Wow! Great article here about the death of the Soviet system in hockey. Dallas' Sergei Zubov is considered to be one of the last big followers of the mechanical Soviet style. He loved that style so much, he got traded from the Penguins because he would never shoot the puck.
It's funny. People make a big deal about Soviet hockey, but the truth of the matter is, it owes a heck of a lot more to conditioning than it does to strategy. If you have 23 guys who don't get tired, you have a nice shot at winning the game. And the Soviet players did nothing but train all year. And not just hockey. Soccer. Weights. Flexibility. The Soviet "amateurs" of the 70s were supermen.
Of course Communism crumbled and minutes later everyone across the Soviet Union was dumping-and-chasing.

The Islanders didn't clinch. Again. They only have two games left. If they can tie in both, they'll clinch. But it's not looking good.
Neither the Islanders nor the Rangers deserve that eighth playoff spot. Let's make an executive decision and give it to Nashville. Those boys work hard!

So everyone pretty much had Toronto goalie Eddie Belfour written off after he stumbled out of Dallas (myself included) and now he's thriving in Toronto.
My bad.
Your bad.
Belfour's strong. Strong enough to win a Cup for most teams. But I'm not sure how much that's going to help the Maple Thugs. Their problem hasn't been goaltending — it's been scoring. The team didn't give Curtis Joseph, the old goalie, much to work with against Carolina in the playoffs. So they got bounced.
So to all 16 teams heading for the playoffs, a word of advice:
It's good to score goals. The more the better.
Thank you.

How can you really tell it's playoff time?
It's pretty easy. It's warmer outside and coaches turn into spies.
Let's go over to Dallas for a second. Mike Modano gets injured in the second and has to leave the game. How come? "Lower-body injury." Which means what? Lower than what? I mean I don't really care what's wrong with Modano and I know other teams probably want details so they can zero in on where to hurt Modano, but still. Do you have to be that vague? Couldn't Dallas just say he hurt his leg?
Over on Long Island, the Double-O Islanders were fined $25,000 for holding a closed practice. Management had told the media they wouldn't be practicing before their big tie against the Rangers (some might argue they didn't skate during that game). What did closing the practice to the media accomplish? The media aren't the problem. The media aren't the reason the Isles have no offense.
And over it Pittsburgh, there's more mystery. Everyone wants to know if Mario Lemieux is hanging up his skates after this season. Of course, he probably won't say anything definite until after Penguin season tickets go on sale.

The West is so crazy. They have sooo many good teams. Like the Avs. And they're not even in first place. And defensively, they're getting pretty intense. Recent-addition Bryan Marchment is dying for the Cup. It must be weird for him. All summer long people were saying the Sharks would win it. And then they imploded. But then he got traded. They should make his season into a movie. I'd see that.
Defenseman Derek Morris, who came over in the Chris Drury trade, has been tearing it up in both ends of the ice (and in the neutral zone, too).
So will Colorado win the West? Who knows? They definitely have the strongest goaltending in the West. Dallas loses like a player a day, so they might not end up being much of a threat. Vancouver always looks good at the start of the playoffs, but things never work out. And Detroit? They're still a tough team. The team to beat, in fact.
In other Av news, this could be Peter Forsberg's last year in the NHL. Swedish newspapers have him going to play for his hometown Swedish team, MoDo. Apparently Swedish players usually want to finish their careers in the Swedish system. And his dad works for MoDo.
It'll suck for the Avs.

So the Bruins finally clinched.
Boston doesn't seem too excited.
How come? Well here's a hint. Boston finally clinched on a tie. They couldn't even win their way into the playoffs.
Boston is 2-3-2 since firing coach Robbie Ftorek. That sounds pretty average to me.
Also, sort of old news, and not really news to anyone, but the Bruin players didn't like Ftorek. None of the complaints are new. A lot of them have been on my radar since Ftorek coached the Devils — browbeating players, withholding ice time. Stupid things that only make the players tune Florek out.
Interestingly, one player told the Boston Globe that players like P.J. Stock are happier with Ftorek gone, because now they can get a little more ice time. Stock was pretty neutral on the coach switch in his online journal:

Unfortunately, the management thought a coaching change was the answer and Robbie Ftorek and Jimmy Hughes were both relieved of their positions. It was a pretty tough moment for a lot of people because they both made a lot of friends here the last two years and taught us a lot. It's a tough position to be in when things aren't going well, but it's a great position to be in when things are going great. Everyone here wishes them the best and hopefully we'll see them somewhere down the hockey road.

In other Boston news, former Bruin Lyndon Byers is shooting a pilot for Michael J. Fox. Byers would play the friend/enforcer of a fictional New York Ranger. Let's hope the show rates much better than actual hockey games.
(Thanks to SportsByBrooks for the tip)

How perfect that the Islanders refuse to clinch and the Rangers refuse to push into that last playoff spot in the East. Instead the two teams settle for a tie.
I don't even care who takes that last playoff spot. I just want someone to clinch it. All the number projecting is makng me crazy. I think I heard someone say this:

"If the Rangers lose two, but win one, then the Islanders have to win one, lose two, but tie three, unless they win two in a row against a division rival."

Neither team is getting out of the first round. They should just give Ottawa the by. Although Ottawa might not make it out of the first round either. Crap. I guess we have to let one of the New York teams clinch.

Yesterday we talked about how schizophrenic the New York Rangers are (and let's be honest — any team in the fight of their lives for a playoff spot who can't finish off Atlanta is a little bit loopy).
Today let's talk about the Flyers.
There are two Flyers. One team scores lots of goals. That team scored 13 goals between March 13 and March 17. Then there's the other Flyers. That team only managed two against Buffalo, one against the Rangers, and one against Nashville.
Last night the good Flyers showed up. They beat Pittsburgh 6-2. The Flyers have beaten the Penguins four times in the last 17 days. That's just abusive.
So what can you say about the Flyers? In any given week they're the best team in the East and the most overrated team in the East. Goalies Roman Cechmanek and Robert Esche haven't been the most consistent factors in the Flyer equation, but the fact remains that their offense only seems to work in spurts. If coach Ken Kitchcock doesn't figure out how to keep the engine running, they'll never make it out of the first round.

I'm more than just a 27-year-old guy who's spent the past week calling Hong Kong, trying to score the director's cut of WHAT A GIRL WANTS. I also try to have a social conscience.
Like I readily acknowledge that hockey is a sport mainly played and watched by white people. But more and more, you're seeing non-whites play and thrive in the NHL. Whereas even 10 years ago it was probably shocking to see a black player, now it's rare but not unheard of. College hockey is still pretty white, but it's slowly, slowly getting more diverse. Now Boston College has Brett Peterson, a defensman who happens to be black. The Boston Globe tells his story here. Peterson sort of fell into hockey, and he's had to deal with the usual racist crap that plagues any new type of person trying to break into a uniracial field. But he's stuck with it, he's good, and he's getting different people to look at professional and college hockey.
I found out about Peterson looking for information on Merrimack College goalie Joe Exeter. Exeter was hurt in a collision with BC forward Patrick Eaves back in March. The March 24, 2003 issue of Sports Illustrated had a nice piece on the accident. Exeter continues to improve.

I love the Rangers. Their inconsistency makes them like three or four different teams in one. They have so many personalities, they're almost a league unto themselves.
Saturday, against Boston, the hard-working, grinding Rangers showed up and they beat Boston 3-1. Somewhat surprisingly, Matthew Barnaby set up both of Alexei Kovalev's goals. Kovalev is used to playing with Mario Lemieux and hasn't had much luck with talent like Petr Nedved, Eric Lindros, and Pavel Bure. But he clicks with Barnaby, a grinder? Who would have thought it?
With the Islanders being humiliated by the Devils (and Patrik Elias' four goals), the Rangers are within four points of the 8th spot in the East, with four games to go. Plus, they play the Islanders this week. It's getting tight again.
But let's not forget how the Rangers were drop-kicked by the horribly depleted Penguins. And how did Ranger coach Glen Sather react to that embarassment? By giving the team the following day off.
Sather has just been plain weird lately. He pulled Bure out of the line-up because of his gimpy knee. But then he told reporters that he hoped Bure would ask back into the line-up. Did he want Bure to tell him or to pass him a note in study hall?
So how do things look for the Rangers? Who knows? They're crazy.

As if Buffalo didn't have enough problems, two of their players might have been exposed to severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS). According to reports, a relative of defenseman Brian Campbell might have SARS, and Campbell and defenseman Rhett Warrener visited the relative last week.
No one seems to think either defenseman has the mysterious disease. It's just a precaution.
Also, center Curtis Brown broke his ankle Friday against the Habs. He's out for the rest of the season.
I hope Tom Golisano, expected to be the Sabres' new owner, buys good health insurance for the team.
In other SARS news, the International Ice Hockey Federation cancelled Sunday's women's world hockey championship due to SARS fears.

Everyone is scoring four goals lately.
New York Islander Alexei Yashin did it last week against Chicago.
Blue Jacketeer Geoff Sanderson did it Saturday night against Calgary (yet another notch in Calgary goalie Roman Turek's belt).
And Patrik Elias did it Sunday afternoon against the Islanders.
Who said goalie equipment is too big? Maybe the NHL will make the net smaller.
Maybe Islander goalie Garth Snow's wings will become regulation next season.

Chris Pronger came back to the Blues. He even scored a goal. Of course, it didn't help much. St. Louis lost to Detroit 6-2. But if punches were goals, the score would have been 109-108, Detroit. I gave the decision to Detroit because Joe Kocur, one of their assistant coaches, chucked a chair to center ice.
When the two teams weren't racking up 243 combined penalty minutes, Brett Hull earned a hat trick.
Interestingly, Luc Robitaille called the game/70s flashback "an embarassment for the league." That's kind of funny considering A) he was fighting and B) he got a 10-minute game misconduct in the last minute of the game.