Kukla's Korner Hockey

Category: Detroit-Red-Wings

2013 Winter Classic Cancelled

by Paul on 11/02/12 at 03:08 PM ET
Comments (14)

NEW YORK (Nov. 2, 2012) -- The National Hockey League today announced the cancellation of the 2013 Bridgestone NHL Winter Classic. The game was scheduled for Jan. 1 between the Detroit Red Wings and Toronto Maple Leafs at Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor, Mich. In addition, the League announced all SiriusXM Hockeytown Winter Festival events scheduled for Dec. 16-31 at Comerica Park in Detroit are cancelled. 

The next NHL Winter Classic – featuring the Red Wings and Maple Leafs - and Hockeytown Winter Festival will take place at the University of Michigan and Comerica Park, respectively. Those who have purchased tickets for the 2012-13 events can either receive refunds or maintain their tickets for the future events. Ticket refund information for the 2013 Bridgestone NHL Winter Classic and SiriusXM Hockeytown Winter Festival can be found at: nhl.com/winterclassicrefund.

The cancellation was necessary because, given the absence of a Collective Bargaining Agreement between the NHL Players' Association and the NHL, the League was not in a position to do all that is necessary to adequately stage events of this magnitude. This year's Bridgestone NHL Winter Classic and the companion SiriusXM Hockeytown Winter Festival called for the construction of major outdoor rink facilities at both Comerica Park and 'The Big House'. Multiple games involving teams from the NHL, NCAA, American Hockey League, Ontario Hockey League, high school and local minor hockey leagues were scheduled, requiring travel and hotel commitments.  Beyond the construction of two major outdoor rink facilities, the combined events were preparing to welcome nearly 400,000 guests to Detroit and Ann Arbor over the holiday period.

"The logistical demands for staging events of this magnitude made today's decision unavoidable. We simply are out of time," said NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly. "We are extremely disappointed, for our fans and for all those affected, to have to cancel the Winter Classic and Hockeytown Winter Festival events."

"We look forward to bringing the next Winter Classic and the Hockeytown Winter Festival to Michigan," Daly added.

Filed in: NHL Teams, Detroit Red Wings, Toronto Maple Leafs, NHL Talk, NHLPA, | KK Hockey | Permalink
 

Winter Classic Lives For Another Day Or Two Weeks

by Paul on 11/02/12 at 08:30 AM ET
Comments (1)

from David Shoalts of the Globe and Mail,

The NHL will not cancel the Winter Classic on Friday and is not expected to do so before Nov. 15.

But exactly when the league, which has locked out the players, will call off the annual outdoor game is the subject of some conjecture, even among those who have spoken to NHL commissioner Gary Bettman and deputy commissioner Bill Daly. Some sources say Bettman believes Nov. 15 is the last possible day to make a decision because of the preparations involved for the game, between the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Detroit Red Wings and planned for Jan. 1 at the University of Michigan’s 115,000-seat stadium.

continued

added 8:50am,

 

 

Filed in: NHL Teams, Detroit Red Wings, Toronto Maple Leafs, NHL Talk, | KK Hockey | Permalink
 

Winter Classic Talk

by Paul on 11/01/12 at 08:59 PM ET
Comments (5)

All indications point to the Winter Classic being cancelled sometime tomorrow by the NHL.

But I still want to believe they need to have a face-to-face with the NHLPA before doing so.  Therefore I am going to go out on a limb and saying we hear nothing about the Winter Classic until Monday.

One thing I do know, if the Winter Classic eventually bites the dust, Gary Bettman won't be able to show face at any hockey game in Michigan.

He may have to send Brendan Shanahan as his replacement and hockey fans may even boo Shanny.

Filed in: NHL Teams, Detroit Red Wings, Toronto Maple Leafs, NHL Talk, NHLPA, | KK Hockey | Permalink
 

Is The Game “Bulletproof” In Toronto And Detroit?

by Paul on 10/31/12 at 07:59 PM ET
Comments (0)

from Cam Cole of the Vancouver Sun,

Not to be a contrarian here, but all the gnashing of teeth over the National Hockey League’s reported intention to cancel the Bridgestone Winter Classic later this week is completely misplaced.

If the league does it, it won’t be despite the fact that it was Toronto versus Detroit, two storied franchises, a first inclusion of a Canadian team, in all ways a potential bonanza.

It will be precisely because Gary Bettman and his soulless owners — and their crisis management team and the lockout specialists at the law firm of Proskauer Rose and whoever else is advising the NHL on acceptable risks — have concluded that in those two hockey markets, the game is bulletproof, backlash-proof.

Torontonians return to the ticket windows like trained pigs every year, no matter how terrible the Maple Leafs are, how much they charge for a seat and a beer and a hotdog, how many generations go by without any real sense of something good in the offing.

Detroit is Hockeytown, USA. The Red Wings, at the opposite end of the performance scale from the sorry Leafs, consistently reward their intensely loyal fan base with excellent ownership, management, players and prospects.

continued

Filed in: NHL Teams, Detroit Red Wings, Toronto Maple Leafs, NHL Talk, | KK Hockey | Permalink
 

The Sergei Fedorov Story

by Paul on 10/31/12 at 07:38 PM ET
Comments (0)

from Nicholas J. Cotsonika of Yahoo,

He defected. Remember that. Remember that as Sergei Fedorov does a TV interview surrounded by CSKA Moscow memorabilia – red stars on the sofa, a red star on the banner looming behind him. Remember that as he sits in his office at the Soviet arena on Leningradsky Prospect, the new head manager of what once was literally the Central Sport Club of the Army.

This is a story about evolution. The country has changed. Fedorov has changed. Look at them now: Moscow's streets are choked with the fancy cars Fedorov once left to drive in America, and Fedorov has returned to the club he abandoned to build a modern professional hockey organization upon that Central Red Army foundation – with guidance from none other than Viktor Tikhonov, the legendary Soviet taskmaster....

It was spy novel stuff. In 1990, still before the fall of the Iron Curtain, the Soviets came to play in theUnited States. The Detroit Red Wings, who had drafted Fedorov in the fourth round the year before, hatched a plan to sneak him out of the team hotel, a Holiday Inn on the outskirts of Portland, Ore.

The Wings hired a Russian-speaking journalist to communicate with Fedorov during media availability. The operation was a go. On his way to a game, Fedorov discreetly dropped his room key in the lobby. The journalist picked it up, went to Fedorov's room and gathered his belongings – what there were of them, anyway.

read on

Filed in: NHL Teams, Detroit Red Wings, Non-NHL Hockey, European Hockey, | KK Hockey | Permalink
  Tags: sergei+fedorov

Afternoon Line

by Paul on 10/30/12 at 03:57 PM ET
Comments (20)

“It’ll put the sport of hockey center stage and the City of Detroit too. We all root for Detroit want to see it get through the tough times and hopefully eliminate that (negative) image it has.

“They’re a very proud people over there and we’re proud of them. Let’s get hockey, let’s get the Wings back on the ice and we’ll all be very happy about it.”

-Bob Kaser, VP of Community Relations for the Grand Rapids Griffins on the Winter Classic.  More from Lindsey Smith of Michigan Radio.

Filed in: NHL Teams, Detroit Red Wings, NHL Talk, | KK Hockey | Permalink
 

No Rescheduling Of The Winter Classic

by Paul on 10/29/12 at 08:32 PM ET
Comments (3)

from Jeff. Z. Klein of the New York Times,

If the N.H.L. cancels the Winter Classic, it has no plans to reschedule the event for this season, even if there is a prompt settlement to the lockout, said Bill Daly, the deputy commissioner.

Responding to reports that the league will cancel the Jan. 1 game later this week, Daly wrote in a e-mail: “We aren’t commenting on the timing of the Winter Classic announcement. It will (or won’t) be made if and when necessary.”

But he added, “I can certainly confirm that if the game is canceled, there is no ‘resurrection’ scenario for this year.”

continued

Filed in: NHL Teams, Detroit Red Wings, Toronto Maple Leafs, NHL Talk, | KK Hockey | Permalink
 

Rolfing Gordie And Mark Howe

by Paul on 10/29/12 at 07:38 PM ET
Comments (2)

from Karrie Osborn at Massage & Bodywork,

The body of the 84-year-old client on Robert Toporek’s table shows years of abuse. A once-fractured skull, uncountable broken ribs that healed with time and tape, and the remnants of 500 facial stitches have all left their mark. Yet, the client never complains; he would say these injuries—and the many more he endured over the course of his 32-year career—came part and parcel with his job. 

 The client is hockey legend Gordie Howe, otherwise known as Mr. Hockey. At his side is his son Mark, a hockey Hall of Famer in his own right who often speaks on his father’s behalf as age takes its toll. Helping put that body back together is Toporek, a Philadelphia bodyworker who has been Rolfing clients since 1975.

At the determined request of Mark, Gordie started coming to see Toporek for Rolfing sessions earlier this year. The father and son team made the nearly three-hour round-trip drive from New Jersey to Philadelphia every week, as Gordie progressed through his 10-session Rolfing protocol.

For those who don’t know hockey lore, it’s important to understand the brutality of the sport, especially in the early years of Gordie’s career. Equipment and protection were archaic compared to today’s gear, and the sport itself was, as it remains today, inherently vicious on the body. Lore would also tell us that Gordie has been the icon of the sport for more than six decades, and many today still crown him the best hockey player of all time. Gordie has been dealt more soft-tissue injuries than most therapists see in a lifetime of clients. Daily poundings and slams, or checks into the boards, as a professional hockey player took their toll. Learning to live with the pain by compensating for it certainly caused even more. 

Gordie didn’t complain about the abuse his body took all those years while he was on the ice, and he doesn’t complain today about the aftermath of that abuse.

read on and watch a short video on Rolfing below featuring both Mark and Gordie Howe...

Continue Reading »

Filed in: NHL Teams, Detroit Red Wings, Philadelphia Flyers, Hockey Related Stories, | KK Hockey | Permalink
  Tags: gordie+howe, mark+howe

Video- Budd Lynch And The 1954 Stanley Cup Finals

by Paul on 10/12/12 at 02:09 PM ET
Comments (1)

Budd Lynch does a great job with the highlights of the Final between Montreal and Detroit.  Stars from both sides and Curty Gowdy too.

Go way back (even before my time) and enjoy some old time hockey and even some back and forth talk about the handshake after the Wings won the Cup.

 

Filed in: NHL Teams, Detroit Red Wings, Montreal Canadiens, NHL Talk, Old School, | KK Hockey | Permalink
  Tags: budd+lynch

Video- We Interrupt The CBA Talks For These Hasek Moments

by Paul on 10/10/12 at 02:16 PM ET
Comments (6)

TSN played this yesteday, we play it today courtesy of HockeyWebCaster.

 

Filed in: NHL Teams, Buffalo Sabres, Detroit Red Wings, Non-NHL Hockey, International Hockey, | KK Hockey | Permalink
  Tags: dominik+hasek

« Previous       ‹ First  < 5 6 7 8 9 >  Last ›      Next »