Game 7 of the 2003 Stanley Cup Finals

I was doing a little cleaning during the week and I came across the 2 rolls of film pictures (remember those? from before digital cameras) that I had taken at Game 7 of the 2003 Stanley Cup Finals. I had a chance to scan them into the computer so I can share them with you here (click on the photos to see a much larger version).

Pregame party in the parking lot at the Arena of Champions

The Devils win the Stanley Cup

Scott Stevens, come get the Stanley Cup!

See the entire slideshow here.



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Lockout

The thought of another NHL work stoppage scares the shit out of me.

Okay, first off, if the NHL misses even a single day of training camp, Gary Bettman should be fired. You know, third time's the charm (half of the 1994-95 season and all of the 2004-05 season). This guy is at least 1/3 responsible for the loss of an entire season for God's sakes. His responsibility is the entire league, and twice under his watch, work in the league stopped.

Second off, I don't trust Don Fehr of the MLBPA NHLPA any further than I can throw him. His record includes having lost a World Series.

And these are some of the principle names. Right away, that doesn't give me a good feeling inside.

Next, I'm looking at the owners. There's talk of another salary rollback, yet there are owners willing to shell out millions of dollars over many years (and much of that money up front in signing bonuses and first couple year salaries) to secure players in free agency (Minnesota, I'm looking at you). You can't have it both ways. Maybe the owners aren't on the same page.

Let me throw out a radical corrective solution or two. If there's owners calling for rollbacks in salaries, then I'm calling for rollbacks in the number of teams. That's called "contraction". In thinking about this, part of the reason why the NHL is having trouble is because it went into markets that it never should have entered in the first place. Tampa, Nashville, Phoenix, Atlanta (okay, that was rectified last summer), I'm looking at you. Look at some of the weaker markets where there are arena disputes and attendance problems (and just small geographic size) and see if the business would be better without them bringing the league down.

Another point is the slowness of the talks. It sounded like the NHLPA had requested some independent financial details from the league's owners, and that data was taking its sweet-ass time coming out for review by Don Fehr and company. This is contract talks. These figures should have been assumed were needed and gathered ahead of time. Time is valuable here. Training camp begins in mid-September. Negotiation time is running out. Don't waste it on waiting for numbers that should have been part of the discussion from before the beginning.

Bottom line in all this. The league cannot afford to lose any time. At least not as a business in the United States. They were the 4th league before losing half of the 1994-95 season. They were the 4th league before losing all of the 2004-05 season. They're still the 4th league. They need all the help they can get, and another work stoppage is not the answer.


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Devils Announcers at the Olympics

Before I begin, I want to note that this may be an incomplete list, since I don't even have a complete list of Devils announcers.

With this Summer Olympics starting this weekend, I decided to take a look and see which past and present Devils broadcasters have worked at the Olympics. I found a few more than I had expected. It wouldn't surprise me if there was an omission from this list.

• Steve Cangialosi - Recently finished his first season as the primary TV voice of the Devils, and his 6th overall with the club, Cangialosi is calling his second Olympic games for NBC, having worked soccer (calling matches from New York) at the 2008 (Beijing) and 2012 (London) games. He will also be calling the Modern Pentathlon for the London games.
• Mike 'Doc' Emrick - Doc was the voice of the Devils for 21 of their 30 (or 29) seasons, and Doc's been the voice of Olympic hockey for 3 networks, calling Ice Hockey at the 1992 (Albertville), 1994 (Lillehammer), and 1998 (Nagano) games for CBS, the 1998 games also for TNT, the 2006 (Turino) and 2010 (Vancouver) games for NBC. Doc is calling his second Summer Olympics for NBC, reprising a role in 2012 (London) that he had in 2004 (Athens) calling Water Polo.
• John Davidson - Records are incomplete, but based on one or two very old Devils broadcasts seen on MSG Vault, J.D. called at least a partial schedule of Devils games for MSG back in the team's early days, along side Doc Emrick. J.D. is one of the best hockey TV analysts, and was the in the top spot in 1992 (Albertville), 1994 (Lillehammer), 1998 (Nagano) for CBS, 2002 (Salt Lake City), 2006 (Turino), and 2010 (Vancouver) for NBC.
• Gary Thorne - Gary Thorne was the TV voice of the Devils on SportsChannel from 1987 until 1993 and was also part of SportsChannel America's coverage of the NHL from 1988-1992 before joining ESPN as their lead NHL announcer in 1992. Thorne called Ice Hockey at the 2002 (Salt Lake City) games for NBC and called Speed Skating at the 1998 (Nagano) Winter Olympics for CBS and Rowing at the 2000 (Sydney) Summer Olympics for NBC.
• Peter McNab - Peter McNab was a Devils TV analyst for 8 seasons starting in 1987-88 on SportsChannel before moving on to the Colorado Avalanche. McNab covered Ice Hockey for TNT in 1998 (Nagano), 2002 (Salt Lake City) for TSN (as a studio analyst), and 2006 (Torino) for NBC.

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