A Charlie Brown Christmas - Peanuts' Charlie Brown
As it turned out, star players Patrick Roy and Joe Sakic didn't have an expiration date on helping the Colorado Avalanche be a winning organization.
Long retired, they're helping the Avalanche in other ways.
With Sakic in management and Roy as coach, the close friends have transformed the Avalanche into the biggest surprise early in the 2013-14 season.
The Avalanche's 15-5 record makes them much, much better than expected. A 2012-13 lottery team that ended up with the No.1 pick, they appear to be one of the NHL's most dangerous teams.
The injury loss of Matt Duchene will hurt, but the Avalanche have shown they can win without scoring a lot. The key will be goalie Semyon Varlamov.
The other most surprising and disappointing performances at the quarter mark of the NHL season:
2. Tampa Bay Lightning: Coach Jon Cooper, a lawyer by trade, makes sure his team presents a strong defense. The Lightning seem more focused than they have been in the past.
Even with top scorer Steven Stamkos out with a broken leg, the Lightning think they can stay in the Eastern Conference race.
The key will be 6-7 Ben Bishop, who has provided the most consistent goaltending the team has known in ages. He is 13-3 with a .921 save percentage.
3. Alexander Steen (St. Louis Blues): You'd expect Alexander the Great (Ovechkin) to lead in goals, but this season, Steen is tied with the three-time Rocket Richard Trophy winner with 17 goals.
Considering Steen has managed 20 goals twice, his exploits have created a league-wide buzz. He's shooting more and getting a little more ice time, but mostly he's experiencing a career season.
4. Phoenix Coyotes: The Coyotes (14-4-3), who missed the playoffs last season, are in contention to be the best team in the West.
The lower-budget team has stayed competitive in recent seasons with stingy defense. But this season, they're fourth in scoring with 3.29 goals a game.
Signing Mike Ribeiro (16 points in 21 games) helped, but the Coyotes are getting scoring up and down the lineup. Defensemen Oliver Ekman-Larsson and Keith Yandle create offense from the point.
5. Sean Monahan (Calgary Flames): The rookie buzz coming into the season was about the top four picks, Nathan MacKinnon (Colorado), Aleksander Barkov (Florida Panthers), Jonathan Drouin (Tampa Bay) and Seth Jones (Nashville Predators).
Scouts raved that Dallas Stars pick Valeri Nichushkin might be the steal of the first round.
But Monahan, taken sixth overall, had eight goals in his first 22 games. He's a mature, physically ready center who seems as if he'll be a consistent player for a long time.
TOP FIVE DISAPPOINTMENTS
1. Columbus Blue Jackets: The Blue Jackets surged late last season and missed the playoffs on a tiebreaker, but that momentum hasn't carried over.
The defensively sloppy Blue Jackets rank 12th in the Eastern Conference.
Marian Gaborik didn't deliver like a big-ticket superstar, and now he is out with a sprained knee. The Blue Jackets will get a boost when Nathan Horton returns from offseason shoulder surgery.
2. The Eastern Conference: As of Thursday morning, no team in the Eastern Conference would qualify for a playoff spot in the West.
Western teams are dominating the East in head-to-head matches, going 87-34-16.
3. Coyotes fans: Despite improvement on and off the ice, fans aren't filling up the arena.
The Coyotes rank last in attendance at fewer than 13,000 a game, below where they were last season. Traditionally, though, attendance grows when snowbirds arrive in late November.
4. Stephen Weiss (Red Wings): General manager Ken Holland signed Weiss to put a charge into an offense that lost its fright factor the past few seasons.
But Weiss, who had season-ending wrist surgery last season, hasn't been sharp.
He had two goals and three points in 17 games before being shelved with an injury. That's perplexing because Weiss had been a consistent 50-point performer.
He looked like the perfect No. 2 center for Detroit, but he hasn't performed like one.
5. Edmonton Oilers: The hockey world keeps waiting for the Oilers, rich in young talent, to wake up one morning and be contenders.
It's not happening this season. They don't seem to have the right support players surrounding their young talent.
Christmas Music, DVD's, Books, Gifts
http://members.shaw.ca/almosthuman73/christmas.html
Entertainment Plaza - TV, Movies, Sports, Music
http://members.shaw.ca/almosthuman99
Babe Of The Month
http://members.shaw.ca/almosthuman99/babeofthemonth.html
Hunk Of The Month
http://members.shaw.ca/almosthuman99/babeofthemonthman.html
0 comments:
Post a Comment