BC Sculptor Immortalizes Vancouver Canucks Coach

Vancouver, BC, Canada (PRWEB) April 10, 2011

Abbotsford sculptor Norm Williams (http://www.normwilliams-sculptor.com) figures it was his passion for hockey that lead the Vancouver Canucks to choose him to create a bronze sculpture of legendary NHL coach Roger Neilson. The larger than life sculpture is located outside of Gate 3 at Rogers Arena in Vancouver, and was unveiled on April 7, 2011 as part of the team?s 40th anniversary celebrations. The sculpture of Roger stands 12 feet tall from his feet to the top of the extended hockey stick. It weighs approximately 750 pounds.

The sculpture depicts Neilson waving a towel at the end of a hockey stick. It captures the moment during a 1982 playoff game against the Chicago Blackhawks, when Neilson felt the Canucks were continually and unfairly penalized during the third period. He took a trainer's white towel and held it on a hockey stick, as if to wave a white flag. By doing this, Neilson inadvertently started an NHL tradition. It is a playoff tradition that continues to this day and is widely copied by other sports teams around the world.

Norm was one of several sculptors initially considered for the project. He knew his competition would be steep, so he had to find a way to stand out beyond the quality of his work.

He focused on the fact that he was a local boy with a deep passion for hockey, and made the case that such a piece would require someone with a lot of hockey knowledge. ?My edge was my understanding of hockey. Serious hockey fans care about the details. If something about the subject?s expression or movement doesn?t ring true, then they are not going to like it.? 67-year-old Williams is a Canucks fan of long-standing and began following the team before they entered the NHL.

?You would be surprised at how little good photography there is of Neilson from the early 1980s. There are either posed photos where he?s looking straight at the camera and smiling, or action shots that are quite grainy,? explains Norm. ?In 1982 I was watching that game of course, and I remember the moment when he waved the towel and how he looked. His facial expression was one of exasperated defiance. Really it was a polite middle finger to the officials, and they took it that way by ejecting him from the game.?

He began work on the sculpture in July 2010 and completed the plaster version of it at the beginning of January 2011. At that point it was shipped to the IN BRONZE foundry in Langley, BC where it was cast in bronze.

Norm studied under well know sculptors Bill Reid, Bill Koochin and Leonard Epp. The focus of Norm?s sculpture is realism that portrays nature or historical events. Norm?s studio is in a barn on his Abbotsford property. Norm has worked in private collections throughout North America, as well as England, Germany, Japan and China.

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Can Hockey Fights Help the Vancouver Canucks Win Games?

Vancouver, BC (PRWEB) December 29, 2011

The controversy over NHL hockey fights has prompted PowerScoutHockey.com, known as the ?Moneyball? of the NHL, to become the first known company to measure and publish the statistical impact of fighting on NHL games.

The results will surprise many Vancouver Canucks fans because the PowerScout advanced graphs do show that some fights can have a significant impact on a game, even be game-changers in some cases. To evaluate this impact, they used a graph called the Momentum Meter?.

?The Momentum Meter tracks how often shots on goal happen to estimate the ups and downs of team momentum in real-time for every NHL game,? says Marc Appleby, President of PowerScout Sports, Inc. ?This makes it the first and only way I know of to see and measure the true impact of every NHL fight at-a-glance.?

Vancouver fans can see how a specific fight changed their team?s momentum in the October 15th game against the Edmonton Oilers when Dale Weise was involved in a fight with Theo Peckham late in the 2nd period. To view the actual Momentum Meter of that game, go to: http://tinyurl.com/blo2mez

?The Momentum Meter shows that the fight had a positive impact on the Canucks? momentum,? says Appleby. ?They got several even-strength shots on goal directly following the fight, creating a change in momentum, and resulting in a goal by Alexandre Burrows before the period was out.?

To gain a larger scope of the influence of fights on NHL games, the company analyzed 1,563 fights going back to the 09/10 season using their game archives. They have determined that a fight has a positive effect on at least one team's momentum in 76% of fights and increases the momentum for both teams about 1 out of every 4 fights (23%). This research was done using the Momentum Meter, looking specifically at the increase in team momentum in the three minutes following the fight.

Appleby agrees that the controversy is far from over and believes that PowerScout's unique momentum perspective and research will likely add to the controversy as fans can now clearly see how fights impact games.

?I believe that this new way to look at hockey will fuel the passion of NHL fans and will generate more debate at every level.?

The Momentum Meter is part of a more advanced package designed for hockey professionals and NHL General Managers, but PowerScout is making many parts of it available to all NHL fans because they believe it will change the way people look at NHL hockey.

Busy fans can see the Biggest Impact Fight from any NHL game played the previous night by visiting the daily ?Games-at-a-Glance? or see the latest research into the impacts of fights at their Fighter?s Corner blog sections located on the home page of http://www.powerscouthockey.com


BACKGROUND ON THE CONTROVERSY

A Canadian survey published by Angus Reid in November shows that hockey fights are still a draw to more than half of all NHL fans. However the mood may be shifting because another survey by Forum Research published by TSN.ca on December 16th shows that 60% of Canadians who watch and follow hockey believe fighting should be banned from the NHL.

Although a hockey fight can create an exciting hockey game, the controversy intensified this past summer after the tragic deaths of NHL enforcers Derek Boogaard (New York Rangers), Rick Rypien (Vancouver Canucks & Winnipeg Jets), and Wade Belak (Nashville Predators).

As a result of these events, former NHL player Chris Nilan was interviewed and quoted in a September Toronto Sun article saying that it was time for NHL commissioner Gary Bettman to snuff out fighting for good. A well-known former enforcer, Nilan played with the Montreal Canadiens, Boston Bruins, and New York Rangers.

Nilan later clarified his position in a follow-up October Sun article by Mike Zeisberger. He said that he had not called for a complete ban on fighting but that he believed the NHL itself doesn?t want fighting in the game, therefore challenging them: ?why don?t they just take it out.?

The CBC?s Don Cherry became the center of controversy after he called Chris Nilan, Stu Grimson, and Jim Thomson ?pukes? and ?turncoats? and accused them of being hypocrites for raising the question of whether fights should be banned ? Cherry later apologized to them.

NHL hockey fights have been a safety and health concern for years. Some encouraging research by a professor at Georgetown and Washington Hospital Center has provided some encouraging news recently in an article published this October by the National Post.

The Post quoted the conclusion of Dr. David Milzman that the NHL is correct to be concerned about the link between blows to the head and concussions, but that his research has convinced him that hockey fights are not causing concussions.

One of the world?s leading concussion experts has recently made a different conclusion. Professor Blaine Hoshizaki and his team at the University of Ottawa?s Neurotrauma Science Impact Lab shared some surprising lab research during a Rogers Sportsnet broadcast in late November.

Hoshizaki was asked to reproduce the speed and power of hockey punches to the head and to study their effects. He found that players who get punched either in the jaw or receive a traditional headshot are likely to get one of two types of concussions. He strongly recommends that players not take their helmets off during hockey fights.

About PowerScout Sports Inc.

PowerScout Sports Inc. is the leader in real-time sports analytics and statistical scouting. Using its cutting-edge technology platform for analyzing sports statistics, PowerScout provides the most innovative tools for fans, media and professional managers to track teams and players with unprecedented detail. Their flagship NHL hockey system uses advanced tools like their real-time game Momentum Meter and Dominance Curve, enhanced NHL standings, as well as daily NHL Power Rankings, advanced NHL teams and players, and a ground-breaking way to get NHL scores. PowerScout's core business values are to harness passion, innovate to elevate, learn and grow, and to strive for excellence.

For media or blog interviews, contact:

Marc Appleby

CEO, Solutions Architect

PowerScout Sports, Inc.

http://www.powerscoutsports.com

Tel: 819-459-2745

Email: media(at)powerscouthockey(dot)com

Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/Marc_Appleby

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