He scored over 20 goals 4 times, but the last two seasons have seen a big drop off. I really think that Peca could have increased the offense, but was forced to concentrate on his defensive abilities so much that he has lost his touch. Just my opinion...and it doesn't help the Oilers right now.

At this point they should try sending Mike Morrison in there. Even if he gives up 7 goals, it won't be like that has not happened before. If he gives them a spark, it might save some confidence at a crucial time.

All we have is the committee without the scoring. But I'm sure Lowe is working on bringing in another defenseman to shore up the offense. That should fix things :rolleyes:

It is fashionable to pile on Lowe right now, but on paper the team looked a lot better to me than it has performed. The obvious weak link was in goal, but it really was time to see if Conklin could do it and Markkanen was supposed to be solid enough to handle the load if Ty went under.

Without Horcoff and Smyth, the team is missing too much. Those guys were the offensive fire and nobody has stepped up, except for Moreau. When he is the only guy scoring for two games in a row, there are real offensive problems. He is a heart guy and will do what he can, but he is not an offensive player. Unfortunately, the skilled guys aren't getting the message that Ethan is trying to deliver. :mad:

Dear Klayman,

Please disregard previous letter. I had no idea how bad it was.

Still Yours
DD

so, who is the retard for Rogers doing intermission analasys for the Oilers, and has he ever seen a hockey game before?

during the first intermission, he had a RIVETING piece on when to come to a teammate's aid, and when not to. His first example was Jason Smith taking on Steve Konowalchuk (who he described as "some player"). According to the dipshit, Smith was protecting his goalie as "the player" was clearly taking whacks after the whistle at the goalie. Of course, if he actually had SEEN the play, he would have noticed that the two of them were together behind the net and were well on their way to a scrum before the whistle even blew. Even better, his example of when NOT to come to a player's aid was when Rita levelled Brunette with that beautiful hit and then May chased down Rita - may, of course, as an Av, being the one in the wrong there. He must not have noticed that Laroque then chased down May and got an extra penalty for the Oilers (and probably could have gotten a 3rd man in), giving the Avs a powerplay. Nice example, douchebag.

but the topper was during the 2nd intermission, as he babbled about the Oilers needing a scorer and then had the fucking AUDACITY to complain that he didn't know how Lowe would be able to acquire a scorer with the new salary cap rules. EXCUSE ME? We are talking about the Edmonton Oilers, right? One of the small market teams that is now on an even playing field with the big money teams? The one that could go out in the offseason and add high-priced talent that other teams no longer could afford? AND YOU ARE BITCHING? fuck you, idiot, whomever the fuck you are.

EDIT: had to fire the Tivo back up to find out. the lameass is Mike Brophy.

and while I'm in my rant mode, this officiating is AWFUL.

last night in the Avs / Oilers game I counted at least 4 clear obstruction calls, all right with the play in plain sight of the referee. There were all kinds of penalties called last night, but no obstruction / interference calls. In the first week of the season, if you held up a guy who didn't have the puck, even if it was minor contact, there was a call; tonight, guys were standing opponents up and into the boards, not just impeding their progress but STOPPING THEM FROM MOVING, and no calls (these no calls went both ways, btw - both teams were guilty of this). Saw the same stuff in the Avs/Kings game too.

Meanwhile, if you so much as touch a guy in their stomach or their skate with your stick, you are going to sit for hooking or tripping. If you are going to call these types of penalties, for crying out loud call the obstruction ones too. please.

The officials don't have the balls to continue to enforce the rules properly. It is screwing things up. It won't be long before it is the same way it was before.

yep, and before I hear the 'veteran refs are adapting better' argument again, it was McGeough last night and Fraser on Wednesday.

The only way I think you can really change things is by bringing in officials who can be intimidated into doing it your way. The fear of big fines or termination for screwing up is the only way to make this sort of change. When push comes to shove, these guys revert to their "safe" old ways. Their upper management needs to be in their face and dock them pay for a game if they continue to not call it properly. The officials that suck will quickly learn to do it right, get used to losing their salary in fines, or quit.

Announcers of Canadien teams are pretty much the reason I now root against all of them.

As bad as these guys might have been, they've got nothin', and I mean nothin', against the guys who call the Ave games. They are horrible.

You have to remember that all local broadcasts will be infuriating if you're not a fan of the home team. It's just a question of degree. If you want to see good broadcasting you really need to watch a national game, and even then you take your chances.

I find that now I have Centre Ice, I really have to remind myself that I'm still watching local feeds.

Really? All of them, even guys for the Leafs, are generally higher quality than the ones doing games for US-based teams.

Oilers -- homers.
Flamers -- homers.
Leafs -- homers.
Canadiens -- homers (though we don't have to see their broadcast ever).
Sens -- homers.

Canucks -- good.

I agree the announcers are better, but I just find that the non-TSN ones (like Oilers on Rogers Sportsnet) have such big homer undertones that I don't like them.

Same reason I like the Avs less and less as I watch more of their games on CI...

While talking about announcers, normally I LOVE the PHX guys (someone and Panger).

But Thursday night, it was one of the games where the penalties got a little out of hand. Panger was being such a jerk, and being a huge homer at the same time. A couple times when he thought their could have been a penalty in PHX's favor, he yelled out "COME ON!!!!!!!!!!!" and would cheer and stuff when they made a good play (note: not "comment", but CHEER).

Hopefully these guys realize how out of control they were, because normally they're one of my favorite pairings. The PbP guy has a great flow and Panger is pretty good of course.

Who does the Oiler games with Ray Ferraro? He was the play-by-play guy for EA Sports NHL 99 (and perhaps one or two others) which was the last one I really played. I find it very disconcerting to listen to the guy, because it sounds so much like I am playing the game. It's eerie. I don't get that from anyone else, in any sport, other than this guy.

Dola.

Wings just crushed Columbus 6-0.

Good game for the beloved Wings.

The current EA NHL play by play announcer is Jim Hughson, and he has had the job since NHL 97. I think he does play by play for Vancouver and Hockey Night in Canada.

He's done the Oiler games I've watched (most have been on HNiC). Until this year, I haven't heard him call an actual game. It's very eerie.

I'd heard him do most of the 'Nucks games this year on non-HNiC games on weeknights-- this is the one guy I definitely like in Canada, along with sometimes the TSN crew.

I agree about him sounding EXACTLY like the video game... same cadances and everything.

I almost started watching some baseball after that first period, its nice to see that Columbus at least mails it in earlier in the games now, rather than late. I thought after watching their best game last night, they'd play close to as good tonight, but then I realized what I was saying. Oh well, there's always Monday night when I'll be there

While we are on the topic of announcers... TSN really needs to get Cuthbert a better colour guy. Glenn Healy is a complete moron!!!

The Penguins stink...

... not as much as Aki Berg.

Completely agree.

I would be very surprised if they werent homers.....

Fun time at the ol' arena tonight, as the Thrashers awake from their deep slumber, rallying to beat the Devils 4-3. Petrovicky scored twice, including the game winner with about 6 minutes left, one of several players who really seemed determined that the drought was going to end tonight, Brodeur or no Brodeur.

Interesting to watch in person rather than on TV too, a good chance to see some things away from the puck that I think might explain some of the recent troubles. 2 of the 3 NJ goals came on plays when defensemen were simply outhustled to the puck, basically when they pulled up too quickly & appeared quite willing to concede possession in our own corner. Young Berkhoel got his first NHL win, really found myself pulling for the kid who is pretty obviously too green for this level but sure didn't lack for effort tonight.

I would say that Berkhoel has passed Garnett in the depth chart now.

overall, this is true, although there are some pretty good non-homer broadcasters (Detroit comes to mind).
but Brophy was just beyond belief to me. plus, he was a dickhead about everything he was saying - really sounded like he wanted you to know he was smarter than you. Kind of like Pierre McGuire, although I think McGuire actually knows what the fuck he's talking about. Brophy didn't.

I wonder if the NHL is using the OLN guys to write their front page articles:
"The Wild come calling on the Blackhawks tonight (7 p.m. ET) in a matchup of Western Conference squads. Also in the West, the Colorado Avalanche will visit Los Angeles for a meeting with improved Kings at 10:30 p.m. ET. Elsewhere, Phoenix is visiting Anaheim..."

Calgary, of course, is the team in LA tonight. Colorado is off.

nice to see the Avs/Canucks game finally out of the way. Decent game - Avs gave up WAY too many penalties, and stupid ones at that. Fun ending though - they scored 3 goals in less than 2 minutes to bring them to 5-4 with a minute left, but they couldn't get that last one home. Would have been crazy if they pulled that one off.

btw, someone mentioned the "refusal to play" bench penalty. Noticed in last nights boxscore that there were 2 of them in the Avs boxscore on NHL.com. Neither were bench penalties - I think someone scoring the game is just typing in a wrong code or something...both of those penalties were goalie interference.

Bump this thread with a salute to the hometown team for chopping down the Senators tonight, 3-2. Gerber was absolutely out of his mind in the third period. It's a doggone shame hardly anybody was there to see it, though. Hopefully, if the Canes can keep this up, the people will come around again. It's going to be challenging, though, with everyone in the Triangle getting fixated on the upcoming basketball season with a defending champ in UNC, a sure-fire contender in Duke, and...well, we'll see about State (again).

See, like I said before, the shootout is a great idea...

Nah, still don't like it. Still, nice to see the Leafs absolutely steal two points from the Bruins -- no way they deserved anything from that performance, but we'll take it.

Saw that there was NO ONE at the Carolina game... wonder what the attendance was? (scoresheet isn't up on NHL.com yet)

Nice win for you guys, though... Gerber made some nice saves... but that building being empty took a good hockey game and made it not very interesting to me (compared to the Loafs-B's game).

Shootout is growing on me VERY slowly, but I still have no doubt that I would have liked 3x3 SOOOOO much better.

I check this thread once in a while to laugh at all the people who think their teams have a chance.

Rest assured, Hawks fans do not feel that way ;)

SI

Official figure I think I've seen was around 12,000, but I'm guessing that's paid attendance. I wouldn't be surprised if there were less than 10,000 tonight, though the Ottawa telecast seemed to go to pains to hide the empty seats, choosing either tight audience shots or audience shots that were decently filled.

It's going to take a bit of time for the natives to warm up to the NHL again, it looks like. They burned up just about all the collateral they got with the 2002 Cup run with crap years in 2003 and 2004. The lockout mattered not a dot because the ACC is always king. There's a core of devoted fans, but there just aren't that many of them. When the management took to self-imposing a $28 million cap on the team, well, it doesn't help generate much excitement because it made ownership look cheap (which it is, even if it's losing money hand-over-fist) and dashed hopes that a big fish would sign in the fantasy free agency free-for-all. They had a sell-out for the home opener against Pittsburgh, but the other home games have been sparsely attended.

Admittedly, I'm I guess what you would call "strongly interested", but not devoted. I care when they win, but my life doesn't come to a crashing halt if they don't. However, I've been following with a little more interest because of this good start. Having CI has helped somewhat in that regard in that I am actually getting to see the Canes play more often now.

espn.com boxscore says Attendance: 12,116

edit to add: which is about what Washington & Chicago have averaged YTD.

I don't mind shootout. I just can't stand the fact that points are awarded to teams that lose in OT or SO. In my mind, if there are no ties, then there should be no benefits to losing, either. Wins and losses only. It annoys me that essentially the Rangers are 4-6 (4-3-3), but lead their division. Philly's 4-2, NJ and NYI are 4-4. Yet those three teams are behind the Rangers because the Rangers have gotten 3 points from OT/SO losses. Really, Philly should be in first at 4-2, the Isles and Devils 1 game back at 4-4, and the Rangers 2 games back at 4-6. The Pens are 0-8 and 5 games back already.

I'm not picking on the Rangers, BTW. They just happen to be the ready example in my rant. :)

I still dislike the shootout.....i dont think anyone watching, or anyone in the building would have minded seeing another ot period....it was more exciting then the shootout imo...

I also thought the refs were horrible in the Leafs/Bruins game....not because they gave the LEafs 6 straight penalties(cuz we deserved the penalties)...but because their isnt any consistancy....i counted 6 penalties in the 3rd...(4 by Toronto, 2 by Boston) that were not called, but were of the same calibre of penalties that were called.....1st 3 games of the year, these were all called, now, the refs have relaxed on the penalty calls, just like every time they tried to tighten up.....by playoff time, back to normal

++
make the freaking OT 10 minutes long, and a lot of those ties will go away.
and, again, if you are going to have the stupid shootout, make it 5 v 5, not 3 v 3.

I like the shootout. In the end, your goalie saves your ass in regulation. He should get you the extra point, as well.

yup

Yep. The OT in the Boston/Toronto game was fantastic, edge-of-your-seat stuff. Then we go to a shootout -- bring out the zambonis, collect the lists, explain the rules to the players (again!), etc. A good ten minutes of standing around before the 'excitement' of the shootout kicks in.

I would have loved to have seen another five minutes of OT last night. And if they did play ten and the game was still tied, do you really think there'd be a single fan leaving the building saying "Gosh, I just saw 70-minutes of exciting, end-to-end hockey, but that tie leaves me feeling so unfulfilled!"

Berkhoel is a good goalie, another Minnesota kid that I've seen play many times since his HS days at Anoka.

I know good goaltending is hard to find, but how is Jocelyn Thibault still in the NHL??? How bad does he have to suck to bomb out of the league??? Watching Fla-Pit ... geez, but Pittsburgh has a lot of old guys on their team. Palfy is practically a prospect on that team.

nice to see that officiating still sucks.

yes, Mr Referee, it is TOTALLY cool if you let Pronger just hold that guy against the boards. he doesn't have the puck, but I think that's just because he really didn't want the puck anyway. totally cool.

and, hey, while we're at it, let's let them use the goalie as a barcalounger. asshats.

now I have to avoid this thread until tomorrow, since I'm tivoing the rest of the game.

Wow, that sucks. You hate see a guy like Sakic suffer that kind of injury. Looked excruciating. The league will miss him.

(Just checking to see if DD is still here.)

cute.
but now I'm really leaving.

I don't know if I'd go that far... he hasn't had any really above average performances in the NHL (that I can think of) and a couple of bad ones.

Wow... heck of a game in Phoenix, won by the Gretzkys in OT. Tortuous game for Phoenix fans, as St. Louis really only had one or two good scoring chances but kept popping soft, fluky goals past the rookie, and on the other end Phoenix kept hitting pipe and missing open net.

Too much offence.Give the keepers their equipment back.

He did well in HS and College, how he will do in the NHL is still up in the air, and with the new rules, it's hard to tell how anyone will do for that matter. I'm not saying he's a superstar, but I think he's a good goalie.

It was really cool how he let the Avs hook all night long and whistled Horcoff if his stick touched another player at all. The bad calls were ultimately pretty even.

true. and I figured they would even out (like not calling Moreau for GI but calling Smyth when Aebischer ran into HIM), but it doesn't make me happier about it. It's just so goofy to see some stuff ignored, while other lame shit get called.

oh, and an ugly game by the two goalies. In the last 2 games, Colorado has 5 goals in the last 3 minutes of the game.

I'm a little surprised at this, but I find myself kind of cranky about the Predators likely breaking the Leafs record for wins to start a season. As far as records go, it's about a fourth- or fifth-tier thing that nobody even pays much attention to, but for some reason it bugs me that the Preds will be breaking it.

I don't know if it's because of their ridiculously easy schedule, the new rules that let teams win without anyone losing, or whether I'm just a big sucky baby when it comes to the frustratingly small list of recent Leafs glory. I'm thinking the latter.

So much for the Pens being the most improved team in the off season?

They need some help on the defensive end, guess that will have to wait for the next draft!

Agreed....i love that record.......i think the 10th win was a 2-1 win over Tampa, the same night that "touch em all Joe, you'll never hit a bigger homerun in your life" happend...

BTW..RIP Tom Cheek

Or call up Noah Welch, Ryan Whitney and Marc-Andre Fleury and have them learn on the job.

Thibault looked pretty bad last night.

Just don't be prying Goli away from us for til after he is a Junior!

So did you guys have the parade right after that win or did you wait until the Leafs finally lost?

Actually, true story: The night the Leafs set the record the streets of Toronto filled with a hundred thousand fans, who partied well into the wee hours of the morning.

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (AP) -- Dave Andreychuk scored twice in the third period against his former team, and Vincent Lecavalier added a short-handed goal shortly after to lift the Tampa Bay Lightning to a 6-3 victory over the New Jersey Devils on Wednesday night.

The loss was even more costly for the Devils because two-time Vezina Trophy winner Martin Brodeur left the game with 6:50 remaining with an apparent injury to his right knee.

I just got back from the Blue Jackets game, where they decided to play well and beat the undefeated Preds 3-2 in OT. Footer gets a SH goal about 30 seconds in, which might be just what the doctor ordered. I'm going to get a Foote jersey ASAP.

I think he was just hiding a chubby.

See what I did there, folks? It's called reverse psychology, and it works brilliantly against the hockey gods.

ML...That and the fact that Fraser was reffing the game:)

If you're refering to the Jackets-Preds game, Fraser wasn't, I believe it was Auger (or something like that). I would have rememebered seeing Fraser's hair

Great job ML...i was watching part of the game and was cheering loudly against the Preds....1st time ive ever done that

At least the Stars scored more than 2 goals.
But it was another 1 goal game.
They took a penalty with less then 2 minutes left in the game. San Jose scored. Had a goal disallowed in overtime. Gave Patrick Marleau a breakaway.

San Jose wins. :(

With the news coming out yesturday that MLSE is going to go after the 2009 World Junior tournament along with the Senators & Canadians, as well as the location of this year's tournament in Vancouver... is anyone else annoyed that we may eventually see an end to "smaller" Junior League cities getting this tournament when it comes to North America?

Toronto is a junior league city...lol..3 have 3 teams.....yes, i know you are talking about smaller cities, but ive never had a chance to goto a world juniors game, and id love too.....i hope Toronto can win that bid

Sach.....Where the hell was the Dallas D on that break-away.There was'nt a Dallas player within 30 feet.

They were "crashing the net". :D

So, I stop by tsn.ca/nhl to check out the latest NHL news, as is my want 3-4 times a day. Anyway, there is an article on the site about a domestic dispute between Sheldon Souray and his soon to be ex-wife (they filed for divorce in August). It turns out his wife is Angelica Bridges, who the article mentions is a former model/actress. She was on "Baywatch" apparently at some point.

What the hell is it with hockey players and models? You have Petr Nedved and his SI covergirl. Yashin and Carol Alt. Ron Dugay and Kim Alexis. I am sure the list goes on and on...

Granted it's not hard to imagine that highly paid professional athletes would be popular with the ladies, but it seems like hockey players tend to date/marry more of the model-type than other sports figures.

I mean, Sheldon Souray? How in the hell does Sheldon Souray even meet this woman? He wasn't even all that good three years ago when he married her.

Dola.

If you want "pics", just do a google image search of "Angelica Bridges."

don't forget the weirdest of all - Sean Avery and Rachel Hunter

or the surreal - Valeri Bure and Candace Cameron

I remember, right before the season, when they were talking to Barry Melrose on ESPN and he was saying why people should like hockey and he threw in "and of course because hockey players have the best looking wives".

The idiot anchor threw in a "Yeah, right" sarcastic chuckle.

Janet Gretzky = not that hot.

Sean Avery and Rachel Hunter? :eek:

Wow. Well, the ladies in Detroit all seemed to think Avery was a real heart throb. He was very popular during his short stint in Detroit. He seems like a real idiot, but maybe Rachel Hunter likes the whole brash "bad boy" thing. Who knows...

Dola.

Just did some research. I guess this relationship ended in June. Well, it's still damn impressive that a fourth line agitator like Sean Avery can end up dating a super-model like Rachel Hunter.

We'll agree to disagree on that one, especially back in the day...

Well, yes... in Bizarro World.

I was going to post something insightful about tonight's long-awaited return of Todd Bertuzzi to Colorado, but I'm too stunned by the Avery/Hunter thing. I think I need a glass of water.

Ok... now I'm just confused... this isn't a national game in Canada tonight? Wow!

DD = would still do her

I work nights, so I Tivo all the Avs games and watch them the next morning. All I have to do is keep out of this thread and certain websites on Avs game nights. Normally, that's not a big deal, but tonight I am very anxious to watch.

the better game will be Saturday anyway, when they have a chance to get good and pissed at each other.

dola,
what do you think Bertuzzi does with his 3 days in Denver? I can't imagine him wanting to get a lot of sight seeing in.

Interesting little tidbit I saw on ajc.com today, as the Thrashers make a little NHL history.

According to Elias Sports Bureau, no team has ever used five different goalies in the first 10 games of the season. Three teams – the 1966-67 Maple Leafs, the 1979-80 Edmonton Oilers and the 1980-81 Colorado Rockies – all used five goalies during one 10-game span at some point during the season, but never to start the season.

edit to add: Apparently having the veteran Steve Shields in goal wasn't quite the answer we were looking for. An early 4-1 lead has vanished into a 6-4 defecit as the Penguins scored 4x in a 5:10 stretch late in the 2nd period.
:eek: :mad:

I'm getting so tired of everytime there's icing, the announcers saying "And of of course there are no line changes allowed when a team ices the puck" I GET IT ALREADY KEN DANIELS!!!!!!!!!!!! :mad:

Penguins tie franchise record with 6 PP and game back from 4-0 deficit to win 7-5 for their first win of the year.

I turned the game on after dinner and they were already down 4-1 and I figured here we go again. The Thrashers gave them power play after power play and the Penguins fire power finally came through. Still not a playoff team.

Of the 12 combined goals, 9 came on the PP.
Pens look like they were 6 of 10 on the PP, Atl. just 3 of 10.

Janet Gretzky is a slut... right klayman?

damn right!

can I get a WOOHOO!

I don't imagine there's much more I could have wanted in the game. Colorado dominated, there were two good hits put on Bertuzzi, and Bertuzzi had 3 great scoring chances and couldn't score. I don't even mind the 3rd period meltdown (outshot 23 to freaking 0 and 4 penalties) because it meant Aebischer had to make some great saves to keep the Avs ahead. Making great saves is not something he's done much of this year.

It's only, what, 11 games into the season? Maybe this is the first game someone's been able to watch and they aren't familiar with the new rules. Cut Kenny some slack.

Lighten up, Francis.

Who was in goal for Atlanta last night...me?