Afternoon Drinking, a Time for Thinking

At any moment now, Ilya Kovalchuk will be on his way out of Atlanta. This, we are told by any number of reporters or Web sites, is a done deal. When the bags are loaded on the plane, his shift is over, another love story gone sour as Kovalchuk joins Dany Heatley on the Out of Town scoreboard.

Weren't you two the future of the Atlanta Thrashers? Yes we were, son. Now go put a quarter in the jukebox and punch up that number by Danny O'Keefe. This deal's gonna go down like that shot of Maker's Mark you sneaked from your dad's drawer when you were 13. You will not forget this burn.



Listen, in the big picture, we are all free agents. In good days and bad, the company tells you to build your retirement portfolio. When hard times hit, don't worry, the bosses will be covered. The real question to ponder -- and it sounds a lot like those stupid credit card commericals: What's in your wallet?

Do whatever you love, but make sure you get paid. That's the rule.

Kovalchuk wants to be paid, and all he needs is someone to say yes to his figure. That will happen. No question. The working man understands that. But he also wonders about the old days. Black and white film days. Dad has a full head of hair, you are working on your first full set of teeth and your young mom's last nerve hasn't even surfaced yet.

Families stayed together. Teams stayed together. Neighborhoods frayed, but they did not come apart.



The Goo Goo Dolls supplied "Better Days" to go with that Buffalo Sabres playoff promo video. The house band for the house travel team. Buffalo's sons supporting the men who carry their flag.

But that team is gone. Danny Briere. Chris Drury. Brian Campbell. Good team you're building there. And they're gone. Bigger paychecks. Better days... elsewhere.



In the afternoons, working men question values, the future of their team, and all bosses and team owners. The neighborhood bar around these parts, when you are not in the Lounge, is Port 41, where a working man's thoughts have to fight their way through a hard forecheck of a jukebox set on JACKHAMMER LOUD. (The first three reviews capture the spirit of the joint.)

Port 41 is where you toss the shots back with your weaker hand; you keep your stronger one balled up and ready to throw. Kovalchuk, Heatley and players with their skill sets are toasted in finer establishments elsewhere.

Pests, tough guys and the legend of Bob Probert, everyman's hero, are remembered fondly in this precinct. It's Hell's Kitchen. Little Joey and Brian Mullen grew up around here, a few blocks down by MSG 3.0. Raise the glass and cue up Warren Zevon. Again.




Maybe the boys who kept punching the jukebox buttons for Los Bravos know, deep down, that their team will return to glory. Maybe, but that is for another day. Not this day, another one of professional disappointment. The working men and the Thrashers' fans can only feel the pressure. That certain sinking feeling is getting stronger.

Hey, Ilya. You want to stay a little longer?

Fellas, it's been good to know ya.

The Thursday Spreadsheet

NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE
Ottawa 4, at Buffalo 2
St. Louis 3, at Chicago 2
At Calgary 4, Carolina 1
At Edmonton 1, Philadelphia 0
At Anaheim 3, Detroit 1
The standings are here and the summaries are here. The recap is by Sportsnet and the three stars are by Puck Daddy.

AMERICAN HOCKEY LEAGUE
Syracuse 5, at Albany 3
At Lake Erie 3, Rochester 2
Hartford 3, at Lowell 2 OT
Worcester 8, at Springfield 4
At Wilkes-Barre/Scranton 5, Adirondack 4 SO
Hershey 3, at Norfolk 2 SO
At Hamilton 4, San Antonio 0
At Houston 4, Peoria 1
At Rockford 5, Grand Rapids 3
The standings are here, the summaries are here and the roundup is here.

EAST COAST HOCKEY LEAGUE
Johnstown 3, at Trenton 0
At Cincinnati 3, Wheeling 2
At Victoria 7, Utah 6 SO
At Alaska 4, Bakersfield 1
The standings are here and the summaries are here.

QUEBEC MAJOR JUNIOR HOCKEY LEAGUE
Moncton 6, at Prince Edward Island 1
At Quebec 5, Montreal 3
At Val-d'Or 5, Rimouski 3
The standings are here, the summaries are here and the roundup is here.

ONTARIO HOCKEY LEAGUE
All-Star Game at Kingston
East 17, West 10
The summary is here and the recap is here.

WESTERN HOCKEY LEAGUE
At Brandon 5, Red Deer 3
Kootenay 2, at Moose Jaw 1
At Prince Albert 7, Saskatoon 3
Calgary 2, at Swift Current 1
At Kelowna 5, Edmonton 4 SO
Kamloops 4, at Portland 3 OT
At Spokane 2, Everett 1
At Vancouver 11, Lethbridge 1
The standings are here, the summaries are here and the roundup is here.

UNITED STATES HOCKEY LEAGUE
Indiana 5, at Youngstown 1
At Green Bay 7, Tri-City 5
The standings are here and the summaries are here.

COLLEGE HOCKEY AMERICA
Robert Morris 4, at Niagara 4 OT
The standings are here and the summary is here.

Forward Thinking Puts Rangers Behind

Five Rangers forwards on the ice for the power play. Good news: The puck goes in the net, which was the intent, right? Bad news: Breakdown, and the puck is in your net.

Rangers Coach John Tortorella took a risk in the second period of the Rangers-Kings game on Tuesday night in Los Angeles. The coach was trying to get his team going. Zeros on both sides of the board. Here was an opportunity to silence a few critics and a large crowd at Staples Center.

It sounded like a plan, that is, until the Kings' Anze Kopitar glided past the forwards-turned-point men Olli Jokinen and Chris Drury to beat Henrik Lundqvist for a short-handed goal and a 1-0 lead.



Tortorella takes a soft one from MSG's Sam Rosen in the postgame scrum after the Rangers' 2-1 loss to the Kings. Yes, the five-forwards no-defense scheme was a plan, the Rangers' coach tells Rosen. Come on, Sam. (Either that, or the inmates are truly running the asylum.)

And that's it for the discussion. A pretty quiet night for Tortorella.

(Note to reporters at the conference: SPEAK UP!!! If your question is worth asking while the tape is rolling, let the audience in on your thoughts. I haven't heard that much mumbling since I was 10, when my mother quizzed my father and I as to the identity of the person who kicked the basketball through picture window one early spring Saturday morning in northern Colorado.

And if you said that it was my father who badly missed his trick shot into the hoop, you are right. That shot cost him $500 for the shredded curtains, $150 for the glass and $400 for the plumber. Plumber? Indeed. To make up for the trick shot fiasco, my dad decided to work off the shame by turning on the hose and giving the patio slab the first cleaning of the early spring. Too bad he didn't drain and disconnect that hose in the fall. Ice jam. Popped pipe. Water cascading in the basement, where my mom was working off her disgust by folding the laundry on a Saturday afternoon. Dad, this whole episode still does not look good on your permanent record.)

Back to Tuesday night's action in Los Angeles. Perhaps feeling unsatisfied about Tortorella's discussion of the blown power play, reporters turned to Kopitar, who was more than happy to tell you, in words and in facial cues, that Jokinen and Drury were quite generous in their spacing on the ice.



It was a late night in the Lounge. A 10:30 pm Eastern start. Stayed up to watch the postgame show on MSG and then watched the full hour of "On the Fly" recap on the NHL Network. At 3:30 am, I went to bed with a smile on my face. I was thinking of that ABA red-white-and-blue ball going through the picture window.

Nothing risked, nothing broken.

The Wednesday Spreadsheet

NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE
Washington 4, at Boston 1
At Toronto 3, New Jersey 0
Tampa Bay 2, at Atlanta 1
At Montreal 3, Vancouver 2
Phoenix 1, at Nashville 0 SO
At Dallas 4, Minnesota 2
At Colorado 5, Columbus 1
At Los Angeles 2, N.Y. Rangers 1
Detroit 4, at San Jose 2
The standings are here and the summaries are here. The recap by Sportsnet and the three stars by Puck Daddy.

AMERICAN HOCKEY LEAGUE
At Portland 6, Manchester 1
At Milwaukee 5, Texas 1
The standings are here, the summaries are here and the roundup is here.

QUEBEC MAJOR JUNIOR HOCKEY LEAGUE
At Shawinigan 6, Lewiston 1
Rouyn-Noranda 7, at Moncton 3
The standings are here, the summaries are here and the roundup is here.

WESTERN HOCKEY LEAGUE
Red Deer 3, at Regina 2 SO
At Chilliwack 9, Lethbridge 2
The standings are here, the summaries are here, the Rebels/Pats recap is here and the Hurricanes/Bruins recap is here.

UNITED STATES HOCKEY LEAGUE
At Omaha 4, Sioux City 0
The standings are here and the summary is here.

Let's Make a Deal

The Calgary Flames appear to be in sleep mode, the New York Rangers are moving their problems for those of another team, and the Toronto Maple Leafs are the best team to have won nothing since 1967.

And the pressure is on each of those organizations today. You have to like getting out of bed and going to the Web (no dead tree editions in the Lounge) to read up on who is making a run for the Cup ... in February.

OK, so there will be a long break after next week that leaves the season as a sprint through March and the first few weeks of April. But I see the standings in each conference as a work in progress. There's going to be some bumping and some teams are just going to find out that the tap is dry.

But it is fun to open the morning with this set-up line: A Sutter, a Sather and a Burke walk into the bar.... You can supply your own punchline, and there are many.

I've never been a fan of Darryl Sutter as a coach or a general manager. His "they have to work harder" line after every Sharks loss grew old pretty quick. And he is quick to put the "they" in every sentence. They, as in, not me, you understand. I do.

He is dumping parts, the latest being Olli Jokinen, who is leaving Flames to join the Rangers. The Blueshirts are in Los Angeles tonight to face the Kings. And to those folks in Calgary, I'll tell you this: Happiness is seeing the door quickly slam shut as OJ goes out of the room.

A former King, Islander, Panther, Coyote, Flame. Perhaps you can tell where this is going. Go, OJ, Go.

Larry Brooks of the New York Post looks at the deal as one where two people on the same block are holding garage sales. A trade is made. Your discards for mine. And someday, we'll share the cost of a ride to the dump. Lots of questions are raised. Few are answered.

Glen Sather's Rangers have hit February with little momentum going into the Olympic break, save for a victory Sunday night against the Colorado Avalanche. Should the Rangers win tonight in Los Angeles, then the fans who drink blue Kool-Aid will say all is well, we are back in the race.

Stan Fischler is one who thinks Go, OJ, Go will thrive this season in Manhattan and decide to stay at MSG 4.0 for another season. (I see that Stan has discovered the new mix of Kool-Aid being served as Orange Drink at the Nedick's stand at Penn Station.)

Maybe so, but OJ is not answer to winning the Cup. Darryl Sutter tried that move in Calgary. Didn't work. And after watching his Flames go down meekly at home last night against the Philadelphia Flyers, he may see a few more moves that need to be made.

And now for a team that will truly not be printing Stanley Cup finals tickets. Yes, that's you, Toronto. But Brian Burke is smiling today. He is living off the glow of the trade for Dion Phaneuf, and Puck Daddy reports that if all goes well, the Maple Leafs will be printing money as we speak.

Somethings never change in Toronto.

Losing at the rink. Winning at the bank. So you cannot turn the thumb down on Burke today in Toronto. But someone has to feel some heat. That mean's you, Ron Wilson.

Folks in the Lounge, we introduce you to Damien Cox of the Toronto Star. He sets the bar high for Wilson, who has not been able to win so far with what could be described as the best and the brightest from the Island of Misfit Toys.

Cox, you see, says Wilson is in trouble and needs to win in Vancouver during the Olympics. Yes, you heard Cox right. Wilson needs the United States, they of the smallish forwards, banged up defense and Tim Thomas or Ryan Miller as your starter in net, to produce a medal.

OK, have you seen the Bruins' Thomas lately? Strike 1.



Did you see Sidney Crosby have his way with the Sabres' Miller last night? Strike 2.

Now I think the world of Jonathan Quick, who is the third goaltender on Team USA, but if the Rangers -- with Go, OJ, Go -- torch the Kings goalie tonight, then it's time to prepare Wilson for the worst that the Toronto news media has to offer.

Cox has set the bar pretty high. For a hanging, perhaps?

The Tuesday Spreadsheet

NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE
At Pittsburgh 5, Buffalo 4
Anaheim 3, at Florida 0
Philadelphia 3, at Calgary 0
At Edmonton 4, Carolina 2
The standings are here.
The summaries are here.
Recap by Sportsnet.
Three stars by Puck Daddy.



AMERICAN HOCKEY LEAGUE
At Houston 3, Abbotsford 1
The standings are here.
The summary is here.
The roundup is here.

EAST COAST HOCKEY LEAGUE
At Utah 4, Las Vegas 1
The standings are here.
The summary is here.

WESTERN HOCKEY LEAGUE
Kootenay 2, at Regina 1 SO
The standings are here.
The summary is here.
The roundup is here.

COLLEGE HOCKEY
Men's Beanpot Tournament at Boston
Boston College 6, Harvard 0
Summary
Recap
Boston University 2, Northeastern 1
Summary
Recap

Shut Out of the Beanpot, Year 4

Has it been that long? In spring 2006, I was signing all the papers and buying my youngest daughter the bookstore sweatshirt that sealed the deal on her decision to leave New York and attend college in Boston in the fall.

Exciting college town, I thought. Boston's small enough to get around. Big enough to have more college kids roaming around getting into all kinds of things, good or bad. In short, a perfect city to learn about yourself and about life.

And, I was confident, a perfect place for my daughter to gain tickets to the men's Beanpot tournament for yours truly. She's a good kid, I thought. She'll make connections, meet someone who knows someone, etc.

She's not attending Boston University, Boston College, Northeastern or Harvard, but she's studying at the Massachusetts College of Art and Design, a school on the Fenway. Northeastern is a neighbor and BU is not far away. Kids being kids, tribes will gather in a cultural exchange at public refreshment establishments in the Fens, on Commonwealth Ave., on Huntington Ave., on Mass Ave., in any number of squares and during the ride home on the T. Somehow that will result in me being in Boston the first two Mondays in February. I'll be able to listen in on any number of fans' conversations about their Beanpot memories. Beanpot Mondays.

It's 2010. Number of Beanpot games attended: Zero. My daughter's a senior. The tournament starts tonight. No tickets. Next Monday? No tickets.

I'm looking at another February in New York, listening to the games via the Web. But she's a good kid, or I should say a good young woman, a loving and generous daughter who has her priorities in order. I'm told I am a lock for tickets to MassArt's graduation this spring. That's gotta count for something.