Before we begin, breaking this morning: Mr. Hockey is dead. Long live Mr. Hockey.
Love or hate Brian Burke, he’s always a hell of a quote:
“(Gordie Howe) was a quintessential Canadian power forward,” Burke said. “Tougher than a night in jail, but classy.”
That about sums it up, eh?
Oh, that little thing? Not. Getting. Past. (AP)
Well, this time last week we lamented the looming demise of all things postseason. What a difference a couple of games make.
LeBron James turned his middling supporting cast into full-on Warriors killers in Game 3, giving hope they could maybe, just maybe win not just a single battle but the entire war.
And last night, the Sharks survived a Penguins onslaught (thank you, Mr. Jones) to extend the Cup Final to a Game 6 back in San Jose (Sunday, 5 p.m. PT on CBC). Can the goalie and his team win another after being doubled in shots and scoring chances last night?
You won’t get any clues from Martin Jones, who waxed eloquent about his performance thusly to the L.A. Times: “I felt good.” Good goalie, dreadful locker-room quote.
So what do you think?
Now on with the Friday Skate …
THE HOME TEAM
Before we take a quick look at that Game 5, let’s get back to fantasy hockey and the Canucks’ dreams of draft magic.
Kuzma talked to Jim Benning about whether Vancouver would consider trading away that No. 5 pick. The short answer: Talk to me.
“We want to be prepared for any scenario that could come up at the draft. But depending on who’s there when we pick, we know we’re getting a good player. We’re not looking to move the pick, but I wouldn’t be doing my job if teams call and make offers for the pick and we didn’t consider the offers.
“We’re doing our due diligence. If we can move down and get a top-six player and a second-round pick, we have to keep our options open. I’m not saying we’re going to do anything, but we need to be prepared for any situation that may come up.
SHARK BITES WITH HIS TEETH
Hey, looks like fun. We should try that in Vancouver! (Getty Images)
Insane crowds in Pittsburgh as the Penguins tried to wrap up the Cup. West coast party poopers. Shame on you.
Insane start to the game, too, as the Sharks came out firing on a shaky Matt Murray and built a 2-0 lead in less than three minutes. All over, on to San Jose, right?
Wrong. A couple of deflected goals 22 seconds apart, boom. Tie game again. Four goals, five minutes. Like we said, insane.
Things settled down after that. But the Pens had double the shots and still trailed 3-2 for most of the game. Crazy shit like this is why:
Penguins robbed of a historic win on home ice. Fans everywhere robbed of another BoninoBoninoBoninoBonino!
Before we leave Game 5 — God knows, we have plenty of time with another two-day break between playoff games — enjoy another great Jimmy Fallon Superlatives that takes the piss out of goofy NHL mugshots.
WHAT THE … JUST NO
Can this be the last time? Can it, please?
OK, look. I don’t know what’s going on here, either.
The Ol’ Ref said something about a laser light show in the rink. So, did any of the players out there skating in warm-up have protective shaded visors? No. Could sunglasses be spotted in the stands? No. Would Pittsburgh put on a pre-game show that threatened to blind visiting Canadian dorks like they’re dumb enough to stare into an eclipse? We’re thinking, no.
So I think, I think … someone thought it looked cool. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
NIKE PRESENTS … PRINCE AND THE PAUPER
The fútbol version of that classic switch-up tale was unveiled yesterday. It’s pretty clever for a shoe commercial — and another reason for Ronaldo haters to go, “Ugh, no. Not the abs again.”
EURO! COPA! ZIKA!
A fun summer of international soccer heats up today when France takes on Romania (2 p.m. start) to kick off Euro 2016. Go, Albania!
Speaking of Euro favourites (go, Albania!), do you know what squad is ranked highest in this tournament? No Googling! Gotta guess now. I’ll tell you at the end of the Skate*.
a) Belgium
b) France
c) Germany
d) Spain
The big Euro show joins the Copa América, entering its second week as its played for the first time in the U.S. of A. (Go, ‘murica!)
Not every big name is going to make it into the Americas competition.
One of those is Luis Suarez, whose Uruguay squad was ousted after losing their second game to Venezuela yesterday. He was benched with a lingering hamstring injury, and took it personally. At least big baby no bite.
But Argentine great Lionel Messi wrote in Sports Illustrated recently that he’s taking Copa América very seriously.
Having said that, he was nursing a sore back and missed the Argentines’ 2-1 opening triumph over Chile last week. But he’s expected to play against Panama today as the group round continues, and you have to like their chances.
His country hasn’t hoisted a major international trophy in 23 years, and he sees a Copa win as a stepping stone toward dreams of World Cup glory in 2018.
And then after all that wraps up, there’s the Olympic soccer in Rio. Of course the home team is hoping to steal that show — provided the Zika virus, open sewage, unfinished venues and rampant corruption don’t take care of things first.
BROOKE HENDERSON IS ADORABLE, AND GREAT
With young stars like Lydia Ko and Canada’s emerging phenom Brooke Henderson, women’s golf is in good shape.
Henderson opened the LPGA’s latest major, the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship, with an opening –4 (67), that included a hole-in-one. Let’s share that highlight:
Yeah, fine. That’s Jack Nicklaus. Here’s the thing: The cameras weren’t rolling for Henderson’s moment.
Goddamnit, LPGA. Major tournament, minor coverage.
Still, good stuff down at Seattle’s brutally tough Sahalee layout this weekend. Henderson was one of only nine players to break par, and 25 shot 80 or more. Should be fun, in a gruelling kind of way — provided the cameras are rolling.
Aaron Loup gives up a home run to Chris Davis en route to Baltimore’s 6-5 win Thursday. The division leading Orioles have the most homers in baseball so far. (Postmedia)
JAYS MAKE OR BREAK? NOT YET, BUT …
There are a hundred games left in the baseball season, but the Jays began a crucial stretch of games with a disheartening 6-5 loss to the AL East-leading Baltimore Orioles last night.
Despite some bullpen struggles, the Jays’ bats are slowly waking up and they have six more against the Orioles in the next couple of weeks. They can still put themselves in nice shape in the division — or they can dig a really deep hole.
No spectacular highlights from that game. But we loved this fan last night, who took a smashed phone thanks to a Prince Fielder home run with good cheer and a great Texas accent.
PARTING SHOT
This one’s for North Shore Winter Club’s own Martin Jones, a hell of a clutch goalie and a terrible Twitter follow. He last tweeted on … March 16.
A tutorial with @strombone1, perhaps? True, even Luongo has been quiet lately (taking a social media vacation, Lu? Great idea; we should try that). But he left us last with this classic:
Now take it away, Bobby DarinKevin Spacey:
That is all in another thrilling, chilling week of Morning Skates. We’re right back at ya on Monday.
R.I.P., Mr. Howe.
* Quiz answer: Belgium, at No. 2.
