Nadal, Federer and the need for legitimate winners

Rafael Nadal: a whimpering, tennis world splicing of Petr Sykora and Ed Hochuli?

I don't consider myself a tennis fan, but my friend and I were lucky to stumble upon today's Wimbledon final where Nadal finally bested Federer in the longest Wimbledon final ever. The ridiculously close match made me think of those unforgettable marathon OT games in the NHL playoffs.

It compels me to say that sudden death overtime is the only way a playoff hockey game should ever be decided.

Gary Bettman and his team of buffoons can fumble perfect marketing opportunities, bungle year-long strikes and allow the league to expand to places where ice barely exists, but they must not be allowed to ruin the playoffs.

Pittsburgh - Detroit was a classic. San Jose - Dallas was pretty damn amazing. And the tennis equivalent of a multi-OT game was compelling to even the most casual observers. Let that be a lesson to the NHL.

Please, don't fuck this up.

Speaking of Playoff Overtime...

Well wasn't that something last night? The seventh overtime period of the six-game series, grittily played from opening whistle until Brendan Morrow's final tally early on a Cinco morning. I got the following e-mail sent to me 10 days ago, but between my 'week off' and the zaniness of the Sharks-Stars series I've been waiting to post it, but I guess now it's as appropriate as it's ever going to be:

Earl--

My name is Jonathan Harris and I work at a human-powered search service called Mahalo.com.

I've been a big fan of The Battle of California for a few seasons now and appreciate the pro-Ducks coverage I can get there (I'm a die-hard Anaheim fan myself, and am still reeling from high expectations and disappointment.)

At any rate, one of my associates at Mahalo has recently completed a page celebrating the Best Hockey OT Winners in NHL history. We think this is a great page with original content and commentary and we're trying to get it featured on as many hockey/sports related blogs as we can. I thought you might like to see it, considering your love of the game and penchant for slightly off-beat hockey content off your own (I particularly like your recent cartoon of the Sharks and Flames begging each other to score first).

Take a look at the page when you get a chance. Let us know what we're missing and how we can improve the result!

Jonathan

Nothing gets my attention like a little flattery. So, if you're inclined, take a look at their collection of OT winners and offer your suggestions, either here or on their comments section. The plug e-mail also got me thinking, though, 'What was my favorite OT winner in Anaheim's playoff history?' It's not that easy a question, I think, because it should consider:

a) The prettiness or grittiness of the goal
b) The game up to that point (were goalies unbeatable to that point?)
c) The importance of the game and perhaps what followed
d) The game-winning hero

Based on that criteria, I am leaning towards Steve Rucchin's overtime winner in G4 of the first round of the 2003 playoffs, the goal that completed the sweep of the defending champion Detroit Red Wings. It wasn't the prettiest of goals, but it was the only time I ever saw defenseman Keith Carney carry the puck behind the opponent's net, and Rucchin was as appropriate a hero as Anaheim had on that squad. It was a huge statement goal, one that vanquished the Red Wings curse that had swept Anaheim in both previous playoff appearances, and helped propel the upstart Ducks all the way to the seventh game of the cup finals.

Still, I am open to suggestions on this one, so let me open it up to the comments: For any team, what was your favorite OT winner in your team's playoff history? Who was the hero, and why was it so special?

(Side note: Incidentally, today is the 5-year anniversary of the G6 when Anaheim ousted the Dallas Stars in 2003. I remember the date specifically, because a fan sitting next to me at that game had put together one of the more memorable signs I saw that playoffs: "It's Cinco de Mayo--Time to Sink DiMaio!" Rob DiMaio was just a bit player for Dallas, of course, but I've always been a sucker for stubborn puns.)

The game that shall never be mentioned

No comment.

This is Like Deja Vu All Over Again....Yogi Berra

I turn on the game tonight and basically predicted what would happen. No Frolov, Cammalleri, or Modry. Sharks come out strong and only score 1 goal. They decide to take the 2nd period off and lose in a shootout. Anyone else seen this movie before? I could not believe it but I actually got off the couch at the end of OT since I knew what would happen. I swear other teams get to OT and think to themselves "why should we push forward when we have this game already in hand once we get to the shootout." At this point I say just throw 3 forwards and Ozo on the ice during OT and go for it. Hell, pull Nabby and play 5 forwards in OT...ok I'm kidding (sorta)

If you missed it, President and CEO Greg Jamison pulled RWilson aside after practice and had a closed door meeting after practice. Why was this unusual you ask? First, Jamison decided to do this right before Rwilson was to speak to the media leading to speculation of a tongue lashing. For the record, both Wilson and Jamison said they spoke about possible rules changes they would talk about during the Board of Governor's meeting going on Thurs/Fri at Pebble Beach. The more interesting fact to me was the timing of this meeting and that is occurred while the hockey world and hockey writers converged on the Bay Area. It will be interesting to see what comes of these meetings especially regarding the scheduling issue. Interesting things usually happen when all the GM's get together. The Sharks have cap space, an inconsistent team and a coach on shaky ground. You never know what will happen in between rounds of golf. Heck, if Brett Hull can be a co-GM, why can't we bring in Pat Falloon to coach?

J.S. Giguere: The Unbelievable Streak is over

As good as Luongo was in G2 (and I’m sure there might be a Vancouver writer or two covering that), I gotta stay and congratulate the guy in our nets: playoff-monster J.S. Giguere.

That was the first playoff-overtime goal that J.S. Giguere had surrendered in his career. Over the course of 197:52 (nearly 10 periods!). 103 straight game-saving saves. 8 straight overtime wins, including 4 multi-OT games.

3OT@DET, OTvDET, 5OT@DAL, OT@DAL, 2OT@MIN, OTvNJD, OTvNJD, OTvCGY:
He won ‘em all. He stopped ‘em all. He made zero mistakes.

It had to end someday, but dammit hats off to JS! We were spoiled, weren’t we?

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On a lighter note, did you hear the one about the NHL player who got shot in the head, got hit by a bus, and fell off a 30-story building?

Team doctors think he might have the flu.

BoC Gameday—talking overtime for a game that will end in regulation

San Jose Sharks (38-24-2, t-6th in west) at Anaheim Ducks (37-17-11, 3rd in west)

Well, for the second time this week, the Sharks catch the Ducks on the favorable side of back-to-back games, this time with Billy Guerin on board. But rather than dwell on the Sharks for this (hasty) GDP, I did want to take a brief look at the Ducks and their miserable OT/SO experience, mostly in reaction to last night's OTL to the Kings. This is, of course, almost completely irrelevant to tonight’s game, as the Sharks hardly ever gets past 60 minutes (only 4 OTs through 64 games), but it’s all I’ve got for today.

Last year, the Ducks went 6-12 in the extra session (3-5 in OT, 3-7 in SO), and this year looks to be eerily similar (3-4 in OT, 3-7 in SO). Essentially, the Ducks are winning barely more than a third of OT games they participate in, not a stellar statistic by any means.

• Similar to Matt at BoA, I don’t particularly begrudge teams for extra-session success, but I’m not sure how well that translates to postseason success. For one, there will be no 4-on-4 OT nor a shootout come postseason, so the ability (or inability) to succeed in these mini-game scenarios probably doesn’t come into play past April 8. Secondly, as I note in Matt’s comments, I’m not sure people generally understand the concept of the “extra point”—it is NOT losing in OT/SO that generates the extra point, but rather in winning the extra session that a team has its point total inflated. To quote myself: “Generally speaking, I am more afraid of teams who make the playoffs despite their OT records than the teams who make the playoffs because of their OT records.”



• That said, the Ducks are definitely leaving points on the table, especially as it relates to OT killers like Dallas, Vancouver, and Minnesota. Then again, if we were a .500 OT team, that would mean only about 5 extra standings points over nearly 2 seasons—not a huge amount to fret over. But if you asked me about whether Anaheim has a good strategy going into OT or not, that's an easy "no", so why not try a new balls-to-the-wall approach? It’s tough to imagine a scenario where our OT record would get any worse.



• And my main point? I don’t even think 4-on-4 OT is exciting any more, especially as it pertains to Anaheim. Consider this: the Ducks have played almost 67 minutes of OT this season. In the 60 minutes of 4-on-4 play, there have been 2 goals generated (2 goals per hour). In the 7 minutes of 4-on-3 power play, there have been 5 goals generated (44 goals per hour). In fact, 5 out of 6 penalties called in Anaheim’s extra sessions have led directly to game-winning power play goals, on average scored just 32 seconds into the infraction. Not to get all Tom Benjamin on you, but this is personally a pretty alarming trend—nothing excites me less than to see this sport become nothing but a PP contest, wherein teams don’t focus on even-strength scoring, but rather just play passively until the point when a man-advantage situation occurs. Still, the lesson is pretty clear: stay out of the fucking box in OT (I’m looking at you, Scotty), it nearly always costs you the “game”.



• Probably the biggest irony of it all? I don’t quite understand how J.S. Giguere, the greatest playoff-overtime goalie in NHL history (zero goals against on 95 shots in 168:27 of extra play), doesn’t translate well at all to regular-season-overtime success. I guess he’s just seasonally “clutch”.

Anyway, lessons for another day, I guess, as this game probably won’t be going past 60.

Prediction: Ducks 3, Sharks 1. Pahlsson shocks us all by not scoring, but Selanne, Getzlaf, and Pronger pick up the slack.