Latest news with #Hertl
Yahoo
19-05-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Bell on North Wilkesboro atmosphere: 'I love that we revived this race track'
Czechs Eyeing Kämpf If Leafs Lose Game 7; Hertl Hurt Czechia still has a free forward spot on its World Championship roster and the team is apparently eyeing David Kämpf in the event the Toronto Maple Leafs lose Game 7 of their Stanley Cup second-round playoff series to the Florida Panthers on Sunday. 1:03 Now Playing Paused Ad Playing
New York Times
15-05-2025
- Sport
- New York Times
In the NHL playoffs, finding the line — and sometimes crossing it — is half the battle
DALLAS — Vegas Golden Knights forward Tomáš Hertl went to the crease, as he's done countless times before. When his teammate Mark Stone had the puck behind the Edmonton Oilers net, Hertl knew exactly what was coming and what was expected of him. He planted himself at the top of Calvin Pickard's crease, got his stick on Stone's centering feed, and put it on net. Pickard stopped it. Referee Kelly Sutherland blew his whistle. The play was over. Advertisement But Hertl's adventure was just beginning. At this point, Edmonton's Darnell Nurse grabbed Hertl by the face with his left hand and wrapped his right arm around Hertl's shoulder. Adam Henrique — who had delivered a heck of a cross-check to Hertl's spine as he made his shot attempt, mind you — all but hopped on Hertl's back. Nurse and Henrique combined weigh a little more than 400 pounds, and they used all of it to drive Hertl down to the ice. Face-first. Yes, it hurt. No, a penalty wasn't called. 'I mean, it's fine,' Hertl said a couple of days later. 'It's the playoffs.' Once he finally peeled himself off the ice — it did take a few moments — Hertl jawed with an official as he skated back to the bench. But it's not as if he had much of a leg to stand on. You probably wouldn't feel too much empathy for the guy if you saw him do a full-blown Sumo shove on Minnesota's Ryan Hartman after winning a faceoff in the first round, then wrap and tackle Hartman like a linebacker, then ride him like a toboggan from the left circle to the low slot, only to have Stone bank a centering pass into the net off of him. 'It just looked bad because he fell down,' Hertl said with a shrug. 'I'm sure I did worse in the regular season.' The difference: In the regular season, a penalty would probably be called. In the playoffs, who knows? To a man, every player will tell you that Stanley Cup playoff games are more intense, more physical, more desperate than a nondescript game in January. Every slash is a little bit harder, every puck battle involves a little more holding, every hit comes a little bit closer to interference, every goalmouth scrum involves a half-dozen more cross-checks to the back, every post-whistle skirmish ends with shoves and facewashes and maybe even a few punches. Players are trying to rip sticks out of opponents' hands when the refs aren't looking, they're adding an extra shot or two after a hit along the boards, they're doing absolutely anything and everything they can to grind their opponents down. Everyone's inner Brad Marchand comes out in the playoffs. Advertisement Everyone's looking for the slightest advantage, both physical and psychological. And every official sees it all just a little bit differently. So, how do you find that ever-moving, ever-blurring line between what you can get away with and what you can't? When one power play can decide a game — a series, even — how do you bend the rules and push the limits of legality without getting caught? And how do you hold the line if you're an official? 'I don't know the answer,' laughed Edmonton's Corey Perry, one of the game's all-time great postseason line-steppers. 'You know when they call that first penalty. That's kind of when you see what you're getting away with, what you're not. Each game brings a different element, (but) you just go out and play the same way. Who knows? It's hockey.' Dave Jackson was ready. He had earned this opportunity, he deserved this opportunity. He had officiated plenty of regular-season games. And he had even served as a standby official for the playoffs for years. So when he got his first NHL playoff assignment, he was excited. 'Then I stepped on the other side of that glass,' Jackson said. From that first puck drop, Jackson was astonished by the speed and intensity of a playoff game compared with a regular-season game. When you're watching from above, you understand it's faster, it's rougher, but until you're on the ice yourself amid all those bodies crashing into each other at maximum velocity, you can't truly grasp the chaos. The way Jackson sees it, the refs aren't letting things go. They're just missing things. They're human, after all. 'It's ramped up exponentially,' said Jackson, a longtime NHL official who now serves as ESPN's rules expert. 'Things happen so fast that we can't (assume) that because something happens in front of the net that the referee decided that it was OK. It could be the fact that he simply missed it.' Players aren't the only ones who want the players to decide the game. The last thing an official wants to do is directly affect the outcome of a game. And in the cold calculus of the playoffs, in that frenetic maelstrom of malevolence, it's better to miss a call than make the wrong one. 'Guys' heads are on a swivel, looking everywhere,' Jackson said. 'And if you only catch the tail end of a play, I'm a firm believer that, rather than guess and be wrong, it's better you miss the penalty. If you guess and you're wrong and you put a team on the power play for two minutes, I believe that to be more impactful than missing a hook or a hold. You can live with a missed call. If you call something that's blatantly not a penalty, that creates issues. You don't want guys guessing. So just because a call goes uncalled, it doesn't mean the referee is calling a game any differently.' Advertisement In other words, when it comes to calling penalties, the standard remains the same. But the stakes are so much higher. The pressure is so extreme on the officials that Jackson developed coping mechanisms. He'd 'zone out' during the national anthems and start repeating a mantra in his head: 'Don't miss a penalty, and don't overreact to a penalty.' During stoppages in play, he'd repeat it to himself, and add things like, 'Work extra hard to get good sight-lines on every play, don't be lazy, move your feet, get in the right position.' He taught himself to wait an extra second to throw his arm up during the postseason, to give himself a moment to make sure he saw what he thought he saw. He'd still miss or botch calls, of course. And just like a player replaying a flubbed scoring chance over and over in his head, those misses keep referees up at night, too. There are still two calls — Jackson won't say which, because he doesn't need to remind any fans of his foibles — that haunt him. Both were follow-throughs that he incorrectly identified as high-sticking penalties. Both cost the teams a power-play goal. Despite all the spittle-spewing rants players direct at officials during games, the players really do understand this. It'll never ease the anger in the moment, but forgiveness comes more easily when things have quieted down. 'They have, like, the impossible job,' Henrique said. 'It's a thankless job. Nobody's ever happy, and it's always their fault. We always feel one way, they always feel the other way, and we always argue about it. Whether or not that does anything, well, I've never seen a guy argue a call and get it overturned because the ref says, 'You know what? You're right!' It's yet to be seen.' Officials do give players a little leeway, though. Henrique believes that the officials let more and more go as the playoffs go on — that first-round penalties aren't third-round penalties. And it makes sense, because as Winnipeg Jets forward Nino Niederreiter pointed out, the first round tends to be the most physical, as players are the most amped up before settling into the postseason grind. But the numbers don't exactly bear that out. In the first round this spring, there was an average of 7.83 minor penalties called per game, according to Evolving Hockey. In the second round, it's a comparable 7.56. Last year, the first round saw 7.43 minors per game, with 8.0 in round two, an anomalous 5.67 in the conference final, and 8.29 in the Stanley Cup Final. Advertisement But even players admit they're committing more penalties in the playoffs. It's just a matter of what gets called. 'Absolutely,' Niederreiter said. 'Because every single detail matters so much.' 'You know in your head if it's a penalty or not,' Henrique said. 'Whether it gets called or not, sometimes it's a different story.' Officials swear they try to call every game the same, but watch any playoff game and you'll see the difference. The obvious stick infractions — slashes, trips, hooks — still get called, but the rough stuff is typically let go. In Game 5 of the first round, Dallas Stars defenseman Lian Bichsel was rag-dolling Colorado forward Logan O'Connor all over the ice but wasn't penalized for any of it. Meanwhile, Stars forward Mikko Rantanen was called for a very soft tripping penalty in Game 3, even though Avalanche forward Valeri Nichushkin was falling on his own. In Game 2 of the second round, Bichsel was cross-checking Jets players left and right but was penalized only once, for a shot to Vladislav Namestnikov. In Game 2 of the Oilers-Golden Knights series, Vegas defenseman Noah Hanifin delivered three straight cross-checks to Evander Kane's back. Kane wheeled and responded with a two-hander of his own. No penalty. In that same game, Kane ran into Vegas goalie Adin Hill and was pounced on by Zach Whitecloud, who lay on top of Kane and delivered a few punches while he was prone on the ice. No penalty. And again in that game, Perry got two minutes for a rather modest cross-check to Vegas' Reilly Smith — right after getting away with a much nastier one on William Karlsson. It can feel arbitrary sometimes. And sometimes the only way to find the line is to take it too far. 'The refs have the line,' Bichsel said. 'You just have to find out and challenge the refs a little bit, too. You have to be close to that line. You have to be patient, too. You can't just skate around and kill guys or destroy guys. You have to be patient, and when you have an opportunity, you take it.' 'I feel like the ref sets the tone at the beginning of the game, how far you can go,' Niederreiter said. 'It's up to him. The more he lets go, the more physical the game gets, the more scrums you get. You can tell early, 'OK, the refs are actually going to call some of this.' The ref decides how far you can go.' Advertisement Every player knows the deal. While a clear trip will usually be called whether it's the first minute or last minute, the sneakier stuff, the rougher stuff, is less likely to be called in the third period or overtime. The judgment calls tend to be the first ones to go. Again, the officials do not want to decide the game, or worse, become the story. 'I don't want to be in their shoes,' Niederreiter said. 'It's like they can only lose.' Players know officials, and officials know players, especially seven months into a season. If a player knows that night's referee tends to be a little looser, he'll adjust accordingly. If he's known for calling everything, a player might dial it back that night. That door swings both ways, though: officials know exactly whom to keep an eye on, too. But familiarity can be helpful in another way. Some referees will issue unofficial warnings — maybe during a scrum, they'll yell at a player that he's about to get called for something, and the player will disengage. Or perhaps during a stoppage, a referee will swing by the bench and tell a player that if he pulls another stunt like the one he just did, he'll be headed for the penalty box. 'They do a good job of talking out there,' said Vegas defenseman Nicolas Hague, who took a five-minute major for cross-checking Edmonton's Trent Frederic in the face in Game 2. 'They kind of let you know. They'll let you know it was close back there, or that they'll be keeping an eye on certain stuff for the rest of the game. But listen, I think the refs have a tough job. Guys are playing hard, and the game moves quickly. They're going to make mistakes, same as us.' The question that remains is simple: Is this good for the game? Is it good to have nebulous standards of right and wrong, a moral ambivalence in the biggest, most pressure-packed games of the season? Well, yes and no. Players always say that they just want consistency. But when a standard trip is called in the dying minutes of a tied playoff game, they're outraged. Players want leeway, but not when it's the other guy flouting the rules. When a player is tripped, he throws his arms up as if to say, 'Where's the call?!' When a player trips someone else, he throws his arms up as if to say, 'But I didn't do anything!' Advertisement Asked if he likes the playoffs more physical and skirting that line, Hague said: 'Yeah, I like it. It's what makes the trophy so hard to win, right? It's a grind. You've got to go four series, and each one is its own little war. That's something you either shy away from or embrace.' But when asked if officials should adjust their standards in the playoffs, if they should let players run around with impunity, Hague said: 'Not really, no. The rules are still the rules.' Everyone wants it both ways. 'I think it should be a little more freewheeling out there,' Niederreiter said. 'But there does need to be a line.' Where that line is depends on the referee and what he's willing to allow. But it also depends on the players and how far they're willing to go. There are countless other factors, including the situation, how late in a game it is, how late in a series it is and how late in the playoffs it is. Finding that line is never easy, and the process of searching for it begins anew with each game. But finding it — skirting it, testing it and occasionally crossing it — is often the difference between moving on or going home. 'It is a fine line,' Henrique said. 'But it tends to be one that every team flirts with at some point. That's the playoffs.' (Top photo of Tomáš Hertl: Candice Ward / Getty Images)
Local Germany
23-04-2025
- General
- Local Germany
Germany's lesser-known beers that are worth a try
April 23rd is Germany's national beer day. As opposed to international beer day, which is celebrated in August, Germany's beer day is set on this date to commemorate the passage of the Reinheitsgebot (or the Purity Law) on April 23rd, 1516. The Purity Law stated that beer may only consist of water, malt, hops and yeast. Germany is home to around 6,000 different beers, according to a report by RND, and to recommend any of them above the others is sure to invite some serious backlash among German aficionados. As to my own credentials, I won't claim to be an expert, but I have drunk nearly 400 different German beers since I arrived in Germany, and I kept track of the good and the bad with a rating app. READ ALSO: 365 German beers - What I learned from drinking a different variety each day So, based on my own exploration of German beers, here are a few suggestions of some good, and lesser-known, brews that you could crack open to celebrate this special day. When in Bavaria While the whole country of Germany is known for its beer, Bavaria has really done some heavy lifting to build that reputation and keep it alive. Munich's Oktoberfest is the largest beer-drinking festival in the world, and a Lederhosen- wearing German with a litre of Helles in hand is undoubtedly the image that comes to mind for most people outside of the country when they think of German beer. Thanks in no small part to the aforementioned Reinheitsgebot (which originated in Bavaria) the Free State's most popular beers are classic types made by a handful of established breweries. By and large Bavaria is not the place to come looking for innovative, new craft breweries. It's where you come to find pure beer that's been brewed in the same way, and served in the same biergartens for centuries. A perfect, and somewhat lesser-known example of this is Kloster Andechs. Benedictine monks have been brewing beer at the Andechs Monastery since 1455. A more recent up-and-comer is the Giesinger Brewery. Founded in 2007, Giesinger has quickly become a local favourite around the Bavarian capital, but interestingly the Association of Munich Breweries has so far managed to prevent it from being called a 'Münchner Bier' or from being sold at Oktoberfest. Advertisement Not too far to the north, the Franconian region is home to its own collection of breweries. I've heard it said that upper Franconia is home to the highest number of breweries per capita in the world , but I've also seen other sources give that title to other places. One thing that's certain however, is that you could taste beers for a lifetime around here. Nuremberg is famous for its Rotbier (red beer) which get their colour from being stored in old wine barrels. One of my favourite German beers is the Nürnberger Rotbier by Hausbrauerei Altstadhof, which you can visit near the base of the city's castle. The Hertl brewery from this region is also worth a mention. If you are in the mood for something different, try Hertl's 'Schwiegervater's Stolz', which is their take on a smoked beer – a unique type that is especially popular in Bamberg. The classic Bamberg Rauchbier to try is called Aecht Schlenkerla – either the Märzen (Festbier) or the Urbock. READ ALSO: Travel in Germany - Sipping smoked beer and soaking up culture in beautiful Bamberg Advertisement When in Berlin Berlin's classic beers are all pretty plain pilsners, such as the well-known Berliner Pilsener or Kindl. But the German capital is also home to a number of smaller breweries that have started to gain some notoriety – at least in the local scene – and increasingly it's also home to some interesting craft breweries. A glass of beer rests on the counter at Eschenbräu in Berlin's Wedding neighbourhood. Photo: picture alliance / dpa | Henrik Josef Boerger BRLO is probably the Berlin craft brewery with the widest name recognition, but for something a little more interesting I'd say head to Eschenbräu or Vagabund - both based in the district of Wedding - instead. These both offer some of their own craft recipes as well as their takes on the German classics. In my opinion these smaller breweries feel a bit more authentic, and serve fresher tasting beers than the larger generic-feeling breweries. Advertisement Fuerst Wiacek is a Berlin-based micro brewery creating the kinds of uniquely branded recipes that would give even the wildest California-breweries a run for their money. This one doesn't have its own brick-and-mortar location, but you can find it at a number of bars and shops in Berlin and elsewhere. Another great Berlin-based brewery is Quartermeister, which has set itself the task of being the first beer 'for the common good', meaning the company is organised as a social enterprise and also supports local projects. Oh, and their beers are all really tasty of course!
Yahoo
21-04-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Wild Fall 4-2 In Game One Against Golden Knights
The last three playoff series for the Minnesota Wild that started with two road games, resulted in the Wild winning game one. Minnesota opened the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs on the road again, this time in Vegas to face the Golden Knights. The Wild opened the 2021 playoffs in Vegas and won 1-0 in overtime on a Joel Eriksson Ek goal. Advertisement This game was a little different. Thomas Hertl opened the scoring in the first period after he outworked Brock Faber in the slot and fired a shot over Filip Gustavsson's right shoulder, short side, Matt Boldy was able to answer back not long after and tie the game up at 1-1. Vegas got the next two goals to make it 3-1 before Boldy scored to make it a one-goal game. Vegas was able to score with the empty net, on the power play, with 0.1 seconds left. They walked away with a 4-2 win. In the second period, Eriksson Ek was called for a high-stick. This sent Vegas on the power play. Five seconds later, Pavel Dorofeyev, who was making his NHL Playoffs debut, scored to give Vegas a 2-1 lead. It came after Hertl beat Freddy Gaudreau on the face-off. Gaudreau then went to go to the point but was interfered with by Hertl. This left Marcus Foligno and Jake Middleton out of position trying to make up for Gaudreau on the ice after Hertl took him out. Advertisement Vegas controlled the puck on the point, with no attacker because he was on the ice, and found Dorofeyev wide open at the top of the circle for the one-timer. Wild head coach John Hynes was asked if he thought that was interference on Gaudreau. "Yes," Hynes said bluntly. In the first period, Ryan Hartman was skating through the Wild's defensive zone, without the puck-I might add, he was blindsided by Ivan Barbashev. No penalty call. Hartman skated to the bench very slowly and didn't take his next shift for a little bit. Wild bench wanted a penalty but never got one. Later in that period, Eriksson Ek was interfered with in the offensive zone after he got picked by one of the Vegas players. Advertisement A pick is when an opposing player just happens to skate right in front of the other team and causes that player not to make a play. Harmless play to say the least, but it is an interference penalty if we are looking at the rule book. Later in the third, Hartman is battling along the boards with Vegas defenseman Nicolas Hague. The puck is to the right of Hartman. Hague then turns around and sticks the shaft of his stick into Hartman's face and follows through with a body slam. WWE Wrestlemania was on Saturday and Sunday night in Vegas. Maybe Hague was inspired and wanted to try a move of his own. Advertisement No penalty call by referee Furman South, who could not have been closer to the play. The Wild showed up to play. They were more physical and had their chances. According to MoneyPuck, the Wild had 2.43 expected goals to Vegas's 2.67. They had their chances, but weren't able to put it together. Credit to Adin Hill, he played a great game in net for the Golden Knights. Vegas led the league in the fewest penalty minutes during the regular season. Whether that be a testament to their discipline or penalties that just weren't called, the Wild need to put that behind them for game two on Tuesday or they are in danger of being down 2-0 coming back home were they went 22-17-2 in the regular season.
CBS News
21-04-2025
- Sport
- CBS News
Howden scores twice and Golden Knights beat Wild 4-2 in Game 1
Brett Howden had never scored double-digit goals until this season. Then he went out and scored 23. Turns out, Howden isn't finished. He had what turned out to be the game-winning goal and later delivered an empty netter, and the Vegas Golden Knights opened their first-round Western Conference playoffs series with a 4-2 victory Sunday night over the Minnesota Wild. Golden Knights coach Bruce Cassidy said he told Howden to stick with what he did in the regular season rather than try to do too much in the playoffs. Howden had just six career postseason goals before this game. "He didn't change his game," Cassidy said. "He played physical. He's part of our penalty kill. He's always out when the goalie's out, typically one of the six guys we use a lot because of his versatility. He can play wing. He can take draws as a center. He's been real good for us all year and good again tonight." Tomas Hertl had a goal and an assist for the Golden Knights. "I've been long excited for this moment," Hertl said. "I always try to play my game, and I think it's kind of playoff style. I'm glad I could help the team today. It was a team effort." Pavel Dorofeyev scored the other Vegas goal, and Adin Hill made 18 saves. Matt Boldy scored both Wild goals, Kirill Kaprizov assisted on both and Filip Gustavsson stopped 23 shots. Game 2 is Tuesday night in Las Vegas. "I think both teams came to play hard," Wild coach John Hynes said. "Pretty strong defensive efforts. Not a lot of special teams in the game. I thought we did a lot of good things to build on moving forward." Both teams traded goals in the first period. Hertl took the puck from Minnesota's Brock Faber and hit the net from just inside the front side of the left circle. The Wild answered 2:20 later when Kaprizov delivered a cross-ice pass to Boldy, who scored off the rush. Dorofeyev scored the only goal in the second period when Hertl won the faceoff to open a power play. The puck went to Shea Theodore, who skated to the center and set up Dorofeyev for a blast from the right circle. Dorofeyev has scored goals in three consecutive games going back to the end of the regular season. Howden extended the Vegas lead to 3-1 early in the third period, but Boldy's wrap-around goal with 8:14 left brought Minnesota to within one. Howden added an empty-netter with less than 1 second remaining, the Golden Knights' second power-play goal. Wild 19-year-old defenseman Zeev Buium made his NHL debut by playing on the third pair with Zach Bogosian. He played 13:37 with a shot on goal. Buium was playing for Denver just 10 days earlier in the NCAA's Frozen Four. Linesman Bryan Pancich left the game 3:37 into the second period after a collision with Howden. Backup official Frederick L'Ecuyer took Pancich's place.
