The Guardian Project

Leave it to the NHL to have a perfectly good product and no idea how to market it, then do everything wrong in the process - from crappy slogans (''The coolest game on ice!'') to expansion in no-win markets to centering all ads and marketing towards Sidney Crosby, the third, fourth or tenth best player in the league, depending on who you ask.

This time, they've taken a lame idea the NFL refused to partake in and cheesed it up even more. The idea? To have a brand-new superhero comics project (in an age where comic readers are veering away from superhero stories) involving ''new'' heroes from each town that has an NHL city, each hero bearing the team's colours and name of team as character name, for example The Penguin in the city where the Pittsburgh Penguins play.

If it was just that, it'd be bad enough.

Unfortunately for all involved, the NHL got the brilliant idea of getting Stan Lee on board - the creator of Spider-Man, the X-Men, Hulk, and nothing new or original since the 1970s. Even his old stuff are pretty much copies of one another: all the good guys having first and last names that start with the same letter, an event that gives them superpowers, and a Life Lesson as obvious as the sun to teach him that ''with great powers come great responsibilities''.

This time around, ol' Stan decided to use Wikipedia to find stuff out about each city and incorporate that into the character (There are French people in Montréal? Really? Let's have The Canadien speak some of it at the end of every third sentence, and let's not bother to check for spelling) and, cheesiest of all, each hero sports an NHL belt and their hometown team's logo on their chest. Yes, I know, the days of a superhero with a logo on his chest have been over since Batman (created in 1939), Superman (created in 1932, first appeared in 1938), Captain America (1941) and The Punisher (1974).

And that's just the beginning. Before any one hero was released. As they were, many comic book fans realized very few of these new superheroes were, indeed, new; they were all rehashes of something that already exists (The Canadien is nothing more than Iron Man with Cobra Commander's helmet) or just plain copies (The Panther is exactly like Marvel Comics' Black Panther, Marvel being the company Stan The Man is CEO of... this website breaks it down very well.

They keep saying hockey fans are ''purists'' who don't like change; this time, they've added that not only do these have nothing to do with hockey, but adults aren't the target audience, ''boys and girls, aged 9 to 14'' are... except none of the heroes appear to be girls, for one, and two, why wouldn't those kids be better off with the actual heroes (Wolverine, Batman, Iron Man, Thing)? And are we trying to make our kids retarded by giving them Stan Lee-type storylines?

I sincerely hope everyone involved loses all their money in this stupid project. If the comics company can go bankrupt and it can reflect on Gary Bettman at the same time, it will have been for the best. Can you believe Bettman, just a few years ago, had Todd McFarlane as part-owner of the Edmonton Oilers... uh, hello? Comics, as an art form, has evolved a lot since the 40s (Stan Lee's time), 60s (Robert Crumb's time), and even 90s (McFarlane's time). One of those three is deceased, one remains relevant today, and the other is a relic that only Kevin Smith still pays attention to - and even that is clearly just out of respect.

To be fair, here is the link to the people in charge of the Guardian Project defending their idea and where it's headed, albeit very poorly.

Reflections On The Pittsburgh Penguins, 2009 Stanley Cup Champions

Vince Lombardi, praised football coach and namesake of the Super Bowl Trophy, was a master at mentally crushing opponents. In a time where coaches would focus on the other teams' weaknesses to win, Lombardi would instead attack their strengths, because if they got through their strengths, the other team would crumble, knowing it was all they had. My favourite saying of his is: ''to be the best, you have to beat the best''.

In today's NHL, the best are the Detroit Red Wings. They're so good, their third liners could be any other team's second liners; they're so good they don't even need a 'name' goaltender in nets to ensure victory. They also have the best 6-man defensive unit in the game. So when Chris Osgood started stopping the pucks in the playoffs, the Wings became flawless. The Cup was theirs for sure.

But nothing is ever certain in sports, it's why we watch them.

Nicklas Lidstrom - perhaps the best defenseman of all time - got injured and missed a few games. Pavel Datsyuk, the league's best two-way player and MVP candidate missed seven games. Four rookies who had started the year in the minors had to suit up for the Wings to start the Finals against Pittsburgh, so when games 6 and 7 came, the veterans were out of juice.

They were close games, but the Pens won both of them, en route to a record-breaking championship: the youngest captain ever to win a Cup, the only team to win despite trailing 2 games to none twice.

I was rooting for the Red Wings myself, because they were reigning Champs and the closest thing hockey has to a dynasty these days. Also because their coach, Mike Babcock, went to university here in Montréal, and because they are beautiful to watch. And, as a Montrealer, I'm used to cheering for the team in red.

But mostly I was rooting against the Penguins. Against a coach (Dan Bylsma) who wasn't even coaching his team on Valentine's Day. Against a goalie who has a tendency to choke in big games. Against a team who went bankrupt once already and nearly did it again until they were so terrible that they ended with the first overall pick four years in a row and got to draft players like Fleury, Malkin, Staal and Crosby. Against a team based around one powerplay unit (Crosby-Malkin-Gonchar-Letang) instead of the best 20 players available. Against a GM who didn't give his head coach (Michel Therrien) a chance to have his best players back from injury before firing him and only then making the obvious trades to improve the team.

Despite a calendar that was to their disadvantage, the Wings took a 2-0 series lead in Detroit despite the injuries to key players, but the Pens tied it in Pittsburgh forcing perhaps an early return for some. And when the Wings took a 3-2 series lead with a 5-0 dominating win, most thought the series was over. But that proved to be the last bit of energy they had in store, as they lost the final two games and looked so much slower than usual, despite keeping those games tight. They seemed extenuated.

Perhaps the injuries had taken their toll, players who usually would be asked less from had to play over their heads and had no gas left in the tank. Perhaps it was the constant foul play of the Penguins who would chip, slash and six-inch every chance they had, during and after the play, and the bruises came to be too intense. But a fact remains: a lot of Penguins' foul plays went unpunished, as if the referees had a mandate to let the Pittsburgh crew win.

But win they did. Hail the champs.

Now, if only their captain could learn what being a leader is all about...

Alexander Semin Has Balls

It's a little old in terms of news but the Washington Capitals' Alexander Semin has called out the NHL's superstar and #1 attraction, Pittsburgh Penguins star Sidney Crosby, as not being as talented as the hype surrounding him would suggest.

In a TSN.ca article, indeed, the NHL's leading scorer (that would be Semin, by the way) goes as far as saying sophomore Patrick Kane of the Chicago Black Hawks has better moves and an overall better game.

While I haven't seen Kane play enough to either agree or diagree with that last statement, I do agree that Corsby has been overhyped and is nowhere near the best player in the league as of yet. Tampa Bay Lightning forward Vincent Lecavalier, Detroit Red Wings defender Nicklas Lidstrom and Calgary Flames power forward Jarome Iginla, among others, would be way ahead.

He's not even the best in his age range (the Caps' Alexander Ovechkin and Calgary Flames defenseman Dion Phaneuf would be ahead of him in that last category, in my book).

But he is still young and could develop into a real force if he bulks up and stops whining. And is likely in the top 30 forwards in the game as it is, which is still ahead of most others.

It's a debate that will only be settled when all players have retired and comparisons can be made. In the meantime, though, Alexander Semin's first real interaction with the North American media has been one in which he's shown tremendous character. After all, you don't get recognition by beating puppies (unless you're Michael Vick), but by going for one of the top dogs.