Fight card: Sens v. Flames, Dec. 27, 2008

Cody Bass v. Eric Nystrom, 14:12 first period:



Verdict: Nystrom by a mile. Maybe it's because he'd just taken a slapshot to the kidney or because he separated his shoulder in the fight, but Bass got worked.

Andre Roy on the Alfredsson injury

Andre Roy of the Calgary Flames might not be the most respected player in the league, but you've got to give him credit where credit is due: He'll never back down from a fight, and he'll always stand up for his teammates. In a recent article about the Flames' eagerness to stick up for each other in the Calgary Sun, the hit by Dallas' Jere Lehtinen on Ottawa's Daniel Alfredsson came up, and Roy expressed his disbelief at Ottawa's inaction after the incident:

On Saturday night, Ottawa Senators sniper Daniel Alfredsson was pasted into the boards by Stars veteran Jere Lehtinen. There was some pushing and shoving as Alfredsson was helped off the ice, but nobody dropped the gloves.

Roy, a former Senator, could hardly believe his eyes.

"You look at Alfredsson -- he gets smoked against Dallas -- and nobody came in, did anything. He's their captain, their elite player," Roy said. "And I've been on teams like that.

"I think here, guys always stick up for each other and it brings the guys closer, for sure, because you can always rely on your teammates coming in if something happens."

Fight card: B-Sens v. Crunch, Dec. 19, 2008

Holy shit. I don't usually do fight cards for Binghamton Senators games, but this is just pure insanity. Thanks to the anonymous commenter who brought it to our attention, with two of the AHLs best heavyweights going head-to-head.

Jeremy Yablonski v. Jon Mirasty, 20:00 second period:



Verdict: Neither? Both? Draw? I don't know. I can hardly imagine how either of these guys can be said to have 'won' the fight, since they both probably lost ten pounds throwing all those punches, and maybe 10% of their brain cells from receiving the others. I counted 60 punches thrown from Yablonski, and 64 thrown by Mirasty. Sure, only a small percentage of the throws actually landed, but holy shit, these guys are crazy.

That wasn't the only fight of the B-Sens/Crunch game, but I couldn't find videos of the Trevor Hendrikx v. Danny Bois fight, but it probably wasn't as exciting. Instead, here are some videos of legendary Yablonski bouts, starting with a 19-second mixed martial arts victory (the guy's a YouTube legend):



And a friendly-fire battle between Yabo and Chris Neil:



And finally, Yabo jumping Toronto Marlboro Kris Newbury and then indiscriminately throwing punches at whoever skates by:



So... when is Yablonski going to make his debut for Ottawa?

Alfie's worth more than two points

Daniel Alfredsson is the Senators' best all-time player. On and off the ice. He is the most popular player amongst the fan base, and--as the Sens' record without him indicates--he's the most pivotal cog in the Senators' machinery. So why don't the Senators' respond when Alfredsson gets run by hack players on the opposition?

I'm prompted, of course, by the most recent manifestation of a disturbingly un-team-like attitude: Jere Lehtinen's hit from behind on Alfie last night against Dallas. Although I haven't found the clip on YouTube yet to embed it, you can find it in all the highlight reels and on CBC's Satellite Hotstove last night. Alfredsson, while keeping the puck in at the blue line, pivoted and turned his back to the oncoming pressure of Lehtinen, who--despite calls for bringing respect amongst players back into the league--continued to run at Alfredsson despite plenty of time to change his course. Alfredsson's neck snapped back, and he fell forward about a foot into the boards. Did anything happen as a result? Not really; Brendan Bell skated towards Lehtinen and gave him what looked like a stern talking to, but no one jumped the guy.

The Senators might claim that they got back at the Stars where it counts--on the scoreboard. Post-game, coach Craig Hartsburg said they did something about the hit by stepping up the physical play for the rest of the night. Chris Neil, Cody Bass, and Jarkko Ruutu did throw some nice hits in the aftermath, and the Sens out-hit the Stars 42-27, but they should be doing that, anyway. General physicality is a statement that shouldn't require provocation, this entire team--and especially the three aforementioned players--should be finishing every check possible. When your captain and best player gets run, you do something else. Something more explicit, so that when other teams play against you, they know there is a price they will have to play for running the team's elite.

Look back a couple seasons, and see what Jack Adams Trophy winner Lindy Ruff did in response to a blindside-hit from Neil on Chris Drury:



Throw out your fighters. Show a lot of emotion; not just a little. Swear, and yell at the refs. Give them obvious instructions that they aren't just going to hit their opponents, they're going to jump them. Ottawa is, apparently, a team built with gritty, character-laden guys; where were they on the ensuing play? The fact that it was a powerplay in a tied game would have underlined the statement.

At the end of last season, the Sens did little when Alfredsson was blindsided by Mark Bell, either. What will it take for his teammates to finally step up and stand up for their team, and their teammates, and have a little respect for themselves?



Is it a chronic problem with the Senators? Fans and media have certainly spoken about it being a problem, and if so, how do you solve it? It certainly needs to be instilled by a coach; this is a team. It appeared that Hartsburg was underlining that fact earlier in the season, but it hasn't worked. There have been plenty of team meetings, maybe they need a team-building excercise or getaway to instill the fraternity winning teams need. We thought that a trip to Sweden at the statr of the year might do that, but it sure doesn't look like it did. Is it a problem with the Sens' roster? Maybe. It might be one of those, a combination of them, or maybe there's something else. Whatever it is, there is one bottom line: The Senators' skilled players are more valuable than a win. And there was plenty of opportunity for Ottawa to win the game even if they had made a statement through fighting the Stars. Sacrificing one game is an acceptable price to pay in the defence of your team's captain and best player, and--more than that--in the defence of you self-respect.

Fight card: Sens v. Devils, Dec. 19, 2008

Chris Neil v. Jay Leach, 12:02 first period:



Verdict: Neil, although it wasn't a great fight. Neil landed glancing blows, but Leach didn't even get a sniff. The end came as Neil was trying to remove Leach's helmet, but just took him down instead.

Fight card: Sens v. Thrashers, Dec. 16, 2008

Jarkko Ruutu v. Jim Slater, 18:37 second period:



Verdict: Ruutu. Unanimous, even on HockeyFights. Ruutu kicked it off with an uppercut, then a hard right, then another uppercut, and even made sure to keep Slater on his feet at one point to continue feeding him knuckle sandwiches.

Fight card: Sens v. Bolts, Dec. 13, 2008

Chris Neil v. Zenon Konopka, 7:10 first period:



Verdict: Neil, by a mile. Konopka held himself up admirably, and waved off the mercy linesman split-up, but Neil probably landed a dozen punches over all--some of the punishing variety. Unfortunately, it looked like Neil's best shots missed, including that one where he smoked the glass about three-quarters of the way through.

Fight card: Sens v. Hawks, Dec. 10, 2008

Chris Neil v. Troy Brouwer, 4:39 second period:



Verdict: Neil, but just barely. It wasn't much of a fight, really. Were there even any punches landed? I don't really think so. But Neil came closer to getting one in, so he'll get credit.

Fight card: Sens v. Panthers, Dec. 8, 2008

Chris Neil v. Tanner Glass, 3:53 second period:



Verdict: I'll give it to Neil. It was a decent bout, but Neil didn't even lose his helmet, and he tore Glass' right off. Neil threw more punches and landed more punches.

It wasn't the first fight between Neil and Glass, either. Here's their first meeting, January 22, 2008:



Verdict: Neil smoked Glass in this fight. Case closed.

Fight card: Sens v. Pens, Dec. 6, 2008

Eric Godard v. Chris Neil, 10:55 second period:



Verdict: I've got to give it to Godard. Although Neil held his own well, especially in his first game back after knee surgery and with a 3" height disadvantage, I counted five connected hits for Godard versus only three or so for Neil. Great fight, though, and it ended with sportsmanship.

Fight card: Sens v. Thrashers, Dec. 3, 2008

Note Jarkko Ruutu's awesome fu manchu.

Fight card: A new feature, inspired by Pensburgh.com, highlighting the fight(s) that may take place during any given Sens game.

Boris Valabik v. Cody Bass, 8:31 first period:



Verdict: Even. Pretty big buildup, and not too many punches landed when the fight got on. Bass held up well despite a significant height disadvantage (6'0", against Valabik's 6'7"), and ended up on top when the two went down.

Jim Slater v. Jesse Winchester, 13:44 first period:



Verdict: Slater. But give Winnie plenty of credit for his first fight in the NHL: He didn't hesitate to drop them when challenged, and threw his helmet aside for the fight. No good shots got in, but Slater threw the best one, and then threw Winchester to the ice.

Nathan Oystrick v. Jesse Winchester, 10:07 second period:



Verdict: Even. Not reall much of a fight... Winchester didn't even drop both of his gloves. More of a wrestling match along the boards. Oystrick got in more almost-shots, but Winch threw him to the ice. Two fights in the same game to start your NHL fighting career? Congratulations, Winchester.

"Atta boy, Fish"

Sorry we didn't write a game recap for the loss Feb. 28 to the Flyers. I hate SensTV. Almost as much as I hate Steve Downie. As penance, here is a video of Mike Fisher demonstrating some of the emotion that Bryan Murray was looking for when he reclaimed the head coaching responsibilities.

So... yeah. Dean McAmmond was right, "Atta boy, Fish."

In other Downie news, this guy's isn't funny, but he made one humourous remark:

"If someone ended Steve Downie's career with a Todd
Bertuzzi-like thing, I would nominate him for the Lady Byng."

Good for the Sens. There were four things that Murray needed to accomplish when he jumped back behind the bench:

1. Regain emotion: check
2. Get a goaltender to play well: check
3. Rebuild some semblance of defensive commitment: ___
4. Win: ___

So... two of four. A good start for one game.

Emery and McGrattan fight

From ottawasun.com:

"Senators goaltender Ray Emery stopped more than pucks in practice today, getting into a brief scrap with tough guy Brian McGrattan.

The pair laughed it off afterwards, but were none too pleased with each other after they bumped during a skating drill. As they squared off and tossed fists at each other, teammates quickly jumped in and ended the brouhaha.

Both players dropped their gloves after an initial shove or two in the corner, then Emery ripped his mask off and the two set at it.

"I've got to keep him sharp. You never know when he's going to (fight) again," said McGrattan. "I think the guys kind of got a kick out of it.""

Will there be repercussions? It seems like it's a pretty innocent incident, and it's certainly not rare. Considering how unloved Brian McGrattan is with management on this team, you'd have to think he'd be the first to go if someone gets traded.

McGrattan deserves better

Last night's game against the Dallas Stars, where Brian McGrattan did not play an entire shift, really put an exclamation mark on a trend that coach John Paddock has taken all year: treat Brian McGrattan like shit. And it's getting really old, Paddock.

Grats has been scratched in favour of underachievers, benched for an entire game, and simply ignored for the things he does well. Instead of pouting, though, McGrattan has played well on the next shift, if he got another one. Just the fact that he's on the ice makes the other team a little hesitant, but there's also the fact that he can forecheck well and recently has been creating scoring chances, even. Do we forget how valuable he can be? Let me offer an excerpt from a story from CBC.ca from December 2005:

But the longstanding belief that the team is soft has been obliterated this season. Rookie Brian McGrattan has helped make sure the team won't be trifled with, most notably demonstrated in a tilt with Toronto's Tie Domi earlier in the season.

I remember that fight. It pretty much ended Domi's career, and was the beginning of the end for the Leafs physically pushing around the Sens in regular-season play.

McGrattan deserves better than this, Paddock. Sure he may not be offensively gifted or defensively responsible, but he gets in hard on the forecheck and has played well in his limited ice time he's received this season. In fact, after assembling the statistics, McGrattan is fourth on the team in points-per-minutes-played (ppm). See the chart below:

1. Daniel Alfredsson: 0.06 ppm (40 points, 635 minutes played)
2. Jason Spezza: 0.06 ppm (29 points, 476 minutes played)
3. Dany Heatley: 0.05 ppm (34 points, 633 minutes played)
4. Brian McGrattan: 0.04 ppm (2 points, 49 minutes played)
5. Mike Fisher: 0.03 ppm (18 points, 569 minutes played)
   Seven others tied at: 0.03 ppm

I'm not trying to suggest McGrattan is the fourth most valuable player on this team offensively, and his numbers would likely go down if he played more. But the fact of the matter is that he's not nearly the liability Paddock seems to think he is, and his +/- rating of +2 is better than Mike Fisher (-2), Dean McAmmond (-2), and Randy Robitaille (a pathetic -7). The numbers for Fisher and McAmmond are likely aberrations, but why reward Robitaille (0.02 ppm) with almost 13 minutes of ice time per game, and bench McGrattan? I can guarantee you that if McGrattan was on a line with Jason Spezza and Dany Heatley, he would have more than four goals to speak for it. He could just stand in front of the net, piss people off, and knock in rebounds.

Give him some freakin' ice time. I realize this isn't house league, but he's earned it and he's not nearly as much of a liability as you seem to think.

Who IS this guy?!?!

Wow, Martin Gerber. Wow.

I don't know what the difference is between last season and this year; is it:

1. More confidence?
2. Better goalie coaching from Eli Wilson?
3. A better off-season workout?
4. The fact that you have little to lose?
5. An attitudinal change?
6. Gypsies?
7. More sound technical abilities?
8. The lust to drink from Stanley's cup?

I'm pretty sure it's number six. No matter what the reason(s), though, all that really counts is that you're playing well enough to steal games for the Sens, which is fine with me.

Last night Gerber's play was out of this world. Anyone who hasn't seen the highlights should check them out; especially that 5-on-3 where the Gerbinator made an incredible save, picked up the puck with his blocker-hand, and threw it down the ice. Only to have the Rangers re-enter the zone and force him to stretch his legs so far across the net that every man--and most women--cringed with thoughts of how much pain we would experience from that sort of athleticism.

Also impressive was Luke "one-punch machine gun" Richardson. Played pretty well in ten minutes of ice time, once again doing the simple things to avoid making costly mistakes. But what was incredible, though was his knock-out punch on Rangers forward Brandon Dubinsky. Holy crap.

Dubinsky, a fresh-faced 21 year-old playing in his 11th NHL game, had no idea what he was getting into when he challenged the 37-year-old Richardson in fisticuffs. He found out soon enough, and then forgot about it right after, because he was completely knocked out.

It looked alright at first for Duby, he had a few rabbit-punches on Richie and knocked his helmet off, but he let the old man get him up against the boards--big mistake. In what I'm pretty sure was Richardson's first punch of the fight, he smoked Dubinsky right on the kisser, and you could tell right away by the way he collapsed that he could hear bells. And on the off-chance you didn't know right away, you could certainly tell when he was trying to stand up and didn't look like he had the use of his hands. And then when the trainer was trying to get him to the dressing room, he got lost.

In other news, Brian Elliott is back on his way to Binghamton. Best of luck, Ellie, you did well while you were up here.

That's probably because Ray Emery's on his way back up to the big team. After failing his first test, Emery did well in the second game of his conditioning stint with the Binghamton Senators, stopping 46 of 48 shots, bringing his AHL GAA in two games up to .930; not too shabby. Awesome stat on the post-game show last night; Ottawa's two top goalies combined for 82 saves on 85 shots last night, which is awesome.

I don't know what the hell I'm going to do all week since the Sens don't play until Thursday. Maybe make some trade/signing speculations/ruminations.

Dean! NOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Mr. Heart-and-Soul Dean McAmmond is once again the victim of a dirty shot to the head. Steve Downie, also known as 'dickhead', has been put on notice (see left) for his charging/elbowing/boarding penalty when he hit D-Mac.

Many of you will remember when Chris Pronger threw his forearm to the head of M.C. 'Ammer, which resulted in a concussion for McAmmond.

Rumour has it that McAmmond's latest injury is a combination head/shoulder injury, likely including a concussion. McAmmond appeared to be bleeding from both his nose and his mouth, and the on-ice crew was seen cleaning it up after the event. McAmmond was talking to paramedics on his way off the ice, and Sportsnet reported at 10:40 p.m. Tuesday night that he was moving his arms and legs.

As someone who was at the game, I can attest to the tension and suspense in the game, as everyone was waiting to see if McAmmond would wave to the crowd to show he was okay. McAmmond lying prostrate on the ice was extremely scary for everyone there, and likely everyone watching. The situation was made more concerning directly after the hit, when a brawl broke out right beside McAmmond. While someone did fall on top of him, and people were all around him, hopefully it didn't worsen the injury.

Downie's got a history of dirty hockey, including most notably an incident with former OHL teammate Akim Aliu, when Downie cross-checked and then fought Aliu during a practice--while on the same team. Wow, class act. See the full story and video here. Count on a suspension to include the pre-season and more, with 12-15 regular-season games coming into effect if and when Downie plays in the NHL, whether that's this season or in the future. If he plays Ottawa this season, Brian McGrattan has said that "he'll get what's coming to him."

In the end, the Sens won the game 4-2, thanks to goals from Daniel Alfredsson (a beauty short-handed breakaway), Joe Corvo (wicked shot from the point), Jason Spezza (the puck hit him and went in), and Shean Donovan (who'll have to thank Chris Neil for it). Ray Emery played the first two periods, surrendering two goals on nine shots. Both Philly goals were glove-side, so either Rayzor's glove-hand is slow, or he was nervous on the prospect of re-injuring the hand he recently had surgery on. Martin Gerber played the third, and stopped all eleven shots he faced--including a few good chances.

It looks like McAmmond will probably miss a lot of action this season, since--given the cumulative nature of head injuries--the team won't risk bringing him back in the lineup too quickly. Christoph Schubert, therefore, will likely play forward, so Larry Nycholat and Luke Richardson will be the sixth and seventh defencemen (though not necessarily in that order). There are then two spots on forward, and two of likely Ilya Zubov, Alex Nikulin, Josh Hennessy, and Nick Foligno will take those spots.

The most important story of the night, however, is obviously the injury to McAmmond. We'll bring more information regarding his status and a Downie suspension as it becomes available. Let's all hope Deaner is alright, and can play again.

Watch Emery Ruin Biron