On Frozen Pond

While there were bowl games all over the tube on New Year’s Day, NBC presented a treat. The NHL gave us the Amp Energy NHL Winter Classic. It was an outdoor hockey game at Ralph Wilson Stadium in Buffalo, between the Sabres and the Pittsburgh Penguins. It was good stuff.

The game drew over 71,000 spectators in the cold, sleet, and snow of Buffalo, the largest crowd in the history of the NHL. It was great television. At times during the game, attendants had to go out onto the ice and clear freshly fallen snow and ice. Wind and cold were a factor in the game, just as in football. It was a throwback to when players were growing up playing on frozen ponds and backyards. Oh, yeah, Pittsburgh won the game, 3-2 in a shootout. The NHL's new phenom Sidney Crosby scored the winning goal for the Penguins.

The NHL needs things like this to put it back on the map in this country. Outdoor games won’t work all the time, but one game a year, presented as a big event, would be great for the sport.

One Championship Down, Another To Go

The Anaheim Ducks put the Ottawa Senators out of their misery tonight, winning Game 5 of the Stanley Cup Finals, 6-2, and winning the Cup, 4 games to 1. The Ducks kicked the Sens all the way back to Canada. The series really wasn't close. As a result, there are riots in Newport Beach tonight. Not really. The Ducks' players can now shave their Grizzly Adams-style beards, since the playoffs are over.

The hockey finals ended tonight just in time for the beginning of the NBA Finals, which start tomorrow night in San Antonio. The Spurs go for their fourth championship in nine years over the upstart Cleveland Cavaliers, a/k/a LeBron James And A Bunch Of Guys. LeBron will be worth watching, all by himself. But, the Spurs will be too tough for them. The championship will go to a team on I-35. Problem is, it's not the Mavericks (remember them?). Spurs win in six.

A Little Cherry On Top

(warning: 7 minute video)

NBC gave those of us in the U.S. a treat on Monday night, as the great Don Cherry was their guest during the second intermission of Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Finals.

Cherry, also known as "Grapes", is known for his "Coach's Corner" segments on the CBC's Hockey Night In Canada. He is known for loud suits and bombastic commentary. He is the king of the hot sports opinion. Cherry once got in hot water for suggesting that most players that wore helmet visors were French-Canadians or Europeans. He is a defender of old-school Canadian hockey. He has also been known to register hot political opinions, coming out in favor of the U.S. war in Iraq, definitely a minority opinion north of the 45th parallel. Nonetheless, he was rated 7th in a poll to determine the Greatest Canadians of all time, for a series broadcast on CBC. Coach's Corner is must-see TV on Saturday nights in Canada during the hockey season. Don Cherry is an icon north of the border.

Last night, Cherry threw down some hot sports opinions in favor of fighting. He made the point that TV ratings would be up in the U.S. if more fighting were allowed. I never thought about it, but he has a point. Hockey's ratings can't be much worse than what they are now. What is the fastest growing sport in the U.S.? Ultimate Fighting Championships. Americans love violence. Hockey can meet that demand. Brett Hull, in this video, went along with him.

I disagree with Grapes on one thing, though: Brett Hull's Stanley Cup-winning goal was legitimate. Here's to the 1999 Stanley Cup Champion Dallas Stars!

Stanley Cup, Eh?

Flying under the radar, at least in this country, are the Stanley Cup playoffs.

Hockey still exists, and the NHL is still in business, in spite of their lockout of two years ago. In the United States (outside of NHL cities), hockey gets lower TV ratings than poker, and is less popular than tractor pulls. It is a great spectator sport that has not translated well to TV. Now that the league is no longer seen on ESPN, the league has become out of sight and out of mind to most sports fans.

The Stanley Cup Finals begin Monday night just outside of Disneyland in Anaheim. Canada's Team, the Ottawa Senators, face the 57 Freeway's Team, the Anaheim Ducks. The Ducks are no longer Mighty, as Disney sold the team a couple of years ago, and they are simply the Anaheim Ducks. Games 1 & 2 are on TV in the US, just barely, as they will be on Versus (way up the dial on digital cable and satellite). The remaining games will be on NBC, as long as there is no horse racing pre-game show. (NBC last Saturday left the Senators-Sabres playoff game before overtime to go to the Preakness pre-race show. The pre-race show got much better ratings than hockey) It's still a big deal in the Great White North, though.

These teams have not played since January 2006. What kind of league plays an 82-game schedule, but doesn't let every team play each other at least once or twice? In the NBA, even the Lakers have to play the Charlotte Bobcats twice.

I still like hockey. I can't bring myself to root for the Ducks, as I'm still a Dallas Stars fan. Go Sens!

Ugly Uniform Of The Day-Hockey Retro Edition

The Vancouver Canucks have a legacy of ugly uniforms. None are worse than their home jerseys, worn from 1978-1985.

These are the infamous "V" jerseys. There is a multi-colored "V" coming down from the neck, with no logo. The road version is not quite as bad, since it was a black jersey. The home version, however, was hideous. There was no white, only a mustard yellow that would fit well in the German Bundesliga.

Any uniform is an improvement over this one. This is one of the worst uniforms in the history of sports, and probably the worst one in the history of the NHL.

At least Wayne Gretzky was dominating the NHL at that time, and the Canucks didn't even smell a Stanley Cup with those uniforms.

Ugly Uniform of the Day

Today's UUOTD comes from the National Hockey League.

The NHL, in search for marketing dollars, has worn out the idea of a third, or alternate, jersey. Just about every team has one. Some of them are better than others. One of the worst ones was worn last night in Nashville.

The Nashville Predators are wearing this ugly shade of gold with navy blue. Their blue uniform is a lot better. Looks like this are a reason why I'm not a fan of the alternate jersey. This looks like French's horseradish mustard.

I'm still not used to the change the NHL has made, where the home team wears dark instead of white. They changed their policies in order to allow teams to wear the third jersey at home. It's taken me a while to adjust to the road team wearing white.

The Predators need to stick to the blue jerseys.