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Friday, June 24, 2011

Times Have Changed

Let's say hypothetically a person left Boston around Christmas 1994 and, except for a quick trip back to the south shore, is returning for the first time today.  This person may not recognize the city as it exists today. 

Boston and its fortunes have changed drastically since Christmas 1994.

Let's see how:

On Christmas Eve 1994 the Patriots defeated the Bears in Chicago for their seventh straight victory, clinching a wild card playoff berth.  The next week, on New Year's Day, the Patriots lost 20-13 to the Cleveland Browns, led by a young coach named Bill Belichick.

Today the Patriots are three time world champions, one of the model franchises in the NFL, playing in one of the better facilities in the league, and are led by head coach Bill Belichick.

December 1994 saw Major League Baseball in the midst of a players' strike.  The World Series was cancelled and the 1995 season began late.  The Red Sox were also 76 years removed from their last World Series championship.

Today the Red Sox are still riding the momentum of two World Series championships in the last seven years.  Fenway Park has been transformed, highlighted by seats on top of the Green Monster and fans that know nothing about baseball filling the park.

The 1994-1995 NBA and NHL seasons saw the Celtics and Bruins playing their final seasons in the Boston Garden.  The Celtics lost in 4 games to the eventual Eastern Conference champion Orlando Magic, led by young superstar center Shaquille O'Neal.  The Bruins lost to the Devils in 5 games in the first round of the playoffs.  Both of their seasons ended in the Garden.  The Bruins hadn't raised a banner in over two decades, while the Celtics hadn't in nine years.

Today the Celtics are coming off of four straight 50+ win seasons, including 1 NBA championship (in 2008) and 2 Eastern Conference championships.  They lost in the second round of the playoffs to the eventual Eastern Conference champion Miami Heat, and were hindered partly by the fact that their starting center, Shaquille O'Neal, was unable to contribute significantly due to injuries.  The Bruins, meanwhile, are the current Stanley Cup champions for the first time in 39 years.  Both teams play in the TD Garden, which features a parking lot out front where the Boston Garden used to stand.

On top of all that the central artery is gone, replaced by the Greenway.  The raised Green line tracks are gone over Causeway Street, and South Boston has become one of the "in" neighborhoods for twentysomethings.

Boston has changed over the last 17 years in many ways.  It can be very overwhelming if you haven't been around in a while. 

Oh by the way there's also a new federal court house in South Boston...

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Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Greg Goldberg: Not Ready for Primetime

Author's Note: Many (if not all) of you probably already assume I do not have much of a life.  This entry should take care of anyone still thinking that I do.

I was watching D3: The Mighty Ducks the other day and started thinking about the beloved goalie of the team, Greg Goldberg (played by Shaun Weiss).  I watched him get benched by the freshmen team coach.  When they scrimmage the varsity team he declares himself the starter and promptly allows 3 goals on a whopping 4 shots (I will give him a pass on 1 of them because he was interfered with).  I asked on both Twitter and Facebook if he was the worst goalie in the history of hockey.

Dave Craven and Ryan Dempsey both jumped to Goldberg’s defense.  David went as far as to call him a “gamer” and that he won at every level.  This wasn’t completely true since he got switched to defense at the high school level.  I decided to go back and re-watch the films and see if I was being too harsh and if in fact he truly was a “gamer”.

(Yeah, yeah, like I need an excuse to watch the defining sports movies of my childhood…)

After watching the first and second films again I have decided to soften my stance on Goldberg…

He’s not the worst goalie of all-time.

But he is the worse big game goalie in history.

In the first movie the underdog Ducks sneak into the playoffs and make a surprising run to the championship game.  In the finals they play their rivals the Hawks.  Goldberg responds to the championship pressure by allowing 3 first period goals to put his team in an early hole.

The Ducks battled back with 2 second period goals and they went to the third period down 3-2.  Holding all the momentum in the game, Goldberg gives it right back to the Hawks allowing a goal with 4 minutes remaining to put them back in a 2 goal hole. 

The Ducks showed their resiliency and came back to ultimately win the game 5-4 on Charlie Conway’s penalty shot with no time remaining, but they had to win in spite of their goalie. 

They only show Goldberg making 2 saves throughout the course of this game.  He allowed 4 goals, so that accounts for 6 shots on goal.  The games had 12 minute periods and the Hawks carried play for much of the game from what we are shown.  I figured that it would be reasonable to say that the Hawks had 30 shots in the game.



Ducks 5 Hawks 4




State PeeWee Championship












1st
2nd
3rd
Tot


Hawks
3
0
1
4


Ducks
0
2
3
5


















Summary






1st Period





Scoring





Hawks-  Brown (Larson) 2:10




Hawks- McGill (Larson) 6:40




Hawks- Brown (McGill) 11:00





Penalties





None







2nd Period





Scoring





Ducks- Banks (Conway) 4:30




Ducks- Reed (Germaine) PPG 4:45




Penalties





Hawks- McGill (slashing) 4:30





3rd Period





Scoring





Hawks- Blake (Brown, Larson) 7:00



Ducks- Ta. Duncan (To. Duncan, Averman) 7:35


Ducks- J. Hall (T. Hall) 11:05




Ducks- Conway Penalty Shot 12:00




Penalties





Ducks- Reed (game misconduct) 7:35







D2: The Mighty Ducks saw many of the same faces from the first edition return.  In this installment the team is selected to represent the United States in the Junior Goodwill Games.  They are joined by some new faces as well, including a new goalie, Julie “The Cat” Gaffney.  Coach Bombay decides to stick with Goldberg between the pipes for the tournament even though Gaffney appears to be the stronger player.

The Ducks main opponent in this film was Team Iceland.  The teams met twice in the tournament, once in the group stage and again in the tournament final.  Iceland had a lot of offensive firepower, led by their captain Gunner Stahl (a personal favorite of Mr. Craven).  Against a team of that caliber exceptional goalie play is needed. 

Of course Goldberg gave them the complete opposite. 

The preliminary round game was a 12-1 Iceland rout.  Goldberg gave up all 12 goals but only because Gaffney was given a game misconduct as she came on to relieve Goldberg.  Goldberg deserves some credit for sticking out the rout, but he once again put his team in a hole, allowing 5 goals through 2+ periods before he was supposed to be relieved.  Goldberg finished the game with 12 GA on approximately 45 shots (20 minute periods and Iceland dominated throughout).

The Ducks bounced back (with some guidance from some Los Angeles street hockey players) and eventually got a second shot at Iceland in the championship game.
Goldberg was so determined to make up for the previous game against Iceland that he promptly allowed 4 goals in the first period to once again stack the odds against his team.  Team USA/The Ducks battled back again to make the score 4-2 early in the third when Goldberg struck again allowing Stahl to score and putting Iceland back in command.

Yet again the Ducks clawed their way back in spite of their goalie and tied the game 5-5 and forcing a shootout.  Goldberg allowed 3 goals on 4 shots in the shootout.  Coach Bombay finally realized that he could not win with Goldberg in net and put Gaffney and her quick glove in to stone Gunner Stahl on the final attempt and bring home the gold.

USA 6 Iceland 5 (SO)




Junior Goodwill Games Championship











1st
2nd
3rd
SO
TOT

USA
0
1
4
4
6

Iceland
4
0
1
3
5

















Summary






1st Period





Scoring





Iceland- Sanderson (unassisted)



Iceland- unidentified




Iceland- unidentified




Iceland- Sanderson (Stahl)





Penalties





Iceland- Sanderson (slashing)





2nd Period





Scoring





USA- Wu (Reed) 1:05





Penalties





USA- Wu (roughing)





USA- Reed (misconduct)




USA- Portman (misconduct)




USA- Robertson (roping)





3rd Period





Scoring





USA- Moreau (Germaine, Wu) 1:12



Iceland- Stahl (unidentified)




USA- Banks (Robertson) 11:42




USA- Mendoza (unassisted) 18:00



USA- Tyler (Mendoza, Germaine) 20:00




Penalties





none














Shootout





USA
GOAL
(Hall)




Iceland
GOAL





USA
GOAL
(Germaine)



Iceland
NO GOAL





USA
NO GOAL
(Robertson)



Iceland
GOAL





USA
GOAL
(Reed)




Iceland
GOAL





USA
GOAL
(Banks)




Iceland
NO GOAL
(Stahl; Gaffney save)


Greg Goldberg’s Final Stat Line*:
4 Games Started
17 GA*
94 Shots Against
77 Saves
5.67 GAA
81.9 SV%
*: only counted 5 GA in first Iceland game, GAA based on 2 full games (Hawks, 2nd Iceland) and 2 partial games combining as 1 full game (the 2+ periods of the 1st Iceland game with approximately 1 period against the varsity in D3)

So it is true to say that the Ducks won 2 championship games with Goldberg in net, but the fact is Goldberg never played well in a big game situation.  The Ducks were a resilient, offensively innovative team that won in spite of their goaltending. 

Roberto Luongo rest easy, you are no Greg Goldberg.
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