In one of many classic episodes of Seinfeld, George Costanza famously tells Jerry (multiple times) to stuff his sorrys in a sac. Jerry repeatedly tells George he doesn't get it - and it's likely George doesn't either. Say the same thing to an NHL player who has just been bag-skated. He too might not understand, but he probably feels like stuffing something else into that sac. Like last night's dinner, perhaps.
The Bag Skate
The Double Tongued online dictionary offers the following definition of a bag skate
n. in hockey, a team practice made of repetitive, strenuous skating drills and sprints, usually without pucks. Also as a verb.
An NHL player who has been through the rigors of a bag skate might offer a more explicit characterization: skate 'till you puke.
Maple Leafs and Canadiens Bag Skate
After the Montreal Canadiens laid an egg in a 7-1 thrashing at the hands of the Canucks on October 7th, head coach Jacques Martin took it to his squad the following morning. Martin ran the Canadiens through a 45-minute session that was bookended with 20 minutes of hard skating drills.
in an article in the Globe and Mail, Habs forward Mike Cammalleri described the punishment as "an old school bag skate", adding that it was "the real deal".
The previous morning, another Original Six franchise was laboring through a skate 'till-you-heave session as Ron Wilson bag skated the Maple Leafs following a one-goal loss to the Senators. If Wilson could gaze into a crystal ball and see his team still winless after 7 games, he surely wouldn't have bag skated them after a 2-1 loss in a game in which the game winner was scored on a penalty shot. As of October 21st, it's been 20 days since the Leafs earned their only point of the season - a 4-3 overtime loss to Martin's Habs. That dubious honor alone might be cause enough for another gut-wrenching skate for the Bleu,Blanc et Rouge.
Hockey Movies
The bag skate has had some memorable cameos in some of the greatest hockey movies Hollywood has ever made, such as the film Miracle, which chronicles the United States' stunning gold medal win at the 1980 Olympics. Kurt Russell portrays US coach Herb Brooks. One of the movies more powerful scenes is a bag skate that follows a 3-3 draw with hockey lighweight Norway.
Russell is parked along the boards as his team skates from line to line until, by the very end, some players are collapsed on the ice while others, also too weak to stand, are doubled over on their knees. Midway through the skate, Russell, a sadistic fire emanating from cold sturgeon eyes, offers a brief respite so he can scold his players.
"Think you can win on talent alone?" he growls. "Gentlemen, you don't have enough talent to win on talent alone"
The message is terse yet unmistakably clear. You don't work hard in the game, then you will work hard after the game. The Americans roll on to capture just their second gold medal in the event. Message sent, message received.
Ten years earlier, in 1994's Mighty Ducks: D2, Gordon Bombay (portrayed by Emilio Estevez) runs his squad of misfits through a bag skate. Following a humiliating loss to Iceland, Bombay bag skates his players long into the night. The arena is barely lit. There are no pucks, no cones and no smiles. There is only the sound of blades cutting through the ice and the gutteral grunts of his players and they labor from line to line. For Bombay, though, the results aren't as positive. The punishment generates upheaval in the Ducks' dressing room and lands Bombay in hot water with the team's tutor after many of the players were nodding off in class the following day. Like in Miracle, the end result is the same, as Bombay's Team USA defeat Iceland in the gold medal game.
The bag skate has provided some of Hollywood's most powerful moments and these two films accurately portray both the punishment itself and its consequence, intended or otherwise.
The Effectiveness of Bag Skating
Bag skates send a message, that much is clear. The bigger question is, does the message get through? Does the unpleasantness of the entire situation bear the desired results?
In the case of the Canadiens and Leafs, the answer is a resounding no.
The habs followed their bag skate with 3 straight losses, including defeats in their first 2 games in front of the passionate Bell Centre Faithful.
As for the Leafs, one number answers the question: Zero. That's the number of wins, points and LEADS the team has since their bag skate.
Coaches only have so many cards in the deck - they can't play them too early or too late. More importantly, they can't play them more than once.
Former NHLer and current TSN analyst Ray Ferraro has the following opinion of the effectiveness of the bag skate:
"Bag skates are useless. Every player hates them of course, coaches think they send a message to an underachieving team, and I'm sure that nothing is accomplished during these practices except the odd pulled groin."
Ferraro believes that both team and coach would be better served spending practice time actually working on holes in their game.
It's hard to argue with his logic. Instead of skating your players to the point where they can barely stand up straight, why not address deficiencies in their games? In any case, fans are sure to read about more bag skates as the NHL season unwinds.
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