#Hockey

Bobby Ryan scores with Mikko Koivu's stickHilarious sequence.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FK6NTuuvBnw #Hockey

RDS Reveals Mid-Season Rookie SelectionsThe mid-point of the season sure does come up fast in the Q. These are some of the rookies that have stood out since the beginning of the season in the eyes of the RDS crew:

Acadie-Bathurst Titan – Zach O’Brien
Baie-Comeau Drakkar – Félix Girard
Cape Breton Screaming Eagles – William Carrier
Chicoutimi Saguenéens – Charles Hudon
Drummondville Voltigeurs – Marc-Olivier Brouillard
Gatineau Olympiques – Taylor Burke
Halifax Mooseheads – Martin Frk
Lewiston MAINEiacs – Dillon Fournier
Moncton Wildcats – Daniel Milan
Montreal Juniors – Alex Micallef
P.E.I. Rocket – Maxim Lagacé
Quebec Remparts – Tomas Filippi
Rimouski Océanic – Cari Hozjan
Rouyn-Noranda Huskies – Jean-François Grenier
Saint John Sea Dogs – Ryan Tesink
Shawinigan Cataractes – Anton Zlobin
Val-d’Or Foreurs – Julien Leduc
Victoriaville Tigres – David Honzik

I figured Louis Leblanc didn't count as a rookie

Some of the more obviouspants choices are Euros: Filippi of the Remparts (16-18-34 in 32 games) and Frk of the Mooseheads (11-19-30 in 31 games). Chicoutimi's Charles Hudon was also first star of the week with 9 points (1-8) and +8 over three games. #Hockey

The goalie knows you better then you think!Ok, the next time you are heading down the ice with the puck on a break-a-way and fans screaming and your head has gone into that slow motion scene that you see on TV, make sure that you have your act together once it's your turn to perform.

A lot of player get down there to the final move and just blow it under pressure and the inability to stay calm to light the lamp up behind. So here's some advice to help keep your head in the game.

First, let's say you have the puck on this so called break-a-way and you are at center ice. Don't think about victories from days gone by. Don't start thinking about how much money Dad's going to have to shell out when the puck goes in. Don't start thinking about how your girl is jumping her little heart off in the stands and that you might get lucky later.

Stay focused! Now, the first thing you are going to see, is that the goalie is going to come out once he sees that you have a break-a-way. Why do you think he does this? (Jeopardy music here) Now, 99% of all the player that I have talked too have said this simple phrase as their answer…"To cut down the angle!"

WRONG! My friend, it is to mind set you. Well, let me ask you this…when the goalie comes out, what is the first thing you think of?" Yes, I said stay focused and not on the girl friend in the stands. The first thing you think of is…"Wow, look at all that room behind him that he has given me. The next thing you think about is…Deke! Guess what, he just played you like a fool.

The whole purpose is not to come out and cut down the angle, you are in the neutral zone, cutting down the angle is not important at that distance. What the goalie did do was that he went fishing and you bit the hook. He came out to mind set you to think deke. Once he has you thinking this, he has won.

Ok, I can hear it now…"Ok coach, so what's the solution?" Here's what I want you to do first before you finish reading the rest of this story. Have a friend, parent, brother, sister, whomever, come and help you with this next part of the story.

Now, go get a puck out of the garage, then give it to your friend to hold on it edge with their two finger. Next, I want you to place your hand in the direction of your partner and hold you hand out like you are going to shake hands, but you are going to place your hand out like you are going to make a big letter "C".

Then, I want you friend to place the puck on its edge between you fingers and the thumb within this big "C". Then, when he's ready, he gets to drop the puck with out you knowing when he going to drop the puck and you have to catch the puck with your thumb against your open hand. Yes, it's ok, try it several times. Oh, don't think you can use the bottom finger to block the puck…do it right!

Now, what you are going to see is that the puck is going to head on by on its way to the floor. Oh, so here the next thing I hear from players…"Yeah, so!" Well, the hand represents the goalie and the puck represents the shooter. As the shooter comes closer to the goalie, the closure rate is reduced which reduces the reaction time of the goalie. Hopefully a light went off in your head here.

Ok, so now what? Well, this means that once you are on top of him, ready to make this so called deke, you now have the shooting advantage, due to closure rate. This means odds are more in your favor on scoring a goal if you just use a snap shot and not a deke. Please do not shoot it in his stomach. The odds are really good that it will not come out the other side into the net.

Now, If you want to go ahead and use that deke, then just think of this first. Now, back when you were at the blue line, the goalie came out and is still standing there. He wants to get you thinking deke. He will stay in that one spot until he see you at a certain distance from him and then and only then, will he make one skate pump backwards, which by the way will be half the speed of you coming in.

So, once you get into the "Closure rate" area, (Best place to shoot) you have already decided to deke and once you do it, you will see that there is no more room behind him and now you have just wasted that chance of getting some tonight!

Rob Lopez - CEO
Pass the Puck, Inc.
www.passthepuck.net #Hockey

Chris Pronger and the Sean Avery RuleThe Pronger incident:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JLQs6cmOpuM

The Sean Avery incident that brought all of this on:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ec_2oKWe2Gw

I don't know what I think about all this... I wasn't a fan of the Sean Avery rule when they started it a couple of years back. You're screening the goalie... so what if you're trying to get into his head. But as time went on I came to accept it and realize that if you're back is turned to the play and you're just trying to mess with a goaltender's head, how is that hockey?

As highlighted by Mark Trible in his recap yesteday, the "Sean Avery Rule" is to be applied “…to a situation when an offensive player positions himself facing the opposition goaltender and engages in actions such as waving his arms or stick in front of the goaltender's face, for the purpose of improperly interfering with and/or distracting the goaltender as opposed to positioning himself to try to make a play.”

According to the letter of the law, what Pronger did wasn't against any rule in the NHL. But according to hockey operations, it goes against the spirit of the rule... but there are so many holes in the way it was called yesterday that you can't really accept the way it was handled. I didn't like what Pronger did and we don't need that stuff in the NHL, blocking a goalie's view with your hand, but why wasn't it called right away? Why was it only called when the goal was scored?

Way too many questions that the referees clearly aren't able to answer.

If they're going to keep this rule and have teams lose games because of it... it needs a clarification.
#Hockey