The top secret schedule for Monday’s Hall of Fame induction ceremony

The​ hockey world will​ come​ together​ on​ Monday​ to​ celebrate Hall​ of Fame induction​ night, capping off​ one​ of the very​​ best weekends on the season calendar. Legends from the past join the stars of today to honor the newest members of the sport’s most exclusive club, as part of a lavish and often emotional ceremony in Toronto.

This year’s class features six new Hall of Famers: Willie O’Ree, Martin Brodeur, Jayna Hefford, Martin St. Louis, Aleksander Yakushev and commissioner Gary Bettman. They’ll be celebrated all weekend long, including before Saturday night’s game between the Devils and Leafs. But the main event comes on Monday, when they’re formally inducted into the Hall.

That’s a big night, and it has to be planned carefully. Luckily, my DGB spies managed to get their hands on a copy of the schedule for the evening’s events.

---

7:30 – Induction ceremony begins. Opening remarks. Attendees are thanked. Brief interpretative dance by Justin Williams and the Carolina Hurricanes.

7:35 pm – Induction of Martin Brodeur begins.

7:36 pm – Somebody asks Sean Avery to sit down and stop waving his arms because he’s blocking everyone’s view.

7:40 pm – Special video highlight package commemorating Brodeur’s never-to-be-broken records such as 691 career wins, 125 career shutouts, and 7 trillion airings of that “midlife crisis” car rental ad.

7:45 pm – Touching speech by Brodeur in which he thanks all those who were involved in his NHL career.

7:46 pm – Murmurs of confusion as everyone tries to remember why he just mentioned the St. Louis Blues.

7:50 pm – Induction of Aleksander Yakushev begins.

7:51 pm – Courtesy pause for younger North American fans to google “Aleksander Yakushev” and then totally pretend they didn’t just have to do that.

7:55 pm – Video package highlighting how dominant Yakushev was during the 1972 Summit Series, and we quickly realize we may have been a little bit too effective when Bobby Clarke runs out and breaks his ankle out of force of habit.

>> Read the full post at The Athletic

20 years ago today...

This happened:

Happy anniversary, Rob and Sylvain. And wow, I'm getting old.

(Glove tap to @checktheticker for the heads up.)

A look back at the musical wonder that was 1994's "The Joe Bowen Rap"

Holy Mackinaw, boyyeeee.

What do you get when a billion-dollar corporation commissions a safe, watered-down, committee-approved song to serve as an anthem for their last-place team? Well, as Leaf fans know, you get "Free To Be", although we also would have accepted "two ear drums punctured by the nearest pencil".

But what do you get when you combine an exciting team, an aspiring rapper with access to recording equipment, and the passion of a true diehard Maple Leafs fan? You get just about the greatest song ever recorded.

Ladies and gentlemen, for the first time since 1994, The Joe Bowen Rap by Young Offender:

Read the rest of this post...

Ron Wilson sings "Reimer"

Bloge Salming and I made this for you. May god have mercy on our souls.

RSS readers, click here.

You can also view this video at TheScore.com's Houses Of The Hockey blog. Visit blogesalming.com for more hockey fun.

The horrible truth behind Montreal's miracle run

Oops. My bad.

The Montreal Canadiens are on one of the most stunning playoff runs in NHL history. After beating the Penguins tonight, they've now eliminated both the #1 seed and the defending champ, not to mention both of the game's biggest stars. Nobody can figure out how this is happening.

I think I know. And I think it's something I did. Let me explain.

The background: On April 21, the Caps beat the Habs 6-3 in game four of their first round series. It was an easy win, and it gave Washington a 3-1 lead in a series that everyone agreed was over.

The next day I got an e-mail from Greg Wyshynski at Puck Daddy, asking if Bloge Salming and I would be willing to write the 2009-2010 Montreal Canadiens eulogy. I agreed, and immediately started working on a thorough curb-stomping of the Habs and their wreck of a season. Oh, it was going to be glorious. It had a joke about riots, a Carey Price joke, a slightly different joke about riots, a shoe polish joke, and a joke about riots that was the same as the first one but used slightly different words. There was a good chance that once it was published, the Canadiens franchise would simply fold from the shame.

Three games later, the Caps had been stunned and Montreal was on their way to round two.

So I shelved the eulogy. No point, right? I'd have to rewrite it, but I had plenty of time. The Habs had earned four more games. Maybe even five. So I waited until Sunday, the day after the Penguins pushed Montreal to the brink of elimination. Then I fired up the eulogy and started reworking it.

Two games later, the Penguins are done and Montreal is in the conference finals for the first time since 1993.

Do you see what's happening here? Montreal is 5-0 when I'm working on their eulogy, and 3-6 when I'm not. Somehow, some way, my unfinished eulogy is changing the course of hockey history. It's become the official good luck charm of the 2009-2010 Montreal Canadiens. And if I don't put a stop to this now, it's going to single-handedly win the Habs a Stanley Cup.

Now, I've just entered my fourth decade of being a die-hard Toronto Maple Leafs fan, so I think it goes without saying that the hockey gods hate me, and high-five each other when ever they notice I'm sad. That much is a given. But are they punishing me? Is this their twisted idea of redemption? Could I have really wielded this awesome power all along?

I don't know. And I'm really not sure what to do. Should I delete the file? Do I have to set my computer on fire? Should I keep writing, just to see what happens?

I've been burdened with an awesome responsibility, and as Wendel is my witness I do not know what to do next. Help me, DGB readers. What should I do now?

A few other thoughts on the Habs:

• I tweeted this during the game, but the two guys who calls games for the Habs on the radio are the biggest homers I've ever heard -- and this is from somebody who grew up listening to Joe Bowen and is exposed to Dean Brown on a regular basis.
  
  Apparently it's Rick Moffat and Murray Wilson. And here's an actual transcript of them calling a Montreal goal: "YAAAYYYY!" These guys make Rick Jeanneret cringe.
  
  Look, I understand that local guys are allowed to wander off the path of strict objectivity from time to time. I'm fine with that. But is this some southern US market that desperately needs to sell the excitement of the game, or is it Montreal? Do Habs fans really go for this sort of thing? I really thought they'd be the last ones to need this sort of act.
  
  
• Since the last time the Leafs played a playoff game, we've seen the Red Mile, the Blue Mile, the Sens Mile, the declaration of "Canucks Day" after just one round, and now downtown Montreal being shut down before every playoff game.
  
  So... we can all just admit now that the whole "Leaf fans are lame because they honk horns on Yonge St after playoff wins" thing was BS, right? The idea that there was something wrong with being happy that your team won in the playoffs was stupid all along, but like so many media cliches it was an easy way for dumb people to get in a few shots at Leaf fans. But the gig is up, right? We all agree that we're never going to hear about this again? OK, just making sure.
  
  
• Speaking of my passive-aggressive persecution complex... The Habs have now won two seven-game series to advance to the conference finals. Nobody saw this coming. It's been an exhilarating and borderline ridiculous ride, the kind of thing that most hockey fans only get to experience once in a generation.
  
  I guess what I'm trying to say is that there's a part of me that sincerely hopes they lose in the next round after an obvious penalty goes uncalled by a referee staring right at it, just so I can spend the next 17 years feigning confusion over why Habs fans don't just get over it.
  
  
• Finally (with a glove tap to Jeffler), this happened. Who says Twitter isn't a valuable tool for finding out what's truly important in the world?

92-93 Trivia: The answers

Thanks to everyone who participated, and congratulations to General Borschevsky, eyebleaf, The Meatriarchy and mf37 for being the first to come up with various correct answers. (If you missed the original post, click here.)

#1 Who scored the goal that gave Gilmour a record-tying sixth assist in one game?

Good old Dave Ellett. Joe Bowen's call was classic (aren't they all?)

#2 In the late stages of game two against the Wings, and well on their way to a 2-0 deficit in the series, the Leafs showed some fight during a mini-brawl that featured Doug Gilmour taking down Bob Probert and Bob Cole's famous call "and oh, we're going to have a donnybrook here". Which Leaf threw the series of sucker punches that started the fight, and who was his (deserving) target?

It was the normally mild-mannered Felix Potvin, who drilled superpest Dino Ciccarelli to touch off the rumble. This was the first indication that Felix wasn't the pussycat we all thought he was. Of course, years later Ron Hextall would confirm this theory the hard way.

#3 After Borschevsky scores the goal to eliminate Detroit, who's the guy going crazy with the water bottle on the bench?

It's then-waterboy and current equipment manager Brian Papineau.

#4 Wendel Clark famously beat Bob Probert in a pair of fights during a December game at the Gardens. Other than the fights, what else was notable about that game for Probert?

It was Probert's first game back in Canada after a lengthy time when he couldn't come north because of his legal troubles. After this game, Probert immediately sent his lawyers back to court to ask that the ban be reinstated.

#5 Who was Pat Burns referring to when he made his infamous "I wouldn't know him if I ran over him with my truck" quip? Bonus question: what was that person's comeback?

Burns was referring to Bill Berg, who had just been claimed off waivers by the Islanders. The story goes that when Berg arrived in Toronto, he was asked what he planned to do first and replied "Probably find out where Pat Burns parking spot is".

#6 What classic Canadian rock song greeted the Maple Leafs before their first home playoff game in three years?

The Boys Are Back in Town, by Thin Lizzy. If the boys want to fight, you better let them.

(Update: This was also a trick question, since apparently Thin Lizzy aren't actually Canadian.)

#7 The day after Wendel Clark beat his face in, Marty McSorely appeared on the cover of the Toronto Star with a massive shiner. According to the headline next to the photo, who was "in the hangar, awaiting orders"?

Who else would be in the hangar but The Bomber?

#8 Which media member was honored with their own novelty rap song? Bonus question: according to the lyrics, "Lackawack, Cheektowaga, all through Buffalo, he's know as the ..." what?

It was play-by-play man Joe Bowen. In addition to referring to him as "the mic commando", the song had a chorus that focused on Bowen's call of a certain scrap.

#9 The Leafs used three different artists as anthem singers during the 1993 playoffs. Two regulars who alternated, and a third artist who made one disastrous appearance. Name all three artists.

I have to admit, I think I originally had this one wrong. I could have sworn that the Barenaked Ladies sang the anthem before Game Six of the Wings series. But I think I'm mixing up my anthems and General Borschevsky is right -- it was actually Pat Burns' favorite country band, the Good Brothers. In any event, they did a horrible meandering version of the anthem that killed the crowd and helped the Leafs get blown out.

The two good singers were Michael Burgess and John McDermott, although I would have also accepted "The guy from Les Mis" and "The Irish guy".

#10 Prior to Leafs/Kings game seven, CBC played an awesome montage of highlights from the series. The montage was set to the theme song from which sports movie?

Confession: I love sports montages. Back in the 80s and early 90s they were everywhere, and I loved it. These days you don't see them as often (although the amateurs on youtube are bringing them back). This one was one of my all-time favorites.

Anyways, the song here was theme from Hoosiers. You can hear it in this otherwise random youtube video starting at about the 1:15 mark.

Buying out Tucker is the right move, but I don't have to like it

Somebody asked me once why I'm so hard on Bryan McCabe, but rarely say much about Darcy Tucker. They're both overpaid underachievers, they both had the dreaded no-movement clause, they both refused to waive... what's the difference?

There were three:

• Unlike McCabe, Tucker took a discount to get his no-trade. After the year he had in 2006-7, he could have made more than $3M a year on the open market.
  
• Tucker's lousy year was at least partially due to injury. And while staying healthy is part of being a top player, I'm going to cut a guy some slack when his body breaks down because he played bigger than he was
  
• I can't claim to read minds, but for some reason it always seemed like Tucker genuinely loved being a Maple Leaf, while McCabe loves being in Toronto. There's a difference. A big one.
  

All that said, I think Fletcher made the right move here. Darcy Tucker has been in Toronto for so long that he's become a symbol of the team. He was a symbol of the plucky underdogs of 1999, he was a symbol of the borderline psycho death squad of 2003, and he was (unfortunately) a symbol of the whiny losers that the team morphed into during the Ferguson era.

Does he deserve to go? No. But the team needs a fresh start, and you can't get on if you keep the core in place. Sometimes you really do need change for the sake of change.

And yes, McCabe would have been a better choice to throw overboard, for a long list of reasons. But he won't go, and he's too expensive to buyout. So Tucker had to take the bullet for him. Another reason to give Bryan a warm welcome in the fall.

* * *

So let's all dry our eyes and look back on the good times. Here's a fond trip down memory lane:



Hey listen, it's objective and professional non-homer Dean Brown calling the game! Let's see if he can cover the entire checklist of things he's required to mention every time there's a fight in a Senators game:

• Claim that Ottawa player is wining fight despite no visual evidence
  
• Call for suspension
  
• Use of term "gong show"

Yep, sounds like he got them all!

This was back at the height of the "the Leafs are out-of-control" phase that culminated in SI doing a hatchet job on the team. As part of that, the media decided that since the Leafs were evil, the Senators had to be good and pure and classy. Good times. But notice how Hnidy jumps Tucker after he fights Neil. Can you imagine if the roles had been reversed, and a Senator fought Domi only to have Belak immediately grab him for round two? They would have had to sedate Dean Brown to keep him from attacking Joe Bowen.

This was also the same game that saw Domi's gentle glove-on punch to Magnus Arvedson, who faked a broken nose so that Domi would be suspended. Also, Daniel Alfredsson tried to two-hand Domi with his stick, Hossa-style. Pure class as always. OK, I'm angry now. Time to go for a walk and do some breathing exercises.

OK, I'm back.

Hey, while we're at it, who is the guy in the Senators gameday operations booth who sees a wild brawl break out and thinks "Man, this is crazy, what should I do? I know, I think I'll play some classical music!" (Edit: I may not be giving enough credit on this one. See the comments section.)

* * *

Finally, to all those who are hanging their heads today, here's a prediction: you haven't seen the last of Tucker in Toronto. The Leafs love to bring their warriors back for one more round (right Gary?). In a few years when the team is ready to make a serious playoff push again and needs some veteran sandpaper, look for #16 to make his return.

It's going to happen. And when it does, look out, because I think he's going to be cranky.