We have hockey here

and you don't. Say thanks to Bettman

NHL got cancelled until 30th of December. Is it the last milestone until cancellation of the whole season? Could be, previous were October games, then Winter Classic, then All Star game, and is this the last step before NHLPA and NHL refuse to kiss and make up?

Please do, or we're going to have many more players come overseas and face the cultural shock when they do come. 

There and back again

There are few traditional migrations of players between Europe and North America. One happens with young talent that goes from Europe to try in various junior leagues all over NA and in case of older boys to collegiate hockey, where mostly they stick to studying and play some hockey until their talent gets recognized or more often, until they finish school and return home. 

The other "natural" migration is of talented hockey players moving to top European leagues in search of their dream, and seasoned vets and players to less prominent leagues and clubs looking for jobs. "Kids" often find it strange when they come over from big hockey towns with newer facilities, different ownership status and different lifestyle to a more traditional, sedentary way of life.

Most of these countries have lots of "history" as they put it, and lots of, behind the scenes work, issues players just don't understand at first glance. From mostly English (or French) speaking countries, players venture to Swedish, Finnish, German, Czech, Slovakian, in some cases Italian and in best of those to English (UK) and French speaking countries. Lots of languages, players from all over world and from dozens of different cultural styles often meet. And then you start talking about hockey. If they're lucky they land in a place where there are a few NA players already or at least a coach to help them sort it out. 

Crimmitschau ice hall - open to the side and woods on the right

Now, imagine to land in a small city (eg. Crimmitschau - signed Simmonds, Stewart and MacArthur), some 250 km south of Berlin on border with Czech republic. Folks are mostly German with some Czech mixed in between, players are almost all German, with few imports from East. And you're a Canadian guy that doesn't speak German. Your coach knows some words but that's it. And in between facility is 3 parts closed and one part open towards the woods. And You haven't played outdoors since you were a kid. 

Its kind of hard to get there and into the game isn't it? Now instead of German town put in a Czech city, a Hungarian metalworking town, or any other place. If you're lucky you end up in bigger cities or, in places where many people know your language. Otherwise you adapt, start learning the local language or in some, you just don't bother.

Wayne Simmonds in Europe during NHL lockout

Now imagine that with all those cultural and language barriers you head into a bunch of provocative and drunk fans that start throwing racial slurs. Wayne Simmonds is a hell of a player and he felt that. Lots of ink has been spilled over chants calling him a monkey in Czech republic so I wont cover it all again. It was just a really ugly game, that shed some really bad light on European hockey and its great and loud fans. Hope it won't happen ever again. Good luck back home practicing with great guys at "Beyond the next level" facility in Toronto by @DeejBTNL 

Players that head into bigger cities like Vienna, Berlin, great organisations like Red Bull Salzburg (just added Boychuck, Dorsett, Mike Duco etc.), Milano get it easy as they can feel the spirit of Europe just by poking their heads out. 

Dustin Jeffrey (Medvescak Zagreb) - photo by Igor Šoban

Dustin Jeffrey (Pittsburgh Penguins) went to Venice on his first day off, then went to Budapest. All in a driving distance from Zagreb, Croatia, where he currently plays and makes fans love him with his every move  day in and out. He will get to visit one of the great cities of the world, Dubrovnik, and many more just by having an NHL lockout. 

Many others, including guys in Swiss, Germany and other countries like Briere, Giroux, Tavares, Ty Seguin and many more have great time playing abroad. Of course they mostly play for pocket money and insurance, but they do what they love. They play hockey. They give their best each day, each practice and aren't spared on the ice. 

Sam Gagner happily chewing on a mouthpiece. He's the one
 in white red jersey. #97 in case you missed it. (P: Igor Šoban)

EBEL league has its stars too. Sam Gagner just can't believe how beautiful the Austria (and 4 other countries he plays in while on the roster for EC KAC).  

@grabs40

Beautiful Austria“@89SGagner: On the way to Innsbruck earlier today #scenery pic.twitter.com/UN6ND0zX”

And then he proceeded to demolish Innsbruck with a few goals justl like his teammates Alex Cogilano and Tyler Myers (currently on IR list with a knee injury but expected to be on roster by weekend). Or was it an ankle injury? I'm sure someone cares about it, but its not me. 

Free summer with additional free fall?

And it looks like the NHL season is in indeed a free fall. Another batch of games up to Dec. 30th have been cancelled. Xmas is right on the corner and owners (and players according to HRR) are going to lose bunch of money by not selling games and merch during the games. All that TV coverage, and overall hockey related revenue is basically as good as gone. 

Season 2004. - 2005. is likely going to be repeated, and no one is going to profit from that. Well mostly no one, Europe will love it. Some guys will come over, enjoy the opportunity, possibly for the first time ever in their schedule driven life to enjoy hockey and play abroad. From midget, to AAA to collegiate/pro hockey most of them never had a "free" summer followed by a free fall/winter. Without having to worry about getting through the camps, being sent up/down or traded on a whim of the owners and coaches, players have a chance to do what they're best. Enjoy hockey without a capitalistic driven North American society. 

Enjoy it while you can, soon you'll be flying franchise jets, living a fake dream and enjoying bloated contracts that block negotiations more firmly than any other points Bettman and Fehr are trying to battle around. 

Embrace the LOCKOUT, see the World, play hockey. 

Locked-out!

And there is nothing we can do.

Third month of 2012/13 NHL owner imposed player lockout is looming. Both parties have presented proposals, counter proposals, withdrew proposals and refused to move from their positions. Both parties wish to bring the public and fans on their side. But fans, media and public do have a single standpoint in common: they want to see the game played at the highest level.

RIP David Courtney

But with all these big players, team owners, managers and agents either arguing or looking for job for their clients overseas, fans pay the ultimate price. Without fans the League is nothing. Just like Phoenix. But these guys are not the only ones at loss now.

Recently deceased 22 season long LA Kings PA announcer David Courtney had a job regardless of Lockout. He was the voice of LA Clippers, Angels and Kings so he still had a job when NHL decided they won't play any games yet.

Many other arena and facility workers are now without work. No games, no announcements, no facility maintenance, some places don't even have ice on. Garry Bettman, you didn't just lockout players, you lost a lot of people their livelihood. Get it rolling and take some cuts, be a man in this sport. Its a game of men and honour. Tge greatest game on planet.

While Gary, Don, mediators or not, stop playing. We want to watch hockey, not lawyers and managers fighting over money fans and sponsors throw at your face. For a reason. To watch hockey.

And here is the Class of 12/13 NHL Lockout:

Phil Kessel (@BTNL) doing interview for Sportsnet

Hiding in a world class gym and ice rink the Class of 12/13 Lockout spends their days working out, getting ready and pleasing the not-so-small crowd that gathers at every practice. Beyond the next level training facility is run by a guy living the dream. With big players working hard in the great facility under professional care Mr. BTNL (Dan Ninkovich @DeejBTNL) is doing a real work during the days of Lockout.

It all started with a few players reporting in at the start of lockout for a regular gym sessions, some skating time and dangling the puck while the few days the lockout was supposed to last pass. 

These days you can see running around the gym PK Subban, Kessel, Kaberle, Clarkson, Mason, Winnick, 

many other younger prospects, and many, many fans enjoying a beer while watching their stars skate, play a dummy game or just work out.

Dan, you're doing the job NHL can't. You're making the players stay fit and ready for fans. Keep up the work and lets see you play some shiny with the boys! We're watching.

What else to do when there's no games?

Many players have headed over the seas. Some are in Europe, some in Russia, some are still at home working out. Over the past weeks I've written about numerous players in my "home" league, and since last update there were a few more additions. After Boychuk in Red Bull, the bulls signed Rob Schremp. Why you ask? 

Rob Schremp signed for Red Bull Salzburg

I think this is a good enough answer. Then they signed an NHL duo Derick Brassard and Derek Dorsett. And in their first game, they won! Atta boys! Schrimp boy added 4 assists, Brassard scored and assisted, while Boy-chuk was there too. So happy.

From left to right three guys making a living in Salzburg after Gary fucked up NHL season
(Brassard, Schremp, Dorsett)

Rest of the guys aren't noteworthy so far. Gagner is skating in Klagenfurt, Myers is there for company and with roughly 35 TOI, while Bickell can't get his team on a winning track in Znojmo, Czech. Muršak scored tonight a decisive penalty for his team to finally take two points from another away team except Zagreb.

Grabner is skating around, and Nodl is enjoying sweet alpine air. His team did take 5 points in three games but who cares anyways.

The guy who I like in Vienna (one of few) is this guy:

Philip Pinter. Nice guy, nice mustache and great twitter feed. Follow him @85fipo. And he owns twitter feed of Caps. A real spirit of the team.



What else? Ljubljana did a Teddy bear toss. Barely scored a goal. Did throw roughly 7,5k stuffed animals on the ice, almost two per person at the game.

Dustin Jeffrey (Pittsburgh Penguins/Medvescak) scored a goal and started a Toss in Zagreb

Two days laters Bears did the Teddy bear toss. Barely scored a late game goal. 5 thousand something stuffed animals hit the ice, which means less than one per peson in the hall that day. Maybe it'll get better. Or the guys will do some more original activities. But it looked cool though. Really cool.

And now... the conclusion

I've started this post with a thought about players I've been wanting to see on ice in Zagreb for past four years. There are few I've had luck of seeing, and some a luck of calling friends and working with them for a while. 

The list would become a standalone club if all the guys came over. Few of them are "wet dream" of every Zagreb fan, yet, we've seen a few of them ending careers instead of coming over. One of these guys is Victor Oreskovic. 

Victor Oreskovich during glroy days

Vic already had a break in 05/06 and 06/07 after not reporting to AHL camp. This fall he considered going to KHL, hoped of playing a role other than checker and gritty boy in NHL, thought about big money and finally decided to sell insurance. Wow Vic, thats a promising career. From an NHL player (even though you're a 4th liner) to a insurance guy. Hope you like it, but the world is really big and I'm sure a step across the pond (you see what I did there?) would be the right one. Good luck.

Daniel Vukovic

Then there are many other players who fans would like to see over. Phil Oreskovic (without H) is playing in East Coast this season. He would be an okay addition but D part of the club is really strong this season. Also, Mark Popovic is the guy to look out for in Langnau (NLA), Mark Katic (Berlin), Travis Hamonic (NYI - a real wet dream of a few guys I know), Daniel Vukovic, all on D. With these guys Medvescak could take a shot on KHL though. That would be a fun team to watch. And listen to curse. 

Maybe its time to get some lottery money and start a team. Should work like a charm. Or does anyone got a rich uncle? 

Until next time, stay fit, watch hockey, keep your feet moving and head up high.

P.S. Anyone seen Stewart or Simmonds lately? 

Is it time yet?

Around this time of year in many of the leagues serious contenders for playoffs are profiled. First third is already down, most teams know their ups and downs and first changes are being made. Weakest links and all that business.

EC KAC is a team with tradition, history and passionate fans. They do lean towards the right a bit too much, but as long as there is beer and food there is no problem in Klagenfurt. However... the title keeps eluding their grasps for a few years now despite big names and players coming to play in Corinthian club. Four seasons without the title makes KAC a place with lot of pressure both on players and management. Last year's "shock" therapy with removing Manny Viveiros from the head coach bench has proven to be a "minor improvement" and then managed to get to the finals for the second year in a row just to get demolished by EHC Black Wings Linz. Now they tried to shock the team back on track again.

Andy Chiodo (EC KAC) doing a crazy dance in front of Adam Miller (Medveščak)

On Sunday KAC lost to Vienna with 1:0, and then a change happened. Weber took some time off to be with his wife, and Manny Viveiros managed to hustle his way back on the bench. 11 injured players and a new import Andrew Cogliano. Cogliano is friend of an NHL Lockout player on a stint in Klagenfurt, Sam Gagner. While KAC is steering towards utter fail, signing of Gagner and Cogliano isn't helping. Two "good" players have between them a total of zero pro seasons when they played in playoffs. Is time for them to try the taste of it finally? Only time and Bettman will tell.

Sam Gagner chewing his moutpiece while Bears own his a$$ (photo: Igor Šoban)

Sam Gagner fires a shot from a blue line. 

Sam Gagner appeared (sorry for the pun) in 11 games so far for EC KAC and got 14 points on his sheet. Not bad though, but he's also +- 1. KAC is still looking for a home win in November, and Head coach change wont help with it. On the road they're terrible, five losses in a row.

Sammy said he's all alone there and he needs a friend from americas. So the management went to ask Cogliano whether he's bored over there. Lucky for them he came over and in one game added a single assists so far. Oh boy. So good.

Another Bull in Salzburg - Johnny Boychuk

Red Bull Salzburg on the other hand is slightly worse than Klagenfurt. With 20 points in 23 games RBS is firmly holding 10th place. Bernd Bruckler is injured, terrible Alex Auld holds one win for the team, while Gračnar, a terrific young goalie is out for next one to two weeks. Clarkson and Enstrom left the team few weeks ago, while the Bulls added Johnny Boychuck to the roster.

PAN Arena Ice Fever (photo: Igor Šoban)

After suffering a defeat in front of 15.200 fans in Arena Zagreb, with brave youngster Gračnar between the pipes, Bulls had no choice but to have Auld in goal on Tuesday. NHL veteran goalie had a stunning 83% SVS% and they managed to lose against their arch nemesis Szekesfehervar devils with 4:5.

Also check out this gnarly interview that an NHL player gave. He did lose but still, that's one poor loser. You can hear everything under the dub that Croatian commentator did live. Good job Tyler Myers, you're a complete twat.

Are NHL players really worth it regardless of teams they play in? Vanek certainly wasn't. Ever since he left Graz 99ers are on the roll, last five games they won clearly. VSV is slowly dropping and now they're third with 4 points behind leaders, while Andreas Nodl is not to be mentioned ever again. Clearly one of the best additions to the league currently is Jan Muršak in Olimpija who in 18 games has sky high 33 points (12 goals).

Medveščak just finished their first series of Arena games with two wins and one loss in 5 days. Rougly 40 000 fans saw Medveščak playing against Olimpija, Salzburg and Klagenfurt and quite few NHL players: Sam Gagner, Tyler Myers, Alex Auld, Dustin Jeffrey and Jan Muršak. A game on Sunday, 18th of November, had a special meaning to all Croatians, as it was the day when 21 years ago Vukovar fell. In honor of that heroic city there was a minute of silence for all victims of the war horrors. And it was quite the picture.

18.11.2012. PAN Arena Ice Fever KHL Medveščak Zagreb - EC KAC 4:1 (photo: Mirko Janković)

Three home games in a row meant that its time for Bears to hit the road. First stop was again a game against Klagenfurt, just this time Red-White had Cogliano to back up their battered roster. It wasn't enough once again regardless of 3 point game by Sammy Gagner.

Dustin Jeffrey (Pittsburgh Penguins) scores a decisive penalty shot for the victory.

Yeah, no chance for Andy Chiodo there...

Last week I also met some guys, so shutout to Barbara Kavčič, Matej Grošelj from Ljubljana and Hannes Biederman from Vienna. You all owe me beers now. Officially. Only Rok Županc gets a free pass but he's EBYSL Team Manager now. Lucky guy!

Hopefully next update will be soon, so spread the love, we're back!

P.S. Simmonds and Stewart broke up and Stewart ran back to East Germany to cry manly tears. Simmonds decided not to return to Germany, had a family issue and returned to Toronto area. Hopefully guys will get back together in NA or somewhere else if Lockout lasts. I would hate to miss all this love and energy.

P.P.S. A friend of mine, Ned Lukacevic also left Crimmitschau but went to Slovakia and Banska Bystrica. So far in 4 games Neddie has 2 goals and 4 assist. Not bad buddy, by Xmas I want atleast 2ppg or we're not going to Adriatic this summer.

Ned Lukacevic and Dennis Bozic with a friend