Stewie has two goals.

I will now listen to this any time the Blues lose:

<iframe title="YouTube video player" width="480" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/TYUkleth-og" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

The Avs have now allowed 3 or more goals 18 games in a row. They've won 1 game in their last 14. Yeah, I know, the Blues were that win, but still. They're playing on a simply incomprehensible level of suckitude right now.

How's EJ? It's not the fact that I'm pissed that the Blues won't make the playoffs(which is still bad), it's that the ownership has been selling the rebuild process for years now. Blues better make the playoffs next year or there will be tons of pissed off fans.

Meh. He hasn't been any worse than our other defensemen, but that's not saying much. He certainly hasn't been a "difference maker" to this point, but it's too early to really expect that of him.

I really, really hope he turns into a good D-Man. The trade would work out for both sides. Can you give a quick report on Shatty Lite?

Just in general? He's got a lot of promise. He has nice accuracy on both shots and passes, so he'll slip one behind a goalie or through the defensemen every once in a while. Really, if it weren't for the whole "defense" part of his role, he'd be awesome.

Like most of the Avs guys before the trade, he's a little smallish though and gets pushed off the puck too easily. If he was paired with someone bigger, I think they'd work together well. But among the rest of the Avs defensive woes, he was just another guy not getting the job done.

I'm glad the Sens resigned Chris Phillips. They both suck and deserve each other.

In case you haven't seen it, RF:

Nice deal for Buffalo, (I feel like I'm in the wrong forum though).

I'm about to shit a brick. The Blues owner is broke. They're dumping salary.

LMAO Brad Boyes is trending on Twitter.

I really, really, really, really, really want Checketts to sell the team.

Look out for the Flames. Kipper is on fire!
I just hope this isn't the usual scenario of squeaking into the playoffs just to shit the bed in the first round.

When Kipper is on in the playoffs he can really steal a few wins, the way the Flames play they can get the other two. If the Flames can make it in they have potential to be a very damgerous team.

.

I love how it's already the playoffs basically (for the Kings) because every game is so huge right now. Same goes for the rest of the Pacific division.

Pretty damn tight.

I haven't bought an EA Sports game in probably 6 or 7 years, but a friend of mine bought the Wii version of EA's NHL Slapshot.... there's a lot going on with that game, with making all the shooting and checking motions on top of playing the game, and we ended up playing it for like 6 hours the other night.

We took Team USA through the other international teams, starting with Germany, then the Swiss, Sweden, Finland, Czech Republic, Russia, then Canada... we eventually beat all of them, including Canada something like 8-7 in OT. We out-hit teams by an average of ~200-15. LMAO

It's still very much an arcade game, like all of their other games, but it's a lot more fun with the Wii hockey stick.

Winchester to the Ducks for a 3rd in 2012. I like it. Blues have a 1st either this year or next, and at least two picks in the 2nd an 3rd for the 2011 and 2012 drafts.

The Blues were lucky to get anything for that stiff Boyes. The guy is a worthless, perpetually minus player who they were spending way too much money on.

Buffalo was dumb for giving up a 2nd for that loser.

Winchester? Eh...who cares?

It's not the fact that I'm pissed they traded Boyes. I'm just upset they didn't get a mediocre prospect. I really like the Winchester trade.

I really hope the Blues aren't freeing up money only to re-sign RFAs. I also hope they sign an UFA.

The Preds did nothing but they already had Fisher, so that kind of counts lol. Alot of buyers not as many sellers.

Buffalo and the Rangers on versus tonight. Should be an almost playoff like feel. I'm really hoping Buffalo can keep the pressure on NY and Carolina.

Buh-bye St. Louis. That's two donuts in a row, courtesy of this man.


http://www.thehockeynews.com/imgs/dy...le_15284_2.jpg

Sabres down the Rangers. Got a goal from Boyes, too. Hopefully a change of scenery will give him a little spark.

Someone texted me asking if I was paying attention to what the Devils were doing, and I responded "averaging out what the Avalanche are doing".... he said the Devils are 20-4 in their last 24, which is actually really close to the Avalanche's 5-19 during the same stretch.

The Devils were 10-31 (that's now 30-35 for those who don't like math) :eek: ..... the Avalanche were 19-15 and are now like 24-78 or something. :banghead:

Sabres were able to move into the 8th spot. Boyes is playing well for them so far.

so the Flyers were up 3-0 and 4-2 in the 3rd to the Thrashers tonight and lost in overtime. sighs

I'm gonna open a nice cold can of Shatty Lite tonight.

The West is still damn tight but it looks like some teams might fall out of the race, some are on pins and needles!

****ing Washington. At least the 'Hawks got a point for OT. Gunna need all the points we can get....

Pictures from my weekend.... :banghead:

Friday night...

http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r...311_213521.jpg
http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r...311_214605.jpg

Saturday night...

http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r...312_200554.jpg
http://i143.photobucket.com/albums/r...312_211812.jpg


UNO ended up with a 91-37 shot advantage, and 2 losses. For any Avalanche fans, it was a rerun of the 2003 (iirc) #3/#6 playoff series against the Wild (and it was against Bemidji State, which is in MN, so they're probably all Wild fans, too)... except the Wild were actually okay. BSU has 10 conference wins all season, and 5 have come against UNO. :cuss:

kings ftw

Holy shit, the Blues owner is selling his majority stake in the franchise. Finally.

Lets go Devils

I've never hated the Canucks like other rivals, but I've always loved watching them find new and exciting ways to choke away seasons.... and even when the Avalanche have nothing to play for, no way to take the division from them or be more than a minor annoyance, it's still fun. :)



(2-0 Avalanche in the 1st)

:eek:

On a random "hockey" side note, I'm flying out tomorrow to do a research project at the WCHA tournament in Minneapolis. I'm not a huge fan of college hockey, but it'll be fun to be there at least.

Do the Wild have a game in St. Paul while you're there?

Also, I'm so damn happy that Checketts is selling the Blues.

Where do I sign up?

I thought about going, but UNO won't be there and I couldn't get Thursday or Friday off work... it's great hockey, and the Wild's arena is pretty nice. Hopefully I can find the championship game online, especially if it's UND and Denver. Hope you enjoy it.

Yeah, they play Saturday afternoon, before the WCHA Championship.

Yeah, as work projects go, I'm pretty excited about it. Unfortunately, I'll be walking around in the hallways the entire time instead of sitting and watching the games, but hopefully I'll at least get to take a peek now and then.

The fun part is that I have a legitimate reason to root for half of the teams there. Denver and CC are local, of course, and my wife's good friend is a UND alum.

Not while I'm there actually. We're just doing our thing on Thursday and Friday, and I'm flying back on Saturday.

Anyone follow Canadian hockey? I guess there is a team called the Jets that use to be in Winnipeg? I guess there's a chance they could be going back. Some of the Canadians who came down for the MNF game last September are planning on going there for their EPIC trip this year if that happens. If things work out right, I may be going up there, too. A real live Canadian hockey game. I hope it happens, because I am psyched! How long does it take to get a passport?

Winnipeg's not going to get a team for another year or so unless things get way worse in Phoenix(which is possible). The Thrashers have a better chance of relocating, but I don't know if Quebec City is higher or lower than Winnipeg since they also lost their team.

St. Louis got a helluva regional...

3. Boston College vs. 14. Colorado College
5. Michigan vs. 12. Nebraska-Omaha

All 3 games for under $50/person.... even if you're not a college hockey fan (and based on the number of responses to my posts, I'm thinking there aren't any here), I don't think you'll be disappointed in the quality of hockey. UNO won @Michigan earlier in the season, so it's closer than the 5/12 indicates (er, hopefully).

I would go for sure if the NCAA Hockey Tourney came to Nashville, that would be pretty damn awesome. Maybe they will move one of the struggling NHL teams to the Sprint Centre, that would be great too.

Winnipeg is going to get their team back next year, it's almost a certainty. The proposal to keep the coyotes in glendale involves giving Matthew hulsizer over 200 million in public money to finance his purchase of the team to keep it in town. This pretty much ignores the Arizona state constitution, and a group called the Goldwater institute is going to sue the city if the proposal goes through. That's one hurdle.

The next is hulsizer himself. He's worth about 280 million according to espn. Nothing to sneeze at, but the group looking for a team
In Winnipeg is headed by Dave thomson, the 17th richest man in the world. The group in Winnipeg also owns their arena outright and a few other facilities around town, so they receive every penny of revenue both the team and other events generate. So that negates the potential challenge of a building that only seats 15000 and change.

Hockey doesn't work in Phoenix. It never will. It costs more to go to a movie in lethbridge (where I live) than to sit in the club seats in Phoenix. That isn't a good business model for a league that has a 40 million dollar cap floor. Hulsizer doesn't have the money to lose on a team. He won't buy it if the city doesn't pay him to take it, and they aren't going to be able to.

Hockey is coming back to Winnipeg, and I'll be buying a jets jersey the first day they go on sale.

Quebec City doesn't have a facility at the moment. They're working on getting funding, and when that happens, you'll probably see the Thrashers move. Nobody wants them in ATL, that's for sure. They also don't have an owner, so Winnipeg is higher on the NHL pecking order than QC. But it's fair to say that both are ahead of markets like Houston, KC, Portland, Seattle etc. They're pretty much sure bets, and I don't think the NHL wants another money-losing debacle on their hands with a franchise relocation.

Awesome comeback win for the Predators today, 2 goals in about the last 3 minutes, a goal in OT to win, a hat trick by a player raised in Nasvhille who was just called up a few weeks ago, awesome win!

Winnipeg's arena has the minimum amount of seating that the NHL will allow, is that correct? And when is the Thrasher's lease up with Phillips Arena? I know their owner is selling the team because: 1.They really care more about the Hawks. 2. 2 of the people in the ownership group had to buy out about 30% of the team from someone, if that is correct. I know things in Phoenix are worse.


Who relocates after the Thrashers and Coyotes? Islanders?

Atlanta and Phoenix never should have gotten teams to begin with.

OTW58, what do you think about the Blues ownership situation? What do you think about Checketts?

Wish he had the cash to stick around. I think he's got the right people in place, particularly JD and Armstrong. I really think they would have made some noise this year had they not been decimated by injuries.

They're definitely on the right track. My biggest concern is not finding a buyer before the FA period starts. I know Checketts has said things would be business as usual, but you run the risk of spending money and making decisions that might potentially turn off a prospective buyer.

Agreed.

The results may not show it, but Checketts saved the franchise. I just really hope who ever buys the team has the $ and wants to keep them in St. Louis. About finding an owner before FA, we'll see. I really like what Armstrong has done with this team. Yes, he got rid of what Pleau mostly did, but he got a goal scorer in Stewart and a shit load of draft picks in this draft and the next one.

If the Blues aren't in the playoffs next year(unless they have a lot of injuries like this year), I think Payne would be fired.

The new owner would be a dipshit to leave STL.

Where the **** else is he going to find fan support like this?

There aren't many - if any - teams in the league that haven't won a playoff GAME post-lockout, yet have averaged 18,500 fans a night for the last 4 seasons - in a building that holds 19,100.

The Blues have cheap prices on tickets, you know that. It will be interesting to see how the fan base will react if/when ticket prices are raised.

I hope and think the Blues stay in the STL, they do have good support, even if thier team is down, they bring alot of fans to Nashville on weekend games. They seem to support thier team well. I just don't see the Blues going anywhere.

Neither do I, but it's not like they haven't almost relocated before. I highly doubt they'll relocate, I was just putting that out there. The Blues would have to be awful and ticket prices would be high or another lockout would happen for attendance to crash.

They have SOME cheap tickets.

That's not why they've been averaging 600 fans short of capacity every night for the last 4 years.

$220 a seat on the glass. $160 in the 2nd row. $120 in the 3rd and 4th rows.

$150 Club seats.

$110 for lower level between the blue lines.

While that's cheaper than say, Toronto, it's far from cheap for 41 games a year plus preseason.

I've been down a few times. Always had fun, win or lose.

Was supposed to go down and hook up with FAX a few years back, and it didn't work out.

Don't they have cheap ticket prices compared to the league average? I know they raised it by a very small amount this year.

Actually, the average ticket price went up almost $9 a seat from last year.

Sure, we're still near the bottom. Then again, we're a pretty small market all things considered.

Hell, our average ticket price is higher than Dallas' and they're a way bigger market than we are and have a relatively new arena.

Didn't know that Dallas' ticket prices were that low. Who else is below the Blues in terms of ticket prices? Islanders? Thrashers? Coyotes?

Below: Buffalo, Dallas, Phoenix, Tampa.

Within $2: Carolina, Colorado.

FWIW, the average ticket price in Toronto is over $110.

Did not realize that Buffalo had low ticket prices. Yeah, I realize they had an ownership issue, but it seems like a hockey city. I can't imagine Tampa's ticket prices being that low for that much longer if they make a deep run in the playoffs.

Buffalo is a hockey city, but it's not that big. I bet 25% of their sales are from Rochester, which is about an hour and a half away (and an hour and a half back)
Plus, the economy in Buffalo isn't all that great. But they love the Sabres up there.

If it's not at the minimum, it's barely above it. 15,105 I believe. But it has 20 or 30 luxury boxes, and it's a solid venue. I think you're gonna see more hockey rinks moving towards smaller capacities. The Devils new building is only 17K. In baseball, a lot of newer buildings are less than 45,000 seats. (Pittsburgh, Philly, St Louis and the Mets all moved into smaller facilities than the ones they were playing in before).

In my heart of hearts, I hope the Islanders stay where they are. That team suffers from appalling ownership, and they play in an awful building. But they were a dynasty at one point. They shouldn't be forced to leave.

After Phoenix and Atlanta, I'd say Florida's probably the next in line to go to a healthy hockey market. That's a team that has almost no history and no real hope to get better. Leave now.

Beyond those three, I think the league gets remarkably healthier. Nashville is having a great year financially, and they're growing the game well there. Dallas is a good hockey market, but it can't be underscored just how much the fans in Dallas hate Tom Hicks. Once the ownership situation is sorted (rumors abound about Cuban plunking down 200M for the team) you'd see the fans come back.

Columbus needs to get its act together. Find a centre for Rick Nash, solidify the defense, and allow Steve Mason to develop at a normal pace. They're the only game in town, professionally speaking, and they had excellent attendance up until recently. They need to learn to win, or they'd be a team in trouble IMO.

In a perfect world, any teams relocating would go (In order) to Winnipeg, QC, southern Ontario, Hartford, Milwaukee and on down the list. Just, no more non-traditional hockey markets for now.

A lot of Buffalo's ticket sales are from people in Ontario who don't like/can't get Leafs tickets. The Sabres have been an infinitely better-run organization post-lockout to boot.

I think that lends to keeping prices low, though. They have to draw from a sort of wide area. I think if they price them too high people in that southern part of Ontario or Rochester just won't make the drive.
And I agree Buffalo is a very well run organization. They've moved players in and out and let guys go they couldn't afford, and still stayed very competitive. And always managed to find good goaltenders even though teams like Philly seem to struggle to do that over the years.

Can't speak for the other baseball stadiums, but I know Busch has less seats because it has more luxury boxes than the old stadium.

Wang's an idiot. And they really need a new arena. Nasseau or whatever isn't that good.
I doubt the Panthers will relocate considering that Bernie Kosar owns them and played for the Dolphins at one point in his career.

Agreed.
Yep. Aren't they losing $12 million or so per year?

Milwaukee isn't going to get a team unless a new arena is built. Hartford needs a new arena. I think QC and Winnipeg are locks in terms of getting new teams.

Yep, I grew up in Hamilton Ontario (45 minutes from Buffalo) and I knew quite a few people who actually had seasons tickets. A less hectic drive and cheaper tickets than going to a Leafs game. Quite a few people live between Hamilton and Niagara Falls/Fort Erie.
It was often thought that approx 50% of the seats in Buffalo were filled by Canadians. If I'm not mistaken the Sabres used to offer seats to Canadians at par when the difference in our dollar was ridiculous.

Oh I agree that the American cities need new buildings too before they get teams, but I only mean that it makes more sense to look at hockey in those markets before going to say, Houston or KC.

And of course the luxury box thing is a key, but a lot of people must be realizing that you can't build a venue bigger than your market. The sprint center in KC is 17,000ish, the penguins new building is only a hair over 18k. The only buildings that should be in that 20,000 plus category are Montreal and maybe Toronto.

Winnipeg at 15k is probably a little smaller than everyone would like, but the fact that True North owns the MTS Centre and takes all the revenue that building generates means that they're better equipped to make money than Phoenix, who was admittedly hamstrung with maybe the worst lease in pro sports.

Columbus losing $12m a year sounds low, honestly. They've been having attendance issues for at least two years from what I recall. If all they're losing is 12m, they should almost consider themselves lucky. Yikes

It might do well in Houston, but Winnipeg would be a great place to put a team again. I'm not sure if QC can support an NHL team. Hamilton with Toronto and Buffalo so close, they cannot have a team withing a certain range of those teams so I don't know how possible it is, but if they had a team that bastard basilly would go away lol.

I think Winnipeg, Houston and QC can support a team. The only problem with Houston is they tend to not have a large attendance if teams aren't playing that well. The Rockets, for example, are in the lower 3rd of attendance average per game in the NBA. I can't imagine a team in Houston being better than that if they had a sub-par year. If Hamilton gets a team, the Sabres are screwed.

I hope they don't put a team in Hamilton. It would be bad for Buffalo.
I don't think hockey would work in Houston. I lived there three years and I just don't see it selling. The team would have to be very good for the people to go.
Isn't Winnipeg small? I hear about teams going back there, but I don't know.

Winnipeg was one of the smallest markets in the league, if not the smallest. Unleash the Phury could probably explain why the Jets left in the first place, but the size of Winnipeg was the main reason, I think.

I don't know if many players would want to stay there either. I think once guys got a chance for free agency a lot would want to move to a bigger city or a warmer climate. I get that it's a Canadian hockey town, and that adds something to it, but I bet they'd lose some guys over it.

Penguins won over the redwings on the road in a shootout yesterday. Pretty sweet win.

And then Matt Cooke got suspended. He must be dumb as rocks to go with that head shot against the Rangers. It wasn't even like someone could say it was accidental in any way.

The arena was the only reason the Jets left. You can argue there were other factors, but at the end of the day, the Winnipeg Arena was an atrocious hellhole of a facility that made the Mellon Arena look like University of Phoenix Stadium. And it only sat at most 13K. Maybe less. And Winnipeg, while a small market, is only maybe a hundred thousand people smaller than Edmonton. The market research True North has done has indicated that while Winnipeg might not have 10,000 people willing to buy a full slate of season tickets, it's very manageable for them to get 20,000 half-season ticket holders. At present, Winnipeg is set up to succeed long-term far more than Phoenix is.

One other thing... look though, at the team the Jets had a few years before they left. A young Nikolai Khabibulin, a young Keith Tkachuk, a very young Shane Doan, Teppo Nummenin, Teemu Selanne... That was a damn good team and if they'd been given a chance, they could've been great. Alas... at least the Yotes didn't rub it in Winnipeg's face a la Colorado...

Winning brings players. Look at Green Bay. When Edmonton was in their glory years, they didn't have a problem signing players. Hell, at one point Wayne Gretzky signed a 15-year 20M contract. The problem Edmonton faces isn't that it's in Edmonton, it's that the management isn't viewed favorably throughout the league. There were reports that they forced Sheldon Souray to come back before his shoulder had properly healed, because he was their 'big ticket' free agent signing. Not a good reflection on your front office. Pronger asked to be traded only after he knocked up some chippie reporter and his wife threw a Hall-of-Fame hissy over it. The team also has a bad rap thanks to Kevin Lowe's offer sheet to Dustin Penner. Why he couldn't just ask for him in the Pronger trade is anyone's guess, but whatever.

If Winnipeg puts a good organization in place from the GM down, that finds consistently good players that allow the team to be competitive year in and year out, free agents will come. Though honestly, free agency has become less and less of a factor over the lockout. The number of true top-tier impact players is minimal simply because GMs lock up their guys through their restricted free agent years. And at that point, when a player has played five or six years for a team, there's an attachment to the city and the team that makes players willing to take a little bit less. And while Winnipeg is cold, these are Canadians. They grew up in this stuff. And Winnipeg has nightclubs and slutty chicks just like every other city in the world; guys will play there and stay there if they think the organization gives them a chance at a Stanley Cup.