All-Purpose Hockey Thread II

According to TSN, Gary Agnew is the interim coach.

http://tsn.ca/nhl/news_story/?ID=184195&hubname=nhl

 

And he's not even from the Island ;D

 

And even in the slagheap of "goalies no one wants" Boucher is named one of the NHL's three stars last week.

http://www.nhl.com/nhl/app?page=ThreeStarsPage&service=page

Too bad Felix Potvin retired.

 

Too bad Hardy Astrom's retired. He'd be a shoo-in for worst goalie ever.

 

Don Cherry has a great anecdote about Hardy. It may or not be true.

There's a usual drill in practice where the coach fires the puck at the goalie from centre ice to set up a break-out. Problem was, Cherry scored a couple of times.

 

Jason Muzzati was and is the worst goalie ever. He's the only goalie I know who flinched before the puck hit him.

 

Well, you could make a claim for Tommy Salo's "The Puck's Gonna Hit Me In the Head and I'm Ducking" move in the 2002 Olympics.

 

To be fair, Salo suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder following the ass-whipping Dan Cloutier gave him in 1997. Ah memories.

 

The connection between the Columbus Blue Jackets and the London Knights gets stronger (Agnew coached the Knights for many years, leading them to the OHL final in 1999).

 

I noted this on the J-only board: Scott Morrison, formerly of the Toronto Sun and now of Rogers Sportsnet, and Calgary Flames broadcaster Peter Maher are this year's honoured media members.

 

Ever hear of a between-periods goalie change that goes awry when the starter is the last person in the arena to find out he's been yanked? And the coach blames the backup for not telling the starter that he was taking over?

It happened last week with the hapless St. Louis Blues.

http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/sports/stories.nsf/blues/story/10FCADEB2EF6046F862572220019E87D?OpenDocument

(Manny) Legace was pulled after allowing four goals on 21 shots through the first two periods. But even the substitution didn't go smoothly.

Legace came out for the start of the third period, only to see Curtis Sanford skate onto the ice and replace him.

"Nobody told me anything," Legace said. "I just figured I was going out (to play), and all of the sudden, I look up and Sandy is standing in front of me. I wish they would have said something before I started going back out there. ... It was kind of embarrassing, actually."

(Head coach Mike) Kitchen said he assumed Sanford would notify Legace of the change.

"I told Sandy he was going in between periods," Kitchen said. "You'd think the goalie would tell the other goalie that he's going in. I guess there was a communication problem there. But it won't happen again. I'll make sure I tell them both. I took it for granted."

Took it for granted that the backup would willingly be your hatchet man? Grab a brain, Mike.

 

With Gallant gone, who's next? Gretzky won't get fired, but will he get fed up and walk away?