***Official 2010-2011 Hockey Thread***
 

It's that time again!

Avs/Hawks puck is about to drop. Oh, hockey, how I've missed you...

Boo.

Ahhh, thanks for the reminder... thinking so much about the college hockey season, I didn't think of checking Vs or veetle.


...and I flip over and Chicago scores. :(

Avs seem to be a little more aggressive on the PK this year. It can bite you in the ass, but it might work well with their speed.

I bought NHL 11 and I was getting my ass kicked every game so I moved it to Rookie and won like 5 straight, then moved it back to pro and have won 2 straight. I think I'm getting the hang of it.

Not that this is a video game thread or anything.

Woot.

What a better time to start the NHL season, right when football is gettin huge. Seriously, I respect hockey, but you think they might push the season back or something. Baseball playoffs and NFL and NBA and college football and college bball soon? How can they compete?

I think the timing is perfect, personally. Hockey season gets crazy right when football season is done.

Eh, the regular season starts in October and the playoffs end in mid-late June, and people usually complain about it going that far into the summer. And it's not like they get TV ratings anyway, regardless of the time of year... but, they do fine at the gate.

It's gonna be so weird, after hating Modano for so long, seeing him in red and white.
It will still be easier to root for him than Bert, though.

Sweeeeet.

Gotta figure out how to keep up with my Devils this season.

Looking forward to the Jaroslav Halak era beginning in STL tonight against the Flyers.

Hopefully he's the answer to the goaltending question we've been asking here for over a decade.

Well, one would think he'd at least be an upgrade. I work with a couple St. Louis guys, so I'll be pulling for them (as long as it doesn't hurt the Avs of course).

That game rocks!

But yea go Wings.

Well, he's done his part.

Too bad the Power Play is a ****ing abortion.

1 of ****ing 9.

To OT we go. Lets get 2 points, Blues.

If football has a service interruption next year, hockey better take advantage of that opportunity.

GOAL!

They really need to get back on ESPN not everyone has the hockey network.

Halak better get the 1st Star tonight. This is EXACTLY why he was brought here. 30 shots faced, 1 goal allowed.

And it never fails in hockey. A puck off the pipe at one end, turns into a goal at the other.

Good start, boys.

COLAIACIVO!

Your point still stands, but there are very few live games on the NHL network. Versus is where it's at.
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I think this Ovechkin kid may have a future in this sport.

Lets hope the struggles at home are gone and the Blues can win both at home and on the road.

LMAO

Well it's a good mix if you have both you can get a game every night, but either way not being on ESPN kills their promotion on the top sports coverage station.

If people dont care to watch it...advertisers dont care to pay for advertising during that slot...if that happens, it gets taken off the air. Thats just how it works. That is where hockey is at right now, not many people care.

If football isnt being played next year, that opens up doors for Hockey that would otherwise be totally closed. It could introduce fans to the sport that may have never watched a game, understand the rules, etc. Its actually quite fun to watch (especially in person) but it isnt in the same realm as football IMO...but its the next great "barbaric" sport.

It is a huge opportunity for the sport to get recognized and to earn back some of the fans they lost when they didnt play a few years ago.

On that note, the Caps beat the crap outta the Devils by winning 7-2.

Fillpula is gonna have a breakout year.

Leafs 2-0 for the first time since 1999. Versteeg is quite the addition.

Bullshit. The people who bought 20.9 million tickets last season disagree, too. The NBA's attendance was better by ~187,000.

Yeah, Gary Bettman is f***ing clueless when it comes to marketing the game, knowing the importance of ESPN, etc; but just because it doesn't make headlines over pictures of Brett Favre's cock doesn't mean no one would notice if it went away.

See "Gary Bettman is f***ing clueless"... I agree that it's a good opportunity. As far as being one less thing to compete with, the NFL is obviously the big one. I think the contract with Versus is done after this year, so if the NFL went on strike (and even if it didn't) there's a HUGE opportunity to sign with ESPN and bring back hockey a couple times a week on ESPN and/or ESPN2.

I think it's in the same realm as football (well, unless you're comparing it to the Missouri Mavericks, because that's bad hockey ;) ). It's just not as exciting to Joe Fan because of the lack of scoring, even though there can easily be 60+ chances per game.

The UNO Mavericks beat RIT (who was in the Frozen Four last year) tonight.... UNO was down 2-0 after 1, and scored 3 in the 3rd to win 5-3. They also killed a 5 minute major that included 1:51 of 5 on 3.

When I started going to games a few years ago, I could tell right away they were the perennial scrappy/.500 team that was nothing more or less than a pain in the as to their conference. They hired Dean Blais last year, who won NCs at North Dakota, and coaching matters. It's crazy how much they've changed in one season plus 2 games.... aggressive 2-line passing, great in-game adjustments, a lot of energy.

They've come close to selling out the Qwest Center a couple of times since I've been going to games, but this weekend there were probably ~5-6000 people at each game.... it'll catch on though.

Avalanche & Red Wings on Versus at 6:30ct.

Jesus, I wish KC had a hockey team.

however, i'm happy with the Topeka Roadrunners for now. :)

http://www.topekaroadrunners.com

Yes! Yes! Let's go Red Wings!!!!!!! Beat the Avholes!

Its on Versus, which if NBC and Comcast could work its way up to being a threat to ESPN.

It is weird.... new uniform, same hatred. :)

Pretty good first period. I thought the Detroit goal was mostly on Budai - he seems to let in at least one soft goal about every game. The Avs really controlled the puck for most of the period, but they're pretty bad about letting quick rushes go the other direction. And that's not a good way to play against the Wings.

Nice to see David Jones get a goal, too.

Yeah, they make it interesting on both ends of the ice.... 3-2 after 2.

It's good to see how many different guys are scoring for the Avs. So far, Stasny's the only one who has more than one goal. Other than that, it's been a lot of spreading the love around.

That said, they need to toughen up on defense. They have too many shifts where they just let guys walk through the middle.

It's time for the Wings to smack them around.

Well, they did (literally).

Yea I didn't exactly mean like that.

Howard has had some incredible saves tonight, but those last two goals were pretty damn soft. Not that I'm complaining. :D

Avalanche and Rangers next Monday... they're doing a good job of covering the right team. :)

Christ...that's essentially 3 shorties against the Avs in the past 2 games.

Getting on that sometime tonight would be good...

That may be the first "pretty" goal I've seen from the Avs this year.

Could have played another 5 minute OT by now...





Yipee.

Woot.

Nice win, fellas. You've got a very talented young team. The NHL needs some heat from the Wings/Avs rivalry.

Just saw that Maltby announced his retirement last night.
For average fans, he's just "a guy." but he was the key to at least one of the Cup wins (the 2002 Cup was won in the corners, and Maltby owned the boards that entire playlets. I've always thought he didn't get near enough credit, even among Wings fans for that). He was a grinder, and one of the players that made me fall in love with hockey and the Wings. I know Blues and Avs fans won't miss seeing him, but I'm sad that players like him have to get old.
Good luck as a scout, Kirk... And thanks for the memories!

The Blues are 7-1-2. Halak's a beast.

The Blues are now 9-1-2. Conklin with the shut out.

UNO is 7-1, 4-0 in the WCHA.... cannot wait for North Dakota at Qwest in 2 weeks. :drool:

Interesting gimmick...

http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/news/story?id=5788378

NHL players to pick All-Star sides


ESPN.com news services

NEW YORK -- The NHL All-Star Game will look like a schoolyard pickup game this year.

The league announced Wednesday that it is switching from the conference-vs.-conference format it has used for years to a player draft conducted by the All-Stars themselves, in which captains selected by the players will determine the teams.

Given that canceling the event wasn't an option, the NHL made lemonade out of lemons by changing the All-Star Game format, writes ESPN.com's Pierre LeBrun.

The 2011 All-Star Weekend will be hosted by Carolina on the last weekend in January.

Under the new format, two captains per team will select the remaining All-Stars in any order they choose. Those teams will compete in the All-Star Game and SuperSkills competition.

NHL vice president Brendan Shanahan says the goal is to "make the game more fun for everyone" and to "inject more excitement and intrigue into all the events."

Fans will vote for a starting team of three forwards, two defensemen and a goalie, regardless of conference. Voting begins Nov. 15 and runs through Jan. 3.

The league's Hockey Operations Department in Toronto will name the remaining 36 All-Stars to form a player pool, along with 12 rookies, for a total of 54 players. The 12 rookies will participate in the skills event, but the rookie game will not be played.

The players will then elect two captains, who will choose sides in a fantasy draft on Jan. 28. Each team must pick three goalies, six defensemen and 23 forwards, but they can pick in any order they choose.

Information from ESPN.com hockey writer Pierre LeBrun and The Associated Press was used in this report.

Oops.

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they should have the all star event in canada every year.

KINGS NATION

fuck the Blues. I've got a NYC trip planned from Dec 17-18, the plan now is to drive to St. Louis Thursday for Kings @ Blues, then fly outta STL instead of MCI, and fly back early Sunday for Chiefs @ Blues. I haven't seen the Kings yet this year so I'm hoping it ends up working out. Do you go to many Blues games?

It would be pretty entertaining to see the Chiefs take on the Blues, no matter how that works.

Cassel sucks at deke..... :D

The home team is going to have a huge advantage.

Well if they're playing hockey the Chiefs might have a chance if they can knock enough Blues players out for the game early enough, then play catch-up w/ football players vs fans or whoever the Blues choose as replacements.

(Waiting now for the hockey players would beat the fuck out of football players replies)

#4 Nebraska-Omaha vs. #7 North Dakota this weekend!!!!


FRIDAY! FRIDAY! FRIDAY!

AND

SATURDAY! SATURDAY! SATURDAY!


Huskers game?!?!? Pffft... it's all about hockey this weekend in Nebraska!!! PBJ PBJ PBJ



yeah, I'm a little excited... :D

A few. I might go Friday night vs Ottawa. And the Chiefs-Rams is something I might consider going to if the ticket prices for where I normally sit aren't to high(near the Rams tunnel, lower bowl in the endzone).

Nice, now I know where to throw my drink at in the unlikely event of the Chiefs losing.

Oh and thanks for getting your shit pushed in by the Red Wings in the 3rd period, I was actually rooting for STL...**** THE ****ING RED WINGS GOD I HATE THEM

I just saw the score of last night's game.
What happened?

The Blue Jackets had 1 reeruned goal and 1 fluke goal and it was 3-3. Then the Kings play like morons and get aggressive as fuck when its tied with 5 mins left and gave up a goal to Rick Nash. Then Nash had an empty netter. The Kings should have won that game. This road trip is huge now.

Sorry I wasn't more clear.
I meant the blues and Red Wings.

Oh, I don't know. I was rooting for the Blues though because the Kings/Wings could potentially fight over the 1 seed, and I saw the first 2 periods which were pretty close. The 3rd period was 4-0 (w/o an empty net goal), so I dunno how many things that can mean other than the Red Wings put on a clinic. :cuss:

I HATE THE RED WINGS

LOL, Blues. LOL.

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That'd be funnier if it weren't to the Wings' benefit.

I hate both of them.... everyone else is scoring on Halak lately, so I guess he felt left out.

no defense in the Lightning Flyer game tonight. Flyers lead 6-5 with 12 minutes to go in the 2nd

What the flying potatoes is happening in Philly?
7-6, Flyers near the end of the 2nd?!?!

So, while all but 7100 people in Nebraska were watching the Huskers, this was taking place inside Qwest Center. UNO scored with 0.3 seconds left in a scoreless game, avoiding OT and getting the split versus North Dakota.

I looked up at the clock about the time they crossed the blue line and there was only 5 seconds left, but they had a bit of a rush... I looked up again at about 2 seconds, saw the puck bounce, and figured they were going to OT.

The UNO video (wish it had a clock, but the green light comes on before the red light, which is odd... the end of the period locks out the goal light in the NHL, as far as I know).

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The double rainbow version...

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