#3

Biscuits and Breezers

Welcome back to Biscuits and Breezers! In this blog, we will be discussing the Washington vs. New York series and the St. Louis vs. Los Angeles series. Starting off with the Washington vs. New York series. With the series now tied at 2-2, Washington Capital’s Captain Alexander Ovechkin and the rest of the Capitals seemed very pleased with the Game 4 win of 3-2. The Rangers are becoming more and more frustrated with the way the series took a turn after Game 3 when the game went into triple overtime, Rangers winning with a goal from Marian Gaborik at 14:41 in the tiring overtime. He made a goal past Capital’s goalie Braden Holtby with a wrist shot of 13 feet. The goal was assisted by Brad Richards and Daniel Giardi.  In Game 4 the Capitals had goals from Captain Alexander Ovechkin; center Nicklas Backstrom, and defenseman Mike Green. Green had previously been out 50 games with a right ankle injury and then an abdominal injury that required surgery. The “Young Guns” are starting to lead the pack again. The Washington Capitals will head to Madison Square Gardens on Monday May Seventh for Game 5 and back to the Verizon center for Game 6 on Wednesday May Ninth.

Now we move onto the St. Louis vs. Los Angeles series. The series is tied at 3-0 and I think that the Kings are pretty confident that they have this series in the bag. Dustin Brown is definitely taking the Kings places where they want to go, specifically the St. Louis Blues’ net.  The Kings coming into this series were really put out to be the under dogs. The confidence of the Kings is growing with every minute on the ice. Mike Richard’s Gordie Howe hat trick added to the strength of this under minded team.  The last time the Kings went to the conference finals was 1993. Back to the hat trick, Mike Richards scored a goal in Game 3 in the second period at 10:29 on a power play, assisted Drew Doughty with his goal in the third period at 8:12, and started a fight with Blues right winger Jamie Langenbrunner in the first period. The final score of Game 3 was 4-2, and evidently the Kings are shutting down the Blues one game at a time.  If the Kings are to win a spot in the finals, they will do so in home ice at the Staples center in LA.

Now for the “Players of Today”. Today we have a tier 3 minor player, European Player, and an NHL player. For the NHL Prospect player is Filip Forsberg of the Allsvenskan hockey league Leksands IF, the Tier 3 player is Oscar Bjorkander from the Missoula Maulers of the AWHL, and the NHL player is Jonathan Toews captain of the Chicago Blackhawks.

Starting off with the European Player, Filip Forsberg. Being the highest rated European forward available for the 2012 NHL Entry Draft, he is very desirable coming into the draft. Filip is 6ft 2 in and is 180lbs and is from Ostervala, Sweden. He is a left/right winger.  He has 8 goals in 43 games, 9 assists, 17 TPs, and 33 PIMs. He went to the World Junior Championships in 2012 and claimed the gold in Calgary with his team, representing Sweden. He is expected to go to the Columbus Blue Jackets. In 2011 he was involved in the 2011 Ivan Hlinka Memorial Tournament where he was a player on Team Sweden that won the silver. Filip has astronomic offensive instincts, carries the puck well, and moves through tight spaces with ease. He can give a mean slap shot and can out dangle any defenseman to make the goal with his soft hands. Good Luck in the draft and your hockey career Filip!

Next, we move to the Tier 3 Junior player, Oscar Bjorkander from the Missoula Maulers of the AWHL. The 5ft 8in 176lbs defenseman is from Visby, Sweden and formerly played on the Allsvenskan Oskarshamn teams.  In his first season in America, Oscar had 7 goals in 48 games, 18 assists, 25 TPs, and 43 PIMs. During his season with the Maulers, they went to the Tier 3 championships in Rochester Minnesota and placed fourth. The Maulers were the regular season champions, 2^nd in the AWHL championships, and had their best season in franchise history. It is unclear where Oscar is going for the 2012-2013 hockey season, but hopefully he will stay with the Maulers and continue on a path of victories with them! Good Luck Oscar!  Way to represent Sweden!

Now we have come to the NHL! This week’s NHL player is Chicago Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews. Jonathan is 6ft 2in weighs 208lbs and is from Winnipeg, Ontario, Canada. Playing on the Blackhawks since 2007, he was named captain in 2008. In the 2011-2012 season, he has 29 goals in 59 games, 28 assists, 57 TPs, 17+/-, 28 PIMs, 5 power play goals, 1 shorthanded goal, 4 game winning goals, 185 shots on goal , and 15.7 S%. Jonathan had 1 goal in the 2009-2010 Olympics, attended the University of North Dakota, and he attended Shattuck-St. Mary’s in Fairbault, Minnesota. The same school Sidney Crosby and Jack Johnson attended to for the hockey program.  His nickname is Captain Serious. Good luck in further seasons Jonathan!

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 hockey is always just around the corner. It is always a great day for hockey. It is quite a year for players and fans alike, and remember hockey is a lifestyle not just a sport!