Concentrated Juice-The Winter Classic 2009, Part 1

Or as I am thinking of calling it…The Puck Bunnyhood of the Travelling Zetterberg Hockey pants: Winter Classic Stylee

All of this began as a fun idea, just a simple silly discussion between jleWings and I. The sort of “plan making” we all do that never really comes to fruition.

Trouble is, when you get two feisty chicka together like jleWings and I, and we come up with an idea- well its almost impossible not to execute.

Still with a bad economy, layoffs at our respective workplaces, and a general feeling that one should be extra cautious in these times I never thought I’d be sitting here at Gate 75A, waiting to board a New years Eve Flight to Chicago to attend the Winter Classic.

But here I am.

Holy snickers.

Yea holy snickers- they are packed with peanuts people, don’t you get it?

Seriously, people, I didn’t sleep all night, I am so incredibly excited to be at this game watching my red wings!!

jleWings, my partner in crime, is – as we speak- driving from the Upper Penn of Michigan – to Chicago, and will be picking me up fo the adventure of a life time. I am assuming that she is more comfy than I, because this terminal smells like baby pee.


But not even the smell of infant urine and the incredibly rude United employees can get me down right now.

Within 24-30 hours jle and I will be sitting 5th row, club section 30, right off the first base line, near the Red Wing goal, attending what can only be described as one of the most historic NHL events of our time.

And if the media reports are true, the City of Chicago is abuzz for this event.

Everythig from the weather to Ice quality to the fact that my Red Wings did what the do best last night in a surprising 4-0 shutout at the Joe last night have people talking about the event.

Btw- Good job Wings, your first period stunk it up, but you redeemed yourselves in the second and then did something you hve rarely done all season- held a lead, and not only maintained it, but increased it in the 3rd! I take it as a sign that you are as amped as me for this event tomorrow!

So Fun Winter Classic fact? I learned how they make the Ice. NHL Ice must be at least 2 inches thick. Dan Craig, NHL Ice Whisperer magnifique, described the whole process:

First a ¾ inch of water is poured and frozen. The NHL shipped Los Angeles’ ice making equipment to Wrigley just for this occasion. After the first layer is frozen, they paint it white, let it dry and then paint the lines. After those are dry they pour the rest of the water and let it freeze.

In order to get NHL grade ice, the temps for freezing the water need to be +/-4 degrees farenheit of freezing. I bet they had their hands full this week with the balmy 40 degree weather Chicago has “enjoyed”.

And speaking of the weather——-

Being a Cali girl, I had the worst time finding winter clothes, and after 5 trips to different sporting good stores, I have a pair of white Burton snowboarding pants, My red peacoat, a fuzzy white beret to wear with my vintage Igor larionov playoff issued sweater. I could not find thermal underware anywhere- except Sears, where all they had left were Men’s Extra large. Yea, I bought them- what else was I gonna do? I cant wait to see how ridiculous I look in them!

Even though I also bought about a hundred Hand and foot warmers, I still think the wind and cold will render me senseless!





Oh yea- Jle is bringing me mittens- I HOPE they are battery operated!

Dang, I am gonna freeze. But it will be so WORTH IT!. Ok kiddies, they are boarding us now, so I have to run, but look for jleWings and I at the game- we are making a “NHL Connect Sign” to hold up, because we love ya’ll so much!

Stay tuned for more on our day- I’m making jle pick me up and immediately drive me to Wrigley to go have a look see!

As No. 8 would say “Waa-hooo!”

Ed. Note: JleWings is my darling friend, red Wing fan extraordinare and amazing writer. You can check her blogs out at: http://jlewings.blogspot.com/

Originally posted on Wednesday December 31, 2008 @ 08:24 AM EST athttp://fans.nhl.com/members/JuiceinLA/boards/26239

Copyright 2009. All Rights Reserved. No use or permission without the express written permission of the author.

Concentrated Juice: Juice’s Scouting Report- San Jose Sharks

Originally Posted on Tuesday December 16, 2008 @ 02:40 PM EST at http://fans.nhl.com/members/JuiceinLA/boards/25586

Confession time for the Joocer.

Last night as the Wings played our arch rivals, the Avs, I did the unthinkable.

I attended the Kings-Sharks game.

Yea I know. I am filled with a self loathing so deep that not even the bottom of my 5th $10 Blue Moon and a mug of Theraflu could mask the guilt or stop my shame spiral. Here is my list of pathetic excuses and rationalizations, pick your favorite or come up with your own.

Excuses and rationalizations

1. The seats were dead center ice, 13 rows up. A gift from a DIE-HARD hockey fan, who gave up one of the best games of the year just so I could go.

2. The Wings game ended before the Kings-Sharks started.

3. I was tricked, he said “Kings-Sharks” I thought Wings-Sharks? In LA? Santa got my list!!!!I do believe!!!!

4. I blame you all. Ever since becoming involved in this place and with all you rapscallions I have grown as a hockey fan. Result? I am completely obsessed with the GAME and any opportunity to see it live.

5.It was a legitimate excuse to wear my Larionov sweater in public, because marching around my neighborhood every time a Wings game is on wearing the jersey, a replica Stanley Cup hat and a red foam finger chanting “We’re Number 1” gets old after a while. (Hookaay, THAT never gets old…)

6. I needed to go to the game on behalf of my Wings.

Yea. I said it. I went to the Kings-Sharks Game to scout the Sharks on behalf of the Wings.

For Thursday’s game.

And if Monday night’s Wings-Avs game is any indication, the Wings need a quick jolt. Last night’s Wings game was a debacle. No excuse for it whatsoever.

Yes, the Wings need a jolt of life indeed. Having shipped my cattle prod to Miss jleWings in Detroit, I knew I would have to resort to my own guile and wit to help my boys in red figure out what Tiburonian weaknesses exist, can be exploited and how. (Insert, “The Wings are SCREWED” joke here.) I have never tried to scout a game, and I wanted to see if I could do it. Turns out to be pretty hard actually. I kept getting caught up in enjoying the game, cold medicine and the orangey Belgian malts.

Funny, it also turns out that there may not be a better game to scout than the Kings-Sharks to learn a little about Tiburonian weaknesses. Why, you ask? Well. First: All good teams are underestimating the Kings, who are quietly becoming the hardest working, most unsung team in the league. Second: The Kings broke down the Sharks system and really did an excellent job neutralizing the Sharks for 60. Third: Kings and Sharks play a game closer in style (and by “closer”, I mean Sharks play an identical style) to the Wings than other teams in the West, so it was ideal for anticipating how Thursday’s game might play out. And Fourth: I WAS GIVEN AWESOME SEATS!!!!!!! Did I mention the awesome seats?

This game did not disappoint, and I hope I have some decent scouting tips for my boys in Red. I don’t actually profess to be a brilliant hockey analyst, but how else are you supposed to learn?

Truth is, the Kings took the Sharks off their game and controlled 60 minutes of that game last night, and I saw first hand how they did it: Speed, lock up both wingers, force the turnover, chip it out in the corners, solid pressure out of your own zone. Nothing fancy, nothing pretty.

To Wit, Juice’s Scouting Report: San Jose Sharks

Kings played a far better game than the final score indicates. They owned that game for almost all of the 60 minutes. Containing the Sharks did not turn out to be rocket science. But for a terrible shootout, the Kings should have stolen that game, even after losing their King Midas, Ersberg to a groin pull. (So painful to see go down. Get better Iceberg, LA needs you!)

Speed kills.

The Kings were able to disrupt the whole Shark system and had them chasing/fighting to keep up with the play for most of the game just by out gunning them. This was the key to the Kings 60 minutes of dominance. It was so noticeable that I actually thought “This will be fun for 2 periods, but then the Kings will have exhausted themselves” (It turns out they held strong through 65 minutes). Kings executed a rather clever (but not necessarily pretty) game of run and chase. Just gain possession and rush down to the other end as fast as you can. Don’t worry about pretty passing, do not pass go, do not collect $200.

The Kings out skated the Sharks, or at least had the Sharks struggling to keep pace, the whole game. Kings were able to force multiple shark turnovers in their own waters (three alone in OT) and drive down at the speed of light.

Rather than executing a pretty passing game, the Kings drove down, taking the sharks off their system and before the sharks could set up, they were able to corner the pucks, and dig in, retain possession and set up scoring opportunities. No pretty passes or cherry picking (per se).

Bait and Hook the Wingers

This is a biggie: Like a silver tip on a bucket of chum, KINGS KEPT A MAN ON EACH SHARK WINGER, rendering Thornton and the other centers largely ineffective.

Sharks D

Sharks play vintage Wings LWL defense. It works. Kings play a very similar defense to the Wings too. I had Homer’s butt flashbacks watching the play at both ends of the ice.

Sharks kept 2 men in the neutral 80% of the time, but if you can tie up the wingers and then bolt, it shows its cracks. On nearly every play the Kings would get two or three men across, and I don’t think the Kings had more than one or two bad turnovers (could be wrong).

Physical Game

Once the Kings got into the Sharks zone they took the game to “relatively” physical level. I say relatively because neither of these teams are physical bruising teams, despite the Ivanais-Shelley scrum in the second. There weren’t a lot of hard checks, in fact, neither of these teams can finish a forecheck.

Smear the Grier

One caveat- Watch Mike Grier. He’s a thug, especially behind the net. And he never gets called. Of course, he is the fastest thug I have ever seen. When he can get to the right, he flies! Lock him up on the left and I bet you neutralize him. And while we are on Grier- he was one of the only Sharks to force any turnovers.

Goalies

Boucher likely won’t be in goal on Thursday, so I didn’t pay that much attention to goal tending. Boucher’s blocker side is his weak link- if he really has one. Goaltending must be reckoned with. Nabby is great. Wings need to find his weakness, just like we used to: Keep putting the puck to the net, something will go in.

Our own goaltending will need to be on for sure. Sharks aren’t proficient with the long range slappers- or if they are I didn’t see it in this game, but they are very patient goal scorers. They don’t get flustered after 4-5 shots on net, they find ways to get the rebound.

Penalty Kills

The Shark’s kill is totally disrupt-able, The Kings were able to easily set up at the points and the Sharks just let them cycle, without challenging the point at all. As a result Kings were able to close in and to push the Sharks defense into net. Surprisingly, the Sharks were using the body to stop shots.

Power Play

Hmm. I have nothing insightful to say about this. Watch Clowe. He scored on the PP, after patiently chipping away forever.

Face-offs

Marleau is slow on the face off- Draper and Z should be able to beat him every time. Heck, Homer could probably beat him.

Lines/Ice Time

Marleau never left the ice, Clowe, Grier, Vlasic and Setoguchi logged a lot of ice time too, telling me the Sharks eventually realized the Kings were not a push over. Thornton and Marleau get tired. Speed will kill them.

Bottom Line?

Sharks are beatable. That said I realize its probable that they will bring an entirely different intensity and energy level to the Joe in Thursday. But still if you out-gun them and tie up their wingers you will have neutralized a huge part of their game.

LET’S GO RED WINGS!

Avery is done in Dallas

Originally posted on Thursday December 04, 2008 @ 02:01 AM EST at http://fans.nhl.com/members/JuiceinLA/boards/24921

NHL Network broadcast a Coach Tippett interview tonight. Coach said “no sax before the game.”

No, no, that isn’t what he said. I just love that Brendan Shanahan quote.

When asked, Coach Tippett said, point blank, that he didn’t see how Sean could be welcome back into the locker room. He basically said no matter what the outcome of tomorrow’s hearing, Sean is really no longer welcome in Dallas. He said: “I find it hard to believe that Sean could come back into the dressing room and find the [kind of] continuity” the team has. Coach said that he didn’t want to be associated with the kind of character Avery epitomizes.

As many of us intimated earlier this day, Coach Tippett’s statement conveys to me that Sean Avery has clearly been causing turmoil (beyond ex-girlfriend comments) in the locker room, and Dallas seems to be relieved to have this incident and the League’s reaction to lean on in getting rid of him.

While we may never hear all that went on with Mr. Avery in Dallas, its clear that he wore out his welcome over time. Rather than being the biggest straw on the pile, the insult to Phaneuf and Cuthbert was merely just the one which broke the camels back.

One more day until Avery goes the way of the Emery (dodo) Bird, and we can all get back to real hockey issues.

Post-Post Edit: Response to some Commentors and other Blogs

It is short sighted to think that everything going on this week with Avery is about the content of this one statement.

Its an indisputable fact that Avery was aware that saying something like that, on camera, before a game against Phaneuf would cause chaos and incite the parties being maligned.

Accordingly, it can and should be argued that this was a premeditated and malicious instigation, intended to prompt an on-ice altercation.

Any player who takes highly public actions intending or knowingly acting so as to incite an on ice altercation should be heavily punished. This isn’t the WWF, after all.

It doesn’t matter how bad the particular statement was. Its about the intent, at the very least, proving that Sean knew saying something that inflammatory would have on-ice repercussions.

In that context, anyone who thinks the league should have set back and let it go once more, well your probably the sort of person who never believes your kid is the bully or bad at math, just because the kid tells you its not his fault.