Day-21 of the Stanley Cup Playoffs:
INKTIME on RINKTIME Observations and Random thoughts by Chris Madsen:
HOW TOUGH ARE HOCKEY PLAYERS? If you weren’t familiar with the name Colin Greening prior to last night, chances are you are now. It was Greening who poked a loose puck past Tomas Vokoun in double-OT to lift the Senators to 2-1 victory in Game-3 of the Eastern Conference semi-finals over the heavily favored Penguins. But did you know that Greening had to have pieces of a composite stick removed from his face in stages–during and after the game???!!!
Apparently, Colin took a high stick to the face and team doctors immediately tried to remove fragments–some of them referred to as “large” during the 2nd Period, then cleaned out the remaining fragments AFTER the game.
What I found remarkable was how matter-of-factly Greening reacted to the entire ordeal: “You’ve got a lot of adrenaline going through your body…but they were just small pieces.”
And as for potting the GWG: “Obviously you kind of dream of that growing up playing in the garage or something — picturing you being able to score an overtime goal in the playoffs.” Perhaps that old adage IS right…”Winning cures everything!”
THE PLAYERS WERE NESTLED ALL SNUG IN THEIR BEDS: Following their Second Round Opening Game loss to the Blackhawks, Red Wings Coach Mike Babcock felt the one thing he couldn’t coach his players on was getting some rest. The Wings had just completed a hard-fought, 7-games series with the Ducks and fatigue was evident and subsequently addressed–by flying the team home. This allowed players to sleep in their own beds, get their body clocks readjusted to the CENTRAL and EASTERN time zones and shelve Game-1 and focus on Game-2. So, the Red Wings flew back to Chicago a few days later…suited-up Saturday…and proceeded to lay a whooping on the Hawks and even-up the Series at a game apiece.
On a much smaller scale, the Kings took advantage of playing not only in their own time zone–but in their own State–by busting out of San Jose after a disheartening OT loss on Saturday and re-grouping in a much more familiar environment.
”We were home at pretty much the same time as we would coming from Staples on a regular night,” center Anze Kopitar said. ”It’s a 50-minute flight, so it’s pretty quick. I think it’s good for us.” The Kings will jet from SoCal to NoCal today, while the Blackhawks and Red Wings lace ’em up tonight.
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AND WHILE WE’RE ON THE SUBJECT OF THE BLACKHAWKS, KINGS AND SENATORS: Daniel Alfredsson of the Ottawa Senators, Dustin Brown of the Los Angeles Kings and Jonathan Toews of the Chicago Blackhawks have been declared as the three finalists for the 2012-13 Mark Messier NHL Leadership, which is presented to “the player who exemplifies great
leadership qualities to his team, on and off the ice during the regular season.”
Mark Messier solicits suggestions from club and League personnel and NHL fans to compile a list of potential candidates. However, the selection of the three finalists and ultimate winner is Messier’s alone…how about that!
Which of the three finalists would you choose? Feel free to share your thoughts in the COMMENTS box below.
My choice: TOEWS…now, if he would only score a goal in the Post Season! It’s been awhile.
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UNTIL THE NEXT TIME WE LACE ‘EM UP AND HIT THE ICE!–Chris Madsen
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TONIGHT’S SCHEDULE:
| Chicago | at | Detroit | 7:30 PM EST | ||
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