04-24-2019, 06:21 AM
And oh how the enigmatic goaltender shines in the spotlight, much to the chagrin of the league. Bryzgalov is just what the NHL hates: unique, outspoken, not from Red Deer. The embattled and well-traveled goaltender is the antithesis of the typical NHLer. His idiosyncrasies, strange even for a goalie, rankle the entire NHL establishment, from players to management to media to that guy who lives in the apartment below yours with his mother who has a "prominent Predators blog." And as Bryz adds some animation to the typically lifeless NHL discourse in his return to centre scrum, its interesting to consider why hockey hates him so. [Getty Images] For much of his career, Bryzgalov and his delightfully absurd aloofness was left to the bliss of the uncovered hinterland of the NHL. He was allowed to ply his trade in Anaheim and Phoenix with relatively little attention paid. But, in league circles, his oddities were well known, and even celebrated when the media required moments of levity. But upon his arrival in hockey hotbed, and noted goalie-killer Philadelphia, the affection the league had for Bryzgalov turned quickly to venom. His play certainly didnt help, but many an average NHLer with a slight sense of humour has been left to his own devices. But Bryzgalovs appalling strangeness in the eyes of the hockey establishment, a sinister outfit run by old white men housed in a secret lair below the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto, made him a pariah, and nearly led to the end of his career. And by "end of career" I mean playing in Edmonton. Perhaps no player has incurred the wrath of the NHL like the man the Wild acquired as insurance, and who is now their last hope to extend the season. But why? Unfortunately, hockey lacks Bryzgalovs. Of the four major sports leagues, it by far eschews personality and flavour more than all others. Hell, out of any sport it certainly boasts the most boring membership. No interview is less interesting than conversations with hockey players. Vanilla mocks the rabid blandness of NHLers. And those in NHL circles who do have personalities, like Sean Avery, Ted Nolan, or P.K. Subban, find themselves ostracized from the community, or like Subban unfairly labeled as troublesome on and off the ice. One would think a league that has struggled to find a market against its more successful sports brethren would embrace personality, but thats not the hockey way. Bryzgalov is more than a goalie, more than a hockey player. Hes a genuinely interesting and interested person. He has big questions. Like, "Im very into the universe, you know like how was created, you know, like, what is it, you know? Solar system is so humongous big, right? But if you see like our solar system and our galaxy on the side, you know, like, were so small you can never see it. Our galaxy is like huge, but if you see the big picture our galaxy (is) like a small tiny-like dot in the universe." Bryz is the opposite of boring. [HBO] But hockey is a factory of boring. The sport grabs youngsters at an early age, sends them to cosmopolitan metropoli like Chicoutimi, Lethbridge, and North Bay, and where representatives of the old boys club teach them to lack in colour and dissenting opinion. There must be courses in stock answers and cliché given to aspiring NHLers, lest they find some horrific off-ice personality. One can imagine a factory churning out 62 defencemen and gritty fourth line centres somewhere outside of Medicine Hat whose only answers are limited to: • Gotta play all three periods and go hard into the boards. • Its the coachs decision. • I enjoy CBCs Heartland. Unfortunately, this formulaic tendency has corrupted on-ice play as well. In the past quarter century weve seen the game become more systems-based, removing individuality and scoring from the game. (Lets call this Lou Lamoriellos fault.)Hockey enjoys being the definition of innocuous. What it finds funny, or interesting, is in the Jeremy Roenicks of its world, a sort of low brow, low risk comedy that makes Canadian sitcoms look like the bastard children of Louis CK and Sarah Silverman. And that affection for the benign has lowered scoring, homogenized the product, and made beat reporters quest for an interesting quote an exercise in futility. Bryzgalov is the kind of guy you like to keep in your pocket and take out at parties. He was the star of HBOs24/7, an ambitious show that tries to find intrigue in NHL locker rooms.His personality is as endearing as it playful. Hes intelligent, well read, and happy to speak on any subject. And the NHL hates him for it. This is a man who when asked if he feared the powerhouse Pittsburgh Penguins before a playoff matchup with his Flyers responded, "Im not afraid of anything – except bear. But bear in the forest." Whats not to love? The pundits cited his personality as one of the reasons he failed in Philly, despite the fact that the Flyers organization is a wasteland for goalies whose failures have been the result of a flawed organizational concept as opposed to a Russian who enjoys tea and literature. Whats most painfully difficult to entertain in this NHL with a hatred of the entertaining is the notion that there arent more personalities like Bryzgalov. The difference with Bryz is that he shares his self with the world. I cant even describe the weird that my peers tend towards in the privacy of dark corners of Montreal bars, so one cant be naïve enough to believe that similarly intriguing oddity doesnt exist in NHL locker rooms. NHLers are only permitted to show their game face, or as Bryz puts it, "You know, I have many faces … masks. In home, I have one face. Public, I have other face. Uh … ahhhh, on ice I have different face. Day off I have four face. With you [media] I have fifth face." The tradition of the league has implemented a gag order upon its membership, which limits both its on- and off-ice products. The marketing of contemporary sport is about personality. Its what makes the moments between on-field greatness interesting. Chad Johnson, Dennis Rodman, or Steve Lyons would never be allowed to exist in the NHL. From a young age, their personalities would never be given the chance to blossom into anything other than milquetoast. Bryzgalov once said, "OK, they fire the puck from the blue line. Chief usually yelling block the shot at the defensemen. They doesnt have the goalie gear, but they have to block the shot. So who is more crazy, me or the defencemen? Who is more weird?" No one, Bryz. No one. And thats a shame. For both the sport and its fans. This is likely his last few weeks as an NHL goaltender. And then exit Bryzgalov, pursued by bear. John Kelly Jersey . - Kobe Bryant and LeBron James traded hugs, big shots and verbal jabs all night with warmth and humour. Aqib Talib Rams Jersey . LOUIS -- The St. http://www.laramsfootballshops.com/brand...en-jersey/. Despite Arsenals financial firepower, the 31-year-old midfielder was the only arrival in the January transfer window. Signed until the end of the season as injury cover, Kallstrom might not be fit until mid-March after arriving Friday at Arsenal having injured his back earlier in the week while training with Spartak Moscow. John Franklin-Myers Jersey .While Rosberg is coming off a strong victory at the Brazilian Grand Prix, Hamilton is dwelling on a mistake that ended his streak of five consecutive wins and kept him from increasing his advantage. Brandin Cooks Rams Jersey .1 Sam Stosur will meet Germanys second-ranked player Andrea Petkovic in the opening match of the Fed Cup World Group semifinal.HOUSTON -- James Harden faced the throng of reporters waiting at his locker and exhaled heavily after the Houston Rockets slipped by the New York Knicks on Friday night to end a two-game skid. "Its a huge sigh of relief," Harden said. "We found a way. It wasnt pretty. It wasnt the prettiest win, but at the end of the night a win is all that matters." Harden scored 37 points and Aaron Brooks made a pair of free throws with 17 seconds left to lift the Rockets to a 102-100 victory. The Knicks had a chance to tie it at the end, but Iman Shumpert missed a shot before Andrea Bargnani grabbed a rebound and dished it to Beno Udrih, whose running jump shot rolled in and out of the basket at the buzzer. Several Knicks put their hands on their heads in disbelief as they watched the ball spin out. Udrih and J.R. Smith both missed 3-pointers for the Knicks with under a minute remaining. Brooks grabbed the rebound on the second one and was fouled by Udrih to set up the game-winning free throws. Smith admitted after the game that he made a mistake in taking his shot, which came with 19.9 seconds remaining. "Honestly I thought we were down two when I shot the ball," Smith said. "I started hearing Tyson (Chandler) say: "No, no, no dont take the shot." But at that point it was already released ... it was just bad basketball IQ by me." Carmelo Anthony couldnt believe they had another play where they should have held the ball instead of taking an ill-advised shot. In a game last month against Milwaukee, Bargnani jacked up a 3-point attempt with 11.9 seconds left and New York up by two points in overtime. The Bucks made a shot on the other end to force a second overtime, but the Knicks were able to rebound for a double-overtime win in that one. "Yeah, yeah, it was kind of like deja vu," Anthony said when asked if that play reminded him of Smiths shot. New York coach Mike Woodson said Smiths miss was just one of many opportunities they didnt take advantage of Friday night. "We had our shots and I think we compounded it too by fouling instead of making them go through our defence," he said. Shumpert, who scored a career-high 27 Thursday night, led the Knicks with 26 and Anthony added 25. Anthony returned on Thursday night after missing three games with a sprained left ankle and tweaked it late in that win. He was still struggling with itt Friday night, and winced almost every time he landed after jumping in the second half.dddddddddddd "I think it was just the back-to-back and not giving it a chance to rest," Anthony said. "It was just aching at times, at moments throughout the game." Shumpert, who was 6 for 6 on 3s, hit a 3-pointer to cut the lead to two points before Chandler hit two free throws to tie it at 100 with 1:02 left. Chandler finished with 13 points and 11 rebounds. Houston used a big run to start the fourth quarter and erase an eight-point deficit. The teams exchanged leads several times after that, but neither team led by more than a basket in the quarter before Harden scored five straight points to make it 100-95 with 2:23 remaining. Chandler Parsons added 17 points and 11 rebounds for Houston, Dwight Howard had 15 points and Jeremy Lin scored 14 against his former team. The Rockets opened the final period with a 10-1 run to take an 83-82 lead with about nine minutes remaining. Harden scored 11 points, powered by three 3-pointers, in the opening minutes of the second half to stretch Houstons lead to 61-56 with about eight minutes left in the third quarter. Anthony, who scored 45 points against Houston earlier this season, responded after that by making the first four points of an 8-0 run by New York to put the Knicks up 64-61. The game was tied at 66-all when New York scored seven straight to regain the lead 73-66. New York led 81-73 entering the fourth quarter thanks in part to 13 points by Shumpert in the third. The Knicks led by one with about 7 1/2 minutes remaining in the second quarter when Houston used a 10-2 run to take a 39-32 lead. Chandler received a technical foul in that span when he got tangled up with Howard and swung an elbow. Lin then made a nifty reverse layup and the ensuing free throw and Houston capped the run with an alley-oop dunk from Harden to Terrence Jones. New York got going after that, using an 11-2 spurt, with consecutive 3-pointers from Anthony, to regain a 43-41 lead. Parsons made a pair of free throws with seconds left in the second quarter to lead 48-47 at halftime. NOTES: Singer Paul Simon, who will perform with Sting at the Toyota Center in February, attended the game. ... Knicks F Kenyon Martin has a sore left ankle and did not dress for the game. ... Houston C Omer Asik missed his 16th straight game right thigh and knee injuries. Blackhawks Jerseys Store Cheap Wild Jerseys Cheap Red Wings Jerseys Cheap Maple Leafs Jerseys Penguins Jerseys Store Capitals Jerseys For Sale Blues Jerseys Store Cheap Kings Jerseys Adidas Lightning Jerseys Stars Jerseys For Sale Cheap Predators Jerseys Ducks Store Sharks Jerseys For Sale Cheap Sabres Jerseys Rangers Jerseys For Sale ' ' '