But I Want Roll Bars

The one thing I have noticed while looking for new hockey gloves recently is that Bauer has begun to phase out the classic roll bar look. They are bringing in this new futuristic look that looks more like part of someone's drunken baby sister’s Halloween costume.

As I peruse through the Bauer website there is only one pair left that has roll bars. As you scan through all the gloves, those are the ones that stick out and you’ll probably say to yourself, “those are the nicest looking gloves on the page.” The only problem with these gloves are that they are $90 plus shipping (definitely not finding them at Modell's), and for a college student who goes through a pair of gloves every two-to-three months, this is out of the question.

What this travesty has led me to do is start to look into getting my old pairs of gloves repalmed. Most gloves themselves will last for a long time, but it’s the palm that rips or wears out.

There are multiple places online where you can send your old gloves and they will repalm them for about $45. Most gloves have palms made out of a synthetic material called clarino. It is thinner than leather, but one problem I have found with some of my gloves is that they dry hard, and the next time I play they are uncomfortable until I start sweating in them to loosen them up.

One option is to get your gloves repalmed with leather which costs the same as clarino. The one good thing about leather is that they dry soft. They are also thicker which some people may not like, but in theory they should last longer. So for those of you who really like Bauer gloves, but can’t stand the new junk they are putting out, getting your classic gloves repalmed may be the road to go.

It Wasn't Easy Being Cheesy

… But who could forget the crazy goalie with all the stitches on his mask?

Born on December 7th, 1940 in St. Catherines, Ontario, Gerald Michael Cheevers would eventually become a hockey legend in Beantown. And, although Cheesy never won a Vezina as the NHL’s top netminder, he will go down as one of the greatest (and most popular) goalies in league history.

Cheevers began making a name for himself while playing for the Rochester Americans in the American Hockey League. In 1964-65 Cheesy was impressive between the pipes while helping Rochester capture their first ever Calder Cup. Along the way, Cheevers won an astonishing 48 games out of 72 in 1964-65 (still the AHL single season record for wins by a goalie).

In 1967 Cheesy made the leap and joined the Big Bad Boston Bruins, a match made in heaven for the passionate, off-the-wall, netminder. Cheevers’ aggressive and emotional style of play made him a fan-favorite among the Boston faithful. While Orr and Esposito dazzled fans with their offensive wizardry, Cheesy would leave his crease to challenge all shooters, earning the reputation as a money goalie and winning two Stanley Cups with the Bruins in 1970 and 1972.

However, the turning point of his famed career may have been the day the quirky Cheevers took a puck to the face during practice. After the shot rang off his noodle, Cheesy retired to the dressing room for repairs. When he didn’t return shortly, Bruins coach Harry Sinden went to check on his backstopper and found him leaning back in the dressing room with a beer in one hand and a smoke in the other. At that point, Cheesy had the Boston trainer Frosty Forestall paint a stitch on his mask where the puck hit him. From that point on, each time Cheevers took a shot up high, another stitch would be added to the ever-popular mask.

In a 1999 interview with “Be A Player, The Hockey Show,” Cheesy shed some insight on the birth of his stitches mask: “Well, when the mask first became a reality in the game of hockey, the first ones were all plain white and I hated wearing anything white. It was to me a sign of purity and I wasn't in a pure business as far as I was concerned, playing goal and hacking away and all that stuff. And I also had a daily practice of trying to get out of practices. Going to practice, all I could think about was getting out of it. And one day this puck flipped up and hit me in this new white mask I had. It wouldn't have cut me if I didn't have the mask on but I acted like I was seriously hurt, went to the dressing room, and Harry Sinden, who was coaching, came in and told me to get the heck out of there. And so I was about to go out onto the ice and our trainer, John Forestall, said to wait a minute and he went and painted a big 12-stitch cut on my mask and I got a chuckle out of that and we went from there. A very, very simple thing happened there but maybe, just maybe I was the pioneer in the art of decorations of masks. That's what I'd like to think about it.”

In 1972, Cheesy packed up his stitches mask and headed to the bizarre World Hockey Association to play for the Cleveland Crusaders. After a short stint in the WHA (close to four seasons), Cheevers returned to the Bruins in 1976.

Cheesy finished his career in Boston in 1980 and took a job as the Bruins bench boss, coaching the team until 1985. During his 13-year NHL career, Cheesy compiled 230 wins, 26 shutouts, a 2.89 GAA, and a fond reputation as one of the game’s greatest characters.

-- TGOJ

Super Seven - Nicknames

This list includes only stars. There will be a later one just for enforcers. I tried for the most part to stay away from your standard nicknames (Red, Rocket, Flash, etc.)

7. Jovocop
You got to love a defenseman who can do it all. Ed Jovanovski had over 50 points this year, but one of my favorite moments from this past season was his fight with Jarome Iginla. Jovocop is obviously a spin off of Robocop, but in my opinion he has the best nickname in the NHL today.

6. The Mighty Atom
Aurel Joliat is one of the craziest players of all time. When he was in his 70's he attended an NHL reunion when he threw-down twice with former NHLer, Punch Broadent. Once told by Clarence Campbell to stay in their hotel rooms, Joliat broke into Broadent's room and continued the brawl. At 5-7, 130 lbs. it's no mystery why they call him the Mighty Atom.

5. Cyclone Taylor
You don't get your own statue in the Hall of Fame next to Ken Dryden unless you're the real deal. Cyclone Taylor was the best player of his day. His nickname is so well known that you never hear his real first name: Frederick.

4. Roadrunner
Yvan Cournoyer's real name is just as cool as his nickname. This speedy Canadien lived up to his nickname.

3. Chicoutimi Cucumber
The Chicoutimi native, Georges Vezina, was as cool as the come in net thanks to that toque.

2. Terrible Ted
Before there was Lucky Luc there was Terrible Ted. Ted Lindsay was the best left winger of his time. Terrible Teddy lived up to his name, he was hated every other player on every other team and they hated him. He fought in an all star game, taunted fans with "the rifle" when he received death threats in Toronto, and shook the league up when he tried to start a Players Association.

1. Boom Boom Geoffrion
Bernie Geoffrion is another one of those players whose nickname basically replaced his real first name. Boom Boom got his name by being the alleged inventor of the slap shot.

No suspension for Georges Laraque

Not really too much to say about this one, let the video do the talking:

Laraque hits Downie: 0 games

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6xAEetam6HQ

Jones hits Bergeron: 2 games

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6xAEetam6HQ

Hartnell hits Alberts: 2 games

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oZQDjqahgM0

Cote hits Niskanen: 3 games

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oZQDjqahgM0

Downie hits McAmmond: 20 games (A hit that 15 years ago would have been on EVERY NHL highlight reel.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=322zqTkL0-c

I defy anyone to tell me that there is not a bias against the Flyers...

Hockey's Glory Days

The best purchase I made on my recent trip to Toronto, other than a couple of pitchers of beer, was made in Chapters book store. It was called Hockey’s Glory Days (stories from the original six era) and was written by hockey historian and former Hockey Night in Canada commentator Brian McFarlane.

Now, first let me tell you that I’m not a real big reader and will barely ever pick up a book if I don’t have to, but this is one of those books that I didn’t want to stop reading.

The book starts off with a real nice opening from Terrible Ted Lindsay and is then broken up into six chapters, one for each original team.

In each chapter there are twenty or so short stories and really nice full size photos on about every other page.

Some of the best stories I’ve read so far had to do with Aurel Joliat causing multiple brawls at a hockey legends dinner when he was in his 70’s, Gerry Cheevers telling a kid in Montreal that he was going to cut his dog’s balls off, and Eddie Shore, who owned a team in Springfield after he retired, making players practice tap dancing in hotel lobbies and tying his goalie to the net during practice.

These and multiple other stories will leave you more surprised than when Martin St.Louis watched Alex Ovechkin eat a bag of chips on the ice at last year’s all star game.

The Integrity of the NHL Points Standings

I have never been one to understand rewarding a point to a team that loses. I have also never agreed with using a skills competition to determine the winner of a team sport. However, the evil ruler of the NHL empire, with agreement from his minions throughout the league, implemented a shootout system coming out of the lockout in 2005-2006.

As a hockey purist, a tie never bothered me. The shootout bothers me on two levels:

1. You won a game because your skaters could score more penalty shot goals than the other team.

2. Hey, your team couldn't score as many penalty shot goals as the other team, but you managed to stay tied with them through 60 minutes of real hockey and 5 minutes of 4-on-4 hockey, so we'll just be nice and give you a point in the standings.

These factors above soured me on the whole shootout idea from the get go, but when it was implemented I had no idea of the actual impact it would have on the standings. And it is a big impact.

I used http://www.nhlshootouts.com/ShootoutStats.htm to come up with the following numbers.

In 2005-2006, 281 games went into overtime, that is 281 extra points pumped into the NHL standings. (145 of those games were decided by a skill competition.) In 2006-2007, miraculously the same exact number of games (281) went into overtime. (164 of those games were decided by a skills competition.) So through the first two years of the shootout era, 11.8% and 13.3% of the games on the NHL schedule were decided by a skills competition, a gimmick.

In 2007-2008 the percentage is down from last season through January 17th with only 12.3% of games reaching the gimmick. However, I'd like to take a look at one specific team and show how INSANE these fake points they are pumping into the schedule really are.

Let's take a look at the 2007-2008 Edmonton Oilers. A storied franchise, a franchise that should be successful in the NHL. A franchise that has owned some of the greatest teams in the history of the sport.

As of the January 17th games, the Edmonton Oilers are 21-22-5. They have 47 points and are a mere 6 points out of a playoff spot, even though they have lost 6 more games than they have won. However, when you take a deeper look at the win loss record, 17 of their games (35.4%) have gone into overtime. 14 of those 17 games were decided by a gimmick (the Oilers are 11-3 in those games, 1-2 in games decided in the 4-on-4 overtime).

What this means, is that a team that has a total of 9, yes N-I-N-E, wins in regulation (18.75%). Yet they are still only 6 points out of a playoff spot. They are being rewarded for being able to get games into the shootout. 17 extra points have been pumped into the NHL standings thanks to the Edmonton Oilers...