It is the All-Star break and as such is time to reflect on the first 50 or so games and the state of the NHL in general. The NHL has never been faster or better and as I listened to Gary Bettman’s State of the Union address, I had to admit that, even though his demeanor is cold and a bit condescending, he has presided over a very good run. What has Bettman done? His expansions have mostly worked and where they have not, he has acted to rectify the situation. Phoenix and Florida are on shaky financial ground but their teams are pretty good and the fans are coming back. The league needs to straighten out Charles Wang and his hopeless Islanders but otherwise the business side is not bad. Like it or not he has made the Canadian teams much stronger. The strong Loonie has a lot to do with that but he also made sure that those teams were covered in any case. He has re-expanded to Canada and may do so again. He has succeeded in bringing the NHL to the Sun Belt. Cup championships in Anaheim, Carolina and Tampa are proof that it can work. Every major sports league has its financial train wrecks and the NHL has a couple in Phoenix, Long Island and Columbus but Nashville and Florida are hanging in there and selling out stadia. The Preds, you could argue, are a model franchise with stable management and a consistently competitive team. Competitive balance means that all 82 games are meaningful. The difference between the 4^th seed and 12^th in both conferences is pretty thin and each year we see a low seed knock off a high seed and make an inspiring run. The All-Star weekend itself leaves me a bit cold. I saw the shoot out competition and it has gone from the ridiculous to the sublime with props and goalies who are not even trying to stop the puck. All in all it has been an interesting first half and while I fear my beloved Habs will miss the playoff dance this year, I still am looking forward to the stretch run and what should be another great playoff.

 

TCHC suited up for a game against a depleted NTT squad on Sunday night and this one turned out to be a blowout. The first 5 minutes were actually quite close and you had the impression that the boys were in for a fight. But it was not to be. McGill grads Tim Laurie and Dave McKinnon were paired with the quiet but always dangerous Dan Stevens and they struck first with McKinnon burying a pretty 3-way passing play followed by Laurie sniping as Mack returned the favor. Tommy Anderson got on the board finishing off some nice forechecking work with Patty Morris and burying his first of the night clanging it with authority in off the post as goal scorers do. Fred Sanford sucked it up and played defense on this night and he was very solid in the effort. Late in the first he made a nice play to keep a clearing attempt in and then made a very smart play firing it low at the net. Satoshi Kobayashi snagged the rebound and found a wide open Dennis Waechter who banged in his first of 3, yes 3, on the night. Another nice play by a D-man at the point, this time Dave Lotocki, resulted in Morris finding himself all alone in front. His quick shot went in off Brent McCain’s skate which is just as well because McCain could not have hit water if tossed out of a boat on this night. So ended the 1^st period with our boys in Red up 5-0.

 

Laurie and Mack were back at it early in the 2^nd frame and the former Redmen combined to get Laurie his 2^nd of the night. Guy Roberge was also back on defense in this game but it did not stop him from racking up 3 assists one of which coming as he pinched, made 2-3 nice moves and found McCain in the slot. McCain fired and was stoned but Shawn Montague picked up the rebound and slid it home for a 7-0 lead. NTT then got on the board as TCHC were found guilty of waving at an NTT D-man who went though 3 forwards in the neutral zone, split the D and rifled a shot past Tatsu. It was a clear case of the boys letting bad habits creep in on what was otherwise a “stats night”. Kevin Holt then led a rush and found Koby streaking. Koby hit Waechter with a beautiful pass and Denny banked in his 2^nd of the night. Patty Mo and McCain connected for 2 bang bang goals for the Flyin’ Hawaiian. Dan Stevens rounded out the 2^nd period finishing off a Guy Roberge lead pass to make it 11-1 after 2.

 

Tommy Anderson was flying on this night as usual and the Minnesotan whirling dervish combined with Montague to harass the NTT defense and Morris was sprung to again ring one in off the post for his 2^nd of the night. Denny completed his hat trick and McCain finally scored with his stick after being sprung by Montague on a breakaway and this rounded out the scoring.

 

TCHC ran its record to a perfect 2-0 and carries a +14 goal differential into its 3^rd game against College Circle before its final tourney game against last year’s champion, Tokyo Egoists. Make the final 14-1 TCHC.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The annual Tokyo New Year’s Invitational Tournament kicked into gear on Sunday night at Jingu as TCHC faced off against Tokyo League stalwart Mitsui. Mitsui always boasts a strong side and this year they added a former Asia League and Seibu Rabbit as their goalie so this game figured to be a low scoring affair, at least for TCHC. In games like this you know that you are going to have to throw a ton of pucks at the net, get great goaltending and hope for a lucky bounce at the right time. TCHC got all 3 and emerged with a hard fought win over a tough opponent.

 

“Gentlemen, you don’t have enough talent to win on talent alone!” These words were famously uttered by Herb Brooks as he tried to motivate his charges to train harder in the hopes of keeping up with better conditioned and more talented teams. With dryland training typically being held at Legend’s Sports Bar, it seemed highly unlikely that our boys would be able to trade punches with Mitsui all night. This one was going to be won with grit, spit and a whole lot of duct tape. The first couple of shifts actually were a very fast paced affair with scoring chances going both ways. The first line of Satoshi Kobayashi, Patty Morris and Naoto Hamashima were buzzing and Naoto missed on a couple of partial breakaways. Tommy Anderson was flying and sending pucks at the Mitsui net but all were turned back. Thankfully, Takeshi Tastumoto brought his A-game for TCHC and stopped everything that was thrown at him. Late in the first period, TCHC broke it open. Fred “Nifty” Sanford, looking a bit like Rick Middleton (and about the same age), chipped a Marc Bookman clearing pass past a pinching defenseman and scooted up the wing. Using his charging winger Scott Collins as a decoy, he fired high on the short side beating the goalie and popping the water bottle in the air. Mitsui came back before the end of the period making it 1-1 capitalizing on a botched clearing attempt and sliding a rebound past a completely abandoned Tatsu.

 

The tie would hold right through to the 3^rd period as Tatsu and Mitsui’s tender traded highlight reel saves. The big break came early in the 3^rd as the line of Dave McKinnon, Brent McCain and Tommy Anderson got cranked up. Mack slid a pass to Anderson who broke in over the blue line and slid a pass to McCain. The pass got tipped and was about 2 feet off the ice. McCain swung wildly at it and caught it flush and the puck went right into the mesh to make it 2-1. There is a possibility that McCain meant to do that but I cannot put that it print for fear that he would be talking about it all week. The old “new captain” was not finished on the shift though. Kevin Holt corralled a clearing attempt at the point and threw it on net. It popped up about two feet off a defenseman’s stick. Again McCain took a whack at it and again it found the twine making it 3-1 TCHC.

 

The defense (Lotocki/Roberge, Smaal/Holt, Antonelli/Carlson) was brilliant on this night and they held the fort by clearing rebounds and getting just enough of the Mitsui attackers to not let them get great scoring chances on Tatsu. Tatsu was a wall when they did get chances though and I stopped counting at about 45 shots. In a rather ominous sign, upon being informed that the final period would go right to 11:30 and not be called at 20 minutes, the boys started to plan a “responsible defense” line up in case the walls came crashing down late. They almost did.

 

Rob Smaal made a nice play to pinch at the point and got the puck to Anderson who slid it to McCain who kind of slapped a backhander into the top corner for his 3^rd of the night causing most of the bench to quip that he ought to buy a lottery ticket. This was the high water mark for TCHC.

 

Mitsui got 2 quick goals with about 5 minutes left and the remaining 3-4 shifts took on the feeling of total panic. Tatsu saved his best for last looking a lot like Jimmy Craig in the dying minutes of the Miracle on Ice. Naoto, Anderson, Guy Roberge, Dave Lotocki and Patty Morris were sent on as the “responsible defense” team and they killed the final 2 and a half minutes and as the clock wound down to all naughts it was 4-3 for TCHC.

 

This was a classic case of hanging around long enough to make the game about one lucky bounce and, in the end, TCHC got 3 rather lucky bounces and set themselves up well for a good run in this tournament. Make the final 4-3 for the “good guys”.

 

 

1^st Star - Brent McCain – TCHC – 3 goals in a 4-3 game convinced the voters but if I had a vote I would have picked Tatsu.

 

2^nd Star – Takeshi Tatsumoto – Stopped 47 of 50 shots, many of them good scoring chances. Covered up rebounds and was a rock when needed.

 

3^rd Star – Mitsui’s goaltenders – They also saw a lot of action. In the end, TCHC was not as over matched as many thought and often took the play to Mitsui.

 

Hockey is starting everywhere and thanks to the quality of the NHL Gamecenter package I was able to catch a few games this week. Hockey returned to Winnipeg and it was great to see the emotion in the building with grown men welling up as the national anthem played and the “Go Jets Go” chants rained down. The Habs spoiled the party but hockey is back where it belongs even if the current Jets look an awful lot like the rather mediocre NHL squads that patrolled that ice in the 80’s and 90’s. Optimism reigns supreme in Canada’s self proclaimed “centre of the universe” as Phil Kessel leads the league in scoring and James Reimer seems to be the same as he was last year when he took the league by storm. Leaf haters will remind us that last season started 4-0 and ended in disappointment but this team seems more focused and maybe they can save the truculent Ron Wilson from himself. The Habs are hurt. Again. This just in: when your top line averages 5’8’’, you will lose significant games to injury. Carey Price cannot pitch shutouts every night and the Habs look curiously like the team that backed into the playoffs last year and not at all like the team that led its division at the quarter post. Vancouver looks to shake off the stink of the embarrassing on ice and off ice performance in G7 of last year’s final. Edmonton has some great young talent and are fun to watch. Calgary and Ottawa are in tough this year to be competitive. All in all, I would put the over/under on Canadian teams in the playoffs at 2. The NHL talent pool has never been better and I am anxiously waiting to see how this all turns out.

 

The curtain rose on the 2011/2012 TCHC season Sunday at Jingu and it was a great game from front to back with lots of scoring, some great goaltending and even a few gentle reminders that hockey is a contact sport. The best way to describe what happened last night is to say that Red threatened to run away and hide but then White, just when you thought they would give in, played lights out for 20 minutes and, finally, Red got it together long enough to tie things up and send everyone home happy.

 

Red’s big line was firing early and it seemed like White was overmatched. Naoto Hamashima, Chuck V and young gun Riku Watanabe were all over the place. Were it not for Nobu Araki making about 6 circus saves in the first frame, this one would have been all done and I could have headed to the bar to file my report. About 10 minutes in they finally broke through as Riku roofed one, completing a pretty tic-tac-toe from Chuck V and Hama. On the very next shift, Hama did it all himself slamming in a wrap around that sounded like a sledge hammer hitting the post as the puck slammed into the back of the net and his stick hit the pipe. Riku and Chuck V got singles and Red took a 4-0 lead into the 2^nd period.

 

White got its spark from Tommy Anderson and Guy Roberge who was playing defense again this night. After a scramble and some digging in front, the sturdy Quebec native deposited the puck behind Tatsu and things started to look up for White. Red’s other line on this night finally got on the board. Dan Stevens, newly minted TCHC President Brent McCain and Hawaii/Minnesota’s favourite son Patrick Morris had been throwing it around pretty well but were repeatedly thwarted by Nobu and his defense gang of Anderson, Roberge, James Heather and Mihail Komatsu. A classic Patty Mo goal went in off Nobu’s back and it looked like things would get out of hand with the score at 5-1.

 

Satoshi Kobayashi, who is looking very svelte by the way, was flying and he broke free and ripped a low snap shot past Tatsu to get it to 5-2. The wheels then fell off the bus for the Red Siders. McGill grad Tim Laurie and Scotty Collins were driving Red crazy down low and Laurie was rewarded with two quick goals. Koby snapped another home on a pass from Chris Antonelli and Satoshi Chawanya and just like that it was 5-5 and we were staring down the barrel of a barn burner 3^rd period.

 

White continued to dominate and Anderson spotted Joji Hiratsuka with a step behind the Red defense. Joji went in unhindered from the red line, went to his forehand on the deke and was stopped by Tatsu but Joji swung at the rebound and the puck squeaked over the goal line just before Tatsu could smother it. The kid taping the action on his i-Phone video reviewed the play and concluded it was a goal. White had its first lead of the day at 6-5. Collins, Laurie and Anto got at it again and Collins banged home his first of the night.

 

Outgoing President Dave Lotocki called on player/coach Rob Smaal for a Red timeout and Smaaly calmed and rallied the troops. Smaaly was playing gritty defense on the night and he called on the forwards to create some action in front of Nobu. Big Jimmer, Anderson and Roberge were, to this point, doing a stellar job of clearing the crease for Nobu. The boys did as Coach Smaal asked and were rewarded. With Hama and Chuck V. crashing the net, Lowtalker slid a pass across the point to new member Fred Sanford. Sanford let it rip and it went through the crowd finding twine and sparking the Red bench. Two minutes later McCain completed the comeback snapping a Dan Stevens rebound over Nobu’s shoulder.

 

Joji had another breakaway but was stoned by Tatsu. Suddenly a rushing defenseman and new VP, Kevin “Kid” Holt led a Red 2-on-1 with the final seconds ticking off but Nobu held the fort, White breathed a sigh of relief and the score was 7s as all naughts showed on the scoreboard. Make the final 7-7 in a thriller.