Stephen Simcox Baseball Dance

Don't think I forgot about Snarky Steve! Pants Off Dance Off!

Green Machine Musings- Offseason Preview

 

                It was a most unfortunate turn of events that transpired on Sunday night.  I could smell a Game 7 with the Stars up by two goals with under three minutes to play, but Anaheim had other ideas.  It doesn't matter if you're the 8-seed playing with nothing to lose.  It doesn't matter that you're a franchise that is still very much in the process of rebuilding.  It hurts to go home early.

               Thus, I won't deny that this was a very painful moment for the Stars faithful, but I think that this fan base handled it pretty well.  The people understand where this franchise is headed, and they will remain optimistic that 2014-15 will be another step toward hockey's promised land for the Dallas Stars.  But before we move forward into full offseason mode, we must look back upon what was the 2013-14 campaign and analyze what it is the Stars must do to continue building both their team on the ice and their image in the community.  To do this, I will first make a series of posts in which I will assign a grade to each man on the roster, including players, coaches, and management.  After that I will debate what the Stars most pressing needs are for next season and analyze the means for addressing them: trades, free agency, and prospect development.  Finally, I will look ahead to the 2014 NHL Draft in Philadelphia on June 27-28.

 

 

 

Here's a list of important dates for the 2014 Offseason:

-May 25-31: Scouting Combine

-June 27-28: NHL Draft in Philadelphia

-July 1: Free Agent Signing Period Begins

-July 16: 2014-15 Schedule Released

-Early Sept: Traverse City Prospects Tournament

-Mid Sept: Training Camp Begins

NOTE: In April alone, the Stars added over 1,000 new full season ticket holders (myself included as I upgraded to a partial-season plan with full-season benefits).  The crowds next year are due to be substantially larger given the energy that the playoff appearance brought to the fan base, so I highly recommend you look into purchasing some sort of ticket package to guarantee your seat to the best games.  If you're interested, give my personal ticket representative, Travis Gafford, a call at (214)- 387-5569.  He made the process extremely easy for me and he'd be more than happy to do the same for you.

Kris Dance Off Performance

In case you've never had the pleasure of seeing Riff Ram Co-Host Kris Gross dance. Here he is at Lupton Stadium in the 4th Inning Dance-Off. Enjoy!

Green Machine Musings- Game 4 Recap and Preview of Tonight's Tilt

If this isn't the best hockey fight picture ever, I'd sure like to see what is.

            Game 4 of the best-of-seven series between the Dallas Stars and Anaheim Ducks was full of storylines even before the game began.  Upon taking the ice for warmups, the Ducks announced that captain Ryan Getzlaf would not play due to an undisclosed upper-body injury that required treatment back in California.  This meant that, of the three players on the Ducks top line that faced the Stars in Game 1, only Corey Perry would be available as Matt Beleskey remained out with an injury as well.  Surely, Lindy Ruff took the initiative to roll his lines more evenly against an Anaheim team that was sure to do the same.  For the first third of the game, however, Dallas' run of forcing the Ducks to play their game looked to have come to an end.

 

            Initially, the Stars appeared to have the Ducks on their heels yet again as they came out fast and physical.  Two monstrous hits, including one by Vernon Fiddler that temporarily knocked Anaheim defenseman Hampus Lindholm out of the game, set the tone for the Stars in the early going.  However, the Ducks quickly grabbed momentum when Bryan Allen let a slap shot fly that beat a screened Kari Lehtonen to his glove side.  It was Allen's first career playoff goal and the first time in three games that the Ducks had got on the board first.  Dallas' defensive woes continued as a brutal turnover by Sergei Gonchar behind his own net resulted in a Mathieu Perreault shot deflecting off Patrick Maroon, off Lehtonen's helmet, and into the net for a 2-0 advantage.  With the life sucked out of the home crowd, the men in green would have to rely on their veterans and top line players to stay focused and find a way to put some life back into the building.

 

 

 

             The second period could not have started any better for the Green Machine.  Less than 30 seconds into the frame, Jamie Benn won a faceoff just outside the Anaheim blue line by going forward with the puck.  After just a few strides, he let a wrist shot go that was perfectly placed in the top corner on Frederik Andersen's stick side to cut the lead in half.  The crowd was immediately back in the game and the Stars fed off that positive energy, generating a plethora of quality chances shortly thereafter.  With just under 14:00 left in the period, Shawn Horcoff (above) brought the puck across the Ducks' blue line on an odd man rush before finding Vernon Fiddler at the right circle.  Fiddler skated in on Andersen from a tough angle, but still beat the young Dane to the near post as the puck somehow found its way through the netminder's armpit.  The crowd went absolutely bananas and the Stars looked primed to jump out in front.  In all, they outshot the Ducks 16-3 in the second, but were unable to puncture Andersen any more in the period.  A rather unfortunate development took place on the side for the Stars as defenseman Patrik Nemeth left the game early in the period with an undisclosed upper-body injury, forcing Lindy Ruff to roll five defensemen for the remainder of the game.

 

               The third period began with the Stars playing very fast but not generating much in terms of shots on goal.  That all changed when Cody Eakin raced in on goal and rang one off the far post a few minutes into the period.  It seemed like only a matter of time before Andersen let another one go by.  At the 6:30 mark, Eakin decided that he was destined to score.  The Ginger Ninja took an outlet feed from Antoine Roussel just inside the red line and escaped the reach of Devante Smith-Pelley at the blue line. Skating in on a two-on-one, Eakin decided to continue in on goal and beat Andersen to the far post again, this time finding the twine for a 3-2 lead.  Just over a minute later, the Stars brought it in again and Vernon Fiddler dished a lethal saucer pass across the slot to Alex Goligoski, who beat Andersen low to the stick side for a 4-2 advantage. 

 

               Having allowed two goals on two shots in the frame, Andersen was pulled by coach Bruce Boudreau in favor of the veteran Jonas Hiller.  Hiller faced only one or two real shots in his time on the ice, but the Stars took more than a few shots in the form of violence in their end as the clock wound down.  Boudreau's decision to send out Mark Fistric as his sixth "attacker" in a vain attempt to tie the game was interpreted by many Stars fans as a deliberate attempt to gain momentum moving forward by shoving the Dallas players around.  For example, Ryan Garbutt was knocked into Kari Lehtonen with just a few seconds to go, a violation that went uncalled, and the aforementioned Smith-Pelley stared down Kari Lehtonen after the final horn sounded.  It was an all-around ugly situation and a foreboding omen of things to come in this series.  Regardless, the Stars have tied this series up as it shifts back to California.  One can also safely assume that Boudreau's attempt to intimidate us didn't work.

 

 

 

              Tonight, we are going to learn a lot about these two clubs.  The Stars have nearly all the momentum in this series and appear to have a slight edge in the war of attrition that is this series.  That is, the Ducks are starting to pick up injuries while the Stars are getting healthier.  Here are a few brief synopses of the major storylines heading into tonight's game.

 

• For the Stars, the blue line could either be severely shorthanded or receive a tremendous boost as Brenden Dillon (lower body) and Patrik Nemeth (upper body) are both listed as questionable for tonight.  Beat writer Mike Heika reported that both were at morning skate and that both should participate in warm-ups tonight prior to the contest.  If both play, it seems that Kevin Connauton will be the scratch.

• Erik Cole stayed on the ice after morning skate, an indication that he should be a healthy scratch for the third consecutive game.  Heika said in a live chat earlier this week that the versatility of Chris Mueller is the reason that he has been favored over Cole in these games.

• For the Ducks, Frederik Andersen was the first goalie off the ice and appears to be the starter yet again for Anaheim.  There was some speculation that Boudreau might turn to the veteran Jonas Hiller full-time after bringing him in in the waning moments of Game 4

• Teemu Selanne told reporters that he will be back in the lineup after being healthy scratched in Game 3.  His replacement, Emerson Etem, said that he will remain in the lineup regardless.

• Matt Beleskey will not play in Game 5 and hopes to be ready for Game 6 on Sunday in Dallas.

• Captain Ryan Getzlaf skated this afternoon and apparently had few limitations, suggesting that he will be back in beside Corey Perry tonight.  He remains, officially, a game-time decision with an undisclosed upper-body injury.

•  Anaheim's young defenseman Luca Sbisa told reporters that he will be in for Mark Fistric in the place of the injured Stephane Robidas.

One last note: entering tonight: home teams in the Western Conference are 15-1 in this postseason.  The only win went to the San Jose Sharks in Game 3 of their series versus Los Angeles.  Needless to say, the Stars are going to have to buck that trend to win this series and do it in a very hostile environment.

Green Machine Musings- Roast Duck and California Whine

 

             An electric atmosphere at the American Airlines Center greeted the Dallas Stars when they returned home after two losses in Anaheim, and the Green Machine did not disappoint the sellout crowds.

 

            On Monday night, the Stars were grossly outshot by Anaheim, especially over the first half of the game, but Kari Lehtonen was more than up to the task, stopping everything that came his way with any part of his body necessary (including his head on at least two occasions).  Dallas fed off the Big Finn's defensive heroics and began to use their speed more and more as the game went along, most notably at the end of the first when Jamie Benn came out of the penalty box and slammed home a rebound with under a minute left in the period.

 

 

 

             Now, I noted to myself at the first intermission that the Stars simply looked weaker (the score line notwithstanding) than they had in Game 2 in Anaheim.  My way of thinking was that the team was being more conservative with the puck in an effort to eliminate some of the turnovers that had been their undoing in Anaheim.  The thought hung with me through the first few minutes of the second, but one of my comrades noted that, while Dallas was being outshot, the amount of time they had spent on the puck and the amount of time that they were spending in the Anaheim zone was relatively consistent.  The men in green simply weren't getting as many shots off as their opponent was.

 

              My friend's suspicions were confirmed, as the Stars appeared to be going back to their roots (i.e. speed and lots of it), even though the shot deficit was not being overcome.  They generated numerous odd-man rushes and quality chances to no avail until Valeri Nichushkin, after missing the net on two open shots earlier in the period, took a drop pass from Tyler Seguin and ripped a wicked wrister through the legs of Frederik Anderson for a 2-0 advantage at 17:15 of the period.  From then on, the Ducks appeared unable to take a punch (both figuratively and literally), and the game became very chippy.  Both sides had come into the game eager to hit each other, but the tensions started to boil over as the second intermission approached.  Most notable was a scrap between Antoine Roussel and Ducks captain Ryan Getzlaf, who was wearing a facemask after taking a Tyler Seguin slap shot to his jaw in the waning moments of Game 1.

 

 

 

              Roussel and Ryan Garbutt had been routinely vilified by Ducks fans after Games 1 and 2, but this scrap pushed some fowl supporters over the edge.  Despite Getzlaf throwing the first real "punch" (six actually), the Stars have been endlessly accused of targeting the Ducks top players, most notably Getzlaf with his injured jaw.  Personally, I find this incident no less egregious a violation than Corey Perry spearing Jamie Benn in the groin early in Game 2. The Ducks clearly made playing physical a primary part of their game plan in order to throw the inexperienced Stars off their game.  Unfortunately for Bruce Boudreau, Lindy Ruff has made the intimidation factor part of his strategy as well.  Simply put, this is the playoffs.  Both the Ducks and Stars had better be ready for anything over the course of these final two or three games.

 

               The other major storyline from this game stems from an incident midway through the second period involving former Star Stephane Robidas and the aforementioned Garbutt.  As you can clearly see in the following video, Garbutt dove for a puck near the Anaheim net, but he made contact with Robidas' right leg, tripping the veteran defenseman.  As a result, Robidas' leg was pinned beneath Garbutt as Robidas fell to the ice, resulting in his right leg, the same one he horrifically broke on this very ice as a Star back in November, fracturing.  'Robi' as he is affectionately known in Big D, received a standing ovation and a chant from the Dallas faithful, a classy tribute to an even classier player.  Godspeed to his recovery process, which will require another surgery.

 

 

 

                In all, Lehtonen made 37 saves en route to his first playoff shutout and win.  He would earn First Star of the Game honors for his effort.  Garbutt would rub a little salt in the wounds of Ducks fans by scoring an insurance goal off a rebound in the third period, thus making the final score 3-0.

 

                It was, without a doubt, one of the best sporting events that I have ever been to. It was, to say the least, one loud proud crowd at the AAC.

 

Game 4 was mighty different...

Across the Pond - Your Weekly European Soccer Update (April 12th-20th)

In this week’s edition, I’ll be covering a little more time than usual. So let’s wind the clock back a weekend and take a look at what happened across Europe starting in England.

                Arsenal will have its best chance to end a 10 year trophy drought after valiantly surviving and eventually beating Wigan Athletic (currently playing in England’s second tier) in the FA Cup. The FA Cup is the oldest association football competition in the world, the first tournament played in 1871. I’ll talk more about the FA Cup later on in this week’s spotlight. Arsenal was down for most of the game, they scored a goal late in the second half to send the game to extra time. No one scored in the extra time period and the game went into a penalty kick shootout. The pressure was definitely on Arsenal but the Gunners prevailed as goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski stopped two Wigan penalties and all four Arsenal players scored on theirs. Arsenal’s opponent will be Hull City, who fought off third tier side Sheffield United 5-3, in a thrilling game. It’s a great achievement for Hull, who were just promoted to the Premier League this year. The final is on May 17^th at Wembley Stadium, where Arsenal will be favored.

                On Sunday (4/13), Liverpool made a huge leap towards their first Barclays Premier League title in over 20 years by beating Manchester City 3-2. The game probably would’ve ended in a draw had Vincent Kompany not whiffed on a clearance in the 78^th minute. After the game, Liverpool midfielder Steven Gerrard was seen crying. Gerrard has had a fantastic career and it would only be fitting that he wins a Premier League title before hanging up the cleats. 

Tears of Joy for Liverpool's Steven Gerard

               The Premier League resumed during the week, and there were some major shake-ups to the table. First, Arsenal beat West Ham to move back into 4^th place. That’s because Everton suffered a shock defeat at home courtesy of Crystal Palace. The win for Palace all but secures their stay in the Premier League for next season, while defeat for Everton means they will now need help to get back into 4^th place. Elsewhere, Manchester City fell to bottom of the table Sunderland, giving Liverpool full control of the title race. City would’ve come away empty handed if not for a Samir Nasri equalizer in the 88^th minute. Both teams definitely needed all three points in this game, but it hurts City worse based on where Sunderland is in the table (dead last).

                Sunderland built on the mid-week result, and pulled what may be the upset of the season by beating Chelsea 2-1 at Stamford Bridge, essentially ending the Blues title hopes. Meanwhile, Sunderland are just three points from safety and have momentum on their side. Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho had never lost a Premier League home game in his two separate stints. His streak ends at a remarkable 78 games. After the game, in typical Mourinho sarcastic fashion, the Chelsea boss sarcastically praised the referees. Finally, in today’s games, Liverpool moved even closer to winning the title, beating Norwich 3-2 on the road. The Reds have yet to lose a game in 2014 and can win the title next week with a win and a Chelsea loss. Arsenal moved closer to the Champions League by beating Hull 3-0, but Everton kept the pressure on them as the beat Manchester United and former manager David Moyes. So, with most teams having 3 games remaining, here is what the top and bottom of the tables look like:

Overall							Home						Away
POS		TEAM	P	W	D	L	F	A		W	D	L	F	A		W	D	L	F	A		GD	Pts
1		Liverpool	35	25	5	5	96	44		15	1	1	51	15		10	4	4	45	29		52	80
2		Chelsea	35	23	6	6	67	26		15	2	1	43	11		8	4	5	24	15		41	75
3		Manchester City	33	22	5	6	88	34		14	1	1	54	12		8	4	5	34	22		54	71
4		Arsenal	35	21	7	7	62	41		11	5	1	32	11		10	2	6	30	30		21	70
5		Everton	35	20	9	6	57	34		13	3	2	36	16		7	6	4	21	18		23	69
6		Tottenham Hotspur	35	19	6	10	51	49		10	3	5	27	23		9	3	5	24	26		2	63
7		Manchester United	34	17	6	11	56	40		7	3	6	22	19		10	3	5	34	21		16	57

The top 4 teams qualify for next year’s Champions League. The 5^th and 6^th place teams enter the Europa League, a secondary competition to the Champions League.

13		Swansea City	35	9	9	17	47	51		5	5	7	29	24		4	4	10	18	27		-4	36
14		Hull City	34	10	6	18	34	43		7	4	7	20	19		3	2	11	14	24		-9	36
15		Aston Villa	34	9	8	17	35	49		5	3	10	19	28		4	5	7	16	21		-14	35
16		West Bromwich Albion	33	6	15	12	40	51		3	9	5	22	25		3	6	7	18	26		-11	33
17		Norwich City	35	8	8	19	28	56		6	6	6	17	16		2	2	13	11	40		-28	32
18		Cardiff City	35	7	9	19	31	65		5	5	8	19	33		2	4	11	12	32		-34	30
19		Fulham	35	9	3	23	35	77		5	1	11	20	34		4	2	12	15	43		-42	30
20		Sunderland	34	7	8	19	33	57		3	3	10	14	24		4	5	9	19	33		-24	29

The bottom three teams are relegated to the Championship next season. Goal differential is the first tie breaker.

Spotlight: The FA Cup

                It’s the oldest competition in the history of football (soccer): the FA Cup. Full of tradition, big goals, big teams, and big upsets, the FA Cup is England’s domestic cup competition. This year 737 teams participated in the competition! That’s because entry is open to all teams who compete in the Premier League, the Football League and in Steps 1 to 5 of the FA National League System, as well as selected teams in Step 6. This means that clubs of all standards compete, from the largest clubs in England and Wales down to amateur village teams. The format is very simple, one match in each round, unseeded, meaning anyone can play anyone. If the match ends in a draw, there is a “replay” where the teams play a second match, with the team that was the road team in the first match being the home team in this one. Because there are so many teams, the Premier League teams don’t enter the competition until the third round, essentially getting byes until that point. The FA cup is most notable for its huge upsets which happen every year. Wigan Athletic won the title last year despite being relegated from the Premier League, beating Manchester City 1-0 in the final. Amateur teams often aim for the goal of making it to the third round, where the big teams are in the draw. Nine non-league teams made it this far in 2009. In 2008, Chasetown, an amateur side in the 8^th tier of English soccer, made it to the third round where they lost, but still received over 60,000 pounds in prize money. While an amateur side has never won the competition (in fact they’ve never even reached the last 8), the competition allows them to play professional teams. I highly encourage you to watch an FA Cup game, especially one where a big team plays an unknown team. Nothing is certain in this great competition.

 

The FA Cup Trophy

              

               Now that we’ve covered England, let’s briefly go to Spain where Real Madrid won its first trophy of the year. Real defeated rivals Barcelona 2-1 in the Copa del Rey (King’s Cup) final. Gareth Bale scored a brilliant goal late in the second half to seal the victory and his first trophy as a member of Real Madrid. Bale came over in the summer in the most expensive transfer in soccer history, and confirmed his worth by finishing a 70 yard run with a goal. The defeat condemned Barcelona to a third straight defeat and opened the door for questions about Tata Martino’s future as coach of the club. Barcelona are out of the Champions League, lost in the Copa del Rey, and sit 4 points behind Atletico Madrid in the league with just 4 matches remaining.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3QMTnnBUnqM

                Now let’s go to Italy where Juventus are very close to winning a third straight Scudetto (Serie A title). Juve have an 8 point lead on second place Roma with only 4 matches remaining. They can clinch the title next weekend with a win and a Roma loss. A big part of Juventus’ success is their home record: 17-0-0 having only conceded 9 goals. On top of that, they are in the final four of the Europa League. Coincidentally, the final of this competition will be played at Juventus’ home stadium. Juventus will face a stiff test from their opponents though.

                Benfica, who have already secured the Portuguese league title, will be Juventus’ opponent. The Portuguese champions lost their first league game way back on August 18^th, but have not lost in the league since then. Normally, the Europa League doesn’t get much attention, but this matchup should be very entertaining. If you can watch it (this coming Thursday and the following Thursday) I think you should give it a chance. 

Pavel Nedved (left) and Nuno Gomes (right) shake hands after learning their former teams, Juventus and Benfica respectively, will face each other in the Europa League semis. The vase looking thing is the Europa League Trophy.

                We’ll finish this week’s edition in Germany, where Borussia Dortmund had a very good week. After almost completing an epic Champions League comeback, the Black and Yellows strolled into Munich and spanked Bayern 3-0. They followed that up with a hard fought 2-1 win over Wolfsburg during the week to reach the German Cup Final. Yesterday, Dortmund beat Mainz 4-2 meaning they are guaranteed a spot in next year’s Champions’ League group stage. Bayern will get a chance for redemption as they also advanced to the German Cup final, beating second tier side Kaiserslautern 4-1. The DFB Pokal (German Cup) Final will be played on May 17^th in Berlin. 

Robert Lewandowski netted his 100th goal for Borussia Dortmund in their 2-1 win over Wolfsburg. Lewandowski added another in Saturday's league win over Mainz.