Thomas deserves every penny By Garth McLennan, Sports Editor ports are filled with feel-good stories S and hockey is no exception. Perhaps the best story in the NHL right now is the emergence of Boston Bruins goaltender Tim Thomas, who has to be considered hockey’s version of Rocky Balboa. Thomas, 34, was recently signed to a new four-year contract extension worth $20 million. The deal will pay him $6 million in his first and second seasons followed by $5 million in year three and $3 million in the final year. To say the least, this is a much- deserved reward for Thomas, who earned a relative pittance of $1.1 million this season while delivering Vezina Trophy-calibre play over a campaign that saw the Bruins clinch first place in the Eastern Conference. Despite being one of the older players in the NHL, Thomas is only now getting established as a veteran star. After being drafted in the ninth round, 217" overall way back in 1994, Thomas took the scenic route to the NHL, to put it lightly. Over the course of his professional career he’s suited up in several different minor league circuits for multiple teams and has traveled to Finland to play a number of times. After battling for Boston’s AHL affiliate, the Providence Bruins, in 2004, Thomas returned once again to Finland during the lockout of 2005. Thomas found stardom there and dominated the league en route to being named the league’s MVP. Instead of taking the safe path and remaining in Finland, Thomas decided to give North America one more shot and resumed playing for Providence at the beginning of the 2005-06 campaign. Halfway through the year he was called up to the Boston Bruins and he’s been there ever since. After joining the club on a permanent basis, Thomas was expected to be nothing more than an experienced back up for starter Andrew Raycroft, but Thomas had other plans. After Raycroft faltered, Thomas seized his opportunity and managed to play 38 games. Since then, the start of every season has remained the same. The Bruins have a hot shot young goaltender given the “goalie of the future” tag and Thomas is booked to ride the bench. And every season the same thing happens: Tim Thomas outplays everyone else, from Raycroft to & ’ ors, PO al Hannu Toivonen to Manny Fernandez, and as the years have progressed, so has his game. Thomas’ stats have improved across the board year by year and have reached their pinnacle this season. He has five shutouts and an NHL best .933 saves percentage to go along with a sparkling 2.07 GAA that is right up there in the upper echelon as well. Despite these tremendous numbers, Thomas was left off of the fan polling list for the league’s annual all-star game. Thomas has made a career of beating the odds and coming back, no matter what the situation. Each and every year he’s proved a sea of critics wrong and with a new contract in hand, it looks like he’ll be an NHL staple for years to come. Pacquiao proves he’s the best By Garth McLennan, Sports Editor 2009. It was supposed to be an epic war between two of the best boxers on the planet today. It was supposed to prove who truly is the best pound-for-pound combatant out there. Well, Manny Pacquiao vs. Ricky Hatton was certainly decisive, and it left little doubt in anyone’s mind as to who really is the best in the world. Pacquiao, the 30-year-old warrior from the Philippines, annihilated the 30-year-old Englishman Hatton. Heading into the bout, the fight looked hard to handicap. The odds seemed pretty even. Pacquiao was dominant over Oscar De Le Hoya in a match that earned him the moniker of the world’s best boxer from Ring magazine back in December, but De Le Hoya was washed up and didn’t exactly pose a challenge. Meanwhile, Hatton entered Saturday with an impressive 45-1 record and as a powerful force in the light- welterweight division. Pacquiao destroyed Hatton. The highly hyped match that took place at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas was reminiscent of a late ‘80s Mike Tyson fight. Pacquiao came out flying and scored two convincing knockdowns in the first round, both of which Hatton rose from. Hatton barely made it to the bell but came out for the second looking confident. That feeling didn’t last long though as Pacquiao, who fights southpaw, confused Hatton with a right jab before landing a I: was supposed to be the ultimate fight of >. thunderous left hand that could have shook the gates of Hell open, right on the jaw. The blow was so devastating that Hatton’s jaw moved about three solid inches. His eyes rolled back and his hands dropped. Hatton didn’t rise from the mat for a full ten minutes afterwards. The question now becomes, what’s next for Pacquiao? With the destruction of Hatton, he improves to 49-3-2 and has only one notable name left to truly prove that he’s the best in the world, Floyd Mayweather. Mayweather has recently announced his return from a brief one-year retirement and is set to fight Juan Manuel Marquez on July 7", Assuming the undefeated Mayweather, who currently sits with a 39-0 record at age 32, beats Marquez, all roads seem to lead to a superfight clash between Pacquiao and Mayweather. As good as Pacquiao is, he’ll be in tough against Mayweather, who can lay a legitimate claim to being in the top five pound-for-pound fighters in history. Mayweather has never lost and has KO’ed 25 of his opponents. His last fight also came against Hatton, where he scored a tenth round knockout. Like Pacquiao, he’s among the fastest boxers in the world. Both have tremendous hand and foot speed and both can sneak in bombs from out of nowhere. Pacquiao’s trainer hinted at a Mayweather-Pacquiao clash somewhere down the line and if it ever does come together, it could be a fight that comes along once ina generation. playing just 36 games. Canucks’ top prospects are excelling By Garth McLennan, Sports Editor \ N ] ho says Vancouver doesn’t have great prospects? They may not have the depth of young players like Chicago does or the absolute cream of the crop like the Los Angeles Kings, but the Canucks are certainly doing alright for themselves with goaltender Cory Schneider and Brampton Battalion center Cody Hodgson. Schneider, who plays with Vancouver’s AHL affiliate, the Manitoba Moose, recently won the Aldege Bastien Memorial Award as the AHL’s best goaltender for this season. In 40 regular season games in hockey’s top-level minor league, Schneider led the league with an impressive 2.04 GAA with finished with a sparkling .928 saves percentage, good enough to top the AHL. He also posted five shutouts, which placed him third in the league. Despite his relatively low games played total, he was still ranked sixth in the league for wins with 29 This was a resurgent season for Schneider, who came to the Canucks with the 26" overall draft pick in the 2004 NHL entry draft out of Boston College. Last year was a tough one for the big stopper from Marblehead, Massachusetts. He had a rough time adjusting to the pro game and acclimating to the increased road schedule. His play faltered and Manitoba’s other goalie, Drew MacIntyre, excelled. Schneider ended up He played a similar number of games this year, but that wasn’t because of poor play. When Roberto Luongo went down with a lengthy injury earlier in the season, Schneider was called upon by the Canucks. He was shaky while splitting games with Curtis Sanford, but showed flashes of brilliance. After returning to Manitoba, Schneider, 23, continued to improve and wound up leading a strong Moose team to a division title. Over the entire season, Schneider allowed more than three goals in just five games. With play like that, it’s no wonder he was named to the 2008-09 AHL first all-star team. Meanwhile, Cody Hodgson hasn’t exactly been slouching either. This year The Hockey News named him as the second best NHL prospect in the world behind Columbus’ Anze Kopitar. Hodgson was drafted 10" overall last summer and was the last cut to make the team. Unlike a lot of players who get returned to the minors or juniors, Hodgson didn’t sit around and pout. Saying that he’s had a breakout season this year would be an understatement. After leading the World Junior Championships in scoring and being a driving force behind Canada’s gold medal effort, Hodgson put together a 23-game point scoring streak that included a remarkable 40 points in that period. He was the MVP of the OHL all-star game and has twice been named the OHL player of the month this year. In 53 regular season games this year Hodgson had 43 goals, 49 assists and 92 points, which put him fourth in the league scoring race. He led the Battalion in scoring and became the first player in franchise history to post back-to- back 40 goal campaigns. He also proved that he’s a clutch player as over a quarter of his goals (11) were game winners. The annual OHL coach’s poll was very favourable to Hodgson as well. He was named the league’s smartest player for the second straight season ~ and also won for top faceoff man, best penalty killer and the hardest shot. 19