Although we’re all fans of lacrosse, I think in general, players and those involved on the business side tend to forget what it’s like to be a fan.  (You can replace lacrosse with your favorite sport, but for ease, it will be my preferred reference.)

Fans feel a sense of ownership and even protectiveness over their teams and players, even if it’s completely irrational.

Just like a parent, they see everything through a skewed lens. They will cheer and stand up for a player against his detractors simply because he’s on their team but put that same player on the other team and their tune will probably change.

Recently I had an interesting discussion on Twitter with Andrew McKay and Teddy Jenner* about this concept.  To them, it’s very strange and even frustrating how fans can hold grudges against players long after the players themselves have moved on.  Or how fans make broad assumptions about the players based on their limited information.

For a lot of the players, they have played on the same teams or against one another in different leagues over several years and have built camaraderie on and off the field.  You might find players who had a tussle on the field chatting over a beer afterwards.  For the players, they can go all out during the game and leave it on the field.

But as fans, our only real involvement in the game is our emotion.  We cheer.  We jeer. We celebrate. We get angry.  We get upset. We feel the excitement of a win.  We feel the pain of a loss.

But whereas a player can work out their frustrations on the field, telling a fan to rein in their emotion and get over it can be a whole other story.

When a fan sees a player on their team on the receiving end of a cheap shot, just like a protective sibling, they get upset and more than likely develop a dislike for the instigating player.

Off the field, the instigating player might be the nicest guy in the world, volunteering for local charities and giving back to the community.  But to that fan, he’s just a dirty player.

Is it right? Does it even make sense? No, of course it doesn’t.

But fans are given very limited information in emotional situations and as humans they try to process that limited information and expand on it to obtain a bigger view.  This generalization and assumption is actually common enough to have a name.  It’s called the Halo Effect and no, I’m not referring to the Bungie video game.

Dictionary.com defines the Halo effect as a potential inaccuracy in observation, as of a person, due to overgeneralization from a limited amount of evidence or the influence of preconceived beliefs or a prior hypothese.

While some players seem to enjoy their reputations, good or bad, others find it frustrating.  Some don’t want to be viewed as a role model, up on a pedestal.  Others don’t want to be viewed as a villain.  In the major sports, most players have very little if any interaction with their fans.  But in professional lacrosse, that dividing line is much thinner.

Fans can talk to players after the game and interact with them on Twitter and on Facebook.  As you’d expect, some players are certainly more open and receptive than others to this interaction.  Even though quite a few players are on Twitter, not all of them are responsive.

How does this interaction change a fan’s view?  It probably reinforces some views and possibly changes others.  I wouldn’t be surprised if in some ways this interaction actually increases some fans ownership of a team’s players.  But in general, I think it’s a good thing as it helps fans to see players as people too and get a different view of them beside what they see on the field.

What do you think?

*(On a side note, if you’re a lacrosse fan and you’re not already following them on the net, you’re missing out. Check out The Laxist and IL Indoor)

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When FIFA announced the selection of Qatar over the US for host of the 2022 World Cup, it was natural for Americans to feel snubbed.

After all, Qatar is a dictatorial Islamic nation just 80% the size of Connecticut with a population the size of Phoenix and less soccer tradition than Iceland.  Typical soccer-related fan activities like yelling, drinking and kissing are (in that order) frowned upon, relegated to private locations, and illegal in public.

The summertime temperature averages around 104 degrees Fahrenheit.  Foreign laborers are relegated to slums, and often do not receive payment for their work with no legal recourse in a nation thoroughly dominated by a natural gas & oil-hawking elite.  The Qatar national football team has never qualified for a World Cup, and is currently ranked 113^th in the world by FIFA behind teams from places like the Cape Verde Islands and, yes, Iceland.

So how did a tiny second-world country land the world’s premier international sporting event?  The answer is simple; that second-world country has a first-world budget.

Show Us the Money

Qatar’s lobbying prowess should not be underestimated, but none of it would have been possible without a blank check from Emir Hamad bin Khalifa.

The Emir took control of Qatar from his father in a bloodless palace coup in 1995.  (The year after the US hosted its first World Cup.)  Khalifa immediately began moving his nation towards global prominence via an aggressive modernization strategy in business and commerce that continues to this day.  The lucky discovery of an enormous natural gas deposit (believed to be the world’s largest) in Qatar’s coastal waters fast-tracked the tiny nation’s rise.

Then, in 2005, Qatar paid two of football’s biggest stars (and most dedicated rivals) to appear on the same stage.  Brazilian soccer legend Pele and Argentinean counterpoint Maradona were paid six figures each to assist in opening Qatar’s glitzy new sports academy.  With that decadent gesture, Khalifa made it apparent that he intended to do anything in his considerable power to bring a World Cup to Qatar.

The football czars at FIFA took notice.

Snub Plus

FIFA (Fédération Internationale de Football Association) is the ruling class of International soccer.  In Qatar, FIFA officials saw an opportunity to accomplish two goals in tandem.

First, FIFA could bring the World Cup to the Middle East, a part of the world that had never before hosted the event.

That Middle Eastern nations with much deeper football tradition (and much, much more talent) like Turkey, Israel & Saudi Arabia would never succeed in a World Cup bid is immaterial to this FIFA decision, but worth mentioning.

Second, FIFA could stave off the tide of American soccer interest that threatens their control of the sport.

FIFA itself is dominated by European & South American football elitists whose grip on the game slips annually.  The 1994 US World Cup set a record in attendance that stands to this day, featured one of the most exciting and well-orchestrated finals in World Cup history, and is widely regarded as the most successful Cup event ever held.  That memory of unparalleled success combined with a rise through the international ranks by the US national team and an explosion in soccer’s popularity amongst Americans still was not enough to sway the football fascists at FIFA.

While the US has graciously invited the world to compete in its only truly original major sport (basketball), Europe has done everything short of rigging group selection to eliminate Americans from competition.

The freshest and most memorable instance of this anti-US bias was exhibited in this year’s World Cup as the United States was robbed of a great goal by Maurice Edu versus Slovenia.  Other snubs from those same South Africa World Cup games included a litany of no-calls on hard fouls committed against US players that made one thing very clear to American soccer fans; if we want to win the World Cup, we have to beat the refs as well.

Now we can add FIFA to that negative equation.

I’ll Scratch Your Back…

At first glance, it would appear that FIFA is expanding the world game’s appeal by bringing it to Qatar.

The reality is that Qatar is the uber-elite of the Arab world, evidenced by its inclusion in the United Arab Emirates.  The UAE is little more than a collection of wealthy Muslim businessmen who exploit their region’s natural resources for personal and political gains.  While the GDP per capita of Qatar is the highest in the world, the space between wealthy elite and desperately poor contains almost no middle ground.

Qatar solved this problem of appearances by offering to dismantle its World Cup facilities after the event and rebuild them in poor nations that cannot afford such amenities.  FIFA will surely harp on this point early and often as an army of Indian, Bangladeshi & Pakistani immigrant workers labor for slave-wages to build these new facilities.

The bottom line is this – Qatar receiving a World Cup nod is like awarding the Super Bowl to Los Angeles.  It makes no sense because there isn’t even a football team there, but there are enough rich people spending money to make it seem like a really good idea.

US snub aside, the awarding of the World Cup to Qatar is a snub to the rest of the waiting world that has a fraction of the funds to use in swaying FIFA officials.

Worse, FIFA will continue to justify their decision as evidence of the willful expansion of soccer to remote and less fortunate lovers of the sport. But this unfortunate decision is nothing more than FIFA bending to the will of fellow football elites.

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Given to the team that most heinously overpays for draft talent, this year’s dubious selection goes to the Jacksonville ‘It’s in Florida’ Jaguars.

With their first-round selection of Cal DL Tyson Alualu, the Jags pulled the trigger on a guy that most likely would have been there much later in the draft.  And even if you sidestep the whole value issue, you run smack into the fact that the Jags have about as much fan support as the Seattle Supersonics.  They needed a splash and got a 295 lb. trickle instead.   The bitch of it is that he may actually be a fantastic player – in L.A.

Tyson Alualu Fans

The Larry Craig Award

Named after the famous Senatorial airport-bathroom diddler, this award goes to Steelers signal-caller Ben ‘Go Deep‘ Roethlisberger.

After a drunken nightclub-bathroom liaison with a 20-year-old Georgia co-ed devolved into a vicious he-said-she-said sexual assault charge, the Steel City QB was suspended for a minimum of 4 games by NFL Commish Roger ‘Bitchsmack’ Goodell.  The real victims here are the kids who look up to NFL QBs as role models.  Role models that abuse their status and money by getting freaky with really hot girls are celebrated.  Roethlisberger got busy in a bathroom with a drunken, chipmunk-faced debutant.   At least the kiddies still have Reggie Bush.

Chipmunk Face

Kim Kardashian’s Ass (feat. Reggie Bush)

The Mancrush Award

Given to the most ardent relationship in the NFL, this award goes to Josh ‘Have It My Way’ McDaniels, whose mancrush on Florida stud Tim ‘Post-Fetus’ Tebow prompted the Broncos to draft the QB 25^th overall.

While there are serious doubts about Tebow’s skill set, his ‘intangibles’ must have touched Coach McDaniels in just the right way, because the Broncos gave up 2^nd, 3^rd and 4^th round picks to move up get the Florida product.  From here on out, the careers of these two squeaky-clean, all-American boys are joined at the hip, which will suit them both just fine.

Wally...

...and The Beaver

The Alimony Award

Given to reward the most cold-blooded heartbreaker of the offseason, this award goes to Andy ‘Quarter-Pounder’ Reid and the Philadelphia Eagles.

First, the pass-happy West Coast guru let beat-up workhorse Brian Westbrook leave town for greener pastures (or maybe the glue factory).  Then he traded perennially maligned QB Donovan ‘Super 5’ McNabb to the division-rival Redskins.  Now that’s gangster.  As we all know, there’s only one thing worse than seeing your ex with someone else:  seeing them twice a year in a tight division with a new partner who’s wearing two Super Bowl rings.  True, Reid has legit young talent in ‘The Real’ Shady McCoy and Kevin Kolb, but…damn!  That’s some straight gangsta shit! Let’s hope those kids can ball.  ‘Cuz if not, Reid will be the next one to get served.

‘Honey, we have to talk.’

The Ryan Leaf Award

This is a prestigious award, and the qualifications are strenuous.  Not only must the candidate be the top overall pick, he has to fail even more spectacularly than Leaf, whose tempestuous time in the NFL  was marked by fights, malingering, lawsuits, and ineptitude.   None so far were equal to the task.  Not until Jamarcus ‘Let Me Eat Cake’ Russell.

Consider this: Leaf was a second overall pick.  Russell was the first.  Leaf was fined for missing a mandatory rookie symposium. Russell answered by skipping his whole rookie offseason and a couple of games.  Leaf was so inept he got benched for Craig Whelihan.  Russell answered by getting benched for Bruce Gradkowski and Charlie Frye.  Leaf escaped San Diego with 11.25 million dollars, while Russell jacked Al ‘Skeletor’ Davis for an eye-popping 32 million FU’s.   Game, set, match Russell.  Word is that Russell is moving on.  He’s getting back in shape and will soon be trying out for a Chinese Buffet near you.

The Man Who Ate Lane Kiffen

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There was a lot of Cinderella talk going into this game.

RIT had won ten consecutive games, including the Atlantic Conference Championship.  Despite playing in an inferior Conference to the Pioneers’ WCHA, the Tigers had shown an impressively balanced team effort in the final month of the season.  That kind of balance is what you want going into the NCAA Tournament.

Denver’s story couldn’t have been more different, as they dominated throughout the meaty middle of their regular season schedule.  The Pioneers went into the postseason as a favorite to win the WCHA Title, but their collapse in the Final Five made them look vulnerable to a disciplined, hard-working team like the Tigers.

So, when RIT scored the first goal of the game on an even-strength screened shot to the right of Denver goaltender Marc Cheverie, it looked like the upset was on.  The Tigers spent the rest of the 1^st Period stifling Denver with great rotating defense.  That responsible team D had the favored Pioneers frustrated going into the locker room.

A different Denver team came out in the 2^nd Period.

Throughout the period, the Pioneers built up some considerable momentum.  They pressed their defensemen into the offensive zone, buzzed around the net, moved the puck with authority, and created consistent scoring chances as a result.  RIT netminder Jared Demichiel made 15 mostly amazing saves in the period to maintain the 1-0 advantage for the Tigers.

Even with the expected transformation by the Pioneers from playing on their heels to bringing the fight right to the RIT doorstep, Denver still looked nervous.  In particular, DU goalie Marc Cheverie looked flustered whenever the Tigers eventually broke free from the Pioneers’ puck control long enough to generate a rush into the Denver zone.  Cheverie’s issues in the WCHA Tournament clearly did not get solved in the down time between the Pioneers’ losses in the Final Five and the beginning of the NCAA Tournament.

Denver players also killed a lot of their own advantages with curious or downright poor decisions in open ice.  The Pioneers’ top line played a lot in the 2^nd and put the Fear into the Tiger D in that time, but Coach George Gwozdecky certainly had some choice words for his 2^nd & 3^rd line forwards during the second Intermission.

The Pioneers came out hard and sure in the 3^rd Period.

Rhett Rakhshani was tripped twice in the first two minutes of the period, and the second trip elicited a penalty on RIT.  Denver buzzed and controlled the puck throughout the Power Play, but couldn’t connect on a number of finishing passes that would have been outstanding scoring chances.

The Pioneers kept the momentum, maintained the pressure, and gave up regular odd-man rushes to the Tigers as a result.  RIT’s best even-strength chance came on a 2 on 0 that turned into a 2 on ½ through the latter half of the Colorado zone, but a cross-ice pass turned into a shot high of a wide open net.  The Pioneers were saved for the moment.

Then the referees took control of the game.

The Pioneers’ Jesse Martin was called for an open-ice shoulder-to-shoulder hit.  Replays clearly showed a clean hit, but Martin went to the box on a phantom Elbowing call.  The Tigers scored a minute into the unearned 2:00 Power Play.

Realizing they’d changed the course of the game, the referees called a make-up Holding the Stick penalty on RIT.  The Pioneers finally got on the scoreboard when Joe Colborne stuffed a rebound past Demichiel on the resulting Power Play.

But the damage had been done, and the refs were unwilling to affect the game again.  Even when Rakhshani was hauled down behind the Tigers’ net with 2:25 to play, not a sound could be heard save the voracious cheers of the RIT faithful clogging the Albany, NY arena.  The zebras had swallowed their whistles.

Gwozdecky got aggressive with 1:40 left, pulling goaltender Cheverie to the bench.

The Pioneers held control, and managed to elicit a goaltender freeze deep in the RIT zone with 1:10 remaining.  That put the faceoff to the right of Demichiel, and DU called its timeout to draw up a play.   That play, off a DU faceoff win, turned into a Rakhshani charge to the front of the net and a desperation clear by RIT.  The Tigers were called for icing and the puck came right back into the RIT zone for another faceoff.

The cycle of faceoffs continued with Icings and goalie freezes taking a few seconds off the clock at a time.  The final faceoff came with 18 seconds left, and RIT was able to keep the play to the boards for a runoff and the win.

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The road to the Frozen Four is always a slugfest, and NCAA Division 1 Hockey is as open to upset this season as the Men’s Basketball Tournament.

To boot, this year’s Frozen Four will be played in Detroit, Michigan with the Championship game being played at the NFL’s Ford Field.  A daring leap for a tournament looking to gain a foothold in the saturated American TV market.

The Western Collegiate Hockey Association sports two #1 seeds in Denver & Wisconsin, a #2 in North Dakota, and a #3 in St Cloud State.

The Pioneers & Badgers top off a couple of average 4-team fields at the East & West Regionals respectively.  (For a preview of the DU Pioneers and the East Regional go here.)

North Dakota was unlucky to land in the toughest region in the tournament.  Those Fighting Sioux will face off against a very capable Yale squad for the chance to play the winner of Boston College-Alaska in the Northeast Regional.

That path is probably too much for ND, and my money is on Boston College to brave the turgid Northeast waters.  The Eagles will be playing what amounts to home games in Worcester, Massachusetts in their first two games.  The 4-seed Alaska Nanooks are a dangerous squad, but won’t be able to match their regular season intensity so far away from home.

Meanwhile, the Wisconsin Badgers have a fairly benign-looking path to the Frozen Four.  All they need to do to win the West Regional is dispatch two of three scrappy underdogs.  Trouble is, Wisconsin has had issues with consistently bringing their ‘A’ game this season.  They are one of the most talented teams in the tournament, but it only takes one bad game against Vermont, St Cloud State, or the other Wildcats of Northern Michigan.

For the DU Pioneers’ sake, just hope that Wisconsin slips up early.

Otherwise, with a head full of hockey steam, Wisconsin will roll straight to the Championship Game… and right over Denver along the way.  If the two teams do make it to the National Semifinal in Detroit, the Badgers will have a near home-ice advantage.  Just enough to improve upon their 2-0-1 record versus the Pioneers this year.

That leaves us with the Midwest Regional, headlined by Miami of Ohio.  The Redhawks are stacked with offensive talent for sure.  Like DU, their ranks are loaded with goal-scorers.  Also like the Pioneers, the Redhawks are very much capable of orchestrating their own undoing with undisciplined defense and a pass-happy offense.

Miami will start off against Alabama-Huntsville in what amounts to a warm-up for the Midwest Final.  But that regional final will be played against either Michigan or Bemidji State.  Michigan closed their season on a sour note, but are capable of beating any team in this tournament.  BSU has moved up from occasional Cinderella to tournament mainstay, and the Beavers are an upset-special in waiting.

My picks:

Frozen Four – Michigan vs Boston College & Wisconsin vs University of Denver

National Championship – University of Denver defeats Boston College 4-3

Yeah, I know I said that Wisconsin would roll over Denver in the Frozen Four.  So why did I pick the Pioneers to beat the Badgers and move on to the National Championship?

‘Cause I’m a DU fan, spluh.

I don’t bet money on sports for exactly this reason: it’s much more enjoyable to pick with the heart than with the head.  Go Pioneers!

(Live coverage of NCAA Division 1 Hockey Tournament games are available on ESPNU in HD.)

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The University of Denver has a proud hockey history.

Their 7 NCAA Titles are the second-most in the history of Division 1 hockey.  The Pioneers have maintained a competitive club for most of coach George Gwozdecky’s 15-year tenure in Denver.  And their 2004 & 2005 National Championship years also produced Center Paul Stastny, the beating heart of both the Colorado Avalanche and the silver medal-winning USA Olympic Hockey team.

DU won the McNaughton Cup as the WCHA regular season Champions with a 27-9-4 record that included a 10-game winning streak and no back-to-back losses.  The Pioneers also boast two Hobey Baker Award (NCAA Hockey MVP) Top 10 Finalists in prolific Forward Rhett Rakhshani and Goaltender Marc Cheverie.

So why are Pioneer fans so nervous about the upcoming NCAA Tournament?

Well, it has a lot to do with a WCHA Tournament that saw Denver storm in as the top seed and then do what they hadn’t done all season: lose two games in a row.

DU dropped their opener to North Dakota 3-4 after dominating the Fighting Sioux in two games in the regular season by a margin of 6 goals to 2.

Then, in the 3^rd Place Game, the Pioneers were outplayed at every level by Wisconsin in a 3-6 shellacking.  Would-be star goalie Marc Cheverie was chased out of the game after giving up 3 early goals on 8 shots.

The Pioneers, who were known for their consistency in the regular season, could not find any kind of rhythm on offense or defense in the postseason.

Luckily the Conference Tournament is just a warm-up for the NCAA Tourney.  Denver can still end up National Champions this season, but the road is difficult and fraught with peril.  First up is the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) Tigers, who won the Atlantic Conference in convincing fashion with a 6-1 drubbing of Sacred Heart.

Now, the Atlantic Conference pales by comparison to the WCHA.  The Tigers are only NCAA-bound because they won their Conference.  (The only way an Atlantic team was finding its way into the 16-team Tournament.)  And RIT will enter the East Regional in Albany, New York as the #4 seed.

So, despite their offensive voracity, RIT will need some serious mojo to move past the Pioneers in their first NCAA appearance.  This is a could-be trap game, but I expect Denver to find its scoring touch early en route to trouncing the Tigers by three goals.  Without an early score, though, the Pioneers may find themselves in the same position that killed them in both WCHA Tourney games: playing from behind by 2+ goals.

DU & RIT share the East Regional with the #2 Cornell Big Red and the #3 New Hampshire Wildcats.  All you Pioneers fans out there, pay very careful attention…

Cornell is built to beat DU!  Go New Hampshire!  Beat Big Red!

Seriously, the difference in match-ups for Denver is night and day.  Cornell sports a seriously stifling defense and one of the better goalies in the tournament.  The Pioneers are 4-4 in regular season play versus the Big Red and 2-2 head-to-head in the history of the NCAA Tournament.  That compared with a 9-3 regular season, 2-0 tournament record versus the Wildcats of New Hampshire.

No good can come of a second-round matchup with Cornell, as even a victory would be the kind of hard-fought, blood ‘n guts affair that wears a hockey team down.  That kind of game early in the tourney could spell doom for the Pioneers against the likes of Wisconsin, Miami, Michigan, North Dakota or Boston College down the road.

Those 5 teams are the biggest fish outside of our own region.  Check out the bracket here, and then check out the full NCAA Division 1 Tournament Preview here.

You can watch DU vs RIT live at 1:07 MST on Friday, March 26th on ESPNU HD (Direct TV 614, DishNet 148) or listen to the game in live streaming audio here.

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The top ten finalists for college hockey’s best player were announced Thursday, and include two University of Denver Pioneers.

Goaltender Mark Cheverie and forward Rhett Rakhshani joined two players from their WCHA Tournament Final Round opponent Wisconsin.  Blake Geoffrion and Brendan Smith of the Badgers joined Cheverie and Rakhshani as finalists for the Hobey Baker Award.

Unfortunately, Mark Cheverie’s chances may have disappeared along with his formerly dominant goaltending after a poor showing on Friday and Saturday.  Wisconsin defeated Denver 6-3 on Saturday to lock up 3^rd Place in the conference tournament, and Cheverie’s play was one of the primary reasons for the loss.  The WCHA contest serves as a warm up for the NCAA men’s hockey tourney.

The six other Hobey Baker finalists are rounded out by Bobby Butler of New Hampshire, Gustav Nyquist of Maine, Mark Olver of Northern Michigan, Chase Polacek of Rensselaer, Cody Reichard of Miami/Ohio & Ben Scrivens of Cornell.

Rakhshani is still a favorite to grab the award, but Cheverie may be out of the running after a terrible WCHA Tournament.

Mark allowed four goals against the North Dakota Fighting Sioux on Friday night, and followed that poor showing with an atrocity versus Wisconsin Saturday.  Cheverie allowed 3 goals on 8 shots in the first period before being pulled from the game.  He was replaced in net by Adam Murray.

Rakhshani, however, scored the Pioneers first goal of the game, a Power Play tally early in the 2^nd Period.  That score pulled Denver to within two goals of Wisconsin before the Badgers pulled ahead 5-1 towards the end of the period.  The Pioneers showed their scoring ability by bringing the deficit back to 2 goals at 3-5 early in the 3^rd, but couldn’t overcome poor defense and terrible goaltending.

The 4^th Place showing in the WCHA Tournament is a blemish on an otherwise brilliant season by the Pioneers.  They will still enter the NCAA Tournament as favorites to make the Frozen Four.  However, without Cheverie playing at his best, Denver’s chances of a 3^rd NCAA Title in 7 seasons will evaporate along with Mark’s hopes of making the Hobey Baker Award final three.

The top three candidates for the Hobey Baker Award will be announced at the Frozen Four on March 31^st.

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The University of Denver Pioneers (27-8-4) will face off against the University of Wisconsin Badgers (24-10-4) today at 1:07pm MST in the final round of the Western Collegiate Hockey Association Tournament.

After failing to come back from a 3-1 deficit yesterday versus the North Dakota Fighting Sioux, a loss in the 3^rd Place Game today would make this WCHA tourney an abject failure for the top-ranked Pioneers.  Denver has had its strongest regular season in 2009-2010 since their last NCAA Championship win after the 2004-2005 season.  The Pioneers also won the WCHA Tournament that year.

While this game is not a must-win as far as the NCAA Tournament is concerned, it would be disappointing to see such a strong season end in conference championship losses against two of Denver’s traditional nemeses.  Denver beat the Fighting Sioux in the 2005 NCAA National Championship Game a year after their thrilling 1-0 finals win versus the Maine Black Bears.  Those back-to-back National Titles broke the Pioneers out of a 35-year NCAA Championship drought.

Denver has battled for decades for most WCHA Tournament wins, with the Pioneers behind 13 Titles to 14 for the Fighting Sioux.  The Pioneers last won the WCHA Tournament Title in 2008.

This season the Pioneers feature a lineup led by Seniors Rhett Rakhshani & Tyler Ruegsegger, a native of Lakewood, Colorado.  Junior goaltender Marc Cheverie has been hot and cold this season, and Denver will need a strong showing from him in this game.  Cheverie will have to be even better if the Pioneers hope to make a run to the NCAA Frozen Four and Finals.

The game is not showing on local Colorado television, however you can see the game on Fox Sports North (Minneapolis, MN), DirecTV 668 & Dish Network 436.  The game can also be found in live streaming audio here.

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Trap-Style Defensive Hockey: Natural Predator of the Chaos-Style Hockey Team

In order to understand the way I view hockey, you must first understand how I watch the games.

North American Pro Hockey is a goal-based game with a field of play separating two goals, and an object that must pass into one goal or the other for a score.  In these types of games, position & movement (whether individual or coordinated) become the most important facets of the game. Furthermore, position & movement influence who will do well or poorly, not only in given situations but also over the course of the game.

In the case of hockey, the most intriguing aspect is that the game is played on ice. This detail removes much of the control a given player may have over the object, especially compared to Basketball or Lacrosse where a player will have much greater control.  Basketball & Lacrosse (and to a certain extent soccer) are sports where teams may take their time setting plays up before the action begins, and then run a set play that has been carefully laid out and practiced ad nauseum. So the scheme can change from team to team or from situation to situation.

But hockey is so unpredictable in its nature that you can’t scheme more than a handful of scripted plays, and even then you will rarely run through the progression perfectly (despite what you may have seen in a certain investment firm’s commercials.)  All professional teams have chosen to rely less on micromanaging a multitude of unpredictable events, and rely more on developing a basic philosophy about how to react.  Playing Style has become the cornerstone of dictating how teams will try to use position and movement.

To elaborate:

Styles of Play break down into three major categories…

Control Hockey

Chaos Hockey

Trap Hockey

The perfect examples today of Control-Style teams are the Detroit Red Wings and the Pittsburgh Penguins.  These are teams that want to control the puck, obviously.  They are forceful and decisive.  On defense they take calculated risks when challenging attackers for the puck.  They frequently engage in aggressive fore-checking, though only when they have the play backed up.   On offense, puck movement is the name of the game and player movement is almost always rigidly coordinated (or at least as rigid as you can get in a fluid, unpredictable sport.) They will play in triangles frequently so that the player with the puck will have passing options.  They knife toward the net frequently, but typically in situations when they have two defenders at the blue line in case the play back-fires; and the knifing player is frequently a decoy to draw away defenders from a sharpshooter.  In short terms, they are teams that try to blend talents of smart positioning and smart movement.

Good Chaos-Style teams are the Avalanche & the Washington Capitals.  Chaos teams play up-tempo, damn the cannons, full speed ahead.  They are resourceful and quick.  On defense, they take numerous risks and almost always engage attacking players.  They fore-check constantly in all situations, the goal being to move the game into its unpredictable tendency, and then quickly grab the upper hand.  On offense, common strategies are Dump and Chase and Crash the Net.  Chaos teams believe in a simple philosophy; no one knows what will happen on the ice, so the fact that they know no one will know is an advantage. (Try saying that three times fast.)   Chaos teams try to make position as useless as possible, and turn the game into a series of actions entirely composed of movement.

Some Trap-Style teams are the Florida Panthers & the bane of the Avalanche, the Minnesota Wild.  Trap teams like the game to move slowly. Trap teams are cautious and patient.   On defense, they take firm positions and rarely engage an attacker until they have a clear advantage.   The fore-check is not used until it is a clear fore-check situation.  On offense they will always leave two and frequently three defenders near the line, thus forcing their own attackers to play 3 on 4 or 2 on 3 hockey.   The philosophy is to play safely and eventually the other team will make a mistake.  Trap teams try to remove as much movement from hockey as possible, and make the game entirely composed of positioning.

These three styles create a kind of paper, rock, scissors effect.  Your typical Chaos team will beat your typical Control team consistently, while your typical Trap team will stifle the Chaos team while struggling mightily against the Control team (But Dan, how come the Red Wings beat us for so long?  Simple. Because we sucked for a long time.)

This explains part of the sudden, though not unexpected (at least not by me), resurgence of the Avalanche.  The Red Wings and Penguins are the last teams to win the Cup, and the league is beginning to copy some of what they do.  Remember back in the Mid-ots when the Wings, Devils, Senators & Stars were all really dominant, and now all but one has fallen on hard times.   Remember the Avs were struggling to make the playoffs half the time, and the other half struggling for respect.  It’s because everyone and their sister was playing Trap hockey, from Anaheim to Florida and St. Louis to Carolina (I even saw Edmonton play trap one game… seriously! Edmonton!) So a more balanced control team would rise to top by playing with a consistent advantage.  But copy-catism isn’t just for the NFL or the major political parties, the NHL is changing to a more Control-Style of play to follow in the footsteps of recent Champions.  Teams like the Avalanche, the Capitals, Edmonton (eventually), and the Rangers get a boost from being handed an advantage by the copy-cats, while teams like Florida, Carolina, and Minnesota sink to the bottom.   But the inherent mismatch of the Trap vs. Chaos still exists, which brings me to last week’s game versus the Wild.

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1. Soap on a Rope. For Josh McDaniels’ mouth.

2. Prescription Glasses. For Knowshon Moreno, maybe he’ll be able to see the hole and then run through it.

3. The best possible medical care for Chauncey Billups. (Come back,, buddy, we miss you!)

4. A real big-boy apartment for Matt Duchene – he’s growing up in the NHL before our eyes. Can’t wait to see what the future brings with this kid.

5. Electric Blanket for Carmelo Anthony. Anything to make sure he doesn’t suddenly cool off on us.

6. A decent starter to join the Rockies rotation. Nothing witty about this one, it’s just something we won’t go too far in 2010 without.

7. A checkbook for Dan O’Dowd, blank checks pre-signed and ready to spend from the Monforts. (I know, a guy can dream, can’t he?)

8. A big fat fruit basket for every team that passed on Ty Lawson in the NBA draft. Thanks guys… you’re almost as precious to us as Joe Dumars after the Darko draft and AI trade…

9. A t-shirt cannon for Kyle Orton. Oh yeah, and an evil genius to cybernetically remove his right arm and replace it with said cannon.

10. Ah heck, I’ll just say it – I really really really really really RE-HEE-HEE-HEELY want to see October baseball again in 2010.

What do you wish for? Whatever it is, leave it in the comments so we can all enjoy… and no matter what you’re celebrating today, I hope your day is filled with joy, peace, and a Nuggets win against the Blazers tonight.

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