It's BACK! The 2005-2006 NHL Season

[Honolulu_Blue]

Andreas Lilja is teh suck. Big time.

[sachmo71]

Stars shut out the Senators...in their house! WHOOT!

[Honolulu_Blue]

This Leafs/Islanders game is madness. It's 4-4 at the end of the first. A frantic pace if I've ever seen one. Just absolute madness out there. Horrible defense, everyone running around like, shots coming from everywhere...

And this is with DiPietro and Belfour in net.

Now there is a scrum at the end of the period... Nice!!

[NoSkillz]

The Sabres just can't lose right now...

Lindy Ruff gambles by putting Ryan Miller in goal instead of the smolten Marty Biron and they still pull out the shootout win.

Good times!

[Honolulu_Blue]

Originally Posted by NoSkillz

The Sabres just can't lose right now...

Lindy Ruff gambles by putting Ryan Miller in goal instead of the smolten Marty Biron and they still pull out the shootout win.

Good times!

It's good to see.

I watched some of the game. The guys who call the Sabres' games mumble a lot and often sound like they are doing commentary on a golf tournament. They seem to whisper.

[RPI-Fan]

Originally Posted by Honolulu_Blue

It's good to see.

I watched some of the game. The guys who call the Sabres' games mumble a lot and often sound like they are doing commentary on a golf tournament. They seem to whisper.

That is, when they aren't bitching about EVERY.. SINGLE.. CALL... against the Sabres.

[Maple Leafs]

Toronto beats New York 9-6. Jay Feeley missed the FG at the end to tie it.

[Draft Dodger]

Gretzky's mom died tonight.

[sachmo71]

Originally Posted by Draft Dodger

Gretzky's mom died tonight.

Sorry to hear that.

[Honolulu_Blue]

The Wings are playing Columbus right now and this booing of Fedorov is really irritating me. Seriously. I didn't think they should have booed him two years ago, but now it's just getting ridiculous. All this guy did was help the team win three Stanley Cups and lead the team in playoff scoring during his tenure. Yeah, we should boo him.

Bah!

I was equally displeased when Pistons fans booed Larry Brown earlier this year. It was crass.

Bah!

[Draft Dodger]

Originally Posted by Honolulu_Blue

The Wings are playing Columbus right now and this booing of Fedorov is really irritating me. Seriously. I didn't think they should have booed him two years ago, but now it's just getting ridiculous. All this guy did was help the team win three Stanley Cups and lead the team in playoff scoring during his tenure. Yeah, we should boo him.

Bah!

I was equally displeased when Pistons fans booed Larry Brown earlier this year. It was crass.

Bah!

hey, LA fans still boo Rob Blake.

[Honolulu_Blue]

Originally Posted by Draft Dodger

hey, LA fans still boo Rob Blake.

You know what I heard about Rob Blake's hands?

[sachmo71]

Originally Posted by Draft Dodger

hey, LA fans still boo Rob Blake.

And the Sharks fans...Ed Belfour. Because he signed in Dallas. As a free agent.

[Maple Leafs]

Hell, Leaf fans boo Curtis Joseph for signing with Detroit as a FA for more money, even though he previously signed with us as a FA because we offered more money. And probably will again in the off-season.

[TurnerONU22]

The Canadian Olympic Team has been announced (from espn.com):

Defense
Rob Blake
Adam Foote
Scott Niedermayer
Chris Pronger
Robyn Regehr
Ed Jovanovski
Wade Redden

Forwards
Vincent Lecavalier
Joe Sakic (Captain)
Joe Thornton
Simon Gagne
Dany Heatley
Jarome Iginla
Ryan Smyth
Shane Doan
Martin St. Louis
Brad Richards
Rick Nash
Chris (um......Kris?, lol) Draper
Todd Bertuzzi

Alternates
Jason Spezza
Bryan McCabe
Eric Staal

I like the makeup of the team, although I've been reading everyone complaining about it, especially Nash, which I can't fathom. All the kid did was win the Rocket Richard trophy as a 19 year old, dominate at the World Championships, win in Switzerland with Joe Thorton, Gretz (i believe) called him the best forward at the Olympic Camp in August, comes back through 2 tough injuries and scores 2 in 2.

[Honolulu_Blue]

Originally Posted by TurnerONU22

The Canadian Olympic Team has been announced (from espn.com):

Defense
Rob Blake
Adam Foote
Scott Niedermayer
Chris Pronger
Robyn Regehr
Ed Jovanovski
Wade Redden

Forwards
Vincent Lecavalier
Joe Sakic (Captain)
Joe Thornton
Simon Gagne
Dany Heatley
Jarome Iginla
Ryan Smyth
Shane Doan
Martin St. Louis
Brad Richards
Rick Nash
Chris (um......Kris?, lol) Draper
Todd Bertuzzi

Alternates
Jason Spezza
Bryan McCabe
Eric Staal

I like the makeup of the team, although I've been reading everyone complaining about it, especially Nash, which I can't fathom. All the kid did was win the Rocket Richard trophy as a 19 year old, dominate at the World Championships, win in Switzerland with Joe Thorton, Gretz (i believe) called him the best forward at the Olympic Camp in August, comes back through 2 tough injuries and scores 2 in 2.

Goalies:
Martin Brodeur
Marty Turco
Roberto Luongo

Not too many surprises here. A very solid squad, but we expected that. I guess having Luongo and Turco there and leaving CuJo and Belfour behind could be a mild surprise, but nothing more. Luongo has carried the load internationally for a while, Turco has been playing lights out, and Brodeur is, well, Brodeur. He's your starter.

The D is as advertized. Good to see McCabe on the taxi squad.

I was very happy to see Draper make the team. He's really having an off year at the moment. He got hit in the eye with the puck early on and just hasn't been the same at all. I hope this jump starts him a bit. He's been a solid contributor to Team Canada for many years in World Championships, so I am glad to see him get a shot for Olympic gold. I also approve of picking Staal and Spezza over Crosby. They are both playing better than him right now and are (a bit) older. A wise decision.

[Travis]

Nothing too deep to post here, but the last 3 or 4 Oilers games have been absolutely awesome to watch. Game of the year so far for them was the tilt against Calgary on Monday. Tonight's was just edge of the seat action for the most part with the goalies just trying to keep up. This is going to be a hell of a team in a couple years if we can keep the young guys together and hope they catch onto the positives of a work ethic like Ethan Moreau's. Give us a real #5 defenseman so we're not forced to play Cross and Ulanov every night and we'll win these games 7-3 instead of 7-6 too.

[Honolulu_Blue]

Originally Posted by Travis

Nothing too deep to post here, but the last 3 or 4 Oilers games have been absolutely awesome to watch. Game of the year so far for them was the tilt against Calgary on Monday. Tonight's was just edge of the seat action for the most part with the goalies just trying to keep up. This is going to be a hell of a team in a couple years if we can keep the young guys together and hope they catch onto the positives of a work ethic like Ethan Moreau's. Give us a real #5 defenseman so we're not forced to play Cross and Ulanov every night and we'll win these games 7-3 instead of 7-6 too.

I couldn't agree more. I have been able to watch them and it's been as exciting regular season hockey as I have seen in years. Great end to end action. I love watching this Oiler team.

[RPI-Fan]

Man, tonight is crazy!

14 games, only the Rags and the Ducks don't play!

[SoxWin]

http://ruututripsphaneuf.ytmnd.com/

[Honolulu_Blue]

Crazy Wings/Blackhawks game. The Wings scored two goals in the last 38 seconds with the goalie pulled to tie the game at 2-2. Datsyuk scored with 0.1 seconds left in OT to give the Wings the win. The Wings were seriously outplayed for almost the entire game and were lucky to come away with the win. It was Christmas come early.

[Honolulu_Blue]

Originally Posted by SoxWin

http://ruututripsphaneuf.ytmnd.com/

Wow. That's really funny, especially how Ruutu just heads to the bench as if nothing had happened.

[RPI-Fan]

Man, what is it with the Isles verse the Senators. The last two times, we've thoroughly outplayed them, but the Sens breakout is just so god-damned good and fast against us.

[st.cronin]

I haven't watched a single game since the Thornton trade. I'm still in mourning.

[Tekneek]

Originally Posted by Honolulu_Blue

Wow. That's really funny, especially how Ruutu just heads to the bench as if nothing had happened.

I hate Ruutu. He's up there with Darcy Tucker and Sean Avery for me.

[Honolulu_Blue]

Originally Posted by Tekneek

I hate Ruutu. He's up there with Darcy Tucker and Sean Avery for me.

Most definitely. He even looks like a complete prick. He's just got that asshole face. He's definitely an agitator, that said, I always like having those guys around to some extent. It can be fun (see: the video posted above).

[sterlingice]

Argh- I was listening back and forth on the radio to the Hawks game (both the Detroit and Chicago stations- it's amazing how much stuff you can get when traveling on the road in the midwest) and the KU bowl game on the road Friday night. That was just killer

SI

[JonInMiddleGA]

Back to back shutouts by Michael Garnett (the first in franchise history) have pulled the Thrashers back to .500

Still 3 points out of the 8th playoff spot but at least this step has been taken & it comes as Kari Lehtonen finally comes off the DL ... although right now I wouldn't touch Garnett until he cools off a little.

[RPI-Fan]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

Back to back shutouts by Michael Garnett (the first in franchise history) have pulled the Thrashers back to .500

Still 3 points out of the 8th playoff spot but at least this step has been taken & it comes as Kari Lehtonen finally comes off the DL ... although right now I wouldn't touch Garnett until he cools off a little.

I look forward to getting a look at Lehtonen. Even though Garnett has put up good numbers lately, I think he's one of the worst goalies to start more than a game or two this year (although he is definitely better than Garth Fucking Snow!!!).

[NoSkillz]

Originally Posted by RPI-Fan

I look forward to getting a look at Lehtonen. Even though Garnett has put up good numbers lately, I think he's one of the worst goalies to start more than a game or two this year (although he is definitely better than Garth Fucking Snow!!!).

Well, you must have watched the game last night and Snow could hardly be blamed for the loss. The Isles have absolutely no work ethic outside of Jason Blake and the Sabres made them look like a bad AHL team for most of the game (outside the last ten minutes of the first).

The Sabres were possessed last night once again, playing with unbelievable determination and again came back from a third period deficit. And it's not just work ethic that's getting them there; they're now 8th overall in the NHL in goal scoring and still only two points back of Ottawa for 1st OVERALL in the league.

Wow. What a great ride!

[RPI-Fan]

Originally Posted by NoSkillz

Well, you must have watched the game last night and Snow could hardly be blamed for the loss. The Isles have absolutely no work ethic outside of Jason Blake and the Sabres made them look like a bad AHL team for most of the game (outside the last ten minutes of the first).

The Sabres were possessed last night once again, playing with unbelievable determination and again came back from a third period deficit. And it's not just work ethic that's getting them there; they're now 8th overall in the NHL in goal scoring and still only two points back of Ottawa for 1st OVERALL in the league.

Wow. What a great ride!

We had no work ethic, you're right. With that said, Snow is pathetic. The goal from Campbell in the 3rd period was HORRENDOUS. From the blue line, 6 inches off the ice, no screen, no deflection. I can make that save.

I see no way anybody could walk away from that without saying that despite our best efforts to take ourselves out of the game, we hung around and got a late lead, and Snow's terrrible play cost us the game.

[Chubby]

I'm sure the Sabres will still be ranked like 15th in the TSN Power Poll, biased asses...

Go Sabres!

[Draft Dodger]

since I don't want to talk about the Avs right now, I thought I'd mention that my in-laws gave me Ken Dryden's "The Game" for Christmas. I'm probably the last person on the planet to read it, but I'd still like to say that it is an EXCELLENT read so far.

[NoSkillz]

Another great Sabres win last night over Atlanta. Ryan Miller stood on his head the whole game.

I'm going to make my call right now. Somehow, someway, Miller is going to be the main man in net for the US at the Olympics, even though he didn't make the team.

Waddell has to be kicking himself for leaving him off, considering how bad DiPietro, Grahame and Esche (injured) have been. My guess is Miller makes the US taxi squad and gets substituted in for one of the injured guys.

[Honolulu_Blue]

Originally Posted by NoSkillz

Another great Sabres win last night over Atlanta. Ryan Miller stood on his head the whole game.

I'm going to make my call right now. Somehow, someway, Miller is going to be the main man in net for the US at the Olympics, even though he didn't make the team.

Waddell has to be kicking himself for leaving him off, considering how bad DiPietro, Grahame and Esche (injured) have been. My guess is Miller makes the US taxi squad and gets substituted in for one of the injured guys.

I was thinking the same thing last night when I saw DePietro go down. It looked bad at first, but early reports were that the knee injury wasn't too serious. Still, Miller has picked up exactly where he left off before the broken thumb. He's playing great hockey and is certainly without a doubt, the best US goaltender at the moment.

[Wolfpack]

Haven't posted in a bit (on vacation), but got to watch a couple of Canes games on TV while in NC. After sweeping out the last homestand, Carolina took an OT loss at Tampa, then got roughed up by Ottawa (fortunately, it's the last time we play this year) before dropping another tough OT game against Philly. Beat Montreal 5-3 tonight to go 1-1-2 in the last four. Now up 11 points on the Lightning in the Southeast.

At this point, I'd have to say Carolina should be able to win whatever opening-round series they draw, but I have doubts beyond that. I watched the Ottawa game and if our goaltending is not superb, we're going to get killed in a series with them. We're fast, but they're faster and they pass better. Adding Heatley to that team was almost unfair. We beat them twice because Gerber was able to stand on his head in both games and we made timely goals to win.

Fortunately, if we win the division, we'll likely be on the opposite side of the bracket from them as they'll likely be #1 and would only get them in the Eastern final (if we get past the second round against most likely Philadelphia).

[Maple Leafs]

So Ottawa was in Atlanta today. Heatley's first game back, and he was given a real rough ride by the fans -- lots of booing, lots of signs, etc. My guess it had more to do with him demanding a trade than with the accident. It seems like fans can forgive pretty much anything these days, except for wanting out.

But here's the strange thing: as you'd expect, there was a fair amount of coverage of the game leading up to it, with articles in most of the major papers and web sites. Even ESPN noticed that the NHL existed for a day. But all the articles I read had something in common: they pretty much whitewashed what actually happened to Dan Snyder.

The stories all mentioned Snyder's death, but in every case it was referred to as "the accident", with a note that Heatley was driving. If you didn't know the story and just happened to read the coverage this week, you'd think that Heatley and Snyder were minding their own business at an interestion when some maniac plowed into them. No mention of Heatley racing down a residential road at 80 mph, as he apparently did often. No mention of him being charged with first-degree vehicular homicide. No mention that, if it weren't for Snyder's family asking the court for mercy, Heatley would probably be in jail now.

Now I know it was an accident, and I know kids make mistakes. I understand that if Snyder's family can forgive, then the rest of us have to as well. I see that Heatley's career turnaround is a happy story. I'm fine with that. But do we really need to just pretend it never happened at all? Is anyone else a little uncomfortable with the way the history books have been slammed shut on this one?

[klayman]

Originally Posted by Maple Leafs

Is anyone else a little uncomfortable with the way the history books have been slammed shut on this one?

Yes. But isn't that what we expected?

[Draft Dodger]

Originally Posted by Maple Leafs

Now I know it was an accident, and I know kids make mistakes. I understand that if Snyder's family can forgive, then the rest of us have to as well. I see that Heatley's career turnaround is a happy story. I'm fine with that. But do we really need to just pretend it never happened at all? Is anyone else a little uncomfortable with the way the history books have been slammed shut on this one?

I would submit that the accident story has been done already. It's not the story anymore. The story is how Heatley has turned his career around. To go over and over the details of the accident is redundant even for our media.

[sachmo71]

I don't think anyone should forget what happened, but I think it's time to move on for sure.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by Maple Leafs

So Ottawa was in Atlanta today. Heatley's first game back, and he was given a real rough ride by the fans -- lots of booing, lots of signs, etc. My guess it had more to do with him demanding a trade than with the accident.

I believe it had pretty much everything to do with him wanting out, and particuarly with the way he handled it.

And I don't think it's so much that he wanted out, it's that the fans feel specifically betrayed by him wanting out. I had mixed feelings about the guy coming back but I was very much in the minority as far as I could tell. He got as much support as I've ever seen any athlete get in this town, at least as much as any collection of rank strangers can provide from a distance.

The fan quotes from today's AJC sums up a lot of the reaction IMO:
"We supported you, you jerk,"
"Through the whole accident, the community supported him," ... "I felt he let the community down. It seemed like he kind of left us high and dry."
"He thumbed his nose at the support the city gave him ... "I thought he showed a lot of integrity through the ordeal, then a complete lack of integrity when he asked to be traded."

To some degree I think it was something that fans needed to get out of their systems a little bit. Their reaction was pretty much what mine would have been & I know I'm pretty hostile about his timing. I don't think he'll ever be warmly welcome here, but since he's wearing a different sweater now, I think that's as it should be. It's still the most controversial thing to happen with the team in their short existence, and it's the conversational third-rail at a game. The only really heated fan confrontations I've ever seen there (only 2 or 3, not like it's a lot) centered on that subject, and interestingly it's the pro-Heatley people who go after those who are anti-Heatley (the Heatley jersey's with the name covered, circle-and-slash, etc weren't debuting yesterday, I've seen them from Day 1 this year).

The best thing to come from the yesterday's game perhaps was that the fans combined their disdain for Heatley with a new found acceptance of Marian Hossa. After hearing "Hossa, Hossa, Hossa" chants for a good part of the game, the new young star in town told the paper "It's a special feeling," he said of the chanting. "You don't see that every game. . . . I feel so much better."

[Tekneek]

I would have booed him even if he was still on the team. I am a little entertained by the people booing him that were busy having pity parties when the accident happened. They're more upset that he went to another team than about what he did, though they disguise that rage as having to do with the accident, the death of Snyder, and the resulting criminal charges. If they really cared about those things, they wouldn't have been so anxious to paint him as "a great character guy who made a little mistake" back then.

He should never have been in a position to ask for a release/trade. The team should've started soliciting offers right after the accident hit the news and not stopped until they got an offer worth taking.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by Tekneek

... though they disguise that rage as having to do with the accident, the death of Snyder, and the resulting criminal charges.

I really haven't seen anybody boo the guy for the actual incident, and haven't heard/seen anything from yesterday that indicates that even came up.
So where's the "disguised rage"?

Not saying it isn't out there, just saying I haven't seen it.

[Tekneek]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

I really haven't seen anybody boo the guy for the actual incident, and haven't heard/seen anything from yesterday that indicates that even came up.
So where's the "disguised rage"?

Not saying it isn't out there, just saying I haven't seen it.

I have talked with people who were at the game and, based on a lot of the signage and comments made, people were calling him out on the criminal charges, community service, accident, and Snyder's death. Since there wasn't that much rage when he made his return to the ice as a Thrasher, I'd say those people are only now calling him out for it because he left town.

[klayman]

Originally Posted by Tekneek

I have talked with people who were at the game and, based on a lot of the signage and comments made, people were calling him out on the criminal charges, community service, accident, and Snyder's death. Since there wasn't that much rage when he made his return to the ice as a Thrasher, I'd say those people are only now calling him out for it because he left town.

But isn't that the rub? They were supporting him and he turned his back on them by wanting out. It's not like he got traded and all the Atlanta fans said "hey, wasn't that the guy who got in the accident? Boy he's going to hear about this when he gets back here!". It was an ongoing process that he intentionally got up from and left.

[Maple Leafs]

Originally Posted by Draft Dodger

I would submit that the accident story has been done already. It's not the story anymore. The story is how Heatley has turned his career around. To go over and over the details of the accident is redundant even for our media.

I guess that's the part that doesn't fit for me. If the story is done, and he's just another player, then fine. But you can't have the inspirational comeback story without talking about what he's actually coming back from. He's not coming back from some unfortunate fluke accident. He's coming back from an accident he caused, directly, that left someone dead and him with a police record. This wink, wink, nudge business where we're not supposed to mention that part seems dishonest to me.

To go over and over the details, to beat it into the ground in every city he goes to (cough, Bertuzzi) would be unfair here, I agree. But there has to be a middle ground between overkill and pretending it never happened, isn't there?

[Tekneek]

Originally Posted by klayman

But isn't that the rub? They were supporting him and he turned his back on them by wanting out. It's not like he got traded and all the Atlanta fans said "hey, wasn't that the guy who got in the accident? Boy he's going to hear about this when he gets back here!". It was an ongoing process that he intentionally got up from and left.

I guess my problem with it is this... If you think it is right and proper to forgive somebody for that sort of incident, many going so far as to call it a "simple mistake", then why not be able to forgive him for wanting to go to a new team? One is a criminal act that contributed to the death of another person and one is just changing which hockey team you play for. It is as if they would forgive a home team player for nearly anything. It just doesn't seem consistent to me.

[Pumpy Tudors]

Tonight, Patrik Elias returned to the ice for the New Jersey Devils. For those who don't know, he has spent the past several months battling and recovering from Hepatitis A. He played a decent first period, and he looks like he's in good enough shape to help the team throughout the entire game. I'm very glad to see him back.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Originally Posted by Tekneek

It is as if they would forgive a home team player for nearly anything. It just doesn't seem consistent to me.

Actually the first sentence there seems to be pretty consistent. The key is whether he's "our guy" or "somebody else's guy".

Killing Dan Snyder was not perceived as a personal slight by the majority of fans. Asking to be traded, especially since he was getting a lot of support & understanding (rightly or wrongly) from the fans, well, that's going to be taken pretty personally most of the time I think. It may not always make sense, but I think it'd be a pretty consistent reaction.

[Tekneek]

I meant that it doesn't seem consistent to forgive a guy for doing what he did, but not forgive him for wanting to be released/traded. You're right that it is a case of a bunch of homers. We'll forgive anything by the home team, but once you leave we will act like you were a bastard from the start.