Quick update

Just a quick update after missing time having to work some extra due to the snowstorm.

The Devils lost Saturday to the Rangers 3-1.
I missed the game due to work,but you can read ILWT's coverage here.
Dainius Zubrus (5) scored the Devils only goal.

The Devs are in Philly tonight against the Flyers,but it is a Versus game,so little eyewitness coverage here.

Glad the Saints won the Super Bowl.
Didn't have time to post a pick,but I would have picked the Colts although I was rooting for the Saints all the way.

Look for some fun stuff over the next two days or so as we should have a melting pot, a feature story and the first part of our latest interview with Erik Arnesen.

The Miracle Rally

The New Jersey Devils slogged through the second period by allowing three goals against Toronto and as they deserved found themselves down 3-1 with 3:04 remaining in the game.
Things looked quite bleak for the Devils in the Ilya Kovalchuk debut,but an amazing final three minutes found the Devils with a 4-3 win,a needed two points in the pocket and hopefully some momentum going into MSG tonight against the Rangers.....
Devils goals to Travis Zajac (17 power play),Dean McAmmond (6),Dainius Zubrus (4) and the game winner to Jay Pandolfo (4).....

Hell Raisers

1) Ilya Kovalchuk assisted on the Zubrus and Zajac goals and was welcomed with several rousing ovations by the Devil faithful.
Kovalchuk showed the wheels that Devils fans have seen from him in the past,moving the puck up the ice and he seemed to be just a hair out of sync,which is understandable with the changes in team.
Once he gains some familiarity-look out!

2) Anssi Salmela saw a large amount of ice time (almost 20 minutes) in his return to the red and black and although I didn't think he was as bad as John over at ILWT did,he did seem a bit over aggressive at times and like Kovalchuk-a bit out of sync.
The learning curve should be a bit less steep for Salmela with his history with the team and one can only hope that is the case as the Devils already have some soft spots in the corps....

3) Forgot to mention last night that the Devils will be swapping picks with Atlanta in the second round in the draft this year.
I don't think that there will be a huge difference between the Devils first rounder and the Thrashers second rounder and that makes the deal even better.

4) The player that I would have given a star for the game though did not receive one-Dean McAmmond's goal that he flipped over Jonas Gustavsson was the impetus for the comeback.
Until that point,the Devils seemed almost asleep and looked to on the way to a disappointing evening.

5) The second period was awful though and only the middle Toronto goal (A PP caused by a phantom penalty on Kovalchuk) could be blamed on anything other than poor play.
And that goal was kinda a soft one,so the power play could be questioned,but not the score.

6) The third goal was the worst with Colin White and Jamie Langenbrunner spending more time whining about a penalty as they allowed the puck to just sit there for Richard Wallin.
I didn't see anything to complain about and it was a boneheaded move by both...

7) Had to like the bull rush by Dainius Zubrus in the first on his goal and his near goal in the third that forced Alexei Ponikarovsky to trip him to avoid handing the Devils the tie.
Those are the types of plays that Zubrus flashes occasionally enough to keep people hoping for more from him.

8) The Devils watched Zubrus raise the puck on Jonas Gustavsson and then didn't do it again for almost two periods.
Gustavsson drops to the ice and makes him susceptible to raising the puck and soft rebounds,yet the Devils hardly did that all until the games end.

9) Which leads to the game winner by Jay Pandolfo,which was scored on just such a rebound.
Pando seems to get stopped so often in these situations and it was cool to see him get a big goal for a change.

10) All and all,excited about the win and encouraged by the fortitude shown by the Devils,but the effort for the second and most of the third was pretty bad and these defensive weaknesses need to be addressed either internally or externally.
However,a win is a win and they all count the same!

Photo Credits
Kovalchuk-Andy Marlin-Getty Images
Pandolfo-Jim McIssac-Getty Images

Ilya Kovalchuk to the DEVILS!!!!!!!!

Lou Lamoriello has struck again with what looks like a masterstroke in obtaining one of the NHL's top scorers in Ilya Kovalchuk from the Atlanta Thrashers!
TSN reports the terms as being these-Johnny Oduya,Nicklas Bergfors,prospect Patrice Cormier and the Devils number one pick in next years draft.

If that is correct,then I love the deal.
LOVE the deal.
Oduya has never been a favorite and by moving him,the money saved could be used to help pay for Kovalchuk or Paul Martin.
I like Bergfors,but one needs to part with talent to gain talent and Cormier has issues that come with the cheap shot elbow that he threw in juniors last month.
Hate dealing picks,but it should be a low first anyway.

The Devils also reacquired defenseman Anssi Salmela,which corrects a rare Lou bad deal after shipping Salmela last season to Atlanta for the useless Niclas Havelid!

What more can I say other than WOW!

More on this tomorrow!

Photo Credits
Kovalchuk-Getty Images
Salmela-Aristide Economopoulos/The Star-Ledger

Snow,Snow go away

With another "major winter event" as they breathlessly say on the Weather Channel on its way.
Please allow me a few words to say-I HATE WINTER!
Driving in it,being in stuck at work in it and shoveling it-there is nothing redeeming about a heavy snow.
A light snow of an inch or two,well that I can tolerate,but there is not a single thing that I can think of that a heavy snow brings to mind that one can say that is positive.

I really need to move to a southern climate,preferably one within driving distance of a few minor league baseball teams!
I know they were hammered recently,but it happens far less often and as a result,things go far much smoother because everything shuts down and is nice and quiet!

In any event,the weather analysts drive me crazy during this stuff as they tend to be super pumped and happy as all get loose,while I am generally miserable.
I can understand it though as snowstorms,hurricanes etc are their versions of me going to a new ballpark,the NFL draft etc,so I understand the passion.
And God forbid that I have to listen to how wonderful this is from one of the most annoying people on television-as shown below

I generally enjoy TWC,but as previously noted I cannot stand Stephanie Abrams!
Maybe in the future on a slow day (like today),I'll write about my favorite TWC personalities.
And yes,that means it was a REALLY slow news day.
In any event,stay safe in the snow and if you are avoiding the bad weather,lucky you!

Lifeless in Toronto

The Toronto Maple Leafs had an infusion of energy with the acquisition of Dion Phaneuf and Jean Sebastian Giguere,sadly the Devils had no such additions and it showed as the Leafs grabbed a 3-0 win in Toronto.
The Devils did play Yann Danis for Marty Brodeur,so they had to know that there was a chance of this happening ahead of time,but they still seemed less than sharp.
The same two teams again Friday night at the Rock.

Hell Raisers

1) Well,I was furious on Sunday for the loss against the Kings,tonight I had a hard time generating the same fury.
I mean,really,if the team is going through the motions like they dont care,then why should I churn up any passion at all??

2) Yann Danis didn't play that poorly other than the five hole goal that he allowed to Francois Beauchemin.
His performance is about what you expect from the backup goalie that plays 8 games a year..

3) I figured Dion Phaneuf would try to fight in this one to show Toronto fans that he was a tough customer,what I didn't see was Colin White being the guy to test him.
The fight wasn't much,but it was White's first since his 2007 eye injury.
White didn't appear to plan the bout,just a reaction to an earlier Phaneuf hit on Zach Parise.

4) Only Devil highlight?
Pierre Luc LeBlond's pounding of Leaf Jay Rosehill.

5) The Devils lineup needed (still does) a shakeup,but did they really need LeBlond and Andrew Peters active for this one?
I love fighting as much as the next guy,but playing both of the enforcers will always leave the Devils lacking.

6) Not much that I can say-outhit,outplayed and outhustled.
I am not promoting a Calgary style panic button push,but the Devils had better hope that the return to health of Elias,Clarkson and Martin does the trick.

Photo Credit
Graig Abel-Getty Images

Jack Brisco,Tom Brookshier and more goodbyes

Quite a few passings over the last few days and here is a chance to catch up and salute them before things pass us by.

We wrote earlier in the week about the loss of author J.D. Salinger and author/activist Howard Zinn, but I wanted to add a link or two about both men.
Wendy Block of the lefty blog Huffington Post writes about her personal connections to both men, while author Rick Shenkman takes a shot at Zinn from 2008.
Salinger will be the subject of a two-hour documentary film that will hit the film festival circuit in the spring, which means it will be a few years before I'll get to see it on Sundance or IFC.
The film sounds interesting, although I am sure that the reclusive Salinger would have hated the entire idea of his life being exposed to others.....

Former NWA world champion Jack Brisco passed away after an illness at the age of 68.
Brisco held the world championship from 1973-1976 with a win over Harley Race before dropping the title to Terry Funk three years later.
Brisco was an NCAA champion in 1965 as an Oklahoma State Cowboy before turning pro.
Brisco might have been better noted for his 'chasing the champ' program against Dory Funk, Jr than his actual title run.
The Funk-Brisco matches were classic for the time and hold up very well today if pure wrestling is what you are looking for.

Brisco spent most of his career in Florida and the Mid-Atlantic areas as the classic good guy.
The talented wrestler wasn't the greatest talker ever, but he was able to speak well enough in his role to be more than effective.
My only memory of seeing Brisco before his WWF run was on a small black and white TV in Chincoteague Va on a vacation.
Brisco wrestled Ric Flair on TV and pinned Flair in a non-title match that set the stage for a Flair-Brisco program.
Below is a clip from that match as I haven't seen it since that long ago day.

Jack Brisco was also remembered for his tag team with his brother Jerry and in the middle 80's finally turned heel and was surprisingly good at all after all the years on the other side of the fence.
Of course, heel tactics and interviews were far more toned down than what one sees today.

The Briscos had a terrific feud in the Mid-Atlantic area with Rick Steamboat and Jay Youngblood and eventually had a run in the WWF as the top contenders to champions Adrian Adonis and Dick Murdoch before Brisco tired of the travel and weather and retired on the spot in 1984.
Brisco also had a role in the WWF being on WTBS as he was one of the stockholders in Georgia Championship Wrestling to sell their shares to Vince McMahon and resulting in Georgia being finished as a territory.


Former Eagles corner and CBS color analyst Tom Brookshier died from cancer at the age of 78.
The two time all pro was before my time as a player but brings back memories of my youth as part of the top NFL announcing team at CBS with Pat Summerall.
Brookshier was replaced in that role by a guy named John Madden and slowly began to drop down the assignment list at the network.
I always liked his work and honesty and really in many ways, his team with Summerall was superior to the more theatrical Madden.
Brookshier was one of just seven Eagles to have his number retired by the team in the franchise history.
Brookshier was also remembered for his post-Super Bowl interview with the silent Cowboy Duane Thomas that was awkward at best and saw Thomas advisor Jim Brown do more talking for Thomas than Thomas did.
The Thomas talk starts at 7:00 below.


Private Terms passed at Claiborne Farm at the age of 25.
The horse was the undefeated favorite for the Kentucky Derby with wins in the Gotham and Wood Memorial before finishing ninth in Kentucky and fourth in the Preakness.
The Maryland resident was retired to Maryland in 1990 and was a success at stud before being sent to the bigger stage of Claiborne in 1995.
Private Terms sired two strong runners in Afternoon Deelites and Soul of the Matter in the early to mid 90's before falling to mid-pack in the sire standings thereafter.
Private Terms' win in the 1989 Massachusetts Handicap is below.


Photo Credits-Unknown

Devils stunned by Kings

I had to wait a while before typing this as the anger was more than I could take as the New Jersey Devils watched a fluke shot/defensive lapse allow the Los Angeles Kings to tie the game with 90 seconds to go,a borderline penalty called that then gave the Kings the man advantage and then score on it to give the Kings the 3-2 win and send the Devils from two points to zero in less than one minute of play.
Devils goals to Travis Zajac (16) and Johnny Oduya (2).
The Devils visit Toronto tonight and then host the Leafs on Friday.

Hell Raisers

1) The sad truth to this game was that the Devils played reasonably well until the stunning conclusion,but still the Achilles heel was the lack of scoring as Jonathan Quick slammed the door on many Devil chances that could have put the game away or at least salvaged a point from the evening.
Quick showed me a lot in the game,if he played for a team that was seen more often,he would be talked about far more than he is.

2) The game tying goal was just one of those crazy,awkward angle shots that for some odd reason tends to give Marty Brodeur trouble.
Why more teams don't try that with Brodeur is difficult to understand.

3) Mike Mottau struck again,but with some help from Rob Niedermayer on a goal.
Mottau's less than brilliant pass was botched by Neidermayer leaving the puck right on the doorstep for a goal.
You all know my Mottau opinion,but Niedermayer has played pretty poorly lately as well.

4) The game winning goal was set up by a questionable tripping call on Andy Greene behind the net.
That looked like a dive at worst and a no call at best.
The Devils still have to kill the penalty,but not a good call....

5) Not sure what answer I have for the Devils getting any offense from forwards not named Zajac,Parise or Zubrus other than Patrik Elias getting back.
Elias is expected to return sometime next week,but David Clarkson and Paul Martin will not return until after the Olympic break on March 2nd.

6) The Toronto team that the Devils face tonight is far different than the one that they defeated Friday.Dion Phaneuf and Jean Sebastian Giguere are now in blue and white and basically the Leafs gave up a bunch of average guys other than Ian White,who I like as a player.
Niclas Hagman and Matt Stajan are decent,but not great,Jason Blake is way overpaid and Vesa Toskala is just awful.
It isn't often that you can land a Dion Phaneuf and get rid of your biggest contract and worst player as well.
Props to the Leafs and to Brent Sutter-Karma sucks sometimes....

Photo Credit-Andy Marlin-Getty Images