NHL 2009 - 2010

[Jesse James]

Yeah, Malkin's due back soon, maybe tomorrow...  Talbot's further out.  Gonchar soon would be huge though as our blue-line is as f'd up as possible at the moment, though Lovejoy's not a bad fill-in guy.

Losing LeTang hurt though with Gonchar already out...  Basically we went from 3 offensive forces on the blue line to one who is shakey because of his youth.  That stings, plus Gonchar's the PP QB.  Just a mess.  And Orpik's easily our best defensive defenseman, so yeah...  This has just sucked. 

Tyler Kennedy's the big shock though, as to how important he is.  His work on the 3rd line makes the 3rd line what it is IMO.  Staal and Cooke are good with him, but once TK's gone then the 3rd line goes from phenomenal to almost a liability.  Especially because Cooke takes dumb penalties when that line's not doing well I've noticed.

I wore my original Lemieux jersey today...  I found it in storage cleaning out old clothes.  It's small on me at the sleeves but I liked wearing it.  I wore it for 2 seasons once because I couldn't afford a black jersey for myself at the time and they used to say, "Lemieux, 2 minutes...." over the speakers when I got penalized.  Brought back some memories. 

[Jesse James]

I don't know if anyone has the NHL network or whatever, and can see games outside their immediate sphere of influence, but the Pen's tie with .4 on the clock rocked my socks yesterday.  The win in ot brought the house down.  Great game.

[Ryan]

I saw some highlights of that. That was a great comeback and I'm sure that would have been an awesome game to go to.

The Avs could have used one of those when I was at the game Saturday night. I took a date to her first ever hockey game, what do the Avs do? Lose 8 -2.

[Jesse James]

Ouch, 8 to 2...  That sucks.  Anytime I go the Pens seem to do not-so-great (though they won the Winter Classic a couple years ago).  I'm hoping the one game I get to, and last I'll likely see at the Mellon Civic Arena is a win for them.  I'd like to go out on a good note.

I'll be parking in the garage directly across from the new Arena though.    It's crazy walking past it.

[Morgbug]

I'd be happy to see a home team lose 8-2. 

[Jesse James]

You're making me sad.   

[Jesse James]

You draft McKee too, Brent?  WTF!?   

Fortunately Gonchar and Talbot may be coming back...  still I'm thinking you did something to them. 

[Jesse James]

3 fights in under 90 seconds tonight in the Pens/Flyers game...  and I missed it because I was out. 

I'm gonna dig around for replays of it so I can watch the highlights.

[Jeff]

Thanks to a busy Fall and then a busy Winter/Christmas, I haven't been able to go out to a game yet this year.  But, lucky for me, that's all about to change - I've got tickets to three games this month and they are all quality oponents:

1/09 = Wild v. Chicago Blackhawks
1/11 = Wild v some team with a flightless bird mascot 
1/21 = Wild v. Detroit Red Wings

Always love to see the beloved Red Wings (the adopted team that got me from the North Stars to the Wild) and now that Chicago is good, they should be fun to watch too.  Plus, that "flightless bird" team has some soviet player and some 'Sid' kid that I keep hearing about. 

Should be a good hockey month! (weel, good for me anyway - I'm not so sure how my squad is going to fare against those three  )

[Morgbug]

Damn.  Nice three pack Jeff. 

Anyone watching the world junior final tonight?  I can see an upset coming.

[Jesse James]

Always love to see the beloved Red Wings (the adopted team that got me from the North Stars to the Wild) and now that Chicago is good, they should be fun to watch too.  Plus, that "flightless bird" team has some soviet player and some 'Sid' kid that I keep hearing about. 

Should be a good hockey month! (weel, good for me anyway - I'm not so sure how my squad is going to fare against those three  )

Considering the current skid, you may blow out the flightless birds. 

And the Russian may or may not show up to the game...

Sure he'll probably physically be there, but whether he shows up or not to actually play, well that's up in the air.  What you will hopefully see is one of the more elite goalies in the league, with the flightless birds. 

Nice package of tickets Jeff.  I'd like to get to one more before the season's up here but I'm pretty sure the game I saw at the beginning of December is my last game at the Igloo.   

[Morgbug]

No point in starting another thread, since I already commented.  Congratulations to the US for winning the world junior championships in OT.  Quick little wrist shot to the short side ends it. 

[Jeff]

1/09 = Wild v. Chicago Blackhawks

What a fun game that was -

80 seconds into the game: Chicago 1, Wild 0  
End of 1st period: Chicago 3, Wild 1
End of 2nd period: Chicago 5, Wild 1
End of 3rd period: Chicago 5, Wild 5
After EIGHT rounds of shoot out: Wild 6, Chicago 5  

The Wild were terrible in the first two periods.  Hossa had an unassisted short-handed breakaway goal to put Chicago up 5-1 in the 2nd and people started booing the Wild mercilessly.  It was ugly plain and simple.  Chicago was better in almost everyway - face-offs, passing, puck-control, etc.

But the team that came out for the 3rd period was a completely different Wild team.  We joked how great it would be to see them make it a close game and then all hell broke loose - tons of scoring chances and a couple choke jobs by Toews/Kane/Huet lead to the biggest come-back in Wild history (first time they overcame a 4-goal 3rd period deficeit to win).

The first two periods were like a clinic where an excellent team shows a crappy one how to play, but that third period turned the whole night around and then made for one hell of an ending going through 8 rounds of shootout to beat the best in the West.  


Up tonight - JJ's Pens.  

[Morgbug]

How many people left after the second period?  We used to see that happen with the Jets somewhat frequently and considering we were in college and poor, we loved when lower level seats opened up for the third period so we could get closer.  Sure enough they came back and won sometimes too. 

[Jeff]

How many people left after the second period? 

Surprisingly, most folks stuck around.  I don't know if it's the ticket prices or if we just have good fans, but most folks wait until midway through the 3rd before bailing on a bad game.