The Maven: Where do we go from here?
Unless you're a hockey columnist from Charles Dickens' era named Ebenezer Scrooge, the verdict on NHL outdoor Winter Classics can simply be put this way: They get better every year. That helps ...
Hanging Out With ... Patrick Kaleta
What other sports did you play as a kid? “I played baseball for a bit, and when lacrosse picked up in the area, I played that all the way up to sophomore year of high school.” Who’s ...
Goalie Guru: On equal playing time and riding the pine
Aside from team placement, there’s probably no thornier topic in youth hockey than playing time. And, like most issues regarding hockey, sports and life in general, it’s typically easy to identify ...
The Hockey Maven: We three kings
A dragon, a giraffe and a lion have as much in common with each other as John Tortorella, Peter DeBoer and Jack Capuano. The Metropolitan Area's three NHL coaches display remarkably differing characteristics ...
Fischler: Head Injuries, Realignment
CHRIS PRONGER'S latest injury -- concussion symptoms -- coupled with the troubling uncertainty surrounding Sidney Crosby has turned medical issues into as much an attention-getter as the games themselves. ...
Goalie Guru: Hands-on coaches can get back to basics
Goaltending is pretty simple: Get to the right spot, at the right time, in the right position, and you’ll make the save more often than not. However, getting to that spot, in the correct stance ...
The Maven: Star power
“Twinkle, twinkle, little star, How I wonder what you are, Up above the world so high, Like a diamond in the sky.” --- Jane Taylor, “The Star” There are hockey players and ...
Goalie Guru: Keep drills realistic with one puck
Robert “Cap” Raeder has been around the block. The former University of New Hampshire All-American goaltender (1972-75) from Needham, Mass., followed his Wildcats playing days with a five-year ...
Fischler Report: Tavares, Fighting and More ...
* JOHN TAVARES’ newly-signed – six year, $33 million contract – indicates that he wants to play for the Islanders “for a long time” and is splendid news for Charles Wang’s ...
Fischler Report: Lokomotiv Disaster Reverberates
THE LOKOMOTIV DISASTER will be further compounded if investigators determine that negligence by an airline with a questionable safety record played a part in this horror of horrors. The hockey world is ...
Goalie Guru: There’s no way to measure heart
No one, it seems, has a lukewarm opinion about Bruins goaltender Tim Thomas. For some reason, the NHL’s reigning Vezina Trophy winner as the league’s best goaltender elicits strong opinions ...
Fischler: Kovalev's Legacy
ALEXEI KOVALEV leaves the NHL for Russia with mixed reviews and accompanying controversy. We always will regard Kovalev as one of the ultimate virtuosos of his era. For Rangers fans, who waited 54 years ...
Goalie Guru: If the pads, gloves and skates fit ...
You may be familiar with the old real estate maxim: location, location, location. The equivalent in the goalie equipment formula is this: fit, fit, fit. I’ve often compared goalie equipment to blue ...
State of the Game: Two strides forward; one giant step back
Every second year at the USA Hockey Annual Congress in early June, rule change proposals are reviewed, discussed, dissected and then discussed some more. Over and over again, in several different committees ...
Fischler: The Maven on DeBoer and More
PETER DEBOER’s hire by the Devils proves a few points: 1. Lou Lamoriello found a solid, savvy citizen to revive New Jersey’s fortunes. 2. Lou keeps a no-leak secret as well as any sports executive. ...
Fischler: Tim Connolly, Hockey in Harlem, More
Tim Connolly has always been a supremely skilled player, but never quite lived up to his pre-Draft hype. Last week our man in Buffalo, Dave Ricci, delivered a scathing farewell to Connolly, who signed ...
Goalie Guru: Get in shape with five easy exercises
Editor’s note: This story originally appeared in the June 2011 issue of New York Hockey Journal. Perhaps the most enduring, and erroneous, misconception about goaltenders is this: Goalies don’t ...
