NHL 2010/2011 Season

[10spro]

The Flyers didn't show up for the game last night and Canucks had a couple of beauties including this fake shot-pass from A. Burrows.

[Diablo25]

Definite ass whooping. Flyers looked flat as hell.

[pk500]

Another loss for the Oil last night, this one to fellow bottom feeder Buffalo. I'll probably hear about this defeat this weekend at Mass from a friend of mine, who is a massive Sabres' fan. She always gives me crap about the Oil as we're leaving church.

[Diablo25]

I f'n love hockey. Great game so far in Pittsburgh.

[XXXIV]

I f'n love hockey. Great game so far in Pittsburgh.

Agree and since Im first to blast let me say you gotta give credit to the guys in charge for moving the game to tonight.

Sweet!

[10spro]

I f'n love hockey. Great game so far in Pittsburgh.

Agree and since Im first to blast let me say you gotta give credit to the guys in charge for moving the game to tonight.

Sweet!

No doubt, although still far from being in perfect conditions, the puck seems to rolling well as I was worried about being a slowish game because of all the rain. Heck, even a decent fight in front of 65.000+ got the crowd going.

[MUTTS]

Although I live in Upstate NY, I wasnt raised on hockey. We were definitely a football family. Ive been to maybe 20 college/AHL/NHL games in my life and probably a couple of hundred college football games alone. New Years Day was always college football in my house.

Well, I'd like to personally thank that guy who runs the BCS. I'm so glad he wrote letters to Sports Illustrated and USA Today to let us know how important his set up is. New Years Day is now anything but college football. College basketball never went up against its football brothers....yesterday there were 4 Big East conference games on the schedule. Rather than watching football, we attended Syracuse-Notre Dame in the Dome. I think I bothered to check the football scores once.

I was so thrilled that they moved the Winter classic to prime time. I ve been watching the Hard Knocks style show that HBO has done the past few weeks. I'm not sure what you hockey purists think, but I loved getting to know the 2 teams like that. Suddenly I know the names of more than 1 player on each team...and I was also intrigued by the 2 head coaches personalities. Kudos to the league and HBO for giving us this inside look as it got me geared up to watch the game....and I did...and I loved it. Cant tell you much about the Xs and Os. Just read a few articles where a few purists are upset about ice conditions and the rain. Ive seen nothing but fantastic responses from the players both winners and losing side. 68000 in the stands and prime time tv audience cant hurt. So I'm looking forward to a few more hockey games on the tube this winter.

Oh yeah....BCS guy.....fat chance Ill stay up and watch youre meaningless contests after New Years Day as its a busy work week and the kids have school and we have basketball practice to coach, etc, etc. You blew your holiday window.

Tony

[pk500]

Sixth one-goal loss for the Oil since Dec. 10, and this one hurt because it was against Calgary.

Maybe the cliche about "learning how to win" is true.

[10spro]

I was so thrilled that they moved the Winter classic to prime time. I ve been watching the Hard Knocks style show that HBO has done the past few weeks. I'm not sure what you hockey purists think, but I loved getting to know the 2 teams like that. Suddenly I know the names of more than 1 player on each team...and I was also intrigued by the 2 head coaches personalities. Kudos to the league and HBO for giving us this inside look as it got me geared up to watch the game....and I did...and I loved it. Cant tell you much about the Xs and Os. Just read a few articles where a few purists are upset about ice conditions and the rain. Ive seen nothing but fantastic responses from the players both winners and losing side. 68000 in the stands and prime time tv audience cant hurt. So I'm looking forward to a few more hockey games on the tube this winter.

While the conditions weren't optimal for the game, players from both sides seemed to really grab the experience of playing outdoors in front of a large crowd. Despite the rain, I thought the game was played rather well with intensity, and no one seemed to complain much about the ice conditions. Playing outdoors just seems to remind every player how they started with Hockey in their younger years skating in a little ice pond.

Moving the game to Prime Time was the right call and IMO, all future Winter Classics should be played late as the overall atmosphere was the winner last night.

[toonarmy]

The moving of the match was a good thing for NBC and the NHL. If it was at 1 it would have been going up against several bowl games, two of which featured teams with enormous followings. By playing it at night it was only up against one bowl game, which was only of interest to a limited number of people. The game under the lights looked great despite the shoddy production by NBC. Rather than try to show the hockey game the producer was infatuated with showing off how many camera angles he had at his disposal. Blimp view during gameplay? Really? I also thought the shootout between Bettis and Harris was pure trash. If the NHL is trying to grow the game and bring in more fans it should have done something related to hockey players in the second intermission. To add insult to injury, throwing the football into the net was worth more points than shooting the pucks into the net. On a positive note, at least the person who chooses music after the whistle did not pull what the Atl Thrashers' DJ did this past week and play Wham's Careless Whisper last night. Overall, though, despite NBC's crap coverage, the Winter Classic was a success IMO. I personally know of several people who never watch hockey who tuned in and became interested in the match.

[Feanor]

Flyers hold on 3-2 to get their first win in Detroit since 1988.

[Diablo25]

Flyers hold on 3-2 to get their first win in Detroit since 1988.

Woohoo!

[10spro]

Great Semis in the World Juniors coming up in BUF.

Canada-USA

Russia-Sweden

[toonarmy]

Watching the Russia/Sweden match right now. Sweden went down 2-0, but have been putting sustained pressure on Russia late in the second and actually just scored a goal as I was making this post to make it 2-1. I enjoy watching the World Juniors since it is generally very good hockey, although some of the headhunting this year has been ridiculous. I am really looking forward to tonight's USA/Canada match. The crowd should be hopping.

[Diablo25]

Flyers put Michael Leighton on waivers today. I like the move...it had to be done. No need to carry three goalies. I'm happy with Bob and Bouch between the pipes.

[10spro]

Russia-Sweden was a thriller in OT. Easily the match of the tournament so far.

The match tonight between Canada-USA should be another keeper as the hosts will try to repeat and they have a very steady keeper to try to stop the line of Hamilton-Schenn-LeBlanc. Key thing for Canada is to stay out of the box as the Americans are lethal in the PP department.

And yes the crowd will be electrifying tonight.

[Feanor]

Flyers put Michael Leighton on waivers today. I like the move...it had to be done. No need to carry three goalies. I'm happy with Bob and Bouch between the pipes.

Totally agree. Good riddance.

[10spro]

Dominating game by Team Canada so far. If it wasnt't for J. Campbell the score could have been much higher. Staying disciplined is the key so far for the Reds, only one penalty conceived to a dangerous US special teams.

[Naples39]

This is not the end for the Flyers goalie carousel. I agree, Leighton is not the caliber goalie to be starting on a cup contender, but neither is Boucher nor Bobrovsky (right now).

Been messing around with a Flyers blog the last 2 months; http://mostlyflyers.blogspot.com/
What I wrote there:

It is tempting to see this and have an initial reaction that the Flyers are dumping him and going with Boucher and Bobrovsky. After taking a deep breath, the following is more likely;
1) Leighton will be unclaimed and try to find his stride in the AHL as part of the Flyers organization.
2) The Flyers are going to ride Boucher (aka Mr. Streaky) as long as he's playing well. Personally I don't think that's going to be much longer, but you never know.
3) The Flyers don't want to send Bobrovsky down.

The Flyers overall goalie situation is not much clearer now. Don't be surprised to see Leighton called back up if Boucher and Bobrovsky struggle and Leighton plays well down on the farm. This definitely isn't good news for Mr. Leighton, but I don't think his days with the Flyers are over just yet.

As another aside, let me also say that I don't see Boucher or Leighton having any trade value at any point this season. If the Flyers don't want three goalies, it means someone is going to the minors and nothing is coming back to the Flyers.

[10spro]

Canucks win their third game in four nights playing on the road as their hot streak continues. They now lead the league in points and this is the best that I've seen the team play for the past three years. They are a confident bunch, they don't panic when they're down and the fourth line is contributing as well.

Corey Schneider has also been outstanding when he backs up Bobby Lou, the D is pretty mobile and they all learned to simplify their game when playing on the road. Special teams have been good too.

Key thing of course has been their health this season which has been relatively good compared to the morgue that affected them for the past 3 seasons.

Back playing at home on Wednesday for another three games in four nights, all is good in 'Nucks nation.

[pk500]

Another game, another loss for the Oil. Nothing else to say.

But former Oiler Dwayne Roloson produced a very impressive performance in his debut for Tampa last night, shutting out the Caps in a big Southeast Division game.

Roloson is a superb athlete who doesn't get enough credit. Dude still is a very good goalie at age 41. He could lift Tampa from being a good team to being a Cup contender.

Think that's a stretch? Just look at Edmonton after it acquired Roloson in 2006. The Oil rode Rolie the Goalie all the way to the Stanley Cup Final.

[10spro]

Roloson is a superb athlete who doesn't get enough credit. Dude still is a very good goalie at age 41. He could lift Tampa from being a good team to being a Cup contender.

Think that's a stretch? Just look at Edmonton after it acquired Roloson in 2006. The Oil rode Rolie the Goalie all the way to the Stanley Cup Final.

I think so. It's the last piece of the puzzle that was missing from TPA because we all know that they have a potent offense and decent D.

Rolie is not Di Pietro's backup because he can do better, so good for G. Snow to let him go to a contending team. Timing may not be on the Isles side as they started to play better lately but Di Pietro seems to have tweaked his knee. Again.

[10spro]

Gold medal game tonight between the Russians and team Canada. If Canada plays physical as they did at the opening game in BUF against the Russian team they should grab Gold despite not having the big names as they did the last couple of WJC. But the Russians are a resilient team, they were 90 seconds from going home in the semis and beat a very good Swedish team in a SO. Buffalo should be dressed in all red and white as it has been throughout the tourney.

[snaz16]

Roloson is a superb athlete who doesn't get enough credit. Dude still is a very good goalie at age 41. He could lift Tampa from being a good team to being a Cup contender.

Think that's a stretch? Just look at Edmonton after it acquired Roloson in 2006. The Oil rode Rolie the Goalie all the way to the Stanley Cup Final.

I think so. It's the last piece of the puzzle that was missing from TPA because we all know that they have a potent offense and decent D.

Rolie is not Di Pietro's backup because he can do better, so good for G. Snow to let him go to a contending team. Timing may not be on the Isles side as they started to play better lately but Di Pietro seems to have tweaked his knee. Again.

Nice to see some love for the Bolts. Huge win for them over the Caps. On to Pitt, Tough stretch,but all the sudden with Roloson,Ellis, and Smith,and the rookie Desjardan,who won 2 in row in his debut,the most obvious weakness seems to have been addressed. Tied up top in the east. The Lightning are definitely Cup contenders. Its amazing what Stevie Y. has done in his short time with the Bolts.

[toonarmy]

I don't think there is a contending team in the East who did not cringe when Roloson went to Tampa. It was pretty obvious that goaltending was the biggest hole to fill in TB, and the Lightning filled that hole with a solid goalie who has playoff experience and will be very very hungry to win a Cup. Yzerman has done a good job at TB and this move shows the fans that the organization is serious about winning the Cup. TB did not have a great chance to make the finals before this trade IMO, but now I would say they have as much of a chance as anyone as long as Roloson keeps playing well.