The Fitzpatrick Conspiracy!

The campaign to put Vancouver Canuck Rory Fitzpatrick into an all star sweater has suddenly hit a little internet turbulence. As the fan favourite who was packing away the votes a week ago, this week finds himself dropping down the list of the most wanted for Dallas.

Now conspiracy buffs will have visions of Gary Bettman and a gaggle of NHL VP’s sitting up late into the night, voting early and voting often, to make sure that the vision of Fitzpatrick donning an all star uni doesn’t come to pass.

This current all star voting process, which uses a process of one fan, many votes, now seems to have about as much reliability as a Florida presidential vote count, and we all remember how well that worked out!

The debate reached the point of nastiness over the weekend as both Don Cherry and Kelly Hrudey; CBC commentators on Hockey Night in Canada called the campaign for Fitzpatrick a bit of a joke.

Now while we can see Hrudey being computer literate enough to probably stay up late to sway some votes, the possibilities of Don Cherry successfully negotiating the keyboard to scupper Fitzpatrick seem remote.

But, over at the NHL offices, well you can sense the panic in the air at the possibility of the under achieving Canuck defenceman edging out a Niklas Lidstrom, Scott Neidermayer or Chirs Pronger.

With the latest results now tabulated, Fitzpatrick has dropped to third place, Scott Niedermayer of the Anaheim Ducks leads the defencemen with 540,380 votes, followed by Nicklas Lidstrom of the Detroit Red Wings at 522,345. Fitzpatrick has earned 486,842 votes.

If this were a game of Clue, the answer very well could be; Gary Bettman, in the office with a keyboard.

The above posting first appeared on my HockeyNation blog, for more items on hockey check it out!

Crosby's star shines brightly

Sidney Crosby is doing to the all star balloting process what he does to opposition teams, beginning to dominate the action. Crosby is in a commanding lead as the balloting continues to select the starting all stars for the 2007 All Star Game in Dallas next year.

With 747,332 votes "The Kid" is the most popular choice to pull on an all star uniform on January 24th, his next closest compatriot is Washington's Alexander Ovechkin who has tallied 427,654 votes thus far in balloting.

The Western stats will be released on Wednesday, but it's expected that Vancouver's Rory Fitzpatrick will continue to rack up the votes as an intensive Internet campaign to have him selected to the Western team continues on at full speed.

At last count he had pulled in over 420,000 votes thanks to his moment of fame on the Internet, this despite the outspoken chastisements of both Don Cherry and Kelly Hrudey on Saturday nights Hockey Night in Canada broadcasts.

Both Cherry and Hrudey suggested that the idea of Fitzpatrick being named to the all star team was a bit of an embarrassment and both seemed to recommend that he politely decline the offer and not accept the draft should the Internet campaign prove to be in his favour.

While both Cherry and Hrudey are popular with the hockey public, they may find that the move to place Fitzpatrick on an all star roster is even more popular than them.

So far the numbers in favour of Fitzpatrick's place in Dallas seem to show that the fans don't always listen to their commentators as much as the commentators may think they do.

The above post first appeared on my HockeyNation blog, for more items about hockey check it out!

Roaring to get Rory to the All Star Game

He hasn’t played a game in a month, he’s at best a journeyman player in the NHL and if the ballot stuffing ways of the internet are any indication, Rory Fitzpatrick could very well be an all star selection by the time they drop the puck in Dallas in January.

Fitzpatrick who probably is at best at the lower end of the defensive depth chart on the Canucks, presently finds himself more in demand than Chris Pronger (perhaps he has a large fan base in Edmonton eh) Sergei Zubov and Dion Phaneuf (again that Edmonton base), If he’s looking to mail out a thank you card he direct his mail towards a Buffalo hockey fan, who has been busy pumping up Fitzpatrick for the game.

Steven Schmid launched the vote for Rory campaign with a website that seems to have caught the attention of hockey fans. Fitzpatrick from near by Rochester, NY is apparently a crowd favourite in Northern New York and they all seem to be computer literate. So far the site has received over 102 thousand hits as hockey fans browse the site to learn more about the sports most in demand write in candidate.

The Canuck’s have even gotten in on the act, not only have his team mates voted early and voted often, but the team has been busy producing Vote For Rory tee shirts for sale at Canuck games, a move that is sure to bring a phone call from the league head office in the not too distant future.

While it’s all in good fun, and Fitzpatrick would be living out the dream of every Canadian (or American) kid that ever put on a pair of skates, the fact that he’s even in the running points out how far the all star game has fallen as far as being a meaningful event. Back in the day, it was a battle between the league’s best players and the Stanley Cup champions, form there the conference system came into place where East would play West in a no hit, figure skating display of pass the puck.

The all star game doesn’t have much in relation to the NHL of today, even with the crackdown on violence and fouls. It very much is simply a skills competition, one which normally a journeyman wouldn’t be attending as a participant.

But as the votes roll in, Fitzpatrick gained 113,509 votes this week alone, more than any other Western Conference player, there’s every chance that Rory will be there on game day.While it seems foolish in a way, still perhaps Fitzpatrick would appreciate the invite more than some of the higher salaried stars who seem to treat the game like an imposition on their vacation time.

Fitzpatrick is currently sidelined form the Canucks lineup after taking a hit on his ankle on November 6th, he might want to keep an eye on Gary Bettman between now and January, you never know when Bob Clarke may be sent over the boards. In the end the NHL has nobody to blame but themselves, they created the system which left them ripe for ridicule. If each team were to end up with their own Rory Fitzpatrick nominated it might be a wake up call to make the game more meaningful.

However, in a sport crying out for media attention in the USA, the saga of Rory Fitzpatrick is gaining them much attention. It may not be exactly what they wanted, but as they say as long as you spell the name right…

The above post first appeared on my Hockey Nation blog, for more items about hockey check it out!