Post by jhendrix70 on Dec 14, 2008 12:34:42 GMT -5
This was kinda nice to see........
Bloodlines continue to make headlines in NHL
It was near the end of a three-games-in-four-nights stretch at home for the St. Louis Blues against Calgary, Phoenix and Nashville.
With 3:43 left in the third period and the Blues and Predators tied 3-3, Alex Steen bolted into the Nashville zone, put on an eye-popping move to turn one defender inside-out and then pulled another in his direction and, while still on the fly, quickly sent a goal-mouth pass to B.J. Crombeen for the game-winning goal in a Blues' 6-3 triumph.
It was one of those plays that pulls you out of your seat and makes you want to say, "WOW!"
It was the second of three goals for Crombeen and the second point of the night for Steen. Crombeen had recently been picked up by the Blues off the waiver wire from Dallas, while Steen was obtained from Toronto in a trade with defenseman Carlo Coliacovo for Lee Stempniak.
Afterward, Blues coach Andy Murray was asked about Steen's shake-and-bake moves. He surprised us with this comment: "I saw him make that move against Varsity View in the Winnipeg city championships 14 years ago when Alex was playing for Tuxedo Express."
Whoa! Wait a minute. Tuxedo who? Varsity View what?
Murray explained. "I think Alex was about 10. He was playing on the same team with my son, Brady, and Randy Carlyle's son, Craig."
Suddenly, my brain went into overdrive. Another of those bloodlines headlines that I love so much.
On a night when the Blues and Predators were battling to the end, there was a blast from the past and a flash to the future right there on center stage. Steen is the son of former Winnipeg Jets star center Thomas Steen and Crombeen is the son of former Blues winger Mike Crombeen. At the other end of the ice, we had defenseman Ryan Suter, who is the son of 1980 U.S. Olympian Bob Suter and the nephew of former Calgary and San Jose defender Gary Suter.
There's so much more than just a casual correlation to the picking of a youngster whose father or brother or cousin or uncle previously played in the NHL. There are no guarantees that the chip off an old block has what it takes to become an important new kid on the block in the NHL. But often-times, there's a clear inside track to a career in hockey for many of those youngsters because of being inside a professional dressing room at a young age and seeing the things they see.
The proof is there for us to see in the League leaders every day, with New Jersey's Zach Parise, son of J.P. Parise, not far off the pace for the lead in goals. We have Minnesota's Mikko Koivu, whose brother Saku paved the way for him in Montreal. Plus Vancouver's Daniel Sedin, who came into the NHL with his twin brother Henrik, in the top 20 in scoring. And Colorado's Paul Stastny, one of Peter Stastny's two NHL-playing sons, a couple of points outside the top 25 scorers.
Want more proof? Let's take you back to the day that Steen was picked in the first round of the 2001 Entry Draft. On that day, Bob Nystrom's son, Eric, was selected by Calgary; Colin Campbell's son, Gregory, went to Florida, and Yan Stastny was picked by Boston. And in 2003, when Crombeen was picked, bloodlines headlines were in full force as Suter went to Nashville, Kent Nilsson's son, Rob, went to the New York Islanders, Parise went to New Jersey, Steve Tambellini's son, Jeff, went to Los Angeles, Mike Eaves' son, Patrick, went to Ottawa and Brady Murray was picked by Los Angeles.
There's also a new genealogical thread to the future that includes rookies Brandon Sutter, Colton Gillies, Viktor Tikhonov, Alex Pietrangelo and Chris Bourque.
Who said this theory wasn't relative?
"It was cool to be around the team, inside the locker room and see how the NHL players prepared for a game ... how focused they were," Steen said. "You not only get to listen and learn some great tips from your dad, but, to me, the lasting impression was seeing the kind of sacrifices those players had to make to succeed in the NHL."
No, we're not talking about Christmas gift returns. It's a more important item to NHL teams -- like free-agent center Mats Sundin finally making his decision on who he will play with this season after setting a deadline on making a decision on or about Dec. 15 and likely before the Dec. 19 Christmas roster freeze.
Sundin, who led Toronto in scoring with 32 goals and 46 points last season and played at better than a point-per-game pace, can make an impact for a team -- and Vancouver, the New York Rangers, Philadelphia, Chicago, Montreal and a couple of other teams are awaiting word.
Canucks GM Mike Gillis on Sundin: "Every team wants a big, dominant center-ice man. Other than a goalie, it's probably the most coveted position in our league."
More impact: Once the Sundin signing comes across the wires, many of the teams that lost out on the big center will switch their attention to free-agent power forward Brendan Shanahan. Philadelphia is also in that scenario, along with St. Louis and a few other teams. The bidders will multiply once the Sundin sweepstakes are over.
-- Larry Wigge - NHL.com ColumnistSuter pays the same kind of tribute to his dad and uncle and the great NHL players he got to meet.
"I'll never forget my dad telling me to never take anything for granted. Nothing," Ryan said.
While he grew up in the house of a champion, Suter admits he grew up a fan of the Flames because of his uncle and explained, "It's just obvious growing up that I idolized him and wanted to be everything that he was. I remember when he was in Chicago (when he played for the Blackhawks) and we'd travel down from home in Madison (Wis.) to visit and after the game I'd go down to the locker room and meet guys like Jeremy Roenick and Chris Chelios. Everyone was talking about my Uncle Gary. It was pretty neat."
But the best part was in the summers, when uncle Gary and Chelios would renew to their ties to the University of Wisconsin by coming back to work out.
"I'd get to see how they'd work at getting ready for the next season," Ryan said. "What a lucky kid I was to sit and watch and talk about games with my dad and then learn from Stanley Cup champions like Uncle Gary and Chris Chelios."
And now we're the lucky ones to see how kids can relate to a famous relative and then make the sacrifices they saw growing up to show us how skilled and passionate they are as NHL players.
Out-of-the-past-and-into-the-future dreams in the flesh are neat to watch -- even if there isn't an obscure Tuxedo Express or Varsity View Blues reference.
Bloodlines continue to make headlines in NHL
It was near the end of a three-games-in-four-nights stretch at home for the St. Louis Blues against Calgary, Phoenix and Nashville.
With 3:43 left in the third period and the Blues and Predators tied 3-3, Alex Steen bolted into the Nashville zone, put on an eye-popping move to turn one defender inside-out and then pulled another in his direction and, while still on the fly, quickly sent a goal-mouth pass to B.J. Crombeen for the game-winning goal in a Blues' 6-3 triumph.
It was one of those plays that pulls you out of your seat and makes you want to say, "WOW!"
It was the second of three goals for Crombeen and the second point of the night for Steen. Crombeen had recently been picked up by the Blues off the waiver wire from Dallas, while Steen was obtained from Toronto in a trade with defenseman Carlo Coliacovo for Lee Stempniak.
Afterward, Blues coach Andy Murray was asked about Steen's shake-and-bake moves. He surprised us with this comment: "I saw him make that move against Varsity View in the Winnipeg city championships 14 years ago when Alex was playing for Tuxedo Express."
Whoa! Wait a minute. Tuxedo who? Varsity View what?
Murray explained. "I think Alex was about 10. He was playing on the same team with my son, Brady, and Randy Carlyle's son, Craig."
Suddenly, my brain went into overdrive. Another of those bloodlines headlines that I love so much.
On a night when the Blues and Predators were battling to the end, there was a blast from the past and a flash to the future right there on center stage. Steen is the son of former Winnipeg Jets star center Thomas Steen and Crombeen is the son of former Blues winger Mike Crombeen. At the other end of the ice, we had defenseman Ryan Suter, who is the son of 1980 U.S. Olympian Bob Suter and the nephew of former Calgary and San Jose defender Gary Suter.
There's so much more than just a casual correlation to the picking of a youngster whose father or brother or cousin or uncle previously played in the NHL. There are no guarantees that the chip off an old block has what it takes to become an important new kid on the block in the NHL. But often-times, there's a clear inside track to a career in hockey for many of those youngsters because of being inside a professional dressing room at a young age and seeing the things they see.
The proof is there for us to see in the League leaders every day, with New Jersey's Zach Parise, son of J.P. Parise, not far off the pace for the lead in goals. We have Minnesota's Mikko Koivu, whose brother Saku paved the way for him in Montreal. Plus Vancouver's Daniel Sedin, who came into the NHL with his twin brother Henrik, in the top 20 in scoring. And Colorado's Paul Stastny, one of Peter Stastny's two NHL-playing sons, a couple of points outside the top 25 scorers.
Want more proof? Let's take you back to the day that Steen was picked in the first round of the 2001 Entry Draft. On that day, Bob Nystrom's son, Eric, was selected by Calgary; Colin Campbell's son, Gregory, went to Florida, and Yan Stastny was picked by Boston. And in 2003, when Crombeen was picked, bloodlines headlines were in full force as Suter went to Nashville, Kent Nilsson's son, Rob, went to the New York Islanders, Parise went to New Jersey, Steve Tambellini's son, Jeff, went to Los Angeles, Mike Eaves' son, Patrick, went to Ottawa and Brady Murray was picked by Los Angeles.
There's also a new genealogical thread to the future that includes rookies Brandon Sutter, Colton Gillies, Viktor Tikhonov, Alex Pietrangelo and Chris Bourque.
Who said this theory wasn't relative?
"It was cool to be around the team, inside the locker room and see how the NHL players prepared for a game ... how focused they were," Steen said. "You not only get to listen and learn some great tips from your dad, but, to me, the lasting impression was seeing the kind of sacrifices those players had to make to succeed in the NHL."
No, we're not talking about Christmas gift returns. It's a more important item to NHL teams -- like free-agent center Mats Sundin finally making his decision on who he will play with this season after setting a deadline on making a decision on or about Dec. 15 and likely before the Dec. 19 Christmas roster freeze.
Sundin, who led Toronto in scoring with 32 goals and 46 points last season and played at better than a point-per-game pace, can make an impact for a team -- and Vancouver, the New York Rangers, Philadelphia, Chicago, Montreal and a couple of other teams are awaiting word.
Canucks GM Mike Gillis on Sundin: "Every team wants a big, dominant center-ice man. Other than a goalie, it's probably the most coveted position in our league."
More impact: Once the Sundin signing comes across the wires, many of the teams that lost out on the big center will switch their attention to free-agent power forward Brendan Shanahan. Philadelphia is also in that scenario, along with St. Louis and a few other teams. The bidders will multiply once the Sundin sweepstakes are over.
-- Larry Wigge - NHL.com ColumnistSuter pays the same kind of tribute to his dad and uncle and the great NHL players he got to meet.
"I'll never forget my dad telling me to never take anything for granted. Nothing," Ryan said.
While he grew up in the house of a champion, Suter admits he grew up a fan of the Flames because of his uncle and explained, "It's just obvious growing up that I idolized him and wanted to be everything that he was. I remember when he was in Chicago (when he played for the Blackhawks) and we'd travel down from home in Madison (Wis.) to visit and after the game I'd go down to the locker room and meet guys like Jeremy Roenick and Chris Chelios. Everyone was talking about my Uncle Gary. It was pretty neat."
But the best part was in the summers, when uncle Gary and Chelios would renew to their ties to the University of Wisconsin by coming back to work out.
"I'd get to see how they'd work at getting ready for the next season," Ryan said. "What a lucky kid I was to sit and watch and talk about games with my dad and then learn from Stanley Cup champions like Uncle Gary and Chris Chelios."
And now we're the lucky ones to see how kids can relate to a famous relative and then make the sacrifices they saw growing up to show us how skilled and passionate they are as NHL players.
Out-of-the-past-and-into-the-future dreams in the flesh are neat to watch -- even if there isn't an obscure Tuxedo Express or Varsity View Blues reference.
