The Other Hockey

The Summer Olympics have started, in case you haven't noticed. In the past, the experience of viewing the Olympics has consisted largely of watching glossily produced human interest pieces, sandwiched between various taped bits of Americans winning gold medals in things, all to a soundtrack of Bob Costas waxing hyperbolic. This year, however, NBC is using the internet to make much more of the action available live and in its entirety (as they should--if they're going to acquire exclusive legal rights to broadcast the Olympics, in my view they're obliged to provide to the consumer with as much of the Olympics as technically possible).

I've always been very curious about the sporting universe outside of the handful of sports that draw the vast majority of the attention (and airtime) in the United States. I once attended the world bandy championships and I have a working knowledge of cricket. This bit of an oddball streak in my personality probably contributed to my embracing ice hockey as a young person--it has always been just fringe enough that I get to feel special, yet accessible enough that I could actually become engaged in the sport.

One of the sports I've always wanted to see is field hockey. I've never had the opportunity to watch a live field hockey match in its entirety before, but that all changed this evening, with the opening of the women's tournament from the Beijing games--New Zealand versus Japan. NBC streamed the match over their Olympics website--just the international video feed, with no commentary, which was just fine, given how irritating 99% of sports commentary is.

I didn't expect that the sport would actually have much in common with ice hockey, and it doesn't. It's actually much more like bandy in terms of the size of the pitch (looks like it's a little bigger than a scrimmage football field but a little smaller than a typical soccer field), the number of players, and the general pace of play. The sticks are heavy and short, obliging the players to bend down quite a bit to play the ball, which is about the size of a baseball. The goals are fairly large and on the end lines, and, curiously, there's a rule that obliges an attacking player to shoot from inside an arc around the goal called the "shooting circle"--in other words, if you shoot from too far away, it won't count. (This means that no field hockey goalie will ever have to worry about pulling a Vesa Toskala.) In practice, it appears to be common for attacking players to attempt to drive the ball towards the goal from outside the line, hoping to get a rebound or deflection from a friendly player in a legal position--rather like ice hockey defensemen shooting from the point in hopes that a teammate will get a stick on the puck. Except in field hockey, if the shot goes in clean, it's no goal.

One thing I discovered I really like about field hockey is that it's unencumbered by any offsides rule, and by extension the irritating stoppages in play and whining that accompany offsides calls in other sports (especially soccer). The fact that an attacking player can never be in an offsides position, and is free to cherrypick if he or she likes, means that defenses must account for this--it tends to stretch defenses along the field's long axis, opening up space for play to proceed.

On to the match itself. New Zealand, to my untrained eye, appeared to have the better of the early play on a rain-sodden field, but Japan took the lead about twelve minutes in when one of their players broke free behind the New Zealand defense and scored. Japan added another goal a few minutes later off of a "penalty corner"--a set piece restart involving what amounts to a free centering pass, a bit like a corner kick in soccer. New Zealand pulled one back with a penalty corner of their own before halftime, but although they fought desperately for the entire second half, they couldn't find an equalizer, and the game ended with a 2-1 scoreline.

I highly recommend checking it out. The sport has an excellent pace to it, and the match I described above wrapped up in a tidy hour and a half, so it's not like it takes that much of an investment of time. It really is a wide world of sports out there.

New Sweater

Well, I've been meaning to do it all summer, and I finally pulled the trigger... I ordered myself a shiny new Sharks sweater. I ordered my own name on the back (of course) and I picked number 93 for myself, in honor of the year I became a Sharks fan.

My original customized sweater that I bought waaaaaaay back in 1994 is practically a vintage garment by this point, and I treat it with the anxious reverence with which one might handle a dinner jacket worn by Winston Churchill. I also have a blank sweater which some kind friends bought for me several years ago, and which I will continue to wear, particularly when San Jose visits the X. (Going into an enemy building wearing the opponent's sweater? Cool. Going into an enemy building wearing the opponent's sweater with your name on the back? Not too bright.) But I had an itch for a customized sweater that I could wear on a regular basis, so I found my way to NHL.com and snagged one.

I hope they spell my name right...

Renovating the Back Porch

Following the departure of free agent defenseman Brian Campbell to the Chicago Blackhawks, Sharks GM Doug Wilson made a series of moves that completely overhauled the San Jose blue line...rather like one of those home-improvement projects that's initiated by a need to replace the screen door and winds up involving a comprehensive renovation of the back porch.

So is the team better off after these moves? I believe the short answer is Yes--but the improvements have come at a very high price.

The particulars: free agent Rob Blake signed with San Jose for one year at $5 million. Dan Boyle and fellow Tampa D-man Brad Lukowich come to San Jose in exchange for Matt Carle, prospect Ty Wishart, next year's first-round draft pick, and 2010's fourth-round draft pick. Then Craig Rivet was shipped to Buffalo for a couple of second-round picks, one next year and one in 2010, in an effort to replenish, at least somewhat, the Sharks' depleted pool of draft selections. (Particulars from here.)

At the end of all of this, the Sharks are left with a very strong defensive corps going into the fall. Dan Boyle is every bit the puck-moving, offensive defenseman that Campbell is--his numbers were way down last year, but he missed a good chunk of the season after a freak accident involving a falling skate that sliced up his arm, and after he did come back he played for a bad Lightning team. Even so, he managed 4 goals and 21 assists in 37 games. He has the potential to chip in 20 goals from the blue line.

Lukowich won't contribute much in the goal column, but he's a hard-hitting shut-down guy of the type a team needs to be successful. He also has a reputation as a good shot-blocker--a critical element of defensive play in today's NHL. He and Boyle comprised a defensive unit for Tampa's championship team...I suppose chances are good they'll play together again this season, but we'll have to wait and see how things shake out in training camp.

I was skeptical about the Rob Blake acquisition at first, but viewed in this larger context I like it. Blake will turn 39 this season, and he is certainly in the twilight of his career, but he has some things to contribute, notably a slap shot that is still worthy of fear, if not the downright terror it warranted in the past. Even more importantly, though, Blake is mean. He may be the sweetest guy in the world off the ice, I have no idea, but on the ice he's just not nice, and on a team that probably has a surplus of pleasant, jovial, friendly guys, a player with a mean streak is welcome.

Another crucial characteristic shared by Boyle, Lukowich, and Blake is big-game ability. All three of these guys have their names on the Stanley Cup (Lukowich twice). Given the way the Sharks have fallen flat in the postseason for the last umpteen years in a row, I really like an injection of proven big-game experience. This is one thing Brian Campbell, who largely disappeared in the playoffs last year after a great finish to the regular season, does not have.

Now, on to the cost. For me, and I suspect many Sharks fans, the loss of Craig Rivet hits hardest. He had a great year last year and provided steady defensive play and solid leadership for the San Jose blue line. He always worked hard and was justifiably popular. But something had to be done to offset Dan Boyle's price tag, not to mention the sudden logjam of San Jose defenseman...one of them had to go.

Last year Matt Carle failed to follow up the promise shown during his first full season in the NHL, in the course of which he scored 11 goals and had 31 assists. He had only two goals and 13 assists last season, and was generally beset by long periods of inconsistent play. I'm quite certain he was the guy the San Jose brass were expecting to step from inside the organization into the role of offensive, puck-moving defenseman, but it just didn't seem like it was happening, at least not in any kind of timely way. He could still be a great player...maybe he'll do better in Tampa.

Losing Ty Wishart hurts. He was the top scoring defenseman in the Western Hockey League last year, and has potential to be a Brian Campbell/Dan Boyle type in the big league one day, possibly pretty soon. Of all of the personnel given up to bring Boyle to the Sharks, this loss probably stings the organization most of all.

And then there are the draft picks. Like this year, the Sharks will not have a first-round draft pick next year. The second-round picks acquired for Rivet help offset the pain of this somewhat, but the organization is still looking at an extended period of time in which no top young players will be flowing in. Sooner or later, the ultimate bill for this will come due. I view this as an acknowledgment by Wilson that if the sun is not quite setting on the Thornton/Nabokov/Marleau era over which he has presided, it has at least moved well past noon.

With a little bit of luck, the personnel overhaul at the blue line will put the teeth back in a San Jose offense that went from formidable in 2006-2007 to somewhat meek last year. The power play should be improved, and hopefully Boyle will be able to initiate many offensive chances from the Sharks' defensive zone. Only time will tell.