Tuesday, May 27, 2014
And the Winner is?
Barring
unforseen miracles, the Los Angeles Kings and the New York Rangers will meet in
the Stanley Cup final this year. Each team has taken a commanding lead, three
games won, one lost. Each is playing with great confidence.
The Chicago
Black Hawks and the Montreal Canadiens will likely be the last two teams to
fall by the wayside this year. They fought valiantly through the playoffs, but
the Kings and the Rangers seem to have that little bit extra in their tanks.
That is what leads to success.
Injuries have
taken their toll in this year’s hockey playoffs. Where would the Habs be had
Carey Price not been run over in the first game against the Rangers? Jonathan
Toews does not appear to be too healthy, and knee on knee collisions are just
not helpful. Local favourite Andrew Shaw had to sit out several games with a
“lower body injury”. He has returned, but is not up to full speed. The coaching
staff from the Kings picked up on a flaw in his repertoire, and Shaw lost his
first seven face-offs in the fourth game.
I may be going
out on a limb with this observation, but I would like to compare the Kings’
defenceman Drew Doughty with two other former NHL stars: Paul Coffey, and Bobby
Orr. They have similar styles: great skaters, slick passers, and brilliant
hockey minds. When necessary, each could mix it up in a physical way to let the
opposition know that they are not just pretty faces.
Doughty spends a
lot of time on the ice. It is not uncommon to see him quarterback the power
play for an extended period of time. He kills penalties, unless he is in the
box! He is usually the first one back to grab the puck behind goaltender
Jonathan Quick, surveying the ice, wheeling from behind the net or passing to
an open man. Therein lies another of Doughty’s skills: his passes are almost
always on the tape, and he seldom forces the issue with long stretch passes
that do not guarantee success.
Short “easy”
passes get the job done. Because of the speed of the game, it is important to
control the puck as much as possible. Turnovers lead to transition, and when
the puck changes hands quickly, players must be prepared to go from offense to
defense instantly. Doughty is always ready to make the change. He never loafs,
which is a very good thing for the Kings.
Henrik Lundqvist
is in his ninth season with the Rangers. He has played most of the games for
the New Yorkers in that time. He is called “The King”, for good reason. He has
played brilliantly throughout his career, and he would dearly love to put a
Stanley Cup on his mantle. He suffered disappointment in the Olympics at the
hands of the Canadians, and he would love to pick up a little hardware for his
troubles this year.
I suppose I am
getting a little ahead of myself, in all of this talk about the Kings and the
Rangers. The semi-finals are still under way, and the faithful still cling to
the prospect of a Habs or a Hawks victory. Alas, I fear, those are pipe dreams;
however, stranger things have happened. We shall see.
A final note: in
case you haven’t noticed, the Toronto Blue Jays have had a magnificent month of
May, and lead the East in the American League.
Thank goodness
for remotes!!
James Hurst
Sportslices.blogspot.com
Tuesday, May 20, 2014
Tim Horton-Memories
Tim Horton-Memories
Last week I posted a
note on Facebook regarding the Fiftieth Anniversary of Tim Hortons. The
restaurant people celebrated by giving customers a piece of cake and a coffee.
There are several thousand Tim Hortons shops in Canada , and a few in the northern
states. I discovered one in Florida !
It is in Sunrise ,
in the arena where the Panthers play. A little bit of home for Canadian
visitors. When the Canadian troops were in Afghanistan ,
there was also a restaurant in Kandahar .
Nice touch.
As often happens in
the Facebook world, I heard from a friend who remembered visiting the Tim
Hortons restaurant on North Front
Street in Belleville .
He happened to be walking down the street when he heard a bit of a commotion,
on the very first day of business at the shop. Tim Horton had stopped by to
greet the patrons, and he signed an autograph for my friend Kam Tom.
Kam and I spoke about
that encounter, and reminisced about other early Belleville experiences. Kam arrived in the
city as a six-year old from Hong Kong . He had
been whisked out of China ,
and was sent to live with his grandfather. They lived above the Paragon Café,
which his grandfather owned, on Front
Street in Belleville .
Kam attended Queen
Mary School, switched over to Prince Charles School, then returned to Queen
Mary to complete his primary school education. He attended B. C. I., and began
his post secondary education at the University
of Toronto . He later
received his degree from Carleton. For many years he has worked in the field of
photography, and motion pictures.
Kam also joined the
Hastings and Prince Edward Regiment, only a short stone’s throw from his
residence. The Memorial Arena was also closely located to his place on Front Street . He
loved the arena, and became a very proficient skater. One of his buddies at
that time, Doug Dickie, suggested that Kam should sign up to play hockey as
well. Much to his dismay, his grandfather refused to allow him to play. The
reason he gave was that he could not afford the cost. Kam also figures he did
not want his young grandson to get hurt.
He spent hours with
the rest of us at the Quinte Tennis Club. He recalls at least three marathon
matches that he and I had at the Club. In one instance, we began in the
morning, with little settled. The rest of the crew headed home for lunch,
returned, and found us still sweating it out on the court. We both chuckled
when I remarked that neither of us had a power game. The main focus was to get
the ball over the net, and allow the opponent to make the mistake. That makes
for very long matches.
He partnered with Ron
Joyce in 1964 to open the first donut franchise. One of his teammates, Bob
Baun, successfully managed two donut shops in the Toronto area.
Horton was inducted
into the Hall of Fame in 1977. Kam Tom still has his autograph.
You will find me
working at that same Tim Hortons on June 5th, Camp Day .
Make that a double-double!
James Hurst
Sportslices.blogspot.com
Monday, May 12, 2014
The Road to Hockeytown with Jimmy D.
To say that Jimmy
Devellano is a sports fan would be a gross understatement. He lives and
breathes sports virtually 24 hours a day. He has executive roles with the Detroit Red Wings and the Detroit Tigers, and he follows other sports
and teams as well.
Jimmy grew up in
Toronto, and spent his week in school as a kid, anticipating his next trip to Maple Leaf
Gardens . He attended as
many games as he possibly could, soaking up the atmosphere, and all the aspects
of the game. Little did he know at that time that he would become the most
important decision-maker in the Red Wing organization, and that he would one
day possess enough sports rings to cover both hands, and then some.
He has seven Stanley Cup rings: three
with the Islanders, and four with the Red Wings. In 1979-80, the Islanders won
their first of three consecutive Cups, with Al Arbour behind the bench, and
Bill Torrey as the General Manager. Devellano was the Director of Scouting. His four championships with the Wings came
when he was Senior Vice President. His other rings in the drawer come from
winning the Calder Cup (Adirondack), the Adams Cup (Fort
Worth and Indianapolis ), and the
Riley Cup (Toledo
Storm). He has one baseball ring, as the VP of the Tigers when they won the
American League title in 2006.
Remarkably, Jimmy
quit school after he had completed Grade Nine in 1959. Through the early
Sixties, he went to almost every Toronto
Maple Leaf game. He really enjoyed the work of “Punch” Imlach, the Leaf coach.
He witnessed the Leaf triumph in 1967. Some of you remember that as Canada ’s
Centennial year. Others remember that as the last year that the Leafs won the
Cup. Jimmy also involved himself in the game by coaching and watching hockey at
all levels.
He spent almost ten
years as a civil servant in Toronto ,
working for the Unemployment Insurance Commission. I told him that I remembered
the occasion when they moved their headquarters to Belleville . He chuckled when I told him that.
“That’s when I decided to quit, and involve myself in hockey on a full time
basis.” In 1967 he wrote a letter to Lynn Patrick, the G. M. of the Blues, and
he offered his services to the Blues as a scout, and indicated that he did not
expect any wages. He heard back from Patrick, and the rest in history.
In the book, he takes
the reader through his times of triumph with the Islanders and with the Red
Wings. He was introduced as the General Manager of the Red Wings in 1982,
succeeding Jimmy Skinner. The following year, Jimmy went to the NHL draft with
the fourth pick. It looked as if the Wings would miss out on the top three
players: Sylvain Turgeon, Pat Lafontaine, and a kid from the Peterborough Petes. The Minnesota
North Stars had the first pick and they chose…….Brian Lawton ,
from an American High School . That left the door open for
Jimmy to pick that kid from the Petes: Steve Yzerman. A wise selection for his
first draft pick.
Yzerman stayed in Detroit 22 years, He
served as captain longer than any other player in history, and is a member of
the Hall of Fame. He has left Detroit to serve
as the GM of the Tampa
Bay Lightning.
Devellano went on to
wheel and deal, adding enough pieces to put together the Stanley
Cup teams in Motor
City .
In fact, his book is
entitled, “The road to Hockeytown-Jimmy Devellano’s Forty Years in the NHL”.
For all of you Wings fans, it is a must. One of my friends in Fort Myers , Jerry Lewis, could not put the
book down. “I really enjoyed that trip once again,” he told me. “It was fun to
get a different perspective on the team.” Jerry has been involved in sport all
his life, and still plays competitive baseball in a seniors’ loop. In a recent
tournament, he face Bill “Space Man” Lee!
I am going to drop
off my copy of Devellano’s book at the Wellington
Library tomorrow. It will be there for all of you Red Wing fans until the NHL
starts up again in the fall. You need something to keep your interest while
others watch their favourite teams. Well, that is stretching it a bit. As the
playoffs wind down, there are many of you basking in disappointment.
Regrets.
Tuesday, May 06, 2014
Tooronto Basketball 2014
My friend and
basketball insider Grant Freestone attended one of those playoff games in Toronto . He was ecstatic
with the frenzy surrounding the game. “The square outside the Air Canada Centre
was packed with fans. Most of the estimates were in the ten thousand range.
They lived and died with every basket. The atmosphere in the Centre was
electric. And incredibly noisy too, I might add.
He also noted the
behaviour of two of the veterans on the Nets, a certain Mr. Kevin Garnett and a
Mr. Paul Pierce. They did not shut up the entire game. They spend the time
nattering away at the opposition in an attempt to break concentration. I
realize that happens in all sports, at various levels. In the NBA, it has
become a science, and Garnett and Pierce each have their doctorates. They work under the direction of Coach Jason Kidd, sometimes known to be argumentative.
The Raptors are a
young group, and that likely influenced the final result. One of their best
players, Kyle Lowry hobbled through the last few games. Lowry is an experienced
player, having spent time with the Grizzlies and the Rockets. He is an
accomplished point guard, always ready to assist other shooters.
He was also asked to
shoot the last shot of the game for the Raps, a shot that would have moved them
into the second round of the playoffs against the Miami Heat. That organization puts Dwayne
Wade and LeBron James on the floor, two of the very best in the game. They also
field Chris Bosh, a former Raptor who skipped out to find fame and fortune in America . There
was a distinct bad taste left in the mouths of the Raptor nation when he left,
with just cause. That would have been an incredible matchup. Maybe next year.
Jack took us through
the final seconds, relating that the Nets used some taller players, for
rebounding purposes: “They’ve got a lot of length on the floor”. One of the
Nets hit a shot with “a good quick trigger”. The Raptors Terrance Ross got
caught in the corner with the ball, with seconds remaining, but had the
presence of mind to slam the ball of the leg of a Net, sending it out of bounds
to give the Raps possession. “You know you will have to make a major play under
duress,” he told us as the clock ticked down. He wanted the Raps to try a shot
that might result in a rebound, “so you can get the put back opportunity as
well”. To no avail.
Kyle Lowry got
stuffed in the lane with no time remaining, and the season ended, just like
that. Unfortunately, the long-established custom of players shaking hands after
a game is long gone in the NBA. There is little respect in that regard as well.
At least 25 sponsors
got mention during the telecast. They are paying big bucks, and television is
the engine that drives the train in professional sport today. Salaries, arenas,
whatever. Part of the great excitement of professional basketball today.
James Hurst