Showing posts with label Anthony Camara. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Anthony Camara. Show all posts

Saturday, December 29, 2012

New Offer From NHL, Russia Downs USA, Spengler Semis for Canada

Good Morning HabsAddicts

Early Friday afternoon, Pierre LeBrun broke the news that the National Hockey League had submitted a new offer to the NHLPA, composed of some 300+ pages.

Some parts of the offer were already discussed before, including a 10 year term on the Collective Bargaining Agreement, $300 Million for the "make whole" provision ($50 Million of which is to go to the NHLPA's pension plan), and a single amnesty buy-out for each team in 2013-2014 which wouldn't count against the salary cap.

Important to point out, as far as the amnesty payment is concerned, that the bought out contract would instead count against a team's hockey related revenue, which would reduce amounts on both sides of the ledger. This is a significant move by the league, in an attempt to find an equitable way to avoid an immediate cap hit to a single team. It would instead distribute the onus to all teams by reducing HRR and the salary cap by a minimal and manageable percentage.

While the league still insists on a cap on player contract lengths, they've extended the length to six years instead of the original five, and they have backed off on issues like entry-level contracts, Group 3 free agency (unrestricted), and arbitration rights.

However, included in this latest offer is an absolute drop-dead date to start, that being January 19th, in order to have a 48-game season. Training camps would have to begin on January 11th. Effectively, that gives both sides a windows of just a few days to get this offer agreed upon, and begin recalling their players from European club teams and the KHL.

Habs and Hockey News and Notes

- In an action packed affair, Team Russia defeated Alex Galchenyuk and Team USA 2-1 on Friday morning at the World Junior Hockey Championships. Team Canada, who won earlier on Friday 6-3 over Slovakia, received some good news as forward Anthony Camara would not receive any supplemental discipline for his devastating hit on Slovakian defenceman Patrik Luza. J.C. Lipon, who also received a major penalty for head contact on forward Tomas Mikus, received a one game suspension.

- With HC Davos' win Friday versus Adler Mannheim, Team Canada was assured a birth in the Spengler Cup semi-finals in Davos, Switzerland on Sunday. The quarter-finals will take place Saturday between Fribourg Gotteron vs. Adler Mannheim and HC Davos vs. Salavat Yulaev Ufa.

- The Montreal Gazette's Dave Stubbs celebrates (I'm kidding) the 20th anniversary of the Montreal Canadiens last Stanley Cup win. 

(photo: Paul Sancya/AP)

Friday, December 28, 2012

Character Win For Team Canada, Spengler Dominance, More...

T.G.I.F. HabsAddicts!!!

Team Canada had quite the scare this morning. Team Slovakia came out of the gate with a heavy forecheck, that caused Canada fits, and took an early 2-0 1st period lead.

However, despite loosing forward J.C. Lipon in the first because of a contact to the head major penalty, the Canadian squad came out firing on all cylinders in the second.

As the game wore on, the Slovakians began to wear down. Only a controversial charging major to Anthony Camara gave the Slovaks some momentum, but Morgan Rielly led the charge for the Canadian team, with a few brilliant shift to to get the ball rolling. He finished with a goal and two assists.

Team Canada dominated the last 40 minutes of play, using their speed and physicality to turn the tables on their tenacious opponents. After taking a late 4-3 lead in the second, they added two more tallies in the third to win the game 6-3. Mark Scheifele was all over the ice for Canada, which earned him player of the game honours.

Next, Team Canada faces Team USA at 4 A.M. Sunday morning. The question is if the IIHF disciplinary board will give suspensions to either Lipon and/or Camara. The board is chaired by former NHL referee Bill McCreary.

Habs and Hockey News and Notes:

- Over in Davos, Switzerland, the other Team Canada had another dominant performance in Spengler Cup action, this time versus the host Davos. Byron Ritchie led Team Canada with two goals, en route to a 5-0 victory. Devon Dubnyk stopped 25 shots to earn the shutout.

- Team USA started their World Junior Hockey Championships with a resounding 8-0 victory over Germany. Montreal Canadiens' 2012 first round pick, Alex Galchenyuk had a goal and two assists.

- Barry Janoff of NYSportsJournalism.com looks at how the NHL Lockout is causing fans and sponsors to lash out.