Sure is.

Also, did the team actually trade hands yet? I ask because when I was watching the game yesterday I heard the play by play guys say that the taping of the game was the property of the Lemieux Group.

Whoa now, I'd rather they stay in Pittsburgh. You move a team when things are bad, and will continue to be bad in the foreseeable future. The Penguins are obviously going to be a strong team sooner than later, so why the hell would you move them? If they were to pick up their dresses and prance up to Canada, it would just be another knock against a league that is already struggling south of the border.

On the other hand, if we had a Canadian team with Crosby, maybe all these analysts up here would stop jackin' it to the Leafs.

But I don't waiver. Let the Penguins take flight in Pittsburgh.

See, that's not the issue. The city didn't want to fund a new arena and the new owner (The Blackberry dude) would have moved them most likely if this slots deal fell through. It's not like the Pens actively wanted to move. I mean, most of the games are near soldout, so it's not for lack of fan support.

Well you are one of the few FreeHooker. I understand that Canada would want another hockey team. Hell I am in favor of that, they really should. But not the Penguins. Not with their great history and future.

I would think that any owner would move the team if an arena deal fell through. Like Mario said, it's just bad business to keep a team in an old arena that's falling apart.

Well yeah. I was just saying for this specific case that's what would have happened. I mean, we do have the oldest arena in the NHL.

I knew about the arena issue, but I didn't know that the Penguins were selling out. Thanks for that tidbit of info. I didn't mean to front that kind of argument, I guess it came across that way. What I really should have said is that the NHL should be pushing the city to fund an arena, but they obviously did. I suppose that I was just stating what it may look like had Pittsbrugh moved. But, upon closer inspection, it all does come back the NHL. Their inability to market the NHL proficiently in the US leads to ticket sales dropping, which is, in a nutshell, a drop in interest. This leads for the city to say, "Why should we fund a new arena?"

I know the point I'm making is confusing, just try to follow me here. :juggler:

I won't be happy until we see the triumphant return of the Whale to the NHL.

HARTFORD HOW YA DOIN!?

Game Day - Vancouver Canucks vs. Dallas Stars (November 6th, 2006)

If anyone has been following the Canucks this year, they would know that Vancouver has outworked their opponent for the majority of their games this year, and they sure as hell haven't won enough of those games.

Tonight was no exception, save 8-10 minutes of the game, mostly in the third. The knock on this team is that they just can't finish. They're incredible defensively, which is just unreal for most Canuck fans considering the style of team that we have iced for years. As of now, they're 4th in shots allowed, 6th in shots for, but only 26th in goals scored. What does that mean? That means we're not finishing.

But back the game. The first period was one of the most bizarre periods of hockey that I've ever seen in my life. The Canucks come out dominating, but can't pot one (Is and will continue to be the story of the season). So, 10 minutes in, as Kevin Bieksa is skating through the neutral zone, he decides to put one on goal. And sure enough, he catches Mike Smith off guard and outs it in from center ice. Just a few minutes later, Vancouver and Dallas take penalties close to each other. Off a face-off, Sydor puts the puck over the glass, and takes the delay of game minor. Now, off the ensuing faceoff, Boucher takes the puck and puts it over the glass for another delay of game penalty. I'm talking literally 1.5 seconds off the clock, here. And sure enough, off the next ensuing face-off, Jan Bulis takes a tripping penalty literally 2.5 seconds after the face-off. That's gotta be some sort of record for 3 penalties. :eyebrow: First period ends 1-0, with the Canucks dominating the shots 14-2.

The second period was pretty boring, and is when the game started turning into a snoozefest. Really, the only highlights were both teams killing off penalty after penalty, and Lindros scoring off a point shot that Luongo got a piece of with his glove.

The third period, the boring mood just increased exponentially. For the first ten minutes, it really looked like no team gave a shit about winning. Then, for the last 10 minutes, Dallas really turned it on, and put on big pressure. If not for Luongo making 3 or 4 huge saves in the third, this game ends 2-1 Dallas and the Canucks lose yet another one that they 'deserved' to win. With no penalties being called in the third, Brendan Morrow gets put in the penalty box on an unusual elbowing call in the offensive zone. The Canucks dismal powerplay continues to be exactly that, until a couple pretty passes by the Sedin twins set up a pinching Ohlund on the back door, only for him to hit the post. Third twin Taylor Pyatt picks up the rebound spins around, roofing it on Smith with 45 seconds left in the third.

So, the game ends 2-1 for the Canucks.

Shots: VAN 26 - DAL 20

W: Luongo (8-6-1) 19 Saves
L: Smith (2-1-0) 25 Saves

Official 3 Stars:

1- K. Bieksa
2- E. Lindros
3- R. Luongo

My 3 Stars:

1- K. Bieksa
2- R. Luongo
3- M. Smith

Honorable Mention: E. Lindros (DAL), Josh Green (VAN) :eyebrow:

VAN Next Game: vs. Anaheim (Thursday, November 9th)
DAL Next Game: @ Calgary (Tuesday, November 7th)

----------

I was bored.

:biggrin:

I just wish we'd get rid of that worthless bag of skin Fitzpatrick. Normally when you have a defensemen who's not only useless as far as preventing goals but a total liability, you'd at least expect them to have an offensive upside, like Gonchar or Jovanovski. Fitzpatrick is all the defensive sucking of Gonchar AND Jovanovski times a BILLION with NO GOALS. WHY IS HE NOT GONE YET?

So he's basically the bad parts of Mark Eaton and Sergei Gonchar combined? I feel bad for you guys.

Uhhh....Capo Mark Eaton was the best defender we had until he got hurt.

I know that, but how many goals did he have the past couple years? ;)

I fail to see how that would be a "bad part" of his game. He is a defender, a good one to boot. To be honest the last thing the Pens need is a "defender" who can "score goals."

I think Capo meant like the defensive liability of Gonchar and the non-production of Eaton put together would make Fitzpatrick. Which, if you took that and then quadrupled all the bad parts, is exactly what you'd have!

Yeah, that's it. No need to get all defensive, Wojo. I know he's a great member of the Pens, too.

No it's alright I was just trying to understand what you were saying. Brent layed it out perfectly.

And it really is that bad. Against Dallas he wasn't bad, but for a stretch of 3 games before that it was really, really noticeably horrible to look at.

Looks like the Red Wings patched up a few of their problems as of late. They won a couple one-goal games, and now they've hit a seven game win streak with a 3-0 win over Edmonton. They've really got to work on those special teams, though. 9% isn't going to cut it on the power play.

Are you a Wings fan? They seemed to have a load of problems early on, but are looking good now. Their whole season hinges equally on the NHL's most fragile groin, and on two guys becoming top 3 forwards. I really do hope they do well, just to humble all those saying "LOL Wings suck without spenading moenyss dey cant doo shiite".



As well, a favour is in order for beating the Oilers. :)

So that's...what, the third game in a row where the Sens have given up a good lead? I don't understand how they can start out so strong and then just...stop. It just doesn't make sense, we were so much better then this last year.

Ah, a Sens fan! Just what I needed. PLease, give me the scoop on Alfie! :)

Is he back on the first line? My pool hopes are hinging on him. And about the Sens, I'm VERY surprised to see them struggling. On paper, they don't look weak anywhere.

Umm... he sucks now? Scoop given?

Yep, I've been a lifelong Wings fan, growing up in the Detroit area. I hate all the people that call the Red Wings the Yankees of hockey and claim we always spend money to get good, because for a long while, they were awful. And they only spent a lot of money for a couple years. A lot of people wrote them down to around 6th in the conference last year, and they still finished first (though those playoffs were disappointing). I hope Hasek can hold together this year and give the Red Wings a good season, though I think Osgood can pull us through still if Hasek goes down.

I see you're a Canucks fan. I used to hope they would do well, then they played the Red Wings in the playoffs a couple years back and I started to dislike them more. Though, most of my hate was for Bertuzzi, who Vancouver doesn't even have anymore. So now Vancouver is fine by me once again, just as long as they keep Colorado down in that division.

Really, Bertuzzi seems to have been everything wrong with this team. With him gone, they are polar opposites of years past. It's actually quite remarkable, really. They outwork their opponents nearly every night, are great on defence. And I don't mind giving up Allen, Bert, and Auld for Luongo, and Krajicek. Krajicek has been the biggest surprise thus far, and Luongo has been amazing save 2-3 games. Some people criticized Dave Nonis for the moves he made, but I don't think he did ANYTHING wrong, save maybe the Chouinard signing. He dropped Luc Bourdon back down to Moncton, and that's looking good with Alexander Edler's strong play (Who we snagged from Detroit in the third round of the '03 draft, by the way. :boxing: ). I think that the Wings have what many of the money spending teams of the past didn't have, and that is drafting. Yes, for a couple of years they threw money around, but they also began to draft VERY well. That shows with Zetterberg, Datsyuk (And Kronwall? Confirm this?).

Anyways, cheers. I always look forward to 'Nucks - Wings games. By the way, Bieksa scored form center on Monday. When he did it, the Lidstrom - Cloutier situation was the first thing that came to mind.

:biggrin:

I was amazed Florida gave up Luongo for anything. He's one of the top goalies today, and would stand on his head night in and night out in Florida to keep them in games. I think Vancouver would've made a good move getting just him, but getting another player who is doing well is even better for them.

One problem with the drafting the Red Wings did when they were winning Stanley Cups wasn't just that it wasn't great, it was that sometimes it was nonexistent. They traded away a lot of draft picks to get the big name players (Chelios, for example, came at the expense of two first-round picks). But now that the team has had some decent picks to make use of, they've been doing well with them. Hopefully Yzerman leaving will help Datsyuk and Zetterberg establish larger leadership roles with the team. The two have been spectacular, but have faltered some in big games. Kronwall looks to have been a good choice. He seems to be learning well from Lidstrom. Jiri Fischer was another great draft choice that was starting to become a big presence last year, but then he came upon some unfortunate heart problems. I don't know if he'll play again or not, as he's been sitting out for a year now.

And actually, if you mention big shots from the neutral zone around here, Lidstrom's shot isn't the first thing people think of. Almost everyone will first remember Steve Yzerman shooting one from out there in double overtime of game 7 against St. Louis in 1996. =P