Puck Daddy

When tickets to a Stanley Cup Playoff series that may involve their team go on sale, Pittsburgh Penguins fans are going to know about it. Please recall the 2000 postseason, when the threat of a Pens fan invasion in D.C. forced Washington owner Ted Leonsis to implement a plan that prevented them from purchasing tickets online for Capitals' playoff home games.

On Wednesday, the Detroit Red Wings began a presale for Stanley Cup Finals tickets that required a special code. And guess who just happened to discover that code: The good folks of the LetsGoPens.com boards, who began crowing about the quality tickets they were scoring for Finals games in Detroit. Well, at least with all of these Penguins fans filling seats at the Joe, Mitch Albom won't have anything to complain about.

While a Detroit/Pittsburgh Stanley Cup Final still seems like a foregone conclusion at this point -- The "Every 33 Years" Campaign be damned -- there's someone seemingly determined to jinx the hell out of both of them. Shop.com already screwed the Penguins in Game 4 by releasing Eastern Conference Champions hats before what could have been the clincher in Philly. Well, the Web site was selling a full wardrobe of conference championship gear for the Pens and the Red Wings as of Friday night. Even up 3-1, you do not want to anger the Hockey Gods. No sir, you sure don't.

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Yippee! Blackouts are awesome! If it weren't for some unfortunate power failures on the East Coast, this would have been up this afternoon. Instead, here are your Evening Puck Headlines: A glorious collection of news and views collected from the greatest blogosphere in sports and the few, the proud, the mainstream hockey media.

• NBC took a load of heat for the way it handled overtime on Preakness Saturday during the Eastern Conference Finals last postseason. Well, the Peacock is contractually obligated to leave the Dallas Stars/Detroit Red Wings Game 5 for Big Brown's inevitable win in the Preakness. So its hockey coverage has a three-hour window to complete the game -- good for one overtime, NBC believes -- before action shifts to Versus. [Dallas Stars Blog]

• Yes, Sean Avery is actually an intern at Vogue. And yes, his internship has officially started. Countdown to manufactured romance with L.C. from The Hills in 3...2...1... [Deadspin]

• Carolina Hurricanes GM Jim Rutherford claims that refusing to give Coach Peter Laviolette a vote of confidence was standard operating procedure, at least before Laviolette met with owner Peter Karmanos. We are quite happy that Carolina Hurricanes GM Jim Rutherford is not our boss. [Lord Stanley's Blog]

• Tomas Holmstrom, on crashing the crease: "I think the goalies are pretty good, too, to fake when they get hit and stuff like that.  Of course, they have their blue paint to be in.  But, you know, sometimes they fake it well, too." Also, he doesn't believe he needs to shed any weight from his giant T-Ho rump. [NHL.com]

• Welcome to Randy Jones country, bitch. [Telegraph Journal]

• Barry Melrose wants to coach again, and believes that the job in San Jose is the best one available. OK, here's the deal: The Mullet can coach the Sharks as long as Roenick's on the roster, and they give joint press conferences after every game. [Sharkspage]

• The Ottawa Citizen collects every rumor about John Tortorella whispered in the last two months, tosses them together and decides that Torts is the next head coach of the Senators. [Faceoff]

• Offended with Sidney's facial hair? The good men of the Brotherhood Of Mustached and Bearded Studs Tired of Accepting Criticism for Hairface Endeavors, or BOMBSTACHE for short, would like a word with you. [MYFO]

• Canada and Russia are the last teams standing in the IIHF World Championships, and are scheduled to play a game that will be more entertaining that 95% of what we've seen in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. [Globe & Mail]

• Japers found an awesome Web site: HockeyZonePlus, which offers users the chance to research the salary history of players going back to 1989. So JP took a gander at the Washington Capitals' salary history, and discovered that the Caps have spent more on Adam Oates than they have on Alexander Ovechkin.

• Finally, Flyers fans aren't the strongest spellers. So why, The Hockey Show, did you decide to give that nice young man with the painted chest "V-a-n-b-i-e-s-b-r-o-u-c-k?"

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It's been one hell of an impressive week for amputees in sports. Double-amputee sprinter Oscar Pistorius of South Africa won an appeal and will compete for a spot in the Beijing Olympics. John Siciliano, who lost most of his right leg in a 1993 car accident, competed on the season premiere of "American Gladiators" with a prosthesis (and yet those bastards still made him climb the cargo net in the Eliminator ... awkward). And now Tecmo from Pittsburgh Sports and Mini-Ponies points us to a rather amazing story about a hardcore Pittsburgh Penguins fan named Albert Guilianelli who was recently fitted with a Pens-themed prosthesis:

As if you needed any more evidence that Pittsburgh sports fans are absolutely insane about their teams, watch that video to understand the lengths gone to profess the local love.

That's a prosthetic leg. Adorned with a massive Penguins logo. And a captain's C on the back. Man, I want one of these and I luckily have both of my legs.

"If they win the Stanley Cup, I'll put the Stanley Cup on it." We're going to hold you to that, chief.

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The other day I came across an amazing post over at The Legend of Cecilio Guante about athletes and teams that should have never been.  It got me thinking about hockey, especially when they included two great examples in Wayne Gretzky on the St. Louis Blues and Brian Leetch on the Boston Bruins and Toronto Maple Leafs. Both are two players so identified with certain franchises that to see them on a different team is just plain weird. 

What hockey players other than Gretzky and Leetch would fit into this category?

Mark Messier, Vancouver Canucks

After beginning his legendary career in Edmonton and cementing his place in the hearts of New Yorkers thanks to his Game 6 guarantee (video) and Stanley Cup delivery a short while later (sorry for the flashback, Wyshynski), Messier signed with the Canucks after the 1996-97 season and was immediately given the captaincy from Trevor Linden.  From there, things went downhill. "Moose" had his worst point production of his career that first season, and also insisted that he wear No. 11 -- even though the franchise had kind of retired it in honor of Wayne Maki. After three injury-plagued and woeful season, Mess returned to the Rangers in 2000 and finished up his Hall of Fame career on Broadway.Read More >>

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"Mike Richards slashed Sidney Crosby three or four times, provoking the star center into a fight. Crosby made a feeble attempt to act tough, throwing a shot at Richards after the refs had bottled him up. And that's a lucky thing for Crosby, because there is absolutely no question he wanted no part of the Flyers captain-in-waiting. We've seen Richards fight, and he's pretty damn good at it. He pummeled Alexander Ovechkin during the duo's rookie campaign, and if not for the referees protecting Gary Bettman's Golden Boy, there's a more-than-great chance Richards would have beaten Crosby to a pulp." - Joe Boland, Philly Sportsline

So Crosby comes off as a puss, but what about Richards? I received an e-mail from a colleague this morning with the subject header "Is Mike Richards a bitch?" that urged me to check out his dance card from HockeyFights.com. The Philadelphia Flyers center has brawled with the likes of Sean Avery a few times, but he's also gotten into scraps with guys like Garnet Exelby and Brandon Dubinsky. He likes to get feisty, but he's not fighting out of his weight class. Then again, the Flyers aren't paying him for the next dozen years to be Bob Probert, so his career as a pugilist may be a bit immaterial.

The more specific question is whether his actions at the end of Game 4, with the Flyers clearly headed to victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins, could be considered "bitchly." In the slash-fest that followed their face-off, Richards was merely capping a night in which he frustrated Crosby. Tyler at NHL Digest thought that Richards forced Sid to lose focus throughout the game, which unfortunately triggered his whining reflex. The 4^th Star thinks that Sid's complaining, and those ever-present accusations of chronic diving, all but justify Richards taking his shot at him.

I'm not sure Richards comes off all that classy by mixing it up like this after his team barely keeps its playoff heartbeat from flat-lining. But he does come off as savvy, forcing an opponent one win away from the Stanley Cup Finals to look nervous, defensive and agitated. It was a nice bit of playoff gamesmanship -- and let's all simultaneously scratch our heads as to why Coach Michel Therrien had "Crosby on the ice with 10 seconds left and 2 goals down."

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As you know, we haven't really given the manic courtship of Fabian Brunnstrom much coverage here because he's played as many games in the NHL as Manon Rheaume and, quite frankly, it gets in the way of our intense reporting on Phuthbert. Plus, we think it's beat that this guy and his representatives managed to pathetically tease half the League; Peter Chiarelli of the Bruins sounded like he just found out his prom date is going steady with the quarterback.

Brunnstrom ended up signing with the Dallas Stars for a two-year deal that could net him up to $2.5 million per season. GM/Ambassador of Fun Brett Hull said that the chance to step into the lineup immediately next year was a determining factor. That may not be the entire story. Battle of Alberta caught an interview with Calgary Flames GM Darryl Sutter on The FAN 960. According to BoA, the Flames were after Brunnstrom but didn't get him, and the impression they were under after hearing the interview was that Brunnstrom "was looking for a Top 2 Lines assurance; Dallas either gave it to him, or he thought it was more realistic there." Promising a question mark a certain spot in the lineup? Let's hope not.

Meanwhile, photos of this Brunnstrom fellow are hard to come by, so the new Puck Daddy policy is to run some Swedish eye candy whenever we have something to report on him. We don't expect this will affect the frequency of our coverage. That said, please join us an hour from now for our story on what Brunnstrom might have for dinner tonight, and then coverage throughout the weekend about his favorite colors and his feelings on dogs and other household pets.

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Fact: The Republic of Mali is a landlocked nation, the seventh largest country in Africa. Fact: It borders Algeria on the north, Niger on the east, Burkina Faso and the Côte d'Ivoire on the south, Guinea on the south-west, and Senegal and Mauritania on the west. Fact: Mali produces cotton, cereals and rice. Fact: Once this dude gets done with them, the children of Mali will be waving Terrible Towels and chanting "Ruuuu" when Jarkko touches the puck:

Great ... now we can't even go to Mali to get away from Steelers car flags and Pittsburgh Penguins bumper stickers. But we do believe this is,in fact, the largest number of people to simultaneously chant "Let's Go Pirates" since 1992.

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The gentleman catching flies on the right is the hottest free agent currently on the market: Dave Nonis, former general manager of the Vancouver Canucks. The St. Louis Blues have reached out to him to join their management team, as GM Larry Pleau has reduced his schedule to help deal with his wife's battle with cancer. The Toronto Maple Leafs have been courting Nonis for weeks; they're calling his potential job a "special assistant" role, because "cat nip to attract Brian Burke" sounds simply awful in a classified ad.

Speaking of Burkey, with Anaheim Ducks owner Henry Samueli accused of securities fraud and possibly facing criminal charges, Rick Westhead of the Toronto Star wonders if Burke might have an escape clause in that contract of his. Because, you know, no one in Anaheim has ever found their way around a contractual obligation. Steve Maich of MacLean's offers another interesting candidate for Toronto: Craig Patrick, the former GM of the Penguins and a USA Hockey legend. Why not? If anyone needs a miracle on ice, it's the Leafs.

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I've spoken to Kimmo Timonen on a few occasions, and he's one of those great postgame ambassadors for a team: Soft-spoken but jovial, filling reporters' notebooks with well-reasoned insight while always keeping the focus on the rest of his teammates. If that's one of the virtues of being a strong leader, then the Philadelphia Flyers have one hell of a strong leader in Timonen.

So while I'm sure Timonen's surprise pregame speech in the Flyers' locker room last night wasn't going to make anyone forget Pacino in "Any Given Sunday" (video), it was likely enough to inspire something Philly hasn't had in the Eastern Conference Finals against the Pittsburgh Penguins: Confidence.

Three goals in the first period, with two on a power play that's sorely missed Timonen. A feisty defensive game that finally managed to yank the welcome mat in front of the Flyers' zone away from the Penguins. Marty Biron suddenly forgetting that as a Flyers goalie deep in the postseason, he's obligated to fall apart at the seams. And perhaps the greatest indication of newfound confidence: It looked like Flyers hockey again last night:

That said, let's all take a deep breath and ask ourselves if the Penguins are allowed a bad game in these playoffs; because they hadn't had one yet before looking as flat as a silver dollar at IHOP last night.Read More >>

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