Team USA Preliminary WJC Roster Reaction

USA Hockey just announced the preliminary roster for the upcoming WJC in Buffalo. Here it is:

forwards

Nick Bjugstad, 18, Minnesota

Ryan Bourque, 19, Quebec

Connor Brickley, 18, Vermont

Chris Brown, 19, Michigan

Mitchell Callahan, 19, Kelowna

Charlie Coyle, 18, BU

Jerry D'Amigo, 19, Toronto Marlies

Emerson Etem, 18, Medicine Hat

Rocco Grimaldi, 17, US Under-18 Team

Chris Kreider, 19, BC

Jeremy Morin, 19, Rockford/Chicago

Brock Nelson, 19, North Dakota

Matt Nieto, 18, BU

Kyle Palmieri, 19, Syracuse, Anaheim

Brandon Saad, 18, Saginaw

Drew Shore, 19, Denver

Jason Zucker, 18, Denver

dmen

Adam Clendening, 18, BU

Brian Dumoulin, 19, BC

Justin Faulk, 18, Minnesota-Duluth

Derek Forbort, 18, North Dakota

Nick Leddy, 19, Rockford/Chicago

Jon Merrill, 18, Michigan

Jamie Oleksiak, 18, Northeastern

John Ramage, 19, Wisconsin

Philip Samuelsson, 19, BC

Patrick Wey, 19, BC

goalies

Jack Campbell, 18, Windsor

Andy Iles, 18, Cornell

Right off the bat, I have to point out the annual absurd snub, which of course is always a CHL player. Shane Prince, who admittedly I hadn't heard of until I began my WJC prep a month or two ago, is a kid who just turned 18 and is leading the OHL in scoring playing for Ottawa. He's in his third year in the league and is rated to be a top two round pick this year. Now, I didn't even put Prince on my team a month ago, but a kid leading the OHL in scoring has to be at this camp. I can't say I'm surprised though. I'm assuming they pretty much know who they want for the top two, maybe even three lines and want players who will provide certain elements for the smaller roles. And that is fine, but just for appearances, how can a such an obviously talented player not even get a token invite over, say, Connor Brickley?

Austin Watson was another CHL snub but he has had a slow start this year.

I'm thrilled that D'Amigo, Palmieri, Morin, and Leddy are there. Just the fact that they're on this roster tells me they all have the blessing from their NHL teams to play in the tournament. So, basically I expect them to all be on the team, which I was not expecting to happen. This is awesome news.

As for the blueline, the biggest omission in London's Jarred Tinordi. I'm very surprised by this omission. That said, I have no idea how he's played this year and we have plenty of other talent.

I'm pretty sure we do this every year, but I'm still a little surprised that we only invited two goalies. Way to ramp up the competition. I don't think I would have gone with Iles as the backup but hopefully it doesn't even matter.

Of the players I thought should be on this team, only three were left off. They are Watson, Tinordi, Cam Fowler (not really an omission as he's playing 20 minutes a night in the NHL), and Michael Houser, who I selected as the backup goalie. So, all in all, it's not as bad as it's been in the past and we do have a lot of talent.

Hopefully, I'm taking off of work on January the 5th to drive up to Buffalo for the gold medal game. Back to back.

Team USA 2011 WJC Preview

I've been bitching and moaning for years about how USA Hockey constructs their WJC entries and last year was no exception. I was particularly upset that Emerson Etem wasn't on the team. Then John Carlson happened and all was right with the world.

Here's a look at the talent available to the red, white, and navy blue this year as they defend their title on home ice. Players with an asterisk were on last year's squad. Listed are age, team, and draft status.

forwards

*Chris Kreider, 19, Boston College, 1st round (19th overall) by NY Rangers in 2009

*Kyle Palmieri, 19, Syracuse Crunch, 1st round (26th overall) by Anaheim in 2009

Chris Brown, 19, U. of Michigan, 2nd round (36th overall) by Phoenix in 2009

Zach Budish, 19, U. of Minnesota, 2nd round (41st overall) by Nashville in 2009

Drew Shore, 19, U. of Denver, 2nd round (44th overall) by Florida in 2009

*Jeremy Morin, 19, Rockford IceHogs, 2nd round (45th overall) by Atlanta in 2009

Kenny Ryan, 19, Windsor Spitfires, 2nd round (50th overall) by Toronto in 2009

*Ryan Bourque, 19, Quebec Remparts, 3rd round (80th overall) by NY Rangers in 2009

Marcus Foligno, 19, Sudbury Wolves, 4th round (104th overall) by Buffalo in 2009

*Jerry D'Amigo, 19, Toronto Marlies, 6th round (158th overall) by Toronto in 2009

Mitchell Callahan, 19, Kelowna Rockets, 6th round (180th overall) by Detroit in 2009

Jonathan Parker, 19, Prince Albert Raiders, undrafted

Tyler Maxwell, 19, Everett Silvertips, undrafted

Austin Watson, 18, Peterborough Petes, 1st round (18th overall) by Nashville in 2010

Nick Bjugstad, 18, U. of Minnesota, 1st round (19th overall) by Florida in 2010

Beau Bennett, 19, U. of Denver, 1st round (20th overall) by Pittsburgh in 2010

Kevin Hayes, 18, Boston College, 1st round (24th overall) by Chicago in 2010

Charlie Coyle, 18, Boston U., 1st round (28th overall) by San Jose in 2010

Emerston Etem, 18, Medicine Hat Tigers, 1st round (29th overall) by Anaheim in 2010

Brock Nelson, 19, U. of North Dakota, 1st round (30th overall) by NY Islanders in 2010

Tyler Pitlick, 19, Medicine Hat Tigers, 2nd round (31st overall) by Edmonton in 2010

Jared Knight, 19, London Knights, 2nd round (32nd overall) by Boston in 2010

Connor Brickley, 18, U. of Vermont, 2nd round (50th overall) by Florida in 2010

Phil Lane, 18, Brampton Battalion, 2nd round (52nd overall) by Phoenix in 2010

*Jason Zucker, 18, U. of Denver, 3rd round (59th overall) by Minnesota in 2010

Bryan Rust, 18, U. of Notre Dame, 3rd round (80th overall) by Pittsburgh in 2010

Max Gaede, 18, Sioux City Musketeers, 3rd round (88th overall) by San Jose in 2010

Andrew Yogan, 19, Erie Otters, 4th round (100th overall) by NY Rangers in 2010

Chris Wagner, 19, Colgate U., 5th round (122nd overall) by Anaheim in 2010

Kenny Agostino, 18, Yale U., 5th round (140th overall) by Pittsburgh in 2010

Shane McColgan, 17, Kelowna Rockets, 2011 eligible

Rocco Grimaldi, 17, USA Under-18 Team, 2011 eligible

Shane Prince, 18, Ottawa 67's, 2011 eligible

Brandon Saad, 18, Saginaw Spirit, 2011 eligible

Stefan Noesen, 17, Plymouth Whalers, 2011 eligible

Vincent Trocheck, 17, Saginaw Spirit, 2011 eligible

Nick Shore, 18, U. of Denver, 2011 eligible

Matt Nieto, 18, Boston U., 2011 eligible

Seth Ambroz, 17, Omaha Lancers, 2011 eligible

defensemen

Nick Leddy, 19, Rockford IceHogs, 1st round (16th overall) by Minnesota in 2009

William Wrenn, 19, U. of Denver, 2nd round (43rd overall) by San Jose in 2009

Brian Dumoulin, 19, Boston College, 2nd round (51st overall) by Carolina in 2009

Philip Samuelsson, 19, Boston College, 2nd round (61st overall) by Pittsburgh in 2009

Patrick Wey, 19, Boston College, 4th round (115th overall) by Washington in 2009

*Cam Fowler, 18, Anaheim Ducks, 1st round (12th overall) by Anaheim in 2010

Derek Forbort, 18, U. of North Dakota, 1st round (15th overall) by Los Angeles in 2010

Jarred Tinordi, 18, London Knights, 1st round (22nd overall) by Montreal in 2010

Justin Faulk, 18, U. of Minnesota-Duluth, 2nd round (37th overall) by Carolina in 2010

Jon Merrill, 18, U. of Michigan, 2nd round (38th overall) by New Jersey in 2010

Mark Alt, 19, U. of Minnesota, 2nd round (53rd overall) by Carolina in 2010

Justin Holl, 18, U. of Minnesota, 2nd round (54th overall) by Chicago in 2010

Stephen Johns, 18, U. of Notre Dame, 2nd round (60th overall) by Chicago in 2010

Taylor Aronson, 19, Portland Winterhawks, 3rd round (78th overall) by Nashville in 2010

Austin Levi, 18, Plymouth Whalers, 3rd round (85th overall) by Chicago in 2010

Brandon Archibald, 18, Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds, 4th round (94th overall) by Columbus in 2010

*John Ramage, 19, U. of Wisonsin, 4th round (103rd overall) by Calgary in 2010

Kevin Gravel, 18, St. Cloud State, 5th round (148th overall) by Los Angeles in 2010

Joe Rogalski, 19, Sarnia Sting, 6th round (152nd overall) by Pittsburgh in 2010

Kevin Lind, 18, U. of Notre Dame, 6th round (177th overall) by Anaheim in 2010

Adam Clendening, 18, Boston U., 2011 eligible

goalies

Brandon Maxwell, 19, Kitchener Rangers, 6th round (154th overall) by Colorado in 2009

*Jack Campbell, 18, Windsor Spitfires, 1st round (11th overall) by Dallas in 2010

Mac Carruth, 18, Portland Winterhawks, 7th round (191st overall) by Chicago in 2010

Michael Houser, 18, London Knights, 2011 eligible

I have to say that I'm thrilled with the depth of talent available. A hell of a lot of Americans have been drafted in the last few years. Cam Fowler will probably not be available for the tournament and we can't complain about that. Canada is without five or more guys every year that make the NHL as teenagers. What would suck would be to lose Kyle Palmieri, Jerry D'Amigo, Jeremy Morin, and Nick Leddy to the AHL. All but the latter were on last year's winner. Hopefully at least one or two of them will be made available by their clubs. Maybe we'll even get lucky and have Fowler. We'll see.

Anyway, here are my picks.

*D'Amigo-*Palmieri-Watson

*Morin-Shore-Brown

*Kreider-Coyle-Saad

Etem-Bjugstad-Grimaldi

*Zucker

*Fowler-Leddy

Forbort-Faulk

Merrill-*Ramage

Tinordi

*Campbell

Houser

If the three AHL forwards are unavailable my next choices would be Shane McColgan, Zach Budish, and Shane Prince. Tyler Maxwell is very interesting too. The only player I cut from last year is Ryan Bourque. He was solid last year but I think there are just too many players who bring more to the equation than he can.

If Fowler and Leddy are out of the mix I'm not sure who I'd go with. Honestly, I don't know enough about our other defensemen to really judge, but I think we'll get by just fine.

Gotta go with Campbell despite his ugly numbers in Windsor this year. He seems like a better-than-his-stats big game goalie anyway. The kid has last year's gold along with golds in the past two Under-18 tournaments. The backup shouldn't be very relevant but I'm going with the highly touted Houser, who is fourth in the O in save percentage.

Coming into this piece my biggest concern was that Shane McColgan would be left off the team after not even being invited to the summer camp in Lake Placid. A kid rated to be a high first round pick who scored a point per game as a true rookie in the WHL absolutely needs to be at that camp. But when writing this post, I had trouble finding a spot for him on the team. There is a lot of talent at USA Hockey's disposal. I'd love to see him in Buffalo but I won't be outraged if he's not there.

Just win.

Jagr still bringing it

At the age of 38, Jaromir Jagr is still bringing it, having scored 2 goals and 3 assists in his first two games for the Czech Republic at this month's World Championships. Jagr has had a long and storied career in hockey. He's a member of the triple gold club, having won a Stanley Cup (two, actually), an Olympic gold medal, and a World Championship. He's won all sorts of NHL records and led the NHL in scoring five times. He won one Hart trophy for MVP of the league. He has 1,599 points in 1,273 regular season NHL games, and 181 points in 169 games. Prolific numbers. He doesn't have to prove anything to anyone.

But Jagr's decision to play for his home country during the World Championships wasn't one that all of his fellow top Czechs emulated. As a result, the Czechs were recently upset by NORWAY. Not exactly an international powerhouse.

Recently Jagr challenged the younger players to start showing up:

"It's the national team. We didn't really have a lot of success lately and a lot of guys said no in our country," he said. "I understand the guys are injured or they feel tired after the season, but look at guys like Ovechkin or Kovalchuk [playing for Team Russia]." He concluded: "I think you've got to be a little more proud of your country."

Jaromir Jagr has demonstrated his national pride time and again, playing internationally more often than not, even after his regular team has been eliminated from the playoffs. If 38-year old Jaromir Jagr can play an extra 5+ games at the end of his regular season, and bring his best game, so can players half his age.

Team USA, clearly, is not alone in having some of its best players decide to stay home. But unlike the Czechs, Team USA may have had more to lose. We saw what they did at the Olympics with a full roster, coming within one overtime goal of defeating Team Canada, the heavily favored host country, in the Gold Medal game. With a full roster Team USA could have used that Olympics momentum to challenge for gold at this year's World Championships. Which would have been nice, because the last time they finished higher than third was in 1960 (!). Now they're in danger of being relegated after only three games.

It's time guys like Zach Parise, Bobby Ryan, Phil Kessel, and Erik Johnson started listening to old Jaromir Jagr. Not that he's slowed down and has an increasingly grey beard, Jagr is becoming something of a soothsayer.

You Get What You Pay For

One can't be surprised by the slow start suffered by Team USA at the 2010 World Championsip in Germany. The squad is made up of NHL third liners and fifth or sixth defensemen. The goalies are frightening. After Florida backup Scott Clemmensen, we've got Ben Bishop (6 career games in the NHL) and David Leggio (2 career games in the AHL). The rag tag group has dropped overtime games to Germany and Denmark.

This group could easily end up in the relegation round if they don't beat Finland on Wednesday. I hope all the American players who turned down the invite to play in Germany feel real good after seeing this.

The NHL's Best Uniforms

I'm bored so I decided to rank the best uniforms in the NHL. As is well documented, the league's aesthetics took a turn for the worse in 2007-08 when Reebok instituted their Edge uniform system. Prior to the summer of 2007, who knew there was such a thing as a uniform system? I've somewhat come to grips with the changes but scars remain. The worst change is the curved hemline of the jerseys, which I still consider an outrage and an eyesore. The worst casualties of the changes were the Oilers, Blues, and Panthers and these rankings reflect that.

The AHL and ECHL have followed the NHL in this endeavor and unfortunately, the CHL has too after sitting it out for two seasons.. Let's hope the NCAA isn't next.

Anyway, I considered uniforms worn during the 2009-10 NHL season. The entire uniform (logo, pants, socks, fonts, colors, alternate uniforms, etc.) was taken into account. I decided against using a points system because I feel like it would have been too scientific and that it could have ended up putting certain teams higher or lower than I think they should be.

1. Montreal Canadiens

You can't go wrong with the Habs. Classic logo. Awesome pants. Not much explanation needed here.

2. Chicago Blackhawks

The Hawks combine great colors, a great logo, and great striping (especially on the pants). They also have the best shoulder patch in hockey. Too many teams have unnecessary shoulder patches, but the "C" with the tomahawks is the best.

3. Detroit Red Wings

Another classic. The winged wheel will always be one of the better logos in sports. The epitome of a crisp uniform.

4. New York Rangers

The Rangers have at least two innovative elements to their uniforms: the diagonal lettering instead of a logo and the drop shadow numbers. Both are excellent and oft-imitated by teams at all levels of the game. Great colors, and snazzy pants.

5. Philadelphia Flyers

The Flyers made a wise choice by swapping their orange third jersey of recent years with the home black. That they ever minimized the orange was incredible. In hockey, the Flyers define orange. The dumb Reebok striping on the road white jersey and third black is neutralized by the classic, 1970's orange jersey. Classic, simple logo.

6. Toronto Maple Leafs

Classic two color uniform. I'm one of the few people that prefer the simpler Leaf logo over the more detailed, older one that the they currently wear on their third jersey. The numbers would look better if they were single tone but I can't rank this iconic uni much lower than this.

7. Phoenix Coyotes

The Dogs have some of the most crisp uniforms in the league. They might have the best pants outside of the Original 6. The fonts are single tone and easy on the eyes. Those thirds though...there's a reason that no one else, to my knowledge, has ever worn black socks and jerseys with red everything else. That's because it looks like hell.

8. Vancouver Canucks

The Canucks may finally be at the end of the identity crisis that has been their uniform over their 40 years of existence. At least they should be because they look great right now. They're the only team in the league currently rocking blue with green, so that right there sets them apart. Points for awesome pants and one tone name and number fonts. Even the logo is good. You can argue, "what the hell does a killer whale have to do with a Canuck?" But then what are your options when you're called the Canucks? The "C" out of the Pacific Northwest icon killer whale works for me. I don't even mind the bearded Canuck shoulder patch guy on the alternate. One knock: the third jersey is too similar to the primary.

9. Boston Bruins

Boston's spoked B logo is a classic and template for a many a logo elsewhere. Also unique is the yellow socks with black everything else look on the home uniforms. I'm not a fan of the alternate, which is a poor attempt at a throwback.

10. New Jersey Devils

The Devils combine super simple uniforms with an awesome, awesome logo for a good look. The Devils logo is underrated. I think it's brilliant. They switched to their current unis in 1992-93 and haven't tweaked them one iota since and there's something to be said for that. They've never had third jerseys and they probably never will with Lou Lamoriello at the helm,

11. Pittsburgh Penguins

The Penguins uniforms are fine save for two things: the light gold where bright yellow used to be and the stupid rib cage pattern. Take the unis the Pens had prior to the Reebook "system" and replace the light gold with bright yellow and you've got a great look. The fonts are fine. The logo is good, although I don't hold the skating Penguin in the same high regard that most hockey fans seem to.

12. San Jose Sharks

I hated the Sharks current uniforms after the Reebok revolution but they've grown on me. I still don't love the orange highlights, but everything else is pretty solid. The now classic Sharks logo is mostly intact from the 1991 original. I don't love the nearly all black third uniform but it is fairly original in its blackness.

13. Ottawa Senators

Ottawa has worn many different variations of basically the same uniforms over their 18 years in the NHL, some better than others. The current ones have some positives and negatives. The positives: the pants, the fonts, the "O" shoulder patch, and switching the socks back to normal horizontal stripes after wearing Reebok-ized vertical stripes for a few years. The negatives: the "SENS" on the third jersey ruins an otherwise nice uni, the dumb rib cage stripes, and the outward facing Roman centurion logo, which I think is trumped by the profiled Roman logo. Overall, a good uniform though.

14. New York Islanders

The Isles have a great logo and great colors. The current unis are a little busy with lots of striping and useless shoulder numbers but once the current third (a take on their early existence uniforms) becomes the primary they'll have an even higher ranking. Another positive that will come from that switch will be a return to the lighter and brighter blue that the Isles once wore before committing a foul that too many North American pro sports teams did in the late 1990's: darkening their colors. The four stripe shoulder patch for the team's four Stanley Cups is cheesy.

15. Nashville Predators

Another team that may start wearing their current thirds full time, which isn't a terrible idea but not all that necessary either. The thirds are very nice, but not terribly Preds. When I think Preds I think navy blue, silver, and yellow. They should stick with what got them here. The current primary jersey's biggest setback is the Reebok-influenced simplicity. Mainly, the lack of a bottom stripe that tends to make a jersey look like a practice jersey.

16. Carolina Hurricanes

The Canes' uniforms were better before they added the ridiculous Reebok shoulder piping. Their logo is very different but also appropriate and cool. I also approve of the hurricane flag checkers. They lose points for the all-black third uniforms. No team should have to wear different helmets, gloves, and pants for their alternate uni.

17. Washington Capitals

Washington's uniforms are better than what they recently replaced but that's not saying much. The black and copper era was rough on many levels, but the replacements tried to make the franchise's not terribly classic original uniforms cool in a retro way that doesn't work for me. At the very least they needed to bring back the stars on the sides of the pants, but they didn't. I hate the rib cage striping and piping. The number font is simple enough but there's something about it that I just don't like. Also, they should have gone to the original blue, not the darker blue they wear now if for no other reason than to try to match the hue that's on the American flag. You know, because they're the Capitals and all. All this said, this league has plenty of crappy uniforms that the Caps trump.

18. Dallas Stars

The Stars logo is very solid, if not classic. The recent switch to the somewhat football look has largely worked in my opinion. The "DALLAS" over a large number on the chest is a different and clean look. The third jersey, just trading the "DALLAS" for the Stars logo, is too similar to the white road jersey. My biggest gripes with what Dallas wears is that the home black has almost no green and that overall, the look is kind of plain.

19. Los Angeles Kings

The Kings seem to be in a little uniform identity crisis. Are they heading toward the current thirds becoming their primary uniforms? I don't know that they're better than what they've been wearing. Many people seem to like the thirds because they're modeled after the Gretzky era uniforms, but the originals were better. The primary black, purple, and silver isn't terrible. The logo is simple enough (and better than the shield with the sunglasses wearing lion). The "LOS ANGELES" along the bottom of the jerseys is terrible.

20. Minnesota Wild

Three different jerseys with three different templates is unacceptable. Two of the three are not bad looking but you need some consistency. The red home jersey is fantastic, actually. If they based all of their uniforms like that one they'd fly up this list. The third jersey makes me think they're trying to get away from red, which is a bad choice. I despise the alternate. The Minnesota Wild are red and green. Maybe not the most awesome combo but it's them and they should embrace that.

21. Columbus Blue Jackets

I have trouble rating the Columbus uniforms. They have good colors. I guess using the Ohio flag is cool. I don't like the name and number fonts. I can't decide whether the Union hat shoulder patch is cool or stupid. A mediocre uniform all around.

22. Colorado Avalanche

Colorado colors are weird but they work. I think the logo is excellent. The Bigfoot footprint shoulder patch is dumb and ridiculous. The fonts are overly funky, not surprising given their 1995 birthdate. The new third jersey was poorly received, but I actually like it. Which is odd, because I wasn't a fan of the similar maroon third a few years ago.

23. Calgary Flames

Another team that will rocket up this list if they switch to their original uniforms, which were used as alternates this year. The good: classic logo. The bad: the use of black, particularly on the home red jersey, is too much. The socks are awful. Only St. Louis can rival the hideous piping that extends from jersey to pants. The Canadian and Albertan flags on the shoulders are absolutely miserable.

24. Edmonton Oilers

If Edmonton returns full time to their 1980's uniforms that they have been wearing as thirds they'll be in the top ten. I will keep them buried on this list as long as they wear their current garbage uniforms in games. The sins include dark colors where there used to be lighter ones, piping, and a lack of striping that brings out the practice jersey look. The classic logo and the awesome alternates are all they've got going for them.

25. Tampa Bay Lightning

Tampa Bay took a good thing before the Reebok switch and messed it up big time. Their uniforms were fine and now they're not. The socks are terrible. The numbers on the front of the jerseys are unnecessary. The scarcity of stripes invokes practice jerseys. Like their 1992-93 expansion brethren in Ottawa, they wear their nickname across their third jerseys, which is brutal. Bolts is a cool nickname, just don't have it on actual game apparel. Can you imagine Montreal taking the ice with "HABS" across their chests? Me neither.

26. Buffalo Sabres

The Sabres' regular uniforms and logo are among the most derided in hockey and for good reason. The logo is a streak of a Buffalo, which is unusual in that they make their logo not something sword inspired, as in Sabres, but of the animal their city is named after. The striping is godawful, maybe the worst in the league. Unlike the Flames, Oilers, and Islanders the Sabres cannot overly impress me if they make their current retro-themed alternate uniform their primary. That's because their third uses a way darker shade of blue than the original that inspired it. The shoulder numbers copied from the regular jerseys further sullies the jersey.

27. Florida Panthers

Similarly to the Blues, the Cats took perfectly fine uniforms and ruined them with piping and vertical stripes. Their new third jerseys are awful. Many teams make light blue and dark blue work (University of Maine, Chicoutimi Sagueneens) but besides that these just flat out aren't Florida Panthers colors, they just look like crap. The "FLA" shoulder patch/pants patch with a shining sun also works to take down this uniform.

28. St. Louis Blues

St. Louis was the worst casualty of the league's major uniform overhaul a few years ago. They had excellent uniforms, top ten in my opinion and they let Reebok butcher them. They added horrific piping from shoulders to pants and enlarged the shoulder stripes in a weird, terrible way. The piping on the pants is scary ugly. The third jersey is more bad than good. Incorporating the St. Louis Arch seems like a good idea but it just doesn't work.

29. Atlanta Thrashers

This franchise is a mess on many levels and the uniforms are no different. The Thrashers are another team with three completely different uniforms, which is brutal. The worst is not the red football-ish third jersey. I don't even mind that one. The worst is the baby blue home jersey that says "ATLANTA" down the left sleeve, leaving that arm numberless. Stupid, gimmicky, and very 1990's IHL. The fonts are quite ugly. For some reason, the baby blue on the home jerseys is almost nowhere to be found on the other two uniforms. Pick a color guys.

30. Anaheim Ducks

I hate these uniforms. Can you even call that a logo? It's a word. (Yes, the Caps logo is too but it's a little more creative than this.) Black, gold, and a tiny hint of orange? Yuck. Then the gloves have way more orange in them than the rest of the uniforms. The numbers are too big. Bland in every way and terrible all around.

Another USA Hockey Rant

Well, here I am with another bitchy post about USA Hockey. The first 12 players for our 2010 Worlds team have been announced and it doesn't look good. Here's a breakdown. The forwards are:

Ryan Carter
Brandon Dubinsky
Christian Hanson
David Moss
Eric Nystrom
Kyle Okposo
Ryan Potulny

Frankly, I'm horrified by this group. Right off the bat, I see four fourth liners in Carter, Hanson, Moss, and Nystrom. I'm a little biased about Dubinsky being a Rangers fan. The guy looks great regularly, but he's developing very slowly. At the very least he's deserving of a fourth line spot on this team. I know Ryan Potulny had a decent little season in Edmonton but can we make sure other guys aren't available first before signing him up? Okposo is the only slam dunk of the group.

Now for who is missing. From the Olympic team, Bobby Ryan, Chris Drury, David Backes, Phil Kessel, and Ryan Malone all played for teams that missed the playoffs. Ryan Callahan did too but he's nursing a late season knee injury. There are plenty of options among players from teams eliminated in the first round including Olympians Zach Parise, Jamie Langenbrunner, Dustin Brown, and Paul Stastny. These guys can't all be hurt. Anyone who isn't should be on the team.

The four defensemen selected are:

Taylor Chorney
Matt Gilroy
Jack Hillen
Mike Lundin

This is an absurdly inexperieced and not overly talented group. Why on Earth the USA Hockey brass jumped to name four blueliners so quickly is beyond me. I don't think a single one of them warrants a roster spot.

Olympians Tim Gleason, Ryan Whitney, and Erik Johnson were all sitting out the first round of the playoffs. Why weren't they named? All three of them were unavailable? Really? First round losers Ryan Suter and Jack Johnson played in Vancouver. Hopefully, they'll heed the call.

Among other defensemen way more capable than those named are James Wisniewski, Zach Bogosian, Matt Niskanen, Tom Gilbert, and Keith Ballard. And those are only guys from non-playoff teams. Is Mike Lundin considered better than any of those guys by anyone in the hockey world? Come on.

Scott Clemmensen was named in net. I hope he's only needed as a third goalie. Craig Anderson, Ryan Miller, and Jon Quick are recently available. Hopefully at least one of them will don the red, white, and blue.

I have no idea why so many good players never make their way onto Team USA's World roster every spring. Were they not asked? Did they turn the invite down? Are they injured? I understand a guy sitting out because of an injury or a family related issue but otherwise I call out Americans for not caring enough about this event.

A probable excuse for a player to turn down an invite is that he just played a long season and wants to spend time with his family. I can see where they're coming from but Canadians and Europeans could drop the same excuse but they don't. Why? Because they take way more pride in representing their nations in hockey tournaments. Like winning anything, a little sacrifice is required. By sacrifice I mean a millionaire taking his family to Europe for two weeks and staying in first class accomodations for free.

Here's my favorite example. Take an American who is more than talented enough to be on Team USA. His team missed the playoffs. He's tired from a long season, he's been in the NHL for a number of years. He wants to see his kids more than he can during the season. He's asked to play in the worlds. So is a Canadian teammate of his asked to play for Team Canada. He's also got young kids and even has some minor injuries. The Canadian jumps at the chance to play for his country. How can the American look at this and not play for his country? It blows me away. His Canadian teammates have bragging rights from Vancouver and he's given a chance to change that in this latest tournament (albeit on a smaller scale). How can he not take that opportunity?

If I'm working for USA Hockey I'm emailing the list of world championship medalists to every relevant American player so he can see just how emabarrassing that list is for Americans. They'd see that the USA hasn't won the world championship since 1960. That was when in Olympic years the worlds weren't played and the Olympic champion doubled as the world champion. They'd see that we haven't won the worlds outright since 1933. That is abominable. They'd see that we haven't even won a silver since 1956. 1956! Does this not piss anyone else off?

Oh really, ______? You can't make it over to Germany this year? Ok, well just do me a favor and look at this attachment. Have a nice offseason.

Maddening.

Post Olympic Thoughts

- Many in the Canadian media were lauding Scott Niedermayer's gold medal game performance. I thought it was better than he was earlier in the tournament, but that he was generally shaky. I don't remember him playing so recklessly at any point in his career as he did in these Games. And I don't mean good reckless. He was always up in the play, deep in the offensive zone, and not with great results. The guy is a giveaway machine. I hate ragging on Nieder because he's always been a fave of mine, but his game, his defensive game, has been deteriorating badly lately.

- Crosby was largely invisible in the gold medal game until the moment that mattered most. Damn him.

- Chris Pronger played his best game of the tournament in the finale. He was an absolute force defensively.

- I like Mike Babcock a lot but I have to call him out for the way he had his team playing with a lead in the gold medal game. The Canadians totally went into a shell and stopped forechecking. They were playing to not give up their lead, instead of going for the kill. There's a reason the Germans and the Swiss play that way. They have vastly inferior talent compared to the top six or seven hockey nations. They need to do that to keep it close. A team with the talent that Canada has should never play that way. They had success playing a more attacking style to build their 2-0 lead. Why change? Very odd, Mike.

- Phil Kessel was invisible and wasn't really battling. Maybe he's banged up because his face looked as crushed as anyone's after the game.

- Needless to say, Mike Milbury is trash.

- I haven't been as nervous or rattled watching a hockey game since the Rangers Cup run sixteen years ago. I was thirteen then. I've never been as rattled as an adult. The elation after Parise's tying goal was gone in about 20 seconds and I went right back to being a nervous wreck.

- As tough as the loss was for USA Hockey on Sunday, this loss is much easier to take than the Salt Lake loss. We left it all out there. We shouldn't have done anything differently. We just lost to an immenesly talented team on their home ice in overtime, with a future Hall of Famer, and maybe even top ten player of all time when it's all said and done, scoring the OT winner. What are you gonna do? At least Mike Richards didn't score the winner.

- In the lingering pain of Vancouver we must remember Saskatoon. We still have John Carlson. We'll be back.

American Airlines Center Review

The three of us traveled to Dallas in February 2007 to see the Stars take on Anaheim and Colorado. We sat in uppers for the Ducks game and in club level seats for the Avs game.

Conveniance/Access - Not bad for how the city is laid out. It's right on a major highway. We got a cheap hotel on said highway, thinking it would be easy to walk to the AAC. Wrong. There aren't any walkways on that highway so we had to cab there.

Location/Scene - Dallas loses points here. Not much going on here. The area sort of resembles the Wachovia Center's situation. In the city limits but set aside from everything. There didn't seem to be any bars or restaurants (or anything for that matter) within walking distance.

Outside Appearance - The AAC looks fantastic. It is a square brick building. It seems significantly bigger than most other NHL/NBA arenas and is very imposing. Surely fitting for Texas. There is an attractive plaza/courtyard type area on one side of the building with fountains.

Inner Aesthetics - The outside of the AAC seems big and so does the inside. The ceiling is super high. Only HSBC Arena in Buffalo has a ceiling that can mess with the AAC. Despite it being a little too high in my opinion it does look very cool. The upper sections are quite high up and very far from the ice. The massive feel that they went for with this arena only works if the place is consistently full. It was for the first few years of the AAC's existence, when the Stars were a top five team every year, but hasn't been lately. I think a massive arena that is three quarters full can very easily seem too spacious and dead. The seats are a drab gray. Different, yes, but just kind of a downer when too many are empty.

Concourse - When we hit the doors of the AAC a fine gentleman kindly told us that we'd have to leave any firearms we might have had in the car. That's because all AAC patrons have to go through a metal detector. So, I ran back to the car to drop off my Glock. No, not really. Certainly a Texas experience the instant we hit the door though. Anyway, the concourse in Dallas is possibly the most unique that we've seen. Some parts of it look like a hotel, with wood molding. Absent were the standard concrete walls that every other building seems to line its halls with. There were American Airlines model planes hanging from the ceiling, which looked kind of cool even while being obnoxious. The club concourse had big windows with cool views. The AAC concourse also provided us with this gem. (That's Eric showing off his vert.)

Sight lines - They're adequate. As mentioned above, the seats go very high up. The upper level seats are quite a distance from the ice.

Bathrooms - I don't remember them being overcrowded or there being a lack of them. That's a plus.

Concessions - I remember getting a bad Buffalo chicken sandwich, but that should have been expected so far from Western New York. To my knowledge, the AAC is the only place that we've been to that sells Red Bull. The second game we went to we had club seats. There was a fine array of food choices on that level.

Fans/Atmosphere - The crowds at the games we attended probably only filled the AAC to about three quarters capacity but they were into the game. They weren't quiet nor were they going above and beyond. There were many, many jerseys from the Stars glory days. Lots of Hull, Belfour, Nieuwendyk, Verbeek, and Hatcher jerseys being rocked. Definitely solid for a part of the country that hockey is still pretty foreign to. Also, I have to mention that we had a very boisterous Jussi Jokinen fan a few rows behind during the first game.

History/Banners - The Stars banners are tastefully laid out on one of the walls just below the ceiling. There wasn't much else around though. I don't remember there being much of anything commemorating great Stars or Mavs moments in the halls, which is a shame as both franchises have a lot to be proud of.

Bars - I'm a little hazy on this detail. I think there were a few places to get hard liquor, as there should be.

Store - Sort of small, but they had all of the essentials, including a decent selection of player tee shirts. An item I remember was a Stu Barnes shirt that said, "I'm not booin', I'm Stuin'." I bought a 2007 All-Star Game rocks glass.

Value - I think we paid seventy-something bucks for our club tickets, which was a pretty good deal. They had some pretty good food there and a bunch of bars. Not any more expensive than the average NHL arena.

Overall - The biggest plus for the American Airlines Center is the gorgeous exterior. The building is certainly distinctive, from the appearance to the concourse to the ceiling up in the heavens. The biggest negative, and this is a common theme with us, is that there is nothing around the arena. It's just buried in a parking lot next to a highway. Getting dinner and/or drinks and then walking right to the game rules and you can't do that in Big D.

Preparing For More World Junior Anguish

So, I'm one of the few people in this country who give a crap about the World Junior Championship. I consider myself a USA Hockey fan as much as I do a Ranger fan. The bigwigs at USA Hockey disappoint me year after year with how they manage the WJC team. Since the WJC was first played in 1977, the Yanks have just five medals. Only one was gold. All while icing plenty of talent most years. Perhaps more infuriating than the disappointing finishes have been the talented players left on the sidelines because of petty politics. Bobby Ryan in 2005 and 2007 comes to mind. Many years, we're not even showing up with our best.

Before I pick who I'd like to make up the 2010 American entry, let me state that I have minimal knowledge of these players. I've seen none of them play live. That said, I have done some research and consider these semi-educated selections.

* member of 2009 team

forwards

*Jordan Schroeder, Minnesota, 19, 1st round VAN

*Mitch Wahl, Spokane, 19, 2nd round CAL

*Danny Kristo, North Dakota, 19, 2nd round MON

Kyle Palmieri, Notre Dame, 18, 1st round ANA

Chris Brown, Michigan, 18, 2nd round PHO

Jeremy Morin, Kitchener, 18, 2nd round ATL

Drew Shore, Denver, 18, 2nd round FLA

Philip McRae, London, 19, 2nd round STL

Derek Stepan, Wisconsin, 19, 2nd round NYR

Zach Budish, Minnesota, 18, 2nd round, NAS

David Wohlberg, Michigan, 19, 6th round NJ

Emerson Etem, Medicine Hat, 17, 2010 draft eligible

A.J. Jenks, Plymouth, 19, 4th round FLA

dmen

Cam Fowler, Windsor, 18, 2010 draft eligible

Nick Leddy, Minnesota, 18, 1st round MIN

John Moore, Kitchener, 19, 1st round CLB

William Wrenn, Denver, 18, 2nd round SJ

David Warsofsky, BU, 19, 4th round STL

Jake Gardiner, Wisconsin, 19, 1st round ANA

Philip Samuelsson, BC, 18, 2nd round PIT

goalies

Mike Lee, St. Cloud State, 19, 3rd round PHO

Jack Campbell, NTDP, 17, 2010 draft eligible

strong candidates

forwards

Chris Kreider, BC, 18, 1st round NYR

Ryan Bourque, Quebec, 18, 3rd round NYR

Jerry D'Amigo, RPI, 18, 6th round TOR

Jordan Samuels-Thomas, Bowling Green, 19, 7th round ATL

Kenny Ryan, Windsor, 18, 2nd round TOR

Jordan George, Bemidji State, 19, undrafted

Myles McCauley, Plymouth, 18, undrafted

* Tyler Johnson, Spokane, 19, undrafted

Andrew Yogan, Erie, 18, 2010 draft eligible

A.J. Treais, Michigan, 18, undrafted

Tyler Maxwell, Everett, 18, undrafted

dmen

Brian Dumoulin, BC, 18, 2nd round CAR

Chris Wideman, Miami, 19, 4th round OTT

Patrick Wey, BC, 18, 4th round WAS

Aaron Ness, Minnesota, 19, 2nd round NYI

Adam Comrie, Guelph, 19, 3rd round FLA

Matt Donovan, Denver, 19, 4th round NYI

Sean Lorenz, Notre Dame, 19, 4th round MIN

Beau Schmitz, Plymouth, 18, undrafted

Derek Forbort, NTDP, 17, 2010 draft eligible

goalies

Joe Howe, CC, 19, undrafted

Brandon Maxwell, Kitchener, 18, 6th round COL

Connor Knapp, Miami, 19, 6th round BUF

Joe Cannata, Merrimack, 19, 6th round VAN

Michael Houser, London, 17, 2010 draft eligible

The list of 29 camp invitees was released this morning. They'll be cut down to 22.

http://www.uscho.com/news/college-

hockey/id,17615/SchroederHeadsListofInviteestoUSWorldJuniorCamp.html

First order of business is reviewing this year's major snubs. Let's start with Emerson Etem (left). He's the 10th ranked player by Red Line Report for the 2010 draft. He's got 20 goals in 31 games in the WHL, good for fifth in the league. But the politicians at the NTDP probably weren't happy that he spurned the Under-18 team this season after playing for the Under-17 team last year. It's an absolute joke that he isn't invited, but this is just standard operating procedure for USA Hockey. They'd rather go with a college mucker who played two years for the NTDP.

Nick Leddy was also denied an invite. The defenseman was drafted 16th overall by Minnesota last summer and is Minnesota's reigning Mr. Hockey. He's getting his feet wet with the Golden Gophers in the WCHA this year, the conference most often named the strongest in the NCAA. He supposedly turned down the chance to play with the NTDP last season. That couldn't have factored in USA Hockey's decision making, could it?

Four of the forwards I picked weren't even invited to camp. Etem, Zach Budish, Drew Shore, and Mitch Wahl. Shore and Budish were second round picks last year. Wahl put up 4 points in 6 games in the 2009 WJC, is in his fourth WHL season, and played for a Memorial Cup winner in 2007-08. Quite an experienced player for a 19-year-old. Not even good enough for a camp invite though.

Invited are forwards Luke Walker, an undrafted 19-year-old who plays for Portland, Vinny Saponari, fourth rounder of the Thrashers who plays for BU and doesn't exactly shoot the lights out (guess who he played for before college), and Jason Zucker, a tiny NTDP forward going to Denver next year. If you want to tell me Zucker is another Schroeder, fine, but I've never heard of him. Otherwise, there are older, more experienced players to choose from. I'm not a fan of using 17-year-olds in the WJC unless they're pretty special.

Two defensemen I chose, William Wrenn and Philip Samuelsson, weren't invited to camp. Not a huge deal. Maybe they've had slow starts. Tough to tell if freshmen defensemen are playing well by looking at their stats. Invited were Jon Merrill and Justin Faulk, both of the NTDP. Nothing against them, but I'd prefer older, more experienced players. Strangely, NTDP defender Derek Forbort, a North Dakota recruit, and 9th ranked player for the 2010 draft by Red Line, wasn't invited. But, these things rarely make sense.

I'm not going to bother breaking down the goalies.

Anyway, USA Hockey seems to still be more concerned about pushing current and former development team players to success than with winning medals in international tournaments. I just hope one day that that is not the case. I hope snubbing Emerson Etem isn't this year's fatal mistake. Go USA. (Not sarcastically, really).

CC

United Center - Chicago Blackhawks

United Center – Chicago Blackhawks



Convenience/Access – Pretty good. Not NYC/DC good, but in the city, accessible easily by subway, and a quick cab ride from anywhere near downtown.

Location/Scene – You have to walk a decent distance to get to any bars/scene. Obviously its great that you can even walk to stuff, but for a big city arena, it could be surrounded by more stuff.

Outside Appearance – Completely badass, imposing, and unique. The UC eschewed the glass, steel, and redbrick look that most all newer rinks have gone for. It’s a great looking building, and on a cold gray Chicago winter day, perfectly fitting.

Inner Aesthetics – In general, bigger, multi-sport buildings tend to slip in this category. More seats and more space seems to necessarily imply that the look of the whole place will suffer. Chicago isn’t perfect in this regard, but its pretty decent. The seats are nice deep red, and the boxes aren’t that obtrusive. The massive steepness gives the place a very Montreal-esque feel, with the high press box and upper level seats. While they apparently exist, the out-of-town scoreboards are incredibly hard to find, and are miniscule. This is a major, major flaw in our book.

Concourse – An outstanding score here. Both upper and lower levels are wide, clean, and have more than enough stands, places to hover, tables, and tv screens. Doesn’t really get much better than this.

Sightlines – It’s a huge building, and steep, so the uppers are really, really far away. The sightlines are fine, as they should be in any modern arena. The top sections behind the nets suffer from the common issue of all fans leaning forward and obstructing any rows behind them- meaning everyone has to lean once the first few rows do.

Bathrooms – There are enough of them. The lines are short. They are clean. The game broadcast is piped in. A+.

Concessions – Fair enough prices, a lot of variety, local offerings. The negative would be that the food we sampled wasn’t very good.

Fans/Atmosphere – This category gets more and more fruitless as we go along, and the United Center is a perfect reason why. The overall atmosphere just depends too much on the given game or season or period in the team’s history you happen to hit. Way too subjective. Anyway, our initial and joint visit here was attended by maybe 6000 people. Just totally empty. And like Boston, we figured that with a packed house, and a good team, this place had all the ingredients to be rocking. Well, the second visit came on an opening Saturday night after a conference finals trip the year before, and the atmosphere was as blah as you can have in an arena populated by 20+k fans. The game presentation and feel is fantastic- no music, all organ, minimal nonsense. However to be completely fair and honest, this arena falls well below expectations in the overall atmosphere category.

History/Banners – A very impressive display of championship banners and retired numbers for both Chicago franchises. Lined up orderly in a square pattern on all 4 sides. Lots of small homages on the concourse and frequent scoreboard tidbits of past greats. Dominant use of red/black. Good stuff.

Bars – Quite a few of them, and with a nice setup where people aren’t lined up 4 deep. Friendly bartenders, good pours, and acceptable prices.

Store – To accompany the myriad stores and kiosks and Hawkquarters that dot downtown, the stores in the arena are very good All three of us own Hawk name/number shirts, acquired in three different ways.

Value – We paid 8 dollars for student tickets a few years ago. Those days are over. The value of tickets isn’t bad at all, while we’d say the value in the arena is good.

Overall – Making a second visit to a place really does give you some perspective. Without a second trip, this rink was probably pegged as a nice, clean, modern arena with some excellent traits and a few major drawbacks that could be easily overlooked. Not top-tier, but close to it. The second trip, for EP and JP, accentuated the really cool features (exterior, concourse, the feeling that you're in Chicago) but also didn’t do much to boost the bad- slightly sterile, a bland atmosphere, middle of the pack aesthetics/sightlines from your seat. A good rink, a good value, and a good city.

#12: Verizon Center (DC)

Welcome to the Verizon Center writeup. Strangely, this is one of the few arenas where the three of us haven't attended the same game together. Surely that will change soon. On with the analysis:

Fans/Atmosphere

Anyone who last visited the Verizon Center before spring 2008 doesn't know the Verizon Center. The first time I went back I didn't know the Verizon Center. This city, and the stadium along with it, has undergone a significant transformation. New fans are engaged and buying season tickets in droves. (Surely the perennial awfulness of the once-mighty Redskins has hurried the transformation.) Gone are the days when you could hear a pin drop in the stadium. No longer do playoff games fail to sell out, or do weeknight games draw fans in the four digits. I went to a weeknight preseason game this year that had more fans in attendance than the 2003 playoff games against division rival Tampa Bay.

The crowd is engaged for a full 60 minutes, rising and falling not just when two-time MVP Ovechkin touches the puck, but also when Backstrom, Semin, and Green get going. This is surely due in part to astute ownership of Ted Leonsis, who made the decision not only to let the team get bad so the team could get really good, but also to change the in-game presentation. An arena that once catered to children now caters more towards hockey fans. It's not perfect - the "hockey song," one of the worst things to happen to hockey since the glowing puck, still occasionally gets played. But there are fewer songs played in general and almost no manufactured claps and cheers. These days, the fans take care of that.

Perhaps most telling of all, the city has developed a highly educated fan base. Yes, this should have happened before Alex Ovechkin played in his third NHL season. But at least it happened. Fans no longer ask questions like "Where did we get that guy Robert Lang?" Nowadays, people know Mike Knuble's career stats even before he arrives in DC, and they know all about Brendan Morrison's wonky knees. More telling, the fans know about guys like Oscar Osala and Tyler Sloan and the backup goalies in Hershey. Like I said, things have changed.

Convenience/Access & Location/Scene

The Verizon Center is the cream of the crop when it comes to this category. This was the case even before Chinatown, the neighborhood where the stadium is located, sprouted into what is now snobbishly known as the "Penn Quarter." The area is serviced by its own metro stop, which is directly under the arena. And if you're the kind that likes to drive to a game - especially if you're one of the many recent converts living in the Virginia suburbs - this is the best stadium in the league in terms of traffic. It's easy to leave the stadium because there is no single entrance or exit. You walk about 5 minutes to wherever you found metered parking and take your choice of half a dozen routes home. It couldn't be easier.

There are no fewer than 75 restaurants and bars within a 3-block radius of the stadium, and these run the gamut from fast food to local establishments to extremely upscale restaurants with name chefs. Want to see a movie after the game? Go to the theater connected to the stadium. Feel like bowling? Check out alley in the building attached. And if you bring your girlfriend, she can get spa treatment inside the stadium. You can send erudite non-hockey fans across the street to the newly renovated Shakespeare Theater. Former owner Abe Polin was prescient when he moved the stadium from the Maryland suburbs to downtown DC. All he did was change the landscape and social fabric of the city.

Outside Appearance

There's nothing superb here and the arena probably loses points in this department. The VC isn't tacky or difficult to look at but rather looks like a giant office building. In that way, it fits in the neighborhood. But the builders could have made things more interesting.

Sightlines/Seating Bowl

It's easy to criticize the view from the seating bowl if you've only seen a game from the top row of the upper deck directly behind the goals. This is an area called the "Eagle's Nest," and it formerly featured $5 tickets back in Ovechkin's first and second year. (Incidentally, Eagle's Nest tickets are probably the single best deal in the NHL since the lockout. See the game's greatest goal scorer in his rookie season for $5? Yes please.) But the problem with the Eagle's Nest is that you need better than eagle-vision to see from those seats. They are far from the ice.

Pretty much any other seat in the upper deck is a good one, and the corners in particular are superb for upper level seats. The arena is well-lit, unlike those in Tampa and St. Louis, which make you feel like you're entering a haunted house. The light gray-blue seats aren't as interesting as Pittsburgh's multi-hued seats, but they do provide a blank canvas that's easy on the eyes - especially when everyone sitting in those seats is covered in red. (Before the recent transformation, the blue colored seats readily revealed the team's poor attendance.) The press box resides in the upper corner where the opposing team shoots twice, and there have been few complaints from the press about a nosebleed vantage point, as there are in many other new stadiums.

The Verizon Center seating bowl fails in two ways. First, the ring of club-level seats outpaces fans' desire to sit in those seats. The problem is in the stadium's marketing: fans must purchase club-level seats for every event at the VC, not just hockey games. So a diehard Wizards fan who wants rich man's seats doesn't attend 41 Caps games a year. (Of course, the Caps being the hottest team in town lately, this trend has probably shifted the other way, with club-level ticketholders abandoning Wizards games.) Second, the layout of the lower deck ensures that some seats on the far corners are far from the ice. These seats dont provide a good vantage point and can even be obstructed in the far same-side corner. I would prefer to sit in the last row of the upper deck at dead center ice than in some of the lower level corners. And that's a problem, because the lower corners are significantly more expensive than the center uppers. So fans there are getting the short end of it.

History/Banners

In a recurring theme, the Caps recently raised all-new banners to go along with the team's attempt to brand the entire stadium red. These banners are simple, plain, and quite attractive. The old blue and gold banners did not work, especially the retired number banners that featured the likenesses of Rod Langway, Dennis Maruk, and Dale Hunter in gold on a blue background. No one wants to see your ugly mugs.

That said, no analysis can be complete without mentioning that the Verizon Center features the second-biggest joke among banners hanging in NHL stadiums, honoring the WNBA's Washington Mystics three championships. You ask, "Surely these banners honor actual championship wins, right?" Incorrect. They honor the Mystics attendance championships. This is an utter embarassment. No team should cater to a part-time tenant in such a shameful way. Or, they should take the banners down during every stadium event that is not women's basketball. I have seen only one worse banner, in Florida, where they honor Celine Dion's multiple sellout performances that opened up stadium. (Yay! Three concert sellouts!) But the attendance championship banners are far worse than the 7th man banner in Nashville or banners in some stadiums honoring #1 fans.

Concourse/Concessions/Cool Stuff

The stadium loses points here. The concourse, while not boring, offers nothing unique. It's not the fire hazard like Mellon Arena or Nassau Coliseum, but it pales compared to the excellent and interesting concourses in Columbus, Denver, and Philadelphia. And the bathrooms are just crowded enough to make you want to hold it until the end of the game.

The concessions are improving. You can now purchase bbq, Chinese food, Dunkin Donuts, and other interesting cuisines. But the prices are too high ($10 mini-pizzas) and the lines often obstruct the walkways.

There isn't nearly enough cool stuff for a team celebrating its 35th anniversary in the league. How about replicas of Ovechkin's Hart and Pearson trophies? A showcase of the 1998 Stanley Cup run? An exhibit about the team in the 1990s, when Bondra, Pivonka, and Ridley (three of my favorite Caps players of all time) ran the show? A history of the team's coaches? Famous quotes on the wall? Peter Bondra was one of the most exciting players in the league and scored 4 goals in a game twice, both at home. But if you walked around the stadium you'd never know it.

Bars

I dont care about this category. Unlike my 30-30 bretheren, I don't booze much at games. It's too expensive, and especially at the Verizon Center there are too many good places to drink before and after games. But the bars in the stadium have changed for the better. The upstairs, which formerly was the redheaded stepchild of NHL upper concourses, features a bar with dozens of beers. Both concourses have multiple bars where you can stand in a very short line to overpay for liquor. JP and CC, drink to your heart's content.

Store

The Verizon Center features a better-than-average store. There are dozens of Caps shirts, about 50 selections of hats, and lots of toys for kids. The prices are pretty brutal, though. But one thing it has going for it are tons of player name and number tees. If you want a David Steckel #39 shirt - and you should - it can be yours.

Value

This is a difficult category to assess. Just try to buy tickets to a weekend game from the box office. You can't do it. And the Capitals ticketing department has poached some of the best ticket salespeople in the business, including folks from the Flyers, such that the team sells out most games including those against some of the most boring division rivals in hockey. (Florida Panthers on a Tuesday night? The average fan would rather slog through a congressional subcommittee hearing.) Interestingly, the team marks up the face value far beyond the season ticket holder cost. Weekend tickets in the upper corners, for instance, retail for $60, but the team charges season ticket holders only $25. Contrary to what you might expect, this disparity has created an excellent secondary ticket market - the ticket holder can sell for more than his purchase price, the buyer can buy for way less than face value, and everyone walks away happy. Aside from that, you're paying to watch one of the most exciting teams in the league. So if the question is whether this is great value, the answer is an unequivocal yes; comparable teams charge far more and have far stingier secondary markets. But we defy you to get your hands on lower bowl tickets at center ice for less than $120 apiece.

Overall

This is a clean, attractive stadium with a solid game presentation, and the best location of any stadium in the U.S. It loses some points on some of the physical stuff - outer appearance, concourse, bathrooms. But what it lacks in those categories it more than makes up for in excitement and passion. With a good team, this is as exciting a place as any in the league to catch a game.

Norris

Aah, the Norris. One of the three easiest ways to engage me in a bar fight. Let it be known that I hold my pro-Lidstrom bias out in front, for all to see. The guy should have at least one, possibly two more Norrises than he does. The hockey world as a whole, in my opinion, was a few years too slow in recognizing his true greatness, and despite all the awards, accolades, and gushing commentary about him, I still will contend that he is somewhat underrated and will be in the historical long-run. It is highly unlikely I will ever enjoy watching someone play defense as much as I have Nick Lidstrom. Mention Scott Niedermayer in the same sentence, and unless the words ‘couldn’t carry his jockstrap’ are included, I’m likely to end the conversation and dismiss you. So, anyway, the narrative that took hold early this year when the Wings sputtered out of the gate defensively (thanks, Ozzie, for being yourself again) was that this was finally going to be the year when someone would swipe the trophy from #5. And despite the fact that there could be a perfectly legitimate case made for him to win it anyway, I agree that there is a better candidate this season. My fears are growing, however, that the writers will pick the wrong guy.

Barring an obscene lack of good candidates- which this season certainly does not have; “defense player who demonstrates throughout the season the greatest all-round ability in the position” had better be the guy you would have on the ice in the last minute of a game if your team was up OR down a goal. He had better be your top PP and PK guy, or pretty close to it. That guideline may be simplistic, but I think it’s pretty damn accurate. I love pure defensive d-men, and there are a ton of really good ones. However with the way the game is today, a ton of your offense comes from the blueline- in terms of creating a rush, transition, and on setups in the offensive zone. Guys who contribute at a high level in that category have to get preference. So, sorry Willie Mitchell, and Greg Zanon, and Robyn Regher. The reverse is also true. If your contributions are heavily skewed towards the offensive side of things, I don’t care if you control the game like Paul Coffey, I am not going to name you the best defenceman in the league- especially as I said when we are in an age right now where there is no shortage of guys who do both.

Now, Mike Green’s offensive stats are just disgusting. He had one of the most ridiculous offensive seasons we’ve seen in decades. And the way he plays is 100% game-changing. He’s lethal. Also, to be fair, the Caps play a very open, run-and-gun style, so it may be slightly more difficult to see his true defensive prowess.

But you’re not throwing Mike Green out there 30 minutes a game in all situations. He isn’t on your top PK unit. And If you’re up a goal and going the purely shutdown route, he probably isn’t the guy you’re putting up against Jarome Iginla or Evgeni Malkin. It is certainly possible to be elite defensively in other ways, but to me, Green falls short of that level, and its enough to make me quite sure that he isn’t deserving- yet- of the Norris.

The Norris goes to Zdeno Chara, a player who can control a game in every conceivable situation. We’ve long been told that guys play differently when for example, there is or isn’t s a goon on their bench watching after them. Whatever. It is certainly the case that players and entire teams play differently because of Chara. I truly believe that if you took Chara off of Boston, the entire identity of their team as a rugged, chippy, relentless group would go out the window. There is no way to properly assign credit to all of the factors involved- be it coaching, maturation, or whatever else, but look at the seismic shifts/evolutions of many Bruins over Chara’s seasons as their leader. Savard. Kessel. Wideman. Thomas. In my mind you just cant overstate the importance of a guy who plays in all situations, gives you 30 minutes a night, is an absolute rock defensively, is a tremendous leader/example to younger players, and shoots 100mph. Oh yeah, and he will FUCK YOU UP if he so chooses. The Norris top 5 are Chara, Lidstrom, Green, Streit, and Keith. In that order. Because I say so.

Selke

It’s pretty unreasonable to think one can make a judgment on an award like the Selke without seeing every team on a nightly basis. It really can't be determined on stats alone or even on stats + copious Center Ice viewing. Of course, this same reasoning does *not* apply to the Norris, which I am perpetually qualified to award because I am smarter than the voters, and that's just the way it is. Anyway. You really have to care and appreciate solid, if boring, defensive play to get a sense for the skills of guys like Lehtinen, Madden, or Axelsson. I’m sure if I was a fan and 82-game observer of their teams, I could make a nice case for Antti Miettinen or Kamil Kreps or Manny Malhotra….you get the point. So I fully acknowledge that the guys on my list are certainly the sexier, more glamorous choices. It is also worth noting that the star who plays amazing two-way hockey is now becoming a lot more common than it used to be- brutal defensive slackers are becoming the exception now. It doesn’t take much focus to realize that these are fantastic, game-controlling defensive players, but when you do focus on them, the appreciation just grows bigger.

Winner: Pavel Datsyuk. There isn’t too much more to say about this guy at this stage. He is one of the more unique players I’ve seen in some time. Last year was really his overall coming-out party, and this year he has played at a super-high level all season long. His ‘takeaways’ get the most press, but his overall speed, positioning and smarts, ferocity on the backcheck and in the corners, and physical play make him an absolute treat to watch. He could probably win this award any given year for the foreseeable future.

Then again, so could my runner-up, Mike Richards. His candidacy (and possible win) will rest largely on his outstanding stats on the penalty kill (no, I’ll never call it on the shorthand), where he was the top guy on a very dangerous unit. Richards fits the hockey world definition of the elite, two-way, gritty center to absolute perfection.

Coming in third I have Ryan Kesler, who is far less flashy than either Datsyuk or Richards, and falls into the mold of more of a shut-down type player. No one likes playing against Ryan Kesler, and the fact that he can add 58 points to his tick-you-the-hell-off presence is massively important to his team.

We are men of culture.

QMJHL Arena Review

Colisee Pepsi – Quebec Remparts

Convenience/Access – It’s sort of on the outskirts of the city but traffic is not an issue in Quebec. I drove there from my hotel in Vieux Quebec (old Quebec) in like 10 minutes or so. The parking wasn’t free, which was kind annoying to be charged to park for a junior game. They also use a variety of lots and we were in one that was a good walk from the arena. In fact, you couldn’t see the Colisee from where we parked.

Location/Scene – The Colisee sits on some sort of exposition grounds along with some other buildings whose uses I didn’t bother to determine. Imagine the Nassau Coliseum but just on a bigger footprint with some other buildings around. There are no restaurants or bars within walking distance.

Outside Appearance – I believe the building was erected in 1950 but it doesn’t look nearly that old from the outside. The front of the building is mostly glass. I imagine the glass facade was added in a renovation at some point.

Inner Aesthetics – Absolutely awesome. The seats are the colors of Quebec’s old NHL team, the Nordiques. I don’t know if that was on purpose or not but it looks great. The lower seats are red, the middle section is blue and the upper seats are white. The upper levels sweep upwards behind the nets in a way that I’ve never seen anywhere else. These seats are very steep and come equipped with guard rails to keep their occupants from tumbling to a serious injury. The Colisee has a very old school rink feel that you can’t get in very many places anymore.

Concourse – The hallways of the Colisee are very crowded and very quirky. There are parts of the upper level that are wide open but then bottleneck everyone through a single doorway that leads to a narrower area. Weird. If you’re not paying attention you might run over a little kid playing ball hockey between periods. The bathrooms were spacious though and there weren’t lines spilling into the hallway, which was good. I had to miss the first five minutes of the third period in order to make my way through the throngs to see all of the displays on the lower concourse. The lobby was absolute chaos before the game. Will call tickets were distributed not from the ticket windows, but from a table in the middle of the lobby that you couldn’t even see until you got right up to it because of the swarm of people around it. That was confusing and not practical.

Sightlines – Good, unless you sat where I sat, which was under the overhanging upper level. My view of the rink itself was fine, which is the most important thing but I couldn’t see the scoreboard at all. There were monitors on the overhang for us but it was impossible to read the clock on them. Like most old rinks, the seats are very steep.

Concessions – Besides standard arena fare there was the provincial staple poutine and popcorn enhanced with maple syrup. Poutine is a pile of fries covered in gravy and cheese curds.

Fans/Atmosphere – Canada is obviously obsessed with hockey but there are many CHL teams that play before half empty buildings and less than fired up crowds. The Quebec Remparts are not one of them. There were over fifteen thousand fans (just short of a sellout) at the game I attended, game 6 of the Remparts’s second round series with the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles. The crowd was electric from the drop of the puck. Cape Breton had three or four power plays in the first period. The crowd booed the Eagles extra man unit the entire time they had the puck. There were plenty of “Let’s go Remparts” chants, some egged on by a recording, some spontaneous. Most of the crowd wore red, which looked awesome. Like every Canadian NHL arena, everyone was glued to their seat during play. When I was returning to my seat after the third period had started, there was nary a soul in the halls. These people came to watch a hockey game, not eat ice cream and chiens chaud (hot dogs). That goes for the many children at the game too, which tells you something. As for the artificial part of the atmosphere, the music was heavy on techno (no surprise there). Refreshingly, there was no toolbox in-arena host constantly on the scoreboard and no puck shuffle. Again, these people were there for hockey. Props to the Remparts staff for recognizing that.

History/Banners – The ceiling of the Colisee is littered with Quebec hockey history. Where to start? The Quebec Aces were the building’s first tenant and their star Jean Beliveau’s number 9 hangs proudly. There have been two incarnations of the Remparts. The first one was from 1969 to 1985 and the current one that began in 1997. The first team won the Memorial Cup in 1971 with the help of Guy Lafleur, whose number 4 still hangs. The current team won the Memorial Cup in 2006. Their star that year, Alexander Radulov, has his number 22 retired. Simon Gagne’s 12 is also up there. Then there’s the Nordiques of course. Their WHL Avco Cup banner is still there, as are the retired numbers of J-C Tremblay, Marc Tardiff, Peter Stastny, and Michel Goulet. The history in the House That Beliveau Built is palpable and the banners reflect that.

Cool Stuff – The hallway on the lower level bears displays on the Quebec International Pee Wee Tournament, the Memorial Cup teams, former Remparts, the 2008 World Championship that took place there, and Jean Believeau. The only black mark is that the hall displays ignore the Nords.

Bars – The only beer offered is Bud Light. I can’t really say I’m surprised. It’s the lame world we live in now. Canada and Quebec produce plenty of tasty beer but yet the only beer available at this hockey palace is shitty, American, and light. You can get red wine though.

Store – Small, but solid. I got a hooded sweatshirt for $26 CDN. T-shirts, hats, pucks, sticks, car flags, hockey cards, windbreakers are all offered. The staff was very friendly and happy to speak English.

Value – The tickets were $14 but of course needed an extra $4 tacked on each for bogus charges, but that’s just the way it is now. The concessions were reasonably priced, as they should be. It’s a junior hockey game, not the NHL.

Overall – Personally, I was like a kid on Christmas morning in this place. It’s an absolute treat for anyone who’s interested in hockey history and this building holds so much of it. Attending a game with 15,000 enthusiastic Quebeckers was awesome enough and I haven’t even mentioned that Patrick Roy coaches the Remparts, which is very cool. Just considering that players like Jean Beliveau and Guy Lafleur skated there as teenagers and that players like Bobby Hull and Gordie Howe played there in the WHA and that greats like Stastny and Goulet played there in the 1980’s blows my mind. No building in the NHL today can offer that.