5+Game with Danny Boome 19 /10/09
5+ Game with Danny Boome is the new Article and Blog for Powerplay magazine. The article will cover the 5 main events of the week – games, trades, players, coaches – and anything else that affects the NHL community.
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10th Edition: 5+Game
26/10/09
Danny Boome
Bone crunching hits send a shiver down our spines, confidence is being used as the 7th man – and some still have yet to find it! Being moved for the Cap, Winter Classic website launched and will Kovalchuk be the next super trade? All in this weeks 5+Game!
Nasty Hits: The week saw some monumental bell ringing! Vancouver’s Willie Mitchell hit Chicago’s Jonathan Towes so hard that he looked like Bambi coming home from a bar trying to get back to the bench. This was followed by two horrific hits in two separate games. Philadelphia Captain Mike Richards’ high hit on Florida’s David Booth was ruled clean but did make many in the league pause for a moment. Then came the terrifying hit on Colorado’s Darcy Tucker by Carolina’s Tuomo Ruutu – the worst case of boarding I have ever seen. Tucker fell lifeless from the glass in a sight sure to haunt us all for a while. (Check out video on dannyboome.tv / 5+Game) Ruttu has been suspended for the next 3 games without pay and a Players Association fine is sure to follow.
Towes Gets his Bell Rang.
Booth Is knocked to next week.
Terrifying hit on Tucker.
Confidence: St. Louis, Colorado, L.A., Atlanta and Phoenix all have it. Detroit, Toronto, Boston, Florida and Minnesota are all trying to find it. While coaching, new blood, and luck are nice to have on your side, confidence is like having an extra man on the ice.
Colorado’s stream of new blood and fresh coaching seemed to be the start of a rebuilding season – and they came out of the blocks fast and hard. Goalie Craig Anderson looks unstoppable, rookies Matt Duchene, Ryan O’Reilly and Chris Stewart are igniting the team with speed and veterans Paul Stastny, Milan Hejduk and Darcy Tucker are playing back to their best. In Phoenix, a change of coaching (Dave Tippett) seems to have rejuvenated this sleeping giant of talent. And does a first round draft pick really change the direction of a club? Things are certainly looking up for the Islanders, who took Washington to OT and nearly tied Pittsburgh!
Confidence is the key, and if you were a Stanley Cup Finalist or last season’s President’s Trophy winners, you’re probably wondering where it went, like Detroit and Boston are. For teams like Florida, Toronto and Minnesota, it just hasn’t clicked yet – and the more the pressure and frustration builds up, the longer it will take to get out of the hole.
Making room in the Cap: It looks like the Washington Capitals are about to move veteran Swedish Center Michael Nylander off their books. Earlier this week, Nylander was assigned to Detroit’s AHL affiliate Grand Rapid Griffins for a conditioning period. As a conditioning period generally takes two weeks, this has been seen as a prep move to allow time for a trade to happen and have Nylander in condition to play once moved. There has been a rumor that he could be leaving to the KHL or a possibly to Atlanta. Whatever the case, the Capitals need to make room in their budget as his static $4.28 million contract is weighing on the team budget.
Not moving….or will he? Forget the rumblings making their way around NHL rinks last week that Russian teams were preparing to make Atlanta Thrashers captain Ilya Kovalchuk their big catch for next season.
There’s no denying that the 6-foot-1, 230-pounder from Tver, Russia, would lend legitimacy to the Kontinental Hockey League following seasons in which he has scored 41, 52, 42, 52 and 43 goals. But the star winger is showing real signs of how committed he is to Atlanta and sources told me that Kovalchuk could have a new contract with the Thrashers by mid-November. However, with teams still being built, could Washington Boston or Toronto come up with a trade coup before then?!
Kovalchuk doing his stuff.
Count Down to the Winter Classic! NHL.com launched its 2010 Bridgestone NHL Winter Classic website Thursday afternoon, amplifying the excitement generated by the first meeting between the Winter Classic opponents — Boston and Philadelphia — at the Wachovia Center on Thursday night. The all-encompassing site provides fans the information, stories and video they need to prepare for the 2010 Bridgestone NHL Winter Classic on New Year’s Day (1 p.m., NBC, CBC, RDS) at Boston’s Fenway Park.
Will this year be as good as last year?!
GAME
GAME ON: Colorado’s goalie Craig Anderson says “bring it” with his unbelievable form and league-leading 8 wins! L.A’s super center Anze Kopitar is sitting pretty with 19 points at the top of the score charts, and there’s no Stanley Cup hangover for the league-leading Penguins.
WHOS GOT GAME: Colorado is the hottest team in the NHL right now and Minnesota has finally woken up. And who would have thought a year ago that the Islanders would go to OT with the Capitals?
WHOS NOT GOT GAME: Detroit is running out of ideas, confidence and energy. Does losing three from their foundation unit and last season’s top goal scorer make that much of a difference? Or is what they kept the problem?
GAME OF THE WEEK: Minnesota squeaked out an exciting 3-2 OT win against Carolina. Washington had a hard (5-4) time with Atlanta and were given the most bizarre goal – a 190 ft dump down that managed to skip by the Thrashers goalie, Ondrej Pavelec.
Epic Brain Fart by Pavelec.
WHAT GAME ARE YOU PLAYING @? To build team spirit, teams are taking their game from the training center to the playground. The Leafs played dodge ball on Monday and softball on Wednesday. The Lightning stayed on the ice for a hilarious game of strip shoot out!
Marty St Louis just cant get a break in the Strip Shoot Out.
Check out this week’s Video Clips and News in the 5+Game Blog on www.dannyboome.tv
The information statistics and subject matter of articles is sourced from the official NHL web site NHL.com and it’s archives. The Hockey News.com, Yahoo Sports.com and ESPN.com. Research and quotations can at times come from other independent associated press.
