Yngwie is a Kings fan ... who knew?

Go Sharks! Maybe I will watch a few games now.

Wait a minute..."still a Stanley Cup contender". Don't you have to be a contender to still be one?

And besides...the Wings lose to those two teams all the time, so you don't want to cheer for them :)

I would just like to add that I find it very telling that the #1 Wings fan on this board is pleading and begging with other teams fans to cheer for his team.

Begging and pleading? Moi? Never! I merely saw some wayward, teamless hockey fan out there and figured I would offer them shelter from the storm. I am like the sheppard of lost children. I just want to give them a chance to see how a good, successful team is run from top to bottom. Trust me, as both a die hard Lions and Wings fan, it's very refreshing.

And, yes, the Wings do struggle in Western Canada. It is not pretty. I even suspect that the Wings glorious 2002 Stanley Cup run would have ended in first round tragedy if Dan Cloutier did not have the mental fortitude of a 2 year old.

Hehe. I like you. You make me laugh.

Sorry to disappoint you H_B, but part of the reason I liked Vancouver/Edmonton was they always seemed to be the 7/8 seed trying to and often succeeding in upsetting Dallas or Detroit during those 1 am telecasts back on the East Coast. ;) And in NHL '95 Pavel Bure was the best player ever. I had one season I scored 428 goals with him, pretty much using his speed and the same move over and over.

Gung Ho!

Boston 3 - Ottawa 0

Stuart played 23:45, had an assist and was +1. Sturm played 17:19, had a goal and assist, and was +1. Primeau played 15:28.

With Thornton, minus Sturm, Stuart, and Primeau :

Boston 1 - Ottawa 5
Boston 2 - Ottawa 5
Boston 2 - Ottawa 4

Indeed! A highly under rated movie.

Did Raycroft start in goal?

No, it was the european kid who almost shut out the Leafs a few weeks back.

Hmmm...they might be onto something here.

Toivonen. I had some success with him in EHM and then I didn't and traded him.

Toivonen. aka the one I call "the girl goalie"

Not really. A shooter tutor blanked the Leafs in practice the other day.

It does kind of look a bit like Mrs. Tiger Woods under all that gear.

Sharks are 2-0-0 since the arrival of Joe Thornton, with both wins coming on the road against winning teams. Not a bad start, eh?

Noronen fucking blows so I'm not surprised they beat the Sabres in Buffalo.

Avalanche have recalled a goalie and sent down a forward, giving them, for the moment, just 12 forwards but 3 healthy goaltenders.

The Avs board is on fire right now with speculation that Aebischer is about to be dealt...but it sounds like it'd be for a forward, not what they really need (a goalie, or a defenseman).

I'll give you Conklin for a 1st round pick.

Would they go with Budaj then?

I hear Thibault is available on the cheap ;)

SI

My personal thought is not in the long term, but maybe for the short term. Budaj looks very promising, but he's got all of 10 NHL games and 2 back-to-back starts under his belt. If they trade Aebischer, it's because they need a proven "playoff-type" goalie to bail out their laughable defense.

I would like to see Luongo, of course, but the cost is probably too high. Vancouver sounds like they are getting close to landing him, which, even if it is not accurate, at the very least there's some bidding going on and Luongo won't be cheap.

so, if I'm guessing, it's Aebischer now for a forward, and probably not the sexiest of forwards either (we have the scorers, but lost a grinder who can kill penalties in Steve Konowalchuk). and then work on getting a goalie later.

EDIT: it occurs to me that your only exposure to Budaj might be that shellacking you gave us before Thanksgiving. he's actually been much, much better than that - certainly better than Abby.

That game wasn't pretty for him, but I have looked at his numbers for other games and they are good. Really what it comes down to is that I am in need of a goalie for my fantasy hockey team (since Miller's broken thumb) and have been signing and cutting third goalies like a madman. Morrison. Emery. Budaj. Etc, etc.

I want insider info, DD! Insider Info!! And you're my man inside for the Avs.

well, I did hear that Budaj is scheduled to start against Boston tomorrow (according to the Denver Post, I guess).

Canes are doing well on their western road trip, 2-1-1 since starting in Atlanta last week. Cleaned up against the Ducks, 6-2 last night. Kevyn Adams nets his second hat trick of the season. Interestingly enough, he's only scored six goals and therefore all his goals are hat trick contributors.

Just wanted to chime in:

This new schedule fucking sucks.

Not only have they totally diluted rivalries, but when we DO play the West it's the whole fucking Eastern Conference vs. the West at one fucking time!!! Jesus christ this is so retarded.

Not that I'm a huge fan of the new schedule, but why is this aspect of it so retarded?

I'd so much prefer having 3-4 games per week throughout the whole season (save maybe the first and last two weeks) of East-West. This new schedule seems so much like interleague play in baseball, which most people seem to think is gimmicky more than anything else.

East-West in hockey should NOT be gimmicky -- a Flyers-Wings, or Rags-Avs game should be celebrated, and not just lumped in with Preds-Thrashers, or Florida-Phoenix.

Agreed.

I agree it does feel gimmicky and very much like interleague play in baseball. Whoever is in charge of NHL marketing certainly wants us to think it is at least.

As for the new schedule on the whole I am a bit torn. Part me of really enjoys the idea of emphasizing divisional rivalries. To be honest, though, that the Don Cherry part of me. It's not that I want rivers of blood on the ice, but back in the day familiarity bred contempt and that usually led to some very spirited games. The way the game is played and called now that doesn't seem to be happening. There is still some good hockey, but the "rivalry" games I have watched have seemed to lack a little itensity or fire. I am sure that's what the league was hoping for, but I am not sure if that's materialized yet. Looking at the Center Ice schedule I was loving the prospect of a good divisional rivalry or two (or four) a week.

The part of me that doesn't like it, doesn't like the gimmicky aspect of "interleague play" or the fact that the Wings don't play Toronto, Montreal, or even Boston (I think) this year. That's just not right. Then again, I am not as torn up about that as some people. Ever since Toronto moved to the Eastern Conference the Detroit-Toronto rivalry hasn't been the same, which is no surprise.

WTF is with Center Ice? They aren't showing the commercials or intermissions of the Wild/Flyers game (Wild's broadcast)???

I've said this elsewhere, and maybe here.

If they really wanted to hype divisional rivalries, they needed to come up with a way to go back to 4 divisions (cut/add 2 teams), and have divisional playoffs like they used to.

Rivalries are formed by playing the same team in the playoffs repeatedly, not by playing them 7-8 times during a 7-8 month season.

When they pick up an OTA feed, it is often the feed from the arena and not after the post-production done by the channel. This means you don't get any commercials or "studio" segments. The Wild probably have the most of those, but there have been some from the Blues, Coyotes, and Stars (and maybe the Ducks as well) this season.

I like them. Sometimes you see some "interesting" things during the breaks and on more than one ocassion I have seen fights during commercial breaks and they have to show the fight again when coming back from the break.

Ahhhh, thanks!

Go Isles!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Boo Horcoff!

Oilers are my most favorite team, but I suppose it isn't too bad for them to lose to one of my favorite east coast teams.

:mad:
Thrashers blow a friggin' 6-2 lead over the Wings, now 6-6 middle of the 3rd.

1st Period:
Scoring: ATL, Vigier (short-handed) (unassisted) 3:53. DET, Datsyuk (power-play) (Shanahan, Lidstrom) 11:23. ATL, Stefan (Kozlov, de Vries) 17:05. Penalties: ATL, Boulton (Goaltender Interference), 3:00; ATL, Slater (Holding), 10:10; ATL, Aubin (Holding), 10:37; DET, Draper (High-sticking), 19:28.

2nd Period:
Scoring: DET, Datsyuk (Shanahan, Lebda) 2:04. ATL, Holik (Larsen, Vigier) 3:07. ATL, Kozlov (power-play) (Savard, Kovalchuk) 6:05. ATL, Hossa (power-play) (Holik, Kozlov) 6:48. ATL, Petrovicky (power-play) (Shanahan) 8:01. Penalties: DET, Schneider (High-sticking), 3:47; DET, Cleary (Hooking), 4:57; DET, Lilja (Hooking), 6:30; ATL, Vigier (Interference), 16:09; ATL, Havelid (Interference), 18:58; ATL, Larsen (Hooking), 19:43.

3rd Period:
Scoring: DET, Shanahan (power-play) (Lidstrom, Schneider) 0:24. DET, Williams (Shanahan, Lebda) 2:02. DET, Schneider (power-play) (Shanahan) 8:01. DET, Holmstrom (power-play) (Zetterberg, Datsyuk) 8:41. Penalties: DET, Lebda (Holding), 5:16; ATL, Modry (Holding), 6:28; ATL, Hossa (Holding), 7:08.

Yeah, they broke into the Pens/Blues snoozefest on OLN to mention that game.

SI

Cloutier is done for the regular season.

I don't think Vancouver will miss a beat here - I like Alex Auld, and also their backup, Maxime Oulette. But heck, if they want Aebischer...

Thrashers win it 7-6 on Stefan's even-strength goal with 4 mins left. A win is a win, and one over a good team is even better, but still ...

Canes dig early hole against Chicago, but dominate the last two periods to win 5-3. They finished 3-2-1 on their longest road trip of the season, but dropped the last one in San Jose, so it was a good bounce-back win to start a very important homestand. They've got five in a row at home with a huge game looming on the 20th against Tampa Bay with likely the division lead at stake.

I think you're right they won't miss a beat. Not because Auld is as good as Cloutier but because the team plays a different (ie, more defensive) game when he's in net.

Dallas gets Nick Hagman from Florida for a 7th round pick. I thought he was a promising young player? Seems cheap.

It does. Dunno about real life Nick Hagman, but virtual Nick Hagman in EHM-land has been a staple H_B 3rd/4th line grinder in each version! I like him.

:o

Here's something you don't see everyday
Start of Period 4
20:00 Even Strength
4:19 Puck out of Rink
4:19 NJ Scott Gomez shot on goal
18:18 Atl Marc Savard, Penalty, High-sticking, (2 minutes)
18:18 Power play, Four on Three, Hometeam advantage
1:29 Timeout
1:29 Atl Marian Hossa penalty shot failed, missed net
1:29 Atl Marian Hossa shot on goal
1:29 Even Strength
16:29 NJ Dan McGillis, Penalty, Tripping, (2 minutes)

Period 4?

SI

aka Overtime

Where, by the way, Atlanta wins with 0:05 left on a Marc Savard goal.

Actually, what threw me was the 16:29, 18:18, and 20:00 in OT in the regular season.

SI