NHL Roundup

Pavol Demitra and Alexander Frolov both tallied a goal and an assits as the Kings beat the Coyotes 3-2 in LA's home opener. But the big news was the lineup mistake Coyotes head coach Wayne Gretzky made in only his second game behind the bench:

Phoenix right wing Fredrik Sjostrom took the ice at the start of the game despite being listed as a scratch.

Kings coach Andy Murray realized the mistake and even double-checked the rule book. Ever gracious, he planned to keep quiet unless Phoenix scored with Sjostrom on the ice, which would have nullified the goal.

But the Kings' stat crew noticed Sjostrom and alerted referees, who ruled Sjostrom ineligible for the rest of the game. Phoenix center Petr Nedved was the actual scratch, but he was listed as being available.

A subdued Gretzky called it an oversight that was "just inexcusable."

"It's my responsibility," he said. "It just was utter nonsense that it happened and I feel bad for Freddie and I feel bad for the team. It happened and it won't happen again."

But as reader Jay Kumar points out, Gretzky wasn't the first head coach to commit such a gaffe. The night before, Grant Kerr of the Globe and Mail got Gretzky to give the new version of the NHL a thmubs up:

"It was a great hockey atmosphere, as good as any I've seen in a long time," Gretzky said. "[In] this new game and new system, you've got to be able to skate. If you can't skate, you can't [play] at this level."

In St. Louis, the Red Wings completed a home-and-home sweep of the Blues with a 4-3 win. Manny Legace had 23 saves for Detroit, and Brendan Shanahan got his first goal of the season. Doug Weight had a goal and an assist for St. Louis.

And in New York, Michael Ryder scored twice, including the game winner in OT to give Montreal a 4-3 win over the Rangers. Montreal's Jose Theodore faced only 19 shots to get the victory.

If you're interested in persisting labor questions, check out this TSN feature on NHLPA escrow payments (zzzz).

In other off-ice news, average tickets prices are down league-wide:

In a bid to lure back fans, average ticket prices for the 2005-06 National Hockey League season are lower than they were before a lockout eliminated last season's games, accroding to a marketing survey report from Chicago Wednesday.

The average ticket price for NHL games has fallen 7.5 percent from the 2003-2004 season to 41.19 US dollars, with two-thirds of the 30 teams dropping prices.

These NHL price reductions are the first in 12 years, according to Team Marketing Report, a sports marketing firm that performs cost surveys.

The Detroit Red Wings, a perennial NHL power who have some of the league's highest ticket prices, dropped their average ticket cost nearly $14 to $43.13, the report said.

The initial reports seem to indicate that the league got off to a great start on Wednesday:

The league emerged from the lockout that wiped out the 2004-'05 season Wednesday with all 30 teams in action on the same night for the first time ever.

And what the record total of 275,447 spectators in the 15 arenas and record television audiences saw was goals, power plays and some gutsy calls from officials, who this season have been ordered to crack down obstruction fouls.

''I saw courage last night,'' Stephen Walkom, the NHL director of officials, said Thursday of the referees. ''There were calls that haven't been made in 25 years.''

The result, for the most part, was exactly what the NHL wanted - more freedom for the most talented players to make plays, and more goals.

A total of 95 were scored on the night, an average of 6.33 per game. In 2003-'04, the average regular season game produced 5.19 goals.

And finally, with Mats Sundin sidelined with a horrific eye injury, Steve Simmons of the London Free Press says it's time for mandatory visors:

And you have to wonder why it's taken this long, why there have been this many injuries for the game, the owners, the insurance companies, the GMs, the fans, and yes, even the players, to come up with some kind of reasonable alternative.

"I played in an era that had no helmet," said Leafs coach Pat Quinn. "We did it because that's the way we did it."

That's the old-time logic. When Quinn played in the NHL, there was no such thing as seatbelt legislation, no regulations regarding child car seats, drinking and driving wasn't necessarily taboo, cigarette smoking was in vogue and why bother using condoms?

But times change, people progress. No construction company would allow an employee to go without a helmet on a job site. Why should Maple Leafs Sports and Entertainment Ltd. be on the hook to pay Sundin $83,414 a game when the player himself made the choice not to wear protection?

Sounds to me like it might be time for the same compromise that the league brokered over helmets -- grandfather current players and let them make a choice, but require visors for every new player entering the league.

Eric 06:30 AM

Trackback Pings

TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.ericmcerlain.com/mt/mt-tb.cgi/5232

Comments

Posted by: at October 7, 2005 11:36 AM

Posted by: at October 7, 2005 02:12 PM

Posted by: at October 7, 2005 04:34 PM

Post a comment