NHL 2011-2012 Regular Season

[Morgbug]

Bedlam baby! 

First preseason game tonight.  Surprisingly mature hockey crowd; more calm at points than expected for sure. 

Traffic was a nightmare downtown and it took nearly an hour to get to the game.  Bars all around MTS packed with folks without tickets.  Everyone was really happy and no, unlike Vancouver absolutely no riots (but then we won tonight). 

Beers: $8.25 for a Jumbo.  Ouch. 

Fully noting it was a split squad game, but we sure got a nice game out of our boys.  Scheifele is making Chevyldayoff look like a frickin' genius with a four point game in his first NHL outing (2G, 2A).  Byfuglien is a monster - first shift flattened two guys and a five minute fighting major.  He will be a favorite in this town.  Ladd played well too.  So we won that one 6-1 but lost the other half 5-1 in Columbus.  Do I care?  Nope, not for a second. 

Nice mix of old and new Jets gear on the fans and no whiteout. 

Happy.  I am.

[Jesse James]

Malkin looked good last night...  I didn't catch all the game since I was tied up till late, but what I did watch was good.  Love this time of year.

[Morgbug]

I am digging Shanahan as the league's enforcer of bad hits so far.  He's doing a good job of explaining what and why and leaving it out there for everyone to see. 

It will be interesting to see if some guys try to take advantage of it though and take some exaggerated dives.  It would be awesome to see Shanahan call people on that as well.  Probably only take a couple of one game suspensions to cull the diving a fair bit. 

Oh and had lunch with Byfuglien, Kane and Ladd the other day.   

[Mikey D]

I need to see if I can score some tix to the Winter Classic this season.  My father knows someone that's been hooking him up with various Philadelphia sporting event tickets.  Hopefully he can come through with the WC.

[JesseVader08]

Oh and had lunch with Byfuglien, Kane and Ladd the other day.   

Okay, that would've been a hell of a lunch!  Any cool insight into the game?

[Morgbug]

If you have 45 minutes to kill.  Not as meaningful to many here as it was to me, but neat for hockey fans.

About 17 hours and change until puck drop.   

[Morgbug]

Ew.  That sort of sucked, at least the end score did.  Didn't really seem like anyone cared about the outcome all that much. 

One questionable call (interference on Stuart) followed by an absurd call against Byfuglien and the Habs rolled away with it. 

Make no mistake, the Habs played well, the Jets played very poorly, so the outcome was an accurate reflection of the game, but there were some dubious calls. 

Still, tons of fun.  My ears are ringing like I was at a concert.  Loudest crowd I've ever been in at a sporting event. 

[Jesse James]

but there were some dubious calls. 

And with that, you've been welcomed back to the NHL, Brent.

[Jesse James]

Crosby got cleared for contact today... That made me smile.

[Jeff]

I hope they activate him for next week...  I'm sure Brent would like a closer look at him on Monday and then I believe the Pens head here the next night.

Then again, maybe we're better off if he's not playing when the Pens come here...

[Jesse James]

I think they'll probably take a week or two of contact before he's active for a game.  Just my guess, but who knows.  I'm just happy he's doing well.

[Rob]

Crosby got cleared for contact today... That made me smile.

Me too. 

[Morgbug]

Don't have tickets to a Pens game, so the longer he sits, the happier I am.

Lost to the Hawks tonight, so we're 0-2.  Much better game than the home opener but the studs on the team need to step up at some point.  Still don't care that they lost.  Put up a good effort in a tough building.

[Jeff]

Lots and lots of re-alignment talk out there this past week... the four most common seem to be:

1 - Detroit in Southeast, Winnipeg to the Central
2 - Detroit in Southeast, Winnipeg to the Northwest, Minnesota to the Central
3 - Detroit in Southeast, Winnipeg to the Northwest, Colorado to the Pacific, Dallas to the Central
4 - Detroit in Southeast, Winnipeg to the Northwest, Vancouver to the Pacific, Dallas to the Central

I prefer #2 or #4.  If we can't get into the Central, then at least ship Vancouver off the Pacific instead of Colorado.  We get rid of those 9pm starts and keep our only US division rival.  #3 pretty much guarantees the continuation of the endless 11th Province jokes on Versus NBC Sports Network.   

[Morgbug]

But you are the 11th Province.  Well, 12th if you factor in North Dakota but I'm pretty sure NBC is unaware of that state's existence. 

Vancouver has to go to the Pacific.  It's idiotic not to put them there.  Like Minnesota and Dallas, we don't want to watch games that start two hours later.  While Winnipeg is new and has no leverage in the situation, it's just dumb to put four Canadian teams in the same division.  I can survive watching a division with Edmonton and Calgary but truthfully I could care less about seeing them that often.  I am in the minority on that locally though. 

Would rather see us in the Central if there was a choice given.  Agree completely Dallas should be there too and it seems silly to me that Winnipeg and Minnesota would be in different divisions given the potential for a rivalry there and the relative short distance to travel by air. 

I'm not convinced Detroit is moving East.  They are a huge draw and I'm sure in some way they'll eke out some concessions from the NHL and stay in the West.  The NHL has to think of it from a marketing standpoing and Detroit is often the only sellout in many Western arenas.  I know the east would be thrilled to have them back there as a draw and Detroit would like the improve travel but I'm not convinced it benefits the league.