The NHL's best team beat the league's most exciting team in the 2008 Stanley Cup final: how can you top that?
When the Detroit Red Wings faced off with the Pittsburgh Penguins last spring, there was a hope it was the start of a new era for the NHL. Rather than two teams using suffocating defense to choke the life out of opponents, the Wings and Penguins relied on their top-end skill. Pavel Datsyuk, Henrik Zetterberg and Nicklas Lidstrom led the Wings to victory in six great games, but Sidney Crosby, 20, and Evgeni Malkin - who played like a beast when Crosby missed an extended period in the regular season - served notice that they expected to get back to the final, and fast. The soap opera of the whole affair came in the form of understated - but ultra-talented - Marian Hossa, who joined the Pens as a hired gun at the trade deadline and delivered a clutch play-off goals, but bolted in the off-season, signing a one-year free agent deal with Detroit.
While the post-season belonged to the Wings, the regular season was all Alex. Alex Ovechkin, the Washington Capitals super- sniper, led the league with 65 goals and 112 points en route to MVP honours. More significantly, he led the Caps into the playoffs with a win on the last day of the season. But perhaps most significantly, the charismatic Ovechkin has helped elevate hockey's profile in North America and represents the fun and passion of the game.
Then there's Sean Avery. Loose lips sink ships? and hockey teams, too, as the Dallas Stars have found out. The Stars battled Detroit in the West playoff final last season, then added Avery as a free agent in the summer in the hopes of getting over the hump. Unfortunately, Avery turned out to be the hump. He never fit into the Stars' team-first structure, and Dallas slid down the standings while Avery's infamous inappropriate comments got him booted off the team and, who knows, maybe right out of the NHL.
Another vaunted talker, Brian Burke, made the league's worst-kept secret come true when he ended up as Toronto's GM in November (after parting ways with Anaheim earlier in the season).
Burke arrived at the self-proclaimed "centre of the hockey universe" with a daunting challenge: to turn the luckless Maple Leafs into Cup contenders. Hey, it could happen?
One ice hockey universe over, in Montreal, the Canadiens rolled out the red carpet for a year-long celebration of their centennial season. Of course, the sport's most successful franchise - 24 Cups and counting - will only be satisfied with a parade in June; a possibility, but no sure shot. In the hopes of solidifying a Cup-worthy roster, the Habs chased the NHL's most elusive free agent during the summer. But Mats Sundin is as slippery off the ice as he is on it, refusing to retire or commit to a return, leaving Montreal - as well as Vancouver, Toronto, the Rangers and, oh, another 10 or 12 teams - to deal with a new kind of Stockholm Syndrome. Meanwhile, the phenomena that was Jaromir Jagr also left the NHL - for the Russian KHL - but unlike Sundin, no one really expects to see Jagr in North America again.
Martin Brodeur and Roberto Luongo will be seen in the NHL again, but the league's top two goalies went down with injuries early in the 2008-09 season, leaving their teams - the New Jersey Devils and Vancouver Canucks, respectively - with the unfamiliar task of winning without their all-world stoppers. Luongo should be back early in the new year, if not sooner, but Brodeur's elbow bent the wrong way, so maybe by March but not before.
Of course, there's one story we haven't touched on, one which could ultimately prove to be far more consequential than anything previously discussed. "It's the economy, stupid" as one US president once said (no, not the shoe-dodging Bush, the guy before him). While franchises in Atlanta, Florida, Nashville and Phoenix, among others, were hurting at the gate before the economy collapsed, the new financial fallout could wreak havoc on a league that can ill afford a step backwards.
Relocation and even contraction have to be considered possibilities, given North America's falling fortunes. As if you did not already know it, this one is worth watching, folks. Think about it? if there are no cars in Detroit, how can there be any Wings?
smccaig@thenational.ae
Our Time Has Come
Alyssa Ayres, Oxford University Press
RedCrow Intelligence Company Profile
Started: 2016
Founders: Hussein Nasser Eddin, Laila Akel, Tayeb Akel
Based: Ramallah, Palestine
Sector: Technology, Security
# of staff: 13
Investment: $745,000
Investors: Palestine’s Ibtikar Fund, Abu Dhabi’s Gothams and angel investors
Keane on …
Liverpool’s Uefa Champions League bid: “They’re great. With the attacking force they have, for me, they’re certainly one of the favourites. You look at the teams left in it - they’re capable of scoring against anybody at any given time. Defensively they’ve been good, so I don’t see any reason why they couldn’t go on and win it.”
Mohamed Salah’s debut campaign at Anfield: “Unbelievable. He’s been phenomenal. You can name the front three, but for him on a personal level, he’s been unreal. He’s been great to watch and hopefully he can continue now until the end of the season - which I’m sure he will, because he’s been in fine form. He’s been incredible this season.”
Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s instant impact at former club LA Galaxy: “Brilliant. It’s been a great start for him and for the club. They were crying out for another big name there. They were lacking that, for the prestige of LA Galaxy. And now they have one of the finest stars. I hope they can go win something this year.”
COMPANY%20PROFILE
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ECompany%20name%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Revibe%20%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStarted%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%202022%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFounders%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Hamza%20Iraqui%20and%20Abdessamad%20Ben%20Zakour%20%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EBased%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20UAE%20%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EIndustry%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Refurbished%20electronics%20%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EFunds%20raised%20so%20far%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20%2410m%20%0D%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EInvestors%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EFlat6Labs%2C%20Resonance%20and%20various%20others%0D%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
West Asia Premiership
Dubai Hurricanes 58-10 Dubai Knights Eagles
Dubai Tigers 5-39 Bahrain
Jebel Ali Dragons 16-56 Abu Dhabi Harlequins
Results
2pm: Maiden (TB) Dh60,000 (Dirt) 1,200m, Winner: Mouheeb, Tom Marquand (jockey), Nicholas Bachalard (trainer)
2.30pm: Handicap (TB) Dh68,000 (D) 1,200m, Winner: Honourable Justice, Royston Ffrench, Salem bin Ghadayer
3pm: Handicap (TB) Dh84,000 (D) 1,200m, Winner: Dahawi, Antonio Fresu, Musabah Al Muhairi
3.30pm: Conditions (TB) Dh100,000 (D) 1,200m, Winner: Dark Silver, Fernando Jara, Ahmad bin Harmash
4pm: Maiden (TB) Dh60,000 (D) 1,600m, Winner: Dark Of Night. Antonio Fresu, Al Muhairi.
4.30pm: Handicap (TB) Dh68,000 (D) 1,600m, Winner: Habah, Pat Dobbs, Doug Watson
A general guide to how active you are:
Less than 5,000 steps - sedentary
5,000 - 9,999 steps - lightly active
10,000 - 12,500 steps - active
12,500 - highly active
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
Started: 2021
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
Based: Tunisia
Sector: Water technology
Number of staff: 22
Investment raised: $4 million
MATCH INFO
Hoffenheim v Liverpool
Uefa Champions League play-off, first leg
Location: Rhein-Neckar-Arena, Sinsheim
Kick-off: Tuesday, 10.45pm (UAE)
What is tokenisation?
Tokenisation refers to the issuance of a blockchain token, which represents a virtually tradable real, tangible asset. A tokenised asset is easily transferable, offers good liquidity, returns and is easily traded on the secondary markets.
The specs
Engine 60kwh FWD
Battery Rimac 120kwh Lithium Nickel Manganese Cobalt Oxide (LiNiMnCoO2) chemistry
Power 204hp Torque 360Nm
Price, base / as tested Dh174,500
Profile Box
Company/date started: 2015
Founder/CEO: Mohammed Toraif
Based: Manama, Bahrain
Sector: Sales, Technology, Conservation
Size: (employees/revenue) 4/ 5,000 downloads
Stage: 1 ($100,000)
Investors: Two first-round investors including, 500 Startups, Fawaz Al Gosaibi Holding (Saudi Arabia)
The schedule
December 5 - 23: Shooting competition, Al Dhafra Shooting Club
December 9 - 24: Handicrafts competition, from 4pm until 10pm, Heritage Souq
December 11 - 20: Dates competition, from 4pm
December 12 - 20: Sour milk competition
December 13: Falcon beauty competition
December 14 and 20: Saluki races
December 15: Arabian horse races, from 4pm
December 16 - 19: Falconry competition
December 18: Camel milk competition, from 7.30 - 9.30 am
December 20 and 21: Sheep beauty competition, from 10am
December 22: The best herd of 30 camels
Profile Idealz
Company: Idealz
Founded: January 2018
Based: Dubai
Sector: E-commerce
Size: (employees): 22
Investors: Co-founders and Venture Partners (9 per cent)
The biog:
From: Wimbledon, London, UK
Education: Medical doctor
Hobbies: Travelling, meeting new people and cultures
Favourite animals: All of them
We Weren’t Supposed to Survive But We Did
We weren’t supposed to survive but we did.
We weren’t supposed to remember but we did.
We weren’t supposed to write but we did.
We weren’t supposed to fight but we did.
We weren’t supposed to organise but we did.
We weren’t supposed to rap but we did.
We weren’t supposed to find allies but we did.
We weren’t supposed to grow communities but we did.
We weren’t supposed to return but WE ARE.
Amira Sakalla
INDIA SQUAD
Virat Kohli (capt), Rohit Sharma, Shikhar Dhawan, KL Rahul, Vijay Shankar, MS Dhoni (wk), Kedar Jadhav, Dinesh Karthik, Yuzvendra Chahal, Kuldeep Yadav, Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Jasprit Bumrah, Hardik Pandya, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Shami
Formula Middle East Calendar (Formula Regional and Formula 4)
Round 1: January 17-19, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 2: January 22-23, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 3: February 7-9, Dubai Autodrome – Dubai
Round 4: February 14-16, Yas Marina Circuit – Abu Dhabi
Round 5: February 25-27, Jeddah Corniche Circuit – Saudi Arabia
Scores:
Day 4
England 290 & 346
Sri Lanka 336 & 226-7 (target 301)
Sri Lanka require another 75 runs with three wickets remaining
