1-on-1 with NHL Ref Kelly Sutherland

*******Catch the interview HERE: http://soundcloud.com/josh-statham/sutherland***************

Kelly Sutherland’s NHL dream started at a young age, following his father Stan to rinks around the lower mainland as the elder Sutherland officiated minor hockey games. At 18 Kelly traded his gloves and stick for whistles and stripes and never looked back.

As a rookie referee Kelly was thrust in to the heat of an age old BCHL rivalry. It was truly baptism by fire as he became the ringmaster of a late season affair in Chilliwack between the Chiefs, coached by former NHLer Eddie Beers and his hometown team the Merritt Centennials.

“It just happened to be I was this young guy showing up and it was late in the year and there were no other referees.” Sutherland sets the stage for the story of his BCHL debut. “They were expecting some real problems that night because those teams had been in a few serious brawls. When I showed up everyone was wondering, ‘Who’s this new guy?’  I remember one of the linesmen telling them ‘Oh no he’s some guy from the OHL they brought in because they’re expecting real problems.’” You can still hear the relief in his voice when he concludes, “That game went on without a hitch, I don’t even think we had a fight.”

“That was actually my favourite building to work. Even to this day there are very few arenas that I remember ever coming up through in the minors or anything that have that character, and it was just a great environment. It was real intimidating to go in there, the fans were crazy, just a real fun enjoyable place to work.  If you couldn’t get up for a game there you had some real problems.”

“When you had them on your assignments that was one where you were really looking forward to it.”

Kelly split time in his first season between the BCHL and WHL and quite quickly ended up joining the pro ranks coming up through the AHL and now defunct IHL.

“There were times we were doing 20 games a month.” Says Kelly of life in the minors.

Kelly’s time on the greyhounds of the semi-pro circuit wasn’t long, he was first invited to NHL training camp at just 24, and in 1999 he found himself officiating the World Junior Championship in Sweden.

“We had an experience in Surrey with the bigger ice.  I was prepared when I went over there.” Kelly says of his international experience. “On the bigger ice surface there’s a lot less contact.”

Soon after calling the WJC Kelly got the call to the show. In 2000 he earned a full time contract with the NHL. As was the case in junior his NHL debut was both spur of the moment and memorable being forced in to relief action in a game in Buffalo after linesman Scott Driscoll was injured. As Kelly was about to step on to the ice to lines for the first time in years on the biggest stage in the world a fan mistook him for veteran NHL official Kerry Fraser and screamed at him, “Fraser, you suck!”

Kelly has now been officiating in the NHL for over a decade. He was recently voted by NHL players to be the best in the business. Head of Officiating Terry Gregson is also in his corner as Kelly has been chosen to work each of the last two Stanley Cup Finals.

“There’s really nothing like the playoffs.  It’s just a great adrenaline rush.” Kelly exclaims. “The pressure is obviously higher.  That’s kind of what drives you, the high pressure, and being involved in the big game.”

“Most nights you’re the only game on so everybody in the hockey world is watching you and that pressure is really what drives me.”

Kelly reflects fondly on his days in the BCHL watching stars like Paul Kariya hone their skills all the while he too was learning his craft.

“As you moved up to the pros and to the NHL those are still some of the toughest games; it was tough but that’s what you wanted to learn, that’s what you wanted to experience as you moved up in your career.”

“It’d go crazy in a flash on you. That’s probably my fondest memories of the league.”

“Junior hockey is such a great training ground. Any night anything could happen”

I love it when a plan comes together

Sports talk with NHL ref Kelly Sutherland, Lions' Lineman Jesse Newman and our Nux analyst B-Dub of Q101 - http://soundcloud.com/josh-statham/epi4complete

The other day Tony Gallagher of the Province was addressing the issue of 'new blood' on the Canucks. He argued the team needed to start integrating some of the young talent in the AHL to the big club while the core veterans were still there to help bring them up. He also voiced an opinion that the fans wanted to see the fruits of the farm system in action. 

I didn't know how to feel. I truly believe the game is changing faster than we realize. More and more teams are rounding out their rosters with young talent. We're already seeing veteran players tossed on the scrap heap when they would typically be considered decent second options in the free agent market. Along with being younger, cheaper options the kids coming up are also better options. I don't think the adjustment is what it used to be when there was a much stronger physical aspect to breaking in to the NHL. I typically would agree with him but after a day or two of thought I realized that there is clearly a plan in place.

The Canucks have done well to stockpile young defense prospects, a la Nashville Predators. It's crowded on the blue line with the big club and we've seen young NHL ready players like Chris Tanev sent to the minors because their contracts allow them to avoid the dangers of the waiver wire, while guys like Andrew Alberts and Aaron Rome would have to clear before being reassigned. The team may well feel that Tanev and Yann Sauve are better options than the veteran bottom-pairing players but just can't afford to lose them for nothing and can't risk shipping out veteran defense with the team's penchant for injuries.

The answer became clear when you look at the structure of the Nux contracts. Sami Salo and Aaron Rome are UFA's next year and Andrew Alberts the year after that. Alexander Sulzer is a UFA next year too but he ain't going nowhere so if you realized his omission in the previous sentence this is why. I kind of see Sulzer emerging as the new Aaron Rome; a veteran guy that realizes he might have to take the odd night off as the team breaks in the colts. As it stands Sebastian Erixon and Adam Polasek get to have a full year in the AHL to aclimatize to life in pro hockey and are probably two years away still. Tanev, Sauve and Connauton are going to be fighting for the two spots made available by Salo and Rome.

Next year the D should look like:

Hamhuis    Bieksa
Edler         Connauton
Tanev       Ballard
Sulzer       Sauve

That's still a pretty crowded house.  The way Keith Ballard is playing I wouldn't be surprised to see him moved or exiled to the AHL himself so that younger players aren't stuck in the press box too much. I'm not even considering a Shea Weber trade - I don't see it happening.

The system of succession is in place and I'm happy with the pace and the personnel.  The Canucks have quietly drafted or signed a few very solid young d-men. Sure, I'm tempted to want to see what the kids can do in the NHL but for now they make a good insurance policy, if and when the injury bug hits.

***** You may as well enrich your sports knowledge and your overall well being by clicking the link and checking out this week's installment of the Josh Statham Radio Program http://soundcloud.com/josh-statham/epi4complete *****

Anything but Wild

***** My interview with NHL ref Kelly Sutherland, Nux chat with B-Dub and a little three down ball with Lion's O-lineman Jesse Newman: http://soundcloud.com/josh-statham/epi4complete *****

When it comes to lovin’ hockey (or Haaaackey in the native tongue) Minnesota is the American equivalent of Canada’s hockey hotbed Toronto.  It would stand to reason then that the Wild have historically suffered from the same level of ineptitude as the centre of the Canadian hockey universe and boy howdy are they ever keeping pace in that department.

The Wild are perhaps the most inappropriately named team in the entire North American sports brethren, atleast until The Coyotes relocate to Quebec City.  Watching a Minnesota game could be considered anything but wild.  The cherry on the icing on the cake of this whole misconceived team identity is that the Wild play at the Xcel Energy Center.

Minnesotans know their hockey and they have tolerated watching Jacque Lemaire neutral zone trap hockey in order to stay competitive as an expansion franchise but the expansion tag is long gone as they are well in to their second decade.  Ownership realizes a need to make changes to reward their fan base but despite coaching philosophy and roster overhauls for some reason the Wild are still kinda boring.

I have to wonder if the reputation they earned under Lemaire isn’t superseding the reality of a team that recently acquired two power forwards out of San Jose, Devin Setoguchi and former 50 goal man Dany Heatley and can on any given night deploy a number of rough-n-tumble types to crank the voltage inside the Xcel Energy Center but for some reason I still dread having to watch the Wild play.

The Wild are currently in a playoff spot, and I have hope that as the season progresses this team will earn a new identity, unfortunately despite their current ranking of 7^th they’ve scored only 23 goals this year, one fewer than they’ve allowed and currently boast the leagues 27^th best power play which is producing at a slick 12.5%. Currently leading the offensive for the Wild are Setoguchi, Heatley and Mikko Koivu, tied with seven points each in 11 games, even more disparaging their highest scoring defensemen have two points each, that being Jared Spurgeon and Marek Zidlicky.  The other six defenseman that have dressed for the Wild this season are either scoreless or have the same points total as goaltender Nik Backstrom…one.

They say a leopard can’t change his spots, but that speaks more to appearances than identity, and the one thing that was well within the Wild’s power to change was their blasé team colours: Green and Merlot.  The solution:  an all green third jersey with silver writing, a nice look if you’re trimming the tree but not for designing team apparel.

Appearances aren’t what they seem in Minnesota; yes, they are again in the playoff picture (for now) but no, they aren’t yet entertaining.  I propose league disciplinarian Brendan Shannahan consider giving Minny an ultimatum: play more entertaining hockey or change your name to something more applicable.  I think he might get away with it as they are repeat offenders of targeting the neutral zone and are for the most part the antithesis of everything the league has become.

http://soundcloud.com/josh-statham/epi4complete

Russian Five Alive?

**** While You're reading my post click the link and enjoy the podcast including my interview with NHL veteran official Kelly Sutherland, Lions' Lineman Jesse Newman and our Canucks Analyst Brian Wiebe of Q101:  http://soundcloud.com/josh-statham/epi4complete ****

If Scotty Bowman can rip-off the Russian-Five and ride it to Stanley Cup greatness then so can AV, only, without any Russians.

If you’re unfamiliar with it Russian hockey developed a system of deploying a cohesive five man unit rather than a forward line a defense pairing. The system of creating a five man unit became a big story in 1981 when the Soviets defeated Canada in the long anticipated Canada Cup which was twice postponed for political reasons. Wayne Gretzky led team Canada against the Soviet’s famed “Green Unit” and legendary Russian goalkeeper Vladislav Tretiak; it remains one of the greatest international hockey tournaments ever played.

The name for 1981’s Canada Cup Russian Five “Green Unit” was derived from the green pinnies the quintet wore during practice and consisted of Vyacheslav Fetisov and Alexei Kasatonov on defense and Vladamir Krutov, Igior Larionov and Sergei Makarov up front. The “Green Unit” operated with the stealth of a covert-ops unit and scored at will.

In the 90’s then Red Wings coach Scotty Bowman joined original Green Unit members Fetisov and Larionov with a trio of new Russian stars, Sergei Federov, Vladamir Konstantinov and Slava Kozlov. The Wings’ own Russian Five were a major contributor to the 1997 Stanley Cup Winning season.

Now, it remains to be seen if the feat could be duplicated without using actual Russians but the idea of keeping consistent five man units together might help bring chemistry to the newly rebuilt Canucks.

Recently acquired winger David Booth plays a game far too similar to his former minor hockey teammate and second line center Ryan Kesler to ever find chemistry, but how do you justify moving one of them to the third line?  Maybe you could give appropriate ice time to Booth on a third unit?

The Sedins and Burr don’t score off the rush but use a puck possession game in the offensive zone so keeping them on the ice with Sami Salo and Alex Edler who are among the slower footed blue liners but probably have the best two shots on the back end makes sense.

When Mason Raymond is healthy he’ll likely rejoin Ryan Kesler and Chris Higgins on the second line; that’s a lot of speed and speed scores off the rush so put these guys together with Dan Hamhuis and Kevin Bieksa who were lauded in last year’s playoffs for shutting down opposition offense by getting the puck up and out of their own zone too quickly to be pestered by any kind of forecheck.

This leaves Booth and his break out speed and heavy shot on a third line unit with playmaking Cody Hodgson and grinder Janik Hansen. Who better to form the Canadian-German-American-Danish five with that forward line than Alex Sulzer and Keith Ballard? I can just see Sulzer feeding Hail Mary passes through the neutral zone to Booth in stride and Cody Hodgson giving him a third man high option or speedy Janik Hansen supporting the forecheck.

The answer to the chemistry between David Booth and Ryan Kesler is to give up and think outside the box finding a way to use both effectively on different units.  This will lead to more success for each and an absolute line-matching nightmare for opposing coaches.

Enjoy the podcast:  http://soundcloud.com/josh-statham/epi4complete

Down on the Farm: Darren Archibald

It’s not exactly the script of the Blindside but the story of Darren Archibald’s journey to pro hockey is pretty inspiring, and far from complete.

As a seventeen-year-old Archibald starred for Stouffville of the Onatrio Junior-A Hockey League playing at nearly a point-per-game pace in his rookie season. The OPJHL is one of the top leagues for producing collegiate talent but Archibald had bigger aspirations. Earlier that year he had cut the collegiate shoot and jumped full bore in to a career in hockey by playing two preseason games with Barrie of the Ontario Hockey League, in so declaring himself ineligible for NCAA scholarships.

The next season Archibald transitioned seamlessly to major junior notching 25 goals and earned a ranking among the top 200 draft eligible North American skaters, but his name was not called to the Bell Centre podium at the 2009 draft. The next season he cracked the top 100 on the strength of a 59 point campaign but still watched as other North American skaters with lower points totals got to live the dream and wear the hat and jersey of a team that felt they would someday become and NHL regular.

“Everybody wants to get drafted but after it didn’t happen I knew it wasn’t the end of world.” Archibald says of his draft status. “There has always been guys who have made it without being drafted. It helps you stay focused.”

And so Darren went back to Barrie for his overage year in hopes of earning a pro contract only to be traded for the first time in his career. Just five days after leaving Barrie for cross-town rival Niagara Darren Archibald, passed over by 30 NHL teams through three drafts all seven rounds deep, signed a contract with the Vancouver Canucks.

Arhibald’s 41 goals helped the Ice Dogs to a lengthy playoff run and he concluded his OHL career having compiled more points in each season he played and joining the soon-to-be President’s Trophy winners.

Archibald spent his offseason working on coming in to his third NHL rookie camp in the best shape he could.

“I still do power skating every summer because there’s always room for improvement.” He states. “You want to be at the rink getting better every day.”

He turned heads at the pre-season rookie tournament as one of the older members of the Canucks frosh squad and received high marks from staff and fellow players.

“He uses his size really well and I really enjoyed playing on a line with him.” Said fellow OHL power forward and Canucks hopeful Nicklas Jensen.

After a very strong camp Archibald was assigned to join a young Chicago Wolves roster where he’s working to find chemistry with prospects Jordan Schroeder and Anton Rodin.

Archibald, a member of the Black Hockey Players Wall of Fame group on facebook wore number 12 in minor hockey as an homage to Jarome Iginla, but he doesn’t concentrate on his minority status.

“There’s always talk that black guys shouldn’t play hockey. White guys play hockey, black guys play basketball; times have changed now, you see more and more kids playing all different kinds of sports.”

To him colour isn’t an obstacle and the fraternity of professional black hockey players has grown exponentially in recent years as more and more ethnic kids get in to Canada’s great frozen game.

When asked what his reaction was to the recent photos circulated on Twitter of Coyote’s winger Raffi Torres’ Jay-Z Halloween costume his reply is mindful of the weightiness of this hot topic and offers levity.

“It’s Halloween. It’s meant to be fun. I’m sure Raffi Torres meant nothing by it.” He dismisses. “I think Dwyane Wade went as Justin Timberlake for Halloween which is no different.”

Darren Archibald, the undrafted power forward with tremendous speed, shot and size never questioned his belief that one day his skill and hard work would culminate in a career in the NHL, not when he threw his NCAA scholarship eligibility out the window, and not when he was passed over in the NHL draft, and it worked out to his advantage. A player taken by any random team in the NHL Entry Draft is property of that team for two years. If in that time the two parties don’t agree to an entry level contract the player re-enters the draft. Instead Darren Archibald was a free agent, able to showcase his skill set to any taker and he must feel vindicated to have been signed by a cup contender in Vancouver.

 

Feaster Famine

*** CANUCKS JR BROADCASTER EXTRORDINAIRE: http://soundcloud.com/josh-statham/nov-1-mcdonalds-junior-1 Donny Taylor, eat your heart out ****

Not the best night to make a case for staying the course in Calgary so please bare in mind it was just a couple weeks ago the Canucks looked as bad as the Flames do tonight at home against a "soft" team no less.

I was listening to B-Mac and Taylor on Team1040 talking about how it would be a good idea to blow-up the Flames and rebuild because Canadian fans are tired of watching second-tier hockey markets dog-it for years and get handed the fruits of the draft to assemble a cup winner.  The argument was Canadian fans are smart and would tolerate a few bad years for one good one rather than enjoy another 9th place season.

Calgary GM Jay Feaster inherited a few bad contracts in Calgary but for the most part doesn't have the worst set of circumstances to build a contender.  He's also come out in a radio interview criticizing crosstwon rival Edmonton for performing the blow-up/rebuild act. The cupboards are on the bare side in Abbotsford but when Mikael Backlund is back they should finally have their top forward and the unheralded Roman Horak is looking like quite the find, along with Sven Bartchsi this team is slowly restocking the farm system.

Last year the face of the franchise had his name dragged through the trade rumor mud after a mediocre 2009-10 campaign and a slow start last year.  He promptly lit up the league for 43 goals cementing his rightful place among the games elite power forwards. He's got a lot of game left in him at 34 and Calgary would be remiss to cash him out now.  Where would they have been without his 43 goals last season?  Sadly enough many in the Sea of Red think the return for Iginla is what might resurrect the franchise but the reality is no Calgary GM has ever brought in a top tier centre to play with Iggy and there's still time to give him the pivot he deserves and finally bring Calgary back to respectability.

And what would a team be willing to give for Iginla and his multi-million dollar contract?  Any package of prospects or picks would take years to materialize.  Yes, I know this is the point of rebuilding but all the teams that have been bad enough to attempt this have been really, really bad and had a lot more to lose than the Flames.  The Red Mile is loyal, sure, but even a modest dip in interest in the team spills the gravy for ownership and they're not going to let that happen.  Worst-to-first stories like Pittsburgh and Chicago were so far gone it didn't matter if they fell off the map for a decade because they were on the Luxury tax teet anyway.

If I were in Feaster's seat I would be looking at ways to improve my team and that does mean making some moves but not tearing the thing down.  Rene Bourque and Jay Buowmeester have both been heavily rumored to be inquired about by other GMs.  If the Flames could use those two bartering chips to acquire another legitimate top six forward and a puck moving d-man they might just get over the hump.  They would be looking at a top six that includes Horak and Tanguay on the left wing, Backlund and Jokinen at Centre and Iginla and Winger-X.  The bottom six is amazingly deep rolling out Curtis Glencross, Tom Kostopolous, Matt Stajan, David Moss, Brendan Morrison, Nik Hagman, Tim Jackman or Lee Stempniak at any given time.

The surprising weakness of the team is on defense, formerly the backbone of the organization.  Gone are Phaneuf and Regher and by my design Buowmeester too.  That would leave:

Giordano    Babchuck
Sarich        Hannan
Butler        D-Man X

Between the pipes Mikka Kiprusoff is still getting the job done.  There's a lot of talk about lowering his games played in the course of the year and back up Henrik Karlsson seems to be able to handle the workload.  On the farm Leyland Irving is finally showing the kind of play that made him a first round selection oh so many years ago.  With Irving, Bartschi, Backlund and Horak the majority of the answers are going to be coming from within.  I would kill to be Jay Feaster sitting on a couple easy trades to address all the teams needs.  This is not a blow up, it's just a re-fit.

Nux Trade Talk

Hockeybuzz is reporting that Cory Schneider was discussed in the David Booth deal.  The way the deal shaked out if Schneider was involved you would have to think the proposed swap would've been for a lot more than Booth since his big contract was acquired for spare parts.  Now Florida is reportedly trying to shed Stephen Weiss' salary from the books; can the Canucks go back to the well one more time?  Were they trying to get both Booth and Weiss in one deal?

Weiss is on the hook for 4 million this year and 4.1 next, not exactly as binding as Booth's pact and thusly he would come at a higher price, could it have been Schneider, Sturm, Samuelson and a pick for Booth, Weiss and a pick?  Weiss has 10 points in 11 games to start the season for the surprising Panthers.  Even though they added a ton of offensive help in the offseason they would be remiss to replace a legit top six forward when they're in the middle of a playoff push; remember, this is the same team that played chicken with UFA Jay Buowmeester and lost both the player and a shot at the post season.

In my opinion Weiss would be a great fit on the second line and second power play unit.  I think he has untapped potential that could explode on a team like the Canucks, but at what cost?

The main point of the hockeybuzz posting wasn't that Schneider was inquired about by Florida, and apparently by Tampa and a host of other interested suitors.  It was in respect to a fresh start for Roberto Luongo and how Florida would make sense.  I agree Lou might just need a new start and I hate any contract that binds a player to a team in to retirement but does a return to Florida for Luongo really make sense for the Panthers?  I don't think so.  Jakob Markstrom is going to be a great goalie and you can't bury him behind 11 more years of Luongo.  This trade will not happen if Markstrom is in Florida and a deal that sees Markstrom traded is going to require more than the massive contract of a fickle Vezina calibre goaltender.

I don't see any way that Lou makes a return to Flordia without Markstrom being a part of the deal and I don't see that happening either.  If Lou is indeed moved then I would expect the Canucks to ink Cory Schneider long term putting Markstrom in the same place he would be in Florida behind Lou. 

At any rate I agree that Lou might need a fresh start and that trading Cory Schneider might be a massive mistake.  It is becoming clear that the current situation isn't healthy and that a move either way is a possibility.