Bleacher Report - Articles by Chris Pope

Pope's Pot Luck

Chris Pope — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 06:14:09 -0400

After starting out 7-1, Blue Jays’ Jesse Litsch has gone 1-6 since the beginning of June with an Earned Run Average (ERA) of well over five. So either he is finally reaching puberty or the rumours are true and he can’t handle it.

The Jays are also still reportedly shopping AJ Burnett around to the rest of the league. However, it is starting to look as if Burnett is a piece of bacon at a bar mitzvah.

Maple Leafs Sports and Entertainment recently announced that they were giving away free tickets to a Leafs exhibition game. Either MLSE is actually trying to give back, or trying to rub it in people’s faces that the Leafs will still sell out every game with a team full of minor-leaguers. I’m thinking the latter.

The NHL schedule recently came out to the public. And with that being the biggest story in the NHL lately, it goes to show that the NHL offseason is about as exciting as the PGA tour without Tiger.

The New York Giants recently cleaned up at the ESPYs on the weekend, taking home various awards. Tony Romo was wondering why the Cowboys didn’t win anything. That was until T.O pointed out to Romo that he brought Jessica instead of Carrie.

One year removed from the Grey Cup finals, the Winnipeg Blue Bombers have started the year 0-4 and turning to their back-up Quarterback, Ryan Dinwiddie, giving him his second career start. His first came in last years Grey Cup Final. Basically he has about as much experience as Saku Koivu does speaking French.

With the Rogers Cup being played in Toronto this week, a Federer vs Nadal final is more of a guarantee then the Leafs missing the playoffs AGAIN.

A Swedish newspaper recently reported that Mats Sundin had indeed agreed to play for the Canucks. Mats came out and set the record straight saying it was false, showing us we can believe European reporters about as much as we can Brett Favre.

Until next time … in the words of the great Ron Burgundy, “Stay Classy.”

NHL: Forgotten Celebrations

Chris Pope — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 12:06:56 -0400

The NHL changed the rules in their game to create more scoring in hope that fans would start watching more hockey. I, for one, love a 7-6 game as much as I love a 1-0 game, with the exception of one thing.

"Dirty cellys."

I’m not talking about the basic hands in the air screaming, I’m talking the celebrations where there is some thought put into it. Alex Ovechkin is a prime example of someone in the league who absolutely loves to score and shows it in his celebrations.

I know Don Cherry doesn’t like when players showboat after they sniped a rocket, bar and in, but I do. I would love to see the same enthusiasm put into celebrations for open net goals that go into celebrations for game winning goals.

I would also like to see more controversial celebrations because everyone seems to be doing the fist pump and jumping into the glass.

So here my top-five forgotten about celebrations that we as hockey fans should be seeing every night in the NHL.

5. “Duck Hunting”
This celebration is often seen in road hockey games opposed to on the ice. It begins with the player ripping his glove off of his one hand and throwing it up in the air in front of them. This is followed by the player using their stick as a gun and pretending to shoot down the glove at its highest point.

Not a bad celly, really, but there are many out there more creative and not to mention you leave your hand exposed for the opposing team to break some bones.

Scoring:
Dirtiness scale —5/10
Risk factor—2/10
Chance of getting “Chris Simoned” afterward—7.5/10
Total Score—14.5/30

4. “The Swim”
Many young aspiring NHL stars have attempted to “go for a dip,” if you will, in many practice shootouts.

Not very often do you see something along the lines of “The Swim,” as it is most suitable for an overtime winner, where in most cases you aren’t really prepared to perform the move and the lack of room on the ice attributes to its rarity.

A common question that comes along with “The Swim” is whether it is breaststroke or freestyle. Just don’t even think of attempting the backstroke.

Scoring:
Dirtiness Scale—6/10
Risk Factor—3/10
Chance of getting “Chris Simoned” afterward—7.5/10
Total Score—16.5/30

3. “Paddling the Canoe”
“Paddling The Canoe” has been a classic in minor hockey practices after shootouts for ages. The player skates as fast as they can, usually to the blue line or red line and drops to their ass with their feet out in front and grabs their stick like an ore and begins to paddle as fast as possible.

Players who attempt to go down the red river should be careful not to catch their skate blade on the ice as it could turn the canoe around before you go anywhere, which will take away from a solid celebration.

Scoring:
Dirtiness Scale—7/10
Risk Factor—4/10
Chance of getting “Chris Simoned” afterward—8/10
Total Score—19/30

2. “Riding the Stick”
Also known as “Riding the Horse,” this is maybe the oldest and most simple celly of the five. It is performed when a player gathers speed and straddles their stick and sits down on the shaft, maintaining the blade of the stick on the ice. Easy to perform, yet may be the most insulting celebration of the five.

When “Riding the Stick” it is important to maintain the sturdiness and not intend for the stick to act as a chair or you’re going to be looking at the rafters real soon. Also, the ideal place to “Ride the Stick” would be right in front of the opponent’s bench.

Certain players have been known to take one hand off the stick and use it to motion as if they are waving a lasso. If someone doesn’t knock your head off after you “Ride the Stick” then consider yourself lucky.

Scoring:
Dirtiness Scale—8.5/10
Risk Factor—5/10
Chance of getting “Chris Simoned” afterward—10/10
Total Score—23.5/30

1. “Shooting the Moon”
This celebration is quite complicated and could make you look more like an idiot than a hero. It is very rarely seen due to the chance of screwing it up, but if you possess the skills to pull it off, I guarantee that you will be talked about in dressing rooms forever.

The player places two hands on their stick in front of them and begins to bend one knee. They then begin to almost sit on the ice with their opposite leg straight out in front of them.

“Shooting the Moon” could be taken to the next level if you threw in a fist pump.

Scoring:
Dirtiness Scale—8.5/10
Risk Factor—10/10
Chance of getting “Chris Simoned” afterward—6/10
Total Score—24.5/30

The argument of what the best celebration is has been going on among hockey fans forever. In the past you had the Jaromir Jagr kiss of the two fingers pointing to the crowd and Theo Fleury’s knee spin.

More recently, you’ve seen the Brad Marchants in the world grabbing the symbol on the front of the jersey and the aforementioned Alex Ovechkins with the one knee fist pumps and their own version of the Lambo Leap into the glass.

But I am still searching for that one special player to pull out a “Shooting the Moon” into a “Duck Hunt” on to “The Canoe” which I would call, “Shooting the Duck on the Moon in a Canoe”.

Now THAT would make me celebrate.

Straight from The On Deck Circle.

Is Wayne Gretzky Truly "The Great One"?

Chris Pope — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 04:43:20 -0400

There is one common argument that comes up, regardless of what sport you are talking about—who is the all-time best?

Naturally, when this type of argument comes about there are cases to be made for each and every player involved in the discussions. It seems as if each argument ends up in a stalemate with the impossible task of comparing stars from different generations.

So to help knock out one of these arguments, I’m going to take a look at Wayne Gretzky and compare some of his stats to other players' in an attempt to see if he truly was the greatest player to ever play the game of hockey, or if his success was just a result of the generation that he played in.

Gretzky’s highest point output was in 1985-86, when he scored 215 points in only 80 games, as the National Hockey League (NHL) hadn’t yet expanded their schedule to the full 82 games. To put into comparison how remarkable that point total is, Alexander Ovechkin won the scoring race this year with 112 points, which is an average of 1.36 Points Per Game (PPG). During Gretzky’s record-setting season, he had 168 assists alone.

The 200-point plateau has only been hit three other times, and of course all by Gretz himself—in 1981-82 (212 in 80), 1983-84 (205 in 74), and 1984-85 (208 in 80).

In the NHL’s inaugural season in 1917-18, the schedule was only 22 games long. The Montreal Canadiens' Joe Malone led the league in scoring with 44 points, which is an average of 2.18 PPG. However, if he were to play a full 80-game schedule, that would only have sat Malone with 174 points.

Good? Damn Good! Gretzky Good? No.

Then in 1929-30, with the schedule now doubled to 44 games, Boston Bruins’ Ralph “Cooney” Weiland led the NHL with 73 points. Despite the increase of games, Cooney`s 1.66 PPG was still lower than Malone’s, and would have only been 133 points over a 80-game schedule.

In 1943-44, another Bruin, Herb Cain, notched up an impressive 82 points in a 50-game schedule. Cain earned 1.64 PPG—which would still only be 131 over 80 games. Still not even close. NEXT.

Gordie Howe is often called the greatest player to ever play the game, but his highest output was in 1952-53 when he scored 1.36 PPG—95 points in 70 games, which would translate to 109 points in an 80-game season.

Then it was two Blackhawks who tried to outscore Gretzky, even though Gretzky had not yet stepped foot on an NHL rink. Bobby Hull and Stan Mikita both scored 97 points over a 70-game schedule in the mid-sixties. This left them both with just a measly 1.39 PPG and 111 points in an 80-game season.

While playing for the Boston Bruins, Phil Esposito racked up 152 points in just a 76-game schedule. For those of you who are doing the math yourselves, I’m sure you noticed that was two PPG even. This would have left him with 160 points over 80 games—still over 50 points away from Wayne’s 215.

Had Esposito played with Gretzky and notched his two PPG every season, he still would have finished second in scoring to Gretzky for seven straight years (1980-81 to 1986-87) as Gretzky had over 160 points for those seven seasons.

After Espo, no one notched about 150 points until Gretzky came into the league. Then the hockey world was treated to Gretzky vs Lemieux. Mario played 17 seasons in the NHL, but never once played a full 80 games. It is well documented the struggles and tribulations he went through, with injuries and eventually a battle with cancer.

Over his career Lemieux took home six scoring titles. His highest output was when he managed to put up 160 points in 1992-93 playing only 60 games. So if he were to have played the other 20 games at his 2.67 PPG, he would have ended up with 214 points, just one point behind “Wayne the Stain”—that is, if he could have kept that pace up.

Joe Thornton had the highest point output since the turn of the century. with 125 points in 2005-06. This turns out to be 1.52 PPG—still middle of the pack compared to the rest of the field.

So, for a brief recap:

Name	Year	PPG	Points over 80 Games
Joe Malone	1917-18	2.18	174
Cooney Weiland	1929-30	1.66	133
Herb Cain	1943-44	1.64	131
Gordie Howe	1952-53	1.36	109
Bobby Hull	1965-66	1.39	111
Stan Mikita	1966-67	1.39	111
Phil Esposito	1970-71	2.00	160
Mario Lemieux	1992-93	2.67	214
Joe Thornton	2005-06	1.52	122
Alexander Ovechkin	2007-08	1.36	108

Now, let us turn to Gretzky. Wayne played 20 seasons in the NHL, and scored more then 120 points in his first 14 out of 15 seasons. In Gretzky’s 215-point output, he earned an astounding 2.69 PPG. What about his other seasons in the league? Well...not that far off.

Name	Year	PPG	Points over 80 Games
Wayne Gretzky	1979-80	1.73	138
Wayne Gretzky	80-81	2.05	164
Wayne Gretzky	81-82	2.65	212
Wayne Gretzky	82-83	2.45	196
Wayne Gretzky	83-84	2.77	222
Wayne Gretzky	84-85	2.60	208
Wayne Gretzky	85-86	2.68	215
Wayne Gretzky	86-87	2.31	185
Wayne Gretzky	87-88	2.32	186
Wayne Gretzky	88-89	2.15	172
Wayne Gretzky	89-90	1.94	155
Wayne Gretzky	90-91	2.08	166
Wayne Gretzky	91-92	1.64	131
Wayne Gretzky	92-93	1.44	115
Wayne Gretzky	93-94	1.60	128
Wayne Gretzky	94-95	1.00	80
Wayne Gretzky	95-96	1.275	102
Wayne Gretzky	96-97	1.18

He won the NHL scoring title 10 times, and came in second an additional three times. Gretzky scored over 100 points 15 times in his 20 year career. In the past four years, the NHL has only seen 11 different people break the 100-point plateau.

Of course, we have to take into consideration the amount of equipment goaltenders wore, the new style of goaltenders, the new style of play, the trap, teammates—and all the rest of the facts that go along with the game of hockey.

But that would take even more effort than this. And quite frankly, this is enough for me to call Wayne Gretzky not just “The Great One”—but truly, “The Greatest One.”