I AM A HOCKEY GUY!!!

I love the game of hockey. When people ask me what my favorite sport is I tell them with unequaled passion and enthusiasm - HOCKEY! I coach the sport at the high school level in Minnesota. When I was playing the sport on a competitive level (not like the mens league I play in now) I was a goaltender. Who am I trying to kid. Once a goaltender ALWAYS a goaltender. Even though 10 knee surgeries ended my playing time in the net, I utilize my knowledge of the position to help me score some nasty goals in the aformentioned mens league of huffers and puffers! When I am running clinics for young goalies I tell them that hockey is the greatest game in the world and goalie is the greatest position to play in that game.

O.K. Some of you will dispute that.  There are some of you out there who will tell me hockey sucks! Some would say I am crazy for encouraging kids to play goaltender. There are mothers of young men and a few young women out there who look at me with haughty disdain because of the encouragement I rendered to their children as goaltenders. Some of these mothers have said I ruined the game for them because they couldn't watch their children in goal. Sorry! What can I say? This is my game and I want kids to play it and enjoy it!

At any rate this is really not so much about my love of the game, although, it kind of spurred me into this. I am not angry and I am not po'd so for those of you who are used to that from me, I hate to disappoint you and hope you will continue reading. While I am not angry and po'd there is still an issue here. It is an issue with ESPN. It is not the standard issue with ESPN and hockey. It is not the old ESPN putting their spin on things. It is not that there is NOT enough hockey on ESPN or that ESPN has it out for hockey. No, this is a research and broadcasting issue with ESPN. Here is the issue.

I was watching the Texas vs. Arizona St. womens softball game last night on ESPN2. As we all know, ESPN runs, under the screen, highlights or scores and other happenings in sports so you can see that information and watch the game. No problem so far. But when the NHL frame came up the header was that the Buffalo Sabres and Carolia Hurricane were playing game 7 in an attempt to get to the Stanley Cup Finals. All good until they mentioned that Buffalo was trying to get to their SECOND Stanley Cup Final. No date since their first or last just that they were trying to get to their SECOND final. I figured it was a misprint and they would eventually correct it. Wrong! At midnight they were still running that information. It is wrong!

The Buffalo Sabres have had a long life. They were welcoomed into the NHL in 1970. Thy originally played in the old Buffalo Memorial Auditorium - "The AUD." They have had owners and players enter into the NHL Hall of Fame. In the 1970's they had the "French Connection" line. This was comprised of Gilbert Perreault, Rick Martin and Rene Robert.Players who have worn the uniform of the Buffalo Sabres include names like, Dany Gare, Mike Foligno, Phil Housley, Lindy Ruff, Tom Barrasso, Dave Andreychuk, Dale Hawerchuk, Alexander Mogliny, Pat Lafontaine, Dominik Hasek, Brad May, Rob Ray, Matt Barnaby, Miroslav Satan, Michael Pecca, Stu Barnes and one of my personal favorites who is now with the NJ Devils, Erik Rassmussen. Why Erik? He played high school hockey for me and my fellow coaches.

They have retired jerseys and had many individual award winners. Perreault was the Calder Cup winner as Rookie of the Year in 1970. Barrasso was the Calder winner and the Vezina Trophy (Best Goaltender) winner in 1983-84. Mogilny scored 76 goals one year. Gare was a 50 goal scorer.  They have had team success. They were perrenial division winners and playoff contenders through out the '80s. And they have played in the Stanley Cup finals before. Yes, before trying to get to their SECOND Stanley Cup final according to ESPN, they had been there. TWICE as a matter of fact.

In 1999 the Buffalo Sabres played in their second Stanley Cup Final. They played against the Dallas Stars. They were denied the Stanley Cup championship when Brett Hul scored a controversial goal to win the Cup for the Stars. It was controversial because Hull was in the crease when the original shot was taken. In the NHL a player cannot proceed the puck into the crease to increase a scoring opportunity. It is questionable because it appeared that Hull had a skate in the crease illegally and therefore the goal should not have been allowed. Long story short, it was allowed and Buffalo lost the 1999 Stanley Cup final to the Dallas Stars.

But the Sabres graced the Stanley Cup Finals another time before 1999, which ESPN reseachers apparently forgot.  In 1975, the Buffalo Sabres ran up against the Philadelphis Flyers who were led by Bobby Clarke, Dave "The Hammer" Schultz, Andre "Moose" Dupont, and a goaltender who was named the Conn Smythe Trophy winner as PLayoff MVP in '74 and '75, Bernie Parent. The Flyers won the Cup that year 4 games to 2 against the Sabres but two things make this Stanley Cup unforgettable, and therefore unforgivable to ESPN researchers! The "FOG" game occurred during this Stanley Cup final. It was not called this because Flyers coach Fred Shero was known as "Freddie the Fog." It was called this because an extremely warm May in Buffalo created a fog over the ice at the old "AUD" that made parts of the game virtually unviewable from either the stands or the television. I can still see players silhouettes lining up for faceoffs. It was one of the wildest games I haver seen. They would line up and you could see the players down to their knees only and the rest of their legs disappeared into the fog. This was the first thing that made this game so unforgettable. The second is that it is the first and, I am assuming, only time an animal was killed by a hockey player in the middle of a hockey game. Jim Lorentz, who is now a Sabre broadcaster, noticed a bat flying over the ice. He reached up and killed it with his hockey stick.

Yea, I know it isn't much. I know that research errors are made all the time. That is alright with me. It is cool if they catch it and correct it. But when they continue to let it run throughout the night with no correction then I think that is wrong. Again, it didn't hurt anybody. It had no role in the outcome of the game which Carolina won. Sabres players and fans can suffer with the loss and then celebrate the year they had. All is good. But if I were Perreault, Robert, Martin, Don Luce, Craig Ramsay or some of the guys that played on that team I might be a bit chapped. Or if I were guys off of the 1999 team I might be a bit miffed as well. Getting to the Stanley Cup Finals is a huge career accomplishment. To not have it recognized by a sports network and saying the current team is trying to accomplish something that has already been done is kind of tacky. Kind of like arguing over second place on certain lists (I couldn't resist) is kind of tacky! My six year old grandson is cognitively advanced to the point where he could enter Buffalo Sabres on a search engine and get the right information. Maybe I can get him a job at ESPN!

True story - Erik Rasmussen told me that Dominik Hasek is crazy. If you scored a bad goal on him in practice he would literally chase you around the ice screaming things at you. Crazy or major competitor?

You all have a good day and a great weekend!