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Dale Hawerchuk was ‘one of us’ and will always be beloved by Winnipeg – Sportsnet.ca

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WINNIPEG — Dale Hawerchuk is gone way too young. That cannot be argued after the 57-year-old succumbed to stomach cancer on Tuesday.

When it comes to the matter of the legacy the Winnipeg Jets legend had forged, that was cemented a long, long time ago.

A Hall of Famer on the ice, Hawerchuk was an even better person — and that’s saying something.

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The tributes poured in on Tuesday, with former teammates, players he coached and others whose lives he touched sharing plenty of heartfelt thoughts about their time together.

Within those numerous words was a common thread. A genuine love and appreciation was evident, as Hawerchuk cared an awful lot about those he came into contact with.

Those feelings were mutual and the bonds were lasting ones, right until the very end.

Hawerchuk showed incredible courage in fighting this deadly disease and in recent days he took the time to make a number of phone calls to say goodbye to many of his dearest friends. Those chats wouldn’t have been easy for either party, though the impact they’ll have is another testament to Hawerchuk and his character.

Hawerchuk was chosen first-overall by the Jets in 1981, a young phenom who blossomed into one of the best players of his era during a 16-year career.

No, the playoff success for the Jets during his tenure didn’t rival that of Wayne Gretzky or Mario Lemieux, but Hawerchuk was appreciated by his contemporaries as much as his teammates.

During a Zoom call on Tuesday, Jets governor Mark Chipman revealed the organization was planning to immortalize Hawerchuk’s career with a statue.

“Since we started the Jets Hall of Fame, we had anticipated doing a public display of the inductees, and we had some time ago decided we would anchor that off of one statue,” said Chipman, who shared the news with Hawerchuk last week on a call that also included Jets assistant GM Craig Heisinger.

“And we had it clear in our mind that that honour belonged to Dale. I don’t have a timeline on exactly when that will occur, because everything is so much on hold and up in the air with this world we’re living in right now. But I’m really pleased we were able to share that with Dale and that we’ll be able to memorialize his incredible career and the impact he had on this community in a significant way.”

An emotional Chipman tried to put into words what it was like being a Winnipegger watching Hawerchuk in those early years in the NHL.

“Like many, I was fortunate to see Dale come into the league and we were all very much in awe of the fact the Winnipeg Jets had joined the NHL,” said Chipman. “It was Dale’s arrival that really cemented the future of the franchise and we all have recollections of that first year, that Calder Trophy year — and then everything that would follow.

“He was truly a superstar as a hockey player, but why he was so loved here was not only that, but the fact he made this his home and became one of us. Everybody shared that sense of pride in Dale as a player. Those who got to know him would all say that as great of a player as he was, he was a finer human being. He was as advertised, that humble kid who came in here and did his talking with his game and never lost that humility, notwithstanding a Hall of Fame career.”

Hawerchuk’s Jets Hall of Fame banner was moved to True North Square on Tuesday night and a steady stream of fans took the time to stop by to pay their respects.

Many of those individuals were wearing Hawerchuk jerseys or T-shirts with his trademark No. 10 on the back. Some of them wept openly or shared a stashed-away memory of a day gone by with a friend.

Numerous pictures were taken in front of the banner and a video montage on the screen in the background caused many in attendance to take a nostalgic stroll down memory lane.

There was Hawerchuk signing his first contract with the late John Ferguson at his introductory press conference at Portage and Main.

There were classic photos of Hawerchuk from his time with the Cornwall Royals, All-Star shots of him representing the Campbell Conference, some memorable moments from his time suiting up with Team Canada and other photos from his nine seasons with the Jets.

There were also shots of him participating in the 2016 Heritage Classic, scoring a goal in the alumni-game victory over the Edmonton Oilers in a scene that was not exactly reminiscent of those 1980s dynasty years.

About the only thing missing on this night was an impromptu street hockey game like the one that broke out at Portage and Main on the night news broke of the Jets returning via relocation from Atlanta back in late May of 2011.

Hawerchuk always exuded his pride for the place he called home, even after he was traded to the Buffalo Sabres.

When the NHL returned to Winnipeg, Hawerchuk helped bridge the gap between Jets 1.0 and Jets 2.0. He was a frequent visitor to the downtown arena in Winnipeg and when he was shown on the video board, fans rose to their feet and let out a boisterous roar.

Hawerchuk was quick to embrace being part of the Jets’ alumni, while also serving as a valuable resource for current players.

“It was comforting to know he was in our corner and that he shared our enthusiasm for bringing the game back to Winnipeg,” said Chipman. “He knew how regarded he was and I think he really cherished that and never took it for granted. Right to the end, he was just continuing to do the things that he always did to make people feel good.”

Current Jets captain Blake Wheeler weighed in with his thoughts about Hawerchuk on social media.

“My thoughts are with the Hawerchuk’s,” Wheeler shared on Twitter. “Dale is the greatest Jet to ever play in this city. I will forever cherish the advice he has given me over the years.”

Hawerchuk’s impact on Jets centre Mark Scheifele is well-documented and the former Barrie Colts star reiterated one of the greatest lessons he learned from his head coach during a season-ending Zoom call last week.

“Dale Hawerchuk told me this my first year with him, he said, ‘Watching the NHL is an education. It’s a school class on its own. You can learn from the best players in the world every single day,’” said Scheifele. “I’ve taken that to heart ever since he told me that and now that’s maybe 12 years ago. I’m thankful for that lesson.”

Hawerchuk taught many players valuable lessons about the game he loved and about life in general. That’s another critical part of his legacy.

Hawerchuk also provided numerous not-so-subtle reminders about everything that is good about the place those of us call home here in Manitoba.

He’s one of the greatest athletes to play in this community and it’s hard to imagine there being a bigger ambassador for the province.

Hawerchuk is one of us, and his contributions both on and off the ice won’t ever be forgotten.

“Dale was a humble guy. He was a regular guy. What you saw was what he was,” said Chipman. “Winnipeg is — I think we pride ourselves in the fact that there’s not a lot of pretense in this community. We are who we are and we don’t try to be something we’re not and we’re proud of that. And that was Dale as well.

“He was just who he was. He told me many, many times how proud he was to be a Manitoban — that he considered himself to be a Manitoban. And it’s one thing to say that, it’s another thing to actually have been one. He lived here.

“This was his home for a long stretch and long after he left, he stayed really connected and I think that just resonated with people here. So you had this bonafide superstar whose persona just kind of fit with what we are about here in this city and province.”

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NHL teams, take note: Alexandar Georgiev is proof that anything can happen in the playoffs

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It’s hard to say when, exactly, Alexandar Georgiev truly began to win some hearts and change some minds on Tuesday night.

Maybe it was in the back half of the second period; that was when the Colorado Avalanche, for the first time in their first-round Stanley Cup playoff series against the Winnipeg Jets, actually managed to hold a lead for more than, oh, two minutes or thereabouts. Maybe it was when the Avs walked into the locker room up 4-2 with 20 minutes to play.

Maybe it was midway through the third, when a series of saves by the Avalanche’s beleaguered starting goaltender helped preserve their two-goal buffer. Maybe it was when the buzzer sounded after their 5-2 win. Maybe it didn’t happen until the Avs made it into their locker room at Canada Life Centre, tied 1-1 with the Jets and headed for Denver.

At some point, though, it should’ve happened. If you were watching, you should’ve realized that Colorado — after a 7-6 Game 1 loss that had us all talking not just about all those goals, but at least one of the guys who’d allowed them — had squared things up, thanks in part to … well, that same guy.

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Georgiev, indeed, was the story of Game 2, stopping 28 of 30 shots, improving as the game progressed and providing a lesson on how quickly things can change in the playoffs — series to series, game to game, period to period, moment to moment. The narrative doesn’t always hold. Facts don’t always cooperate. Alexandar Georgiev, for one night and counting, was not a problem for the Colorado Avalanche. He was, in direct opposition to the way he played in Game 1, a solution. How could we view him as anything else?

He had a few big-moment saves, and most of them came midway through the third period with his team up 4-2. There he was with 12:44 remaining, stopping a puck that had awkwardly rolled off Nino Niederreiter’s stick; two missed posts by the Avs at the other end had helped spring Niederreiter for a breakaway. Game 1 Georgiev doesn’t make that save.

There he was, stopping Nikolaj Ehlers from the circle a few minutes later. There wasn’t an Avs defender within five feet, and there was nothing awkward about the puck Ehlers fired at his shoulder. Game 1 Georgiev gets scored on twice.

(That one might’ve been poetic justice. It was Ehlers who’d put the first puck of the night on Georgiev — a chip from center ice that he stopped, and that the crowd in Winnipeg greeted with the ol’ mock cheer. Whoops.)

By the end of it all, Georgiev had stared down Connor Hellebuyck and won, saving nearly 0.5 goals more than expected according to Natural Stat Trick, giving the Avalanche precisely what they needed and looking almost nothing like the guy we’d seen a couple days before. Conventional wisdom coming into this series was twofold: That the Avs have firepower, high-end talent and an overall edge — slight as it may be — on Winnipeg, and that Georgiev is shaky enough to nuke the whole thing.

That wasn’t without merit, either. Georgiev’s .897 save percentage in the regular season was six percentage points below the league average, and he hadn’t broken even in expected goals allowed (minus-0.21). He’d been even worse down the stretch, putting up an .856 save percentage in his final eight appearances, and worse still in Game 1, allowing seven goals on 23 shots and more than five goals more than expected. That’s not bad; that’s an oil spill. Writing him off would’ve been understandable. Writing off Jared Bednar for rolling him out there in Game 2 would’ve been understandable. Writing the Avs off — for all of Nathan MacKinnon and Cale Makar’s greatness — would’ve been understandable.

It just wouldn’t have been correct.

The fact that this all went down now, four days into a two-month ordeal, is a gift — because the postseason thus far has been short on surprises, almost as a rule. The Rangers and Oilers are overwhelming the Capitals and Kings. The Hurricanes are halfway done with the Islanders. The Canucks are struggling with the Predators. PanthersLightning is tight, but one team is clearly better than the other. BruinsMaple Leafs is a close matchup featuring psychic baggage that we don’t have time to unpack. In Golden KnightsStars, Mark Stone came back and scored a huge goal.

None of that should shock you. None of that should make you blink.

Georgiev being good enough for Colorado, though? After what we saw in Game 1? Strange, surprising and completely true. For now.

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"Laugh it off": Evander Kane says Oilers won’t take the bait against Kings | Offside

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The LA Kings tried every trick in the book to get the Edmonton Oilers off their game last night.

Hacks after the whistle, punches to the face, and interference with line changes were just some of the things that the Oilers had to endure, and throughout it all, there was not an ounce of retaliation.

All that badgering by the Kings resulted in at least two penalties against them and fuelled a red-hot Oilers power play that made them pay with three goals on four chances. That was by design for Edmonton, who knew that LA was going to try to pester them as much as they could.

That may have worked on past Oilers teams, but not this one.

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“We’ve been in a series now for the third year in a row with these guys,” Kane said after practice this morning. “We know them, they know us… it’s one of those things where maybe it makes it a little easier to kind of laugh it off, walk away, or take a shot.

“That type of stuff isn’t gonna affect us.”

Once upon a time, this type of play would get under the Oilers’ skin and result in retaliatory penalties. Yet, with a few hard-knock lessons handed down to them in the past few seasons, it seems like the team is as determined as ever to cut the extracurriculars and focus on getting revenge on the scoreboard.

Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, the longest-tenured player on this Oilers team, had to keep his emotions in check with Kings defender Vladislav Gavrikov, who punched him in the face early in the game. The easy reaction would be to punch back, but the veteran Nugen-Hopkins took his licks and wound up scoring later in the game.

“It’s going to be physical, the emotions are high, and there’s probably going to be some stuff after the whistle,” Nugent-Hopkins told reporters this morning. “I think it’s important to stay poised out there and not retaliate and just play through the whistles and let the other stuff just kind of happen.”

Oilers head coach Kris Knoblauch also noticed his team’s discipline. Playoff hockey is full of emotion, and keeping those in check to focus on the larger goal is difficult. He was happy with how his team set the tone.

“It’s not necessarily easy to do,” Knoblauch said. “You get punched in the face and sometimes the referees feel it’s enough to call a penalty, sometimes it’s not… You just have to take them, and sometimes, you get rewarded with the power play.

“I liked our guy’s response and we want to be sticking up for each other, we want to have that pack mentality, but it’s really important that we’re not the ones taking that extra penalty.”

There is no doubt that the Kings will continue to poke and prod at the Oilers as the series continues. Keeping those retaliations in check will only get more difficult, but if the team can continue to succeed on the scoreboard, it could get easier.

 

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Thatcher Demko injured, out for Game 2 between Canucks and Predators – Vancouver Is Awesome

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Thatcher Demko returned from injury just in time for the start of the Stanley Cup Playoffs but now is injured again.

After the Vancouver Canucks’ victory in Game 1, Demko was not made available to the media as he was “receiving treatment.” This is not unusual, so was not heavily reported at the time. Monday’s practice was turned into an optional skate — just nine players participated — so Demko’s absence did not seem particularly significant.

But when Demko was also missing from Tuesday’s gameday skate, alarm bells started going off.

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According to multiple reports — and now the Canucks’ head coach, Rick Tocchet —Demko will not play in Game 2 and is in fact questionable for the rest of their series against the Nashville Predators.

Demko made 22 saves on 24 shots, none bigger — and potentially injury-inducing — than his first-period save on Anthony Beauvillier where he went into the full splits.

While this is not necessarily where Demko got injured, it would be understandable if it was. Demko still stayed in the game and didn’t seem to be experiencing any difficulties at the time.

Demko is a major difference-maker for the Canucks and his injury casts a pall over the team’s emotional Game 1 victory

Tocchet confirmed that Demko will not start in Game 2 but said Demko did skate on Monday on his own. He also said that Demko’s injury is unrelated to the knee injury he suffered during the season that caused him to miss five weeks. Instead, Tocchet suggested Demko was day-to-day, leaving open the possibility for his return in the first round. 

TSN’s Farhan Lalji, however, has reported that Demko’s injury could indeed be to the same knee, even if it is not the same exact injury.

If Demko does indeed miss the rest of the series, the pressure will be on Casey DeSmith, who had a strong season when called upon intermittently as the team’s backup but struggled when thrust into the number-one role when Demko was injured. Behind DeSmith is rookie Arturs Silovs, who has come through with heroic performances in international competition for Latvia but hasn’t been able to repeat those performances at the NHL level.

DeSmith played one game against the Predators this season, making 26 saves on 28 shots in a 5-2 victory in December.

While DeSmith has limited experience in the Stanley Cup Playoffs, his one appearance was spectacular.

On May 3, 2022, DeSmith had to step in for the injured Tristan Jarry for the Pittsburgh Penguins, starting their first postseason game against the New York Rangers. DeSmith made 48 saves on 51 shots before leaving the game in the second overtime with an injury of his own, with Louis Domingue stepping in to make 17 more saves for the win.

The Canucks will look to allow significantly fewer than 51 shots on Tuesday night.

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