NHL 2012-2013: Tentative deal early Sunday January 6

I WANT TO WATCH HOCKEY!

Damn you Japan*!

*Japan is not responsible for my lack of Internet

I hope the Jets learned their lesson: national anthems should be sung by opera singers or not at all. That was woeful.

And boy did my Avs stink up the 2nd and 3rd periods last night. They actually looked really good but... oh well, 8 more months to go!

PAR

The Blues just finished up a sweet 5-2 win over Calgary. Today the overwhelming shot advantage paid off. They outshot the flames 35-17, after losing to the Predators in their first game 4-2, and outshooting Nashville 33-16. I really felt like they had great shots on great scoring opportunities the other night, but just didn't get rewarded.

I'm really happy with what I've seen so far, even if they just have one win to show for it.

Apparently, high sticking is now suspension-worthy. Even when it's the victims fault that the stick ended up in his face to begin with.

I think the suspension stuff will calm down, much like that season in MLB where balks were called everywhere, then they forgot about it.

Hopefully before someone gets badly hurt by a star player and they are faced with an actual policy decision.

Wow! Other than losing to my most hated team in the season opener my Avs are looking pretty damn good! Although they did last year as well with the most goals scored prior to the All Star Game followed by the least goals scored AFTER the All Star Game...

PAR

The Jets fall to 0-2, mind you against two pretty tough teams, and the showing against the Hawks wasn't that bad. It didn't help that they had two pretty big breaks and have only played 2 games so far. They play every 2nd day for the next little while. Here's hoping a regular schedule improves their play. It would be pretty sweet for them to get their first win off the Coyotes though.

Carcillo - A pathetic coward. I hope karma kicks his ass, and the league starts fining and suspending for this kind of behavior. He even has the cheesy villain mustache! Could you be anymore of a wanker?

iaintgotnopants wrote:

Apparently, high sticking is now suspension-worthy. Even when it's the victims fault that the stick ended up in his face to begin with.

Fault doesn't matter; the stick's owner is responsible for maintaining control, and failure on that end lead to the offense(and a few less teeth).

Suspension worthy? I dunno, but everyone has said that better enforcement is desired, so IMO that means taking some good calls that we've definitely had with some that may stick to the letter, but perhaps not the spirit of the rules like this one.

Yeah, now that Avery is out of the league, Carcillo is the biggest little sh*t disturber left. An absolutely classless idiot. I saw Zac Rinaldo on Philadelphia play on Saturday - he looks like he'll quickly make a name for himself as another Avery-type. He had the Devils absolutely fuming at him.

Every once in a while I hear people say that the instigator penalty has ruined hockey and that now you have these Carcillos and Averys running around the league, trying to hurt guys and talking big - but curling up on the ice if anybody actually wants to make then answer for their actions. The theory going that if the league got rid of the instigator penalty again, the NHL could be rid of those dangerous players and be a better league. I don't think that's possible anymore. Teams have seen how effective a Sean Avery can be in spoiling an opponent's focus and the sh*t disturber role is now one of the ways you can get into the NHL.

Avery is gone (hurray!), but we're only going to see more and more copycats of him as teams keep pulling them out of the minors. A guy like that can change the focus from the game to himself, and you can beat a team that stops focusing on the game. Removing the instigator penalty wouldn't change that.

But, there's no way the instigator penalty is going anywhere anyway, so this is all just speculation.

I don't think I have ever seen as many 5 on 3s as the Whalers had on the Bruins tonight...

SwampYankee wrote:

I don't think I have ever seen as many 5 on 3s as the Whalers had on the Bruins tonight...

Sigh...

Woo Blueshirts! First win in Rain City since '97.

SwampYankee wrote:

I don't think I have ever seen as many 5 on 3s as the Whalers had on the Bruins tonight...

Very true. The Broons had so little composure it was astounding. About the only call I thought was iffy was the boarding call on Seids. Everything else was delightfully well deserved. Horton blowing his top (twice) was just wonderful, and seeing Gleason being yanked around like a puppet -- while still holding his stick and wearing both gloves! -- was fabulous. Oh, unless you think it's wise for one of your best penalty killing defensemen to drop the gloves with a petulant twat over nothing while clinging to a one goal lead late in the 3rd. Don't ever change, Broons!

ColdForged wrote:
SwampYankee wrote:

I don't think I have ever seen as many 5 on 3s as the Whalers had on the Bruins tonight...

Very true. The Broons had so little composure it was astounding. About the only call I thought was iffy was the boarding call on Seids. Everything else was delightfully well deserved. Horton blowing his top (twice) was just wonderful, and seeing Gleason being yanked around like a puppet -- while still holding his stick and wearing both gloves! -- was fabulous. Oh, unless you think it's wise for one of your best penalty killing defensemen to drop the gloves with a petulant twat over nothing while clinging to a one goal lead late in the 3rd. Don't ever change, Broons!

And hey, half-price pizza!

Ward's after-game comments made me laugh a couple of times. I was definitely proud of the Canes for not giving in to the emotion and staying steady. We could have definitely given up the game by giving in to Boston's shenanigans, but we kept at it. Also, that Cole-like move up the side by Joni to score was... unexpected and awesome.

ColdForged wrote:
SwampYankee wrote:

I don't think I have ever seen as many 5 on 3s as the Whalers had on the Bruins tonight...

Very true. The Broons had so little composure it was astounding. About the only call I thought was iffy was the boarding call on Seids. Everything else was delightfully well deserved. Horton blowing his top (twice) was just wonderful, and seeing Gleason being yanked around like a puppet -- while still holding his stick and wearing both gloves! -- was fabulous. Oh, unless you think it's wise for one of your best penalty killing defensemen to drop the gloves with a petulant twat over nothing while clinging to a one goal lead late in the 3rd. Don't ever change, Broons!

Why should they? It's a large part of why they won the Stanley Cup. Thankfully this creative refereeing usually goes away in the playoffs. Imagine how many misconducts Marchand would have gotten for punching Sedin in the face.

Wow is Kessel ever dangerous right now. He's very hungry for the puck and extremely quick on the ice. When he's engaged in the game and wants it, he's very very good. I'm loving it.

Toronto as a team had Winnipeg spinning in circles tonight with their speed. Toronto skaters were extremely fast and there were stretches of the game where Winnipeg just couldn't keep up. When Antropov's line got their cycle going, they had success against the Leafs, but those same players on defence against a Toronto line that was buzzing looked like liabilities against Toronto's speed.

Very enjoyable game tonight - lots of fun to watch, and Toronto pulls out a shootout victory after falling behind by two goals. I'll take it.

I'm interested to see how it goes against Boston tomorrow. The Bruins aren't playing well, but they're the first top tier team Toronto faces this season.

Koz wrote:

Why should they? It's a large part of why they won the Stanley Cup. Thankfully this creative refereeing usually goes away in the playoffs. Imagine how many misconducts Marchand would have gotten for punching Sedin in the face.

Imagine that. *grumble grumble*

It's another lovely October for the Canucks. Attending the Blues game next Wednesday, but my hopes are not high.

My goalie broke again.

Well, the Oilers and the Habs are off to a rotten start this season despite playing pretty well. The Oilers in particular have improved dramatically from what I've seen last season but the results aren't there. Watching the Habs absolutely dominate the Sabres on Tuesday only to lose 2-1 made me feel like a Capitals fan. Here's hoping both teams can find some balanced scoring and start burying their chances.

On the plus side, the Oilers now have an unlimited supply of wine thanks to Ryan Nugent-Hopkins' magical powers of transfiguration.

Any Columbus fans around here? Not to kick you while you're down or anything, but this can't be a good article to see.

IMAGE(http://l.yimg.com/a/p/sp/editorial_image/18/18dd05a2671a8dc0c95fd2a0183e81c6/wookiee_sensation_the_star_wars_night_chewbacca_hockey_jersey.jpg)

Star Wars Night
at NAHL Port Huron game.

Anybody else watch the Leafs - Habs game Saturday night? That was an excellent game, fun to watch. Grabovski's goal in OT was a thing of beauty.

But losing Reimer is very bad news for the Leafs. Gustavsson looked extremely shaky, and on the Kostitsyn goal, he just lost his net altogether. Ugh. I have pretty much no confidence in him. I hope he gets his game together.. but the Leafs are calling up Scrivens or Rynnas from the Marlies to be backup. I honestly wouldn't be surprised if one of those two gets playing time this week. The faster Reimer returns the better.

Also, can you believe Glenn Healy actually said Reimer was embellishing after getting nailed like that? Wow. How much longer do I have to listen to his crap?

Yeesh, that hit was awful, intentional or not. And embellished? How on earth do you "embellish" getting your helmet forcibly removed? What a maroon.

If anyone takes any amount of force to the head, I always give them the benefit of the doubt. It may have looked worse than it actually was, with the helmet snapping off, but not embellished one bit. I was hit in the nose by a street hockey ball and it brought me to my knees. That was only a 6oz plastic ball. This was a 200lb dude catching Reimer in the side of the head.

Anyone who says someone who's taken a shot to the head is embellishing is downplaying the impact it can have.

For as much as I seriously despise Glenn Healy and am pretty much looking to tear apart anything he says, I actually do like the way Jim Hughson calls a game. It's not all bad, is what I'm saying. CBC's 2nd intermission satellite hotstove usually is pretty good - blows TSN and Sportsnets' intermission shows out of the water. TSN has a few good pundits, but the format of their intermission shows are terrible - super short sound bytes, move from topic to topic so fast there's no chance for real discussion. If HNIC lost broadcast rights I'd be pretty unhappy, for all that I'm tired of the fact Cherry has a pulpit and Glenn Healy should have his mouth sewn shut.

nihilo wrote:

Anybody else watch the Leafs - Habs game Saturday night? That was an excellent game, fun to watch. Grabovski's goal in OT was a thing of beauty.

But losing Reimer is very bad news for the Leafs. Gustavsson looked extremely shaky, and on the Kostitsyn goal, he just lost his net altogether. Ugh. I have pretty much no confidence in him. I hope he gets his game together.. but the Leafs are calling up Scrivens or Rynnas from the Marlies to be backup. I honestly wouldn't be surprised if one of those two gets playing time this week. The faster Reimer returns the better.

Also, can you believe Glenn Healy actually said Reimer was embellishing after getting nailed like that? Wow. How much longer do I have to listen to his crap?

There's a reason I haven't watched Hockey Night in Canada since 2005 and the terrible commentators and pundits have a lot to do with it. When the Canadian TV contract came up I was hoping CTV would end up with the broadcast rights.

With the exception of the Pittsburgh game, the Habs as a team have actually played well and should probably be about 3-3-1 instead of 1-4-2. Price has been poor but the team as a whole is 6th in shots for, 3rd in shots against and their scoring chance totals are fine. The "poor" powerplay is in the top-10 in shot attempts. Unless the bad luck continues like it did for New Jersey next season there should be some major regression coming to get everything back on track. I'm just praying for no panic moves like firing the coach or making a stupid trade. Ronald Corey needs to keep is paws off the club.

nihilo wrote:

Anybody else watch the Leafs - Habs game Saturday night? That was an excellent game, fun to watch. Grabovski's goal in OT was a thing of beauty.

As a habs fan, it was infuriating. Seeing Gionta get called for goalie interference when Reimer was well out of his crease, only to have the Leafs run Price over and over again with no consequence, forcing Price into a slashing penalty, drove me crazy. I'm at the point now where I think the Habs need to blow up the team because the way the game is called these days I don't think a fast, skilled team can be a contender - you really need an aggressive, physical team that constantly pushes the boundaries of the rulebook.