NHLPA fires Paul Kelly, NHL & Leafs battle over territory...Bulldogs 1 and 1 after 2 Exhibition Games

Well, that didn't take long.... The NHLPA has fired their Executive Director, Paul Kelly. To read more, check out this link from Sportsnet.ca

And more news from the NHL level. Here's an interesting read from TSN.CA "Maple Leafs, NHL, at odds over territorial rights"
It's just two Exhibition Games, but it's a good start for the Dogs after a 1 and 1 record. I didn't get down to the game in Victoria Friday night so I can't comment on it, but the 7-5 Dogs win sounded like a beauty. Hey, a win period is beautiful anyway!

Saturday the Dogs out shot the Caps by a considerable margin and I thought they outplayed them along with that, but they couldn't get a break around the net in the third period. I thought the Dogs power play looked good, although you need to find the net more than once on the amount of chances they had. That's back to the luck thing. I was really impressed with the ability of the defence to get pucks through and on net, and at the same time I was equally impressed with the players battling to the front of the net and creating traffic and causing deflections.

Over the last couple of years I don't think the power play has shot the puck enough, or done the simple things enough, like getting to the front of the net and getting the puck there too, etc.

What do I know, I'm just an eye in the sky, and it all looks so simple from up top when it's really not...but I think I've seen enough to know what works best sometimes - K.I.S.S - keep it simple silly - shoot shoot pass, shoot shoot pass. I've just never been a fan of: pass pass pass pass pass pass pass blocked pass, iced, reset. Or: pass pass pass pass pass pass pass shot wide of the net, iced, restart.

I'm all for using your man advantage, but sometimes I think teams try to play above their heads and above their abilities when they are a man up and it's nothing but a momentum sapper.

The Dogs haven't had a Top 10 power play since the 2005-2006 season when it was 7th in the league. It quickly fell to 12th in 2006-2007, slid further to 14th in 2007-2008, and climbed to 13th last season.

You can win games, heck, you can even make the playoffs based on having a lights out power play....Here's to hoping the Dogs are better than bottom 3 or 4 this season. It's still Exhibition, but it looked good Saturday for a first go of it on home ice.



I must leave you with this beauty....The TSN TOP 10 JEREMY ROENICK MOMENTS. We'll miss ya JR, or at least I will, you spoke your mind no matter what!



Hammer


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