Snowman On Fire

I finally did something I swore I would do weeks ago: I finished putting up all of the posts that were eaten or lost when I upgraded my blog site, and then decided that I was going to tackle the problem of cached links to the old site. When I first started using WordPress, I used the numerical indices for blogs, so links to entries had the form
http://agrosnowman.com/snowman/?p=34.
Not at all indicative of the content or potential puns included in the title. Upon re-install, I chose the compacted title as a permalink for each entry, which seemed like a good idea at 1:00 AM on a Saturday night when my wife was annoyed that I was typing rather than doing something more, well, productive.

After spending a few hours looking at PHP books, searching a bit, and some trial and error, I actually wrote a piece of code for the first time in about five years, and more miraculously, it works! If you go to one of the “old” entries via a cached link from any search engine, the little code snipped I put up will map that “p=##” mess into a proper blog title, and then redirect you. Writing code has never been my strong suit, and I still find it somewhat surprising that my prose writing has far outpaced my code writing when 25 years ago I couldn’t conceive of that ordering under any circumstances.

In any order, approach, or way, I’m pronouncing the Snowman back to full strength, with all previous content once again available, and in theory I shouldn’t drop anyone on the cold hard floor of the Internet. Now if only the Yankees’ bullpen could manage the same.

While all eyes are focused on the NFL draft in New York’s Radio City Music Hall today, I’m looking forward to the NHL draft in Ottawa that’s a few weeks out.

Of the thirty expected first-round picks, half of them are defensemen. Last year everyone marveled at the selection of Americans at the top of the draft order, this year it’s clear the emphasis is on blueliners who can skate in the “new NHL.” Question is: will the Devils make a trade to pick up another high pick, and will they expend those picks on play-making centers, blueliners, or another European born winger who languishes in Lowell?

I find it’s good to live life with the same 24-hour rule we ask parents to obey in youth hockey: if something upsets you, give it 24 hours to settle before reacting publicly, loudly and permanently to it. This season upset me, not because the Devils didn’t make a serious run at the Cup but because there was so much potential left on the table. The season began and ended the same way, with half-hearted hockey amidst serious fan involvement. A bad combination. But here are my fully formed day-old thoughts:

The Rock: A for form, but you can’t dance to it. It’s a wonderful building for hockey. Great sight lines, good acoustics, awesome food in terms of variety, speed and price, a good experience. I love the high school and youth hockey jerseys on the walls, and the displays near the towers. But for some reason, it still doesn’t feel like the fans’ building. Maybe this is part of the game experience, maybe it’s just what we associate between on-ice and in-stands events. But I think every player, every member of the Devils management team, every Power Player, and every fan should walk around to Section 1, and look over the goal that the Devils defend twice. Up on the second level, to the left of the Taste of Newark, are a set of youth hockey jerseys. They’re the only non-player jersey displays you can see from the ice; the others are in the concourse and face away from the playing surface. Accidentally or not, the youth jerseys look onto the ice, and the ice looks up to them. That’s where the future fan base is; it’s not in people my age but in our kids’ generation. We grew up with the Rangers and then the Islanders, and if you were geographically confused perhaps the Flyers as well. No Devils until 1982, long past the high school salad days of sports allegiances. But the Devils have a chance to reach the Millenial Generation, to make them life-long fans, and to build a base that will fill the rock with the kids who used to fill those jerseys, and their kids a generation after that. That’s what will make the Rock a fans’ building.

Game Experience: B- at best. And I can’t put my finger on one thing, but seeing a game at the Rock still feels like every other arena, with the silly between-whistle games, XM-sponsored music, and video sequences. What about text messages from the fans? Mobile phone photos? And I’m sorry, but the Power Players are just another silver pom-pom, bare midriff team that doesn’t dance, sing, or skate. The Knicks City Dancers, the Nets Dancers, even the Panthers Ice Cats do something. I’m not just suffering remaindered upset that I wasn’t called back when I filed an application to be Power Player; I think the Power Players need to include more of the fan base. Let’s all channel Baumann in his swamp-ish glory. Tie the Devils Legion marketing into the in-game experience, for once. The game, the prelude to the game, the postscript to the game, the days between games, and what you’re thinking of while standing in line for another Carvel sundae should be shared. It’s Facebook mashed with the Jumbotron.

Broadcast Team: A, D, and incomplete. I’m not going to jump on the “Chico is a homer” bandwagon. I happen to like Chico Resch, I think he’s funny, I think Chico Eats made it worth the electricity to keep the television on through the intermissions, and I’ll go as far as to say that Chico is the Don Cherry of New Jersey. But: I’d like to be able to find games, on cable, at a consistent place. MSG, MSG Alternate, FSNY, VS, and the Estonian sub-titled Home and Juniper Tree Network (except where blackout restrictions apply) make it a bit confusing. The radio situation is just as bad, with games moving around more than Nathan Detroit’s oldest established permanent floating craps game. And to top it off, I find Sherry Ross to be the anti-Velischek. Randy was a homer, but I loved his accent, and deep down, you could hear in his voice how he was pained by failure on the ice; he wished he was out there helping instead of in the broadcast booth. Sherry Ross comes off like Suzan Waldman but without the authenticity. If I could listen to radio broadcasts with the sound off, and just have the play by play etched into my brain via Bluetooth, I would. Gentle readers, you can assign grades. I want consistency, the voice of experience (why I like Chico and Dano) and commentary that makes me laugh.

Team Performance: I take the F. I’d like to say that I made my early season predictions - a 100 goal scoring line, a miserable year for Gomez, Rafalski churning on Detroit’s blue line - on Opposite Day, but I didn’t. I was equal parts wrong and myopic. This was the first year in six that Elias didn’t lead the Devils in scoring, and the top four goal scorers combined didn’t hit the century mark (94 to be exact). The entire team’s plus/minus rating looks like a Montreal thermocline map in January. There were a few bright spots, like Oduya and Mottau coming into their own as defensive forces who can move the puck. It was good to see Parise not only step up in scoring but step up when the going got tough and his teeth got going. Everybody’s wondering what went wrong, but I think it comes down to a lack of simplicity: At times it looked like every player was worried about or doing some part of another’s role. Elias at center. Multiple guys behind the net in the defensive zone. Slow motion in the neutral zone, or failure to hold at the blue line so that the defense is back quickly. What that speaks to, then, is the need for one or two really solid position players so everyone else can get into the zone, literally, and focus on one role at a time. A serious #1 center, a serious #1 or 2 defenseman, and the team is in good shape. And they don’t have to be big ticket guys — just hungry guys.

Sergei Brylin. I hope, seriously, totally hope, he’s back next season. I love Sarge because it’s so much fun to yell “Freakin’ Brylin!” while running through the house, or a hotel room, in my underwear (don’t ask; several Boston area hotels now have policies against this). He’s a genuinely good guy who gives of his time, autographs and listening skills as much as anyone in hockey. In some ways, he may be the Jim McKenzie of this team. After the Devils won the Cup in 2003, and McKenzie took off for Nashville, both Gomez and Langebrunner said (to me, on a golf course) that they were sad to see Jim leave — even though he was a fourth liner and a banger, McKenzie was a leader on and off the ice; he got respect in the locker room; he set a strong work ethic. I think Brylin catalyzes the same chemistry — add a few more reactive players, and let Brylin buffer the reactions.

Coaching. For once, I’d like to see the Devils have the same coach two seasons in a row. I think it takes time to mold a team, to build something with the talent you’re given (Sutter arrived once the players were signed; he had zero input). However, I’d seriously argue for sending Albelin and/or Larry Robinson off to Lowell for next season and swinging Kurt Kleinendorst onto the defensive end of the bench. KK never played pro, and more important, never played pre-lockout pro hockey, so he’s more of a student of the current game. Let’s see what he mades of the defense in the first third of the season, and then return the coaching pieces to their places if needed.

But hey, I’m the guy who got everything else wrong this season, and I’m merely a fan with a keyboard.

The hockey off-season brings a surfeit of warm-weather activities: golf, baseball, rollerblading, and my favorite, reading. I don’t find it at all incongrous to read hockey books when it’s 90 degrees and humid. To help share the warmth, I collected my list of favorite hockey books in a sidebar page, and I’ll get around to updating it in the next few weeks.

Just finished Jack Falla’s Home Ice and Saved. I think you have to read them in that order; Home Ice is about the joys of owning a backyard rink and is a collection of his essays and stories, all true. Saved is a work of fiction, but like all good fiction, a little bit of the author makes a celebrity cameo appearance. It’s especially appropriate for this playoff season, but I won’t spoil the ending.

Several years ago, the NHL decided to make a push for “non traditional media” coverage, given that it was barely registering fifth in a four-sport nation (NFL, MLB, NBA and the NHL being the “top four”, although NASCAR generates more of an audience in the top four spots). Since then, the use of video and the YouTube deal, encouragement of bloggers and even a zero-cost blogging infrastructure and fan page system on nhl.com have helped move this idea along. The basis for the non-print, non-television coverage push was that NHL fans tend to be more technologically literate, more affluent, and more inclined to consume multiple media sources than other fans. Which is another way of saying that if you can afford tickets at the Rock or the Garden, you probably own a computer and high speed internet connection.

During this rather tortuous season, I found myself reading Tom Guilitti’s Fire & Ice nearly every day, more for his insights into practices, post-game reports and press conferences that made me feel like I was there. Tom is the Pat St. John (in his WNEW-FM prime) of the sports blogging world — when he’s on, you feel like you’re talking hockey with your best friend, even though you’re talking to a screen and nobody is listening (sounds like a Linkin Park song, sorry).

I also began regular consumption of John Fischer’s In Lou We Trust blog, and John was kind enough to send props the Snowman’s way. Unlike the real sports journalism world, bloggers tend to nod to each other except when we’re stealing content and themes. John writes like the guy who sits down low on the glass and cheers as much for good defensive plays as flashy goals. Rounding out my four corners of Devils dailies were the five-man 2-Man Advantage show and the iconoclastic, self-deprecating, and vocabulary-creating duo at Interchangeable Parts. Along with my morning dose of comics, these became my sports pages, editorial columns, and entertainment.

Now if only Lou & Jeff would figure out that there are quite a few readers and writers out here who are willing to make up for what constitutes marketing in the Mulberry Street Gang by promoting the team, the arena and the entire league. Why not have a “Blog with the Devils skate”, or a regular, weekly e-mail Q&A between bloggers and players (and management, if they actually use the web)? Invite the bloggers in for a virtual press conference, held with a webcam, a conference call line and some links off of the team website.

Looking through the statistics for this blog — which are minimal and very short-term, as I don’t pay for anything other than hosting space — most of the traffic comes from searches, and some of that from image searches. Pictures I’ve taken at practice, or at the Rock, show up in Google image search and result in traffic to the site. This is the new marketing — it’s not about reaching the people who already know where to find the Devils web site, nhl.com or can navigate the side roads around Newark’s Broad Street — it’s about finding the folks who were looking for something else and happened upon something Devilishly interesting. There are so many low-cost, high-return activities in which we — bloggers, aspiring writers, or just general Devils hangers-on — would participate. Just open the door to the bench, guys.

I’m going to ruminate more about this season, think about my wish list for new blood to be squeezed from this Rock, comment on the playoffs, the state of hockey, the post-season antics of my own NJ Ice Dragons HNA team, and whatever joy I can find in the Mets, Yankees and Olympics this summer. After all, I want to see how the Kathryn Bertine story ends.

My streak of Devils wins at games I’ve attended ground to a halt tonight, as the season ended with a bang, a whimper, and fans mumbling about the free agency season on the way to their cars. There’s no word for what happened on the ice tonight — and indeed, for good stretches of the season — other than “unwatchable.” As a fan, as someone who has shelled out thousands of dollars for slices of season tickets every year for the past nine seasons, the Devils have become a team that generates more disappointment than excitement. Sorry, but I just can’t watch night after night of defensive breakdowns and missed scoring chances, interspersed with shots from the point that are blocked by wingers ten feet above the face off circles.

I’ll recap my thoughts on the first season in the Rock and the whole of 07-08 once the sausage and peppers mixed with Carvel sundae settles down and I’m no longer nauseated by what happened on the ice rather than at the concession stands. The sole bright spots of he playoffs (for me) were that the Devils didn’t get shut out in any games, Elias had a point in every game, and they didn’t get swept, maintaining at least one playoff tradition. But two out of three of those spots are negatives; hardly a way to remember 87 games of hockey.

As for tonight’s game: defensive breakdowns, too much dump and chase (which means not enough speed, or no support for the puck carrier), and way too many shots that went all of three stick lengths before hitting a Ranger, and not the one in net. How else do you explain the complete lack of offensive momentum, the failure to pick up rebounds, and the number of times the puck came into the Rangers’ end only to be squirted back out again without so much as a single play set up? The game is best summarized by what turned out to be the game-breaking goal: an odd man rush in, Brodeur makes a great save, and instead of (a) the defense getting the puck wide, or out of the zone (b) a winger backchecking Gomez who was standing — standing — off the play looking for the puck or (c) not turning the puck over in the first place, Gomez has an uncontested shot off of the rebound. Three Rangers goals came when there was no defensive pressure within two stick lengths of the shooter - Dubinsky’s goal on the power play, Gomez’ goal and Rosival’s game-tying goal in the first. Rosival dropped in from the point - who was watching him?

This one will be dissected, analyzed and harped upon by Rangers fans until October. I don’t think Brodeur looked tired; I think this came down to lack of hustle and finishing on offense and lack of play control on defense. The story of the entire season, and a story that completes the canon of Devils hockey for the season: it ends the way it started. Badly.

How man times do the Devils fail to clear the puck, turning the puck over, and allow the Rangers to score? I’m boggled by the number of times the puck is along the half boards, and instead of finding neutral ice it’s held along the blue line, or pushed toward center instead of out of the zone. With so much momentum and so many chances to put this one away, the Devils just let themselves get buried. No need to get on the bikes, or work on the power play, just take out the squirt coaching book and work on breaking the puck out.

For each sign of hope, there’s a sign of disaster. Elias has two goals but is minus three on the night. Mottau scores a nice goal after a complete dangle in from the point, but minutes later another failure to clear results in Staal being able to put the puck right past him and Brodeur.

Madden winning the face off past Elias into his own net kind of sums up tonight. And they credited the goal to Gomez, because maybe he sniffed the puck during the face off. I’m not giving up hope, as I witnessed, first-hand, a 3-1 series deficit turn into a trip to the Stanley Cup Finals in May 2000, but anything short of perfect hockey now ends the season. There’s no more room for failure - failure to hit the net, failure to pick up checking assignments, failure to get the puck out of the zone, failure to stay out of the penalty box, failure to avoid embarassment.

If the college hoops world can have March Madness then the Stanley Cup quarterfinals (AKA the “first round”) can be April Anarchy. After the Devils found themselves down 2-0, I decided to step back and just enjoy the playoffs. With both the Mets and Yankees finding ways to leave the bases loaded (the baseball equivalent of a loose puck in the crease), I have little else to cheer for this time of the year, so I’m going to enjoy the playoffs until the Cup is raised. By someone. Hopefully our Devils, but as Gary Bettman sometimes says, I’m cheering for the sport (Bettman cheers for ratings publicly).

Here’s what crossed my mind between Friday night and this chilly Monday morning:

The Habs-Bruins series reminds me of being in Boston 15 years ago. At the time, the Bruins were attempting to make another run deeper than the first-round, and my friend Rich came over to watch the game on our miniature TV (since he didn’t have cable in his apartment, just to put this in historical context). After a snappy goal, I began shouting “Koach Wesley” (Hebrew for “Power of Wesley”) and my wife popped her head out of the kitchen long enough to say “That’s never been said before.” And hasn’t been said since, at least in Bean Town. But for a series that looked all Montreal, the little bears are hanging in there. And after the trouble dealt to the Devils by the Canadiens, I’m rooting for the underdogs.

I like Alex Ovechkin as much as I dislike Philadelphia. Go Caps. This series pits a guy who wears #8 in honor of his mother (that would be Ovie) against a city that jeers Santa Claus and the Armed Forces (that would be Phillies fans on opening day 2008).

Lou should pay careful attention to the Calgary-San Jose series. Owen Nolan (discarded by the Sharks) and Alex Tanguay (moving north from Colorado) were instrumental in the Jaws-like destruction of the Sharks last night. San Jose blew a 3-goal, first-period lead. I’m watching David Hale (#21 for Calgary, former Devil) and smiling; he’s holding his own. Phaneuf, after looking a little phluffy last year at this time, is a machine. You can pick up veteran talent and young players with potential and turn them into a team.

The Stars trade that picked up Brad Richards looks brilliant. The Stars are pulling the wings off of the Ducks, matching the rough-and-tumble style with a lot of skating, shooting and playmaking. I would have preferred to be cheering for Jeff Halpern with Dallas this year (he was sent to Tampa as part of the Richards deal), so my interest in this one is simply seeing the Ducks returned to their little pond.

And finally, let’s hear it for hard work from the Devils. Madden puts a puck toward the net, ostensibly for the rapidly encroaching Sergei Brylin, and it goes in. It’s the kind of play that the Devils didn’t get all season (and if they did, it was reviewed and overturned by Toronto). Two goals deflected into their own net by Rangers players, and it’s a series. That’s one definition of anarchy (or insanity). Even if I didn’t get to run through the house screaming “Freakin’ Brylin”, it was a good night.

From scoring the first goal to connecting on the power play to Patrik Elias deciding to rip a shot instead of pass again, there were signs of life coming from the Madison Square. Despite having to play come from behind, and watching a lead evaporate on the Rangers power play (after a roughing call on Elias to end the 2nd), the Devils hung in there and got tough during the OT.

What I love is that the boys look pissed. Except for Parise, who looks and talks like a 5 year old that is waiting for the tooth fairy. But like his dad, Parise is going to be the slayer of Ranger playoff dreams.

I only got to watch the last ten minutes of the Devils-Rangers playoff game last night. Parise was already sporting a toothless grin, the Devils had fumbled a double minor power play, and things were desperate. Until the last two minutes of the game, I was struck by a new thought: This team isn’t very likeable. There are some wonderful, nice guys on the team, and they donate freely of their time, equipment, energy and access, but as a team, it’s hard to get excited. The Penguins have Malkin and Crosby and some veterans like Roberts. The Rangers are awash in their young “D” and the traitorous free agents. Even the Flyers have managed to adopt Joffrey Lupul and make him fit. The Devils have Travis Zajac, who went from promising star to fourth liner. We have Sergei Brylin, whom I adore, just adore, but is clearly in the back nine of his career. As a team, it’s hard to find something to get excited about.

I don’t blame Sutter, or the players. I blame Lou, and worse than that, I blame the owners. Owning a professional sports team is not like running a Wall Street business; it’s not about money and power. It’s about building something that lets the fans feel loved and have something, some idea, some crest and colors, worth loving. It’s about making sure you’re competitive, and creating excitement to fill a building. It’s about being able to put a face (or a number or a signature move) on a team and call it your own. I’ll summarize the Devils-Rangers series this way: Asham and Brylin both raised their arms as if they’d scored goals in Game 1, when they only hit pipe. If that’s our signature move, it’s not a good sign for prolonged interest.

So — Devils ownership — stop thinking about CDOs and other fine messes that were created on Wall Street. This isn’t something that happens on paper; it’s not a balance sheet transaction; it’s a people business. Do something, starting July 1, to make the Devils a team. A people-led, people-facing, people-loving, people-loved team. That’s how fan bases are built; that’s how long-term ticket sales are driven; that’s the spirit behind FUBU (For Us By Us) as a branding effort. Here’s the telling fact: although I couldn’t watch the first two and a half periods of the game, a playoff game, I wasn’t that upset by it. And for someone who has not missed a game recap, a score, or a comment on a game in the past ten seasons, that’s a bad leading indicator.

Specifically: Get some defenseman who can keep pace in the post-lockout NHL. Get some speed up front, where Elias and Parise can finish plays. Get Brodeur some help, some real help, in net. Draft picks and other team development depth were dealt away seasons ago to deal with a cap crunch; now you have to deal talent to get some new energy. The cupboard is bare up in Lowell; they had a very tough season and Kleinendorst did the best he could with what he was dealt. But without some team momentum — not just in the game, but around the whole organization — the Devils will become the Rangers of the late 90s.