RE: General NHL Talk
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RE: General NHL Talk - 3/6/2008 9:57:20 AM
So.Mn.Fan
Status: offline From Espn, I'd like to see these match ups also
It's been a few years since the fantasy went out of sports for me.
Maybe it's just age. Or laziness. Or maybe the constant need for reading glasses. Or a realization that poring over possible trades with my buddies rather than paying attention to my kids probably wasn't a quality life decision.
So, like every retiring pro athlete, I gave up the fantasy to spend more time with my family.
Phillip MacCallum/Getty Images
C'mon. Wouldn't you want to see Sidney Crosby skating in Montreal in the first round of the postseason?
No, really. Stop giggling.
But I never said I wouldn't consider a comeback -- listen up, Mr. Favre -- and with some prodding, here we go.
We're not talking about drafting a lineup for the playoffs. We're talking about drafting the entire playoffs, picking the eight first-round matchups that, in this fantasy world, would be the most fun to watch.
Now, be aware, these matchups have only a passing relationship to the current NHL standings. I'm putting Washington and Chicago into the Stanley Cup dance not because they'll make it, but because I like watching Alexander Ovechkin and Alexander Semin and Mike Green and Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane and Brent Seabrook.
The Capitals and Blackhawks are more fun than Minnesota, Boston and Dallas, for sure, but you can't boot out all the boring teams.
Instead, Carolina and Nashville, two teams that actually aren't particularly boring at all, have to pay the price to get the Caps and Hawks in.
Sorry, but that's just the way I roll in my make-believe world.
So here are my most desirable first-round Stanley Cup playoff matchups:
Pittsburgh vs. Montreal
Right now, the Bell Centre in Montreal is arguably the best place to watch a hockey game in the world, so having Sidney Crosby in that atmosphere to start the postseason just makes sense. Crosby played junior in Quebec, plus his dad was a Canadiens draft pick. Plus, these are two teams with offensive, creative personalities and, frankly, it would be a lot more interesting watching Marian Hossa and Evgeni Malkin trying to outdance Andrei Kostitsyn and Tomas Plekanec than watching enemy checkers shut them down. Finally, it would be a superb, intriguing matchup between two young goalies, Marc-Andre Fleury and Carey Price. Maybe Mario Lemieux would even make the trip north to his home province.
Washington vs. New York Rangers
If Crosby's tied up in La Belle Province, well, Ovechkin should be on Broadway. The Russian star has never been in the postseason, and GM George McPhee's multiple moves at the trade deadline deserve some kind of playoff reward. Rangers superstar Jaromir Jagr, of course, played for the Caps before deciding not to try anymore. In general, getting the Caps into Manhattan for a significant playoff struggle would have to help that franchise get some badly needed face time. Finally, Bruce Boudreau, the Caps' coach, is the patron saint for all those minor league bench bosses who had to wait and wait and wait for their chances to coach in the big leagues while others less qualified got their shot.
New Jersey vs. Ottawa
OK, not every one can be a dream series. But this one would have meaning given that the Senators managed to beat Martin Brodeur -- who remembers the Devils couldn't score to save their lives in last season's second-round series? -- and would be hard-pressed to do it again. This is a series with some history, which is nice, and the contrasting styles of the two teams offer the kind of matchup boxing fans love to see. The Sens, of course, have stumbled badly in recent weeks, and it's going to be fascinating to see which of their goaltenders, Ray Emery or Martin Gerber, is able to get on something even resembling a roll by April. For Devs coach Brent Sutter, meanwhile, this is going to be his first shot at coaching in the NHL postseason (Lou wouldn't fire him now, would he?) and a chance to prove the contention of this author that Sutter was the most significant free-agent signing last summer.
Boston vs. Philadelphia
This would be the throwback series, a chance for two teams that last won Stanley Cups in the 1970s to get at each other. Philly, you can imagine, should be hopping in the playoffs after the team finished dead last in the league last season. Boston, meanwhile, needs a rollicking playoff series to return that sense of spirit to the Beantown hockey public, and a collision with a team that would allow fans of both cities to travel back and forth would be perfect for that. Both teams were once among the meanest, baddest teams ever to don skates, but these days, it's the Flyers who do all the nasty stuff. The memory of Philly blueliner Randy Jones' awful hit on Boston's Patrice Bergeron earlier this season would add some emotional spice.
Calgary vs. Anaheim
Yeah, I'm thinking watching Ducks GM Brian Burke clash with old buddy (and now Flames coach) Mike Keenan could make for a spirited affair for two teams that like it rough and tough with a sprinkling of fights per period, not games. This has to be the first-round matchup the Ducks would like to avoid, if only because heading into Canada against a team with a host of its own big bodies would be a toughie to win en route to a potential repeat. You've got Ryan Getzlaf versus Dion Phaneuf, Miikka Kiprusoff versus Jean-Sebastien Giguere, Chris Pronger versus Jarome Iginla and, of course, George Parros versus Eric Godard. That last one would be only if either player ever saw the ice or left the press box. There wouldn't be nearly as much speed and skill in this one as ferocity and blood. Lots of personality and lots of crash-and-bang hockey.
Detroit vs. Colorado
Well, duh. Of course it would be great to see this rivalry rekindled, particularly with the Wings showing their mortality down the stretch and with Adam Foote and Peter Forsberg returning to Colorado. The curiosity element in this one would be the goaltending, with no one particularly certain whether the Jose Theodore-Peter Budaj matchup will stand up under playoff pressure or 35-year-old Chris Osgood and 43-year-old Dominik Hasek have a serious playoff run left in them. But it's the history between these two clubs that would matter most, and you could expect endless video replays of Claude Lemieux's hit on Kris Draper and Patrick Roy boxing with Osgood. Finally, it would include two of the classiest NHLers ever facing off in the late stages of their careers -- Joe Sakic and Nicklas Lidstrom. A little something for everyone.
Minnesota vs. Dallas
There's history here, too. Actually, a little incestuous history, for these teams are relatives, with the Stars having first been born as the Minny North Stars 41 years ago before pulling up stakes for Texas in the 1990s. They've honored the North Stars past, including keeping Bill Masterton's No. 19 retired rather than giving it to new kid on the block Brad Richards. Mike Modano, of course, was a North Stars draft pick who played for the team the last time The State of Hockey hosted a Stanley Cup finals. The Wild, meanwhile, have done a better job of understanding and capitalizing on Minnesota's rich hockey history than the North Stars ever did, while Dallas has actually planted some reasonably deep roots for the game in the heart of Texas. While the coaches, Dallas' Dave Tippett and Minnesota's Jacques Lemaire, aren't known to be controversial types, the GMs, loquacious Stars co-GM Brett Hull and Minnesota's fiery Doug Risebrough, might have a quote or two to offer before it's over.
San Jose vs. Chicago
There used to be some serious cross-pollination between these teams in the days when Bob Pulford ran the Blackhawks and his relative-by-marriage, Dean Lombardi, managed the Sharks. But this would be a series about personality, with San Jose still looking to establish a playoff persona and the Windy City looking to recapture the glories from when it was one of the league's signature franchises playing out of the old bandbox known as Chicago Stadium. For the NHL, getting some Bay Area-Chicago flavor would be terrific after so many years of seeing major cities like New York, Los Angeles, Boston and Chicago on the sidelines when the postseason began. These are young hockey teams, with the Sharks looking to fulfill their promise and the Hawks, featuring Toews and Kane, trying to demonstrate they are a team of the future. Joe Thornton of the Sharks, meanwhile, is going to have that playoff bugaboo lurking over his shoulder until he gets something serious done in the spring.
RE: General NHL Talk - 3/6/2008 2:25:33 PM
Jeff Jesser
From: Southern Cal
Status: offline Dallas would be a bad matchup for us in the first. We don't play them well for some reason.
Status: offline Fantastic stuff from the Stribs Youngblood today about the early North Star days.
Forty years later, J.P. Parise still remembers those strangers, thrown together by fate and a feisty general manager in frigid Minnesota: 20 guys together on the ice and in the dressing room, 20 couples out to dinner at Dutch Delmonte's place in St. Paul.
Four decades.
It has been that long since the NHL first came to Minnesota. The league doubled in the fall of 1967, adding six expansion teams to its original franchises in Toronto, Montreal, Boston, New York, Detroit and Chicago. The Minnesota North Stars were one of those new teams during a winter Parise calls "one of the all-time greatest."
"Most of us had been waiting for a chance in the NHL and we were together," Parise said. "This was a chance. For most of us, our first."
Toronto traded Parise to the North Stars in December of that first season. He was 26 and had played in only 22 NHL games in the previous two seasons. By the time he left the league, he'd played in nearly 900, most of them with Minnesota.
Parise is now the director of hockey recruiting for Shattuck St. Mary's School in Faribault. He laughs — but isn't joking — when he says his son, Zach, makes more playing one game for the New Jersey Devils than he made in that first year with the North Stars.
But the memories he has of a season filled with both tragedy and triumph are priceless.
The North Stars — placed in the same division as the other newcomers from Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, St. Louis, Los Angeles and Oakland — finished 27-32-15 and came within a goal of reaching the Stanley Cup Finals. That January, teammate Bill Masterton fell on the ice, lost consciousness and never regained it, dying about 30 hours later. He remains the only player in NHL history to die from on-ice injuries.
Talk to members of that first North Stars team about that night at Met Center and their voices grow soft. That year all of them felt like brothers. "We were the same age and we were getting the same chance," said Andre Boudrias, now a scout with the New Jersey Devils.
Boudrias played for three minor league teams and in seven NHL games for Montreal before expansion, and played 655 NHL games thereafter. Wayne Connelly, a hard-skating and harder-shooting right winger, went on to score 307 points in more than 500 NHL games.
A few players near the end of their careers — Moose Vasko, a Chicago Blackhawk for a decade, Parker MacDonald, Dave Balon — were obtained for their guidance. But most were taking their first real NHL plunge.
Stars? Not many. The Original Six hoarded their best players. That inaugural North Stars team rescued Bill Goldsworthy from the Boston farm system, and the Goldy Shuffle was born. Goalie Cesare Maniago bounced around the Original Six — from Toronto to Montreal to the New York Rangers — before the North Stars took him with their first pick in the expansion draft. He played in Minnesota for nine seasons.
"It was my most memorable year in the game," Maniago said.
Opening at the Met
Walter Bush Jr. left Minneapolis to play college hockey at Dartmouth, then came back home and played semi-pro in 1955. By 1959, he managed the U.S. team sent to Prague for the world championships. A few years later, he, Gordon Ritz and Bob McNulty brought pro hockey — the Boston Bruins' Central Hockey League farm club — to the Twin Cities, and not long after, they and six other investors went looking to land an NHL team.
When he went to the NHL meetings on its proposed expansion in February 1966, Bush brought a presentation — and an aerial picture of Metropolitan Stadium in suburban Bloomington taken during the Twins' 1965 World Series appearance with a big parking lot next door — but no building yet in which to play.
Minnesota was awarded a franchise anyway, and Met Center, a gleaming arena with 15,000 seats inside and glittering white columns that vaguely recalled ancient Athens outside, went up in that empty lot. It was the team's home until it left for Dallas in 1993.
On Oct. 21, 1967, after the team had played its first four games on the road — workers bolted seats into place just minutes before the Met doors were first flung open. Rink-side tickets cost $5.50, games started at 8 p.m. and fans arrived dressed as if they were going to the theatre. The North Stars averaged 11,861 fans that first season, slightly above the league average.
The Bird's the word
By far the most colorful figure on that first team didn't play winger or in goal. He was the general manager and, eventually, coach: Wren (Bird) Blair, a bombastic hockey man from the Boston organization credited with discovering and signing Bobby Orr.
"We needed a showman, and that's what he was," said Bush, who hired Blair to be his GM.
On June 20, 1967, Blair named himself head coach. He tried to refuse any more players after selecting 16 castoffs from Original Six teams in an expansion draft that furnished the North Stars with their first 20 players. He fined players for a night out drinking at the team's first training camp in Ontario, before they had even practiced.
Two games into the regular season, he demoted the veteran MacDonald to the minors for a few games just to prove a point. He once wanted Bush to remove an arena-supporting beam from the Met Center dressing room because players tried to hide behind it.
"He would go nuts on the bench," said Milan Marcetta, a center who came to the North Stars, along with Parise, in that December trade. "He'd curse and swear and holler."
There was a method to his, er, meanness. Thirteen years before Herb Brooks did the same with the 1980 U.S. Olympic hockey team, Blair brought together a collection of players from everywhere by uniting them against him.
"It was part of the plan," said Blair, who when reached at his home in Ontario asked how many of his players had called him an SOB . "They responded pretty good. They played hard that year."
In Los Angeles, Blair, his team getting thumped pretty good, stormed into the dressing room between periods, threw off his jacket and tried to pound on the trainer's table. He slipped on an orange peel and fell.
"He just laid there," North Stars defenseman Mike McMahon said. "Wren says, 'Anybody laughs and you'll be sent so far away, the Hockey News won't be able to find you.'"
He called Minnesota fans a "bunch of Phlegmatic Swedes sitting on their hands like pieces of stones.'"
The Star's Jim Klobuchar wrote a column reproaching Blair for ignoring all of Minnesota's phlegmatic Norwegians, Italians and Germans. But they all started showing up at games, perhaps just to spite him.
It was that way with the players sometimes, too.
"I was never closer to my teammates than I was that year in Minnesota," Maniago said. "We did everything together."
And that included mourning.
Tragedy on the ice
Masterton led the University of Denver to consecutive NCAA titles in 1960 and 1961, played some minor league hockey while he went back to school to get his master's degree, then got a job at Honeywell in Minneapolis.
When the league expanded, he saw a chance. In his 38th NHL game, Masterton — not wearing a helmet, like most players back then — collided with an Oakland player, fell backward and hit his head on the ice. He was rushed to the hospital. It was Jan. 13.
"I drove with him to the rink that night," center Ray Cullen said. "We lived close to each other. I picked him up, his wife picked my wife up. Everybody loved him. … It was just a bump, not a crushing blow. It was a simple body check."
The night before that fateful game, Masterton complained about a headache from a hit a couple of days earlier.
"My wife firmly believes that he was out before he hit the ice," Maniago said.
After the game, the North Stars set out for Boston, where they were to play the next night. The team, still in shock, lost 9-2. Radio broadcaster Al Shaver — in his first year as an NHL play-by-play man — remembers walking out of his hotel room the morning after the Boston game and bumping into Blair and assistant coach John Mariucci.
''I looked at their faces, and I knew it wasn't good,'' Shaver said. ''Bill had passed away during the night.''
On Jan. 16, the NHL All Star Game went on as planned, despite the North Stars' request to delay it. On the 17th, the North Stars' season resumed in St. Louis, the same day as Masterton's funeral in the Twin Cities.
''Nobody wanted to play, but they made us play,'' McMahon said.
That same season, the North Stars beat both defending champion Toronto and about-to-be-champion Montreal. Connelly scored a hat trick in a 3-2 victory over the Canadiens.
In the playoffs, they beat Los Angeles in seven games in the first round. In the Western Conference finals, they took St. Louis to overtime in Game 7 before losing.
They might have won that series had they played three home games instead of two. Bush hadn't anticipated a playoff run and booked the Ice Follies into Met Center, sending his team to St Louis for five of the seven games.
When the North Stars flew home from St. Louis the morning after Game 7, thousands of fans greeted them.
"We were just trying to do our best," MacDonald said. "Win some games, draw some fans. Nobody knew how it was going to work out."
Status: offline Where Have They Gone?
A total of 36 players appeared in a North Stars uniform during the franchise's inaugural season of 1967-68. Here is a look at the players who appeared in at least 25 games that season:
Name Birthdate Pos. GP G A Pts Today
Wayne Connelly 12/16/39 RW 74 35 21 56 Retired and living in Kirkland Lake, Ontario
Ray Cullen 9/20/41 C 67 28 25 53 Owns a car dealership in London, Ontario
Andre Boudrias 9/19/43 C 74 18 35 53 Pro scout for the New Jersey Devils
Dave Balon 2/08/37 LW 73 15 32 47 Died of multiple sclerosis May 29, 2007
Mike McMahon 8/30/41 D 74 14 33 47 Retired and living in St. Paul
Parker MacDonald 6/14/33 LW 69 19 23 42 Retired and living in North Branford, Conn.
Bill Goldsworthy 8/24/44 RW 68 14 19 33 Died May 29, 1996, of complications from AIDS
Jean-Paul Parise 11/12/41 LW 43 11 16 27 Director of hockey recruiting at Shattuck St. Mary's
Bob Woytowich 8/24/44 D 66 4 17 21 Died July 30, 1988, of a heart attack while driving in Winnipeg
Bill Collins 7/13/43 C 71 9 11 20 Unknown
Milan Marcetta 9/19/36 C 36 4 13 17 Retired and living on Vancouver Island
Bill Masterton 8/16/38 C 38 4 8 12 Died on Jan. 15, 1968, after an on-ice collision and fall
Bob McCord 3/20/34 RW 70 3 9 12 Retired and living in Parker, Colo.
Ted Taylor 2/25/42 LW 31 3 5 8 Unknown
Elmer Vasko 11/12/35 D 70 1 6 7 Died of cancer in Chicago on Oct. 31, 1998
Pete Goegan 3/06/34 D 46 1 2 3 Retired, living in Thunder Bay, Ontario
Bill Plager 7/06/45 D 32 0 2 2 Living in Peterborough, Ontario, working for Quaker Oats
Goaltenders Birthdate GP W-L-T GAA Today
Cesare Maniago 1/13/39 52 21-17-9 2.77 Retired, living in Vancouver
Gary Bauman 7/21/40 26 5-13-5 3.50 Died Oct. 16, 2006
A handful of these guys came to my hometown years ago in a "Skate with the North Stars" event. It was a hoot. Our town put together a team of old guys to play against them.
Mike McMahon was a hilarious cranky old dude. I was helping to make them comfy in our rink. When they walked in, they all looked around the locker room and said "where's the beer?" Ummm, sorry fellas, (I told them) this is a 0-tolerance youth rink, it's not allowed here. To which Mr McMahon walks over, puts his arm around me and says "son, we will have beer in here before we play, or we will be heading back to the hotel, now".
Well, I took the bull by the balls, pushed his hand away, mustered some strength, and said bravely ..... "what kind? I'll be right back!"
< Message edited by So.Mn.Fan -- 3/7/2008 9:46:59 AM >
Status: offline NORTH STARS, SEASON 1
Feb. 8, 1966: The NHL OKs expansion from six to 12 teams. Minnesota, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, St. Louis and Oakland are granted franchises.
Spring 1966: Walter Bush Jr., Gordon Ritz, Robert McNulty and several other partners pay $2 million for the Minnesota franchise.
April 1966: A contest to pick the team's name draws 1,536 entries. The name North Stars, submitted by Mr. and Mrs. William Swanson of Shoreview, is picked. The couple wins a $100 savings bond and a pair of season tickets.
June 6, 1967: The expansion draft is held in Montreal. Goaltender Cesare Maniago is the first player taken by Minnesota GM Wren Blair (from the Rangers). In all, the North Stars drafted 20 players, 17 of whom played at least one game in a Minnesota uniform.
June 20, 1967: Blair names himself coach.
Oct. 11, 1967: In the first game in franchise history, the North Stars and the Blues tie 2-2 in St. Louis. Bill Masterton scores the first goal in franchise history. Because the seats in Met Center aren't ready, the North Stars open the season with four road games.
Oct. 21, 1967: In the home opener, the Stars beat Oakland 3-1. Bill Goldsworthy scores the first goal on Met Center ice.
Nov. 11, 1967: In front of 15,128 -- the largest crowd to see a hockey game in Minnesota to that point -- the Stars win their first game against an Original Six team, a 2-1 victory over defending Stanley Cup champ Toronto, on goals by Dave Balon and Andre Boudrias.
Dec. 23, 1967: J.P. Parise and Milan Marcetta are acquired in a trade with Toronto for Murray Hall, Ted Taylor, Len Lunde, Don Johns and Duke Harris.
Jan. 13, 1968: Bill Masterton is injured in a game against Oakland and dies in the early morning of Jan. 15. It is the only death directly related to an on-ice injury in NHL history.
March 2, 1968: Wayne Connelly scores all three goals in a 3-2 victory over eventual Stanley Cup champion Montreal.
April 16, 1968: Marcetta's goal at 9:11 of overtime gives the North Stars a 4-3 victory over Los Angeles in Game 6 of the best-of-seven series.
April 18, 1968: The North Stars score five consecutive goals at one point in a 9-4 victory over the Kings in Game 7 of the first-round playoff series.
May 3, 1968: Ron Schock's goal 2:50 into the second overtime gives St. Louis a 2-1 victory in the seventh game of the Western Conference finals.
Status: offline Poor performance in Carolina last night.
Ill-timed penalties and poor execution on the PP (again).
Loved seeing Voros with all the pt, the kid plays hard.
Jacques benched the "stars" in the third. Not a bad idea.
Coming back home after tonight, need to get back on track (again).
Former Wild (and current Thrasher) centerman Todd White still pays attention to the Wild. The biggest thing he's noticed?
"Brent Burns. Holy geez, has he ever improved," White said.
Lineup shuffles
After being a scratch the previous two games, Aaron Voros returned against the 'Canes because Chris Simon was out with the flu. Wednesday, Lemaire said: "Look at the lineup. If [Voros is] going to play, somebody else has to come out. Make your pick."
Thursday, Voros said, "I want to play to my strengths like I did when I first came up so it's hard for them to take me out."
RE: General NHL Talk - 3/7/2008 10:04:30 AM
Status: offline Yeap, another craptacular effort last night. I'm really starting to believe that DR sent this season right down the crapper when he acquired Simon and guys realize it. Their effort of late has been really bad. It had to be demoralizing to hear all the rumored players coming and when the door opens...in steps Simon.
Jim Frenette
From: Dundas
Status: offline When Cole started the fight with Voros, Gleeson jumped him also and we didn't see a second man in penalty. Why?
Status: offline That was old-style chicken-spit NHL reffing rearing it's head again.
They decided not to follow the rules, but to follow their "feelings".
They didn't want upset fans or upset Hurricanes, so they did the old "let's even it up as much as possible".
I'm usually very lenient on refs, it's a tough job, but those guys last night were brutal homers.
They wanted to get out of there with a Carolina win so everyone was happy.
You are right, Cole/Gleeson/Canes should have been the most-penalized in the scrap for sure.
If you take the time to watch the play, Voros stopped the hit from happening. Yes, it looked dangerous in full-speed, but he braced himself over Staal against the boards. He pulled off a lot more than I expected Voros to.
The uneducated Carolina fans wanted blood, especially after the little weiner sat on the bench like he was comatose.
Did you happen to see what happened when it was sorted out and play resumed?
Laviolette asks, and Staal springs over the board like a madman. Suddenly the pain go away.
I've seen worse, and we could have been down even longer than the one minute we got, but the rules haven't changed ...
You jump in to a fracas, you're going home. Unless the refs lack the courage to call it that way.
And then, the gutless hook call on Voros with a minute left just sealed the deal. Yes, we get it, we weren't going to win last night.
Frustrating, frustrating game.
< Message edited by So.Mn.Fan -- 3/7/2008 10:41:18 AM >
Status: offline Scott we have been seeing these bad call all year. I don't know if it is just the Wild, or if the NHL as a whole are getting poor officiating this year
Status: offline Matias Ohlund out indefinitely with a knee injury.
Karma's a bitch.
TJSweens
Status: offline Gee I feel terrible about that.
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!
"The eternal fate of the noble and enlightened: to be brutally crushed by the armed and dumb."
ORIGINAL: Jim Frenette
Scott we have been seeing these bad call all year. I don't know if it is just the Wild, or if the NHL as a whole are getting poor officiating this year
I gotta agree the Wild have had some head-scratchers happen all year.
I'm never sure if we have a whiny coaching staff or what, but it seems we get the short end of a lot of sticks.
Even at home, we get bent-over a lot.
I like the attention to goal-or-no-goal calls, but they still seem to get them wrong, and don't seem to follow any golden rules.
You hear that they can't overrule certain calls that happen on the ice, then the next thing you know, they do. I'm seeing what you do, Fargo.
Status: offline Corey Perry gone for the Ducks for 6 weeks (lacerated leg muscle).
That's gonna hurt them. He's been huge.
RE: General NHL Talk - 3/10/2008 2:11:07 PM
Status: offline The NHL and the Yankees are continuing their work toward a deal that would call for the Rangers to play host to a 2008-09 regular-season game before Yankee Stadium is shuttered for good, the New York Daily News reported in Monday's editions.
"It's something we've spoken both to the Yankees and to the city about," NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly told the newspaper, "but it's not a done deal. There are still other possibilities and a lot of moving pieces."
Yankee Stadium opened in 1923. Construction on their new park began in 2006 at a cost of more than $1 billion. The new stadium -- the site is adjacent to the current edifice -- will open in 2009.
It seems clear that the NHL is intent on capitalizing on the incredibly popular Winter Classic in Buffalo, played on New Year's Day before a crowd of more than 71,000 at snowy Ralph Wilson Stadium.
The first regular-season outdoor NHL game in the United States, between the Buffalo Sabres and Pittsburgh Penguins, drew a 2.6 overnight rating and a 5 share on NBC, the best numbers since a six-game regional NHL telecast on Fox in February 1996. The Winter Classic ratings also surpassed Wayne Gretzky's final game on April 18, 1999.
Pittsburgh beat Buffalo 2-1 in a shootout on a Sidney Crosby goal.
Neither a date nor a Rangers opponent for the potential Yankee Stadium game has been determined, the Daily News said. To generate maximum interest, the paper said the league and the network would prefer an Original Six foe for New York.
According to the Daily News, the Yankees have been reluctant to embrace hockey at the stadium for fear that the playing surface would be damaged by refrigeration pipes needed to build a temporary rink. Their new park has quashed that concern.
NHL commissioner Gary Bettman also said recently that an outdoor game in Chicago, possibly at Wrigley Field, "would make a lot of sense."
Hope the NHL keeps pursuing these outdoor games.
Gophers new stadium will work good for it one day also.
Stacey King
Status: offline Karma is a bitch.
The Vancouver Canucks will have to play out the final stretch of the regular season without one of their key defenseman. Mattias Ohlund did not accompany the team on its trip to Phoenix and has flown back to Vancouver to undergo surgery Thursday to remove bone chips in his knee.
"After further consultation with our team doctors it was determined that surgery was the best course of action," said general manager Dave Nonis in a statement. "The best long term decision for Mattias and our hockey club is to have this addressed immediately."
ORIGINAL: Stacey King
Karma is a bitch.
RE: General NHL Talk - 3/16/2008 9:48:14 AM
Status: offline Pronger gets 8 game suspension for doing the same thing that Simon got 30 games for. Stomping on another players leg with his skate. It would be one thing if this was his first offense, but Pronger has had 7 suspensions prior
Status: offline Great news
Zednik
SUNRISE, Fla. -- Richard Zednik joined the Florida Panthers for the official team picture this week, but saved his real smile for a brief return to the ice.
Zednik skated alone for about 5-to-10 minutes Wednesday before his teammates practiced, enjoying the ice for the first time since a near fatal injury in February when his throat was slashed by teammate Olli Jokinen's skate.
"I didn't want to leave," Zednik said. "I was like, 'I'm going to stay.' It was great to be on the ice. I felt like it was time to go back."
Zednik says his recovery is going well, though doctors still haven't cleared him to work out. He hopes to run on a treadmill or ride a stationary bike in the next week or so.
"I feel good," Zednik said. "A little bored, but good."
Zednik has attended every Panthers home game since returning to South Florida from Buffalo, where he was hospitalized after the injury. The carotid artery on the right side of his throat was nearly severed.
He only wishes he could join his teammates on the ice for games as they try to make a late push for the playoffs.
"I don't like it," he said of sitting out. "I want to be there playing for the playoffs. It's tough to watch."
Status: offline Watch Fox's Sports Science show when I can, it is an amazing show, imo.
Breaks down sports with experiments, re-enactments, etc.
They went thru Clint Malarchuks catastrophic injury to his caratoid artery the other day and it was fascinating.
I've never, ever been affected in my life by blood, gore, any of that, but that incident got to me.
I'll say it again, we came so close to seeing two warriors die right in front of eyes in these incidents.
Closer than we think. Steps need to be taken and lessons learned.
The hanging goalie neck-protectors (required after Malarchuks accident) have helped.
It's time something is created for the other position players. It'll have to be lightweight and invisible or no one will wear it.
(tough-guy syndrome)
Status: offline Did everyone see Patrick Roy's boy get into the fight with another goalie in Jrs? What a punk. He skates all the way down the ice and rips the face mask off of the other goalie and starts wailing on him. All the while dad is behind the bench encouraging him.
Did everyone see Patrick Roy's boy get into the fight with another goalie in Jrs? What a punk. He skates all the way down the ice and rips the face mask off of the other goalie and starts wailing on him. All the while dad is behind the bench encouraging him.
Nothing about that incident should surprise anyone who knows the "Roy Way".
Patrick always felt above the law, and now his kid is the same way.
They handed out the suspensions today, 5 for Dad, 7 for the kid.
Wow, big deal. Should have been banned, both of them. This is far from the first thing they've pulled up there, in Canada's supposed "best" Jr league.
Every Roy incident happens when their teams are losing. No coincidence, but it tells you something about them.
I cannot fathom the other goalie, not putting up any resistance. The real problem was the referee tackling the player who was coming to the defenseless goalies defense. If that ref had allowed the charging teammate to blind-side Roy and clean his clock, it would have been justice.
You can see from the overall demeanor of everyone involved, that they all cower down to Roy because of his status. Refs, players, fans. He is abusing the hell out of that respect he earned long ago. Being a jackass has always been his m.o., imo.
If you remember, he was one of the first pro athletes to "force" a trade, when he caused a mutiny in Montreal. Anywhere he went, he played his own tune and got away with it because he was a great tender, no doubt about that.
Canada needed to step up and display some guts here, and instead they, too, cowered down. The guys on PTI said it best today, EVERY time hockey makes news, it's for crap like this. That won't move the game along, which is what every true hockey fan wants.
I'm the first guy standing and cheering when Boogey or Simon pound someone, but that is the NHL, and it is their (allowed) job.
Too many kids in college, Jrs, and even HS look at a one-game sit-out as "no big deal" anymore. Toughen the penalties, or you will lose the game completely. youtube is full of college and Junior League fights. It shouldn't be. Thugs like the Roys aren't helping.
That noise was me crawling down off the soapbox.
RE: General NHL Talk - 3/26/2008 10:58:02 AM
Status: offline So how do you really feel Scott?
Status: offline You're right Scott but the thing that really irks me is that only 1 guy came down in the goalies defense, and like you said, he was taken out by the ref. There should have been a wave of guys coming down there. The refs couldn't have stopped them all. Someone needed to step up and help that kid out. He obviously didn't want anything to do with that.
Also, if I'm the coach. When we play them again I put my goon out there with these instructions. First face off in their zone, go over to Roy and rip his mask off and start whaling on him. Send a msg to that entire family.
ORIGINAL: Jeff Jesser
You're right Scott but the thing that really irks me is that only 1 guy came down in the goalies defense, and like you said, he was taken out by the ref. There should have been a wave of guys coming down there. The refs couldn't have stopped them all. Someone needed to step up and help that kid out. He obviously didn't want anything to do with that.
Most of the rest of the players were in their own brawl. That is why the other goalie was just standing there watching. Only times I've seen goalies get into fights is when the other 10 on the ice are fighting also.
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