IIHF WHC

I'm currently watching the Canada v. Hungary game on tape delay because of this mornings Rangers/Caps game. I hesitate to check the score to see how bad of a blowout this game will end up. I don't particularly enjoy to watch preliminary games or preseason games, but Hungary hasn't been in on the world stage since 1939 and since I have relatives from Hungary, I'm gonna watch this beating Hungary will take.

The first game against Belarus, our boy Stamkos got 2 goals and was named player of the game. St. Louis played with Stamkos and got an assist.

In the Canada/Hungary game, the final score ended up being 9-0, Martin St. Louis got a hat trick in and an assist. Nice to see the enthusiasm of the Hungarian fans at the game, non-stop cheering and singing.

For Finland, Karri Ramo's team got a win, 5-0 over Norway on Saturday in Group B. Ramo isn't the starting goalie, but is instead backing up Pekka Rinne.

Martins Karsums playing for Latvia, lost to the USA 4-2.

Gainey calls Lawton & Ownership 'disgraceful'

The Globe and Mail reports that Bob Gainey says it was 'disgraceful' behavior that Lawton and the Lightning ownership group leaked the names that were involved in the trade talks the Lecavalier transaction.

"We had discussions with Tampa Bay, we had an agreement with them that I got a call early in January with a list of names from their team that they wanted to talk about, and those players ended up public because they used those names to take them to other teams to see if they could create a different trade for Vincent Lecavalier," Gainey said at his end-of-season news conference. "I think it was disgraceful that Josh Gorges and Tomas Plekanec and Chris Higgins have to read that stuff."
-Sean Gordon from the Globe and Mail

I know that Gainey is just trying to come up with excuses for his hockey team's embarrassing 100th year, but it's interesting to see that he decided to come out with this to the media.

Dear Mr. Koules...

As many of you have read on Raw Charge, Oren Koules went on radio last week and spoke about the team, the Canadian media and bloggers. If you haven't heard it yet, you can get the link from Raw Charge.
If you don't want to listen here's the basics: Oren
1.was surprised that he couldn't put together a great team even though he spent a lot of money
2. ripped into the Canadian media
3. ripped into bloggers and their 'opinions'. Example:
-“I think blogs, have really …given credence to that. All of a sudden if someone writes something on a blog, you know, someone that pays $29 for an Internet connection, and all of a sudden people now quote somebody that’s in the blog
-People say something about me, you know, or about our organization, even big time mediums, I always say the same thing. Did they call me? My phone didn’t ring.

John at Raw Charge posted this rebuttal. It's well written and I can agree with what he says.

For myself, I would like to explain the reason I started blogging about the Lightning. I have been a quiet Lightning fan for a number of years, which let me tell you is actually quite hard to do when you don't live in Tampa. It has always been hard for me to find out information on a team and have had to rely on various websites for my information. The Lightning website has been, well lacking in comparison to other NHL team websites. The media coverage of the Lightning has been minimal as hockey just isn't getting huge coverage in the local area, though I do owe their beat writers a lot of credit for covering the team as well as they can. The bloggers (fans) who did write about the Lightning added to the information I was looking for. After attending a game this year against the Lightning in Vancouver, where I wore the away jersey, I decided to start writing about the team. It was because of the lack of information about the Lightning that I decided to write about them.

Mr. Koules talks about how so much of this year has been blown out of proportion from the Canadian media and what they have said about the Lightning organization. I live in Vancouver, Canada, so I am regularly exposed to the Canadian media. I would like to point out that the Canadian media are just doing their jobs. In Vancouver, hockey is our dominant sport (we do follow cfl football and soccer in the off season). If you turn on the local sports talk radio station, they talk hockey hockey hockey. From 6am in the morning till 7pm (when the game gets aired) and then finishing off with a post-game show till 11pm, well it's all hockey. If you like another sport, you might want to go live somewhere else. So Mr. Koule's, the Canadian media do a great job of digging up stories. Yes they may blow it out of proportion sometimes, but it's their job. It is because people want to read/listen/watch about it, that's reason they do it. If there was no demand for it, the newspapers would shuts down (ie. Colorado), reduce staff or make reporters take furloughs (ie San Jose).

The trade rumours of Vinny Lecavalier started because the management group tried to shop him. I don't blame you for trying to see what you could get, but when the package offered by Montreal/requested by Tampa was printed, the Tampa organization seemed to downplay it as just a 'rumour'. I know I heard that more than one team was interested in that trade, but with Lecavalier being Montreal born, it was the Vinny to Montreal headlines that really took off. The 'rumours' would not have persisted so long if there wasn't some basis to them.

From what I have written so far on The Hockey Bay, I feel that I have been very fair to the Lightning organization. I have tried to provide the same type of information to other fans that I look for. There will always be a blogger out there that will take his/her opinion to the extreme but I feel those are in the minority.

Some other organizations have welcomed blogger's as "alternative media" into their marketing game plans. Bloggers in Washington have been granted full-season press credentials to the Capitals. Some bloggers for the Canucks get their stories featured on the frontpage of Canucks.com or have been used in the marketing to fans during in game stories, allowed interviews with Canucks staff or on bus/billboard ads.

Do you not realize that blogs are free publicity for the Lightning? I write this for free. I write this blog because I like the team. I am a fan. I would much rather be writing stories about the Lightning's playoff success rather than writing about what's going on in the off season. And as for no one contacting Mr. Koules, well hate to break it to you, but I have no way of doing that. MY e-mail, on the other hand, is on the right side of this blog and I would be more than welcome to any ideas of how blogs can be a help to the marketing of the team. Blogs are just a voice of the fans, and people that read them are fans of the team.

Barrie wants bigger role, the Lightning are DOOMED

**Updated**
Yes you read that right. The Globe and Mail printed today:

VANCOUVER -- Len Barrie, co-owner of the Tampa Bay Lightning, wants a hands-on role next season running one of the worst teams in hockey - as soon as he can sell a major real estate development in British Columbia.

"I'd like to have more of an involvement on the day-to-day stuff [in Tampa]. You can only do so many things."

This may be one of my worst fears for the team realized. I cannot see how more of Len Barrie will help the Lightning. I am just at a loss for words.

-April 18 2009
So I've given this a little bit more thought. There's one part of the Globe & Mail article that I find amusing:
'Barrie is president of the NHL team. A Tampa newspaper this month said he's mostly been invisible and hasn't been in town much, and was silent as the storm raged - but he has been known to micromanage from a distance and get closely involved when he's been in Tampa.' -The Globe and Mail

As fans we knew that Len Barrie was micromanaging the team for a while. Everytime there was a new trade, you knew they were coming from owenership rather than the GM. I've always felt that most of the moves was more of Len Barrie than Oren Koules. I have nothing to support that idea, but it's just a gut feeling. From what I have seen so far, I'm not optimistic about him having more control. As far as I'm concerned, and owner owns a team. He should hire the best people to run the team. Owners are not the person who should react hastily to the team's progress or decisions. Owner's HIRE Gereral Manager's. When owners step in, as a fan, and try to be an armchair GM, the team is doomed to fail. You hired a GM, his name is Brian Lawton. If you do not trust for him to take the team in the right direction, find another GM!

2009 Draft: Tampa picks second

Today's 2009 Draft Lottery has Tampa picking 2nd.The top 5 spots remained unchanged from the predicted odds. Islanders pick first, followed by Tampa, Colorado, Atlanta and LA.

I didn't catch the whole TSN playoff preview, but I did catch Maggie the Monkey's last appearance making her picks.

NHL Draft Lottery

The 2009 NHL Draft Lottery will occur tomorrow. Last year TSN was able to stretch the event into a 2 hour long show, which included their playoff preview with Maggie the Monkey (who is retired this year). For those of you in the US, who don't get TSN, I am always amazed how TSN can turn a non-event like the lottery into a special that people actually watch. This year, US fans can catch the TSN broadcast by streaming it on the TSN website, the NHL.com website, or on Versus at 5pm PT/8pm ET.

The Lightning ended the season 29th in the league. Which means we have a pretty good shot at landing Hedman, or Tavares if the Islanders don't "win" the lottery.

So how does it work? The top 5 worst teams in the draft picking will have a shot at the 1st draft pick. They each get allocated a certain % chance of "winning the lottery".

1. Islanders have a 48.1% chance

2. Lightning have 18.8%

3. Avalanche have 14.2%

4. Thrashers have 10.7%

5. Coyotes have 8.1%

Results will be posted after it occurs.

Adopt A Playoff Team: Pittsburgh Penguins

So after giving it much thought, through process of elimination, I'm throwing this blog's support behind the Pens. I'm not attempting to bandwagon jump another team's success, but just rather make the next few weeks of the playoffs a little more interesting.

A couple of weeks ago, after the Lightning were eliminated from playoff contention, I suggested as adoption of a new team. A couple days ago, I went through the possible contendors, and today during the last game of the season for the Lightning, have decided on the Pens. Is it because they are beating the Canadiens? Oh possibly.

Is it because of the Pensblog posting a fantastic YES WE CAN sign? Quite possibly.

What are other reasons to root for them?

-Points leader and MVP (should be) Evgeni Malkin

-Sidney Crosby also has over 100 points

-the Flyers/Penguins 1st round series will be awesome

So for the playoffs, GO PENS GO!