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Greg Wyshynski | December 22, 2009

The Hobey Baker Award is given annually to the top male NCAA hockey player. Its namesake, Hobey Baker, was a star athlete between 1911-1914 before enlisting in the U.S. Air Force, where he was a pilot during World War I. Tragically, he died in a postwar plane crash in Toul, France in 1918, at age 26.

Funny stuff, right? At least it was to Pittsburgh Penguins announcer Paul Steigerwald of Fox Sports Pittsburgh, who cracked one of the most awkward on-air jokes in recent memory last night during their game against the New Jersey Devils.

For the video-less, a quick transcript:

Bob Errey: "The Hobey Baker winner went down, real hard. Our Subway sandwich of the game."

Paul Steigerwald: "Not as hard as Hobey Baker went down, though. He went down in a plane crash."

Then there’s some muttering and giggling; with Steigerwald apparently realizing that he wasn’t at the Friar’s Club, saying he wasn’t trying to make light of "how he left us," while asking Errey not to "start" as the laughing begins.

As Adam Gretz points out, Baker was actually killed 91 years to the day of Steigerwald’s comment. Who says he doesn’t have comedic timing?

Now, we’re nearing a century removed from the incident, so it’s not exactly "too soon" for this punchline. We were ready to excuse it, actually … until reader John Mozena hit us on Twitter with the following: "Hobey was friends w/ my grandfather, flew in WW1 together. I’m not a PC/sensitive guy but I thought it was classless."

OK, fair enough. This is getting enough play to the point where an on-air apology during the next Pens’ broadcast is likely.

Stick-tap to the Pens Experience for the story.

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Tags: Adam Gretz, Announcer, athlete, Bob Errey, France, Friar's Club, John Mozena, male NCAA hockey player, NCAA, New Jersey Devils, Paul Steigerwald, Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh Penguins, Toul, Twitter, U.S. Air Force

Greg Wyshynski | November 5, 2009

Remember Kevin Dallman(notes)? You’re forgiven if you don’t. His NHL career lasted 154 games between the Boston Bruins, St. Louis Blues and Los Angeles Kings, with whom he played from 2006-08.

He was a serviceable spare-part defenseman, on the road to becoming a journeyman shuttled between the NHL and the minor leagues. That was until he made the bold career decision last year to sign with Barys Astana of the newly formed Kontinental Hockey League, where he scored 58 points in 53 games, including 28 goals. He was an all-star, a team captain and recipient of the first-ever best defenseman award from the League.

Dallman’s stats were treated by some as evidence that the KHL isn’t exactly the highest level of competition, and at one point the plan for Dallman was to post killer numbers in the Russian league and then return to North America.

But the KHL experience exceeded his expectations, as did living in Kazakhstan with his wife and two children. Dallman signed a contract extension that he doesn’t intend to break.

We spoke with this NHL ex-pat about the still-mysterious Russian league and how a North American handles playing in it; about his decision to leave for the KHL as a free agent; about the perceptions of his peers about the KHL and its bad PR; as well as fast food, puck bunnies, music and why Kazak fans are better than NHL fans.

Q. You’re in Kazakhstan. What percentage of "Borat" was accurate?

DALLMAN: You know, where we are in the capital of Astana, it’s really nice. Really modern. Building a lot of new apartments, a lot of great hotels. It’s really Americanized. All the restaurants have English menus, English food. There are KFCs and in Russia there’s a McDonalds and Burger Kings.

On the outskirts, there are still some places that are pretty [undeveloped], but that’s like any other city, even in North America.

So to answer your question: It’s nothing like the movie.

In "Pulp Fiction," they talked about what a Big Mac was called in France. Does a Big Mac taste the same in a McDonalds in Kazakhstan as it does in America?

(Laughs) There isn’t a McDonalds in Kazakhstan but there’s a McDonalds in Russia. I had a Big Mac two days ago, and it tastes exactly the same.

Take us back to your decision to leave for the KHL. You were a free agent in the Kings system, right?

I finished off the year in LA, and finished off kind of strong. We shopped around a little bit and there were a few teams interested. San Jose and Chicago wanted two-year deals like I had in LA; the first year a two-way [contract] and the second year one-way.

Then an offer came from Riga in Latvia, and an offer came from [a few Russian teams]. It was a lot of money, and I knew some other guys were coming over to the KHL. It was a chance for me to come over and get away from American hockey and the NHL, where I wasn’t playing as much and getting lost in the shuffle. I’d come over, prove myself, be a go-to guy and then come back after one year.

Then I had a great year last year, everything took care of itself, and I’m here from a few more years.

How do you end up being headhunted by the KHL? Were they scouting you?

They obviously did some scouting because they put out a contract, but my agent has a Russian agent and he shopped around for me. They did background, and the rest is history.

What were the most difficult aspects of the transition to playing in Kazakhstan?

The time change is 11 hours, which was hard at first. And not so difficult for me in the hockey world, but for my wife — the language barrier is tough. Not so much in Kazakhstan, but here in Russia there’s no English.

What was it like breaking the news to your family that they’d be moving overseas?

My wife just wanted me to do whatever I wanted. I was here for two and a half months before she came over. I told her it was really nice. She still didn’t believe me until she got here.

So having played in the KHL for a bit, what are the major differences in styles with the NHL?

Because the ice surface is so much bigger, you have a lot of time [to make play]. You don’t get hit as much. The players over here are really skilled and fast. In the NHL, you get hit a lot. There are a lot of big players, the ice surface is smaller, and there’s no time or space.

There are a few North American coaches over here that bring a North American style.

When you started to get a feel for the level of talent over there, were you like ‘Oh sure, I could lead the League in scoring as a defenseman here’?

I knew there were skill players here, but I thought it was a more of a defensive league than an offensive league when I was first coming over. But then when I started off really hot, things just kept going. I never thought I was going to lead the league in points or set league records. It just kept going and going.

It would be hard to repeat that season.

One of the interesting things about you is that you’re the captain of the team. You’ve got a few other North American guys on the roster, but what’s it like being the captain of a mostly Eastern European team?

It was really weird how it happened. We were maybe 15 games into the season, and they started healthy scratching our captain last year. One day I came in for the game, and I had a ‘K’ on my jersey. I was like, "What the heck?" The coach came over to me and said "cap-tain," and everyone started clapping. And that was it.

It’s definitely difficult because of the language, but I have guys like Maxim Spiridonov who played in Hamilton with the Bulldogs, and he speaks both. It’s easy with those guys around.

Do players like you and Jozef Stumpel(notes) who played in the NHL carry a bit more cache in the locker room?

Oh, definitely. When they see what we do in practice, they try to copy it. They always ask us questions, especially with a guy like Stumpel who played 16 or 17 years in the NHL; he gets a ton of respect, not only from guys on our team but from guys on the other teams.

What was it like playing the KHL All-Star Game outdoors in Red Square?

It was cold. Minus-20 or something.

I had come in early with the team president and owner and coach, and we walked around Red Square when it was all lit up. It was a great site. I came in the next day for the skills competition, and the fans were crazy. I’m sure they were all drunk.

What are the differences between KHL and NHL fans?

Some of the teams in the smaller cities in Russia don’t get as many fans, but the top teams in the brand new rinks get tons of fans. And our fans are great; they’re so loud. Our rink holds 6,000 people, it’s sold out every night and they’re just bonkers. I find them a lot louder than when there’s 17,000 people in an NHL rink back home.

Now, you’re a married dude, so you’re exempt from the details on this question, but are there KHL puck bunnies?

There are a lot of KHL puck bunnies. (Laughs.) Lots of girls who wait for us after the game. I wouldn’t say in greater numbers than the NHL.

When you talk to guys back in North America about the KHL, what is it they don’t get about the League? What are their misconceptions?

Most of them get it. A lot of them have played international hockey. But when I go home, there’s a lot of "how’s Borat do’in?" (laughs).

Did you get a ton of questions after Alexei Cherepanov died after a KHL game?

No, honestly I didn’t. I’m sure a lot of guys on the Omsk team did. But I never got asked anything about that, no.

When you were in Los Angeles, what was it like being on the same team as Sean Avery(notes) back then?

(Laughs) I liked Aves, he’s a good guy. He’s got his guys that he picks on, but I wasn’t one of them. I hung out with him quite a bit; he’s a good guy.

Your favorite and least favorite NHL jerseys?

My least favorite would be Atlanta Thrashers. My most favorite would be Detroit Red Wings.

Your most favorite and least favorite KHL jerseys, sir?

My least favorite would have to be Atlant, because they’re bright yellow. My favorite would be Dynamo Moscow. They’re kind of like the Leafs jerseys.

What’s on your iPod these days?

Jason Mraz, Jack Johnson(notes), Bob Marley.

Your adult beverage of choice, sir?

Water. (Laughs). Vodka water.

It seems like you’re a guy whose mind was changed about the KHL after competing there, huh?

I was going to come here for one year and prove I could put up numbers if I got the ice time. But I changed halfway through the year, when I got the captaincy. My agent heard there were a few teams interested if I wanted to come back and break my contract. And I said, "No, I’m having too much fun over here."

Finally, do you see a time when the bigger Russian names in the NHL will come and play for the KHL instead, like Ilya Kovalchuk(notes) for example?

I could see it, but I don’t know when. We’re getting guys now, but it’s the older guys. Maybe if they keep coming over, the younger guys will follow suit.

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Ryan Lambert | October 23, 2009

Hockey 101 is a weekly feature on U.S. Division I college hockey. Stick around and you just might learn a thing or two.

Notre Dame has a problem.

While the Fighting Irish are 3-2-0 this year and ranked No. 9 in the country, they’ve lost to a pair of what you’d call weak teams, and looked pretty bad doing it.

They might have taken the season-opening loss to Alabama-Huntsville as one of those things where an inspired opponent snuck by a giant on heart and will alone. But the loss to Providence, one of the worst teams in the country last year, six days later? That’s just inexcusable.

(Coming Up: The rising star of Stephane Da Costa; an awful start for UNH; and your national scoring leaders so far.)

Sure, they’ve now shut out two opponents in a row and climbed back above .500, but Tuesday’s win over No. 3 Boston University might have been the worst-played game between Top-10 opponents this decade.

Yes, the Irish won 3-0, but the way they did it was just about as uninspiring and hollow as a win can get. It wasn’t so much that they beat BU as it was that one team, mathematically, had to eventually capitalize on the other’s inability to do anything whatsoever with the puck. It just happened to be Notre Dame that did it.

Put it this way: Down two goals midway through the third, BU got two breakaway chances and neither resulted in a shot on goal. On the first, the Terrier forward shot the puck wide, and on the second, a different forward skated it right past the red line without even attempting a shot (and Notre Dame promptly took it the other way and scored off BU goalie Kieran Millan’s glove).

The game was a hodgepodge of mishandled pucks, amateurish breakouts and a seeming desire to take as many obstruction penalties as humanly possible, just a year removed from the teams spending all season trading the No. 1 ranking in every poll. This, I was told, is how most of Notre Dame’s first four games went.

"This is the worst game I’ve seen in a year," noted one well-traveled press box wag a little after the midway point of the game.

"It’s not so much defensive hockey as it is [bad] offensive hockey," replied another.

Both coaches, though, seemed to want to massage some kind of positive from the mess they watched their teams scrape all over the ice.

"Our team’s been a little out of sync offensively," said Irish coach Jeff Jackson, widely regarded as one of — if not the — premier coach in the college game, "and that’s what I thought I saw with (BU). I thought both teams were good defensively, but managing anything offensively was a challenge out there for both teams. Maybe that’s because both teams were good teams defensively."

To be fair, that’s not technically untrue. BU did only concede 16 shots, and Notre Dame didn’t allow a goal on 31. But most of the shots, especially through two periods, were from the perimeter and weak, and the Terrier attack seemed almost eager to wait for a shooting lane to evaporate before attempting toward goal. The Irish, meanwhile rarely held offensive-zone possession. The power plays, which finished Nos. 1 and 2 in the country last season, were a combined 1 for 14. BU coach Jack Parker described his team’s man-up play as "inept" and noted that it was "like we never practiced" 5-on-3.

The Irish did, however, find some reason for hope. Starting netminder Brad Phillips, returning this season after missing 18 months with an ACL injury and off to an 0-2 start, held up well when BU did compose itself offensively and pour on the pressure for a few minutes in the third. And last year’s productive line of Calle Ridderwall, Kevin Deeth and Billy Maday was reunited for the first time this season and held up its end of the bargain with a pair of goals.

"Going into tonight and playing a team like BU, we had to have some kind of chemistry," said Jackson. "I know that line has chemistry. Will they stay together forever? I couldn’t tell you that, but I felt like we need to establish some form of chemistry on our lines."

Whether the Irish are out of the woods yet will depend a whole lot on how they do against No. 14 (and falling) Boston College tonight. The Eagles looked markedly poor on Sunday against then-No. 11 Vermont and earning a positive result could mean the Irish are back on the right track.

Losing to BC, though? That might mean a long season in South Bend.

Homework: Da Costa isn’t your ordinary Warrior

Merrimack freshmen don’t usually get much promotion, but the name Stephane Da Costa is one most college hockey fans will be hearing a lot over the next few years.

Da Costa, a native of Paris, France, came to the U.S. to get a college education, but missed the first two games of the season due to an eligibility issue that the NCAA would have hurriedly cleared up had he been a rookie at, say, Minnesota or UNH.

"We’ve been working on (getting me eligible) for like a year and a half, so it feels great," Da Costa said after his debut. "I was just happy."

So when I saw on Twitter that he had been cleared to play the night before Merrimack’s home opener with Holy Cross, I hurriedly cleared my schedule to take in a game. Admittedly, I bought into the hype that was being peddled by a former colleague of mine who covers the Warriors and assured me this kid would instantly be one of the best players on the team.

"I think we were wrong on him," said Coach Mark Dennehy. "I think he’s better than we thought he was. I don’t know about you guys, but I saw him do some things that I haven’t seen in a college hockey game in a long time."

While he may not have gotten on the scoresheet in his first game, everyone in the building could tell the kid was special; there was a palpable buzz when the puck was on his stick. In his first college game, he was being double-shifted by the end of the first period, played all three forward positions on two different lines, ran the power play from the left halfboards, killed penalties, bought space for himself and his teammates with precocious little plays, exhibited a lethal shot and probably would have had two or three assists if his teammates had been at all prepared for him to get them the puck as well as he did. He was, in a word, electrifying.

He also devoured minutes. While college teams don’t keep those stats officially, press box estimations had him somewhere between 26 and 28.

"I wasn’t expecting it," he said. "As a freshman it’s weird to have that much (ice time), but I got it and played. I’m happy coach trusts me and I’m going to prove that I can do it."

The next night, he did. In the first 13:36, he had a natural hat trick. By the end of the game, he had five goals and, according to first-hand reports, could have had a few more points as well. The last college player to score five goals in a game, by the way? A guy you might have heard of named Brian Gionta(notes), who did it in 2001.

Extra credit

• UNH is off to an absolutely abysmal start. The Wildcats are 0-2-1 and have given up 14 goals. Apparent No. 1 starter Brian Foster has a GAA of 5.13 and a save percentage of .831 (14 goals allowed on 83 shots!) but has started all three games, which tells you how much coach Dick Umile trusts backup Matt DiGirolamo.

• Minnesota looked particularly poor against North Dakota last Friday, losing 4-0.

• Michigan State’s Corey Tropp is tied with Minnesota-Duluth’s Justin Fontaine and Jack Connolly for the national points lead at nine through four games. Fontaine has six goals already, five of which are on the power play. Hot on their heels, though, is Western Michigan’s J.J. Crew, who has 4-2-6 in two games.

• Congratulations are once again due for the Alabama-Huntsville Chargers, who improved to 3-1 with a pair of 4-2 wins over Air Force. I think everyone in college hockey will be pulling for them this year.

• The reason Nebraska-Omaha’s off to a surprisingly hot start? Goalie John Faulkner. He, like his team, is 3-0-1, and his GAA is lower than his save percentage (0.94/.958). Yikes.

Ryan Lambert and writes about college hockey weekly here at Puck Daddy. You can e-mail him here or follow him on Twitter.

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Jeffrey | October 7, 2009

It’s said that Lille is the Manchester of France, due to its industrial past. The weather we endured throughout our stay certainly reminded me of that dreary metropolis in the North West of England. Nevertheless, as we dodged the downpours we had all t…

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Tags: fantastic food, France, Lille, London, Manchester, Old Town, United Kingdom

Greg Wyshynski | October 1, 2009

The DirecTV/Versus dispute is hours away from depriving millions of hockey fans of two opening night games: The Washington Capitals at the Boston Bruins, and the San Jose Sharks against the Colorado Avalanche on Joe Sakic(notes) Night.

We’d like to say things are progressing. They aren’t, as of this morning. We’d like to report that a deal is imminent thanks to the NHL’s call to action. It isn’t, but that isn’t to say it can’t happen before the puck drops.

It’s looking bleak, and we’re not surprised to read about Avs fans that are exploring any means necessary to watch night’s game. We’re sure restaurants in all four cities will see upticks in bar flies tonight.

The latest, via some conversations this morning:

• DirecTV spokesman Darris Gringeri offered a rather stunning proposal in an interview with Adrian Dater of the Denver Post last week:

"If we don’t have a deal with Versus by the time hockey season starts, DirecTV would certainly be open to putting these games up for our customers while we continue to negotiate."

According to Versus, this is total lip-service: There hasn’t been a formal invitation from DirecTV to place Versus programming back on the service on a temporary basis. "They haven’t asked us to air the games," said a network source. "They had the chance to leave us up. If they put the game up today, take it down tonight, what’s the next day? We want a long-term deal."

(UPDATE: DirecTV statement added after the jump.)

• As for the rate increases DirecTV says are at the heart of this dispute, there is a "zero total dollar increase" on the table from Versus. In other words, if subscriptions continue to grow, the amount of money DirecTV will pay Versus will not. According to the network, this proposal was presented in the negotiation several days ago and DirecTV hasn’t responded to it — despite continuing to claim in recent media reports that Versus is trying to "jack up our rates."

• What baffles us about this negotiation are DirecTV’s disparaging public remarks about Versus over the last month.

Look, the buck-hunting/fishing/cage-fighting/occasional hockey channel isn’t perfect; puckheads know this better than anyone. But DirecTV began this stalemate by calling Versus a channel of infomercials, and four weeks later it’s quoting ratings from August — no hockey, no college football, no Tour de France August — in an effort to paint the network as a non-vital entity on its service.

Which brings us back to the baffling part: Why is DirecTV slandering a network that it’s going to ask its subscribers to pay more for should it win the negotiation? "Hey, it’s all Sham-wow ads and garbage ratings … but would you like to upgrade to our next sports tier to receive it?"

We’ve said before that DirecTV has every right, in a free market, to place Versus on whatever payment tier it chooses to. But this tactic seems a bit confusing to that end.

From DirecTV, a statement on the talks:

DIRECTV customers still have access to 96% of the regular season NHL games even without Versus.  The other 4% are exclusive to Versus and we understand that fans are frustrated with not being able to see those games.  From the feedback we’ve received, we also know that hockey fans are not really interested in the back and forth between the two companies so we are open to putting up some of these games for our customers while we continue to negotiate. But Versus would have to allow us to do that.

When this all started at the end of August, DIRECTV did offer to keep Versus up under the old deal while we continued to negotiate, but they declined.  In fact, Versus sent us a letter stating that if we didn’t agree to the terms they had on the table at the time, that we had no choice but to take it down.  Our hands were tied. 

The truth is probably somewhere in the middle of DirecTV’s public posturing and Versus’s public victimization. Whatever the real story is, we’re stuck in an acrimonious corporate dispute that seems to get nastier as the weeks wear on.

Won’t life be easier for the NHL on television when Comcast owns everything? (Thanks to Puck Buddy Mike L.)

At least there’s good news from the Center Ice front. Via inDemand:

NEW YORK, Sept. 30 2009 – NHL Center Ice out-of-market subscription package of professional hockey games skates into the new season with the longest-ever free preview, from Oct. 1 until Oct 24, 2009, announced package distributor iN DEMAND Networks.  Digital cable customers will have free access to the package which gives fans who live away from their favorite team an opportunity to follow the games, and superfans a way to follow the whole league.  The package provides up to 40 live out-of-market games per week across 14 channels, and includes a wealth of enhancements to enrich the viewing experience.  Customers who order by October 31 will save with the early bird price of only four installments of $40.95 each.

Throughout the regular season, NHL Center Ice provides fans the opportunity to watch over 1,000 live NHL games, plus select games from the first two rounds of Stanley Cup Playoff competition, as in past seasons.  More information about NHL Center Ice is available at http://www.gethockey.com/. Residential customers as well as commercial establishments can order by calling 1-888-SPORTS-iN or their local cable provider. Blackout and other restrictions apply.

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