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February 9, 2009
The Hockey News has been providing the most comprehensive coverage of the world of hockey since 1947. In each issue, you'll find news, features and opinions about the NHL and leagues across North America and the world.
Peace and harmony
MORE THAN THREE YEARS after it was struck, the players have learned to live with what was supposed to be an oppressive collective bargaining agreement. Heck, you might even be inclined to think the players took their employers to the cleaners again instead of the other way around. The players confirmed their happiness with the document when they voted in late January not to reopen the CBA, guaranteeing labor peace until at least after the 2010-11 season. That will almost certainly be pushed to 2012 when the players vote later to extend the deal by another year. So where do we go from here? Well, both the players and the league recently proved they could work together by altering the CBA to give the NHLPA more freedom to allocate monies from international…
Painted Saint
NOT MANY 18-YEAR-OLD BACKUPS are in the Hockey Hall of Fame. Then again, not many are as selfless as Karel St-Laurent of the Quebec League’s Saint John Sea Dogs. The native of Ville Ste-Catherine, Que., dedicated his most personal piece of equipment to fallen Canadian soldier Pte. David Greenslade. Equipment manager David Kelly expected St-Laurent to have plenty of ideas for painting his first custom mask when he made the team last fall. But he simply said he wanted it to represent his new city. Kelly thought of Greenslade, a 20-year-old Saint John native who was one of six soldiers killed April 8, 2007, when their light-armored vehicle was struck by a roadside bomb explosion. “What more Saint John could you want than someone who sacrificed their life for us to be able…
Less is more
Enough of the fighting debate. A simple solution would be to go back to the old 18-player rosters. The goons who currently play about four minutes a game would be gone and their ice time would easily be absorbed by the more skilled players who can actually play the game. Fighting would still exist. I can remember when Bobby Hull, Gordie Howe and Maurice Richard would get run into the boards and the fans waited on the edge of their seats until someone got pounded. There would be no need for the instigator penalty either, the players can protect themselves…
Big defender has big game
JARED COWEN’S puck-handling quickly impressed the Spokane Chiefs brass – and he wasn’t even using a hockey stick at the time. The year was 2006. Cowen was playing in the Sask First bantam tournament, an annual showcase of the top Western League draft prospects from Saskatchewan. “After the warmup, Jared was one of the guys picking up the pucks,” recalled Chiefs GM Tim Speltz. “That told me something about him. He was playing midget hockey (despite being bantam aged) that year, but he didn’t think he was too big for the tournament.” He was, however, too big for many opponents to handle and Spokane selected the 6-foot-5 defenseman first overall in the 2006 bantam draft. Three years later, Cowen was seventh in NHL Central Scouting’s mid-term rankings of North American skaters for the 2009…
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