ClutterPuck

Welcome to Chip ‘Er Deep Thoughts with…ClutterPuck! This will be our weekly post on all things hockey. Why chip ‘er deep thoughts you ask? Or maybe you don’t ask? Chip ‘er deep is a hockey phrase that means get the puck deep in the opponent’s zone so the team can make a line change or establish the forecheck.

Deep Thoughts was a short from Saturday Night Live that lasted about 30 seconds each time it was on the show. It would just have stupid thoughts about life. One of my favorites was,

“What if Hardware Hank’s real name…was Dave? Then it would be Hardware Dave’s!”

So basically this weekly post will be short blurbs about the latest news in hockey. I hope you like it. Let us know what you think in the comments!

Raffi Torres Suspension – Was 25 Games Too Many?
I started writing about this and ended up writing a whole separate article about it. You can check it out here!

I think the National Hockey League and Brendan Shanahan had to do something big with this suspension to make Raffi Torres and the rest of the league know that these kinds of hits can’t happen anymore! They can’t afford to have the best players in the league going down to injuries because of stupid hits like this. No player should go down because of this kind of check! It’s avoidable and the Department of Player Safety has been working on this for a long time now. Sooner or later, the players will realize that they have to change the way they play the game for these kinds of big hits out of the game.

Getting the blow ‘em up hits out of the game will go a long way towards a healthier National Hockey League and that will trickle down into every other level of hockey. The kids won’t see them as often so they won’t attempt them as often.

If we want the culture of hockey to change, it has to come from the top and the bottom of hockey. Better instruction on how to throw a check, take a check, avoid a check and keeping your head up at the lower levels of hockey and less of the big hits at the higher levels is a good start.

Has Nicklas Lidstrom played his last game in the NHL?
When the Detroit Red Wings were eliminated from the playoffs in 5 games by the Nashville Predators, it could’ve been the last game for Nicklas Lidstrom. I think most fans would like to see him continue playing especially if he can play at the level he played at this season. He ended the season with 11 goals and 23 assists and he was a plus 21 in 70 games. He did not register a point in any of the 5 playoff games against Nashville.

Looking at his stats, I noticed that Mr. Lidstrom had a positive plus/minus in all but one of his 20 seasons in the National Hockey League. That was last season when he was a minus 2 for the 2010-11 season. That’s pretty amazing and says a lot about how good a defenseman he has been over his career. It will be an interesting off-season for Nicklas Lidstrom and the Detroit Red Wings.

New Voice of the Wild
Dan Terhaar, play-by-play announcer for the Minnesota Wild, was told his contract won’t be renewed with the Minnesota Wild so there will be a new voice for the Wild when the games begin next season. Terhaar was the play-by-play announcer for the last seven seasons so it will be quite a change to hear someone else call Wild games next season.

Mike Greenlay will return as analyst and the radio team of Bob Kurtz and Tom Reid will return as well. Isn’t it strange to just replace the play-by-play announcer while having the color analyst stay? Why wouldn’t they just get two new guys? Either way, there’s going to be a new voice calling Wild games!

I haven’t a clue who they are interested in but I hope they go with somebody new to the position in Minnesota. The only name I can think of that I would like is Clay Matvick. Clay worked at Fox Sports Net before, from 2001-2005, and he’s done play-by-play at the Minnesota State High School Hockey Tournament for the last 9 years while also working various sports for ESPN. Seems like an obvious candidate for the job so we’ll see.

Add play-by-play announcer to the list of jobs to fill with the Minnesota Wild. I really think they have to get the right guy for this position or fans might turn away! Noooo…I can’t back that up. I don’t think fans would stop watching because of the play-by-play guy simply because of a simple thing called…the MUTE button! If only we could watch the game and just mute out the announcers sometimes while still getting the glorious sounds of the game of hockey! Is there an app for that?

1st Round of the 2012 Stanley Cup Playoffs is over!
Top seeds were dropping like flies in the first round of the playoffs. Only the #1 seeded New York Rangers survived the first round in the Eastern Conference albeit barely, surviving a Game 7 against the #8 seed Ottawa Senators. In the other Eastern Conference matchups, the #7 seed Washington Capitals beat the #2 seed Boston Bruins in Game 7 in Boston on a controversial goal. The #6 seed New Jersey Devils beat the #3 seed Florida Panthers in Overtime of Game 7 and the #5 seed Philadelphia Flyers beat the #4 seed Pittsburgh Penguins in 6 games.

In the Western Conference, it was a little different although the President’s Trophy winning, best record in the regular season having, #1 seed Vancouver Canucks lost in 5 games to the #8 seed Los Angeles Kings. They were the only top seed to lose though. The #2 seed St. Louis Blues beat the #7 seed San Jose Sharks in 5 games, the #3 seed Phoenix Coyotes beat the #6 seed Chicago Blackhawks in 6 games and the #4 seed Nashville Predators beat the #5 seed Detroit Red Wings in 5 games.

That means the 2nd round match-ups are set! In the West we’ll see #2 St. Louis take on #8 Los Angeles, #3 Phoenix take on #4 Nashville Predators and in the East, we will see #1 New York take on #7 Washington and #5 Philadelphia take on #6 New Jersey.

The 2nd round starts on Friday:
Predators in Phoenix for Game 1 of the Western Conference Semifinals at 8pm CST on NBCSports.

2 games on Saturday
WSH @ NYR Game 1 at 2pm CST on NBC
LA @ STL Game 1 at 6:30pm on NBCSports

2 games on Sunday
NJ @ PHI Game 1 at 2pm CST on NBC
NSH @ PHO Game 2 at 7pm CST on NBCSports

Let’s hope the 2nd round is as good or better than the exciting 1st round! The complete 2nd round schedule is up on NHL.com.

Outdoor Hockey at Soldier Field & the MN Gophers?
The other day, a couple outdoor hockey games at Soldier Field in Chicago were apparently finalized and will take place on Sunday, February 17th at Soldier Field, the home of the Chicago Bears. The Match-ups will be Minnesota vs Wisconsin and Notre Dame vs Miami of Ohio.

So here’s my big question, why Chicago? None of those teams are from Chicago or Illinois so why would there be a game for them at Soldier Field? Soldier Field holds over 61,000 and is one of the most storied stadiums in America.

I’m sure it will be done right and maybe it is an attempt to show the NHL that Soldier Field would be a good place to hold the 2014 NHL Winter Classic.

You need more Clutter in your life! Find us on Twitter, Facebook and Google+!

Bring the CLUTTER! Every Day! Every Game!

ClutterPUCKED….AGAIN!

Photo Credit: Bridget Samuels via Compfight

When the National Hockey League announced the suspension for Raffi Torres’ hit on Marian Hossa, some people may have been surprised by the length of the suspension. Was 25 games too many for that hit? Was it enough? Will it send enough of a message to Raffi Torres and the entire National Hockey League about that type of hit? Only time will tell but this isn’t the first time a lengthy suspension has been handed down by the Department of Player Safety and SR Vice President Brendan Shanahan.

Matt Cooke came to this same crossroads in his NHL career last season when he gave an elbow to Ryan McDonagh’s head and was suspended for the rest of the regular season (10 games) and the 1st round of the playoffs. The National Hockey League and the Department of Player Safety made an example out of Matt Cooke with that suspension to show the rest of the league that these deliberate hits weren’t going to be tolerated. In essence, they were challenging Matt Cooke to change the way he played hockey in the NHL.

After the suspension was announced, Mr. Cooke sounded sincere when he said, “I realize and understand, more so now than ever, that I need to change,” and even though few thought he could change, he knew he had to figure out a way to change the way he plays or his career might be over.

Raffi Torres basically committed 3 penalties when he hit Marian Hossa in Game 3 of the Western Conference Quarterfinals between the Phoenix Coyotes and the Chicago Blackhawks, even though nothing was called! It was interference, charging & an illegal check to the head. Mr. Torres is no stranger to these types of hits as he’s been suspended many times in his NHL career. At some point, the players that keep making hits like this have to figure out they have to change how they play the game.

The National Hockey League and Brendan Shanahan had to come down hard on Raffi Torres and use this hit as an example to the rest of the league. Some people will disagree and that’s fine. Players will disagree on the suspension as well. Everyone has a right to their opinion. Raffi Torres knew exactly what he was doing and he has been suspended for the same kind of hits before and hasn’t changed so he was sent a pretty hefty message, take 25 games to look at your game and change it or your career may be over because if he makes another hit like that in the future, who knows what the NHL will do.

There’s another thing about the suspension that most people might not realize. When the suspension was announced on April 21st, the Phoenix Coyotes had a possible 24 games left in the playoffs if they won the Stanley Cup and every series went to 7 games. They could’ve played three more games in round 1, seven games in round 2, seven games in the Conference Finals and seven games in the Stanley Cup Finals. They had already played Game 4 the night before and Torres was suspended indefinitely at that point. That game still counts as part of the suspension making it 25 possible games left in the playoffs for the Phoenix Coyotes.

Could it be that part of the reason for the 25 game suspension was to keep Raffi Torres from playing in the rest of the playoffs? Thanks to Justin Bourne of the Backhand Shelf blog at TheScore.com, we found out that players don’t get paid in the playoffs and Torres would lose $21,341.46 for every regular season game he misses due to the suspension. He will miss the entire preseason as well since we know he will have at least one regular season game on his suspension right now due to Phoenix winning their 1st round series in six games.

So the big question is, will this change Raffi Torres and his headhunting ways? One would think if Matt Cooke can do it, anyone can. It has to be very difficult to change the way you’ve played for your whole career. Every player has had to tweak their play to adapt to the new rules that have come in the last few seasons but tweaking is a lot different than changing the way you play. Matt Cooke might be a good person for Raffi Torres to add to his contact list because he’s probably going to need all the help he can get to change into a different player.

The National Hockey League can’t afford to be losing any players to injury let alone the best players in the league to stupid hits that don’t need to be made. The blow ‘em up hits are the the hits they need to get rid of! Most fans enjoy good physical play in the game but it needs to be done the right way. Yes, a big hit can change the momentum of a game but it shouldn’t change a player’s life.

Getting the blow ‘em up hits out of the game would also have a trickle down effect on the rest of hockey. The less kids see of these hits, the less they will want to do them in their own games. Everyone talks about changing the culture of hockey and how it can be done. Things can be done at all levels of hockey to improve safety in the game.

Every player needs to learn how to throw a check, take a check, avoid a check and to always be aware of their surroundings when they are on the ice. “Keep your head on a swivel” is the popular saying for playing hockey and maybe it’s become an afterthought in today’s game for some reason. Here’s a quote from hockey legend Reed Larson on how the game used to be played:

“But the hitting, some guys just are not ready for it (at a younger age…squirts, peewees, bantams).  They are cracking down on it, and they are trying to do the right thing, but these players aren’t learning how to fall, how to go into the boards, and how to check properly.  I can’t believe how many guys I’ve seen come to the middle of the ice and make a pass and not pay any attention to what is around them.  We never did that, we made a pass and then it was “who’s coming!?!”  The job was only half done after the pass.”

I’m not sure how much Marian Hossa could’ve avoided the hit from Raffi Torres because it happened pretty fast but there’s definitely some injuries that could be avoided or at least lessened by players knowing who’s coming? Teammates talk all the time on offense and defense and on the bench. Do they ever give a “heads up” or a “man on” about an oncoming check?

The National Hockey League has a lot of work to do in the offseason. A new Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) needs to be agreed upon with the Player’s Association (NHLPA) and I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s some more new rules on discipline of the big hits and illegal checks.

So…ClutterPuckers…what do you think? Was 25 games excessive? just right? not enough? What will happen with the “big hits” in the future?

We are on Twitter and Facebook so get ‘Pucked!

‘Puck drop! ‘Puck passed! ‘Puck Shot! ‘Puck in the Net!

You’ve been ClutterPucked again!

Bring the CLUTTER! Every Game! Every Day!

‘Puck On!

‘Puck OUT!