Just When It Can Get No Worse
It gets worse. I love Chico’s comment: “This team might not be together next year.” Of course they won’t be together next year, because short playoff runs are depressing. Colin White: miss your guy, then reach instead of skating. And his guy was Carcillo. Kind of sums it up. Mike Mottau: Three words: “Where’s my [...]
Pathetic Devils Effort
Why are Colin White and Mike Mottau together? On the winning goal, Colin White (a) followed his guy behind the net (b) reached, leaned and otherwise made lazy swipes at the puck and (c) left Mottau to remember to cover the weak side (oops). These two don’t belong on the ice at all, let alone [...]
Heartless and Winless
The Devils have become impossible to watch. Guys standing around, falling down, or making passes that are blind, ill-timed, or just flat-out stupid is not competitive hockey. It’s not even good hockey. It’s disheartening. If I were GM and coach for a day: Langenbrunner loses the “C”. Where is the leadership on this team? Where [...]
How To Beat The Devils
The Devils have gone from mildly upsetting to tragic. It’s Shakespeare on ice without the clever anachronistic puns. It hurts to watch, like the guy who wipes out on the ski jump slope during the intro to “Wide World of Sports” for those of you alive in the 1970s. Here is the young person’s guide [...]
Pain and No Gain
I haven’t written about the Devils since mid-November because frankly, there wasn’t much to write about through the end of 2009. They were playing well, scoring goals, coming up big on defense, and Niclas Bergfors was making a bid for the Calder Trophy. A short stint as the best team in the NHL, a nice [...]
Mike Mottau Uncovered
Mike Mottau gives me hope at the blue line. He’s emblematic of the path taken by a number of Devils players: a Massachusetts native, played for Boston College (at the same time Gionta was there), and I (for one) had never heard of him. On the surface, he appears to be a dark horse for [...]
Hell Week For Rookies
It was a rough day to be a Devils rookie, or someone who wants to be a rookie on the big squad. The Devils booked the ice at South Mountain today from 8:30 AM until deep into the afternoon, and then they took another sheet for the dinner hour. When I popped in around lunchtime, [...]