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Ryan Miller whines about Chicago ice conditions in loss
Vancouver Canucks goalie Ryan Miller has had a resurgent season, the kind you’d expect from an impending free agent.
He was on a 7-0-2 roll entering Sunday’s action and his numbers (.919 save percentage) are some of his best since 2010. The competitive juices are flowing as the Canucks hang around the Western Conference playoff bubble.
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You know Miller’s feeling it when his postgame comments dabble in the dark arts of abject criticism, as they did after Sunday’s loss to the Chicago Blackhawks.
Via The Province, Miller had no love for the United Center ice, especially on Jonathan Toews’s eventual game-winner:
“That was the first flat puck all night,” said Miller. “This ice is the worst ice I’ve ever seen in my career. It was terrible and they’ve got to do something about it. Even when we tried to handle pucks and make some plays, there were times when we should have went up the wall because it was the safest option.
“But we did step up in the third period and that was nice to see. But it was a kick in the teeth to come all the way back and lose on a fairly flukey kind of play. We cleaned up the neutral zone, but there were plays where we were trying to make plays and were tired trying to get off the ice and they came back at us.”
In fairness to Miller, the puck was jumping around the ice all night in Chicago, and we’ve had Blackhawks players tell us off the record over the years that their ice can be, ahem, less than optimal.
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While “the worst ice I’ve ever seen in my career” seems a little hyperbolic, it’s not something the Blackhawks arena operations people want to hear. If only there was someone who could offer an alternative set of facts …
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Greg Wyshynski is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Contact him at puckdaddyblog@yahoo.com or find him on Twitter. His book, TAKE YOUR EYE OFF THE PUCK, is available on Amazon and wherever books are sold.
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