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When I was just a wee lad of about seven or eight, I decided that I really wanted to play hockey. My parents obliged with my wishes and I was enrolled in house league hockey where we lived at the time in Port Credit Ontario. You played half ice and the buzzer went every three minutes to indicate a line change.

There was one problem with playing, I had never skated with tube skates before and only had been on the ice once previously with bob skates on. For those of you unfamiliar with bob skates, they strapped onto your boots and had four small blades, two at the front and two at the back. So really I had never skated before. But how hard could it be right? I was determined to fly down the wing just like Bobby Hull.

So here we are for out first big game. The coach asks me if I would like to go out and take the faceoff, me being an aggressive kid said sure no problem.  Well I go out the gate to take the faceoff and fall flat on my behind in front of the bench, lol. I looked like Johnny Weissmuller doing the breast stroke.

The coach seeing that I was in trouble, jumps off the bench and carry’s me under his arm to the faceoff circle, to his credit he managed to keep a straight face while doing so. I took the draw and then stood around for the full three minutes afraid to move a muscle for fear of falling on my ass again. When the buzzer went, the coach jumped back on the ice and retrieved me and carried me back to the bench. As the game progressed I did manage to move around a bit but my visions of being the next Bobby Hull were shattered forever.

I did manage to play at some higher levels of hockey as I got older, but it was more through grit and determination. My skating ability or lack thereof was always the weakest point of my game.

“No Guts No Glory”

Walt Webb

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If you have been paying attention to sports on the web or sports news on TV or in the print media, you will be aware by now that Jim Basillie’s  proposed purchase of the Phoenix Coyotes and subsequent move to Hamilton has be rejected by Judge Redfield T. Baum. Here is a quote from Judge Baum’s 21 page report ” No cases have been found that precisely or even closely fit this scenario,” Then  later in the ruling, he wrote that there are no reported bankruptcy court decisions that “order a relocation of the magnitude proposed here.” You can bet Judge Baum did not want anything to do with being the first.

The payment and move were not what Judge Baum took issue with in the case. For him it was the question on the time frame that Basillie’s legal team gave to have a verdict. The cutoff date given was June 29th and Justice Baum did not feel that was an adequate amount of time considering the weight and ramifications of the decision to be made.

For his part you have to admire Jim Basillie’s dogged determination here, for he has said that there no way the decision will keep him from pursuing the franchise and moving them.

The NHL may feel that Basillie has had his third strike and he is out but as far as the question of another southern Ontario franchise goes, how long can the NHL continue to ignore the economic landscape of another team there. To ignore it is not good business sense. Besides the way Bettman considers franchise locations, they need another viable one to help pay the week sisters in the revenue share. For that matter, how long can they ignore the money that Basillie is willing to spend to get a team. It looks to Allsports like Mr. Bettman would cut off his nose despite his face.

“No Guts No Glory”

Walt Webb

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Since the real sports news on the web has been delayed an extra day Allsports thought why not talk a little about the other NHL sports news story on the web. That is the legal story of Jin Balsillie against Gary Bettman and the NHL. In case you have not heard Balsillie has offered 212.5 million for the Phoenix Coyotes. A tidy some indeed and much more than the franchise is worth. The problem is that Jim wants to move the club from Phoenix to a much better hockey market in Hamilton, Ontario. Gary does not want to have any of that because if he did then he would have to admit that his idea of putting a team in the desert was a foolish idea in the first place.

Bettman whines about the loyal fans in Phoenix loosing their right to have NHL hockey in their fare city. Give your head a shake Gary, if the fans were loyal the franchise would not be moving. For that matter where was this great crusader when the truly loyal fans in Winnipeg lost this team in the first place. In a just society the Coyotes would be moved back to the City of  Winnipeg, where I might add they would have a much better climate for success than Phoenix. Winnipeg could support the NHL in today’s economic market with the salary cap and such in place.

Gary Bettman

No this is not a case of logic, it is a good old fashion pissing contest. Balsillie has dealt with the NHL on two previous occasions. He bid on the Pittsburgh Penguins and he also bid on the Nashville Predators. The problem was that he wanted to move those franchises too and Bettman vetoed the transaction. Bettman blamed Balsillie for reneging on the deal but the real reason was that Bettman was trying to tell him what he had to do with his money. You can’t blame Balsillie for pulling out.

Jim Balsillie

Balsillie has not endeared himself to the rest of the owners in the “old boy club” and he may not have followed protocol. No what Balsillie is trying to do now is show Bettman for the primadona that he is and Allsports thinks he is doing a pretty good job of it.

If I were an owner of the other floundering franchises (are you listening, Florida, New York Islanders, Atlanta, Nashville, Tampa) I would be very nervous because if the Bettman NHL wins this case, they will be doomed to keeping their respective teams in the crappy markets they are in and just keep pouring money into the financial sink holes.

All of the Canadian owners should band together and tell Bettman to run along, they are tried of giving about 50% of the revenue share to his weak sister locations. Bettman has been at the helm for about 16 years now and the game is no better off in the US than it was when he started. This latest fiasco could just be enough to finally push the wimpy New York Lawyer out the door. Allsports says don’t let the door hit your behind on the way out Gary. Then maybe the NHL could get a real commissioner. Can you say, Wayne Gretzky or maybe Brendan Shanahan.

“No Guts No Glory”

Walt Webb

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The way Allsports sees it , there were two stories in game five for sports on the web.

The first story was the return of Pavel Datsyuk to the Detroit Red Wings lineup. The return was two fold for the Red Wings. Not only did they get a great player back on the ice where he assisted on two goals for the Wings and  his great defensive presence.Where he looked like he was never on the shelf for seven games.

Allsports believes the biggest impact was the emotional lift it gave his teammates to have him back in the lineup. It is a credit to the Red Wings how they could survive with a player of Datsyuk’s caliber out of the playoffs for the length of time that he was and still keep on winning. Allsports misjudged Datsyuk’s worth to his team on and off the ice.

The second story is the oversized bumper pool table called Joe Louis Arena. Chris Osgood and company know the arena well and every angle and bounce of the boards. They have managed to burn Marc-Andre Fleury a few times in the series with some deft bounces to the net. There is no better example of this than Chris Osgood’s assist for the second goal of the game. He knew the puck would come to him quickly and his angle pass off the boards to Marian Hossa caught the Penguin’s on a line change. Osgood was perfect in the game while Fleury was ordinary, being pulled after five goals on 21 shots.

The Wings power play finally came alive too, scoring three goals in the game. The Pens have to regroup and find a win at home. Sometimes it is easier to do so after a blow out than if you play great but loose in OT.

The Pen’s will get a big game from Fleury and win at home but they still have to solve the Joe Louis jinx to get their hands on the cup.

“No Guts No Glory”

Walt Webb

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So the Penguins hosted their first game (game 3) of the Stanley Cup final last Tuesday at the Mellon Arena. If you have been watching sports on the web or any type of sporting news for that matter you will already know that they were victorious, with a final score of 4-2. The Penguins got a little bit of luck back in this affair because at one point in the game they managed to cycle the puck in the Detroit zone for about thirty seconds with an extra man on the ice. The officials did not notice and neither did the Red Wings.

Marc- Andre Fleury provided his best game of the series. He held the fort for the Penguins in the second period when they were out shot 14-4 by the Wings, with the score knotted at two apiece. The Penguins slanted the ice surface the other way in the third period scoring two unanswered goals, one into an empty net to seal the victory.

Maxime Talbot was the unsung hero of the game with two goals. He was a threat every time he got on the ice. Henrik Zetterberg did a decent job shadowing Sid “the Kid” Crosby and held him to one assist, but it was on the power play and he could not be blamed. The problem for the Wings was that they could not keep the other guy in check. Evgeni Malkin recorded three assists in the game to take over the playoff scoring lead.

The way Allsports looks at it now is you play the crap out of the horses that got you here. Throw Crosby and Malkin on the ice as much as possible, even together at times and see if Detroit can withstand the pressure. Zetterberg has played great but did seem to look a bit tired in the third period of game three. Without Datsyuk in the lineup, Detroit will have a hard time shutting down both Crosby and Malkin. Even if Datsyuk returns I don’t think he would be ready to play the minutes required to cover either Crosby or Malkin. Lets not forget that Pittsburgh also has a pretty good number three center in Jordan Staal as well.

Game four goes tonight in Pittsburgh and Allsports is looking for the Penguins to tie the series up, making it a best of three heading back to Detroit.

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