2011 World Sledge Hockey Challenge

by Bryan Wright

Yesterday I attended my first ever sledge hockey game, between Canada and Japan at the 2011 World Sledge Hockey Challenge.  The event is being played at the WinSport Canada Athletic & Ice Complex.

For those of you who are unfamiliar, sledge hockey players sit on a small metal frame, which sits on two skate blades on the ice.  They each have two small hockey sticks with a normal curve on one end for shooting and passing, and small metal spikes on the other, for propelling themselves around the ice.

Game play, for the most part, is very similar to that of a normal hockey game.  Passing and shooting are more or less the same as regular hockey, and players check each other into the boards much the same.  The strategies used seem to be quite similar and the same rules govern play, including interference, hooking, slashing, etc. penalties.  One new penalty, which caught me a little off guard was ‘t-boning.’  This is when one player crashes into another, much like when one car ‘t-bones’ another.  Despite my high hopes, it did not mean everybody in attendance received a free steak.

Let's be honest: The Calgary Flames Suck

By Derrick Newman

Definition of Struggling: Strive to achieve or attain something in the face of difficulty or resistance.

In a nutshell, this defines the Calgary Flames, period.

With six losses in their last eight games, the Flames are quickly falling out of the race for a playoff spot and rapidly increasing their chances of winning the draft lottery.

Now some might say, “Just look at last year and what the Flames managed to do after they fired Darryl. It can happen again.”

So what is it this time that’s going to spark this band of low scoring misfits to do a complete 180 and get the ship pointed in the right direction?

Book Review: King of Russia by Dave King

I read another hockey book this week, again with a Calgary Flames connection; King of Russia by Dave King.  King, who coached the Canadian national team for almost ten years and coached the Flames for three seasons, was the first North American coach in Russia’s Kontinental Hockey League.


The book reads as a journal from King’s season in Russia, while he coached Mettallurg Magnitogorsk of the KHL, from the start of training camp (in July!) through the end of the season in April.  He details his difficulties with language and cultural barriers, and his relationship with the players (including a 20-year old Evgeni Malkin), all the while chronicling his team’s season.

Heading into this book, I was quite interested to learn about playing hockey in Russia.  I’ve heard so many stories, be it about mafia connections, briefcases of cash, or dodgy arenas.  It’s always seemed like such a culture change for anybody who goes over there.

Pulling the Goalie: Savvy or Stupid?

Last week I was sort of ranting about the mindset of many hockey people.  Basically, that they stick with old ideas because they always have, not because there is any inherent logic to doing so.  One of the things that really perplexes me in a hockey game is pulling the goalie late in the 3^rd, when a team is down by a goal.  Although I am unable to back this up with any statistics, it strikes me as a bad idea that more often than not, ensures the trailing team won’t win the game.

The thought is, that with an extra attacker on the ice, the chances of scoring a game tying goal are increased.  But the catch of course, is that you no longer have a goalie.  There’s no way the opposing team’s chances of scoring a goal are not also greatly increased.  So the question is, do the benefits of having an extra player outweigh the disadvantage of not having a goalie?

Book Review: Playing with Fire by Theo Fleury

I finally got around to reading one of the most notable hockey books to come out in a few years, Playing with Fire, by Theo Fleury.  Growing up, Fleury was one of my favourite players.  Of course he was.  Everybody loved the way he played the game; scrappy, quick, and tough.  He was one of the best players in the league, and for a few seasons, pretty much the only bright spot on the Calgary Flames.  But after being traded from the Flames to the Avalanche, his star sure fell, and fast.  And that’s what Playing with Fire is about; Fleury’s fall from grace and why it was basically inevitable.


Most already know the story, so in terms of any major new developments, there aren’t any.  But the book does offer an excellent behind the scenes look at what was happening to Fleury during his rise to fame in junior hockey, his ascent to the NHL, and his eventual downfall.  While most may know the story, they may be surprised at the extent of his problems.

Without a doubt the most notable chapters would be those concerning the abuse he suffered at the hands of his junior coach, Graham James.  While the fact that Fleury was abused is already known, the book explores how it began, how it happened, and how he dealt (or failed to) with it.  Obviously it was a life altering experience, with a profound effect on who he was and who he would become.  At times these chapters are a little difficult to read, purely because of the subject matter, but I must hand it to Fleury for having the courage to come out and talk about something of this nature, so openly.  Few are able to do the same.

Hagman Claimed by Ducks

By Derrick Newman

It’s official.

The Niklas Hagman era in Calgary has come to an end as the much maligned winger was picked up on re-entry waivers by the Anaheim Ducks today.

Now, maybe not the most significant era in the annals of the Flaming C, but one that caused controversy from the very beginning.

Hagman came to Calgary alongside press box junkie Matt Stajan, current Red Wing Ian White and current Blackhawk Jamal Mayers for Dion Phaneuf, Keith Aulie, and Freddy Sjostrom.

In 108 games with Calgary he racked up 17 goals and 25 assists – not exactly numbers worth the $3 million price tag. 

Flames Split Back-to-Back

Courtesy: Calgary Herald

By Derrick Newman

First the Calgary Flames can’t score a goal to save their own lives in Chicago and make NHL cast-off Ray Emery look like the next coming of Jacques Plante. Then they look like the Edmonton Oilers of the high flyin’ 80s putting up four goals in a period and half in Colorado tonight. And in the end of this mini two game road trip the Flames looked like the Flames – white-knuckling the steering wheel and hovering the brake trying to desperately hold onto a four goal lead.

It has been said it’s the worst lead in hockey.

To give them credit, they registered the ‘W’ on the back half of back-to-back games – now 1-1 in that situation this season – and maintained their dominance over their division rivals with their 8^th straight win over the Avs.

None of this could have been possible without the stunning brilliance of Miikka Kiprusoff. He was outstanding in every facet of goaltending. He made save after save and enabled the Flames to inch closer to the .500 mark after dropping two straight and three of their previous four games.

Flames Moves: Youth Movement

By Derrick Newman

Some quick hits on the recent Flames moves...

In a flurry of activity on the Flames front Niklas Hagman was placed on waiver today and if, when, he clears he will be sent to Abbotsford. This move was made because Mikael Backlund will be activated from the IR tomorrow morning after sitting out the first 14 games with a broken pinky.

Also, Paul Byron was recalled from the Heat because Brendan Morrison was placed on the IR with what is basically being deemed as a failure to recover from knee surgery properly – or in English terms, he came back too soon.

Further to all this was the activity yesterday with Anton Babchuk being placed on the IR with a broken hand and TJ Brodie being recalled.

So with all this the team just got significantly younger and quicker with the likes of Brodie on the back end, and Backlund and Byron up the middle.

Seeing Hagman sends a serious message from ownership in that the dollar figure beside a players name means little to nothing as Hagman’s $3 million cap hit will be buried in the AHL.

The team is in need of a serious energy boost after starting the season a very mediocre 6-7-1 record and having recently scored only three goals in their past three games.

The team holds almost an identical record to 2010-11 version of Flames at this point in the season. 

The Flames are a league worst 2-for-34 on the powerplay at home this season, thanks large in part to Tuesday’s 0-for-7 outing, which included a five minute powerplay.

Sutter called out Alex Tanguay, saying he is too “soft” on the power play and very easy to play against because everyone knows what he is going to do. You can’t really disagree with that assessment as everyone in the Dome knows he is looking for #12 at all times.

They need to instil some much needed creativity into the man advantage unit and maybe with the addition of Backlund and possibly Brodie, you see that. Both guys will be chomping at the bit to make an early impact.

The Flames play the Blackhawks tomorrow night. The season series last year was 2-2 with the home team winning each time.  The Flames had great success on the PP versus the Hawks last year going 6-for-20 over the four game span. Maybe the Hawks are just what the doctor ordered.

The Flames are 3-3 on the road this season.

JERSEY FOULS!!!!


twitter.com/TSRNewman
thesportsroundup@gmail.com
Agree? Disagree? We want to hear from you! Click below to comment

The Path Less Travelled

Backlund is one of only two players playing for the Flames
that was drafted by the team.

By Guest Blogger Greger Buer

When you hit a fork in the road, you must choose a path. Left. Right. The Calgary Flames have been sitting at the crossroads for the past five seasons. At the end of each year, the Flames either came off a crippling first round defeat or missed the playoffs entirely. After each of these disappointments fans, media, and folks in the organizations themselves would try to explain what they thought the team needed to do to improve. Most of the time the problems these groups found were definitely viable, but the fundamental problem is this was a veteran team that gets older every year.

The Calgary Flames are so desperate for youth that everyone around them reacts in utter shock on those few occasions when a young player cracks the roster. Look at the hype when Mikael Backlund broke through, when T.J. Brodie had a solid training camp, or when youngster Roman Horak was named to the season opening squad. 

For most other teams an injection of youth is expected and at least one or two rookies make the jump each season. A quarter of the Nashville Predators seem to turn over each year, yet that team consistently makes the playoffs despite a payroll that is dwarfed by Calgary.

It's Always Been That Way

As I mentioned yesterday, in my review of Moneyball, there are a lot of stupid stats in sports.  Well perhaps stupid is too harsh of a word, but flawed stats would be very accurate.  While I was reading the book, I kept going back to hockey, and how so many statistics in hockey don’t make any sense.  And not just how the stats are often flawed, but also how conventional thinking in hockey is often flawed.

Like baseball and like most professional sports, much of the decision making is made by former players.  While they have a lot of insight into the game, having played it, they aren’t really capable of looking outside the box.  The thing about former players is they don’t have any experience or more importantly any education outside the game.  As a result, ‘gut feeling’ is a popular method when making a decision, and reliance on these flawed stats, dominates their thinking.  The doomed philosophy of “that’s the way it’s always been…’ is so prevalent in sport.  When it comes to stats in hockey, there are several that come to mind as being fundamentally flawed, but I’ll just take a look at a couple that stick out in my mind.

Book Review: Moneyball by Michael Lewis

There are two things I spend the majority of my free time on; reading and sports.  Of course these aren’t two mutually exclusive activities as there is no shortage of books about sports.  I then occurred to me I should be  writing about the sports books I read.  So, without further ado, I give you the first in a series of weekly TSR book reviews, starting with Moneyball by Michael Lewis.

The movie “Moneyball” has been out for a couple of weeks now, and I haven’t seen it.  But, I finished reading the book on the weekend, and the book is always better than the movie.  Always.  There are no exceptions.  Deliverance was close, but the book was still better.  I am really interested to see “Moneyball” now however.  But I digress, I just read the book, and it was great.