Hockey Hall Makes Call

The time has come. The Hockey Hall has elected the class for induction in 2024. And its a solid class too. The inductees for this years class are builders Colin Campbell and David Poile. In the players category will see the induction of former United States women's national team forwards Natalie Darwitz and Krissy Wendell-Pohl, Shea Weber, Jeremy Roenick and Pavel Datsyuk. The induction ceremony will take place at the Hall in Toronto on November 11th.

The two men going into the builders category have a long history in the game. Colin Campbell started as a coach in the league, working with the New York Rangers in 1994 when they won the Cup. After that, he spent twenty five years with scouting, officiating and hockey operations. He played over 600 games in the league on a couple different teams, but was mostly known for his post playing career. He then coached in the game from 1985 until 1997, spending four years as head coach with the Rangers. After the Rangers fired him in 1998, he went into hockey operations, a role he still holds to this day.

David Poile has been a general manager in this game for 40 years. He began his career in Atlanta with the Flames in 1972 as an administrative assistant.  He then took over in 1982 as the GM of the Washington Capitals. It was a role he held for fifteen years. Then he was tabbed to run the expansion Nashville Predators when they came into the league in 1997 and built them from the ground up. He finally retired as GM at the end of the 2023 season. Back in 2018 he became the winningest GM in the history of the league, passing Glen Sather.

Darwitz and Wendell-Pohl were both stars on the international stage, representing the Untied States multiple times at the Olympics and in several other international tournaments. Darwitz was at three Olympics (20026, 2006 and 2010) and eight more world championships. From 1999 to 2007 Wendell-Pohl played in 147 games on the international level, scoring 106 goals.

Jeremy Roenick finally got into the hall after a long wait. Roenick started his career in Chicago in 1988 and ended it in 2009 after 1,363 games 513 goals and 1,216 points. He added in another 122 points in 154 career playoff games. Roenick numbers speak for themselves. He may have been very outspoken, sure. But when it came down to it, he was able to produce on the ice.

Pavel Datsyuk. They didn't call him the magic man for nothing. He broke into the NHL in 2001 and played his entire 14 year career in Detroit. He won two Stanley Cups, played in multiple all star games, was a three time winner of the Selke Trophy.  Datsyuk played in 953 games scoring 918 points. But his game was more than just his numbers. What he could do handling the puck was better than most players can ever dream of.

Shea Weber is the last player to get in. Weber broke into the league in 2005 and played 16 years and 1,038 games. He scored 224 goals and 589 points. He was a seven time all star. weber was one of the best captains in the league a a proven all around defender.

Congratulations to the 2024 hall of fame class!

Stanley Resides In Florida

It seems as of late that Lord Stanley likes to reside in the state of Florida. For the 3rd time in the last five seasons, the Stanley Cup calls the state of Florida home. The Lightning won back to back in 2020 and 20201. Now the Florida Panthers for the first time in their history can call themselves champions. Florida won their first cup in franchise history, beating the Edmonton Oilers in seven games.

Before we get into it from the winning side, lets take a look for a moment from the Edmonton point of view.

Conor McDavid. Conn Smyth winner as MVP of the playoffs. Yes, its only the sixth time in league history somebody from the losing team has won MVP of the playoffs. It could have gone to Sergei Bobrovsky of the Panthers, but lets be real here, McDavid was the main reason why the Oilers were even in game seven of the finals. Sure, you can make the detraction that Conor was held off the scoreboard at the start of the series and over the last two games. But consider this. McDavid joins Gretzky and Lemieux as the only guys to collect 40 or more points in a single playoffs. He broke Gretzky's record for most assists in a single playoffs with 34.

McDavid is the best player on the planet and got a chance to really show it off. He came up just a tad short of the end goal, but he was a big reason that the Oilers were even in this game seven to begin with. There were times where it looked like this was going to really be the Oilers year. They had their high powered offense clicking and their defense was on lockdown. Then there were times they looked lost and at the end of game seven they had flat out run out of gas. And the drought for a Canadian franchise continues, as it has now been 31 years since a Canadian team has hoisted the Stanley Cup.

Now then, on to the Champs. This year was the 30th season of Panthers hockey in Sunrise. It was the 3rd ever finals appearance and second in a row. This year it had a different feel to it. Sure, in the middle of the finals it looked like this Panthers team was on the verge of having one of the greatest meltdowns in the history of professional sports. But they got it together when it mattered most in game seven.

For the longest time, the Panthers had played the role of little brother in a sense to the cross state rivals the Tampa Bay Lightning. Tampa has had all this success over the last almost twenty five years. The Panthers couldn't seem to hit that level that the Bolts had. So you always wondered what if, if you were and are a Panthers fan;. Over the last two years the chips started falling into place. They got the right mix of scoring defense and goaltending and in the end it finally paid off. The Panthers have stepped out of big brothers shadow.

Congratulations to the Florida Panthers. Your 2024 Stanley Cup Champions!

Say Hey!

The Say Hey Kid! That nickname carries a lot of weight. When you hear that nickname, you think of one of if not they best to ever play center field in a Major League uniform. Of course we are talking about the one and only Willie Mays. To many a baseball fan he was a hero on and off the field. The star passed away earlier this week at the age of 93.

His list of accomplishments on the field is the stuff of legend. And very lengthy at that. All of what you are about to read happened with missing two prime years due to military service.

He played 23 years and 3,005 games with the Giants and Mets. He won a World Series in 1954. Finished as a .301 lifetime hitter, with 2,068 hits, 660 home runs, 525 doubles, 121 triples, 1,909 RBI's and 339 stolen bases. He won rookie of the year in 1951, MVP in 1954 and again in 1965, was a 12 time gold glove winner and 24 times an all star. He was elected to the baseball hall of fame on his first year of eligibility in 1979. At the time of his retirement in 1973, he held the NL record for career runs scored (2,062), and ranked second in league history behind Stan Musial in games played (2,992), third in home runs (660), at bats (10,881), runs batted in (1,903), total bases (6,066), extra-base hits (1,323) and walks (1,464), fourth in hits (3,293), fifth in slugging percentage (.557), and eighth in doubles (523); his 140 triples ranked fourth among players active after 1945. He holds major league records for games as a center fielder (2,829), putouts as an outfielder (7,095) and extra-inning home runs (22), and ended his career behind only Ty Cobb in total games as an outfielder (2,842), ranking seventh in assists (188) and third in double plays (59) in center field.

The numbers really speak for themselves in that very few, if anybody, was better than Willie. He could do it all on the field. He could hit, hit for power, run, steal bases and play great defense. To put it like this, there was almost nothing that man could do on a baseball field (except pitch, but I'm sure if he wanted to he could have done that too). Now in the course of baseball history, there have been plenty of great centerfielders. Mike Trout, Tori Hunter, Carlos Beltran, Jim Edmonds, Ty Cobb, Mickey Mantle, Duke Snyder. Just to name a few. But when you ask most people who's name is at the top of that list of the greatest, Mays is always at or near the top.

His impact on the game both on and off the field will never be forgotten.

Stanley Cup Finals Preview

The time has come. We started this journey back in October, with 32 teams all vying for the richest prize in all of hockey: The Stanley Cup! We are now down to two teams left standing. One team is looking for its first title in thirty four ears. The other is looking for the first title in the history of the franchise. The Florida Panthers will battle the Edmonton Oilers for the Stanley Cup!

Florida got here with three tough series wins to march through the Eastern Conference. They started with a five game win over Tampa Bay in the first round, a six game win over Boston in round two and finally by dispatching the New York Rangers in six games in the Eastern Conference finals. This is the 2nd year in a row and third time in franchise history that the Panthers have reached the Cup finals. They are still in search of their first title.

Edmonton got here by beating Los Angeles in five games, followed by beating Vancouver in seven games in round two and beating the Stars in six games in the conference finals. This is the seventh time in Oilers history they are playing for a Stanley Cup. Their last appearance in the finals was a loss in 2006. Edmonton is looking for its first cup since 1990. This is going to be one hell of a series. You got two of the best offensive teams in the game going head to head. This series could be a massive statement for Conor McDavid. He's the best player in the world right now and he's do so much during his career. Only thing he's missing is the Cup. Now he's finally got his shot at it. And its not just Conor and Leon leading the charge this playoffs. Mattias Janmark, Ryan McLeod, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Philip Broberg have all scored big goals at different times this post season. It really is a team effort.

There was some level of trepidation going into this post season. Stuart Skinner had been good in the past couple of seasons. Last year he had firmly took hold of the starting job in Edmonton, but wasn't quite able to get the Oilers to the promise land. This year he has, now the question is, can he help them finish the job. This has been a good, well balanced hockey club in this playoffs.

So to is the team they playing in the Florida Panthers. For as good of an offensive hockey club as they have, and they have a good one, they are just as known for their goaltending. Sergei Bobrovski has been just as good if not better. He's playing outstanding hockey and has really shown the hockey world that he has been worth every cent that the Panthers have been paying him. Bob's play this year in the playoffs is proving that last year's run was no fluke.

Same thing goes for the rest of the Panthers as well. Tkachuk, Verhaeghe and Barkov have all been playing out of their minds as the playoffs have gone along. They, like the Oilers, have been operating at a different level. They are well coached, balanced and deep. This is going to be a very tough team to beat.

Pick: Panthers in 6!

Clark Impact Being Felt

There was little doubt that Caitlin Clark was going to have an impact on the WNBA. There's a lot more eyes on the sport then there have been in its 28 year history. There have been some big names and great players that have played the game. Becky Hammond, Sheryl Swoopes, Rebecca Lobo, Lisa Leslie, Cynthia Cooper just to name a few. All great players in their own right. But none have had the impact, or hype, coming into the league that Clark has.

For as good as Clark has been, not all the attention has been positive.

Don't worry we will touch on the positives. But, as you can figure, there we're going to be some comments made about it. One was from Pat McAfee. He made one slip comment about Clark, which was made during a positive rant about what she's done for the game. He did promptly apologize for the comment after it was made. He got taken to the woodshed slightly for it, but it was quickly remedied between him and Clark, as it should have been. yes it was a boneheaded comment, but McAfee took ownership of it.

Then there's Jemele Hill. She took to the internet to do what she does best. Take a big story and somehow manage to turn it racial. Hill, at one point when the WNBA season started, tried to put the spin on it that Clark was popular because she was white and using her sexuality (I'm paraphrasing here). But that's what Jemele Hill does, she uses racial issues in stories when there isn't one. Hill, to her credit, did eventually go on to back Clark and what she's done for the women's basketball game.

So that's just some of the negative stuff that's whirled around the start of Caitlin Clark's pro career. i give her credit where its due. At 22 years old, she's handling this will grace and professionalism beyond her years. A lot of that started to show through when she became a big name in the game playing at Iowa. Clark is quick to realize, 11 games as of this writing into her WNBA career, that the pro game is different than in college.

Clark has been good at what she does and has drawn eyes onto the sport.. It's not only getting eyes on her, but its getting eyes on the league and the greater game as a whole. She isn't quite at the same skill level, but Clark has the marketability and drawing power of what guys like Michael Jordan and LeBron James have done with the NBA.