As the first round of the NHL playoffs winds down, our hockey team of Stephen Mapes and Jay Kumar looks back at the last week of games, while watching the Boston Bruins and Washington Capitals play in overtime in game 7 of their series. Jay: Okay, well, here we are chatting while we wait for yet another overtime between Boston and Washington. Only this one is game 7. Next goal wins. What are your thoughts on this series? You picked […]
Posts tagged "Cold as Ice"
Cold As Ice: A Tale Of Two Hockey Cities
Even though they’re located just a few hours apart on opposite sides of the U.S.-Canada border, Buffalo and Toronto are very different cities. One’s a blue-collar burg known for heavy snowfall and chicken wings, the other’s the largest city in Canada known for its cosmopolitan image and gleaming skyline. And in the NHL, Buffalo and Toronto have been heading in opposite directions all season long. On Feb. 6, the Toronto Maple Leafs were sitting two points out of fourth place […]
Cold as Ice: Knowing When To Call it Quits
The current saga of Peyton Manning, the surefire Hall of Fame quarterback who’s planning to continue his playing career despite a serious neck injury, certainly resonates with fans of the NHL. Not so much the specific injury, but the situation. When is the right time for an athlete to retire? The NHL has seen several versions of this scenario play out in recent years. Most notably, the case of Pittsburgh’s Sidney Crosby, the league’s best player, who has been out […]
Cold As Ice: Goalies Face Unrelenting Pressure On and Off ice
Hockey is the ultimate team sport, but more often than not, a team’s fortunes rest on the last line of defense: The goalie. You need more than just a good goalie to win, but things get much tougher for your team if your goalie can’t stop the puck. As the NHL season moves into its stretch run and teams battle for playoff spots, every game is crucial and immense pressure is placed on goalies. Several goalies have had outstanding seasons […]
Cold as Ice: Gearing Up for the Trade Deadline
Cynics love to complain about how the NHL regular season is meaningless, but for teams battling for a playoff spot, every game from now until the end of the season is huge. Every night, teams shuffle up and down the standings fighting to finish in the top eight in their respective conferences. The season ends April 7, but a much more immediate date looms for many teams: the NHL trade deadline on Feb. 27. As a result, teams are busily […]
Cold As Ice: Oh Great, It’s The All-Star Game
The NHL is in the annual mid-season lull known as the All-Star break. It’s a time for the league to celebrate itself with a skills competition, fan festival and of course, the All-Star Game itself. There’s just one problem: The NHL All-Star Game sucks. The game is designed to highlight the best players in the NHL, but it inevitably looks nothing like an NHL game and more like a game of pond hockey. There’s no defense, no hitting and the […]
Cold as Ice: Montreal Dealing With “Un Grand” Coaching Headache
It’s hard out here for a pimp. It’s even harder if you’re the new coach of the Montreal Canadiens and you can’t speak French. The Habs (aka “Les Habitants”) are the NY Yankees of hockey, with more Stanley Cup championships (24) than any other team by far (Toronto is next with 13). The franchise’s storied history is peppered with the exploits of legendary players like Rocket Richard, Bill Durnan, Boom Boom Geoffrion, Guy Lafleur, Jean Beliveau, Ken Dryden and Howie […]
Cold As Ice: Shooting To Thrill
In any pro sports league, you’ve got debates brewing over rule changes and inconsistencies. In baseball, the American League’s adoption of the designated hitter rule in 1973 is STILL hotly contested by purists. The NFL changed its kickoff rule this season to increase the number of touchbacks (in the name of player safety), but it also angered players who in previous years served solely as kick returners because they were essentially losing their jobs. In the NHL, a perennial argument […]
Cold As Ice: Big Ch-Ch-Changes Ahead!
What does next year’s realignment mean for the NFL? Check out this week’s Cold As Ice column and find out what Jay has to say about it.
Cold as Ice: Cautious Optimism in Toronto
These are strange days for Toronto Maple Leafs fans. A quarter of the way through the season, the Leafs are near the top of their division and boast the NHL’s leading scorer in Phil Kessel. And most of this was done with top goalie James Reimer out with “concussion-like symptoms.” Still, if you’re a long-suffering Leaf fan like I am, you’re not getting overly excited just yet. After all, this is a team that hasn’t made the playoffs since the […]
Cold As Ice: Too Much of a Good Thing?
Nearly every NHL game ever played has taken place in a hockey arena, which makes the annual Winter Classic outdoor game such a big deal. Ever since the league first held the Winter Classic in 2008 (five years after staging an outdoor game in Edmonton) between Pittsburgh and Buffalo, the New Year’s Day event has been a ratings and headline grabber. This year’s game will take place on January 2 (avoiding a conflict with NFL games on 1/1) at Philadelphia’s […]
Cold as Ice: Suffer for Fashion
There are many things I love about hockey: The speed, the power, the skill. But another aspect that I really dig is the hockey jersey. It’s the coolest uniform in sports, without a doubt. It’s not that I don’t like gear from the other big team sports, but the hockey jersey (or sweater, if you’re old school) has it all over them. There’s just something inherently impressive about the look of a jersey, whether it’s that game-worn Steve Yzerman one […]
