OTF Classic

For a fascinating glimpse into hockey history, Eyes on the Prize reprints an old Sports Illustrated interview with Rocket Richard, during the final days of his legendary career. Here's a sample: "It's changed. I'm the oldest; the rest are kids," Richard said one night in a Detroit bar which advertised a stereophonic juke box. ("I'd go where the boys go," he had said, "but it's not a nice place. This is a quiet little bar on the corner.") "I know I'm not playing good hockey now. I'm weak now. My legs are tired. After a minute and a half, I'm tired. I'm so tired. I will try to diet. I weigh 194 pounds. I've been playing at that weight for the last five years, but I'm so heavy I'm floating on air. I got to take off five or six pounds before the playoffs. Only one beer. That's all I'll drink. I'll drink gin. That isn't fattening." Hmm... I wonder if Blues fans are going to start stockin...

Saturday night's astounding comeback victory over the Montreal Canadiens has drawn some strong reaction from around the hockey world. In Nashville, however, the Tennessean chose to stick the game recap on page 9 of the sports section. Apparently not even consecutive heart-stopping victories over two of the Eastern Conference's top teams can rouse the local daily into action. Here's some of the juicy bits from around the Montreal-oriented portions of the web this morning; "Know something? The better team from start to finish won last night, despite trailing badly in the game." - Red Fisher, Montreal Gazette Christobal Huet, who kept the Predators at bay through the first two periods, had some harsh words for his squad; " We're a fragile team. We're a little weak between the ears." And this, from the wonderfully wordy Theory of Ice : "See? I was right. The game in New Jersey last night wasn’t the worst thing ever. This game, however...

There I was, idly clicking my way around the hockey blogosphere, when, like the Bat Signal cast against the cloudy skies of Gotham, I spied a call for help. At the end of a post covering the All-Star Game and how perhaps it might be improved, Ritch from American Hockey Fan had a question... Why not have the best Powerplay in the league face off against the best PK? Who would that be, I wonder? San Jose vs. Montreal, maybe? Perhaps the Forechecker will come to my aid again. Fear not, good netizen - I'm always in need of topical inspiration, so let's take a look... The NHL stat in this area merely covers percentage of opportunities converted. On that front, San Jose has the top power play (25.8%), and Vancouver the top penalty kill (88.4%). There, we have our answer, right? If we did, this would be an awfully short piece, that's for sure. A great source of special teams statistics can be found over at mc79hockey.com , where you can find a breakdown of teams on a 60-minute ba...