The Official NHL Thread

[Matt White]

It hard to believe that it's been 20 years since YZERMAN was named team captain.......

[Matt White]

Looks like he's 12 years old in that pic....not 21....

[Romeo Delight]

Originally posted by Matt White
It hard to believe that it's been 20 years since YZERMAN was named team captain.......

Dude Beat the Canucks by himself on one leg in the playoffs.

Can't believe the heart! Atta boy Stevie Y!

[POJO_Risin]

Alright Pens in a shootout...

Satan...makes Fleury look like a bitch...

fucking week ass shit from Pens...DiPietro stuffs it...

Hunter easy score on Fleury

and that's the game...as DiPietro stuffs again...

Crosby left on the bench...whould have had the third shot...

[Nickdfresh]

SATAN often makes himself look like a bitch...

[Romeo Delight]

Holy shit! The Canucks are starting to look like a real team again.

The first line is playing for shit, but the rest of the team is a rockin'

The rookies, Bouck, Kessler, Burrows are taking it to every team they play forechecking like a mother!

Kessler went toe to toe with Iginla, a good fighter, for over a minute.

Then, for good measure, Kessler scored the game winner.

Canucks are 1st place in the best division in hockey (for today anyway)

Got to have the kids making the vets worry about their jobs.

Sedins and Carter line look like they can score on every shift and always win the battles on the boards.

[Va Beach VH Fan]

LOL, it fucking figures...

The Pens/Canes game in Raleigh that I DON'T go to, the Pens win....

So that means, with my shitty luck, when my son and I go to D.C. tomorrow, they'll get smoked.....

[POJO_Risin]

Yo Va...here's the shitter...

I get to work today...and my teammate offers me 4 tickets. I immediately think I should give you a buzz...and realize that my palm and cell are at home...

I call my wife...and she's not answering the damn phone. Don't get her until 3:00...by then, the tickets were gone...so I'm walking out, and another parent hands me 2 more tickets...and a parking pass...

Wife works tonight, so I call the arena and say, I only have 2 tickets, which turned out to be one to less, figuring the little one could get in for free. I was wrong.

So I sat on 6 TICKETS FOR THE GAME...

all lower level...and like I said...freakin' free parking as well...

such is life...

[Va Beach VH Fan]

LOL, I think this "VA is a jinx" concept is starting to hold....

[Va Beach VH Fan]

Originally posted by Va Beach VH Fan
LOL, I think this "VA is a jinx" concept is starting to hold....

MAY I HAVE YOUR ATTENTION....

THE VA JINX HAS BEEN BROKEN !!!!

Holy schnikees, my son and I had a great time in D.C. last night watching the Pens whoop up on the Caps again, 6-3....

It was the 1st time that the Pens have won when I've seen them in person....

Probably 4 or 5 thousand Pens fans out of the 18,000 sold out crowd there.... Always throngs of Pens fans at Caps games, whether it was at the old Cap Centre or downtown at the MCI Center...

BTW, very convenient location.... Metro station right underneath the building, plenty of places to drink and eat around the arena before/after the game...

Possible future road trip location Poj....

While standing at the entrance to the ice where the players out before the pre-game skate, we were talking with Dan Potash of FSN Pittsburgh... I told him he needed to bring Trenni Kusinerek along next time...

VERY ROUGH game, it was great.... The Caps were still pissed over Whitney's spearing of Ovechkin in the last game in the 'Burgh, so the hits were hard and plenty....

Couple of good fights, with Roy and Cairns winning both convincingly....

Pens went up 5-0 before they started putting the 3rd and 4th lines in there for most of the remainder of the game, especially on the PP...

The Pens' buddy Ollie Kolzig was hearing it from the Pens fans, "Oll-ie, Oll-ie"... Terrible Towels waving all over the place....

Of course, that pesky 9 inches of snow made it a little hairy driving back home this morning, but they did a good job of plowing I-95....

[Full Bug]

After the Olympics, the Leafs are going to make the playoffs and then win the Cup!
OK, maybe not....

[Va Beach VH Fan]

We'll just see if they do their annual good job at the trade deadline...

They're gonna need it....

[Va Beach VH Fan]

A fucking embarrassing start for the US of A.....

Fucking Latvia...

http://www.sportsline.com/olympics/winter/story/9238281

Inauspicious opener: U.S. loses lead, ties Latvia Feb. 15, 2006
CBS SportsLine.com wire reports

TURIN, Italy -- John Grahame watched the movie "Miracle" almost 100 times during the NHL lockout.

The way the U.S. hockey team played against Latvia in the Olympic opener, Grahame and his teammates might need another miracle for history to repeat itself.

Jordan Leopold scored early in the third period, and the American team with a roster full of NHL players only managed a 3-3 tie against the underdog Latvia.

When the final horn sounded, the Latvian players raised their arms in triumph while the Americans slowly gathered around goalie Grahame.

"We were not expected to win or even get the tie," said former NHL goalie Arturs Irbe, who made 39 saves -- 18 in the third period -- for Latvia. "We were big-time underdogs in this game in everybody's eyes except our own people.

"You can say that this probably means more to us than to the American team."

Latvia, with only two current NHL players, rallied from an early two-goal deficit and proved U.S. coach Peter Laviolette had every reason to be worried about this opening matchup in Olympic Group B.

Latvia had the luxury of playing mostly as a team in recent weeks, while the U.S. squad was scattered around North America. Only two American players were in Italy by Monday and the team had just one practice before hitting the ice Wednesday night.

On the flip side, their opponents -- who finished ninth in Salt Lake City four years ago -- had practiced together since Feb. 5.

"A lot of guys just got off the flight yesterday. There's no excuses but that's the reality," Grahame said.

The United States will play Thursday against Kazakhstan. Latvia will face Slovakia.

Latvia's biggest offensive star was Anaheim defenseman Sandis Ozolinsh, who had two assists in his first game since November. He was sidelined by a knee injury and then was in the league's substance-abuse program until being reinstated Tuesday.

"I was pretty excited," he said. "Just the usual feelings."

[Va Beach VH Fan]

And the Canucks open with the powerhouse that is Italian hockey...

http://www.sportsline.com/olympics/winter/story/9236793

Iginla scores two, Canada cruises past Italy Feb. 15, 2006
CBS SportsLine.com wire reports

TURIN, Italy -- Jarome Iginla started these Olympics the same way he ended them in Salt Lake City -- with two goals -- and gold medal favorite Canada survived a brief scare with a more-than-dominating second period in a 7-2 rout of Italy in its tournament opener Wednesday.

With troubled team executive Wayne Gretzky looking on nervously from a private box high up in the grandstands, Canada was locked in a surprising 1-all tie early in the second period. Or right about the time the soon-to-be-overwhelmed Italians realized who they were playing.

Canada, using its overwhelming speed and stickhandling ability to create dozens of scoring chances in the second period alone, scored five consecutive goals in a span of 13½ minutes to turn the unexpectedly close game into the anticipated rout.

Dany Heatley, Shane Doan, Iginla, Martin St. Louis and Brad Richards all scored in the second, with Iginla getting his second of the game and fourth in two Olympic games. He was the star of Canada's 5-2 gold-medal win over the United States in 2002 with two goals.

St. Louis and Richards are NHL teammates with Tampa Bay, and fellow Lightning star Vincent Lecavalier also played a strong game by setting up two goals.

Canada, sluggish at the start as it played barely 24 hours after arriving in Turin, got off 28 shots on long-ago NHL goalie Jason Muzzatti in the second period alone and 50 overall in exactly the kind of tuneup coach Pat Quinn was hoping for.

Muzzatti, who played briefly with four NHL teams, wears images of Pope John Paul II and the Virgin Mary on his mask, but even they weren't of much help against the strong Canadians.

Still, it appeared for a while that Canada might get off to another dreadful start, as it did by losing 5-2 to Sweden in its first game in Salt Lake City in 2002 before recovering to win its first gold medal in 50 years.

That Italy scored not once but twice against goalie Martin Brodeur on goals by Jason Cirone and John Parco was a stunner in itself. The Italians, known locally as the Azzurri, don't have a single NHL player on a roster in which half their players are native North Americans.

What the Italians didn't have was the quality defensemen and goaltending needed to slow a Canadian team so talented it has six different NHL captains on its roster -- including Team Canada captain Joe Sakic, who set up two goals.

Italy, whose players mostly come from the Italian league or other European leagues, scored as many goals against Brodeur as the New York Islanders did in beating Brodeur's Devils 2-1 Saturday night. Among Italy's player is 41-year-old Lucio Topatigh, who is playing in his fourth Olympics and is known as his country's "Mr. Hockey" -- the same distinction Gretzky has in Canada.

Gretzky, reprising his 2002 role as Team Canada's executive director, has been under considerable scrutiny because of his link to an alleged sports gambling ring led by Rick Tocchet, Gretzky's assistant coach with the Phoenix Coyotes. Gretzky repeated Tuesday in Turin that he was not involved and the issue is "over and done with."

[Va Beach VH Fan]

Another surprise, the Russkies lose... Not as big a shock as Latvia, Slovakia's got some snipers, like Gaborik and Bondra....

http://www.sportsline.com/olympics/winter/story/9237898

Gaborik delivers Slovakian upset of Russia Feb. 15, 2006
CBS SportsLine.com wire reports

TURIN, Italy -- Marian Gaborik beat two defenders on a rush out of his own zone with 3½ minutes remaining, and Slovakia pulled off the first upset of the Olympic hockey tournament by beating Russia 4-3 Wednesday night.

Gaborik raced down the right wing boards, broke toward the net at the right circle and beat goalie Ilya Bryzgalov with a wrist shot that flew inside the far post. Then, to seal one of the biggest wins in his country's history, Gaborik -- of the Minnesota Wild -- scored again in nearly identical fashion from the opposite circle with 29 seconds remaining.

The loss was the latest disappointment in international play for the talented Russians, who have had repeated breakdowns in big tournaments in recent years.

The loss doesn't mean the Russians can't medal, but puts pressure on them to not lose again in their remaining four games in group play. The Russians, who got the bronze in 2002, must come back and play talented Sweden on Thursday, only 18 hours after losing to Slovakia.

Slovakia didn't make it out of Olympic qualifying round play in 2002 because most of its top players were playing in the NHL and weren't excused in time. But with a full cast on hand and a different format that eliminated those play-in games this time, its quality forwards give it a chance in every game.

As Russia soon found out.

Pavol Demitra scored nine minutes in to give Slovakia a 1-0 lead ahead of Pavel Datsyuk's tying goal for Russia. The Slovaks twice came back from one-goal deficits in the second period on power play goals by Lubomir Visnovsky and Peter Bondra. Alex Kovalev and NHL rookie star Alexander Ovechkin had put Russia ahead with goals.

The victory led hundreds of Slovak fans, many dressed in wild colors, to cheer wildly, dance in the stands and chant for five minutes after the game.