Recap of Game 5 Between the Kings and Rangers

You know, I still think the goal horn is going off in the Staples Center from that June 13th game.

Who Will Win the 2014-2015 Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy?

Since 1968, the NHL has annually awarded the Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy to the "player who best exemplifies the qualities of perseverance, sportsmanship and dedication to hockey." The Award is voted on by the Professional Hockey Writers Association and the winner gets $2,500 donated to the Bill Masterton Scholarship Fund in his name.

It's a great honour to win the award and it's made for some of the best narratives in NHL history. Like when Pittsburgh Penguin great Mario Lemieux won the Trophy in 1993 after he overcame Hodgkin's Lymphoma and totaled 160 points in just 60 games.
Saku Koivu of the Montreal Canadiens won in 2002 after he too over came Lymphoma.
Josh Harding won the award two seasons ago after playing through a season in which he was diagnosed Multiple Sclerosis.

Bryan Berard with the Masterton in 2004, receiving it for continuing his career after a tragic eye injury

It's the feel-good moment of the NHL Awards show every summer.

But before the trophy is given out, there's always that awkward feeling of uncertainty as to which finalist "deserves" the hardware. In 2009, Richard Zednik didn't win in a season when he made his comeback after losing 5 pints of blood (and almost his life) the previous season in an on ice almost-tragedy. But nobody was saying Steve Sullivan didn't deserve the award after coming back from a major back injury that shelved him for two seasons.
Many said Daymond Langkow deserved the award in 2011, the season he came back after his life-threatening neck injury when he was hit in the back of the neck by a teammate's shot. But when Ian Laperriere won for his dedication off the ice (his post-concussion syndrome and eye injury from blocking a shot the season before officially ended his career) nobody could disagree.

So the Masterton is always one of the toughest trophies to predict the winner.

The 2015 season didn't even start yet but we, unfortunately, already have several candidates who seem they can win the Masterson.

Ryan Johansen and the Bridge Contract Debate

The NHL season is rapidly approaching. Fans are printing their team's schedule, others are already scouting for fantasy hockey, and even players are getting ready for the preseason which is just weeks away.

But in Columbus, Ohio, fans are a bit more nervous than most are during this festive time of year.

And that's because the team leader in goals and points from the previous season is still unsigned.

Ryan Johansen reportedly is still in a contract dispute with the Blue Jackets and they haven't been talking the past few weeks, having a distance of about $3 million per year to cover. The team doesn't want to hand over that kind of money so quickly to their young player but he wants the payday he thinks he deserves. It hasn't been pretty between the two camps and with training camp right around the corner, there isn't much time.

Why the NHL in Vegas is a Good Fit

The National Hockey League is at an odd time. The league is pulling in record revenue right now along with their continued success with attendance and ratings. There's one word on everybody's mind and this idea continues to rush at us with deafening speed.

Expansion.

The league, which hasn't expanded since adding the Columbus Blue Jackets and the Minnesota Wild back in 2000, has been reportedly playing with the idea of expansion for the past couple of seasons. For starters, the NHL realigned the conferences before last season leaving 16 teams in the Eastern Conference but just 14 teams in the Western Conference. It's almost as if they did this with the foresight of expansion in the coming years. This big disadvantage for Eastern Conference teams essentially indicates we should expect to see two new Western Conference teams in the near future.

10 Things We Learned From 2014 NHL Playoffs

The NHL 2013-2014 regular season is finished and, as hockey fans, we are left with many great memories and moments from this past postseason. We saw (many) comebacks, great goals, and fun storylines. We also saw the Los Angeles Kings, once again, get hold of Lord Stanley's Cup, making them back-to-back complete season champions (due to the lockout shortened 2013 season). We even got to see an overtime cup-clinching goal on home ice for the first time since 1980.

Here are some things we learned from this epic journey.

Second Round Review; Upsets, Upstarts, and Funerals; THIRD ROUND PREDICTIONS

We're down to four in these NHL playoffs and we've seen it all, it seems.
Big lead changes, big upsets, bad blood, and great plays.
After an opening round in which we saw 10 multi-goal deficits erased, leading to wins, we saw a second round where teams that scored first went 26-1.

We almost saw a repeat of last year's conference final matchups with the Kings, Blackhawks, Penguins, and Bruins, but the Eastern Conference underdogs had something else in mind. The Montreal Canadiens and New York Rangers played inspired hockey and were able to pull the upset, making an interesting series out east.

I've had pretty solid predictions so far so I'll those in at the end. My second round predictions sit here.

Racism in Hockey; Boston Hatred and a Bucket of Milk

When Donald Sterling came out as a gigantic racist last week, we all sort of reevaluated where the National Hockey League was in terms of the progress of black players. Puck Daddy posted a column when an LA Times writer made a snide remark about how Sterling could buy a hockey team in order to avoid black people. Puck Daddy briefly pointed out the growth of the league in terms of the amount of black players in and the interest of the African American community. I considered writing the "Racism in Hockey" post at that time but decided against it. It was almost too easy of an article to write. Anybody could call Donald Sterling a racist and then list all of the black hockey players, noting how far we've come as a league. Clearly, black players have come a long way in the NHL and it's come to the point that the typical "hockey is a white person's sport" joke is not only way off but also offensive and ignorant.

Philadelphia forward Wayne Simmonds, a former Los Angeles King, was asked about Sterling's recorded rant and basically said that Sterling should be forced to sell the team.

Simmonds had one other line that really hit home. It didn't seem like much, but once you do your research, you'll see just how smart Simmonds is and how much he appreciates his role in the league as one of the most notable African Americans.

The line was, "I'm kind of a fly in a bucket of milk here."A clever line which doesn't exactly say t0o much.

Until you google it.

Wayne Simmonds was referencing the autobiography of the 1940's African American hockey player Herb Carnegie, "A Fly in a Pail of Milk." Simmonds was saying that, sure, there still is racism in hockey (Simmonds once had a banana thrown at him during a game) but they've come a long way and it's not nearly as bad as it once was. His reference to their history was meant to remind us that it's a new age today and we need to make sure we never go back to the way it once was.

Herb Carnegie played in the Quebec Provincial League in the '40s. It was clear that Carnegie had the skills to play in the NHL and made the New York Rangers minor league team but was never given the promotion to the big leagues. Conn Smythe, owner of the Toronto Maple Leafs at the time, was famous  for once stating that he was offering $10,000 to anyone who painted Carnegie white, just so he could sign him.

Willie O'Ree ended up breaking the colour barrier in the NHL in 1958, making his debut for the Boston Bruins even though he was 95% blind in his right eye.

So clearly black players have a rich history in the NHL and to just ignore that is not only ignorant but shows extreme disrespect to the difficult path they took to get to where they are today.

And then game 1 between the Montreal Canadiens and Boston Bruins happened. It was an exciting game, in which Montreal star defenceman PK Subban scored 2 goals, including the overtime winner. PK is a source of hate amongst the Boston faithful seeing as he's a highly talented and pesky defender who likes to throw big body checks. He's the player in red and blue that the Boston fans boo every time he touches the puck.

He's also black.

And when Subban scored the game winner in game 1 water bottles and other debris were thrown to the ice at Subban. Additionally, what followed on Twitter was very disappointing, to say the least.

Boston fans were using the social media platform to express racist thoughts and comments about the Montreal star. They tweeted how they wanted these players out of hockey and that hockey is meant for whites only, using explitives and the "N" word casually and sickeningly.

Boston natives might say that this is just the minority of fans doing this and that's the truth. I'm not saying that every Boston fan is racist. But the outcry from the Boston faithful was so strong, that team president Cam Neely had to issue a statement.

"The racist, classless views expressed by an ignorant group of individuals following Thursday's game via digital media are in no way a reflection of anyone associated with the Bruins organization."

I have a big problem with this statement. Cam Neely didn't address the issue here. He was just covering the tracks and the reputation of the Bruins organization, rather than condemning those involved. He felt it was better to distance the team from these racists rather than taking a stand against the fans of his team.

And that's sort of dissatisfying because it's not the first time Neely let the Boston fans off the hook.

In the 2012 Eastern Conference Quarterfinals, the Bruins were playing the Washington Capitals and in game 7, Washington forward Joel Ward scored the game winner in overtime. Almost like last week, Bruin fans tweeted how there should be no blacks and "N words" in the NHL and it got so bad that Neely had to, again, release a statement.

"These classless, ignorant views are in no way a reflection of anyone associated with the Bruins organization."

But he's wrong. They are associated with the Bruins organization. As long as they pay him money to walk into TD Garden with the Bruins crest on their jersey, they are as much a representation of the Bruins as he is. And it's Neely's fault that these people aren't being addressed.

Neely's statement this year essentially mirrors what he said a mere two years ago. Neely, in a time where he should have taken the responsibility to lash out at these terrible people, decided it'd be easier and cleaner to build a safe statement, protecting the team and their image.

Well it doesn't.

And this brings me to my point.

When the Donald Sterling thing came out in the NBA, there were a slew of NHL articles written about the progression of black players becoming accepted in the NHL. It wasn't as much of an important post as it was a pat on the back. These articles simply counted the black hockey players nowadays, said "That's more than we used to have" and congratulated themselves.

But that doesn't address the issue. Cam Neely making these textbook statements doesn't address the issue. 

These Bruin fans represent the people who make that "only white players in hockey" joke. They represent that writer for the LA Times. And they're not going away.

PK and Malcolm Subban

What we need to happen is for Cam Neely to actually grow a set and call these people out. Attack these players. Make a statement saying "if that's the way you're going to act, don't even bother coming to the games." Say that he doesn't want their money and they should discard their Boston sweaters. Actually take a stand.

But what would be best would be if Jarome Iginla or, say, Malcolm Subban (PK's younger brother) lashed out at their own fans. Jarome Iginla is one of the most respected players in the NHL and the second black captain in NHL history and currently plays in Boston. Malcolm Subban was drafted in the first round by the Boston organization and currently plays for Providence. If either of these players made statements, or even approached the team themselves, and demanded respect and attacked the wrongdoers, that would adjust the lens for the league. That would make guys like Cam Neely feel pressured to actually do something if this ever happens again rather than just copy and paste what he has been doing.

Instead of saying "we've come a long way, let's congratulate ourselves" let's try to finally rid the "white player only" stereotype that STILL EXISTS.

These Boston fans should be ashamed of themselves. They're the team that FINALLY broke the colour barrier in the '50s and yet they're no better than the racists who existed back then.

Opening Round Review; Montreal Pregame, Blues Repeat, Round of Comebacks

We're already done with the first round of the 2014 NHL playoffs. There were multiple crazy games and finishes and we had our fare share of great overtime contests. The bar was placed pretty high but there's reason to believe these playoffs are just going to continue to improve as it gets deeper and deeper.
This year there have been 10 multi-goal deficits erased en route to a victory. That's an incredible amount. To put things in perspective there were 8 of those in all in the 2013 playoffs. We already have 10 and it's been just one round. Teams are not giving up in games and are willing to fight till the end and that has generated many interesting series.

I predicted each series at the end of last month's post (read up on my pre-playoffs thoughts here) and let's see how I did.

NHL Month In Review: April; PLAYOFF PREVIEW, NY's Finest, and Devils Shootout Woes

Alright, I know this month consists of just 12 days of regular season hockey but there was enough to write this thing up so just bear with me. This year the playoff picture is settled before the last day of the season and we have some great matchups for the first round and with the new playoff format, this could be a very exciting Spring.

But before we get to the playoffs, we still have those 12 days of action to dissect. So here we go.

NHL Month In Review: March; Trade Deadline, Missing Digits, and #AskNeal

Alright I'll admit it. I was planning on doing a recap of the Olympics last month but I got lazy and time passed by and I never got to it.
I'm sorry.

Here's the recap:

The Canadian Olympic team was really freaking good.

There you go.

Aside from that, the NHL had a handful of games during February where we saw Kris Letang get put on the IR after a stroke, Patrick Kane scoring a goal honouring his late grandfather, and we even saw Martin Erat score a goal in a Washington Capitals sweater.

But while February gave us a handful of fine moments, March was even crazier. With points more valuable and harder to come by, teams have been really pushing the play. The playoff race is tight in the East with 4 teams trying to grab 2 wild card spots and the West has been just as cramped.

We also had the trade deadline and other exciting stories to go through.
So here's March in a nut shell...

NHL Month In Review: January; Outdoor Games, Pond Hockey, and Rangers Tax Problems

It was a month filled with outdoor hockey games, Olympic announcements, and heated play. At the halfway point of the season, we have a good picture of how the playoff push will be shaping up and things look like we'll be headed toward a dramatic finish.

There was a lot to choose from but here's the recap from the month of January