Olympic Hockey Drama, All-Star Weekend, Bettman Speaks
It’s the Monday Edition of Links, News, and Notes
We’re at the halfway point, folks! The Sens have to fit their last 42 games into just 81 days so get ready for a lot of Ottawa Senators hockey. We’ll have all that covered (starting this afternoon!) but here’s what the league, and the rest of the hockey world, was up to this past weekend:
- Team Canada’s Women’s Hockey Team was scheduled to play Russia late Sunday night but the game was delayed after Russia’s failed to submit the results of their COVID testing to the Canadians before the start of the game. After a delay, the game started with both teams wearing masks. Canada went on to win easily, 6-1, in a bizarre situation that we will likely be talking about for some time to come.
- You can find great coverage of the women’s tournament at our sister SB Nation site The Ice Garden, and also over at the Victory Press.
- (Potential future Ottawa Senator) Claude Giroux was the All-Star MVP after he scored two goals in the finals.
- The skills competition portion of the weekend had its ups and downs, but Trevor Zegas’ attempt in the breakaway competition was maybe the coolest thing I’d ever seen in a hockey rink:/
Trevor Zegras is a gift. pic.twitter.com/gWfJ3TG0NG
— Shayna (@hayyyshayyy) February 5, 2022
If you’re a bit confused about the outfit, and the dodgeballs, Zegras was shouting out the Vince Vaughn and Ben Stiller movie.
- In maybe the biggest surprise of the weekend, Jordan Kyrou took down Connor McDavid in the fastest skater competition.
- Greg Wyshynski from ESPN has a behind-the-scenes look at some of the skills competition, with a lot of fun quotes from some of the participants.
- Gary Bettman also spoke at All-Star weekend, and I wouldn’t exactly say that he covered himself in glory with his defense of Rocky Wirtz.
- When play does resume, Jack Eichel sounds like he is close to returning — which is terrifying for the rest of the league considering how good Vegas already is.
- Lastly, in a story that broke late Sunday night, Emily Kaplan and Jesse Rogers reported that the Chicago Blackhawks fired the head trainer for their AHL franchise, the Rockford IceHogs, in November after an investigation into claims of sexual harassment. /