Happy Holidays

Well we are now through roughly 35 games of the 2008-2009 NHL season. It has been an interesting year in the NHL thus far ,but one thing is certain is that the emergence of young stars in the league will not stop. From 18 year old defensemen such as Zach Bogosian and Luke Schenn to Kyle Turris and Blake Wheeler, every team is looking to stronger and faster; and they way they are accomplishing this is through young talent. Players in the OHL, QMJHL, NCAA Division I, USHL, and KHL are ready to make the leap into the NHL and are ready to make an impact as well. These young 18-20 year old players are already men, and playing like seasoned veterans with composure and pure talent. I credit the readiness and emergence of these young stars to the development of Junior leagues and work out programs. The game is changing and young players need to hit the gym at a younger age in order to build their bodies to allow them to just flat out be stronger. The added muscle strength allows them to skate with more power and speed, shoot harder and quicker, and be stronger on the puck in all situations. The other part of the game that is developing quicker in younger athletes is their mental toughness and capacity. Hockey has a grueling 82 game schedule that puts a toll on your body physically, but above all mentally. If you cannot yet use your mind to overcome distractions from both outside and within then most likely you are not ready for the NHL, that is what amazes me most about these 18 year old defensemen that are logging upwards of 25 minutes per game. Defensemen take longer to develop than forwards and requires more mental responsibility and players such as Luke Schenn are taking the NHL by storm and showing that an 18 year old defenseman is mature enough to make an impact at the highest level possible night in and night out.

Another Cup to Hockey Town?

This year could be the eleventh time that Detroit Red Wings fans will see the cup at another parade. The anticipation has been mounting, as the Red Wings hit a small road bump in the first round taking the series in six games from the in division rival, Nashville Predators. Next was a surprisingly easy series against the Colorado Avalanche. In the history of the play-offs the Avalanche and the Wings had extremely heated series that would go seven games almost every year, and the winner of the series would usually go on to win the cup. The most memorable two series of these two teams, were in the 1997 play-offs and then again in the 1998 play-offs. Both of these series went down to the very end, resulting in brawls and overtime wars along the way. This year however, was not the same story. The Wings humbled Colorado every chance they could get, in a series where nothing else existed but a high flying Detroit offense, and an old-time friend of Hockey Town reclaiming his place between the pipes. Chris Osgood has posted remarkable numbers thus far through the play-offs after taking the place of goaltending legend, Dominik Hasek. Osgood has posted a 1.46 goals against average along with a .939 save percentage and 1 shut out. The 36 year-old Osgood has won the cup with Detroit before and is looking to do it again. Detroit being one of the original six teams of the NHL won their first Stanley Cup during the 1935-36 season, their second came the year after in 1936-37. The Wings most recent three cup wins came in style. Winning back-to-back cups in 1996-97 and 1997-98 NHL seasons. Their last cup came in 2001-02, and the way they are currently playing, winning game one of the Western Conference Finals last night 4-1 against the Dallas Stars, it just seems inevitable that they will once again be dancing for their eleventh cup.

An Interesting End to an Interesting Season

Jaromir Jagr of the New York Rangers actually made the entire sports world believe that his team was poised for a comeback. The Ranger captain was telling the media that the Rangers were going to go down in history one of those "miracle" teams. During game four, Jagr started to make the miracle happen. The captain of the New York Rangers was looking to make company with Mark Messier and lead the team to glory. The Rangers dominated every aspect of the game in front of an enthusiastic home crowd. Jagr had 14 shots on goal during the game by himself, and Henrik Lundqvist stopped all 29 shots that he faced. They shut-out the Penguins 3-0, and were looking extremely confident to take the series back to Pittsburgh. The next game was a completely different story, the Penguins owned the Rangers all over the ice, and gave the captain no room to breathe. Jagr and the Rangers were frustrated and the referees were handing the game over to the Penguins as the seconds counted down. It wasn't until the third period that Rangers started to come alive. They scored two goals only a 1:22 apart, one by a rookie call up, Lauri Korpikoski and another young player named Nigel Dawes who finally capitalized after having numerous chances throughout the game. This tied the game at two, and the score stayed at a dead lock after sixty minutes of play. Coming out for the overtime period the Rangers were on the kill, and the Penguins were cruising on the power play. The offense for the Penguins was once again clicking and the Rangers were on their heels. The final blow to the Rangers season was aided by one of their own skates a weird bounce in front of the net caromed a puck off of Dan Giardi's skate and right on to Marian Hossa's stick for a quick shot that beat Lundqvist five-hole. The goal was one that "King Henrik" usually did not give up, which was an extremely disheartening way to end another season. Once again the New York Rangers did not meet their expectations.