Puck 'N Hockey

Amidst the celebration of a hockey championship, you will often find adult beverages being consumed.  Typically, this is beer in cans and champagne drunk from whatever trophy was won (or for brevity’s sake, straight from the bottle).  When the Canadian women won Olympic gold in February, they partook in this hockey tradition.  The mass media reaction was very much an “Oh my, alcohol?!”  My personal reaction and the reaction of many of my beer league teammates was, “Where can we get Molson Canadian cans in the States?!”

First, I should explain why beer in a can is more desirable.  Glass breaks.  During a post game celebration, sometimes things get dropped (or thrown).  Dropping a can does not normally result in dangerous shards of glass being strewn about a floor where hockey players’ bare feet might step.  This of course begs the question, why introduce large champagne bottles in the celebration?  Well, it’s hockey, it doesn’t always make sense.  Also, this is about beer.

So, my hockey buddies and I set out to find Molson Canadian in cans around the Frederick area.  Some guys had picked up 18 packs in DC and Baltimore.  None of us wanted to drive that far before our weekly league games.  We asked several of the local retailers around Frederick if they could order the canned version of the beer made from Canada.  Of course, being in Maryland, this was difficult.  The trail went cold.

Thanks to @molsonfk and @molsonferg for pointing @jonnywalker36 and I towards Canadian in cans.

Then, during the Molson Canadian World Hockey Summit, a tweet from Ferg Devins (@MolsonFerg), the head of public affairs for Molson Coors Canada, caught my attention.  I retweeted, adding the question of where I could find Molson Canadian in cans.  Mr. Devins got Forrest Kelly (@MolsonFK) on the case (pun intended).  By late yesterday morning, Mr. Kelly had provided me with the location of the nearest Molson retailer that sold Canadian in cans.  I notified a teammate of mine, Jon Walker (@jonnywalker36; yes, that is his real name) who then visited the Cork & Bottle in Mt. Airy, MD to pick up our championship beverages.

Now, the next time we win one of our leagues (or pretty much after every game), we will be able to celebrate in style.

I don’t like to pick things off of other blogs and use them like this but one particular question and answer struck me as very important in Mike Vogel’s interview with Tomas Fleischmann.

You and some of the other guys in this room struggled in the playoffs last year, but you’ve also had a history of excelling in the playoffs at prior levels, for example when you played at Hershey. Is it kind of unfair to just look at the last six games when looking at someone’s playoff history?

“I would do the same thing if I was a fan, look at what they’ve done and say ‘Why wasn’t he playing good?’ I just think it was one bad week. Maybe this year the bad one week comes during the season and not in the playoffs. Then everybody will say, ‘Now he is playing good.’ It’s just one bad week and you can’t do anything about it right now. Just keep trying to get better and better every game and as a team.”

Obviously, being a favorite in the Stanley Cup Playoffs that gets bounced by the last place team entering those playoffs, stings.  The fans will be as disappointed, if not more than, the team and organization.  However, the fans should take something away from Flash’s answer.

To be successful in the playoffs, a very special set of circumstances has to go your way.  A couple guys having “one bad week” can lose you a series you should have won.  That is something that cannot be fixed by adding or subtracting from your preseason roster.

Yes, roster moves made now can help the long term success of the Capitals during the 2010-2011 campaign and beyond.  It is well documented that the team is unbalanced towards offensive skill, lacking responsible, defensive skaters.  However, even if those deficiencies are addressed through GM George McPhee’s actions in the coming weeks, the Caps will still need things to go their way in the Spring.

“I’d rather be lucky than good.” – Lefty Gomez

At the Molson Canadian World Hockey Summit today, the never ending debate of when to introduce kids to body contact in hockey came up. As expected, the Chief Medical Officer for the International Ice Hockey Federation and Hockey Canada, Dr. Mark Aubry, brought out the statistics showing contact results in injuries. The rest of the panel which included Brendan Shanahan, Peter Laviolette, Bob Mancini, Bob Boughner, and Jack Hewitt (a local Toronto youth hockey coach), took more pragmatic stances on youth development and body contact. What the entire panel failed to focus on was the root cause of serious injury from body contact in hockey. Lack of education and respect.

Dr. Aubry is 100% correct. Allowing body contact increases the risk of injury. You do not need studies comparing injury rates in checking formats to those of non-checking formats to prove that. All you have to do is play the game and suffer the consequences getting out of bed the next morning.

We know there is a risk of injury. In fact, as players or parents of players, we all sign waivers of liability which state that we understand the inherent risks of playing hockey and that we will not hold that against governing organizations, corporations, and fellow participants.

Dr. Aubry was also correct when he said, “Body checking is a skill—not a license to kill.”

I think over the years, checking in hockey has been confused with hitting as more media attention has been brought to the game. Checking is a hockey skill that should be taught by qualified coaches. Hitting sells tickets and boosts ratings. A hit in hockey is usually very violent and not always a strategic act meant to help a player’s team. A hit is a tracked statistic in some NHL arenas. How many times do we hear Craig Laughlin point out the hit numbers during an intermission stats breakdown on Comcast Sportsnet? Now a check, whether body or stick, is a strategic move meant to take time and space away from an opponent. Checking is a very important aspect to the game that is not always flashy and sends a player flying into the glass.

Brendan Shanahan added to Dr. Aubry’s stance that hitting should be removed from youth hockey by commenting that hitting should be removed from junior hockey because he thinks it’s something a player can pick up later in their career. At that stage in a player’s development, when kids are between 16 and 20 years old, they should be refining skills for the next level. That includes properly executing checks and learning how to protect themselves from body contact. Junior hockey is not the time to start learning the basics.

USA Hockey Illustration of a Proper Shoulder Check

The answer to reducing serious injuries to youth hockey players involved in body contact should be improvement in coach oversight by the respective governing bodies. Most coaches I had growing up in the USA Hockey sanctioned programs would just tell kids to “finish checks”. There was little to no instruction on how to properly deliver the check. Even worse, there was no instruction on how to receive the check. I think that if coaches were given the tools to teach kids how to execute body contact on the ice properly, resulting injuries would be much less common.

There is also a respect issue to consider.  Peter Laviolette talked about seeing too many kids at the peewee level getting hurt and scared of being hit. I believe that if kids are also taught to respect the game and their opponents, that fear would be reduced and instances of injury would decrease. If you respect your opponent, you can still check them. However, you are going to keep it clean. You are going to check them when it is necessary. Players that respect each other will probably understand that there will be contact and expect it. They will not be looking for that next check to come and just play the game. As a result, they play with less fear or anxiety.

Respect for the game, other players, and how to interact with them should be taught from day one. Kids don’t need to be hip checking each other in Hockey I or mites. However, they do need to be taught that contact will happen and that it is OK. As kids get older, they should be introduced to the proper ways to check, be checked, and in what situations it is acceptable.

Educate the coaches to educate the players.

We’re in the hockey doldrums but there are a few glimmers of hope on the hazy, hot, and humid horizon. Here is a quick reminder that there is hockey being played this weekend for a great cause.

2010 Old Fat Bald Guys Hockey Tournament

According to the OFBG Facebook group page, the silent auction which benefits Special Olympics Maryland, currently includes:

• A Washington Capitals jersey signed by members of the 2009-2010 team.
• A puck signed by Jose Theodore.
• A goalie stick signed by the Planet USA all-stars from the 2010 RBK AHL All-Star Classic.
• A golf bag embroidered with the NHL Officials Association logo.
• An NHL linesman sweater signed by the 2009-2010 NHL officials staff.
• An ECHL hat and t-shirt.
• A 2010 ECHL All-Star Classic gift set which includes an RBK duffel gym bag with the 2010 ECHL All-Star Classic logo, 2010 ECHL All-Star Classic hat, 2010 ECHL All-Star Classic touque, 2010 ECHL All-Star Classic game puck, 2010 ECHL All-Star Classic sleeve of golf balls, 2010 ECHL All-Star Classic teddy bear, 2010 ECHL All-Star Classic lapel pin, as well as an official game program signed by members of the ECHL All-Star teams.
• Three vouchers good for pairs of tickets to upcoming 2010 Capitals games.
• A voucher good for four, 200 level tickets to any Wednesday or Sunday Hershey Bears game for the upcoming season.

Continuing our look at the NHL Alumni roster for the fundraiser at the Hagerstown Ice & Sports Complex on September 25th, we profile a player that Caps fans from the last decade or so should recognize.

Terry Yake (via bestsportsphotos.com)

Terry Yake was taken by the Hartford Whalers in the 1987 NHL Entry Draft. Yake spent most of his first 5 years as a pro, in Hartford system. He won Calder Cup as a member of the Springfield Indians in 1991. During the 1992-1993 NHL season, Yake played 66 games for the Whalers, posting 22 goals and 53 points. In 1993, Terry Yake was picked up by the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim in the expansion draft. Yake played all 82 games for the Ducks that season, leading them in scoring with 21 goals and 52 points. The Ducks traded him to Toronto in 1994. Yake then bounced around the Leafs and Blues organizations before ending up in Washington in 1999. Terry Yake finished his NHL career in DC during the 2000-2001 season.

Yake was a threat on the power play and also a very solid penalty killer. Towards the end of his time in the NHL, Yake was often used in a checking role. Terry Yake was always recognized as a quick skater with very good hands, especially in traffic.