Nitzy's Hockey Den

There has been lots of talk on whether or not the Canadiens first round defeat of Washington is the biggest upset in NHL playoff history. Washington after all finished this season with 33 more points than Montreal (121-88), and won the President's trophy by a good margin. As well, the fact that Montreal came back from down three games to one make the feat all the more impressive, it is definitely one of the top five upsets ever but in my opinion there are others that were as impressive or even moreso. What follows is my list, in reverse order of the top ten upsets in NHL playoff history. 10. 1978-79 Semi Finals, New York Rangers defeat New York Islanders The Isles had the most points in the league with 116 and a winning percentage of .725 while the Rangers, although fifth overall in the league had 25 points less with 91. Led by a rejuvinated Phil Esposito, Don Maloney and goaltender John Davidson, the Blueshirts beat the Isles four games to two. The Islanders only two wins came in...

After Montreal's Maxim Lapierre notched his first playoff goal today in his 22nd career game, the the list of active NHL forwards without a career playoff tally is down to six gentlemen. I chose the minimum amount of games at 15 to gain entry in this exclusive, and unwanted club. Leading the way, and finished for another season is Buffalo's Paul Gaustad with 31 games played without a goal. He has scored 10, 12 and 12 goals in each of the last three seasons, yet is still searching for number one in the post season. Bruin Steve Begin at 29 games will have to score in the second round or risk passing Gaustad on the active list. Chicago's Troy Brouwer will take his 23 games without scoring to the second round against Vancouver, and Petteri Nokelainen of Phoenix will enter game seven against Detroit with 21 scoreless playoff matches. Jannik Hansen of the Canucks sits at 18 career scoreless games, while Fredrik Sjostrom at 17 games unfortunately (or unfortunately) didn't hav...

Last night, the hometown Fort St.John Flyers were crowned amateur champions of Canada. They beat arch-rival Bentley Generals 4-1 to claim the Allan Cup. The Flyers were led by brothers Rod and Chris Stevens , each being named a tournament All-Star team with Rod named MVP. Rod Stevens tallied 9 points in 4 Allan Cup games, while brother Chris had 6 goals in 3 games. Fort St.John native, Rod Stevens most recently played pro in France and Britain. He scored 20 goals for the AHL Syracuse Crunch in 96/97 and had 109 points Kamloops in his last year of junior in 93/94. Fort St.John team mate Kimbi Daniels notched 6 points in the 4 Allan Cup games. He was a third round pick of Philadelphia in 1990 after a 118 point year with the Swift Current Broncos. Daniels also played for Team Canada in the 1992 World Junior Championships scoring 7 points in 7 games. He made a nice career in the ECHL since the late '90s mainly with the Anchorage, Alaska Aces. Fort St.John goalie Clayton Pool starr...

After losing to the Caps in game 4, Carey Price has now lost his last eight (8) consecutive playoff starts dating back to April 26, 2008. Here's his numbers in those starts: (W-L, GAA, SPct) 0-8, 4.27, .865 Yikes. In his defense however, during the time that Price has been in the net over those eight games his Habs have scored a grand total of 14 goals.

Halfway through the opening round of the playoffs and a look at the goaltending stats is quite revealing and startling to Canadian hockey fans. Among those who have played at least two games, there is not a Canadian-born goalie in the top-ten in Goals Against Average. Read that again.....amazing. Here they are with their country of origin; Pekka Rinne, Finland 1.35 Brian Boucher, USA 1.98 Annti Niemi, Finland 2.01 Tuuka Rask, Finland 2.01 Craig Anderson, USA 2.11 Evgeni Nabokov, Russia 2.12 Semyon Varlamov, Russia 2.12 Ryan Miller, USA 2.36 Jonathan Quick, USA 2.45 Jimmy Howard, USA 2.78 Martin Brodeur, Canada 2.98 MA Fleury, Canada 3.01 Roberto Luongo, Canada 3.20 Ilya Bryzgalov, Russia 3.26 Jose...

Most hockey fans know the story of how Vancouver Canuck coach waved a white towel in mock surrender to the officiating. It was late in game two of the 1982 Stanley Cup semi-finals against the Chicago Black Hawks, and the Canucks had just went down 4-1 on a Denis Savard goal. The towels went up, Neilson was tossed from the game (and later fined $1000) and a tradition was born. What makes a coach get to such a point of frustration? With the help of a great little book by long-time Vancouver journalist Tony Gallagher, we can learn what actually happened. Gallagher's book "Towels, Triumph and Tears" was published right after the playoff run of '82. Vancouver had advanced to the semis that year sweeping the Calgary Flames and beating the "Miracle on Manchester" L.A. Kings 4 games to 1. As unimpressive as the Canucks regular season record was at 30-33-17, they had still not played a team with a superior record than them until the Islanders in the final. The ...

You may recall the story of Christopher DiDomenico. Last May 5th, in the midst of a terrific season, he broke his femur while chasing down an icing call. That year he had starred in the World Juniors on a line with John Tavares and was leading the Quebec League in playoff scoring with 35 points in 15 games. He underwent surgery on his femur and knee, and by October of last year he had begun rehab. He was given a stall in the Toronto Maple Leafs practice facility in order to receive the best rehab available and to be surrounded by professionals who may one day be his team mates. Amazingly, "DiDo" returned to game action with Drummondville on Feb. 17 of this year and notched three points. He scored a point in 11 of the 12 games finishing with 22 points. Drummondville has advanced to the QMJHL semi-finals and this past Sunday, DiDomenico tallied a pair of goals in a 5-2 loss. He is once again leading the "Q" in scoring with 20 points in 11 games. The Leafs are hoping ...