Kukla's Korner Hockey

Video-Shane Lehman, Always A Hockey Player

by Paul on 02/11/12 at 06:10 PM ET
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Kelly Hrudey during Hockey Day In Canada with a feature on Shane Lehman, who is waiting for a heart transplant but still playing the game of hockey.

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All Joel Quenneville

by Paul on 02/11/12 at 04:52 PM ET
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from Chris Kuc of the Chicago Tribune,

In the midst of the Blackhawks’ current nine-game road trip, during which they lost five consecutive games (dropping seven straight overall), the Tribune sat down with coach Joel Quenneville for a exclusive interview touching on subjects ranging from the team’s recent poor play to the current state of the roster, the pressure to win, his health, the goaltending and individual players.

Do you have the goaltending to win the Cup?

Absolutely. I like our goaltending. (Corey) Crawford last year had a special year. This year, his sophomore year, he hasn’t been as consistent or at that level but he has played some strong games for us. His goaltending hasn’t been the problem.

Ray (Emery), every game he has given us a chance. He has done a good job.

How’s the morale in the room?

Nobody’s happy. Angry sometimes could be the word. Frustrated, disappointed and sometimes quiet. Whether your heads are down or up there has to be some confidence quietly inside us all that we want to be out there and doing the right things. We want to be put in situations where you can excel. We want to encourage offensive plays and doing the right things.

Managing the puck in the right areas is what we want to continue to do. We were going along very confidently at times thinking everything was good. This should definitely get our attention to play the right way, which we have to do.

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Columbus Activates Wisniewski

by Paul on 02/11/12 at 03:32 PM ET
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COLUMBUS, OHIO – The Columbus Blue Jackets have activated defenseman James Wisniewski off injured reserve, club Executive Vice President of Hockey Operations and General Manager Scott Howson announced today. Wisniewski missed the last 17 games due to an ankle injury suffered at Dallas on December 29.

Wisniewski has collected two goals and 15 assists for 17 points with 25 penalty minutes in 29 games this season, ranking third among club defensemen in scoring. He has also logged a team-leading 24:48 average time on ice, which ranks 15th among all NHL players.

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Making Peace At The Winter Classic

by Paul on 02/11/12 at 12:06 PM ET
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from Jeff Marek of Sportsnet,

And it got me thinking: wouldn’t it be great if every year each team involved in the game made some peace with their past? After all, the Classic is supposed to be about the roots of hockey where the game is pure; back to a simpler time when it was just about the joy of playing and nothing else.

In that spirit I submit two names, one from the Leafs and Wings I’d like to see get the Lindros treatment from their former franchises.

Dave Keon: This story is well told already. The animosity goes back to the Harold Ballard era and the hatred between the infamous Maple Leafs owner and Keon predates the Leaf player bolting the franchise for the WHA, to the moment Ballard nixed a trade Keon and his agent had worked out that would have sent him to the New York Islanders for a Stanley Cup run….

Larry Aurie: Detroit’s first true superstar player, Aurie flirted with scoring crowns, led the Wings to two Stanley Cups (1936, 1937) after never having qualified for the playoffs before he arrived. Aurie was nicknamed “Little Dempsey” because of his likeness to former boxing champ Jack Dempsey (to say nothing of his own fighting prowess) and “Rags,” due to his uncanny ability to rag the puck while killing penalties.

Aurie was a favourite of former Wings owner James Norris, who immediately retired Aurie’s No. 6 after he hung up the blades. However, after Mike Ilitch bought the Wings he un-retired the number, although it still remains out of circulation.

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Filed in: NHL Teams, Detroit Red Wings, Toronto Maple Leafs | KK Hockey | Permalink
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All Kathryn Tappen

by Paul on 02/11/12 at 11:01 AM ET
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from Melissa Hoppert of Slap Shoat at the NY Times,

Since joining NHL Network in July after five years at NESN, Kathryn Tappen has become one of the league’s most recognizable faces. Tappen, 30, hosts the nightly highlight show “NHL Tonight” and is a co-host for special events, holding her own among former coaches and players like Barry Melrose and Kevin Weekes.

Q. Who will be in the Stanley Cup finals, and who might win?

A. Well I guess from a travel standpoint, I’d love for the Bruins to make the Stanley Cup finals, so I can stay at home for the home games. The way the Detroit Red Wings are playing right now, it’s hard to think that they wouldn’t be in the Stanley Cup final out West. But if you had asked me two weeks ago, I would have probably said Chicago. That’s what I love about this sport is that the competitiveness in the league allows for any team at any given point to be in that top spot and to advance to that Stanley Cup final. So I don’t know. I say there are good four or five teams in each conference that I would predict would be there.

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You Have A 2 1/2 Hour Window To Do What You Do

by Paul on 02/11/12 at 10:15 AM ET
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Go shopping, maybe shovel some snow, or hit the beach, whatever you do on Saturday, you have a small window to get it done.

12 games on the schedule, four start at 1:00pm ET, two at 2:00pm then the six other games have different starting times beginning with two 7:00pm games.

See the full schedule below. and don’t forget, today is also Hockey Day In Canada which starts at noon ET on both CBC and the NHL Network US.

Continue Reading »

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Toronto Honors Sundin Tonight

by Paul on 02/11/12 at 09:42 AM ET
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from Doug Gilmour at the Toronto Sun,

Over the years, I’ve heard about how Mats didn’t really get the full respect he deserved from Leaf fans during his time in Toronto because he might not crush defenders all over the ice like Wendel did, or perform with the same style as yours truly.

In my mind, that has never been a fair comparison.

Everyone is different. Everyone plays with their own style.

Inside our dressing room with the Maple Leafs, we knew what we had with Mats. He was a warrior, a trait he never fully got credit for outside of our room.

But, like I said, we knew.

With Mats deservedly having his No. 13 honoured on Saturday at the Air Canada Centre prior to the game against the Montreal Canadiens, there has been a lot of suggestions that he finally is getting the appreciation he deserved now that he has been out of sight, out of mind for a few years.

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Wings Want The Puck

by Paul on 02/11/12 at 09:33 AM ET
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from Ryan Pyette of the London Free Press,

The most intimidating guy inside the toughest NHL rink to win in is surrounded by security at a table in the Joe Louis Arena concourse, where he’s selling books, autographs and memories for 35 bucks.

Ted Lindsay is 86 years old, still pumps iron every day and, with something that sounds like a cross between a snarl and a chuckle, puts his finger on the crux of how the Detroit Red Wings remain hockey’s most remarkable team.

“You play together and control the puck the way they do, you control the game,” Terrible Ted barked. “When they don’t have it, they fight like hell to recover. It goes down the line—ownership, management, coaching and the talent. You need the players. Detroit was the first team scouting in Europe, back when everyone thought a hockey player had to be from Canada.

“They keep finding the players they need to win.”

That’s why everyone hates playing them.

continued

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Marc Staal Trying To Find His ‘A’ Game

by Paul on 02/11/12 at 09:22 AM ET
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from Larry Brooks of the NY Post,

“I have high expectations of myself under any circumstance, and I want to be able to contribute to the success of a first-place team the way I know I’m capable of doing, but it’s not quite there yet,” Staal told The Post following yesterday’s practice. “Once I got through the first handful of games without any negative consequences, I turned all my focus to my game, but it’s been choppy for me.”...

Staal is averaging 18:01 per over the 16 games he has played, but 19:11 in his past 13. That’s still a considerable drop from the 25:44 that the 25-year-old logged last year in leading the club in ice time and his lowest average since he got 18:48 per as rookie in 2007-08.

“I think I can do a better job of getting into the flow of the game at a high-intensity level on every shift,” Staal said. “I’m used to playing big minutes where I’m jumping over the boards just about every other shift, whereas now I’m on the bench a bit more, which gives me more time to think, and that’s not always good.

“But I think I’m getting more used to it and have been doing a better job dealing with it. I believe the best is in front of me.”

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Road Trip From Hell Continues For Chicago

by Paul on 02/11/12 at 09:02 AM ET
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from Chris Kuc of the Chicago Tribune,

Try as they might, the Blackhawks searched for some positives following their seventh consecutive defeat.

“Right now, minutes after another loss, it’s tough to look at the bright side of things,” captain Jonathan Toews said in the morgue-like atmosphere of the Hawks’ dressing room after their 5-3 loss to the Sharks on Friday night at HP Pavilion.

“We played hard out there. We saw some fights, we saw some scratching and clawing, some battling in front of the net and a couple of ugly goals. We played the way we had to. We gave them too many opportunities on the power play and that’s how they separated themselves from us in this game. It always seems to be one thing or another but (Friday night) we’re getting closer to playing that more complete game.”

They aren’t nearly close enough as their skid is reaching epic proportions with their ninth loss in a row away from home that dropped their record on the current road trip to 0-4-1.

continue for more on the loss to San Jose…

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