Rogers will compete with Bell on MLSE content (The Canadian Press)
MONTREAL – Improved hockey, basketball and soccer coverage, including better access to team practices and more angles on scoring are among improvements sports fans can expect from Rogers now that it owns a big chunk of Toronto’s top sports franchises.
“The consumer, really, is the real winner in this deal because they’re going to get coverage like they’ve not seen before,” Keith Pelley, president of Rogers media division, said Wednesday.
Rival telecom giants Rogers Communications Inc. (TSX:RCI.B) and Bell Canada (TSX:BCE) bought a majority stake last December in the country’s biggest sports franchise company, Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment for more than $ 1 billion.
Even though Rogers and Bell own a chunk of the NHL’s Maple Leafs, the NBA’s Raptors and the Toronto FC soccer club, they will compete on how they distribute the content, Pelley said on a media call.
Rogers and Bell want to put the sports content on everything from smartphones to tablets to televisions to personal computers so that fans don’t miss any of the games. The move also gives them more access advertising revenue.
“We’re quite competitive with our friends at Bell,” Pelley said.
“We’re not going to share all of our secrets about how we’re going to make our coverage different than theirs, but we’re going to use all of our multiple platforms to be able to give the consumers Leaf coverage and Raptor coverage like they’ve not seen before.”
Pelley said coverage of the games is expected to be divided between Rogers (TSX:RCI.B) and Bell (TSX:BCE), but scheduling will be a challenge.
In the short term, Pelley said consumers won’t see much difference in game coverage. The deal is expected to close in late spring near the end of the second fiscal quarter.
Different angles on goals, dressing room access and “the one you can probably assume is that consumers will have better access to practices,” are being considered, he said.
“But how we would cover the games and how we go after advertising revenue is really where the competitive battle will change from our on-air commentators to our integrated packages,” Pelley said from Toronto.
Although Rogers and Bell will share ownership of the content, it will be very competitive in “how we’re going to distribute that content,” Pelley said.
Rogers already owns the Toronto Blue Jays baseball team and their stadium, the Rogers Centre, as well as the broadcaster Sportsnet.
Bell owns the CTV television network and specialty cable channels such as TSN sports channel and French-language cable channel RDS. Bell also has a minority ownership stake in the NHL’s Montreal Canadiens.
Rogers and Bell will pay the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan about $ 533 million apiece for their respective 37.5 per cent chunks of MLSE. Minority owner Larry Tannenbaum, through his company Kilmer Sports, will boost his current stake in MLSE by five per cent to 25 per cent.
Miller stops 30 in Sabres’ 2-1 win over Isles (The Canadian Press)
BUFFALO, N.Y. – After losing his shutout bid in the final minutes, Buffalo’s Ryan Miller quickly turned his attention to making sure the Sabres didn’t lose the game.
Miller made up for giving up what he considered a soft goal to Frans Nielsen by stopping Matt Moulson on the doorstep as part of a 30-save outing in a 2-1 win over the New York Islanders on Tuesday night.
“After that goal, I needed to shut the door there,” Miller said, referring to how he got across and got his pad out to stop Moulson’s one-timer with 4:04 left. “I was happy to be there.”
The save came 64 seconds after Nielsen cut the lead to 2-1 by beating Miller on the short side with a slapper from the left circle.
Sabres coach Lindy Ruff wasn’t complaining, crediting Miller for making several clutch saves, particularly a pair 6 1/2 minutes into the second period. That is when Miller stopped Brian Rolston on a breakaway and then recovered in time to get his chest out to foil Josh Bailey on the rebound.
“You’re going to need big saves inside of every game,” Ruff said. “That was back-to-back great saves. The great saves like that usually lead to victories for you.”
Tyler Myers and Tomas Vanek scored, and Jason Pominville and Derek Roy added two assists in helping Buffalo improve to 2-0-1 since a three-game skid. The Sabres (26-27-7) jumped into 12th place in the Eastern Conference, a point ahead of both the Islanders and Montreal Canadiens.
The inconsistent Islanders are 4-5-1 in their past 10 games. They at least scored, as Nielsen’s goal snapped New York’s drought at 106 minutes, 51 seconds, a day after a 6-0 home loss to Ottawa.
This is no time to panic, said interim coach Doug Weight, who filled in behind the bench because head coach Jack Capuano was sick with the flu at the team hotel.
“If you sit on the plane, you look at it as catastrophic,” Weight said. “But as tough as it is, when teams are struggling, it can change in a hurry. So we have to get our swagger somehow offensively back. And it’s there to be had.”
Moulson, who leads the Islanders with 25 goals, was well aware of the opportunity he had in the third period.
“We’ve got to learn from the mistakes we made and some of the chances we gave up, and move on,” said Moulson, who said the puck bounced and prevented him from lifting a shot over Miller. “There’s no time to feel sorry for ourselves.”
Islanders goalie Kevin Poulin rebounded and stopped 35 shots, a day after he was yanked after allowing two goals on five shots against Ottawa in 1:35 of action.
Myers opened the scoring 1:21 in during a scramble in front. After Poulin stopped Roy and then Pominville, he had no chance when Myers streaked in from the point and flipped the loose puck over him.
Poulin also had no chance on Vanek’s goal, scored 3:41 into the second period after a bad line change by the Islanders.
Rather than going immediately to the bench, Rolston chased down the stick he dropped in the Sabres’ corner. He didn’t realize that teammate Matt Martin was still behind him, limping off.
Enjoying what essentially became a 5-on-3 advantage in the New York end, Roy parked himself behind the net and fed a pass into the slot, where Vanek snapped a shot in the open side.
Roy has suddenly rediscovered his offense. After managing four goals and two assists in 23 games, he has two goals and five assists in his past four.
“We’re happy, but at the same time, we’ve got to get some more points,” Roy said. “We’ve got to keep winning hockey games. We can’t win one, lose one anymore. We’ve got to put a streak together. We’ve got to gain some ground right now.”
NOTES: Ruff listed Sabres D Robyn Regehr as day to day after he left with an undisclosed upper body injury in the first period. … Bailey didn’t return for the third period because of back spasms. … Capuano travelled with the team to Buffalo on Monday, but was unable to attend the team’s morning skate on Tuesday. … The Sabres went 0-for-1 on the power play, and have converted just one of 33 chances in 12 games.
Eric Smith: Mixed Emotions In 6-3 Win Over Sharks & Connecting The Dots
VISIT BLUE JACKETS BUZZ TV
Mixed emotions had to be going through Columbus Blue Jackets general manager Scott Howson last night as his team destroyed the San Jose Sharks 6-3 in front of 14,625 at Nationwide Arena Tuesday night. What Howson envisioned in the off season took 60 games to come to fruition right before he most likely will blow it up.
In Jeff Carter’s 500th NHL game he lit the lamp three times and the hats flew down on the ice at the same time as the scouts in attendance where calling their respective teams letting them know what Carter could do for their team’s if they got him in a trade.
“I don’t have any say in that,” said Carter “I can’t worry about the rumors and what’s going on.”
Even with all the rumors swirling, it still comes down to its a game the big boys play and the feelings of joy of doing well still comes through.
“It’s always nice to have a hat-trick especially at home in front of your fans. It obviously was a good feeling.”
Scouts from Vancouver, Ottawa, Pittsburgh (2), NY Rangers, Montreal, Los Angeles, Phoenix, and Detroit all were in attendance at Nationwide Arena to see the display put on by both Carter and Rick Nash who had a goal and an assist on the Carter hat trick goal on a very unselfish play.
Aaron Portzline from the Dispatch reported that the Blue Jackets had scouts in attendance at both Toronto and Montreal.
Not to be out done by anyone, R.J. Umberger recorded a “Gordie Howe Hat Trick” in the first period against the Sharks.
“Where’s it been all year?” Umberger stated the obvious when helping a reporter finish off his question. “It’s what we envisioned at the start of the season, and it hasn’t worked out that way. Confidence has a lot to do with it. Tonight, we got it early in the game.”
On most nights Howson had to look at the heavens and ask ‘why is this happening?’ Tonight he might have asked the question again but added ‘now.’ to the question.”
On the other side he had to be grinning like the cat that just ate the canary with all the scouts in attendance, the deadline quickly approaching and the desperation of teams on the rise; performances by the players that are sure to give him the most return just made it easier to ask for the moon. Now, teams might be a little less hesitant to give up those players Howson wants after seeing what the likes of Nash and Carter can do.
Connecting the Dots – If you want to play connect the dots with the scouts in attendance here is my best guess:
Vancouver – Rick Nash and Jeff Carter
Ottawa – Jeff Carter
Pittsburgh- Antoine Vermette and Sammy Pahlsson
NY Rangers – Rick Nash
Montreal – this one is interesting since they seem to be sellers but the CBJ were scouting them last night too. Derick Brassard has always been linked at going there but that is a wild guess
Los Angeles- Jeff Carter and Rick Nash
Phoenix – game scouting most likely
Detroit – game scouting but maybe sniffing around Sammy Pahlsson.
Mike Ribeiro mocks Montreal after getting first star in Dallas win (VIDEO) (Yahoo! Sports)
In 2006, the Montreal Canadiens traded center Mike Ribeiro to the Dallas Stars. On Tuesday night, he returned to Bell Centre for the first time in the regular season to face his boyhood idols.
At the time of the trade, he was a media whipping boy and had fans characterizing him as having a “poor performance and even worse attitude and work ethic.” Five and a half years did little to take the edge off for Ribeiro, who was blunt with the media before the Stars/Canadiens game on Tuesday. Via Dallas Stars Blog:
Asked if he wanted to prove to the Candiens that they made a mistake when they traded him for defenseman Janne Niinimaa and a fifth round draft pick, Ribeiro replied somewhat matter-of-factly, “I’m sure they know they made a mistake.”
Ribeiro took the opportunity to remind them. He scored a goal to give the Stars a two-goal lead in the third period, en route to a 3-0 Dallas victory. And he celebrated like this:
Upon being named the first star of the game, Ribeiro’s enthusiasm — with the strong odor of sarcasm — was really on display.
Here’s Ribeiro:
Keep in mind that Montreal fans are the ones who vote on the three stars.
After the Stars’ win, Ribeiro explained his choreography to ESPN Dallas:
“I don’t celebrate like that usually. I was just excited. It took me a while to celebrate, to find out what to do. I just wanted to put my arms up. It was big goal for us and a big play by Trevor (Daley). Overall, it was a big game for us. We threw pucks at the net, kept the game simple, our PK did a great job and obviously our goaltender has to be there every night to give you chance to win.”
Dave Stubbs of The Gazette called it a “Mickey Mouse act.”
Of course, Ribeiro had his own opinion of the media earlier in the day, via Dallas Stars Blog:
“Media is media, and you have to do your job,” he said. “I guess the only thing I would say is that maybe you could be more patient with the young guys, because a lot of time you get better as you grow. Montreal is `win now,’ and a lot of times kids are not ready to win now. So then you get impatient and trade them, and sometimes they come back in my situation where maybe they were traded too quick.”
Asked if he thought that his could be the trade the Canadiens regret most, he laughed and replied: “No, I think the Patrick Roy trade was much bigger and probably hurt them more.”
Troll hard, Mr. Ribeiro.
Lead image via Mario Roy.
Garbutt, Lehtonen lead Stars over Habs 3-0 (The Canadian Press)
MONTREAL – Slow starts have plagued the Montreal Canadiens of late and put a further damper on the club’s playoff chances Tuesday.
Ryan Garbutt scored his first NHL goal and Kari Lehtonen made 31 saves as the Dallas Stars shut out the Canadiens 3-0.
“We’re looking for a lot of energy to start game and keep things real simple and throw a lot of pucks at the net,” Canadiens head coach Randy Cunneyworth said. “We went for the longest time without a shot and you can’t be playing that way at that time, to get things started.”
Mike Ribeiro, in his regular-season return to Montreal, and Tom Wandell also scored for Dallas (30-26-4).
The Stars took control in the opening period, outshooting Montreal 15-6. The shot clock read 9-0 in favour of Dallas before the Canadiens recorded their first on goal at 8:14.
“Dallas was better than us, plain and simple, all the way through,” said Habs centre Lars Eller. “I can’t stand here and make a deeper analysis than that because that’s how simple it is.”
For a fifth straight game, the Habs saw their opponent strike first when Garbutt, just called up from the minors, snapped a nifty shot from the faceoff circle over a crouched Montreal goalie Carey Price.
The Canadiens, who are seven points back of Toronto for the final playoff spot in the Eastern Conference, had their chances to even things up in the second period when Dallas was whistled for four consecutive penalties. On a hot streak of late with seven goals in their last 25 power-play opportunities, Montreal failed to score with the man advantage for just the second time in the last seven games.
“We fell short tonight. We get that next one, tie it up, it gives us life. But we couldn’t do that. We were reluctant at times to shoot it,” Cunneyworth said. “That’s what a power play has to do. We had plenty of opportunity but we just couldn’t pull it together to accomplish that.”
Ribeiro put the Stars up 2-0 at 4:32 of the third. Dallas defenseman Trevor Daley found the former Canadien with a cross-crease pass to the left of Price.
Traded to Dallas in exchange for defenseman Janne Niinimaa on Sept. 30, 2006, Ribeiro had suited up for a pre-season contest at the Bell Centre this year but missed the Stars’ only regular-season visit to Montreal back in January 2010 due to injury.
He was booed on his goal but was cheered when he was named the game’s first star and offered a Jaromir Jagr-like salute to the crowd in recognition.
“I appreciated the applause and had a little fun with it,” Ribeiro said. “When you win, it’s always fun, especially in Montreal and it was pretty incredible tonight.”
Fellow ex-Hab Michael Ryder was happy to see his centre have an impact in his long-awaited return.
“He was feeling it tonight, that’s for sure. First time he’s been back here in a long time and he was pretty pumped to play,” Ryder said. “It was good to see him get that goal. It was a huge win for us tonight.”
Price stopped 33 shots for the Canadiens (24-27-10), who have dropped four of their last five after a four-game winning streak.
“If could point out one or two things, we could fix it. But it’s not one player, one thing or the power play — it’s a lot of things,” Eller said. “That’s not good enough. It’s everybody, every time, every shift. We play like this, we’re not even close to winning.”
Notes: Canadiens centre Tomas Plekanec missed the game with the flu while rookie Louis Leblanc returned after missing the last game for the same reason. … The Stars scratched forwards Jamie Benn (lower body) and Adam Burish, and defenseman Sheldon Souray (lower body). … Canadiens defenseman Chris Campoli’s penalty midway through the third period snapped a streak of five and a half periods without an infraction against Montreal. … Mathieu Darche left the game with what Cunneyworth said was flu-related dizziness. … The Stars haven’t lost when leading after two periods since October 31, 2009, going 59-0-6 since then.
Tuesday’s Three Stars: Carter’s trick; Vrbata ‘Radims’ Coyotes; Pavelec makes 50 saves (Yahoo! Sports)
The Phoenix Coyotes celebrate a goal as Jonathan Quick continues to search for his contact lens.
No. 1 Star: Jeff Carter, Columbus Blue Jackets
In his 500th game (and maybe because of it), Carter looked like the motivated, lethal scorer the Blue Jackets traded for last summer. He was unstoppable in the first period, lighting the lamp twice and dropping the gloves with Tommy Wingels. Here’s the second goal:
Carter added another tally to complete the hat trick early in the third, cementing the 6-3 win over the San Jose Sharks, who are now 1-4-1 on their 9-game road trip.
No. 2 Star: Mike Fisher, Nashville Predators
A game-time decision for the Predators because of illness, Fisher clearly made the right call. The Nashville centre opened the scoring for the Preds, then set up both Sergei Kostitsyn’s shorthanded game-winner and David Legwand’s late insurance goal as the Predators ended the Vancouver Canucks’ regulation unbeaten streak with a 3-1 victory.
No. 3 Star: Radim Vrbata, Phoenix Coyotes
This game went to a shootout, as expected, but it wasn’t to break the 0-0 tie for which most were braced. Instead, it was to break a surprising 4-4 deadlock. The Los Angeles Kings left disappointed: they led this game 3-0 at the end of the first, but that’s when Radim Vrbata came alive, scoring a quick one and assisting on another to cut the lead to one early in the second. He then scored the game-tying goal with only three minutes remaining in the third. Mikkel Boedker scored the shootout winner to give Phoenix the 5-4 win.
Honourable mention: Andrew Ladd scored twice, Tim Stapleton had three assists, and Winnipeg Jets’ goaltender Ondrej Pavelec made a batcrap insane 5o saves in a 5-4 heartbreaker to the Philadelphia Flyers. Outshot 2-1, the Jets were 10 seconds away from stealing the win before Wayne Simmonds tied the game and Jaromir Jagr scored the overtime winner:
… Mike Fayne scored the overtime winner in embarrassing fashion as the New Jersey Devils knocked off the Toronto Maple Leafs, 4-3 in overtime. It wasn’t embarrassing for him, mind you, but for Leafs’ netminder Jonas Gustavsson, who, um, really shouldn’t have let this in:
… Ryan Miller made 30 saves and came 5 minutes from posting a shutout in the Buffalo Sabres’ 2-1 win over the New York Islanders… Marc Andre-Fleury did post a shutout in the Pittsburgh Penguins 2-0 win over the New York Rangers. It was the 22nd timed he’s posted a goose egg for Pittsburgh, tying Tom Barrasso’s franchise record. Evgeni Malkin had a hand in both goals, scoring one and picking up a helper on the other… Eberle and Sam Gagner led the way in the Edmonton Oilers’ 6-1 walloping of the Calgary Flames. Both had a goal and two assists… the Dallas Stars topped the Montreal Canadiens 3-0. Ryan Garbutt scored his first career goal, Kari Lehtonen made 31 saves for the shutout, and Mike Ribeiro’s ate the Montreal crowd’s delicious boos when he was jeered for being named the game’s first star in his return to Montreal… Steven Stamkos showed he wouldn’t miss Steve Downie, picking up three points — including his 41st and 42nd goals — in the Tampa Bay Lightning’s 3-2 win over the Anaheim Ducks… Jimmy Hayes had a goal and an assist as the Chicago Blackhawks made the Detroit Red Wings a below .500 hockey team on the road with a 2-1 win…
Did you know? The Phoenix Coyotes are 9-1-1 in their last 11 and have tied the San Jose Sharks for the Pacific Division lead.
Dishonourable mention: Ryane Clowe played an undisciplined game for the Sharks… Jonas Gustavsson’s overtime flub might have been the worst goal he allowed, but it was close. The Devils could have slid a plate of spaghetti between his legs without staining his pants. He didn’t help himself after the game with this quote: “It’s about maybe paying attention—some extra focus in those situations.” Yes, Leafs Nation, you lost valuable points because your goalie wasn’t paying enough attention.
Battling through
The Numbers Game – Feb. 21, 2012
Stars’ Lehtonen makes 31 saves, blanks Canadiens (AP)
MONTREAL (AP)—Ryan Garbutt scored his first NHL goal and Kari Lehtonen made 31 saves as the Dallas Stars beat the Montreal Canadiens 3-0 on Tuesday night.
Mike Ribeiro, in his regular-season return to Montreal, and Tom Wandell also scored for the Stars (30-26-4).
Carey Price stopped 33 shots for the Canadiens (24-27-10), who have lost four of five after a four-game winning streak.
The Stars took control in the first period, outshooting the Canadiens 15-6. The shots were 9-0 in favor of Dallas before Montreal recorded its first at 8:14.
For a fifth straight game, the Canadiens allowed their opponent to strike first when Garbutt, just called up from the minors, snapped a shot from the circle over a crouched Price.
The Canadiens had plenty of opportunities to tie it in the second period when Dallas was whistled for four consecutive penalties. Montreal had scored seven goals in its previous 25 power-play chances, but the Canadiens failed to net a man-advantage tally for just the second time in seven games.
Ribeiro, traded to Dallas for defenseman Janne Niinimaa on Sept. 30, 2006, put the Stars ahead 2-0 at 4:32 of the third. Dallas defenseman Trevor Daley found the former Canadiens forward with a cross-crease pass to the left of Price.
Just 37 seconds later, a clearing attempt by Price was intercepted, and the puck eventually found its way to Wandell in the slot.
NOTES: Canadiens C Tomas Plekanec missed the game because of the flu. Rookie Louis Leblanc returned after missing one game because of illness. … The Stars scratched forwards Jamie Benn (lower body) and Adam Burish, and D Sheldon Souray (lower body). … Canadiens D Chris Campoli’s penalty midway through the third period snapped a streak of 5 1/2 periods without an infraction against Montreal. … The Stars haven’t lost when leading after two periods since October 31, 2009 (59-0-6).