NHL Hockey thread

[Barrister]

Did anyone catch the party going on in Winnipeg during the pre-game show / intermission?

They had tens of thousands of people out at the Forks with the entertainment being Zombie Randy Bachman.  Of course the crowd went nuts anytime the word "Jets" was mentioned.

No but I will try to check it out on Sunday.  What time should I tune in?

This was something different.

Last night was the NHL season opener.  Winnipeg doesn't play until Sunday, but CBC/NHL hosted a Season Opener party in Winnipeg last night.  So the pre-game to Toronto-Montreal was from Winnipeg, and they want back to Winnipeg during second intermission for Bachman and Turner.

There will be another party on Sunday, presumably using the same stage and everything.  Game itself is at 4 central.  I know CBC is showing an hour long documentary starting at 2, then an hour pre-game at 3.

[BuddhaRhubarb]

1st game was a first game in the shaking off the cobwebs sense for both Pittsburgh and Vancouver. Higgins & Lapierre continue to impress me as the best gets the Canucks have made in the last year. Lots of hustle. lots. Higgins is tring to be Kesler til his return it seems.

That Letang on Pitt was solid. Malkin can't skate yet, but will get his legs back I'm betting. Both these teams are going to be super dangerous in a few weeks when their big heart and soul guys are back.

Entertaining game with some funny goals at both ends.

[Barrister]

Here's hoping Montreal Canadiens lose next game


By MIKE BOONE, THE GAZETTE October 7, 2011 1:44 PM
Comment 0 StoryPhotos ( 1 )

  Ben Winnett grabs his head after loosing his helmet during the last practice at the Canadiens rookie camp held at the Bell Sports Complex in Brossard on Thursday, September 15, 2011.Photograph by: Dario Ayala/THE GAZETTEThis may read like hockey heresy – and an 0-2 season start could lead to widespread civil unrest – but I hope the Canadiens lose on Sunday afternoon.

Whoah! Put down your slings, shove the arrows back in their quivers, carefully lift the plastique explosives out of my mailbox and don't hit send on that f-bomb-laden email.

For one game out of 82, this Simpson-shaped scribe can be a non-homer. And this is that game.

I want the renascent Winnipeg Jets to win their home opener. I want their fans to go home happy.

And so should you.

Why?

Because Winnipeg is in Manitoba. If my dim memory of Grade 5 geography serves me well, Manitoba is in Canada.

And Canada, a mari usque ad mare, is hockey.

Canadians choke up watching sentimental television commercials set in minor-league rinks.

Terry Tomalty paintings of kids playing hockey on snow-covered streets stir memories of our youth.

Canadians of a certain age know the derivation of "hot-stove league", and Montrealers of that vintage can do credible impressions of Danny Gallivan describing Savardian spinaramas.

We are Canadian, dammit.

We've got pucked-up DNA.

I hope the Jets go 1-0 to kick-start a successful season that will, in turn, goose the process that brings hockey back to Quebec City ... perhaps in time for a 30th anniversary Good Friday playoff game.

What do I know about Winnipeg? Almost nothing, beyond the popular assumption that Portage and Main in January is the coldest corner of our frigid country. I've never been there – and neither, until this weekend, has globe-trotting Gazette hockey writer Patrick V. Hickey.

But the Winnipeggers I know personally – National Arts Centre president Peter Herrndorf, Gazette colleague Denise Duguay and her late partner, the brilliant photographer Shaun Best – are great people. And that's three more great people than I know from Phoenix, Tampa Bay, Dallas or Raleigh.

So bonne chance, Jets ... just this once.


Read more: http://www.montrealgazette.com/Here+hoping+Montreal+Canadiens+lose+next+game/5519334/story.html#ixzz1a7UVTtT1

Interesting.

[Grey Fox]

I agree with him, I don't want to but I do.

God damn it, why couldn't they beat the laffs?

[HVC]

i disagree. get by on your own merits dammit.

[Barrister]

i disagree. get by on your own merits dammit.

I don't think he's suggesting the Habs lie down for this one...

[PRC]

Thought i'd post this for Ed.  Kevin Bieksa tweet to Ryan Kesler tonight referring to a Saturday night in Columbus:

@kbieksa3:
@Ryan_Kesler Sat night in Cbus...does it get any better than this??!! Man I hope so!!

[Ed Anger]

Thought i'd post this for Ed.  Kevin Bieksa tweet to Ryan Kesler tonight referring to a Saturday night in Columbus:

@kbieksa3:
@Ryan_Kesler Sat night in Cbus...does it get any better than this??!! Man I hope so!!

Everybody is watching the Ohio State game.

[Barrister]

It's game day.

[Grey Fox]

It's game day.

[Grey Fox]

Yay! An Habs goal.

[Neil]

Sweet short-handed goal by Montreal.

[HVC]

I'm conflicted. One the one hand I want the new Canadian team to do well, but on the other hand I want BB to feel pain.

[Neil]

I want the Habs to win 100%, but it'd be nice to see a Winnipeg goal, just to see the crowd cheer a bit.

[Grey Fox]

Poor Winnipeg. New sweaters, same old team they had in Atlanta.