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Abel to Yzerman

Monday Odds and Ends

by IwoCPO on 11/20/06 at 10:31 AM ET
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Skimming around the MSM and the blogs this morning. We start with Ted Montgomery of USA Today. If you were a reader of A2Y 1.0, you know I was a harsh critic of Ted's. Now, with Thanksgiving and Christmas right around the corner, and a feeling of goodwill and fellowship enveloping me on this chilly Monday morning, I'm wondering if I was a tad too harsh on the lad. Nope. He is the absolute worst...Teddy The Toolbag.

Since we are about to be firmly ensconced in the holiday season, it's time for my annual column giving thanks to those things hockey-related for which I'm grateful: — The fans in Atlanta, Minnesota, Nashville and Columbus, who seem more than ready to cheer their teams on to greater glories. — Most of all, to hockey fans, far and wide. We've endured tough times and came back even stronger than before. Thanks to all of you who take the time to write to me. I really appreciate how you challenge me every day.

Would those fan letters you speak of include the few I've sent in your direction Ted? You know...the ones where I suggest you, ummm, find another line of work? Oh, and "annual column giving thanks to those things hockey-related for which I'm grateful"? Might want to look up the meaning of "annual." It means yearly. Column indexes are funny things.

George Malik posted a column from the Calgary Herald Saturday morning.  By the time I read it I was so stressed about the Michigan game that I couldn’t function well enough to post it here.  But, I thought you might enjoy it.  Here are a few snippets.

-While Detroit’s dipsy-doodlers were busy pirouetting this way and that, flitting and circling, the Flames adopted a more straightforward approach from Point A to Point B—through someone.

-The manner in which the Flames pistol-whipped the Wings brought back warm, nostalgic memories.

-If it wasn’t Rhett Warrener showing absolutely no respect for Nik Lidstrom’s four Norris trophies and sliding over to cut off all escape routes and staple the post-Stevie captain into the woodwork, it was Roman Hamrlik dropping left-winger Josh Langfeld like a sack of wet grain in the corner to Miikka Kiprusoff’s left.

The next game against the Flames is February 11th at the Joe.

Finally, I like Hockey Recap. I like it a lot.  Greg Wyshynski of The Fourth Period talked to Recap’s creator, Gary Cohen.

Cohen’s thesis is that hockey fans are being mislead by the current numbers. He calls plus/minus “worthless,” because so many players are given a role that emphasizes defense over scoring. He thinks giveaways and takeaways are as much a subjective mess as the nebulous “hits” category.

“I’ve watched games and looked at the stats and I have no idea how they came up with those numbers,” he said. (And he’s got about as much love for goaltenders as Mario did.)

Great article. Read the rest here.

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About Abel to Yzerman

Welcome to Abel to Yzerman, a Red Wing blog since 1977.  No other site on the internet has better-researched, fact-laden and better prepared discussions than A2Y.  Re-phrase: we do little research, find facts and stats highly overrated and claim little to no preparation.  There are 19 readers of A2Y. No more, no less. All of them, except maybe one, are juvenile in nature.  Reminding them of that in the comment section will only encourage them to prove that. Your suggestions and critiques are welcome: wphoulihan@gmail.com