Brodeur out for Team Canada ?

Canada's game against The U.S on Sunday night was sure to be a win. On paper it looked impossible for the stacked Canadiens to bow before team USA. After 60 minutes of play it was the Americans pulling a shocking upset with a 5-3 win in Vancouver. The most shocking part of the win was the fact that Canada outshot the Americans 45-23. Now you might say Ryan Miller played one of the best games of his life, which would be true, but you might also ask how the best goalie in the World let in 4 goals on 23 shots. Watching the game all the goals Brodeur let in we're not characteristic of his normal play, and his performance certainly left Mike Babcock and the rest of team Canada wondering if a switch in goal is necessary. Brodeur's been slumping for a while: In his last month of play with the Devil's he's posted a .888 save percentage and lost 10 of 14 starts. Luongo is going to start today which will provide little to no clarity on the long term goaltending situation as they're playing Germany ( which should be an easy win regardless of who is in goal.) My modest opinion . . . sit Broduer. The tournament is too short to play Broduer and keep giving him chances based on his past performances and accolades. Canada has three world class goalies, give one of them a chance to win.

Marty Turco : Where to now ?

So with Lehtonen landing in Dallas this past week the big topic of discussion is what's going to happen to Marty Turco ? Dallas wouldn't go out and get a number one goalie ( worth three million) if they didn't ship Turco elsewhere. The question now isn't if Turco is going but when and where. My guess is Dallas is going to keep him until the Trade deadline, they're going to want to make sure Lehtonen is healthy if they still have a chance to make the playoffs. So, when the deadline comes where's Turco going to go ? My main guess : Chicago. Regardless of whether or not the trade would make sense I have a feeling this is where Turco's going to end up. Philadelphia was also very interested in Turco with the main problem being they just couldn't afford to take the cap space hit. So, would Turco in Chicago be beneficial ? Not really. Huet and Turco are both mediocre starters at best, you'd be trading one average but over paid goalie for another. Plus, Turco has yet to ever have any success in Dallas in the playoffs. Right after the acquisition of Lehtonen Dallas openly admitted they they had no success in trading Turco and the team would likely juggle three goalies the rest of the season. So, for Turco . . . how do you keep playing ( assuming he starts) for a team that's battling for a playoff spot, and battling to trade you at the same time?

Kari Lehtonen Shipped to Dallas

For the second time in a week an NHL franchise goalie has found himself in another city. The Dallas Stars announced officially late Tuesday night that a deal was reached with the Thrashers for Kari Lehtonen. Atlanta basically gave Lehtonen away for Ivan Vishneveski and a 3rd round draft pick consideration. I think Dallas got away with a steal so long as Lehtonen can stay healthy. Since 2006 Lehtonen has missed time during every single season due to injuries, including missing the entire season thus far with the Thrashers due to two back surgeries. Where does this leave Atlanta ? Johan Hedberg is a proven goalie, and Ondrej Pavelec has more than proven he can play in the NHL. With the Thrashers giving up Lehtonen and Kovalchuck in the same week, it's no secret they're trying to retool their whole organization and build from the bottom up. My thoughts : Dallas came out way on top in this trade.

Giguere to the Leafs

I'm not gonna lie, this was a move we all saw coming. Giguere going specefically to the leafs was a bit of a shock, but him getting traded was absoloutly expected when Jonas Hiller signed a four year contract last Friday with the Ducks. Earlier in the season Giguere angirly stated to the media that he'd " rather retire then ever be a backup goalie." Late last season Giguere's father passed away unexpectdly and his game suffered greatly, Hiller took the oppurtunity with more playing time and ran with it. With Hiller starting the majority of the games in Aneheim this year it was only a matter of time before the ducks decided who'd stay and who'd go. Giguere going to the leaf's was an awesome move by Leaf's GM Brian Burke. Burke, who won the stanley cup with the ducks with Giguere in nets, reunited Giguere with his former goalie Coach Francois Allaire. Giguere was at the top of his game with Allaire's coaching and Burke, Allaire, and Giguere together has produced a championship before . . .who's to say it won't happen again ? ( Probably not this year or next, the leafs are brutal . . ."

" Miller-Time" Olympic Style

Probably one of the most original mask ideas in a while, especially in the Olympic tournament. Basically Miller just has an eagle one one side with an uncle Sam on the other side with some pretty sweet tattoo's . . . looks like Sam's on steroids . . . pretty sick.

Johan " The Turtle" Hedberg ?

Funniest thing ever, Hedberg in a Haskek-esque way went out to challenge a flyer on a breakaway and lost his mask in the process and wound up with his jersey over his head in the process. Classic.

Oylmpic Rosters : Who's Gonna Start, Who's gonna sit.

Team Canada -

Canada as in every other year is looking exceptional in goal heading into the Olympics. All three goalies ( Fleury, Broduer, and Luongo) are among the top ten goalies in the world right now. Broduer, being arguably one of the best to ever play the game will start with the other two rotating in in the initial rounds. All three could start and play better then most other starters in the Olympics giving Team Canada a good problem to have.
Czechs Republic - Good ( pending no injuries from Vokoun)

The Czech's are going to get solid goaltending from Vokoun. Vokoun can win or lose games all by himself in Florida and will get good support from back Pavalec, who's played well for Atlanta with Lehtonen being out. My guess is that Vokoun will need to play big to give the Czech's a chance to win. With two solid NHLer's Stapanek won't factor into the equation too much unless someone gets hurt.


Finland - Solid.


















Finland's alot like Canada, just all around solid goaltending. When your worse goaltender is Nittymaki, whom was the MVP of the last Olympics, you know you're in good shape. Kiprusof is one of the best in the league right now ( NHL) and will most likely start the big games. Backstrom and Nitty are more than capable to step in and play well.


























I'll preview the rest of the teams in my next blog . . . Olympics 2010 will for sure have some good goalie duels.

Best Day at Clarkson Ever . . .

So, after a long day of class I came to work here in the good ol' marketing department where I sat at my desk and struggled to keep my eye lids open. It'd had been a long day and I hadn't gotten lunch yet. Just as I was about to check my e-mail I heard " Hey Matt, do you want a chocolate" ? I said to myself, could it be ? Our very own Jessica Mcpherson offering me a delicious snack ? Now, some of you might be thinking . . . if the person you work with giving you a chocolate is the best day I've ever had at CU then there's either two things potentially wrong :

1) I SERIOUSLY need to get a life . . .

or

2) Clarkson is legit that boring of a place.

Well quit jumping to conclusions, this get's better . . . So I go in to her office to thank Jessica for the awesome chocolate when all of a sudden the door opens and in walks the president of Clarkson Tony Collins holding a bag full of homemade cookies. He walked right into Jessica's office, handed me the cookies and said " enjoy." Now you find me another University where the president does that and I'll transfer right now . . . gotta love CU !

Josh Harding Beats Up Steve Ott

Josh Harding taking a few swings last night at Steve Ott ( not as if he didn't have it coming)made me think, why not a top five goalie fight blog ?

5) Neil Little vs. Everyone - Okay this one made my list for pure style points . . . Little flips out and just dives right into the mix of things.



4) Ricky D vs. Al Montoya - Despite the height advantage I'd say DP came away from this with the W. This is awesome too because at about 47 seconds in you can see Dipietro telling Montoya to take his mask off . . . apparently he thought'd he just leave it on.



3)Cloutier vs. Salo - I'd say if Salo could go back he'd avoid this one all together . . .



2) This one's great just because you could tell they really wanted to fight each other . . . classic.




1) Hands down, best fight of all time, period.

Last Curtain Call, is Cujo Hall of Fame Material ?

Last Tuesday Curtis Joseph, one of the best goalies in the last twenty years, said his tearful goodbye to NHL hockey. The announcement of his retirement was a long time coming as many felt he should have done so years ago. So the real question still remains, is Joseph a hall of fame goaltender ? Let's look at the facts : In 19 NHL seasons with six different teams Cujo amassed an impressive 454 wins placing him fourth all time of goalie past and present. On the flip side, Cujo's currently tied for second all time with losses. He never won a cup, and never even appeared in a Stanley Cup final. In 19 seasons he was only twice named an all-star and never won any awards. Although his numbers are impressive I think Joseph was merely a really good goalie, not exceptional. When placed with the best of his peers from his generation ( Hasek, Broduer and Roy) his overall track record seems alot less impressive. Personality wise no one was cooler than Cujo, behind the dog mask Joseph was activly involved in Charities and philanthorpy endeavours in every city he was in. He's a true humanitarian, but on the ice Joseph was always good, not great. His wins record could be more of a testement to how long he was in the league rather than any real major accomplishment. If the hall of fame is really the best of the best you'd have to believe that Cujo just dosn't stack up.

My Picks for the top 5 NHL Goalie Masks

I saw a similiar blog to this last week in which I guy picked his top five masks from the NHL this year and I thought I'd follow suit and pick mine. This is obviously all personal prefrence, but I picked what I felt we're the top five coolest masks from 2009-2010.


5) Cristobal Huet - The mask Huet had painted for the Hawks was very similiar to the mask Jeff Hacket wore for Chicago in the ninties. The Indian Head dress fits so well with the Hawks uniforms. The dream catcher on the bottom is cool touch too.

4) Semyon Varlamov - This mask was sweet as Varly took some symbolism from both Russian and American culture and meshed them together. One one side he has the crest of Russia with the Russian flag. On the other side of the mask is Mount Rushmore with an eagle above. One the back side he has both and American and Russian flag. Playing in America's capital and being form Russia was good inspiration for the mask.



3) Curtis Mcelhinny - Okay so this is a bit more based on what I think is cool on a mask ( this whole post is) but I think this is probably one of the coolest masks in the last few years. The integration of the skulls into the flames just was done really well by the artist.



2) Nikolai Khabibulin - Taking his normal design Khabibulin added some cool things to make it more Edmenton themed. He replaced the usual bell tower from the Kremlin and replaced with an Oil Rig. Also the eagles are now clutching the former maskes of Grant Fuhr.




1) Vesa Toskala - The Skull on Toskala's mask is just a really cool paintjob. He's had the same design since he joined the league with San Jose. This is again all about what I think is cool, but for me, Toskala's mask is pretty sick.