JIM LANG ON SPORTS

STANLEY CUP PLAYOFFS

Much has been made about the amount of times players are spearing other guys in the junk. Most people think that is a big no-no in the NHL. Oh sure, you can stick a guy in the gut or cross check them in the chiclets, but leave the boys alone.

I asked Jeremy Roenick about how often that kind of thing happened when he played. His answer might surprise some people; “Constantly, especially in the playoffs. Goalies did it the most.”

Doug Gilmour put it best, “Hey it’s the playoffs, and you want to win. It is a mind game and that is the kind of compete level that gets you to the Cup.”

This ties into the noise being made about players squirting each other with water. What has to be remembered in all of this is the fact players will do anything to win. If that means doing things that are against the rules and deemed “bush league” by some, then so be it. All they care about is winning those elusive 16 games and getting their name etched forever on the Stanley Cup.

The last time I checked Claude Lemieux’s name is still on the Cup. As matter of fact his name is on the Cup four different times. Lemieux did a lot of nasty things in the playoffs. I would imagine Kris Draper will always hate Lemieux for what he did to him. But you can hate Claude Lemieux all you want, the man is a four-time Stanley Cup champion and nobody can ever take that away from him.

A lot of guys would do anything to win it once, let alone four times. As the years pass us by we tend to forget all the nasty things players have done on the road to the Cup. Most times we only remember the teams and the men that won the Cup. So that is why players do things like spraying water and hacking at a guy between his legs.

BRIERE AND THE CANADIENS

Hats off to the Montreal Canadiens for dispatching the Boston Bruins in a thrilling seven game series. PK Subban, Carey Price and the rest of the Habs deserve a ton of praise for standing up to the “Big Bad Bruins” and booking a date in the Eastern Conference Final with the New York Rangers.

In their series clinching 3-1 victory over the Bruins veteran Daniel Briere had a goal and an assists.

Time and time again Briere has proven to be as productive post-season performer as there is in the NHL. Since the start of the 2010 playoffs Briere has 58 points in 55 playoff games. Going into their series against the Rangers Briere has more career playoff points than guys like Steve Shutt, Trevor Linden and Joe Thornton.

Canadiens General Manager Marc Bergevin deserves some praise for the way he has tweaked the roster and brought in the right mix of players into Montreal. The bottom line is that you can hate the Habs all you want, but you damn well better respect them for getting this far in the play-offs.

They’re four wins away from returning to the Cup Final. I can’t even imagine what a gong show the Bell Centre will be Saturday afternoon for game one.

CROSBY AND THE PENGUINS

Let’s make one thing perfectly clear, I like Sidney Crosby. Crosby is a great player and a great ambassador for Canadian hockey. But as great as Crosby is, he can’t do everything by himself.

Like any team that wins the Stanley Cup, it takes more than one great player to win it all. It takes balance throughout the lineup, and a great coach.

The sad reality of coaching in the NHL is that everyone has an expiry date; even someone as talented and accomplished as Dan Bylsma. After another disappointing result in the post-season the Penguins are staring at some major changes in the off-season. Even if Ray Shero fires Bylsma, he still has some work to do.

The core of the Penguins, Crosby, Malkin, Letang and Fleury will eat up $30.45 million dollars in cap space next year. That doesn’t leave Shero and the Penguins a lot of wiggle room to create a tougher and more balanced line-up. That is why there is talk of the Penguins possibly dealing a big gun like Malkin in the off-season to create some much needed cap space. The bottom line is the status quo simply isn’t working and something has to be done to fix their roster and their direction.

THE CFL DRAFT

Gary Lawless of the Winnipeg Free Press raised a very good point on Twitter the other day. Why doesn’t the CFL stage the annual draft in a city like Regina or Winnipeg and really make it an event? You could sell tickets and create a nice atmosphere in the heart of CFL country. It would make for a much better television event and add a little sizzle in what is a very important day for all the teams in the league.

There is an age old saying in the CFL that is as true now as the day it was uttered; “you might sell tickets with Americans, but you win Grey Cups with Canadians.” That is why the CFL draft is so important to the success of a team. If you don’t have a solid foundation of good Canadian talent, you have no hope of winning the Grey Cup. It speaks volume about the ever increasing quality of football in Canada when all nine picks in the first round came from a CIS program.

JOHNNY FOOTBALL

It took a little while, but Texas A&M quarterback Johnny Manziel was finally selected by the Cleveland Browns with the 22nd pick of the first round. Now it is true the City of Cleveland hasn’t had a lot to celebrate recently; but the visuals of fans acting like they won the Super Bowl when the Browns selected Manziel was pretty amazing to see.

I have been to see the Browns play in Cleveland. They love all sports in Cleveland, but nothing compares to their love of the Browns. If Manziel could ever turn the Browns into a winner and Super Bowl contender, he could do pretty much whatever he wants in Cleveland and nobody would care.

Now I loved watching Manziel play at Texas A&M. He is a special talent and will electrify the fans in Cleveland. But he is also going to learn quickly that safeties and linebackers in the NFL are bigger, faster and stronger than anything he ever faced in College. And they hit a heck of a lot harder in the NFL as well. So whether he wants to or not, Manziel is going to learn the benefits of staying in the pocket when drops back to pass. When a quarterback in the NFL is in that pocket they are treated differently than other players. But when they pull the ball down and decide to start running, they are fair game. And defensive players in the NFL love nothing better than getting a chance to really lay a big hit on a quarterback when he runs out of the pocket.

GYMNASTICS DAD

Last week I had to take my youngest daughter for a big gymnastics competition in Kingston, home of Don Cherry and Doug Gilmour. This was a big meet featuring gymnastics clubs from as far away as Ottawa. On the drive there my daughter gave me strict instructions on how I was supposed to behave at the meet. Then she laid down the law on the rules of cheering; Routine, Present, then Cheer. Fair enough.

I went to Humber College. I could remember all of that. Of course nobody told me that I couldn’t walk up to my daughter, who was 15 feet away, and tell her that she was doing a good job. Sure enough, I walk over to give her support and the coaches start yelling at me to go away. One of them even punched me in the arm! It turns out that if a parent talks to a child during a meet then that I child can be kicked out. How the heck was I supposed to know that?

(Follow Jim on Twitter at @JimLangSports)