Once again, the All Star game is in the bag for 2012, and what a game it was. Team Zdeno Chara in blue VS Team Daniel Alfredsson in red (white/red?). Still don't quite understand since the event was held in Ottawa, Alfredsson's home arena where he plays solidly for the Ottawa Senators, but hey, I probably missed something.
As always, the skills competition was an entertaining watch. This year featured several amusing scenes such as Patrick Kane donning a Superman cape and scoring, Corey Perry taking out a goalie ministick and scoring his goal and Carey Price Tebowing after stopping a goal. Of course there were several amazing scenes also, such as Zdeno Chara proving he's still the man to beat, breaking his previous record of a 105.9 mph slap shot by nearly a whole 3 seconds, going 108.8 mph this time. Team Alfredsson beat Team Chara in the end though with a 21-12 win in the skills competition.
But then we come down to the actual game. As the skaters came onto the ice one-by-one to line up with their teams, I was anxious to once again watch a hockey all-star game. The puck dropped and the game was on. for the first few minutes the game featured solid defence as each team was getting a feel for the game. However soon would follow a cluster of goals by both teams and the 1st period would end 3-3. Marian Gaborik ended up with two goals in the period and scored his 3rd in the 2nd period for a hatrick. This included taunting at the goalie he scored on the 1st two times - his teammate Henry Lundqvist.
As the second period got underway, it was all about one man - Daniel Alfredsson. He scored two goals and ScotiaBank Place came alive with the chants of "Alfie, Alfie!" All-in-all the 2nd period would close and the teams would once again be tied at 6-6. This had a feeling like another 9-8 game coming, however this was not the case. The 3rd period started and Team Chara scored a nice 6 goals, with Tim Thomas only allowing 3 and extending his winning All-Star games steak to four, and Team Chara blasted to a 12-9 victory over Team Alfredsson. Alfredsson was denied his hatrick by Tim Thomas, and Zdeno Chara scored the game winner with 7:40 remaining in the 3rd.
Of course, an ending note is one thing - Capitals Forward Alex Ovechkin was picked as an All-Star this year but opted out since he was suspended in the league for a hit on Penguins Defenseman Zbyněk Michalek. This was clearly a protest against his suspension since the All-Star game doesn't count as a regular season game and thus his suspension doesn't count for it. He was replaced by Pittsburgh Penguins Forward James Neal.
Monday, January 30, 2012
Sunday, January 22, 2012
A view on the state of the NHL - unacceptable injuries
For any hockey fan, one of the biggest concerns this season would have to be injuries. Over the entire league there has been so many star players going out with injuries, and not only minor ones, concussions being one of the main contributors. One only has to look to the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Philadelphia Flyers for proof - both Sidney Crosby who was out until December with a concussion, and Chris Pronger who went out with a concussion for the rest of this season. Giroux was also down for a period of time as well. We have to ask ourselves: are star players being targeted more simply because they're better than the rest?
I know this season that they have finally brought out an official system explaining why suspensions get made and clearly showing reasoning behind their decisions, but I feel this needed to be out much sooner. Why? Because today a lot of players don't have respect for one another. Sure, up front on tv in interviews they'll say nice things, but really most of them simply don't like the other guy, maybe even hate. This goes even further when players such as Crosby, Giroux, Ovechkin, Malkin, Stamkos, etc get all the attention and praise for their hockey skills, where-as typically the big D-man or power-foward gets left in the dust, unappreciated for his talents and skillset he brings to the team to make that big star a success. Long gone are the days of Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux, Gordie Howe (who yes I know didn't hesitate to drop the gloves), Maurice "Rocket" Richard, where other players would look at them and say "yes, he's great, he's the best, I want to be like him". Now-a-days a player is more likely to cheap shot them, trip them, elbow them in the back of the head, go in for the monster hit when a simple check would do.
Now I'm not saying this is league wide, it's confined to say 5-10% of players. But these few speak volumes over the ones who play the game as it's meant to be played. If you ask me, the solution to all this is simple - increase length of game-bans (Matt Cooke's 10 game ban last season should be considered an acceptable suspension for an offence that leaves another player injured for that long - or longer), and vastly increase player fines. Fines are a joke in the NHL when you consider how much the average player gets paid. It's pocket change. I know the league is willing to fine large (last year with the Islanders comes to mind - a $100k fine), and they should consider not making players immune to is. A $10,000 base fine would be sufficient to get most of the dirty players to stop and consider making that trip, that knee-to-knee, that check to the head.
These are just my thoughts on the subject, by no means should they all be considered fact as they are just my opinion - challenge them if you will. I'm going to leave it here as suddenly my inspiration for writing has dried up and when I try to force it out it generally winds up terrible. Until next time.
I know this season that they have finally brought out an official system explaining why suspensions get made and clearly showing reasoning behind their decisions, but I feel this needed to be out much sooner. Why? Because today a lot of players don't have respect for one another. Sure, up front on tv in interviews they'll say nice things, but really most of them simply don't like the other guy, maybe even hate. This goes even further when players such as Crosby, Giroux, Ovechkin, Malkin, Stamkos, etc get all the attention and praise for their hockey skills, where-as typically the big D-man or power-foward gets left in the dust, unappreciated for his talents and skillset he brings to the team to make that big star a success. Long gone are the days of Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux, Gordie Howe (who yes I know didn't hesitate to drop the gloves), Maurice "Rocket" Richard, where other players would look at them and say "yes, he's great, he's the best, I want to be like him". Now-a-days a player is more likely to cheap shot them, trip them, elbow them in the back of the head, go in for the monster hit when a simple check would do.
Now I'm not saying this is league wide, it's confined to say 5-10% of players. But these few speak volumes over the ones who play the game as it's meant to be played. If you ask me, the solution to all this is simple - increase length of game-bans (Matt Cooke's 10 game ban last season should be considered an acceptable suspension for an offence that leaves another player injured for that long - or longer), and vastly increase player fines. Fines are a joke in the NHL when you consider how much the average player gets paid. It's pocket change. I know the league is willing to fine large (last year with the Islanders comes to mind - a $100k fine), and they should consider not making players immune to is. A $10,000 base fine would be sufficient to get most of the dirty players to stop and consider making that trip, that knee-to-knee, that check to the head.
These are just my thoughts on the subject, by no means should they all be considered fact as they are just my opinion - challenge them if you will. I'm going to leave it here as suddenly my inspiration for writing has dried up and when I try to force it out it generally winds up terrible. Until next time.
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
Follow up to NFL Wild-Card weekend - NFC teams
Atlanta Falcons @ New York Giants - Giants win 24-2
Wow. 24-2. In a playoff game, in the year of the quarterback as it's being referred to. Giants quarterback Eli Manning had an up and down season; at times he played like a top-tier quarterback, yet at other times he was middle-of-the-pack range. One positive though is that his interception count was down a lot from previous seasons. On the other end of the spectrum, we have Matt Ryan. He always has pretty great seasons, and this season with the acquisition of Julio Jones at WR, he had a lot of down-the-field threat and speed. But as has always been the case, he falls flat in the Playoffs.
The game started off well with the defenses playing lights-out football. The Falcons finally get a drive going but stall on 4th down and inches and turn it over on Downs. Again. However this turns out well for the Falcons, as they end up with a safety. This would be the last score of the game for the Falcons however, as the Giants Defense and Eli Manning come to life and control the game for the rest of the game. The Giants would even stop the Falcons again on 4th down. They really need to stop trying that in big games.
The Giants would go on to face the 15-1 Green Bay Packers next week in a rematch of a game that finished up 38-35 in the regular season, with the Packers winning on the last drive.
Detroit Lions @ New Orleans Saints - Saints win 45-28
The Detroit Lions, in their first season where Matt Stafford doesn't end up on season-ending injury, went a strong 7-0 to start the season before losing to the 49ers. Stafford to Calvin "Megatron" Johnson was one of the unstoppable duos in the NFL for pretty much the majority of this season. But that's nothing next to Drew Brees. Drew Brees, one of three quarterbacks who broke the record for most throwing yards in a season, with a game to spare. This Saints team looked solid all season long (aside from one game against the St Louis Rams where it seemed the team forgot to show up to), and many were looking to this game to be a great game. And a great game it was.
Instead of reviewing the game, let me just throw some stats at you. Drew Brees in this game set a playoff record for most yards in a game, with the help of their strong ground game, dumping a whopping 626 yards from scrimmage on the Lions. Brees himself wound up with 466 yards throwing and 3 TDs. On the other side of the ball, Stafford threw for 380 yards, 3 TDs and 2 interceptions. Megatron alone had 211 of those yards and 2 TDs, where-as Brees spread the ball around his receivers, Marques Colston and Robert Meachem getting 120 yards and 111 yards, respectively, and had another 3 receivers with over 50 yards apiece. The difference in this game was the Saints running game with their trio of backs, Pierre Thomas, Darren Sproles and Chris Ivory getting 66, 51 and 47 yards respectively.
The Saints would wind up moving on the play the San Fransisco 49ers next week, a big game involving a big offense against a strong defense.
Wow. 24-2. In a playoff game, in the year of the quarterback as it's being referred to. Giants quarterback Eli Manning had an up and down season; at times he played like a top-tier quarterback, yet at other times he was middle-of-the-pack range. One positive though is that his interception count was down a lot from previous seasons. On the other end of the spectrum, we have Matt Ryan. He always has pretty great seasons, and this season with the acquisition of Julio Jones at WR, he had a lot of down-the-field threat and speed. But as has always been the case, he falls flat in the Playoffs.
The game started off well with the defenses playing lights-out football. The Falcons finally get a drive going but stall on 4th down and inches and turn it over on Downs. Again. However this turns out well for the Falcons, as they end up with a safety. This would be the last score of the game for the Falcons however, as the Giants Defense and Eli Manning come to life and control the game for the rest of the game. The Giants would even stop the Falcons again on 4th down. They really need to stop trying that in big games.
The Giants would go on to face the 15-1 Green Bay Packers next week in a rematch of a game that finished up 38-35 in the regular season, with the Packers winning on the last drive.
Detroit Lions @ New Orleans Saints - Saints win 45-28
The Detroit Lions, in their first season where Matt Stafford doesn't end up on season-ending injury, went a strong 7-0 to start the season before losing to the 49ers. Stafford to Calvin "Megatron" Johnson was one of the unstoppable duos in the NFL for pretty much the majority of this season. But that's nothing next to Drew Brees. Drew Brees, one of three quarterbacks who broke the record for most throwing yards in a season, with a game to spare. This Saints team looked solid all season long (aside from one game against the St Louis Rams where it seemed the team forgot to show up to), and many were looking to this game to be a great game. And a great game it was.
Instead of reviewing the game, let me just throw some stats at you. Drew Brees in this game set a playoff record for most yards in a game, with the help of their strong ground game, dumping a whopping 626 yards from scrimmage on the Lions. Brees himself wound up with 466 yards throwing and 3 TDs. On the other side of the ball, Stafford threw for 380 yards, 3 TDs and 2 interceptions. Megatron alone had 211 of those yards and 2 TDs, where-as Brees spread the ball around his receivers, Marques Colston and Robert Meachem getting 120 yards and 111 yards, respectively, and had another 3 receivers with over 50 yards apiece. The difference in this game was the Saints running game with their trio of backs, Pierre Thomas, Darren Sproles and Chris Ivory getting 66, 51 and 47 yards respectively.
The Saints would wind up moving on the play the San Fransisco 49ers next week, a big game involving a big offense against a strong defense.
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
NFL Playoffs - The Wild Card Round - AFC games
So the Wildcards are over and the Divisional rounds are approaching. I thought I would take a look at all the Wildcard games separately and analyse each team's performance. We shall start with the AFC games.
Bengals @ Texans - Texans win 31-10
Two teams meet in the Wild-Card round of the playoffs who are both surprises here. First we have the Houston Texans, a team who in their entire franchise history has never made the playoffs before this season, and we have the Cincinnati Bengals, who made it into the playoffs as the 3rd AFC North team. Both these teams had big seasons for different reasons - the Texans finally didn't have to deal with Peyton Manning and the Indianapolis Colts winning out the division, and their defence evolved into one of the elites of the League. On the other side we have the Bengals, who under the arm of Rookies Andy Dalton and the speed and ability of A.J. Green played a magnificent season.
Everybody was uncertain on the ability of T.J. Yates, the Texans 3rd string quarterback, if he could help his team to their first playoff win in their first appearance. But Yates delivered, going a respectable 11/20 for 159 yards with a touchdown to Andre Johnson. Yates done his part and now it was up to the run game of Arian Foster and Ben Tate, a dynamic duo, and the new vaunted Texans defence to stop the solid play of the Bengals. Early in the first this didn't seem to happen though, and the Bengals went down the field (aided by a 52 yard defensive interference penalty on Strong Safety Glover Quinn), and the big back Cedric Benson punched it in for a Bengals score. But that would be the end of it, as the Texans would dominate the game from there on in. Andy Dalton finished up 27/42 for 253 yards and 3 interceptions and the Texans won through on the legs of Arian Foster who went 153 yards on 24 carries for a Touchdown, and the hands of Defensive Lineman J.J. Watts, and the Bengals fall in the first round. The Texans go on to face the Baltimore Ravens this weekend.
Steelers @ Broncos - Broncos win 29-23
This was a game that was to many a foregone conclusion. The Broncos led by QB Tim "Tebowtime" Tebow, a quarterback who has a wildly inconsistent arm, against the first-ranked defensive unit in the league - The Pittsburgh Steelers. The Broncos, who had a 7-game winning streak after Tebow was put in as the starter for the request of the fans, kicking Kyle Orton out in the process..and the Steelers, on the back of a solid 12-4 season, but were besieged by injuries on both sides of the ball.
The game started out as many had expected. The Steelers drove down the field but were stopped by that strong Broncos defence twice and forced to kick field goals, but the Broncos offence wasn't going. The run game was stalled and Tebow hadn't connected on a single pass by the end of the 1st quarter, and the Broncos had only 8 yards on offence. But then suddenly, Tebow throws two long-bombs down the field and the Broncos are suddenly ahead 7-6. What follows is a complete collapse by the Steelers defence and Tebow playing the best football of his career. After running in a touchdown himself, and driving up the field (helped by a Ben Roethlisberger interception), the Broncos end up the half ahead 20-6. Wow, what a turn around!
The Steelers would manage to come back in the 2nd half though with two Touchdown drives of their own, and both teams would kick field goals to end out the 4th quarter tied 23-23. Steelers had a chance to win the game off a long field goal, but the Broncos defence came up strong and forced a sack and pushed the Steelers well out of field goal range.
The new overtime rules for Playoffs are thus: each team will have a chance to possess the ball unless the following occurs: the first team scores a touchdown, the defence at any time scores a touchdown, or if both teams kick field goals on their first possession, the first team to score afterwards of any kind wins the game. Many were excited to see the new overtime rules in action but this wasn't to be so. On the first play from scrimmage, Tim Tebow throws to Demaryius Thomas, who beats Cornerback Ike Taylor and runs 80 yards for a Touchdown. Game over. Tim Tebow finishes up the day 10/21 for 316 yards and two Touchdowns with no picks. Ben Roethlisberger finished up 22/40 for 289 yards with 1 Touchdown and 1 interception.
Demaryius Thomas in the end had 4 catches for 204 yards and 2 touchdown catches. What a great game for him!
And yes, my beloved Steelers were thus kicked out of the playoffs. =[ But hats-off to Denver who played a great game on the day. I hope they do well next week against the New England Patriots.
I will follow up with the NFC games in my next post. I hope to see you all then!
Bengals @ Texans - Texans win 31-10
Two teams meet in the Wild-Card round of the playoffs who are both surprises here. First we have the Houston Texans, a team who in their entire franchise history has never made the playoffs before this season, and we have the Cincinnati Bengals, who made it into the playoffs as the 3rd AFC North team. Both these teams had big seasons for different reasons - the Texans finally didn't have to deal with Peyton Manning and the Indianapolis Colts winning out the division, and their defence evolved into one of the elites of the League. On the other side we have the Bengals, who under the arm of Rookies Andy Dalton and the speed and ability of A.J. Green played a magnificent season.
Everybody was uncertain on the ability of T.J. Yates, the Texans 3rd string quarterback, if he could help his team to their first playoff win in their first appearance. But Yates delivered, going a respectable 11/20 for 159 yards with a touchdown to Andre Johnson. Yates done his part and now it was up to the run game of Arian Foster and Ben Tate, a dynamic duo, and the new vaunted Texans defence to stop the solid play of the Bengals. Early in the first this didn't seem to happen though, and the Bengals went down the field (aided by a 52 yard defensive interference penalty on Strong Safety Glover Quinn), and the big back Cedric Benson punched it in for a Bengals score. But that would be the end of it, as the Texans would dominate the game from there on in. Andy Dalton finished up 27/42 for 253 yards and 3 interceptions and the Texans won through on the legs of Arian Foster who went 153 yards on 24 carries for a Touchdown, and the hands of Defensive Lineman J.J. Watts, and the Bengals fall in the first round. The Texans go on to face the Baltimore Ravens this weekend.
Steelers @ Broncos - Broncos win 29-23
This was a game that was to many a foregone conclusion. The Broncos led by QB Tim "Tebowtime" Tebow, a quarterback who has a wildly inconsistent arm, against the first-ranked defensive unit in the league - The Pittsburgh Steelers. The Broncos, who had a 7-game winning streak after Tebow was put in as the starter for the request of the fans, kicking Kyle Orton out in the process..and the Steelers, on the back of a solid 12-4 season, but were besieged by injuries on both sides of the ball.
The game started out as many had expected. The Steelers drove down the field but were stopped by that strong Broncos defence twice and forced to kick field goals, but the Broncos offence wasn't going. The run game was stalled and Tebow hadn't connected on a single pass by the end of the 1st quarter, and the Broncos had only 8 yards on offence. But then suddenly, Tebow throws two long-bombs down the field and the Broncos are suddenly ahead 7-6. What follows is a complete collapse by the Steelers defence and Tebow playing the best football of his career. After running in a touchdown himself, and driving up the field (helped by a Ben Roethlisberger interception), the Broncos end up the half ahead 20-6. Wow, what a turn around!
The Steelers would manage to come back in the 2nd half though with two Touchdown drives of their own, and both teams would kick field goals to end out the 4th quarter tied 23-23. Steelers had a chance to win the game off a long field goal, but the Broncos defence came up strong and forced a sack and pushed the Steelers well out of field goal range.
The new overtime rules for Playoffs are thus: each team will have a chance to possess the ball unless the following occurs: the first team scores a touchdown, the defence at any time scores a touchdown, or if both teams kick field goals on their first possession, the first team to score afterwards of any kind wins the game. Many were excited to see the new overtime rules in action but this wasn't to be so. On the first play from scrimmage, Tim Tebow throws to Demaryius Thomas, who beats Cornerback Ike Taylor and runs 80 yards for a Touchdown. Game over. Tim Tebow finishes up the day 10/21 for 316 yards and two Touchdowns with no picks. Ben Roethlisberger finished up 22/40 for 289 yards with 1 Touchdown and 1 interception.
Demaryius Thomas in the end had 4 catches for 204 yards and 2 touchdown catches. What a great game for him!
And yes, my beloved Steelers were thus kicked out of the playoffs. =[ But hats-off to Denver who played a great game on the day. I hope they do well next week against the New England Patriots.
I will follow up with the NFC games in my next post. I hope to see you all then!
Sunday, January 8, 2012
Welcome To My Blog.
Hi all. I am a 21 year old Australian male who has an interest in American sports, specifically the NFL (Football) and the NHL (Ice Hockey). I also follow other sports such as the MLB (baseball) and the NBA (Basketball), though not as much as I enjoy the NHL and NFL. What I plan on posting on this blog is my views on current news and events coming from these sports and providing my outlook on them, as a non-American.
A little history about my involvement with these sports. For a long time I had remained interested in their various sports, but coming from a family who had a 56k modem internet connection and no pay-TV up until 2008 I had little to no way of watching any of these sports, as Australian TV just rarely shows any of them. As I grew up I ended up becoming more involved in Australian sports such as the NRL and the V8 Supercars, however I found these sports dull and boring to watch half the time.
Upon meeting my current girlfriend, who is a Pittsburgh girl, her support for her teams got me interested into American sports again. I started watching live streams of Pittsburgh Steelers games with her, and bought a copy of Madden 09 to learn the game. Since then my interest and support for the Pittsburgh teams has grown and I've become as big as a supporter for them as any Pittsburgh native. From there it spread to the sport in general and I love discussing about all the teams in the sports to people who are also interested.
Upon urging from my girlfriend I have decided to start a blog to write down my thoughts and views on these sports. I'm hoping this venture will be a successful one, and I attract the viewership of as many as at least 5 people. Also any Australians, come here for news! I generally have a great idea of what I'm talking about.
I look forward to writing my first post. See you soon!
A little history about my involvement with these sports. For a long time I had remained interested in their various sports, but coming from a family who had a 56k modem internet connection and no pay-TV up until 2008 I had little to no way of watching any of these sports, as Australian TV just rarely shows any of them. As I grew up I ended up becoming more involved in Australian sports such as the NRL and the V8 Supercars, however I found these sports dull and boring to watch half the time.
Upon meeting my current girlfriend, who is a Pittsburgh girl, her support for her teams got me interested into American sports again. I started watching live streams of Pittsburgh Steelers games with her, and bought a copy of Madden 09 to learn the game. Since then my interest and support for the Pittsburgh teams has grown and I've become as big as a supporter for them as any Pittsburgh native. From there it spread to the sport in general and I love discussing about all the teams in the sports to people who are also interested.
Upon urging from my girlfriend I have decided to start a blog to write down my thoughts and views on these sports. I'm hoping this venture will be a successful one, and I attract the viewership of as many as at least 5 people. Also any Australians, come here for news! I generally have a great idea of what I'm talking about.
I look forward to writing my first post. See you soon!
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