What you missed last night while you were talking someone out of single ahandidily reruining the economy

Stars beat the Capitals in the shoot-out, 4-3: Turco made 49 saves, the Stars came back. Yadda yadda yadda. Stephan Robidas got walked twice by Ovechkin. It was awesome. In the first period Ovy, beats him to the outside, but gets stoned by Turco. In the 3rd period, Ovy fakes outside then goes in and rips a wrist shot by Turco. Thats called thinking mans hockey.







Kings shut-out the BJs 6-0: This was embarrassing for the Jackets and Mason.

What you missed last night while you were making last minute adjustments to your halloween costume

Oilers beat the Red Wings in the shoot-out, 6-5:
I can't believe that
Howard didn't get pulled. I
guess Osgood ain't good.

Canucks beat the Kings in the shoot-out, 2-1:
Kopitar did all
he could, but couldn't score. Nucks,
do fine with guys hurt.

Lightning beat the Senators, 5-2:
No sophomore slump for
Stamkos. Can we call it a
Sophomore step up? Slam?

Capitals beat the Thrashers, 4-3:
As long as Ovy
keeps on pace, I am happy.
50 in 50!

Coyotes shut-out the Blues, 2-o:
If the Coyotes
make the play-offs and no one
comes. Does it still count?

Devils beat the Bruins, 2-1:
Both of the Devils'
goals literally slipped through
Tim Thomas' legs

Predators shut-out the Blackhawks, 1-0:
This is a score you
hardly ever see at all
anymore. I'm done!

What you missed last night while you were watching some unknown bands at a CMJ show

Friday, haikus, you know the drill.

Canadiens beat the Islanders, 5-1:
Islanders got their
first win and then go right back
to their losing ways.

Oilers beat the BJs, 6-4:
Best game of the night
and not just because of the
sweet Oiler jerseys.

Predators beat the Senators in OT, 6-5:
A back and forth game
with tons of goals ends with a
Weber game-winner.

Kings beat the Stars, 5-4:
Kopitar's hat trick
had 3 good goals, but the first
was pure skill and stretch.

Coyotes beat the Red Wings in OT, 3-2:
Every year I
am down on Osgood, but come
on! What a soft goal!

Capitals beat the Thrashers, 5-4:
How can the Caps score
5 and Ovy has zero?
He needs to keep pace!

Lightning win over the Sharks, 5-2:
Mike Smith always wants
to play the puck. Stamkos scored
again. Worst haiku?

Devils beat the Rangers, 4-2:
Nemmy texted me,
"I love when the rangers lose
at home." Me too, Nem.

Flyers beat the Bruins in the shoot-out, 5-4:
When will we get to
see the Bruins third jerseys?
Not till the Classic?

What you missed last night because you stopped watching the Chicago/Calgary game after the first period

Blackhawks came back to beat the Flames in OT, 6-5: Seriously, you should have not stopped watching this game. I didn't start watching until the third, so I didn't know about the epic comeback until post game. The Flames racked up 5 goals in the first period and then slowly watched the lead slip away. All ten goals were scored in all different ways, odd man rushes, breakaways, rebounds, tips, good old fashion garbage goals, etc. I proclaimed the Flames to have the best D in the league, but if you can't hold a 5 goal lead, well, simply put you're not the best D.



Rangers win over the Maple Leafs, 7-2: Oh dear god, the Maple Leafs are bad. I would compare them to the Mighty Ducks (movie version), but the Ducks couldn't fight. I can't compare them to either the Thunder Bay Bombers or the Syracuse Bulldogs, because those teams were at least good enough to make the finals. Its a disaster in Toronto. I bet Phil Kessel can't wait to skate.





Oilers beat the Predators, 6-1: If you have Zach Stortini on your fantasy team, you are a happy fantasy owner today. However, I can't imagine anyone having him, unless the whole league is based on some sort of PIMs-to-ice time ratio. Anyway, the guy had 2 goals (one was on the PP) and a nice fight.



Penguins beat the Senators, 4-1: Pascal Leclaire isn't good. His pads are too good for his play. That upsets me.



Coyotes win over the Sharks in the shoot-out, 1-0: Do both goalies get credit for a shut-out?



Devils beat the Capitals in the shoot-out, 3-2: Alex Ovechkin is a sneaky good all-around player. Still everyone, myself included, expects and wants him to shoot everytime, but he can put a pass tape-to-tape as good as anyone. His cross-ice pass to Mike Knuble last night was faster than my slap shot and obviously more accurate. Great play, but I still want to see Ovy get 50 in 50, so as those Rangers fans say, "Shooooooooooooot."



Lightning beat the Panthers, 3-2: All the Lightning goals last night were the stereotypical goals you would expect from those players. Stamkos: in the high slot, one-timer on the PP. St. Louis: one-timer, bad angle, five hole. Malone: crashing the net.



Kings beat the Islanders, 2-1: Matt Moulson is a first line player. Who? Exactly.



Avalanche win over the Bruins, 4-3: Blake Wheelers mid-air tip was sweet. Not much else to say about this game.

What you missed you last night because you have DirectTV

Every game had great energy last night. Usually, Friday is reserved for hockey haikus, but since its the first night of games, I'm just going to bullet point the best parts of each game.

Capitals beat the Bruins, 4-1:

• Ovechkin had quite the game, 2 goals and an assist
• His assist started off that pretty passing play for the first goal
• His second goal was pure STRENGTH as he beat Lucic's stick check in front and somehow converted the pass.

Canadiens beat the Leafs in OT, 4-3:

• What the hell was Ron Wilson wearing?
• Great fights in this game. Is Jay Rosehill a Jew? He sure doesn't fight like one.
• Both Stajan's and Metropolit's goals were super sweet tips. Stajans was more the result of a great slap pass from Kaberle. Metropolit's was pure coolness, through his legs
• It was weird to see Gomez with number 91

Avalanche beat the Sharks, 5-2:

• Take the C off Marleau and he responds with 2 goals. They should have done that during the play-offs

Flames win over the Canucks, 5-3:

• Those throwback jerseys look awesome
• The Calgary D is probably the best in the League. No one talks about Mark Giordano made a sweet move on point and scored the first goal of the game and later had an assist.
• Kiprusoff should always, always have a beard

Crib Notes - Washington Capitals

Washington Capitals
Finished First in the Southeast. Lost in the 2nd round of the playoffs to Pittsburgh in 7 games
Acquired all-time quarterback Mike Knuble via free agency
Acquired Brendan Morrison via free agency
Let Donald Brashear, Victor Kozlov and Sergei Federov go as UFAs
Resigned Boyd Gordon, Shaone Morissonn, Jeff Shultz, Milan Jurcina and Chris Bourque.
Shaone Morissonn broke my spell check

Questions going into 2009-2010:
Who's the day 1 starter: Semyon Varlamov or Jose Theodore?
Can Ovy score 70?
Is there enough secondary scoring on this team?
If Ovk throws up 130 points will the Caps need secondary scoring?
Can Mike Green top last season's totals?
Will Chris Clark play a full season?
Who is the SABR mathmetician who signed Michael Nylander to a $5.5MM/year contract?
Do the Canes have enough to outpace the Capitals?
Or are the Caps a lock to win the division again?

Poised for a breakout season:
Nicklas Backstrom has already broke through but if all goes right for this team he will flirt with 100 points.

If you had to buy one Caps sweater:
Our buddy wears a white Brooks Laich because he claims Laich's game "speaks to him".

Player whose game you need to like:
I've posted about my love of Mike Knuble before.

Reason to get behind this team:
There may not be a ceiling to Ovechkin's game.

Reason to hate this team:
Green's website.
Either that pic is in the insert for the latest Crazy Town record or a photo from Mike

Random thought:
Fergie's body is sick but your buddies would still goof on you if you took her home.

Old guys:
Mike Knuble is 37
Michael Nylander is 36
Brendan Morrison is 34

Young guys:
Karl Alzner is 20
Backstrom is 21
Ovy and Mike Green are 23

Tough guys:
Brashear is gone so John Erskine will look to handle the thug load.

Favorite old school Capital:
Alan May or Mike Liut

Reason why I am writing this so late:
I have a men's league game tonight and I am going to the beach tomorrow and I don't want to break my streak of doing 30 teams in 30 (business) days.

Goaltending coach:
Arturs Irbe
Our Head Political Correspondent and Washington, DC Bureau Chief, confirmed that Irbe wears his goalie skates when going through drills in camp.

Nostalgia:
How hasn't this team retired Peter Bondra's uni yet?

Interesting?:
The last time we went down to a game in DC our buddy got thrown out for passing out while riding down an escalator on his back.

NHL 94 players:
Peter Bondra, Dimitri Khristich and Mike Ridley up front.
Al Iafrate and Kevin Hatcher on D with Don Beaupre in net.
Rod Langway was rated a 44. A bigger injustice this blogger knows not.

YouTube:
Bondra was just plain nasty. He sneaky dominated the 1990's


- Nemmy

Summer of Couch

Its been a tumultuous summer for me. I won't bore you with the details. Here we are about 2 weeks before the season is about to start. This post will not be a preview or a prediction, but a bunch of things (some crazy) that have been swirling around my head the past few months.

When hockey season ended, my broken leg did not heal magically. I was still all movement-inhibited, except there wasn't much on TV ... except for baseball. This was before the Mets epic injury mammoth (bug doesn't do it justice). Anyway, so I'm watching baseball a lot and just kept thinking, what if NHL players could only use wood bats..er sticks.
Stay with me for a sec - The reason that pro baseball only uses wood bats is a safety issue (they don't want pitchers getting killed by line drives). Granted, that logic doesn't work for the NHL. The only thing getting harmed by the one-piece wonder sticks are goalie GAAs. But wouldn't it be nice to see players battle for a puck and not see a stick break and then not see the expected slashing call? If the NHL went to wood sticks only, would we see a huge decline in scoring? Probably not, Jason Spezza does alright. I guess the trade off would be that no curve would be illegal. How about that? What if players could use either a wood stick or a composite, but the wood stick would have no limitations? Chara would have a 7 foot tall piece of lumber. Kovy might have a Sherwood Original that looked like a spoon. Its not logical and its unnecessary, but this is what you think about when you are couch-ridden with a broken leg for most of the summer.

Are you still reading? Ok, here's more

There will probably be another work stoppage/strike/lockout in 2012. Its not just because of the Paul Kelly firing. But once the Hossa deal was "investigated" by the NHL, you had to know something was up. Here's the thing: The NHL owners "won" the last CBA. They got their salary cap. They got players to roll back salaries (remember that 24%) and put 55% of their pay in escrow. The owners got a lot of stuff. They players didn't fare too badly. They still get paid damn well. And that should be enough. But owners are still losing money (I'm not going to comment on the Coyotes or the Islanders) and so the system still isn't good enough. Some GMs (with their owners blessing, I'm sure) found "loopholes" in cap system. Remember, a loophole is still legal. So, teams are locking up players for a longer deals in order to have a lower cap hit. I fail to see the problem. Its a good thing that fans get their favorite players on their team for long periods of time. Its something that fans can look forward to. It gives their team an identity. I get that front-loading contracts gives cash-heavy teams an advantage, but there will always be some advantage. In a nutshell, the reason there will be a work stoppage is because the players don't like the CBA because of the cap and the escrow and the owners don't like it because it wasn't airtight enough. Have fun watching the KHL in 2012. I know Ovy is sneaky happy.

There's more, but its only Monday. I need to spread myself out. I'm still on the DL, so I'm sure more crazy thoughts will come to me.

-Bress

What you missed last night because you forgot to show up

Penguins beat the Crapitals (not a typo) 6-2, (PIT wins series 4-3): Really, kind of a dissapointing game to end a terrific series. Maybe if Varlamov could have answered Fleury's sick save on Ovechkin in the opening minutes. But instead, it was a rout. So is Varlamov the starter in Washington next year? I don't think so. I think he has to win it in a preseason battle with Theodore. There isn't much more to say about this game. Lets get to the conference finals!

What you missed last night because you were at the ER until 4:30 AM

More on the 2Man's adventure to the emergency room in the next post.

Washington 2, Pittsburgh 3 (OT)
What a game! I think Malkin shut up a good number of people who were complaining about his output in the first two games of this series. The guy took control of Game 3. The game started with Ovy putting home a loose puck after a strange carom off of a dump in that fooled MAF. Tenk scored next with a little AND-1 playground move where he got the puck right back to his stick after trying to nutmeg the D in front of him. My girlfriend thinks he scored that way on purpose. Yeah, in your bra! Malkin scored a PPG the in 3rd by muscling a wrister over Varlamov's shoulder. Billy Black Guerin was parked in front of the net screening the bejeebus out of the rookie goalie. Nice veteran snake on that play. The Igloo went nuts and I thought the game was over until Backstrom, Ovy and Semin connected late in the 3rd to send it to OT. Amazingness.

In the OT Kris Letang put a pool shot past Varlamov to end things. What a series.

Boston 2, Carolina 3 (OT)
This one hurts to talk about. Carolina owned the 2nd period with Staal scoring on the PP off of a broken play and fucking Samsonov has to go and just ruin my night like 2 seconds later. The interference call on Ryder to set up the Staal goal was some real horseshit. Savard's penalty was dumb as hell but credit Cam Ward for setting that one up. I can't even get into this game. It's like falling in love with the girl of your dreams then finding out that she once spent a weekend with Lenny Kravitz. I don't even recognize this Bruins team right now. They kinda look like my favorite team that controlled the tempo and played disciplined hockey but they just smell like incense, sweat and sing ridiculous lyrics like "We've got to stand up if we're gonna be free YEAH"

Next game is Friday so help me God.

-Nemmy

What you missed last night because you realized you picked Malkin and not Crosby on your Sportsnet.ca fantasy team and hung yourself out of shame

Capitals beat the Penguins, 4-3 (lead series 2-0): Ok, this isn't the best play-off game of all time, but its something. Its something special. The 2 best players in the league both had hat-tricks. Are you kidding me! Did you see that Chicagoooo! I was at a loss for words when Ovy ripped that wrister for the hat-trick and eventual game winner. I had to rewind and rewatch multiple times the out-of-mid-air goal that Crosby scored to complete his hat trick. Thats like his third out-of-midair goal this post season. Will this game be topped this series? Can those 2 guys play any better? Both one-timer goals by Ovechkin were pure perfection. Fleury gets over quick, but that shot is fucking unstoppable. And his wrister is the Ovechkin calling card: A d-man's stick in his kitchen and he still snipes. Crosby's goal were the result of smart hard work, good positioning and a sick mid-air swing. Too bad his team didn't show up. Ovy's quote sums it up, "Sick game. Sick goals by me and him."

Seriously at this point....

First off...hats off to a godly Monday night game from the two superstars of the NHL. Caps off to the both of them. Steckel was the difference. Nice goal by him though too! To be honest I really don't understand how OVY drills those shots right in the zone from way out. Puts it on the net hard with that natural Russian Force. It's really quite remarkable...Federov hesitation, Kozlov banging his stick he wants it, even though it's a tight fit...grabs it and slaps it over to OVY and BANG! Than the 4th goal with the swerve in at the line, get the d's feet moving the other way along with Fleury looking the other way than Ovy, toewy snap, hop right, toewy in wrister wide jesus christ! Fleury was like, "Really?" Than the best part of the whole game. 1000!


You can't see it clearly here but you can see the makes of it. Right after he scores, OVY jumps so hard and far into the boards that I thought they were going to shatter all over those poor caps fans. One day...seriously, mark my words in his career, he will smash the glass, and I just hope no one including him gets hurt. So much energy is Alex Ovechkin.

The 2man is in a playoff fantasy grouping in which you choose a line from the east and one from the west. From the east, we have Thomas in net with Green and Gonchar at the points and Crosby, Staal and Ovy up front. We got like 10 points from that game alone last night. Just juicing. Out of the west we went with Bobby Lu in net, Lidstrom and Niedermayer at the point and Getzlaf, Franzen and Zetterberg up front. We were torn between Staal and Savard and we basically flipped a coin if you will but I think Staal is scrapping this playoff and will take this to at least 6 games so he serves as a beautiful hedge against Bruin drought as we saw in game 2. He pumped out a goal and an assist so call Staal your ultrashort. For example while long a certain number of us equities, I am long a little TWM and SDS which go up when the market moves down. Don't ask me why these things exist. Don't ask m e why Nemy won't watch a Bruins game with us. Don't ask me why Sue Sung is in fact Sue Sung. Just listen to Billy and get pumped for Tuesday nights games.


Why is it still raining in New York? I feel like I'm with Frasier in Seattle.

And dude if your going to swing your stick in anger please watch your goalie.

- Scotty

Weekend Wrap Up OR College hockey was crazy, but I'm not going to talk about it

I watched hockey every time it was on this weekend, but I couldn't figure out what game I was watching in the NCAA's. Cornell was in the mid-west regional - thats confusing.


The Islanders shut-out the Red Wings Friday night. Yes, Hossa and company hit about a thousand posts, but Joey MacDonald made saves like this:



He looks like Nemmy during roller hockey.

Ovechkin embarrassed the Lightning again. Not with a stupid celebration, but with a solid night. Ovy had 2 and 2 assists:



Saturday night was fight night at the Coliseum, this heavy weight bought came right after Nate Thompson fought Dan Carcillo and before Aaron Asham dropped Tim Jackman. Also Doug Weight fought!



While the fights were happening on the island, a pond hockey game was breaking out in Toronto. Justin Pogge sucks. Or he's learning. He got pulled for CuJo - exactly the opposite of what happened the night before. Recchi had 2 sweet tip-ins. He's not a Jew, because he knows how to tip. (ed note: bress is a jew).
Of the 7 Boston scored this one is my favorite. Really make sure to watch the nice pass from Lucic.



Earlier on Saturday Crosby was Crosby and got the game winner versus the Rangers. Uhhh, good effort, Redden?


The Blue Jackets and the Blues played a home-and-home series (or more accurately home-and-away). The BJs lost both and Mr. Nash has a new nemesis.





Yea, thats TJ Oshie.

I can't think of a better way to end this recap than with this ridiculous slap-pass from Lidstrom to Zetterberg. And watch how Rik really put thats backhand through the five-hole, strong!





What did I miss?

-Bress

What you missed last night while you were learning to sweep the leg

Its high-light of the night... day:

Canadiens beat the Thrashers, 6-3: Tanguay's night - 2 goals and three assists. He did have some sweet sauce passes, but his first goal was patience, hands, and a little bit of luck. He deked by 2 sliding Thrashers d-men, and another sort of took out goaltender Kari Lehtonen. Still, he had to control the puck in tight and tuck it far side.

Canucks beat the Stars, 5-2: The 2nd period - Ott was sent to the box for something and his time ran out just as Canuck D-man Kevin Bieska was rushing up the ice with the puck. A well timed hip check from Ott led to a skirmash. After that, Darcy Hordichuk put a pretty good body on Marty Turco and Trevor Daly decked him. Finally, late in the period Ott got laid out on an after the whistle hit by Willie Mitchell. I expected this all to escalate in the third, but the Canucks scored and ran away with the game. Did anyone else see the talent behind Dave Tippet? WOW

Maple Leafs beat the Capitals in the shoot-out, 3-2: Ovy's 51st - Recipe Ovechkin. Take the nice saucer pass down the wing. Cut in with speed (no one can catch you). Beat the goalie. Tuck in puck on the wide side.

Rangers win over the Wild, 2-1: Zherdev's goal - He had no angle and had to get it upstairs. One sitck handle and then the puck finds the little bit of available twine. Pretty play in an ugly game.

Ducks beat the Predators, in the shoot-out, 2-1: Shea Weber's game tying goal: Weber is a right-handed defensemen, playing the right side. He time his cut perfectly and recieved the pass in between the top of the circle and the dot and some how one timed the puck to the far side. That is difficult. I've only seen a few other super shots like that beating a goal wide, when you are on your strong side. If you play hockey, I'm pretty sure you get what I'm saying.

Red Wings beat the Oilers, 3-2: Hossa's GWG: The finish was nice a one-timer wrister that beat Rolosson low, but it was Franzen's work in the neutral zone and pass that made the play happen.

Lightning win over the BJs in OT, 2-1: St. Louis' GWG: Great pass from Stamkos through the neutral zone to a speeding St. Louis started the play. Now, Marty is cutting across opens up for the snap shot, but a tricky release fools Mason and he is beaten back on the far side. It defined sneaky.

Blues beat the Kings, 2-0: No highlight worth typing

What you missed last night because you were visiting The Rock for the first time

Last night was my first visit to the Prudential Center, the Devils new home arena. That place is gorgeous. I don't know how I'll ever be able to go back to the Coliseum. Everything is awesome, except for one weird mural where there no heads on the players.



Islanders beat the Canadiens in OT, 3-2:
Okposo will be
playing for USA in
World Championships

Flames beat the Red Wings in the shoot-out, 6-5:
Quite a game. First the
Flames come back and take the lead,
but the Wings don't die.

Devils beat the Coyotes, 5-2:
Parise got goal
number 40. Marty is
one win from Roy's mark.

Thrashers beat the Oilers in OT, 4-3:
Here's the game winner:
It was a hail mary flip pass
tipped to breakaway

Bruins beat the Senators, 5-3:
I love slap shot goals
on breakaways. I also
love glove high snipes, Phil.

Lightning win over the Maple Leafs, 4-1:
Stamkos seems to have
developed great chemistry
with Marty. Don't trade?

Capitals win over the Flyers, 2-1:
Ovechkins stats were:
One game winner, one assist
and EIGHT freaking hits!

Rangers beat the Predators, 4-2:
Guess what everyone?
The Rangers are on TV,
AGAIN, fucking great.

Avalanche beat the Wild in the shoot-out, 2-1:
The Wild play great games
against great teams and shitty
games versus bad ones.

Blues beat the Sharks, 3-1:
On my men's league bench
someone said the Blues were the
hottest team in league.

BJs beat the Penguins in the shoot-out, 4-3:
Great comeback by the
Penguins to get at least a
point. Mason stood tall.

Stars beat the Hurricanes, 3-2:
Carolina was
hot until they lost to the
coldest team - Dallas.

Sabres win over the Panthers, 3-1:
The Sabres have no
leadership. I don't like them.
Vokoun robbed Vanek.

What you missed last night while you were trying to wrap your head around Kyle Okposo's move

In a scrimmage last night I tried doing the Okposo shoot-out move and failed miserably. I can't rap my head around that move.
Anyway, onto Friday's Hockey Haikus (sorry for the delay today, I had busy morning at the dayjob)

Devils shut-out the Avalanche, 4-0:
Parise's goal - WOW
Brodeur is back and got the
shut-out. Jers feels good.

Maple Leafs beat the Islanders in the shoot-out, 5-4:
Tambellini can
snipe, not in-game though. Blakes spin
is bush. Witts elbow - ouch.

Panthers come back to beat the Rangers, 2-1:
Shoulders hunched, arms crossed
that is the Tortorella
losing press meeting.

Hurricanes win over the Sabres in the shoot-out, 2-1:
For teams outside of
the playoffs, these three point games
must be killing them

Capitals beat the Thrashers, 4-3:
Ovy did not score
but tried to fight the wrong guy
when he got high sticked

Bruins shut-out and dominate the Ducks, 6-0:
Hard work always beats
skill. Example... Bitz outworks
Neidermayer, scores.

Sharks beat the Senators, 2-1:
Roenicks goal is hockey
Fake shot from point is pass to
Thornton, to slot, goal.

Predators beat the Coyotes, 4-1:
All of a sudden
the Predators can score or
maybe the Yotes suck

Blues win over the Stars, 3-1:
Steve Ott always does
something and contributes on
the scoresheet... sometimes.

Blues Jackets shut-out the Oilers, 1-0:
Big win for Jackets
and for Mason. He leads the
league in shut-outs, now.

The case for more Ovy-centric NHL advertising

It became obvious to me while watching Sundays NBC broadcast. The NHL made a mistake. No, I’m not talking about giving NBC flex-scheduling capabilities (guess what the Rangers are back on NBC next week!). The NHL should have hitched its marketing wagon to Alex Ovechkin.

To me the NHL is something of a conundrum in the sports-as-a-business landscape. They embrace the niche status of the sport (how many times can you hear Gary Bettman say, that the NHL has the best fans in all of sports – he doesn’t say most fans – but hes right), but continue to make decisions of a mass audience sport (the NBC example above).

Here’s where the Crosby/Ovechkin argument gets inserted. Now, I am not saying that Crosby is a poor ambassador for the league or the game, but it’s the execution of the marketing that would actually make better use of Ovy. The NHL (hopefully) understands that it has mostly hardcore, passionate fans and very very few casual, I-don’t-know-much-but-I’ll-watch-if-its-on fans. Now here’s where it might get confusing, so try to follow me here. The NHL picks Sidney Crosby to be in its ads, sends him to do interviews (I guess), etc. Where are those ads playing? Versus and the NHL Network. Who’s watching Versus and the NHL Net? Those hardcore passionate fans. They don’t need Crosby to sell them the game. They are sold. Now, Ovy isn’t in many national ads. He can’t really speak English and his haircut looks bad even next our buddy McG. But, he makes the SportsCenter top 10. And you know who watches SportsCenter… that casual fan. Who now is sneaky interested.

So in my field of advertising/research, you need 5 or impressions to make an impact with an individual. Using my girlfriend as an example – we watched SportsCenter Sunday morning. The Ovechkin goal was in the weekly top 10. Later we watched NBC’s game, who did my girlfriend notice – number 8 of course.

Here’s what I’m getting at; besides those few official channels, the NHL should be riding on what little coverage the mainstream press does give. It was an easy example this week – someone sees that flying 8 on sportscenter, they flip through the channels and see that same flying 8 again and boom the NHL on NBC gets a pretty damn high rating


-Bress

Weekend Wrap Up OR Frost/Nixon was robbed!

Friday night I was back at my folks house, so forgetting that there was a free preview of the Center Ice Package, I got all my updates via a DVRed NHL: On the Fly on Saturday.

Zetterberg really did the most damage to the Ducks Friday night, but I really love the cherry on top (appropriate because Draper has read hair) that Kris put on the game by beating Giguere with the slap shot on a breakaway.


Am I the only one surprised by Joe Corvos cannon? He had 2. Heres the final one versus the Lightning



Saturday was Hockey Day in Canada. So for me it was Hockey Day on my Couch watching the NHL Network.
Chris Campoli and Mike Comrie were traded to the Senators on Friday and both were in uniform on Saturday afternoon. The Comrie addition gives the Senators a dynamic duo of girlfriends with Duff and Underwood. Can't wait for that CD.
Anyway, Comrie probably felt good being back and Campoli must enjoy dishing passes out to guys that can finish. However, Mr. Kovalev was back and killed penalties well and also dished:


Other Saturday games included Marty Biron dropping the ball (or puck) with this mistake that lead to Penguins win

There were Flyers highlights, like this so subtle, so sweet move from Mike "I love being shorthanded" Richards.

Quite possibly the worst D-to-D pass ever.

Is the Nashville/St. Louis "Rivalry" the lowest scoring rivalry in history. God, even the "highlights" from the game are boring: Kick save from Rinne... Onto the 2nd period, great breakout pass to Tckachuk... and a goal... Onto other action from Saturday.

Jimmy Howard is NOT NHL ready. How much more "rest" does Osgood need?
At least t2MA! man crush Owen Nolan scored by simply crashing the net.


Johnny Toews and the Snake Bitten Weekend:




NBC could have renamed "Game of the Week" to "The Ovechkin Show"
Enjoy:







What did I miss?

-Bress

What you missed last night because some jackass in a Kocur jersey wouldn't shit down or shut up

Rangers beat the Islanders, 3-1: While I'm sure it wasn't the offensive explosion the Rangers were looking for, they did get the must needed win last night. Oh boy, was that game winning goal s-o-f-t. The Islanders first/only goal was off a very nice feed from Blake Comeau, somehow finding the passing lane from the corner to a streaking Mark Streit. This game wasn't much of exciting, but it was surprising to see Andy Hilbert go after whatever douche kneeed Sean Bergenheim - who then fought Petr Prucha.

Capitals beat the Canadiens in the shoot-out, 4-3: Nothing else matters from this game, except Alex Ovechkin's goal. Yes, the finish was superb, but I especially liked the way he got around the Montreal d-man: off the boards, reverse spin.GONE.

Red Wings win over the Predators, 6-2: This was an old fashioned beat down by the Wings. They were pretty much unstoppable on the power play and gave the Predators nothing.

Kings beat the Ducks, 4-3: Has there ever been a year with all 3 California teams making the playoffs? Midas?

BJs beat the Blues, 4-3: Yes, they certainly do.

Holiday Weekend Wrap Up OR Seriously, what the hell is a truffle?

So I fell asleep real early on Friday night. I was getting ready for a big day on Saturday. Luckily, I didn't miss much. Mostly low scoring games, no memorable highlights.....
Saturday had some outstandingness to it.
Who knew an Oilers/Kings game would have so much punch (pun intended):


I initially thought Jack Johnson was fighting Andrew Cogliano - his old college teammate.

Mike Green set a record with this goal:

Its not the prettiest of his, not even the prettiest of the streak, but they all count.

So Friday was bleh, Saturday had its spots, but Sunday was where the NHL Center Ice Package pays for itself. Unfortunately, you really needed it, because NBC switched from the Devils/Sharks (2 best teams in each conference who played a 6-5 thriller) to Flyers/Rangers (we get it, NY is a big market).

Ovechkin had a hat trick. My favorite was his first goal. A low wrist shot snipe from the point:


The replay angle is perfect!



So the Islanders played in a matinee yesterday. Okposo tried his sick shoot-out move again and failed. Its so good.

And the Rangers lost again. Who's getting fired?

I know I missed a lot...

-Bress