Vladimir BYCHEK
HERO OF THE WEEK
The cult of heroes in Hollywood America has reached an extraordinary level. That's just the idols for some reason here are chosen entirely from criminals ... the NHL is no exception. It is hard to recall when, before, Phoenix striker George Larak , a “policeman” by rank and a bully by vocation, was recognized as the first star of the evening. On Tuesday, he earned those laurels by engaging in a fight with ten centimeters superior Bugard, which inspired the team to defeat the Minnesota Northwest division's strongest squad. And in this, and in the next match, when the “coyotes” bit to death the Chicago “hawks”, Larak gave away assists. And on Saturday’s match with Los Angeles, when the only two-match Phoenix winning streak in this championship was interrupted, the dark-skinned George chalked up a goal, a pass and a title ... the second star of the evening! On Sunday, another goal was miraculously formed with a pass, and in total we got six points per week - you see, an amazing catch for a guy who only scored more than 20 points for the championship only in his Enhael career.
TEAMS OF THE WEEK
One power is good, and two is better. Fortunately for this in the NHL and there are two conferences. Last week , the Boston ruled the eastern kingdom, and Edmonton reigned in the western kingdom. Both clubs scored three victories. “Boston”, twice - in overtime and shoot-outs - having defeated “Washington” and putting it on the Toronto blades in an extra five minute, climbed two steps from the penultimate place in the conference. “Edmonton”, having defeated the “Colorado” with “St. Louis” and breaking the nine-match (!) Winning streak of “Detroit”, came close to the flagship of its division, “Minnesota”. Truly, you need to be a buridan donkey to die of hunger, choosing which of these two is better.
TOPIC OF THE WEEK
Friendship is friendship, and service is service. Columbus General Manager Doug Maclean, without a twinge of conscience, fired his longtime friend Gerard Gallan from the post of head coach of the club. The latter was quite suitable for the role of captain of a submarine, but did not even dream of surfacing in the playoffs. Moreover, under the leadership of the NHL star scorer, from 1986 to 1990, four seasons in a row overcoming the 70-point barrier, “Columbus” finally got lost on the way to someone else's goal. No one in the league scored less. And this is alive with Fredrik Modin, Anson Carter, Rick Nash, Sergey Fedorov, Alexander Svitov and Nikolai Zherdev! By the way, they say that it was Zherdev who turned out to be an apple of discord that swept between Maclean and Gallan. The 22-year-old native of Kiev became completely uncontrollable, dictated the conditions for the coach, replayed shifts - in a word, muddied the water in an already dirty swamp. The higher authorities had no choice but to find the imp from the quiet pool of a more strict teacher. Next week's question: will Ken Hitchcock fired from Philadelphia sign up for the taming of Nicholas the Shrew?
VERDICT OF THE WEEK
The mountain did not go towards Mohammed. On Wednesday, an American federal court dismissed lawsuits by Russian clubs, finding their claims against Evgeni Malkin (Pittsburgh), Andrei Taratukhin (Calgary) and Alexey Mikhnov (Edmonton) who had fled overseas to be unlawful. In the opinion of the “star-striped” themis, having written statements “of their own free will”, each two weeks later received the status of an unlimited-free agent and was free to conclude a contract with anyone. That is, the dreams of Magnitogorsk Metallurgist to recover three and a half million dollars of compensation for Malkin from the category of ghosts went into an ephemeral state. Russia's refusal of the contract with the NHL does not allow even counting on duty 200 thousand “greens”. And that means that the general director of Magnitogorsk Gennady Velichkin will have a broken trough instead of a goldfish.
RUSSIAN WEEKS
For three seasons it took the coaching staff of “Los Angeles” to Americanize the game of 24-year-old striker Alexander Frolov . Year after year they stuck into his head: “Throw it! Run to the goal! Finish it!”, And he, as if in spite, did the opposite. Instead of throwing, I distributed fanciful passes. The gate kept clear, like a goddamn incense. He left the bounced pucks to the others, who were not immune to falling. And suddenly, lo and behold, last week the Muscovite seemed to have a reset of consciousness - the American version of the striker was revealed to the world. Unlike the Russified predecessor, Frolov 2.0 did not notice anyone and nothing around, except for the gate. Getting the puck, he boldly walked closer, biting into the ice for the selection. Result: scoring doubles for three consecutive matches! For more than thirteen years, the story of “Los Angeles” has been waiting for such a bombardment surge: in March 1993, Luke Robitaille made a hat-trick and then scored two goals twice. As for Frolov, in the past season he also had 12 goals after 22 championship matches, but for the remainder of the regular distance he added only 9 hits to them. Let's believe the story does not happen again.
BATTLE OF THE WEEK
On Tuesday, Colton Orr of the Rangers, literally and figuratively, tore up (quotation marks at the discretion) of New Jersey taffy Cam Jenssen . Hurry up to see the "devil" torn to shreds!
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
“On Friday, I trained with the team in full gear. For the first time in six years. We didn’t have a striker for a two-way, and I decided to fill the vacancy with myself. Fantastic sensations! As if I returned to the past for one hour, twenty years younger. Crazy those who, having finished their career, say that they don’t miss their favorite game. I will always, until my death, really long for great hockey, "Phoenix head coach Wayne Gretzky in an interview with The Arizona Republic.
NUMBER OF THE WEEK
The 1252nd match in the NHL was held last Monday by Buffalo defender Teppo Numminen . Breaking the longevity record for representatives of the European hockey school, owned by another hot Finnish guy - Jari Kurri. According to Numminen himself, when he made his debut in the strongest league of the planet at the age of 20, he did not plan to stay in it for more than a year or two. However, having thrown the puck in the first match for “Winnipeg”, he decided: “This is an easy championship in which you can play until old age.” And let the defender no longer score in that debut season, now he is 38 and he is still in the “national hockey”. And not at the last roles: Teppo plays in the strongest team of the Eastern Conference, spends more than twenty-two minutes on ice on the match and is regularly distinguished by assists. Numminen already has 11 of them.
WAITING FOR THE WEEK
Tuesday duel “Anaheim” and “San Jose” can give our fans a duel of goalkeepers of the Russian team - Ilya Bryzgalov and Evgeny Nabokov. It is interesting that last Friday the “ducks” guard had already measured their strengths with one of the competitors for a place in the main “frame” of the country - he lost the battle to Nikolai Khabibulin from “Chicago”. On Wednesday, a clash of rivals in the Southeastern division of “Washington” and “Atlanta” is planned. So, we are waiting for the next confrontation between Aleksandrov Ovechkin and Semin on the one hand and Kovalchuk with Vyacheslav Kozlov on the other. On Friday, in the match “New York Islanders” - “Pittsburgh” the paths of Alexei Yashin and Evgeni Malkin will intersect, and in the game “Buffalo” - “Montreal” clubs of Maxim Afinogenov will cross their clubs with Alexei Kovalev. On Saturday night, a gourmet gourmet awaits a tasty dish in the form of the battle of Nashville and Detroit, sworn enemies in the Central Division, seasoned with a rare sauce of sharks and devils. The calendar does not pamper fans with meetings between Nabokov and Martin Broder, so hurry to see!
CM. ALSO
Wednesday, November 15th. Anaheim - Philadelphia. Forward guests Peter Forsberg in one fell swoop four murders!