CSI Vancouver

Hear ye, hear ye, all ye conspiracy theorists. I invite you to the case of the dastardly Swedes. However; these Swedes are not dastardly, just made out to be so. They were framed I tell you, framed!

It's a classic case, of a double switch, pulled off by identical twins!

Here's the deal. I was making a diagram to show the incredible pass made last night by Joe Thornton to Grant Stevenson for the Sharks first goal. Since it was a really long pass, pulled off on even strength, I decided to add coloured dots to show the approximate position of the players on the ice at the time of the pass. Then I decided to (by using the nhl.com highlight machine's clip of the goal) record the corresponding player numbers for the dots. I couldn't find all the players, so I decided to do a quick cross-reference with the official scoresheet. Here's the diagram (if you click on it it should zoom to a larger size).


There's Thornton (19) at the left end of the long line, and there is Stevenson on the right (37). Now, here's the problem, everyone seems to be in place as verified by the video highlights except for two players on the Canucks. Player 14 and a player I have listed as "?". Both are around the faceoff circle to the left of the Sharks goalie Toskala (#35). Here's what happened.

As I was cross referencing with the official scoresheet, I noticed that the Sedin twins (#22 & #33) were both listed as being on the ice at the time of the goal. There are three skaters that are clearly shown as being on the ice (#44 Bertuzzi, #2 Ohlund, #23 Brown) a fourth whose identity is not so clear but can be easily deduced, and a fifth whose identity is a mystery. Quite clearly, the fourth player on the ice for Vancouver can bee seen to have a number 4 on his jersey. There are three players who were dressed for Vancouver last night that have a number 4 on their jersey, they are; Todd Bertuzzi (#44), Nolan Baumgartner (#4), and Alexander Burrows (#14). Bertuzzi is clearly shown on the ice as another player, and the player with number 4 clearly shows another number preceding it on the jersey, possibly a 1. If that player is Burrows, and three other players are clearly shown by video evidence to be Bertuzzi, Ohlund and Brown, then both the Sedin twins could not possibly have been on the ice for that first Sharks goal. I contend that neither of them were on the ice at all, and that mysterious player "?" was actually #20 Ryan Kesler! (This is where I would slam my big textbook in the courtroom to underline my point with a loud bang)

What's the point? Twain said there are three types of lies in this world: lies, damn lies and statistics. Statistics are recorded by humans, and we all make mistakes. However, the plus minus of the Sedin Twins is affected by this, and I have no idea as to the contract details of any players in the NHL, but quite possibly there are incentives or salary bonuses that kick in for specific plus-minus milestones.

Where are the checks and balances for the NHL? This is clearly an internal issue, and I have no business in it, but I found something, and I figured people should know about it.

Oh yes, before I forget. With the win last night over the Canucks, the Sharks clinched a playoff spot. James Mirtle believes that Joe Thornton should win the Hart Trophy. Question, if Thornton does, would he be the first ever Hart Trophy winner to win be traded within that season? I have a friend who is a veritable hockey encyclopedia, his name is Greg Oliver (not the same one who writes wrestling columns for the Sun Media newspapers)(to all those that have googled "Greg Oliver" to get here, I would like to say 'hello'), and he would know. As soon as Greg lets me know, I'll let you know.