Opinion: AFL’s Sunday Night Football Is A Failed Experiment

The most painful part of this is going to be the first thing I say, and that is how much I agree with Collingwood president Eddie McGuire. Yes, it goes against every bone in my body to side with McGuire, a noted all-around hater of anything Sydney and Cost of Living Allowance, but on the topic of Sunday night football, we’re in total agreement.

Sunday night football might work well in America, and it may have had some limited success in the National Rugby League, but it’s been, unequivocally, a disaster for the AFL. Last night’s experiment, with Collingwood and Carlton at the MCG – traditional rivals with a history of drawing big crowds for their confrontations – drew a paltry crowd of 40, 936 to the Home of Football, the  lowest crowd for the rivalry since 1921.

Melbourne’s poor weather should be no defence, because we’ve seen bigger crowds turn up for lesser contests in conditions far more deplorable than last night. Yes, it was cold, but it didn’t rain throughout, and the quality of the game wasn’t weather-affected. Simply put, AFL fans just don’t like venturing out on a Sunday night, regardless of whether the game is scheduled for 7.10pm or 7.40pm.

Despite a bug match-up and the fixture leading into school holidays in Victoria, there was no market traction. The AFL expected at least ten thousand more fans than they got, and McGuire was furious, promising whoever would listen that, at 9.00am on Monday morning, he would be on the phone to AFL headquarters, demanding compensation to the tune of a six-figure sum to cover the losses that the Collingwood Football Club would’ve taken as a result of last night’s poor turn-out, which he says is the equivalent of the equalisation money gurgled down the drain. 

Now, I don’t quite agree with Collingwood calling for compensation, not with their financial security well assured through massive corporate sponsorship and a giant base of members. Let’s face it: they get well looked after by the AFL, with big games on public holidays and plenty of other nice timeslots. This was just…well, Eddie being Eddie. But the root of the message was a good one: fans don’t like it; look after the fans.

Most disturbing is that a large number of people who had pre-purchased or reserved seats, an estimated thirteen thousand people, simply didn’t bother to turn up. Whilst a smaller crowd probably suits Channel Seven, in terms of ratings, it’s not a good look for a contest that was featured, amongst other places, on cable television in America. A sparsely-populated MCG will not encourage international views to tune in again.

Twilight footy in Melbourne has been tested, and has produced reasonable crowd numbers, proving that most  fans don’t mind a game that starts mid-to-late afternoon, but want to be on their way home by seven or eight o’clock. That’s understandable, particularly if they have a long journey to make, and particularly in the teeth of what’s often a bitter Melbourne winter.

As I alluded to above, the opposite is true of Channel Seven, who covet primetime slots – look at their Friday night ratings to see why – and don’t care that no one turns up. In fact, you might say that the programmers at Seven prefer a smaller crowd, because that’s likely to bump up television numbers. Eyeballs equal valuable advertising revenue.

Furthermore, McGuire is right when he says that fans shouldn’t view going to the footy as some sort of test of their endurance. It should be made easier given the economic climate we currently live in – and, you know, that’s probably the smartest and most sensible thing to come out of Eddie’s mouth in some time.

Obviously, the AFL is looking for additional broadcast windows ahead of opening negotiations for the next broadcast deal, and they can continue to do so, but these should absolutely not come at the expense of the lifeblood of footy: fans rocking up to games at venues across Australia.

I don’t care if Channel Seven drew astronomical numbers last night. I don’t care if a third of the television sets in the country a third of Australia were tuned into the game, because there weren’t enough fans at the ground and, in my opinion, that hurts footy more than low television ratings.

Whilst I don’t follow either team (and tend to carry around a fair dislike of Collingwood) there should be no disputing the major draw-card that Collingwood vs. Carlton is, and should always be. If even that traditional rivalry fixture cannot put a good crowd into the MCG, then Sunday night football needs to die a quick death, like Monday night, and the AFL has given every indication that it will.

If the League is looking for another primetime window that also seems to resonate with those fans that trek out to the game, they’d be best off working to further enhance the profile of Thursday night football. Recently, we’ve seen good crowds in Adelaide and Sydney. It seems that the average punter is happier to head out to a game on the last working night of the week knowing that tomorrow is Friday, and they’re on the downhill run to the weekend.

Thursday night works – Sunday night obviously doesn’t. The idea of a Sunday night game should fall by the wayside at the end of this season, never to be resurrected.

Surprise Winners at a Wild IndyCar Grand Prix of Houston

Well, the Shell Grand Prix of Houston isn’t one that we’ll forget anytime soon. The circuit around Reliant Stadium, home of the NFL’s Houston Texas, delivered a memorable double-shot of Verizon IndyCar Series contests, proving that the series is still the best-kept secret in four-wheeled racing.

Saturday’s race was particularly epic, made so by the apocalyptic storm that Mother Nature unleashed over the 1.6-mile temporary street circuit. Despite the opening race being scheduled to run a full 90 laps, it was reduced to a timed event of just under two hours.

Like we’ve seen with sports car racing in the Tudor Series this year, timed races allow for some wild and wacky strategy. Combine that with the weather, which required controlled driving through treacherous conditions – no mean feat in a high-powered IndyCar – and the stage was set for a classic.

These double-header weekends are tough at the best of times, particularly on the bumpy, bruising temporary street circuits, and throwing in the downpour only made it more exciting. Bad weather, of course, is racing’s great equaliser. We saw it with Australian Ant West winning the Moto2 race at Assen over the weekend, and IndyCar fans witnessed similar underdog win on Saturday in Houston, with Carlos Huertas, driving for the perennially under-funded Dale Coyne Racing, emerging from the big wet to record a memorable win on a quickly-drying racetrack, with serious competition from behind.

The young Colombian, who started in nineteenth, is an IndyCar rookie this season, but showed moxie that belied his relative inexperience as he held off his countryman/boyhood idol Team Penske superstar Juan Pablo Montoya, with another Colombian, Carlos Munoz from Andretti Autosport, rounding out that country’s domination on the streets of Houston.

In every way, Huertas’ win was shocking, but that’s the beauty of wet weather racing, and the strategy mash-up that ensues. Even the one-car teams, minnows in comparison to the Penske’s Ganassi’s and Andretti’s of the IndyCar world, have a chance at victory.  All credit, though, must go to Huertas, whose level-headed final stint when under pressure from Montoya and others, was one of the drives of the season so far.

As Dale Coyne said, a timely strategy call got Huertas to the lead, but he still had to stay there, and hold off an awful lot of very good drivers, which he did, aided by a yellow flag at the end after a frantic last fifteen minutes in drying conditions, with cars making passes like it was going out of fashion. Make no mistake: Huertas fully deserved his maiden trip to Victory Lane. One can only imagine the feeling of beating home Montoya, who – and deservedly so, for his exploits – is a Colombian national treasure.

As can often be the case at street circuits, people’s tempers are about as short as run-off areas around the track, and the legendary AJ Foyt had occasion to blast Marco Andretti’s driving abilities – or lack thereof, if you listen to the big Texan – after Foyt’s driver, Takuma Sato, was held up by Andretti, allowing team-mate James Hinchcliffe to get close and eventually assume the lead. The third-generation racer, Andretti, was black-flagged (and later fined) for disobeying a black flag. It hardly mattered to Sato, who crashed out later, ending a promising run.

Sunday’s race was conducted in dry conditions, and those big names who struggled on Saturday returned to the pointy end of the field in the wicked humidity of a summer’s day in the Lone Star State. Helio Castroneves led early for Team Penske and sponsors Shell and Pennzoil – also sponsors of the event in Houston – and Graham Rahal, who seems to be followed everywhere he goes by bad luck, was running strongly, sitting in third when his gearbox gave way. As Paul Tracy said in the booth, Rahal just can’t catch a break this year.

Just like on Saturday, a surprise winner headed to victory lane, with Frenchman Simon Pagenaud scoring his second victory of the season – he also won the inaugural Grand Prix of Indianapolis – and leading home his Schmitt-Peterson-Hamilton team-mate, Russian rookie Mikhail Aleshin home ahead of another rookie, Englishman Jack Hawksworth, who has impressed this year for Bryan Herta Autosport.

Young American Charlie Kimball finished fourth, leading home the Ganassi squad. Another Frenchman, Sebastien Bourdais was next in fifth, and Indianapolis 500 winner Ryan Hunter-Reay, a victim of a very up and down season, was sixth. It’s feast or famine for RHR at the moment, with no middle ground.

So close to a big win on Saturday, Juan Pablo Montoya came home in seventh on Sunday, one position ahead of Australia’s Ryan Briscoe. The way the Colombian has been driving of late, I’ll be very surprised if he doesn’t have at least one win before the season is over – and watch out for next year.

Australia’s Will Power also enjoyed a timely resurgence on Sunday, after a disaster in the wet compounded by a shocking qualifying session. Eleventh doesn’t sound like much to write home about, but compared to finishing a lap down in fourteenth after finding the wall, Power would have left Texas a little happier, and at least maintains his points lead as the IndyCar Series gets set for a serious run of races.

Saturday and Sunday began a stretch of eight races in ten weeks, including another double-header weekend in Toronto. Next weekend, though, it’s the second leg of the reinstated Triple Crown, at the triangular, three-turn superspeedway in Pocono, Pennsylvania for a 500-mile event.

There’s plenty to look forward to as the IndyCar Series really hits it’s summer stretch, and we’ll have a much better idea of who may win the championship – Australia’s Will Power still holds a timely advantage – after a month of hard, season-defining racing.

Australia’s Nathan Walker Drafted into the NHL

Australia's Nathan Walker, now an NHL draftee

Walker drafted with Pick No. 89 by the Washington Capitals

Australian sporting history was made overnight, with Welsh-born, Australian-raised Nathan Walker becoming the first man from our country to be drafted into the National Hockey League.

The hard-skating winger, known as ‘Stormy’ was selected by the Washington Capitals – the Caps  star player, Russian Alexander Ovechkin, is considered to be amongst the best players in the game – in the third round (89th overall) after spending last season with the American Hockey League’s Hershey Bears.

For those who are not completely ofay with the ladder system for players working their way from junior or college into the NHL, the American Hockey League, whose annual champion is awarded the Calder Cup, is one rung below the NHL, and, although it is on a much smaller scale in terms of crowds, media coverage and player contracts, it’s a fully-professional league with some major talent.

After time spent playing in the Czech Republic, Walker, who watched Mighty Ducks in his lounge room and decided, thanks to the heroics of Adam Banks, Charlie Conway, Goldberg and co, that he would give ice hockey a try. Those films are a defining part of lives for so many of us who grew up in the late eighties and nineties. How many of us watched that great trilogy – stacked with great nods to Minnesotan hockey, and the great game as a whole – and wished we could perform like that on skates? Well, here’s a kid who actually did. That’s what makes the story so much more incredible.

Realising that Walker had legitimate talent, and a chance to reach the upper echelon of the sport, his family took a giant leap of faith, relocating to Europe when he was thirteen, and Walker’s barely looked back. He took the European leagues by storm, and moved to North America which is recognised as being the pinnacle of the hockey world.

Walker, twenty, has been tied to the Capitals organisation for some time. He wasn’t eligible for the NHL Draft last year due to his playing time in Europe, but that didn’t stop him from carving out a niche with the Bears, as well as featuring at the Capitals pre-season camp, and seeing limited game time in the pre-season schedule, which is often used to give fringe players at least a taste of what it’s like in the big leagues. Apparently, he impressed the Capitals.

There had been whispers that Walker’s abilities had been noticed by scouts from other teams, and in order to get their man, the Capitals, who have a new coach and general manager for Season 2014-15, had to trade up, sending fourth round picks No. 110 and No. 118 to the New York Rangers, thus ensuring that Walker becomes a Capital, and has a chance at playing alongside the goal-scoring machine, Ovechkin and another bonafide superstar, Swede Nicklas Backstrom.

Just being on the same sheet of ice with those two, and the other talented players on the Capitals roster is going to be a great thing for Walker’s development. No one knows scoring and offense like Ovechkin, the mercurial Russian whose jersey No. 8 earns him the nickname The Great Eight. It’s not undeserved, either.

As for Walker’s NHL prospects, it’s fairly likely that he will train pre-season with the Caps and will likely be assigned to Hershey for at least the beginning of the AHL season, but players come up and down between the NHL and the AHL with regularity, so it isn’t out of the realms of possibility that he sees big league action early on.

Regardless, this is a moment in Australian sport that should be celebrated. Take a look at Australians on the great stages of North American sport at the moment: Jesse Williams is on a Super Bowl-winning Seattle Seahawks roster in the NFL, Patty Mills just won an NBA championship with the San Antonio Spurs (as did Aron Baynes), and, leading off on what’s been a pretty good week for Australians cracking the American big-time, Dante Exum was drafted fifth overall at the NBA Draft, and will join the Utah Jazz this season.

That’s just scratching the surface: Andrew Bogut is earning millions in the NBA, and making a name for himself as a no-nonsense player, Tasmanian-born racer Marcos Ambrose competes in the top-tier NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, Aussies Will Power and Ryan Briscoe are in front-running IndyCar Series drives, and there are dozens of our countrymen playing top-level college football and basketball across the United States.

Now, you can add Nathan Walker’s name to that elite club, and here’s hoping that the media coverage his incredible achievement has garnered in Australia paves the way for more players to follow their dreams, and also for extra media attention for the great sport of hockey – or, ice hockey, as it’s more commonly known down here – which, with it’s physicality and speed, would be a giant hit here, were we blessed with colder winters and better facilities.

Don’t forget, Walker will be an honorary member of the American team for the five-game International Ice Hockey exhibition series against a Canadian team. Both rosters will feature many AHL and NHL stars, and there are games in Brisbane, Perth, Melbourne and Sydney. It comes at the right time, with Walker’s ascension to the NHL, and should guarantee some added interest in a series that, even without Walker, will feature some great talent.

Congratulations, Nathan Walker – the sky’s the limit now!

Swans Make History With 10-Game Winning Streak

Normal AFL service in the Harbour City has officially resumed, with the Swans handily dispatching the upstart GWS Giants at the SCG on Saturday night, thanks to a first-half master class from prized recruit Lance Franklin, who booted four goals, including one that surely will be a contender for Goal of the Week (if not Goal of the Year) to blow the inexperienced Giants away.

The seven-goal win erases the shock loss that the young Giants handed the Swans in round one at Spotless Stadium, and extends the Swans’ current winning streak to a franchise-best ten games. Not since the 1930’s has the Sydney/South Melbourne franchise notched up an even ten-game winning streak.

The Swans came close to a similar streak in 2012 – a premiership year, which augurs well for the current squad – but fell one short. This time around, with the high-flying Swans enjoying strong wins against premiership contenders Hawthorn, Fremantle, Port Adelaide and a 110-point belting of Geelong en route to this historic mark, win number ten came against Sydney’s fledgling cross-town rivals on a cold, windy and rather unpleasant winter night in front of a little more than 27,000 fans, which is a pretty good return when you take Sydney’s near-cyclonic winds into account.

What is it about Sydney Derby games that seems to bring out the worst sort of weather imaginable? We endured a fierce storm at Spotless Stadium that stopped play for the best part of half an hour in the season opener, and whilst there was no precipitation or lightning, damaging winds had howled through the city and it’s suburbs before the game, and it doubtless kept many fans away from the game.

Two weeks ago, against Port Adelaide, FOX commentator Anthony Hudson labelled Franklin “Cyclone Buddy” and on Saturday night, Mother Nature chimed in, delivering damaging wind gusts that dropped the temperature considerably, but the elements didn’t seem to worry Buddy, who has twenty-six goals in the last six games. One might argue, in fact, that the man wearing #23 on his back was the most damaging force out there all night.

Make no mistake, this was the win that the Swans needed. GWS had their collective backs up, with two straight wins coming in, and you have to imagine that Sydney circled this return clash on their calendars after the embarrassing round one defeat. It wasn’t the greatest game we’ll ever see, but the Swans did enough in the first half, thanks to Franklin’s four majors (and a few handy score assists, too) and were never really travelled after the long break. The second half was a dour contest, neither team scoring much in the way of style points. Not that it mattered – the damage had been done, and done well.

It was alluded to in the week that the Swans, by Luke Parker and others, fresh off the coup of landing Buddy, headed into the season opener against the Giants with a little too much complacency, which they paid for in a big way, but there was no repeat in the SCG clash. In it’s place was the usual Swans ruthlessness.

The star-studded Swans midfield jumped all over the young Giants at the outset – Kieran Jack, the birthday boy and Brett Kirk Medallist, had twenty-two touches to half time, and people started wondering if he’d brought his own footy – and Shane Mumford was well held by Mike Pyke, after big Mummy’s powerhouse effort in round one set the table for so much of what the Giants did offensively. It was a red-letter day for Pyke. The Canadian ruckman played one of his best games in red-and-white.

Much has changed for the Swans since Round One. Their history-making loss to the Giants was part of a 1-3 start, and there is little similarity between the team that played in those first four games – jerseys aside, of course – to the team that took the park last night. They have improved out of sight in every facet of the game.

Of course, Franklin’s grasping of the Sydney game plan and his return to form has been a big part of that, as has the return of Kurt Tippett and the improved fitness of midfielders like Jarrad McVeigh and Kieran Jack. It’s amazing the difference that fifteen rounds of football can make, isn’t it?

The gulf in class between the Swans at their very best and the still-young GWS squad was on display for all to see. So, it’s back to the drawing board for Leon Cameron and his coaching staff, who will be without Heath Shaw, who was taken to hospital for concussion tests after a sickening collision with Kurt Tippett’s knee during the first quarter.

The former Collingwood star was out cold on the turf, necessitating the arrival of the medical cart to get him off the field. The incident was entirely accidental, but still something very hard to watch. You can only imagine how Tippett must have felt in the immediate aftermath.

Ten wins is great, of course, there is still lots of football to play, and the Swans have a very narrow margin for error after their 1-3 start. With a tough road trip to Perth to play the inconsistent – but still very dangerous – West Coast next week and Carlton the week after, before return clashes against heavyweights Hawthorn and Port Adelaide, now is not the time for complacency.

Creating history is something to remember, but the real task ahead is a hard tilt at September finals action, and Sydney will need to keep up their intensity if they are to attain the ultimate success, hoisting the AFL Premiership Cup at the MCG on Grand Final Day.

Concert Review – Keith Urban's #LightTheFuseTour 2014

Who: Keith Urban

What: Light The Fuse Tour 2014

Where: Allphones Arena, Sydney

When: Sunday 22 June 2014

Right off the top, it must be said that, when it comes to musicians with serious guitar chops, Keith Urban is in the upper reaches of the upper echelon, comfortable there alongside luminaries like John Mayer, Tom Morello, Coldplay’s Jonny Buckland and fellow country star Brad Paisley. It’s simply mesmerising what he can do with an axe – or, in Urban’s case, a serious of them – and every little trick up his sleeve seemed to be on display Sunday night.

It is perhaps lost in the midst of his incredible guitar playing that Urban is also a very accomplished song-writer, with a string of hit tunes to his name. In Nashville these days, the current trend is going away from writing your own music. Even those who had made a living writing their own material – Kenny Chesney, I’m looking at you – are now taking advantage of the incredible pool of song-writing talent on offer in Music City USA.

Not so, Keith Urban, whose fingerprints are all over most of what was played on stage Saturday and Sunday night. Given that the name of the tour borrows from the name of his most recent album Fuse, the majority of the two hours’ worth of set list – particularly the first half – was stacked with songs from that new release, including the excellent “Love’s Poster Child” and “Even The Stars Fall 4 U” that, admittedly, sound more like mainstream rock than real country, but are great, catchy songs, with awesome guitar solos built in.

On stage midway through the set was North Queensland girl Brooke Schubert. She was discovered by a Townsville radio station, who passed on their knowledge to Urban during a recent interview. So what does Keith do? He jumps on YouTube, likes what he sees, and now Schubert, blessed with a strong, soaring voice, is a part of this Australian tour, singing Texan Miranda Lambert’s parts on “We Were Us”, the up-tempo reminisce about life and love as youngsters, with that distinctive electric banjo opening, and the whimsical recollections of life in a small town that went #1 in America.

Of all the songs on Fuse, Urban’s first duet with Lambert, a country superstar in her own right, is probably my favourite. Despite it going #1 on the US Country Billboard Charts, the anthem of glorious yesteryear didn’t really have a permanent home on the American leg of the tour, but thanks to Schubert’s emergence, it’s found one here in Australia. It’s not a stretch to say Schubert, who is clearly going to be a star, does as much justice to the parts sung in the studio by Lambert. In the live arena, it’s a powerful song, anthemic and catchy, the sort of music you can’t help but want to tap your feet to. There’s the expected solo from Urban, too, but it’s far from formulaic.

Whilst most of Urban’s best-performing tracks are catchy up-tempo numbers, he’s written a stack of good ballads, too. I’ll come out and say it here: I prefer Urban at his rocking best, but you can’t help but be impressed by soaring vocals combined with epic guitar solos – particularly on my favourite KU song “You Gonna Fly” and the 2002 hit “Somebody Like You”.

Urban’s work on the acoustic guitar for two songs after the encore was pretty special, too. His voice holds up remarkably well without the backing of the band, and the sound mix in Allphones Arena was dead on. Even when he was singing from a tiny B-stage in the middle of the crowd, where he performed a revved-up version of the rollicking Golden Road hit “You Look Good In My Shirt”.

Sunday night’s show was a reminder of how many good songs Urban has up his sleeve in that he had to leave some great ones out – “Jeans On” and “Where The Blacktop Ends” spring immediately to mind.

As good as Keith is – and, you know, he’s very good – on guitar, I never once got the feeling that he’s showing off or being arrogant or anything like that. In fact, he’s incredibly humble, like a guy you know next door, who’s made it big and is clearly having the time of his life, night after night. With the reception from the Sydney crowd, it’s not a stretch to imagine that every show is better than the one before.

Urban’s quirky sense of humour was on display on Sunday, making Newcastle and Goulburn jokes, thanking people who’d come a long way to the show (including those who’d travelled from Parramatta) and especially when he saw a sign in the audience from a kid purporting to be 16 and have never kissed a girl (a subtle nod to the song “Kiss A Girl”, which he performed later) and invited the unfortunate guy onto the stage. Hilarity ensued, but was all in good fun. There was plenty of fun all night.

Not since watching Train at the Sydney Opera House in 2012 have I left a show with such a happy feeling. Keith Urban, you star!

Opinion: Analysing the Ryan Kesler to Anaheim Trade

Towards the end of last season, when Roberto Luongo was disrespected by then-head coach John Tortorella – Luongo was traded soon after, and Tortorella was fired – there were rumours of great unrest inside the Canucks locker room. The coach had lost the team, and big-name players were incredibly unhappy, or so said scuttlebutt at the time.

One of the names mentioned was Vancouver’s star centre, American-born Ryan Kesler, who apparently wanted to be traded from Western Canada, where he’s played his entire career, back to an American team. At the time, myself (along with many others) speculated on Kesler’s true motives: like, did he really just want to get the hell out of Vancouver before the franchise really imploded? It seemed likely, particularly if you believed the rumours, which I tend to do – these whispers don’t leak out by accident. There’s always at least a modicum of truth to them.

At any rate, Kesler stayed put throughout the season, likely because the right deal wasn’t forthcoming, but now the Canucks, with a new head coach and general manager taking over from the Mike Gillis and Tortorella respectively, have pulled the trigger and Kesler, one of the most identifiable Canuck names of the last few years – along with the Sedin twins, Alex Burrows and Luongo – is out the door.

That represents very good news for the Anaheim Ducks, whose deal to acquire the polarising twenty-nine-year-old American saw them sending young centre Nick Bonino, promising defenceman Luca Sbisa and the 24th overall pick in Friday’s NHL Draft to Vancouver in a deal finalised before the commencement of the Draft.

A solid two-way centre, Kesler figures to be a good fit at Anaheim, under the lightning-fast offensive scheme that saw Bruce Boudreau’s men remain at the top of the Western Conference heap for the majority of the season. In a decade in Vancouver, Kesler helped himself to six 20-goal seasons and amassed 392 points while perfecting an agitating physical style. He’s also a two-time U.S. Olympian who, in 2011, won the Selke Trophy,, awarded to the player adjudged the NHL's best defensive forward.

For the Ducks, they finally have their legitimate superstar centre to play on the second line behind the established Ryan Getzlaf. Certainly, Kesler will bump up their face-off abilities, and his talent as a flat-out goal scorer should never be underestimated. As far as players go, he’s almost the complete package, though he’s missed some time with injuries, which is  probably the only downside to a deal that means Kesler has two years – and a cool $10 million – left on his current term.

Anaheim is the clear winner here, although you get the feeling that the Canucks, who have gone through a pretty thorough clean-out over the spring and into North America’s summer, are probably glad that Kesler has moved on. If indeed he was unhappy in the locker room, and being a senior player, he’s the sort of player who – potentially – can mould the thinking of younger and less-experienced teammates. One thing is for sure: the Canucks roster in 2014-15 is going to be markedly different from those of previous years.

As far as the Ducks go…well, this is just a retool of a roster that took them deep into the playoffs, eventually succumbing to eventual Stanley Cup champions, the Los Angeles Kings, in Game 7 of the all-Southern California Western Conference Semi-Final series, which did wonders, along with the Kings winning it all, for hockey in the Los Angeles/Anaheim area.

There’s plenty of youth coming through the Ducks franchise after a rash of retirements and other departures since the end of the season, and Kesler’s a veteran presence, while still probably in the prime of his career, who figures to bring, aside from that ability to niggle that makes him Public Enemy No. 1 in all arenas but his home one, and a great skillset that can only improve the Ducks as they look for further success in 2014-15.

Minnesota Misses Out on NHL Outdoor Hockey in 2015

Twin media reports over the last few days have let the cat out of the bag where the location and teams involved in the two NHL outdoor games to be played in season 2014-15. 

In the now familiar Winter Classic on New Year’s Day, Alexander Ovechkin’s Washington Capitals will host the Chicago Blackhawks at the beautiful Nationals Park – as nice a Major League venue as there is in America – and, later in the year, an outdoor game will be staged at AT&T Park in San Francisco, the spectacular home of the San Francisco Giants – and the most beautiful ballpark in America, from a scenery standpoint – rumoured to be featuring that team from across the Bay, the San Jose Sharks and the defending Stanley Cup Champions, the Los Angeles Kings.

On the surface, those are good match-ups. The League will benefit from star power in both games, particularly with Ovechkin, Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane lining up on New Year’s Day and the likes of Jeff Carter, Patrick Marleau, Jonathan Quick and Joe Pavelski on show at AT&T Park, where seats high up in the bleachers behind home plate offer epic views of sunsets over the imposing Bay Bridge, but there’s one element that Commissioner Bettman and his planners have overlooked: the State of Hockey.

That’s right, Minnesota. Where Detroit is deservedly labelled Hockeytown, the Land of 10,000 Lakes is undoubtedly the state where hockey is most passionately followed. The place is a glacial hotbed of hockey, and the good folks way up north, rival Canada when it comes to obsession and passion for the great game. 

From great high school rivalries, like Warroad High vs. Roseau High, through to perennially contending NCAA programs like University of Minnesota-Duluth and the Golden Gophers of the University of Minnesota – or, as it’s known simply up there, The U. There’s also the Minnesota Wild of the NHL (and the famed Minnesota North Stars before them).

When you look at the great names of American hockey, so many of them come from Minnesota or have strong Minnesotan ties – and, interestingly, no US men’s hockey team as ever won Gold without at least one player from Warroad, Minnesota on the roster.

From coaches like 1980 Miracle on Ice hero Herb Brooks, long-serving administrators like the great Lou Nanne, NCAA record-holders like Tim Harrer, and so many of the core of that Miracle on Ice team – Neal Broten, Mike Ramsey and Dave Christian, amongst others – you’re looking at an all-star line-up of USA hockey talent stretching back decades.

That rich history makes the NHL’s decision to not hand the Wild an outdoor contest next season a joke. Moreover, it’s a slap in the face to so much tradition. Not that I am against growing the game into non-traditional markets, and not because I don’t think a game at AT&T Park won’t be great, but Bettman and co seem so obsessed with pushing the game forth into newer markets, at the expense of places where hockey has been giant for decades.

When the North Stars were sold and went to Dallas to become the Stars, the state of Minnesota could’ve turned its collective back on professional hockey. Instead, when the Wild, a start-up franchise that arrived in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis-St Paul in 1997, they were welcomed with open arms, the hockey-mad people up there forgetting the injustice that the NHL allowed, and the years they went – long, frustrating years, as every Minnesotan hockey fan will attest – without an NHL presence took that team into their hearts.

Nearly twenty years later, and the Wild are on the rise, thanks to the acquisition of prized free-agents Ryan Suter and Zach Parise a few seasons back. 2013-14 saw Mike Yeo’s squad reach the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, ousting the more favoured Colorado Avalanche in seven games prior to losing to Chicago. The atmosphere at Xcel Energy Arena is as good as it is anywhere in the League. Trust me: you haven’t seen hockey ‘til you’ve see it at The X.

Hockey fans in Minnesota haven’t had it easy. With the glut of outdoor games last year, and the announcement of multiple games going forward – two next year, and probably not much more than that in future seasons – I was certain that the Wild would get a look-in by now.

Apparently, I was mistaken. I wrote last year that a game at Target Field, where the Twins play Major League baseball, or TCF Stadium, home of the U’s football team , would be a rip-roaring success. I mean, there was a crowd of nearly 40,000 for a Gopher NCAA outdoor game, the Hockey City Classic, and that was on a bitterly cold night. Imagine what sort of buzz an NHL contest would generate?

I suggested that an NHL outdoor game in Minnesota would be a perfect way to honour and pay tribute to Minnesota hockey tradition and royalty. Bring in the former North Star greats, throw in the greatest names from the University of Minnesota’s incredible hockey program and you have a cavalcade of hockey legends who’d surely be chomping at the bit to be involved, many of whom have won NCAA Championships, Olympic gold medals or Stanley Cups. A few lucky ones have won all three.

Personally, I’d love to see the Wild against the Dallas Stars, just for some historic irony, but, hell, throw the Blackhawks in, and allow the star power of Toews and Kane to help generate a national audience. But, it really doesn’t matter who the Wild play, nor where in Minnesota they play, just that they do. Now that the great North Star Mike Modano has been announced as an inductee into the Pro Hockey Hall of Fame, there’s even more reason for the League to get this an outdoor spectacle happening.

Hockey relies on the passion of – compared to football, basketball and even baseball – a small and loyal fan base to keep the sport ticking over. Until the NHL schedules an outdoor game in Minnesota, they’re short-changing a large proportion of those fans who’ve endured so much already.

Come on, Commissioner: do the right thing here.

Book Review: "The Smoke at Dawn" by Jeff Shaara

Jeff Shaara is back, and the third of four books on the 'Western' campaign of the American Civil War, takes us deeper into the conflicts that raged (primarily) throughout Tennessee and Georgia whilst most of the press interest both at the time and these days, is and was focused on the Robert E. Lee's Confederate Army of Northern Virginia and the various men who commanded the Union Army of the Potomac.

As has been his trademark, Shaara takes us deep into the mind's of some of the major protagonists of the campaign around Chattanooga, Tennessee and Lookout Mountain, going beyond what is written in so many textbooks to present a more humanised view of the great struggle between the Union and the Confederacy. That Shaara has turned his attention to a mostly-forgotten part of the devastating war does great justice to those who fell on battlefields west of the fight being waged in and around Washington, D.C.

Everything from the bickering and political posturing amongst the Confederate generals to Ulysses S. Grant's rise through the ranks of the Union Army to Private Fritz Bauer, the Milwaukee native whose Army career Shaara has traced in both previous books - A Blaze of Glory & A Chain Of Thunder - and his travels from a volunteer regiment to the hardened professional ranks of the United States Army.

We come to understand that Confederate General Braxton Bragg does not seem to trust anyone aside from those on his staff, those who are very close to him, just as we realise, through General William T. Sherman's eyes, that Bragg's rebels, dug in on Lookout Mountain and Missionary Ridge, aren't going to easily be shifted. 

The political backdrop, men on both sides using their connections in Washington D.C. or Richmond, to try and advance their cause, or stunt the careers of others, is as fascinating as it is horrifying. You wonder how many months of the war might have been saved, had the men on both sides fought together as a united army, rather than spending half their time trying to undermine superiors or subordinates. Whatever the reasoning for it, Shaara does a great job of describing and portraying the frustration of all those caught up as pawns in a larger political battle.

As always, the battle scenes are brilliant, putting the reader right into the middle of the firing line. At times, it's gut-wrenching and devastating. The final pages of the book make for shocking reading, events occurring within that truly drive home the horror of war, and especially of war between two nations so intertwined for so long. 

Book Four in the series, dealing with Sherman's drive to Atlanta, is only a year away! I can hardly wait already!

Franklin The Difference As Sydney Extend Win Streak To Nine | #GoSwans

Beautiful, epic, free-flowing, spectacular – just four different adjectives that won’t be used to describe the Week Thirteen edition of Friday night footy at the MCG.

That sound you hear is the exhale-in-relief of Sydney Swans fans everywhere, following something of an escape act. As the old adage goes, a win’s a win, and despite being outplayed for long stretches of the contest by a gallant, inspired Richmond, the Swans, thanks in large part to that bloke in #23, the one they like to call the Bondi Billionaire, have won their ninth straight, to further banish unpleasant memories of that 1-3 start.

A 1-3 start, mind you, that featured losses on nights like this one, with a slippery surface dictating terms of the contest. There was no precipitation during the game, but the ingredients were there for a bad Swans loss, as there were bad losses in the rain or on wet tracks against North, Collingwood and GWS.

At times, this game was downright unwatchable, with both the Swans and the Tigers putting more effort into defending than scoring, as the final score – 62-51 – suggested, but, as good teams do, and as good players do, when there was a moment to be seized, when the game was on the line, it was those in red and white who snatched it, and capitalised, leading to the win.

Mark it in the books: that’s two weeks in a row where Lance Franklin has been the difference between a win and a loss for the Swans. On both occasions, he picked up a sagging team and basically carried them across the line on his own back. Not bad for a guy whose best, said the Melbourne press, is well behind him. Perhaps that was more wishful thinking than hard fact?

If the last two weeks have taught us anything, other than that the Swans are legitimate Premiership contenders, it’s that reports of Buddy’s demise have been greatly exaggerated. He’s still as dangerous a player as there is in the AFL. Last week, he was sublime and superb, clunking goals from all over the ground.

Fast forward six days, and though he wasn’t all that dominant, well-held (and, at times, somewhat illegally, it seemed) by Richmond key defender Alex Rance, Buddy managed to get produce when he needed to, kicking four straight and maintain close contact with Richmond’s Jack Riewoldt in the Coleman Medal race,

All four kicks were the type you would use as an example for young kids learning how to play the game: dead-on shots that never, ever looked like missing. It’s a funny thing, because, by most statistical markers, you’d venture to say that Rance won the battle against Franklin, and he did, for the most part, but with someone as lethal as the Swans spearhead is at the moment, it only takes a momentary lapse or a bad free kicks, as led to Buddy’s last goal, the match-winner for the Swans, for him to get on top.

To their credit, Richmond were very good. I saw them in person three weeks ago for the Dreamtime Game at the MCG, and although the Tigers of Friday night were wearing the same colour jerseys, there was little comparison between the hapless, uninterested team I saw get belted by Richmond and the team who came out tonight, full of fire and belief.

The Tigers jumped the Swans early, getting out to a four-goal lead (and, soon thereafter, a game high lead of twenty-six), and were it not for some inaccuracy and poor decision-making, the Tigers would have been even further ahead. Perhaps they should have been further ahead, such was their domination everywhere but where it counts the most: on the scoreboard.

As good teams do, the Swans found avenues to goal. Franklin took a spectacular juggling mark on about the fifth attempt and goaled. Kieran Jack, despite sustaining a hand injury during the second half, capitalised on a Richmond mistake and suddenly the Swans were only down by a manageable fourteen points at the half.

In the second stanza, the big names stood up for the Swans. One can only imagine the fearful spray John Longmire must’ve delivered at half-time. It’s fair to say that the Horse wouldn’t have been doing that much whispering. Whatever he said, however, seemed to work wonders. Important players who were quiet in the first half – Jarrad McVeigh, Luke Parker, Jake Lloyd and Adam Goodes – were suddenly right amongst the action.

As good teams do, these Swans found a way back through these big names, who got more of the football, and were able to, if not have a huge impact on the scoreboard, at least get the Sherrin moving in the right direction.  That left Buddy to do his thing, and though the goals weren’t all of the highlight reel variety – except for his snap off one step in the fourth to snatch back the lead for Sydney – they were equally as important as last week's show-stoppers.

The Swans persevered despite the injury to Rhyce Shaw, whose verve and dash from half-back was missed by the Swans. News of Shaw’s condition will be a big talking point in Sydney as the Swans head into a week that will end with a battle against the Greater Western Sydney Giants next Saturday night at the SCG, a game that the Swans surely have had circled on their calendar ever since the five-goal defeat in round one.

Rest easy, Swans fans: this was an eminently forgettable win, but with Tippett, McGlynn and Hannebery to come into this team, the hunt for ten consecutive victories, and a top-two finish, is still alive and well.

Celebrating the 2013-14 New York Rangers

To be honest, it’s taken me a little while to get my head around this, and to put pen to paper. On Saturday afternoon, when the Los Angeles Kings’ Alec Martinez fired the puck past New York’s stellar net minder, Henrik Lundqvist, to win the Stanley Cup and to spark off wild celebrations in Southern California, I was pretty depressed.

After all, the Rangers are not the world’s most successful team – this was their first trip to the Final since they won it all twenty years ago – and this year I’ve followed them like never before, missing only two games all season, and seeing two, albeit disappointing losses, at Madison Square Garden last December.

Shortly after turning off the Kings’ celebrations – congratulations to them, by the way; they’re a powerful franchise, fully deserving of their second Stanley Cup Championship in the past three seasons – I realised that, far from being disappointed, I should be happy and proud of the twenty-eight men who wore the Blueshirts in the eighty-seventh year of New York Ranger participation in the National Hockey League.

After all, these were the same Rangers who looked dead and gone, listless and horribly uncompetitive, down 1-3 to Pittsburgh in the Eastern Conference Semi-Finals. Their season was on life support, and everything pointed to the Penguins winning the next game, to oust the Rangers. It seemed pretty likely. Then came tragic news of the passing of Martin St Louis’ mother, between Game Five and Six.

What a ride followed for Blueshirts fans. The Rangers won that elimination game in Pittsburgh, St Louis scored the first goal of the Mother’s Day and Henrik Lundqvist, superb in so many games this year, back-stopped a memorable series win, beating Pittsburgh 4-3 after a thrilling Game Seven, touching off all sorts of change at the Penguins organisation, including coach and general manager – you’re welcome, guys!

The Pittsburgh series was a fantastic, gutty comeback, a galvanised team playing for St Louis, a recent addition to the locker room, but obviously a valued member. What a difference from the team who showed up in Game Four of that series, and, more so, from the tentative, uninterested outfit who went a miserable 3-6-0 to start the season.

Nine games in, and New Yorkers were already calling for the head of new coach Alain Vigneault, who promised that his team just needed time to get used to his new system, and that the wins would come. The news wasn’t much better in December, though. The Rangers had a franchise-record nine-game home stand from December 7 to 23, during which they had a record of 3–4–2. It didn’t look much like a season that, ultimately, wouldn’t end until the Stanley Cup Final.

Where the Rangers really picked up was after the Olympics. Vigneault’s system became less foreign, and with understanding of what the coach wants, came wins. Lots of them. Shockingly, beloved captain Ryan Callahan was sent to Tampa Bay at the trade deadline, with St Louis coming the other way. The team lost it’s spiritual heart, but gained a fantastic sniper with all-important playoff experience.

Outdoor games at Yankee Stadium – a wild and ultra-memorable Sunday afternoon 7-3 win against cross-river rivals New Jersey that was spearheaded by Rick Nash and a double from Mats Zuccarello, and a tough 2-1 night-time victory over the New York Islanders, thanks to a Daniel Carcillo goal – and big road wins followed, with playoffs creeping ever closer as February became March and April. They made it to second in the Metropolitan Division behind Pittsburgh, beat Philadelphia in Seven Games in the quarter-final round, again thanks to Lundqvist heroics. They don’t call him King Henrik for nothing.

I must admit to being unbiased and actually selecting Pittsburgh and Montreal (and, then, the Kings) to win series’ against the Rangers, but I was happily surprised and pleased to see the opposite happen.

Yes, Montreal’s star goalie, their best player Carey Price, was knocked out of the Eastern Conference Finals. Some north of the border suggested that was the difference. No, sir, it was the gritty nature of a team playing for each other, on every line, and was highlighted by the inspirational Dominic Moore’s goal, the difference in the series-deciding Game Six was the fourth line, gritty and strong. Suddenly, my Rangers were Eastern Conference Champions.

The Stanley Cup Final was never going to be easy, no matter whether the Rangers faced the Kings or the Chicago Blackhawks, but, thinking back on the series, now that the pain has somewhat faded, I take heart in the fact that the Rangers were will in Games One and Two, but just didn’t seem to get the breaks and the bounces going their way. Conversely, for LA, getting bounces in their direction was about the theme of the Kings’ run.

Game Three was a different story. The Rangers were beyond bad. Game Four was a nice rebound win, thanks once more to Lundqvist, and some slushy ice in Madison Square Garden – finally, a break the Rangers’ way – but they didn’t play particularly well in victory. Game Five, the double-overtime contest, could have been so much different. Ryan McDonagh hit the post early in the first overtime, but the puck stayed out. I think now about what might have been.

Alas, ultimately, the season ended in disappointment, but it should be – and will likely be, once the sting wears off – remembered as one of major over achievement. Of course, we all wanted to see Hank and the boys hoist Lord Stanley, but they rebounded amazingly from the horrible early months of the season and again during the middle of the Pittsburgh series to give us a memorable few weeks. It obviously didn’t end quite as we’d hoped, but there is plenty of hope for the 2014-15 season, which, really, isn’t too far away!

Hey, at least the Devils and Islanders didn’t even get close to a sniff! See you in a few months, Ranger fans!