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.

5+Game 21st Edition

By Danny Boome

25/01/10

Montreal say au revoir to Laraque, Eric Staal turns it on for new role, two-way dynamo calls it a day, new owners for Phoenix and where will Petr Sykora play next? All in this week’s 5+Game!

Au revoir Georges: Montreal Canadiens enforcer Georges Laraque has played his last game for the club. Thursday’s announcement left the Montreal native of Haitian descent extremely unhappy with the timing of the decision, as much of his family has been devastated by the earthquake. The 13-year NHL veteran will be paid his $1.5 million salary this season and remain on the roster. Laraque is in the second year of a three-year, $4.5-million contract that included a no movement clause, which means the Canadiens could not place him on waivers or send him to the American Hockey League. “I told him that he would not be continuing as part of our group for the rest of this season, for reasons of lack of productivity and distractions to our group,” General Manager Bob Gainey said. “We felt our goals were more achievable to continue without him as part of the group.” Laraque has played just 61 games over the past two seasons. He scored his only goal with the club last week against Dallas and dedicated it to the victims of the Haiti earthquake.

And that was the end of Georges

Click here to view the embedded video.

Fresh start for ‘Canes: Eric Staal is taking over as captain of the Carolina Hurricanes. The 25-year-old all-star center, recently named to Canada’s Olympic team, replaced veteran Rod Brind’Amour as team captain. General Manager Jim Rutherford says the switch comes as part of the team’s rebuilding process, “The time has come now for Eric to assume the top leadership role for his teammates.” Brind’Amour had been the captain since 2005 and led the team to its only Stanley Cup in 2006. The 39-year-old will take Staal’s spot as an alternate captain and will continue to hold a leadership role. The Hurricanes, who reached the Eastern Conference finals last season, entered Wednesday night’s games with an NHL-worst 35 points.

Peca calls it quits: Michael Peca, a two-time Selke Trophy winner, announced his retirement Tuesday, ending a 13-season NHL career that was highlighted by an Olympic gold medal in 2002. “I’m not sad by any means,” Peca said. “Several months ago, I came to the decision I wasn’t going to play anymore. Today’s really just a day that I made a public statement. For me, it was so every time I run into old friends, they quit asking me if I’m done or not. “Now they’ve got the answer,” he said. “It’s kind of like a mass e-mail.” Peca, who turns 36 in March, had 465 points (176 goals, 289 assists) and 798 penalty minutes in 864 regular-season games with Vancouver, Buffalo, the New York Islanders, Edmonton, Toronto and Columbus. His feisty, two-way game earned him the Frank J. Selke Trophy as the NHL’s top defensive forward in 1997 and 2002.

Glory Days

Click here to view the embedded video.

New owners (finally): The prospective owners of the Phoenix Coyotes are close to negotiating new terms on a lease with the City of Glendale and hope to be formally approved as owners by the start of the NHL playoffs. Keith McCullough, chairman of Ice Edge Holdings, the group that signed a letter of intent to buy the team from the National Hockey League last month, told ESPN.com that “there are a couple of very small issues to iron out with the city,” but they don’t foresee any problems in making the deal. Top executives with the Ice Edge group, including McCullough and CEO Anthony LeBlanc, met with Glendale officials several times over the past week in what were described as positive meetings. NHL commissioner Gary Bettman was optimistic about the group’s decision to commit long-term to the team in the Phoenix area. “I think that’s what the market needs,” Bettman said.

Sykora’s Headache: The Minnesota Wild have placed right wing Petr Sykora and rookie Robbie Earl on waivers. Earl can be returned to the minors or stay with the Wild if he clears, but Sykora’s stint with Minnesota is all but over. He turned down richer offers to play in Russia and signed a one-year, $1.6 million contract with the Wild in September. The 33-year-old ranked fourth on the Stanley Cup champion Pittsburgh Penguins last season with 46 points in 76 games, but only has two goals and one assist in 14 games with Minnesota, missing nearly two months while recovering from a concussion. Sykora may be the perfect fit for a playoff contender with a low budget. With no trade needed, could Sykora be the missing link?

A Bargain for the Play Offs?

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Game

Game On: San Jose Sharks have scored 41 goals in 12 games and have only conceded 18 this month, the best in the league by far!

Who’s got game: Henrik Sedin! One half of Vancouver’s dynamic duo has 74 points in 51 games, with 23 goals and 51 assists.

Who’s not got game: Milan Hejduk won’t be at the Vancouver Games after playing in the last three Winter Olympics for the Czech Republic. The Colorado Avalanche forward will undergo arthroscopic knee surgery on Tuesday and miss up to four weeks.

Game of the week: The Sharks 5-2 win over the Sabres was the battle of the top two teams in the league – and for 10th time this season, the Sharks have beaten all comers to the tank!

What game are you playing @? New York Islanders defenseman Andy Sutton was suspended two games without pay after leaving Pittsburgh’s Pascal Dupuis bloodied with a hit from behind. When will these guys learn?

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.

5+Game 19th Edition

019/01/10

20th Edition 5+Game

NHL officiating comes under scrutiny again!  Pen’s TV producer gets suspended, former St. Louis Blues player convicted of murder wants to play hockey in university, Theo Fleury makes an official criminal complaint, and on a happier note, the Bruins will be playing in Europe next summer!  All in this week’s 5+Game!

Hunting season declared on zebras! The story of the week was Vancouver Canucks star Alex Burrows accusing Referee Stephane Auger of targeting him in a loss to the Nashville Predators.  After the game, Burrows told the media: “It was personal. It started in warm-up before the anthem. The ref [Auger] came over to me and said I made him look bad in Nashville on the [Jerred] Smithson hit [during a game Dec. 8]. He said he was going to get me back tonight and he did his job in the third …”

During the third period of Vancouver’s 3-2 loss to Nashville on Monday night, Auger called 3 penalties on Burrows – for diving, interference and unsportsmanlike conduct.  Personal?  Maybe.  The NHL didn’t think so, fining Burrows $2500, while Colin Campbell, senior executive vice president of hockey operations stated his comments were detrimental to the league and the game.

I smell a cover up!  This is certainly something Campbell didn’t need after another week of serious misses by officials and seven reported lapses in judgment that changed games.  Clubs and their fans are frustrated – are the wheels finally coming off Campbell’s finely tuned machine?

Click here to view the embedded video.

Just trying to help or a genuine mistake? FSN Pittsburgh indefinitely suspended a longtime hockey producer for not quickly showing a replay that could have caused a short-handed goal to be awarded to Flyers forward Simon Gagne in their 7-4 against the Penguins on Thursday.  The producer, Lowell MacDonald Jr., is the one-time lead hockey producer at ESPN and is the son of former Penguins forward Lowell MacDonald.

Gagne’s shot appeared to cross the goal line, but the on-ice officials did not signal a goal.  Moments after play resumed, FSN Pittsburgh aired a replay from an overhead camera that showed the puck crossing the goal line.  TV rights holders are required to make available all angles of a disputed play, but a call cannot be reversed by use of replay once play has restarted.  FSN Pittsburgh said in a statement Tuesday that there “is nothing more important than the integrity of the game.”

From Reform to the Rink: A former St. Louis Blues player convicted of conspiracy to commit murder wants to play hockey for a Halifax university.  Mike Danton, 29, has enrolled at Saint Mary’s University and is awaiting permission from Canadian correctional officials.  Danton was sentenced to 7½ years in prison for his role in a murder-for-hire plot that allegedly targeted his former mentor and agent, David Frost. The native of Brampton, Ont., pleaded guilty in 2004 and spent five years in prison in the United States.

Steve Sarty, Saint Mary’s athletic director, says the university and the varsity hockey team are supportive of the proposed move as Danton has two years of college eligibility left.  “I’ve had a few sleepless nights about it. I’ve done a lot of research on the situation and I think people deserve a second chance,” Sarty told TSN of Canada.  As for the hockey team, the players already have signed a letter pressing their coach, Trevor Steinburg, to let Danton join the team.

Getting back to normal

Allegations of abuse lead to investigation: Winnipeg police are investigating the criminal complaint filed by former NHL star Theo Fleury alleging he was sexually assaulted by his junior hockey coach.  Fleury announced Thursday on his web site that he was filing a complaint against Graham James, whom Fleury accused in his recent autobiography of sexually abusing him repeatedly during the 1980s.  James pleaded guilty in 1997 to repeatedly sexually assaulting two teen players between 1984 and 1995 and got 3½ years in jail.  Fleury said he struggled with the decision to lodge a criminal complaint against James.  “I have been reflecting on this a long time,” he said on his web site. “I wanted to make the biggest impact on preventing this kind of thing from happening in the future.” In his book, “Playing With Fire” Fleury said the sexual abuse he suffered as a teen transformed him from a confused young man into an angry, self-loathing boozer who blew millions of dollars on cards, drugs and lap dances.

Euro Road Trip Leaked! Although there’s plenty of hockey left in this season, the Bruins already are planning for their 2010-11 season opener, which will be in Prague, an NHL source told the Boston Globe.  The Bruins will play two regular season games against the Phoenix Coyotes there in late September and will participate in exhibition games against teams not yet announced.

Game

Game On: Florida Panthers winger David Booth was at practice Tuesday for the first time since taking a devastating hit 2½ months ago that sidelined him with a serious concussion.

Who’s got game? Rick DiPietro’s homecoming was almost perfect.  He made 31 saves and turned away 5 shooters to end the tiebreaker, earning a 3-2 win.

The Come Back Kid

Who’s not got game? Phoenix Coyotes defenseman Ed Jovanovski was suspended two games by the NHL for an elbow hit to the head of New York Islanders rookie John Tavares.

Game of the week: The GF’s parents, diehard Blue Jackets fans, went to see Columbus vs. Chicago – a Christmas present I helped pick.  What a game! Columbus lost in a 6-5 thriller, but I won some brownie points!

What game are you playing @? Alex Burrows deserves a pat on the back, not a fine.  He blew the whistle on a referee with a bad agenda.  The league needs to get its house in order!

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.

5+Game 19th Edition

011/01/10

Danny Boome

Team USA announces their Olympic Captain, CUJO hangs it up, KHL is disgrace again! USA wins gold @ WJHC, and Luke Skywalker try’s to assisit the Canucks! All in the weeks 5+Game

Team USA name Langenbrunner captain: Jamie Langenbrunner of the New Jersey Devils will be named captain of Team USA for the upcoming Winter Olympics in Vancouver, according to the New Jersey-based Bergen Record.  The official announcement will be made Monday afternoon.  Langenbrunner, 34, is a 15-year NHL veteran who has served as the Devils captain for the past three seasons.  He is a two-time Stanley Cup winner and first competed for the U.S. in the 1998 Winter Games in Nagano.  “To be on the team is an honor, but if it were to happen (being named captain) it would definitely add to that,” said Langenbrunner, who would neither confirm nor deny the report. “I don’t think it’s anything I ever dreamed of as a kid or anything like that but it’s definitely something, if bestowed on me, I would take very seriously and be very honored to do.”  According to the Record, Zach Parise of the Devils and Chris Drury of the New York Rangers will be named alternate captain.

CUJO hangs it up: Curtis Joseph, fourth all-time in wins by a goaltender, will announce his retirement at a news conference Tuesday at the Air Canada Center in Toronto, a source told ESPN.com. The 42-year-old Joseph played last season with the Toronto Maple Leafs, backing up Vesa Toskala.  Joseph’s 454 career regular-season victories trail only Martin Brodeur, Patrick Roy and Ed Belfour. Joseph played 958 regular season games over 19 NHL seasons with St. Louis, Edmonton, Toronto, Detroit, Phoenix and Calgary.  He also appeared in 133 playoff games, reaching the conference finals twice with Toronto in 1999 and 2002.

Luke Skywalker tries to help the Canucks: Calgary Flames coach Brent Sutter is upset security couldn’t locate a laser pointer being used to distract goalie Miikka Kiprusoff during Saturday’s 3-2 win over the Vancouver Canucks.”It’s ridiculous,” Sutter said. “We could see it shining on his mask the whole night. It was brought to the attention of the refs and security, and it’s hard to believe that can go on for 60 minutes in a hockey game and it’s not located.” Kiprusoff made 19 saves and stopped one of three shots in the shootout. He received medical treatment after the game, and wasn’t immediately available to the media.

KHL dishes out punches and fines: Saturday’s game between Vityaz and Avangard in Chekhov had to be stopped after 3:39 when both squads jumped on the ice to exchange punches.  Officials subsequently cancelled the contest because the teams did not have enough players left to continue the game.  It was the first time a Russian hockey game has been called off due to a mass brawl. Vityaz were fined four million rubles ($133,300) and warned they would be thrown out of the league if there were a similar incident while Siberian team Avangard escaped with a one million ruble fine.  The league also fined four players, Canadians Darsy Verot and Brandon Sugden from Vityaz and Avangard’s Russian pair Alexander Svitov and Dmitry Vlasenkov, 150,000 rubles each. In addition, seven players — Vlasenkov and six from Vityaz, including both Verot and Sugden — received one-game suspensions and each club was awarded a 5-0 defeat. Saturday’s incident was another heavy blow to the image of the fledgling league, formed last season with teams from Russia and other former Soviet republics of Belarus, Latvia and Kazakhstan.

USA stops Canada’s gold ambitions! My apologies to those of you upset with my spoiler of the WJHC result between USA and Canada last Tuesday.  I couldn’t contain my excitement over USA’s 6-5 win, leaking the score on both Facebook and Twitter before many of you could get to your Sky+ to watch it the next day.  It was a fantastic tournament that generated a lot of interest in New York’s hockey community!

Game

Game On: The recent “fire Ken Hitchcock” chatter has been quieted following the Blue Jackets’ three-game winning streak thanks to netminder Mathiew Garon’s heroics. Garon has given the team a much needed boost in its first three-game win streak since mid-November.  Prior to this, the Jackets had lost 21 of 24 games. 

Who’s got game: Sean Avery was certainly geared up to face his old team.  The Rangers agitator stuck it to the Dallas Stars by scoring a goal and assisting on three others in New York’s 5-2 win.  Avery didn’t make many friends in Big D after a short spell last season and rubbed it in by responding to a question about what was different about tonight’s game with, “I was getting paid by two teams”.

Gooooal

Who’s not game: Antti Niemi didn’t face many shots and of the 11 that Anaheim threw at him on Sunday, two made it to the back of the net. The loss gives Chicago its first two-game losing streak since November.

Game of the week: Completing their suspended game from Friday night, the Lightning finished off the Devils 4-2 as Steve Stamkos continued his terrific sophomore season with two goals and an assist. His first goal shut the lights off in Newark on Friday and his second put an end to the possibility of a New Jersey comeback in the third period.

What game are you playing @? Toronto has allowed the first goal in 32 of their 45 games.

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.

5+Game 18th Edition

04/01/10

Danny Boome

The Winter Classic is a true battle, a bad bar bill gives the Oilers a New Year’s hangover, the Blues start 2010 with a new coach, Olympic rosters finalized and a freak accident leaves a junior linesman hospitalized! Happy New Year! It’s 5+Game!

New Year’s Hangover: An $18,000 restaurant bill caused a New Year’s Day dispute between the Edmonton Oilers and Maurizio Terrigno, owner of Osteria de Medici, an Italian restaurant in Calgary.  When they received the bill, Oiler’s players were surprised at the whopping total and demanded a discount on their $8000 bar tab, which included copious tequila shooters, fine wines, and $500 magnums of champagne.  They were apparently expecting to be charged for bottles of liquor, rather than for each shooter.  The Oilers claim the restaurant adjusted the bill; they left $12,000 and “a generous tip of about $1,800.”  Terrigno plans to donate the money to an Italian earthquake relief fund, which is just the sort of “it’s not about the money” move someone waging a public PR war over money usually makes. Me thinks I smell a Flames fan trying to stir the pot!?

Winter Classic: 2010 started with a bang as Boston and Philadelphia butted heads in the Winter Classic held at the hallowed Fenway Park.  The now annual outdoor spectacular was the grittiest game in three years, as the first fight in Winter Classic history between Flyers Dan Carcillo and the Bruins Shawn Thornton at 12:01 of the first period set the tone. The game had a great pace but not much action until the final 15 minutes.  The Flyers were sitting tight on a one goal lead until a dodgy tripping call on Kimmo Timonen put the Bruins on the power play with 3:52 to go in the game.  Mark Recchi leveled it 1:34 later to force overtime and Marco Sturm scored to lock up a 2-1 victory.  A great day for Boston in Boston, and the first time a home team won the Winter Classic.

Home Win, and what a great way to do it!

Click here to view the embedded video.

Murray gets the job blues: The St. Louis Blues fired Coach Andy Murray Saturday morning.  Davis Payne, of the Blues’ AHL affiliate Peoria Rivermen, takes over on an interim basis, beginning Saturday night against the Chicago Blackhawks.  Team president John Davidson Blues cited Payne’s nine winning seasons in the minors, including an ECHL championship in 2006. “Davis is very knowledgeable of the players in our organization and we feel he is the best candidate to coach our team,” he said in a statement.  Allow me to translate: Davis Payne is 39, Andy Murray is 58, and the Blues have 14 players under the age of 30 on their team. They needed a new messenger.

Olympics rosters: The rosters and groups for the 2010 Vancouver Olympics are now complete, with the first games beginning on February 16th.  You can view all the squads on www.dannyboome.tv/5+Game:

Group A  Canada, United States, Switzerland, Norway

Group B  Russia, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Latvia

Group C  Sweden, Finland, Belarus, Germany

Linesman Injured: A 25-year-old hockey linesman was gravely injured when his neck was cut by a skate during a Junior C game on Tuesday.  The incident took place in the third period of a game between the New Hamburg Firebirds and host Woodstock Renegades.  The linesman, Kevin Brown, was initially reported to be in stable condition, but Renegades owner Bill McLeod said he was told Brown is “not doing so well now.”
Later Wednesday afternoon, a spokesperson for the London Health Sciences Centre said Brown was in critical condition.

Brown was slashed while trying to break up a fight between two players late in the game.  According to the North Bay (Ont.) Nugget newspaper, Woodstock’s Craig Thomson, who had just scored to tie the game 4-4, got into a fight with New Hamburg’s Reid Oliver behind the Firebirds’ net after the goal and subsequent celebration.  The two traded punches until Thomson threw Oliver to the ice. Oliver’s right leg was lifted through the air – “almost like a cartwheel motion,” McLeod said, and his skate cut Brown’s throat under his chin on the right side of his face.  According to the report, Brown, not realizing he had been gravely injured, continued to break up the fight as he bled profusely.

Game

Game On: A 10-game home winning streak for the Phoenix Coyotes and a franchise record? Are we really going to see this team pull the “Major League” trick and defiantly contend for a title?

Who’s got game? Boston Bruins Tim Thomas had a New Year’s Day to remember! Two points, 24 saves, and confirmation that he would indeed be headed to Vancouver to represent his country in the Olympics, “This will go down as one of the most memorable days of my life and my career,” said Thomas, who has also played in six World Championships.

Tim "THE TANK" Thomas

Who’s not got game: Team USA will be in need of a miracle at the Olympics.  They’re a strong gritty squad, but I’m not sure that will be enough to fend off powerhouse countries with far superior fire power.

Game of the week: The Winter Classic was great, but the WJHC game between USA & Canada was amazing!! (3-4 in SO)

Shoot Out! Will the final be the same?

Click here to view the embedded video.

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.

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.

5+Game 16th Edition

Danny Boome 08/12/09

After weeks of speculation Philly fire coach Stevens, Montreal gets bought out, The Blackhawk’s sign young guns to big extensions, OV is suspended for 2 games and LA gets the draft, all in this weeks 5+Game!!

Stevens gets the chop as Philly looks for a new direction: The Philadelphia Flyers replaced coach John Stevens with Peter Laviolette on Friday after the team was shut out in consecutive games.  Laviolette led the Carolina Hurricanes to their only Stanley Cup title in 2006. He was fired in December 2008 and was still under contract.

Laviolette, who also coached the New York Islanders for two seasons, was 167-130-30 in his four-plus seasons with Carolina. Stevens, who had come under scrutiny the past week, realized the Flyers were in serious trouble.”Yeah, there’s big-time concerns, of course there is,” Stevens said Thursday. “I mean, we’re losing hockey games.”

Philadelphia’s GM Paul Holmgren knew after the latest loss he needed to make a change and he told Stevens after Friday’s practice.

“It’s fair to say I probably caught him off guard a little bit,” Holmgren said.

Les Canadiens are sold to an old friend: With their 100th anniversary only days away, the Montreal Canadiens are under new ownership, led by a familiar name with city roots more than twice the team’s age. The Molson family won approval of their purchase of the storied franchise from the NHL board of governors Tuesday, becoming the fourth group of Molson’s to own the club since the 1950s.

Geoff Molson and brothers Andrew and Justin are the lead investors in a partnership group that reportedly paid $575 million for the Canadiens, the Bell Centre — the team’s 21,273-seat downtown arena — and the Gillett Entertainment Group, a concert promotion company. “We’re really proud to be here today as the new owners,” said Geoff Molson, who will be the chairman and chief executive officer. “We’re part of the seventh generation of the Molson family that has been in this city for 223 years. We’re young and we’re ambitious and we’re really looking forward to being part of this.”

Towes Kane and Keith all sign new deals: In the end it was Jonathan Towes, Patrick Kane and Duncan Keith who wanted to share this experience with each other. Signing long-term deals on the same day not only ensures the Chicago Blackhawks will have a talented core for years, but also sends a message.

Keith signed for 13 years, $72 million — longer than any player in Blackhawks history. Toews and Kane re-signed for five years, at more than $6 million a season. General manager Stan Bowman finished the deals on the recent road trip, seeing the players respective agents, Final details were hammered out with the agents and at the same time the league was keeping a close eye on things to make sure everything fit under Collective Bargaining Agreement rules. The Hawks did not need to move a salary in order to announce these extensions, but that won’t be the case this off-season.

Contract Renewal Press Conference

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OV Suspended! The league’s two-time reigning MVP was not in the best of moods Wednesday as he discussed his first NHL suspension, levied because of his knee-to-knee hit on Tim Gleason in Washington’s win over Carolina two days earlier.

Ovechkin was ejected for kneeing Gleason, the second time in less than a week he had been thrown out of a game because of a dangerous hit. Even Ovechkin was thankful that he skated away with only a sore right knee. He’ll be docked $98,844.16 in salary for the suspension and is again the center of a debate over whether the best player in the world could wreck his career by playing such a physical game. “I’m not going to change anything,” Ovechkin said.

The hit< It kinds of reminds me of Gazza really bad tackle>

Click here to view the embedded video.

The Interview After the suspension

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LA is first pick for the draft: The 2010 NHL draft will be held in Los Angeles June 25-26, marking the first time in its 46-year history that the event will be held in California.  The NHL announced Friday that the Los Angeles Kings will host the draft at Staples Center. NHL Central Scouting reported Plymouth Whalers center Tyler Seguin the top OHL prospect in preliminary rankings released by last month.

Game

Game On: Montreal Canadiens finally finished their 100^th Anniversary celebrations with a fantastic legends warm up, the crowed was surprised as the top 20 players of the last 40yrs came out for a skate!

Legends one and all!

Click here to view the embedded video.

Who’s got game? Mike Cammalleri’s second-period hat trick powered Montreal to a 5-1 victory over the rival Boston Bruins in front of a sellout crowd. Eric Cole notched his sixth career hat trick as Carolina defeated the Vancouver Canucks 5-3. Sometimes goaltenders need to win games for their teams and that’s exactly what Kiprusoff did tonight for the Flames as they beat San Jose 2-1.

Cammalleri’s Hat-trick

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Who’s not got game? The NHL has suspended Flyers forward Dan Carcillo four games for his role in a fight that earned him a whopping 19 penalty minutes and a game misconduct. Carcillo was tagged with 2 minutes for crosschecking, 2 minutes for instigation, 5 minutes for fighting, a 10-minute misconduct and a game misconduct in Philadelphia’s 8-2 loss.

Ouch!! One punch and soooo long sucker!

Click here to view the embedded video.

Game of the week: Hate to go on, but what a way to celebrate being 100 years old by beating your arch nemeses! Montreal 5- Boston 1!

What game are you playing @? NHL Commissionaire Gary Bettman is smoke screening the leagues problems by teasing folks about expansion plans in Canada, “What?” Only 3 months ago he said it wasn’t at all possible

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.

There can be nothing more stupid than these two incidents on Monday (30/11/09)  night.

Alex Ovechkin knee on knee hit on Carolina’s Tim Gleeson, could be very nasty for both and especially the Capitals!

Click here to view the embedded video.

In his frustration Kieth Ballard hits his own goalie in the head while smashing his stick on the goal!

Click here to view the embedded video.

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.

5+Game 15th Edition

Danny Boome 01/12/09

Hossa charges back into the league, the Leafs may get a parade this season (but not the kind you’re thinking), yet another former all-star comes out of retirement to help Modo, officiating problems continue, and Nashville (yes, Nashville) are in the league’s top 10? All in this weeks 5+Game.

Hossa recharges Chicago: The highly anticipated debut of Marian Hossa was not a disappointment for the Blackhawks and their fans.  Their 7-2 rout of the San Jose Sharks included three consecutive shorthanded goals chasing Evgeni Nabokov after the second period.  Hossa scored twice and it was the second time in a week that Chicago scored seven goals in a game.  The question remains: is Hossa the missing link?

He’s Baaaack!

Click here to view the embedded video.

Brian Burke Rainbow Warrior: The king of truculence and testosterone faces a new challenge as his son, Brendan Burke, who came out as a gay many to his father two years ago, has suddenly become the talk of the hockey world this week.  The story is buzz-worthy because it reignites the hot-button issue of gays in professional sports and because it’s instantly transformed Burke into a de facto gay icon.

From Damien Cox in the Toronto Star: “Burke believes there will be those who won’t embrace the family love inherent in his acceptance of his son’s orientation or of Brendan’s decision to go public with his sexuality. Burke remembered that when he was in California in November to vote in the U.S. presidential election – he voted for Barack Obama – he was aggressively confronted by anti-gay activists protesting a same-sex marriage proposition on the California ballot.

“I told them to (expletive) get lost,” said Burke, who also voted for the proposition. “But over the next two weeks, yeah, I expect to get some hate mail over today’s story. There is going to be a backlash. All I care about is if Brendan is prepared for it. It takes jam to do what he’s done.”  (See the full interview in John Buccigross’s ESPN.com column on Brendan Burke, some very interesting points)

Hot Topic.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Modo gain yet another All-star! Another former NHL super star, Markus Naslund, has come out of retirement to play with childhood friend Peter Forsberg for hometown team Modo.  On Saturday, the pair teamed up in a 4-1 win over Rogle in the Swedish league.  Naslund set up Forsberg to make it 1-0 in the first period as the two former NHL All-Stars needed little time to get reacquainted on the ice.  “I felt quite all right,” Naslund said. “I haven’t really practiced since were eliminated from the playoffs [with the New York Rangers] last season, so it’s not that strange that I feel a bit tired.” Forsberg added an assist, and has seven goals and seven assists in seven games for Modo this season. The two plan to continue playing for the club for the rest of the season.  Forsberg said. “He looked really good considering he’s only been on ice for 10 days.”

Double standards or no standards? Since the start of the season we’ve seen bone-crunching hits and anomalous incidents that have made everyone sit up and take notice.  We’ve been forced to question the intent of players’ actions and the league’s “even hand of justice.”  Even more concerning is the perception that star players receive lighter penalties.  The NY Post summed it up, “It’s not that there’s a double standard when it comes to NHL supplementary discipline, it’s that there is no standard whatsoever. To wit: Georges Laraque sticks out his leg in a reflex reaction, injures Detroit defenseman Niklas Kronwall with a knee-on-knee, and receives a five-game suspension for an unintentional but reckless play. Curtis Glencross on the other hand, intentionally delivers a forearm to Chris Drury’s chin, thus concussing the Rangers center though he was nowhere near the puck, and receives a three-game suspension for his intentional and flagrant foul. Knee injury, five games; brain injury, three games.”

Heads Up, Just isn’t good enough!

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Game

Game On: Nashville has become the dark horse of the league.  While everyone has been focused on Colorado, Phoenix, NYI, Tampa and LA, the Predators have risen from obscurity to 9th in the league overall.

Who’s Got Game? Marian Hossa is back and looking every bit worth his controversial $40 million contract.  Sid Crosby is also back in fine form, scoring his second hat-trick of the season against NY Rangers.  Sid had a 5-point night with 3+2, capping a big week as he also got the OT winner and 3 assists in the Pen’s win over Florida.

Hot Shot!

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Who’s not got game? Pittsburgh Penguins forward Matt Cooke has been suspended for two games, without pay, as the result of a deliberate check to the head area of New York Rangers forward Artem Anisimov.

Ouch!

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Game of the week: Seeing last season’s bottom team beat the defending Stanley Cup champions was a strange and fascinating sight.  In a game billed as the battle of Sid vs. the new Kid (John Tavares), JT showed what new blood can do, getting 1+1 in the 3-2 win!

JT Is the new kid on the block!

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What Game are you playing @? The league needs to get a grip on what punishment it serves for intentional injury hits.  Remember the infamous Todd Bertuzzi blindside punch that ended the career of Colorado Avalanche winger Steve Moore?  He was the last great villain and the game hasn’t made any changes since 2004!

The game some times brings the worst out in you.

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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.

5+Game 14th Edition

Danny Boome 23/11/09

Phoenix’s strange spending; Ducks blogger gets some stick, referees foul up big! Steve Stemkos is the real deal and as the first quarter of the season passes, trade talks start! All in the weeks 5+Game!

No wonder they’re bankrupt: The Phoenix Coyotes lost $5 million in October alone, and the Globe & Mail offers some fun financial facts: “The court filings also revealed that the club had some unusual expenditures in October.  It spent $3,500 on Hockey Hall of Fame ‘induction tickets’, $970 on the Boy Scouts of America ‘scout night patches’, and $332.67 on ‘tattoos’ from California Tattoos Inc.  New head coach Dave Tippett, who took over after Wayne Gretzky quit, received $31,000 in October.”

Pro Skateboarder gets some stick from the crowd : Mike Vallely is a pro skater and a celebrity fan for the Anaheim Ducks who had done some blogging for them in the past.  According to the OC Register, police said ‘Mike V.’ was arrested and cited for fighting in public for his part in the wild fan brawl over Scott Niedermayer’s stick.  The “little girl” Niedermayer referred to in his awkward post game interview on Fox Sports was in fact Vallely’s daughter, and Vallely became physically involved when another fan attempted to snatch the stick after Niedermayer tossed it to her over the glass.   Duck Blog confirmed those details and that Vallely, 39, had been arrested, though police said, “none of the parties involved wished to press charges.”

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Referees Blow! What does “intent to blow” mean?  Detroit and Toronto found out that it was a rule last week when it cost them both games.  Intent to blow means “I wanted to blow my whistle, but didn’t.”  On Wednesday night, this rule stole a goal from the Detroit Red Wings and had the NHL publicly acknowledging the failures in its officiating system.  Thursday night brought another controversial moment in the Toronto Maple Leafs’ 6-5 shootout loss to the Carolina Hurricanes.

According to NHL VP Mike Murphy, there have only been about 6 of these incidents since the start of the season.  Murphy said the league would look into this procedure for correcting an ill-advised stoppage of play by a referee.  Let’s hope they do.  Players play to the whistle – it’s not their fault if the ref has a brain fart!

Living up to the Hype! Steve Stamkos is having a breakout season for the Tampa Bay Lightning.  The 2008 number one pick continued his streak as his 15th goal of the season in overtime gave the Lightning a 4-3 win over the Atlanta Thrashers.  Currently tied for fourth in the NHL in goals scored with Jarome Iginla(notes), Stamkos, along with Ryan Malone(notes), is carrying the Lightning’s offensive load as Vincent Lecavalier(notes) and Martin St. Louis(notes) struggle with a combined nine goals.  Stamkos had a slow start when he joined last season, but came out strong in the second half finishing with 23 goals and 46 points in 79 games.  This season he’s on track to surpass that!

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Trade talk: Reports out of Toronto this past weekend suggest the Maple Leafs and Chicago Blackhawks might be talking trade.  Leafs GM Brian Burke admitted Friday he has some irons in the fire regarding possible trade scenarios but he wouldn’t say with whom or which players he might shop.  The Blackhawks need to dump some salary if they wish to officially re-sign pending restricted free agents Patrick Kane, Jonathan Toews and Duncan Keith to extensions, as their new salaries starting next season could push the ‘Hawks to nearly $60 million in payroll.  That would violate the league’s “tagging” rule, which says no team can commit more to next season’s payroll than the current season’s salary cap, which is $56.8 million for 2009-10.

Game

Game on: The word on the street is that the Finnish could be the dark horses to win the Olympic gold medal.  I can’t see it myself, but Russia is like the Dutch football tea – so much talent can they play together?  The Swedes have a lot of youth and Canada will be a finely tuned bone-crunching goal-scoring machine. But has everyone forgotten about the Czech Republic?

Who’s got game? Joe Thornton and Dany Heatley are an unstoppable duo, ripping apart Philadelphia over the weekend with Heatley’s 3rd hat trick of the season! Heatley also went to the top of the goal scorers with 18 and big Joe hit the top spot in assists with 25.  Not bad work for their first 25 games together.

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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.

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.

13th Edition: 5+Game

Danny Boome

The cold war between KHL & NHL thaws, Forbes releases the 2009 club rich list, old time hockey makes headlines in Florida, Peter Forsberg returns to the game and dangerous head shots are top of the GM’s list in Toronto – all in this week’s 5+Game!

Cold War Summit: The frost thawed between the KHL and NHL this week as NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman and KHL President Alexander Medvedev discussed the complicated and often bitter relationship between the two professional leagues.  The duo and NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly met in Washington for the mini-summit and also found time to catch the Washington Capitals play the New York Islanders together.  Bettman said of the relationship “I think on a personal and professional level it’s open and cordial.  But we, for a variety of reasons, haven’t been able to come to common ground on some fundamental issues.” And on the issue of the KHL not being able to land a superstar player, “I think the best players in the world play and will continue to seek playing in the National Hockey League.  We wish the KHL good luck.  And I know they are going to work very hard to try and establish their league and bring it to the highest level that it can achieve.  But the final analysis is that the best players will continue to play in the NHL.”

The Rich List: Forbes released its list of NHL franchise values to the usual shock and awe.  The Toronto Maple Leafs ($470 mil), New York Rangers ($416 mil), Montreal Canadiens ($339 mil) and Detroit Red Wings ($337 mil) top the list while the Florida Panthers ($159 mil.), Nashville Predators ($156 mil.), New York Islanders ($149 mil.), Atlanta Thrashers ($143 mil.) and Phoenix Coyotes ($138 mil.) round out the bottom.  Just as interesting was the 2-year value change: of the 14 teams that lost value, 13 missed the playoffs and eight are worth less than $200 million.  The Islanders saw the biggest drop in value at 12% and generated the lowest revenue ($56 mil), which is either an argument for a new arena or a result of the New York market being oversaturated.

Old Time Hockey Legend Hits the Headlines: If you remember the good old days of the British Premier League (those of you from Romford Chelmsford Slough Invicta & Telford can only wish!), you may recall the infamous shenanigans of Solihull import and legend Brent Sapergia (ask Simmsey – he has stories).

Sapergia made headlines once again this week for his reaction to a call against his Louisiana IceGators, capturing the attention of US morning shows and YouTube viewers alike.  The one-time hockey hell raiser demonstrated his anger by throwing the entire contents of the bench at the referee and was subsequently relieved of his duties as head coach.  Sapergia said he couldn’t wrap his brain around the “indefinite” suspension by the Southern Professional Hockey League, because his stick-tossing tirade was the norm for enraged coaches and benign in comparison to other freak-outs.

Freeeeeking Out old time Hockey!

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Forsberg isn’t going anywhere, but do we care? Speculation surrounding Peter Forsberg’s return to the NHL has once again taken up valuable column inches.  After a bad ankle brought his stellar career to an end, this MVP of over 6 years ago has now signed for Modo in the Swedish elite league.  He resisted the KHL, so we know it’s not about the money – but why should we care if he comes back to the NHL?  In my opinion, there is far too much talent in the league to worry about this once great player.

Playing with Modo gives Pete the chance to do every day kinda stuff…..

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Head Shots: The topic of hits to the head was addressed yet again by the League’s 30 GMs at their quarterly meeting last Wednesday, but this time the tone seems to have changed.  A small committee will be formed to take a closer look at this issue before they meet again in March, and at that time, we could see a recommendation to the competition committee about a possible rule change.  “It was quite a bit different, some of the guys who have taken a strong position that it may take hitting out of the game have adjusted their views a little bit,” Carolina GM Jim Rutherford said. “If we continue down what was talked about today then we will see a change. It will be on the agenda of the next meeting and I think if we got the direction that it appeared we were going, you will see a change for next year.”

Birds seen and Bells Heard! Very very serious stuff when your not ready for it! This clip never gets boring!

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Game

Game On: Carolina brings their slide to a halt!  Buffalo wins 3 in a row and Philadelphia stops New Jersey’s 5-game road streak.

Who’s got game? Matt Moulson of the New York Islanders.  In 20 games, the 26-year-old winger is tied for the Islanders’ lead in goals with 8 and is second in points with 16 to Tavares’ 18.  Not bad for a guy who was cut from his junior hockey team and drafted higher by the National Lacrosse League than the NHL!

Matt Moulson “Beers it” what ever that mean? but great goal.

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Game of the Week: Atlanta’s 3-2 win over Edmonton!  Atlanta’s 4th win in a row over this worthy opponent was a perfect example of how far this team has come since last season.

What Game are you playing? Former NHL stars figure skating?!  The Battle of the Blades had me scratching my head.  Check out YouTube for clips of former Edmonton Oilers forward Craig Simpson, New Jersey Devils winger Stéphane Richer and Colorado Avalanche sweetheart Claude Lemieux competing to claim $100,000 for charity.

So Strange, just can’t get my head around it!

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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.

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.

12th Edition: 5+Game

Danny Boome

09/11/09

The Hurricanes are in the eye of the storm, hockey greats take their place in the Hall of Fame, rocky times are ahead for the NHLPA and the Blue Jackets and Swine Flu hit the East and West of the league – it can only be this week’s 5+GAME!

Hurricanes are getting blown away: The Carolina Hurricanes don’t even resemble the team that has played the last 5 seasons.  With little confidence and even less offense, a quick look at NHL stats paints an ugly picture for this veteran group expected to contend for the Eastern Conference title.  In addition to being 29th in points, the Canes are last in goals per game (2.08), penalty minutes per game (21.5) after leading the league in fewest minutes last season, second-period goals allowed (20), second lowest in face-off percentage and third lowest in the NHL in 5-on-5 scoring.  To make matters worse, star goal tender Cam Ward was hospitalized over the weekend after suffering a laceration to his left upper leg from the skate of Columbus forward Rick Nash.  Nash was passing through the crease during the first period of Carolina’s 3-2 loss to the Blue Jackets on Saturday night.  Ward was expected to return to Raleigh on Sunday, but will remain in Columbus through tonight to guard against infection.

OUCH!!!

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Hall of Fame Induction: This weekend saw the start of the 2009 Hall of Fame Inductions in Toronto, including hockey greats Brett Hull, Brian Leetch, Lou Lamoriello, Luc Robitaille and Steve Yzerman.  Brett and Bobby Hull are the only father-and-son combination to play in the NHL and be inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame.

Father and Son double act

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NHLPA has to get it back on track: CBC Sports Elliotte Friedman made this insight into the ongoing turmoil of the NHLPA: “The NHLPA has disintegrated into an embarrassing and scary case of fratricidal warfare.  Embarrassing, because what you have now is one union brother against another.  Laughable, because the players have made it abundantly clear their only strength is on the ice.  Off it, they can’t make a decent, three-foot pass.  When a union is split into factions, it’s little more than putty in the owners’ hands.”

Blue Jackets are looking for a savior: Columbus Blue Jackets are entering a situation that is becoming increasingly familiar throughout the league.  They are the latest club experiencing financial difficulties with an ownership group looking to shed their responsibilities by either selling or taking bankruptcy.  Souring rental costs, high taxes and only breaking even with their profit share from the league, it looks that the Columbus franchise could face the same problems that Phoenix, Nashville and Tampa have in the past 18 months.  Watch closely as this develops – we could be sending another vote of no confidence to Gary Bettman’s business model.

H1N1 spreading through the league: At last count there were 7 players on the Edmonton Oilers and Calgary Flames who have been struck down with the dreaded swine flu!  And that was just this week’s count – players from both the Boston Bruins and the New York Islanders have also been sidelined in recent weeks.

GAME

GAME ON: Two wins in a row and the Toronto Maple Leafs are off the bottom of the league!  Winning the battle of the basement against Carolina (3-2) and then steam rolling the Detroit Red Wings 5-1, the Leafs may be making a turn back on track.

WHOS GOT GAME: Columbus has won 3 of 3, Philadelphia 4 of 4 and New Jersey has very quietly won 5 of 5.  On form and dangerous, I would keep an eye on the Devils – yet another club proving you can’t judge a book by its cover.

WHOS NOT GOT GAME: Carolina is 0-6.  With Cam Ward out for 3-4 weeks and top goal scorer Eric Staal not producing, how will the Canes stop the slide?

LESS WOO , MORE WIN?

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GAME OF THE WEEK: Was San Jose’s 5-0 whopping of Pittsburgh the 2010 Stanley Cup Final preview or just a bad night for the Pens? One thing is for sure, the Sharks rose to the challenge!

WHAT GAME ARE YOU PLAYING @? What is with all of this team protection malarkey?  Why can’t a good clean hit go by without a fight?  The rules of the game used to be: head down = fair hit.  A good fair hit is now answered with an opposing player jumping you and it’s getting a little boring.  Also, how on earth did Sean Avery get a penalty for getting speared by a Vancouver player while sitting on the bench?  See things get out of control on this weeks video blog.

WHO WHAT WHERE…..LET ME AT’EM!! LET ME AT’EM!!!

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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.