Crashing The Net 11/18

My Thoughts:

1. Well its been a very interesting week around the NHL. I will start off with Sabres news: We are back to being very average again. The boys went 1-2 last week dropping 2 straight and not playing very well at all, barely getting the win against St. Louis thanks to a waived off goal. This will be a big week for the Sabres with games against Boston, Philadelphia and the Islanders. Oh yeah, Tim Connolly is hurt, who woulda thought it?
2. The Tampa Bay Lightning fired head coach Barry Melrose 16 games into the season. Melrose was more of a PR stunt than anything else and proved he is not very in touch with today's NHL player. His first mistake was cutting Lecavalier's playing time followed by allowing Stamkos only 9 minutes a game. How can you bench your best player and your first overall draft pick and not expect mutiny?  Melrose is replaced by Vegas odds-master Rick Tocchet on the bench. The saga continues...
3. Blues center Andy McDonald  will miss at least 8 weeks with a broken leg. Terrible news for Blues fans who lose their losing scorer and already last place in the West. John Tavares anyone?
4. The Anaheim Ducks will be without the services of Francois Beauchemin for at least 6 months as he tore his ACL against Nashville last week. This stings for a red-hot Ducks team.
5. The Penguins shopped veteran defenseman Darryl Sydor to the Dallas Stars for veteran defenseman Brian Boucher. Pretty even deal. Hopefully Sydor can give some much-needed help to Marty Turco.
6. Duck GM Brian Burke has stepped down from his position after expressing his desire to work for another team next season (cough Toronto cough).
7. The KHL released a statement that cleared itself of fault in the Alexei Cherapanov case. What a joke.
8. That offer sheet Kevin Lowe sent to Anaheim's Dustin Penner is coming back to bite him in the ass. Head Coach Craig MacTavish benched Penner calling him, among other things, a waste of money and out of shape. Ouch. Penner has been quiet this season but so has a large portion of the Oil offense. I dont think this is the way to go about getting them to play harder. MacTavish is known for this kind of thing.
9. Puck Daddy wonders whether or not it would be a good idea to allow players to participate in the shootout sans helmet. I, personally, am all for it. Some of the players' personalities would be allowed to shine (as would their mullets) and facial recognition is something the league could use more of. Good luck getting the NHLPA to sign off on it though, the first time someone rings a shot off the iron and it deflects into their face, the whole thing will blow up.
10. Anaheim Ducks AHL affiliate the Iowa Chops debuted their "Thirsty Thursday" promotion with $1 beer sales to great success. Who knew there was such a large underage drinking population in Iowa.
11. Alex Ovechkin has finally found his stride, scoring 5 goals and 10 points last week (4 games). Welcome back Ovie.
12. The Pens and Wings replayed their Finals series to the tune of a 7-6 overtime win for the Penguins.  What a game it was. Highlights in the video section.
13. TSN reports that 70% of players want to grandfather in a mandatory visor rule. If 66% is enough to change the Constitution, 70% should be enough for the NHL.
14. Boston Blueline has a great post in NHL discipline. Read it, seriously. Its a great idea and I think it would work. They have been added to the blogroll.
15. The Avalanche have locked up Paul Stastt\ny to a 5 year extension worth $6.6 million per. Stastny is every bit as much of a stud on the ice as his father was and this is a fair deal for both parties. Congrats to the Avs.
16. Mirtle is his usual brilliant self providing us with two posts. First, on the severity of the Islanders situation and, second, a touching story about a terminally ill goalie given a chance to play.

Pictures of the Week:

Hank Tallinder really knows how to celebrate, which is good considering this is following his first goal of the year, the eventual game-winner.

So does Ovie...

My father took this picture at the military academy in West Point, NY. Thats a seriously bad miss.

Tom Poti is sporting an awesome hockey face these days

This is just a cool picture overall

Here is your weekly picture of my future wife, Carrie Milbank

Videos of the Week (There are lots):

The Coach:

Ron MacLean's interview with Barry Melrose. Barry is clearly a little out of touch with what happened to his job. Are things so bad for him that he lost his house? Why is this being filmed in a parking lot?

Milan Lucic goes all beast mode on Michael Komisarek.

Scott Hartnell is a whiny little girl. In other news, the desert is hot.

This is one of the many reasons hockey is so awesome.

On first view this is a cool deke. In slow-mo, its the move of the year.

As promised, the game of the year: Pens/Wings.

No one ever said goalies were normal.

Have a good week and happy thanksgiving.

Crashing The Net 11/10

My Thoughts

1. Devin Setoguchi got snubbed in the All-Star ballot department. So did Tim Thomas.
2. Last tuesday Ryan Clowe scored a Gordie Howe hat trick. It was pretty awesome.
3. Last week I forgot to mention that Thrashers first round draft pick, 18 year old Zach Bogosian broke his leg and will miss a significant amount of time. Its really a heartbreaker for a kid to work his whole life at a dream only to have his leg broken 10 games into the season. 
4. I also forgot to mention that the Senators signed Daniel Alfredsson to a 4 year deal worth $22 million. Alfie (I hate that nickname, why did I use it?) got the short stick here. His numbers suggest a deal worth much more but good for the Sens for locking him up at a decent price.
5. Bruins rookie Blake Wheeler switched his number (from 42 to 26) minutes before a game. Oh yeah... then he scored a hat trick.
6. Chris Drury scored a 'trick as well with a dirty shorthanded goal and 2 power play goals. Check the videos.
7. Marty Turco kinda sucks right now.
8. Tampa dealt shifty defenseman Matt Carle to Philadelphia for idiot Steve Downie and defenseman Steve Eminger. Uhh, who cares? Honestly, no one got anything of value here. Philly gets a liability on defense and Tampa gets a mediocre defenseman and a liability in general.
9. The NHL suspended Habs player Tom Kostopolous 3 games for his hit from behind on Mike Van Ryn. The game was otherwise an exhibition in great hockey with the Leafs winning 6-3 in a quick-paced game.
10. Mirtle at From The Rink has a great statistical breakdown of how this year is comparing to last year. A great read for stat junkies like myself. Here it is.
11. The Sabres dropped a pair of games to Atlanta (in OT) and Boston last week. It seems like Ryan Miller either lets in 5 goals or zero in any given game.

Pictures of the Week

Dave "Tiger" Williams shows that the old guys know how to have some fun.

Kung-Fu Huet

This is just generally awesome

Carrie Milbank, host of The Hockey Show on NHL.com may be the love of my life. I would marry her just for all the awesome hockey-related T-shirts I could steal from her.

Mark Messier apparently diddnt get the message that Cascade makes lacrosse helmets. Ok, they make hockey helmets but honestly? If you're over the age of 8, you shouldnt wear this bucket, its just plain gross.

Videos of the Week

As usual Don Cherry manages to get me all teared up talking about the troops on Remembrance Day

Proof that Marty Turco is struggling. This is a tough way to lose a close game.

Heres the Kostopoulos hit... brutal.

Chris Drury's absolutely filthy short-handed goal against the Lightning.

Thats it for this week. Until next time, keep your head up

Crashing The Net 11/4

My Thoughts:

• • Teemu Selanne had an awesome week with 7 goals and 3 assists for 10 points in 5 games including a hat trick against Anaheim. Selanne combined with Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry for 28 points in 4 games.
• • Marian Hossa also had a great week with 9 points including 5 goals in 6 games.
• • Martin Brodeur will have surgery on his injured elbow and miss 3-4 months. Kevin Weekes just crapped his pants.
• • Rick DiPietro is also on the shelf for the next 6-8 weeks after knee surgery. I wouldn't expect to see him suit up for quite a while. If the Isles are smart (thats a big if) they will just call the season a wash and not rush their franchise goaltender back earlier than absolutley necessary.
• • Steven Stamkos scored his first (and second) NHL goals last week. Unfortunately they had to come against the Sabres. Call the Calder committee.
• • The Leafs have learned how to skate and pass and score. Luckily there are three other teams in the Northeast Division that are better than them.
• • The Sabres started the week out kind of rough with two consecutive losses to Tampa Bay and Ottawa but got things back on track with two straight shutouts including a 5-0 beat down of the Capitals and a big win against the Devils. Last season all four games went to a shootout with the Devils taking three of the decisions. Rivet's return was also a huge plus for the guys in blue and gold as was the returns of Gaustad and Connolly.
• • Going Five Hole has a funny bit on what NHL players should dress up as for halloween.
• • Adam Proteau at The Hockey News is calling for Gary Bettman to be axed. The piece itself is interesting and well-written but the argument is tired. We get it, Gary Bettman has not done the best job running the league. You can read the piece here.

Photos of the Week:

Heres the seating chart for this years Winter Classic played at Wrigley Field. Uhh, is there is single good seat in the house?

Adam Mair is a terrifying human being. The man has a titanium plate screwed into his face from using it to block a shot and still plays with no visor and, as seen above, is a scrapper. Only hockey players...

More fuel for my no more teams in Toronto argument.

Whats so special about this picture? It was taken at Nassau Coliseum. Check out the fans in the background. Wow.

Happy election day.

No one ever said people from Buffalo have good taste. This is pretty bad.

I just like this picture. The Sharks are my unofficial favorite Western Conference team.

Videos of the Week:

The only reason my house is ever quiet on a saturday night

TSN's Top 10 Plays of the Week

Further proof of how terrifying Adam Mair really is

Great scrap between Eric Godard and Jody Shelley

This goal was on the Top 10 list but its worth another look

Eric Boulton and Colton Orr throw hands for a really, really long time. 

Finally, a little fun. This looks like something out of Gary Bettman's fantasies. You want scoring to go up? Replace goalies with MLB catchers who don't know how to skate.

Sorry for the delay in posting, 3 exams this week has really put a dent in my free time. Until next time, keep two hands on that stick.

Live Every Shift

Remember last year's NHL ad campaign featuring the slogan "Live Every Shift"? Heres a great dub of that commercial.

Switching Things Up

As I'm sure you have noticed by now, I decided to switch up the format and color scheme of my site. The light text on dark background was getting a little tough on the eyes. It's a work in progress so bear with me. I will also be getting a new, better fitting banner shortly. Thanks for your patience and Go Sabres!

This Video is Just Plain Awesome

Montreal is going all out for their centennial anniversary this year with a series of jerseys, their logo on the loonie (Canadian dollar coin for my less informed readers), a Monopoly game, an all-time team in the NHL 09 video game and this awesome commercial. This proves once again that the Canadiens are one of the classiest organizations in pro sports.

Crashing The Net 10/27

Thats my interim title for my weekly update unless either one of you or myself comes up with another one that I like better.

My Thoughts

• No wonder no one likes the Kings. I've been watching one of their broadcasts for the last 20 minutes or so and they show the game in exclusively ice-level views. Everything is either behind the net, in the corners or at the red line and its making me nauseous. It takes all of the analysis out of the game and makes it hard to describe things like icing and offsides to people who don't know what they are watching. I understand new angles and they are great for replays but live action should be in the usual semi-birds-eye view with a few new angles where it doesn't detract from the gameplay. Its a shame because the commentators are doing an excellent job describing what's going on to those less informed than us puckheads.
• Isles goalie DiPietro is hurt again, in another way. When a goalie goes down it always seems like it takes them a long time to return and they are oft reinjured. That is truly unfortunate news for the Islanders who threw a huge contract at him a couple years ago.
• Buffalo was awarded the 2011 World Junior Championships to be played at the HSBC Arena and Niagara University. Great news for the city and the Sabres organization. I hope the city really puts on a show for these kids and builds a reputation as a great place to play, a reputation that needs a bit of a makeover. Ask Craig Rivet.
• According to TSN the Red Wings' Johan Franzen will miss some time with a sprained knee. Nothing too major here, Marian Hossa has found his stride and the Wings are deep enough that this wont bother them too much.
• The Ducks won their fourth in a row tonight taking them from the coldest team to one of the hottest teams.
• Pucksandbooks over at On Frozen Blog has a post that should be required reading for all referees.
• The Sabres lost their first game in regulation tonight against the Senators. God I hate that team.
• I treat hockey like a religion but this article from the National Post sounds awesome. Needless to say my tansfer papers to the Université de Montréal  are in the mail.

Pictures of the Week

Manny Legace hurt his hip sliding out on this carpet in place for the ceremonial opening faceoff. The guest of honor? Sarah Palin. Vote Obama.

Some Philadelphia fan thought it would be cool to let off a smoke/stink bomb against the Devils. It wasn't. Thats why people hate Philly.

Brian Engblom needs a haircut. True story.

Videos of the Week

Your weekly fill of Grapes

Milan Lucic smokes Mike Van Ryn into the glass. Glass reacts as expected. People make a big deal about it.

Zach Harrison of Minnesota State University scores a shorthanded, natural hat trick. What?!

This is simply because the Sabres lost to the Senators tonight and for no other purpose except to admire the sheer beauty of the thing.

Finally, we have the hot topic of the week around the NHL; Doug Weight's hit on Brandon "Son of Brent" Sutter. For now I will say that, though it is unfortunate, people get hurt, its part of the game. The hit was clean, even in slo-mo  and I have no problem with it except to see the concussed body of a 19 year old kid with a promising future in hockey laying on the ice. More to come soon on this topic. 

Until next time, cover the points.

Lunacy!

That was my initial reaction to reading this story. Are you kidding me? Another team in Toronto? At least they didn't suggest Montreal, that would have been true sacrilege. Okay, lets calm down a bit and  think about this rationally. How could this possibly work? The article suggests an expansion team but that seems a little outlandish considering the NHL cant even support the 30 teams it has currently. Another possibility briefly mentioned in the article is the idea of moving a current team. This clearly makes more sense but would still require quite a bit of restructuring in terms of divisions. Listen, having more teams in Canada is the best thing the league could possibly do but this is not the way to go about it. If anything the league needs to contract. Six teams need to go, one from each division to bring the league to a manageable 24 teams. There will be more sell outs and, to be honest, its time to abandon the southern hockey experiment, its just not working. With all that being said, heres my breakdown of having a team in Toronto:

Positives:

• Another Canadian team
• It would make for some great rivalries
• With the current wait list for Leafs season tickets being longer than the planet will last with global warming, it would give hockey fans in the area a chance to see a game for a change
• It could possibly get a team out of the hockey graveyard known as the south
• The Toronto media might back off of the Leafs a little with another team to pick on in the area
• If a Southeast team (*cough Panthers *cough) moved to Toronto it could pave the way for Phoenix to move back to Winnipeg
• Toronto is hockey crazy
• This would stop all the crazy talk about having teams in Kansas City and Las Vegas
• If the league restructures we could go back to the old conference and division names

Negatives:

• There will be two crappy teams in Toronto for the foreseeable future
• It could mean expansion
• The NHL would be messing with some serious history
• Hamilton deserves a team way before Toronto deserves another
• So does Quebec
• It would decrease the market for other teams such as the Sabres, Habs and, obviously, the Leafs
• The league would have to completely restructure
• The talent pool would be even more diluted
• They could never live up to the expectations and would always be overshadowed by the Leafs
• Have you ever seen an Islanders game? No one goes! It would be similar in Toronto except the fans might know something about hockey. If you missed the connection, New York has two teams, one of which is an Original 6
• What happens if the new team wins a Cup before the Leafs? Toronto would burn, thats what
• The Leafs sucking is no reason to panic
• The league will go through another lockout before this ever happens anyways

All jokes (hopefully) aside there is no way this should happen. As intriguing as it sounds there is no reason to expand. If the league just moves a team it would make more sense and almost seems like a good idea but there is still fundamentally wrong with an NHL franchise in Toronto that isn't the Leafs. Until next time, keep your head up.

Epic Commercials

Last night I was watching Monday Night Football in between plays of the Penguins shootout win over the Bruins and I happened to catch this commercial. I like it a lot, so much so that I was ready to declare it one of the best sports related commercials I've ever seen.

But then I saw this one, and it clearly takes the cake.

This one deserves an honorable mention however.

Thats it. My pick for tonight's game is Sabres 4 Boston 2 with goals from Vanek, Paille, Spacek and MacArthur.

Weekly Catch-Up 10/20

Wow. Quite frankly I'm surprised Blogger has not deleted my account considering its been so long in between posts. Sorry about that, I've had a ton of school work to do, my obligatory 30 hours a week at the rink with the ladies and my sister visited last week. Enough excuses. I cant even contemplate the amount of interesting stuff I missed in my absence but I'm going to try to catch everyone up with what happened last week and in the first few games of NHL regular season action.

1. The NHL season officially opened in Europe somewhere. No one noticed. The only bonus to this is that it gives my conspiracy theory more credibility.
2. The Sabres are awesome.
3. Thomas Vanek is a beast.
4. Tampa Bay stinks. No Joke. Even having 23 NHL-calibre forwards cant save this team from losing a ton of one goal games.
5. Rangers 19 year old prospect Alexei Cherapanov died on the ice in a KHL game and was unable to be revived due in large part to terrible medical response including not having an ambulance at the game and a defibrillator with dead batteries. It was a terrible day for hockey fans of any nation and does not bode well for public opinion of the KHL. Good luck trying to find players who want to play where they wont receive adequate medical care.
6. The Blackhawks fired head coach Denis Savard after a 1-2-1 start. That was mighty quick and relatively surprising. so surprising in fact that Pat Kane was teary-eyed at the press conference. His replacement is Joel Quenneville formerly with the Avalanche and Blues.
7. Red Wings great Steve Yzerman was appointed the Executive Director of Team Canada for the 2010 olympics in Vancouver. No surprise here.
8. Fabian Brunnstrom, a Dallas Stars rookie scored a hat trick in his NHL debut becoming just the third player in NHL history to accomplish the feat.
   
9. Fighting is Back! I'm told that fighting was the focus of a good Sports Illustrated piece that I have yet to read but plan on doing so at a cost to my wardrobe. No explanation needed, Indy. There have been 58 fights through 77 games according to HockeyFights.com and you are starting to see some bigger names like Jarome Iginla throwing hands. In my opinion this is great for the league. It garners exposure on TV outlets and will ultimately attract more fans.
10. Andrei Kostitsyn will miss a bit of time after taking a nasty hit against the Coyotes. The video will be in the video section.
11. The Flyers sent classless goon Steve Downie to their AHL farm-team. All of the NHL including league disciplinarian Colin Campbell breather a collective sigh of relief. I believe I have expressed my thoughts on Downie before.
12. Sidney Crosby scored his 100th NHL goal and recorded his 200th NHL assist on Hockey Night in Canada against the Leafs in a 4 point effort. I swear, the Kid loves to show off on CBC because he knows all of Canada is watching.
13. J.S. Giguere has been terrible for the Ducks so far, as has Peter Budaj for the Avs.
14. The Flyers stink right now and I couldn't be more happy about it.
15. Marian Gaborik will not be with the Wild by the end of the season, I guarantee it. If Leafs GM Cliff Fletcher pulls his head out of the toilet he might realize that Gaborik is just the kind of player his franchise needs... a good one.
16. Marian Hossa recorded his 300th Career NHL goal and first with the Red Wings against the Rangers.
17. Steven Stamkos has seen his ice time reduced to around 9 minutes a game and has been with different linemates almost every game. In unrelated news Barry Melrose is a fool.
18. Marty Turco has not been very good thus far this season. All you suckers who picked him first in your fantasy teams are screwed.

Pictures of the Week

Wikipedia vandalism will never get old.

In a word: Sacrilege. I will never listen to Def Leppard again. Oh wait, I never did in the first place and you shouldn't either... seriously. 

Barack Obama is fighting Sarah Palin on all fronts. First she claims to be a hockey mom, Obama responds by putting up ads in NHL09. I love it.

If I don't end up owning this shirt, both my mother and my father will disown me.

Videos of the Week

Your obligatory Coaches Corner of the Week.

Heres the Kostitsyn Hit.

Great scrap between Georges Laraque and Shawn Thornton.

Good old fashioned line brawl between the Sabres and Islanders.

Matt bradley gets all scrambled eggs courtesy of Paul Bissonnette.

A sad reminder that things in other countries are not always as rosy as they are here in the U.S. and Canada. This is the kind of medical care a top athlete receives and ultimately led to his death. RIP Alexei Cherapanov. This video may be disturbing to some viewers.

Marty Havlat scores a sick goal against the Coyotes. Poor phoenix always seems to have the most amazing goals cored against them. Dont believe me? Ask Alex Ovechkin.

Finally, rookie T.J. Oshie scores a dirty shootout goal against the Blackhawks in his NHL debut.

Thats it for this week. I'm thinking I will be doing this kind of weekly catch-up thing with pictures and videos every week on Mondays but I refuse to do it without a catchy title and a cool picture to accompany it. Any ideas? I might even consider buying the person with the best title suggestion a Mighty Taco... maybe. Until next time, don't stand in front of the net with no pads while people are ripping slapshots from the point without looking.