Chara Gets The Gordie Howe Hat Trick?

On Mr. Hockey's 81st birthday, Zdeno Chara of the Boston Bruins had a little tribute of his own, getting the proverbial Gordie Howe Hat Trick: a goal, an assist, and a fight. No, it was Chara, not Milan Lucic I'm talking about. In the first period of the game against the Tampa Bay Lightning, Chara (6 foot 9!, 255 pounds) got into a dustup with Tampa's heavyweight, Evgeny Artyukhin near the benches and after a bit of shoving, Chara grabbed Artyukhin (6 foot 5, 254 pounds) and just started pounding him with right hands forcing Artyukhin to hold on to Chara and force him to the ice in a bear hug. Both got fighting majors for the fracas and it seemed to light a fire under the big Bruins defender.

At 6:56 of the 2nd, Chara took a nifty pass at the side of the net from Patrice Bergeron and tapped in his 17th goal of the season past Tampa's Mike McKenna. That goal tied Chara career high for goals in one season. He wasn't done yet. At 13:35 of the 2nd, Chuck Kobasew scored his 20th of the season on a tip in of a blast from the point by Chara, giving him the Gordie Howe Hat Trick. Not to be out done, Lucic didn't record any points, but he did drop Josef Melichar (with one thundering punch!) after Melichar threw an elbow at Lucic's head. Big mistake. Gordie would have been proud.

As far as scoring goes, the Bruins easily won the game 3-1 and outshot Tampa 39-25. With the win, the Bruins took another step closer to solidifying their lead in the Eastern Conference standings and if both the Washington Capitals and New Jersey Devils lose tomorrow night, the Bruins will have the home ice advantage through the first 2 rounds of the playoffs. Right now, Boston leads the Caps by 9 points and the Devils by 10.

Is Habs Franchise Up For Sale? I'd Buy A Piece Of Hockey Immortality!

The word is that George Gillett, owner of the Montreal Canadiens franchise might be willing to part with the team. Who will buy? I would. Or maybe Jim Balsillie will finally snap up an NHL team. Apparently Gillett is feeling the global recessionary squeeze and has called in banks in four different countries to "evaluate his portfolio" to advise him about the possible sale of assets. Like the Habs.

Why is George Gillett crying poor mouth? It looks like he is having financial woes brought on by his partnership and co-ownership of English soccer club, Liverpool FC. Gillett is co-owner of the Liverpool club along with Tom Hicks (He owns the Texas Rangers and Dallas Stars) and the pair purchased the big league soccer team, and now have a bill coming due. Soon. The pair owe 350 million pounds to the troubled Bank of Scotland and it bundle was due earlier this year, but the two owners were able get an extension until July. Where will the money come from? Perhaps from a quick sale of the Montreal Canadiens...

Gillett also has interests in ski resorts and car dealerships (not exactly going gangbusters these days). However it plays out, don't expect the Habs to box up and move out of town if sold. Remember the Richard Riot of 1955? If anyone were to suggest moving the Canadiens out of Montreal, they would get run out of town.

So, don't expect Jim Balsillie to pick up the Habs and Express Post the team to Waterloo. He will probably continue to bide his time, wait in the weeds so he can snap up one of the troubled U.S. franchises and try to plunk them down just outside of the Toronto Maple Leafs jurisdiction. But the Habs? No way. Look for someone to jump in and rescue the storied franchise if it is put up on the block. Maybe the Caisse Populaire might be persuaded to step in. Or maybe The Hockey Highlighter will part with some of the dollars I have stashed under my mattress. I'd love to be sitting in the owner's box, a la Mark Cuban (just without his recent legal problems).

Habs Playoff Hopes Fading After 5-2 Home Loss To Leafs

What has happened to the Montreal Canadiens this year? Flying high in October-November and now the team just seems to be rolling over and quietly allowing their playoff hopes fade away. They lost yet again, this time to the low flying Toronto Maple Leafs 5-2 at home! Firing Guy Carbonneau has accomplished little if GM Bob Gainey had hoped to light a fire under the seats of the troops. The Habs have now lost 5 straight games and are 3-5-2 in their last 10 games. Gainey is a meager 1-3-2 since assuming coaching duties. If the Florida Panthers had won last night instead of blowing a lead to Carolina, Montreal would be out of playoff contention.

The Leafs rolled up a 4-0 by the nine minute mark of the 2nd period before Maxim Lapierre scored 2 quick goals for the Habs. Montreal strted to show some life, but quickly lapsed back into a sleepy style of play and the Leafs carried easily carried the game from then on.

Habs Goaltending Sucks: Price is Now "Holie-The-Goalie"

The Habs had Jaroslav Halak manning the net and he has been sporting the same shellshocked look that Carey Price has shown for the last while. As far as Price goes, he has really become "Holie-The-Goalie". The first half of the season, Price was golden, going 16-5 before being injured. Since then, Price has gone from the penthouse to the outhouse with a 4-16 record in his next 20 games. Don Cherry said it best when he pointed out that Carey Price had no reason to appear at the NHL AllStar Game when he was just getting back from his injury. In the game, Price played like a minor-leaguer, allowing, what was it? Nine goals? He hasn't been the same goalie since then. He wouldn't have been at the All Star game is the misguided Habs fans hadn't been stuffing the ballot box trying stupidly make it an "all Montreal Canadiens" All Star team. First off, by trying push sub-par players onto the team, the Habs faithful jeopardize the balloting process in the future. The NHL likely will revise the process and take the real fans out of the loop.

The Future For The Canadiens?

Short term? More of the same. Even if they somehow crawl into the playoff, they will likely bow out quickly. Then you can expect wholesale change. I wouldn't be surprised if Saku Koivu got shipped off to St. Louis (the Habs favorite trading partner). Price will stay, but several others will not be back. I really don't think you will be seeing Georges Laraque back anytime soon. Added for muscle and not for playing ability, Laraque had his moments, but he just is looking old, slow and poorly equipped to play in the NHL anymore. Bob Gainey? He'll stick around, but if the Habs have anything like this season's disappointment, he won't have a coach to kick to the curb and might find himself having to content himself with planning only Habs alumni events and not the day-to-day running of the club.

Ovechkin Scores 50th Goal, But Its The Celebration All Are Talking About

Alexander Ovechkin scored his 50th goal of the season in his team's 5-2 victory against the Tampa Bay Lightning which should have been a chance for him to show some class, but Ovie used the goal as a chance to show off by dropping his stick and pretending that the stick was red hot. I'm sure you've seen the video, but if not, take a look here Ovechkin Celebrates 50th Goal. It shows the goal (a beauty) and then Ovechkin doing his celebration, followed by dressing room interviews. You can just imagine Don Cherry's indignation tomorrow night on Coaches Corner. Cherry will no doubt rip a strip off of Ovechkin for his "bush-league" move. Don lauded Ovechkin last week for showing restraint following his 49th goal, but you can almost hear Cherry getting warmed up.

What do I think? The celebration was kinda funny, but we don't need premeditated celebratory stuff like that. You have to love Ovie's emotional play and the excitement he generates, but someone on the Tampa team should have said something to him about it not being very cool. Captain Vinnie LeCavelier might have mentioned that it was inappropriate as Ovechkin scored on the Bolts young rookie and that it left a bad taste in the collective mouths of the franchise's fans in their home rink. I don't think anyone should have tackled Ovie or taken liberties, but you don't show off like that in my barn. But Vinnie and the Bolts didn't say anything.

Brodeur Notches 101st Career Shutout

It would be hard to top Martin Brodeur's performance the other night when he won his 552nd career win in a 2-1 win against the Chicago Blackhawks last tuesday, but Brodeur is still in the hunt to beat Terry Sawchuk's career shutout record of 103. The mark was thought to be impossible to approach, but that was before Brodeur began his career. Now the previously untouchable record is tantalizingly within reach of Brodeur as his New Jersey Devils blanked the Minnesota Wild 4-0.

This was Brodeur's 5th shutout of the season and the 3rd since he returned from injury. Since coming back from a 50 game layoff due to injury, Martin Brodeur has gone 9-1 with 3 shutouts and has helped the Devils as they try for the lead in the Eastern Conference. It is doubtful that Brodeur will be able to get 2 more shutouts in the next 11 games remaining in the season, but don't count the 36 year old goalie just yet.

Jaromir Jagr Almost Joins Oilers In Time For Playoffs

Can you believe this? Former NHL superstar Jaromir Jagr was so chose to joining the Edmonton Oilers in February from his Continental League team if they hadn't made the playoffs. This has been confirmed by Jagr and Oilers' management. The Edmonton club is currently enjoying a good run and have assured themselves of a good playoff spot if they continue playing well down the stretch. They just beat the high flying Chicago Blackhawks 5-4 in a shootout which gives the Oilers a bit of breathing room in the playoff race. With the win, Edmonton is now 7th overall in the Western Conference with 79 points, one point back of the Carolina Hurricanes.

Brodeur Ties Record With 551st Win Against Habs

Martin Brodeur and the New Jersey Devils won 3-1 over the Montreal Canadiens at The Bell Center. With Patrick Roy in attendence, Brodeur tied the record for most career wins by an NHL goalie with 551. Now it's on to New Jersey who next face the Chicago Blackhawks on St. Patrick's Day, Tuesday, March 17th. Brodeur's quest to become the best all time goaltender continues and you can find updates at Martin Brodeur, a Squidoo website I've made in tribute to Brodeur and his many accomplishments.

Brodeur is also looking to become surpass legendary goalie Terry Sawchuk's once impossible 103 career shutouts. He has 2 shutouts already since he returned from missing 50-games as he recovered from a serious elbow injury he got in the 10th game of this season. It looks like Marty was chomping at the bit to get back into the net for the Devils who are threatening for the overall league lead.

Peter Pocklington Arrested On Suspicion Of Tax Fraud In the US

Former owner of the Edmonton Oilers, Peter Pocklington was indicted today by a federal grand jury concerning two bankruptcy fraud charges. Pocklington was arrested at his home in Palm Springs. He faces up to 10 years in prison if he is convicted. Police searched Pocklington's residence and a couple of storage units that he controls, looking for proof that he didn't disclose all his assets when he filed for bankruptcy in Riverside, California in August 2008.

At the time, Pocklington disclosed having over 19 million in debts against assets of $2,900 which included $300 worth of clothes and shoes. Apparently he failed to disclose two bank accounts that he had sole signatory authority. Pocklington is alleged to have "parked money, business interests and the deed to his home" in a number of offshore companies he had formed.

Pocklington is probably best remembered as the former owner of the Edmonton Oilers who traded hockey legend Wayne Gretzky to the Los Angeles Kings in 1988, for other players and $15 million in cash. In 2002 Pocklington moved to Palm Springs after a series of business failures that required government bailouts in Canada. His bid to become a US citizen is still pending.

The Bruins Are Faltering As The Post-Season Looms

What the heck is happening to the Boston Bruins? All season the team has chugged along beating everyone in their path as they appeared headed for a record season and raising expectations about the post-season. Suddenly the Big, Bad Bruins are starting to look like mere mortals.

The Bruins have gone 3-6-1 in their last 10 games but the tailspin started back February 10th when they lost 5-2 to the San Jose Sharks in what had been billed as the two teams most likely to be in the Stanley Cup Finals this year. The teams were pretty much evenly matched through the first 2 periods, but the Sharks overpowered the Bruins in the 3rd, scoring 3 goals to pull out the win. Even former Bruins star Joe Thornton scored to rub mud in the eye of the Bruins. Since that game, the Bruins have gone 4-7-2 in the last 13 games. They seem to be in a funk.

As of today, the Boston Bruins has slipped into 3rd place overall league-wide, and are trailing the Sharks and the Detroit Red Wings by one point. Both teams have 1-3 games in hand on the Bruins who now don't look quite like the world beaters they appeared to be just a month or so ago. Right now the Bruins would face a hungry squad from Carolina in the opening round of the playoffs that are just 4 weeks away.

Carbonneau Out, Gainey Takes Over As Habs Try To Save Season

The Habs are trying to shake up the team with just 16 games remaining in what can only be a disappointing season for Les Canadiens. Expectations were huge for the Montreal Canadiens after winning their division last year but the teams fortunes have been going down the drain as they desperately try to salvage the 2008-2009 NHL season. Habs legend Guy Carbonneau has been cut loose as head coach and general manager and former teammate Bob Gainey has stepped up to take the reins.

So, Car-bo is out with a record this year 36-24-7 which just doesn't cut it in the NHL at least for the Habs. Obviously they are expecting this move to cause the players to jump up. After the coach gets turfed, who is next? The are several players on the Habs who have turned in less than expected results. Carey Price for one. He seemed like the next Patrick Roy, but turned into Holie-the-Goalie for long stretches. He allowed 28 goals in 6 games recently which is atrocious for a number one goalie. Alexei Kovalev has also had to be kicked in the pants to get moving just before the trade deadline. There are rumours that Kovalev spoke poorly about the lacklustre performance of his teammates to a Russian reporter, something Kovalev denies vehemently. But Alexei was left behind on a recent road trip as a healthy scratch by the Canadiens as they embarked on another losing road trip.

The Canadiens would have been expected to have at least a modicum of jump when they hit the ice but they turned in a cold performance against the visiting Edmonton Oilers waiting 17 minutes before getting a shot on net. They did come from behind in the third period and won in overtime, but that is not the effort of a team that should be fighting tooth and nail for a playoff spot. There are a lot of teams looking at the Habs as easy pickins going down the stretch as they try to improve their playoff situations.

It's all up to Montreal to prove that they deserve to be in the post-season this year. Habs fans may think I'm being too hard on their team, but it at is their team that the Montreal faithful should be pointing their collective fingers. The Montreal Canadiens are always expected to do well, and this season had all the earmarks for being something special as the franchise celebrated their 100th season as a hockey club. So far, all they've provided has been disappointment and have left a very bad taste in the mouths of hockey fans.

Sad News For The Family Of Mr. Hockey, Gordie Howe

Sadly, news has been reported that Colleen Howe, beloved wife and staunchest defender of Gordie Howe has passed away. Mrs Howe, author and sports agent died March 6, 2009. Known as "Mrs. Hockey" Colleen had been suffering from Pick's Desease, a form of Alzheimers.