Hartley Miller's Slap Shots- June 15th Edition

By 250 News

   For the 3^rd straight year, the Stanley Cup resides in a non traditional hockey market as Anaheim follows in the footsteps of Carolina and Tampa Bay. Meanwhile, the Calder Cup, thanks in large part to MVP goalie Carey Price of Williams Lake, is sitting in Hamilton, and the Memorial Cup belongs to Vancouver.

These championships mark the end of the 06/07 hockey season. Here are some of my random thoughts regarding the playoffs.

BORING HOCKEY:  I’m sure I’m not the only one that feels that this year’s Stanley Cup playoffs were “ho hum”. In fact, the juniors provided more excitement than the pros.  No wonder CBC’s coverage of the Stanley Cup final took an 18 per cent plunge from last year. I suppose this is the result of long delays between playoff rounds. The NBC’s ratings were so bad that game three of the Anaheim-Ottawa final earned the distinction of being the lowest rating for a prime time show on that network’s history. The five game final series did not have one overtime game. In comparison, the WHL final, featuring the Medicine Hat Tigers and the Vancouver Giants, went into double overtime in the decisive 7^th game.

OVERTIME EPICS:  The most memorable contest of the Stanley Cup playoffs was the Vancouver Canucks-Dallas Stars first round four overtime thriller.  However, this game still ranked below the RBC five overtime period semi-final classic between the Camrose Kodiaks and the PG Spruce Kings.

SEVEN GAME SERIES:  Did you notice that the Stars-Canucks series was the only one out of 15 played in the NHL that went the full seven games?

NO SURPRISES: The NHL playoffs provided no major upsets, which in itself is quite a surprise. On the other hand, the WHL featured the shock of the year when the PG Cougars defeated the regular season champion Everett Silvertips. 

HANDLING THE HEAT:  A couple of weeks ago my column was about “pressure” and how Ottawa won the Eastern Conference because they did not have the pressure of previous Senators’ teams. All of sudden, they were in a position of being the first Canadian team to win the Stanley Cup since the 1993 Montreal Canadiens.  However, they melted like generic ice cream and were crushed by the Ducks.

A BLAST FROM THE PAST:  The Anaheim championship shows that the new era isn’t necessarily all about speed. Yes, toughness and a roster bolstered by many Canadians provided the successful formula. 16 of the 19 Anaheim players that participated in the final game against Ottawa were Canadian. The non Canadians were Finland’s Teemu Selanne, Samuel Pahlsson of Sweden and American Todd Marchant.  As well, the Ducks were the first team since the 1975 Philadelphia Flyers to win the Cup and lead the league in regular season penalty minutes.

NO CLEAR CUT WINNER:  This was one year where there wasn’t a real favorite to win the Conn Smythe trophy as playoff MVP.   Scott Niedermayer was a worthy choice but this award could have been split between the three players on the Ducks checking line: Pahlsson, Rob Niedermayer and Travis Moen. As a unit they shut down Ottawa’s not so dynamic duo of Dany Heatley and Jason Spezza, but they also did a superb job in the earlier rounds against the top guns from Minnesota, Vancouver and Detroit.

A QUICK END:  The season ended earlier this year, but as evidenced by the play, sooner doesn’t necessarily mean better.

Hockey may be over but dads can rejoice in that Sunday is Father’s Day. I can’t agree more with Charles Wadsworth’s words of wisdom: “By the time a man realizes that maybe his father was right, he usually has a son who thinks he’s wrong.”

From the quote rack:

“Once again, my mother is very proud of me and my wife and kids are creeping around in disguise."
Mississippi Braves manager Phillip Wellman, after a much publicized on-field temper tantrum.

“Kevin Durant couldn’t even bench press 185 pounds at the NBA combines. Later, Kevin reportedly had sand kicked in his face at the beach----that Lauren Jackson is such a bully"Contributor Bill Littlejohn of South Lake Tahoe, California

“This hardly came as news, due to a prior leak." Jeff Funnekotter, in the Saskatoon Star-Phoenix, after Sepp Blatter was re-elected FIFA president for another four year term.

 "I believe this is the biggest victory for a group of ducks since Dick Cheney shot that lawyer in the face." NBC’s Jay Leno, on the Anaheim Ducks winning the Stanley Cup.

And in case you missed it:

As a result of attendance dropping close to 35 per cent, the St Louis Blues have lowered ticket prices by an average of eight percent.

And how was your week?

Hartley Miller is the sports director for radio stations 94X and the Wolf@97fm. He also writes for the PG Free Press. Send along a quote, note or anecdote to hmiller@94xfm.com

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