Playoffs, golf and baseball

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 21/04/2011 (5340 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

WHAT WE’VE LEARNED THROUGH THE FIRST WEEK OF THE NHL PLAYOFFS…

1. Let us begin by weighing in, briefly, on the whole headshot/cheapshot debate with this thought: when an ex-referee like Kerry Fraser is on the tube predicting Raffi Torres will be suspended for his hit on Brent Seabrook — and we all know he wasn’t — and when players, coaches and GMs are in such disagreement about what is illegal and what is not, then the NHL clearly has a problem.

"It’s hard to know where the line is," Los Angeles Kings coach Terry Murray, who didn’t think Torres should have been suspended, said earlier this week.

"But that’s the part we have to learn. There is danger. You’re travelling at high speed. There’s a lot of players who are getting into positions that are a little more vulnerable.

"There has to be greater awareness to it."

Fair comment. But when the lines of legality are so blurry building that awareness could take eons.

A question: would Torres had been suspended if Seabrook had been taken off the ice on a stretcher or not returned to the game?

2. Nothing I’ve seen through the first round has convinced me otherwise: the Vancouver Canucks will be hoisting the Stanley Cup in June.

3. Consider this as the Detroit Red Wings gear up for the second round of the playoffs: in their four-game sweep of the Coyotes they had 13 different players score their 18 goals in total. All this with Henrik Zetterberg missing the entire series and Johan Franzen out for their Game-4 win with a bad ankle.

4. A piece of history of which Washington Capitals fans don’t need reminding: the franchise has blown 3-1 series leads in four of the nine series it has held such an advantage. That includes last year against Montreal. The Caps currently lead the Rangers 3-1.

5. Raise your hand if you selected Arron Asham in your playoff pool. Didn’t think so. The pride of Portage and bruising winger for the Pittsburgh Penguins had five goals in 44 regular-season games this year. Check out the Pens’ playoff stats and there is Asham atop the heap with three goals and an assist in four games.

6. An amazing list… Heard the other day that Brian Boucher is one of the 10 different starting goalies the Flyers have used in the playoffs since 1997. And then, as it often happens, the media outlet failed to list the nine other guys who have tended goal for the Flyers and that drives me absolutely bonkers. So, here you go:

Flyer goalies since 1997 to start at least one playoff game: Brian Boucher, 30; Robert Esche, 24; Martin Biron, 23; Roman Cechmanek, 23; Michael Leighton, 13; Garth Snow, 12; Ron Hextall, 7; John Vanbiesbrouck, 6; Sean Burke, 5; Sergei Bobrovsky, 2.

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RANDOM THOUGHTS AND THREE DOTS…

* Strange, but true: there are five statues in front of the Staples Center in Los Angeles, a building which opened in 1989 — Laker greats Magic Johnson and Jerry West, former King Wayne Gretzky, boxer Oscar De La Hoya and long-time Laker announcer Chick Hearn. But get this: Johnson, West and Gretzky never played at the Staples Centre and De La Hoya lost both of his fights there…

 

* No doubt sports fans have seen, read or heard about the 16 Kevin Na fired last week at the Texas Open and thought, ‘Heck, I could do THAT.’ If you really want to see the gruesome evidence, check out this:

 

 

* A first: the Yemeni men’s beach volleyball team lost to Indonesia at the Asian Games and blamed the loss, in part, to the cheerleaders hired by organizers to entertain during breaks in the action. "They had an effect on how we played," said Yemeni player Adeeb Mahfoudh. " I think they had something to do with our losing the match."…

 

* The definition of dumb-ass: Deion Bonner, a cornerback from Columbus, GA., was charged along with two others after stealing iPods and ipads from Georgia football lockers during a recruiting trip to the school…

 

* Big plans in Regina for a downtown redevelopment that may include a new stadium. If you’re interested, check out the video:

 

 

* More evidence sports fans in Philly are the toughest on the planet: they booed the robot — Philliebot — when the robot built at the University of Pennsylvania bounced its pitch in front of the Phillie Phanatic on Wednesday’s game against Milwaukee. Here is the video:

 

 

* If you’re a big fan of former SNLer Norm MacDonald you should know he has a new sports show on The Comedy Network. To check out a clip, click here.

 

* We thought we had seen everything when it came to trick plays in baseball, but this might be a first. It might take a couple of looks to see how this works, but the pitcher fakes a wild thrown back to second and after the runner gets up and takes off for third, he is easily caught.

 

 

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AND, FINALLY…

Did you know that New York Mets outfielder Jason Bay, the pride of Trail, B.C., was Canada’s highest-paid athlete in 2010? He pulled in $18,125,000. For a very cool list of the highest-paid athletes listed by country, check out ESPN.com’s piece here.

 

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Got a cool video or link you’d like to share? E-mail it to: ed.tait@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: WFPEdTait.