In a few short weeks, the National Hockey League season will grind to a halt to make way for the extravagant snow-themed festivities of the 2010 Winter Olympics. This year in Vancouver, the hottest ticket will undoubtedly be the battle that will be played out for the gold medal in men’s hockey.

 There are seven teams in the tournament that could be considered legitimate contenders this year (Canada, USA, Sweden, Russia, Finland, Czech Republic and Slovakia), and the majority of those squads are dominated by current NHLers. The members of the Ottawa Senators are certainly no strangers to international competition, and the 2010 Olympics will be no exception. While recent games have not been kind to the Sens, several players will be looking forward to the Olympics in search of a different shade of glory. Barring injuries, Ottawa will be sending five regulars to the games in addition to two prospects.

 The biggest name from the Senators is obviously Daniel Alfredsson, who despite being currently injured was recently named captain of the Swedish Olympic team. He previously led them in points and was third in scoring during their gold medal run in 2006 in Turin, and hopes for a repeat of that success this year. After being picked for team Sweden, Alfredsson did make headlines when he indicated he would only play for the Swedes as long as his shoulder was fully healed in time for the games. However as noble as that statement sounds in theory, I suspect such rhetoric is merely for the comfort of fans and management, and that he expects to be on the ice for Sweden’s first game on February 17^th. Despite his commitment to the Ottawa Senators I seriously doubt that Alfredsson, who has played through serious injuries in the past, would give up the chance to captain team Sweden to a second gold medal.

 Another forward who will be returning to the Olympics for his team will be Jarkko Ruutu, who will be playing for team Finland. The Finns will be looking to build on the success they achieved in Torino in 2006 when they came home with a silver medal. Ruutu will also be joined in these games by his brother Tuomo Ruutu, who plays for the Carolina Hurricanes. While Finland is certainly not the favourite this year, they proved in 2006 that they simply cannot be discounted. Ruutu will be looked upon to fulfil the same role he has on the Senators, killing penalties and generally antagonizing the opposition.

 A further two Ottawa players will be joining the other team that medaled in the 2006 Winter Olympics, the Czech Republic. The bronze medal winners will have both Filip Kuba and Milan Michalek on their rosters for their first game February 17^th against Russia. Kuba is a returning member of the 2006 bronze medal winners, while Michalek will be getting his first taste of Olympics action. Like Jarkko Ruutu, Michalek will also be joined on the team by his brother Zbynek Michalek, who currently plays defence for the Phoenix Coyotes. 

One of the favourites leading up to Vancouver are the Russians, whose roster will boast some of the most dangerous scorers in the NHL. In addition to superstars like Alexander Ovechkin, Ilya Kovalchuk and Evgeni Malkin, the team will also enjoy the services of defensive defenseman extraordinaire Anton Volchenkov. Volchenkov was also a member of his national team in Torino, who ended up losing in the bronze medal game to the Czechs. One notable omission from the Russian team was veteran Ottawa forward Alex Kovalev. Despite having put up six points in eight games for team Russia in 2006 they decided not to pick one of the most takented Russians in the NHL today, although the decision can’t come entirely as surprise. Kovalev’s notorious inconsistency combined with the Russian requirement that they fill half the roster with players from the Kontinental Hockey League meant that they simply couldn’t fit him in.

 The Ottawa Senators organization will also have some representation among the underdog teams at the Olympics. The Latvian team will enjoy the services of Kaspars Daugavins, a 3^rd round pick of the Sens in 2006 who is currently playing for the Binghamton Senators of the American Hockey League, while the Swiss team has Roman Wick on their roster. Wick is a 5^th round pick from 2004 who has spent the past few years playing for the Kloten Flyers of the Swiss National League A.

 Even with all this Ottawa Senators representation, it’s worth noting what else might have been. Mike Fisher was in serious contention for the Canadian team right up to the selection deadline, and could still be in consideration should injuries force Canadian General Manager Steve Yzerman to look for replacement players. A recent hand injury to Boston Bruins centre Patrice Bergeron could open up a spot on the fourth line for a player like Fisher. Meanwhile, it wasn’t long ago that Jason Spezza was under consideration for the team as well. He had been a member of the so-called “taxi squad” for Torino in 2006 and was even invited to the Olympic training camp this past summer. However, his horrible start to the 2009-10 NHL season caused him to quickly drop off the radar, even prior to his recent knee injury.

 Last but not least, I would be remiss if I failed to mention that even Ryan Shannon’s name was thrown about this past summer as an Olympic candidate for Team USA, although it was certainly a bit of wishful thinking. Having been a member of team USA at the 2009 World Championships, it was though that perhaps his speed might be an worthwhile asset, but with Brian Burke picking the team he was a long shot even before going the first 29 games of the season without a goal. See you in Sochi in 2014 Ryan!

The Ottawa Senators head into the holiday season in a fairly optimistic scenario, especially considering that this team has yet to get all their components clicking at the same time. For a team most predicted to finish out of the playoff hunt, I doubt there are many complaints about their position 5^th in the conference.

 While it hasn’t always been pretty, the Senators managed to eke out a 2-2 record last week, this despite several injuries to crucial players. They followed up a closely contested 3-2 loss to Toronto on Monday (in which a Jesse Winchester goal was called back with less than a minute to go) with a 2-0 shutout win over the Buffalo Sabres on Wednesday. Friday they fell to the conference leading Devils before defeating the equipment impaired Minnesota Wild 4-1 on Saturday.

 What was most notable about the team’s performance in recent games was a commitment to a more defensive style of play. In the four games played last week, the Senators held their opponents to an average of less than 23 shots a game. This was over five shots a game less than their average for the season coming into the week.

 The result of this adjustment by Cory Clouston was that the team was able to salvage a few wins in a scenario where previous Ottawa teams have failed to do so. The two goals per game the opposition was limited to over those four games was certainly not a result of Ottawa’s goaltending bailing the team out, but simply good team defense. Consequently, back-up goaltender Brian Elliott was rewarded with his second shutout of the season, despite what I would deem to be his continued sub-par play this season. Meanwhile career minor leaguer Mike Brodeur very nearly had a shutout of his own, and in his first NHL start, before a Martin Havlat shot found its way to the net in the third period of Ottawa’s 4-1 victory over Minnesota on Saturday.

In the coming weeks this style of play will be more of a necessity than a choice as the Senators continue to face a plethora of injuries. As mentioned previously the team’s offense has been hit particularly hard, with Jason Spezza out for two months with knee troubles while Nick Foligno will be out a few weeks with a knee injury as well. This is in addition to long-term injuries to Chris Neil and Shean Donovan, as well as the freak facial injury suffered by Pascal Leclaire.  

 Needless to say, all the standard sport clichés are in order as the Ottawa Senators will need to battle through and tough it out until the team can ice a complete squad sometime in the New Year. As I mentioned earlier, this is a 5^th place team that still has yet to have all their pieces clicking at the same time. If they can get back their injured players and find a way to create some more offence, especially on the power play, it’s within the realm of possibility that this team could become a surprise contender come playoff time.

We’ve all had substitute teachers.  You walk into your class and see an unfamiliar face behind the credenza. From behind studying eyes, all the students size the sub up. Will class be the same? Are we going to get a break from the usual drudgery of Mr. Stickinthemud’s lessons? Oh no, what if this guy is a real jerk? No, can’t be any worse right? Maybe we’ll watch a movie all class long? That would be awesome!

There was a strange film playing out in the first couple months of the Pittsburgh Penguin season. It was no love story. It wasn’t quite a documentary. It was more like a dark comedy.  A comedy of injuries. Especially to the defense corps. At one point in time the following Pens blue liners were out of the lineup with various ailments:  Sergei Gonchar, Alex Goligoski, Brooks Orpik, Kris Letang and Jay Mckee.  During a stretch in November, the Pens lineup boasted only one defenseman from last year’s championship team–Mark Eaton. And he was playing hurt. The seventh defenseman on the team, Martin Skoula, acquired in the off-season, didn’t figure to see much action when the year began if all of of the above stalwarts remained healthy. But as is typically the case, injuries will happen to defensmen. They block shots, get up close and personal with the boards behind their net, and generally put themselves in harm’s way quite often. Skoula figured to get some ice time, but what he didn’t figure, was that he was about to go from number 7 on the depth chart, to number 2 with a bullet.

Skoula is a veteran of over 11 NHL seasons and has international experience on World Cup Teams.  He was a first round pick (17th overall, 1998) by Colorado where he spent most of his NHL career. GM Ray Shero needed a veteran presence after losing both Hal Gill and Rob Scuderi to free agency in the aftermath of last season’s Cup win. The Wilkes-Barre farm team had several guys with a smattering of NHL play, but all were young and relatively inexperienced.  That was about to change.  In late October, the Pens called up understudies Deryk Engelland and Ben Lovejoy from their Baby Penguins team to stop the blue line bleeding. Both fared pretty well considering their lack of big league time logged. There was a dicey 4 game losing streak in early November, but the wall did not collapse. That is a testament to the depth the team has in the minors at all positions and the foresight of Ray Shero who was smart to ink Skoula, who has played in 22 games already.

Th numbers are respectable. With 8 points on 3 goals (two in one game) and 5 assists, a plus 2, and only 4 penalty minutes, Skoula has given exactly what Shero had hoped he’d get.  A steady, calming influence when the situation called for it.  When the Penguins face off against Florida Saturday, December 12th, they will finally have the same 3 defensive pairings that started the season. That means that the 7th guy will once again take a position in the press box.  The super sub will have to wait his turn again. But it’s pretty safe to say that nobody associated with Penguins hockey will shudder if he has to fill in for any of his brothers on the blue line in the future. He’s number 41 in your program, but has been as high as number 2 on the defense roster.  And that’s just fine with the rest of the class.

The Senators arrived back home this week after a tough road trip where they went 1-3-1. They lost to Boston, San Jose, Los Angeles, and Phoenix before winning 4-3 in a shootout against Anaheim Sunday night. They then dropped a home game against Montreal on Tuesday, but followed it up with a win against Philadelphia on Thursday night.

Despite the win against the Flyers, this Senators team is one that is floundering amid their inability to score goals. They threw 46 shots at Jaroslav Halak in Tuesday’s 4-1 loss to the Habs, while only managing one goal on Brian Boucher in their 2-0 win on Thursday (the second goal was into an empty net). While it was nice to see Brian Elliott rebound from his recent poor performances with the shutout, it’s best not to get too caught up in a win over a team with just two wins in their past eleven games.

 As could be expected, all the media focus has been on what’s gone wrong with this team. On Tuesday, Bryan Murray was quoted in the media describing his frustration with what he perceives as a lack of toughness on the Ottawa Senators, especially with Chris Neil injured. Among other things he noted that “we don’t go to the net much, or often enough for me”, and he cites this as a major factor in the team’s difficulties in creating offence.

 The team currently sits in the middle of the packat 16th in goals for, but more tellingly their power play is ranked an awful 26th. Some of the issues with Ottawa’s power play may be related to the strategies being employed by the coaching staff. How many unsuccessful attempts to employ the cross-crease pass must be made before someone realizes the blatantly obvious play is not working anymore? I’m sorry Cory, Dany Heatley is gone now. Nonetheless, the bulk of the blame lies squarely on the shoulders of Ottawa’s offensive stars, especially Jason Spezza and Alex Kovalev.

 Kovalev and Spezza have been taking a lot of heat lately from fans and the media alike, who have been quick to point to the terrible seasons they are having as a major cause of the Senators’ woes. Despite a goal against Anaheim, Spezza has been pretty cold, while Kovalev has been positively frigid. Kovalev has now gone 15 games without a goal, and has only three points on the power play this year. He has picked up his game slightly in recent days, with three assists in the last three games of the road trip, but the Senators need a lot more.

 While the trio of Daniel Alfredsson, Milan Michalek and Mike Fisher continues to provide most of the team’s offence (44% actually), the team’s ostensible second line continues to disappoint. Case in point: in Tuesday loss to the Canadians, the Alfredsson-Michalek-Fisher line had the lone goal and 18 shots between them, while Kovalev, Spezza and Nick Foligno managed just 6. The Philly game wasn’t much better, but Foligno did score the game winner. 

 Coming over from Montreal this past summer, it was hoped that Alex Kovalev could avoid the notoriously inconsistent play that has defined his later career, and consequently GM Bryan Murray decided to roll the dice. The tought was that he would no longer be the focus of the offence, as he had been in Montreal, but a complimentary component on a team with several star players. However, the results so far have been less than encouraging. The old adage of “buyer beware” comes to mind, but there is still time for Kovalev to wake up. 

 While Kovalev’s streaky play has been well documented, Spezza has generally been much more consistent over his career. With only three goals so far this season, Spezza is well on his way to a career low. In Thursday’s game against the Flyers he was on the ice for just 14:44, and less than 10 minutes of that was even strength. Suggestions have been made that perhaps some sort of “Olympic pressure” has been distracting Spezza, but I think those writers are really fishing for something. Besides, there’s no pressure now; there’s no longer any chance of him making the Canadian Olympic team.

 Rather than looking for complicated reasons for his slump, the most obvious cause is probably the answer. In this case, Spezza’s cold streak is likely a product of the departure of his previous line mate and notorious hater Dany Heatley. Couple this with a good old fashioned loss of confidence, and you have your explanation. Hopefully Spezza can adjust and find new legs, otherwise Cory Clouston will have him playing 14 minutes a night more often.

 It’s not all bad for the Senators offence, so I’ll end on a more upbeat note. As I mentioned before, Alfredsson, Michalek and Fisher are all having solid seasons so far, with the later two on their way to career highs. Michalek continues to be everything Murray hoped he would be, and is on pace for 40 goals this year. Meanwhile any Senators Olympic talk has shifted from Spezza to Fisher, who has caught the attention of Team Canada with his recent play. With a few changes in luck and strategy, it’s still possible for this team to have a formidable offence.

The 2009-10 NHL schedule will be the last one played by the Pittsburgh Penguins at the Mellon Arena. Formerly The Civic Arena, the structure opened September 19, 1961 with an Ice Capades show and eventually hosted the Pittsburgh Hornets of the AHL and the Penguins of the NHL. It will give way to the new, state-of-the-art Consol Energy Center next fall. The following is the first offering in a series of my personal memories/experiences from times spend at the old barn…with a little bit of real life thrown in for good measure: 

Pens, you take my breath away

I don’t recall the exact date and I’m not going to Google myself to death looking for it.  It was sometime during the second or third Pittsburgh Penguins hockey season in their history,  back in the late 60s or early 70s.  It was my first live NHL game. The opponents were the big, bad Boston Bruins. Their players were well known–Cheevers, Hodge, Esposito, Bucyk, and some guy named Bobby Orr.  Orr was a smooth skater and a brilliant puck handler. And he was a defenseman. Most defensemen back then only concentrated on keeping the puck out of their own net. They were generally discouraged from bringing it much further than their own blue line.  Orr was an amazing talent. He flew through the other team with the greatest of ease.  He revolutionized the game from the back line. Now, the Penguins alone have several defensemen who are offensively skilled.  Blueliners like Gonchar, Letang and Goligoski are the norm, not the exception in today’s NHL. Especially with recent rule changes which have opened up more skating room for players of their ilk.  My brother Jerry and his brother-in-law Gary supplied the tickets that night. I settled into my seat, checked out the players warming up and took everything in.

I had listened to some hockey games on radio. I was even able to pick up KMOX AM out of St. Louis on clear nights. The Blues play-by-play man was the late Dan Kelly. A legendary voice in the hockey world.  I would curl up in my bed and listen to him call the action.  Not many games were televised back then. Eventually some Pens games were broadcast on Channel 53 which was a VHF station it took two people holding the rabbit ears to watch.  My mom, sister and myself had just moved to Emrose Drive in the Pittsburgh suburb of Penn Hills from Punxsutawney, PA a couple years back.  It was culture shock to see 4 lanes of traffic, let alone this newfangled sport everyone was getting hip to.  Not too long before that, the only live sporting event I was used to watching was a weather-predicting groundhog wriggling out of a hole in the ground. And that was only once a year.

A few years later, kids in my neighborhood were organizing street hockey games.  Most street hockey and rollerblade hockey is now played in rinks that look exactly like ice hockey arenas, minus the frozen water. But playing real street hockey meant that when a car came, you had to move the goal so it could pass.  That really stunk when you were on a breakaway and had to decide between picking a corner to shoot at and risk getting rear-ended by a Caddy, or veering off into a neighbor’s lawn to avoid being a statistic not associated with the game.  One of the guys on my street, Bobby Posch was our ringleader. He was the oldest and we all looked up to him. He gave us all grief, teased and played pranks on everyone.  There were times when I hated him for that.  But if someone on our street got into a conflict with a kid from another neighborhood, he was our muscle.  We also looked to him to provide direction and creativity to our play time. He was always inventing new games or putting spins on old ones.  He built a 3-hole golf course in his yard and advised me how to do the same in mine. This included a lesson on how to lower the blade on the lawn mower to cut the grass extra close around the greens.  It wasn’t a Jack Nicklaus design, but it was something.  Every summer, we had the “Emrose Open.”  It was a two-house, 6-hole amateur golf extravaganza.  In 2009, most kids play golf on their Sony PlayStation or Nintendo Wii. Creative playtime died a slow and horrible death thanks to technology.

Even though Bobby wasn’t much of a hockey nut, he decided to help the cause by fashioning two hockey goals out of chicken wire, some lumber he ”requisitioned” from somewhere and a few nails, screws and paint.  One time, while we were playing, a car was coming pretty fast and didn’t want to wait for us to move the net.  One of us was trying to get it out of the way, but the car swerved purposely and clipped it, knocking it over and breaking one of the boards. That gives a whole new meaning to the term crashing the net! Bobby went nuts. The guy in the car was a notorious jerk who lived one street over. He slowed down to say something smart, so Bobby chased his car, running like the wind and jumped on the back of it.  All of us watched in amazement. The guy got out but Bobby basically knocked him back into the driver’s seat and kicked his door repeatedly. The trouble-making motorist just got back in his vehicle and sped off,  probably stunned that someone so much younger had just bested him.  Today, Bobby would probably be charged with assault, his parents sued and thousands of people would be giving them grief on the Internet for being horrible parents. Back then, conflict was handled by two sets of fists and rules that were a bit more clear. The first rule being, don’t start no crap, won’t be no crap. And that moron in the sedan violated it.  At that moment in time, I must say that I was glad Bobby Posch was my friend.  I guarantee the other kids on our Emrose Drive street hockey team felt the same way.

The Civic Arena was alive with cheering, clapping and organ music. I don’t know whether the organist was live at that time or recorded and reproduced, but it was loud.  The action was fast and furious and The Penguins were leading the game against the superior Boston squad.  I had never been in such an atmosphere. I had been to baseball games at Forbes Field a couple times thanks to my sister, brother and the Port Authority buses. But never had I seen such controlled madness.  We had pretty good seats. I believe they were in section B which are not too far from ice level.  I had never witnessed a sport with so much speed, action and violence abound.  Players zipped by, controlling the puck while trying to avoid the guy in the opposite jersey attempting to take his head off.  I don’t know whether it was the commotion, being overwhelmed by the moment, or just  nervous excitement, but I recall being almost breathless at times.  The home team was up by a goal and it was late in the third period.  A Penguin named Val Fonteyne had a hat trick. His personal stats showed that this was not something he did regularly. Near the end of the game, the Bruins had to pull their goalie in an effort to tie it up.  Players were rushing onto the ice every which way. Chaos ensued and I had trouble figuring out who was going where. Then the puck found it’s way onto a Penguin player’s stick. The crowd rose to it’s feet in anticipation. The puck flew toward an empty Bruins net.  The red goal light went on, a siren blew and about 14,000 people went bonkers.  One of which was still trying to catch his breath. I didn’t know much about the game back then.  What I did know after that night was that I was hooked on it.

Next up… From $8.00 seats to $8.00 beers and Go Home Flyers!!

It was a better week for the Ottawa Senators, who followed up an exciting shootout loss on Saturday to the New York Rangers with two wins over the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Pittsburgh Penguins.

The win over the Leafs on Tuesday was big, if only for the fact that it was the type of game they must win if they want to be considered a playoff contender. It certainly wasn’t their best game of the season, but with a little help from their goaltending they were able to eke out a win. All in all, the offense had a decent number of chances, the team showed a little toughness and grit (four fights in the game), and most importantly they got that big game out of Pascal Leclaire.

As I mentioned last week, the Senators were looking to be coming down with another case of goaltender controversitis this season, as Leclaire has struggled to find consistency. After a solid game from Brian Elliott in Saturday’s 2-1 loss to the New York Rangers, people were starting to ask whether he would once again become the number one goalie by default.

Despite Elliott’s big game against the Rangers, I thought Cory Clouston made the right decision going back to Leclaire for the Toronto game. He made a statement that needed to be made, in that Leclaire is the team’s number one goalie, and should be given the opportunity to prove himself. Seeing as this was the case, it was crucial that Leclaire get the win on Tuesday, lest the questioning begin to increase in volume.

He looked a little shaky at times, occasionally losing sight of the puck, but Leclaire made the huge saves that he needed to make. While Mike Fisher was the game’s number one star, it was Leclaire who stole this one from the Leafs. He held fast in the third period, when the Sens started to let off the gas and allowed the Leafs to unleash a flurry of shots. The final shot count was 32-21 in favour of the Leafs, including a 15-4 advantage in the third.

Leclaire followed this performance up with another solid game against the injury-depleted Penguins. He helped maintain a 2-1 lead, in what had been a fairly tight game, into the third period where the Senators blew the game wide open. He only let in a second goal to Evgeni Malkin on the power play late in the third, when the game was already over.

The game also featured a six goal offensive outburst not generally seen from the Sens this season, especially considering the goal scorers. Chris Kelly finally got his first of the season on a nice snapshot on a breakaway, while Matt Carkner and Jonathan Cheechoo both got their second goals of the season. Even defensive defenseman Chris Phillips got in on the action, potting his second and third goals of the season, including the one that finally chased Marc-Andre Fleury from the net.

This explosion of offense from a few unlikely sources was timely, as the Sens will need a little help while they are without the services of winger Alex Kovalev. He left quickly after the Pittsburgh game to fly back to Russia as a result of the death of his mother in law. The trio of Kovalev, along with Mike Fisher (5 points in 2 games) and Nick Foligno (2 points in 2 games), have been the Sens’ best line of late.

Fisher himself has arguably been the team’s best player so far this season, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see him playing minutes on the top line when the Sens take on the division leading Buffalo Sabres on Saturday. Overall, the game against the Sabres should be a good indicator of whether this team can translate a good week into a good month, or just another week in an up and down year.

The Ottawa Senators find themselves in dangerous waters these days, having lost six of their past nine game and facing a variety of concerns about their play. After their 5-1 loss to Philadelphia Flyers on Thursday, one particular issue seemed to emerge centered on starting goaltender Pascal Leclaire’s growing habit of letting in soft goals.

It’s an entirely new concern for Ottawa fans, who have grown accustomed to solid and consistent play from Senators goaltenders over the past decade.

…

In case anyone out there was unable to discern my tone, I was being sarcastic. If there’s anything Ottawa Senators fans know it’s goalie controversies. From Dominik Hasek’s Olympic groin injury, to the hard-partying antics of Ray Emery, to the woes of a certain anthropomorphic piece of Swiss cheese named Martin Gerber, goaltending problems have been the dominant storyline in Ottawa for some time now.

Pascal Leclaire was supposed to represent a new beginning for the Senators in the crease, one where the skilled young Quebecois goalie could provide the solid foundation from which to rebuilt the team. Instead, we’re already starting to hear unfortunate comparisons to another Senator goalie from La Belle Province, Patrick Lalime. Leclaire’s statistics aren’t in any way the worst they could be (nor were Lalime’s, but that nagging habit of giving up deflating goals seems uncomfortably familiar. Several of the goals against him in the Flyers game would fall under this category, while the tying goal in the Edmonton game scored by Gilbert Brule was not one that an NHL goalie should be letting in.

Of course, there is always the possibility that this entire situation is merely an early season slump blown out of proportion. His statistics are not great, but they’re certainly not Vesa Toskala bad. I know this fact has been cited ad nauseum, but this is a goalie who had nine shutouts in 54 games for Columbus two seasons ago. It’s hard to imagine that a young goalie with a skill-set like Leclaire has already peaked. Hope springs eternal

On the positive side of things, a few players who had been slumping this year look to have a turned a corner of sorts in the game against the Oilers. Jonathan Cheechoo scored his first goal of the season, and against Philadelphia he played more like the Cheechoo of old, even hitting the crossbar on a nice shot in the first period. Meanwhile Ryan Shannon got his first point of the season against Edmonton on a nice behind the back pass to set up Nick Foligno on the second goal. Even Alex Kovalev looked more inspired than usual, earning a hard-working assist on Cheechoo’s goal as well as scoring a sweet goal in the shootout.

Nonetheless, the Senators are going to need a lot more than a few solid individual performances. They may not want to admit it, but it appears as though the determining factor in whether or not this team can make the playoffs or not will be goaltending. It’s up to Pascal Leclaire to prove he’s up to the task, otherwise we may have another season of Brian Elliott backstopping the Senators to another 11th place finish.

He’s the stoic one.  The unflappable leader of the Stanley Cup Champions.  The guy who barely reacts when a goal is scored for or against his team. With 25 games to go in the 2008-09 NHL season, Dan Bylsma was busy carving out his niche as the coach of the Penguins minor league affiliate in Wilkes-Barre–The Baby Penguins. The big club was in the middle of a meltdown. Their coach, Michael Therrien was just canned.  Dan’s phone rang. It was Ray Shero with an offer of a promotion. Not a bad deal for someone who was only at his old job for 4 months. Nice boss that Shero. Dan Bylsma’s new official title would be interim head coach of The Pittsburgh Penguins.

Translated, that means the guy who usually steers the ship until they can find a new captain.  25 regular season games later,  the Temp was 18-3-4 and the interim tag was history.  During that stretch, the Pens never lost back-to-back games. In mid-June, he waited his turn as the Stanley Cup was passed around and hoisted it proudly when it came his way, completing a story book season.

The 2009 campaign started out swimmingly.  A franchise record 11 wins in October had everyone buzzing about the champs again. But just a couple weeks later, the injury bug hasn’t just bitten the Penguins, it has chewed them up and spit them out. Gone from the lineup are Sergei Gonchar, Evgeni Malkin, Tyler Kennedy, Kris Letang and most recently Brooks Orpik. That’s 3 of their top 6 defensemen and a regular/post-season scoring champion if you’re scoring at home.  Already without forward Max Talbot, this has gone from the sublime to the ridiculous. A new NHL television promotion, now showing on The NHL Network and Versus, features some of the game’s biggest stars. They ask them what they do to prepare for an opponent. One player comments that he sticks pins in his Sidney Crosby bobble head doll.  Ouch, I guess that voodoo stuff really works?  If this run of bad karma continues,  Dan Bylsma may soon be coaching the Baby Penguins once more.

So it is time for a gut check. Time to see how the life long overachiever with the cool designer glasses will react to all this turbulence. Can he patch together a solid fighting unit while the rest of his troops recover in the ever-growing Mellon Arena mash unit? During his short NHL coaching career, including a magnificent run through the Stanley Cup playoffs, the man they call “Disco Dan” has steered the boat through some rough seas. After a stomping by the defending champion Red Wings in game 5 of the Finals last season, he was the calm amidst the chaos. He didn’t call out players, rip apart the locker room, or toss Gatorade containers around like so many rag dolls. He talked of getting back to the things that got them where they were.  Even the owner of the team (Mario Lemieux), a guy who knows a thing or two about which coaches he likes and which ones he doesn’t, agreed all would be okay if they just got back to what got them that far and kept on listening to their leader.  Turns out they were both right.

Adversity, challenges and hard knocks are not something new to Dan Bylsma.  During his hockey career he amassed some 550 stitches and 25 broken bones. His face still contains 2 metal plates and six screws, thanks to a decision to block a shot in a minor league playoff game which shattered 11 bones in his face.  His orbital bone looked like David Letterman chucked it from the top of Radio City Music Hall.  In 1998, after a practice session while playing for the Los Angeles Kings, he learned that his wife, who was nearly full term into her pregnancy, had lost the daughter she was carrying for them.  Needless to say, guts and resolve have been his bunk mates. His playing career also had a series of ups and downs. It culminated in a run at The Stanley Cup in 2003 as a member of The Anaheim Ducks. The New Jersey Devils ended that by winning the championship that he fought, bled and endured painful surgeries to pursue. At the end of that season, his playing days were over. The coach for the Ducks at that time was Mike Babcock. The coach that also did not raise The Cup In June of 2009 because his student snatched it from him and the rest of the Detroit Red Wings.

The 2009-2010 Pens will recover. None of the injuries they have sustained look to be of the lengthy variety. Gonchar and Malkin are already skating, and Max Talbot, who hasn’t played since his heroic efforts in game 7 of The Finals, figures to be back in a couple weeks. The team has heart, grit and is brimming with playoff experience. Even in a loss Tuesday night in Boston, that saw defenseman Brooks Orpik join the list of skating wounded, the Pens rebounded from a two-shot first period to outflank and outwork the hometown Bruins in the last two.  It didn’t show up as a win in the ledger, but it showed me who is in charge. They have lost 3 games in a row, are now 12-6 on the young season, but the man in charge is not making excuses and his team isn’t playing like they are looking for any.

Joe Starkey, a Penguins beat writer recounted a story from Dan Bylsma’s childhood in an article last year for The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. Dan had brought his report card home one year.  He handed the envelope to his father Jay.  Before looking at it, Jay asked his son if he done the very best he could have. Dan replied honestly that he had. The envelope was never opened. The report card on the 2009-2010 Penguins is not complete. But it is pretty safe to say that when it is, somewhere on it will be an E for effort.

For the Ottawa Senators, this past week will not exactly be one they look back upon with fond memories. The irrational exuberance of the first two weeks of the season has quickly worn off, leaving Ottawa a team looking to regain its footing.

The Sens started their road trip in Florida with a win over the Panthers; however they followed it up with a sloppy loss in Tampa the next night. Frankly, the 5-2 final score was flattering, as Jarkko Ruutu and Alex Kovalev only managed to score once the game was out of reach. Upon returning home they dropped a disheartening game on Saturday afternoon against the Thrashers 3-1. Ottawa managed to out-shoot Atlanta 51-21, including a preposterous 43-8 in the final two periods, but were shut down by superstar-for-a-day Ondrej Pavelec.

Not only did they lose a pair of tough games against the Tampa Bay Lightning and the Atlanta Thrashers, teams they really should beat, but they also lost Anton Volchenkov and Jason Spezza to injuries. Both players are crucial cogs in the Senators machine, and not coincidently the team lost the past two games without them in the lineup.

While Volchenkov’s injury to his elbow doesn’t appear to be serious, and he stands to return within the next week or so, Spezza’s injury is a little more ominous. Once again, a lingering injury to his back appears to be the culprit, and the team isn’t sure when he will return. The Senators can only hope that Spezza’s back issues don’t become a long term problem for their number one center.

Meanwhile, another interesting issue came to a boil this past week related to the officiating. Coach Cory Clouston wasn’t exactly pleased with the referees after their two games against Florida and Tampa, but managed to choose his words carefully enough during the post-game interview to avoid any retribution from the league. At issue was what he thought were several missed calls in the Tampa game, not to mention the 7-1 advantage in power plays enjoyed by the home side against the Panthers.

Does the officiating in the league give short thrift to the Senators? It’s a question that I have heard come up before in regards to Ottawa, but not necessarily one that’s easily answered. Especially, I might note, without being forced to open my old stats textbooks.

In lieu of this, there a few basic things we can consider. First of all, this season the Senators stand as the 2^nd most penalized team in the league, on a per game basis. Now, the first argument against that statistic would be that it naturally includes PIMs from fighting majors, so instead we should actually look at how many short-handed situations the Sens have faced versus power-plays granted. In this case, they have faced 54 penalties versus 43 power-plays; a difference of -11. This ranks them 3^rd worst in the league in that category. It’s a good thing the Senators also have the league’s 3^rd best penalty kill, otherwise things could be a lot worse.

However, there is always the possibility that Ottawa is simply dumb when it comes to penalties. Or maybe, it’s just that they’ve been playing teams that are better able to avoid penalties. Well, let’s consider one more statistic. I looked at the games the team has played so far this season, and added up how many power plays their opponents received. Then I compared that number with the average number of power plays those teams receive in a game. It turns out Ottawa’s opponents receive less penalties than their season average in 75% of the team’s games. Just saying.

Again, without any long lost statistical formulas from my undergraduate statistics class at my disposal, none of these correlations can be considered conclusive, but it’s not worth discounting either. They can still make for some interesting conversation at the barstool.

The defense of any championship is a daunting task. Not only must the defending team battle the hangover from spending a whole summer drinking from the chalice of victory,  but they also must face a litany of other challenges. At the forefront is the extra-spirited effort to be expected from each opponent the next season.  What better way for a team to measure its mettle than to see how they stack up against the best of the best? There are also the inevitable roster changes due to the salary cap and the constant veil of injury possibilities–especially coming off a long playoff run.  It is always a concern that the bodies that banged their way to a title, will break down en route to the next one.

The Penguins are off to their best October ever.  Yesterday’s 3-2 shootout win over the Florida Panthers was their 9th victory this month. The most ever in team history.  But one key component to last year’s title run, and hopes of another one,  was hurt in Tuesday’s win over St Louis. Sergei Gonchar is the team’s consummate professional. He is the power play quarterback, an extraordinary passer,  and the calm amidst the storm that is an NHL season.  He broke a bone in his wrist in an awkward fall during the game. He will be out for 4 to 6 weeks.  Sidney Crosby might wear the “C” on his jersey, which was predestined from the time he pulled on the Penguins sweater as the number one overall pick 5 drafts ago.  He is a deserving captain and leads by example with his tireless effort day in and day out.

But if you polled the players and maybe not even guaranteed anonymity, most of them would agree that the man nicknamed “Sarge” is the pillar they lean on when times are tough or a bit of worldly advice is needed.  A skilled and seasoned veteran with over 16 years of NHL and international experience, he has totaled 642 points (193goals, 449 assists) in the world’s best league. And that does not include the playoffs in which he’s chipped in another 68 points, 28 of which have come in the Penguins last two Cup runs. But it is not the statistics alone that measure his worth. It is the leadership qualities, his ability to give advice to the least and the best on the Penguins squad.  Who else could convince Evgeni Malkin to take out the trash while he was a tenant at Gonchar manor?  Geno has since purchased his own palace, but there’s no doubt his former landlord helped to shape him into the Malka-maniac he has turned into.

Last season, the injury bug took a bigger bite out of Gonchar. During a meaningless preseason contest against Tampa, he hurt his shoulder after a collision with a Lightning camper who was trying to impress the coaches to earn a roster spot.  Surgery was required and he was on the shelf for the first 57 regular season games. The Penguins chance of a return trip to the playoffs, let alone the finals, was in serious jeopardy.  They were 27-24-5 without him. One coach lost his job, another won over a city and a Stanley Cup in the process.  At virtually the same time that Dan Bylsma came on board to right the Penguins listing ship, he welcomed back a pretty good chief of the boat.  Bylsma deserves a lot of credit for changing the Penguins style and mindset. But down the regular season stretch run, with a healthy number 55 in the lineup,  the Pens record was 17-4-4.  Coincidence?

This year, the Pens might be setup better to withstand the absence of Gonchar. They have two young, talented and swift skating defenseman in Kris Letang and Alex Goligoski. Both of whom have made tremendous strides.  They have championhip experience but youthful legs. The Pens will also look to Martin Skoula, signed as a free agent this year, to provide another veteran presence as the 6th defensman. He will hopefully log some quality minutes on the blue line.  But the minutes Gonchar ate up (about 26 per game) and the manner in which he ate them, will be missed.  The Pens passed their first test, coming backfrom a 2-0 deficit to win Friday night. . But the defense pair juggling created some tight play at times.  And the NJ Devils come right back at them tonight at 7:30pm at Mellon Arena. Time will tell how this next 4 to 6 weeks play out. Sid Crosby is the captain, and he will continue to lead the battle.  But it will sure be nice to get his first Sarge back.