Lindros Olive Branch

The Final game of NHL hockey was played today at the Spectrum in Philadelphia. Of course the Flyers have been in the Wachovia Center for years now and the Spectrum has only been home to the AHL's Phantoms but it is being torn down, and the Flyers played the Hurricanes in one last hurrah for the storied building.

A pre-game ceremony included former Flyer greats Bob Clarke, Keith Primeau, Ron Sutter, Ed Van Impe, Bill Barber, Kevin Dineen among others. Eric Lindros was invited to attend, which would have been fitting as he was the final Flyer to completely dominate the ice at the Spectrum, and his hype in the 1990s is a major reason the Wachovia Center was built in the first place. Unfortunetely, due to a family friend's memorial service, Lindros turned it down.

He did, though send his wishes via Jumbotron to the fans of Philadelphia in his first official appearance with the Flyers organization since his trade in 2000. Lindros despite all the hateful rumours that flood the internet is a pure class act very rarely seen in pro-sports. He tipped his hat to the Philly faithful calling them the "greatest fans in professional sports." A step in repairing the damaged relationship between Lindros and the Philadelphia Flyers. Clarke himself helped the process along last year calling Lindros a great person and a sure fire hall of famer. Hopefully in the future the Flyers and Lindros will reunite in a more meaningful way - like the raising of his #88. 

Regardless, here is the video of his statement: 

http://flyers.nhl.tv/console.jsp?type=fvod&id=21441&catid=327

The Worst Nightmare to a Fan

Having your team lose in front of you while attending a game is junk, but worse things can happen if you attend an NHL game. 

You can be on the Jumbotron, or Yumbotron as it's known in LA.

Recently in Edmonton a fine upstanding young lady was banned from Rexall Place for six months for being on the Jumbotron. Why? She flashed the crowd. Security should have realized her confusion, for a young lady like that, when people cheer especially a crowd of thousands, there is only one reaction. Show the tits. Crowd cheers, thousands of people it sure isn't the WNBA or beach volleyball. When girls like that get crowd reaction it's either in one of the following three places:

a. Mardi Gras in New Orleans - you flash for beads

b. You're on Jerry Springer and flash the tits.

c. You're dancing around a pole and flash for money.

The confusion gets mounted after the Oilers run of 2006 and on Whyte Avenue, people cheered and you flashed for.... Oiler fans on the street.

While it can be horrid for a young lady to be banned, things can go horribly wrong on the Jumbotron for the rest of us as well. You know you're on the massive screen for a number of seconds, tops and you have to do something quick, or look like a moron. 

- A friend of mine decided to take his empty cup and "dump it" over the head of the baby in front of him. Some laughed, some yelled for his head. It was an ugly scene, uglier if he thought of it with a full beer.

or you can have my experience with it. Sitting with a friend of mine at a game digging the game, having some beers and laughs watching some fine NHL action. Next thing you know the guy behind you taps on the shoulder - you look up and horribly realiz

e you're on the kiss cam with the ugly stranger girl sitting beside you. I could have buckled and kissed the pig hoping she'd turn into a princess, instead... shook my head slicing the hand in a good "hell no" fashion.

18,000 people boo directly at you. The second most people I had boo at me in one moment. 

Beware the Jumbotron, it's not your friend. Oh yeah, NHL players, fear it as well it can always fall on you in Buffalo. 

Overhaul Training Camp

   The dawn of a new season of NHL training camp is here, and in Edmonton the excitement hits a fevered pitch. Fans scrutinize the Oilers prospects; pack the University of Alberta stadium to watch Oiler rookies take on the CIS Golden Bears. Thousands watch live streams online of relative unknowns wearing the Copper and Blue. Rexall Place will undoubtedly sell out Sunday afternoon to watch the yearly intra-squad scrimmage known as the Joey Moss Cup.

            The Problem is that around the National Hockey League, not every city shares the same excitement. And this is fine, many cities do not have hockey as the number one sport or share the same enthusiasm Canadians do. They have the NFL starting, MLB winding up and more than enough reason to ignore training camps. I don’t blame them or point fingers, as it’s completely understandable.

            Recently in Lake Traverse, Michigan, the RedWings hosted a rookie tournament which has been a huge success the past couple years. The Dallas Stars rookies won it over Zach Bogosian and his Atlanta Thrashers. Other teams have been asking to join the tournament but the locations and scheduling does not allow for it to be a large event. Similarly in Camrose, Alberta, the Oilers, Calgary Flames and Vancouver Canucks held a mini-tournament of their rookies. The success was there and will continue next year in a new location.

            The lesson the NHL needs to take from this, and from their brethren at Major League Baseball is the idea of a “Grapefruit League” for training camps.  The New York Yankees play their entire training camp and preseason games at George Steinbrenner field in Tampa, Florida. The Boston RedSox in Fort Myers, Florida, The Chicago Cubs in Mesa, Arizona. Three of the sports world’s biggest fan bases do not even play their preseason games in their cities because Grapefruit League is a resounding success for baseball. All the teams are in close proximity to each other so numerous training camp games can be played amongst the teams in MLB. Travel costs cut, more opportunities to evaluate squads, teams promote themselves in other regions of the United States.

            This is a model the NHL should follow. The brass at the NHL is always trying to expand their product into other markets. They feel the best way is by blind expansion and relocation. Often with disastrous results.  As much as Oiler fans love their training camp season, the NHL could follow the Grapefruit model and make the preseason an event in itself. The Sharks in Portland, the Kings in Las Vegas, the Oilers in Saskatoon, the Flames in Regina, the Canucks in well, who cares about the Canucks, okay Seattle. The Flyers already often play in PEI or New Brunswick, get the Bruins in Maine, the Penguins in Kansas City, You get the drift, Eastern and Western Conferences, divisions hold training camps in certain regions around Canada and the United States.

            The NHL expands their product. More format to the preseason, rookie tournaments in these local areas that never get the NHL. The teams promote their brand and build up a fan base in other areas. Spread the game, spread the teams, and test the markets. Canadians often feel slighted that the National Hockey League ignores the fan base that according to reports generates 33% of the NHL’s revenue. There are untapped markets all over Canada for cash, that while probably could not support a full time team would open their city to an NHL team for 2 weeks with open arms and wallets. Halifax, Moose Jaw, Victoria… Oh yeah, the token Coyote game in Winnipeg does not count; it’s a complete slap in the face. Actually more a donkey punch because the Peg deserves their own team.

            In 1991, the Los Angeles Kings and New York Rangers played an outdoor game at Caesar’s Palace in Las Vegas. This is often pointed out as a success that led to the Heritage Classic and subsequent outdoor games. Also pointed out as proof Las Vegas could support an NHL team. This season the Kings are back September 27 playing the Colorado Avalanche. The Kings have done this a few years to play a game in Vegas (Roenick dancing like a jackass to the crowd), why not have their entire training camp and preseason’s there?  Every team should follow suit and designate cities for their future training camps, get on it NHL. This one’s free.  

Eric Staal. Lottery Winner.

So the Hurricanes lost the draft lottery in 2003. So they got their asses kicked by Larionov and the rest of the RedWings a year point five earlier.

The lottery winner that year was not the Pittsburgh Penguins, it was a red headed day walker named Eric Staal.

Today the guy got 57.75 million dollars to keep playing in Raleigh, North Carolina. Let's break this down stats wise.

He has a career total of 283 career points. 124 career goals. So he was awarded:

$454, 724 for every goal he scored in his career.

$204, 063 for each point he scored.

Hollywood makes movies about people stealing less than that. Let alone 2 points a game, or 1 million dollars a game. Shoot to win from Wendy's at center ice, they make it hard enough that even Eric Staal couldn't do it. 

WIN A MILLION.

Staal wins a million every 2 goals he scores. You know who'd like those odds?

Tom fucking Chorske would like those odds. He scored 115 NHL goals. In Eric Staal money, that's 50.35 million dollars. 

Errors per game and money per game, it's all the same. And all we ask as bloggers is some of that internet money, buddy. 

HF Clowns

Apparently my writing is not up to the standards of those clowns at HF Boards. What do they know? They're useless sots that spent 5 minutes to sign up for an account over there. My credentials to be a professional blogger took over 10 minutes to sign up. 

That's three times the effort, and makes me ten times the expert opinion on hockey. It's simple math. 

Tom Chorske > Curtis Glencross

Who cares? Is what everyone is thinking.

Tom Chorske sucked. Well, so does Curtis Glencross. 

Imagine in your job you had a hot streak of 9 days, and got offered big pay raises by companies all over the world? Nobody cared about your career of 2 previous years of sucking. 

Dude was a nobody in Columbus, a nobody before this. He hit up the Oilers, scored like he's Pisani on Crystal Meth... and rode a chuckwagon. Sure enough the Flames lock him down to stick it to the Oilers.

Chorske also sucked and had a big year of 20 goals in New Jersey. Back in the day people would score 50 goals and nobody would blink (Joe Juneau)....

He never got a huge contract though. You probably walk past Tom Chorske every day and toss pennies in his hands. 

The only person worthy of #88

It should have been retired by the NHL, but it wasn't for some unknown reason. Must have been Bettman's Jewiness. 

But the only player worthy of 88 these days is Rob Schremp. Not only due to his affiliation to be an Edmonton Oiler, but his ability to make the number worthwhile.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rw6rjO2KrHo

You have to earn the number 88. Patrick Kane is a sissy bitch. He never had Brian Marchment cross his path, otherwise we'd never be talking about him. Marchment would have sent him 6 feet under on the hit, and 2 feet to spare.

Lindros would have punched Marchment's face until he cried "medic?"

Ryan Smyth Sucked

His crocodile tears to leave Edmonton was embarrassing, even to me who hated the guy. 

Why am I bringing it up? Just to remind people that Ryan Smyth was an Edmonton Oiler. 

And he sucked as an Oiler.

Think about your best memories of the 2006 run to the 7th game of the Stanley Cup Final.

You remember more about Samsonov, Peca, Pronger, hell, even Todd Harvey.

Think about the Oilers KO'ing the 1st place Stars in 7 games.

You think about Todd Marchant. Buchberger, Weight, Arnott and Guerin. Maybe a bit of Mironov and Cujo.

Never Ryan Smyth.

Eric Lindros is God

For the simple reason he could take Jesus in a fist fight.

And it's news because this is a fucking blog, man. 

Oilers Get New Ice Making Machine

It Makes Good Ice.