Below is a chart on several key players, some relevant data, and what I think I might try to do:

	Roberto Luongo Age: 30 Salary:  $6.75mm Expires:  2010 W-L:33-13-7 GAA: 2.34
It becomes quite difficult to solidify a reputation as the best goalie in the league when you continually play for dog teams that can’t perform in the playoffs.  This team (and every team you’ve played for) leans far too heavily on your unique talent but east of Cambie street you get very little respect in this league.Giving you the captaincy (even without the C sewn on) was a bullshit PR move and could only have served to cause you to lose focus and get off the bead of what it is that you do so well.  Get back to being “just” the greatest goalie ever, stick with us through some changes, and for emotional balance leverage the two guys you have in your own back yard that have lots of mental toughness and carried weak teams through the playoffs:  Richard Brodeur and Kirk McLean.  The armchair GM would be happy to hire them as consultants to focus on the mental aspects of your play.
	Mattias Ohlund Age: 32 Salary:  $3.5mm Expires:  2009 25 points
I think we’re going to lose you to an East Coast team in bidding this summer. Vancouver fans don’t respect your contribution enough.  I think you’ve had a tough couple of years trying to fit into the Vigneault system, which has required you to take too many penalties and lose focus from your offensive play.I don’t want to lose your grit, but the budget’s tight.  I’d like to sign you to a multi-year contract at your present salary, but I doubt you’d go for that considering who’s been calling.  So I would hope to keep you here with a two-year at $2.5mm — and it’ll be hard to find room under the cap for that.  You’re a franchise player.  Stay here 3-4 more years and we’ll retire your jersey, give you a shot at a cup with some rebuilding, and you can play in front of the home crowd for Sweden in 2010.
	Sami Salo Age: 35 Salary:  $3.5mm Expires:  2011 25 points
What, are you made of porcelain?  We need you to play a whole season.  Please ensconse yourself in bubble wrap and suspend yourself with bungee rope in a lcoked room between games.  We’d like the keys to your Porsche — we’ll be sending a driver in an armoured, padded vehicle with a 7-point safety harness to pick you up for games from now on.If you can put together a full season you’re awesome — but we can’t keep backfilling you.  Fans love you.  I like saying your name with a Squire Barnes lisp.  What the hell: you can’t go anywhere, we’re not trading you… get out of my office and back to the gym (though please pick up some tensor braces and make sure you stretch thoroughly in order to prevent injury or strain).  Please do not buy a Segway or any two-wheeled vehicle.
	Taylor Pyatt Age: 27 Salary:  $1.575mm Expires:  2009 19 points
You are six-feet four, and you weigh 235 lbs.  In today’s NHL that is neither lean enough to be fast, nor thick enough to be tough.  You’re a UFA this summer.  I don’t understand why Vigneault continues to throw you on the ice in critical situations — end of the game, power plays, penalty kills, etc.  You are almost always behind the play.You were a healthy scratch several times in the past two years.  You are being given chances to showcase your skills (probably because we were hoping to trade your ass) but you’ve really let us down.  19 points in 69 games, especially given the guys you’ve played with, means you haven’t been a factor at all.You have NO grit, speed, nor puck-handling dexterity.Happy to let you go — but if you want to stay here 1) figure out what kind of player you are, 2) hire a personal trainer and develop this summer, and 3) we’ll pay you $1M on a one-year contract.  Sorry about your tragic loss, but this is a business.
	Mason Raymond Age: 23 Salary:  $833.33K Expires:  2010 (RFA) 23 points
In your case, I don’t think the stats have told the story.  You’re a hungry, fiery player with grit and I feel that AV has completely underutilized you.  For a 6’0 guy to be the team’s fastest skater is impressive.  You’ve gotten your feet wet in the league, you played your way onto this roster, and you’ve tasted the playoffs.  Now you need to play your way up to the second line.  I think you could be huge as a forechecker and your hands are awesome.This is your sophomore NHL summer.  You’re only 165 lbs. soaking wet.  Would like to see you bulk up without losing speed, just to prevent you from getting knocked around too much.  Work on the upper body, not just the legs, and eat a sandwich once in a while.  You’re great kid, now get out of my office so I can deal with the next guy.
	Willie Mitchell Age: 32 Salary:  $3.2mm Expires:  2010 23 points
Hockey loves the hometown boys.  Port McNeill is pretty close to Vancouver.  Check.OK somebody liked you last summer and gave you a pretty rockin’ deal despite a weak season.  This year you did a lot better, so she time is right to keep that momentum and own the zone.  At times this year I watched you and you seemed to have your head in the clouds, crossing over inexplicably and floating the puck when a slap-pass was required.  Your turnover stats look pretty bad.  You are, though, a big part of the breakout.  If Ohlund goes this summer, you’re a huge part of the defensive corps and the younger kids will be looking to you for leadership.  At times you seem disinterested in defensive play.  Get angry in September and find your grit.Step up, and we’ll renew next summer — no probs.  Want you to finish your career here.
	Alex Burrows Age: 28 Salary:  $2mm Expires:  2010 51 points
You have played your way onto every team throughout your career.  With 52 points in 82 games you have really delivered in 2008-2009, particularly since AV has not always played you on top lines.  You’re probably the fittest player on the team, and a role model for guys making twice your salary.Your unique attribute is your work  ethic.  You need some bulk up top, because when you eventually settle into second line left-winger status you’re going to get tossed around like a bean bag.  I think you’re going to look like the bargain of the century in two years.  We’ll get you a speedy centre to get things going.
	Kyle Wellwood Age: 25 Salary:  $998K Expires:  2009 27 points
I’ve known and played with a lot of guys like you who never got the chance to play in The Show.  You’re immensely, naturally gifted as a player but as a teenager it always came so easily to you that you never really developed a work ethic.  After a few years with the Leafs you became a guy constantly on the bubble, and nowadays that is what is driving you.Wake-up call:  We signed you and put you on waivers (for no really good reason) last year after you failed the fitness test, and nobody even called.This is it.  I’ll sign you right now for $800K for a year because I know I’m the only guy who’ll take a chance.  You’re still on the bubble.  We saw flashes of brilliance this year, but you’re still falling behind.  That’s OK if you use this summer as your time to train like crazy, make me a liar, and come back to camp in lean and mean shape with some speed that can match those hands.  Keep skating all summer.
	Mats Sundin Age: 38 Salary:  $7mm Expires:  2009 28 points
You’re no Neidermeyer.  You’ve proven that you can’t sit out half the season and expect to compete in the NHL.  You came back from semi-retirement old and slow and not nearly pissed-off enough.  You hoped the Sedins and Luongo would carry you to your ring but we did not get the leadership on the ice I’d expect to see from a guy who’s been a consistent 70-80 point-getter for 10 years — and one that we paid $4 million bucks for.So yes, this is goodbye.  There’s no role on this team for you, but I think you knew that.  I always knew you were a summer rental.  See you at the retirement press conference, and enjoy the flight back to Sweden.  And when the Rangers call?  Don’t do it.  You’ll smear your glorious Leafs legacy (choke).
	Ryan Kesler Age: 24 Salary:  $1.75mm Expires:  2010 59 points
When we originally signed you, we thought you were the next Trevor Linden.  It hasn’t exactly been an easy path, and so you were often on the bubble.  This past year you really shined.  What I’d like to see you deliver is a 75-80 point season in 2009/2010 as a center.  If so, you could be our future and we’ll hit you with a contract at least as sweet as your wild-eyed three-year, $2.475-million entry level contract a few years ago.Time to step up and deliver on the promise that we saw when we passed up Mike Richards and Corey Perry for your ass.  I’d like to think you could be the captain of the team but not yet.  One more season like this year’s and we’ll talk about it when you’re up next sumer.  You play better when you’re hungry.  You ought to be a second-line centre by now.
	Kevin Bieksa Age: 27 Salary:  $3.75mm Expires:  2012 43 points
This was the best year of your career, despite a couple of injuries that had us leery.  You’ve showed real toughness at times and delivered 43 points offensively which made you the top-scoring D-man on the team.We have however noticed your defensive play suffering.  You’ve made some brutal bets on the pinch and lost, creating momentum-killing 2-on-1s and leading to some highlight reel goals for other teams.  Luongo can only do so much to cover for a defenseman who’s not even in the play.  Additionally, while we like your grit, we hate your timing.  Pitchforking that guy in Game 5 vs. Chicago with 6 minutes to go almost definitely cost us a Game 7.Clean it up and work on your D game and you’ll be worth every penny.
	The Sedins (H D) Age: 28 Salary:  $3.58mm Expires:  2009 82 points each
You each got 82 points this year — one each per game — with no injuries.  Once again, you were absent for much of the playoffs.  You need to understand that people will key in on you and work with the Right Winger we give you.  Because you are a package deal, any team that signs you to a big contract is going to mortgage their whole future to do so.  I know the Rangers will call. Anyone who can sign you both won’t be able to field a very good team beyond your line.We have invested a lot in you and consider you to be franchise players.  I would match any offer up to $4mm each and for 3-4 years, but above that I’m pretty hamstrung by trying to surround you with the league’s best goalie and a strong D.  But ANYONE who signs you at your presumed asking price, given that there are two of you, will be challenged to surround you with a talented team.
	Alain Vigneault2007 Jack Adams award winner 2007/08: 39-33-10 2008/09: 45-27-10
Some coaches are able to work their magic in the locker room, some do it by running perfect practices, and others do it behind the bench.  In the regular season great practices, and solid locker room and off-ice leadership keep teams healthy, prepared, and in-the-game.  In the playoffs, though, coaches do their work behind the bench.As this was your first career NHL playoff run as a coach, I guess we can’t be too harsh with you for losing.  I have to be honest — watching what happened in Chicago, where the Hawks clearly changed the entire complexion of the play without any adjustment or response from the Canucks — I wanted to fire you.  But then, reflecting on the stats of the regular season, I think we just need to develop you and get you some help.Speaking of which…
	Trevor Linden Requires no introduction.
Hey Trev, ‘sup?  Feeling refreshed after a year off, freed from the shackles of watching Naslund flail as a Captain and watching the NHLPA eat itself alive trying to maneouvre with that weasel Gary Bettman?We miss you.  Fans still show up to games wearing #16 jerseys.  You cast a long shadow, my friend, and rumour from some former Canucks players has it that even thought you didn’t wear the “C” these last few years in Vancouver, you were.  Suffice to say:  You cast a long shadow.Within the next 16 months, Ryan Walter or Rick Bowness will be moving on.  I’d say you’re a shoo-in for Assistant Coach.  The salary sucks, but face it — you bleed blue and green.
	Cody Hodgson Age: 19 Salary:  $875K Expires:  2011
I think we made the smart decision growing you slowly this year, sending you to the Battallion, letting you play on Team Canada in the Canada-Russia series, and now pulling you up to the Moose.  Your play has been exceptional — now you know what it’s like to spread your wings and rock the ice and be a dominant force.Next season please arrive at camp prepared to play in the NHL.  Speed and dexterity are your biggest assets, and you’re big enough not to get tossed around.  Toughness and grit will have to come over time.  You’d make a great roommate for Burrows — only you’re a little more talented than Burrows — because he’ll keep you focused on your fitness and work ethic.  Don’t let this go to your head, we’ll give you a lot of PP ice time next year, probably playing on the Right Wing.
	Marian Gaborik MINNESSOTA Age: 34 Salary:  $3.2mm Expires:  2009
Wanted:  RIGHT WINGER who can hold his own with the Sedins, stand in front of the net when he has to, and wire shots top-corner while hapless defensemen chase the Swedes around in the corners.  Hey Marian, know anybody?Oh that’s right… your pal Pavol is on the Canucks, hit 53 points, and will be here til summer 2010.  Unless of course we can’t attract you as a free agent this summer, in which case we’re going to trade his ass (he nets a $4 million salary).  Since your injury makes you a bit of a risk, I’ll throw $3.5mm on a one-year contract to you but would discuss anything up to $4.0mm on a two-year deal.  If the latter, then you’ll be riding to games in the bubble van with Sami Salo.We’ll try you with the Sisters, and if that doesn’t work out I’m sure you’ll enjoy spinning around the ice with Demitra.  And hey, Willie’s here too… you remember him?
	Ossi Vaananen Age: 28 Salary:  $1mm Expires:  2009
I checked my magic 8-Ball: “future hazy”.  Will re-sign for 2 years at $875K.  Otherwise, seeya.  Thanks.  See you in September.  PS – there are too many vowels in your name.
	Alexander Radulov Age: 22 Salary: $919K Expires: 2009
Ok now, if ever there is a Russian player destined for first-line greatness in the NHL, it is 22-year-old Alexander Radulov.  He is, though, the centre of a huge controversy between the NHL and the Russian Kontinental Hockey League.  Last year, though he was signed to a pithy $1mm contract with the Predators, he ended up inking a three year deal worth $13mm with the KHL’s Salavat Yulaev Ufa.  This contract was signed days before a treaty agreement was reached between the NHL and KHL regarding transfer of players. The Russians view this as payback for the yanking of Ovechkin and Malkin, among a host of others, into the NHL from domestic clubs. What’s happened to the Preds now is essentially what might have happened to the Canucks had they not been able to lure Bure overseas after picking him so many years ago.  This summer, the stage is set for a Battle Royale between the NHL and the KHL’s Alexander Medvedev — the outcome of which might mean Radulov’s return to the National Hockey League as an unrestricted free agent.  This will be THE story of the summer.
	Maxim Afinogenov Age: 29 Salary: $3.5mm Expires: 2009
Building on the Russian Right-Winger theme:  Hey Max!  How would you like to play with the twins?  I know things have been sucking in Buffalo lately.  You need a change of pace!  Your scoring is off, but I think you’ve got potential.I’d throw you a three-year, $3.0mm bone to head over to Vancouver where the ladies will love ya, the Sedins will pass to you, and you can head back up the roster to the first line and net around 75+ points.  Sound good?  Sign here.

Going back over this post, I have committed the Canucks to around $50mm, give or take $2mm.  For instance I’d obviously be happy to say goodbye to Pyatt were Afinogenov to be lured to the team.  But with a cap of $56.7mm next season for team salaries, that leaves very little room and I have filled 15 of 23 roster spots.

According to HockeyBuzz O’Brien, Bernier, Rypien, and Hansen are also key free agents this year.  They will be demanding salary bumps and presently the four of them account for about $4.5mm all in.  Add to that Edler’s $3.25mm salary, Demitra’s $4mm, and various odds & ends, and that’s another $9mm unaccounted for in my planning.

The reality is that the Canucks are not going to be able to strengthen the roster substantially from within the Free Agency market.  The youth movement, as Chicago has evidenced, where underpaid young players overperform, is where teams get a solid strategic advantage these days. This places heavy emphasis on Hodgson to crack the lineup and be a dominant player in 2009-2010, as the Canucks don’t have much else under development.

That said, a couple of things happened this past year:  1)  Salaries inflated across the board, but teams are seeing revenue decline, and 2) The economy collapsed, and the NHL started talking about lowering the cap in the next few years.  This will see teams being far more conservative in their offers to Free Agents, which will be enhanced by the frankly startling diversity of talent that is set to hit the market in June.

So:  Will Ohlund take a pay cut to stay with the only NHL team he has ever known?  Will Bernier (and other teams) recognize that he’s not worth $2.5mm yet?  Will Hank and Daniel bankrupt the team that has developed them into Top 20 players by making a big cash grab, or would they like a shot at the cup?  If they reach for a $6mm salary each, as some suspect, the twins and Luongo alone could account for more than one third of the team’s salary cap at nearly $20mm.

Mike Gillis has a real problem.  If few or none of these situations plays in his favour, then I suspect it’ll be 5 or more years before they have a team in contention… and they’ll have to do something the Canucks are rarely successful at doing:  developing a group of players from the draft into top-line players right away.  It could be a very long winter indeed, even by Vancouver fans’ standards.

… all of which underpins the fact that, strong or not, this was probably Vancouver’s best chance at a Stanley Cup for the past 15 years, and at least the next 5.

If you squint a little, that’s kind of how professional hockey began, more than 125 years ago, in the ponds and rinks of Ottawa and Montreal. Ironically it was in Buffalo where the beautiful game captivated the imagination of my favourite author, F. Scott Fitzgerald, inspiring him to become a sports writer. Even with more than 45 minutes of delays for snow clearing, hole patching, and refreezing, it was a great game which took hockey back to its roots. I think that’s an important point.

Dan Barnes, an Edmontonian, gloats that this happened first at the 2003 Heritage Classic in Commonwealth Stadium, and it’s a very good article outlining the motivations and tribulations that led to that successful effort at an outdoor game. He also advocates some other changes and innovations for the NHL season schedule.

Before I read his article I had opined a few days ago to Rhys that the NHL needs to take it on the road more often. This year the season opened between Stanley Cup winners the Anaheim Ducks and the L.A. Kings in the hockey hotbed of London, England in an event which garnered more buzz on this side of the Atlantic than it did in the UK. Leading up to that game, something (I think) more significant happened… the Kings played two exhibition games in Austria against Austrian League champions Red Bull Salzburg, and against Sweden’s First Division team Farjestad.

You can bet those two squads were up for a game against an NHL team, even one whose roster was as weak as that of the LA Kings. And you can bet Austrian fans (and those that drove from Munich and nearby in Switzerland) were treated to some great (though exhibition) play. But did the NHL do anything to promote those games? Did they even learn anything from the experiment?

Not likely. And you probably won’t see a lot of these again, except for yet more outdoor games in big football stadiums with lots of fans, in the same cities teams usually play in. Here’s a key problem: Unlike any of the other of the top 10 professional sports leagues on this earth, NHL teams are primarily financed from gate revenues at the stadium. Whereas, ticket sales are pure gravy for teams in other sports, which make most of their money from broadcast licensing and avertising, these dollars at the ticket counter the meat for NHL clubs. This means that when a team sacrifices those revenues to play elsewhere, they generally lose money.

The only reason the London game happened at all was that Kings owner Philip Anschutz also owns O2 Arena, and so was able to move the cash around his various enterprises. But for that little tidbit you’d be unlikely to have seen the game there.

In 1997 and 1998 the NHL opened the season with two games each in Japan in the run-up to the Nagano Winter Olympics. Although the League declared these a success there is some evidence that they were expensive, under-supported, economic failures — and the second of these series practically ruined the San Jose Sharks’ season, resulting in the league’s longest consecutive road trip. That has made Bettman’s promise to continue the initiative difficult to fulfill.

I’m not sure that developing a fan base in Japan particularly benefits the NHL. One thing that helps an audience identify with the players is seeing people who are like them. Unfortunately, the best the NHL could offer up to Japanese fans at the time was Paul Kariya.

Moreover, the problem with these being regulation league games (for points) is that these far-flung contests have to be woven into the NHL schedule. And after playing them, teams have to make the journey back to the US and Canada, adjust to pretty considerable JetLag, and hit the ice again for a real league game within 24-48 hours. This doesn’t exactly encourage them to want to sign up.

Watching the Spengler on TV and reading Paul Romanuk’s excellent blog on the tournament reminds me that there really is something special about how professional hockey is conducted in Europe. Having played there and seen how fans react to the teams and vice-versa, it’s reminiscent of what I can only presume to have been the case during the heyday of the NHL, through the 1950s, 60s, and 70s.

You may have noticed that 30% of the players in the NHL are European, but not one of them is from the UK. In fact outside of England’s foundering attempts to create a successful hockey league, Europe has a well-supported hockey community and Sweden, Switzerland, Russia, the Czech Republic, Germany, Italy, and Denmark all have vibrant professional hockey leagues with many fans. So why not support them, and in the process pull more fans to a direct interest in the NHL?

There’s already a revolving door for players between the NHL and leagues like the DEL … why not one for the fans as well? By my observation the relationship between hockey fans in Europe and the NHL is at best superficial. When the Washington Caps made German-born Olaf Kolzig their #1 goaltender, plenty of German hockey fans went out to buy Capitals jerseys with his name on the back… but are they staying up late to watch games? Ordering an NHL channel on digital cable (if there is such a thing)? Picking their favourite players for hockey pools? Not likely.

The Exhibition season for the NHL is actually rather half-hearted. Fans generally aren’t as enthusiastic about the games because the teams field the B-squads, holding their celebrities in reserve for conditioning and in fear of injury. They are also rarely broadcast on television, and as far as selling tickets goes, teams fill the seats for these throw-away games by stacking the games into full and partial seasons’ ticket packs and with give-aways .. for many teams there’s little to no honest profit in the Exhibition season.

But there is one nice thing about Exhibition games … as the LA Kings proved, you can pretty-much do whatever you want and as a bonus, you can stagger and schedule them vis-a-vis the regular season however you’d like. Some teams see the exhibition season as a necessary evil … I see it as a potential problem-solver.

My Modest Proposal is to therefore do two things during the Exhibition season, giving each team the choice of either:

1. Exhibition games in small North American towns with able support for a larger-scale game (ie. 5000+ seats in a hockey arena). Unfortunately this is too early in the winter for elaborate outdoor games. … or …
2. Exhibition play against Tier 1 club teams in Europe, perhaps a road trip consisting of 4-5 games each with a 3-day layover prior to the season start. Share the gate revenues with them (some play in NHL-sized arenas) to cover costs.

This would be a fabulous way to enhance the dialog between fans in Europe and NHL teams, and also to support the small communities which couldn’t support an NHL team (in Mr. Bettman’s opinion) but which still have rabid fan bases built around AHL, University, or Junior hockey teams. Again, this doesn’t detract from the success of those smaller-market teams but likely adds enough water to the tide to float all boats.

Let’s not kid ourselves that big-stadium outdoor games like the Heritage Classic and today’s effort in Buffalo really do anything to enhance the market for the game. Similarly I think it could be argued successfully that both experiments in Japan and in London were not cost-effective in enhancing the league’s market reach.

If the goal is making more money on an exciting winter event, fine. Let’s embrace these pond hockey games as novelties, for sure, and by all means keep doing it (teams report making more money doing so, so within reason I say fill your boots).

But if the goal is expanding the revenue from the league and growing beyond simply operating on gate receipts, let’s also work toward a schedule that does something to enhance the game and its growth; that brings in a new active global fan base; that invigorates the game with a dash of European flavour. There is natural affinity there, and a largely untapped market.

Let’s work toward growing the sport and fostering an exchange with the European leagues that will enhance the game both on and off the ice; and which also respects the contribution made by thousands of communities around the globe that contribute players to this game.

Easy-to-use SSL gaining on IPsec VPNs Thu May 15, 8:00 AM ET

/Jim Rendon, SearchNetworking.com News Writer/

Companies have long struggled to provide their employees with secure remote access to their networks. Most recently, Internet Protocol security virtual private networks (IPsec VPNs) have been most popular, but now a new technology is gaining a lot of support.

Last month, the Stamford, Conn.-based research firm Gartner Inc. came out with a research note on Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) remote access for enterprises. At the same time, In-Stat/MDR included SSL in its network security report. After a slow first year, SSL is starting to gain acceptance as a remote access technology for enterprises.

Using SSL, employees can access the network from any device that supports a Web browser. There is no client for admins to manage, because the client is Internet Explorer. Users simply sign on, get authenticated and access Web-based applications and files.

“For short duration connections, this is a very simple, great way to enable more people to get work done while reducing the burden on the company,” said John Girard, research director of Gartner’s security group.

It is an approach that is likely to catch on. While in 2002, SSL generated $21 million in revenue, Jaclynn Bumback, an analyst with the Scottsdale, Ariz.-based research firm In-Stat/MDR, projects that SSL revenue will rise to $1.3 billion by 2007.

Part of the growing popularity of the approach is that it gives employees remote access without the added expense of deploying and managing a VPN, Bumback said. In a recent survey, In-Stat/MDR found that, on average, companies give 25% of employees remote access to information.

However, she said that most companies wanted to extend that access to larger groups of employees because companies see productivity gains when workers can access corporate information from home.

The ease of access to the network is one of the features that drew the Buffalo, N.Y.-based Catholic Heath System, a regional group of health care facilities, to SSL. Remote access, especially for physicians, is a necessity, said Doug Torre, director of networking and technical services for the health care system.

Using VPNs as the primary remote access technology was a challenge, Torre said. Since physicians are always on the move, they often use home computers and computers in private practices to access hospital networks. Managing VPNs across all of these unrelated systems was nearly impossible, Torre said.

“IPsec VPNs are a nightmare. Literally, they are that thing that wakes you up in the middle of the night screaming,” Torre said.

With SSL, a physician can have Web-based access from any device that supports a browser, whether it’s a PC, a Mac or a PDA, and it doesn’t matter whose computer it is.

Security, Torre said, has not been a problem with SSL. The encryption level is high, and the users are authenticated.

But SSL is not likely to be a replacement for IPsec VPNs, said Gartner’s Girard. There will always be some people in the company that need the highest possible level of encryption and access, and those that need to be connected all day long from company computers. SSL is better suited to those that only need to quickly check e-mail or update files on the road.

SSL is certainly going to be part of the authentication mix going forward, Bumback said. Right now, smaller companies rule the market, but the big players are starting to move in. Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. and Nortel Networks Ltd. have SSL products in the works. While these products lack much of the functionality that smaller players like Neoteris Inc. and Aventail Corp. provide, they show an understanding of the importance of this new approach to remote access, Bumback said.

*Hockey 2002: Go north, young man – and woman*

December 25, 2002

By Daren Smith SportsTicker Hockey Editor

JERSEY CITY, New Jersey (Ticker) – It’s been almost a decade since a Canadian team captured the Stanley Cup. But make no mistake, Canada was the center of the hockey universe in 2002.

Canada reclaimed its hockey supremacy during two rollercoaster weeks in February in Salt Lake City.

The 2002 Winter Games did not begin well for a country that had gone a half-century since its last Olympic men’s hockey gold medal. Canada was whipped by Sweden in its first game, looked unimpressive in a win over Germany and settled for a tie with the Czech Republic to complete the preliminary round.

That did not sit well with the folks back home. So Team Canada general manager Wayne Gretzky pulled a page from his nation’s rich hockey history and launched into a vitriolic defense of the team that conjured memories of Phil Esposito’s sweat-drenched plea during the 1972 Summit Series.

“I just felt that the team was feeling a little bit stressful, a little bit tight, and I just felt I had to step forward and get all the focus off the guys and turn the focus in a different direction,” Gretzky explained later.

The pieces began to fall into place as the Canadians edged Finland, 2-1, then blitzed overmatched Belarus, 7-1, to earn a spot in the gold medal game. Tiny Belarus had pulled one of the great upsets in Olympic hockey by eliminating the Swedes.

Awaiting Canada was the United States, the only unbeaten team in the tournament. History appeared to rest with the Americans, who were unbeaten in 24 consecutive contests on U.S. soil.

But Gretzky had a secret weapon. Before the Olympic tournament began, ice maker Trent Evans, an Edmonton native, buried a “loonie” – a $1 Canadian coin – under the faceoff circle at center ice.

“The Greeks built good luck hero statues of Hercules and Adonis, the Irish have the Blarney Stone and four-leaf clovers and the Canadians have the Salt Lake Loonie,” Hockey Hall of Fame curator Phil Pritchard said.

The loonie earned a spot in the Hall of Fame thanks to Canada’s 5-2 victory in the gold medal game.

Eight months after leading the Colorado Avalanche <“>http://sports.yahoo.com/nhl/players/7/7/> scored two goals and set up two others for Canada. He got the go-ahead goal on the power play with 1:41 to go in the second period, assisted on Jarome Iginla <.”>http://sports.yahoo.com/nhl/players/6/686/>. “Winning the gold kind of reassures Canada.”

Two days before the Canadian men ended their drought, the women avenged their only loss in major international competition with a 3-2 triumph over the United States.

The U.S. defeated Canada to win the inaugural women’s hockey gold medal four years earlier in Nagano. But Canada got even on American soil.

Hayley Wickenheiser, the Gretzky of Canadian women’s hockey, put her team in front just over four minutes into the second period, and Jayna Hefford scored the back-breaker just a second before period ended.

The NHL took off nearly three weeks to allow its players to participate in a second straight Winter Games. Once the break was over, the Detroit Red Wings <“>http://sports.yahoo.com/nhl/teams/car/> in five games.

The turning point was Game Three, when 41-year-old Igor Larionov <“>http://sports.yahoo.com/nhl/players/2/260/> also retired.

But the Red Wings don’t rebuild, they reload. Free agent Curtis Joseph <“>http://sports.yahoo.com/nhl/teams/ott/> at $95 million, Calgary Flames <“>http://sports.yahoo.com/nhl/teams/edm/> at $86 million.

Those are the teams with the most to lose as the league struggles to reach 2003-04, when its collective bargaining agreement with the NHL Players Association expires.

And that’s the story that figures to dominate the headlines as hockey begins the new year.

———–

Anyway, what’s afoot right now is a major hellstorm of flame email targeted at this moron. He made a big mistake when he took a piss on Canada. His email is WoodyPaige [at] aol [dot] com . Make it hurt. Pass it on.

-Ian.

—- http://www.denverpost.com/Stories/0,1002,111%7E20077,00.html

By Woody Paige Denver Post Sports Columnist

Thursday, April 12, 2001 – Woe is Canada.

I feel sorry for Canadians.

“Canada is a country where nothing ever seems to happen,” wrote author Carol Shields. “A country you wouldn’t ask to dance a second waltz.” A country that rarely has a team in the second waltz of the playoffs.

Other than arguing over which language to speak, hockey is the national pastime.

Yet, a Canadian hockey team hasn’t won an NHL championship since all the people spoke Iroquoisese, eh?

And that streak won’t end this year.

Three of the four Canadian clubs in the playoffs will be eliminated in the first round, and the only reason there won’t be a four-gone conclusion is that Toronto is playing Ottawa. One must advance – and will be dumped in the second round.

Take the Vancouver Caknuckleheads. Please. They open the postseason tonight at The Can against the Colorado Avalanche.

Vancouver’s Marc Crawford, who used to coach a talented team, is reduced to rolling out goons, buffoons and Princess Dyes. Three Vancouver forwards – and the all-important assistant equipment manager – have dyed their hair blond before the first game. The Avs must be scared out of their sweaters. The Caknuckleheads are going to try to dazzle ’em with their ‘dos.

Given the brute style of hockey the Caknuckleheads prefer to play, Avalanche coach Bob Hartley would be wise not to to risk injury by scratching Ray Bourque, Rob Blake, Joe Sakic, Peter Forsberg and Patrick Roy (none of whom has gotten a roots tint) and let the Hershey Bears win four in a row.

The Caknuckleheads, making a playoff appearance for the first time in five seasons, are missing Markus Naslund and Andrew Cassels and don’t know whether to start Bob Essena or Dan Cloutier in goal. Doesn’t matter. The Avs won’t take pity on either. The only edge Vancouver has is that Crawford’s hair is more stylish than Hartley’s. The Avalanche management doesn’t even have to short-sheet Crow’s bench. The only exciting matchup in the series is Crawford vs. Pierre Lacroix.

Can’t we get this over with and get on with a good United States opponent?

North Dakota calls itself “The Peace Garden State” because there is a peace garden (which reportedly blooms one weekend in July) on the border with Canada, as if we have to worry about peace with our northern neighbors, who still bow to a queen who lives on a distant island. Canada may be the world’s second-largest country in land mass, but a U.S. invasion and takeover would be finished by brunch.

Like this series – which will be over after three games and six minutes into the fourth.

Once again, by the conference finals, Canadians will be innocent bystanders, cheering only for Don Cherry’s outfits and outbursts.

The NHL is too wound up about expanding the playoffs when, instead, the league should be aiding and abetting Canada.

If it weren’t for Canada, where would so many of us have hidden out during the Vietnam War?

There should be realignment to give the Canadians, including the Canadiens (and their new Colorado owner), hope in the postseason.

Canada should an occasional prospect for reclaiming the Stanley Container.

As always, I’m here with a solution.

Divide the league into four conferences – North, South, Midwest/West and Canada.

North: Buffalo, Boston, New York Islanders, New York Rangers, New Jersey Devils, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and Detroit.

South: Washington, Carolina, Nashville, St. Louis, Dallas, Atlanta, Tampa Bay and Florida.

Midwest/West: Minnesota, Chicago, Colorado, Phoenix, San Jose, Los Angeles, Anaheim and Columbus.

Canada: Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, Vancouver, Edmonton and Calgary.

The top four teams from each conference – a total of 16, same as now – would move onto the playoffs, with Nos. 1 and 4 and 2 and 3 meeting in the opening round.

For instance, the conference champion, Colorado, would play Phoenix, and San Jose would play Los Angeles.

After two intraconference series, the winners would reach the conference finals.

What’s different? Canada annually would be guaranteed of sending four teams to the playoffs and would be assured of having one in the conference finals, with a 50 percent chance of being represented in the Stanley Cup Finals. As an example, this year it could have been the Avalanche from the Midwest/West, Dallas from the South, Detroit from the North and Ottawa from the Canada conferences.

Canada would alternate in the conference finals against the other three.

There.

Otherwise, Canadians are forced to watch ice fishing and curling in May and June.

http://www.nhl.com/onthefly/standings/conf_stand.html

Conference standings reflect the order in which teams would qualify for the playoffs. Division leaders (marked with a *) are automatically seeded first through third.

EASTERN CONFERENCE

Rank Team GP W L T OTL GF GA PTS

1 NEW JERSEY * 82 48 19 12 3 295 195 111 2 OTTAWA * 82 48 21 9 4 274 205 109 3 WASHINGTON * 81 40 27 10 4 231 210 94 4 BUFFALO 81 46 29 5 1 217 182 98 5 PHILADELPHIA 81 42 25 11 3 238 206 98 6 PITTSBURGH 81 41 28 9 3 275 252 94 7 TORONTO 82 37 29 11 5 232 207 90 8 CAROLINA 81 38 31 9 3 208 219 88

WESTERN CONFERENCE

Rank Team GP W L T OTL GF GA PTS

1 COLORADO * 81 51 16 10 4 266 190 116 2 DETROIT * 82 49 20 9 4 253 202 111 3 DALLAS * 82 48 24 8 2 241 187 106 4 ST LOUIS 82 43 22 12 5 249 195 103 5 SAN JOSE 81 39 27 12 3 213 191 93 6 EDMONTON 82 39 28 12 3 243 222 93 7 LOS ANGELES 82 38 28 13 3 252 228 92 8 VANCOUVER 82 36 28 11 7 239 238 90

-Ian.