Tkachuk brothers flush politics with fisticuffs at 4 Nations

Early fights allowed Canada/USA game to be enjoyed

Brothers Matthew and Brady Tkachuk were the MVPs of Saturday night.

Their antics allowed the 4 Nations Face-Off clash between Canada and the United States at the Bell Centre in Montreal to be enjoyed. They both got involved in fights after the respective first two faceoffs of the game.

From that point, the sellout pro-Canadian crowd of 21,105 spectators at the Bell Centre and I dare say those watching the contest on TV networks in both countries felt free to enjoy the game. The USA prevailed by a 3-1 score that included an empty-net goal.

Heading into that contest in that best-versus-best tournament that includes Finland and Sweden, most watching the game on the Canadian front were likely watching for the political story. That story was crowds at Canadian hosted NHL and NBA games were booing the national anthem of the United States due to the tariff and trade war policies enacted against Canada via executive orders by United States President Donald Trump.

The United States national anthem was booed before Thursday’s contest at the Bell Centre that saw the USA down Finland 6-1.

On Saturday in the clash between Canada and the United States, the crowd did boo the entire singing of the United States national anthem.

The crowd proceeded to sing O Canada in traditional bilingual form singing the Canadian national anthem in French before switching to English at the line, “God keep our land.”

At that point, the Tkachuk brothers ensured politics were forgotten for the next three hours. Off the opening faceoff, Matthew, who is a United States forward, engaged Canadian forward Brandon Hagel in a crowd-pleasing staged fight.

On the ensuing faceoff, younger brother Brady set to take the draw against Sam Bennett of Canada. After one second ticked off the clock, Brady and Bennett went at it in a second crowd-pleasing staged fight. When Brady was escorted off to the penalty box, he exchanged “fives” with brother Matthew before getting in the box.

As a bonus in the bout department, a six-second shift ensued that ended in a scrum around the Team Canada net. United States forward J.T. Miller and Canadian defenceman Colton Parayko came out of that scrum engaged in a big fight. After officials broke up that bout, the Bell Centre was rocking like the old Montreal Forum in NHL rivalry clashes that involved the Montreal Canadiens and the Quebec Nordiques in the 1980s.

At that point in time, it is safe to say no one was thinking about politics unless they were a “political animal” that only thinks about politics. Anyone watching that game was glued to looking at the action to see what happens next. All of a sudden, it felt like those who were watching the game were allowed to have the freedom to watch the game and even enjoy it.

During post-game interviews that were shown on television, the word “politics” wasn’t brought up when the Tkachuk brothers were interviewed. They said they were just trying to do something that would get everybody focused on the game and the idea of the staged fights was dreamed up earlier that day.

Of course, Brady is the captain of the NHL’s Ottawa Senators and Matthew played for the NHL’s Calgary Flames before being traded to the Florida Panthers and winning a Stanley Cup with the Panthers last season. Their father, Keith Tkachuk, was a popular power forward with the first version of the Winnipeg Jets. The Tkachuk family knows how passionate Canadian fans are when it comes to the game of hockey.

During their hockey careers, Matthew and Brady have relished playing the role of villain. While they love their home fans, you get the feeling they extra energized when they go into an opposition rink and they know they are going to be booed and heckled.

It can be argued that the last player to relish being a villain even more than the Tkachuk brothers was all-time agitator and top tier scorer Theo Fleury.

It was only fitting that if there were going to be any staged fights to start Saturday’s battled between Canada and the United States, the Tkachuk brothers would be involved. All that fans that boo and heckle the Tkachuk brothers have to admit they would love it if they played on their favourite hockey team.

To see an example of a villain getting love, all one has to do was look at Boston Bruins captain Brad Marchand playing for Canada on Saturday. While Montreal hockey fans despise the Bruins, they cheered Marchand every time he got near the puck.

Also, big time credit has to be given to Hagel and Bennett for stepping up on the staged fight dance card along with Miller and Parayko for taking part in the third fight in the game’s first nine seconds.

In the current day, hockey is pretty tame and not a lot of old school happenings occur in the fight department at any level of the sport. Even for myself, I am 15 years removed from seeing antics similar to the Canada versus United States clash on Saturday in the fight department happening at any level - especially at the start of a hockey game.

Following those three bouts, Canada and the United States played a typical intense and tight checking style of NHL post-season game.

Canada scored first at the 5:31 mark of the opening frame when defenceman Drew Doughty sprung all-world forward Connor McDavid into the United States zone on a stretch pass. McDavid lifted a backhand shot over the glove of United States netminder Connor Hellebuyck for a 1-0 lead.

At the 10:15 mark of the first, United States forward Jake Guentzel put a shot between the legs of Canadian netminder Jordan Binnington to even the score at 1-1.

The United States took a 2-1 lead at the 13:33 mark of the second when Canadian legend Sidney Crosby uncharacteristically gave the puck away with an ill-advised cross ice pass just inside the blue-line of the United States zone. The USA broke up ice the other way on a two-on-one break that ended with forward Dylan Larkin firing home the winning goal blocker side on Binnington.

Guentzel rounded out the game’s scoring with an empty-net tally with 1:19 remaining in the third to complete a two-goal night.

Binnington turned away 20-of-22 shots for Canada. Hellebuyck stopped 25 shots for the United States.

Matthew didn’t play the final 12:36 of the contest due to an apparent injury and stayed on the United States bench. He told reporters after the game that he would be fine.

The win allows the United States to improve to 2-0 and earn a spot in the tournament final set for Thursday at the TD Garden in Boston. Canada has an overtime win and regulation loss and sits tied with two points in the tournament standings with Finland, who has an extra time win and a regulation loss, and Sweden, who has two extra time losses.

Canada plays Finland on Monday, while the United States faces Sweden. Both those contests will be at the TD Garden.

Overall, the specter of politics will still hang over this tournament.

Still, it was fantastic that the Tkachuk brothers made sure Saturday night was alright, even if it was just for a few hours.

If you have any comments you would like to pass along about this post, feel free to email them to stankssports@gmail.com.

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NHL’s Battle of Alberta is great sports entertainment

Oilers, Flames run it back in “old school” series

Hockey cards of Connor McDavid and Matthew Tkachuk.

After two games of the Battle of Alberta, we’ve learned Connor McDavid can skate on water and Matthew Tkachuk is working his way to sainthood.

On the ice, McDavid, who is the captain of the Edmonton Oilers, seemingly has the ability to turn water into wine filling highlight reels with the two goals and four assists he has collected in two outings. Tkachuk, who is the high-scoring agitator of the Calgary Flames, showed he does have a heart of gold during a hat trick performance offering to give Oilers pest Evander Kane a few bucks after hearing Kane might be having some money problems.

In an era of sports where rivalries are really lackluster and just rivalries in name only, the Oilers and Flames are seemingly turning back the clock to the 1980s with their best-of-seven NHL Western Conference semifinal series.

Over the first two games of the set at the Scotiabank Saddledome in Calgary, the Oilers and Flames have done their best to shoot out the lights on the scoreboard. The Flames took a wild Game 1 on Wednesday by a 9-6 final and the Oilers rebounded with 5-3 come-from-behind victory in Game 2 on Friday.

The two sides combined for 23 goals and were one tally shy of equaling the NHL record for most combined goals in the first two games of a playoff series at 24 set in the 1981 post-season by the Boston Bruins and Minnesota North Stars in a first round tilt.

There have been four other post-season series that have opened with a combined 23 goals in the first two games, and all of those sets were played in the 1980s with Wayne Gretzky’s high-octane Oilers being involved in three of those series.

There have been hard hits, scrums, heated exchanges and one-on-one personal rivalries are developing right before the eyes of all onlookers.

With Oilers and Flames meeting in the NHL post-season for the first time since 1991, fans of both teams were hoping to get a rivalry series that lived up to the five playoff encounters the teams had between 1983 and 1991, but there was probably a guarded expectation of realism that likely wouldn’t happen. To the surprise of supporters of both teams, the Oilers and Flames are giving them a Christmas gift in May.

Game 1 of the series has the feeling of chaos. The Flames built a 6-2 advantage only for the Oilers to even the score a 6-6 early in the third period.

A Johnny Gaudreau card.

Calgary closed things out scoring the final three goals of that contest, which included Tkachuk scoring his team’s eighth and ninth tallies to complete a hat trick night. Flames star left-winger Johnny Gaudreau had three assists in the win as well.

On top of the goals, Game 1 of the series had so many side plots happening you could miss something with a blink of an eye.

One of those included Tkachuk trying to get under Kane’s skin regarding reported money troubles the Oilers’ left-winger was facing. In January of 2021, Kane filed for bankruptcy after accruing more that US$26-million in debt.

In Game 2, the Flames took a 3-1 lead early in the second before the Oilers closed the contest scoring four straight goals. McDavid had a goal and an assist, while his high-scoring partner in centre Leon Draisaitl had a goal and two assists.

Like McDavid, Draisaitl has two goals and four assists after the first two games of this series.

In the Game 2 win, the Oilers received a key goal by veteran defenceman Duncan Keith and timely singles from defenceman Evan Bouchard and left-winger Zach Hyman.

As far as personal battles go, Tkachuk is having his aforementioned clash with Kane. Power forwards Zack Kassian of the Oilers and Milan Lucic of the Flames appear to like crossing paths and exchanging pleasantries.

Lucic played for the Oilers before being traded to the Flames before the start of the 2019-20 campaign.

Kane also appeared to have his with issues Lucic too. Near the end of the first period of Game 1, Lucic laid a massive hit on McDavid, and Kane immediately skated in to confront the Flames aggressor.

Overall, this series has been the overall tonic needed to pull in the casual fans. Even here in Saskatoon, the Oilers and Flames jerseys are seemingly popping up everywhere as closet fans continue to emerge.

Often those fans will be sporting jerseys that done of the names of Oilers and Flames players from years gone by.

So far, the Oilers and Flames are delivering great “sports entertainment,” and their games have become must watch television. Concerns for normal strategies and tactics of the game have been thrown out the window.

Instead, we are getting jokes from Flames fans about how difficult it is for Oilers fans to count to nine with regards to Calgary goals scored in Game 1, and Oilers fans joking back they are surprised Flames fans can count past one referencing how many Stanley Cups the Calgary side has won. The Oilers have won the Stanley Cup on five different occasions.

A Leon Draisaitl card.

Now the series shifts to Rogers Place in Edmonton for Game 3 on Sunday, which will on CBC at 6 p.m. Saskatchewan time.

Even people that don’t cheer for either team are going to be tuning in to see what happens next.

In the current day, the Oilers and Flames are showing sports rivalries can still be fun and colourful. That is important to remember, because too many people involved with professional sports forget that pro sports are a part of the entertainment industry.

If you have any comments you would like to pass along about this post, feel free to email them to stankssports@gmail.com.

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NHL post-season brings much needed fun and entertainment

A Matthew Tkachuk card.

    It feels so great to be hooked into the NHL hockey world now more than ever.

    On July 28, the NHL resumed its 2019-20 campaign after being on pause since March 12 due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic with three exhibition tilts. Skating in the hub cities of Edmonton and Toronto with no fans in either building, NHL teams played a short exhibition schedule to prepare for post-season action.

    On Aug. 1, the NHL post-season opened in those hub cities with 16 teams taking part in a qualifying round that consisted of eight series that were best-of-five in length.
    As those games went on, eight clubs that comprised the top four overall spots in the regular season standings in the Eastern and Western Conferences played round robin games for seeding.

    The eight qualifying round series gave fans the NHL playoff fix they needed in spades. It was so easy to get wrapped up in storylines.

    Calgary Flames left-winger Matthew Tkachuk shined as the punk type pest as the Flames took out the Winnipeg Jets in four games in Edmonton.

    The Jets came unglued in the first game of the series, when their star centre Mark Scheifele was injured on a hit attempt from Tkachuk.

A Mark Scheifele card.

    Tkachuk was trying to finish a check and Scheifele turned awkwardly, avoided most of the contact and was lost for the rest of the series with an Achilles injury.

    After the Flames won Game 1 by a 4-1 score, Jets head coach Paul Maurice went off on Tkachuk saying the Flames forward tried to kick at Scheifele’s Achilles.
    Maurice was pulling classic gamesmanship, because even though Tkachuk is a punk, it is hard to imagine he would have time to even think about intentionally injuring Scheifele on that play with a kick.

    The posturing by Maurice led to the Jets pulling out a 3-2 win in Game 2. However, it seemed the Jets continued to be too distracted by Tkachuk and combined with the injuries piling up on the Winnipeg side, the Flames sealed the series with respective 6-2 and 4-0 victories.

    What makes Tkachuk more infuriating to play against is he puts up good statistics on top of being an agitator. He had a goal and an assist and was a plus-three in the plus-minus department in four games against the Jets.

    Tkachuk appeared in 69 regular season games with the Flames in 2019-20 piling up 28 goals and 38 assists.

A Connor McDavid card.

    The time off the NHL had from March to July provided some unpredictability when the post-season got underway too. That resulted in two of the NHL’s biggest names in Connor McDavid and Sidney Crosby getting eliminated in the qualifying round.

    In McDavid’s case, you also expected deep down the superstar centre would have a good series, but his Edmonton Oilers would still get knocked out of the playoffs.

    The Oilers proved they are the modern day “weak-kneed wimps” and couldn’t be saves by McDavid piling up five goals and four assists. They were eliminated by the 12-seeded Chicago Blackhawks in four games.

    In a normal season, the Blackhawks, who were the final Western Conference team placed in the post-season, wouldn’t have a sniff of the playoffs. Still, they had been improving during a reloading year with steady star veterans and young guns that were ready to take off.

    On the veteran side, Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane showed a pedigree that allowed the Blackhawks to win three Stanley Cup titles in the 2010s. Chicago netminder Corey Crawford rounded back into his post-season best form.
    Young 19-year-old centre Kirby Dach established that he could be a force with the Blackhawks piling up four assists and a plus-three rating. 

A Sidney Crosby Card.

    The graduate of the WHL’s Saskatoon Blades threw some big hits and executed tough defensive assignments against the Oilers biggest stars.

    Crosby and his Pittsburgh Penguins were done in by a tough goalie in Montreal Canadiens netminder Carey Price.

    Price stopped 126-of-133 shots fired his way for a .947 save percentage as the Canadiens, who were the 12^th seed in the Eastern Conference, took out the Penguins in four games.

    Crosby did collect a pair of goals and an assist for the Penguins in the series loss.
    Then there was the Toronto Maple Leafs. Loaded with young stars, they still couldn’t find a way to produce a long playoff run playing a back-and-forth qualifying series with the Columbus Blue Jackets that went to a series deciding Game 5.

    The Maple Leafs series with the Blue Jackets was the only qualifying series to go the distance. In that Game 5 that was played Sunday in Toronto, Blue Jackets netminder Joonas Korpisalo made 33 saves in his team’s 3-0 shutout win to take the series 3-2.

    For haters of the Maple Leafs, Sunday was an annual day of joy and celebration.

    Overall, the qualifying round of the NHL playoffs allowed the mind for a few hours to get immersed in the familiar ritual of following hockey playoffs.

    No matter who you follow, it was fun to have that back in life again, and here is to the rest of the NHL playoffs going off without a hook.

Hurricanes are good for the NHL playoffs, other notes

We the North Carolina pic.twitter.com/qxiwgkg2t8

— Carolina Hurricanes (@Canes) August 5, 2020

    It is so great to have the Carolina Hurricanes in the NHL playoffs.

    The staffers that work in their communications, social media and marking departments are the best. The Hurricanes swept the New York Rangers 3-0 in a best-of-five qualifying series. Before taking Game 3 of the set 4-1 on Aug. 4, the Hurricanes put up a beauty tweet on Twitter.

    Playing in the hub city of Toronto, the Hurricanes on Aug. 4 walked past the lighted up sign of the NBA’s Toronto Raptors to get to the ice surface. The Raptors won last year’s NBA title.

    Hurricanes Twitter showed video of their players walking by that Raptors sign and put up the caption, “We the North Carolina.”

    It was funny.

    Of course, it played off the Raptors slogan, “We the North.”

    Still, it is those type of little things from Hurricanes Twitter that make the NHL playoffs that much more fun.

The Hurricanes made David Ayres famous.

    The Hurricanes have hit a few homers in the last couple of years. They made emergency backup goalie David Ayres famous after he dressed for the Hurricanes on Feb. 22 and entered their regular season game after both regular Carolina netminders went down with injury.

    The 42-year-old Ayres turned away eight of 10 shots sent his way picking up a regular season win as the Hurricanes beat the host Maple Leafs in Toronto 6-3.

    Following that contest, Ayres went on seemingly a hero’s tour across North America.

    Last season, the Hurricanes advanced to the Eastern Conference Championship series and sold a tonne of T-shirts with a “bunch of jerks” written on them after long time hockey commentator Don Cherry used that line to describe that hockey club.

    As the playoffs move along, you wonder what the Hurricanes office crew will come up with next.

• Phase 2 of the confusing 2020 NHL Draft Lottery goes Monday at the NHL Network studios in Secaucus, N.J. The first overall pick for the NHL Entry Draft tentatively scheduled for Oct. 9 and 10 is still up for grabs. Left-winger Alexis Lafreniere of the QMJHL’s Rimouski Oceanic is expected to be the first overall selection.
• On Friday, the NHL’s Washington Capitals loaned centre Aliaksei Protas to Dinamo Minsk of the Kontinental Hockey League to start the 2020-21 campaign. Last season, Protas topped the WHL’s Prince Albert Raiders in scoring with 31 goals and 59 assists for 80 points in 58 regular season games. He had a plus-37 rating in the plus-minus department. Protas is eligible to return to the Raiders for his 19-year-old season. The start of the WHL’s regular season has been pushed back to Dec. 4 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Protas is expected to be recalled when activities start for the 2020-21 season in the NHL or WHL.
• I had a pair of stories appear on the newly created Howe Happenings blog that was created for the Gordie Howe Sports Complex. The post “Aiming for new future heights building on a storied past” about the evolution of the Gordie Howe Sports Complex Management Corporation can be found by clicking right here. The story “McCullough’s day at Bob Van Impe” about Devon McCullough’s glorious win at softball worlds in 2015 can be found by clicking right here.

    If you have any comments you would like to pass along about this post, feel free to email them to stankssports@gmail.com.

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    If you like what you see here, you might want to donate to the cause to keep independent media like this blog going. Should you choose to help out, feel free to click on the DONATE button in the upper right corner. Thank you for stopping in.