The Full CSI:Ottawa on Karlsson's Season Ender

A promising Senator season took a big hit with Jason Spezza's season ending back problems. But fans stayed optomistic.  There were still many other good things.  And they still had Erik Karlsson. 

All that changed last week.

Karlsson's lacerated achilles and ensuing surgery will keep him out for the rest of the NHL season. It was one of the more emotional moments in Sens history. It also touched off great debate among hockey fans and media. Did Matt Cooke do it on purpose? It seems like most people outside the city of Ottawa believe he didn't.

Wretched character that he is, I don't believe Cooke ever said to himself, “Well, I'm in position to cut Karlsson's leg here, so I will!” I don't, however, think it was a total accident. A total accident is when there's no one to blame. Like the case in Edmonton last year, where Corey Potter accidentally stepped on Taylor Hall's face in warm up.

At the time of the Karlsson injury, Cooke was attempting to pin Karlsson up against the boards. However, he did so with all the famous Cooke recklessness and all the precision of a 170 pound Atom-aged player.

Here's how that move is done safely and legally. As you bodycheck a player into the boards, you freeze him there for a split second then roll or turn their upper body so their chest up is facing against the boards. At the same time, keeping your skates on the ice, you move your knee up against the boards between the opponent's legs. Your weight is all on your outside leg, pushing in.

That's it. At no time, under no circumstances, does this skill call for the things Cooke added to the mix.

1. Begin by hooking your opponent's stick up over his head. (On the contrary, players are taught to keep their stick on the ice to acquire the puck after the pin).
2. Get your lead skate 12 inches off the ice.
3. Get your lead knee up into the player's lower spine.
4. Get your weight onto the leg nearest the boards.
5. Slam your skate down and hope it's in the right spot to make the pin, even though you now have no idea where your opponent's legs are.

Cooke's skate is off the ice because he's hooking Karlsson. Picture how your front foot would come up if you were a fisherman hauling in a big catch. So, because he's reckless, Cooke still tries to enter an attempt to pin with his skate in air. Bad plan. Reckless. The play started recklessly and it ended recklessly.

I've heard analysts argue, “Come on, recklessness happens in hockey all the time. You can't punish recklessness or we'd be suspending everyone!”

Reckless (adj.) = Indifferent to or disregardful of consequences. Uh-huh. So you don't want to punish players who fail to think of consequences? Because it's common? That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard.  It's exactly what's wrong with the NHL justice system and its general mindset.

Tough Enough?

It's been an interesting start to the Senators' season.  In January, the Sens were all-world, grabbing 11 of a possible 14 points.  February has been comparatively awful.  The Sens have 3 of a possible 10 points in 5 games, scoring just 7 times in the process.

Most people say the loss of Jason Spezza to injury is now weighing heavily on this team.  That's definitely a big factor.  But some are starting to wonder if the loss of Matt Carkner and Zenon Konopka to free agency has also taken its toll.  Maybe the team has lost too much toughness, and in the process, some of its swagger.

I'd argue Ottawa's current toughness level is about on par with Chicago, which still hasn't lost yet.  The difference is the Hawks scorers are scoring. And healthy. The way Ottawa's was in January when we marveled at the speed and heart of this team.

Toughness helps, no question. But you've got have USEFUL tough guys like Chris Neil. If you're a one dimensional thug, you're just wasting a roster spot most nights.

Buffalo is here tonight.  The Sabres will likely dress enforcer John Scott again.  He'll get his 4 minutes, he'll slam into the boards, missing Karlsson by about 8 feet and go sit down.  He'll be an asset 2 or 3 nights this winter when games get crazy but that's about it.  Is Boston cowering and struggling because Scott destroyed Thornton? The standings say no.

UFAs Corey Perry and David Clarkson, who deliver both skill and toughness, will be on everyone's wish list this summer.

Spez Dispensed

Through 7 games, the shortened NHL season has begun about as well as the Ottawa Senators could have hoped. Anchored by Craig Anderson's early excellence, the Sens have laid claim to 11 of a possible 16 points.

However, yesterday a surgeon's scalpel cut into both Jason Spezza's back and the club's early season optomism. Spezza underwent an operation to repair a herniated disc in his back. The club says it's hoping it won't keep him out more than a couple of months.

Naturally, this is insanely bad news. The club had already lost Jared Cowen for the year, a guy who likely would have steadily eaten up crucial top 4 minutes on the blueline. So far, the Sens have nicely patched that hole with people like Patrick Wiercioch and Marc Borowiecki.

Now the Sens are hoping another young duo - centremen Kyle Turris and Peter Regin - can patch up another hole. The difference is, this one's gaping, with offensive production leaking out everywhere. This is, after all, the NHL's fourth leading scorer last year. (In hindsight, Spezza playing in Europe instead of resting his back was probably a terrible idea). Turris is off to a nice start but he and Regin haven't come close to showing they have even the potential to put up Spezza-like numbers.

The Sens will roll with this group for a little while and see if this patch holds. It isn't off to a good start with last night's 1-0 loss to Carolina. Sometimes holes are so big, you cannot patch them. You need a replacement. Does this club believe it's close enough to contending for the Stanley Cup that they might give up some of their future and bring in someone to replace Spezza's offence?

We won't have to wait long to find out. If the offence isn't there with the current group, the NHL trade deadline is just 2 months away.

Let's Get it On

Thank god that nonsense is over.  The NHL and its players ended their latest lockout early Sunday morning, agreeing in principle to a 10 year contract with an opt-out at year 8.  So let's never speak of it again.  Not for 8 years anyway.

With the 48 game season apparently slated to begin January 19th, we're back to actual hockey talk.  Bliss.

Sens' GM Bryan Murray says 26 players would be in camp, which starts Sunday.  It'll be 15 forwards, 8 defencemen and 3 goalies.  Head coach Paul Maclean joined us in studio and gave us some clues as to what the training camp and opening night rosters would look like.

Forwards

Line 1: Michalek-Spezza-Silfverberg

Line 2: Latendresse-Turris-Alfredsson

This is how Maclean sees it starting, unless chemistry isn't there.  Chemistry will be difficult to see without any pre-season games.  So you can bank on this being the top 6 to start the season.

Maclean seems to be leaning toward Peter Regin as his third line centre.  The rest will be a mish-mash of Smith-Neil-Greening-O'Brien-Condra-Daugavins.

My best guess on the other 2 forwards to be invited to camp?  Mark Stone and Stephane Da Costa.  I thought Stefan Noesen might get an invitation but Maclean hinted that wouldn't be in the cards.  He does says he's really intrigued by him and disappointed that he won't get a look at him.  Maclean also said he wouldn't get to see Ceci at camp either, contradicting what Murray had said earlier in the week.

Daugavins is pretty good at a lot of things but not great at anything.  So I think he ends up as the 13th forward, shuffling in and out of the lineup.  Daugavins can be slotted anywhere on that 4th line and the Sens probably wouldn't miss a beat.

Defence

Methot-Karlsson

Phillips-Gonchar

Borowiecki-Wiercioch

Camp only:  Gryba, Benoit

Maclean confirmed that Methot will ride shotgun with Karlsson, unless something looks out of sync at camp.  The 5-6 spots are up for grabs due to the injuries to Jared Cowen and Mike Lundin.  The Sens may have to make a deal or sign a free agent.

Meanwhile, Maclean spoke glowingly of Patrick Wiercioch, the first name out of his mouth when it came to possible injury replacements.  He does have some experience playing the right side so I think he'll be here.  Marc Borowiecki would get my other spot, just because you need at least a little bit of ornery on the blueline.  He's feisty, a gamer.  When BoroCop gets here full time, he will be a crowd favourite like Chris Neil.

Do you let these youngsters be your 5th and 6th defencemen, paired together?  Or do you insulate them with the veteran presence of Phillips or Gonchar?  We'll see.

Goalies

Anderson-Lehner   

Camp only: Bishop

Anderson gets first look as starter but in a shorter season you can't afford to wait too long on a goalie slump and Maclean says he won't.  "Whoever plays the best is going to play," said Maclean.  "That includes the starter's job."

Canadian Hockey Isn't Falling Apart

At the World Junior Hockey Championships, it was a bad day for Canada today.  A 5-1 loss to the US in a one game showdown.  But let's not make into anything more than that.  It was just a bad day.  That's how it goes sometimes.  But Canadian hockey is fine, still the best in the world.

Example:  Wayne Gretzky and Team Canada went unbeaten in the 1981 Canada Cup.  We closed round robin with a 7-3 pounding of the Soviets.  We roared into the final and somehow lost 8-1 to those same Soviets.  Another one of those one game showdowns.  Another one of those bad days.

I think we've had a few good days since, haven't we?

Girls Playing with Boys

While the NHL remains in lock down mode, it's a pretty exciting time on the way for women's hockey in Ottawa.  Our city will be hosting the 2013 World Women's Hockey Championship April 2-9 and the OWHA Provincial Championships April 4-7.  It's a great opportunity to see women's hockey at its finest, and a chance for girls to dream about the future.

It's interesting how times have changed.  These days, you rarely hear a kid try to insult someone by saying, "You play like a girl."  That's because, frankly, a lot of girls are better at hockey than boys.  There's also a decent chance that kid's line mate is a girl.

That leads to the question - should girls be playing hockey with the boys?  If there are no girls' programs in the vicinity, then the answer is a definite yes. If there are girls' programs available, then the matter is less clear cut.

The issue came to the forefront this week in New Hampshire, where a judge ruled a 17 year old girl can continue to play on her boys' team. Her high school had introduced girls' hockey for the first time and the school rules there state girls must play with the girls. Her lawyer successfully argued that girls' hockey is a different sport and would better prepare the girl for playing Division I collegiate women's hockey.

Different sport?  Then why are you playing boys hockey to prepare for a "different sport" later on?

This is the theory many parents ascribe to: a girl playing on a boys' team will be a better player when she eventually hooks up with girls hockey. There's definite merit to that. Just read the biographies of your average Olympian or NCAA player and you frequently see boys' hockey in their resume somewhere along the way. The top tiers of the boys' game is always better and more competitive than the top tiers of the girls' game.

But putting a girl in boys' hockey only marginally improves the long shot odds of becoming an Olympian.  It also comes with risk.

A USA Hockey survey indicated that girls playing boys hockey are more likely to quit.  79% of the girls who said they planned to quit hockey were playing boys hockey at the time. Wanting to quit the sport outright is a sure sign you need to get them into girls' hockey - fast!

Meanwhile, girls playing on girls’ teams were more likely to say that their team and coach respects them, that they feel like part of the team, that their team plays like a team, and that they get fair playing time. Girls on girls’ teams were more likely to report that most of their teammates were friends.

I'd note that the survey was conducted in 2005 so things have probably improved with time and further acceptance of the girls' game.  That said, it's reasonable to assume that being a girl on a boys' team continues to present some feelings of exclusion, on and off the ice.  It would the same if a boy played on a girls' team.  That opens up a double standard debate we can tackle some other time.

The reality is most of the girls who play boys' hockey then make it to the college or national level are athletically gifted, strong and competitive to begin with.  They have genetics and commitment to training and fitness.  They almost always have an "all-in" parent, dreaming hard about their hockey future or they wouldn't be in boys' hockey.  So they're usually registered in the top clinics and spring programs along the way. 

I would argue that same athletically gifted, strong and competitive girl with that same type of parent and extra training also stands a great chance of making it via the girls' hockey stream.  There's also something to be said for the confidence you get from being the best player on your team as opposed to being a low or mid-tier player with the boys. 

There will always be some girls who enjoy the challenge of playing the boys and that's where the fun will be for them.  Some will flourish in that environment.  Some will not.  Most all will miss out on years of superior social experiences.  And all will eventually come back to the girls' game.  You know, because they're girls.

Which leads to this question.  You signed your girl up for boys' hockey because you dream they'll become an elite girls' hockey player someday. But by signing up for boys' hockey, you're affecting the girls' hockey population and basically saying that girls' hockey isn't good enough.

How exactly does that help build the sport you and your daughter are dreaming about?

Name Ottawa's CFL Team

It won't be long before Ottawa's new CFL team decides upon its new nickname. Many football fans were hopeful the club could again use Rough Riders, a name they had for 93 years. However, Saskatchewan would only approve expansion on the condition the new Ottawa club would not use the name Roughriders.

I can't blame Saskatchewan for that. Sure, they somehow managed to tolerate double Riders for 72 straight years. But after the 2009 Grey Cup debacle, they're still a little tender and sensitive about having too many of something.

Listen to our show this Tuesday morning as we launch another TGOR Bracket. This time it's a tournament to decide the best name for our new CFL franchise. We have new bracket software that will allow you to hop online and vote. Your votes will decide who wins each nickname matchup. We will then personally present TGOR Nation's choice to Jeff Hunt.  Jeff sometimes runs away from us but we'll catch him.  JR has way longer legs.

I've made it clear my favourite so far is the Ottawa Raiders. I'd adopt the Oakland Raiders entire look and place the Riders classic R on the silver helmet. Classic, mean look. 

So what if others have used the name? All the best names have been used before.  Did that stop you when you named your child? No, you heard a great, strong name you liked and you rolled with it. You didn't saddle your kid with Fauntleroy or Rosellaphine just because you wanted something that hadn't been used before.

My other favourites so far are Ravens, Titans, Rebels, Riflemen, Nationals, Federals, Axemen, Loggers, Rivermen, Spartans, Bootleggers, Wolverines, All Reds, Rams, Royals, Generals.

The worst name comes courtesy of Steven D, who's obviously the kind of fan the new club will have to try and win over. He likes the Ottawa Origami – because it's only a matter of time before they fold.