No Loonies in Hockey

Well actually there are many loonies in hockey (see: Tocchet, et al) but the ones we're referring to here are the monetary ones and apparently they won't be allowed in Turin... on or under the ice anyways.

The Associated Press has reported Craig turned down a request to place a loonie beneath the ice in Turin, a decision that could — should our dual dreams of Olympic hockey gold implode — make him Canadian hockey enemy No. 1.

You all remember the Lucky Loonie: the Canadian dollar coin that was placed surreptitiously beneath the ice at the 2002 Olympics. This one buck (and not the millions of others spent on actual players or the Olympic program) was credited with the Canadian men and women winning gold. The Great One himself held it aloft after the gold medalgame as proof of its (possibly dwarf-forged) powers, and it was later displayed at the Hockey Hall of Fame.

Craig has probably P.O.’d many Canadians, who are no doubt busy sharpening hockey sticks for his head to be hoisted on if anything less than lucky happens in Italy. How can we possibly win without our Loonie?

Bummer, I really liked the whole legend of the loonie from the 2002 games. Figures that after it became known they'd take steps to prevent a repeat performance.

NHL Coach Accused in Gambling Ring

Rick Tocchet allegedly financed a nationwide sports gambling ring in which about a dozen current NHL players placed bets.

Tocchet, a former NHL star, was served with a criminal complaint Monday and was expected to travel from his Arizona home to answer charges of promoting gambling, money laundering and conspiracy, state police Col. Rick Fuentes said.

Fuentes said an investigation into the New Jersey-based ring discovered the processing of more than 1,000 wagers, exceeding $1.7 million, on professional and college sports, mostly football and baseball. He declined to identify the NHL players who made wagers.

Authorities say Tocchet and a state police Trooper were partners in the operation, with the ex-NHL forward providing the funding.

I bet (no pun intended) that the authorities will want to take a close look at those games Tocchet coached while Wayne attended to his dying mother.

Link

********************************************I've noticed a lot of folks entering Odd Man Rush through this page which is many, many, many months old. If you'd like to link to the current main page please go >>> HERE.

Hope you're having a great Year....

********************************************







2005 mercifully comes to a end...

Because the lockout wiped out all but three months of last season, the NHL has little reason to look back on 2005.
A look ahead is more in order.
It's no surprise that the Ottawa Senators and Philadelphia Flyers are neck-and-neck atop the Eastern Conference and are already on a collision course for the right to go to the Stanley Cup finals.
What has raised eyebrows are the teams right on their heels.

Read the rest about hockey in 2K6 >>>>>>>>>>>>> here.

My own team the Av's are floundering (and I do mean floundering) around the .500 mark and I don't see much improvement coming from them unless Pierre Lacroix pulls a rabbit.... errr I mean a Luongo out of his hat. He's worked magic before to conjure up Cup Champs and we true believers trust in his powers to do it again. A good friend of the blog sent me this beautiful good luck charm to help out the cause. It's much appreciated (Av's win 5-2 on the road, I do believe the charm is already working).

Here's some hockey stories that would be pretty cool to see in print next year but most likely we won't.

Like this gem...

June: Los Angeles defeats Montreal for its first Stanley Cup. But Jeremy Roenick sulks when he doesn't win the Conn Smythe Trophy and the victory parade gets separated by smog and bad L.A. freeway traffic. The Cup ends up at a roadhouse in Cucamonga.

or this one..

December: Rather than be shamed by the coming 40th anniversary of the Leafs most recent championship, MLSEL cashes in. All season-ticket renewals get a 1967 retro Leafs sweater, a shaker snow globe of George Armstrong's Cup-winning goal and a 40th anniversary DVD of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band.

Actually that last one might not be too far fetched.

For my Canadian friends looking for a more general sports overview of the year that just was check out.... The Year That Sucked.

If they auctioned off a century's worth of "years in sports" do you think anyone would bid a plug nickel on 2005?
We can suppose Gary Bettman would be in there bobbing his head at the auctioneer. How about Dick Pound? Maybe Steve Nash. Roger Federer. Sid the Kid, of course. Damon Allen. Tiger Woods, but he would be bidding for every year.
Who else? Anybody? And if so, why?
If ever there was a year that cried out to have its knuckles rapped or maybe even do some hard prison time, this was it.

I couldn't agree more.

Other Year End Puck Stuff

Stick(er) SHOCK

SHOOTOUT Science

The RISE of U.S. Talent

From NASCAR to Hockey Coach

More Women are... PLAYING ...Hockey

Finally this last one is non-hockey related... it just cracks me up. Most cops I think would've simply started blasting the little buggers away. What a sight that would've been... eh?

Happy New Year Everyone!

Everybody Wang Chung tonight and don't forget to add a leap second to your countdown to 2006. Here's Steve Martin (chanelling Bill O'Reilly) explaining why the leap second is a anti-american plot... HA!

Ban Glitter From Hockey

Lifetime Suspension for Gross Misconduct

My all-time favorite arena anthem that I'm sure a lot of you have also liked used to be Rock and Roll part 2 by Gary Glitter (AKA Paul Francis Gadd). For me it was the perfect song to hear after goals were scored because of the way it gets the whole crowd loud and involved. However in recent years I and a growing list of others cringe every time we hear it played because of the disgusting history of the man who wrote it. As much as I've loved hearing his song played at games I've always feared he may be receiving royalties as a result which continue to fuel his despicable perversions. That possibility sickens me. His latest acts of depravity with children have got me thinking that maybe it's time to retire the song from hockey arenas so as to ensure no money from it reaches this monster as a result of it being played.

Others are starting to feel the song should be done away with also.

Time to Silence "Rock and Roll Part 2"

...sex with children? Perhaps it earns a Vietnamese peasant girl more money than she can make harvesting rice, but leveraging a child's poverty, naivete or both is high on the list of the vilest things a person can do.

Likewise, I think any sensitive, intelligent music programmer ought to know better than to roll out Glitter's big hit at a well-attended football game, whatever the recent tradition. He is an atrocious human being, the tune is stupid anyway, and there's a big world of great music out there. At least as far as high-profile sporting events are concerned, good taste and decorum require that "Rock and Roll, Part 2" be retired to the compost heap.

Finally, a wish for 2006:

Musically Glitter is best-known for the Cro-Magnon and mostly instrumental anthem “Rock and Roll Part 2.” It has become a staple at virtually every sports arena/stadium in America, where fans usually augment Glitter’s Shakespearean prose (“Na-na-na-na-na, hey!”) with the testosterone chant: “We’re gonna beat the hell out of you.”

Not to pour warm beer on a timeless ritual, but the guy gets royalties every time the song is played anywhere, whether it’s a commercial for Starbucks or in the middle of a game at Arrowhead Stadium or Allen Fieldhouse. It’s time to start a new ritual with a different song and deliver this guy and his music into oblivion.

As much as I hate the idea of censorship... I HATE child abuse even more and feel this song should be boycotted so as to not provide this pervert any more financial support for his activities.

In Other More Pleasant Hockey News:

NHL's Mojo Rising

Puck Nuptials on Ice

Zamboni Cruising

Pack of Wolves

The Next Next One

And finally...

The Top Hockey Songs... NOT including R & R pt. 2.

Personally I would've ranked the "Zamboni Song" by the Gear Daddies a bit higher.

UPDATE:
The good folks over at BoA have put together the most extensive list of hockey music I've see yet... check it out.

Requiem for the Heavyweights

R.I.P. ???
I've noticed a large number of obituaries appearing lately that morn the loss of the fight game aspect of the sport under the new NHL rules. It seems like it's really being missed by a substantial cross-section of players, press and fans alike.

New NHL features a lot less fighting

Fighting has not totally disappeared from the NHL. Go to a game and there's still a 29 percent chance you will see a fight. But that 29 percent is on pace to be the lowest since the NHL has kept such records. So much so that it appears time to retire the old joke of "I went to a fight and a hockey game broke out."

Fighting is being weeded out of the NHL.

Where's the black and blue NHL ?

DENVER - Dan Hinote had bitten his lip long enough that it was nearly black and blue. But Hinote says in the new NHL that's about the only body part black and blue anymore.

"There's no testosterone in the game right now," the Colorado Avalanche's veteran right wing said, breaking a taboo on league criticism since the game returned from the labor dispute canceled the 2004-05 season. "They've taken a lot of the physical aspects out of the game. It's predominantly special teams now. It's unfortunate, because there's no more battling in the corners. I won't say there's none, but there's a lot less.

New Rules Taking Grit Out of Game

I get it, the NHL doesn't want fighting. Spike TV has Ultimate Fighting, so if you're looking for the brawling, that is were I go for my fix of pugilism. Hockey is about accountability. You are accountable to your teammates and to your opponents. What ever happened to the times when the other team ran your goalie and you did something about it? How about the good ole days when the tough areas of the ice was in front of the net. Wait a minute, it is the tough area, for all NHL goaltenders getting trampled by oncoming forwards.

Today's NHL rules punch pure pugilist out of the game

According to the NHL and Elias Sports Bureau, there had been 300 fighting majors through the first 408 games this season. That is down from 558 fighting majors through the first 408 games of the 2003-04 season, a staggering 45 percent decrease. Consider the fate of several tough guys: Ken Belanger (knocked cold once by Laus) recently retired. Krzysztof Oliwa was cut by the Devils and Andrei Nazarov by the Wild. And former Panthers tough guy Peter Worrell, who led the NHL with 354 penalty minutes in 2001-02, is trying to survive in the ECHL with the Charlotte Checkers.

Once a badge of courage, a way to make a mark in the league, fighting has become passe during the post-lockout era.

New NHL rules have cut fighting penalties dramatically

What in the name of Dave Schultz is going on here?

Welcome to the "new NHL," a relatively kinder and gentler version of the brand of hockey on display less than two years ago before the National Hockey League closed its doors for a season while settling a labor dispute.

Personally I'm not too worried about these developments, I think the dramatic decline in fighting we're currently experiencing is a evolutionary moment in time rather than a permanent state of affairs for the NHL. We're in a period of transition where the dinosaurs of the fight game are being weeded out and a new breed of players like... Derek Boogaard... Brian McGrattan... and George Parros ...players who can both PLAY and FIGHT are slowly starting to establish themselves and their games in the new and improved NHL. It's a different fight game that we're seeing evolve compared to the old traditional model we've had for so loooong and once that process has taken place I think we'll see the pugilist aspect of the game pick up from these record lows... although we'll never see a return to the wild days of the 70's and 80's, you can definitely kiss those times goodbye (sniff, sniff).

BUZZING THE NET:

Are We Getting The BEST Game Possible ?

NOLAN Wants Back In NHL... I say let him back in.

The NHL Has Been FULL Of Surprises

TEN to Watch

NHL MUST Stand By New Rules

LOVE CUSTOMS of the Frozen North

YOU KNOW YOUR A HOCKEY FAN IF...

You refer to your own team's enforcers as "character guys" and you refer to other teams' enforcers as "freaking little pieces of monkey s#@t."

MERRY CHRISTMAS

I heard the bells on Christmas Day
Their old familiar carols play,
And wild and sweet the words repeat
Of peace on Earth, good will to men!

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Swoosh on Ice

Nike and Team USA recently introduced the revolutionary new uniforms that the team will be wearing in the upcoming Olympics. Wind tunnel tested the high-tech uni's are designed to dramatically cut air resistance and reduce drag thus allowing players wearing them extra speed and endurance... theoretically.

Aerodynamics in hockey? It's a genuine revolution.

There are those who call hockey the fastest game on earth. Unlike any time in hockey's history, the action on the ice is faster and quicker, with blinding speeds and unfathomable power. With pucks traveling at 100 miles per hour, and players slicing the ice at 20 mph, demands on player performance have never been greater. And that goes double for apparel.
Without sacrificing an ounce of heritage, and passing rigid International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) standards, the Nike Swift Hockey Jersey and Sock reduces overall weight, adds increased mobility and comfort while making the jersey aerodynamically the most advanced in the world.

Many attempts over the years have been made at introducing new concepts into the hockey uniform, each one has failed and the traditional design remains largely unchanged. Shortly we will witness the success or failure of the latest attempt at updating the sports standard uniform. With the outlook for Team USA at the Olympics not looking to good at this point we'll need every advantage we can get to medal... even if it should come from space age uni's.



BUZZING THE NET:

Guitars, PUCKS and Rock & Roll

It's an AGE OLD Question ?

Bizarre game ends with EVACUATION

" I DON'T like the rule ! "

On-Line Puck Contests... for CA$H

I'd like to take a moment to congratulate those crazed puckheads up north at Battle of Alberta for hitting the 20,000 mark on their site odometer and for this bit of late-breaking Canadian news that I'm sure they're all very excited about up there. I guess our northern neighbors have to allow their consenting adults the flexibility to stay warm anyway possible. WOOHOO ! Anyways, we here at oddman central will be hitting the 10,000 mark sometime today and I'd like to personally thank everyone who has been stopping by these past months. The oddman will use this momentous occasion to get s@#t-faced tonight while watching the CenterIce puck offerings because afterall the odd one never really needs much of a excuse to party.

Remembers kids...

The future's uncertain
And the end is always near.
So, Let it roll, baby, roll.
Let it roll, all night long ........ JM

The Number Crunching Game

Billy Beane has revolutionized the way baseball GM's put together teams based on his system of Moneyball which is refined analysis of players performance numbers. There are those who believe the same approach could be used in hockey.... Moneypucks.

Hockey, like most sports, has scads of numbers and statistics. But there is not yet a well-established system that tracks these numbers to tell you what kind of player brings you the best results in the course of a year.

The obvious point, one that many in baseball made in response to Moneyball, is that talent wins. If you do not have the horses in any sport, you won't cross the line first. Yet it is the refinement in interpreting just what "talent" means that gave Moneyball its validity.

... Perhaps it is time for the hockey geeks to put away the fighting tapes and work on a program that connects hockey's statistical dots to wins.

I think with the introduction of the salary cap to the NHL landscape you'll see some GM's start to explore the possibilities of applying Moneyball to hockey.

PUCKS UNLIMITED:

Former NHL coach stunned by racial slurs

Morale UP with on-ice Officials

The Roots of Hockey being played today

Last Minute Holiday Hockey Gift Ideas

My NHL includes a good, honest donnybrook

Let's see, something else happened over the weekend, what was it? Ooooh yeah I remember now... it was revealed that the...

*****XXXXX*****
.....Other than that I guess nothing much else happened.

The Big Six

Here's a look at the top Hockey playing countries and their chances at the upcoming Olympics in Turin, Italy.

We're less than a week away from the United States and Canada naming their Olympic hockey rosters (Dec. 19 for the U.S., the 22nd for the Canadians). It should be a tough tournament for both teams, who will vie with 10 other countries for medals. Others in the tournament include likely quarterfinalists Slovakia and Germany as well as Italy, Switzerland, Latvia and Kazakhstan.

Basically things are looking pretty good for the Canadians... not so good for the Americans.

In Other News:

The Habs say they ONLY accept advertising for products they use.


"Alright, boys! Let's keep it up!"

caption courtesy of Michael from over at
Confessions of a Hockey Fanatic.
Thanks Mike.

Fiery Coach finds Fit

Hockey nerds, this one's for you... (scroll down)

NHL Tilts Toward the Wealthy

Who's Next to be Fired ?

International Police Blotter Hockey:

Drunk Russian Hockey Fans Hijack Train

Hockey Day in Canada

The Unofficial Puck Holiday

For the past six years the CBC and specially chosen host communities have been celebrating the great game of hockey in Canada by setting aside a special day to honor and watch this grand sport. Hockey Day in Canada this season will be gloriously celebrated on January 7, 2006.

Hockey Day has become somewhat of an unofficial holiday for Canadian hockey fans.

This year's 13.5-hour broadcast showcases our game at the grassroots level, highlighting how hockey defines both the parent-child and adult-child relationship.

Stephenville won't be the only Canadian community bustling with action. Hockey Day will also carry remote video feeds from Florenceville, N.B., Parry Sound, Ont., Winkler, Man., Calgary, Alta., and Burnaby, B.C.

Former Toronto Maple Leaf forward Wendell Clark will join hosts Ron MacLean, Don Cherry and Dick Irvin in Stephenville for all the festivities, which begin at noon ET.

There is also the traditional NHL all-Canadian tripleheader starting with Ottawa at Montreal at 2 p.m. ET, followed by Toronto at Edmonton at 7 p.m. ET and Calgary at Vancouver at 10 p.m. ET.

Hopefully this annual event will continue to grow and be supported until it becomes an "official" national holiday... just as it should be.

For this years host community of Stephenville being chosen for Hockey Day in Canada was the first bit of good news the town has received in quite awhile.

Dozens of children who lost their hockey equipment in a flood last fall, or whose families have been affected by the closure of the local paper mill, are getting a little help from some hockey-loving friends.

This hard-hit Newfoundland town was chosen to host CBC's annual Hockey Day In Canada broadcast. But when organizers showed up to make plans, they found a town where hockey enrolment and community morale was down.

"They've had some tough times there lately," said Joel Darling, executive producer of Hockey Night in Canada. "Some of the kids had lost some equipment in the floods. I think, with the plant being uncertain whether it was going to close . . . people were hesitant to join. Some kids were actually moved right out of their houses, relocated."

For more info. on Hockey Day in Canada go >>> here.

MORE NEWS FROM THE WIDE WORLD OF PUCKS

Xmas Presents for NHL Teams

NHL Season of Giving... Maybe

The Good, the Bad, the Ugly

The World according to Grapes

2005's Most Influential Sports Figure

And finally...

Here's some players I wouldn't want to go into a corner and fight with for the puck.

They might be appearing at the 2006 ice hockey world championships.

Merry Christmas and Happy Hockey Day everyone!

CURRENT POSTS:

A lot of folks seem to be entering OMR through this page, if you're interested in current posts they're located >>> here.