John Zeiler Breaks Foote, Will Miss 3 Games

John Zeiler is dumb. If you watch the video, Adam Foote looks back behind him twice and sees Zeiler coming at him, and you can see him assume that there's no way Zeiler is going to hit him because it would clearly be boarding. Foote is so positive in this assumption that he doesn't try to protect himself at all. You could even argue that Foote was daring Zeiler to board him. And that's what Zeiler did. He plowed in and boarded the fuck out of Adam Foote. I know some people say that Foote deserved it, or that it's an unfair advantage for a defenseman if a forward can't be aggressive when getting the puck, but the NHL has made clear that if you hit a guy in the back and he hits the boards with his face then you are getting a penalty. John Zeiler hit Foote in the numbers, Foote hit the boards with his face, Zeiler got a penalty. Sounds fair. I only wish Zeiler had gotten the death penalty instead. Well, not the death penalty, that's a little far; maybe a 10-year sentence in federal "pound me in the ass" prison. That sounds about right.

Anaheim Ducks Owner Samueli Suspended by NHL, Club Governor Announced

For background information on this story, by this writer click here.

After it was announced by the NHL that Anaheim Ducks owner Henry Samueli had been suspended for recent legal issues, today the organization announced Chief Executive Officer Michael Schulman has been named Club Governor. Henry Samueli’s wife, Susan, a co-owner of the Ducks said she would abide by the terms of her husbands suspension from the NHL.

“I respect the decision made by Commissioner Bettman and will abide by the terms of the suspension,” said Henry Samueli. “I’m confident the team will be in great hands in my absence.”

“In support of my husband and to avoid any improper appearance, I’ve notified the league of my intention to abide by the terms of Henry’s suspension,” said Susan Samueli.

The regular operations of the franchise will not be changed, as both Executive Vice President/General Manager Brian Burke and Executive Vice President/Chief Operating Officer Tim Ryan both will be reporting to Schulman.

Henry and Susan Samueli purchased the organization in June, 2005. They immediately revamped the team with a new image replacing the old Disney ties with a new more Orange County feel. The new ownership and team changes were the beginning to a fantastic 2007 season which saw the Ducks become the first California-based hockey club to win the Stanley Cup. With the Samueli’s ownership, the club has also created several new charitable initiatives benefiting Orange County, including educational programs, fundraisers and monetary donations.

“Although we will not be involved in decision-making, we will be cheering on our Ducks as loudly as ever.” said Susan Samueli.

Article Source: Ducks, Anaheim. "Ducks Name Schulman Club Governor." Anaheim Ducks online 24 Jun 2008 24 Jun 2008.

Image Source

"Oh Captain My Captain" Time For Change In the Ducks Locker Room

By Ken Armer,

Hey readers of BoC, yep, I'm the new Duck in town, and happy to be here. I just flew in from Texas and man are my arms tired. Ok, now i know how letterman feels...anyway. Yes, I reside in Texas, and yes, I'm a reformed Stars fan. I grew up watching the Stars. But as i grew older i stopped following them, and hockey. Once i got back into hockey, the Ducks became my team. Some may say I'm a Stars fan in Duck feathers, but ill show you your wrong by fall. Although, it may hurt my argument about proving some wrong to make my first post a complaint about the Ducks, i feel many will agree...even Earl and my California writing counterparts. So here goes nothing...

As a highly educated hockey fan, writer and former player, I think I have the right once in a while on certain issues to complain.

My past complaints have been about the trade of Andy McDonald for Doug Weight and a draft pick, and the Ducks early exit from the 2008 playoffs. Now I feel compelled to make it somewhat more personal.

Some may hate me for my opinion, but I feel hockey fans who are for improvement in the Ducks will agree with me. Anyway, on to the point at hand...

Chris Pronger is nowhere near new to being a leader in the Ducks organization, or any other for that matter. He is a fantastic blue liner and a pivotal D-man for the Ducks. His behavior of late though has risen my, along with some others, eyebrows—including the NHL’s.

The latest was a stomp on Canucks Center Ryan Kesler. I watched the video, and having played the game there is no way that was an accident. I would like to believe it was, but come on.

More than just this minor misstep, literally. Chris Pronger has been suspended seven times in his 14-year career. That’s a lot for the captain of a hockey team. Too many if you ask me.

When the Ducks won the Cup in 2007, Pronger found himself suspended twice during that playoff run. Sure, he was not the captain then, but is a guy who makes this many poor choices in two seasons worth being your influential leader and voice between the bench and the zebra (ref)?

Pronger is a leader when he is using the entirety of his brain and not flying off the handle making poor choices. In the last two seasons though, things have gotten out of hand. By this point, some readers are thinking “Well, since he’s so bad who should be captain?”

My pick would be for Rob Niedermayer, the grinding forward who, even with his age, experience, and his placement in the lineup, is a constant force in all aspects of the game.

If the Ducks need someone on the defense in a leadership role, why not give an “A” to Sean O'Donnell or Mathieu Schneider. Pronger can be a leader without a letter on his sweater and he shouldn’t have one until he can better control his behavior.

I don’t honestly expect a change to be made, but I truly think Rob deserves a chance, more than just an “A” on his sweater. He deserves the promotion and even more he fills the role like it is supposed to be filled.

Look at Patrick Marleau. He hardly ever does something stupid and he’s a positive influence for the Sharks.

Brenden Morrow for the Stars is the same deal, an emotional force that leads his team by example, both in the physical game and scoring game, winning goals to lead his team to the Conference Finals. While Pronger’s example is to stomp on guys and elbow them to gain a suspension from the NHL.

As some will have noticed, I skipped over Scott Niedermayer and Teemu Selanne, who although are leaders, need to let someone with a longer future with the Ducks take the role.

Selanne or Scotty would be fantastic captains, but until they decide on their futures in hockey, they need to focus on other things rather than being the emotional leaders. They fill those roles without the sweater designation.

If Pronger does keep the “C,” I hope his behavior will improve so he will be a leader and not a distraction.

Emotion on the ice is a powerful thing, but Pronger is like a tea kettle—he boils over too often. If his teammates truly feel he is the captain they need then so be it, but maybe they should really think about a change for the 2008-2009 season.

Ducks Gameday—Updated Logo

Phoenix Coyotes (38-37-6, 12th in west) at Anaheim Ducks (46-27-8, 3rd in west)

Memo to the league: Pronger's back, so watch your head (and shins)! In fact, I've gone ahead and updated my re-designed Ducks logo to help remind opponents of the constant danger they are in:

Note: Ducking might not prevent getting stomped on.
Prediction: Ducks 3, Coyotes 2, in the last meaningless game of the year. Goals by the thugs: Pronger, Mayday, and Bertuzzi.

Go Ducks.

The power of the internet compels you

In the 50th comment of last post, Scarlett Ice’s Sherry posed this question, in response to my comment that Pronger’s forthcoming suspension (expected tomorrow) was the result of “nice whining.”

So as fans of the game, why shouldn't we whine about it? Isn't that part of what blogging is about?

Sherry, believe me, I've been whining all day, just in my own cynical way. And frankly, I’m really impressed that the NHL could be this swayed by pretty much the internet alone (I don't think the Canucks did or said anything, did they?). Score one for the web opinionists, especially if the overnight swing goes from 0 to 10 games for Pronger's stomp. Because frankly, while there was a clearer YouTube offered today, I have to say that I didn't see anything particularly new. It was certainly focused and to a degree more compelling, but it still left me with the possibilities I saw yesterday. At best, he’s freeing his foot, and at worst, he hopes Kesler never skates on two legs again, and it’s tough for me to expertly decide. But I don’t want to get into that debate here—keep those Pronger-opinion comments in the post below.

This post is to marvel at the power of a united hockey internet. While the unveiled video may offer an official excuse for Colin Campbell to change his position, I’m not falling for that explanation. Instead, I’m going to associate every one of these new suspended games to the growing power of the internet outcry, and it’s a pretty special thing to see. Journalists, message-boarders, bloggers, and commenters all chimed in very strongly with a loud cry for justice, and wow it seems to be getting results. The league seems to be listening. Even if tonight’s decision goes against everything I’ve personally been preaching, I don’t know if I’ve ever been as proud of the hockey internet as I am tonight. It’s just fascinating to see a cumulative voice of the fan make change in an often-stubborn league.

Congratulations, hockey internet. You may have just become a force tonight, and I’m glad to be around to see it.

Still, I have to maintain a little smugness around the whole StompGate affair (it is after all my main character flaw):

• It's a good thing this sort of internet swaying power wasn't available last spring, else the Red Wings or the Senators could have extended a Pronger suspension and won that cup. That is, if they had shown any ability to win against a Prongerless Ducks team when given the chance.
• Losing Pronger will certainly hurt the team's short-term chance for good seeding, but it won't be the worst thing to get his jaw rested up for the playoffs. I'm surprised he rushed back from the cracked jaw so urgently, to tell the truth, especially with the team's acquisition of MA Bergeron. I suspect it has something to do his sense of obligation about wearing that "C", which seems oddly honorable.
• And hey, this may just give Pronger enough time to put a second post up on his blog, and maybe he can start a little internet squabble of his own.

Again, good work, hockey internet. Someday I hope we'll be whining our way to change on the same side of an issue.

What to do about Stompy?

Ah, Pronger, you magnificent bastard, you certainly have a way of pissing off the world, don't you? Fans and imaginations everywhere have chastised the NHL's soft policy on "suspending Chris Pronger", apparently for not having the same level of YouTube clairvoyance as your average Pronger-hater. Whether or not Pronger intended to sidestep or stomp a fallen Ryan Kesler, none of that can be answered on the video without a major dose of assumption ("Well, if you know that Chris Pronger always tries to hurt everyone, then it's conclusive"). While I know that sort of assumption is fine for Pronger-haters, it's certainly not good enough for the league's disciplinarian to act on, especially for a high-profile player like Pronger. Pronger doesn't even have a history of stomping; his suspensions in Anaheim have been about elbowing puck-carriers.

As Bob McKenzie notes, there's just not enough evidence in the video to suspend Pronger, just enough to suspect him. Still, there is whine across North America for Pronger's justice, so what's Colin Campbell to do? He could (and probably will) avoid the issue, but if he wanted to, he could take preventative action so that Pronger couldn't be off-camera on the ice again. Have a press conference where it's announced that Pronger will be on constant surveillance, so that any future suspendable brutality that "Pronger's always getting away with" won't be missed again. It's a win-win-win-win (assuming I somehow win too).

The dedicated Chris Pronger camera

Gathering evidence for a suspension, one elbow at a time.
Note: The cloud-koopa technology shown here might not be available for several years, and the camera-on-a-fishing-pole idea might be ill-conceived. But the general concept still works.

Dedicate a camera to stay on Pronger for an entire game, no matter what city he's in, and allow overly agitated Pronger-haters to subscribe to that broadcast. Concerned "stomping watchdogs" can subscribe to these live feeds on a pay-per-view basis, and if they feel there's something suspension-worthy to report, they can call 1-800-TELL-ON-PRONGER and tattle with high-definition video evidence to a very sympathetic answering machine. All proceeds will help fund the cloning of Ryan Kesler's endangered leg.

ProngerCam--it may not appease the haters, but it's at least an active response to their bloodlust--yay or nay?

NHL finds a new revenue source?

You should probably laugh at this now before it comes true.

Is it time for the Ducks to get a logo?

I must admit, I was pretty inspired by Pfizer's mother-of-all-Canucks-logos (happy birthday, Alanah!); it really got me to thinking--shouldn't the Ducks get back to the logo game? If you recall, last summer the Ducks introduced their new look uniforms, featuring a webbed-foot text which was at least successful in reminding absolutely nobody of Disney, but still it lacked a true logo. Instead of a picture of an actual duck, we instead were treated with forensic evidence that suggests that duck-like creatures may have once inhabited the earth.

Anyway, now that the team has divorced itself from the Disney movie, I can't really say what association the team or the city of Anaheim has with actual ducks. But with the right logo, maybe we could re-associate the team name with the actual identity of the team--we could stop pretending that “Duck” refers to some animal, and instead acknowledge that it better reflects an appropriate action to take when May, Bertuzzi, or Pronger is skating up to you.

So here's my proposed Anaheim logo for '07-'08. Enjoy!:

If anyone has a cleaner Bertuzzi shot, send it to me and I'll gladly work it in.

------------------------------------

I've been spending a lot of time this summer commenting at Interchangeable Parts--I'm not sure how best to describe it, except the commenters there are hilarious; it's really a blog to hang out at. Pookie and Schnookie have been diligently running a summer series "118 reasons why we love hockey", where they celebrate different aspects of today's NHL (or hockey in general). Anyway, I got to write one as a reader submission, so if you're interested you can see one reason why I love hockey, though if you cruise the archives you'll see that they've got a lot of better-written posts than mine.

Byproduct of Boredom: Anaheim Ducks Comics

Evil, keep your head up.

To be continued?

How much do you hate this man?

I know there's a lot of readers here who hate this guy, whose head-seeking elbows have both had a good laugh in consecutive game fours.

Love the guy? Hate the guy? Express yourself in the comments.

Ducks Gameday—The excuses are all ready for G4

Round Four, Game Four: (2) Anaheim Ducks at (4) Ottawa Senators
(ANA leads series 2-1, JavaGeek ‘odds’: ANA 69%)

Who says there's no consistency in NHL justice? For the second series in a row, Pronger's elbow becomes a bigger story than an Anaheim G3 loss, and again the Ducks go into a G4 without either of those elbows available. But hey, at least I don't need to make a new graphic.

But there's no use complaining over the games that are over with; regardless of manpower the Ducks enter tonight's game with a series lead and the opportunity to push Ottawa to the brink. Yes, Pronger (and maybe Kunitz?) will be a big loss for the lineup. Yes, the Ducks should probably just expect to be shorthanded more than the Sens (though when given the opportunity to put five guys on a faceoff, don't pass that up again). Yes, it's a road game, and line matching will be difficult. Yes, the Senators are confident and ready to take advantage of their momentum.

But those things can only be the difference if the Ducks let them matter. There's a Stanley Cup at stake in this series, and if the Ducks come ready to play, then Ottawa fans and referees and Canadian media and league review and even the Sens themselves shouldn't be enough to pry that trophy from the Ducks' clutches. Forget the excuses, it's time for the Prongerless Ducks to step up and win a critical G4. Again.

Prediction: Ducks 3, Senators 2. Goals by Selanne, Pahlsson, and Feral Rage.

Go Ducks.

Pronger suspended for G4

Quite a conversation we've got going in the previous drinky post (apologies for the language and hyperbole) on comparative fanbases, so I thought I'd create a quick post for people to talk about the other big news: Chris Pronger being suspended one game for his head-first board of Detroit's Tomas Holmstrom (assist: Rob Niedermayer).

Here's the hit, by the way.

Many issues here:
a) What do you think about the length of the suspension? Too much, not enough, or just right? (BTW: Read Matt's post at BoA for a really good perspective on suspensions in general.)
b) What do you think this means for the rest of the series? Can the Ducks negotiate a home game without the big blueliner, or does this pretty much cost Anaheim the series?
c) Given the outcome of last night's game, does it even matter?

So, Pronger suspension comments here, fanbase comments on the other post. Go nuts.

Brad May: Do I really have to root for this a$$hole?

As this series shifts to Vancouver, so with it comes the winds of May…Brad May, that is. May is eligible to return to play for Anaheim after serving his three-game suspension for the uncalled-for suckerpunch of Minnesota defenseman and minutes-leader Kim Johnsson.

Now I have been very critical of the NHL’s light punishment in this matter—three games was the shortest sentence available to avoid a Boogaard retaliation—but in the NHL’s defense, it was a punch that hardly anyone saw or had footage of; there just haven't been many good pictures of the actual attack. There was a multi-player scrum going on right in front of the benches, and it wasn’t until the cameras zoomed out again that the injured Johnsson (who did not play again in the series) was noticed lying on the ice. Watching the game, none of the TV replays seemed to be able to locate or isolate the suckerpunch, so the NHL may have been going on testimony rather than on hard evidence.

Well, I’ve found some shots that I think people need to see; most of these shots come from a reader submission on the Minnesota Star Tribune’s Wild blog, and in my mind are among the few pieces of actual evidence of May’s crime. I do not believe that the NHL had evidence like this when making its decision, and I don’t think many hockey fans have seen what actually happened.

Ugly. Gruesome. Horrible. Despicable.

Obviously as a Ducks fan, I have a huge moral dilemma here. As a hockey fan (or even as a human being) this is a tough act to forgive or overlook—to ruthlessly attack and injure a career non-fighter with a concussion history—it goes against every notion of the 'code', and obviously the NHL’s 3-game punishment does not do justice to the crime committed.

But having said that, the fact that May deserves a stiffer punishment does not make him any less available going into G3. I think he is among the Ducks’ top-12 forwards at this point in time, and if he does dress, it’s going to be awfully tough for me not to root for him—I still want the Ducks to win, after all.

So I guess I’d like some input on my inner debate here: the question is not so much “Does Brad May deserve a longer suspension?” because the answer is a pretty easy “Yes.” But rather, now that May has served his insufficient suspension, what next? Should the Ducks dress him? And if so, how do I cheer for him?

No matter what, I refuse to hide the evidence. Everyone really ought to know: Brad May is a gutless puke of a thug. The Ducks may be able to use him towards a cup run, but other than his contributions toward that, I hate him.

Comment away, people. Let’s find a way to get the Brad Mays out of the game.

Sleek to NHL: You are WEAK!

Sorry, one last out-the-door post, then I swear I am done 'til Monday:

Brad May did a very bad thing, sucker-punching Kim Johnsson in the dying minutes of G4 after the game was well-decided on the scoreboard. Johnsson, who has probably never been in an NHL fight, will be out for G5 and his status for the rest of the series is probably in question. You can read my feelings in the comments here, but rest assured, I am not going to try to defend or excuse Brad May's actions, and my personal opinion was that he should be suspended seven games (and wouldn't have minded ten).

But what does the weak-sauce NHL give him? 3 games. The absolutely weakest punishment possible, because that's the bare minimum number of games required to avoid a Boogaard-May scene this postseason.

Avoiding that scene is fine, but to only make it the bare minimum? That strongly suggests that the NHL would have liked to have given him less for the incident, and that's pretty bullshit.

Sleek out.