It's *still* a great day for hockey!! ~ The 2009-2010 NHL Thread

[Coco]

OMG - Ballard - make him walk across Canada as punishment or something. Wearing one of those sandwich board signs that reads "I'm a giant a$$hole."

This is why we are taught to punish any violent movement of the stick in girls lacrosse. Someone who's mad enough to be slamming their equipment around is clearly not always aware of who's head is in the way.

[Latte]

Where are all the Pittsburgh fans? I came here to brag about them with their other fans.:kickass:

[Lanna]

:cheer2: Crosby! :cheer2:

[Yehudi]

Not NHL but Fetisov made a temporary comeback. I wonder if Mario would be willing to suit up if Pittsburgh needed an emergency forward.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/hockey/nhl/12/10/fetisov.return.khl.ap/index.html

[IceAlisa]

Stupid San Jose Sharks lost a 4th consecutive game last night, this time to the Dallas Stars. :wall:

[AshleyN]

Mike Fisher - The Future Mr. Carrie Underwood (http://tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=303176)

That is one disgustingly attractive couple.

[bobalina77]

Yeah they're gonna have pretty babies..

[deltask8er]

Buffalo winters are too much even for penguins (http://penguins.nhl.com/club/news.htm?id=511393) :lol: :yikes: .

But the good news is while channel surfing this evening, I found that I can watch the Pittsburgh broadcast of the game tonight on my TV in high def. :cheer: I assumed it was a channel I didn't have access to because I'm not paying for NHL Center Ice at the moment.

And watching portions of the Capitals-Hurricanes game last night amused me. The Capitals' captain was suddenly traded, and it looked like they could have played against a pee-wee team and lost.

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/capitalsinsider/after-shock-of-trade-caps-look.html

I kept forgetting who the captain was, anyway :o .

[AragornElessar]

And I always assumed it was Ovechkin. Silly me!!

Well...The announcement's been made and the debates will begin, as 26 Canadian NHLer's were given the honour of their careers to suit up for Canada at an at home Olympic Winter Games.

I'm not sure about some of the decsions. I mean...Don't get me wrong, I have every trust in Stevie Y, but...It is a young team. Especially on the Defensive Core.

Happy to see a Staal brother on the team. Although my Dad and I were betting on it being Jordan and not Eric, but still happy to see him there. Was surprised to learn that Scott Niedermeyer's our Captain. I've been saying for years now it would be Sidney Crosby, but he's an Alternate. It does make sense in a way though. Let Sidney be the Alternate at his first Games and get that Olympic experience w/out that added pressure on his shoulders.

Happy to see *my* Captain, Jarome Iginla, on the Team, but I had a feeling that was a gimmie. Still stunned not to see any of my three Flames Defencemen on the Team though and I have a hunch that's going to be the most debated thing about today's announcement.

The debate about who will be on the Team is over. The debate about who wound up on it now begins!!

[AshleyN]

I have to say, though I know there's going to be no end to the debate between now and the Games (and longer if they lose), looking at that lineup...that's a pretty damn good looking roster.

And honestly, I don't really mind the youth movement. I think there are enough vets there so that they're not lacking too much in experience, and why not bring the guys who are playing the best hockey now? It's not like the "experience" approach worked out in Turin.

I also like that they were able to take some teammate groupings: Keith/Seabrook, the San Jose line, and Getzlaf/Perry. In short tournaments like this it always seems like one of the keys is who can get there players to gel the fastest, so having some built-in chemistry to rely on is nice. Not that I would want players to be taken solely for that reason, but all those guys were fully deserving on there own, so its a nice perk.

I'm kind of gloating today with my family for calling all of the letters. I always figured it was going to be Neidermeyer with the captaincy, the guy's won everything there is to win in hockey (literally - he's the only player ever to have won a Memorial Cup, World Junior Championship, World Championship, World Cup, Olympic Gold, and (4) Stanley Cup(s)), is one of the best defensemen of his generation, and I would imagine garners a ton of respect from the other members of the team. I also figured they'd want to give Crosby just an A this time around, probably groom him for what seems to his inevitable turn with the C.

[Marilou]

I agree with Neidermeyer as captain. I thought he was the most logical (and IMHO opinion, only) choice. I also like the youth movement, how are these guys ever going to know what it's like to play in the big games, if they don't get the chance. While there's always a couple of surprises, I'm pretty impressed with the team.

[temujin]

There were a few surprises but I like the selection of players. Obviously there will be lots of debate, especially if Canada does not win the gold medal. But in such a short tournament, I think it is more important for the team to gel quickly. The Canadian team never gelled in Turin in 2006 and ended up 7th. In 2002 SLC, the team did not gel right away but did improve each game and by the gold medal game they were the best team and good enough to beat a very good US team that had gelled from the very start. A super hot goalie could also steal a short tournament like this which is what Hasek did for Czechs in 1998. So on paper, Canada and Russia look like favourites but I would not be surprised if US, Sweden, Finland, Czech Republic or Slovakia won the gold.

[AragornElessar]

Guys, I didn't say I hated the Team. I do like it and it looks great on paper, but I am concerned about the youth on the Defensive Core and I'm not the only one after listening to the pundits and reading a few articles tonight. Of course they have to play for Canada at an Olympics at some point, but so many to be doing that for the first time at home!?!

I just wish a couple more of the guys who played in Torino were on the Team. To help out Scott, Jarome and Marty w/some of the leadership role and also steady the newbies to the Olympics.

I didn't say I hate the Selections. Just that I'm a little bit concerned at how young it is on Defence.

BTW...The only one my Dad outright hated was that Dany Heathly made the team. As good a player as he is, my Dad believes there's more to representing Canada than just being a good hockey player, and w/the way that man treated the Sens and their fans over the last year? Let's just say when Dany's name was announced, I heard quite loudly down here..."That classless idiot is going to the Olympics!?!

Meanwhile, I'm wondering what happens on the Staal Farm this summer if Eric wins Olympic Gold and Marc or Jordan also end up winning The Stanley Cup? Do they both get the summer off from Farm Chores? :D

[piano18]

Hi ppl I live in Canada and dont like hockey

[deltask8er]

NHL Network is showing the outdoor classic practice at Fenway Park today. It's snowing! :cool:

http://www.boston.com/sports/hockey/bruins/extras/bruins_blog/2009/12/practice_underw_7.html