Bloody Monday: On the Edginess

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At some point there, we skated over the magic line. 15-20 games gives you the shape of a season. Depth charts come into focus, each team has at least one road trip, and plucky Toronto, the richest team in hockey, manages to win one game! Good for them! 

This sport needs demotion rules.

But the Leafs won't be forced to play high school teams any time soon, so let's look at other people on the edge.
 

TIMMY! 

My Number One Guy on the Sabres, perpetually-injured hometown hero Tim Connolly, is having a hell of a year. Thirteen points in fourteen games, playing near 20:00 in each, and two clutch game-winning goals. Like the team around him, Timmy seems to be living his potential.

And he dances!

The line on my man for years has been, he'd be a star if only he could "stay healthy." A hilarious euphimism for "he should stop getting his spine broken by 260 pound maniacs, in armor, who can skate as fast as electric cars can drive."

Read More ...
 

Buffalo's famous post-lockout strategy was young, small, fast, and deep. It netted us some good years, but we left violence in our other pants. Near the bottom of the league in hitting and fighting, with an offensive corp dominated by midgets on rocket skates, we became known as a team you could beat up, if you could ever catch us.

Tim is 6ft plus, fast, but not agile, a traditional slap shot winger.

.

Those were schitzo days for the Sabres in general. Between lighting up teams by 6-10 goals, we would have to pick our notebooks out of the mud and tape our glasses back together

Please don't make me fight the bear.

This year, balance rears its helmet. With Grier (Praise be Unto Him) back on offense, and thuggish Montador and giant Tyler Myers on D, we're hedging mobility with consequences for starting shit.

No one puts goalie in the corner!

Will this be the Next Great Year? We still can't seem to win without Miller ...
 

C-Bus No Longer Short

Columbus has a hockey team.

I know, right? Ask anyone to name all 30 NHL teams, and unless they're a Blue Jackets fan (weirdo), that's where they'll probably get stumped. The Jackets are famous for being brand new, being the easternmost of the Western Conference teams, and always finishing near the bottom. They're like the Tampa Bay Buccaneers of the 70's. Or the Tampa Bay Buccaneers right now.

It's so true ...

But there's a new wind blowing through Columbus. And not one of those "over an inch of snow" winds. Known down there as a "national emergency." Buncha slack-jawed pansies. Leave the window open, Paul!

... Where was I?

Right! Columbus has been quietly sitting on a pair of captured young Ontarians, captain and forward Rick Nash and post-pubescent goalie Steve Mason, who would be stars on any team. Behind them are years of top drafts, and they're having a Fall of corn-fed, Eagle-saluting glory. Seriously, the team is named after Union uniforms in the Civil War. If they ever take the cup, it's in their contract to take sake bombs and go out for star and stripe tattoos on their wangs.

...

I fear to google image that.

But really, we all knew this was the year. Columbus had been plebes, and received the traditional mark of NHL manhood.

THANK YOU SIR MAY I HAVE ANOTHER
 

Points For Trying

Hockey has some of the most elegant metrics. The +/- is a sublime measure of performance and accountability. Goals and Assists are tallied equally as Points, encouraging fluid offense in a fluid game. I personally wish there were a Time of Possession stat, but admit that would take the human sacrifice of an intern every game. He would sit there, unmedicated, chosen for crippling ADHD, clicking two stopwatches on and off like he's running from an angry rapeopottomus and the buttons control his legs.

Everything's a trade off, you know? The same is true with the OT Point. The one point given to a losing team for forcing Overtime on the winners. Wins are worth two points, Creating the standard NHL "W-L-OT" spread in the standings.

Every year, a few coaches and journalists step up to the line and demand this be changed. It rewards shutdown play they say, it corrupts the standings. It's come damn close a few times, and the first year a team with fewer wins makes the playoff, because they rack up OT points, there will be a shitstorm. Understandably so.

But what mangles the standings saves the game. Hockey had some deep problems in the years leading up to the Lockout. Overexpansion was the worst, but close behind were crippled TV ratings and an advertising drain. Which are to be expected when your games are unwatchable.

Hockey had become soccer on skates. The neutral zone trap and physical defense kept the games low scoring. The "play till you win" overtimes meant games could go stupidly long, and fuck up TV schedules. And! The long season meant a team that was losing in the 3rd period was always tempted to pack it in. Play their B lines. Wait out the clock and not risk injury. The game would, in short, be a non-event or a grind.

I'll get into the glowing puck problem some other time.

Pictured: stupidity.

OT points add up, and coaches know it. Playing hard in the 3rd period, if you're down by a goal or two, is now worth it. Plus, the short, sudden death OT means you won't exhaust your players for doing so. I think this adds up. I've seen it keep asses in seats, and fans in bars, firsthand. Forcing OT can feel like a little victory, is a little victory, even if you lose in the end. In all but the biggest blowouts, play is intense and suspenseful to the last minute.

Imagine the cumulative effect of this, on 82 games played by 30 teams over a 9 month season. Imagine the concession sales, the TV ratings, the fan energy. The sales leverage the other sports no longer have over the NHL with the networks. 

And hey, when the is a blowout, there's always spite violence.

Keep Bleeding.