Jebus the Penguins are going to be a scary scary team now. By adding Hossa to the lineup, they have got three of the top playmakers/scorers. Crosby, Malkin, Hossa are three names that I would love to have on my roster.

How many goalies are the Duck's gonna put in net who go by the name "J.S." From Guigere to Aubin, neither has ever rocked their real name. Strange.

It's a lot of fun though, to watch the TSN douche-bags on TV talking on their cell-phones. And watching John Furguson defend his aweful performance as Leafs GM is also entertaining.

As always, I predict the Canucks will win The Cup. But only because they're amazing.

Labels: NHL

Hockey's back... and so am I!

So far I'm feeling quite vindicated in saying that the Oilers gave Dustin Penner a better deal than they should have. I have no doubt that some day, he'll be worth $4.25M each season. He's not there yet.

Thirteen games in, he's tallied a meager two goals, and three assists. Not bad for a third-year player, if he had been an Oilers draft-pick, everybody would be happy. But it's certainly not what you're expecting for 4.25M/year.

Penner has also been a -3 on the season so far, so he's not as effective defensively as he was in Anaheim either.

I have little doubt that he'll be a great hockey player, but I think the Oilers paid too much. Not the mention the Oil's history of developing great young players just to watch them move on for the really big payout.

Natedawg out.

Labels: NHL

As a Canucks fan, I feel relief and bitter joy knowing that Dan Cloutier has been sent down to the AHL. And it certainly doesn't come as a surprise that it reads like an obituary.

LOS ANGELES (CP) -- The Los Angeles Kings assigned goalie Dan Cloutier to the Manchester Monarchs of the American Hockey League on Saturday.

The 31-year-old played in 24 games with the Kings last season, going 6-14-2 with a 3.98 goals-against average.

He's posted a 137-139-36 record with a 2.75 GAA in 342 career games with L.A., Vancouver, Tampa Bay and the New York Rangers.

Unfortunately, the Manchester Monarchs do not meet the Manitoba Moose during regular season play this year.

Labels: NHL, sports

Well the Ducks earned it, there's no doubt about that. They did everything better than Ottawa, and game three was an aberration that Anaheim should have won. Anaheim was bigger, faster, stronger, and smarter. Ottawa was out-coached, out goal-tended, and out-scored, out-hit and out-played in every facet of the series. It's tough to turn that into a winning formula.

I could barely even get myself to look up at the TV during tonights game. Ottawa still couldn't get their legs under them, even though it was a do or die situation. I suspect that fatigue set in after the conference finals and they just couldn't recover.

Anaheim's "kid line" of Penner, Perry, and Getzlaf was probably the most influential line of the series. They provided an endless supply of energy to the Ducks, something which Ottawa just couldn't counter.

Also of concern, is that Canadian teams are now on a three-year run of losing in the Stanley Cup finals. This is the kind of thing that curses are made of. What is it going to take for the Cup to be won by a Canadian team again?

Labels: NHL, Ottawa Senators, sports, Stanley Cup, The Mighty Ducks of Anaheim

The good word is that Pronger will be suspended for game 4. I think the suspension should be longer. It's the second time in the playoffs he's been suspended for a cheap shot to the head. I thought the NHL was going to start taking head-shots seriously, guess I was wrong.

Chris Neil continued his stellar play and earned himself the first star of the game. Neil is leading the Ottawa Senators right now with his physical play. The Senators as a team played more disciplined last night. The same can not be said for the Ducks. If the Ducks are going to keep giving Ottawa so many power-play chances, this series could change direction quickly.

Neither goal-tender was spectacular. But the Sen's did seem to be getting to Jean-Sebastien Giguere after a few bounces went Ottawa's way. Emery was looking more like he did in game 1 of the series, giving up lots of soft rebounds.

With Pronger out on Monday, Jiggy should be under even more pressure, and the Senators forwards should be feeling confident from Saturday's performance. I'm calling Monday's game for the Senators. I think Emery will have his touch back, and Ottawa will take the momentum to Anaheim.

Labels: NHL, Ottawa Senators, Stanley Cup, The Mighty Ducks of Anaheim

Was that really Holly Cole singing the Canadian national anthem at tonight's game? She looked like she's been dead for five years.

The Senators finally started getting their hit on again this game, but then forgot to shoot the puck. One more pass... one more pass... one more pass... pass until the other team got the puck seemed to be the strategy of the night.

Spezza must be hurt. He doesn't even want to come within five feet of an Anaheim player. He's playing like a terrified school boy, and since I have a lot of respect for his talent, one can only assume that he's injured.

Emery played a hell of a game. He controlled his rebounds tonight, and quite frankly carried the team.

Chris Neil and Chris Kelly were Ottawa's best players tonight. They were throwing the body around, and creating a lot of havoc deep in Anaheim's zone.

If Ottawa keeps playing the way games one and two have gone, they'll be lucky to make it six games. Brian Murray has very little time to figure out what's lacking.

An interesting statistic was pointed out by Anti-heim in the comments. Beginning in the 1920's, every year that ended with a 7, either a Canadian team has won the Stanley Cup, or the Detroit Red Wings. Since the Red Wings are out, the Ducks will have to break an 80 year curse.

Labels: NHL, Ottawa Senators, sports, Stanley Cup, The Mighty Ducks of Anaheim

If the Sens keep it up, they'll be finished in four games. Emery made a lot of good saves but got away with giving up some seriously savage rebounds.

Brad May had an awesome first two periods. May was doing what he does best, and thats antagonizing the opponent, roughing them up, and generally terrorizing the Senators. Brad May should have gotten a star.

Did Brian Murray tell the boys not to hit? I've always hated his policy of no fighting when up by two or more, but the Sens looked like a pack of high-school field hockey players out there today. They were good on the dump-ins, but absolutely refused to finish their checks. Do the Sens think they're so much faster than the Ducks that they don't need to bruise 'em a bit?

At the same time, Anaheim was finishing their checks at every opportunity. Because of this, the Senators seemed dead tired after the first seven or eight minutes of each period, and thus played on their heels.

I also liked the story about Selanne flying his drunken buddies in for the series. Did anybody else notice that the hooligans somehow ended up sitting next to former Edmonton Oiler Ryan Smyth in the stands? Funny.

And finally, has there even been a fight in the playoffs this year? Nobody seems to want to drop the gloves, no matter what the situation. Tonight there was at least a couple of times that the gloves should have been dropped, but yet nothing! Is there some secret NHL ban on playoff fighting now?

Labels: NHL, Ottawa Senators, sports, Stanley Cup, The Mighty Ducks of Anaheim

Monday, 7pm central at the Duck Pond. The greatest trophy in sports, Lord Stanley's Cup, will be handed to the victor of seven games between the Anaheim Mighty Ducks and the Ottawa Senators.

The finals don't start until Monday, which sorta gives Anaheim the edge. They get plenty of rest, but are gonna be closer to "game speed" come Game 1. Ottawa will have had eight full days off between games and thats going to hurt, especially considering the momentum that Heatly, Alffie and Spezza had going.

Naturally I'm cheering for Ottawa to win. I firmly believe that the Stanley Cup is supposed to remain in Canada forever. But as a Jets Fan, Mennonite from SE Manitoba, and Canucks fan... I'm having a tough time staying loyal.

The Jets fan in my would love to see Randy Carlyle win a Stanley Cup, even if its in a different city, in a different job. Carlyle was also responsible for many of the Jets' good years. Carlyle also coached the Moose during their best seasons. It would bring great joy to many 'peggers hearts to see Randy Carlyle lift The Cup.

I'm also a big fan of Dustin Penner. He's got a good Mennonite name, and comes from a hardcore Mennonite town like Winkler. I remember watching him play two games at the 2005 World Junior Championships. He wasn't quite as spectacular as Crosby, but you could tell he was damn good.

Thirdly, my dark desire for the Ducks to win is driven by my absolute love for Brian Burke. The Burkian-Canucks were better than the Dave Nonisian-Canucks. The new Canucks have Luongo, who granted, is ten times the goalie Cloutier (I can't even remember his first name right now) could dream of being. But offensively and defensively the Canucks were better under Burke than Nonis. Brian Burke did leave behind a hell of a farm club (the Manitoba Moose) for Dave Nonis to pillage.

Labels: NHL, sports

Watching hockey tonight, I couldn't help but laugh how TSN waded into the so-called Shane Doan "controversy", if you can call it that. The whole TSN panel absolutely ridiculed Jack Layton, and more importantly defended Shane Doan (former Winnipeg Jet). The highlight of the segment was when Jeremy Roenick (an American) called Jack Layton was "an idiot".

Also TSN keeps bringing up the idea of 4-on-4 in overtime. Bad idea. The playoffs is all about endurance, and if you can't handle a few quadruple overtime games on the way to the holy grail, then you just don't cut it.

Jagr had one of his best games of the playoffs tonight. Jagr is remarkably a changed man since putting the 'C' on his sweater. He's (finally) learning to use his skill to make the guys around him better.

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The Canucks were so close tonight. But why oh why do they have to get all spastic when the pressure's on? And more importantly why can't we score on the mother (explicative deleted) god (explicative deleted) son of a (explicative deleted) unholy (explicative deleted) eating POWERPLAY? The Canucks are 4-58 on the PP in the playoffs, and I believe 1-25 in this series against the Ducks.

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The Canucks lost, but the AHL affiliate Manitoba Moose came up big with a 4-1 win in game 7 against the Grand Rapids Griffins. The Moose went up in the first, followed by a scoreless second period. The Griffins tied it up midway through the 3rd. The Moose went ahead with two goals late in the 3rd, and cemented it with an empty-netter to win 4-1. Bring on the Hamilton Bulldogs!

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The Toronto Raptors pulled out a nice win tonight. They dominated the first three quarters of the game, but let it slide in the 4th and ended up winning in a close one. They got into a lot of foul trouble, and from what I saw the refs were calling the game real tight.

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The Winnipeg Blue Bombers have chosen the Asper stadium plan. Damn good thing too. The St. Boniface idea would have been a bust simply because the neighborhood has a serious odor problem. Seriously, it stinks. And the idea of having it at The Downs was even worse. I drink far too heavily at football games to make that trek safely. The current location is pretty excellent. If it sees some development, especially with the old arena space available, it could be turned into something quite fantastic.

Labels: Jack Bin Layton, Manitoba, NBA, NDP, NHL, sports, Winnipeg Jets

Canucks beat Dallas in Game Seven!

After the first period, I admit I was feeling a little dismayed. The good-guys just could not get a handle on the puck in the first period. Maybe game-seven-nerves, whatever.... the first period was one of the most embarrassing moments in Canucks history.

The second and third periods were close to brilliant for the Canucks. During the last two periods the Canucks kept the Stars on the ropes. Many offensive chances turned into many power-play opportunities for the good guys.

And on this note, Roberto Luongo is every Canucks fan's dream. I could not help but think through the entire game, "what if that was Dan Cloutier"? Roberto is my new hero.

Speaking of heroes, Naslund was looking like his old self in the third period, and taking control of the game again. Hopefully we'll see more of that as the playoffs progress.

It's also nice to see all the former Manitoba Moose players, like Alex Burrows and Kevin Bieksa kicking ass in "the big show". Randy Carlyle was brilliant with the Moose, and is still brilliant with the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim. I can't wait for Wednesday!

Labels: Manitoba, NHL, sports

So the Rangers will move on, with a lot of rest. It might be too much time off for them and kill their momentum. Either way, they're hot and shouldn't be taken lightly.

As far as the Minnesota - Anaheim series, I really can't bother myself to care. I wish both teams could lose.

The CBC did a poor job of updating the rest of the world about what was happening in the Canucks game. I had to go into the other room to find out the final score on the internet, boo CBC. But the Canucks are in a good position right now, and I stand firmly by my prediction of the Stanley Cup coming back to Canada.

The Senator's are not having an easy time with the Penguins, but they're going to win the series handily. The Penguins might also be Ottawa's toughest opponent in the playoffs, since they did pretty well against Buffalo during the season.

Labels: NHL, sports

Zounds! What a night! Can't think of a better way to kick off the playoffs!

The Senators looked pretty good. They had a lot of chances early, and took advantage of Fluery's nerves. Fluery wasn't as bad as he appeared either, he was getting no help in the first period. I got a good kick outta the way the Sens made Crosby look like a punk. I do think the Pens will come out better in the next game, but in the end Ottawa is gonna roll through this series in five games, tops.

Of the Sharks and Predators game, I really thought that Nashville was better in regulation, even though they had to make the difficult come-back. Yet in over-time, San Jose won. Such is the play-offs, a good bounce is all it takes.

I watched the first four periods of the Canucks/Stars game, and listened to the fifth. Good to see Naslund and Sendin's getting off to a good start. Because of the time, I think I'm backin' it it. Though, I'd like to take this time to reassert my prediction of the Canucks winning The Cup.

Two months of madness, coming up! Yeeeaaaah!!

Update: Canucks win! Though, I'm sure glad I didn't stay up for the 80 minutes of OT.

Labels: NHL, sports

The Nashville Predators have picked up super-star Peter Forsberg from the Philadelphia Flyers. In return, Philadelphia got Scottie Upshall and Ryan Parent.

Nashville, being the top team in the Western Conference at the moment are obviously gearing up for a serious run at the Cup. And why not? Their goal-tending has been excellent with Chris Mason leading the league in save percentage. Forsberg will bring veteran leadership to a team that is thick on talent, but thin on any experience.

On the other hand, Philadelphia is getting two up and coming stars in Scottie Upshall (23) and Ryan Parent (19). Philadelphia sucks, make no mistake about it. They are by far the worst team in the NHL, and this season is a complete write-off. But Upshall and Parent will be their stars of the future, and give the team something to build around in the off-season.

Can't wait for the play-offs!

Labels: NHL, sports