I finally go to see my first live NHL game in just under two years tonight. Got some tickets to the Wings/Blues game. A decent game, nothing too thrilling, but good to see the Wings pull it out. It must be said that St. Louis was without some big guns (e.g., Tkachuk).

I keep reading about Datsyuk. Leading the league in points. Completely on fire. Playing perhaps the best hockey in the league at the moment. I haven't been able to confirm it until now, but the kid is playing out of his mind. He got a goal and assist tonight (Wings won 2-1). His goal was unassisted and he basically created the second goal all on his own. He looks incredibly composed and does amazing, amazing things with the puck. It's a sight to see. I can't say I am all that surprised. I saw him at a prospect tournament back in 2000. While watching the tournament it was clear that Datsyuk was one of three best players in the tournament. The other two being Heatley and Kovalchuk. He was that good. Good to see him develop and really become one of league's brightest young stars.

I hate to see this too - really a turnoff to me to watch a Kings/Avs game and see Rob Blake get bood mercilessly everytime he touches the puck, all because he was TRADED after he and the Kings couldn't work out an extension agreement.

kind of a long drive from Belgium, isn't it?

He took the subway...got there in no time...no traffic ya know :D

That trans-Atlantic subway is great. Brussels is one of the first stops in Europe so you're basically guaranteed a seat. So long as you have a good book, time flies right on by.

How old is the paper by the time you finish it? :D

Time to bump because the world demanded it.

SI

Congratulations to the US World Junior Team on winning the silver medal. ;)

ROTF!!!

Great competition so far...i hope the finals live up to the rest of the tourny.

The Wings beat the Ducks. Fedorov appeared to be a non-factor, but that was based only on a reading of the box score. I am still not 100% convinced that this Red Wings team has what it takes to win it all. I still don't know what to make of the goaltending. Legace and CuJo have played well, but neither instill great confidence come April. As for Hasek, who the hell knows. He hasn't been healthy in the NHL since 2002.

This all sounds good to my ears :D

I should probably eat crow but no one in the US knows they've won gold. ;)

Though "technically" not in the U.S. at the moment, I know. :D A good win for the U.S. who went unbeaten in the tourney. Sad to see it come on a total fluke goal, but what can you do?

The Vice President of the tournament said it was like the 1980 "Miracle On Ice." Well, yes it was a big and somewhat surprising win for the U.S., but that's going a wee bit overboard, methinks. It's not like the Miracle on Ice for many, many, many reasons. 1) Karim's right. No one knows about it. 2) This wasn't a bunch of college kids against a bunch of world-class veterans. This was a bunch of kids versus a bunch of kids. 3) The Canadian junior team, while good, isn't anything close to the Soviet Machine of that era. How many Olympic gold medals had they won in say, the 20 year span between 1960 and 1980? Hell if I know, but a lot. 4) It was at the height of the Cold War. A battle between opposing nations. This was a battle between America and it's 51st state.

Anyway. U-S-A! U-S-A! U-S-A! :D

I don't think it was surprising at all, Team USA was one of the favourites heading into the tournament. I have to admit, I knew little about the American team before the tournament, but Zach Parise was amazing. He should have a very bright future (and now that I think about it, with him and Petr Vrana... the Devils had an amazing draft).

One thing that still confuses me is why Canada didn't play Crosby more in the gold medal game (and the tournament in general). He was barely given a chance. Yes, he's the youngest player on the team, but he's also one of the best.

I concor..The US was the favorite going into this tourny,So saying it was a miricle on ice is a huge strech...but it may have the same impact that the miricle on ice had...which is perhaps more kids will be interested in playing hockey instead of other games.

The "hothouse" program the US has set up in Michigan has been a huge success if they can keep producing kids like this.

I watched the Canadian feed of the game yesterday on my Center Ice package. USNTDP is valuable, but, Parise, Murray and Stafford never had anything to do with it, they all came out of Shattuck-St Mary's which Crosby played at last year. Murray played his senior year of HS hockey with Salmon Arm in the BCHL. What has changed in US hockey the last 10 years or so is the mindset of HS hockey players going to the USHL or leagues similar to this to get more games in before they go to college hockey. Minnesota HS hockey, which is the crown jewel of HS hockey in the US has had to establish a fall "Elite League" to keep players from fleeing to Ann Arbor or to the USHL.

I'm sure that most don't know about the gold, most US hockey people are into the NHL only, here in Minnesota though, we have paid attention to the tournament, so a gold isn't so shocking, we knew that the team was favored. We see it as a victory for College Hockey. Maybe more kids will see that our college programs can be just as good of a springboard to NHL careers as Major Junior hockey.

And to think that i drafted this guy into my FOFC fantasy hockey team and dropped him after poor performance the first couple games...what a dumb ass move that was...

Hmmm... Dunno which FOFC league you're in or I'm in, but I picked Datsyuk on waivers shortly after the season began. If we're in the same league, thanks for cuttin' him, my man. :)

bumping this back - this is the 4th longest thread at the FOFC. 3rd is in site. (Call it the Ron Francis thread?)

Next week we are going to Rochester NY for a wedding. We'd been planning to go a day early to give us time to drive. Well, my wife revealed tonight that she has tickets for the Bruins/Sabres game next Thursday. We're actually going to Buffalo that day, staying over, then zipping over to Rochester the next day.

Looking forward to it - the seats seem pretty good. Any tips on parking or other things I should know about Buffalo?

Hey DD,

I just got back from the Sabres/Senators game tonight (my Sabres just ended their 11 game unbeaten streak!). There's great parking just off the Elm Street exit at Seneca Street, right across the road from Dunn Tire Park (where the Bisons play). It's a short walk to the HSBC Arena from there. I suggest parking a bit away from the building if you want to get out of there without the traffic and still see the end of the game and it's only $5.00. If you're not concerned about that, there's parking right beside the arena for a reasonable fee (about $10.00).

Lots of great places to eat around the HSBC. A favourite spot is Pettybones Bar and Grille, which is on the second floor of Dunn Tire Park (great chicken wings).

Any other questions, just ask away. Enjoy the game!

HSBC is a great place to watch the game....saw the Pens with Jagr play there a few years ago....btw..Rob Ray can't skate to save his life...you can't notice it on tv...but up close he skates like a 10 yerar old.

hrm...maybe thats wht he no longer plays :)

7 million people watched the Gold Medal Game in Canada. Considering it was the first work day of the new year, that's pretty impressive.

ditto Peter Worrell.

and thanks, Noskillz - that info is very helpful

Not sure where you got that info from... but only 1.31 million watched. Last years game was watched by 3.45 million.

Local sports radio reported that but it wouldn't be the first time they've been wrong... They probably recanted later in the day like they usually do.

What the hell is wrong with Mike Modano???

maybe that didn't take into account the exchange rate?

The burden of leadership is just too great for the young man...

The Stars are not going to make the playoffs.

Not sure I'd go that far yet. They certainly have played crappily (the only teams who have scored less goals is Columbus, Pittsburgh and Carolina), and they certainly aren't the elite team people have been saying they are for the last two years. But they still are a good team, and could definitely pull it all together in the second half - way too many guys underperforming on this team right now not to.

Speaking of "what the hell happened to"...Pierre Turgeon? This guy has cracked 80 points 8 times in his career...currently on pace to maybe hit 25.

Turgeon is misused in Dallas. He can't get the ice time he needs to get going, hence he's always stuck in low gear. Shame really, since we pay him 8 million dollars a year.

On paper, the Stars are an elite. Guerin, Arnott, Modano, Zubov, Turco, et all. In reality, they are just names. Sort of the New York Rangers for the Southwest.

I would take Dallas ANY day over the StRangers.

Seems only fitting since the Oilers aren't going to make the playoffs for sure. :p

well, my wife and I are back from our Buffalo/Rochester trip. The Sabres/Bruins game we went to wasn't much of a game...but I'll give my observations anyways.

Buffalo seemed to be a nice little city, at least the downtown part where we were. We weren't all that far from HSBC, but, as it was -22 fucking degrees, we drove down and parked at the lot NoSkillz recommended (completely by accident). I can't get over paying only $5 to park - it's $20 in Boston. To see our AHL games it's freaking $10.

Nice arena - I really liked the look of the place. Our seats were pretty good - the last row of the lower bowl, behind one of the nets. One thing though - the seats were REALLY crammed together. I know I had a small man, but I'm not freaking Louie Anderson - even just standing for the anthem, I couldn't stand straight without seriously getting in the way of the guy next to me (who looked like he weighed 120 lbs). We ended up sitting pretty much right in front of where Danny Gare and Rob Ray did their intermission broadcast stuff. I thought about challenging Ray to a fight...but thought better of it.

There were probably about as many Bruin fans there as Sabres fans - probably more B's jersey's, to be honest. There was some sort of Canadian promotion going on, so there was a lot of people down from across the border, including almost everyone in our section. There was one large group - apparantly a youth hockey team from Owen Sound. They all sang the Canadian anthem together, which was kind of nice...but then it went downhill from there and they became pretty annoying. Most got tossed about halfway through though for underage drinking (never seen that at the game).

The guy next to me was a Sabres fan and didn't shut up the entire game (I hate that). His running commentary on the game was annoying to both me and my wife. One hilarious moment though - when the only real excitement of the game happened (Andrew Peters fighting Doug Doull...well, pummelled is more like it). Anyways, the fight starts and this little guy next to me jumps up and starts shadow boxing a mile a minute for the entire duration of the fight. Then, he just stopped and sat back down to resume his endless commentary.

So, that's it - nice arena, nice city...wish the game had been a bit more exciting though

DD,

Glad you enjoyed the atmosphere (except for the bonehead Sabres fans! ;) ). I too enjoy the HSBC arena; big corridors, nice views of the ice surface, etc. You are right about the small seats, although I haven't had the privilege of going anywhere else with bigger seats (for instance, in Toronto at the ACC, seats are about the same size but with no cup holders...oh yeah, they're also $120.00 per ticket more expensive there too!).

Yeah, the Bruin/Sabre game was crap...but that's my Sabres for ya!

NoSkillz

Sorry, I was just excited to see you ;)

well, I think my wife's Bruins can share some of that blame.

Damn,Flyers spanked our asses this weekend.Major deficencies were shown.

Go Cliff Ronning......2 goals tonight :)

Looks like Salo asked for some talent this Christmas.

Rumors flying here in Ottawa that the Sens are about to deal for Bondra.

For who?

Don't know. One guy here swears it's Shane Hnidy, but I think he's been drinking paint thinner.

My sources (and yes, I do have sources, thanks very much) are saying that the Sens and Caps are talking, but that the rumors of a done deal are pre-mature.

Hnidy for Bondra sound way out of whack.

Exactly. Hnidy tries hard, but he couldn't play for the Leafs. And yes, I mean that as an insult.

Unless it was Hnidy, a pick and a prospect. And even then...

i could see Bondra for Fischer

Isn't Alfredsson and Hossa enough depth at right wing or has Bondra been playing LW/C for a while? I don't really follow the Caps that closely.

Bondra added to the Senators forwards is just plain sick. He needs to go to the Avs :)

Apparently it will be a 3 way deal involving the Caps'Rangers and Sens.....Bondra and Jagr are supposedly changing adresses.

rumors about Gonchar as well. would the Caps really move their 3 best skaters? does it really make sense to overhaul? I know they are tubing this year, but hell, they are in the weakest division in hockey. Any given year, they would have a chance to make the playoffs just because of that.

Ooh! For the sake of my fantasy team's plus/minus, please move Gonchar :)

SI