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The Morning Skate, April 19: Ledgeview burns down, Philly acts out, Bob Cole naps and a ball boy plays it cool

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Ledgeview Golf and Country Club in Abbotsford has been home to some of Canada’s great golfers. Ray Stewart, James Lepp, Adam Hadwin and Nick Taylor have all laced them up in the Ledgeview clubhouse.

Early this morning, that clubhouse burned to the ground.

For all the people who enjoy a round there and feel like the club is their second home, that sucks.

It’s a developing story, and I’m sure there will be more details at The Province and Vancouver Sun later today. Now, on with the Morning Skate…

THE HOME TEAM

The Utica Comets get their playoffs under way on Friday against the Albany Devils. Hopefully the Devils got all the hostility out of their system during this line brawl with Bridgeport Sound on Saturday:

Ben Kuzma points out that Comets head coach Travis Green has only one year left on his contract, and he has an out clause. Green just might get some NHL offers this offseason.

The delicate dance for Green is to weigh an opportunity with another organization against being the coach-in-waiting for the Canucks. It’s complicated by the belief that Willie Desjardins will get at least 20 games next fall to prove that with a healthy roster, free-agent additions and the kids taking another step, his club can be more competitive. If it isn’t, he could be shown the door and Green promoted. If he’s still around.

If everything breaks the right way for the Canucks, Green will remain on standby throughout next season in case Willie falters. Then again, if everything breaks the right way for the Canucks, Vancity Buzz has them contending for the Cup in 2019 with a second line that features Brock Boeser and the Sedins.

TROLLIN’ THE PACIFIC

You didn’t think the Sharks-Kings series was going to be a short one, did you? Tanner Pearson’s overtime winner last night — off a turnover created by Dustin Brown’s thunderous check — has the Kings right back in it at 2-1.

I’m confused about this woman’s reaction. She’s wearing a Sharks jersey, but she seems pretty ecstatic about Pearson’s winning goal:

Maybe you just become attached to the players when you’re sitting right behind the bench.

AROUND THE NHL

“This is Philly. Act with class.”

When the P.A. announcer has to say that in the middle of a game, you can be sure the fans aren’t concerning themselves too much with reputation management.

That’s how it went down in Philadelphia during last night’s 6-1 loss to the Capitals. It started badly and kind of went downhill from there.

When spectators scream during a pregame moment of silence for a team’s patriarch — as several Flyers fans did Monday — and it’s not the most graceless, dishonorable episode of the night, that’s telling.

Most of the ugliness came in the aftermath of Pierre-Edouard Bellemare’s sickening hit on Washington’s Dmitry Orlov. Orlov was launched headfirst into the boards. As he struggled to gather himself, Flyers fans ripped off the glow-in-the-dark wristbands they were given for a pre-game tribute to late owner Ed Snider and threw them at Orlov:

The fans earned their team a two-minute penalty, and earned themselves a sarcastic “Way to go” from the P.A. announcer.

Now, that was all juvenile and stupid. But to be honest, it was relatively harmless compared to this:

Here’s an idea: When a guy’s just been checked headfirst into the wall, and you’re unsure whether his neck has been broken, and the guy who hit him is a bit panicked and trying to hold people back, and nobody really knows if the slightest nudge will cause a broken vertebra to sever his spinal cord… maybe don’t engage in a scrum and start tackling each other above his prone body. I’m no paramedic, but I’m pretty sure you’re supposed to immobilize the injured person in that situation.

The Flyers’ Steve Mason went into the game determined to put Saturday’s awful goal behind him. Here’s how he went about it:

That was Alex Ovechkin with the Capitals’ second goal.

A new angle of Mason’s gaffe emerged on Monday:

OK, that wasn’t actually it. But here’s an angle that shows another person confused about what to celebrate. Flyers centre Nick Cousins looks awfully happy about Mason’s gaffe. Check it out:

 

GREISS > LUONGO

One reason the Florida Panthers are trailing the New York Islanders: Roberto Luongo has been the second-best goalie on the ice. They’re back at it tomorrow night.

NHL TO VEGAS

A Las Vegas hockey blog has confirmed with a source what The Province first reported in August of 2014: The NHL is going to Las Vegas. And it isn’t just the NHL that Vegas is hoping to break into. UNLV is also trying to get a Div. 1 hockey entry in the NCAA as well. Just think, in a few years when the Canucks are doing road swings through Las Vegas and Phoenix, SFU hockey could be traveling to conference rivals UNLV and Arizona State.

OFFER SHEETS

Are the Toronto Maple Leafs going to drop an offer sheet on a restricted free agent this summer? Sportsnet’s Luke Fox pondered that question yesterday in a column that hints at some offseason excitement.

When betting on the man to resuscitate the most dastardly tool at a GM’s disposal, you could do worse than putting your money on Lou Lamoriello, the quiet assassin who is wrapping up the first year of his three-season deal with Toronto.

Lamoriello gave Ilya Kovalchuk 15 years and $100 million. He found a new home for Dion Phaneuf and makes grown men afraid to skip shaving. Way back in 1991, he accepted an offer sheet for Shanahan, battled St. Louis in arbitration and wrangled Scott Stevens from the Blues.

Since assuming the reins in Toronto, he has horded draft selections like my aunt once horded Beanie Babies. The Leafs have 12 picks this spring and eight each in 2017 and 2018. Draft picks, of course, are the currency of the offer sheet.

Fox points out that Seth Jones, Nikita Kucherov, Filip Forsberg, Jacob Trouba, Nathan MacKinnon and Tyson Barrie are all RFAs this summer.

Meanwhile, a Leafs blogger put forth an intriguing proposal yesterday to eliminate all faceoffs outside the neutral zone. His preference is to just give the puck to the attacking team and let them get going. More offence, fewer delays. Traditionalists may hate it, but honestly I don’t see a lot of downside.

OH, BABY!

If you’re a Bob Cole fan — and who isn’t? — be sure to check out Kristina Rutherford’s Q&A with the man on Sportsnet, in which he’s asked about the origin of “Everything is happening!” and his pre-game routine:

Everybody knows that nobody bothers me between 2 and 4 (p.m.), because I nap. A strong nap. I sleep solidly. I get up at 4, shower, dressed, get ready and boom, boom, boom. Same routine. I leave the hotel close to 5, go down to the rink. And then a bite to eat before you go upstairs. For a 7 o’clock game, I like to be in the booth at 6. I get everything laid out, get comfortable. Lots of guys must think I’m crazy. The anthem comes, and it’s the first time you really sit back and relax and think about what’s coming up. The crowd is buzzing, and here we go. That’s when I can’t wait to get going. Then we’re live, baby.

IN OTHER SPORTS

Today in amazing data visualizations, we bring you the New York Times’ interactive chart comparing Steph Curry’s record-breaking season against all previous displays of three-point prowess. Curry has three of the top four three-point seasons in NBA history, but the gap between his 2015-16 season and the rest is astonishing. I don’t know if there’s a PED that helps you make three-pointers, but if there is they should test him.

Curry didn’t play last night in Game 2 against the Rockets because of an ankle injury, but his Warriors did just fine without him.

OLYMPICS 2028 IN VANCOUVER

A graduate class in architecture at Kansas State University has come up with a master plan for how Vancouver’s False Creek Flats could be redesigned to host the Summer Olympics in 2028, and redeveloped after that.

olympicpark cropped The Morning Skate, April 19: Ledgeview burns down, Philly acts out, Bob Cole naps and a ball boy plays it cool

That’s some sort of lagoon extending all the way through the flats almost to Clark Drive. There are many more cool renderings at the link above.

They did a nice job. It’s just a class project at this point. I hope it stays that way.

FAN’S DATE FEELS SHAME

This guy at the Giants-Diamondback game last night interfered with a fair ball down the third-base line. His date was not impressed:

 

GOAL OF THE WEEK?

Don’t know the teams. Don’t even know the date. But there is just way too much happening on this Brazilian Serie B goal:

SIGN HIM

I don’t like it when people run onto the field at sporting events. I don’t like showing highlights of it, either, because I believe the exposure just leads to more jackassery. But dammit, the role of the Morning Skate is to alert you to all incredible feats of athleticism you may have missed, whether they’re performed by athletes or not. So I’m going to make an exception to my rule here. This field invader at Saturday’s Spartak Moscow soccer match has moves that ought to get him a spot on the Russian team for next year’s rugby sevens at BC Place:

CRICKET CATCH

Cricket makes its return to the Skate today with a stellar catch by Shane Watson and David Wiese of Bangalore in a game against Delhi. Why two guys, you ask? Well, in cricket they have these incredibly short home-run walls, and if your momentum happens to carry you over the wall when you make a running catch, the catch is invalidated. So watch how Watson deals with that, with a little help from teammate Wiese:

 

BALL BOY RECOVERS

A ball boy at yesterday’s ATP tournament in Barcelona crashed face-first into a wall for no apparent reason, but showed remarkable professionalism in hanging onto his balls and allowing play to proceed uninterrupted:

Love the embarrassed sideways glance at the line judge.

OVER THE BARS

A more serious faceplant occurred on Sunday at the Amstel Gold cycling race in the Netherlands. Italy’s Fabio Felline had apparently reached down to his wheel to adjust something immediately before his wheel jammed:

Felline ended up in hospital with facial cuts, a broken nose and a fracture at the base of his skull. He has undergone surgery but is reportedly out of hospital.

BAD SPORTS NICKNAMES

Rant Sports today brings us the 20 worst sports nicknames of all time. Have a look through the list and see what they have to say about Rusty Kuntz and “Bad Porn” Corey Maggette. Chad “Ochocinco” Johnson heads up the list, mostly because his number 85 is actually spelled “ochenta y cinco” in Spanish. But don’t go too hard on Ochocinco. A lot of us have trouble with numbers. Donald Trump even has trouble with them in English.

That’s it for today’s Skate! We’re back tomorrow with the great J.J. Adams.



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