Interesting article on how the NJ Devils do their monetary incentives: http://www.nj.com/devils/ledger/index.ssf?/base/sports-0/1068014019157000.xml I found this amusing: "Very often a player will put up a significant amount of money for a victory against a former club, such as Jeff Friesen when the Devils faced the Mighty Ducks last season."
Re: Re: Re: Official 2003-2004 NHL Regular Season Thread [R] Well, they're starting to resemble a team. Holik is playing mean aggressive hockey. Carter has clicked with him on a line along with Chris Simon. They matchup well against the opponent's top unit. Dominic Moore and Jamie Lundmark have proved to be a pretty good line as well. Dan LaCouture and Joel Bouchard are still trying to find their place but I think they've both had a couple of good games. Dunham has been awesome so far. Boris Mironov and Vlad Malakhov make a pretty nice defensive tandem. I think Kasparaitis has improved his play as well. So all in all, they look like a totally different team. They just need to get their power play going and I think they'll do pretty damn well. For once as long as I can remember, the Rangers have scored more goals then allowed. That also makes me happy. Oh, and so does this:
Funny, ever since the Caps left the Patrick/Atlantic division, the rivalry factor with other teams (save the penguins) just wasn't there. And with the Penguins falling apart in recent years, I've had more sympathy for them because I don't want to see that franchise go under. With the Caps' loss to Tampa Bay in the playoffs last year, it was the first time I had felt bitter resentment to any team in awhile. This is the first time in a long time I've felt the sweetness of victory against a bitter rival after the Caps 5-1 victory in Tampa the other night. The Caps have a long way to go to climb out of the hole they've dug themselves into, but they certainly have the pieces to do it. The question is, whether those pieces will fall in place. Thank you Robert Lang for being the only bright spot in a disappointing season so far.
don't hold your horses yet two years ago they finished midseason with +8 and in the end they were -2 i'll believe it when i see it
despite more ridiculous officiating, the BLUES (or a shell of the team) got a sweet measure of revenge on the 'nucks 3-2... 8-2-0-2 missing half our roster ain't too shabby
baby bull nets two more (that's 4G, 2 of 'em winners in 3 GP while on my avatar) as the boys of winter beat florida 2-0... da BLUES now have the best record in the NHL... at least until the vancouver-minnesota game is final, assuming the canucks can hang on to a 3-0 lead - in which case they'll be 2 pts. back in the west with a game in hand in other news, jackman returned tonight & boguenicki, cajanek and mellanby are expected back this week
I hate losing to the Flyers. This loss hurt. Rangers played one good period of hockey and that was the first period. Ahh, maybe I spoke too soon after all.
Anyone know where to get tv ratings for the local media outlets for each NHL team? Or hell, anything in general?
OT between the Avs and Desert Dogs. After that sht third, the Avs are lucky to even be in the OT. First PP, scored in 3 seconds. Rest of the game they pretty much have taken off.
Keith Tkachuk, punk bitch. Discuss. Seriously, the Blues are once again outclassing the Sharks at both ends so far (1-0 in the second), but his little crosscheck to Rob Davison's teeth after a whistle was completely lame. At least Tkachuk got tossed. Fine impending, hopefully. Should be 2-0, Blues got totally ripped off by the judges upstairs on their second goal.
Was it as bad as the one on Wes Walz last year, that everyone but Walz seemed to be beyond livid yet?
No, it wasn't as bad as the one on Walz, but Davison still had to get a few stitches in his chin. Reading the paper this morning was high comedy, because Quenneville said Davison flopped. Again, my problem is that it was after a whistle, not during the run of play. Problem is, I think it was retaliation for a totally clean hit (no penalty called) in the first period, when Davison levelled some guy on the Blues who had his head down. Instantly, Jamal Mayers came over and started a fight with Davison, but lost and got extra PiMs. But that should have been it. No need for Keith to retaliate again one period later. Blues won 4-3 late in overtime. SJ was down 3-0 in the third and got three goals in 36 seconds to tie it (two by Sturm in 20 seconds!). But as I said earlier, never should've been tied because STL got ripped off earlier. Fourth time SJ has blown a tie or lead late in a game in the past two weeks. Still no home wins. PS -- Good "where are they now?" article on former NHL tough guy Link Gaetz in the latest ESPN Magazine.
incredible! - the BLUES (without weight, tkachuk, macinnis, etc.) go into LA and win 1-0 - maybe osgood can end the great team, no goalie talk - despite being ravaged by injury and suspensions all season, the BLUES have the best record in the NHL (11-3-0-1)
Right up with St. Louis are Boston (also has 25 points after tonight's OT win) and Vancouver. http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/recap?gameId=231115001 I never, ever figured that with this defense, the Bruins would anywhere near the top of the league. Especially since the one game I saw in person, they blew chunks in a 2-0 loss to Carolina. Off ice note: Cool as all that Dropkick Murphys played a bit at the Fleet Center tonight.
Within 44 seconds, Selanne blasts one through the five hole for a PPG, then Jim Cummins gathers the loose puck, streaks down the right wing, then puts a perfect pass in front to Steve Konawalchuk, who burned his man and shot a perfect one timer past Turco. 3-0 Avs in period 2. Cummins is a great story. Out of the NHL, and I think hockey as a whole, he (helped by Peter Worrell getting hurt) makes the team out of training camp on a tryout. That's right, tryout, not even an AHL contract. Brought a lot more than just toughness and an occasional scrap so far. The one bad thing for the Avs tonight is Kariya injured a wrist, not sure if it's the same one, when he was checked near the boards by Brenden Morrow.
Speaking of Cummins and toughness, he just threw down with another guy I like watching, Rob DiMaio. Classic slugfest with lots of quick rights by both. This was precipitated by Dallas' Steve Ott slashing Aebischer on the previous shift. That's when to scrap, boys and girls.
Ducks vs AVS OMG! I hope the Ducks win today! They so deserve it...we'll show those AVS ***I AM A MIGHTY DUCK!*** ALexia
Molson Heritage Classic at Commonwealth Stadium Montreal 4 Perreault (2), Zednik (2) Edmonton 3 Brewer, Stoll, Staios Attendance: 57,167 Now theirs talk of Calgary, Toronto, and Detroit getting in on it.
Saw the Heritage Classic and MegaStars game on the Center Ice Package. Great idea, great game, great spectacle. With that said, I hope the NHL doesn't overdo it next year. Making this an annual event is one thing, but multiple-city games during the course of the year will make it lose its appeal. Rotating this amongst cities like Edmonton, Calgary, St. Paul, Toronto, Montreal and possibly Detroit and Boston (in the dead of winter) is a good idea, but I hope they stick to one game a year. Also, insofar as a revenue boost, it might be useful to play one-off outdoor "Heritage" classics in such neutral venues as Winnipeg or Quebec.
BLUES get a thrilling 4-3 OT win over the bruins, now 13-5-0-1... baby bull ties it up with 30 seconds left... in OT, osgood makes a spectacular save on samsonov and weight takes it end to end to wrist the winner home
Great idea to play it in thoses cities, although I would include Hartford and Rochester so all of the cities who had their teams stolen from them in the past could get another game