Here are a few of the better articles published on the New York Sportscene website by yours truly.  Check out a few examples of my more professional work.

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Anatomy of  a Losing Streak

Published March 28, 2009

The hip bone is connected to the leg bone, and the leg bone is connected to the ankle bone.

 

Just like the structure of the human body, the anatomy of a losing streak is all connected and sometimes has a mind of its own.

 

After a 2-1 loss, the first of the season after taking a lead into the third period, the New Jersey Devils find themselves in the midst of a four game losing streak (0-3-1), matching the longest downturn of the season.

 

What has happened to the once machine-like team that compiled 22 of 28 available points in January and recently won 11 straight at home?

 

The first place to start is special teams. The Devils have allowed 60 power play goals this season, and have only scored 55 while on the advantage. In the past five games, New Jersey has scored just two goals in 20 power play opportunities (10% success rate).

 

Not to mention, the teams they are facing are buckling down and taking fewer penalties, while the Devils find themselves more and more in the sin bin.

 

Against the Chicago Blackhawks Friday night, the Devils found themselves on the penalty kill for most of the first 15 minutes of the game. The Hawks scored the first goal of the game while on the advantage, and went on to win by one.

 

The Devils were called for 17 minutes of penalties compared to the nine called against Chicago.

 

With the playoffs fast approaching, teams are becoming more disciplined to ensure wins for post-season positioning and in some cases for a final playoff spot.

 

But the Devils, known for most of the club’s existence for its disciplined, defensive-minded game, have been making mental mistakes that would be expected in pre-season, tolerated in the first thirty games and absolutely unforgivable in crunch time.

 

With just under seven minutes left against Carolina, up 1-0 and in control of the game, it seemed the Devils lost concentration.

 

David Clarkson committed a cardinal-sin of making a cross ice pass in the Devils own zone. The puck caromed off the boards, and the Hurricanes’ Rod Brind’Amour picked it up and restarted the offense. Moments later, Sergei Samsonov had the puck in front of Martin Brodeur and found an opening to tie the game.

 

The tied game seemed to deflate the Devils, and three minutes later Paul Martin headed to the penalty box on a questionable hooking penalty. On a play off of the opening faceoff of the advantage, Tuomo Ruutu put a rebound over Brodeur’s blocker for the game winning goal.

 

After 53 minutes of controlled, smart hockey, the Devils let two points slip away in matter of two mistakes.

 

“You make that mistake in your own zone, we hadn’t done that all night. You do it in a 1-0 game. It’s got to be a learning experience for those guys. I hope they learn from it. You’re going to get in these one-goal games. You have to do the details, the little things, well. You look at last night’s game (at Chicago) and tonight – two mistakes cost us goals … I’m not blaming them, but they have to learn from it,” Head Coach Brent Sutter said after Saturday’s game.

 

Now the novelty of Brodeur returning from injury and reaching milestones, the unspoken thought is the team is depending too much on number 30 to bail them out in tight situations.

 

That attitude ended the Devils’ season without a Cup for the past few seasons.

New Jersey has allowed 40 or more shots twice in the past four games, a reversal of the minimal work Brodeur saw in his first few games returning from injury.

 

Despite the goaltender being the face of the organization, the Devils have preached, and proven, all season that they are not a one-man team.

 

That mentality seems to have left with Scott Clemmensen.

 

The fact that New Jersey has its playoff spot locked up, and the rest of the schedule is made up of teams fighting to get in, the difference in strategy may also be affecting the Devils’ play of late.

 

“You can’t go with that mindset, and unfortunately that may be a bit of the case right now that we are kind of resting on the way, but we have to keep battling because there are teams around us. The next two games are going to be an example of  two teams battling for playoff spots that we better get our level back up,” Captain Jamie Langenbrunner said after Saturday’s game.

 

But New Jersey is not ruined by this losing streak. The Devils currently still sit atop the Atlantic Division, and six points ahead of the number four seed in the Eastern Conference.

 

The Devils also can right the ship Monday at Madison Square Garden for the final regular season meeting against the rival Rangers. New Jersey has won three straight against the Blueshirts, and the intensity of the rivalry as well as New York’s post-season push should be good for the Devils.

 

The way New Jersey recovers from the current losing streak could say a lot about the team’s chances for the cup.

 

Remember, the arm bone is connected to the wrist bone, and the wrist bone is connected to the hand bone. And it takes a whole body of work to lift a Stanley Cup.

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Marty Returns Like He Never Left

Published February 27, 2009

The hockey world anticipated this day for four months. How would Martin Brodeur respond to being in net for the first time after a substantial injury?

In Thursday night’s game against the Colorado Avalanche, the New Jersey net minder gave his answer.

Brodeur stopped all 24 shots he faced in his return, a 4-0 win at the Prudential Center, for his 99th career regular season shut out.

The reigning Vezina Trophy winner led the Devils out of the locker room to a thunderous applause, and received another ovation the first time he handled the puck 36 seconds into the game.

“I kind of  moved the puck a couple of times before I got that first long (shot) from between the red and the blue, but it was still pretty nice to stop the first one,” said Brodeur.

Brodeur did not see much action in the beginning of the first period as the Devils kept offensive pressure on Colorado’s goalie, Andrew Raycroft.

A Johnny Oduya shot from the left wing hit the crossbar and shot out two minutes in, but New Jersey was not going to take rejection and at 4:38 the Devils’ offense gave Brodeur a lead to work with.

Travis Zajac brought the puck up the ice on the right wing and made a drop pass right onto the stick of Jamie Langenbrunner. Langenbrunner let a shot fly from the right circle and the puck zinged through the legs of Raycroft for the captain’s 19th goal of the season.

Zach Parise pushed the puck up to Zajac and was credited with the secondary assist, one of two on the night.

With Ryan Smyth banging in front of the net, Brodeur was tested as the first period went on. At 17:20, he stopped the Avs’ Milan Hejduk from point blank on the left side of the net.

The second period opened up with more of Colorado’s offensive pressure, but Brodeur was able to handle everything thrown at him.

With 5:40 gone in the second session, Wojtek Wolski moved the puck all the way around the crease and put the puck on goal from the left post, but the puck hit the crossbar and Parise was able to clear it out of harm’s way.

“He made a great play and came across and the guy was coming in and there were a lot of people. He hit his shot, and I got a little lucky,” explained Brodeur.

The Devils played strong defense in front of Brodeur, which pleased Coach Brent Sutter.

“We don’t want to make things hard on our goaltender. We take pride in that. When there were scoring chances, Marty made the saves and was under control. He was very poised. He didn’t get a lot of work, but when it was there he made the save,” explained Sutter.

The lack of action for Brodeur turned into quite a lot of work for Raycroft, who faced 32 shots on goal, eight more than Brodeur.

One shot that did not make the stat sheet actually became a great assist for the Devils.

Moments into a power play after Ruslan Salei was called for hooking, Paul Martin fired a shot from between the circles at the blue line. The puck caromed off the back boards to the left of Raycroft. Zajac looked like he was going to play the puck, and Raycroft turned to stop him, but the puck slid past to Patrick Elias, who was able to back hand the puck into the net behind Raycroft.

Later in the second period, after facing some sustained traffic in front of him, Brodeur made his first glove save, testing the repaired arm on a shot from the left wing by T.J. Hensick.

The crowd roared with approval and chanted “Marty! Marty! Marty!” in support of the net minder.

“I heard it, it was fun. The fans were great, and I expected that too. I’ve always had a great relationship with the fans and for them to show up, there were a lot of people out there and they were all into my comeback, and it was nice,” said an appreciative Brodeur.

The crowd received another chance to chant eight minutes into the third period, but this time the call was “MVP.”

Parise took control of the puck at the center line with Colorado’s Brett Clark hanging all over him. Parise out-skated and out-muscled Clark while taking the puck all the way up the right wing. He skated in front of Raycroft and roofed the puck over the goalie and in for the team’s third goal of the night.

The same line of Zajac-Parise-Langenbrunner also hammered the final nail into the Avs’ coffin at 16:47.

Martin fired a shot from the right point and Raycroft made the save, but Zajac was there to gather the rebound and put the puck in the net from the left side.

Martin, who was returning from being sidelined four games with an injury, had two assists, and was on ice for all four Devils goals.

Zajac and Langenbrunner each finished with a goal and an assist, while Parise had a goal and two assists. Oduya was also credited with an assist on Zajac’s goal.

With the win securely in place, focus turned to keeping Brodeur’s shutout bid alive.

Coming into the game, he was only five blankings away from trying Terry Sawchuk’s

all-time record of 103.

When asked after the game when he started thinking shutout, Brodeur replied, “Last night when I was dreaming.”

He added, “When you play games, you don’t really necessarily want a shut out but you go out there and you play. Sometimes it happens. I don’t ever really think about it, I don’t want to jinx myself. I just want to go out and win the game.”

And for the first time since October 22, 2008, that’s just what he did.

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Devils Win Just What the Doc Ordered

Published January 31, 2009

The night was dedicated to man whose voice has defined the modern era of hockey, and Mike “Doc” Emrick asked the two teams on the ice to play hard and to give the crowd a great game.

Doc’s request was honored, as the team on the ice gave a fitting tribute, as the Devils came back from a 3-1 deficit to win 4-3 against the Pittsburgh Penguins in overtime.

“We played pretty darn well here tonight again, we were down two goals but we played well and that was the encouraging side of it. They stayed with it,” said Coach Brent Sutter.

The win continued the Devils winning streak to eight games, which had boosted the team into second place in the Eastern Conference and first in the Atlantic Division coming into Friday night’s game.

Pittsburgh seemed impatient during the ceremonies honoring Mike “Doc” Emrick, but the pent up energy was put to good use as the Pens scored two goals within 20 seconds in the first period.

Max Talbot deflected a shot by Ryan Whitney over Scott Clemmensen’s left shoulder and in 9:33 into the game. Moments later, Sidney Crosby took the puck up the right side and fired a laser of a shot in the same spot.

“Playing every night against those types of players, you get used to it. It doesn’t get any easier though,” Clemmensen said about facing scorers like Crosby and Evgeni Malkin. “They’re very shifty with their feet. You never know when the shot’s going to come.”

New Jersey answered, scoring with 11:21 off the clock, when Bobby Holik converted on a deft pass from Brendan Shanahan. Shanahan was pinned behind the net and made a back handed pass to Holik as he skated past the net. Holik put the puck on the back of his stick and tapped it past Marc-Andre Fleury.

Neither team scored in the second period, although the Devils increased their shot-on-goal total to 26-13.

Brian Gionta nearly deflected in a shot, and Travis Zajac took a pass from Jamie Langenbrunner and rifled the puck off of the post.

New Jersey went on the power play with 53 seconds left on the clock and peppered the net with shots, but Fleury was able to skate into the locker room unscathed.

In the third period, Malkin seemed to put the game away by scoring 8:35 into the third period. Malkin took a pass from Crosby while flying into the offensive zone, and fired a shot five-hole on Clemmensen. The puck trickled through Clemmensen’s legs to give the Pens what seemed to be an insurmountable 3-1 lead.

But the Devils came back from a 3-2 deficit Thursday night in Boston, and knew they could do it again.

New Jersey received its first break when Petr Sykora took a four minute penalty with just under 10 minutes to play. Sykora was called for hooking, and discussed with the referee how much he disliked the call, which earned him two more minutes in the box for unsportsmanlike conduct.

Shanahan took the opportunity, and in a flash, the puck was in the net. Dainius Zubrus and Brian Gionta worked the face-off win to Shanahan at the left point, and the newest Devil torched Fleury for his third goal with the team.

“In the first period, we won the draw and I gave the one-timer to (Rolston) and then I thought that they cheated toward him off the draw, so I just wheeled and fired,” Shanahan explained.

As the Prudential Center crowd came back from the dead, the Devils continued to dominate the control of the puck. New Jersey out shot Pittsburgh 13-3 in the third, and the pressure paid off.

Clemmensen was pulled with under a minute to go, and the extra attacker meant the difference in the game.

New Jersey kept the puck in the zone, and Jamie Langenbrunner put a shot on net from the right side of the crease with 30 seconds left. The puck bounced off of Pittsburgh defenseman Ryan Whitney and into the net.

Clemmensen returned to the ice, just in time to make one last game-saving stop as the clock expired.

The extra session was an extension of the offensive energy displayed in the final minutes of the game.

New Jersey put the only four shots on goal in the over time, and with a minute to go before the game would have to be decided by shootout, Langenbrunner decided it was time to go to the locker rooms.

Zajac saw Langenbrunner open in the left face-off circle and made a pass to the captain from the right circle. Langenbrunner wound up and sent the puck past Fleury and into the net for his second overtime game-winning goal in as many nights.

“I saw Jamie was open for a one-timer, I put it on his stick and he did the rest and made it count,” said Zajac.

“I guess I’ll ride this as long as I can,” said Langenbrunner of his six goals in the last three games.

The Devils will try to keep the winning streak going on Tuesday when Alexander Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals come to The Rock to try to regain the second slot in the Eastern Conference.

Emrick was honored for receiving the Foster Hewitt Memorial Award from the Hockey Hall of Fame for outstanding contributions as a hockey broadcaster. The pre-game ceremony included his family and fellow broadcasters. Emrick was honored with a replica antique microphone with “Doc” engraved on it, a crystal commemorative plaque, and a painting done by a New Jersey artist.

Doc has been the voice of the Devils for 16 consecutive seasons, and 19 overall.

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