, not only more about hockey, but the adventures I have whilst on my travels.
“Christmas” (noun) – a day of the year that falls one day before the World Junior Hockey Championship officially starts.
I fell in love with World Juniors during the lock out. I’d only been around hockey for a few years at that point and with internet game streaming practically non-existent at this point (I really only found most of it last season) I listened to a lot of OHL hockey on the internet radio. Then world juniors came along, Patrice Bergeron was playing (I had a bit of a 16 year old school girl crush on the young frenchie) and I was hooked. Ever since then, every year World Juniors has become part of my hockey life.
Here’s a look at a few of my favourite moments of the World Juniors in the last few years.
The First Year
The first year I discovered WJC was that of the lockout. That year, the team that took the ice was as close to a dream team as one could imagine. Of a team of 22, 16 are currently in the NHL, and the majority of those are dominant players. The team had two current NHL captains, numerous NHL assistant captains, team scoring leaders, league scoring leaders, all-stars, trophy nominees and winners and that’s just the Canadian side of the equation. Throw in the pairing of Ovechkin and Malkin and you’ve got a match up a lot of hockey fans would give their eye teeth to see again.
The 2005 Gold Medal Game
Whilst knowing the score and having celebrated like a wild fan (I had worked so someone had brought the score into work for me), it was a month and a half after the tournament ended and the “non-alcoholic champagne” was popped that I finally saw that game. To this date I’ve seen the game upwards of 60 times with the tape itself having actually started to loose its colour. My favourite moment of the game, forever immortalised by the screamings of Pierre McGuire was what is now known as the “Double Dion”, the moment Phanuef clears out two russians to set the line of Crosby-Perry-Bergeron off on an almost clear 3 – 0. The goal, the whole play itself is still one of my favourite moments in hockey. In fact, I’m pretty sure I can do the entire call from memory.
Stefan Legein
I have a little love affair with Stefan Legein. He’s funny as hell, cute and incredibly endearing with his chirpy, chippy and hard nosed style of play. Hell, I even have an entire blog post to him and his youtube highlights (here). It was the World Juniors that many of us not entirely obsessed with Jr Hockey first got to meet Mr Legein, and really it was probably the first time many got to see his endearing personality shine as the camera’s of a nation (or atleast TSN’s) fell on him. And I mean, anyway, who doesn’t love watching a ecstatic, shaving cream covered hockey boy half pounce a TV personality? I’m pretty sure TSN, or James Cybulski atleast has a crush on the kid.
The Battle between PK Subban and Jonathan Tavares
PK Subban was badass. PK Subban was a brash, trash talking little d-man with a hell of a lot of swagger and a style of play that reflected all of this (even if Pat Quinn wasn’t a fan of the “Subbi-do” Spinorama). Best of all PK Subban was everything that the shy, seemingly personality-less Jonathan Tavares wasn’t. Until you put them in the same room. You put PK and JT in the same interview and you ended up with some hilarious stuff from the boys. Who loves Mariah Carey? Those boys do (“She’s decent. You can’t be dissing Mariah like that”.) Such gems also include “PK. You’re the toughest guy I know with your gloves on.” and a snipping match in a group interview as Thomas Hickey and Zach Boychuk stare confusedly at the pair. The two interviews are here and here
Going to Ottawa
In my travels last year, I was fortunate enough to end up in Ottawa for Christmas / New Years and got to experience the World Juniors first hand. It may have only been Canada v Germany and a bit of a one sided game but to me it was heaven. I turned up with my sign, my Team Canada hoodie and glitter flag cheek decals and for that night, I was truly as close to being Canadian as you can get without that whole pesky citizenship thing. I helped pass the flag, got to cheer and holler and even occasionally yelled random abuse when I felt the need arose.
2009 Canada / USA – New Years Eve Game
Despite the intense love I have for the 2005 Gold Medal Game, the 2009 Canada / USA match is quite possibly my favourite WJC game. It had everything. It had the underdog attacking and the favourite making a come back. It had passion, drama and a lot of fire and bad blood between the teams. It had jr team mates, room mates pitted against each other, both fighting for supremacy and the free pass through to the semi-finals. So many times since then, I have gone back and watched that game. I even tried to tonight, only to discover that HockeyStreams.com, my savior for hockey archives has finally taken down some of its old streams. Heartbreak.
It’s Boxing Day here, which means that very shortly it’ll be Boxing Day in Canada and once again the fun will begin. Which member of the team will I end up crushing on this year after some amazing play, hilarious interview or endearing moment?
I can’t wait to find out!
See you at 6am Australian time, Team Canada. In the mix for six!
P.S. Team Finland. I no longer shall be supporting you as you cut my friend and Silvertip, Rasmus Rissanen (formally known as Finland to me). I do not like this.
I love the entry draft. All those fresh faced young hockey players, surrounded by their family and friends and still fill of hopes and dreams that GM’s and the real world are just waiting to crush.
My most recent favourite draft moments involve Brian Burke, whether it be watching his soul being crushed as the Kings draft Brayden Schenn and ending his Schenn and Schenn dreams, or the steely glee as he in turn crushes Bryan Murray’s dreams of drafting Nazem Kadri, with a simple “well we’re going to take him”, the draft holds a lot of excitement for those of us who love the jr leagues, and gossiping about what our team’s futures holds.
But what governs the draft?
Article 8.1 sets out that the draft shall be held in June every league year at a date determined by the commissioner. Each draft (8.2) shall consist of 7 rounds, and each of those rounds shall consist of the same number of selections as there shall be clubs in the following league year.
8.3 sets out the guidelines for compensatory draft picks obtained from a loss of a draft pick (they are different rules for loss of a Group III Free agent), requiring that the additional number of picks shall not exceed the number of clubs in the league the following year. The right to a compensatory pick arises if they lose rights to an unsigned draft choice, who was drafted in the first round. This loss of rights cannot arise if the loss is due to their own failure to tender a Bona Fide Offer.
The pick they are granted shall be of the same numerical choice as before but in the 2nd round of the entry draft which immediately follows the date a which the loss of rights occur. A recent example of this was the Phoneix Coyotes and the loss of Blake Wheeler. Whilst the Coyotes made a legitmate Bona Fide Offer to Wheeler, they failed to retain his services on contract (as he wished to run off somewhere other than Phoenix as a FA) and were awarded the 5th pick in the 2nd round as their compensation.
It’s been a while since I posted, I’ve been caught up with getting ready to go overseas, organising christmas and still working and so forth. One of the things that has been keeping me busy is launching and designing products for my new venture Heartbreak Hockey.
I came up with the idea for HbH when I was getting frustrated with the large amount of slutty and sparkly that appeared in Women’s hockey clothes.
So if you’re looking for something for the hardcore Hockey Girl in your life, give our site a look and I”m sure you’ll find something she’ll love!
It’s really happening. Once again I’m off to the wide world of North America to work with a hockey time. This time it’s the Everett Silvertips of the WHL, my first choice and absolute dream team to be heading to! Doug Soetaert (who’s name gives me so much trouble with spelling) the teams General Manager has been so incredibly generous with his allowing of me to come and work with his team for two and a half months. For this I am incredibly excited, and will be eternally grateful. Everett truly is a model franchise, and the success they’ve had in a mere 6 and a bit seasons producing the likes of Peter Mueller, Zach Hamill and Taylor Ellington and consistently figuring in the WHL playoff race has been incredibly. I can’t wait to get there and learn all I can.
Articles 1 – 7 of the CBA are your precursors. They set out some general guides which whilst important to the functioning of the agreement, don’t make-up the “pith and marrow” of the agreement.
Article 1 – Definitions.
Definitions! I love definitions sections of legislation and agreements. For a lack of a better description, and with points awarded for complete obviousness of the term, definitions define what certain teams. Such definition is really essentially, particularly when they get in the hands of shifty lawyers, who like to suggest certain interpretations of a term to suit their goals. The CBA definitions section enlightens with such pearls as:
“League” or “NHL” refers to the National Hockey League.
“All-Star Game” means the hockey game so designated by the NHL in which All-Star Players play.
However, as not to make light completely of the definitions system, which as I said actually serves a very useful function there are many useful definitions contained within the agreement. A useful examples of this include “European Player” which affects draft exceptions on the basis of having not played in North America and being above a certain age; or a “Free Agent” which is the umbrella term which breaks down into “Restricted Free Agent” and “Unrestricted Free Agent” all defined.
The CBA is a big, scary 457 page document which has been legalised to death. How do I know it’s been legalised to death? I’m a law student. I see this shit every single day with fabulously over-written legislation and research papers as well as within ancient textbooks. I’m used to it. I decipher it for an education.
The CBA is the bible of the hockey business. It governs how we acquire players, what we can do with them, how much we can pay them, how we can construct and run our teams, and the finicky procedural rules we must adhere to.
The number of fans however, that completely, or even reasonably understand the finer details of the CBA, is minimal. Reading the CBA is a daunting task. I know this. I’ve read it twice (I’m sick like that) .
To save you the trouble however, I’ve read it again for you and this time I’m breaking it down, Article by Article.
So here I present! Naked Shootout: A Stripped Down Look at the CBA
My first ever NHL game was San Jose v Toronto at the Shark Tank. It was Ron Wilson’s return to San Jose and a match up between the first NHL team I’d fallen in love with and the team I loved the most now. After watching for so many years, I finally got to walk into an NHL arena and comprehend the amazing-ness (for lack of a better term) of live hockey.
To celebrate the occasion, my geekiness and excitement about the game I’d made a sign on the Cal-Train out from San Francisco with my friend. A knock off of the ever so popular mastercard commercial it read:
Plane Tickets from Australia $3,000.
Two Tickets to the Sharks Game: $100.
Saying I saw JR Play : Priceless.
Pre-game saw me standing against the glass with my friends, in awe as I was finally seeing all these players I’d watched for years on my tiny computer screen in front of me. Whilst I was busy staring off in awe, someone skated over and elbowed JR, pointing in my direction. My friend who had been watching, pointed it out as he came barrelling past the first time, grinned spun around a second time and stopped, tapped the sign through the glass and winked. I then let out the most un-dignified squeel in existence.
Two days later, I found myself in the Sharks locker room, a guest of Randy Hahn, the Sharks Commentator as he introduced me around. Roenick was barreling around the room, heading out the door when Randy called him over. “You had the sign”. I just about fell over and instead nodded mutely and possibly blushed.
For the next few minutes, I chatted to Roenick about hockey, how the sport was developing in Australia and how I had found such a love for the sport and ended up in the Sharks Locker room. He talked about always wanting to come down, about maybe doing something to help the sport here and in that moment I became an even bigger fan for the man that was already a legend for both his play and personality. Later in the day, I passed him again in a hallway and was greated, despite being in the middle of preparing for a game, with a hair tousel, a wink and a “G’Day Australia”.
During that nights pre-game skate, I stood behind several small children, and when JR skidded to a stop and waved to me through the glass the kids nearly fell over with suprise. I nodded back, pointing at the kids and within moments several pucks came flipping over into their hands. I wasn’t sure whose grin was bigger at that time, mine with appreciation for a hockey player’s understanding of what small things can mean, or the kids for getting their hands on a puck directly from one of the games greats. T
Since then, I’ve exchanged an email or two with the man himself and definatley some day I hope to get him down here. I’m going up for the Board of Directors of the Australian Ice Hockey League shortly, and organising hopefully an international friendly, or atleast a tournment to open our rink and getting the greeat man down here would be something I’d love to do.
But until that time, and for a long time I”m sure, I will remember JR as one of the classiest and nicest hockey players I’ve ever met.
(I also have an exam on Private International Law in 3 hours so better STUDY)
When I saw the Ben Fanelli hit this past weekend, saw his team mates huddled together, visible shaken as they wiped away tears with thick gloves, watched as the young boy lay so motionless on the ice, I admit to being reduced to tears. As a hockey player, as someone who’s had helmets kicked off numerous times, been crushed into this and that, and as someone who provides first aid services to hockey teams, seeing such an incident hits far, far to close for home for comfort.
Now we have a 16 year old who’s life has been changed forever, to what extent we don’t know, and a 20 year old who is facing much the same future.
It’s been said over and over again, at every single level of hockey. Headshots need to be taken out of the game.No one’s ever going to question you on that. Not a single fan with their salt as a fan would ever consider headshot a necessary part of the game of hockey.
However, people at all levels of the game and those in the media are saying it wasn’t. So if Branch, like the suspension indicates, wants to set an example of the leagues intolerance to head hitting, wouldn’t it be wiser to chose an actual cheap intentional head shot to do it with?
Maybe its just the lawyer side of my brain that draws this conclusion but wouldn’t it be more reasonable to make an example of the person who with full cognition of the illegal nature and potentially physically devastating impact of their actions, continued to do so?
Most, if not all legal systems find some part of the theoretical basis upon which punishment is developed centering around the concept of punishing the actions and intentions of the person rather than the outcomes of those actions. The most clear example of this is the distinction between sentencing in murder and manslaughter. Murder and manslaughter result in the same outcome, but the punishment varies depending on the intention to commit the act which reasonably would cause harm or on manslaughter’s case the absence of this intention.
The same principle could be drawn here between Liambos and Fanelli. The hit, which arguable on its merits is far less “dangerous” than many we have seen in the NHL this season (Horidchuk’s hit on Boll is one that comes to mine in the vicinity of the glass), shows no intention to in any way what would constitute a headshot at Fanelli. If Fanelli had walked away from the hit, if he’d clambered to his feet and skated off the ice at most we would have seen two minutes in the box for a possible charge and even then that might be more reflexive than deserved.
If punished someone for manslaughter like we would murder in order to make an example of them, would there not be a public outcry about the illegality and unfairness of this?
There won’t be here though. In the OHL, regardless of logic, Branch is the law.
On reflection, the most substantial of injuries Fanelli sustained in the hit were not from the hit itself, but occurring when his unprotected head slammed against the ice. Over the years I have watched many, many helmets fly off, skittering across the ice on collisions in the boards and at center ice. Players of all ages are notorious for failing to adequately tighten helmets and chin straps and I know I’ve spent my fair share of time hanging over benches yelling at them to do just that.
Maybe it’s just me that feels like that in this instance, the major issue highlighted by the events is not that of headshots but of helmet safety and just what a necessity they are. It is so scary to realize, when watching the replays, that this could have very nearly been another Don Sanderson (an event we very nearly saw play out in the NHL already this season when Tom Sestito went down in a fight, smacked his head and fell unconscious).
In a situation where everything that could go wrong went wrong, the OHL felt the need to add another layer to the punishment I’m sure Liambos is already administering himself.
Uncategorized 
In my travels last year, I was fortunate enough to end up in Ottawa for Christmas / New Years and got to experience the World Juniors first hand. It may have only been Canada v Germany and a bit of a one sided game but to me it was heaven. I turned up with my sign, my Team Canada hoodie and glitter flag cheek decals and for that night, I was truly as close to being Canadian as you can get without that whole pesky citizenship thing. I helped pass the flag, got to cheer and holler and even occasionally yelled random abuse when I felt the need arose.
