Ottawa 3 - Washington 2 on Inauguration Day

Unbelievably, the Senators have just racked up 7 of a possible 8 points going into the All-Star break.

And tonight three new heroes happened to step up in Brian Elliott, Brendan Bell and Dany Heatley after the likes of Jason Spezza, Mike Fisher and Dean McAmmond took turns the previous three games.

A lot of people got their backs up after last Wednesday's Atlanta game when TSN's Pierre McGuire criticised Elliott's rebound control. Tonight, McGuire mentioned it again but ended up giving Elliott the "Monster" of the night award which should prove he's not just picking on the rookie.

And Elliott deserved all the accolades. Without him, the Caps would have won this game in the second period when they outshot the Senators 19 - 3. Elliott stopped 17 of those shots which turned out to be just enough for Bell to clinch it with a power-play goal in the last two minutes.

Craig Hartsburg made a smart decision to move Christoph Schubert back up to forward to allow Bell back into the lineup. Schubert is more effective as a hard hitting forward than an indecisive and mediocre defenseman and Bell is really good at stepping up into the play (although he's risky in his own end).

Not to bring up Martin Gerber again in a negative fashion (he's taken enough hits), but that major roster move seems to have sparked this team. I'm not going to say a "curse" was lifted but a fresh face in Elliott with little to no baggage in that locker room seems to have been part of the short-term cure.

This mini-streak will probably not amount to much as far as the post-season goes but it does give the fans a little hope and the players some life which will probably make the rest of the year much easier to watch.

Those Corona's on a sunny beach somewhere will taste pretty good for the players deciding to take full advantage of a much needed break.

***

Outside of Heatley and Elliott, Jarkko Ruutu was the Senators most effective player in the first period. He goaded Mike Green into a roughing penalty and blocked a shot when the Senators couldn't get the puck out of the zone late in the first. He even made a beauty move around a Caps defenseman but his backhander at Jose Theodore didn't have much juice on it.

This guy is all entertainment.

Who in the history of the Senators would have the kind of mind to wear a long blonde wig , sparklers on his skates and bring out the classic puck on a string routine at a Sens Skill competition?



The only other guy who comes to mind is Andre Roy.

Back in 2002, there was a photo-op during a Sens practice for the players who had been selected to the Olympics in their respective national team jerseys. Then out skates a smiling Roy with a makeshift U.S.A. sweater that has strips of hockey tape crudely spelling out the letters on the front. I think he even made it into a group photo with the all the Olympic guys. The good old days...

***

Blast From The Past

Going through some old clippings I came across this piece written by Bruce Garrioch concerning a major incident back on February 1, 2000 between Joe Murphy and the rest of his Boston teammates and coaches during a game at the Corel Centre here in Ottawa that ended in a 4-4 tie.

Garrioch writes:

"Sources say during a first-period Boston power play, Murphy told (coach Pat) Burns "put me out there, I'll score."

After (Marty) McSorley and Burns told Murphy to "bleep off," the 32-year old winger never played another shift.

The argument continued in the dressing room after the first period.

Burns told the players he wasn't going to put up with "this (crap)" and Murphy went face-to-face in an argument with (teammate Ken) Baumgartner.

Murphy packed up his equipment when the team went on the ice and left the building."

Garrioch also relates the time in Chicago when coach Mike Keenan tapped the then Blackhawk Murphy on the shoulder to send him out for a shift and Murph replied "Joe, Joe's tired."

I seem to remember that Keenan was involved in a bit of a spat with Pavel Bure when the Canucks were in town in the late 90's. If I remember correctly, Bure told Keenan to f@!k off on the bench but if someone remembers that incident, maybe you could correct me in the comments section.

For a building that's only about 13 years old, the Palladium - Corel Centre - Scotiabank Place has seen it's share of drama, both on and off the ice with some utterly strange incidents (and Ray Emery was only involved in about half of them!)

Pest Gallery

With news that Claude Lemieux is making an unheard of comeback with the San Jose Sharks after 5 years on the sidelines, it behooves us to celebrate the legendary "rats" that have made the game so much fun over the years.

We all love the goal scorers, the lightning quick goalies, the rugged hard hitting defenseman and the heavyweight enforcers. But sometimes you need that layer of dirt and scum to make things a little more interesting

They're the Russ Meyers' and the John Waters' of the NHL. And here's a few of the best all-time doing their thing.

Claude Lemieux

Here's Lemieux, sitting on the bench, getting in a few cheap shots on Eric's brother Brett Lindros. Watch him take a look around to see if the refs are looking before plowing his fist into Brett's face.



Dave "Tiger" Williams VS Ken "The Rat" Linseman

In this clip, Williams just cold cocks Linseman in the face. The rest of the NHL probably cheered. Watch closely for a Gary Galley appearance.



Ken "The Rat" Linseman Hat Trick.

Before Scott Mellanby killed a rat in the Florida dressing and then went out and scored two goals (dubbed the "Rat Trick"), Ken Linseman invented his own brand of hat trick. After they show a decent hit on Pat Verbeek, watch Linseman slash one NJ Devil in the ankle, viciously spear another one in the groin and then literally slap him in the face before he skates away. This is a perfect example of what Linseman was all about. Pure unadulterated shit-disturbing.



Jarkko Ruutu

You know him well by now in Ottawa. This guy will go down as one of the most famous agitators of all time. The very meaning of "gong show". But you gotta love him.




Esa Tikkanen

The master of the complex language forever known as "Tikkanese", Esa was a huge part of several Oiler Stanley Cup wins in the 80's and joined his buddy Mark Messier in New York for an encore in 1994. This clip is hilarious. The Montreal players just can't help themselves as they get worked up into a fury by Esa's constant yapping. This was Tikkanen at his best. Not necessarily taking physical cheap shots but just using his mouth to get opponents off their game.

Sunday Notes

You have to feel for these Ottawa Senators.

They played with heart and gusto but were ultimately let down by their anemic fans and some uneven goaltending by rookie Brian Elliott.

Not that Elliott played an overall bad game, but he simply had to have two of those regulation goals back and he didn't look good in the shootout where the Senators had no chance (and you could sense that going in).

Regardless, Elliott is a work in progress and he made some really good saves as well, especially with a lightning quick glove hand that the fans haven't seen in these parts since Dominik Hasek. For now, fans will just have to be patient while he learns on the job.

And speaking of the fans, what a brutal display that was by the Senators faithful last night. The captain was booed and Jason Spezza was hissed at (probably by a few Sens fans as well) and there was only one or two pathetic Go Sens Go chants against the constant onslaught of Habs cheering.

Obviously the red and black fans were outnumbered by the red and blue (as Blood Red Army points out) but that's because Sens fans didn't bother to buy tickets to last night's game, something that is always going to be a problem because of the low season-ticket base here in town. Due to the high volume of game-day stubs on sale, any other city's fans can invade Ottawa's arena at will.

That's what happened last night. Not to belabour the point but why is it that Ottawa has the weakest set of fans compared to the other 5 Canadian franchises? I would even put 4 or 5 American NHL markets ahead of sleepy Ottawa when it comes to fan support. The Senators have been in town since 1992 but all Ottawa fans can agree on is that skill players are always the cause of the team's troubles, since the days of Yashin and Daigle on into Spezza and Heatley.

It's not just the numbers of butts in the seats in Ottawa, it's the hockey IQ as well. Just listen to the Team 1200's Over The Edge radio show if you want to expose the mindset of the typical Ottawa fan. Habs fans might be obnoxious but they have the brains not to constantly run their best players out of town.

***

It was amusing to catch Brian Lee on camera in the penalty box with under a minute remaining in the tie game. It was easy to read his lips as he stared up at the time clock. He was saying over and over again "Come on boys. Come on boys." Lucky for him, the Senators easily killed off the penalty. Lee basically saved the point for the Senators as the Montreal player was in alone on Elliott and Lee was forced to deliver the hook. That's called a "good penalty" and teams seem more eager to kill those off than the lazy ones. ....... If Tampa is ready to unload some big money players, there should be a lot of takers for Martin St. Louis. He will make a very affordable 4 million over the next two years while still being an electrifying player. Ottawa has bigger problems to fix on defense right now but St. Louis would look pretty good in red and black for the next two seasons. Strangely enough, St. Louis tried out for the Senators in 1997 but was deemed too small for the NHL and cut by then GM Pierre Gauthier and coach Jacques Martin. But that was when you needed to be a linebacker to play in the clutch and grab league. ...... Not sure why Craig Hartsburg has Alex Picard on the first power play unit instead of Brian Lee. Picard doesn't have much poise or a shot to be there on a consistent basis. But obviously Hartsburg sees something in Picard. I wonder what it could be.......

The Penguins absolutely stole Mathieu Garon from the Oilers this weekend. Unbelievably, Steve Tambellini and Kevin Lowe have decided to place their season in the hands of Dwayne Roloson. What the hell are the Oilers going to do next year with no number one goalie? No one seems to be confident in Jeff Drouin-Deslauriers being able to take the next step but that sort of uncertainty has never stopped the Oilers from making boneheaded moves in the past...... Mike Fisher, Jason Spezza, Chris Phillips and Anton Volchenkov all received votes in the list of the Globe and Mail's "First Half All-Disappointment Team". Hard to believe Antoine Vermette didn't make that list....... Islanders GM Garth Snow is taking a lot of heat for losing Wade Dubliewicz on waivers to Columbus just one day after trying to bring him back from Europe.

"It had been reported that Dubielewicz had garnered the interests of as many as three NHL teams. To a smart GM, that means it is time to back off. There is no chance that if you sign Dubielewicz you could get him through waivers. One of the other teams would claim him. Garth Snow is not one of those smart GMs. He didn’t see the warning signs. "

***

Don't miss Ian Mendes recent column at Sportsnet where Bryan Murray puts the brakes on speculation that Spezza is about to be traded.

"He's a good player on this hockey club. I don't know how you acquire another guy like this if you trade him away," continued Murray. "My intent is not to do that. I think the core here is a good core. We just have to help them a little bit in a couple areas."

Exit Martin Gerber

As was rumoured, Bryan Murray sent Martin Gerber down to Bingo Thursday on a "conditioning stint" which means that Gerbs doesn't have to go on waivers for two weeks.

Barring an injury during that time, Gerber has likely played his last game as a Senator.

And what a wild 3 years it was with the Swiss netminder.

During one lengthy stretch last season, Gerber was the most popular player on the Ottawa Senators.

Seriously.

The fans were in such a self-righteous uproar over Ray Emery that they started getting behind Gerber in a way that only Daniel Alfredsson has enjoyed in the past.

The thinking was if Emery was so bad and unprofessional, then Gerber must be the exact opposite.

Then the baloney started.

For the past two years, all we have heard is how great a guy Gerber is. How professional he is. He might not be able to stop a puck but boy, is he a "great person" (let's forget about the fact that he demanded a trade before last year and wore a black mask with no Sens logo because of that).

And they're right of course. Gerber is a good guy. A real professional.

But so is everyone else on the Senators.

Why did Gerber get accolades for just being a normal NHL player doing the same routine that everyone else did? He showed up to practices and worked hard. So did the majority of players on the Senators. And the majority of players in the NHL.

Why was Gerber so much more "professional" than the others? Because Emery was immature? What does that have to do with Gerber?

His status as the exalted professional actually masked his horrific goaltending for the better part of two seasons until the fans finally abandoned him early this year when not even the most well-crafted Ottawa Citizen propaganda could prop up Gerbs any longer.

I'm not trying to dance on his grave but let's get real.

Working hard in practice and not complaining to the media is not a Martin Gerber invention. That code is practiced by 99 percent of NHL players. He should be judged on his goaltending and that verdict is not a positive one.

The team is better without him on the roster and that's that. I'm not going to get teary eyed because the great professional lost his job.

***

Judging by the reader comments from my previous post, people are getting way too bent out of shape by Pierre McGuire's minor criticisms of Brian Elliott.

All McGuire said is that Elliott needs some work on his rebound control, something that is completely normal for an NHL rookie. He wasn't saying that Elliott had a fatal flaw. All young goalies have to work at their craft and Elliott will be no exception.

People may not like McGuire's hyper personality but you cannot question his hockey credentials. You'd be hard pressed to find any other member of the hockey media who is as knowledgeable and sought after for his opinions.

When McGuire says something, it's worth taking seriously.

Elliott will be fine. There's no sense in getting all riled up because of a false assumption that Elliott is going to start his career as a perfect goalie. McGuire just told it like it is.

***

Not surprisingly, Bryan Murray is already musing about World Junior standout Erik Karlsson being on the Senators roster next season.

"He's better than a longshot," Murray said. "He's not big enough to push around NHL players and defend properly, but he's so good with the puck that he can help the team."

At least that quote shows that Murray is serious about finding a puck mover for his blueline.

A good balance for next season would be the typical three and three - 3 puck movers and 3 physical stay at home types.

Ottawa already has 3 of the latter in Chris Phillips, Anton Volchenkov and Jason Smith who should all be retained going forward.

Brian Lee is taking good steps towards solidifying his presence on this roster for next year but that still leaves two openings for an offensive type.

Filip Kuba is as good as gone, either at the trade deadline or as an unrestricted free agent this summer. I still don't know what to think of Alexandre Picard. He's been marginally better as of late but he doesn't really leave you thinking that he has great potential for the future. I'd love to be wrong.

So in my mind, there's still two big holes to fill on that blueline. Can Karlsson be the guy to fill one of them?

That's why they pay Murray the big bucks. To see into the future.

Too bad he was wearing shades this past summer.

A Glimmer Of Light - Ottawa 3 Atlanta 2

Is it possible?

I'm not talking about the Ottawa Senators making the playoffs...yet.

I'm talking about the Senators beating Montreal at home on Saturday night.

If they could somehow find a way to win that game, then maybe you have something. Maybe a glimmer of hope.

Maybe some renewed confidence and a chance to surprise some teams such as Washington who will drag their tired bones into Ottawa next Wednesday after playing the Islanders the day before.

Maybe Ottawa even finds a way to beat those same Caps, bringing them to the All-Star break on an 8 point streak....

Anyways, back to reality.

The Senators have now won two games in a row over two struggling teams and that's a start. If anything, the positive vibes are fortifying for the soul right now.

Jason Spezza is back and so is Dean McAmmond. Chris Phillips has his "Big Rig" strut back and Antoine Vermette is winning faceoffs like his very existence depended on it. And that goal by Alfie? Vintage.

I don't know if it's because they hit rock bottom so hard that all the pressure is suddenly off or if Craig Hartsburg has suddenly found his voice in that locker room. But something is different.

Brian Elliott has somehow provided a spark for this team but he looked like a bit of a mess tonight. Starting back to back games is tough for a rookie and Elliott was deep in his net and giving out rebounds that rivalled the great king Martin Gerber. The important thing is that he got the win but, as Pierre McGuire pointed out on TSN, he's going to need some major work on fundamentals with goalie coach Eli Wilson.

But that's fine. Ottawa has Alex Auld and he's probably due for a good stretch of games here and that will allow Elliott to feel his way into the league. Elliott seems to have a knack for making the big save at the right time just out of pure athletic ability and as long as you have that, fundamentals can be taught along the way. Remember, Ray Emery was similarly rough around the edges but managed to get technically better as he went along, all the way to the Cup final.

Now if we could just convince the Senators music/sound guy to play the E.T. quote "Elliott" after every big save (as my friend suggested), we might just have a fan favourite on our hands here.

Notes

Sure would like to know what Jesse Winchester and Colby Armstrong were talking about after giving each other a few spirited shoves late in the first period. Someone must have told a good joke because they both cracked up laughing. Maybe it was something like this:



Armstrong has always been known as a bit of a ham, not to mention Sidney Crosby's best friend when the two were teammates in Pittsburgh. I wouldn't be surprised to see Ray Shero make a pitch to get Armstrong back in the fold after dealing him in the Marian Hossa trade last season. That might put Sid The Kid in a better mood. He's been crabby as hell all season ......... Georges Laraque had been doing a great, very readable blog on Sportsnet this season until the Habs brass told him to shut it down. Laraques does a good job explaining the Habs decision but it still seems too harsh and narrow-minded in an age where access to players has improved dramatically across the league. Ten years ago, interviewing players in the middle of the game on the bench would have been unthinkable - old school coaches would have been choke slamming journalists left, right and centre. Now the media can follow players to just about anywhere, short of the crapper. Laraque's final blog is well worth the read. He tells a great Mark Messier story (and also claims the Moose is his all-time favourite player, something me and Laraque share in common) and says that, "pound for pound", Chris Neil is one of the toughest players in the league. Smart guy, that Georges.

Speaking of jokes, veteran referee Dan Marouelli had Daniel Alfredsson laughing just prior to the opening faceoff and in the second period, Pierre McGuire informed the TSN viewing audience that Atlanta behemoth Boris Valabik told the Ottawa bench that he would "slash the lips off" of the next Senator who said anything. Memo to Boris: Jarkko Ruutu can still bite without his lips........ I have to agree with Don Brennan who recently wondered why Brendan Bell has been taken out of the lineup in favour of Christoph Schubert. Bell looked impressive recently, jumping deep into the offensive zone trying to create offense. Schubert might be a tad better in his own zone but right now, Hartsburg should be thinking offense.........I'll make a bold prediction here: Brendan Bell will one day find work in the local hockey media. He's a good interview and smarter than his meagre NHL experience indicates..... Chris Phillips was the "Monster of the Game" according to TSN's McGuire. But if you were a regular listener to Over The Edge on the Team 1200, you'd be convinced he's a piece of garbage, much like the rest of the players...... I keep saying it but Bryan Murray has got to get Chris Neil under contract for the next 3 or 4 years. If the Senators lose this guy, the lose their heart.

Sunday Notes

It's way too early to tell if Ottawa will still be bad enough to qualify for the first or second overall draft pick this summer, but if they do, there's an interesting choice awaiting them.

If they somehow get the chance to draft either John Tavares or Victor Hedman, which way do you think they'll turn?

Tavares is the golden boy right now due to his dominating play at the World Juniors but that's just one tournament. Heading into it, it was actually Hedman who was beginning to look like the preferred choice of at least half the scouts if you believe what the press were saying at the time.

On Hedman's side is the belief that it's harder to find elite defenseman than it is to get an elite forward.

If the Senators somehow get the chance, I think they'd love to pick Hedman.

For one, he's already a buddy of Erik Karlsson, the Senators top pick from last summer and the two would be an incredible defense pairing for many years.

It's a long ways away, but if everything falls into place, the Senators could conceivably have a top-six defense core next season of:

Chris Phillips
Anton Volchenkov
Victor Hedman
Erik Karlsson
Brian Lee
Jason Smith

That's not a bad setup. 3 mobile defenders and 3 stay at home guys.

It would be tough to roll into the season with 2 rookie defenseman but Hedman and Karlsson both seem destined for NHL stardom. Karlsson might also be too small to play next year, something that won't be a problem for Hedman.

On the other hand, how do you not draft a dynamic Canadian player like Tavares if you get the chance? There is no doubt that the fans would be disappointed if Bryan Murray picked Hedman over Tavares but those same fans were outraged when Karlsson was picked last year. I don't hear anyone complaining about Karlsson now that he won a batch of awards at the WJC's here in town.

My feeling is that when both Tavares and Hedman have been criticised in the past, it has been for very telling reasons. Hedman didn't play as well as expected in the WJC but there were whispers of an injury. That being said, he was praised for his leadership and was seen going around to every individual Swedish player after the gold medal game loss and shaking their hands, thanking them for playing so well. That's some promising leadership from an 18 year old.

Tavares on the other hand has been accused of just playing out the string in junior. There have been questions about where his head is at times - is it with his current junior team or is it already in the NHL? - after he and his agent tried to force his way into last year's draft despite being ineligible due to his age.

I am in no way questioning his character - likely it's just the result of an impatient agent - but I've never heard a bad word about Hedman. The guy is already living in his own apartment in Sweden doing his own cooking and laundry.

Besides, if you get the chance to draft the next Nicklas Lidstrom, how do you pass that up?

***

Brian Elliott played really well last night against the Rangers and Craig Hartsburg would be nuts not to give him another chance against Carolina on Tuesday.

What might be more telling however is that Martin Gerber somehow wasn't waived but only taken out of the lineup. Obviously, Murray is being overly cautious in case Elliott can't handle the pressure.

That seems a little too hard-headed. If you send Gerber down to Bingo, no one is going to claim him anyways. You could shuttle Gerber and Elliott between teams a million times before anyone even takes a sniff at Gerber. And even if he is claimed, who cares? That way you only have to pay half his salary for the rest of the season instead of his full one to sit on the bench or in the press box.

Gerber is truly the flu that just won't go away. At this rate, his jersey will be hanging in the rafters when he retires.

***

Murray was quoted yet again in the Ottawa Sun about what this team needs to be better.

"We know we're short a player on the blue line," said Murray. "I thought this was going to be a pretty good team. I knew that our depth had been poor, and that's something we're trying to address here, and it's obvious we're short one guy to score goals (up front). "

The thing that bothers me: How did he not know in the summer that his defense was not up to snuff? With the salary cap, trades during the season are almost unheard of. Everyone knows that you have to build your team in the summer now. Somehow, Murray thought it would be okay to gamble and that he'd fix it all up later. Now it's January and the season is all but over.

Basically, Murray went cheap on defense and goaltending and thought he could get away with it. Wrong.

Stop telling us what you need week after week and instead go out and get it.

***

Notes

Wade Redden was booed mercilessly every time he touched the puck last night. Can anyone tell me why? I am really starting to think that Senators fans are getting less classy by the year. I understand booing Yashin but Wade Redden? Did I miss something? Or is this town just filled with meatheads? ...... Big turnover aside last night, I think Brian Lee is really playing well right now. I was ready to give up on the youngster at one point but now I think he's going to be a big piece for the Senators going forward. That calmness he has is back and it reminds me of Redden in his better days. ....... How many lives does Craig Hartsburg have? I'm not completely convinced he needs to be fired but the results speak for themselves. He is getting virtually nothing out of this team. Regardless, Murray has already waited too long for a change to make the desired effect. If you keep Hartsburg for the rest of the year, you have a better chance at Tavares/Hedman. But you also risk your fans. Hockey under Hartsburg is not exactly exciting to watch. ...... Another risk if you fire Hartsburg is that the backlash against the players will be extreme to say the least. The media, the GM and the fans will all pile on the star players as always happens when a coach gets fired. It's a little like magic really. When the coach gets canned, all of a sudden it's not the coach's fault - it's the players. Here in Ottawa, Jason Spezza and Dany Heatley will just fall short of getting shot if Hartsburg is fired. People are just waiting to pounce on these guys and they will once the inevitable happens. And Hartsy's reputation will actually be better than it deserves to be. That's Psychology 101.....

***

And finally, the out-of-town perspective courtesy of the Boston Globe:

"Watching the Senators disintegrate Thursday night at the Garden, couldn't help but think of how they resembled the disheveled Bruins of 2006-07 during Dave Lewis's brief turn at the wheel. The fix? The best attempt might be to swing a deal for Panthers blue liner Jay Bouwmeester in hopes that he could stabilize the back end and allow some of the skilled forwards to settle down and put the puck in the net. The Ottawa coverage around the defensive net was laughable, especially in one sequence when Phil Kessel got three cracks near the right post, even getting the time to swing in front for the third attempt."

Gerber Should Be Waived... Immediately!

Senators GM Bryan Murray made a somewhat bold move by calling up Bingo goalie Brian Elliott today and coach Craig Hartsburg has already indicated that he could play on Saturday night against the Rangers.

As of this writing, it was unclear whether another player has been put on waivers to make room for the roster addition.

A likely scenario, and one I fully endorse, would be that Murray puts Martin Gerber on waivers with the intention to send him down to Bingo.

This would solve a few problems:

Gerber's contract is up this summer and he is not going to be resigned, so there is no loyalty there.

His play is as bad as its ever been and there is no real reason to keep him on the roster other than to torture the fans who have had to put up with his legendarily disastrous "goaltending" which has plagued the Senators since John Muckler signed him (Talk about a bad summer. In 2006, Muckler let Zdeno Chara walk and signed Gerber. The rest is history).

There is a one in a million chance that Gerber gets picked up on waivers, either going down or coming back up. Even half of Gerber's salary, which is all another team would have to pay him on re-entry waivers, is still too large for what he provides.

If by miracle someone picks him, all the better for Ottawa.

The more likely scenario is that Gerber clears waivers and plays in Bingo until an injury or if Elliott gets lit up like a Christmas tree and his confidence starts to flutter.

Ray Emery was a guy who thrived in a situation similar to what Elliott is walking into right now and it's possible that Elliott could thrive as well. Getting some playing time this season is only going to help the young goalie for next year when he might have to be the number one by default.

Also, by getting Gerber off the books right now, there's some salary available which will make trade discussions a little easier on Murray's part.

Of course, this is all just speculation and Gerber might be here for the rest of the season. Or eternity. Who knows?

But something has to be done and if Murray won't pull the trigger on the coaching staff, the least he could do is finally put Gerber on the shelf, a place he should have been this past summer with a contract buyout.

Sabres Extend The Misery ... Ruutu Provides The Entertainment

Another late penalty - another road loss.

The old cliche remains true - bad teams find a way to lose and the Senators are finding ways not seen since 1996, the last year they were permanent fixtures in the basement.

A Matt Ellis goal just 15 seconds in to the first period told us all we needed to know about how this game would go. A 32 second spurt in the 2nd period when Jason Spezza scored twice was the only time this game was in doubt.

The road trip from hell isn't even over and the Senators season is already toast. Even a person like myself who was tending on the negative side of things couldn't foresee the trip being this bad.

On the positive side, Spezza played a great game and never seemed to give up. Brian Lee continues to impress with his puck-moving ability and his calmness, characteristics that were strangely absent during his first stint with the team this season.

Brendan Bell was flying out there tonight. I don't know if he was disobeying Craig Hartsburg's system by jumping into the play so much or if Hartsburg has loosened the reins, but Bell was a major threat out there, especially in the third period with the game on the line.

The other incident of note will no doubt be the Jarkko Ruutu bite on Sabre enforcer Andrew Peters. I thought at first that Ruutu had actually bitten off the guy's digit the way Peters reacted.

It's a suspension for sure but probably only 2 games or less. If anything, Ruutu has provided the bulk of the entertainment for the Senators thus far.

His free-agent signing is one thing that Bryan Murray can be congratulated on. It would have been nice to have Ruutu earlier in the decade when the Senators were losing four straight playoff series to the Leafs but.... better late than never.

***

It was interesting to hear Chris Neil say the other day that perhaps the team was too serious and that having a little more fun might improve the mood and eventually the results.

I tend to agree. The atmosphere around this team seems even more negative than it was last year and listening to sports radio shows is just an exercise in hearing fans wanting to "punish" the players ad nauseum.

The fans aren't having fun. The players aren't having fun. Only Ruutu is having fun because he's in his own solar system.

Maybe the guys need a pat on the back once in a while, not just from the fans but from the ultra-serious Hartsburg.

Who's going to want to play here in the future if the conditions are so hostile and negative that nice "aw shucks" guys like Spezza are treated like criminals by the media and fans?

It may seem strange but I'd wager that once the post-season is completely out of the picture, the team will actually play better because they'll be looser and not worried about making mistakes so much.

***

First it was Andrej Meszaros not missing a game after getting 64 stitches in his face.

Now...gasp!... another ex-Senator defenseman who apparently wasn't good enough to play in Ottawa is starting to round into form according to Larry Brooks.

"Coach Tom Renney was not a slave to matching against Sidney Crosby. Indeed, the head coach pretty much rolled his lines against the NHL's frustrated favorite son, but he did send the Wade Redden-Dan Girardi defense pair out against No. 87 as much as possible.

Redden was excellent; strong and composed. Indeed, No. 6's game has improved slowly but surely over the last 10 days. If he hasn't quite found it, he certainly doesn't appear lost anymore.

"So much of it for me is getting the mental part of my game in focus and getting into the intensity of the competition," Redden said. "Earlier I was guilty of expecting it to come, and waiting for it to come."

Weren't these guys supposed to be bums?

What will really grind the naysayers is that Redden is on his way to the playoffs for the 12th straight year (he's never missed the playoffs) and Meszaros is still on his iron-man streak (he's never missed a game to injury) while the Senators can't even make a pass out of their own zone, let alone get to the post-season.

Who knows? Maybe the currently injured Filip Kuba will re-join the Lightning and Meszaros when he leaves Ottawa as a free-agent with no compensation this summer.

Mesz Plays With 64 Stitches In His Grill

Everyone's favourite punching bag in Ottawa until he was dealt to Tampa this summer, Andrej Meszaros is starting to make an impression on his teammates and his coaches by playing a game after getting 64 stitches in his face the night before. The gruesome injury happened on Saturday night when he took a slapshot directly in the face.

"Wearing a full-cage mask and on mild pain medication, Meszaros played 25:38 against the Thrashers, blocked a shot and was plus-1. It was his 285th consecutive game since the start of his four-year career.

"I wanted to help the team," Meszaros, 23, said. "I knew we had a couple of guys banged up. I said I wanted to play every game if it's possible. It's not like it's a broken arm or leg. You have to suck it up and go."

Meszaros received stitches outside and inside his top lip, in his gum line and on the roof of his mouth. Thanks to his mouth guard, Mulligan said, he lost zero teeth.

"He played really well," coach Rick Tocchet said. "Here's a 23-year-old kid who told me he wanted to play (Saturday) night. That's leadership to me. That's a big step for Mez on the leadership ladder."

- St. Petersburg Times

The Senators are missing this guy badly, though no one will admit it. Say what you will, the guy could move the puck and he could hit the net with a hard shot from the point. He's also tough as hell and hasn't missed a game to injury yet in his career! His contract is going to be a bargain once he turns 25 years old and becomes one of the most dependable D-men in the league.

Hartsburg Possibly On The Outs: TSN

Tsn insider Bob McKenzie told the viewing audience after the game tonight that a coaching change is most likely on the way and that Eugene Melnyk is said to be looking for someone with vast experience.

EDIT: There are different interpretations about what McKenzie said. He did not explicitly say that Hartsburg is getting fired but, to me anyways, McKenzie is not one to broadcast just any old rumour but when he does, there is probably something to it. Like all rumours, this should not be taken as gospel.

Cue the Pat Quinn rumours (if Pittsburgh doesn't hire him first after firing Michel Therrien). McKenzie also mentioned Bob Hartley who was also interviewed for the job last summer.

I don't have much time to comment on the loss to New Jersey but you can basically just refer to my column on the loss to the Leafs. ie: the Senators are playing their assess off but they just don't have the personnel to compete due to a primitive, AHL level defense core and terrible goaltending.

In short, this team is toast and it looks like Bryan Murray will try to save his job by axing Craig Hartsburg.

The strange thing is, Murray will be on the side of reason by firing Hartsburg no matter what kind of chaos it creates in the organization. Hartsburg is obviously not the right coach for this team though he hasn't yet reached John Paddock's level of ineffectiveness.

Unfortunately for Murray, he is the one who hired both Paddock and Hartsburg and thought it would be safe to let both of his remaining NHL-level offensive defenseman go at the same time.

My hunch is that Menlyk is still a Murray fan and may only decide to change out the coaching staff. It does sound strange to insinuate that an owner would make what is usually a hockey management decision but there is no way that Murray would can Hartsburg on his own. It's just too embarrasing.

Like I've said before, Hartsburg is subject to the same rules as all coaches in the NHL, whether he's new or not. You win or you're gone, regardless of the roster you're given to work with.

Fair or not, that's life in the NHL.

Saturday Night Insanity

The season is starting to get long for some players.

And it showed last night.

First up it was Sidney Crosby just grabbing Brett McLean of Florida off the face-off and beating the tar out of him. I'm thinking that Crosby was imagining McLean was his job-endangered coach Michel Therrien but I guess we'll never know.



Then it was Wade Redden hammering Chris Clark of the Capitals (atta boy Redds!). At first it didn't look like Wade wanted to fight but he sure finished it off in a memorable way (the video is pretty grainy but good enough to get the idea). You might be reminded of the time Redds one-punched Buffalo Sabre Mike Grier to La La Land during a pre-season tilt many years ago.




The Best For Last

In the same game, Alexander Semin goes Kung Fu Monkey style (or plays a drum solo ala Animal of the Muppets) on Marc Staal. This video speaks for itself. Amazing.

Playoff Hopes Crushed.... More Trade Rumours... And The Return Of Whitey?

There's only one word to describe that loss for the Senators and that word is "heartbreaking".

If they win that game, they'd be bragging about two straight on the road and be only 3 points behind the Leafs with all sorts of optimism heading into New Jersey on Sunday.

It started out looking like it would be a big night for the Senators. They were hitting the Leafs ... no... they were crushing them into the boards in the first period and crashing the net like the goal hungry team they should be.

The big line was humming and Jason Spezza and Daniel Alfredsson were really trying to win this one early.

The it went tits up.

Two 5 on 3's were unsuccessful and Martin Gerber let in a brutally soft goal late in the third period to Jason Blake (what a shocker).

That was enough.

With the loss, I think it might be safe to say that Ottawa is not going to storm back and make the playoffs.

Some will be calling for a massive rebuild but I think that's the wrong angle here. Ottawa has two young superstars in their prime and a captain who just signed a new contract to finish his career in town.

No, the massive rebuild has to take place on defence.

But will Bryan Murray get the chance to fix his mistakes that he made last summer?

***

When did Brian Lee suddenly become a real NHL player?

Lee was excellent tonight and I counted at least 3 great breakout passes to wingers on the fly through the neutral zone.

It's amazing that you end up noticing plays that are taken for granted by most NHL teams but a clean breakout pass on Ottawa is like a good Ben Affleck movie. They're few and far between.

Maybe Craig Hartsburg should get over his bizarre infatuation with the ineffective Alex Picard (who was absolutely brutal tonight, especially on the power play) and replace him with Lee on the first power-play unit.

Picard is a sorry replacement for Andre Meszaros and even when you count Filip Kuba in that trade, I still say it was a big mistake by Murray (as I pointed out at the time). Meszaros is going to be solid and skilled NHL player for years to come, long after Kuba leaves for free agency this summer (and he will) and when Picard is playing in the minors.

***

Trade Rumour One

Interesting bit on HNIC's Hotstove:

Ottawa was linked to Atlanta as the Thrashers are looking for some forward depth and have skilled D-man Mathieu Schneider playing third fiddle to Tobias Enstrom and Ron Hainsey.

Schneider would be a good fit for Ottawa in the short term as he's unrestricted this summer. He could be used as an asset to trade at the deadline, especially if Ottawa is far out of the playoff race by then. But you'd have to get more than Schneider if you were to trade Antoine Vermette, the likely bait here. I never thought I'd say this but Todd White would look good in an Ottawa uniform again.

He's signed for the next two seasons at around 2.5 million which is cheaper than Vermette but with much, much more production. White's salary is also ideal money for a second line centre in today's NHL. White had great chemistry with Daniel Alfredsson back in the day and if you can get him in the Ottawa lineup, you magically have a second line that can score.

Plus, Whitey's from Ottawa and was once a fan favourite here during the Jacques Martin years. You grab him and you stop worrying about that second line for at least two years.

Trade Rumour Two

Not to stir up anymore "Vermette to Florida" rumours but the Panthers are really shallow at centre right now and have taken to using Nathan Horton there as an emergency replacement.

"Stephen Weiss missed Friday's afternoon practice because of an apparent virus. DeBoer said he hopes Weiss will be able to play Saturday. If he doesn't, Nathan Horton goes back to center. Horton worked with David Booth and Richard Zednik on Friday. With Kamil Kreps (shoulder) injured and Shawn Matthias back in the minors, Florida is hurting for centers.

''We're going to have to [play Horton at center] because we don't have a lot of options with Kreps out,'' DeBoer said. ``With Weiss out, we'll have to use him in the middle.''

-Miami Herald

Hartsburg Survives

If radio reports were correct, the players may have saved the job of head coach Craig Hartsburg with their hard fought road win over Edmonton.

Steve Lloyd, co-host of the Ottawa afternoon drive show on the Team 1200 confidently said that he had it from a trusted source that if the Senators lost in Edmonton last night, there would be major consequences for the coaching staff.

That execution has probably been staved off for at least a few more days.

In a flurry of ever-changing line combinations, the Senators Big 3 found themselves reunited and Jason Spezza played one of his best games of the season.

Of particular note was the newly formed line of Mike Fisher, Chris Neil and Nick Foligno who were a nasty force all night. Fisher and Neil have always played well together and Foligno seemed to instantly find chemistry with those two, also playing one of his better games of the year. He absolutely cranked Oiler center Marc Pouliot with a clean check along the boards and Pouliot never returned after getting helped off the ice in a daze.

Brian Lee looked like a young Wade Redden out there tonight, making crisp passes to forwards on the fly and venturing into the offensive zone, something unseen from Senators defensemen thus far this season.

Maybe it was the great ice in Edmonton. Maybe it was a team that was finally loose enough to play after hitting rock bottom in Vancouver the other night.

Regardless, the brutal 12 game road streak is over.

So what happens next?

More of the gong show or a modest turnaround in time to save the season?

***

Ian Mendes of Sportsnet asked Jason Spezza after the first period if the Senators needed "to win this one badly".


You think Ian?


But let's not to be too hard on Mendes. He's one of the best in the business and a funny guy to boot.

***

Ottawa hockey fans have already felt the sting of local cable carrier Rogers not offering TSN 2 in their package. Toronto Raptors fans are even more pissed.

They've taken to protesting outside the Rogers offices in Hogtown.

"A small, but noisy group protested yesterday against Rogers Cable, which is refusing to pick up TSN2 and its 23-game package of Toronto Raptors games.

The demonstrators carried signs, blew whistles and voiced their complaints outside the Rogers offices in downtown Toronto.

"Not a great turnout," said organizer Andrew Ebanks, a fan living in Toronto. "But a few were better than none. Eighty-three had signed up, but it was pretty cold out there."

Ebanks said he was encouraged by the reaction.

"The traffic along Bloor Street slowed down, even stopped," he said. "One guy got out and had his picture taken.

"People were honking horns and yelling support. Even the employees of Rogers gave us thumbs up, because they know the situation and they want to get it resolved as well."

-Globe and Mail

***

If you haven't seen the sweaters that the Hawks and the Wings will wear during the Winter Classic at Wrigley Field, here they are below.










Once again, the NHL seems to always get it right when it allows teams to go retro. When they let teams design new stuff... well that's a different story.

***

Have a happy new year hosers.

No End In Sight

The question is not when things will get better but how much worse can it get right now?

If you divide the team into three basic functioning parts – goaltending, defence and offense – it quickly becomes apparent that each group has to overachieve to have any success.

Now what are the chances of all three groups overachieving on the same night?

With this team? Virtually nil.

A game is usually winnable for the Senators if at least two of those groups overachieve in a game but not even that is happening anymore.

For most of November and December, the goalies and the defense were holding them in games while the offensive forwards went through an agonizingly dry patch. Then just before Christmas, the offense woke up but the goalies and the defense went into the tank (well, Auld joined the already triple tanked Gerber).

During last night’s debacle in Vancouver, the Senators managed the perfect troika of having all three groups underachieve at the same time.

Martin Gerber let in his regular soft goal from the blueline, the speedy Canucks blew past the defense all night and the offensive group was M.I.A. yet again.

The fans are pissed but it’s frustrating for the players too.

You don’t make it to the NHL if you don’t care and don’t work hard. The usual pundits and fans mark it all off to lack of hustle but they’re wrong. The Senators work their asses off and the majority of the guys, if not all, have excellent character.

But these guys are packing knives in a gun fight.

It’s bad enough that they don’t have a true number one goalie. Or a true power-play quarterback. Or that they have 6 players who should be developing in the AHL but find themselves playing big minutes in the NHL (Brian Lee, Alex Picard, Cody Bass, Nick Foligno, Jesse Winchester and Ilya Zubov).

What’s even worse is that everyone is having an off-year at the same time, with the exception of a few guys (Chris Neil, Jarkko Ruutu and Shean Donovan) who can’t effect games much even when they are going full steam.

The latest fan target (and Kulka target) seems to be Chris Phillips who is hovering around the minus 20 mark. Listening to the radio, you hear fans who want him traded or even propose having the “A” ripped off his jersey.

Outside of the injured Filip Kuba, Phillips plays the most minutes on a bad team.

Unlike Kuba, Phillips is not a guy who has ever generated offense. That’s why his plus/minus is so bad. It doesn’t mean he’s forgotten how to play hockey. It’s just that he’s always on the ice and the Senators are always losing. That’s life.

The problem is that because Bryan Murray thought he could get by with an AHL caliber defense core with zero offensive capability, Phillips is now playing a role which he is not suited for. Phillips has always been the 3rd or 4th defenseman on this team. With Wade Redden and Andre Meszaros gone, Phillips has been asked to step into the void, something that he is not equipped to do.

So the fans shouldn’t demand nice guy Phillips be traded. They should go after Murray for putting Phillips in a position where he has no chance to succeed.

Both Phillips and Mike Fisher have played the points on the power-play this year. No opposing team is going to be scared of that combination.

But what is Craig Hartsburg supposed to do?

He was given the keys to a car missing some vital parts.

And no help is on the way.

There is nothing in the minors which will help this team.

The trade market is tighter than most peoples post-Christmas waistbands and GM’s don’t want Murray’s garbage.

Players like Antoine Vermette and Mike Fisher aren’t going to magically turn into players the fans want them to be no matter how much money Murray has thrown at them.

Bryan Murray gave the fans the team they wanted. Less skill. Less Wade Redden. Less Andre Meszaros. Less Ray Emery. Less exciting.

This is what you wanted Sens fans.

Now swallow your peas.

***

More great action on the colossally inept Over The Edge program today as Kulka ripped into more callers for daring to voice a different opinion than his (play the MP3 for the audio).



Someone named “Joe” tried to defend Phillips by saying that he was at least the only consistent NHL defenseman in the Senators lineup but Kulka took it as the caller saying that Phillips was having the best year of his career. This set the stage for a lot of raging, especially when subsequent callers took the Kulkster to task for his mistake.

The worst call-in sports show in Ottawa history rages on….

No Christmas Luck

Despite the valiant comeback, this game changed on a very strange coaching move by Craig Hartsburg early in the second period that I still don't truly understand.

Ottawa went on the power play when Randy Jones tripped up Jarkko Ruutu. Of course, the first power-play unit went out until Ottawa found themselves up two men when Braydon Coburn took another penalty only 19 seconds later.

8 seconds into the double advantage, Jason Spezza perfectly set up Dany Heatley for the goal to tie the game at 2 - 2. At that point, the first power-play unit had been on the ice a total of 27 seconds (with two whistle breaks). With the Flyers still a man down for nearly two minutes, Hartsburg decides to pull the top unit and put on the second group which consists of players like Nick Foligno and Christoph Schubert.

You'd think Hartsburg would try to go for another goal using his best players but instead, Schubert coughs up the puck at the blueline and then proceeds to trip Jeff Carter on the breakaway and nullify the power-play.

And then Carter scores with Schubert in the box. With that kick in the gut still hurting, the Senators give up another goal just two minutes later to go down 4-2.

There's a lot of blame to go around, including to Alex Auld who has continued his streak of spotty play, but Hartsburg had a chance to keep his best players on the ice and if they had scored, it would have been a different game. It's not Hartsburg's fault that Schubert made a boneheaded play but he's responsible for who's on the ice.

With only 27 seconds under their belt, that first power-play unit had a lot of wind left. Now it's all just a bunch of hot air.

***

That flowing curly hair peeking out from under a white Flyers helmet had me thinking that Michael Handzus had somehow sneaked back onto the Philly roster when I wasn't looking but it was only Scott Hartnell.

The Kentucky Waterfall style didn't look good on Handzus (who has since cut it) and it still doesn't look good on a guy Hartnell.

***

Anyways, Black Aces will take a little sabbatical until after the Vancouver game on Sunday night.

So Happy Holidays to everyone and we'll see you soon, perhaps just a little fatter.

Downtime

With the craziness of Christmas upon us, the posts will be few and far between on Black Aces until the first week of January, when everything will return to normal.

As for the Friday and Saturday games, two Christmas parties in two nights didn't make for any detailed viewing but it was pretty wild to see Jason Smith deliver a win for the Senators in overtime.

To me, the biggest question remains (other than the immediate health of Alfie) whether or not Hartsburg decides to go with Martin Gerber against the high scoring Philadelphia Flyers on Tuesday.

The coach seems pretty hesitant to let Auld get on a roll again by playing him after a bad game but Gerber almost sunk this team last night with his usual mediocre play.

If neither goalie can get hot again, it's going to be a long road trip.

Senators Should Learn From San Jose

The San Jose Sharks are off to the best start in NHL history, and in a recent article from The Hockey News print edition, the players are attributing it to the fact that the coaching staff lets them play without fear of reprisal after every single mistake on the ice.

One can easily relate the situation to the current plight of the Senators where it looks like many of the forwards are so afraid of making mistakes defensively that they are thinking way too much on the ice.

Everyone and their grandmother wants to see these players get thrown under the bus by Hartsburg and Murray, but maybe the San Jose approach, as seen below, is more of an answer than the constant negativity that has engulfed the Ottawa franchise in recent years.

"One reason many of the Sharks are performing so well this season ... is the fact (Todd) McLellan and his staff recognize hockey is a game of mistakes. And each one doesn't need to be pointed out on the spot or have serious consequences.

Defenseman Douglas Murray, for example, coughed up the puck on Oct. 28 to Pittsburgh's Evgeni Malkin in front of the San Jose net. ...

"It was an absolutely bonehead play and I came back to the bench and didn't get yelled at," Murray said. "I think in the past they would have made a much bigger deal of it."

Sophomore right winger Devin Setoguchi ... said team confidence is up because players are less afraid to make mistakes.

Which is part of McLellan's plan.

"I want the players to have the courage to make plays on the ice," McLellan said. "When it's a real obvious mistake, I don't know if we have to be in their ear. They know they've made it."

Bringing Down The Whip

In case you missed this great call by Dave Schreiber and Gord Wilson on the Team 1200 last night during the Jarkko Ruutu - Jim Slater scrap:



***

Craig Hartsburg bag skated the players today and told the media that the Big 3 will all be on separate lines.

It seems like the right thing to do at the moment and it's probably right for Hartsburg to show a little more of a mean streak. It might work for a game or two but it could also weaken his position significantly if the players don't respond well. And it may not be their fault either. Like Jason York said on the radio today, it's not a lack of effort but a lack of execution.

Hartsburg might need to open things up here and let the players (and specifically the defenseman) go for it and just hope Alex Auld can handle more quality shots that he would inevitably face in such a system.

It's kind of funny. Hartsburg was hired to tighten up the defense but now his job may depend on him finding some offence.

That's life in the NHL. It's cutthroat and all coaches know this going in. I think Hartsburg is a good coach and definitely deserves some more time because you can't have constant chaos in the organization, even if you're losing. But he's subject to the same conditions that every coach faces.
.
Hired to be fired.

Crime Scene Investigation

After another embarrassing defeat with only one meaningless goal scored against Atlanta, all eyes in Ottawa will now be turning to general manager Bryan Murray.

Unfortunately for Murray and head coach Craig Hartsburg, this brutal loss comes on the heels of Eugene Melnyk going on Toronto sports radio and predicting that the Senators would storm back and finish in the top four of the Eastern Conference.

Sorry Geno, but that's about as likely as Bill Muckalt getting his Senators jersey retired.

At this point in the season, it's become pretty clear that the Senators just don't have the skill to compete in the new high octane NHL and like it or not, Bryan Murray has to take the responsibility for this dramatic drop in team fortunes.

Murray was the one who thought he could get away with a trio of minor leaguer's to boost his offense from the back end after losing the likes of Wade Redden and Andre Meszaros. Now his team looks like it couldn't break out of Mooney's Bay let alone their own end of the ice to execute simple offensive plays that were once taken for granted.

He also hired a coach who now seems to be panicking in a way that only John Paddock managed to surpass. Hartsburg has stopped playing four lines and has somehow managed to find a reason to play energy forwards Shean Donovan and Jarkko Ruutu just over 5 minutes a game, despite the rest of his lines looking like they're skating in mud (an apt description of the heavily criticised ice surface at Scotiabank Place this season).

Hartsburg has also instituted the dreaded "win and you're in" philosophy when it comes to the goalies, despite already having a bonafide number one in Alex Auld. After 2 months of steady play, Hartsburg bizarrely decided to banish Auld to the bench in favour of Martin Gerber who has already done irreparable damage to this team in the past. Now he's got a genuine goalie controversy on his hands and it's his own fault. Auld should have been given one game to rest and then put back in, regardless if Gerber played the game of his life.

Now nothing is certain. The forward lines change from game to game, shift to shift. Shean Donovan was a folk hero a week ago, now he's basically warming the bench.

It's a complete mess and now Bryan Murray has to fix it.

What's clear is that these players are just waiting for the other shoe to drop. The Big 3 look worn out and defeated and it's not even Christmas.

Murray needs to make a move to spark some life into this team. But with the holiday roster freeze going into effect this Friday and a huge road trip coming up, things might actually get worse.

And not to look too far ahead, but Filip Kuba is an unrestricted free agent after this season. In my mind, he's not even worth keeping at what he's getting paid right now but Murray will be forced to overpay just to try to keep an NHL worthy defense roster. That sort of defeats the purpose of the Meszaros trade in the first place doesn't it, especially with Picard looking like he's a marginal player at best.

Merry Christmas.

***

For some reason, when I look at the above picture of Heatley exploding off of Garnet Exelby, I keep hearing the opening of C.S.I., as if upon their explosive impact you hear Roger Daltry of the Who screaming "Yaaaaaaaaaahhhhhh!!!"

***

For those of you who had the (dis)pleasure of listening to the latest installment of Over The Edge (Tuesday morning), you were treated to nearly 3 hours of Kulka and Versage railing against what the Senators players wear on their way into the rink from the parking lot.

Seriously.

They took Don Cherry's now infamous "thug" comment and ran with it, saying that the players toques and winter coats (worn in minus 20 weather) are not allowing the players to get into the "proper mindset" to succeed. They seemingly had no explanation about how past Ottawa teams with the same dress code managed to be so successful and overcome their toque problems.

This show, easily the lamest in Ottawa sports radio history, has sunk to a new, once unthinkable low.

At first they told us that it was just "hard work" (ad nauseam) which was the sole criteria for winning games in the NHL. Now it has been expanded to include whether or not the players wear toques and appropriate winter jackets as they pass through the rear shipping doors at the rink.

Over The Edge caters exclusively to the type of fan who feels the inner need to "punish" professional athletes for whatever reason, be it money, fame or whatever it is they don't have themselves.

These types of fans project unrealistic expectations onto athletes which they know can't be fulfilled, giving them an excuse to call them lazy and unprofessional, whether it's based in fact or not.

Kulka and Versage specialize in this type of crap and substitute meaningless (but usually slanderous) chatter for real, informed hockey talk. And if someone calls in and disagrees with them, they get slaughtered live on-air by a raging Kulka who seemingly hasn't grasped the simple fact that talk-radio is supposed to be a two-way platform.

These real "thugs" should get a one-way ticket to the cold street and they better not be wearing toques and winter jackets either.

The Big Reclamation

There's an insightful article in today's Toronto Star about the KHL, Ray Emery and some of the bizarre circumstances that North Americans find themselves in over there:

"In a holdover from Soviet times, Emery and his teammates must stay on a "base" near their arena the nights before a game. The menu, said Emery's Finnish teammate Esa Pirnes, who played in the NHL with the Los Angeles Kings, hasn't changed in four months.

"I saw Esa put ketchup on his spaghetti and I wondered what he was doing," Emery said. "But they don't put sauce on it and it's impossible to find. It's just plain spaghetti. Now I'm reaching for the ketchup."

There have been other adjustments, like getting used to squads of cheerleaders dancing on platforms right behind his net in some buildings. "You kind of look up and they're right there at ice level."

Ketchup on spaghetti? Dude..... Forget the shoddy medical treatment. That might be the biggest deterrent right there.

Emery's quotes from the rest of the article indicate that he's really beginning to put last season behind him and is showing a level of maturity that was lacking in the past. If he's willing to plow ketchup spaghetti to get his career back on track, that shows some dedication to the game.

Expect "Rayzer", who has put up All-Star numbers in Russia, to make a winning return to the NHL, if not next year, then the next when his contract is expired.

And you know where he might fit? How about Detroit? With Chris Osgood starting to fade and Jimmy Howard on a seemingly eternal learning curve, Emery might be a cheap and ingenious addition to a team that is going to contend for some time. There is no denying his skill and athletic ability and if his head is screwed on straight, he's a top ten goalie in the NHL. That would also give Detroit time to nurture their top 2008 draft pick, goalie Thomas McCollum.

Detroit is pretty decent at reclamation projects. Joey Kocur, Darren McCarty, Daniel Cleary and even Chris Osgood all got second chances with Detroit and all contributed to at least one Stanley Cup championship.

People will laugh at the suggestion, but remember - you heard it here first.

Weekend Notes

It's probably tough for Senators fans to get excited after barely squeezing by the last place Tampa Bay Lightning but it at least sets up a possible mini-streak with the almost equally struggling Atlanta Thrashers coming to town on Tuesday.

Not to put too much dramatic emphasis on it, but the Atlanta game is another must-win for the Senators. Pundits are already starting to count them out for the playoffs, including Adam Proteau of the Hockey News who points to the fact that the Senators have 9 more games against Boston and Montreal. He didn't even mention their 3 gargantuan road trips left in the season.

But if you're looking for positives in a game that still felt a little like a loss due to a flaccid performance by the top line, there's a few to mention.

Obviously, Martin Gerber getting the shutout is a big leap forward for the beleaguered goalie but this might only be setting up another headache for the team. Gerber should never have been on this roster going into the season but now a few good games is going to force Craig Hartsburg's hand and the whole circus is about to start again.

Don't be fooled. The technical issues that have hampered Gerber's game have not suddenly gone away and they will rear their ugly heads again at the worst possible moment if Gerber is given another shot to play meaningful games.

Unfortunately, it looks like that's the direction the team is headed in. Still - Gerber gets kudos for a solid game.

Other positives: Alex Picard and Brendan Bell are starting to look better and call-up Brian Lee played a solid, if uninspiring game.

If you watched the opening half-hour of Hockey Night In Canada, you would have seen footage of Brendan Bell escorting the two hockey bag carrying Bingo call-ups (Lee and Ilya Zubov) to the Senators dressing room and seemingly calming their nerves by making a few jokes - if the big grin on Zubov's face is any indication. Bell seems like a natural leader and a guy who commands respect, if not for his actual play but for his character. It's hard not to cheer for a guy like that.

***

Speaking of hallway encounters, Don Cherry showed some more footage on his Coach's Corner segment but he didn't like what he saw.

First he showed the Washington Capitals entering the Molson Centre in Montreal from the team bus and praised the first-place club for wearing sharp looking suits, saying they exuded "class". Then they ran film of the Lightning and assorted Senators players entering the arena looking like "thugs".

What may have shocked some is that the Senator player he was referring to was none other than Mike "milk and cookies" Fisher who was wearing a (gasp!) wool toque and a heavy winter jacket. God forbid Fisher sets a bad example for the nation of Cherry's kids by wearing proper winter attire on a bitterly cold night.

The main Lightning player they showed was Andre "everybody hates me" Meszaros who, similar to Fisher, was wearing a toque and winter jacket but was guilty of the ultimate sin - talking on a cellphone. When they showed Fisher and Meszaros having a quick talk outside the locker rooms, Cherry went into a hilarious routine, insinuating that they were agreeing not to hit each other on the ice. He was even incensed that half the Senators were talking to Meszaros before the game, calling it a love-fest. To end the segment, he called the whole thing "sickening".
It was prime Cherry.

***

What actually disturbed me was a quick shot of Fisher and Daniel Alfredsson dressed in military fatigues in the middle of a bush somewhere, rifling down geese or birds or whatever the hell they were shooting. Fisher already admitted to killing a bear this past summer (classy) but we were also informed that he's an avid deer hunter. I don't want to go on a big anti-hunting rant here because people will freak out, but ... dude, take it easy.

The only solace was that we were told Alfredsson has resisted the deer hunting so far. Maybe Cherry was right about Fisher after all....

***

The first period scrap between Chris Neil and Zenon Konopka was an absolute beauty. Neil was having his way with Konopka but the feisty ex-Ottawa 67 repeatedly ignored Neil's body language which was clearly trying to shut the fight down. At one point Neil was just holding Konopka off and smiling at the linesman like "this guy is nuts". So Neiler decided to throw a few more and decisively won the fight but it looked like he cranked his hand off the glass, possibly hurting himself, though he did return later in the game. ..... People have been hard on Neil this year but I don't understand why. He's doing his job perfectly. I don't have the numbers in front of me but he's probably on pace to have the most fights of his career in a single season and there's not many heavyweights he won't take on. Some claim that Neil is expendable because Ottawa already has Jarkko Ruutu and Cody Bass. Except that Bass is not an enforcer by any means and only drops the gloves once in a while, usually when someone like Neil is out of the lineup. It would be like asking Mike Fisher to be the enforcer on the team. There's a big distinction between being a physical player and a regular scrapper. Ruutu backs his antics up with a scrap when he needs to but he's also not a frequent flier. Hopefully Bryan Murray finds a way to get Neil under contract for the next few seasons. There's not too many players in the league with Neil's character and spirit...... It was interesting to see Jesse Winchester singing along with the national anthem before the game. You don't see that too often..... Speaking of enforcers, it was revealed yesterday that Brian McGrattan was in the voluntary NHL substance abuse and behavioural program. The Phoenix Coyote and ex-Senator joins the long list of past NHL enforcers with similar problems. It might be toughest job in pro sports and it certainly takes its toll on the guys who do it. Here's hoping Gratts gets it together and gets back on the ice soon...... Speaking of problems, I was so into the game last night that I plowed about 10 mini peanut butter cups into my trap during the first period and was nearly in a coma by the third because of it. The Christmas season is very dangerous.....

You know what drives me insane? The NHL refuses to go to no-touch icing because they claim they like the exciting aspect of races for the puck but the referees always call the play in favour of the defender when it's close. So in reality, there's no exciting races because the only way to negate an icing is to be so far ahead of the defender that it's no contest anyways. Shean Donovan beat the Tampa defenseman last night in a close race for the puck but the linesman ruled in favour of the defender yet again, almost mechanically. It's brutal. Just go to no-touch and be done with it.

Washington 5 Ottawa 1

Okay, now it's time to panic.

Black Aces will be back on Sunday with the usual Weekend Notes column.