Audition for GetRealHockey

As you know we are working on a public face for Get Real.  We started with this song which will be on  Itunes.

http://soundcloud.com/getrealtickets/get-real

We are also looking for a face for the brand.  We are looking for someone like Cabbie.

http://video.thescore.com/watch/cabbie-on-the-street-featuring-roberto-luongo

We are going to target financing in the next 60 days and getting someone like Cabbie would be a big plus.

If you know someone who would fit the bill; please have them send an audition tape to getrealhockey@gmail.com.

Winter Classic in the NHL and other Good Stuff.

 The NHL announced that this season’s Winter Classic will pit rivals Philadelphia Flyers against the New York Rangers. The game is to be held at Citizen’s Bank Field in Philadelphia and will take place on Jan 2^nd rather than the usual date of Jan 1^st.

The press conference announcing the game saw Sather and Snider have a dig at each other’s organisation, setting the tone for what could be the game of the season.

Certainly a game I will look forward to over the New Year’s period – hopefully both teams will be doing well in the Atlantic division come face off and we will see a spectacle on ice that matches the setting of these classic games.

Brendan Shanahan. One time hero of mine along with the likes of Federov, Kozlov and the mercurial Stevie Y. Do I like him in this new role that he has taken up at the NHL? I’ll come back to you on that during the season.

Shanahan has been given a role which means he studies any checks / hits / incidents that are bordering on or breaking the new NHL rules.

He then gives his decision on them and hands out the punishment. It is very much like he is the new Sheriff of the NHL. His actual title is Senior Vice President Of

Player Safety.

He has already been dishing out suspensions during the preseason. Jean Francois Jacques of the Ducks being suspended the remainder of the preseason plus 5 regular season games for leaving the bench with the purpose of starting a fight, Wisniewski of the Blue Jackets getting the remainder of the preseason and 8 regular season games for an illegal check to the head and Brad Staubitz the remainder of the preseason and 4 regular season games for an illegal check from behind are just 3 of the suspensions he has already handed out.

A lot has been said, especially last season about hits to the head and illegal checks that have seen some of the stars of the NHL miss a lot of games. This is the way the NHL have decided to combat it, giving Shanahan the job to cast his eyes over the incidents, the rule book and then give out punishment as necessary. The way in which Shanahan is doing this is unique to me as he is giving out his verdict to the camera’s and how he came to the decisions. Speaking over footage of the hits and taking into account players positioning, visible intentions of the players and previous suspension history he is then ruling with an iron fist.

Whilst fans, coaches and players first comments on this seem to be positive I’m unsure myself. I’m not unsure with the way / style he is doing it, in fact I think it is an excellent idea and allows everyone to know why the decision has been made.

It’s a very good insight and way of analysing hits and checks and after seeing the Shanahan videos everyone should know what is legal and illegal and hopefully the players will take heed and the bad hits will become less of an issue in the game.

What I am unsure of is the length of suspensions and whether every little incident is going to come under scrutiny with this system. Maybe suspensions have been heavy preseason to try and make players think straight away about the hits they are making but surely you can’t give a player an 8 game suspension for an incident preseason and then have a similar incident later in the season that only warrants a 1 or 2 game suspension. The length of suspensions has got to be consistent and be applied all season. This could lead to coaches and fans becoming less favourable to the system when key players are missing big games.

I will remain sceptical for now and make my mind up a month into the season. Hopefully by then these sort of incidents won’t be a major talking point and the hockey flair will be.

Wayne Simmonds has certainly started life with the Flyers with some controversy. The first incident by no means was his fault with a fan throwing a banana onto the ice whilst he was taking a penalty shot in a shoot out. A fan has been charged with the incident and hopefully we won’t see anything like this again in the NHL.

What came next in a friendly with the New York Rangers was an allegation by Rangers forward Sean Avery that a homophobic slur was aimed at him by Simmonds.

Simmonds denied using the slur he was alleged to have said and with non of the on ice officials near the players hearing anything either the NHL hasn’t taken any action on this incident.

Both incidents are not needed in the sport and hopefully Simmonds will be mentioned in later blogs and news for his on ice play rather than stories like this. He had a good playoffs with LA last season and the Flyers will be hoping he starts this season like he finished last.

by Adam Yates

The new NHL season has so many question marks - Leafs, Habs, Bruins, Jets, Kings, Oilers, Flyers

The NHL season is set to kick off and NHL fans are asking all sorts of questions

Leafs - Is this the year they finally make the playoffs ?  Should they pin all their hopes on such a young goalie ?  Can they have a good January - February and stay in contention?

Habs - Will Price gets some help this year ?  Will Markov be able to stay healthy and lend PK Subban a hand ?  Is Gomez going to be in the press box by January 1st or will he surprise ?

Bruins - Can these boys capture the magic from last year ?  Will they miss clutch players like Ryder ?

Jets - Will the Jets head to the playoffs in their return to the Peg ? Will they be the blueprint for a return of hockey to Hamilton or Quebec City ?

Kings - This young squad looks ready to step up and go big time ?  Will Kopitar and company step and make Kings fans forget about Gretzky and Simmer ?

Oilers - Northern Alberta could be in for a surprise this year.  This team looks destined for big things .  How will the kids perform for the Oil ?  Could this be the start of a new dynasty ?

Flyers - Is the goalie issue finally done in Philadelphia ? Can Jagr actually contribute ?  Will Carter be missed ?

This is going to be an interesting season, no doubt ....We will tip our hat and call for big performances from San Jose, the Kings , the Jets and the Capitals.  As for a Stanley Cup winner; we have to go with either Boston or Washington.  

If you have a favourite team and you want to be on the blog, write a story and send it to us today @ getreallhockey@gmail.com.  We will also publish the story on getrealhammered.com and twitergameoftheweek.com.

THE HABS - A TEAM WITH HEART

 The Montréal Canadiens might not have the best team in the league on paper. They might not have the best players on paper, with the most goals and assists in the league. What they have is heart and a motivation to win the big prize. Their goal is the Stanley Cup and they will do anything to win it. They have a team of young players who are developing more and more every season. Their veterans are there to help teach the rookies, making the atmosphere in the dressing room a great one. It almost all starts with the dressing room. If the team is getting along together, they will have a good run. If they are fighting and there is drama in the room, it will show on the ice. The boys on this team work together as a unit, not as individuals. Although they haven't had the best preseason, we see rookies who are putting their all on the ice. Some of them will make the team, some will not. By seeing these rookies, we see that if we get injuries (which happens to every team but even more to this one), we don't have to be worried because the relève (don't know the word in English) is there and ready to go. In nets, we are solid with Carey Price and Peter Budaj. Carey Price had an excellent run last season, after an upsetting one in 2010. Some fans have been saying that he is shaky this preseason but if we look at last season, it was the same thing and he ended up having a stellar year. We have a goalie who could easily be a Vezina contender and we have a second goalie who has had many good seasons in the past. If anything were to happen to Carey, we have a veteran goalie who will be ready to play. Up front, we have some depth, especially with new arrival Erik Cole. Our first line should have a great season and we have other players who can make strong lines. If Scott Gomez and Andrei Kostitsyn decide to really give it their all, it will be amazing. Michael Cammalleri is already showing that he is ready for the start of the regular season and Max Pacioretty has shown us that his injury hasn't had an effect on his play. At the blue line, we have far from the best players in the league but we have players who when they work together can make strong pairs. P.K Subban, who although some people say is arrogant, shows confidence in himself and can play the position well, as well as create some offence. With Josh Gorges back, we have some consistency back. Hal Gill may not be the fastest player out there but he is consistence and plays his position well. Yannick Weber can play both up front and back, which is great. The weaker link of our D would be Jaroslav Spacek but he can be paired up with someone in order to make his line stronger.

This team has depth, motivation and heart. This trio makes a teams chances of winning the big prize a lot bigger. This may not be THE year, but be sure to keep an eye on the Habs because their time will come soon. The fans believe. People say that this team doesn't have a chance but that's what they said in 2010 and look where they got to. If every player puts in the effort, they can make it far. We just need to look at the comments said by players during their annual golf tournament to see that this team is ready for the start of the season and wants the Stanley Cup more than anything.

The Montréal Canadiens have the support of their fans (some of them not always) but those ones who are loyal will support them and cheer them on no matter what. We believe.


Joanne Wafer

THE HABS, LEAFS, OILERS, AND FLAMES NEED TO PICK IT UP

Canada is supposed to be the home of hockey.  The world's fastest game is played from coast to coast on rinks in big cities and small towns with early morning pee wee practices and late night adult leagues being the norm.  Hockey is a religion in Canada. The NHL was born in Canada and we have given the world the best hockey players ever to lace up the skates.  Despite all these facts, Canada has some of the worst NHL teams in the league.

The Leafs , the Oilers, and the Flames are the epitome of mismanagement.  NHL fans in those cities have been suffering for way to many seasons as bottom dwellers. The glory days of giants like Sittler, Gretzky, and MacDonald are long gone  and the fans should be demanding results, now !!!  The knuckle heads at the Air Canada Center (in Toronto) are the kings of NHL mediocrity.   These guys have truckloads of money but they have put together a string of losing squads which has put the Queen's City hockey credibility in the toilet.

The Habs are in the same pot as these three drifting wrecks because they could also be doing much better.  The fans in Montreal are loyal to a fault and management counts on this blind optimism to fill the seats.  The Habs rarely make the needed moves at the end of the season (to get them over the hump) and their willingness to spend cash in a timely manner is a problem in the off season.  It is always the same nonsense with the Canadiens;  strong start, sloppy mid-season and then the hope and pray end of season.

We would love to see the Canadian teams come to life this year.  Hell we would settle for them coming to life even next year or the year after.  If we had to guess who was next to win a cup out of this sorry lot; we would put our money on the Oilers. Assuming they finish near the bottom this year; the Oilers will draft well again in 2012. Eventually the Oilers could look like a Canadian version of the Penguins and hockey glory will return to Northern , Alberta between 2013-2015.

Do you love the NHL ? Getrealhockey is looking for bloggers

We are looking to add to our team.  This is the second year for  our blog and we are looking to expand the team so we can cover the NHL in the best way possible.   

Our group also runs www.getrealhammered.com.

In an ideal world; we would need writers who want to be part of the team for the entire NHL season. We are ready to write recommendation letters for any college students who want to give the blog a try and want the experience on their CV.  If you want to write for Getrealhockey; email us @ getrealhockey@gmail.com.   

WHO WILL BE THIS YEAR'S TIM THOMAS ??

 Last year was especially hard  for some of the "flashy" big boys in the NHL.  We saw Alexander Ovechkin fade fast into the stretch and playoffs causing the favoured Capitals to be sent packing. Brian Boucher also imploded when he was most needed and the Flyers were kicked out of the playoffs.  Their performances were shocking because these guys were key to their clubs at their respective positions. Superstars are supposed to carry the day.  Fans , young and old, look to these guys to give it 100% when all the marbles are in play.  The 2010-2011 season gave us some monumental failures and it will be interesting to see if these superstars can pick it back up and make believers out of their fans once again.

In some instances, the stars do come through and the fans are rewarded with brilliant play and maybe even a Stanley Cup victory.  In 2010-2011, we were treated to big seasons from PK Subban, Roberto Luongo and Tim Thomas.  PK was the biggest surprise for the Habs last season and he and Carey Price almost got the Habs to the finish line. Of course, Roberto Luongo and Tim Thomas faced off in the Stanley Cup finals before Tim Thomas emerged as victor. Either way you cut it; Subban, Luongo and Thomas made the 2010-2011 NHL season one to remembers.

Here is to an exciting 2011-2012 season !!!  NHL fans want to see less Bouchers and more Subbans.  Luongo and Ovechkin are also expected to perform.  Their teams have paid the big bucks and these boys need to take their teams to the final dance.  The question here is who will be this year's Tim Thomas ?  Buckle up gang.....this is going to be a fun one.