So much to touch on so lets just dive right in!
No visor = stick to the eye. Chris Pronger of the Flyers will now miss at least 2-3 weeks due to not wearing a visor. I will never understand the arguments to not wear one. It's clear. Of course I am semi required by life to wear contacts or glasses every day and you do adjust to the glare (and I'm sure they can develop anti-glare visors if they haven't already). Apparently this should be another thing on the agenda for the NHL to police better.
Just like they did with helmets, grandfather the guys in and require everyone entering the league to wear one. I think this has unofficially become protocol to be honest since all junior players are required to wear a visor and the AHL mandates it also. Very few guys coming up now have NOT played with a visor but the Players Association feels mandating it takes away their freedom. Freedom from what? Being blinded? This is almost as ridiculous as guys not wearing the skate guards. That little blade can slice your tendons. Jordan Staal can tell you all about that since he sliced his during the '10 playoffs and missed the beginning of the following season rehabbing. (He of course missed the second part of the first half of the season after breaking his hand in a freak accident right before he was ready to come back.)
The Penguins are playing on the Island tonight and hoping to never relive last seasons fight night after the glass-jaw incident. Since both teams would like to avoid this, the Islanders are starting last season waiver hold-out Evgeni Nabokov versus Penguins Marc-Andre Fleury. I guess they really are trying to move on. Of course, guess who the backups are? Rich "Glass Jaw" DiPietro and Brent "Knockout" Johnson. Hopefully they will stay on the benches because Eric Godard is now in Dallas manning their benches.
Speaking of the Dallas Stars, they are so popular that they received exactly one bid in bankruptcy court. This was expected and should go smoothly since everything seems to be good. Tom Gaglardi who is the winning bidder it seems even has said he wants to keep the team in Dallas. So Dallas will be owner less for less than half a season and the Thrashers managed to not only find an owner, but a new town and arena in even less time. Your move Coyotes.
Alex Ovechkin has a wax statue at Madame Tussaud's in DC. It's even missing a tooth and has shaggy hair. No offense to those that enjoy these things but I've always found this a bit creepy and I have a feeling seeing a wax Ovi would be especially creepy.
Realignment talks won't ever end. Even after the Jets no longer play in the Southeast, this issue will never be put to bed, but at least some players have the right attitude. "...Nothing is certain at this point. I just hope we won't be realigned to the KHL," Red Wings star Pavel Datsyuk said in an interview on Puck Daddy. I like his attitude. Read the complete interview here and find out his potential Halloween costume and his plans for next season in case of a lock out.
Montreal Canadians coach Jacques Martin is the heavy favorite to be the first coach of the season fired. They managed one win and are off to one of the worst start in 70 years, many fans are not dealing with it well. Hopefully they find other ways to deal with their anger since I think Vancouver has dibs on that rioting stuff.
As the Rangers are heading to the City of Brotherly love to play the Flyers in this years Winter Classic, getting your hands on tickets is next to impossible. First off the game which has traditionally been on January 1st is being played on the 2nd to avoid competing with the NFL's last regular season Sunday. The alumni game will still be on the 31st of December and the AHL is throwing in an outdoor game for the festivities.....almost a week later. And if your a Flyers faithful, you will be paying a steep price. As a season ticket holder, you get first dibs but you do have to buy a ticket to each event. This schedule is sounding more like a tour schedule for a vacation, rather than a hockey game.
I can just imagine it: Welcome to our outdoor hockey extravaganza. I hope you brought at least 1 down jacket or parka since it is January in Philadelphia. Our week long festivities will being with watching the Alumni game on the 31st. After the game, I encourage you to roam the streets of our fair city for the ball drop. There are bars on every street corner in case you are frozen from earlier and cheese steaks are readily available. You will have the 1st to explore Philly or more bars to watch the NHL conclude it's regular season. On the 2nd, tailgating will begin at 12noon. Please bring extra blankets, scarves and hats because someone is going to lose something along the way. Around 8pm we shall begin the game. Pronger may or may not be wearing a visor. At the conclusion of the game, we ask you safely make your way back home or to your hotel. If it's not snowing, you may leave the area for a few days to do some individual sightseeing, but we ask you return on the 6th to watch our final game of this extravaganza as players you have never heard of would like to play on the now melted ice. I hope you all enjoyed our hockey tour of Philly and join us again next year at a location TBD.
BTW the tickets for the AHL game are about $40. I can get awesome seats at WBS for around $30 so WHY the hell would I pay another $10 per ticket to freeze my ass off in January when I can just chill indoors in a much smaller venue?
Of course if you are a Rangers fan and think you can attend this game, keep on dreaming. You won't be subjected to the tour of Philly (thank god!) but you must be season ticket subscriber from 1950 to have a shot in hell at getting a pair of tickets. The oldest subscribers are going to be asked first and then limited to 2 even if you usually have 4 seats. From one extreme to the other. Since the Rangers are the visiting team, they were already super limited on their allocation to allocate. Ya know where I'll be watching from? The couch. Without a parka, scarf, hat and gloves. Not only will I be comfortable, food and drinks will be easily accessible and won't require me to take out a loan.
"We sucked form head to toe," said John Tortella in an interview after the Rangers lost on Saturday night to the Oilers. This in my mind is a preview of whats to come out of his mouth on 24/7 this December. Can you smell the greatness brewing?? I can!
Finally jewelry and the NHL or any sport really doesn't go hand in hand in my mind, but apparently shop NHL thinks I might like a necklace with my teams logo as a pendant. Or maybe earrings. I suppose they are gearing up for the holidays with this stuff, but none of this is my cup of tea. This is like going down the road of pink jersey, which make me nuts. I understand the NHL having stuff in purple for their "Hockey Fights Cancer" campaign but the jerseys look creepy in purple. Their regular player t-shirts with the purple are acceptable in my planet but I will never understand their desire to make variations of jerseys that will never be worn on the ice. The Fair Isle jersey with its knitted look and their black jerseys that look like they should glow in the dark are also out of left field. View the goodies here. You will have to choose a team from here to really get the full picture of what strange things are made and I'd suggest you pick a more popular team as they will one of everything. Like a bikini. Never thought of shopping here for a bikini but I guess it limits your choices fast than a department store would.....I'll to my kid sized, regulation colored Crosby jersey, thankyouverymuch!
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