Snowman On Fire

Not the prissy ballet movie.

“Turning point” as in I can see into spring hockey from here. The Star-Ledger today proclaims that the Devils win also thrusts them into crisis, with Lukowich suffering from a possible concussion, White nursing a hand injury suffered during pre-game and Gionta still limping around with a groin pull.

Last night’s game against the Penguins gave me hope that the Devils can make a deep run into the playoffs, because when it came down to stopping some of the most difficult players in the shootout, Brodeur was anti-hat-trick perfect: 0-for-3. Going the other way, Elias potted his second shootout goal of the year (in 10 tries) by showing that he’s truly a student of the game. He went so wide as to force Fleury to the side of the net, and then as Elias skated across the crease Fleury had to shuffle-step to maintain his square position. Elias smoked him, 5-hole, in between steps. It’s one of those spectacular Elias moves we see every now and then (remember the puck kick off the skate heel during last year’s Rangers playoff sweep?)

But there are oh so many questions as well.

Does Scott Gomez want to go hunting for a new team next year? Don’t get me wrong, I love Scott Gomez, I’ve played golf with Scott Gomez, I have a jersey autographed by Scott Gomez, an I’m not Scott Gomez, but even I can smell a brain fart from Pittsburhg. A bad turnover on the power play led to the Pens’ short-handed goal and his ugly semi-pass, semi-flop put the puck onto Malkin’s stick to start the game-tying play. Not smart hockey from a guy who is usually pretty heads up.

With White and Lukowich in the press box, the Devils need another defenseman. Too bad David Hale is in Calgary. Maybe Matvichuk can be signed, at only a slight premium over Lukowich’s salary, or perhaps it’s time to bring Dan McGillis back from Lowell. Before you chuckle, consider that McGillis is the 2nd leading scorer for the Lowell Devils, he’s +11 and he has nine power play goals. Why not re-integrate him into the club as one of the points on the power play, particularly if ESPN.com is right about Rafalski being pursued by Edmontom in the off season? Wonder how McGillis made the transition from non-player to play-maker? He got simple. Doing the basic things, staying at home and playing defense. Kurt Kleinendorst (Lowell’s head coach) is a master of making things simple, which, as Charles Mingus once pointed out, is the mark of true genius.

Barring the M&M team arriving in the swamp, how about bringing Olli Marmivaara up (technically, down from Lowell, but we’re talking leagues and not compass points)? He’s just plain huge, at 6-7, he’s a tough 27 year old, and he’s played nearly every game for Lowell this year. A workhorse. A big workhorse. And think how much Doc and Chico could have butchering his name every third shift.

Finally, the NHL made a big deal out of suspending Chris Simon indefinitely for his clothesline hit on Ryan Hollweg. Fair echoes of Bertuzzi’s hit on Steve Moore lead to more repercussions. However, it seems like punishments are meted out somewhat randomly. Cam Janssen got a 3-game suspension when no penalty was called on his flattening of the Leafs’ Kaberle, but when Lukowich clearly takes an elbow to the head during last night’s game, not only is there no call but there’s no follow-up from the league.

Fifteen games to go, 30 points on the line, a bunched up pack of teams near the top of the Eastern Conference. The turning point puts us in the season’s homestretch.

Hockey teams often seem to play to the level of their opponents; picking up their games when needed and sadly dropping their games when least called for.

The Devils didn’t look like division leaders against Washington today, losing to the Caps for the first time in about a season and a half. With a game in hand over Pittsburgh, it was a perfect time to open up 2 more points over DaBurgh. Didn’t happen, and there wasn’t much to cheer about, except for the silver lining to this clouded Saturday: Cam Janssen got his first NHL point and first NHL goal. He’s played 82 games — an entire season’s worth of dressing for games, five to eight minutes at a clip, without putting one in the net. It’s nice to see consistent hard work pay off.

Halfway between the Meadowlands and The City of Brotherly Ex-Forsberg Love, the Princeton Tigers put on a show today in the annual Alumni Day matinee game. The 4-1 win over St. Lawrence capped a weekend sweep of the top two teams in the ECAC and may give them home ice going into the playoffs. Better yet, the silver goes around the season, not just inside this weekend, as the Tigers finished their league season at 10-10-2 and their overall campaign at 13-13-3. A 0.500 season, a point per game average, is quite an accomplishment for a second year coach (who is dealing with only his first class of recruits), and comes on the heels of several years that were closer to Davy Jones’ locker than that of Casey Jones.

Hockey is a simple game. Sticks made from trees, skates handed down to you from older family members, pucks that have seen happier days, ice where you can get it. At least that’s the Norman Rockwell-meets-Canada version of simple. Even with $200 Warrior sticks, custom-molded skates, pucks that are carefully chilled by our team’s puck carrier, it’s still a simple game. Skate hard, shoot hard, pass to your teammates, play your position.

The mental game is hard. In an hour, we face a tough league opponent in our Pee Wee division. “We” is not me, personally, as I’ll be running the clock and scoresheet and cheering quietly, mumbling within the bounds of being an off-ice official for the game. But “we” is our team, today somewhat smaller in numbers due to soccer tournaments, concussions, knee injuries, and religious events. A quarter of our team is not playing today, and you can’t ask 12 year olds to step up a quarter more than they have. It will be a mental game, of who wants to be the fastest, strongest, and smartest hockey player.

I could say the same things about the NHL Devils. There are games when they look brilliant, and games when they look like a quarter of the team didn’t make the game. It’s not just the defense — they’ve scored all of five goals in three games. It’s not lack of intensity, as Cam Jansen has redefined “knucklehead” with his knuckles on someone else’s helmet. It’s not bad penalties, because they’ve been playing cleanly. Here’s what it is: a limp power play. Lack of drive to the net, or guys setting screens in front. Too many shots from the point that have no prayer of deflection, because either there’s nobody there to deflect them or they’re shot into a maze of shin guards.

Tonight the Devils skate down one more: Gomez is home with a re-aggravated groin injury. Sorry to see him off the ice but happier to see him treating this before it turns chronic. For the other tail-n-horns guys up in Montreal, skate one more: one more step, one more drive to net, one more pass to the open guy (if he’s open), one more check along the boards. Everything starts with one more, whether it’s shots or goals or power plays or nice saves. And that starts with the mental game, going one more than the physical game.

It’s over. Just like that, on a Sunday evening that feels more like October than May, the Devils are done for the season. No heads hanging down here, though, because it was a great season.

Who knew Marty would win 43 games and lead the NHL in wins?

Who knew Patrik Elias would recover from a case of Hepatitis A so bad that it would have literally killed someone like me? And he recovered enough to lead all scorers through two rounds of the playoffs.

Who knew that Cam Janssen would be so much fun to watch and single-handedly make many of us forget Bobby Holik (apologies to the 8 year old kids at the Little League fields yesterday; the guy I told you was Bobby Holik really isn’t, but I like having kids ask him for an autograph).

Who knew that Brian Gionta, one of the few (non-jockey) professional athletes shorter than me, would set a new season record for goals by a Devil?

And so this one is in the books. Now I can watch the playoffs a little more quietly, without packing my new Elias Metallurg jersey for this week’s business trip, and cheer for either the Ducks (with pseudo-cuz Vishnevski and former Devil Nieds) or San Jose (the work-related home team). I’ll follow the draft with one eye on the Yankees box score and one eye on the nhl.com website. Starting June 28th, I’ll begin worrying again about what trades, signings and contract flurries will fall around Lou’s office, and eagerly await the new NHL year on July 1 when we hope we have some new long-term franchise players.

On August 15th, Devils Youth Hockey camps start up, and the 06-07 season will officially be under way in our house again. I have merely three months off (from hockey, at least).

Thanks, Devils, for a great season. I’m already speculating about next year, because who knows?