By Allan Muir
Well, this is an anthem we won’t soon forget. Alexis Normand, a Saskatoon-based jazz singer who performs primarily in French, was on hand to deliver the Star Spangled Banner prior to tonight’s Memorial Cup round-robin game between the Halifax Mooseheads and Portland Winterhawks.
And unless she was trying out her Frank Drebin impression, it did not go well.
Is that Bon Jovi? No, it’s Rangers alum and Zamboni racer Ron Duguay. (Angela Cranford/MSG Photo Services)
Decorated in racing jumpsuits, armed with a pit crew and seated behind the wheel of two massive ice cleaning machines, Rangers alums Stephane Matteau (also known as Matteau! Matteau! Matteau) and Ron Duguay competed in a Zamboni race on Monday afternoon to celebrate playoff hockey at Madison Square Garden. Rangers icon Adam Graves, who works as a special assistant for the team, stood at the finish line to greet the riders. Even model Alejandra Cata waved the green flag to kick the event off.
Perhaps street Zamboni racing should be the Rangers’ new playoff tradition; they came back in a thriller to beat the Capitals and pull the series to within 2-1.
By Allan Muir
Bob McKenzie is right. James Duthie is a warped genius.
The NHL on TSN host set a high creative bar earlier this season with his Shocking Truth video. But like all the great ones, Duthie raised his game for the playoffs, taking advantage of his uncanny resemblance to Ed Helms to stage a Hangover parody starring the TSN crew and several of the defending champion Los Angeles Kings, including Anze Kopitar, Jarett Stoll and Dustin Penner.
This is six minutes of comedy/hockey brilliance. And just like the real thing, some of the best moments happen during and after the credits. Confirmed!
By Allan Muir
No doubt about it. That was a distinct licking motion.
Steve Ott, a favorite of the Home Ice crew, has always gone the extra mile to take an opponent off his game. But what he did in tonight’s game against the Canadiens takes the agitation game to a strange new place.
Facing off against Montreal’s Jeff Halpern, Ott leaned in and licked the Montreal center’s visor. No telling whether that was planned or just spur-of-the-moment insanity, but one thing is clear: We are witnessing a master at work.
Somehow, I think Esa Tikkanen would be proud.
By Allan Muir
The NHL Network has its flaws — that’s a post for another day — but it deserves full marks for treating yesterday’s trade deadline like E! handles a Kardashian wedding. The wall-to-wall coverage (courtesy of TSN, mixed with its own cut-ins) fed our boundless fascination with an event that has no chance of living up to the hype, but keeps us transfixed anyway.
But one of the best views it offered came well after the event coverage had ended. Later in the evening, the league provided a video look at the behind-the-scenes trade call that finalized the deal that saw the Rangers send Marian Gaborik to the Columbus Blue Jackets.
Pavel Datsyuk has been known to pull off a dangle or two in his time, and tonight’s move only adds to the Wings’ star’s repetoire. (Matt Kartozian/US Presswire)
By Allan Muir
Here are a couple of knee-buckling displays of skill from Thursday night’s action that you cannot afford to miss.
First up, Philly’s Claude Giroux channels Pavel Datsyuk in the shootout. A point earned in the extra-time loss to the Islanders tonight won’t do the struggling Flyers much good, so Giroux probably won’t give this absolutely sick deke a second thought. But geez, you have to feel for Evgeni Nabokov, who bit so hard on that move he’d probably still be sliding left if he hadn’t run into the post.
By Allan Muir
Now this is what coaches are talking about when they say a goalie is a battler.
The guy in the big pads is Benjamin Conz, who you might remember as the top goaltender of the 2010 World Juniors where he averaged more than 40 saves per game for the undermanned Swiss side. They didn’t medal, but Conz was lights out.
That performance didn’t get him drafted, but that doesn’t mean we’ve heard the last of him — especially if he can make stops like this.
Conz’s Fribourg squad was matched up against the Zurich Lions in the third game of Swiss league’s semifinals on Sunday night. He was magnificent in regulation, but it’ll be this stop in the shootout against Zurich’s Ryan Shannon that will have everyone talking.
Conz is completely beaten on the play, but maintains his focus and doesn’t give up. Geez, what a beauty!
Fribourg won the game, 5-4, and took a 3-0 lead in the series.
No need to wait until Sunday, Sunday, SUNDAY! According to this brilliant parody video by YouTube user Jenrossi1991, the Buffalo Sabres fire sale starts now and everything must go!
Well, everything but the great Rick Jeanneret, of course.
Nice work, Jen. Somebody please get her a cookie.
Remember when Vince Vaughn thought Jeremy Roenick was good? Wait’ll he gets a load of Pavel Datsyuk, NHL ’94-style.
By Allan Muir
At last we know where Alexander Semin learned to play the bongos.
We’re still trying to figure out all the details on this one. Best we can tell, this clip is from the end of a lopsided game between Tyumen and Kazan from the 2013 Russian Winter Student Games, and it appears that the Tyumen girls didn’t take too kindly to having the score run up on them. Punches are thrown, the benches clear, adults pour onto the ice and chaos ensues. Funny stuff.
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