Friday, May 27, 2005

Lights, Camera, Action

This past week, the show talked to Chris Toltzman and Jason Ralph from RoadHogs: The Other Side of the Season. The movie takes a look at life on the road in the UHL and shows fans what they may not se when their favorite team is on the road. Personally, I can't wait to see the movie because of the fact that it'll be a good hockey movie to see. There hasn't been many great movies about hockey, and it's a damn shame. For that reason, I have decided to compile a list of Scotty Wazz's top movies about hockey.

1. SlapShot: This has to be the top movie when it comes to hockey. The movie is a look into a podunk team that has several players past their prime. The cast of characters, led by Paul Newman, are looking for one last grasp at greatness, all the while trying to get over the fact that the team will be sold off by the stingy owner. The movie overall is not cineomatically great, mainly because it was worked on with a small budget in the 1970's. However, that aside, it's probably the funniest movie about hockey there is out there today. It's a must in any hockey players and/or fans collection.

2. The Mighty Ducks: Now, I'm just talking about the original. Though Mighty Ducks 2 is great in it's own right, the fact of the matter is that it all got it's start in the first movie. Emilio Estevez really has his character defined in this movie, where the big city lawyer gets caught with a DWI and is sentenced to coach the D-5 hockey club, which is full of misfits and jokers. Plus, the fact of the matter is that the other two movies are sappy pieces with craptastic jerseys. The First Mighty Ducks flick had the vintage D-5 Duck on the jersey. I still think Anaheim should have used that jersey as their own.

3. Mystery, Alaska: What more could you want from this movie?? An underdog hockey club, Russell Crowe as the captain of the team, Burt Reynolds, and the Rangers winning a game. That's the definition of a fantasy event. This movie is about the hockey crazed city in the darkest of Alaska which eats, sleeps, and lives hockey. The scenes of the game on the pond and in the game against the Rangers are some of the best I've seen. It's almost like a toned down "SlapShot", but has some of the same events in the ordeal.

4. Youngblood: Now, when you get the star power of Rob Lowe, Patrick Swayze, plus Keanu Reeves as a French Canadian goalie, it makes the story of Lowe as the can't-miss-kid that much better. Lowe is the new kid, Swayze is the old guard-- it's the basic "changing of the guard" movie. Though it is a little rough, the storyline of the kid trying to make the big time-- it's a "feel good" movie if you like that kind of thing.

5. MVP- Most Valuable Primate: Come on-- you can't have a list without a hockey playing monkey. This movie is so bad, it's good. This is the story of a deaf girl, her star hockey playing brother, and a monkey from a lab who loves hockey. The monkey escapes, befriends the girl, and somehow gets his way out onto the ice surface when he sneaks into the arena during a game. It has everything you could love in a movie-- monkeys, hockey......monkeys. It's a goofy flick, but something good for the kids.

So that's my top five. I know, I'm missing the classic SlapShot 2, but I still haven't found it after I took it and chucked it from the deck of my apartment complex. If you have any suggestion about movies I should look into that should have been on the list; go ahead and comment there down below.

This has been ScottyWazz. Take care of yourself and someone else. PEACE!!

Thursday, May 12, 2005

Kids will be Kids....but for how long??

In the past few weeks, the junior hockey world has been a buzz over the decision made by the Ontario Hockey League to allow John Tavares to be drafted into the league at age 14. The rule was changed in the draft process to allow an "exceptional" 14-year-old to be drafted into the OHL without any problem. However, there are many out there that are calling foul to it.

I think when you look at what the OHL is trying to do, they meant to do it in good will, but it got twisted and turned to look like they want to push all the young kids into the league. I think the many thing Commissioner Rod Branch was trying to do is to keep the talent in Canada to stay in Canada. With Tavares, he could have easily went to Tier I Junior Hockey in the States by way of the USHL. They allow players to be Drafted as young as 14. The OHL thought it would be better to keep the best players all to themselves. That has it's good and bad points.

With keeping all the young talent in Canada, you make the best for the future of the league and see that the OHL keeps getting the talent from their area. However, this destroys the ever-growing hockey culture in the United States. You would think everyone would like to see Junior Hockey healthy everywhere, but it seems by this move, it's a simple case of Darwinism.

But, when is enough enough when it comes to the younger generation?? You look at professional sports as a whole, the ages for some stars are getting younger and younger. Most of these kids are losing out on most of their childhood for the sheer fact is that they are being pushed (whether it be by their own motives or some outside source) to become a big name at such a young age. With Tavares, he's 14 and will be playing with guys 6 years older than him in a high level of competition. He did play in Junior "A" last season and did pretty well, but I'm sure that the OHL and Junior "A" will be a big wake-up call for him in way of game play.

I understand that there are rules in every league when it comes to age limits and how many games a certain age can play (ie: WHL will allow 15 year olds to play a limit of 7 games before they lose their "rookie" status), but maybe that's not enough. Of course, he will be playing in the OHL, which could be better than playing in a league like the QMJHL or the WHL. The OHL, with all due respect, isn't as big as it use to be. It's been overshadowed for many years and probably will be moreso as the years go on.

The John Tavares experiment could go either way right now. We haven't seen him in an OHL uniform yet, so it's a tad early to judge. It's something that will be under the microscope, for sure, when he does hit the ice in the OHL.

However, with all this going on, it poses the question: will there be a time where we see some league change a rule so that an "exceptional" 11-year-old is able to play in a big Junior league?? I don't know the answer, but at least Bobby Orr and I are on the same wavelength.

This has been ScottyWazz. Take care of yourself and someone else. PEACE!!