Mike Hopey

It has been a while since I’ve paid any attention to this blog. Laying in bed I wanted to check it out. I began reading some of my posts, most of which are from last years NHL playoffs. I am particularly proud of some of them. I’d be silly not to come here more often.

My pick for the Calder Cup champion in the American Hockey League will be picked out of a hat.

I can say with near certainty that Claude Julien is not an alcoholic, or if he is he has not sought help. Because if Julien had been to his local church basement for an Alcoholics Anonymous he would have heard the AA definition for insanity.

Insanity, according to the followers of Bill W, is doing the same thing over and over expecting different results. And insanity just about defines Julien’s approach to the man advantage.

The same players, the same system are being trotted out there time and time again with unspectacular results, a Ray Bourque inspired number of 7.7% efficiency. They dump the puck from the neutral zone. Then overload the opposite side. Fans then watch in pain as the puck slips ,as LeBron would say, past not one, not two, not three Bruins and back into the neutral zone.

The players who are acting more like orange cones on the power-play are part of the reason for Boston’s consistent inconsistency. Milan Lucic and Mark Recchi have combined for a total of 1 point on the PP this post-season.

Despite their lack of production, these two are put out there every single time while Tyler Seguin isn’t given any significant time.

So Claude, with no history of doing the opposite, will continue to roll out the same players, and have them do the same dump and chase. And if the Bruins are successful at gaining position they will still feed the entire power-play through the point.So don’t be surprised if that 4/52 power-play gets more and more outrageous.

Claude’s system will either continue to be futile or will break through because of sheer perseverance. But either way, Julien’s approach is just insane.

It may be nothing but….

Blair Jones is in the Lightning line-up for Randy Jones. Now Tampa is only dressing six blue-liners. Why is that significant?

Tampa likes to dress seven defenseman and save M.A. Bergeron for power-plays. For the previous eight games, all Tampa wins, this was the combination they went with as they were in control of the momentum against the Pens, Caps, and Bruins.

After suffering their first loss since game Game 4 against Pittsburgh the Lightning find themselves starting with some doubt as to which team has control of momentum. B. Jones in for R. Jones is not overtly major but is a glimpse at what is going on in the coaches room in the St. Pete Times’ Forum.

Is there doubt? Maybe, maybe not. However, Guy Boucher now has to react to what the Bruins are doing.

My conference semi-final picks were terrible! I went 1-for-4. I just noticed my post I made a couple weeks ago picking the winners of the four series. The only one I got right was Boston over Philly.

I picked Nashville because they were riding high after their first-ever series win and Vancouver looked like they were reeling after being taken to a Game 7 by their playoff foil, the defending Cup champs Chicago.

I took Detroit over San Jose because, well it’s Detroit. And San Jose is San Jose and this is the playoffs. The Sharks almost proved me right when I assumed that they would choke when it mattered, as they nearly did.

With Washington it seems that in the last three years when I pick the Caps to win a series they fall flat on their faces. So I pick against them and they win. Fine, maybe they are playing to their potential. Alas, that is not the case. Interesting note, I may be the key to a Washington Capitals Stanley Cup run.

So I see that I sucked. Pretty embarrassing considering I want readers to think I know what the hell I am talking about. On the bright side, when we have a Cup final I’ll have a 50/50 shot at getting it right.

If you watched Tuesday’s Bruins-Lightning ECF Game 2 then you probably saw Tampa’s 5th goal. During a mad scramble Boston goalie Tim Thomas lost his helmet thanks to B’s defenseman Johnny Boychuk tackling the likely Vezina winner.

During this chaos Tampa’s Dominic Moore buried the puck to pull the Lightning to within a goal at 6-5. Like me, most Bruins fans probably sat there wondering how play was allowed to continue with the goalie losing his mask. The resulting shrugs and raised arms that were a common sight in most New England bars became a great opportunity for fans to show how much they know about hockey.

If the sentence “The play should be whistled down when the goalie loses his mask,” wasn’t so long it would be trending on Twitter. That is to say that everyone said it; just to make it clear.

I, of course, said exactly that. But unlike my fellow patrons, I had more faith in the NHL and knew that there was a reason it wasn’t blown dead. I could not accept that, “the refs were looking at the puck going in the net.”

Of course it was not long until my lingering doubts were answered by a timely tweet. Thanks to @SpectorsHockey, who retweeted NHL 9.5 which was posted by @Sean_Leahy. I’m sure Mr. @Sean_Leahy was not the only person to tweet this rule but this was the only one that drifted into my timeline. Regardless this is how the rule reads from the official NHL Rulebook for 2010-2011:

When a goalkeeper has lost his helmet and/or face mask and his team has possession of the puck, the play shall be stopped immediately to allow the goalkeeper the opportunity to regain his helmet and/or face mask. When the opposing team has possession of the puck, play shall only be stopped if there is no immediate and impending scoring opportunity. This stoppage of play must be made by the Referee.

This suffices for me. Except for one thing. Given the nature of goaltending, hard rubber pucks flying at you, couldn’t it be seen as dangerous to not blow the play dead when there is an impending scoring chance?

If a goalie loses his helmet during a scrum in front of the net the puck will most likely be flying in his direction at some point. Is the expectation that a goalie make a save helmet-less? Isn’t that why we make them wear masks, so they don’t have to do that?

It just seems irresponsible to allow play to continue when a goalie loses his mask. After all the issue here is player safety. The goaltender isn’t going to quit on the play. It’s in their nature. Just cause one loses their mask doesn’t mean they run to the corner and wait for it to be all over. So that means it falls on the league to protect players, something they haven’t succeed at recently.

This instance is so rare that it probably escapes the attention of the rules committee. But really, you have a player who’s job it is to get in the way of the puck and they suddenly find themselves doing their job without the most important piece of their equipment.

Supposedly, Tim Thomas took the puck off the head during this play in the 3rd period. True or not, it’s an example of how dangerous this situation can be. And when will it change? When something much much worse happens?

The great Jacques Plante likened playing without a mask to skydiving without a parachute. So why is the league pushing it’s goalies out of the plane with a poorly written and thought out rule?

Photo Courtesy of ESPN

The Washington Capitals did all the things they needed to do going into these playoffs. They added veterans like Marco Sturm and Denis Wideman to compliment stars like Alex Ovechkin, Alexander Semin, and Mike Green. Michael Neuvirth even appeared to be a more than solid option between the pipes going into the playoffs.

But after tonight’s 4-3 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning the Capitals are down to their last strike in the 2011 Playoffs. They now trail the red-hot Bolts three games to none. And Ovi and company are searching for answers with a 24-hour turn around before Game 4.

Washington had their chances on Tuesday night. Tampa certainly wanted to help them out too by taking three straight penalties in the second. Despite their chances the Capitals could never get it going and appeared to have no idea what they needed to do.

At one point in the first, Boudreau had his captain, Ovechkin, serve a bench minor for too many men that made it 4-on-4. It is puzzling to even the most casual hockey fan why you would take a player known for speed, creativity, and scoring and put him in the penalty box during a situation that would benefit him.

The 4-3 loss can not be blamed entirely on what the Caps did, it also comes down to what they could not do. Mainly, stop the Lightnings star players. Stamkos tied the game at three, the winning goal was scored just 24 seconds later by Ryan Malone. Vinny Lecavalier and Martin St. Louis also showed up on the score sheet tonight. Stamkos, St. Louis and Lecavalier now have 18 points in the playoffs.

It was supposed to be easy for the Caps to knock off the offensive challenged NY Rangers, who were missing their best offensive player in Ryan Callahan thanks to a Zdeno Chara slapper off the foot.

But now that Washington has run into a team with a scoring punch and a hot goaltender they are in danger of becoming another Capitals team that fits their most recent modus operandi. Which is to dominate in December and January but disappear in April and May. 

Perhaps they should switch names with the DC basketball team.