SlapShot Magazine

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Are You a Real Fan?: Best and Worst NHL

Fanbases

Home Sweet Latvia: An interview

with Zemgus Girgensons

Almost Dead at the Blade

Is McDavid the Real

Deal?

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What’s Inside 4 DEAD AT THE BLADE

-A Hockey Player’s Close Call with Death

5 4TH LINE MOVIES

-Don’t See These Cheap Rip-offs of All-Star Movies

7 FANS AROUND THE

NHL -5 Best and Worst NHL Fanbases

10 NHL DRAFT NEWS

-Mock Draft and McDavid Sweepstakes

13 NEW FUTURE FOR THE

OLYMPICS? -Bettman Talks About No NHLers in Future Olympics

15 NHL GAMECENTER LIVE

-Get All the Games for One Low Price

14 SWEET HOME LATVIA

- An Interview With All-Star Sensation Zemgus Girgen-

9 HOW TO WIN AN UGLY

SWEATER CONTEST -2 Best and Worst NHL (Ugly) Sweaters

o n March 22, 1989, in a game be-tween the Buffalo Sabres and the St. Louis Blues, Steve Tuttle of the Blues and Uwe Krupp of the Sabres tangled and Tuttle went crashing into Sa-bres goalie Clint Malarchuk. Tuttle’s skate then sliced Malarchuk’s jugu-lar vein. Malarchuk

lost over 1.5 liters of blood and re-quired 300 stitches by doctors. Malar-

Almost Dead at the Blade By: Jon Hanna

Clint Malarchuk’s

new book, “The Crazy Game”

“I’m going to

die” -Clint

Malarchuk

Page 4

Malarchuk after his close call with death

chuk’s life was saved because the Sabres train-er, Jim Pizzutelli reached into Malarchuk's neck and pinched the blood vessel. In an interview with ESPN, Malarchuk said that “I had seen a television show that said a severed jugu-

lar would bleed out in minutes. I thought that I was going to die.” Two days after, Clint returned to the ice against the Van-couver Canucks. He played a few more years in the NHL, never mentally recover-ing from the injury. On February 10, 2008, coincidentally again in Buffalo, Florida Panthers player Richard Zedník suffered an injury similar to Malarchuk after Olli Jokinen's skate blade cut the side of Zednik's neck, injuring his external carot-id artery . Malarchuk sought treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder the follow-ing year. On October 7, 2008, Malarchuk suffered a self-inflicted gunshot wound to

his chin from a .22 caliber rifle at his residence in Fish Springs, Nevada after a period of stress and domestic problems. The incident was initially described as an acci-dent while hunting rabbits but Malarchuk has since ad-mitted it was a suicide attempt. In November 2014, Malarchuk released an autobiography called "The Cra-zy Game".

SlapShot Magazine

S lap Shot is one of the great-est hockey movies of all-time. Determined to cash in on that fame

Save your money, don’t see these 4th-liner movies By: Jon Hanna

Page 5

R emember Air Bud, the movie about the basket-ball playing dog? From the same pro-ducers, starring Kev-in Zegers and Jamie Renée Smith, MVP– Most Valuable Pri-mate, is about Jack a three-year-old chimpanzee who

has been the subject of a long-term experiment by Dr. Kendall, a researcher who been teaching Jack to communicate through sign language. Jack, however, has not been making progress fast enough for Dr. Kendall's sponsor, Dr. Peabody, who has cut off his funding and sold Jack to a medical research lab. Afraid of what could happen to his simi-an friend, Dr. Kendall sneaks Jack out of his home in the lab; however, Jack is accidentally sent to Canada, where he gets loose and is discovered by Tara (Renée Smith), a deaf girl who recognizes Jack's sign language. Jack has an even bigger surprise for Tara's older brother Steven (Zegers); Jack scrambles onto the ice in the midst of practice for Steven's junior league hockey team, and he and his teammates discover the monkey has a natu-ral talent for the game. With Jack on the team, Steven's team is on their way to a league champion-ship, but Jack's notoriety attracts the unfortunate attention of Dr. Peabody, who are determined to send Jack back to his new own-ers. If you want to see a cute movie with an animal who plays sports, watch any of the Air Bud movies. Don’t see this cheap cash-in with anyone.

comes Slap Shot 3: Junior League. Starring Jeff Carl-son, Steve Carlson and Dave Hanson as the ever-popular Hanson Brothers, They are back, and who better to whip a ragtag youth team into shape for the upcoming champion-ships than the most unpre-dictable trio ever to strap on skates? Time is running short before the big game, but perhaps if the Hanson Brothers can teach their young protégés the true val-ue of a solid check, these inexperienced underdogs can use brutality to their ad-vantage and finally score a winning goal. Unless you want to go see a terrible hockey movie, you really shouldn't see this movie with anyone. If you had to, go with a friend who likes hockey.

.5/5 1/5

SlapShot Magazine

The 5 Best and Worst Hockey Fanbases By: Jon Hanna

“An average of 12,594

fans last year, a 9175

difference from the first

place team”

Page 7 SlapShot Magazine

A very typical Arizona Coyotes home game at Jobing.com Arena

Panthers fans returning to the ice after some important offseason moves.

A near empty RBC Center, a typical Hurricanes home game

#5 Worst- Florida Panthers - If this list were made 3

years ago, the Panthers would be in spot 2 or 3, but a real good offseason last year for the Panthers, ac-quiring Roberto Luongo and Aaron Ekblad, the Pan-thers have started to re-grow their fanbase.

#4 Worst- Carolina Hurricanes - The Carolina Hurricanes,

despite being in the Stan-ley Cup twice in the last 15 years had an average of 12,594 fans last year, a 9175 difference from the first place team.

#3 Worst- New Jersey Devils - For the past 7 years, the

Devils have had one of the 10 worst average at-tendances in the NHL. Getting over 16000 aver-age fans a game one time since the 1998-1999 season, the Devils have a very weak fanbase.

#2 Worst- Los Angeles Kings - The “fans” of the Kings

aren’t even fans. They are nothing than bandwagon-ers who know nothing about hockey. While the Kings do end up selling out near all their games, they end up on this list because of their bandwagon fans.

#1 Worst– Arizona Coyotes - The Arizona Coyotes fans

have no excuses. Tickets are as low as $21 a game and a chance to see some of the best hockey players in the world (on the away team of course) Jobing.com Arena should be teeming with life, not the empty are-na it is now.

A typical LA Kings “fan”.

An average New Jersey Devils home game

Page 8

- “Since 1996 Detroit has been dubbed “Hockeytown” with some of the craziest fans in the sport”

#5 Best– Toronto Maple Leafs - Even though the Leafs

haven’t won the cup since 1967, the Air Canada Centre has been sold out for every game in the past few seasons. Alt-hough their fans have been criticized for being “rude”, throwing jerseys on the ice when the Leafs lose, even though the Leafs have stunk since ‘67

Leafs fans crowding Maple Leaf Square #4 Best– Nashville Preda-tors - When you think of

hockey crazy cities, Nashville doesn’t real-ly come to mind; but the Nashville Predators have changed that, turning the country mu-sic capital of the world into a hockey honky-tonk badonkadonk

The Bridgestone Arena isn’t packed for just concerts anymore; Preds fans have made a name for themselves

#3 Best- Buffalo Sabres - Despite the Sabres’ front

office tanking for McDa-vid last year, the hockey-crazy Buffalonians have cheered the Sabres on through thick and thin since 1970

71,857 Crazy Sabres fans cheering on the Sabres in the 2008 Winter Classic

#1 Best- Detroit Red Wings - Since 1926 the Red

Wings have been at home in Detroit and since 1996 Detroit has been dubbed “Hockeytown” with some of the craziest fans in the sport.

Hockeytown sign in Downtown Detroit, signifying the cities’ love for hockey

#2 Best- Minnesota Wild - The State of Hockey is all

tuned into their radios and televisions when there is a Wild game on. Since the Wild came to Minnesota in ’97, 4 years after their first team, the NorthStars left for Dallas and Wild fans have been crazy about the Wild in the State of Hockey

Wild fans go nuts when a goal is scored by the Wild

The Best and Worst (Ugly) Jerseys in NHL History By: Jon Hanna

“Some Islanders fans

who would love it if the

Islanders brought back

the ‘Gorton’s

Fisherman’ jersey”

Page 9 SlapShot Magazine

#1 Best– New York Islanders (1995-1997) - Despite all the hate this jer-

sey has gained, there are some Islanders fans who would love it if the Is-landers brought back the “Gorton’s Fisherman” jer-sey.

The much hated “fisherman” jerseys of the Islanders

#1 Best– Arizona Coyotes (1997-2003) - These jerseys have been

loved and hated for years around the NHL, but all-in-all, it has been a famously ugly jersey.

The jerseys the Coyotes used their first 6 years in the league

#2 Worst– Dallas Stars (2003-2006) - Somehow somebody

thought these were a good jersey. Even as an alter-nate jersey worn maybe 5 times a year, these jerseys are almost, but not quite as ugly as our #1 jersey.

#1 Worst– St. Louis Blues (1996-1998 - Although this jersey isn’t

the worst the Blues have come up with, it’s definitely the worst the Blues have worn on the ice

Although this is a terrible jersey, it is better than the jersey the Blues created but, thank-fully, never wore on the ice.

The Stars jersey was so hated, it got the nickname, "Mooterus” because of it’s uter-us like look

The god-awful jersey the Blues thank-fully never wore onto the ice.

T his weekend, the NHL draft lottery was held. And sur-prise, surprise, the Edmonton Oilers won first overall, giving them an astounding 4 first overall picks in the last 6 years. Those picks were Nail Yakupov, Ryan

Nugent-Hopkins, Taylor Hall, and now , the next Gretzky, Connor McDavid. The worst team in the NHL, the Buffa-lo Sabres will probably pick Jack Eichel from

Boston Universi-ty second over-all. News is that

op their all-star talent. Other fans are hoping McDavid pulls a Lindros and re-fuses to sign and demands to be traded.

New–Look for McDavid By: Jon Hanna

What Connor McDavid is project-

ed to look like on the Oilers

- Edit by Jon Hanna

Toronto Maple Leafs, with the fourth pick have the opportunity to get the hometown kid Dylan Strome. Many fans took

to Twitter after the lottery say-ing things like “@yotes215 – RIP McDavid’s ca-reer”; Edmonton has been known to poorly devel-

the Arizona Coy-otes were really looking forward to get either McDavid or Eichel so possi-bly expect a big trade there. The

“The Edmonton

Oilers won first

overall, giving them

an astounding 4 first

overall picks in the

last 6 years”

McDavid on the Erie Otters, his OHL team Steve Walsp– AP

Page 10 SlapShot Magazine

Pavel Zacha

Ht/Wt:6' 3"/200 lbs Position:C/LW Team: Liberec (CZE)

BUF Brandon Carlo

Ht/Wt:6' 5"/198 lbs Position:D Team: Tri-City (WHL)

FLA Connor McDavid

Ht/Wt:6' 0"/185 lbs Position: C Team: Erie (OHL)

EDM

Timo Meier

Ht/Wt:6' 1"/208 lbs Position:RW Team: Halifax (QMJHL)

WSH Jansen Harkins

Ht/Wt:6' 1"/177 lbs Position:C Team: Prince George (WHL)

DAL Jack Eichel

Ht/Wt:6' 2"/193 lbs Position: C Team: Boston Univ.

BUF

Kyle Connor

Ht/Wt:6' 1"/170 lbs Position:C Team: Youngstown (USHL)

VAN Oliver Kylington

Ht/Wt:6' 0"/180 lbs Position:D Team: Farjestads BK (SHL)

LAK Noah Hanifin

Ht/Wt:6' 2"/200 lbs Position: D Team: USA U18 NTDP

ARZ

Nick Merkley

Ht/Wt:5'10"/175 lbs Position:C/RW Team: Kelowna (WHL)

ARZ Jeremy Roy

Ht/Wt:6' 0"/183 lbs Position:D Team: Sherbrooke (QMJHL)

BOS Dylan Strome

Ht/Wt:6' 3"/187 lbs Position: C Team: Erie (OHL)

TOR

Yevgeni Svechnikov

Ht/Wt:6' 1"/180 lbs Position:LW Team: Cape Breton (QMJHL)

TOR Daniel Sprong

Ht/Wt:5'11"/175 lbs Position:RW Team: Charlottetown (QMJHL)

CGY Mitch Marner

Ht/Wt:5'10"/164 lbs Position: C Team: London (OHL)

CAR

Thomas Chabot

Ht/Wt:6' 1"/181 lbs Position:D Team: Saint John (QMJHL)

PHI Brock Boeser

Ht/Wt:6' 1"/192 lbs Position:RW Team: Waterloo (USHL)

EDM Lawson Crouse

Ht/Wt:6' 3"/200 lbs Position:LW Team: Kingston (OHL)

NJD

Paul Bittner

Ht/Wt:6' 4"/201 lbs Position:LW Team: Portland (WHL)

WPG Jeremy Bracco

Ht/Wt:5' 9"/156 lbs Position:C/RW Team: USA U18 NTDP

WPG Mikko Rantanen

Ht/Wt:6' 4"/195 lbs Position:C/RW Team: TPS Turku (a) (SM-liiga)

PHI

Travis Konecny

Ht/Wt:5'10"/172 lbs Position:C/RW Team: Ottawa 67's (OHL)

ANA Filip Chlapik

Ht/Wt:6' 0"/194 lbs Position:C Team: Charlottetown (QMJHL)

OTT Ivan Provorov

Ht/Wt:6' 0"/191 lbs Position:D Team: Brandon (WHL)

CBJ

Jakub Zboril

Ht/Wt:6' 1"/184 lbs Position:D Team: Saint John (QMJHL)

MTL Anthony Beauvillier

Ht/Wt:5'10"/173 lbs Position:C/LW Team: Shawinigan (QMJHL)

DET Mathew Barzal

Ht/Wt:5'11"/174 lbs Position:C Team: Seattle (WHL)

SJS

Colin White

Ht/Wt:6' 0"/175 lbs Position:C/RW Team: USA U18 NTDP

TBL Jacob Larsson

Ht/Wt:6' 2"/191 lbs Position:D Team: Frolunda Jr. (SWE-JR.)

MIN Zack Werenski

Ht/Wt:6' 1"/206 lbs Position:D Team: USA U18 NTDP (USHL)

COL

2015 NHL Mock Draft

Page 11

S ince 1998, NHL players have been allowed to compete in the Olympics. Since then however, no team has captured the hearts of so many people like the 1980 “Miracle on Ice” USA team. There has been much talk recently

about the NHL no longer allow-ing players for the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea. Gary Bettman, the CEO of the NHL has stated “While many of our players have been thrilled to be chosen to sup-port their coun-

try, during the Olympics, there

about it. I just can’t let the Olympics ruin a teams chance for gold or for the Stanley Cup.

The Best For Last? By: Jon Hanna

Team Canada winning one of their many gold medals

got injured for Team Canada, that would be a huge loss to both Team Can-ada and the Penguins; we just can’t let that

happen. I will be in touch with the IOC and the owners and GM’s of all the Olympic and NHL teams to take a poll

are some play-ers who really mean something to their NHL team and also to their Olympic team. For exam-ple, if Crosby

“Many of our players

have been thrilled to

be chosen to support

their country, during

the Olympics”

-Gary Bettman

The 2018 Winter Olympics will be held in Pyeongchang

Page 13 SlapShot Magazine

Page 14

Z emgus Girgensons com-pletely de-stroyed the all-star brackets thanks to Latvia. Jon Hanna: How does it feel to have all this support from your native Lat-via? Zemgus Girgen-sons: It feels great. I love feeling like I be-long in the NHL and just the fact that I have so much support from those cra-zy Latvian fans. JH: On of a scale of 1 to 10, how excited are you for the all-star game? ZG: Definitely a 10. JH: You’ll be playing along-side some of the

best players in ZG: Definite-ly Patrick Kane, Ryan Suter and Lu-ongo. JH: How are your team-mates on the Sabres feel-ing about this? Any one giving you a hard time? ZG: Of course. The team is just joking around, hav-ing fun; but I know they support me 100%. JH: How many Latvi-an fans will come out for the game in Columbus? ZG: Proba-bly around 200-400.

the game; who would you like to be on your team the most?

“I love feeling

like I belong in

the NHL and just

the fact that I

have so much

support from

those crazy

Latvian fans”.

-Zemgus

Girgensons

Zemgus in his All-Star Game Jersey -Keith Rogers– AP

Sweet Home Latvia: How One Player Won the All-Star Vote Thanks to His Home Country

Page 15

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