blocker

Me either. He blindsided Modano. Was that his skate kicking out the leg on the stretcher?

The state hockey tournaments are being played now. Those of you with youth players will agree with me that these tourneys are a lot of fun. Yesterday, when we were shopping, a lady with kids in a neighbouring association grabbed me by the sleeve. She spent a good quarter of an hour describing their tournament games and prospects. It was enjoyable to watch and listen. She was all excited and eager. I know that parents sometimes go overboard, but anything that creates that much enjoyment for kids and their parents to share, has to be a great thing.

This past weekend, I'm leaning against the boards on the other side of the glass from a bench. Occasionally exchanging comments with one of the coaches. The other team was changing lines on the fly and the puck strikes one of the players exiting, resulting in a stoppage. My friend hollers "Too many men". The closest ref gets a little snarky. He tells the coach that the contact was incidental and he should read the rules before shouting advice. My friend says "you better read them to your partner, because he's taking a player off for too many.".

Pretty neat.

Blake Geoffrion is also Howie Morenz's great-grandson. Pretty impressive blood lines. Brelic.---When Canadiens broke up the pairing with Subban and Gill, I think Gill was made expendable.

This is just the type of story that the media likes to repeat.

A nine year-old in Mass. kept track of his goals. The other day, he scores what he figures is his 200th goal. He asks the ref for the puck. The official laughs, gives him the puck and gets a replacement. I dunno the true facts, because I wasn't there. But, the Sh!t then hit the fan. The kid has a twin on the same team. There are stories about the coach being furious and throwing a puck bag at the twin. The parents talked about appealing the coach's badge to USA Hockey. Both kids are kicked from the team. I don't think it's a good idea to keep track of goals. And, like I say, I don't know all the story. But, this is a classic case of adults making a mountain out of a molehill.

Takes brass balls to try something such as that. Fun to watch.

Well, in my case it usually stopped with me on my butt.

I think Notpart stated his case pretty well. But, everytime some guy wants to get his name in the paper, he'll raise one item off of a list of recyclable "issues". Fighting in hockey is one of those. First of all, hockey is not the only sport that involves guys punching each other. Anyone who's played football has given and received jabs, kicks, stomps and other assorted painful blows. And, what about boxing? Is Nader suggesting that players not get angry? For me, hockey should be played with passion. Lots of players only play well when they're irate. The occasional dust-up will happen between eager and willing participants. A serious injury is a rare thing. Hell, three times this year, I know of players being cut by skates in the locker room. Should we take the skates away?

I watched a Peewee game this afternoon between a US team and kids from the Ukraine. I stood directly behind the Ukraine bench so that I might get a better understanding of their approach to the game. I've never seen a more stoic, solemn bunch of kids. The game was scoreless until late in the third period when the Ukranian team scored. The kid who got the goal bumped gloves with one of his teammates, but noone else stirred or made a sound. I patted them on the head and back after the game and didn't get one smile in return. We are all used to uniformly boisterous behavior of eleven year olds, no matter their home country. But, these kids sure were quiet. Their coaches, who looked very young, acted the same way. I didn't stick around for the pizza party afterward, but I was told it was a pretty mirthless affair. Ukranians are industrious, gregarious people. So, I think this is just a quirk of this particular team. But, it seems as if this is a long journey for such a joyless trip.

One of my regrets is that I've never been to the maritimes. We've sent kids there and they've been cared for and greeted with universal good will. Also, I sure would like to get me some of that screech.

A town across the lake runs the youth program out of two different rinks. One is the college rink, which is a beautiful, comfortable place. The other used to be a bowling alley and has seen better days. It's cold, clammy and doesn't smell all that good. One of the organizers told me that the really young players are always scheduled for the nicer arena. It's a better venue for the kids and parents. He said that after a couple years, when everyone is good and hooked, they're not so fussy about where they play. Sound thinking.

I've had to deal with dementia twice. My Dad slid downward through it. Now, it's reoccuring to someone else who's close. The awful thing about it is that there's no real cure. It just gets worse and there's not a damn thing you can do to keep your people from slipping away.

Sounds like one of these articles in which some guy gets published so that he can get some more grant money to keep his job.

I once got angry with a kid who'd done something dishonest and then lied to me about it. My partner pushed me out of the locker room, before I lost it. He told me that I had no idea of what went on in some of those kids' homes.

One of the kids in our old program came from a big family. He was one of five brothers. One of his brothers was an excellent hockey player, and the other three were a lot better than this individual. He was average, at best. He was a polite boy, but with an edge. I used to periodically assign clean-up tasks to the different teams. I did it to foster an appreciation of the rink and to build a sense of responsibility for the upkeep of the building. One such day, this kid came early and worked steadily. When we were done, I made a point of praising him for his effort. He gave me a kind of surprised look with an expression of something else that I couldn't understand. It could have been resentment. He's a grown man now, in his forties. Last season, I saw him reffing. Some officials didn't show up and he worked three games in a row while we were there. Don't know how many he'd done earlier, but he was still on the ice when we left. I found out that night that in a later game, he took a puck in the eye. He didn't lose the eye, but it was an iffey thing for a few weeks. I think fatigue might have been a factor in the injury. Last night, we attended a couple high school games. He was one of the officials. I would have liked to tell him that it took balls to get back on the ice. But, I didn't know how to say it. You never know how some people are going to react.

This has nothing whatsoever to do with slapshots, but my mind wanders. About Al Iafrate; Anybody see the movie Fargo? The guy who ran Steve Buscemi through the wood chipper is a dead ringer for him. He once showed up for pre-season fat as a hog. Management gave him sh!t for it. His answer was that he'd tried to skate during the summer, but it made blisters on his feet.

Hair today, gone tomorrow.

Probably would have pissed him off.

I think you share my opinion of outdoor games. I love them. Skating is something that's best enjoyed when done outdoors. Who cares if the ice is less than perfect, if you're outside with the fresh air, the quiet and softly falling snow.

Yeah..... I asked one of my grandson's the question and he gave pretty much the same answer.

I watched a game lately, (Div. 3) in which one team consistently used a floater. When the puck was in their end, one forward was staioned way up ice, circling between the blue lines. A player from the other team (usually a defenseman) loosely trailed him. We've all seen that type of thing before, and I think most here don't like the way it changes the game. My question is this: If you're the other coach, how do you confront such tactics?

Well , I dunno about any of his teammates being inconvenienced, they went anyway. And ,as long as Thomas can play goal as well as he does, I don't think the owner is too hurt. Also, I've never heard any of his teammates say anything bad about him. He seems to be well liked by them. If I was Thomas, I would have gone. But, if I was a Bruin, I'd be more concerned about him stopping pucks than I would about his non-appearance. Plus, he's a goalie. They live in a different world.

If I was Thomas, I'd have gone. But, he didn't hurt or inconvenience anyone else by his actions. And, he did what he thought was right. Also, I dunno if Neely should have said anything about it.