#5

Biscuits and Breezers

Welcome back to another blog of Biscuits and Breezers! In this episode of Biscuits and Breezers, we will be discussing the Devils 3^rd win over the Philadelphia Flyers in the Stanley cup Semi-Finals and the Nashville Predators’ 2 players coming back into the Semi-finals games. Starting with the New Jersey Devils win over the Philadelphia Flyers! This is very good news! Ever since the Flyers eliminated the Penguins and that is sad to say, yes I am going to bring this very sad but true subject up again, they really lost their steam. The Devils lead the series 3-1 and are pushing the Flyers to the brink of elimination. This series is heating up so much that the Devils have sold out all of their 5 home games! The Devils had goals from Petr Sykora on a power play assisted by Marek Zidlicky and Travis Zajac 15:14 in the first period, and another one from Marek Zidlicky assisted by Bryce Salvador and Ilya Kovalchuk 18:09 in the first period. These two goals followed 2 Flyers goals made by Scott Harnell on a power play assisted by Claude Giroux and Kimmo Timonen 11:50 in the first period and by Claude Giroux that was shorthanded assisted by former Penguin Maxime Talbot 13:40 in the first period, to tie the game up. The Flyers never really got a good shot in after pulling Ilya Bryzgalov in the final minutes. The Devils fired back with two more goals by Dainius Zubrus assisted by Adam Henrique and Petr Sykora 17:47 in the 2^nd period and another goal by Dainius Zubrus assisted by Mark Fayne and Martin Brodeur 19:15 in the third period. It was an especially good night for Martin Brodeur celebrating his 40^th birthday (happy birthday Martin) and the Devils’ team mates letting him have an easy night. Hopefully, the Devils will push the Flyers into the pit of elimination and claim another spot in the Stanley Cup Finals. The New Jersey Devils won 24 faceoffs, had 19 hits, 43 shots on goal, 4 penalty minutes, 2 penalties, 0 shorthanded goals, 5 power play opportunities, 1 power play goal, and 4 goals total. Great job Devils!  Keep playing hard and sweeping the competition.

The next subject we will talk about is Nashville Predators’ players Alexander Radulov and Andrei Kostitsyn being ejected from the past 2 games. Radulov and Kostitsyn were suspended from playoffs Game 3 for violating team rules and scratched from Game 4 because Predators’ head coach Barry Trotz didn’t want to mess with the lineup that worked so well in Game 2 resulting in a 2-0 shut out game for Nashville.  Being considered part of the family, Radulov and Kostitsyn were talked to and are being put back on the ice for Game 5. With Phoenix leading the Semi Finals 3-1 Nashville needs to get back to full strength in order to defeat the Coyotes or else the long-downtrodden Coyotes advance to the western Conference Finals for the first time in history.  Let’s hope the boys can fend off the Cup hungry Coyotes and advance to match up to the steaming LA Kings. Go get ‘em Preds!!

Now we move onto the “Players of Today”. The players we are reviewing today are Karpat SM-liiga Finnish Player and 2012 NHL prospect Ville Pokka, New Jersey Devils captain Zach Parise as the NHL pick of today, and Nashville Predators’ goaltender Pekka Rinne.

 We are starting with the European Player; Ville Pokka. He is 6ft 0in and weighs 198lbs. Ville is from Tornio, Finland and is a defenseman. Ville Plays for the Finnish Karpat team SM-liiga. During the 2011-2012 season, he scored 0 points in 35 games played, 3 assists, 3 TPs, and 12 PIMs. That is perfectly fine for a young defenseman. Players are always improving. He is signed with SM-liiga through the 2012-2013 season, but is an NHL prospect also. Ville is an all-around defenseman with a good defensive game. He plays with confidence and can easily, quickly move the puck. Ville went to the 2011-2012 Karpat tournament with the team ET and scored 0 goals in 5 games played, 1 assist, 1 total point, and 4 PIMs. Although he is young, Ville is playing very well for his age and is always improving. Good luck Ville and hope your hockey seasons are the best ones!

Next we move on to the NHL player. The pick for today is New Jersey Devils captain and left winger, Zach Parise. Zach is 5ft 11in, 195lbs, and is Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA. He also went to Shattuck-St. Mary’s and played AAA midget hockey, spent 2 seasons playing for the fighting Sioux at the University of North Dakota, was drafted to Devils in2003 but played one season  with the Albany River Rats of the AHL for his sophomore year, and finally joined the Devils in 2005. Parise played for the US in the 2004 world junior championships where he was named the tournament’s most valuable player and the best forward which earned him a spot in the Tournament All-Star team and alternate captain for the 2010 Winter Olympics team. He scored the game tying goal that sent it into overtime where the USA claimed the gold medal after Canada. In the 2011-2012 season, Zach scored 31 goals in 82 games played, 38 assists, 69 TPs, a -5 +/-, 32 PIMs, 7 powerplay goals, 3 shorthanded goals, 3 game winning goals, 293 shots on goal,  and a 10.6 S%. The Devils currently are in the Stanley Cup Semi-Finals. Good luck Zach and hope to have you end up in the Stanley Cup Finals!

Lastly, we have come to one of my top three favorite Goalies in the NHL, Pekka Rinne. Pekka is 6ft 5in and weighs 205lbs. He is from Kempele, Finland. Pekka is one of my favorite goalies because he is big and tall which covers the net well and he has great statistics. He really pushes things to the limit. Pekka started playing hockey for Karpat and worked his way to the Milwaukee Admirals of the AHL and was drafted 258^th overall in the 8^th round of the 2004 NHL entry draft, he played for IIHF world championship hockey Finnish team where he started the opener with a shutout and made 30 saves. On November 3, 2011 Rinne signed a 7 year contract for the Predators that was worth $49 million (the largest contract in NHL history) and was announced as a finalist for the Vezina Trophy.  Pekka has 43 wins in 73 games played, 18 loses, 0 tied games, 8 overtime loses, 4169 minutes, 166 goals against, 5 shut outs, 2.39 GAA, and .923 SV%. Pekka Rinne’s nickname is Peks. Pekka’s goaltending mask has a creature trapped behind an old school goal tending mask which is pretty awesome and has a Finnish flag on the backplate. Good luck Pekka Rinne!

Thanks for reading another blog of Biscuits and Breezers! Every blog will be filled with updated hockey news, player reviews, and much more! Until next time, don’t get your breezers in a bunch because there is always hockey around the corner. It is always a great day for hockey and remember it’s a lifestyle not just a sport!