Goon Squad's NHL Hockey fan blog

Keith Jeffries of Huntsville Sports Ventures has been the owner of the Havoc, a member of the Southern Professional Hockey League, for all six years - the longest stint of the city's four previous franchises.

Admittedly, he didn't know that much about the sport before he became an owner, but he did love watching the game.

After selling his business several years ago, it was a search "for that second career" that led Jeffries to the front office of the minor league team.

Decorating the walls of the team's main office are framed jerseys from past years. His office, off to the side of the main office, is modestly decorated with bookshelves, pictures, a couple of hockey masks, pucks and a family picture prominently displayed.

Last week, Jeffries talked about the team and the sport with Times business editor Budd McLaughlin. The conversation has been edited for space and clarity.

Continue reading "Coyote Ugly - Deserted Dogs"

Dangerous head hits in hockey are spinning out of control. The NHL pretends they don't really exist and junior players get the kind of suspensions that don't seem to act as a deterrent, because no sooner does the hype from one near-decapitation die down that anothert one takes place.

Hockey leagues of all levels in Canada are pledging to do more to improve players' safety in the wake of recent violent headshots. But one observer believes the sport could use a little help from the legal system.

Peter Donnelly, director of the Centre of Sport Policy Studies at the University of Toronto, counters that severe punishments like the one Cormier received don't do enough to deter players. "If there are any blatant attacks where clearly one person has gone after a person that was not expecting it, as in the incident with Cormier, I think that's a criminal act," Donnelly said. "

Continue reading "Hockey Police? Really?"

Has it been 30 years now since the US beat the Soviet Union at the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid?(It seems like only yesterday...)

The Americans went on to win the gold medal in hockey that year - something that hasn't happened since, but don't expect any miracles next month at the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver. No, the United States still isn't favored to win a gold medal in hockey. In that respect the Americans remain underdogs. But with a roster stacked with young talent, they certainly are a medal candidate - one that the powerhouses from Canada, Russia and Sweden can't afford to overlook. "A little bit different situation [than 1980] in my opinion," said United States team captain Jamie Langenbrunner, a forward with the NHL's New Jersey Devils. "As much as Canada deserves all the credit that they're getting for the players they have, the 23 players named to the [United States] team play in the same league as those guys and we feel quite comfortable playing against them on a nightly basis. We feel we belong on the same ice."

Continue reading "USA! USA! USA!"

Did I say love? My bad!

A huge fight that stopped a KHL Championship game just after four minutes of play has led to a criminal investigation being launched into the reasons behind the major brawl at the game between Vityaz Chekhov and Avangard Omsk on January 9th.

Match officials struggled desperately to separate the teams and eject the offending players before the game resumed, but another fight broke out after just seven more seconds of play.

 

The officials finally scrapped the match, with only seven and eight players, respectively, left on each team.

Continue reading "From Russia, with love."

I really hate to call this kid a Goon. I think punk ass bitch fits him better!

Patrice Cormier, Team Canada's World Junior captain and forward for the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies was ejected from a QMJHL game in overtime on Sunday when he came off the bench for a line change, cut through the faceoff circle at center ice, and layed an elbow to the face of Quebec Remparts defenseman Mikael Tam.

The 18-year-old defenseman suffered trauma to the skull and brain and lost many teeth. He is now hospitalized in stable condition and is expected to be released possibly as early Tuesday.

Continue reading "Goons Gone Wild - Jr. Edition"

Officiating has become so intolerable that one general manager filed a protest in a league that doesn't allow protests and several coaches have talked about reading the rulebook again to see if it had changed.

Bettman has put out many fires in his time as NHL commissioner.

On Tuesday, with the Burrows allegations, it was just a spark – and now smoke can be seen coming from Detroit.

NHL rules state that if a call on the ice is to be overturned there must be substantial video evidence to back up overturning a call. 

In this case there was none whatsover--just the word of Mike Leggo, the trailing official who claims he saw what no video camera could--the puck crossing the goal line.

What is the point of having video replay if it's not going to be used for it's intended purpose?

Continue reading "Uh Oh, Skettio's!"

As a kid growing up in the inner-city, Flint’s Rico Phillips didn’t know a whole lot about hockey until he was a sophomore at Southwestern High.

He recalls watching a game at Perani Arena. "I remember being in awe of the guys that were skating around."

Phillips had only seen a few games when he became the SW hockey team’s student trainer in 1984, and it didn’t take long before he was hooked.

After getting his first pair of skates that Christmas, Phillips slowly began getting the hang of the game.

He'd sneak into the Memorial Park rink after hours to hone his skills and eventually began playing competitively.

He still plays in two men’s leagues these days, coaches a 12-and-under team and has been a referee for 22 years.

Continue reading "Hockey For The Hood"

This blog is my shout-out to you Pens fans that have been rejoicing in the suspension of Alexander Ovechkin.

For one thing, I was all for a suspension being handed out here, and I am one of his fans.
But, he's been getting a little out of hand lately, and something had to be done to stop him from doing any more damage to himself and to others.

I enjoy watching him play, especially when he is on top of his game.
His unique style brings a little something to the game and that's something it was kinda lacking before he came around.

It may be unfortunate that he was the example, but now that he has finally been penalized for his questionable play, he has broken through this double standard issue that the NHL has denied existed for many, many years.

Continue reading "Cry Me A River"

I think I'll keep that title and do little installments here and there, depending on what I can dig up, and post stories about the common hockey player being involved in stoopid goonish situations and goon-like behavior.

Anywho, this one really isn't a laughing matter.

By now most of you have heard about and seen numerous videos from last nights Thrashers/Panthers game where Keith Ballard slapped the shit outta Thomas Vokoun.

This one has to be ranked as one of the all-time dumbest moves in hockey.

It may be one thing to take a shot at an opponent, but hitting your own damn teammate in the head with your stick out of pure anger is just plain idiotic.

Ballard’s attempt to hit the crossbar with his stick misses by at least two or three feet, and that's being generous.

Continue reading "Goons Gone Wild"

Yes, I'm an Ovie fan.
He's fun to watch when he is on top of his game.

His show-boat style and wild goal celebrations are entertaining to me.
He may not be the games classiest player, but he does demand our attention, and usually gets it. Good or bad.

However, I am not a fan of dirty, cheap hits, or this double standard that the NHL denies exists.

It's alive and well and we all know it.

This is the second time in a week that Ovie has been in hot water for questionable hits, and I think this time it's karma coming back to get him.

Carolina defenseman Tim Gleason was nailed in a knee on knee hit last night that knocked the Russian star out of the game.

After being scraped up off of the ice, Ovie was was given a 5 minute major and a game misconduct.

Continue reading "Strike Three?"