by Sean McIndoe
By the way, it should go without saying that this policy applies only in the regular season.
There's a separate policy for the post-season, which can be found here:
Chapter 13
A Brief History of Mats Sundin
Mats Sundin played for three teams during his eighteen-year NHL career. But for a generation of fans he'll always be a Maple Leaf, and in February of 2012 he saw his number 13 raised to the rafters in an emotional ceremony at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto.
Sundin's career was often spectacular, but his legacy is complicated. To this day, Maple Leafs fans can't seem to agree on what he meant to the team. He owns several franchise scoring records, but was criticized for underachieving. He refused an opportunity to leave the team, but was accused of lacking loyalty.
Now that Sundin has taken his place alongside Maple Leafs immortality, let's take a look back at the career of one of the game's most polarizing figures.
October 4, 1990: One year after being taken first overall by Quebec, Sundin makes his NHL debut in Hartford and records his first career goal in what, to this day, remains one of the most memorable moments in recent Nordiques/Whalers history.
June 28, 1994: A blockbuster trade sends Sundin to the Maple Leafs, with Wendel Clark going to the Nordiques. Upon witnessing the outrage in Toronto over the deal, Sundin makes a mental note that Leafs fans obviously really hate it when a popular veteran captain is traded for younger players.
September 30, 1997: Sundin is finally given the captain's “C” a full seven months after the Doug Gilmour trade had left it vacant, a delay caused by team president Ken Dryden's desire to “say just a few quick words” prior to the presentation.
January 7, 2004: The league suspends Sundin for one game after he tosses his broken stick into the lower bowl at the Air Canada Centre. The league argues that if it condones that sort of behavior, it could happen someday in a different arena and potentially endanger actual hockey fans.
May 4, 2004: Despite a dramatic tying goal from their captain late in the third period of game six, the Leafs suffer a series-ending overtime defeat to the Philadelphia Flyers. After the game, a disappointed but determined Sundin vows to never again lose another playoff game in Toronto.
February 26, 2006: Sundin plays a critical role in Sweden's upset gold medal victory at the Winter Olympics when he convinces Daniel Alfredsson to guarantee they'll win bronze.
October 14, 2006: Demonstrating his flair for the dramatic, Sundin scores his 500th career goal in overtime, while shorthanded, to complete a hat trick; although some fans will later point out that the accompanying unicycle and torch juggling may have been a little over the top.
October 11, 2007: Sundin sets two separate franchise records on the same play with a third-period goal that breaks Darryl Sittler's all-time marks for both goals and points; or, as the Toronto media will later describe it, “Sundin fails to break Sittler's single game scoring record.”
February 24, 2008: While announcing his controversial decision not to waive his no-trade clause, an obviously conflicted Sundin tells reporters, “I cannot leave my teammates and join another NHL club at this time.” He then pauses, look around warily, and adds, “Soooo, if someone could tell Cliff Fletcher to stop honking the horn of the moving van in my driveway, that would be awesome.”
December 18, 2008: After repeatedly vowing that he had no intention of playing half a season for a team and then winning the Stanley Cup, Sundin proves true to his word by signing with the Vancouver Canucks.
February 21, 2009: Sundin makes his return to Toronto and scores the winning goal in the shoot-out, giving Leafs fans one last chance to see him come through without any help from his wingers.
February 11, 2012: After watching his number rise to the rafters, and realizing that he should do something to acknowledge the outpouring of affection from Maple Leafs fans, Mats Sundin finally agrees to wave.
Chapter 14
Signs your City May Not be a Viable Hockey Market
When Gary Bettman became NHL commissioner in 1993, one of his mandates was to grow the game beyond its traditional markets. He set out to do that with an aggressive plan targeting the southern United States, and between expansion and relocations, the league soon found itself in several brand new markets.
The results have been mixed. While southern teams have certainly seen their share of success on the ice, most have struggled with the bottom line. The Phoenix Coyotes have been in a well-documented state of flux for a decade, the Atlanta Thrashers moved to Winnipeg, and teams in cities like Dallas and Nashville have struggled financially.
Some fans would conclude that the southern US just can't support NHL teams, but that seems unfair. After all, some southern markets do just fine. The key is figuring out which are viable hockey markets. And that can involve the league asking itself some tough questions.
Here are some signs that your local market may not actually be able to support an NHL franchise:
When you try to describe the concept of icing to the fans by explaining that it's when the puck is shot all the way down to the other end of the ice, they respond, “That's great. What's ‘ice'?”
Any time they hear a fourth-line player described as “gritty,” fans instinctively try to smother him in cheese and red-eye gravy.
Nobody's coming right out and saying that the geographic location is too tropical for professional hockey, but “the wave” going around the arena right now is an actual wave.
When their team goes on a power play, the fans just wait patiently for them to set up a scoring chance instead of instantly yelling “SHOOOOOOT” like real fans do.
Scheduling has occasionally proven difficult since the arena is often booked for higher-profile events, such as rock concerts or NBA games or children's birthday parties.
The fans in the new city never seem to grow attached to the team's logo and uniform colors, even though ownership has given plenty of chances by changing them to something new every six months.
The kiss cam has recently been replaced by the “Let's see if we can find a section with more than one person sitting in it” cam.
You throw your hat to celebrate a hat trick; by the time it hits the ice, it's riddled with bullet holes.
The fans are always asking dumb questions like, “What exactly is the point of that trapezoid thing behind the net?” instead of just pretending to have any idea and then quickly changing the subject.
As promised, the new arena that the city paid for immediately attracted dozens of new businesses to open up nearby, although it seems like a bad sign that every one of them is a moving company or a bankruptcy trustee.
Instead of “Go team go!” or “Charge!” the most common fan chant is “Hey, could everyone out there on the ice keep it down? We're trying to catch the score of the college football game.”
When people come to visit your market they're always saying things like, “Gee, it's hot here” and “My, it's very warm even in winter” and “The name of this city is Phoenix.”
It's the first year in the new market and team management isn't even bothering to take basic steps to build a winner, such as calling up the Montreal Canadiens and asking if they want to give away their franchise goaltender for nothing.
After the last home game of every season, the scoreboard flashes the message “To be continued?”
Chapter 15
Behind the Scenes at the Rehearsal for the Presentation of the Stanley Cup
OK, people, can I have your attention? Everyone listen up. You too, Mr. Bettman. This is important.
As you know, tonight's game marks the first time in this year's final that a team is one win away from taking the series. That means that the Stanley Cup will be in the building, and there's a chance it will be awarded after the game. It's a big moment, and we all need to be on the same page, so let's go over the game plan.
When the series ends, it's going to be chaos. Fans screaming, players hugging, linesmen stealing pu
cks. Everyone stay professional. And please, make sure the game is really done before you let the media storm onto the ice. Neither of these teams is the Buffalo Sabres, so it's important to try to actually get things right.
OK, once the handshakes are done the Cup will be brought out by the two guys who carry it everywhere: the guy who's never in any commercials and the guy who's in every commercial. Are they here? Great. You two will bring it out from the back hallway where it's been during the third period, being shown on television every fifteen seconds. Set it up on the little pedestal at center ice, and then go back to doing whatever it is you do the other 364 days of the year.
OK, Gary, once the Cup is out on the ice, that's your cue to make your way over. Let's walk through it right now. Great, great, you're here, one hand awkwardly on the Cup, ready to go. Pause for booing. Booing. More booing. Still booing. Hey, have you ever considered letting someone else handle this? It's just that the fans all really seem like they'd prefer it if … You know what, you're the boss. I'm not here to tell you how to do your job.
So anyways… Booing. More booing. Now, Gary, while all this is going on, you're going to want to be wearing the proper facial expression. I'd recommend a smirky mixture of glib condescension and bemused annoyance. Do you think you could … Hey, wow, that's really good. Have you been practicing?
Really? Permanent, you say? As in 24 hours a day? Hmm. Wow. OK, well, it's perfect, so don't change a thing.
So now some of the fans have given up on booing and are starting to hiss. That's a good time to start the presentation, so you're going to need to call over the captain of the winning team. Hold on, not yet. Wait until he's just started his interview with Hockey Night in Canada. And … now!
OK, Gary, remember this guy has literally spent the majority of his life focused on getting his hands on the Stanley Cup. He's bled for it, sacrificed, missed his children's birthdays, all for this one exact moment. So before you hand it over to him, make sure you force him to pose for photographs with you. He won't mind at all. That's right, be sure to hold the pose just long enough for it to feel awkward. Fantastic.
OK, now the winning team is going to pass the Cup around. There's an established order here, so let's make sure they follow it. First, the captain. Next, the sympathetic old guy on the team who's never won the Cup before. Next, any players who think they were unfairly singled out for criticism by fans and media. That should take care of the rest of the entire roster.
Now listen up, everyone, because once the players have the Stanley Cup we all have our most important job of the evening: We get out of the way. The NHL does a lot of things wrong, but this is the one moment we get exactly right. No owners grabbing the trophy. No corporate shills. No television personalities screaming into a microphone. Just twenty or so players who've endured two months of hell together, for this one chance to share the Cup. They've earned this. It's their moment. Let's all just stand back and absorb the positive energy.
Well, all of us except for Gary. The fans are still booing him.
Great smirk, though.
Chapter 16
You Wanna Go?: A History of Hockey Brawls
Seen any good fights lately? Probably. While recent trends have shown a reduction in fighting, it's still part of the game. Usually it's just two players squaring off, settling their differences and moving on. But every now and then tempers boil over, everyone pairs off, and two teams get a little carried away.
Is fighting good for the game? Maybe not, but there's still nothing quite like a good old-fashioned hockey brawl to get a fan's attention. So join me in a nostalgic look back at some well-known hockey brawls. You know, or else I'll punch you in the head.
March 5, 2004: The Senators and Flyers combine for a league record 419 PIM after a series of fights are touched off by an argument over which franchise will destroy the careers of the most goaltenders during the rest of the decade.
October 2, 2008: After the fifth different altercation to feature a player viciously attacking Sean Avery, the Dallas Stars coaching staff decides to just cancel the rest of the practice and try again tomorrow.
April 20, 1984: The Canadiens and Nordiques combine for over 250 penalty minutes and ten ejections in a game that comes to be known as la bataille du Vendredi saint or, in English, “actually pretty standard for a game between Quebec and Montreal.”
March 4, 2003: An enraged Darcy Tucker dives into the Ottawa bench and remains there for several seconds, inadvertently becoming the third longest-serving coach in Senators history.
1982 to 1993 (inclusive): In an extended incident that most hockey historians will later describe as “maybe a bit excessive,” every single player in the Norris Division is involved in a spirited fight with every single other player at all times for twelve straight years, with the exception of Steve Yzerman.
March 15, 2006: Chris Pronger is ejected from the game after a rampage that leaves seven players injured, which is unfortunate since it was a spring-training game between the Baltimore Orioles and Kansas City Royals.
October 4, 2007: A rare goalie fight during an intrasquad scrimmage leaves Andrew Raycroft and Vesa Toskala facing significant injuries and lengthy suspensions, every Leaf fan really wishes in hindsight.
February 18, 1992: Towards the end of a wild bench-clearing brawl involving such noted enforcers as Rob Ray, Brad May, Gord Donnelly, Jay Wells, and Brad Miller, the Buffalo Sabres sheepishly begin to realize that the Hartford Whalers left two hours ago and they've all just been fighting each other.
December 23, 1979: Mike Milbury climbs into the stands and beats a fan with his own shoe, in what everyone now agrees is probably the fifteenth or sixteenth dumbest thing he's ever done.
January 4, 1987: Canada and Russia are disqualified from the World Junior tournament after a massive brawl that will be unanimously criticized by the media as “outrageous” and “shameful” and “totally going to screw up the ‘you never see any brawls in international hockey' argument we make in all our anti-fighting columns.”
May 11, 1989: After an increasingly out-of-control Ron Hextall viciously attacks Chris Chelios in the dying moments of the Wales Conference final, concerned government authorities finally agree to green-light the top-secret cyborg assassin program that will eventually lead to the creation of Felix Potvin.
November 7, 1998: Red Wings and Avalanche players immediately engage in a half-dozen separate and bloody fights the moment the puck hits the ice, which really scares the crap out of the small disabled child doing the ceremonial puck drop.
Chapter 17
From The Archives: The 1993 Leafs/Kings Game Six Live Blog
Author's note: This is a post from the DGB archives that was originally published in May 1993.
Wait, what? A blog archive from almost twenty years ago? That's right. A lot of you kids don't know this, but sports blogging has been around for a long time.
Long before the Internet even existed, die-hard sports fans like me were posting our thoughts for the world—it was just done a little bit differently than today. For example, back in the day we “blogged” by writing longhand in pen in a spiral notebook. If you wanted to add a photo, you cut one out of a magazine. When you were done, you “posted” your content by taping it to your front window. If other people liked your work, they would “link” to it by drawing an arrow pointing to your house and taping it to their own window.
Not many people noticed what you wrote, but occasionally somebody would wander by and read a few words. Then they'd usually roll their eyes, ring your doorbell, wait for you to open the door, and then drag you into the street to beat you up. So in that sense, not much has changed.
So let's travel back to one of the most famous games in NHL history. It's May 27, 1993, and the Toronto Maple Leafs are in Los Angeles to play the Kings in game six of the Western Conference final. The Leafs hold a 3–2 series lead and are one win away from meeting the Montreal Canadiens in the Stanley Cup final.
A young DGB, noteboo
k in hand, was live blogging every moment. We'll pick up the action late in the third period, with the Leafs trailing 4–3.
1:38 a.m. Wow, is it ever late. I guess that's what happens when you've got a west coast game that doesn't start until 11:00 p.m. in the east. If this game goes to overtime I'm going to be completely exhausted tomorrow. I hope I'm not too sleepy for football practice, given my role as the star quarterback. I'd hate to disappoint my loving and devoted girlfriend, every member of the cheerleading squad.
1:40 a.m. Hey, still, these late games are way better than playing in the middle of the afternoon, am I right? Man. I don't know why NBA fans put up with that.
1:42 a.m. OK, back to the game. The Kings are still holding on to their one-goal lead. The Leafs look exhausted, which I suppose is to be expected. After winning two consecutive seven-game series, they're now playing their twentieth game in thirty-nine nights. It's a stretch of games that's literally unprecedented in NHL history, and you have to figure they're running on fumes.
It would have been nice for them to get some rest during this run, but then again, what's the league supposed to do—start taking a week off in the middle of the playoffs for no reason? Good luck sustaining any interest if you did that.
1:45 a.m. Leafs still trailing. I know I shouldn't look ahead, but I can't help but think we'd have a great chance against the Canadiens in the final. Don't get me wrong, the Habs are a great team and will no doubt be making regular appearances in the conference finals for years to come. But they've also been on an incredible streak of good luck—they've won an amazing seven straight OT games this post-season. Seven! There's simply no way that can continue in the next round.