Nitzy's Hockey Den

Cam Neely for Barry Pederson. June 6, 1986. Easily the most well-known and important transaction ever made between this year's Stanley Cup finalists. Somewhat surprisingly, a fairly good team can be made from players that have played for both Boston and Vancouver. Centre Barry Pederson . After more than four years in Boston with 92, 107 and 116 point seasons he had seasons of 76 and 71 points with the Canucks before injuries took hold. Tomas Gradin. Signed as a free-agent with Boston after eight solid seasons on the West coast, he notched 43 points in 64 games his only year as a Bruin. Peter McNab. Starred for over seven years with Boston, scoring from 74 to 86 points for seven years straight, spent just over a season in Van City, scoring 23 goals in 84/85. Chris Oddleifson. Traded in March of 1974 from the Bruins for Bobby Schmautz, he went on to have six solid years with the Canucks. Right Wing Cam Neely. Three years with Vancouver, topping out at 21 goals went on to a Hall ...

May 27, 1993. This is NOT the date the Toronto Maple Leafs were denied a Stanley Cup appearance. I'm an acknowledged Leaf fan, not your average "asshole" Leaf fan, I'm a diehard, all-encompassing, 365 days a year Leaf fan (I know...it's a disease for which there is no cure). Even I can now say, it's time to stop blaming Kerry Fraser. As all good hockey fans know, the play in question happened in overtime of game six of the '93 Western Confernce Finals with Toronto ahead 3 games to 2. In the first minute of OT, Wayne Gretzky's follow-through on a shot clipped Doug Gilmour. Even though Gilmour was bleeding and would require eight stitches, there was no penalty on the play. Fraser claimed he was blocked out of view of what happened and so were his linesmen. He recalls asking Gilmour at the moment what had happened, Gilmour said he was hit with Gretzky's follow-through. This fact of course makes the criticism of Fraser missing the call a moot point. A...

I had a question posed to me by Bidzy, my beer-league left winger (yes, it's Nitzy and Bidzy). He wondered what was the most distance between two cities ever in a Stanley Cup final. This of course stems from the current season, and the certainty that no matter which teams win the semi-finals, there will be alot of travelling mileage. The following are the Stanley Cup final series that matched teams the farthest apart, as the crow flies. I am including all Stanley Cup Finals and Challenges. Dawson City Nuggets vs. Ottawa HC, 1905: 4351km Los Angeles Kings vs. Montreal Canadiens, 1993: 3973 km Vancouver Canucks vs. New York Islanders, 1982: 3937 km Vancouver Canucks vs. New York Rangers, 1994: 3907 km Anaheim Ducks vs. New Jersey Devils,2003: 3906 km Portland Rosebuds vs. Montreal Canadiens, 1916: 3771 km Anaheim Ducks vs. Ottawa Senators, 2007: 3771 km Victoria Cougars vs. Montreal Maroons, 1926: 3732 km Victoria Cougars vs. Montreal Canadiens, 1925: 3732 km Calgary Flames vs.Tampa...

May 22. Game Four of the Western Conference Final. Canucks leading two games to one. No, not today, we're talking 1994. The Canucks and Toronto Maple Leafs were battling for the right to advance to the Stanley Cup Finals. After over 57 minutes of scoreless play in game four, Cliff Ronning finally beat Felix Potvin. In the Toronto Star the next day, Damien Cox described the winning goal,"Ronning skipped past Dmitri Mironov just inside the Toronto blueline, dumped the puck off to Sergio Momesso, then simply skated past an inattentive Rob Pearson towards the net." Ronning took the return pass from Momesso and beat Potvin for the winner. "Serg and I like the give-and-go game," Ronning explained. "We're definitely not superstars on our line. We work hard whenever we get out there." Leaf coach Pat Burns added, "Cliff Ronning found a little opening and that ended it. There wasn't much room out there and whoever found the opening won it. they got ...

From the files of the Canadian Press, May 21, 1979 Winnipeg Jets were in their glory Sunday night after knocking off Edmonton Oilers 7-3 in the sixth game of the World Hockey Association Championship to win the Avco Cup. The Jets accomplished the feat before a home crowd of 10,195 screaming, clapping, horn-blowing fans who had given the team the same emotional boost when they swept a four game semi-final series with Quebec Nordiques. As the final whistle sounded Sunday, giving the Jets the best-of-seven final series four games to two and marking the end of the WHA, the fans poured adulation on their heroes and some of the men who founded the league and struggled with it for seven years. Ben Hatskin, who was instrumental in luring former National Hockey League star Bobby Hull to Winnipeg in 1972, got a rousing cheer when he was called to centre ice to stand next to the Cup. "I know the Jets will keep this (the trophy) in a safe spot to remember the WHA, which did a great thing for...

Tyler Seguin with 6 points in his first two career playoff games as a teenager is now in very select company with one Dale Hawerchuk. In Winnipeg's first two playoff games on April 7 and 8, 1982 against St.Louis, Hawerchuk also scored 6 points. At 19 years, 4 days old Hawerchuk scored his first playoff goal 15:20 into the first period, beating Mike Liut on assists by Paul MacLean and Moe Mantha. In the third period he assisted on a goal by Willy Lindstrom as the Blues beat the Jets 4-3. The following day Hawerchuk notched four assists on goals by Dave Babych, Norm Dupont and two by Paul MacLean. Hawerchuk finished the series with 8 points in the 4 game loss to St.Louis. Ray Bourque also tallied 6 points (1 goal and 5 assists) over two games April 13 & 14, 1980 vs. Pittsburgh. These were his fourth and fifth career playoff games. He was aged 19 years, 3 months at the time. Two other teenagers have scored 5 points over 2 playoff matches: Rod Brind'Amour, St.Louis April 18 ...

When the question of which player is the greatest playoff performer in NHL history is raised, there really are only a few names that can be seriously mentioned. The obvious names would come up like Gretzky, Messier, Lemieux, Orr, Howe, Beliveau or Richard. Some would say it has be a goaltender, Roy, Brodeur, Plante or Dryden. The real question is by what method are we able to rank these players and their playoff performance throughout their careers. One large factor I like to look at is if the player produces at a higher rate during the post-season than they do during the regular season, and if so by how much. The number of Stanley Cups a player has won should also go a long way in determining a great playoff performer. As well, leading the playoffs in a major statistical category will aid in determining playoff greatness. These three elements encompass team success as well as individual success in the post-season. I believe I've devised a simple system that is able to quantify the...

The Tampa Bay Lightning have now won eight consecutive playoff games in 2011 and are three away from the all-time record of eleven straight playoff wins. Over the stretch, Tampa have out-scored their opposition by a 33-17 margin. A look at the teams that have won 10 and 11 straight matches: Montreal, 1993. 11 consecutive wins. After dropping the first two playoff games of 1993 to Quebec, The Habs reeled off 11 in a row. They pushed aside the Nords, swept Buffalo and went up three games to none on the Islanders before losing. Over their streak they scored 42 goals and surrendered 26 as well, seven of the eleven victories were in overtime. The Habs of course won the Cup over Los Angeles that year and after losing their first two games went 16-2 the rest of the way. Pittsburgh, 1992. 11 consecutive wins. The Penguins run came later in the playoffs and carried them all the way to the Cup win, they also snuffed out Chicago's own 11 game streak in the first game of the finals. Down th...

Name some of the players over history to have led the NHL in playoff goals over the years, most likely it was a star like Gretzky, Lemieux, Kurri, Bossy, Lafleur to Bobby Hull, Gordie Howe and The Rocket. One gentleman who led the league in playoff goals was far less well known. In 1926, Merlyn "Bill" Phillips of the Stanley Cup champion Montreal Maroons led the NHL with 3 goals in 4 games. Merlyn Phillips was a 26 year old rookie in 1926 and was only called up to the Maroons with 12 games remaining in the season, but he made quite an early impact with the media and fans. He had spent the previous seven seasons playing Senior hockey with the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds where he played in three Allan Cups. Prior to making the big club in 1926, Phillips had 9 goals in 20 games that season with the Soo. His introduction to professional hockey was chronicled by the Montreal Gazette starting on Feb. 18, 1926. "Montreal will have Bill Phillips, former Soo Greyhound centre a...

In honour of Vancouver's Ryan Kesler tallying 11 points during their six game victory over Nashville, we look at the players with highest scoring single playoff series in NHL history. 1. Rick Middleton, Boston 19 Points . 1983 division finals vs. Buffalo Game 1 2a Game 2 1g, 2a Game 3 2a Game 4 2g, 4a Game 5 2g, 2a Game 6 0 Game 7 2a Total goals by Boston in series, 33. Middleton was in on 57.6% of team scoring. 2. Wayne Gretzky, Edmonton, 18 Points. 1985 conference final vs. Chicago Game 1 1g, 3a Game 2 3a Game 3 0 Game 4 1g, 2a Game 5 2g, 2a Game 6 4a Total goals by Edmonton in series, 44. Gretzky was in on 40.9% of team scoring. 3. Mario Lemieux, Pittsburgh 17 Points. 1992 division semi-finals vs. Washington Game 1 DNP Game 2 2a Game 3 3g, 3a Game 4 1g Game 5 1a Game 6 2g, 3a Game 7 1g, 1a Total goals by Pittsburgh in series, 25 (24 in the 6 games Lemieux played). Lemieux was in on 70.8% of team scoring. 4. Doug Gilmour, Toronto, 16 Points. 1994 conference semi-final vs. San...

Over the course of NHL playoff history, various players have stepped up their production to an unprecedented level over previous norms. Perhaps the greatest example would be Washington Capital, John Druce in 1990. After scoring 8 goals in 45 games and 8 goals in 48 games the year before, Druce exploded for 14 goals in 15 playoff games. He would parlay his playoff run to a 22 goal season in 1991, but never scored 20 again. John Druce would score a mere 3 additional goals in 37 more career playoff matches. This season, Sean Begenheim scored 14 goals in 80 games for Tampa Bay but has now tallied 7 in 11 playoff games. In his other three career seasons, Bergenheim has colected 10, 15 and 10 goals. Some of the other great "John Druce Playoffs" are as follows: 2006, Fernando Pisani, Edmonton . After scoring 18 goals in 80 games, Pisani conted 14 goals in 24 games to lead the playoffs. In 194 games since, he has scored 44 goals. 2004, Ruslan Fedotenko, Tampa Bay. His 12 goals in 2...

With their four game sweep of Washington, the Tampa Bay Lightning have now won seven consecutive games. T-Bay has beaten up pretty much the entire production of HBO's 24/7 series, having beaten Pittsburgh three straight after going down three games to one. What may surprise is the fact that Tampa Bay is getting terrific all round scoring during the streak in wich they have outscored their opponents 29 to 14. Seven different players have scored at least a point per game over the last seven. The player with the most points over that span, Steve Downie with 11. Most goals, Sean Bergenheim with 6. Tampa Bay Scoring during 7 Game Win Streak (Goals Assists Points) Downie 2-9-11 Lecavalier 4-5-9 Purcell 1-8-9 Moore 2-6-8 Bergenheim 6-1-7 St. Louis 2-5 -7 Gagne 2-5-7 Stamkos 4-1-5 Malone 3-2-5 Roloson 7-0 1.97 GAA .939 SavePct.

Forty-four years. It's now been 44 gosh-darn years since the Toronto Maple Leafs last raised the Stanley Cup. I merely hope it's not going to be that long until the next one. Countless stories have been written about the Leafs last win, I'd guess more has been written about that Cup win than most any other. One thing I had never heard was how the game six winning goal by Jim Pappin was referred to as the "Buttock Shot". Legendary newspaper man Jim Coleman referred to Pappin's goal as flukey and he probably wasn't to far off. In fact it went in off Montreal defenseman Terry Harper's "derriere". Pete Stemkowski was being wrapped up in front of Gump Worsley by Harper "in an octopus grip" when Pappin sent a back-hand at net from his off wing. According to Coleman, "Harper's hip was jutting directly in the line of Worsley's vision and poor old Gumper didn't see the puck until it was passing him, on it's way into the...

Team Canada's roster for the 2011 World Hockey Championships is peppered with some established stars such as Rick Nash, Jason Spezza and Dion Phaneuf as well as great youngsters like Jeff Skinner, John Tavares, Matt Duchene, Jordan Eberle and Alex Pietrangelo. And then there's Mario Scalzo. 26 year old defenseman Scalzo is the only player on Team Canada without NHL experience and has played the last three seasons in Europe. In fact he led his German League, Mannheim Eagles squad in scoring this past season with 32 points in 51 games. This is a Mannheim team that also had ex-NHLers Craig MacDonald, Niko Dimitrakos and Steven Reinprecht on the squad. Scalzo was undrafted but played three years in the AHL with the Iowa Stars and Norfolk Admirals, scoring 33, 25 and 29 points before heading overseas. The native of St.Hubert scored 68 points in the QMJHL with Victoriaville in 03/04 before being traded halfway through the next season to Rimouski for their Memorial Cup run. His teamma...