Muck My Blog

Coke Zero Fans First Ambush!

2010-07-28T00:36:00.003-04:00

Tonight the Toronto Maple Leafs ran an awesome promotion giving some lucky Beer Leaguers the night of a lifetime. They took part in a practice run by Assistant Coach Keith Acton. They were skated hard and one player won a sweet VIP prize. Here are some of the pictures of the night. I was able to take place in the media scrum and chat with the Leafs. They were all in high spirits and treated everyone with respect. Classy all the around from start to finish!

Go Leafs Go!

Kris Versteeg in the Media Scrum

Colby Armstrong hard at practice

Colby even harder at practice

Assistant Coach Keith Acton and Mike Komisarek in the dressing room

Mike Komisarek sitting in the dressing room

What if Roy Halladay was still a Toronto Blue Jay?

2010-06-11T00:52:00.004-04:00

I will be the first to admit I thought trading The Doc made sense. Roy Halladay had previously stated that he would most likely not resign with the Jays. What Alex Anthopoulos got in return is still years away from being an active part of the roster. All signs point to Kyle Drabek and Brett Wallace being very talented prospects that could play large roles in future years.

But what if Roy had stayed and played out his final year of his contract? The starting rotation would be Halladay, Marcum, Romero, Cecil, and Morrow. This would rival any rotation in baseball and be one of the most consistent squads in the Major Leagues. The worst part about Halladays time in Toronto always has been his run support. The Jays currently are +25 in runs this season and have a 34-27 record. If you add Halladay into the mix the Blue Jays would be the leaders of the AL East. If by some miracle the bats stayed hot for the full season they would win the division. Worst case scenario the wild card. This would have resulted in Halladay resigning in Toronto.

Hindsights a bitch.

The Real Deal and the Pretenders: The NHL

2009-12-15T13:36:00.005-05:00

The Real Deals

LA Kings:
Their hot start has continued and with a third of the NHL season in the books they are still marching into the playoffs. In their last 10 games they have a record 7-2-1, only the Vancouver Canucks and Minnesota wild have as good of a record in the last 10(western Conference). The record on the road for the black, blue and gray shows that they are getting the job done when the going gets tough. They have as many road wins as the Flames, Sharks, Penguins and Devils. All cup contenders and obviously good company, the kings WILL keep this going and in the playoffs may be over-looked as a contender. No Ryan Smyth, a slumping Anze Kopitar? No Problem.

Buffalo Sabres:
A goalie who plays as well as Ryan Miller every night can keep you in every game, allowing a chance to win. Ryan Miller has to be considered the front runner for the Vezina and may give Team USA the goaltending it needs, allowing them to focus on their high powered offense and being a real force in the Olympics. The Sabres have won 4 straight and are 8-2-0 in their last 10, they are for real in the regular season. The Playoffs? I guess we will have to wait and see.

Bubble:
Colorado Avalanche

Pretenders:

Atlanta Thrashers:
Sure it’s a contract year for Kovalchuk, but this team will not stay in the playoff picture for much longer. A Euro based team struggles with consistency, the month of December has definitely been an interesting one:
Dec.3 – NYI 4- ATL 1 a HOME loss to the Islanders
Dec.5 – ATL 2- FLA 1 a shootout win over the Panthers, talk about a squeaker
Dec.7 – TOR 5- ATL 2 bundled by the leafs and Kessel not much of a factor..ouch
Dec.9 – CAL3 – ATL 1 an obvious loss for most teams, except the real deals
Dec.10- VAN 4 – ATL 2 Not going to score more than 2 on Luongo without Kovi
Dec.12- ATL 4- MTL 3 an OT win
Dec.14- ATL 3 – NYR 2 Another shootout win

That makes 3 wins so far in December; 2 shootout wins and an OT win. These were against Florida, Montreal and New York. Atlanta is a team ready to fall.

Montreal Canadiens:
Sporting a record of 3-5-2 in the last 10 is not a way to keep a playoff spot. They are tied for 8th in the eastern conference with Florida and are only one win up on the rest of the eastern conference (talk about close). Oh wait I forgot the Hurricanes are 13 points behind them, 11 points behind the rest.
Gionta is out, Markov done and wasting a rare 3 point effort by a Andrei Kostitsyn on Saturday (to the Thrashers) has shown they will be falling quickly.

Bubble:
Phoenix Coyotes

“Let it snow. Let it snow, let it snow”

Juiced

2009-08-03T16:39:00.011-04:00

It's certainly come to a point where I have heard enough about steroid use in Major League Baseball. The recent reports of former Boston Red Sox outfielder Manny Ramirez, and current Red Sox DH David Ortiz testing positive for now banned substances in 2003 has been the final straw. These reports have circulated a few short weeks after Ramirez had just finished serving a 50 game suspension for testing positive for a banned substance, to improve his mini-Manny's performance.

Here's the problem I have with these names becoming public knowledge. It happened in 2003, and during that time, these performance-enhancing drugs were not banned. Now, MLB commissioner Bud Selig has done an admirable job in developing a new program to punish those players who do not follow the rules. Nonetheless, this program was not in place in 2003, so why embarrass and tarnish the reputation of these ball players? Major League Baseball is currently down on the ground with regards to steroids, and releasing these names is only beating a dead horse.

Steroids was becoming very newsworthy, with the help of the release of Jose Canseco's best-selling novel "Juiced: Wild Times, Rampant 'Roids, Smash Hits and How Baseball Got Big" in 2005. With this book, and several investigations, names like Canseco, Sammy Sosa, Mark McGwire, Rafael Palmeiro and Barry Bonds were linked to steroids.

It was this time that I distinctly remember saying to people: "Well at least we know A-Rod won't test positive, he's been hitting home runs ever since he's been in the league." This proved to be true as his name was released prior to the 2009 season. I also remember saying in the past: "Ortiz isn't on steroids, he's fat."

But if you look harder, Alex Rodriguez had arguably 3 of his better seasons while he was considered to be on steroids. The Minnesota Twins gave up on a struggling Ortiz, and he broke out in 2003 with the Red Sox and became a feared power hitter. I am not a scientist, like one of my roommates is, but this is what I think:

Steroids won't make you hit home runs. That takes preicse hand-eye coordination and bat speed. But what it can do is make those long fly balls go a little further and over the walls. And this is an issue.

Now, my point. Stop bringing up these names from the past. You have developed a strong anti-doping policy, and if anyone tests positive, then they deserve to have their suspension. But when the MLB did not think steroids was a problem, (when they actually were) you cannot hold that against those who wanted that extra boost. It was not illegal, so forget about it.

Predictions:

Ken Griffey Jr. never tests positive and is considered the best (or cleanest) home run hitter of the last 20 years. That is until Albert Pujols takes over that title after passing Barry Bonds all-time HR record.
Jim Thome is the next high profile slugger to have his name reported as a past steroid user.

Wednesday Sports Thoughts.

2009-07-29T08:04:00.004-04:00

Hey there ladies and gents. Welcome to a new segment which will be updated with more frequency. My outlook on the current sports landscape.

So Michael Vick has been reinstated to play in the NFL. I can guarantee one team who will not sign him. The Cleveland Browns. Can you imagine Vick playing in the dog pound? The jokes would be endless. So i guess that also rules out the Ravens, Bengals, and Steelers since their division rivals. Speaking of this criminal, does no one else remember what he was like before all this happened? He was on a deep slide that everyone seems to forget about. He throws tons of INT's, has no accuracy, and was basically a glorified running back. Whichever team signs him is taking a huge risk. And in Cleveland that would include the mascot. I as a Packers fan really hope he goes to Minnesota. That team will not be as good as hyped.
I'll keep this brief as I'm was saving it for another blog. Brett Favre, thank god for staying retired. All respect would have been lost had you played in the terrible purple and yellow jersey. How could you even think about screwing the Pack like that. Stay retired and keep it at that.
Roy Halladay, the best athlete to ever wear a Toronto uniform. That is not just talking baseball either. If you can name a player who played for a Toronto team that has been this good for this long, and considered as the best across the league I'd love to hear it. This all said I would be pretty sad to see him go. I went to the so called last home game against the Tampa Rays and he was lights out. If I'm Philadelphia I trade whatever prospects the Jays ask for. With Doc the Philies could be dominant to another title. Whether the Jays should do it is another story. If we can't resign him, we may as well make the move. Get some prospects, and blow the team up.
Fire J.P. Riccardi.
Mark Buerle is a beauty. He also owes Wise a beer.
The Toronto Raptors have more euros then strip club

2009 NHL Awards - WTF?

2009-06-19T18:26:00.005-04:00

I am a massive National Hockey League fan. That automatically means that no matter how the annual awards show is organized, I am going to enjoy it, at least to the extent that I can see who wins each award. So I'll mention the positives of the night before I completely rip into the "show" part of it.

A lot of the speeches were great. It was hard not to get at least a bit choked up listening to Boston Bruins goaltender Tim Thomas deliver his Vezina Trophy winning speech. Thomas did not play his first NHL game until his early 30's, so to be rewarded with this trophy, alongside greats Terry Sawchuk, Patrick Roy and Jacques Plante amongst others, was certainly a great moment.

Steve Sullivan winning the Bill Masterton Award was definitely a feel-good moment. Sullivan had been battling back injuries and surgeries for parts of two seasons, only to come back last season to get 32 points in 41 games for the Nashville Predators. It was also a pleasure to see the eye candy Sullivan came with. (Although at times she looked as though she was constipated?)

Along the same lines, congrats to Steve Mason and Evgeni Malkin. Not for their awards (Mason with the Calder Trophy, Malkin with the Art Ross Trophy) but for their dates. I give the edge to Malkin, good on ya Gino. Special consideration to Jean Beliveau.

Finally, Brian Burke appeared on camera a few times. Never get sick of seeing that face. Felt like he was planning something, something big.

Okay, that I enjoyed.

But why was it in Las Vegas? Are there really any sports fans in sin city? Or is there just a lot of sports betters? Who in Las Vegas cares about hockey? Judging by the numerous times there was a section of 6 or 7 empty seats in a row, not many. Quit trying to "build" the game in places it will not work Mr. Bettman. (See Phoenix Coyotes) Oh and nice try on the joke Gare. Walks up to the microphone and says "I definitely need this lower." Hilarious. Next year, keep it in Toronto, or at least Canada, where it belongs.

Now onto the entertainment. I heard on the radio that The Arkells played a pre-awards show. However they did not play during the actual awards. That spot was left for world renowned superstar....Chaka Khan. Not only did we get one dose of the lovely Ms. Khan, but she returned for a second performance! Simply brilliant. She opened the show singing god knows what with who appeared to be a former member of the now defunct boy band LFO. Then, she returned for an encore performing her best hit, "Through the Fire." Epic.

Here's the part that annoyed me the most. I do not know for sure, but I cannot imagine Ron MacLean turning down the offer to host again this year. Then again, who knows. The lack of a host, created a lack of a flow and really hurt the show. The best parts of previous award shows was Ron MacLean and his quick-witted rhetoric. Ron would have made a knee-slapper about the Sidney Crosby "handshake fiasco" to ease the tension and acknowledge the ridiculous situation its become. Or he would have cracked a Jim Balsille - Phoenix Coyotes joke. But none of this happened. It was award, award, award, commercial. BOR-ING.

We had to rely on guys like Alex Ovechkin for humour, and unintentional humour from the weak English of Evgeni Malkin and Pavel Datsyuk.

By the way, where was the NHL's posterboy? Celebrating the Stanley Cup? How dare you Sidney!

Next year, back in Canada, MacLean hosting and some good rock music please.

Wow, Russia is going to be good in 2010.

2009 Millar Mock Draft

2009-06-17T20:08:00.018-04:00

One of the most exciting days on the National Hockey League schedule is fast approaching, and I thought I would give my best guess at how the first round is going to play out. Here we go:

1. New York Islanders: C John Tavares - London Knights (6.00, 195) 56GP 58G 46A 104P

Final Central Scouting Bureau Ranking: 1st NA Skaters

This pick is not as easy as some suggest. However, with a possible new arena deal on the horizon, and a once proud franchise consistently amongst the league's worst, the Islanders decide to go with the firepower of Tavares. He has the best goal scoring ability in the draft, which will be huge for a team that finished second last in the league in goals for. Tavares - Okposo looks to be a scary dynamic duo for years to come on the Island.

2. Tampa Bay Lightning: D Victor Hedman - Modo (6.06, 220) 43GP 7G 14A 21P

Final Central Scouting Bureau Ranking: 1st European Skaters

The Lightning would have been happy with either Tavares or Hedman, and even Tampa Bay could not screw this pick up. The Lightning are a team in serious need of some defensive depth, and Hedman should be able to play next season, and give the Lightning blue line a boost. The only knock is that Hedman does not use his freakish size to the best of his ability, but he's young, and I'm sure Rick Tocchet could fix that problem. 2-1 odds Ricky.

3. Colorado Avalanche: C Matt Duchene - Brampton Battalion (5.11, 200) 57GP 31G 48A 79P

Final Central Scouting Bureau Ranking: 2nd NA Skaters

The 2009 Draft has a distinct top three. Many experts feel the order could go any way. With that being said, the Avalanche are thrilled to be able to have a player of Duchene's ability drop to them at the third spot. With Avalanche legend Joe Sakic nearing the end of his illustrious career, the timing is perfect for Duchene to take over the reigns of the franchise. He likely is the smartest player in the draft, and some even feel he may have the best career of the 2009 crop.

4. Atlanta Thrashers: C Evander Kane - Vancouver Giants (6.01, 176) 61GP 48G 48A 96P

Final Central Scouting Bureau Ranking: 3rd NA Skaters

The Atlanta Thrashers struggle between choosing Kane and Brayden Schenn, but ultimately take the more offensive Kane. Landing a player like Kane can hopefully convince Thrasher superstar Ilya Kovalchuk to stay beyond next season. Kane has drawn comparisons to Jarome Iginla.

In a surprising move, the Toronto Maple Leafs trade the 7th overall pick, 2010 3rd Round Draft Pick and forward Alex Ponikarovsky to the Los Angeles Kings for the 5th overall pick and a 2010 4th Round Pick. The trade allows both teams to select the player they want, with a top 6 forward going to the Kings who are loading up for a playoff push next season.

5. Toronto Maple Leafs: C Brayden Schenn - Brandon Wheat Kings (6.00, 198) 70GP 32G 56A 78P

Final Central Scouting Bureau Ranking: 4th NA Skaters

In what seems like a match made in heaven, the Leafs select a Schenn in back-t0-back drafts. Brayden Schenn is the opitimy of a "Brian Burke player." He has size, leadership skills, tenacity, pugnacity, truculence, beligerence, yada yada you get the point. Some say B.Schenn is built to the mould of Philadelphia's Mike Richards. Let's hope so, it's about time the Leafs had some high end prospects in their system. Now if Boyd Devereaux hadn't scored a hat trick in the final game of the season against Ottawa to drop the Leafs from 5th spot to 7th, they would not have had to trade up, and could have jumped even higher. Thanks Boyd, good luck on getting a new offer from the Buds.

6. Phoenix Coyotes: D Dmitry Kulikov - Drumondville Voltigeurs (6.00, 183) 57GP 12G 50A 62P

Final Central Scouting Bureau Ranking: 11 NA Skaters

The Coyotes have gone off the board in the past, selecting Blake Wheeler at 5th in 2004, so this move seems appropriate as well. The Coyotes are looking to bolster their blue line, and they get a solid, offensively gifted defenceman in Kulikov. Don't be surprised either if the 'Yotes take Swedish defeceman Oliver Ekman-Larsson in this spot either.

7. Los Angeles Kings: LW Magnus Svensson-Paajarvi - Timra IK (6.01, 201) 50GP 7G 10A 17P

Final Central Scouting Bureau Ranking: 2nd European Skaters

The Kings get their guy in Paajarvi-Svensson, or Svensson-Paajarvi... whatever his name is. With not much depth on the wings in Los Angeles, especially with prospects, the Kings add a highly-skilled Swede who some feel is one of the more NHL ready prospects in the draft. Don't let his stats fool you. Svensson-Paajarvi was 17 years old playing with grown men in the Swedish Elite League. His stats all-of-a-sudden become impressive. His stock fell a bit with his performance at the U-18's this past year, but the Kings will get a dynamic player in MPS.

8. Dallas Stars: D Oliver Ekman-Larsson - Leksand (6.02, 176) 39GP 3G 14A 17P

Final Central Scouting Bureau Ranking: 4th European Skaters

Joe Nieuwendyk surprises a few people with his first ever pick as the Stars General Manager, by passing on the previously injured, higher rated defenceman in Jared Cowen. However, with Sergei Zubov nearing the end, the Stars find the perfect puck-moving defeceman replacement in Ekman-Larsson.

9. Ottawa Senators: C Nazem Kadri - London Knights (5.11, 167) 56GP 25G 53A 78P

Final Central Scouting Bureau Ranking: 15th NA Skaters

The Senators are not turned off from Kadri dropping to 15th from 11th in the mid-term rankings. Kadri had a strong OHL playoffs and some feel he outperformed London teammate John Tavares. However, even though the Knights lost to a very strong, Memorial Cup winning Windsor Spitfire team, some feel the Knights choked in their OHL semi-final series, meaning Kadri should fit right into the Ottawa system.

10. Edmonton Oilers: D Jared Cowen - Spokane Chiefs (6.05, 220) 48GP 7G 14A 21P

Final Central Scouting Bureau Ranking: 9th NA Skaters

Before this season, many felt Cowen could challenge for the 3rd spot after a solid performance as a rookie on a Memorial Cup Winning team in 2008. However, a collison on Januaury 30th ended his season prematurely, and he did not play for the rest of the season. However, he will be healthy for training camp. The Oilers are thrilled with drafting Cowen this late, as he is full of potential, and some feel he has a shot at becoming a Chris Pronger-like hulking d-man. Hopefully he doesn't meet any news reporters out in Oil Country.

11. Nashville Predators: RW Jordan Schroeder - U of Minnesota (5.08, 175) 35GP 13G 32A 45P

Final Central Scouting Bureau Ranking: 5th NA Skaters

Size has been Schroeder's biggest disadvantage when concerned with scouting. However, the Predators are not concerned, as Schroeder's dynamic shot, and playmaking ability will fit nicely into the Predatorss high tempo system

12. Minnesota Wild: D John Moore - Chicago Steel (6.02, 189) 57GP 14G 25A 39 P

Final Central Scouting Bureau Ranking: 6th NA Skaters

Moore is a player who we could see easily climb into the top ten, going as high as 6th. All he did this season was improve. He could potentially be the steal of the 2009 NHL Entry Draft. Solid defenceman with great instincts at both ends of the rink.

13. Buffalo Sabres: RW Scott Glennie - Brandon Wheat Kings (6.01, 177) 55GP 28G 42A 70P

Final Central Scouting Bureau Ranking: 7th NA Skaters

Some critics feel Glennie benefitted from playing on a line with Brayden Schenn all season. However, Glennie brings a denomination of size and vision to his game. The Sabres likely lack size up front, and Glennie could be a mainstay on the top 6 for years to come.

14. Florida Panthers: C Jacob Josefson - Djurgarden (6.00, 187) 50GP 5G 10A 15P
Final Central Scouting Bureau Ranking: 4th European Skaters
Again, don't be fooled by Josefson's stats. He was a boy playing against men on a top team in the Swedish Elite League. He is a very electric player, who is a born leader, and will be a solid addition to the Panther organization and the preparation for moving on without Jay Bouwmeester. Vancouver's first a little later on in the first round doesn't look so bad now, does it Jacques? Oh wait, you got the hell out of there.

15. Anaheim Ducks: RW Zack Kassian - Peterborough Petes (6.03, 210) 64GP 24G 39A 63P

Final Central Scouting Bureau Ranking: 10th NA Skaters

In Bob Murray's first draft as General Manager, he continues to trend of Brian Burke and selects a big, hulking power forward to hopefully help the Ryan - Getzlaf - Perry line with some secondary scoring within the next few years. Kassian jumped from 24 in the mid-term rankings into the top 10 for North American skaters. Big guy, who can skate well and put the puck in the net. Good choice for the Ducks.

16. Columbus Blue Jackets: D Simon Depres - St. John's Sea Dogs (6.03, 205) 66GP 2G 30A 32P
Final Central Scouting Bureau Ranking: 8th NA Skaters
I'm not so sure the Blue Jackets keep this pick, with tremdous prospect depth, and a need to ensure another playoff appearance, especially a win or two. However, if they do, Depres would fit nicely in their system. With more offensive-minded defencemen Cody Golubef and Kris Russell coming through the sytem, Depres could represent the tougher, shutdown type.

17. St Louis Blues: D Ryan Ellis - Windsor Spitfires (5.09, 173) 57GP 22G 67A 89P
Final Central Scouting Bureau Ranking: 16NA Skaters
That is not an error, Ellis did get 89 points last year as a defenseman. What scouts are worried about is obviously his size, as some think he he is not big enough to be an NHL defenceman. However, St. Louis, who has arguably the best prospect pool in the NHL, are thrilled to add the potential of Ellis to their organization. Fresh off his Memorial Cup victory, Ellis is ready to prove his critics wrong with a lenghty NHL career.

18. Montreal Canadiens: C Louis LeBlanc - Omaha Lancers (6.0, 178) 60GP 28G 31A 59P
Final Central Scouting Bureau Ranking: 18th NA Skaters
Some Habs fans were upset two drafts ago when they passed on fellow francophone Angelo Esposito, and upset last year when their 1st round pick was traded for Alex Tanguay. The Habs here, get a solid two-way centreman that has speed and can maybe help fill the Habs void up the middle. That, or this pick is involved in a deal for Tampa Bay superstar Vincent Lecavalier...either or.

19. New York Rangers: C/RW Kyle Palmieri - USA U-18 (5.10, 191) 33GP 15G 15A 30P
Final Central Scouting Bureau Ranking: 20th NA Skaters
With some interesting names still on the board, the Rangers select a kid from close to home in New Jersey. Palmieri is a fast, hard-working, offensive-minded player who could give the Rangers a boost in the scoring department in a few years, and can play both centre and right wing.

20. Calgary Flames: C/RW Landon Ferraro - Red Deer Rebels (5.11, 165) 68 GP 37G 18A 55P
Final Central Scouting Bureau Ranking: 18th NA Skaters
I feel like the Flames could take Ferraro, Chris Kreider or Carter Ashton with this pick. However, with new head coach Brent Sutter, who also owns the Rebels, the Flames take a familiar face in Ferraro. Slightly undersized, Ferraro still plays with lots of energy, and accumulated 99 PIM last season. Should fit nicely into the Flames system.

21. Philadelphia Flyers: C Chris Kreider - Phillips Andover (6.02, 201) 26GP 33G 23A 56P
Final Central Scouting Bureau Ranking: 14th NA Skaters
The Flyers get a big, tough player that can score, which is the type of player Philly likes. Kreider is the best U.S High School player in the draft, and many feel he is more than capable of transferring his game to a more competitive level with no problems, as his size and offensive ability are two of his greatest tools.

22. Vancouver Canucks: D David Rundblad - Skelleftea (6.02, 189) 45GP 0G 10A 10P
Final Central Scouting Bureau Ranking: 6th European Skaters
I may have Rundblad a bit low, but apparently he is one of the most diverse players as far as positioning on scouts and General Managers list. However, with the Canucks only drafting 3 defencemen in the past 3 years, Mike Gills takes who he feels is the best defenceman left on the table.

23. New Jersey Devils: D Calvin de Haan - Oshawa Generals (6.00, 170) 68GP 8G 55A 63P
Final Central Scouting Bureau Ranking: 25th NA Skaters
There's something about de Haan's play that screams NJ Devil. Last year, the Devils surprisinly took de Haan's teammate Kory Nagy in the 5th round. This defenceman has a lot of offensive potential from the back-end.

24. Washington Capitals: LW Carter Ashton - Lethbridge Hurricanes (6.03, 205) 70GP 30G 20A 50P
Final Central Scouting Bureau Ranking: 12th NA Skaters
The Captials have a ton of young forward talent in the system, but they lack a true power forward type. Ashton fits the mould, and has the time he needs to develop into a power forward in the NHL for the Capitals.

25. Boston Bruins: D Stefan Elliot - Saskatoon Blades (6.00, 180) 71GP 16G 39A 55P
Final Central Scouting Bureau Ranking: 17th NA Skaters
The Bruins are content drafting this late in the draft after a spectactular regular season. With the Bruins being a little light on defensemen prospects, they take the best available rearguard.

26. New York Islanders: C Ryan O'Reilly - Erie Otters (6.00, 200) 68GP 16G 50A 66P
Final Central Scouting Bureau Ranking: 39th NA Skaters
It looks like the positions from 16-40 could more or less go in any various order. O'Reilly is a player that could go in the late first or mid-second. The Islanders elect to take him at 26 to inject a great kid, with tremendous leadership skills into their system.

27. Carolina Hurricanes: C Peter Holland - Guelph Storm (6.02, 185) 68GP 28G 39A 67P
Final Central Scouting Bureau Ranking: 19th NA Skaters
In a recent interview, Holland was asked why a team should take him. He responded by saying he had "the most potential out of anyone in the draft." Obviously it's possible, but Holland certainly did not display that in the OHL playoffs, and that is why he has slipped this low in the draft. He certainly has all the tools though, it's just a matter of putting them altogether at the highest level. Confidence is clearly not an issue with Peter.

28. Chicago Blackhawks: RW Jordan Caron - Rimouski Oceanic (6.02. 202) 56GP 36G 31A 67P
Final Central Scouting Bureau Ranking: 21st NA Skaters
The Blackhawks rich prospect pool gets even richer adding a player like Caron into the mould. He is a big bodied forward who can score, which will fit ideally into the Blackhawks crop of young forwards, including last year's selection, Kyle Beach.

29. Detroit Red Wings: LW Carl Klingberg - Frolunda (6.03, 205) 35GP 13G 13A 26P
Final Central Scouting Bureau Ranking: 7th European Skaters
The Red Wings are certainly familiar with this drafting slot, and as much as they have their most success in later rounds, in this deep draft they should project to get a solid prospect. Klingberg is a big Swede who can score and muck it up in the corners and in front of the net. Detroit's usually, right, so Klingberg projects to be a future Hall-of-Famer.

30 Pittsburgh Penguins: LW Jeremy Morin - USA U-18 (6.01, 173) 46GP 26G 22A 48P
Final Central Scouting Bureau Ranking: 33rd NA Skaters
One knock against the defending Cup champs is that they have no wingers to play with Sidney Crosby or Evgeni Malkin. This is why they signed Miroslav Satan and Ruslan Fedotenko in the offseason, and acqurired Chris Kunitz and Bill Guerin prior to the Trade Deadline. Usually teams draft the best player available and fix the holes through trade and free agency, but the Penguins want to insert a solid winger prospect into the system for the future, and Morin fits the bill.

So there you have it, let's hope I get at least one right, but based on the depth of this draft, and who will go first even, I just might not.

Much Respect for the Columbus Blue Jackets

2009-05-01T22:55:00.008-04:00

If you have not heard this story, I highly recommend reading this.

Today, Columbus Blue Jackets superfan Ryan Salmons passed away at the age of 19 after a long battle with cancer. Who was Ryan you ask?

Ryan was a young man who had been battling cancer for about a year now. He had met several Columbus Blue Jackets players throughout various Columbus Blue Jacket charity and community events. He had become especially close with Manny Malhotra and Jason Chimera. With Ryan's condition getting worse, but his spirits as high as ever, Columbus General Manager Scott Howson inked Ryan to a one-day contract in late March, with a signing bonus of $3.

For that day, Ryan was officially a Columbus Blue Jacket, a dream Ryan never thought possible. On that day, Ryan would sit up in the press box as a healthy scratch, with the other Blue Jacket scratches. If you're a hardcore hockey fan and noticed Blue Jacket defenceman Marc Methot wasn't wearing #3 that night, it was because that was Ryan's number, and Methot was more than willing to allow Ryan to have it. #3 Blue Jacket "Salmons" t-shirt jerseys have also been created. Here's the press release from Howson with the signing of Ryan:

"We're very pleased to add a player of Ryan's caliber to our hockey club as he brings tremendous versatility to our lineup and can play either wing position or defense," said Howson. "He also has great character and is the type of person who inspires others with his courage, tenacity and positive attitude. We're lucky to have him on our team."

Powerful stuff from the Blue Jackets organization, and obviously they used Ryan's courage and determination for a strong playoff push and the franchise's first ever playoff birth. Ryan was there to see the Columbus Blue Jackets play playoff hockey for the first time. He fought as long as he could, to see that until he unfortunately passed away today.

The entire Blue Jackets organization made the last few months of this young man's life an absolute dream, and it just goes to show the power pro sports can have on a person's life in difficult times.

Look no further than Mike Fisher and the Ottawa Senators involving 3-year old Elgin Fraser in the 2007 Stanley Cup run before he passed.

Or the Tampa Bay Lightning drafting David Carle in the 7th round, just days after he found out he could no longer play hockey because of a heart condition.

There is much more to hockey than winning games that isn't show in the highlights, and every team should be commended for using their power as a professional sports team to help bring smiles to people in tough times.

hmm. Well I guess if Vernon says it...it must be true!

2009-04-28T16:32:00.003-04:00

Apparently Aaron Hill is a racist and Vernon wells is a metro interior decorator...did not see that coming.

p.s. I have no idea who's interviewing him.

Vaughn Coyotes?

2009-04-24T11:19:00.003-04:00

Recently, the idea of Phoenix relocating to the GTA has got a lot of newspapers and bloggers speculating the when and how the coyotes plan to move. But what they haven't touched on yet is the how much?

The Toronto Maple Leafs have a territory claim on almost all of the GTA and Southern Ontario (whether or not the Buffalo Sabres have territory control over the Niagara peninsula is debatable). And if the Phoenix Coyotes eventually make the move into the GTA , hefty territory rights fees are going to need to be paid.

Keep in mind, Toronto's fan territory has been uncontested for almost 90 years now, and leafs nation is one of the strongest, biggest fan bases in all of the NHL. So what would it take for Phoenix (or Vaughn I suppose, for that seems to be the city that the rumor mill is circulating) to buy a portion of leafs nation?

Personally, I don't see this ending well. I can see Toronto asking for something along the lines of 3 or 4 first round draft picks and about 250 million dollars, as well as some other minor details just for the team to relocate into their territory. From then, the Coyotes organization will be broke, and reliant on a terrible at best team until the territory rights are paid off.

On the plus side, tickets to NHL games in that arena would be dirt cheap, but when you think about it, the last thing Ontario needs is another hopeless NHL franchise.

2009 NHL Mock Draft Lottery

2009-04-13T15:57:00.007-04:00

With the National Hockey League regular season completed, the interest of the teams that did not qualify for the playoffs will be focused on the 2009 NHL Draft Lottery. All non-playoff teams are placed in a lottery, in which there will be one winner. The winner, will move up a maximum of five spots in their draft position, with the 13 losers moving down a maximum of one space. Therefore, the bottom 5 teams all have a chance to draft first overall. This year's prize, the London Knights pnenom, John Tavares. Here's a brief history of the NHL Draft Lottery and its winners during its existence since 1995:

Retaining 1st Overall Pick: Ottawa - 1995, Ottawa - 1996, Boston - 1997, Tampa Bay - 1999, St. Louis - 2006, Tampa Bay - 2008
Move from 2nd to 1st: Never
Move from 3rd to 1st: Tampa Bay - 1998, Atlanta - 2001, Florida - 2002, Washington - 2004
Move from 4th to 1st: Florida - 2003
Move from 5th to 1st: NY Islanders - 2000, Chicago - 2007
Move from 7th to 3rd: Los Angeles - 1995
Move from 8th to 4th: Chicago - 1999

So, with that being said, he are this year's hopefuls in the NHL Draft Lottery, and the percentages each team has of winning. (There are 1000 entries)

30. New York Islanders (25%)
29. Tampa Bay Lightning (18.8%)
28. Colorado Avalanche (14.2%)
27. Atlanta Thrashers (10.7%)
26. Los Angeles Kings (8.1%)
25. Phoenix Coyotes (6.2%)
24. Toronto Maple Leafs (4.7%)
23. Dallas Stars (3.6%)
22. Ottawa Senators (2.7%)
21. Edmonton Oilers (2.1%)
20. Nashville Predators (1.5%)
19. Minnesota Wild (1.1%)
18. Buffalo Sabres (0.8%)
17. Florida Panthers (0.5%)

And when it was all said and done, and 1000 little labeled pieces of papers entered into my own draw, the winner of the 2009 NHL Draft Lottery was :

THE EDMONTON OILERS

As you can see, the Islanders had the best chance to win, but there was a greater percentage they did not, and in this case, for the first time in lottery history, a 10th place team has won. The draft order would in turn, look like this:

1. New York Islanders
2. Tampa Bay Lightning
3. Colorado Avalanche
4. Atlanta Thrashers
5. Los Angeles Kings
6. Edmonton Oilers
7. Phoenix Coyotes
8. Toronto Maple Leafs
9. Dallas Stars
10. Ottawa Senators
11. Nashville Predators
12. Minnesota Wild
13. Buffalo Sabres
14. Florida Panthers

Now the fact that this happens again is extremely unlikely, but a demonstration like this can show you how your team's future can potentially become instantly brighter. Imagine the Oilers scooping western boy Brayden Schenn up with the 6th overall pick. I am sure Maple Leafs fans cringe at the shot. But that's the beauty of the NHL Draft Lottery, anything can happen. Nonetheless, winning the lottery doesn't neccesarily mean you win the top prize.

NHL Playoffs 09

2009-04-12T20:06:00.005-04:00

The NHL regular season is officially over. The best and worst of the season will be recapped later this week with all MMB writers sharing their views.

Here are the playoff matches:

Eastern Conference

#1 Boston Bruins vs. #8 Montreal Canadiens
- Boston won the season series 5-1
Well Bob Gainey, it's now your time to shine. You fired Guy Charboneau and ended up in 8th. Expect the Lucic and Komisarek feud to blow up at some point. Carey Price and Alexei Kovalev will be under constant pressure to play at the top of theirs games.
Prediction - Boston is too good to lose to an inconsistant Montreal team. Bruins in 5

#2 Washington Capitals vs. #7 New York Rangers
-Washington won the season series 3-1
The Alexander Ovechkin show has landed on Broadway. Luckily for Caps fans it isn't a one man show anymore. It should be a breakout playoffs for Mike Green, Nicklas Backstrom, and Alexander Semin. Meanwhile, the Rangers have been a better team under John Tortorella going 12-7-2 since his arrival. Sean Avery and Nik Antropov have given the Rangers much needed offensive depth. This matchup should make for one of the better of the first round
Prediction - Hard fought, high scoring series, Washington in 7

#3 New Jersey Devils vs. #6 Carolina Hurricanes
- Carolina won the season series 3-1
The Devils did what I suggested they would when Marty "Fatso" Brodeur came back. They shut down what was working for them, scoring goals. Carolina has played well and like the Rangers have benefitted from a coaching change. Paul Maurice has got the Hurricanes lighting the lamp and playing great hockey. Watch for Cam Ward to show signs of fatigue as he has sholdered the brunt of ice time playing in 28 straight games down the stretch
Prediction - Bore, yawn, who cares, Hurricanes in 6

#4 Pittsburgh Penguins vs. Philadelphia Flyers
- Pittsburgh won the season series 4-2
The battle of Pennsylvania gets another chapter. Last year produced a great series with Mike Richards and Sidney Crosby going at it. I hope to see the same thing out of the captains. Evgeni Malkin led the league in points, which at the start of the year didn't seem possible. The Penguins seem to be peeking at the right time of the year while the Flyers gave away home ice by not getting a point to finish out the season.
Prediction - This could be Crosby and Malkins first of many cups, Penguins in 6

Western Conference

#1 San Jose Sharks vs. #8 Anaheim Ducks
- Sharks won the season series 4-2
This should be a defensive battle with an unusually tough number eight seed. San Jose has been know for choking in the playoffs, but things have looked different this year. The players seem motivated, they have one of the best goaltenders in the league, and a Presidents Trophy.
Prediction - Anaheim will sneak a few but San Jose moves on, Sharks in 6

#2 Detroit Red Wings vs. #7 Columbus Blue Jackets
- Teams split the season series 3-3
The Blue Jackets make the post season for the first time in their history. I doubt Detroit will get the sentimental memo. They played each other very tough all year, but Hossa, Zetterberg, and Datsyuk are too much. Steve Mason will have his hands full and may steal a game or two but it will take more then that.
Prediction - Mason wins at least one on his own but so does Lidstroms presence, Red Wings in 5

#3 Vancouver Canucks vs. #6 St.Louis Blues
- Teams split the season series 2-2
The Canucks were handed the division crown personally by the Flames, and get the surging St.Louis Blues. This is series could get interesting. The Blues have nothing to lose while the Canucks have tons of expectations. Roberto Luongo is a game changing goalie, but Chris Mason has led this team to the playoffs. Brad Boyes led the Blues this year with 71 points, and I expect a big playoffs from the ex leaf.
Prediction - Mats Sundin isn't what the Canucks expected, either will the end result of this series, Blues in 7

#4 Chicago Blackhawks vs. #5 Calgary Flames
- Chicago won the season series 4-0
The Flames are getting healthy at all the right time. Dion Phaneuf, Cory Sarich and Curtis Glencross and Rene Bourque are all expected back for the first round. For a team that hasn't put out a full lineup in a while this is a good thing. Chicago meanwhile is back in the playoffs for the first time in seven years. Havlat is a UFA this offseason and has a great year. Should be a physical fast paced series.
Prediction - I bought the Kane jersey for a reason, well mainly because a kid was selling them on the side of the street for cheap, and its a great number, Blackhawks in 6.

There you go folks. Sorry for ruining the first round with the results already. Ill be back for the second round. Enjoy the playoffs!

Fight of the Year

2009-04-11T18:21:00.004-04:00

Theres nothing like a great AHL fight where two plugs beat the shit out of each other. Jon Mirasty of the Syracuse Crunch and Jeremy Yablonski of the Binghamton Senators finish the period with a great tilt. This happened on December 19, 2008 and gets my nod for Fight of the Year.

De-Nied

2009-04-10T23:07:00.007-04:00

Wayne Gretzky, Gordie Howe, Brett Hull, Marcel Dionne, Phil Esposito, Mike Gartner, Mark Messier, Steve Yzerman, Mario Lemieux, Luc Robitaille, Brendan Shanahan, Jaromir Jagr, Dave Andreychuk, Joe Sakic and Bobby Hull.

Quite the impressive list of Hockey Hall-of-Famers, and future Hall-of-Famers. These players, are the only players, who have more National Hockey League goals than Dino Ciccarelli. However, Dino has been retired for ten seasons with the Minnesota North Stars, Washington Capitals, Detroit Red Wings, Tampa Bay Lightning and Florida Panthers, and has yet received his call to hockey's shrine.

Don't get me wrong. I am fully aware the game of hockey is about a lot more than goals. But when a player like Ciccarelli, who scored over 600 goals (608) is certainly deserving to be a Hall-of-Famer one day.

Ciccarelli first became eligible for the Hockey Hall of Fame in 2002. Certainly, I would not expect Dino to be voted in during a year like 2007 when Ron Francis, Al MacInnis, Mark Messier and Scott Stevens are honoured. Or 2004 when Ray Bourque, Paul Coffey and Larry Murphy are inducted.

In Ciccarelli's first year of eligibility, Clark Gillies was one of the honoured memebers. Gilles was an intrical part of four Stanley Cup titles for the New York Islanders in the 1980's, but only ended up with 89 more points than Dino did goals. It's tough to be considered a first-ballot hall-of-famer, and I think in this case, Ciccarelli is not.

However in 2005, 2006 and 2008, I felt Dino was worthy of a call. In order to get inducted, one must receive 75% of the votes of the 18 member voting committe. In each of these years, Ciccarelli failed to get enough votes. 2005 saw Russian legend Valeri Kharlamov inducted. It is the HOCKEY Hall of Fame, and this vote was certainlty earned. Cam Neely was also inducted, and while his career was cut short, he did have a tremendous career. Ciccarelli might compete with Neely for a spot in the Hall. Again, 608 goals is nothing to snuff about. 2008 saw Glenn Anderson and Igor Larionov inducted, and while Anderson's 6 Stanley Cups trumps Ciccarelli's zero, Anderson failed to crack 500 goals, let alone 600. Again, I am still stressing that goals are not everything in hockey, clearly. If Ciccarelli was on the Edmonton Oilers of the 80's though, I am sure he'd have a cup too.

It was 2006, when alongside sure-thing nominee Patrick Roy, that Dick Duff was inducted. This was the year, I feel Ciccarelli was truly shafted. Nothing against Dick Duff, he was a great player who had a great career, but he had been passed up 31 times for induction. His highest point total as a forward was 53 points. Ciccarelli surpassed 53 points 12 times, including two 100-point seasons and two 50-goal seasons. Surely, the 16th highest goal scorer of all-time was strongly considered for the nomination that season.

Why did he not get it? Well, Ciccarelli has had a reputation as not being a great person to deal with the media. He is also the only NHL player to serve jail time for an on ice incident, as he spent one day in prison in 1988 for attacking Luke Richardson with his stick. He was even sentenced to probation in 1987 after pleading guilty to indecent exposure. The guy took out his garbage in a robe or something, and it flew open revealing Dino's peen-o. Accidents happen, it's not the Putting Your Garbage Out Clothed Hall of Fame. It's the Hockey Hall-of-Fame. The reality is, Ciccarelli was one of the best players at getting the gritty, garbage (had to) goals. So he didn't win a cup. So he was not Saint Peter off the ice. The man had a nose for the net and found it 608 times. I hope that one day (and don't make him wait 10 more years) that 3/4 of the voting members of the Hockey Hall-of-Fame put whatever differences aside, whatever preconceived notions about Ciccarelli they possess, and put Dino where he belongs - alongside some of the best goal-scorers in National Hockey League History.

2010 Winter Classic

2009-04-09T16:31:00.007-04:00

April 9, 2009 - It was announced today that the Boston Bruins will host the 2010 Winter Classic on New Year's Day in Fenway Park. The Bruins bid apparently beat out both the New York Rangers and Philadelphia Flyers for the rights to host the annual outdoor hockey game on New Years Day. Boston had listed two possible sites for the event, with both the Boston Red Sox Fenway Park and the New England Patriots Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, MA (about 35 km southwest of Boston) as possibilities, but with the Winter Classic being scheduled around the same time as the NFL playoffs, Fenway Park seemed to the the more logical choice.

The Winter Classic has seemed etch its place in the NHL's schedule on New Year's Day, and appears to be here for the foreseeable future as the event has gathered an enormous amount of success in the past. Fans continue to rave about the event and it continues to produce results as television ratings in the United States have been higher and revenues for the league seem to be up as well. After the experiment began back in 2003 with the Edmonton Oilers hosting the Montreal Canadiens in frigid temperatures at Commonwealth Stadium, it has become a regular on the NHL schedule on New Year's Day over the past few seasons after the Buffalo Sabres played the Pittsburgh Penguins in the 2008 Winter Classic at the NFL's Buffalo Bills Ralph Wilson Stadium in Orchard Park, NY and this past January with the Chicago Blackhawks entertaining the Detroit Red Wings at the MLB's Chicago Cubs Wrigley Field.

Possible opponents for the 2010 Winter Classic have been listed as the Philadelphia Flyers, and the Washington Capitals.

Opening Night 2009

2009-04-07T16:53:00.005-04:00

Let's just keep this one short and sweet.

Alan Hyland has some incredible pictures on his Flickr from opening night last night.

You can check out the whole set Here

Let's all be honest though, This was the best shot of the night.

Poor kid to the left doesn't even realize.

North Carolina Bracket Champs!

2009-04-06T23:58:00.004-04:00

Congratulations goes out to the North Carolina Tar Heels who won the NCAA National Championship tonight by destroying the Michigan State Spartans 89-72. It was a blowout from the start. So much for the Spartan defense that completely blanketed Louisville and UConn. Tyler "Bugeyed" Hansbrough played pretty well up to his standard this tournament with 18 points and 7 rebounds. This teams closest game this tournament was 12 points which is ridiculous. Ty Lawson also set a championship game record with 8 steals tonight.

Overall the tournament wasn't that bad. There was no real Cinderella team this year. Best game of the tournament will have to go to Pittsburgh vs. Villanova. The intensity level of the entire game was insane. I'd love to know what Nova was thinking with the score that close going for the hail mary. My bracket fell apart quickly with Duke going out. UConn ended up being my only team right in the final four. I haven't heard of any perfect final four picks. If so post your name and well, have your name posted.

2009-04-02T19:54:00.004-04:00

What is going on in Edmonton? There seems to be a lot of talk about Tambellini firing Craig ‘no bucket’ MacTavish, whether this is just the media or an actual problem going on will be seen by this summer.

Why should Mac T stay?

- He won 4 Stanley Cups in his playing career, 3 with the dynasty in Edmonton and then served as the Captain in Edmonton from 92-94

- He was the last player to not wear a bucket.. a joke that most guys already know about

- The Cinderella story that the Oilers had in 2005-2006, where they couldn’t finish the story by losing to Carolina in game 7

Why Mac T is done.

- Edmonton has not made the playoffs since their run to the finals, the senators have been bad since their run and it feels like they have went through 10 coaches.

- The stick incident: recently called Teemu Selanne out in the last minute to try and get a penalty for an illegal stick, this backfired as his stick was legal and Edmonton had to play a man down and could not finish their comeback

- He has seemed to rub Ales Hemsky the wrong way and has supposedly not let him be as creative as he wants to be. Watching Ales play when he has the passion he should not be a 70 point annual guy, he should be pushing the 90 point mark and not have to worry about what his coach wants him to do defensively.

- Dustin Penner makes 4 million dollars and had 47 points last year..who is this Sean Avery? This is not Mac T’s fault, but it is time to get this big lug going, this year he will be around the 40 point mark again

- They have dropped 4 of the last 5 games and they are in a run for the playoffs…that could be the last straw if it wasn’t for:

- Manslaughter? Yeah that is correct Mac T did time for Manslaughter in 84-85. He was drunk at the wheel and killed 26 year old Kim Radley and then spent a year in jail. When he was released he was rewarded by getting a contract with the Edmonton Oilers dynasty.

I feel it is time for Craig MacTavish to move on. He is a smart man as well as a coach, but has not been able to get the Oil to play with the passion and desire that they need to play with to compete. He has a lot of talent in Edmonton do work with and it just isn’t working with his defensive style.

RIP Mactavish, you were always a Beaut

Your 2009 Toronto Blue Jays Roster

2009-04-02T18:58:00.007-04:00

Awesome Logo - Mediocre Team.

Here is my prediction for the opening lineup with explanations ( if nessecary)

P - 32- Roy Halladay: No explanation needed.

1B - 35 -Lyle Overbay: I would like to see Lind as a first baseman, but it seems as if he's being groomed for that coveted left field spot. So until Overbay snaps his shoulder or elbow this year, He will stay in the 1B slot.

2B - 2 -Aaron Hill: fan's were deprived of a great player early in the season last year when Eckstien felt a little threatened and took him out for the season with a head injury, Aaron Hill's triumphiant return to the diamond this season will be welcome and Toronto owes it's fans a comeptent second basemen to start the season.

SS - 6 -John Macdonald: Amazing defensive player, not so great on offense but is Improving. Also, he's better then Marco Scutaro.

3B- 33 -Scott Rolen: Rolen was sidelined with a sore shoulder for a period of the season last year and hadn't recovered come season's end. I'm hoping he's in prime shape this year because I really hate Jose Bautista.

C - 20 -Rod Barajas: The Blue Jays don't have another catcher. Congratulations Rod, you had Absolutely no competition and you perservered. Way to be better then a brick wall.

LF- 26-Adam Lind: Once again, I would love to see this guy playing first base. But...you know, we already have a big, slow, dumb-looking lefty there.

CF -10- Vernon Wells: According to the Jay's page he's active, so why not put him in?

RF -15- Alex rios: Once again, a no brainer. I can't wait to get all nostalgic when I see Rios squint in the air, then scramble to get under the ball and barely catch it.

DH -45-Travis Snyder : Who else is going to fill this position? Bautista? Scutaro? ha.

Batting Lineup

1. Overbay

2.Hill

3.Rios

4.Wells

5.Snyder

6.Lind

7.Barajas

8.Rolen

9. Macdonald

Agree? Disagree? don't really care but comment anyway.

Hardware Time

2009-04-01T19:37:00.004-04:00

With the NHL regular season almost over, i think it is about time we take a look at the end of the year awards, and some of the possible candidates. A lot of the usual suspects are in contention for awards again this year, but here is an award by award break down of nominees and my pick for potential winner

Hart Trophy: most valuable player to his team

Well, this year is basically the same as last year, and the same people are vying for arguably the most prestigious award in the NHL. Of course Alexander Ovechkin is leading the way once again with 53 goals (1st in the NHL) and topping 100 points for the second straight year. He's got 22% of his teams goals this year, and without him they would not be sitting anywhere near 2nd in the east. Also in contention are the devils Zach Parise, who has had a breakthrough year, already scoring a career high 42 goals and 89 points, top 5 in league scoring, and carrying the devils while marty brodeur was hurt. He has also helped make his team mates better, turning travis zajac from a -11, 35 point player into a 60+ point guy with a plus 35, and helping give jamie langenbrunner a turn around year going from being a minus player in '08 with just 41 points for also a 60+ point season and plus 26. Parise has turned that line into one of the most deadly but underrated lines in the league and lead the devils to 3rd in the east and challenging for 2nd. The other few guys in the league battling for this award are of course the penguins sidney crosby (3rd in the league scoring) who is currently riding a 15 game point streak, and of course evgeni malkin who leads the entire league in points.

Nominees: Ovechkin, Malkin, Parise
Winner: Ovechkin

Norris Trophy: Leagues Top Defenseman

This one is not as clear cut as usual, seeing as how Nik Lidstrom is not a lock to win this year. There are a few guys having great seasons and a few guys who need to be mentioned. The first player is Mike Green, he has had a dynamite year and along with Ovechkin have helped the Caps to 2nd in the eastern conference. He leads all defenseman in points and logs almost 26 minutes a game. He also set an NHL record this year for defensemen by scoring in 8 consecutive games, not bad at all. Following in behind Green is of course Lidstrom who is having another good year, leading the Detroit Red Wings to the top of the western conference. He sits in the top 5 in defensive scoring and is an impressive +28. After these two guys, things get a bit blurry and there are a number of people who could be in contention. Mark streit has had a great year for the Islanders, and is +9 on an awful team and hes got 55 points, good for 4th amongst defensemen. The fact his team is so bad hurts his chances though. Dan boyle has had a great comeback year and is top 5 in D scoring and has been the best defenseman on the Sharks this year and turned a -29 year in 2008 into a +8 season in 2009. Shea Weber has also had his best season as a pro for the Predators and has shown a great scoring touch to go along with punishing hits and a good defensive game. He is 3rd in shots by defensemen and top 10 in hits. A good year considering his team likely wont make the playoffs.

Nominees: Green, Lidstrom, Boyle
Winner: Mike Green

Lady Byng: Sportsmanship and Gentlemanly conduct

I for one am not a huge fan of this award. I like guys to have a bit of sandpaper in their game but I cant complain, the guys who win this trophy are still pretty dam talented. Pavel Datsyuk looks to be primed and ready to win this trophy for the 4th straight year. He is 4th in the league with points and has only racked up 20 PIMS. Hard to argue with that, i mean pretty soon they are just going to call it the Pavel Datsyk Award. I guess it makes sense that the guy with hands of silk wouldn't be piling up the PIMS. Datsyuk does have a bit of competition this year though. Zach Parise is right behind him in points and only has 4 more PIMS. Parise has a real shot at taking home this award. If everything goes as planned at the awards ceremony this year, he might need to make some room in the trophy case. The other typical guys are also eyeing this trophy had Martin St. Louis who is seemingly always in contention has 77 points and remarkably only 12 PIMS all season. He will look to capture his first Lady Byng trophy in probably about 100 nominations. Patrick Marleau is a dark horse in this race but may have an outside chance with 70 points and a strong year, while only totaling 18 PIMS.

Nominees: Datsyuk, St. Louis, Parise
Winner: Datsyuk (again)

Vezina: Leagues Top goalie

This one is a bit of a tough call. A couple of the time goalies have missed a lot of time in Brodeur and Luongo. Their chances are pretty much shot because they just havent played enough games to warrant serious contention. Miika Kiprusoff leads the league in wins with 43, but he also plays every single fucking game so that stat is a bit skewed. Tim Thomas leads the league in both GAA (2.13) and save % (0.931). Very impressive, especially considering the Bruins are doing so well. This give Thomas a great shot at the trophy. But he has also only started in 50 games so far this year. A bit of a light workload compared to most goalies who win this award. Rookie Steve Mason has almost single handedly gotten Columbus into the playoffs this year and is top 10 in save % and 3rd in GAA. Pretty outstanding for a rookie goalie on a team that has never made the playoffs, and before he showed up didnt look like they had a shot this year either. Oh yea, he also leads the league in shutouts with 10! and thats in just 56 starts. Marty Brodeur has great numbers again but will likely finish the year with around 30 starts, which isnt enough to make him a legitimate candidate.

Nominees: Mason, Thomas, Kiprusoff
Winner: Mason

Calder Memorial: Top Rookie

A few guys are making an impressive late push for this award, and there a bunch of guys who could win, with no clear cut guy taking the honours. Steve Mason leads the goaltending race with his impressive numbers. Pekka Rinne has had a great rookie season in Nashville but gets no love because he's in..well... Nashville. Hes got a .922 save % and 2.25 GAA which are just a shade under Mason's numbers. He's also got 7 shutouts which are 2nd in the NHL behind...again, Mason. He's also one of the reasons Nashville is even in a playoff race this late in the year. Bobby Ryan has surged down the stretch and desite not even being the the Ducks for the whole seaon and spending part of the season in the A, he still has 51 points in 59 games to lead all rookie skaters. He also leads all rookies in goals with 26. Not bad for a guy who wasn't good enough to play the start of the season in the NHL. Kris Versteeg has had a steady year in Chicago putting up an impressive 50 points, but in 13 more games than Ryan has played. Stamkos has been very good as of late for Tampa, reaching the 20 goal mark and jumping to 5th in rookie scoring after getting only 8 mins of ice time most nights to start the year. The coaching change has helped his game immensely. Patrick Berglund despite a good year will likely get overlooked in St. Louis even though hes 3rd in rookie scoring. Especially since TJ Oshie has been the rookie making noise in St. Louis lately with big time goals and big time hits (keep your head up next time Rick Nash). James Neal in Dallas has 24 goals, good for 2nd amongst rookies. He's a -13 though and doesnt quite have the points or notoriety to be a legitimate contender. Doughty in LA leads all rookies in ice time and has 25 points for an awful team as a rookie. Pretty impressive stuff, so dont be surprised if he gets a nomination. He's been an outstanding puckmover, and his -17 rating is more due to the team he's on and doesnt necessarily reflect how well doughty has played.

Nominees: Mason, Ryan, Doughty
Winner: Mason

Art Ross: Most points

No nominees for this one. Just the most points at the end of the year. Malkin has gone basically wire to wire and has lit up every team hes played. He'll finish with close to 120 points. Crosby has been on a complete tear lately and is challenging but might run out of games before he can catch his team mate. Ovechkin is currently 2nd, and just lakes the assists to challenge Malkin. If Ovy can get hot though, dont count him out.

Contenders: Malkin, Crosby, Ovechkin
Winner: Malkin

Rocket Richard: Most goals

Alexander Ovechkin...'nuff said

Bill Masterton: Dedication and Perseverance

This one is tough to call, as each divisions nominees are just coming out right now. For this award each team nominates one player before hand and then a winner is decided at the awards ceremony at the end of the year. So far two candidates has showed up and would definitely be in my top 3. Patrice Bergeron from Boston has been nominated and looks like a good bet. He's battled back from very serious concussion problems that forced him to miss basically all of last year. He also ran into concussion problems again this year, but has battled through and is playing a valuable role for the Bruins in their playoff push. He only has 36 points, but the fact this guy is even able to play anymore is astounding. The other nominee that caught my attention is teppo numminen. He underwent open heart surgery before last season and was only able to play in the final game of the season last year. He is now back in the sabres lineup and averaging 17 minutes a game, very impressive. The only other player that comes to mind is Richard Zednik. He suffered a horendous cut to the neck after being hit with a skate blade, and was within minutes of dying before being saved by emergency surgery. He is once again playing with the Florida Panthers this year. Hes got 32 points, hes a plus player, and averages 15 minutes of ice for a surprise Panthers squad. Very impressive for a player who almost lost his life, just last season.

Nominees: bergeron, numminen, zednik
winner: zednik

Lester B. Pearson: Most valuable as voted by the players association

You may as well just check out the Hart Trophy section, because it is basically all the same guys leading the charge.

nominees: parise, malkin, ovechkin
winner: ovechkin

Jack Adams: Best Coach

Well for this one, there a few regulars, and a few newcomers. Of course Mike Babcock will be considered, as he has seemingly got the Red Wings through that post Stanley Cup hangover, and gotten them to 2nd in the west. Ken Hitchcock who has coached the Blue Jackets into the playoffs for the first time deserves a knod for bringing an average team into the playoffs for the first time in the teams history. Hitch has been nominated before but has never won. There are also a couple newcomers who may take the title this year. Todd McLellan has done a wonderful job in San Jose leading them to the best record in the league and making San Jose look like the team to beat this year, even with all the injuries they have suffered this season. Another first year coach in Peter DeBoer is looking like he will bring the florida panthers into the playoffs for the first time since 2000. Pretty good for a coach in his first year after coming from the OHL. Also if the St. Louis Blues can get into the playoffs, Andy Murray will likely get a small look since the Blues were definitely not in anyones playoff picture at the start of the year.

Nominees: Hitchcock, Babcock, McLellan
Winner: Hitchcock

Frank J Selke: best defensive forward

I know who i think should win this award, but there are a few guys who have had great defensive years. The most obvious selection is Mike Richards. He is Mr. Everything, he is great 5 on 5, with a plus 23, and a ton of points. He's great on the draw, and he kills every penalty, and has added 7 shorty's to lead the NHL in that category. Pavel Datsyuk, is also a very good defensive forward and will be looking to repeat after winning last year. He is in good shape sitting at +34 good for 3rd in the league. The fact he has the puck all the time has something to do with it, but hey, the best defense is a good offense, so Datsyuk will be in contention. Zajac and Langenbrunner may get a look from the Devils seeing as how they both have a good plus minus, and Langenbrunner has added 3 short handed goals. Also Blake Wheeler and Dave Krejci from the Bruins have had dynamite years and are in the top 5 in +/- (4th and 1st respectively), and they have each added two short handed goals. With Rod Brind'Amour having an awful season, someone new will dominate this award for awhile.

Nominees: Datsyuk, Richards, Langenrunner
Winner: Richards

William J Jennings: goalie(s) of the team with the least goals allowed

Looks like it will go to Manny Fernandez and Tim Thomas of Boston unless they let in a million goals a game the rest of the year.

King Clancy: Leadership on/off the ice

I have no idea, it usually goes to the guy who does a lot of charity work or some shit like that. I have no idea about this off ice stuff so lets just say this:

Winner: Patrick Marleau (he's been in SJ for awhile be must do something for that place)

April Fools!

2009-04-01T16:36:00.022-04:00

Considering it is April 1st, we here at Muck My Blog have put together a countdown looking at the top 10 Sports Jokes and Gimmicks of All-Time. Enjoy

10. Mark Cuban Goes Nuts

Number 10 on our countdown actually happened on April Fools Days on 2003. Enigmatic Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban got into a physical fight with a phony game official during a game against the New Orleans Hornets. With Cuban's past of throwing verbal jabs at the referees and receiving fines, he made this outburst easily believable. However, when the dust settled, Cuban and the ref broke into laughs with several people more in shock than with smiles. Nonetheless, a solid joke. Mark Cuban has been fined over a million dollars by the National Basketball Association. That, is no joke.

9. Chad Johnson Legally Changes his Name

Speaking of fines, the Cincinnati Bengals receiver formerly known as Chad Johnson was fined $5,000 for wearing a jersey with the last name "Ocho Cinco" on the back, as opposed to C. Johnson. Of course, Ocho Cinco is Johnson, or Ocho's Cinco's number in spanish. Well, if the National Football League would not allow him to wear Ocho Cinco on the back of his jersey, why not just legally change your last name? That's exactly what Ocho Cinco did in August of 2008. However, forgetting he had a financial obligation with Reebok, Ocho Cinco must remain to wear C.Johnson on the back of his jersey. Can always count on Johnson, or Ocho Cinco, or whatever, for a good laugh.

8. Peter Worrell Throws Teammate Under the Bus

Having already spent 10 days in prison for a DUI in 2002, former Florida Panthers forward Peter Worrell had to think fast when caught drunk behind the wheel 2.5 years later. Worrell identified himself as Andreas Lilja, who was also a member of the Panthers at the same time. Unfortunately for Peter, Lilja, of Swedish descent, white, and standing at 6'3, did not quite resemble the 6'7, black, French Canadian Worrell. Good try though Peter, hopefully you don't pass these types of morals to the players on the Florida Junior Panthers, the team you help coach.

7. Brett Favre to the American Hockey League?

In July of 2008, the Iowa Stars of the AHL switched from being the Dallas Stars affiliate to becoming the Anaheim Ducks affiliate. The Iowa Stars became the Iowa Chops. I haven't had much experience with "Iowa Chops," but there is something disturbing about that name. Nonetheless, one of the first orders of business of the Chops was to offer NFL free agent quarterback Brett Favre a contract with the team. Chops President Steve Nitzel said "what's not to like about that?" Maybe the fact that Brett Favre is not a hockey player? Nice try Iowa, how is corn?

6. Disco Demolition Night

In July of 1979, the Chicago White Sox management team came up with an idea to blow up several thousand disco records in the middle of the field between games of a double-header between the White Sox and Detroit Tigers. Comiskey Park was expecting an extra 5,000 fans in the stands for the game as a decent promotion. When 75,000 people showed up, absolute mayhem occured. Thousands of people rushed the field, and with bombs going over and small fires, the diamond was in no condition for the second game. It was likely the easiest victory in Detroit Tigers history as they won by forefeit. Interesting fact: Green Mile actor Michael Clarke Duncan was one of the first 100 on the field. "That's John Coffey ma'am...like the drink, except spelt dif'rently"

5. "I Have Never Used Steroids. Period."

Those were the words of former Baltimore Orioles hitter and former future Hall of Famer, Rafael Palmeiro when he was testifying against his usuage of steroids in his career. Less than six months later Palmeiro was handed the mandatory ten game suspension by Major League Baseball after testing positive for banned substance stanozolol. I don't know who Raffy was trying to fool, and even though fellow slugger Mark McGwire looked like an absolute knob refusing to speak to Congress, at least he doesn't have to watch himself pointing into the faces of Congress denying something he clearly did.

4. Punch Imlach drafts a fake player

It was no secret that Buffalo Sabres General Manager Punch Imlach was a little frustrated by the time the 11th round of the 1974 NHL Entry Draft came around. Without hesistation, Imlach drafted Taro Tsujimoto of the Japanese Hockey League's Tokyo Katanas. The problem with this selection was that Taro Tsujimoto did not exist. Sure, Imlach may have benefitted from taking, say Dave Lumley, who went several picks later to the Montreal Canadiens and amassed 98 goals in his decent career, but the old Buffalo Auditorium would never have had the "We Want Taro" chants that united the Sabres faithful during tough times.

3. Now Batting For the Yankees....

Billy Crystal, number 60. It's official, the New York Yankees can buy anyone. They did just that by signing the former City Slicker and Yankee Superfan to a one-day contract to play in a preseason game against the Pittsburgh Pirates in 2008. To no one's surprise, Crystal went down swinging, but managed to foul off a pitch in his first and last at-bat. I guess it was to honour Crystal for his lifelong devotion to the Bronx Bombers, including his film 61*. Being a Toronto Maple Leaf fan myself, I hope Mike Myers is never found within 250 feet of the Leafs locker room after his award winning film (Razzie for worst picture, worst actor) "The Love Guru."

2. Manute Bol...on Ice

Manute Bol holds the distinction of being not only the tallest NBA player in history, but also the only player in NBA history to block more shots than he has made baskets. I guess that's the advantage of being 7'7 Sudanese basketball player. What 7'7 Sudanese basketball players don't do, is play hockey. However, Bol laced them up for the Indianapolis Ice of the Central Hockey League in 2002. Bol sat on the bench for most of the first period, then left to sign autographs for fans. Not sure how relevant this moment is in sports history, but seeing that guy in hockey equipment was definitely a site to see, and hey, why not try to increase the popularity in Indiana, there's nothing else exciting there.

1. Rosie Ruiz Fools Everyone

Rosie Ruiz was the female winner of the 1980 Boston Marathon. However, she was later stripped of her title when race officials discovered she actually didn't run the race. She registered for the race. Okay good, step one, no problem. She then skipped out on the race, rested up, and hopped on the track for the home stretch. How could they let her qualify? Well, during the New York Marathon, she hopped on a subway, faked an injury near the end, and was deemed qualified for the Boston Marathon. Officials were skeptical when ruiz finished the race 25 minutes ahead of her New York Marathon time, and was not even fatigued from the 26.2 mile race. Ruiz claims she just had a lot of energy that day. Ruiz's fifteen minutes of fame were soon over and her medal was handed over. Gotta give her credit though, she pulled a fast one on EVERYONE, and that is the true meaning of April Fool's Day.

World's Best Arm Candy

2009-03-31T14:33:00.020-04:00

Muck My Blog's

TOP 10 HOTTEST PROFESSIONAL ATHLETE'S ARM CANDY

We here at Muck My Blog thought we have been a little bias as of late, just focussing on the male side of the spectrum so we thought we would try and change things up a little bit... Pfttt who am I trying to kid, we figured we would go behind closed doors and show you what the life of a professional athlete is really all about - Trophy Wives, Arm Candy, Models, Actresses, Singers/Songwriters, and those who are just filthy rich (some in more ways than one). Without any further adieu here is our list of the Top 10 Hottest Professional Athlete's Arm Candy.

NUMBER 10

Kim Kardashian (Boyfriend Reggie Bush, New Orleans Saints Running Back)

- There's no money shortage in this relationship, maybe just a shortage on brains. Keep doing what your doing Reggie!

NUMBER 9

Gisele Bundchen (Husband Tom Brady, New England Patriots Quarterback)

- Any of this guy's past 3 girlfriends could have made the list, but we had to pick just one.

NUMBER 8

Elisha Cuthbert (Boyfriend Dion Phaneuf, Calgary Flames Defenseman)

- This Girl Next Door is also better known to hockey fans as "The Sloppy Seconds", but HEY she's Canadian!

NUMBER 7

Jessica Simpson (Boyfriend Tony Romo, Dallas Cowboys Quarterback)

- The bearer of the Jessica Jinx, also known as Yoko Romo.

NUMBER 6

Elin Nordegren (Husband Tiger Woods, World's #1 Ranked Professional Golfer)

- Come on now, he's Tiger Woods!

NUMBER 5

Cheryl Tweedy (Husband Ashley Cole, Chelsea/English National Football Team Left Back)

- Apparently Tweedy has had 21 UK Top 10 singles as a vocalist, but we have our own suggestion. How about you just focus on looking like this at all times? Okay, sounds good.

NUMBER 4

Eva Longoria (Husband Tony Parker, San Antonio Spurs Point Guard)

-Parker has never led the NBA in steals, but we feel as though the steal he had here on this Desperate Housewife is way more important than any he could have recorded on the court. But then again he does have 3 NBA Titles and a Finals MVP to his name. Touché Tony.

NUMBER 3

Carrie Underwood (Boyfriend Mike Fisher, Ottawa Senators Forward)

- Season 4 American Idol winner seemed a little camera shy when spotted at an Ottawa Senators home game last month. It's no wonder "The Best Eyes in Hockey" were able to pick this one out of a crowd.

NUMBER 2

Willa Ford (Husband Mike Modano, Dallas Stars Forward)

- Begs the question who is actually better looking in this relationship, her or husband Mikey Mo? Also, who spends more time in the shower, or their hair in the morning.

NUMBER 1

1. Gena Lee Nolin (Husband Cale Hulse, Unrestricted Free Agent Defenseman)

- Former Barker's Beauty and Baywatch Babe, pretty good for a guy most people have probably never heard of. I don't see this guy returning to the NHL anytime soon, and with a wife like this at home why would he?

HONORABLE MENTION

Victoria Beckham (Husband David Beckham, AC Milan/English National Football Team Midfielder)
Hilary Duff (Boyfriend Mike Comrie, Ottawa Senators Forward)
Rachel Hunter (Fiance Jarrett Stoll, Los Angeles Kings Forward) *"The Other Sloppy Seconds"
Rena Mero (Husband Brock Lesnar, UFC Heavyweight Champion) *She's Sable to all you WWE fans.
Jennifer Walcott (Fiance Adam Archuleta, Free Agent Linebacker/Safety)
Anna Benson (Husband Kris Benson, Texas Rangers Pitcher)
Ingrid Vandebosche (Husband Jeff Gordon, NASCAR Driver)
Aleka Kamila (Husband Peja Stojakovic, New Orleans Hornets Small Forward)
Vanessa Bryant (Husband Kobe Bryant, Los Angeles Lakers Shooting Guard)
Jenna Jameson (Boyfriend Tito Ortiz, MMA Fighter)
Jamie Kotsay (Husband Mark Kotsay, Boston Red Sox Outfielder/First Baseman)
Abigail Clancy (Boyfriend Peter Crouch, Portsmouth/English National Football Team Striker)
Carmella Garcia (Husband Jeff Garcia, Free Agent Quarterback) *And there was a rumor at one point that Garcia might be gay? Well if he is, this is a pretty good cover.

DAMNNNNNNNNNNNN!

TRIVIA!

2009-03-31T14:03:00.003-04:00

Welcome to this weeks edition of Muck My Blog Trivia. Post your answers in the comment section with your name and city. The winner wins something. Maybe a chance for a guest column, or come up with next weeks question. It doesn't really matter. Don't go google this either you cheating bastards.

QUESTION - Who was the last Blue Jay to steal home base, what team was it against, and who was pitching for the other team.

The Future of the Toronto Bills

2009-03-31T13:54:00.003-04:00

Yes, you read correct. Its not a matter of if Toronto gets an NFL franchise, it's a when. This comes on a report out that Rogers is interested in expanding the amount of Bills games being played in Toronto. The Bills experiment in Toronto didn't start off to the insanity that some corporate higher ups expected. The main problems included the marketing strategies, and pricing issues, which hopefully will be fixed. It also faces the task of trying to get a city to embrace a team that isn't their own. People in Toronto don't care who wins an exhibition game between Buffalo and Pittsburgh. Paying $700 for a meaningless game doesn't help either. So why after this flop am I proclaiming the move down the QEW?

Reason 1- T.O. to T.O. - Apparently the Bills signed a receiver named Terrell Owens. He is one of the top 5 names and personalities in the entire league. We all know that in the Toronto Sports world selling tickets really means getting corporate commitments. A direct quote from Terrell, "I left America's team to play for North America's team." It makes me wonder how much he was paid for that line. His first television interview since being released by the Dallas Cowboys, Rogers Sportsnet. He missed the voluntary workouts for the Bills, but was courtside at the Toronto Raptors game. If you think Owens signed to play in Buffalo without thinking of the endless possibilities of Toronto, think again.

Reason 2 - Ralph Wilson - At the tender age of 90 years old, Ralph Wilson is getting old. There has been talk for years that when he dies the team will be moved. Toronto just seems like a great fit. He has been elected to the football hall of fame. This weekend there was false speculation over his death due to a post over a message board. Expect his death to be the first step in a location change

Reason 3 - The continued building of the Toronto Bills - Expect a lot more marketing of the Bills for the next few years in Toronto. The coverage of the team will without a a doubt increase in local media outlets. The game will get way more attention. Had they just moved the franchise here without the building of a fan base, Toronto would have rejected the team. They are slowly prepping the city for the teams move. So get used to it

A Look Ahead

2009-03-30T15:45:00.007-04:00

Just to give you a little taste of what's ahead in the World of Sports in the coming month...

The Conclusion of March Madness (from Ford Field in Detroit, Michigan)

Final Four - Saturday April 4th

National Championship - Monday April 6th

Remaining Teams:

[South Champions] 1 University of North Carolina vs. [East Champions] 3 Villanova
[West Champions] 1 University of Conneticuit vs. [Midwest Champions] 2 Michigan State

Wrestlemania XXV (from the Reliant Stadium in Houston, Texas)

Sunday April 5th

The 25th Anniversary of Wrestlemania has a star-studded lineup including:

WWE Championship Match - Triple H vs. Randy Orton
World Heavyweight Championship Match - Edge vs. John Cena vs. The Big Show
Shawn Michaels vs. The Undertaker
Intercontinental Championship - JBL vs. Rey Mysterio
Extreme Rules Match - Matt Hardy vs. Jeff Hardy
Money in the Bank Ladder Match (Kane, CM Punk, Christian, Kofi Kingston, MVP, Shelton Benjamin, Mark Henry, Finley)
Chris Jericho vs. WWE Legends (Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat, Jimmy "Superfly" Snuka, "Rowdy" Roddy Piper)
WWE Tag Team Championship Lumberjack Match [Unification Match] - WWE Tag Team Champions (Carlito & Primo) vs. World Tag Team Champions (The Miz & John Morrison)
25-Diva Battle Royal

The Masters Tournament (Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta, Georgia)

April 9th-12th

Featured players:

Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Sergio Garcia, Geoff Ogilvy, Padraig Harrington, Vijay Singh, Robert Karlsson, Camilo Villegas, Kenny Perry, Henrik Stenson, among others
CANADIANS Mike Weir & Stephen Ames

NHL Draft Lottery

Tuesday April 14th

Top 5 Ranked players:

1. John Tavares - London Kinghts (OHL)

2. Victor Hedman - Modo (Sweden)

3. Matt Duchene - Brampton Battalion (OHL)

4. Evander Kane - Vancouver Giants (WHL)

5. Brayden Schenn - Brandon Wheat Kings (WHL)

NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs

begin Wednesday April 15th

NBA Playoffs

begin Saturday April 18th

NFL Draft (from Radio City Music Hall in New York City)

April 25th-26th

Top 5 Ranked players:

1. Aaron Curry - Wake Forest

2. Michael Crabtree - Texas Tech

3. Jason Smith - Baylor

4. Brian Orakpo - Texas

5. Eugene Monroe - Virginia

KEEP YOUR ASSES GLUED TO THE COUCH AND YOUR EYES GLUED TO YOUR TV SETS!

Wrestlemania is on Sunday

2009-03-30T12:46:00.001-04:00

Watch IT DOESNT MATTER and more funny videos on CollegeHumor

Is this technically sports news? It doesn't matter, but a Rock montage cannot be a bad thing. Ever.

He's Back!

2009-03-30T09:28:00.003-04:00

Over the weekend, the world's best golfer came from behind to capture his 6th career Arnold Palmer Invitational title, and 2nd in a row. This title, i would like to say was different from his win last year but, it was actually quite similar. Tiger again played in a final grouping with Sean O'Hair, who this year lead Tiger by 5 strokes going into Sunday's round. Tiger, similar to 2008 missed a few opportunities down the stretch to put the tournament away before the 18th hole. In 2008 he missed key birdie putts on both 16 and 17, and in 2009 he went par, bogey on 16 and 17 failing to capitalize on O'Hairs mistakes. This lead to the same situation as 2008. Tiger throwing a fairly good 2nd shot onto the middle of the Green at 18 on a beautiful Bay Hill course. Last year Tiger had 24 feet downhill with a slight break, and this year he had 16 feet uphill with slight break. Last year Tiger calmly stepped up and drained the put for a one stroke win over Bart Bryant, and this year Tiger calmly stepped up and drained the putt in the last minutes of daylight for a one stroke win over Sean O'Hair, who in both cases got a front row seat of Tiger's brilliance. Both years Tiger took all 72 holes before sinking his final putt of the tournament to get the win. This years was perhaps more impressive though. Coming off knee surgery Tiger was still trying to find his groove on tour and looked average through the first 3 rounds and sat at -2 heading into Sunday, a full 5 shots off the lead, but he was in the final pair, which usually spells doom for his playing partner. In his career when Tiger has played in the final pair, only 8 people hes played with have shot better scores than him, 8 people have shot the same, and a remarkable 68 people have scored worse than him. Everyone says the same thing: "I just have to play my own game and not worry about Tiger". Yea well apparently very few people can back that up, as clearly there is an intimidation factor. Tiger, almost impossible to catch when leading after 54, has now won 19 times coming from behind, an impressive stat to say the least. When Tiger is within 5 strokes of the lead, he has a final round scoring average of 68.5, meaning if you have the lead going into day 4...look the fuck out, cause Tiger is coming for you. This win should give Tiger some confidence heading into the Masters April 9-12 should he choose not to play in Shell Houston Open next week. This obviously does not bode well for the rest of the tour, so they can all thank Sean O'Hair for imploding vs. Tiger, shooting a final round 73, blowing a 5 stroke lead and greasing the wheels of the worlds best golfer heading into golfs biggest major.

Oh yea, by the way, how dirty was Tiger's celebration in 2008 after winning the Arnie Palmer? Good enough that most golfers chose to immitate it when finishing their weekend, most of them shooting over par. And props to Woods for another great celly this year. Heeee's Baaaack!

League Serves Up Another to Mavericks Owner Cuban

2009-03-30T03:01:00.009-04:00

The National Basketball Association has fined Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban $25,000 on March 29, 2009. Cuban was handed the fine on Sunday after publicly criticizing the officials after a 103-101 loss to the Denver Nuggets. Cuban became enraged when Denver's J.R. Smith came off the bench to taunt Dallas's Antoine Wright after he missed a shot near the Denver bench.

Cuban using Twitter, the online social network, was quick to point out that you "can't say no one makes money from twitter now. the nba does." On Sunday, after learning of his latest fine Cuban once again used Twitter to point out that he "just found out got fined25k by nba.) nice".

The flamboyant Mavericks owner has been fined well over a dozen times by the NBA since taking over majority ownership of the club, with a running total nearing $2 million US. All of this seems a little excessive as most of these fines could have been averted if Cuban could only learn to keep his big mouth shut, but then again where would the outside entertainment value lie within this sport?

In a meeting of the two teams back in January, Cuban was also fined $25,000 after becoming upset when Smith threw an elbow in the direction of Wright's head but did not connect (so there is some history here between the two players and with Cuban himself). Cuban offered to match the fine and donate the money to whatever charity Smith chose, suggesting he would donated the money to a fund for Steve Moore, a former NHL player who sustained a career threatening neck injury.

Cuban has a history of donating time and money to charities, even working at a Dairy Queen after making a comment about the NBA's manager of referees, Ed T. Rush saying that he "couldn't manage a Dairy Queen." After Dairy Queen management took offense to the comments made by Cuban, he offered to work at the Dairy Queen in Coppell, Texas for a day, serving ice cream to a number of fans who lined the streets to get a blizzard made by the Mavericks owner back in 2002.

Cuban, a billionaire entrepreneur, is also the Chairman of HDNet, and co-owner of 2929 Entertainment. The Mavericks owner has made his money through a number of other online business ventures over the years, and had bought a majority stake in the team for $285 million on January 15, 2000. Cuban's ownership of the club has often been described as the ultimate fan fantasy come true as the Mavericks owner continued his trail-blazing antics after purchasing the team, as he refuses to sit in a press box to view the games but rather prefers sitting in the crowd along side fans, often donning a member of the Mavericks team jersey and cheering loudly during games.

Low Risk, High Reward

2009-03-29T15:05:00.010-04:00

One of the more underrated strengths of an National Hockey League management team is discovering talent that was passed through seven rounds or more in the NHL Entry Draft. Several NHLers perservered beyond their draft day to become great NHL players. These men include future Hall of Fame goaltenders Ed Belfour and Curtis Joseph, as well as forwards Peter Stastny, Dino Ciccarelli, Adam Oates, Joe Mullen and John Madden, and defencemen Brian Rafalski and Dan Boyle.

Toronto Maple Leafs General Manager Brian Burke has gone on record saying he will look to the NCAA and its upcoming free agents to beef up the Leafs prospect pool, and to make up for poor drafting in the past few years. It is hard to develop strong prospects when in 2003 the Leafs first pick was 57th (John Doherty) and in 2004 it was 90th (Justin Pogge). While the jury is still out on Pogge, Doherty has been convicted one on count of failure to develop, and is now a write-off.

With a few top U.S. college players set to become free agents as soon as their teams are eliminated from the final NCAA tournament, Burke has said he will try to get five free agents to sign, with the hopes of at least two becoming big league players. Here is a list of five U.S. college players looking to sign with big league clubs in the near future. Hopefully for Leaf fans, at least one of them ends up in Toronto.

D Matt Gilroy

Boston University

6'2, 205

07/20/84

Matt Gilroy is an interesting player. In 2005, he practically begged the coaching staff at BU to take him as a walk-on. He sat out several games before being inserted as a forward and converted to a defenceman. Sound familiar Leafs fans? Ian White did the same thing for the Blue and White earlier this season, and neither has missed a game ever since. Gilroy is a smooth skating, puck-moving defenceman with a great first pass and point shot. He is a character player, and wears the "C" for his team. With as many as 30 teams interested in the highly touted rearguard, Gilroy recently said "playing for a hockey market like Toronto would be a dream come true." This doesn't mean he is automatically signing with Toronto, but Brian Burke has been to several BU games, and Gilroy, because of his age is not subjected to the maximum rookie salary of $850K. The Leafs have cap space, lots of interest and likely a roster spot for Matt come October.

C Tyler Bozak

University of Denver

6'0, 180

03/19/86

Hailing from Regina, Saskatchewan, Tyler Bozak is likely the second most attractive free-agent behind Gilroy. There is apparently 26 teams interested in putting his name to paper. Bozak is a strong skater, who can play at both ends of the ice. He possess average size, but he's still fairly young and could add some muscle in the coming years. He is a smart player and most feel he could become a serviceable third line centre, with the ability to become a second line centre. Plus, he's from Canada, so he would love to sign with the Leafs, right?

C Christian Hanson

Univeristy of Notre Dame

6'3, 196

03/10/86

From a marketing prospective, Hanson would be a great signing, as he is the son of "Slap Shot" star Dave Hanson, of the "Hanson Brothers." Earlier in the season, Toronto Maple Leaf head coach Ron Wilson even showed how he was good friends with the heavyweight trio. Maybe a match is in the works? Hanson doesn't quite play like his father does, as his highest NCAA PIM total to date is 57. He has all the tools of becoming a power forward in the NHL, with above average size to go along with above average skating. His offensive game needs work, but many feel his is determined enough to become an NHL player. He is also a captain on his team, and another character type player, a theme Burke is trying to create in Toronto.

LW John Mitchell

University of Wisconsin

6'5, 200

08/10/86

That is not a typo. There will be another John Mitchell in the NHL someday soon, and how interesting would it be if he played alongside Toronto's own surprising rookie, John Mitchell. Toss Leaf prospect Dale Mitchell on the right side, and it's an announcer's nightmare. This John Mitchell has the size to be a valuable power forward. In 40 games this season for the NCAA Badgers, Mitchell has 118 PIM. I know a certain Irishman who may be intrigued by this combination of size and toughness. Mitchell has also added 15 goals in those 40 games. There has definitely been interest in Mitchell throughout the league, and he could very well be on Burke's radar.

C MacGregor Sharp

University of Minnesota -Diluth

6'1, 180

10/01/85

First off, MacGregor Sharp is a dynamite name. As far as his play goes, he is considered a tenacious forechecker with a great first stride to enter opposing zones. He played alongside Vancouver Canucks forward Mason Raymond in Alberta, and is compared to having a similar game. He would be extremely valuable as a "plumber" in Burke's bottom six grouping.

The first question most will ask, if "if no one drafted these players, why are they now attractive?" Well, some of these players were as small as 5'9 in their draft year, and some are late bloomers. There is nothing wrong with late bloomers. Ask the New Jersey Devils or Detroit Red Wings if they care that Brian Rafalski took a few extra years to develop his game.

The risk for signing any of these players is extremely low, with the reward being very high. Burke has stated he will try to sign five undrafted college free agents, with the hopes of two becoming players. This mentality will only help the Leafs in future years. Signing a Gilroy or Bozak could potentially be the equivalent of a free first round draft pick. If they don't, then they become minor leaguers and your team is no worse off than they were before they were signed.

Crosby Loses His... Visor?

2009-03-27T15:15:00.005-04:00

So this whole incident was just brought to my attention a few days ago, and I felt as though it was an issue that needed to be addressed. The story goes that during the first period of the Boston Bruins - Pittsburgh Penguins game on March 15, 2009, Bruins centre Marc Savard apparently taunted Penguins star Sidney Crosby after a Boston goal in the 1st period. The two continued jawing at each other until Crosby apparently challenged Savard to a fight but Savard refused until Crosby had removed his visor. At the conclusion of that shift Crosby returned to the Penguins bench and had a trainer purposely removed his visor for a 10 minute period at the end of the 1st period with the purpose of engaging in a fight with the Bruins Forward. The altercation never in fact happened but the intent was in fact there. Crosby had his visor reattached during the first intermission.

Makes you wonder as to why this fight never in fact happened? You would figure it would be a fair trade off for both teams with both players not having any real history of fighting. Both teams would also lose their number one centre, and both players size up about the same (Crosby is listed at 5'10" 200 lbs while Savard came in at 5'10" 196 lbs). Sources say that Savard was the one who was deemed to be unwilling to fight and backed down. Touché Crosby for calling Savard's bluff.

So is it true that the league plays favourtism towards their superstar players? I for one do believe so. Don't get me wrong, I was glad to see this altercating take place as I am a firm believer that fighting does have a place in the game today. This incident does although look bad on Crosby, after all the rule changes that have recently been put in place revolving around the instigator rule and fighting penalties, it seems strange for the league's poster boy to engage in such an altercation. Although it was nice to see that Crosby can still act on his own emotions and do what he feels is right instead of just doing what the hand that's stuck up his ass forces him to do for a change. This whole incident seemed very unlike Crosby who would be considered the NHL's most influential player and a major marketing guru for the league, but it was surprising change to see him show some kind of raw emotion and take matters into his own hands by removing the hand from his ass that has been puppeteering him around since he entered the league. Kudos to Sid the Kid for finally standing up for himself in a legitimate way as it was long overdue. This may put some of the naysayers to rest and silence some of the critics that have questioned Crosby's toughness in the past. This was a true showing of what a captain and the leader of a hockey club was meant to do. But this whole altercation would lead you to believe that the league turned the blind on this one, as if this were any lower caliber player, odds are they would have been fined or even suspended for doing such a thing.

On another note, the Penguins did in fact end up winning this game 6-4. Crosby tallied 3 assists and was a +1 while Savard was held off the scoresheet.

Off-Years

2009-03-27T12:32:00.007-04:00

These are the guys who just do not seem to have the jump they did last year, or it may be luck or it may be chemistry, either way by factoring games played (in most cases) these are some disappointments of the year, guys who have fucked you in the ass fantasy wise and probably caused their coaches to tear them new assholes.

Honourable Mentions:
Andrej Mezaros, Tomas Plekanec, Brian Rolston, Brent Burns, Derek Roy, JP Dumont, Scott Gomez

#5 - Rod Brind’Amour
2007-2008 - 51 Points +0
2008-2009 - 46 Points -22
Is the age getting to this old vet? He is 39 playing in a young league with a new style, that -22 is a dark shade of awful. Like many of you I have a soft spot for Rod “the bod” and he had a strong game against the Sens the other night, lets hope he is getting that big Shnozz revved up for the playoffs.

#4 - Marian Gaborik
2007-2008 - 83 Points 77 Games
2008-2009 - 10 Points 9 games
This Slovak needs a change of scenery bad. I know he has only played 9 games, but he opted out to have surgery after sitting out 20 games this year. It was reported that the surgery wasn’t even needed until the off-season and it was something you could play through. This guys heart is as full Mikey Vicks new Kennel, get him somewhere else and he may be able to play a full season, which means 100 Points.

#3 - Tomas Kaberle
2007-2008 – 53 Points
2008-2009 – 31 Points
The talk in leaf-land before the year started was that their defense was the strong part of their team, the big part being Tomas Kaberle. He is dealing with injuries, but if this guy is on your fantasy team than you have to feel like he just folded the tent on the year…Kind of like Hagman and Toskala, 3 prime of their career vets hurt? What a coincidence? When he was playing, Ian White was playing more than Tomas, Ian White was a healthy scratch and only got a shot because he was playing forward, how embarrassing Tomas. Shout out to the ‘tasche on White though

#2 - Mike Fisher
2007-2008 – 47 Points 82 PIM
2008-2009 – 29 Points 58 PIM
With a contract like his (not his fault) and the strength, speed and shot that he has “fish” has to be better. Where is his mind this year?
http://hornofgabriel.files.wordpress.com/2007/09/carrie-underwood-good.jpg
Alright, so give him credit, the boy reeled a good one in, but as a fan; have fun the rest of the year with your prize, lets actually win next year you under-achieving bitch.

#1 - Radim Vrbata
2007-2008 – 56 Points 27 Goals
2008-2009 - 6 Points Tampa Bay Lightning
2008-2009 - 8 Points Mlada Boleslav BK*
2008-2009 - 9 Points Liberec Bili Tygri HC
One of Wayne Gretzky’s go to guys last year has absolutely fell off the map. Almost of 30 goal scorer on a team without a set-up guy such as Phoenix one year, to the next where he plays for three teams…bring out the suitcase for this kid. What really makes no sense is that he is 28, the absolute prime of his career, he had an awesome year and got the contract he wanted and then falls out of the league back home to the Czech Republic and then gets traded there.

Lets hope you were not stuck drafting these guys in your little fantasy leagues, I drafted Gaborik and yes I hold a grudge. Let me know who you have been disappointed with.

Keep Muckin it up.

Imagine the Raps Played in the West

2009-03-26T16:36:00.008-04:00

Out of the 28 Games the Toronto Raptors have played against Western conference this season they have won 7. Bringing this record to 7-21...in the east our record is 16-26. Both very and I mean VERY underachieving records. When looking at who the Raps beat in the east it was:

Golden State

LA Clippers (Twice)

Houston (without McGrady)

Memphis

San Antonio

Sacramento

Lets just forget about the Spurs win, that could possibly be the best win of the year for the Raptors in the ACC.

We had the Clippers number this year but their record is also 18 - 54, and once we beat them without Baron Davis in the line-up which basically leaves them with Chris Kaman who actually believed he had ADD for years before they realised he didn't. (even started his own foundation)

We beat Houston when Trace didn't have it, a decent win and the boys really played Yao good.

Memphis and Sacramento are the scraps of the league with a combined record of 32-108...and we split the games with them

If the raps were in the west, instead of our 26 wins this season we would have 16 wins right now and sit right at the bottom with Memphis and the Kings...HOW EMBARASSING

Time to break these guys up **Bosh** let him deal with his child problems elsewear!

And lets thank god that the Raps are in the east and everyonce in awhile when we play to our potential we can win enough to be ahead of the Arenas-less Wizards.

GO RAPS GO

I Killed YOU!

2009-03-26T14:04:00.003-04:00

On March 14th, Donte Stallworth a Wide Reciever for the Cleveland Browns hit a man with his car and ended up killing him. He was reportedly trying to beat a red light and came around a parked car, then struck the man before the intersection. This would seem like an offense that would warrant charges being filed or some sort of discipline being taken immediately. But no charges have been filed, and Stallworth is apparently cooperating with authorities. Stallworth was reportedly speeding, going 10mph faster than the speed limit, and flashed his lights before he hit the man to warn him he was coming. Is this supposed to get Stallworth off the hook. Like what is Stallworths defense here? "Well i flashed my lights right before i ran him over going 85kmh, he knew i was coming for him". If Stallworth had enough time to flash his lights, meaning he clearly saw the guy, couldnt he have stopped...or even swirved, i mean it was like 7am, and since there were no witnesses, im guessing the roads were pretty dam empty. Stallworth has had a blood sample taken to look for drugs or alcohol, and as of yet there is no official result but someone close to the investigation has apparently said Stallworth was drunk. Apparently authorities are awaiting word of the blood test before filing charges. Is this really necessary, he was speeding and killed a guy, sounds like enough for me. Dont wait for blood test results, just charge him now, and if he was under the influence, slap a few more charges on him. If this turns out to be one of those cases where he gets off because hes an athlete, i'll be pissed. I mean if you or i hit a guy and killed him, drunk or not, im pretty sure we'd be in big time shit. I bet Stallworth doesnt even go to jail for this. Now in his defense, the guy wasnt crossing at the desginated crosswalk, but i mean, if Stallworth is watching the road and paying attention, its pretty obvious when a human being is in front of you. Yes i suppose the other man is somewhat at fault, but just because he flashed his lights and the guy was 15 feet from the crosswalk, doesnt mean Stallworth should get away with this. Aren't you taught to approach intersections cautiously and look both ways anyway? The fact that he is grieving over this and is sorry for the dudes family is irrelevant, i mean, how is he supposed to act, happy and joyful? of course not and if he did, then he has bigger problems i would think. Anyways, im sure you know how i feel about this by now. Stallworth needs to go to jail,and be treated like any other human being, not some star athlete. Regardless of drugs or alcohol, he killed someone, accident or not, the guy is dead, and not coming back. So Mr. Stallworth, go to prison, share a cell with a half of the Cincinati Bengals, say hi to Mike Vick as he walks past you heading towards soon to be freedom, keep a bed warm for Pacman Jones, and just be patient, no doubt some of your NFL buddies will be joining you on DUI or assault charges in the very near future. While you wait, you can talk pigskin with OJ. God, it just never ends in the National Felon League *cough* excuse me, National Football league.

"TICKETS FOR BOOZE".. sounds good to me!

2009-03-26T00:56:00.011-04:00

The Phoenix Coyotes most recent attempt to save a struggling franchise consisted of a marketing campaign that sported the slogan "TICKETS FOR BOOZE". In conjunction with Smirnoff Vodka, the promotion stated that if you were to buy a 1.75l bottle from any local retailer, you would get a free game ticket for the April 7th matchup against the St. Louis Blues.

The Coyotes are well on their way to missing the post season for a sixth consecutive season, and have been hit hard by the recent economic changes. After already receiving support from the National Hockey League and the City of Glendale, AZ to try and keep this franchise a float, this was just one more attempt that failed miserably after the NHL stepped in and shut the operation down.

All the pieces seemed to be in place for this organization to be successful. Wayne Gretzky behind the bench, a brand new, top notch facility, a team stacked full of young talent with the likes of Kyle Turris, Mikkel Boedker, Martin Hanzal, Keith Yandle, Peter Mueller and a few seasoned vets in Shane Doan, Steven Reinprecht and Ed Jovanovski. But after a good start to the season the club has cooled off remarkably and once again found themselves in position for a lottery pick.

Hey, if that's what it's going to take save this franchise, then why not? Who wouldn't want to play in front of a packed house of drunk and rowdy fans? I would have to think that would be a great atmosphere to play in. After all, Commissioner Bettman is all for trying to make things work in the cities in which teams are already located, and has stated time and time again that he isn't a fan of relocation. But then again there has to be some sort of standard set when you just have to call it quits and count your losses. I for one am still waiting for the Commissioner to realize that this is just not a hockey market and that relocation would be the best bet here. This piss poor attempt even falls much lower than the Florida Panthers attempt to boost attendance by offering a free game ticket to anyone in the State of Florida who had a driver's license.

All I have to say it's probably a good thing Rick Tocchet is out of town or this could have been a real disaster.

The Florida Marlins - A Model of (In)Consistency?

2009-03-25T16:54:00.011-04:00

In the history of Major League Baseball, the New York Yankees are considered the model franchise of the league. The Bronx Bombers have won the World Series 26 times out of 107 seasons, giving them a 24.3% overall winning percentage for winning titles. But who's second? The St. Louis Cardinals have the second most titles with 10, but have been around since 1892.

It's the Florida Marlins, who have won two titles in their 15 years of existence, giving them a World Series winning percentage of 13.3%. Does anybody really care about the Marlins? Their attendance is consistenly amongst the league's lowest. But they have provided their fans with a title every 7 or 8 years, and as a Toronto Maple Leaf fan, I would take that in a second.

However, they have only been to they playoffs twice, winning both times. In the National Hockey League, last year's Champions, the Detroit Red Wings, added superstar sniper Marian Hossa to the lineup. Florida takes a different approach to winning championships...they rebuild.

Let's look at their 1997 championship winning lineup:

C Charles Johnson
1B Jeff Conine
2B Luis Castillo
SS Edgar Renteria
3B Bobby Bonilla
LF Moises Alou
CF Devon White
RF Gary Sheffield
SP Kevin Brown
SP Alex Fernandez
SP Al Leiter
SP Livan Hernandez
SP Tony Saunders
RP Felix Heredia
RP Antonio Alfonseca

After winning a title, the Florida Marlins decided to trade several of the key pieces for younger (and most importantly, cheaper replacements)

Jeff Conine was traded to the Kansas City Royals for P Blaine Mull.
Moises Alou was traded to the Houston Astros for a package involving Mark Johnson
Veteran starter Al Leiter was moved to the NY Mets in a package involving SP A.J. Burnett
Gary Sheffield, Bobby Bonilla and Charles Johnson were moved to the LA Dodgers for C Mike Piazza
Piazza was dealt a week later to the Mets for OF Preston Wilson and P Ed Yarnall
RP Felix Heredia was traded to the Chicago Cubs for Todd Noel
World Series hero Edgar Renteria was moved to the St. Louis Cardinals for pitchers Braden Looper and Armando Almanza
Kevin Brown was traded to the San Diego Padres in a package involving 1B Derrek Lee

So without even hanging their championship banner on Opening day in 1998, 8 key players had been removed from the roster. The face of the franchise was completely different. The MLB's finest from a year before finished the 1998 season with a 54-108 record, being rewarded with the 2nd overall pick: P Josh Beckett.

During the 1998 offseason, the Marlins stole 3B Mike Lowell from the Yankees for previously mentioned throw-ins Noel, Johnson and Yarnall.

The 1999 season saw the Marlins finish with a 64-98 record, which was bad (or good) enough to land them the first overall pick, who was 1B Adrian Gonzalez. The dismantling continued when the Marlins traded the NLCS and WS MVP Livan Hernandez to the San Francisco Giants for pitchers Jason Grilli and Nate Bump.

After missing the playoffs for three straight seasons following their championship in 1997, the Marlins signed non-drafted free agent pitcher Denny Bautista and their 1997 catcher Charles Johnson.

2001 saw the Marlins miss the playoffs again, and with the fans starting to lose interest in the franchise and their losing ways, the Marlins made a big splash in the 2002 offseason.

RP Antonio Alfonseca was traded to the Cubs in a package for SP Dontrelle Willis
Veteran OF Cliff Floyd was shipped to the Montreal Expos in a package where the Marlins received SP Carl Pavano
Charles Johnson was moved yet again, along with Wilson to the Colorado Rockies for Mike Hampton and OF Juan Pierre
In a move similiar to the Piazza deal, Hampton was then dealt to the Atlanta Braves two days later for P Tim Spooneybarger.
Quality depth outfielder Todd Hollandsworth was added via free agency, and the Marlins suprised everyone by inking all-star catcher Ivan Rodriguez to a one-year deal.

Six years being removed from winning a championship, the Marlins were finally competitive again. Eyeing the first playoff birth since 1997, the Marlins acquired RP Ugeth Urbina from the Texas Rangers for former first overall pick Adrian Gonzalez.

Remember Jeff Conine? The first player to be sent afar after helping the team win it's first ever World Series? He was re-aquired prior to the playoffs for Denny Bautista, who, if you have still followed this situation, was a non-drafted free agent signing.

The 2003 season ended with the Marlins taking their second ever wildcard birth. A magical run saw them defeat the Yankees in the World Series, with Josh Beckett (the prize for finising second last a year after winning) winning WS MVP honours. The 2003 championship team did not boast one single player on its roster that had been with them team the entire time from 1998-2003:

C Ivan Rodriguez
1B Derrek Lee
2B Luis Castillo
SS Alex Gonzalez
3B Mike Lowell
LF Miguel Cabrera/Todd Hollandsworth
CF Juan Pierre
RF Juan Encarnacion
UT Jeff Conine
SP Josh Beckett
SP Dontrelle Willis
SP Carl Pavano
SP Brad Penny
SP Mark Redman
CL Braden Looper
RP Ugeth Urbina
RP Tim Spooneybarger
RP Armando Almanza

Again, the Marlins have not had a sniff of postseason action since this title. The Marlins have lost several of these players to free agency, and continued their tradition of dealing away key pieces of championship teams for young, cheap, bright prospects:

Dontrelle Willis and Miguel Cabrera were traded to the Detroit Tigers for OF Cameron Maybin and SP Andrew Miller
Josh Beckett and Mike Lowell were traded to the Boston Red Sox for SS Hanley Ramirez and P Anibal Sanchez
Juan Pierre was traded to the Cubs for P Ricky Nolasco

Did the Marlins ever really lose a trade? Sure they suffered years after their titles, but were able to reclaim their glory within 6 years.

Last season, the Marlins were 7.5 games back of the champion Philadelphia Phillies. It will now be six season since the Marlins last tasted the playoffs, and a pennant. Nolasco is projected to be a top starter for the Marlins, with Miller and Sanchez expected to round out the rotation. Maybin is expected to hit lead off. Ramirez is considered a possible future MVP, and is one of the premier shortstops in the league.

The Marlins have a new stadium on the way, along with yet another hot, young crop of ball players. It might not be (but still could be) their year to win it all this season, just don't be surprised if it is sometime real soon.

Tuukka Rask may win the Lady Byng

2009-03-24T02:57:00.003-04:00

Goal or No Goal.

0 for 2.

Rask still seems to over react just a bit.

LIVE BLOG NCAA MARCH MADNESS!!

2009-03-19T13:57:00.004-04:00

Will be updating this post throughout the day, feel free to leave comments or emails and we will get back to yeah!

2:10 - Well I woke up an hour late, currently LSU up two, Texas A&M killing BYU, and Memphis is down one! The 1-3-1 defense that CSU Northridge is applying against Memphis is really screwing their offense up. 9-26 from the 3 point line from Memphis?? I still think they will hold on, but would that ever blow up some brackets, i had Memphis in the Elite eight losing to UConn.

2:23 - Calm down people,Memphis is up 10 now with a minute left, Butler is sinking some 3's to make it interesting, but fuck them. With the first three games closing out, makes your first three winners LSU, Memphis, and Texas A&M. Oh and that also makes me 3-0. What else is new.

8:27- Well the blog updates didn't go as planned today, and this weekend we at MMB will be in Chicago mucking it up. Two Blackhawks games against Edmonton and the Kings, and we may throw in a little KOBE action against the Bulls. On a nice side note, I am currently 7-1 in my bracket with the only blemish being Washington beating Mississippi St. Villanova is losing right now, but I expect them to bounce back. Louisville to win over Duke, if you were wondering who to bet on for the finals.

Playoffs

2009-03-18T19:10:00.003-04:00

Its getting pretty close to crunch time here for a lot of NHL squads. If the Playoffs started together heres how things would look:

EAST

Boston Bruins vs Carolina Hurricans

New Jersey vs Montrel Canadians

Washington Capitals vs New York Rangers

Philidelphia Flyers vs Pittsburg Penguins

ok, so the east isn't leaving out many teams that normally make it into the playoffs.

Florida has lost the last four and seems so be going back to them usual selves..how convienent that they kept Bouwmeester at the trade dealine.

I believe that we will see a nice battle between Philly and Pitts, and with the way that Montreal has been playing lately (even under gainey) we may see the old Bruins and Canadiens rivalry back in full force.

Maybe the best series of all The Rangers..whoever they play, a pretty hot team right now who seems to do better with Avery in that line-up, good energy if Ovechkin and the boys went against them.

WEST

Detroit Red Wings vs Nashville Predators

San Jose Sharks vs Edmonton Oilers

Calgary Flames vs Columbus Blue Jackets

Chicago Blackhawks vs Vancouver Canucks

Where are the Dallas Stars? One point behind Nashville and Edmonton, i believe they will be making it in pushing one of them out. Nashville can't put a mark on that Detroit squad if they make it in, but Dallas has the talent (with Morrow back) to challenge them. The same goes for the slumping sharks, if Dallas makes it up to 7 spot, those sharks seem to have the collars so tight that once again they will under-achieve.

Its starting to get exciting and points are all so close with all of this shootout bullshit..but thats for another day.

Marty Brodeur the all-time wins leader*

2009-03-17T18:31:00.003-04:00

Congratulations goes out to Martin Brodeur who goes for win 551 tonight to pass Patrick Roy's record, well kind of. Now first off, I'd like to admit that this was Bob McCown's idea but it got me to thinking. Brodeur tied the record in Montreal of all places but the fact remains, his record is flawed. Brodeur got to this milestone in 43 less games then Roy. This seems impressive, minus the fact of the shootout. There is no such thing as a tie anymore. Those games are now wins or losses.
Q: How can you compare something that isn't the same?
A: You can't.

27 wins from the shootout for Marty. 0 from Roy.

So there you are.

Phil Mickelson beats the pack (Tiger) to win World Golf Championship

2009-03-16T22:08:00.002-04:00

With all of the hype around Tiger Woods coming back to the tour, hopefully Phil’s weekend doesn’t get over-looked. He was quoted saying he did not eat for three days, and was checked into the hospital for dehydration. Last time I checked dehydration symptoms include fatigue, weakness, chills and head rushes. The game of golf can be looked at as more of a mental challenge than a physical, so although he wasn’t limping onto the tee-blocks like Tiger did at the US open (can I say embellished, reminding me of that die-hard street hockey guy who is only limping right after he scores), Phil battled being very sick, a sickness that most people wouldn’t get out of bed for let alone go finish off the field.
I love Tiger..who doesn’t lets just say the way Mr. Mickelson needs to stay on the course as much as possible, he has to be the favourite to win the masters which is coming up in a month…just in time to get all of us Canadians ready to TEE it up.

Gripper and Ripper everyone.

LET THE MADNESS BEGIN!!!!

2009-03-16T16:31:00.002-04:00

The Boys of MUCK MY BLOG are proud to present...

"1ST ANNUAL MUCK MY BLOG MARCH MADNESS INVITATIONAL"

This is an open invitation to all MUCK MY BLOG followers for your chance to take on your friends, family and all the brethren at MMB and talk a little trash while your at it. The only thing on the line here though is braggin' rights! So invite your friends, show a little school pride and get your picks in soon and start throwing out your dirtiest chirps! Lets try and make this thing as big as possible and try and increase our following!

tournament.fantasysports.yahoo.com

Group ID: 133723

Thanks,

MMB

*Picks must be in by tipoff of Game 1 on Thursday March 19, 2009.

Fuck Eklund

2009-03-16T13:59:00.002-04:00

Taken from Eklund at hockeybuzz. He is a fat loser, and he is always wrong but I still go to the site.

1. Your Favorite Team Growing Up: Leafs
2. Your Most Hated Team Growing Up: Ottawa Senator
3. Best Offensive Forward: Ovech
4. Best Defensive Forward: Mike Richards
5. Best All-Around Forward: Ovechkin
6. Best Puck Moving D-man: Streit
7. Makes Players Around Him Better: Crosby
8. Most Selfish Player in the NHL: Kovalchuk
9. Best Defensive D-Man: Chara
10. Best Individual Player: Toews
11. Best Team Player: Recchi
12. Best Skater: Cogliano
13. Best Goalie: Luongo
14. Best Intimidator: Boogard
15. Best Captain: Luc Schenn, or Iginla
16. Best Power Play Player: Mike Cammalleri
17. Best Penalty Killer: Mike Richards, dude has 7 shortys
18. Best Rookie: Mason
19. Best Fighter: Belak after the k.o of brashear
20. Best Coach: Babcock
21. Best GM: Ken Holland, 9 straight seasons of 100+ points..
22. Best NHL Rivalry: best current, rangers devils, best past was leafs sens.
23. Favorite All-Time Player Joe Sakic
24. Best Fans in the NHL Besides the Team you root for: Calgary
25. Worst Fans in the NHL: Ottawa, they raise fans like B.Warnz, and allow their captain to be booed on home ice.
26. 3 Players you would start your team with: Crosby, Ovechkin, Lundqvist
27. Most Overrated Player in the NHL: Mike Modano, old guy coasting around the ice.
28. Arena you want to go and see a game in: Still on the list is HSBC for the crowd, (Buffalo)
29. Best All-Time Hockey Jersey: Blackhawks red jersey
30. Best Current Hockey Jersey: Bruins third jersey, finally got it right.
31. Worst All-Time Jersey: Nashvilles old yellow third, gross.
32. Team you root for when your team isn't playing: Buffalo, or for this weekend Chicago
33. Is there a place for fighting in the NHL Anymore? yes, protect the players
34. Most Dominant Player in the Game Today: ovech
35. Most entertaining Player in the Game Today: ovech
36. Player that you would most like to take to lunch: Lemieux, so I could ask him if he really meant for the puck to slide thru his legs in Salt Lake
37. Favorite food to snack on while watching hockey: Beer
38. Who is Going To Win the Stanley Cup this Year?: Calgary
39. Who is going to Win the Stanley Cup in 5 Years?: Leafs

There you have it. Feel free to disagree in the comment section. But make sure to back it up.

UFC Divisions Looking Bright

2009-03-13T19:57:00.002-04:00

The UFC has always been tops in the world as far as MMA goes. Ever since Pride Fighting Championships was disbanded, the UFC has taken control of the fight game. They also reintroduced the lightweight division which had been absent from the organization for quite a few years. Although the UFC has had astounding success, their divisions have not always been stocked with talent, and at some points they have relied on marketable names to get PPV buys and sell tickets. Recently though, the UFC has proven that they can stock pile talent in every division and on any givent night they can show solid fighters at any weight class, most of which have become household names in MMA. The success of the Ultimate fighter has helped to add depth to some once depleted divisions. Here is a division by division look at some of the UFC's top talent.

Lightweight:
I dont think there is any doubt right now that BJ Penn is currently the top lightweight in the UFC. He hold the title and no one within the lightweight division has shown that they are ready to knock him off his throne. Although BJ was man handled in his last bout, that was against a much larger George St.Pierre. At 155 BJ is the man to beat right now. Ultimate Fighter 1 alumni Kenny Florian has vastly improved and looks likely to get the next title shot. Ken-Flo is primed and ready for this opportunity but will likely need the showing of his life to beat BJ. Look for Kenny to use his vicious elbows, probably the best in the sport. Also in this division are the likes of Joe Stevenson, also an Ultimate Fighter cast member, who has looked good at times but is still trying to bust through, Sean Sherk, who has had steroid issuses and hasnt looked the same since losing the lightweight title. Also amongst the very deep lightweight division is Diego Sanchez who recently dropped from 170, and looked impressive in his first win at 155, proving that making the cut is no big deal. Look for him to be a force at this lighter weight. Honourable mensions should be given to Spencer Fisher who always impresses, Nate Diaz who has looked very good and has only lost once in the Octagon and that was via split decision to the always entertaining wild man Clay Guida.

Welterweight:
With Matt Hughes' reign of terror in the Welterweight division all but over, it is now GSP's division to rule. He has shown that no one at 170 can compete with him and he is arguably one of the pound for pound best fighters in the world. Look for GSP to own 170 for a long time to come. Don't get me wrong though this division is still loaded with top end talent. Josh Koschek, newcomer Carlos Condit, Jon Fitch, Karo Parisyan and Matt Serra are all outstanding fighters and bring tons of excitement to the division. Thiago "Pittbull" Alves is next in line for a title shot and deservedly so. He has run through the welterweight division with 7 straight wins, uncluding impressive wins over Hughes, Parisyan and Koschek. Look for him to give GSP all he can handle with his aggressive style and potent standup. A relative newcomer to the division, Mike Swick, after dropping from 185 is also a man to look out for. His nickname "Quick" is not a joke. He has lightning fast hands and knockout power. In his most recent fight he put Jonathon Goulet away in just 33 seconds, and says he is now ready for the best the welterweight division has to offer, and has all the tools to challenge the best.

Middleweight:
This division is one that used to look bleak. Before the likes of Anderson Silva, Rich Franklin walked through everyone in the middleweight class. Now, realizing (quite smartly i might add) that he isnt going to beat Silva, after already losing twice, Franklin moved to 205. This left the division wide open again as Silva, who is still undefeated in the UFC, has polished off the divisions best, and has even had to dip his toe into the 205 weight class in search of a challenger. This division has seen a resurgence though and now has competitive fighters, looking to take down the champ. Thales Leites is next in line and with great jiu-jitsu, should be a challenge for Silva if Leites can get him down. Also among the divisions best are Canadian Patrick Cote, who had his title shot but blew out his knee in the third round. He'll be back in the summer of 2009 and looking to again make some noise. Also grabbing headlines are jiu-jitsu ace Damein Maia, Japanese fighter Yushin Okami, strongman Nate Marquardt, former Pride champ Dan Henderson, newcomer Denis Kang, and ultimate fighter alumnist Kendal Grove (who still needs to prove himself). Also you can't forget about Mike Bisping from the UK. He is the total package, strength, standup, takedowns, everything. He will soon get a title shot if he keeps winning and may just make the most of it. He's won 7 of his last 8 in the octagon with the only loss in there to current light heavyweight champ Rashad Evans. Bisping is a force watch for him the rest of 2009.

Light Heavyweight:
This is possibly the UFC's most stacked division. It is loaded with world class talent. Right now Rashad Evans holds the title and has looked extremely impressive and is still undefeated in the UFC. He has wins over the divisions best in Chuck Liddell, Forest Griffin, and Mike Bisping. His lightning quick hands and incredible wrestling and ground and pound make him a handful for anybody. Forest Griffin has proven he can hang with the best in the world posting victories over Rampage Jackson, and Mauricio Rua, and breifly holding the title as well. Griffin is a very good striker and will remain atop the division for some time to come. Rampage has battled personal issues, lost the title and looked less than impressive in previous fights. But it appears he is back on track and will likely get a title shot once his jaw heals. "Rampage is back BABY!" Lyoto Machida will next face champ Rashad Evans, and despite Machida's boring style, his record doesnt lie. 14-0 in his career, but with a lot of decision victories. Since Rashad Evans has learned to finish fights now, look for Machida to be in tough as Evans likely wont let this go to the judges. Chuck Liddell and Wanderlei Silva are both looking to bounce back from losses, and although they may be getting a bit older, are both deadly fighters and will try to fight their way back to the top of the 205 division. Dont forget about them. Like i said, the division is stacked, and there isnt enough time to go over every fighter, but keep an eye on all the following fighters, because with a win or two any of these guys could fight for the belt: Rich Franklin, Keith Jardine, Mauricio Rua, Matt Hammill, and Thiago Silva. Also watch up and comers Ryan Bader and Steve Cantwell.

Heavyweight:
Also once seen as depleted after the absences of Tim Sylvia and Andrei Arlovski, the heavyweight division has once again started to deepen its talent. The return of Randy Couture helped immensely. His fight with Sylvia brought instant recognition back to the heavyweight class. Since then Frank Mir has made an impressive comeback, and looks to be back at the top of his game, Brock Lesnar has made the transition from WWE superstar to a MMA heavyweight contender and Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira has come over from Pride to breifly hold the interim title. The mini tournament between Lesnar, Couture, Mir, and Nogueira brought excitement and a series of great fights to the organization which will be completed later this year when Lesnar takes on Mir in a rematch for the heavyweight title. The division is also loaded with a plethra of depth fighters all on the edge being stars that just havent shown consistency enough to be in the divisions elite. The list includes Cheick Kongo, Heath Herring, Shane Carwin, Gabriel Gonzaga, and Fabricio Verdum. Cain Valesquez has showed loads of skill and may be the best heavyweight outside the top 4. He hasnt lost in the UFC and is ready to take on the divisions elite. Junior Dos Santos is relatively unknown but has two first round TKO's in 2 fights and could be a force in the upcoming year. Also their have been rumblings that Mirko "CroCrop" Filipovic is ready to return to North America and the UFC, and could re-enter the heavyweight division and cause problems for some fighters, despite not looking impressive while on hiedus from the UFC.

Well there ya have it, a division by division breakdown of the top talent in the UFC.

Jason Blake is Losing His Edge

2009-03-12T13:07:00.011-04:00

Not pictured: puck in net

Ever since the trade of linemate Dominic Moore at the deadline last week, Jason Blake has lost that spark he had previously in the start of 2009. With only one point in the past 4 games, it appears as if he's missing that catalyst that made him a great player as of late. Head Coach Ron Wilson has been making a list and weighing the pros and cons of potential new linemates for the once-hot Jason Blake.

Mikhail Grabovski
Pros: Speedy, creative centerman.
Cons: When asked by Wilson if he was capable of passing into the slot, Grabovski tilted his head quizzically and asked "What is passing?"

John Mitchell
Pros: Hard-Working Grinder
Cons: Can't keep up with the Blaker, also has a tendency to flub on shots and passes

Tim Stapleton
Pros: Has been impressive in his debut so far in a leafs uniform
Cons: Is number 42, which is a pretty big jersey to fill considering Kyle Wellwood had it last. Seriously, that thing must be like 4XL.

Niklas Hagman
Pros: Has been solid offensively and is already been proven to be a good match for Blake
Cons: Has spent most of the season trying to remember his name due to a string of concussions.

Lee Stempniak
Pros: Has been hot lately with 3 points in the last 4 games, an antithesis to Blake's slump as of late
Cons: Seems to have the same strategy of "skate up the wing as fast as possible, and either pass the puck into the slot or crash into the end boards" that Blake does.

Ben Ondrus
Pros: Captain of the Toronto Marlies, Ondrus was called up following the exlie of Nik Antropov and Dominic Moore at the trade deadline. He's a known scrapper and throws the body effectively.
Cons: Just a plug to fill the gap in the roster.

Matt Stajan
Pros: Very good at faceoffs and an unselfish player
Cons: Plays on the first line, and there's too much risk in putting an inconsistent Player up on the first line...then again... isn't Ponikarovsky there? hmm...

So there you have it. Jason Blake is on track to score 26 goals this season, hopefully one of these players can step in and help him on his way. That way, with any luck this summer he can be on his way out of Toronto.

UFC Hall of Famer Suspended

2009-03-12T12:40:00.008-04:00

It was announced today that the California State Athletic Commission has suspended UFC and MMA veteran and "The World's Most Dangerous Man" Ken Shamrock for one-year following a positive test for 3 banned substances. Shamrock had appealed the suspension but to no avail. The positive test came after the conclusion of Shamrock's latest fight, a win over Ross Clifton on February 13, 2009. The fight was Shamrock's first win since 2004, and helped snap a personal 5 match losing streak (Shamrock had also been knocked out in the first round of each of his previous five fights, OUCH!).

Reports indicate that other states will uphold Shamrock's suspension and his latest fight where he was scheduled to battle Bobby Lashley (A former World Wresting Entertainment Superstar) in the Main Event of a mixed-martial-arts portion of the pro boxing/MMA hybrid show at the Pensacola Civic Centre on March 21st, 2009 will NOT happen. Eight-time world boxing champion Roy Jones Jr. is scheduled to take on Omar Sheika in the Main Event of the boxing portion of the show.

This may lead some to wonder if the UFC Hall of Famer may have also been taking banned substances back in Shamrock's days with the World Wrestling Federation?

Kudos to the California State Athletic Commission for getting this one right!

Why NFL fantasy is the best

2009-03-11T23:38:00.003-04:00

New fantasy football commercial made by Reebok

Watch Fantasy Football Players Show Off on CollegeHumor

Hall of Fame Worthy Names

2009-03-11T21:48:00.007-04:00

Well this originally started as a Top 10 list bust after doing some research I stumbled across more names than I expected and well, now it's a Top 20 list. Here it is...

20. Homer Bush (MLB) - Wish he was still patrolling second base for the Jays...

19. Miroslav Satan (NHL) - Would be a lot better if he would play for the Devils one day.

18. Boof Bonser (MLB) - Who names their kid Boof, honestly?

17. Coco Crisp (MLB) - Sounds like a cereal I may have enjoyed as a child.

16. Stubby Clapp (Baseball) - Hey, he's the only Canadian to top the list!

15. Dick Butkus (NFL) - Shut up, shut up, kiss my butt, kiss my butt, go to hell. (For all you Simpson's fans out there)

14. Usain Bolt (Track)- Worlds Fastest Man. Coincidence? I think not.

13. Darko Milicic (NBA) - Yeah.. he's white.

12. Ron Tugnutt (NHL) - Actually have an hockey card signed by him which makes this even funnier.

11. Warrior (Jim Hellwig) (WWF) - Better known to WWF fans as the Ultimate Warrior. The man must have had a screw loose or something because in 1993 he legally changed his name to Warrior.

10. Milton Bradley (MLB) - Wonder if he enjoys a friendly game of "Battleship" every once and awhile?

9. Shavodrick Beaver (NCAA Football) - Unfortunate.

8. God Shammgod (Basketball) - What do you even say about this name?

7. De'Cody Fagg (NCAA Football) - Tell me this guy didn't get teased growing up.

6. Chubby Cox (NBA) - Kinda hoping for his sake that he lived up to the name on this one.

5. Urban Shocker (MLB) - Classic.

4. Rusty Kuntz (MLB) - Makes you think what his parents thinking on that one?

3. Dick Trickle (Racing) - A rather amusing bodily function.

2. Harry Colon (NFL) - Rather unfortunate.

1. Lucious Pusey (MLB) (later changed his name to Lucious Seymour) - Hmm I wonder why?

Other Notables - Albert Pujols (MLB), Dick Pole (MLB), Speedy Claxton (MLB), Rudy Gay (NBA), World B. Free (NBA), Chad Ocho Cinco (NFL), Pee Wee Reese (MLB), Dean Windass (Soccer), Misty Hyman (Swimming), "Ugly" Johnny Dickshot (MLB), Gregor Fucka (Basketball), Pete LaCock (MLB)

Gary Roberts Reminds Me of my Dad

2009-03-11T21:31:00.006-04:00

I figured I would just throw that out there, because i know you are all thinking it.

Gary Roberts longevity in the league was not only based on his scoring output but his optimal teamwork. The following list is the top 10 players who Gary Roberts has been able to share a dressing room with, practice with, and muck it up for.

Honerable Mentions:

Mike Vernon, Joe Nieuwendyk, Doug Gilmour, Ed Belfour, Evgeni Malkin and Vincent Lecavalier And how can I forget…Jonas Hoglund

10)Roberto Luongo– Florida Panthers – 2005-2007
All of us Canadians are praying that Gary will be sitting around in 2010 saying yes I played with Luongo…while he is wearing a gold medal around his neck.

9) Brian Leetch– Toronto Maple leafs - 2003-2004

The best American defenseman of all time. The long time Ranger had three seasons over 80 points.

8)Al MacInnis – Calgary Flames 1986 – 1995

I’m sure Mr. Roberts didn’t stand in front of the net during practice to much on the PP work. Al must have appreciated Gary too, seeing he did reach the 100 point mark when they were together.

7)Sydney Crosby – Pittsburg Penguins – 2006-2008

“Sid the Kid”, something to tell his children about.

6)Theoren Fleury - Calgary Flames 1988 – 1996
Mental Issues aside, Theoren Fleury had the excitement to get any team revved up. 2 100 point seasons. OH and a senior A title I believe.

5)Ron Francis – Carolina hurricanes – 1998 – 2000

Ronny ‘Franchise’ is a true hall of famer, who has to be the nicest guy to play in the league. Lets just say I’m sure Gary had him babysitting a few times, telling stories of the Hartford Whalers and 3 100 point seasons.

4)Lanny Mcdonald – Calgary Flames 1986-87
Who wouldn’t want to be around that Duster..enough said.

3)Mats Sundin – Toronto Maple Leafs – 2000 – 2004
For all those leafs fans out there, Mats has to be one of the best guys to look down to know he is on your side. With his big body, he has never reached the 100 point mark, but has always been at 70 points and well over, who knows what could have happened if he didn’t play for the ‘makemelaughs

2)Paul Coffey - Carolina Hurricanes – 1999-2000
A short amount of time these two greats shared together, but watching this hall of famer skate around the rink everyday would leave most jaws dropped. Having 5 years with over 100 points as a defenseman isn’t to shabby, when you compare it to the modern day defenseman.

1)Brett Hull – Moncton Golden Flames 1986-87; Calgary Flames 1986 – 1988
The “Golden Brett” is one of the best Natural Goal Scorers of all time, a grizzly bear like Gary Roberts would have only made room on the ice for a guy on this stature. To score 86 goals in one year, who would want to watch that clapper during practice.

Jeff Reed is basically the man

2009-03-11T18:05:00.005-04:00

I have come to the conclusion that Jeff Reed is out of control and definitely the most awesomest kicker in the NFL. Sure he isn't the most accurate at 87% and he doesn't have the biggest leg, topping out around 55 yards, but this guy knows how to party. I once sat behind the guy at a Pittsburgh Penguins game and he looked like your everyday kicker. This was until I went to look up his stats before a Pittsburgh Steelers playoff game last year, and realized the first things that came up were drunken pictures, and drunken incidents. This is when i clued in that perhaps Jeff Reed wasnt just some lame kicker. The majority of pictures i see of him are with his shirt off, half in the bag and hugging one or more women at a bar. Jeff Reed is a pioneer for the kickers position. This guy is changing stereotypes of the "boring" kicker. I mean the guy may not be the smartest human being in the world but he kicks a ball between 2 poles a few times a day for a living...one day a week he's gotta do something to pass the time. I condone him for living it up while making millions. He has done a few dumb things, like taking a naked picture of himself on his cellphone, and smashing a towel dispenser because it ran out of towels, but that was the alcohol acting not Jeff. I dont like the Steelers but between Jeff Reed and Ben Roethlisberger, they must throw some sweet parties. Thank you Jeff Reed for being a cool kicker with wicked hair. Keep doing what you do!

Dustin Brown gets caught...

2009-03-11T14:42:00.002-04:00

Watch Video Here

I'm guessing LA Kings Captain Dustin Brown must have lost some sort of bet, either that or he's definitely not among the world's most intelligent people..

Latest Steve Downie Suspension...

2009-03-10T21:15:00.005-04:00

Watch Video Here

So Steve Downie racked up his second 20 game suspension in 2 seasons, and third suspension in three different leagues in the past 3 years, eh? No real surprise here, as the guy is a nutcase who likes to play on the edge. But when is he really going to learn? Here is a 21-year old kid with all the talent and promise in the world, who only 3 years after his draft year has been sent packing by 2 different organizations (mind you in 2 different leagues, with the Windsor Spitfires of the Ontario Hockey League for the hazing incident with Akim Aliu, and for a late his delivered to former Ottawa Senator Dean McAmmond while playing for the Philadelphia Flyers of the National Hockey League) but is still some how remembered to be one of the great Canadian World Junior Hockey Players of recent memory.

Now I'll be the first to admit that Downie has taken quite a fall for his actions, and has more than likely been given harsher punishments than he deserved since turning pro. This undoubtably is because of his actions and reputation he gained throughout his junior career, but this is not where is all started. Downie was always considered to be a "loose canon" throughout his minor hockey career, and will be remember by many former teammates, coaches and opposing players by this. He is and always has been the type of player who can be effective when he plays within the limits of the game, but it also doesn't take much to get him off his game.

But in the wake of this latest incident in the American Hockey League while playing for the Norfolk Admirals (the Tampa Bay Lightning affiliate), I am going to have to take Downie's side. Yes, It does look like he was taking a swipe at the ref dropping the puck, but in Downie's defense, after looking closely at the video I would have to say that he is most likely taking a swipe at the opposing players stick, as it is possible that there was some chirping being done between the two before the puck was dropped. But in the end he did strike the ref and from this the ref made a decision on the play from his own judgement. All I'm saying is that Downie's reputation only made this one worse on himself.

Please someone, get this guy some counseling before his temperament ends his once promising NHL career.

Tim Hortons Brier is a Waste of Air Time

2009-03-10T20:48:00.004-04:00

So I am skimming through TSN.ca late one night before i head to bed, and i stumble across a minor headline off to the side that reads "TSN to air 60 hours of Brier Coverage". At first, like most of you probably, i thought it was some sort of joke. Then i thought, TSN isnt one to mess around, they are a legitimate sports network. This brought me to my second thought of why the fuck are they showing 60 hours of Brier coverage? Now i realize curling is a Canadian past time and some people somewhere in Canada may actually enjoy it, but i mean 20 mins of Randy Ferbey, Russ Howard and the gang is about all i can stomach, let alone 60 fuckin' hours. Now in all fairness to the Brier it is the biggest curling event in Canada and does deserve some coverage...minimal coverage. I'm talking throw a bonspiel on at 3am in place of poker that's from 3 years ago. I mean seriously i was in shock when at 5pm i tuned in to TSN to catch Around the Horn and PTI, only to find out it got bumped for a PEI vs Newfoundland curling match. Give me a fuckin break TSN, you dropped the ball on this one. I hope next year you drop this ridiculous shit fest and let CBC air it on saturday mornings where it belongs. I watched 10 hours of trade center coverage on tsn and i honestly couldnt sit through 10 minutes of a curling match. i would burn my eyes out before watching 60 hours of that boring shit. The only reason i would even consider watching a curling match is to hear jennifer jones scream "HURRRY, HAAARD" because it turns me on a bit...ok a lot, but the Brier is all men, and hearing them yell that shit makes my dick quiver. Why couldnt Canada hate curling like the rest of the world?

NHL Trade Deadline 09

2009-03-10T18:34:00.000-04:00

Is it possible that we as Canadian hockey fans over hype the trade deadline? I mean 3 major networks (TSN, Sportsnet, the Score) with 10+ hours of coverage for an NHL Trade Deadline. Nahhh of coarse not, I mean this is the one day of the year that I almost get as excited as I do for Christmas morning. Hell, I even woke up at 7:30 to make breakfast before the coverage even started on TSN and Sportsnet (the Score started their coverage at 10 am). Now that's an accomplishment! To put all of this in perspective, if I had class that early in the morning I probably wouldn’t even go. In fact I was supposed to travel home on Wednesday and didn't leave until after 4 pm just because I wanted to see all of the trades that would trickle in right at the deadline. But I can't help but feel a little let down by this years deadline.. No real big surprises, and a lot of the big names that were expected to move, didn't.

With the deadline being almost a full week behind us I though I would look back at the deadline that was.

- To OTT Pascal Leclaire & 2009 2nd RD. Pick / To CBJ Antoine Vermette

Winner.. I'm going to have to go with Ottawa although they aren't going to reek the benefits of having a true number 1 goaltender until next season.

- To CGY Jordan Leopold / To COL Lawrence Nycholat, Ryan Wilson & 2009 2nd RD. Pick (from MTL)

Winner.. Calgary, although it seems like they did give up a lot to get Leopold, they had just picked Nycholat up off waivers the day before, and Leopold should be one of the final pieces in what should be a legitimate Cup contender.

- To PIT Andy Wozniewski / To STL Danny Richmond

Winner.. Who cares? There both losers in my opinion for even making this meaningless trade.

- To BUF Mikael Tellqvist / To PHX 2010 4th RD. Pick

Winner.. Buffalo. With Ryan Miller on the IR right now the Sabres really needed a tender with some NHL experience to help out the ever-inconsistent Patrick Lalime in making a final playoff push.

- To BOS Steve Montador / To ANA Petteri Nokelainen

Winner.. Draw. Boston was looking to add some depth to their defense for their playoff run, and Anaheim was looking to add some depth up front.

- To CGY Olli Jokinen & 2009 3rd RD. Pick / To PHX Matthew Lombardi, Brandon Prust, & 2009 or 2010 1st RD. Pick

Winner.. Calgary in the short term. They believe they have a legitimate shot at winning the cup this year and were willing to sacrifice some of their future in order to solidify that shot. Lets hope Jokinen can rekindle some of that magic he once had under Mike Keenan.

- To BOS Mark Recchi & 2010 2nd RD. Pick / To TB Matt Lashoff & Martins Karsums

Winner.. Boston for adding some additional depth and experience to their lineup for their playoff run, but I think the real winner is THE RECKING BALL for getting the hell out of Tampa and getting a shot at another cup!

- To PIT Bill Guerin / To NYI 2009 Conditional Pick

Winner.. Pittsburgh. Getting a guy like Guerin could be huge for this young team and their hopes of making the playoffs this year.

- To PHI Dan Carcillo / To PHX Scottie Upshall & 2011 2nd RD. Pick

Winner.. I'm going to have to say Phoenix, I just feel as though Philly gave up to much to get Carcillo, who plays the same style as many of their other players.

- To NYR Nik Antropov / To TOR 2009 2nd RD. Pick & 2010 Conditional Pick

Winner.. The Leafs for actually getting something for this plug, long overdue.

- To NYR Derek Morris / To PHX Dmitri Kalinin, Petr Prucha & Nigel Dawes

Winner.. Derek Morris? Come on now.. Phoenix definitely came out on top of this one, I could see this package going for Ed Jovanovski but not Derek Morris.

- To BUF Dominic Moore / To TOR 2009 2nd RD. Pick (from CAR)

Winner.. Going to have to wait and see on this one, kind of sad to see Moore go but he'll realize in the summer that he won't get as much money as he was asking for.

- To ANA Erik Christensen / To ATL Eric O'Dell

Winner.. Anaheim, have you seen the mitts on Christensen? Dirtyyyyyyyy! Just needs to figure out how to use them in game situations now and not just the shoot-out.

- To FLA Steve Eminger / To TB Noah Welch & 2009 3rd RD. Pick

Winner.. Tampa Bay, if you can call them that. Eminger is terrible, Welch just needs more time to develop and I'm sure Tampa will come out on top of this one.

- To CBJ Kevin Lalande / To CGY 2009 4th RD. Pick

Winner.. Not to sure what to say about this one. Lalande is a former Belleville Bulls Alumni, so we'll just give this one to the Blue Jackets.

- To PHI Kyle Mclaren / TO SJ 2009 6th RD. Pick

Winner.. The fact that San Jose even got anything for this guy is a surprise. But oh wait, they didn't after all because Mclaren couldn't pass his physical so this trade was nullified.

- To CHI Sammy Pahlsson, Logan Stephenson & 2009 Conditional Pick / To ANA James Wisniewski & Petri Kontiola

Winner.. Gotta go with the Blackhawks on this one. Pahlsson has Stanley Cup experience, and when healthy is one of the best checking line players in the game.

- To SJ Travis Moen & Kent Huskins / To ANA Nick Bonino, Timo Pielmeier & Conditional Draft Picks

Winner.. San Jose seeing as how I have never heard of any of the guys going the other way in the deal. Moen is a great energy player and Huskins is a good depth defenseman who is starting to show some upside.

We will just group the next 3 trades together..

- To CAR Patrick O'Sullivan & 2009 2nd RD. Pick (from CGY) / To LA Justin Williams

- To CAR Erik Cole & 2009 5th RD. Pick / To EDM Patrick O'Sullivan & 2009 2nd RD. Pick

- To EDM Ales Kotalik / To BUF 2009 2nd RD. Pick (from CAR)

Winner.. Edmonton has to be the real winner here. They added a young talented player in O'Sullivan who can produce and some more talent in Kotalik, while parting ways with a struggling Erik Cole who is hoping to regain his form back in Carolina. LA is likely to make out alright with former 30 goal scorer, Stanley Cup champion and Cobourg, ON native Justin Williams if his health concerns are finally in his past and he can begin to play up to his ability.

- To TOR Olaf Kolzig, Jamie Heward, Andy Rogers & 2009 4th RD. Pick / To TB Richard Petiot

Winner.. Going to have to say the Leafs on this one. This was nothing but a salary dump here for the Lightning as all they did was give Toronto 2 players who are out for the rest of the year (Kolzig & Heward), swapped minor leaguers and threw in a 4th RD Pick for getting these guys off their books.

Final thoughts..

Although this deadline lacked some of the luster of years past in seeing some of the big names that had been rumored to go (Bouwmeester, Pronger, Gaborik, Lecavalier) fact not be traded... Anyone else feel as though the West Coast teams seem to be at a bit of a disadvantage come Trade Deadline day seeing as how the deadline is set at 3 pm Eastern, which would only be Noon Pacific on the West Coast.

Another Must Lose for the Leafs

2009-03-10T17:55:00.000-04:00

The Toronto Maple Leafs aren't making the playoffs this year. Anyone who thinks or has thought otherwise is an idiot. Its pretty simple, Brian Burke was handed the reigns to a terrible team with minimal direction. The lack talent, prospects, a true #1 goalie, and heart. What we do have is a coach and a GM who are sarcastic assholes, which complements the Toronto media nicely.

So where does that leave us after a lackluster trade deadline? The Leafs currently sit 11th in the eastern conference and 24th overall in the league. With only 4 games remaining against teams below us in the standings (the Islanders tonight, 2 more against Tampa Bay and one against the Senators) it has reached a new point for the common Toronto fan. In the last 15 games of the regular season they need to go on a run. Think about this, 0-15 to close the season, would put the team one step closer in getting John Tavares. While unlikely since the draft lottery is probably rigged anyways, it gives Leafs fans hope.

Stop calling up these AHL players who are trying to prove something, lets bring back Gerry Valk, Aki Berg, Jyrki Lumme, and Jonas Hoglund. Stop calling out Slimey Spezza on his cheating sticks, stop Jason Blakes spin-o-rama, and for my sake, someone give Gerber some pressure so he can return to normal form.

Go Leafs Go...

Gary Roberts Announces Retirement

2009-03-10T13:45:00.000-04:00

1986-2009

1224 Games played, 438 goals, 472 assists, 910 Points. 1 Stanley Cup championship, +229 overall.

With a NHL career that spanned 23 years and 6 franchises including a four-year stint with his hometown team the Toronto Maple Leafs, Gary Roberts was a remarkable player. A power forward who wasnt afraid to use the body and still put up solid numbers, a veteran player who was a mentor to some of the NHL's current superstars and an overall excellent team leader.

He ended his NHL career where it began, in Calgary on March 1st.

Enjoy your retirement Mr. Roberts, now can you please convince CuJo to follow suit?

Welcome to Muck My Blog!

2009-03-09T23:32:00.001-04:00

The only spot for sports opinions straight from people who watch it.
Well I guess there could be a few spots for that.
But this is way better.