3. August 2008

Kategorie Archive: Dallas Sterne

Ihre Anwesenheit wird - Washington Kapital-Zeitplan 2008-09 verlangt

Durch die OFB Mannschaft
Donnerstag, den 17. Juli 2008

Das NHL gab den regelmäßigen Jahreszeitzeitplan für alle 30 Mannschaften heute frei. Das NHL öffnet seine 91st Jahreszeit in Stockholm, Schweden und Prag, tschechische Republik mit einem Paar Spielen zwischen den Förstern und der Blitz in Prag und die Senatoren und die Penguins in Stockholm an den 4. und 5. Oktober.

Washington Captials - SekundärfirmenzeichenDie Kapitalien fangen die Jahreszeit auf der Straße in Atlanta am Freitag, dem 10. Oktober mit dem ersten Hauptspiel an, das am nächsten Tag gegen ist Cristobal Huet und das Chicago Blackhawks.   Olaf Kolig besichtigt den Telefon-Stand zum ersten Mal am 10. November.

Zeitplan dieser Jahreszeit ist unter einer neuen Matrix, die jede Mannschaft zum Spielen von sechs Spielen gegen jede Mannschaft in seiner Abteilung (24 Spiele) hat, vier Spiele gegen die Nichtabteilung Mannschaften innerhalb seiner Konferenz (40 Spiele) und 18 NichtKonferenz Spielen - mindestens ein Spiel gegen jede Verein in der anderen Konferenz (15 Spiele) und drei Haus-undhaus Reihen gegen NichtKonferenz Mannschaften.

Einige Zeitplananmerkungen:

Alle dreißig Mannschaften sind in der Tätigkeit am gleichen Tag am Samstag,   25. Oktober.

2009 Winter-Klassiker am 1. Januar bei Wrigley Chicagos auffangen mit dem Blackhawks findet das Gegenüberstellen des Stanley Schale Meisters Detroit Redwings statt.

Das NHL All-Stern Spiel wird Mitte Bell Montreals am 2. Januar im tth gehalten.   Montreal bewirtet auch den Eintragung Entwurf 2009 an den 26. und 27. Juni.

Hockey-Tag in Kanada geht zu seiner all-Kanadischen Aufstellung auf Februay 21. mit Ottawa in Montreal, Vancouver in Toronto und in Calgary in Edmonton zurück.

[Voller Kapital-Zeitplan nach dem Bruch.]

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Innen eingeordnet Anaheim Enten, Atlanta Thrashers, Atlantische Abteilung, Boston Bruins, Buffalo Sabres, Calgary Flammen, Carolina Hurrikane, Zentrale Abteilung, Chicago Blackhawks, Kolorado Lawine, Columbus Blau-Jacken, Dallas Sterne, Detroit Rot-Flügel, Östliche Konferenz, Edmonton öler, Florida Panthers, Los Angeles Kings, Minnesota Wild, Montreal Canadiens, Nashville Predators, National Hockey League, New Jersey Devils, New York Islanders, New York Rangers, Northeast Division, Northwest Division, Ottawa Senators, Pacific Division, Philadelphia Flyers, Phoenix Coyotes, Pittsburgh Penguins, San Jose Sharks, Southeast Division, St. Louis Blues, Tampa Bay Lightning, Toronto Maple Leafs, Vancouver Canucks, Washington Capitals, Western Conference| Permalink| Comments (13)

First-Round Flops Over the Years

By pucksandbooks
Friday, June 20, 2008

No team can get it right in round one every year, even drafting very high. And at times all teams get it really wrong then. A survey such as this is a powerful reminder of the crapshoot that is selecting 18-year-old hockey players. However, it is also an invitation for fans to react with, “What the *@^* were you thinking?”

I’ve included picks made by the Whale with those of the Hurricanes, and of those made by the Nordiques in association with Colorado, to even out the survey period. No need however to add Winnipeg to Phoenix’s draft woes — the Desert Dogs know how to screw the draft pooch up high all on their own. Take a look:

Team Player Picked Comment Studs Selected After
Anaheim Stanislav Chistov (5th, 2001) The ‘07 Cup win offers serious salve for the Stanislav screwup Mike Komisarek, Pascal Leclaire, R.J. Umberger, Ales Hemsky, Mike Cammalleri
Atlanta Patrick Stefan (no.1, 1999) The ‘99 harvest wasn’t swell to be sure, but this still is a serious stinker The Sedin twins, Martin Havlat
Boston Lars Jonsson (7th, 2000) A good recipe for Swedish meatballs would have delivered more Brooks Orpik, Alexander Frolov, Anton Volchenkov, Niklas Kronvall
Buffalo Shawn Anderson, (5th, 1986) This was a Shawn of the Dead selection Vincent Damphousse, Brian Leetch, Craig Janney, Teppo Numminen
Calgary Bryan Deasley (19th, 1987) The Flames’ no. 1 from ‘86, George Pelawa, died in a motorcycle crash that summer, making this a two-year strikeout stretch John LaClair, Eric Desjardins, Mathieu Schneider, Stephane Matteau
Carolina/Hartford Fred Arthur (8th, 1980) No relation to Bea Arthur, except in NHL impact Paul Coffey, Brent Sutter, Craig Ludwig, Steve Larmer, Andy Moog, Jari Kurri
Chicago Tony Tanti (12th, 1981) Wirtz maybe thought he’d sign cheap? Al MacInnis, Chris Chelios, Mike Vernon, John Vanbiesbrouck
Colorado/Quebec Aniel Dore (5th, 1988) Who doesn’t own an Aniel Dore Nordiques’ sweater? Jeremy Roenick, Teemu Selanne, Rob Blake, Rod Brind’Amour, Martin Gelinas
Columbus Alexander Picard (8th, 2004) Inspector Clousseau isn’t going to look into this pick — he made it Alexander Radulov, Drew Stafford, Andrej Meszaros, Wojtek Wolski
Dallas Jason Bacashihua (26th, 2001) Played with the ECHL’s Johnston Chiefs in ‘07-08, which for a first-rounder seven years after being drafted is a fairly moderate pace of development Derek Roy, Fedor Tyutin, Mike Cammalleri, Jason Pominville, Dave Steckel
Detroit Shawn Burr (7th, 1984) I thought briefly of exluding the Wings from this exercise, they draft so well, and you have to go back a bit to find a serious screwup Shane Corson, Sylvain Cote, Gary Roberts, Kevin Hatcher, Scott Mellanby
Edmonton Marc-Antoine Pouliot (22nd, 2003) Overlooked this scouting report by the rest of the league: “Thin, weak, won’t hit or backcheck or play in traffic. Other than that, he’s dandy.” Mike Richards, Corey Perry, Patrice Bergeron, Matt Carle
Florida Petr Taticek (9th, 2002) Why no postseasons in Sunrise, Cats’ fans ask? Look at this pick Alexander Semin, Chris Higgins, Alexander Steen, Cam Ward
Los Angeles Wally McBean (4th, 1987) Not a new lunch item at MickeyD’s Joe Sakic, Andrew Cassels, Mathieu Schneider, Luke Richardson
Minnesota (Wild/Stars) Brian Lawton (no. 1, 1983) The bridesmaid to Daigle Pat LaFontaine, Steve Yzerman, Tom Barrasso, Cam Neely
Montreal Terry Ryan (8th, 1995) Terry Hatcher would have looked better here Jarome Iginla, J.S. Giguere, Petr Sykora, Martin Biron
Nashville Brian Finley (6th, 1999) The day the music stopped in Honkeytonkville Barret Jackman, Martin Havlat, Mike Commodore, David Tanabe
New Jersey Adrian Foster (28th, 2001) Yo, Adrian! Legend has it that Foster wasn’t even on other teams’ lists — anywhere! Fedor Tyutin, Mike Cammalleri, Peter Budaj, Ray Emery, Patrick Sharp
NY Islanders Dave Chyzowski (2nd, 1989) Can’t blame Mad Mike for this one — he didn’t arrive until ‘95 Bill Guerin, Pavel Bure, Olaf Kolzig, Stu Barnes
NY Rangers Hugh Jessiman (12th, 2003) Hughe mistake! Brent Seabrook, Steve Bernier, Zach Parise, Ryan Getzlaf
Ottawa Alexander Daigle (no. 1, 1993) The Mother of all Misses; to “Daigle” in round one is every GM’s nightmare Chris Pronger, Paul Kariya, Todd Bertuzzi, Brendan Witt, Adam Deadmarsh
Philadelphia Claude Boivin (14th, 1988) Philly does real well in the first round; this year, not so much Rob Blake, Alexander Mogilny, Tony Amonte, Bret Hedican, Tie Domi
Phoenix Blake Wheeler ( 5th, 2004) Wheeler of misfortune; think Gretz & co. reached here? Rostislav Olesz, Alexander Radulov, Drew Stafford, Wojtek Wolski
Pittsburgh Zarley Zalapski (4th, 1980) ZZ FlopTop and agonizing alliteration Paul Coffey, Jari Kurri, Steve Larmer, Craig Ludwig, Brent Sutter
San Jose Pat Falloon (2nd, 1991) Plus, Pat had to don that original San Jose teal sweater on the ‘91 draft stage Scott Niedermayer, Peter Forsberg, Martin Lapointe, Brian Rolston, Alexei Kovalev
St. Louis Perry Turnbull (2nd, 1979) 188 goals in an NHL career is nothing to snicker at, but methinks Ray Bourque would have helped out more Ray Bourque, Mike Gartner, Brian Propp, Kevin Lowe
Tampa Alexander Svitov (3rd, 2001) Tampa (Nikita Alexeev) hasn’t exactly struck Lightning with first-round Russians Pascal Leclaire, Alex Hemsky, R.J. Umberger, Shaone Morrisonn
Toronto Gary Nylund (3rd, 1982) This is the stuff of Cup droughts Scott Stevens, Phil Housley, Dave Andreychuk, Doug Gilmour
Vancouver Jere Gillis (4th, 1978) The Canucks have no home-grown Hall of Famers, including Gillis Mark Napier, Don Maloney, Doug Wilson, Bengt Gustafsson
Washington Greg Joly ( no.1, 1974) Good Golly what a stinker! “The next Bobby Orr” it was said of Joly in ‘74. Umm, not so much. Clark Gillies, Pierre Larouche, Bryan Trottier, Doug Riesbrough
Filed in Anaheim Ducks, Atlanta Thrashers, Boston Bruins, Buffalo Sabres, Calgary Flames, Carolina Hurricanes, Chicago Blackhawks, Colorado Avalanche, Columbus Blue Jackets, Dallas Stars, Detroit Red Wings, DraftGeek, Edmonton Oilers, Entry Draft, Florida Panthers, Los Angeles Kings, Minnesota Wild, Montreal Canadiens, Nashville Predators, National Hockey League, New Jersey Devils, New York Islanders, New York Rangers, Ottawa Senators, Philadelphia Flyers, Phoenix Coyotes, Pittsburgh Penguins, San Jose Sharks, St. Louis Blues, Tampa Bay Lightning, Toronto Maple Leafs, Vancouver Canucks, Washington Capitals| Permalink| Comments (4)

Watching Other Teams Flirt With the Stanley Cup

By OrderedChaos (Mike Rucki)
Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Watching the Washington Capitals get bounced from the playoffs was a bit like getting dumped, hard. The team and its fans may have recovered from the initial stomach-punched feeling, but it’s still hard to watch all those other teams flirting with the Stanley Cup.

Nonetheless, we can all look back fondly on the good times the Capitals had during the season and in the 2008 Playoffs, and then move on. After all, the Capitals are young, confident, and funâ€â€I’m sure they’ll meet someone even better next year . . . er, will have an even better playoff run next year.

That said, is another team in this year’s playoffs catching your eye? As we mentioned a few weeks back, Toronto Maple Leafs fans seemed to be rooting for the Capitals (for who can resist watching Ovechkin play?), and after the sweep some Senators fans jumped on board as well.

So have you been able to watch the Playoffs dance with other teams? If so, for whom are you rooting to “go all the way” this year?

Which team are you supporting for the rest of the playoffs?
View Results

Filed in Colorado Avalanche, Dallas Stars, Detroit Red Wings, Montreal Canadiens, Morning cup-a-joe, New York Rangers, OFB Polls, Pittsburgh Penguins, San Jose Sharks, Stanley Cup Playoffs, Washington Capitals| Permalink| Comments (45)

But Whom Have You Beaten That Still Matters?

By OrderedChaos (Mike Rucki)
Tuesday, April 8, 2008

Great find by James Mirtle (via The Falconer) about playoff teams’ records against other playoff-bound teams this year:

The six “over .500″ teams are Detroit, Washington, Anaheim, the Rangers, Montreal and Dallas.

Filed in Anaheim Ducks, Dallas Stars, Detroit Red Wings, Montreal Canadiens, New York Rangers, Washington Capitals| Permalink| Comments (3)

OFB Season Preview

By The OFB Team
Wednesday, October 3, 2007

What would a band of hockey bloggers be without predictions for the new NHL season?

We don’t claim to possess either a crystal ball or spy’s eyes inside the training camps of 29 other clubs, but we thought it might be helpful to our readers to compile a list of offseason (and late last season) player movement, in a concise file, and have a little fun offering up none-too-accountable “Thumbs Up” or “Thumbs Down” forecasts for all 30 teams.

Basically, a team earned a “Thumbs up” if we thought its manuevering and maturation suggested that it’d improved upon its 2006-07 points total. Clubs that “stayed pat” or engineered boneheaded signings and/or inexplicable, high-end free agent farewells were awarded “Thumbs down.”

So we’ve provided everything “primer” a puckhead could need here.

Except the beer.

Team Comings Goings Youth is Served Verdict
Mathieu Schneider Selanne and Neidermeyer (for now?), Dustin Penner Bobby Ryan Thumbs Down
Eric Perrin, Ken Klee, Todd White Scott Mellanby, Shane Hnidy,
Glen Metropolit, Keith Tkachuk,
Denis Hamel, Eric Belanger,		 Bryan Little (?) Thumbs Down
Glen Metropolit, Aaron Ward,
Peter Schaefer		 Shane Donovan Matt Lashoff (?) Thumbs Down
Jocelyn Thibault Almost everyone Dan Paille, Drew Stafford Thumbs Down
Adrian Aucoin, David Hale,
Cory Sarich, Owen Nolan		 Tony Amonte, Jeff Friesen,
Roman Hamrlik, Brad Stuart,
Andrei Zyuzin		 Eric Nystrom (?) Thumbs Down
Matt Cullen Jack Johnson, Anson Carter,
David Tanabe		 None Hmm . . .
Brent Spoel, Robert Lang,
Sergei Samsanov, Andrei Zyuzin,
Yanic Perreault		 Michal Handzus, Adrian Aucoin,
Peter Bondra, Jason Cullimore		 Jonathon Toews, Patrick Kane,
Jack Skille		 Thumbs Up
Scott Hannan, Ryan Smyth, Ken Klee, Pierre Turgeon,
Ossi Vaananen, Patrice Brisebois		 None Thumbs Up
Michael Peca, Jiri Novotny Brian Boucher, Bryan Berard Gilbert Brule, Derick Brassard (?) Hmm . . .
Todd Fedoruk Matthew Barnaby, Jon Klemm,
Eric Lindros, Ladislav Nagy,
Patrik Stefan, Darryl Sydor		 Niklas Grossman Thumbs Down
Brian Rafalski, Dallas Drake Robert Lang, Todd Bertuzzi,
Kyle Calder, Danny Markov,
Mathieu Schneider		 Igor Grigorenko Thumbs Down
Sheldon Souray, Joni Pitkanen,
Dustin Penner, Denis Grebeshkov,
Dick Tarnstrom		 Ryan Smyth, Joffrey Lupul,
Petr Sykora, Jason Smith		 Sam Gagner, Ryan O’Marra (?) Hmm . . .
Richard Zednik, Radek Dvorak,
Tomas Vokoun		 Ed Belfour, Alex Auld, Martin Gelinas, Chris Gratton, Todd Bertuzzi None Thumbs Up
Brad Stuart, Tom Preissing,
Kyle Calder, Michal Handzus,
Ladislav Nagy		 Mathieu Garon, Jamie Heward,
Tom Kostopoulos, Jamie Lundmark,
Aaron Miller		 Jonathon Bernier, Jack Johnson Thumbs Up
Eric Belanger, Sean Hill, Manny Fernandez, Todd White Benoit Pouliot (?) Hmm . . .
Roman Hamrlik, Bryan Smolinski,
Tom Kostopoulos		 Sheldon Souray, Radek Bonk,
Sergei Samsanov, Mike Johnson		 Carey Price, Kyle Chipchura,
Andrei Kostitsyn		 Thumbs Down
Martin Gelinas, Radek Bonk Almost everyone Ville Koistinen, Kevin Klein (?) Thumbs Down
Dainius Zubrus, Vitali Vishnevski,
Kevin Weekes, Karel Rachunek		 Scott Gomez, Brian Rafalski Nicklas Bergfors (?) Thumbs Down
Bill Guerin, Mike Comrie,
Ruslan Fedotenko		 Almost everyone Sean Bergenheim (?) Thumbs Down
Scott Gomez, Chris Drury Michael Nylander, Karel Rachunek,
Matt Cullen, Kevin Weekes,
Brad Isbister		 Marc Staal, Ryan Callahan (?) Thumbs Up
Shean Donovan, Luke Richardson,
Denis Hamel		 Mike Comrie, Tom Preissing,
Peter Schaefer, Oleg Saprykin		 Nick Foligno, Brian Lee Thumbs Down
Daniel Briere, Joffrey Lupul,
Jason Smith, Martin Biron,
Scott Upshall, Kimo Timonen		 Peter Forsberg, Joni Pitkanen,
Kyle Calder, Robert Esche,
Todd Fedoruk, Mike York		 Braydon Coburn, Ryan Parent Thumbs Up
Alex Auld, Radim Vrbata,
Niko Kapanen, Mike York		 Owen Nolan, Jeremy Roenick,
Curtis Joseph, Mike Ricci		 Peter Mueller Thumbs Down
Darryl Sydor, Gary Roberts,
Petr Sykora		 Eric Cairns, Joel Kwiatkowski,
Jocelyn Thibault, Michel Ouellet,
Nils Ekman, Josef Melichar		 Kristopher Letang Thumbs Up
Craig Rivet, Jeremy Roenick Scott Hannan, Bill Guerin,
Vesa Toskala		 None Hmm . . .
Paul Kariya, Keith Tkachuk Radek Dvorek, Dallas Drake,
Glen Metropolit, Jamie Rivers		 Erik Johnson Thumbs Up
Michel Ouellet, Chris Gratton,
Jan Hlavac		 Cory Sarich, Ruslan Fedotenko,
Eric Perrin		 Karri Ramo (?) Thumbs Down
Jason Blake, Mark Bell, Vesa Toskala Jeff O’Neill, Michael Peca,
Yanic Perreault, J.S. Aubin		 Jiri Tlusty (?) Thumbs Down
Brad Isbister, Ryan Shannon Bryan Smolinski, Brent Sopel, Jan Bulis, Rory Fitzpatrick, Luc Bourdon (?) Thumbs Down
Michael Nylander, Viktor Kozlov,
Tom Poti		 Dainius Zubrus, Kris Beech,
Bryan Muir, Jiri Novotny		 Nicklas Backstrom, Mike Green,
Tomas Fleischmann		 Thumbs Up
Filed in Anaheim Ducks, Atlanta Thrashers, Boston Bruins, Buffalo Sabres, Calgary Flames, Carolina Hurricanes, Central Division, Chicago Blackhawks, Colorado Avalanche, Columbus Blue Jackets, Dallas Stars, Detroit Red Wings, Eastern Conference, Edmonton Oilers, Florida Panthers, Los Angeles Kings, Minnesota Wild, Montreal Canadiens, Nashville Predators, National Hockey League, New Jersey Devils, New York Islanders, New York Rangers, Northeast Division, Northwest Division, Ottawa Senators, Pacific Division, Philadelphia Flyers, Phoenix Coyotes, Pittsburgh Penguins, San Jose Sharks, Southeast Division, St. Louis Blues, Tampa Bay Lightning, Toronto Maple Leafs, Vancouver Canucks, Washington Capitals, Western Conference| Permalink| Comments (6)

Schadenfreude in Texas

By OrderedChaos (Mike Rucki)
Monday, September 3, 2007

Kudos to the Dallas Stars’ marketing department for this clever billboard-based dig at the NBA’s referee scandal:

Dallas Stars Billboard

Unsurprisingly, Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban loved the billboard according to the Dallas Morning News: “I think it’s hysterical,” Cuban told the newspaper. “Good for them. It’s a fun ad.” 

ESPN has chimed in with other suggested NHL billboards. I enjoyed the Coyotes’ proposed slogan: “100% Arizona Cardinals-Free!”

Filed in Dallas Stars, Schadenfreude| Permalink| Comments (0)

Ice Girls of the NHL

By Gustafsson
Wednesday, August 29, 2007

Japers’ Rink let the Capitals’ limited season ticket survey out of the bag that once again broached the subject of “Ice Girls”. Neither OrderedChaos nor I received the season ticket survey, so we don’t know if it included more than the five questions mentioned by Japers’.

Although we have pondered the idea of Washington Capitals’ Ice Girls, we don’t know if this is a done deal or not. Most of the other teams have already held their tryouts. Is Washington behind the curve, so to speak? Or have super secret auditions already been held and ice girls are ready to hit the ice on September 8th?

In any case, we were curious as to how many other teams have such squads. The answers may surprise you.

New York Islanders Ice Girls

[update: Dan Steinberg is at Kettler and has not seen any "ice-based cheer persons".]
[update 2: Dan Steinberg received confirmation from Nate Ewell, Director of Media Relations, that there will be no ice-based cheer persons roaming the Phone Booth this season.]

Filed in Anaheim Ducks, Atlanta Thrashers, Boston Bruins, Calgary Flames, Carolina Hurricanes, Chicago Blackhawks, Dallas Stars, Florida Panthers, Ice Girls, Nashville Predators, New York Islanders, Ottawa Senators, Philadelphia Flyers, Phoenix Coyotes, Pittsburgh Penguins, Tampa Bay Lightning, Vancouver Canucks, Washington Capitals| Permalink| Comments (13)

The Gazprom Cup - Hockey Legends Hit the Ice

By OrderedChaos (Mike Rucki)
Tuesday, May 29, 2007

In our continuing series of Moscow bonus coverage: photos from the 2007 Gazprom Cup, an old-timers’ benefit game that boasted an impressive roster for both teams.

The Gazprom team (in blue) was captained by Gazprom’s Alexander Medvedev, a die-hard hockey fan and good player in his own right. The Gazprom coach was the great former goaltender Vladislav Tretiak. The World Team saw Scotty Bowman’s return to coaching duties.

Gazprom Cup - Group Photo (550)
Click the group photo for a larger version

Pseudo-Yzerman So as you may have read, Steve Yzerman was slated to play in this game. He did not attend, however, though he was in Moscow and later appeared at the post-game press conference when Canada won the gold medal.Since the World Stars team already had an Yzerman jersey ready, a Greek player (whose name was unannounced) decided to take the ice in Yzerman’s place and in his jersey as well, since Yzerman was slated to wear #91 (the reverse of his traditional #19).

The Greek skater taped over Yzerman’s nameplate, and played the whole game in a black baseball cap and Stevie Y’s sweater. Clearly this event was more for fun than for intense competition.

In the photo on the right, Phoenix Coyotes’ pro scout Christian Ruuttu and his countryman Hannu Virta skate for the World team. Ruuttu was staying at the same hotel as we were; he shared some entertaining stories late-night in the hotel lobby, including the revelation of Joe Reekie’s nickname in his early Buffalo days: Pokecheck Joe

 Ruuttu and Virta

Gazprom Cup - Doug Brown with the Puck
Former Detroit Red Wing Doug Brown (left, in orange) controls the puck

Gazprom Cup - Vogel Larionov Rucki
Mike Vogel, Igor Larionov, and Mike Rucki

Continue reading ›

Filed in Dallas Stars, Detroit Red Wings, IIHF, New Jersey Devils, Phoenix Coyotes, Washington Capitals, World Championships| Permalink| Comments (1)

Change Is Coming, Including . . . Ice Girls?

By Gustafsson
Friday, April 27, 2007

Change is Coming - Summer 2007Change is coming this summer, and we know the team will be returning to red, white, and blue when they make the move to the new “uniform system.” What other changes are coming?

Ice Girls?

Back in January, Ted Leonsis attended a Caps game at Tampa and was impressed by the game-day atmosphere, and he mentioned Tampa’s use of ice girls and cheerleaders. He asked for thoughts on the use of ice girls and cheerleaders. At OFB, we ran a poll about ice girls and more than half of the responses were in favour of them.

The following video from the Dallas Stars Ice Girls gives us a look at their job when they aren’t cleaning ice shavings or avoiding Henrik Lundqvist.

http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=2011185222

Filed in Dallas Stars, Ice Girls, Sweaters, Ted Leonsis, Washington Capitals| Permalink| Comments (10)

Knee-jerks: Playoffs, Weekend 1

By The OFB Team
Monday, April 16, 2007
  • Color us increasingly impressed with both Versus and NBC. Versus has a delightful habit of expanding its coverage with “in progress” transitions to late-night games. More puck for your buck. And it’s come so, so far from its primitive studio sets and sterile analysis there circa autumn 2005. We still think Bill Clement better at color work than studio hosting. Mike Emerick? Simply one of the best play-by-play guys in all of sports today. And Peter McNab! His ice-level analysis was so chock full of poise and polish and penetrating insight that NBC more or less converted him to a second color guy in the booth. His work surely shamed that of the ice-level puck bunnies of recent years . . . Erin Andrews (where has she gone??) exempted . . . for aesthetic reasons . . . of course.
  • Sean Avery with the luckiest/weirdest of all goals . . . off a crazy bounce from a dump in Saturday. Fortunately it wasn’t the Rags’ game winner. That trade deadline acquisition is fast turning out to be one of the better ones.
  • Finally . . . finally! . . . some decent use of “Mic’d up” and “Sounds of the Game.” We’ve waited about two seasons for it. While a scrum was broken up by the refs Saturday in Atlanta, Thrasher Brad Larsen said to New York’s Thomas Pock “Don’t fool yourself . . . it’ll be the end of the period for you . . . you don’t want that!” And Sidney Crosby actually articulated some insightful reflections for NBC Saturday.kneejerk.jpg
  • Brett Hull laments Ottawa fans’ “respectful booing” of Crosby. Why? Is his memory that short? Mario got it pretty good on the road in the Patrick Division postseason in his day.
  • The final minute in the Mullet zone late Saturday afternoon was high octane incredible pressure by Ottawa, playoff puck at its regulation time most dramatic. That was one fabulous game for 80 percent of the U.S. to receive.
  • Saturday night: It’s HNIC and no Canadian teams are playing, yet they aired the complete singing of the U.S. National Anthem. There was a time when the U.S. broadcasters did the same. We miss those days.
  • Not the normal early game HNIC announcers on Saturday  they must have the main guys for the earlier Senators’ game. Which also means no ‘Coach’s Corner.’ Is this why we haven’t seen Grapes on NBC yet?
  • Speaking of NBC, both Saturday’s Sens/Pens’ and Sunday’s Wings/Flames’ games seemed to be a bit dark and yellowish. Saturday’s broadcast of Rags/Thrash, however, was bright. Is the lighting in Philips Arena that much better, or is it something else?
  • Scott Gomez can dramatically obliterate the meager numbers from his injury-plagued regular season with a prosperous postseason. Let’s hope he does, and that he seriously considers trading in that red, white and black for red, white, and blue.
  • It’s only one game, but in Buffalo Saturday night it was the Rick DiPietro Show, squashing talk of a SlugSweep, and as veteran Caps’ fans, we’ve seen enough Isles’ postseason heroics in net for four lifetimes.
  • Marty St.Louis with a killer one-timer from a sharp angle  the little guy always comes up with large goals.
  • Daniel Alfredsson can look uninvolved and marginalized for large portions of a game and then, as in Sunday in Pittsburgh, in a flash release a laser shot from the faceoff circle that sours the spirits of the Iron City-swilling faithful.
  • The Stars again are in an early postseason hole, but does anyone want to scapegoat Marty Turco? The margin between victory and defeat in this series, in all three games, has been sheer agony for Stars’ fans  it could very easily be a 3-0 lead in games for Dallas this morning.
Filed in Atlanta Thrashers, Buffalo Sabres, Calgary Flames, Dallas Stars, Detroit Red Wings, Knee-Jerk, National Hockey League, New Jersey Devils, New York Islanders, New York Rangers, Ottawa Senators, Pittsburgh Penguins, Stanley Cup Playoffs, Tampa Bay Lightning| Permalink| Comments (0)

The Hockey News Team Prospect Rankings

By The OFB Team
Thursday, March 8, 2007

The latest issue of The Hockey News has ranked all 30 NHL team’s prospect systems. They have defined prospects as players under 22 years of age as of January 31, 2007. This ranking does not take into account any movement of players at the trade deadline. Note that three of the Caps’ Southeast Division rivals bring up the bottom-5 rear.

  1. Pittsburgh [Last Year's Ranking - 1]
  2. Washington [7]
  3. Nashville [6]
  4. Los Angeles [10]
  5. Chicago [8]
  6. Boston [12]
  7. Anaheim [2]
  8. St. Louis [28]
  9. Montreal [17]
  10. N.Y. Rangers [19]

Continue reading ›

Filed in Anaheim Ducks, Atlanta Thrashers, Boston Bruins, Buffalo Sabres, Calgary Flames, Carolina Hurricanes, Chicago Blackhawks, Colorado Avalanche, Columbus Blue Jackets, Dallas Stars, Detroit Red Wings, Edmonton Oilers, Florida Panthers, Los Angeles Kings, Minnesota Wild, Montreal Canadiens, Nashville Predators, New Jersey Devils, New York Islanders, New York Rangers, Ottawa Senators, Philadelphia Flyers, Phoenix Coyotes, Pittsburgh Penguins, Prospects, San Jose Sharks, St. Louis Blues, Tampa Bay Lightning, The Hockey News, Toronto Maple Leafs, Vancouver Canucks, Washington Capitals| Permalink| Comments (6)

What’s Wrong With These People?

By Gustafsson
Tuesday, March 6, 2007

I found the following on James Mirtle’s blog:

TOP 20 SELLING PLAYER JERSEYS ON SHOP.NHL.COM (Feb. 1-28, 2007)

SlugLook

  1. Sidney Crosby, Pittsburgh Penguins
  2. Daniel Briere, Buffalo Sabres
  3. Ryan Miller, Buffalo Sabres
  4. Maxim Afinogenov, Buffalo Sabres
  5. Thomas Vanek, Buffalo Sabres
  6. Jason Pominville, Buffalo Sabres
  7. Chris Drury, Buffalo Sabres
  8. Joe Sakic, Colorado Avalanche
  9. Alex Ovechkin, Washington Capitals
  10. Peter Forsberg, Nashville Predators/Philadelphia Flyers
  11. Brian Campbell, Buffalo Sabres
  12. Eric Staal, Carolina Hurricanes
  13. Joe Thornton, San Jose Sharks
  14. Mike Modano, Dallas Stars
  15. Jaromir Jagr, New York Rangers
  16. Brendan Shanahan, New York Rangers
  17. Henrik Lundqvist, New York Rangers
  18. Derek Roy, Buffalo Sabres
  19. Marc-Andre Fleury, Pittsburgh Penguins
  20. Teemu Selanne, Anaheim Ducks

6 Sabre sweaters in the top 7? Talk about a blind eye for fashion!

(Although, ugly only gets you so far. Anaheim’s uglies barely broke into the top 20.)

Filed in Anaheim Ducks, Buffalo Sabres, Carolina Hurricanes, Colorado Avalanche, Dallas Stars, Nashville Predators, New York Rangers, Philadelphia Flyers, Pittsburgh Penguins, San Jose Sharks, Sweaters, Washington Capitals| Permalink| Comments (12)

Vegas Odds

By Gustafsson
Sunday, March 4, 2007

Mrs. Gustafsson just returned from Las Vegas and brought me the Bellagio’s Odds to Win the 2007 Stanley Cup. I’ve combined that sheet with the one I picked up in November.