The business of pro hockey in 2009 can be summed up like every other: Things could have been better.
While there were the usual packed houses north of the border and TV ratings were up modestly in the U.S. and Canada, attendance was and still is a problem in too many American cities — with Denver unfortunately on that list.
It was also the worst economy in nearly 80 years, so the fact that a lot of people didn’t spend 100 bucks on hockey tickets all the time is nothing to stop the presses for.
The game continues to get faster and younger, and on the surface those are things that should augur well for the future. And the NHL now has one of the best marketing “vehicles” in pro sports, with the Winter Classic.
Hockey at Fenway Park — what a concept.
But until the new calendars are tacked on the walls, here’s an eclectic look back at some of 2009’s more noteworthy hockey moments, and maybe a hope or two for some in 2010:
Best hockey book: “Playing with Fire,” Theo Fleury —
The subject matter certainly isn’t always fun to read. But with bracing candor, the former Avalanche and NHL star takes us through his tornado of a life. Most sports books run out of gas about halfway through, but not this one. You’ll compulsively turn the pages until there are no more.
Best salvage job: Dan Bylsma, Pittsburgh —
There was a game last season at the Pepsi Center in which the Avs beat the Penguins pretty handily. The atmosphere in the Pens dressing room afterward can best be described as dreary.
A few months and one coaching change later, rookie coach Bylsma had the Penguins lifting the Stanley Cup. It doesn’t get much more exciting than the final few seconds of Game 7 in Detroit, either.
New hockey term most in vogue: “Puck management” —
If a team wins a game now, chances are you’ll hear the coach say its puck management was good, and vice versa in a loss.
Can someone explain to me what that means?
Best future “Winter Classic” setting: How about a game on an actual frozen pond or lake? —
Sweep off some snow on a real Minnesota lake and put the Wild and another team out there. How about everybody heading up to Grand Lake and putting on a game between the Avs and Red Wings? I say it should happen. Hockey outside in a baseball or football stadium is still fun, but this would be a real winter classic.
Funniest hockey video —
The kid who did the Herb Brooks “Miracle” speech re-enactment video on YouTube has been seen more than 2 million times now and has been on many talk shows.
The video never gets any less funny, either.
Best heartwarmingly innocent moment —
Seeing the excitement on Matt Duchene’s face in NOT getting picked first or second in the NHL draft, thereby getting the opportunity to go to the favorite team of his boyhood, the Avalanche, at No. 3.
Most entertaining hockey announcers —
It’s a tie between longtime Buffalo TV man Rick Jeannerett and Boston’s Jack Edwards. If those two teams meet in a contentious playoff series next spring, set the TiVo.
Jeannerett still acts like every Buffalo goal just won the Stanley Cup, and Edwards can verbally cut down the opposition like no other.
Most unlikely comeback —
How about that Claude Lemieux return to the NHL at age 43 with San Jose? Absolutely everybody thought it was a joke, but Lemieux gave 40-something guys everywhere reason to feel good about themselves.
Toughest goodbye —
It still feels strange around Avalanche headquarters with Joe Sakic no longer there. His retirement was a day Avs fans wanted never to come, and it would have been nice if his last season didn’t go like it did. But the great memories will endure.
Spotlight on …
Jonathan Cheechoo, Senators
Nobody can seem to figure out what happened to Cheechoo’s once-promising career.
In 2005-06, he led the NHL with 56 goals, playing on a line with Joe Thornton. He was one of the hottest names in the sport; everybody wanted to get on the Cheechoo train.
But despite playing with Thornton often in the next three years, his goal-scoring production fell from 37 to 23 to 12.
The Senators still thought enough of his potential to give up Dany Heatley over the summer to get Cheechoo and Milan Michalek in return.
But so far, the numbers for Cheechoo in Ottawa are even worse than his last year in San Jose. He entered Saturday with only three goals and 10 points in 37 games. Injuries were thought to be one explanation for his drop in production in San Jose, but by all accounts he’s been healthy as a Senator.
The Avalanche travels to Ottawa this week for a Wednesday night tilt at Scotiabank Place, and the Senators will need more from players such as Cheechoo and Michalek now. That’s because perennial all-star forward Daniel Alfredsson is out the next four to six weeks with a separated shoulder.
NHL teams aren’t the most patient entities, and if Cheechoo doesn’t rediscover his scoring touch, he could soon find himself on the outside looking in at a league he once dominated not too long ago.
Adrian Dater, The Denver Post
