“Tis the week before Christmas, and all through the blog, not a creature is stirring. They’re like bumps on a log.” – old Kurylo family saying.
Okay, it’s been more than a week. More like six. Chris and I have been crazy busy with our respective real lives – yes, we have real lives – and that’s meant a hit to the cyber adventure that is Pucked in the Head. Seasonal apologies to all those who need them. Christmas raspberries to the rest of you.
Here’s Seven Things about the NHL at Xmastime:
- The Chicago Blackhawks finally overtook the Minnesota Wild for tops in the league this week. Chicago’s success isn’t a surprise – I picked them to challenge for the Western Conference in our pre-season podcasts, and (Chris Withers’ doubting Thomas act aside) I wasn’t alone – but there isn’t a pundit in this world who picked Minnesota to have 20 wins before Christmas. The Wild are a true picture of a team. They’re scoring, defending and saving as a bizarre, 40-legged unit. Oh, and winning. They’re winning as a unit, too. It ain’t pretty, but you can’t argue with results, can you?
- The Wild’s top goal scorer is Kyle Brodziak. You read that right: not Dany Heatley, not Mikko Koivu, not Devin Setoguchi. Kyle Brodziak. He’s the only guy on the team in double digits right now, with 11 goals. The team is second overall, but their top sniper is a guy hardly anybody’s ever heard of. Mainly because hardly anybody can pronounce his name, and partially because his career high for goals scored is 16, last year. Needless to say, if the Wild continue to lounge about the top half of the standings, people will have to learn how to say Bradzy… Brownzy… Broadway… yeah, his name.
- Let’s put those 11 goals into perspective, shall we? In the first 33 games, the Wild have scored a grand total of 80 goals. That means Kyle B. has contributed nearly 14% of the team’s production. Add in his seven assists, and he’s in on 22.5% of the team’s goals so far this season.
- Related: look for Brodziak to score again come contract time. He’s currently making $1.3 million, and becomes an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season.
- By the way, those 80 goals by the Wild? That’s just 2.42 goals per game, good for 5th worst in the NHL. (Only Columbus, Anaheim, LA and the woeful Islanders have lit the lamp less frequently.) With Koivu and Setoguchi out, it’s likely that the committee will score even fewer through the holidays. Either they have to continue their strong defensive play – the Wild are seventh in goals against so far this season, with just 69 GA in 33 games – or they’ll freefall in the Western Conference standings by Valentine’s Day. Of course, fighting for a playoff spot is where they probably should be, given their roster. Still, it’s always nice to have a few surprises in the standings here and there, even when they are the result of bland defensive hockey.
- Kudos to superpest Matt Cooke, who’s putting fatherhood first this NHL season. After catching the ire of every sane hockey fan for his dangerous play the past few seasons, he announced to any who would listen that he would be a different player this year. He wanted to prove to unnamed members of his family that a person can change. His goals? To avoid suspension in 2011-12, and to have more points than penalty minutes at season’s end. While it’s sad that someone’s style dictates that ‘to avoid suspension’ is an active goal that they must change to reach, we have to give props to Mr Cooke thus far. Nearly halfway through the year, and he’s succeeding on both counts. No suspensions, 12 penalty minutes and 13 points. Eleven teammates have more PIM than Cookie so far, and even Sidney Crosby is close with eight penalty minutes in his eight games. This change is reminiscent of Blackhawks superstar Stan Mikita, who was feared in the slot and on the boards until his daughter saw him in the penalty box on TV and asked, ‘Why does daddy spend so much time sitting down?’ Mikita went on to win multiple Art Ross and Hart trophies as scoring leader and league MVP, and remarkably consecutive awards as the NHL’s most gentlemanly player as well. Cooke is unlikely to get his name on the Lady Byng any time soon, but his efforts to at long last play the game the right way are pretty inspiring.
- You idjits who take Dave Bolland’s (Sedin) sister act seriously are, well, idjits. When I play shinny against my bestest friends, I trash talk them. I call them girls’ names, I question their physiology, and I take verbal and physical shots at weak spots that only bestest of friends would know about. You know, trash talk. My aim is to offend them in a petty, sophomoric way. And, in the process, if microphones were on me I’d offend pretty much every special interest group in existence. And you know what? My buddies do the same to me. We’re disappointed when our jabs don’t get the other guys’ dander up. We want overhearers to stop and think, “Did that really just come out of his mouth?” That split second of hesitation just might mean the difference between a great goal and a missed opportunity. Then, after we’re all said and done, and we’ve slagged every member of each other’s family trees (and a few college flings, consummated or not, besides) we limp out for beer after the game. It’s part and parcel to the competitive nature of sport. Elliotte Friedman said it well in his 30 Thoughts column this week:
“Seriously, what kind of world are we living in if David Bolland has to grovel for forgiveness after poking fun at the Sedins to make Chicago Blackhawks fans laugh? It’s totally harmless — just like Alex Burrows pointing out how great it was for Vancouver fans that the Canucks beat the Leafs on Saturday. Or the Sedins jokingly mocking Toronto media members who can’t tell them apart (and I’m one of them). Or Joffrey Lupul tweeting that he wants a windowless room in Buffalo, etc. That stuff makes rivalries fun.”
I concur, Mr Friedman, only… “jokingly mocking”? Is there another way to mock that I’m not aware of? Because I’ve only been privy to the one method so far. I’d love to add another to the repertoire if you don’t mind sharing.