Takes and trash talk from both ALL sides of the NHL's most obscure PATHETIC* rivalry

* Thanks, Kevin Lowe!

Monday, November 03, 2008

Dear NHL: Congratulations on not forgetting your east-coast bias

Now I don't want to over-emphasize the point of this post, as really, I don't care very much at all about the NHL's Three Stars of the Week. It's an announcement that pretty much every week escapes my notice, as generally it's a collection of east-coast players named Sidney or Alexander or something, with an occasional west-coaster tossed in for "parity".

But what is the poor NHL to do when the top three scorers of the week all come from the easy-to-neglect Anaheim Ducks? It certainly couldn't have a weekly ceremony without any mention of its favorite conference, could it?

Nah, of course not. After meeting late into the night, the NHL brass came up with a brilliant compromise: why not just combine all three Duck players as one three-headed "First Star of the Week", conveniently leaving two spots available to throw a nod to Boston's Tim Thomas and Philadelphia's Simon Gagne? Certainly it was a brave maneuver that had never been done before, but considering the outrage that would have surely resulted from an all-west-coast announcement, I think it comes off as a brilliant solution.

Anyways, congratulations are certainly due to the Anaheim trio. Had they not combined for 10 goals and 18 assists this week, it would probably have been yet another east coast three-star sweep (sigh).

Go Ducks.

9 comments:

Cheechew said...

That would be cool if they could combine into 1 person like Voltron. Selanne could be the legs, Getzlaf the body and Perry could be the unmentionables.

Earl Sleek said...

Aw, c'mon. Perry could at least provide a full head of hair :)

BTW, here's the scoring split for the trio after the team's first six games:

Getzlaf 0-1-1
Perry 0-1-1
Selanne 1-0-1

Here's how they've done over the last seven games (six for Getzlaf):

Getzlaf 4-9-13
Perry 3-11-14
Selanne 7-4-11

And even though I've seen every game, I have no idea what's fundamentally changed. Now they just score and score and score.

SK eleven said...

Thank you! I actually LAUGHED OUT LOUD about the full head of hair. He can ALSO provide a full set of teeth (I believe).

And come on, we all know where the change came from, no one is letting us forget it's the dentist visit!!! (Really it was the road trip and "bonding" right?)

But I totally agree about the 3 stars being a bit of a rip off. Although, it is nice that they couldn't chose just one. But what order would they have been in if they went 1, 2, 3? I can't even decide!

Earl Sleek said...

He can ALSO provide a full set of teeth (I believe).

Very good point. Getzlaf in particular has been showing off the half-smile lately (which is better than the full-toothed grimace).

(Really it was the road trip and "bonding" right?)

I'm as perplexed as anyone about what's caused the turnaround. My first suspicion is positivity, but I'm willing to accept lots of theories.

But what order would they have been in if they went 1, 2, 3? I can't even decide!

Selanne, Getzlaf, Perry, in that order. Even though Getzlaf and Perry probably had better weeks overall, Selanne passed enough people on the all-time scoring board that he should get top billing.

Besides, six straight regulation periods with a power play goal is a crazy anomaly--I don't have the data power to see who last in the NHL did that, but I imagine it's quite a rarity.

Kevin Y said...

Did anybody else notice that Teemu Selanne is wearing a different jersey than Perry and Getzlaf?

Earl Sleek said...

Did anybody else notice that Teemu Selanne is wearing a different jersey than Perry and Getzlaf?

Selanne must still be wearing his "professional tryout contract" uniform. :)

Mike in OC said...

I also thought they said Teemu changed sticks, that migh be a small part as well.

East Coast Bias is alive and well.

Dicks...

Anonymous said...

How bout Teemu moving to first line instead of playing with the fab Van Morrison?

Earl Sleek said...

How bout Teemu moving to first line instead of playing with the fab Van Morrison?

Well, I don't see a pressing need right now; whoever rides shotgun on the Perry-Getzlaf line is probably just a passenger anyway, and Kunitz seems to be doing that just fine.

Besides, I'm not as discouraged by Van Morrison's play as I probably should be -- it's OK that he's been struggling, as he's sure to rebound at some point, and that's just pure bonus for the Ducks.

I'd just keep Selanne toiling down on the second line with Marchant and B-Mo and wait for something to develop; there's plenty of offense coming from other sources at this point, at least.