A Jet By Any Other Name...

BY JESSE LIEBMAN

EDITORIAL. PHOTOS BY AP NEWS

Quick: name the all-time points leader for the Winnipeg Jets. Bet you think it's Dale Hawerchuk, right? Wrong. The correct answer is Ilya Kovalchuk, with 615 points in 594 games.


That's because for all intents and purposes, the Hawerchuk-led Jets currently play in the desert under the moniker of the Phoenix Coyotes, and have done so since 1996. The franchise formerly known as the Atlanta Thrashers now bears the Jets handle, but the similarities stop there.


When True North Sports and Entertainment unveiled the name to the hockey world at the 2011 NHL Entry Draft this past Friday, they perhaps unknowingly opened up a can of worms. Or maybe it was a can of New Coke. And just like the retooled soft drink that was an unmitigated disaster in the 1980s, it seems primed to leave fans with a bad taste in their mouths even before the Jets take to the MTS Centre ice in the fall.

Tootoo's Resurgence Sparks Preds

BY JESSE LIEBMAN

EDITORIAL. PHOTOS BY AP NEWS

When you think of the "stars" of the Nashville Predators, your thoughts likely drift to goalie Pekka Rinne, captain Shea Weber and perhaps forward Steve Sullivan. Odds are punishing winger Jordin Tootoo isn't in the mix.

Truth be told, this is a club that has never had a true superstar, unless you count Peter Forsberg's 22-game cup of coffee as a playoff rental in 2006-07. Hell, does anyone even remember that?


To the average person, Tootoo is a guy known more for his brief fling with American Idol singer Kelly Pickler than he is for smashing an opposing player into the boards or scoring a timely goal. You want proof? This is the first result when you do a Google image search for Tootoo.


In a city where you would not expect hockey to have a devout following, the Predators are finally starting to reap the benefits of what they have sowed for 13 seasons. Nashville finally advanced to the conference semi-finals for the first time ever, and they've got Tootoo to thank for their run at history.

NHL East Playoff Preview

BY EVAN SPORER

EDITORIAL. PHOTOS BY AP IMAGES

With the NHL season finally concluding, eight teams in the Eastern Conference are all set and ready to make a run at Lord Stanley’s Cup. 

With no clean sweeps in any of the regular season matchups between the playoff pairings, here is the low down on how the first round could shape up.

#1 Washington Capitals vs. #8 New York Rangers

Conventional sports wisdom would tell you to pencil in the No. 1 seed in any one-eight tilt. But then again, conventional wisdom may be thrown out the window when these two rivals face off in the first round. 

The season series went to the Rangers 3-1. And not only did the Blueshirts take the series 3-1, they did it by winning the last three games of the series by a whopping combined score of 15-1! Plain and simple, the Rangers have owned the Caps this year. 

Top 10 Storylines: 2011

BY EVAN SPORER

EDITORIAL. PHOTOS BY AP NEWS

According to the Chinese calendar, 2010 was the year of the tiger. Boy did someone mess that up. Anyway, without dwelling too much on the past year of sports, here are 10 major storylines as we hop into 2011, or, the year of the rabbit.

     1.     NBA and NFL Labor Agreements

Before any 2011 NFL or NBA storylines can be addressed, what first needs to be tabled are the statuses of collective futures of those leagues.

As of now, there is no labor agreement in place between the player’s association and the owners of both leagues.

What could that mean potentially? A lockout… or lockouts.

Right now, neither the NFL nor NBA are even remotely close to signing a labor agreement, with both sides very far apart. I don’t think that average sports fan has really processed what this could mean, or the huge effect this could potentially have.

These are billion dollar corporations that employ mass amounts of people. So forget about the athletes. They’ll survive without their salaries for a year. But think about all the unemployment that would accompany a lockout. Those who work for the league would be left jobless, and that could be catastrophic.

Also, imagine those months in-between the baseball season without football or basketball.

Major factors in getting these deals done? For the NFL, if the owners want to move to an 18-game schedule, the league will have to remain un-capped as players’ will expect some higher numbers on their paychecks.

The NBA wants to cut contract length, and decrease both salary length and guaranteed money. The players… not too happy. There has to be a middle ground, right?

As of now, things are not looking good for David Stern or Roger Goodell.

Week 7; NHL Power Rankings

BY JESSE LIEBMAN

EDITORLAL. PHOTOS BY AP NEWS

Week 6; NHL Power Rankings

BY JESSE LIEBMAN
EDITORIAL. PHOTOS BY AP NEWS

Last Call On-Air: Kathryn Tappen

November 19, 2010
Tasso, Barker, Liebman, Souza 
   Special Guest: NESN Bruins Analyst
      Kathryn Tappen

Last Call On-Air: Ryan Durling

November 5, 2010
Tasso, Barker, Liebman, Souza 
   Special Guest: Bruins writer and Biz Director, SomethingsBruin.net
      Ryan Durling 

Week 5; NHL Power Rankings

BY JESSE LIEBMAN
EDITORIAL. PHOTOS BY AP NEWS

Week 4; NHL Power Rankings

BY JESSE LIEBMAN
EDITORIAL. PHOTOS BY AP NEWS

Week 3: NHL Power Rankings

BY JESSE LIEBMAN
EDITORIAL. PHOTOS BY AP NEWS

Week 2: NHL Power Rankings

BY JESSE LIEBMAN
EDITORIAL. PHOTOS BY AP NEWS

Pre-Season NHL Power Rankings

BY JESSE LIEBMAN
EDITORIAL. PHOTOS BY AP NEWS

Kovalchuk's Crazy Contract

BY JESSE LIEBMAN
EDITORIAL. PHOTOS BY AP NEWS

It was just around 8 p.m. Tuesday night when I received a text message from my good buddy Jeff Hancock: 


“NHL rejects Kovalchuk contract for cap circumvention. Hahahahahaha.”


Suffice it to say, I laughed with him.


I didn't laugh because I grew up on the opposite side of the Hudson during a period when my childhood Rangers became the poster child for ludicrous spending -- Valeri Kamensky, anyone? -- and it was nice to see a rival organization on the flip side of the coin for a change.


So when the NHL slammed its fist on the 17-year, $102 million covenant brokered between the New Jersey Devils organization and Ilya Kovalchuk's agent Jay Grossman, I had to laugh. Not because of some rivalry, but because I witnessed a stupid decision fall flat on its face, after it took 19 days from the start of the free agency period to get us to this point. 


Adding to the humor was the fact that Kovalchuk had tantalized Los Angeles Kings fans in a back-and-forth “We’re close” scenario after the Kings had flown the Russian sniper out to Hollywood like he was some prized NCAA running back. 


On top of that, the NHL announced the contract was a no-go...after the team had announced they had inked Kovy to the longest contract in league history.


This guy was supposed to have made his decision before Lebron decided to pack up and move to Miami. I need to get my cheap laughs somewhere.


Hell, it felt like I was watching hockey's version of The OC. Kovalchuk is Seth, and he can't decide between Summer or Anna. Oh God, did I really just do that? Never mind that. Move along, people. Nothing to see here.

Last Call on Air - Tappen Strikes Again

July 8, 2010
Tasso, Liebman, Tam
 Special Guest: NESN Bruins Analyst
 Kathryn Tappen

Last Call NHL Playoff Predictions: Final Standings

Last Call NHL Playoff Predictions: Stanley Cup

Last Call NHL Playoff Predictions: Conference Finals

Philadelphia - Where Failure Is an Option

by Ian Tasso

Editorial. Photos by AP News

I wasn’t going to do it. I felt bad, to be honest. Which is weird, because usually when it comes to sports, I'm a soulless bastard.

Regardless, the Bruins had somehow taken the form of Jesus on Ice, went up 3-0, and I felt bad about writing one of these. I was about halfway through, and scrapped it.

But then something amazing happened. It came when Dan Carcillo was skating around somewhere, or being a bitch at some point, his floppy mullet flailing in the air, that stupid tooth-less smile on his face – and I realized something.

God, do I hate Philadelphia.

Then, Philly went and won game four, giving me a little extra time to fish through and find some extra reasons why Philadelphia sucks.

And then my dad dropped 180 bucks – of his hard earned money - to bring me and my sister to watch game five.

And Philly went and won.

And that’s when I decided this had to be written. For my dad, for his 180 bucks, and for the city of Boston. Because we need this. And Philly needs this. Because they suck.

So without further ado, here are ten reasons why Philadelphia sucks ass.

Last Call on Air - The Return of Tappen

May 6, 2010
Tasso, Bartlett, Liebman
Special Guest: NESN Bruins Analyst
Kathryn Tappen