Quenneville Ducks Accountability During Post-Game

Published at Inside Hockey May ‘09  and posted on “Puck Daddy” Yahoo Sports

CHICAGO – Most of the “Original Six rivalry” and “young vs. old” hype that was orchestrated by the NHL to promote the Detroit/Chicago Western Conference Finals series was laid to rest well before the final seconds mercifully ticked off the clock for Sunday’s Detroit Red Wings and Chicago Blackhawks Game Four.

Not many teams in professional sports have the depth and resiliency of the Red Wings.

Playing without their Captain Nicklas Lidstrom and two of their Alternate Captains Kris Draper and Pavel Datsyuk, the Red Wings still were able to take the young, inexperienced Blackhawks to school, cake-walking to a lopsided 6-1 win at the United Center in Chicago.

Instead of pointing fingers at his young players and demanding accountability to light a spark before the next game, Coach Joel Quenneville instead showed the same immaturity as his players and took the gutless route of blaming a referee for his team’s lackluster performance.

“Worst call in the history of sports at the end of the second period,” said the mentally-drained coach during his obligatory post-game press conference. “They [the refs] ruined a great hockey game. It was that call. I have never seen anything like it”.

Really. Haven’t seen anything like it?

How about the bad call just 48 hours earlier when a five-minute major and game misconduct penalty was called on Niklas Kronwall after he legally laid out Blackhawk Martin Havlat, knocking him into opening faceoff 2010?

The call on Kronwall affected the game. It handed a five-minute power play to the Blackhawks and sent Kronwall to the locker room early in the game. In case you missed it, the call Quenneville is referring to is a two-minute minor that was called at the end of the period.

It was the play when several players congregated with what the announcers like to refer to as “a little face-washing”. It was the play where Blackhawks star Patrick Kane glided in and speared a Red Wing player in the back, was scolded by a referee but was let off the hook.

I agree that the referees made a mistake; the call should have been on Kane but either way the referees were doing what they need to do in a game where things could explode any minute; they were keeping control of the game and calling it tight. It is Quenneville’s job to know that and to communicate that to his players so they don’t self-implode like we saw on Sunday.

With immature comments like Quenneville made during his post-game press conference, it’s confirms that the Blackhawks organization lacks leadership in the locker room and behind the bench.

Instead of taking part of the blame and demanding accountability from his players, Quenneville offered his youngsters a lame excuse for the loss, a two-minute minor penalty called midway through the game. In addition to accountability, adjustments need to be made between periods and game plans need tweaking throughout a series, things Quenneville has been unable to do and his frustration shows that.

A call may possibly have bearing on the outcome of an evenly-played game like the “too-many men on the ice” penalty that was called in the final minutes of a classic Boston Bruins/Montreal Canadians Finals game during the late 70’s. That game was tied at the time of the call and Montreal scored and went on to win that contest and the series.

This game however was much different then that night in Montreal. This contest was an embarrassing blowout and the ice was tilted towards the Blackhakwks goal from the opening faceoff. Quenneville’s Blackhawks lost because they were dominated, outclassed and outskated by older but wiser legs.

You have to sense ex-Red Wing coach Scotty Bowman hovering over Quenneville and the Blackhawks as they self-destruct during the most crucial time of the season. Bowman, who was behind the Montreal bench in that late 70’s match-up against the Bruins, had a much different style than Quenneville’s.

Bowman demanded accountability from his players and went as far as trading team sniper Dino Ciccarelli and assigning forward Sergei Federov to play defense until he learned to be a two-way player.

The Blackhawks are deservingly the talk of the NHL this year after creating the youngest roster in the league, setting franchise records during the season and carrying that momentum into the playoffs. They defeated the Calgary Flames and upset the #3 seed Vancouver Canucks to advance to the Western Conference Finals against Detroit.

Young rosters can keep a locker room loose but being too wet behind the ears can also have disadvantages like we are seeing in this series.

None of their players, or Coach Quenneville for that matter, were capable of stepping up and calming down the raucous bunch of youths as the team was called for 13 minor penalties (nine of them for roughing) and two players were sent to the showers early–Kris Versteeg (10-minute misconduct) and Ben Eager (two 10-minute misconducts and a game misconduct). It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out you cannot give a team like the Red Wings a bunch of power play opportunities and expect to steal another win.

While Lidstrom, Datsyuk and Draper watched from the sidelines, several of the Red Wings stepped up closing the holes they had left in the roster.

Marian Hossa and Henrik Zetterberg each emerged from scoring droughts netting two goals each while Valtteri Filppula, playing in Datsyuk’s spot, scored his 1st of the playoffs and set up both of Hossa’s goals.

At times the game looked reminiscent of the first two games of last year’s Stanley Cup Finals against the Pittsburgh Penguins. Like those contests, Detroit glided around the ice at will, uncontested, sharing the puck like a passing drill until someone felt like firing a shot. Their puck control dominance tamed the sold-out United Center crowd and took the fans right out of the game.

Multi-million dollar UFA signee Cristobal Huet started his first playoff game since 2008 and was chased after giving up the fourth Red Wing goal. He was replaced by a kid named Corey Crawford who looks so young, I expected the referees to ask for signed parental permission for him to play in the game.

The first shot the youngster faced beat him clean and rang off two goalposts before he, like Huet, fell victim to the dominate Red Wings. Crawford gave up one goal on 7 shots before being replaced by Huet at the start of the 3rd period.

The Blackhawks looked totally lost throughout the game. From Coach Joel Quenneville looking stunned behind the bench to Patrick Kane (one SOG and 3 giveaways) to their 20-year-old captain Jonathon Toews, the NHL’s youngest captain who wasn’t even born when Red Wing Chris Chelios began playing in the NHL.

Chelios, the Chicago native, saw action Sunday for the first time in this Original Six series skating 6 shifts for 4:37 minutes of ice time. He was greeted with a chorus of boos whenever he touched the puck-a little left-over bitterness for him leaving the Windy City to play for the rival Red Wings a decade ago.

For formality purposes, Game Five will be in Detroit on Wednesday.

In the meantime, let’s hope if there is a Red Wing vs. Penguins rematch, it can live up to whatever hype the NHL creates for it, unlike this Conference Finals dud.

Otherwise NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman will be looking at another Stanley Cup Finals beaten in the Neilson Ratings by a cartoon with a guy named Sponge Bob.

Scotty Bowman Exclusive – Fighting and Rule Changes

Previously published in The Examiner and Inside Hockey March 9, 2009.

CHICAGO – Every season there’s talk around the NHL about implementing stricter fight rules to clamp down on some of the game’s excessive violence.

While many fans don’t mind seeing a little bit of blood stain the ice, the buzz about enforcing harsher fight rules has gained unprecedented momentum this year, and is fueled by two serious minor league incidents, one that resulted in death.

Both of the incidents were the result of fighting and in both cases, the players lost their helmets during their altercations.

Don Sanderson, a 21-year-old rookie playing in the OHA, drifted into a coma and died on January 2 after slamming his head on the ice during what looked like a typical hockey fight in a game a few weeks earlier.

Right off the opening face-off of an AHL contest, Garrett Klotz and Kevin Westgarth, both 6-ft 5-in averaging 241 pounds, purposely tossed their helmets aside and went toe-to-toe. Klotz, who got the worst of the long altercation, dropped to the ice and went into a 30-40 second seizure, convulsing after suffering a serious head injury.

With mandatory visor rules in effect in the minor leagues, it is becoming common practice among enforcers in the ECHL and AHL to purposely remove their helmets prior to engaging in fisticuffs and this has many people concerned.

NHL icon Scotty Bowman holds a laundry list of coaching records including 1,244 regular season wins and 9 Stanley Cups and is currently the Senior Advisor for Hockey Operations for the Chicago Black Hawks. Now in his fifth decade in the NHL, he has seen drastic changes over the years and believes it is time to look hard at the situation.

“I think there will be [fight] legislation. Some of these players nowadays are well over 200 lbs, so when the helmets come off that’s the biggest danger I see,” said Bowman.

“In the past I was concerned about players breaking their hands in a fight. Some of these guys now are 6′4″ and 240-250 lbs. We didn’t have that twenty-five years ago. You get guys this size falling on each other without [head] protection, you’re just waiting for a fatality and that is tragic.”

Bowman is no stranger to head injuries. While playing in juniors, he suffered a career-ending head injury and was forced to hang up the skates, “That was from a stick, not a fight. [We] had leather helmets that offered no protection. It would protect you from a cut maybe but not an injury like I had.”

Bowman clearly is opposed to what he refers to as ‘stage fighting’ like in the case of the Klotz/Westgarth bout. Both players were on the ice for one purpose only, to fight and that particular premeditated brawl led to a serious injury.

“It’s hard to stamp [fighting] out but they can curtail the helmets coming off and stop the stage fighting; the fights that start 3 or 4 seconds after the puck is dropped,” Bowman stressed.

NHLPA Director Paul Kelly took that same topic on during a recent interview. “Fights which arise out of the emotion, the spontaneity of the game, is actually a part of our game that should remain,” explained Kelly.

“What I have a real problem with are these staged, pre-arranged fights. Two heavyweights squaring off before a face-off or texting each other leading up to a game. These are the guys who are 6′6″ and 250 lbs. and can, frankly, deliver the most damage. It’s awkward and uncomfortable to watch some of those fights when you’re in an arena.”

Kelly also mentioned the NHL could possibly consider adding a rule mandating players to keep their helmets on during the course of a fight. If a helmet comes off during an altercation, officials could be required to step in and stop it immediately.

When Atlanta Thrasher enforcer Eric Boulton was asked if it is realistic to expect two players in the heat of the battle to suddenly stop throwing punches if a helmet comes off, he was quick to respond, “No it’s absolutely not [realistic]. I don’t like that rule at all,” said Boulton. “I don’t know how you would ever enforce that.”

It’s hard to imagine that players caught up in a high-adrenaline slugfest would be capable of stopping a fight if a helmet came off, but that seems to be the suggestion picking up the most steam. So that presents the question ‘How can you make a rule like that work?’

“They would have to have legislation for that,” Bowman responded. “The penalties have to be so severe that the players will stop fighting and won’t take the chance [of getting disciplined]“.

Boulton elaborated on potential rule changes. “I think there could be a few [new] rules put in place, like not removing the helmet and maybe implementing a rule that you can’t toss a guy [to the ice] in a fight. That’s where an injury can occur with a guy banging his head on the ice.”

Regardless of intense public heat put on the leagues to implement tighter regulations or ban fighting from the sport, don’t expect fighting to completely disappear from the game. Eliminating such a popular and traditional asset of the game would create uproar from the fan base and cause economic strain on the sport.

Like it or not, some fans come out to see the fights. There’s a reason hard-nosed NHL players like Donald Brashear, Riley Cote and Jared Boll are fan favorites.

Bowman was asked how he felt about one-dimensional players who are strictly enforcers. “I think enforcers will become a dying breed in the NHL. The problem I have is guys I call ‘irregular players’ that play less than 5 minutes in a game and they are there [only] to fight”.

Many, including Boulton, believe an unwritten ‘code of ethics’ exists between the fighters in the NHL.

“I would say 99% of the guys are respectable of each other and their jobs,” said Boulton. “We all know it’s a hard job to do and you need to have that respect. I’ve seen a lot of that this year, if a guy goes down [players] not hitting him or if a jersey goes over a head; not hitting him, things like that.”

In the NHL where there are no mandatory visor rules in place, players normally keep their helmets on when they fight unless they agree to remove them for dramatic effect to bring the crowds to their feet.

Those gladiator-type scenarios may soon be over if the NHL gets aggressive and implements sterner rules with disciplinary consequences.

Hollywood Helps NHL Get It’s Mojo Back

Published in San Fran Examiner and Inside Hockey Magazine.

After years of hiding in the shadows of the rival NBA, the NHL is making its way back into the ratings and into Hollywood’s spotlight. Since the Red Wings clinched the finals, the Stanley Cup has made a trip down the red carpet and has appeared on several popular television shows including “The Tonight Show With Jay Leno.”

Since the notorious lockout season, there have been many questions surrounding the lack of marketing and publicity for the NHL. Ratings had dipped to historic lows while some national sports commentators grew apathetic to the league and its stars, until this years dream finals match-up between the Red Wings and Penguins.

The rating numbers reported by NBC for the prime time finals indicate the NHL is on the way back and the league has wisely used that momentum to kick their marketing and publicity into high gear. Since the Red Wings returned home with the Cup and completed their photo day, they have gained an onslaught of attention from the national media; publicity has soared.

Players like Chris Osgood and Nicklas Lidstrom are helping to make this happen. Still battered and recuperating from a long season, they accepted the invitation to fly to L.A. for scheduled guest appearances with the Stanley Cup when the call came in from PR director John Hahn.

After their “Sexy Back” dance performance on “The Tonight Show With Jay Leno,” we shouldn’t expect Osgood and Lidstrom to make it to “Dancing With the Stars,” but their representing the NHL and Red Wings that night in front of millions of coast-to-coast viewers is exposure the league desperately needs.

While on the same West Coast trip, Osgood and Stanley were again in the spotlight joining some of Hollywood’s stars including Mike Myers, Justin Timberlake, Jessica Alba and Verne Troyer for a walk down the red carpet at the opening premiere for the hockey-related comedy “The Love Guru.”

Born in Scarborough, Ontario, Myers grew up an avid Maple Leaf fan and getting exposure from the Austin Power’s star can help the NHL “get its mojo back.” In addition to Myers, Hollywood has a long list of celebrities who love the game including producer Jerry Bruckheimer (Top Gun, Armageddon, Pirates of the Caribbean) and Verne Troyer who portrayed Mini-Me in the Austin Powers movies to name a few.

The NHL should take their relationship with Hollywood to the next level and continue to include these stars in their marketing plan. These stars have helped promote other leagues like the NFL and NBA and there is a lot to gain by inviting them to functions put on by the league.

Every year there are stories about the trips the Stanley Cup makes throughout the summer. Tales are about the far away countries visited or the occasional strip club stop. Those journeys do get attention, but that exposure is minimal compared to the exposure that will be gained by this year’s and any future Hollywood trips.

The NBA promotes their relationships with celebrity fans including Jack Nicholson and Ashton Kutcher. If the NHL continues to promote Hollywood with their sport, who might we see sitting on the glass in next year’s Stanley Cup playoffs?

Red Wings/Avs 1997 Brawl

Probert McSorley Two-Minute Slugfest