The second episode of 24/7 taught us a few things, one of them being that Mike Babcock can, in fact, lose his cool.
Leaning heavily on the coach speak he’s got a great handle on, Babcock kept his chin up and implored his Detroit Red Wings players to do the same despite the team’s struggles early in the show. More than once he referenced body language, barking at players not to hang their heads as they exited the ice after a bad period or game.
But as Detroit was getting its lunch fed to it by the Anaheim Ducks right in its own rink, Babcock snapped on the camera crew that was setting up for an intimate intermission shot.
“Get the f—k out of here,” he said to the people who’ve been chronicling the Wings’ ills from close range.
The situation wasn’t much different from the Toronto perspective, where coach Randy Carlyle has had plenty of opportunities to use colourful language himself. It’s not clear if the respective participants’ problems have made it more difficult to create an entertaining show, but it certainly can’t be helping. You have to believe neither Detroit nor Toronto is in particularly agreeable moods these days.
In addition to Babcock finally cracking, the episode included some other noteworthy moments:
– Though he doesn’t play for either of the teams being featured, Pittsburgh Penguins captain Sidney Crosby may have stolen the show with a great self-aware line. It happened during an on-ice exchange with Toronto captain Dion Phaneuf while the officials were sorting out some penalties. Phaneuf accused Crosby of giving him a little shot from behind, to which Crosby replied with an incredulous look and the following honest assessment of his physical prowess: “I don’t hit anyone. I haven’t hit anyone all season.”
– Another great moment in the show also involved Crosby. He’d gotten mixed up with Leafs centre Nazem Kadri and the confrontation came up before Toronto’s next contest, when Kadri was having his customary pre-game chat with his father, Sam.
“What was that Crosby giving you s–t for?” asked the senior Kadri in true dad fashion.
The shots of Kadri hanging out in his condo before the game was one of the rare glimpses we got of any of the players away from the rink in this episode, and the show could benefit from more of that type of footage.
– Perhaps the biggest revelation in the history of 24/7 came out in this episode when we learned Phil Kessel is a defence marvel. OK, it was a comment on his ping-pong technique, but still. When did you ever expect to hear those words in reference to the Leafs sniper?
– Even when they’re speaking in respectful tones, you can tell neither Jonathan Bernier nor James Reimer is overly thrilled with splitting time in the crease. There was a telling instance where Bernier was talking about how the media likes to hype the controversy by always speculating about which goalie is going to play.
“Most of the time you’ll guess wrong with Randy,” he said with a grin that heavily suggested he’s no better at climbing inside his coach’s head than the media.
From the Detroit perspective, Babcock was certainly the most dominant personality, though we did get a nice candid moment from defenceman Brendan Smith early on. He and teammate Justin Abdelkader were driving to a game versus the Penguins, and Smith was relaying the fact he’d been asked if he’d rather face Crosby or Evgeni Malkin. He basically laughed and said he knew it was going to be a long night either way, offering an honest look inside the mind of a good hockey player who knows how hard it is to stop really, really good hockey players.
Smith and the Wings lost that game, and if the L’s continue piling up for both clubs, the HBO crew can likely expect to hear a few more F bombs coming its way.