Tuesday, March 22, 2005

Money, Money changes everything!

Hot on the heals of the Modo debacle comes word that another line up of European hockey squads stacked with NHLers has been eliminated from the playoff chase.

The latest to ingloriously head for the golf course is AK Bars Kazan which had high hopes for the Russian league playoffs this year. Kazan had gone out and attracted 15 NHL stars to its lineup, making it the most expensive and star studded team in the world this year. By signing the likes of Dany Heatley, Vincent Lecavalier, Darius Kasparitus, Alexei Zhinik and Fred Brathwaite to name a few, the plan was to rule the Russian league and capture the championship and on paper it seemed like a sure bet, but as they say the game isn't played on paper.

Getting in the way of the dreams of Kazan was the fabled Lokomotiv hockey squad which has brought in eight soldiers of fortune of their own, and they were more than up to the task as they edged out the Kazan squad in four games of the best of five quarter final.

Sadly for AK Bars Kazan they should have know earlier on this year what would be their fate and saved some cash, as they began their wild spending ways the team was soon to be known as the New York Rangers East and as any hockey fan worth their weight in pucks could tell you, that's a recipe for an early playoff exit if ever there was one!

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