Talk About Under the Radar

How many people noticed that Sergei Brylin had 40 points last season? Not many. But you can't blame them. Sarge tends to be a quiet player, so it's not that strange that he was over shadowed by Marty and Parise.

Height: 5' 10"
Wight: 190
Position: Center
Birthday: January 13, 1974
Shoots: Left
From: Moscow, Russia

2006/07 Season:
Team: Devils
Games played: 82
Goals: 16
Assists: 24
PIMs: 35
PPG: 8
SHG: 0
GWG: 2
+/-: -5

2006/07 Playoffs:
Team: Devils
Games played: 11
Goals: 1
Assists: 2
PIMs: 6
PPG: 1
SHG: 0
GWG: 0
+/-: -8

I, personally, am glad we have him for another season. And by the way, I screwed up last week: Gionta had 25 goals, not 35.

*Excuse* me?

I'll save my ranting and raging about Crosby winning the Hart for the other blog, so here are the award winners for now:

Frank J. Selke (best defensive forward): Rod Brind' Amour (420 pts.)
Runners up: Sami Pahlsson (405), Jay Pandolfo (311)
John Madden made it into the top ten in voting, Brindy gave props to Pando.

Calder Memorial (best rookie): Evgeni Malkin (1,357)
Runners up: Paul Stastny (956), Jordan Staal (565)
Travis Zajac came in tenth, with 13 points (I knew he'd get some votes)


Lady Byng (most gentlemanly player): Pavel Datsyuk (not sure how may points, but he did have a lot more than the first runner up)
Runners up: Martin St Louis (no comment), Joe Sakic
Pandolfo came in fourth in voting.

First team all-stars: Marty Brodeur, Nicklas Lidstrom, Scotty Niedermayer, Sidney Crosby, Dany Heatley, Alex Ovechkin

Second team all-stars: Roberto Luongo, Chris Pronger, Dan Boyle, Vinnie Lecavalier, Martin St. Louis, Thomas Vanek

Jack Adams (best coach): Alain Vigneault (Canucks, 134)
Runners up: Lindy Ruff (Sabres, 126), Michel Therrien (Penguins, 91)

James Norris (best D-man): Lidstrom (1,217)
Runners up: Niedermayer (1,024), Pronger (608)

Vezina (most awesomest goalie): Marty!! (122)
Runners up: Luongo (116), Miikka Kipursoff and Henrik Lundquist (7 each)

Hart (MVP): Crosby (1,225)
Runners up: Marty (763), Luongo (801)

Tomorrow, look for a nice rant about freaking Crosby winning Marty's freaking Hart trophy in the other blog.

Crikey!

The NHL awards are tonight, and the Devils are hoping for a hat trick. Marty Brodeur and Jay Pandolfo have been nominated for the Hart, Vezina (both Brodeur) and Selke (Pando).

The Hart is for the MVP. Sidney Crosby and Roberto Luongo are also in the running. Maybe it's just because I worship him, but I think Marty deserves it. He lead the league in shutouts, was third in GAA and save percentage, and broke the 33 year old wins record. Sid the kid did lead the leauge in scoring, but he didn't play as big a part in the Pens' sucess as Marty did in the Devils. Luongo, well, I think he had a little more help from his D than Marty did, and Marty just played better.

The Vezina goes to the best goalie. Luongo, Henrik Lundqvist and Miikka Kipursoff are going against Marty. If you ask my, it's really between Marty and Luongo. Kipursoff was amazing in the playoffs, but he wasn't as good as the other two. I think breaking the wins record should have put it in the bag for Marty, but Loungo did tie it (although he tied it after Marty broke it, so he really didn't do anything too special). Not only did he actually break the record, but Marty also had him beat in GAA and SV%.

The other candidates for the Selke (best defensive forward) are Rod Brind'Amour and Sami Pahlsson. I'm not quite sure who I think should win this, but I don't think it will be Pandolfo. I didn't see either of the others play too much, but I've seen better defensive play from forwards other than Pando. Who knows. Maybe we will get that hat trick tonight.

I'll post the winners of each award after it's over. The awards start at 7:30 and will be aired on Versus and CBC.

Czech it

Ha, I crack myself up. Ok, so moment number 8 (is it that many already?) happens to do with Rod Pelley, who's supposed to become the next John Madden, who happens to be the the Devils' checking center (for all you non-Devils fans). Pelley started the game with three goals, and ended with six. For all of you who aren't good at math, that's three goals in one game, which we in the hockey world call a hat trick (unless it's done by Patrik Elias, which is called a Pat-trick. Get it?). The Devils had a 3-0 lead after 23 minutes, courtesy of Pelley, Nicklas Bergfors and David Clarkson. Seven minutes into the third, the Wolf Pack had tied the game at three. No worries. Justin Papineu and Pelley scored, making it seem as if the Devils had it in the bag. But the last minute was more insane than I am. With an empty net behind them, the Wolves got with in one. As if their hopes of at least going into OT being squashed wasn't enough, Pelley netted an empty netter with three seconds left to record the first Lowell hat trick ever.

Now, where does the Czech come in? Right here. Petr Vrana may not have turned out to be what the Devils hoped, but you sure can't say he was bad.

Height: 5' 10"
Wight: 185
Position: Center
Birthday: March 29, 1985
Shoots: Left
From: Sternberk, Czech Republic

2006/07 Season:
Team: Lowell
Games played: 61
Goals: 13
Assists: 19
PIMs: 44
PPG: 3
SHG: 0
GWG: 1
+/-: -9


Kind of funny how his stats were so similar to Nicklas Bergfors' and neither had the type of season that was expected, right?