hell yeah for TWC on this one!

11/7/2007 9:16:34 PM

^^ Ohhh I see. I misread what you wrote.

11/7/2007 10:20:21 PM

Quote :

"Earlier than the promised January delivery date, the NHL Network is now available on Time Warner Cable digital channel 330. It's free in November. After that, you have to buy the "Digital Sports and Games Tier" for $2.95 a month. Other highlights of that package: Speed, Outdoor Channel, Fox College Sports, NBA TV, Tennis Channel, Fuel, College Sports TV, and the Game Show Network. (And yet Versus is free. Go figure.)"

Pretty much what I expected. I don't mind paying the $2.95 as I'd like to get those college sports channels as well.

11/8/2007 10:05:07 AM

Another triple post.

http://www.sportsbusinessjournal.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=article.main&articleId=56964&requestTimeout=900

Quote :

"In late May and early June, Turnkey polled about 12,000 adult sports fans in the 47 North American markets that are home to a team in the NFL, NBA, NHL or Major League Baseball, surveying at least 200 and as many as 500 fans in each market, depending on the number of teams in each town. They asked 20 questions relevant to each team’s brand: 14 meant to measure popularity and six meant to measure loyalty. They also asked fans to assign a letter grade, A through F, to each team’s owners. They blended those results to create the top-line number that they’re calling the Turnkey Team Brand Index, which endeavors to rank the strength of each of 122 team brands in its respective market."

Results of this are kind of silly, but here are some notable iteams:

Sabres at #4, Red Wings at #8, Penguins at #20. Hurricanes are #71, ahead of LA Lakers (#73), Canadiens lol (#74), and the Leafs lol (#83). Washington Capitals are the worst NHL team in this survey. The Carolina Panthers did awesome at #16, which resulted I guess in the Bobcats lol ranking of #114.

While I'm on the subject of business...

Rangers TV ratings are up 85%, Devils are up 100%, and Islanders 250% (!).

Forbes NHL franchise values:
http://www.forbes.com/home/business/2007/11/08/nhl-team-values-biz-07nhl_cx_mo_kb_1108nhl_land.html

No surprise that the top 4 are Toronto, Rangers, Detroit, and Canadiens. A big shock to me was Dallas at 5. The Canes are 21st, just ahead of Pittsburgh at 22. 15 of the 30 teams are operating at a loss. Only 3 teams dropped in value from last season, and all 3 (Philly, St. Louis, and Colorado) seem to be having a resurgence.

11/8/2007 11:09:34 PM

Dearest HockeyRoman:

http://www.newyorkrangers.com/downloads/mp3/RangersVictorySong.mp3

11/14/2007 9:25:50 PM

11/15/2007 12:10:34 AM

Yet another reason why I love Marian Gaborik http://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/2007/11/15/gaborik_apology/

What he really should be apologizing for is his groin, which has fucked over fantasy owners such as myself for three seasons now. And I keep drafting him...

11/15/2007 4:52:24 PM

Ilya Bryzgalov on waivers, very interesting. seems like something could happen today

http://www.tsn.ca/nhl

11/16/2007 11:27:09 AM

Clearing salary for Niedermayer?

11/16/2007 11:30:11 AM

he only makes 1.3 mil, and the guy they are calling up(hiller) makes like 850k, cant be too much of a savings

but theres probably something i dont know about the salary cap and 2-way contracts or something, so they might be able to save the whole 1.3 mil.

Why wouldnt you trade him is what I don't understand. Surely you could grab a late-round pick for him

[Edited on November 16, 2007 at 11:32 AM. Reason : df]

11/16/2007 11:31:04 AM

He's worth more than that...he's probably a year out from being a starter on half of the teams in the league. This is intriguing.

11/17/2007 1:08:51 AM

^5 hahaha

11/17/2007 1:10:04 AM

http://hfboards.com/announcement.php?f=26&a=183

Quote :

"At the present time ESPN is offering NHL Center Ice for free in Europe. You need a European ISP to sign up, but direct links to the games can be watched from most ISP's. It's not available to ISP's that haven't paid a fee for it to ESPN360. I believe that includes Comcast and T-W. There's no problem with posting those links which can be accessed from their player. http://europe.espn360.com/ "

Time to find a proxy to sign up.

EDIT: Nevermind, no need to even sign up for anything.

Tonight:
Phoenix at LA - http://europe.espn360.com/live/ESPN360Vod/nhl07080278.asx?1195225542841
Florida at Carolina - http://europe.espn360.com/live/ESPN360Vod/nhl07080282.asx?1195229122018
Boston at Montreal - http://europe.espn360.com/live/ESPN360Vod/nhl07080280.asx?1195229415730
New Jersey at Philly - http://europe.espn360.com/live/ESPN360Vod/nhl07080281.asx?1195226200837
Rangers at Pittsburgh - http://europe.espn360.com/live/ESPN360Vod/nhl07080284.asx?1195229561720
St. Louis at Nashville - http://europe.espn360.com/live/ESPN360Vod/nhl07080285.asx?1195229744122
Anaheim at San Jose - http://europe.espn360.com/live/ESPN360Vod/nhl07080287.asx?1195229944911

I'm assuming ESPN will put a stop to this soon enough

[Edited on November 17, 2007 at 5:41 PM. Reason : .]

11/17/2007 5:39:47 PM

Quote :

"Rangers at Pittsburgh - http://europe.espn360.com/live/ESPN360Vod/nhl07080284.asx?1195229561720"

http://www.newyorkrangers.com/downloads/mp3/RangersVictorySong.mp3

11/18/2007 11:41:04 AM

good game on VS. now, thrash came back from 3-1 in the last 6 mins to tie with 223 left.

of course this will be a 3-pt game since it is a SE division game not featuring the canes

11/19/2007 9:27:37 PM

fuck plztonotOT

[Edited on November 19, 2007 at 9:28 PM. Reason : ]

11/19/2007 9:28:52 PM

and i am a complete idiot

slugs-caps replay on VS right now

[Edited on November 27, 2007 at 6:27 PM. Reason : dumbass]

11/27/2007 6:23:44 PM

Big news out of today's Board of Governors meeting

1) Predators sale to a local group has been approved: http://www.tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20071129/SPORTS02/71129060/1028 I'm not sure exactly what this means since I haven't kept up with the story too much, but I assume this means they are staying in Nashville since it is a local group

2) New schedule approved: http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/news_story/?ID=223975&hubname=nhl Still not the play out of conference teams twice schedule that I would have hoped for, but it's a return to the pre-lockout format. Play division opponents 6 times (instead of 8), other conference opponents 4 times (unchanged), and 18 out of conference games (instead of 10).

11/29/2007 9:20:29 PM

I guess I'm one of the few that liked all the in-division play.

11/29/2007 10:57:53 PM

i don't like it this year, at least so far, but maybe another year

11/29/2007 10:59:31 PM

I liked all the division play, but I understand why people want to go back to seeing 24 teams per year.

11/30/2007 4:30:41 AM

i like the out of conference games, gives us a chance to see some teams that people might not even think of

11/30/2007 4:50:22 AM

http://www.thestar.com/Sports/Hockey/article/281672

Quote :

"Some 14,000 fans attending the Leafs-Penguins open practice this morning were so excited to see the number 87 on the ice at the Air Canada Centre, they didn't realize it was someone else in the famous Sidney Crosby jersey other than Crosby himself. The fans cheered wildly and hundreds of cameras flashed, but it was really Pittsburgh's playful centre Maxime Talbot doing a pretty good Crosby imitation. "It was Fleury's idea," Talbot said, referring to goalie Marc-Andre Fleury. "He said, 'C'mon, it would be a great idea. Do it, do it'– so the pressure was on." Talbot and Fleury were among only four Penguins who skated during the team's session at the open practice. The club had played the night before at home, and after arriving in Toronto after 1 a.m. this morning, the team gave the players the practice off today. But Fleury and Talbot decided to have a little fun and lend some entertainment for the huge gathering of Leaf fans, most of them kids anxious for an up-close glimpse of their hockey heroes. Talbot did the impersonation to perfection. He donned Crosby's jersey, tossed on his helmet, and even took Crosby's stick out of the stick rack, before entering the ice surface at the Air Canada Centre. The second he touched the ice, a huge ovation rose from the fans, while hundreds of cellphone and digital cameras flashed. "Fleury is the prankster, the jokester, but it was kinda fun ... after I took the jersey off, they (fans) were wondering, who is that guy," Talbot said smiling. It was hard, afterwards, to tell who got the bigger thrill, the fans, or Talbot. "It felt awesome to be the best player in the world for two minutes," Talbot said."

12/1/2007 10:34:46 PM

haha

12/1/2007 10:37:41 PM

http://www.sportingnews.com/yourturn/viewtopic.php?t=313857

Quote :

"NHL commissioner Gary Bettman issued the Flyers a warning, apparently telling them the next suspension will result in hefty fines for the organization. Cote was the fifth Flyers player to be suspended through 25 games, boosting the total suspensions this season to 52 games."

lol.

12/3/2007 5:15:51 PM

wow fuck the Flyers

12/3/2007 5:27:14 PM

http://www.hockeybuzz.com/blog.php?post_id=11578

Andy Strickland claims look for the NHL to replace NBC with ESPN/ESPN2 for next season, and continue to have Versus as well.

12/4/2007 9:39:39 PM

fine with me, at least ESPN will be forced to mention hockey on sportscenter now

and i always thought they did a good job when they had it in the past

12/4/2007 9:44:13 PM

PLEASE FUCKING REPLACE NBC

12/4/2007 10:37:44 PM

on a positive note.... i think that scotty bowman should write a book

12/4/2007 11:24:18 PM

I've been calling them the Goon Flyers for years. Their shinanaghens are nothing new to me. Good to see the Devils finally playing like they give a damn.

12/6/2007 7:38:49 AM

12/9/2007 10:44:28 AM

Gaborik will fuck Hasek up; between the two of them, though, I'm surprised there were no torn groins on that play.

12/9/2007 10:50:56 AM

if a non-goalie did that, it'd be a tripping call. Fuck Hasek and those homer announcers.

I'd like to hear vinylbandit's take on this one.

12/9/2007 10:51:09 AM

haha, i hate hasek, but that is a great play, old school hockey

12/9/2007 11:34:05 AM

Dearest HockeyRoman:

http://www.newyorkrangers.com/downloads/mp3/RangersVictorySong.mp3

I am sad I didn't get to watch it though.

12/9/2007 7:31:05 PM

You are going to be one drunk ass dude. We are 0-4 against the Rags this season. Ending our winning streak.

12/9/2007 7:38:29 PM

i think if the devils can add 1 more top line forward (forsberg? selanne?) they could win it all

they'll probably stand pat as usual and be a disappointment

12/9/2007 8:05:18 PM

considering forsberg retired from a swedish team this year

and

teemu isn't coming out of retirement for the ducks

that's a pretty big longshot, and they're both washed up anyway. teemu's just old now and forsberg is old + an ankle that won't hold weight

12/9/2007 8:11:24 PM

Oh yeah, I wanted to mention that I watched the Rangers play the Thrashers on TSN HD the other day and was quite disappointed. The HD quality was poor and so were the announcers.

You're killin' me here Canada.

12/9/2007 8:17:42 PM

those are the only two that are attainable without having to make any type of trade

Atlanta was going to dump a bunch of players, but they are in such a shitty division they actually have a chance.

i'll have to say though, in my 18 years of knowledgeably following hockey, ive never seen such parity between teams. I would say there are only 2 teams that completely suck and 2 teams that are above the rest

12/9/2007 8:19:08 PM

http://www.collegehumor.com/video:1793047

wow

12/11/2007 4:41:02 PM

holy shit that was nasty!!!

12/11/2007 6:02:23 PM

The kid is lucky he is a mite, once he gets taller than the net he'll get called for high sticking.

12/11/2007 6:05:59 PM

penguins are the detroit lions of the NHL

"if we add enough forwards, we don't need to care about defense!!"

and so we have dany sabourin stopping 1 of 3 shots in the first 4 minutes

12/11/2007 7:30:30 PM

As far as the Hasek thing goes, I'd say he would've had to lead with his stick to avoid a tripping call. Hasek's been doing this for years, but he usually leads with his stick and then slides through to take out the player, but this time he just went straight for Gaborik's skates.

12/11/2007 7:37:29 PM

Lupul has 6 points already tonight

12/11/2007 9:22:42 PM

I'm loving that Lupul had an awesome night, especially after reading TSN power rankings for this week where they said, " The resurgence of Joffrey Lupul seems to have hit a wall, as he's put up no goals and two assists in the last 11 games." That must of given him some motivation.

12/11/2007 10:34:27 PM

we pull dany sabourin only to replace him with ty conklowned

this is maddening. state has no qb, and no pg; the skins don't have a qb, and the penguins don't have a goalie. i am sure if i had a favorite golfer he'd have no arms.

i would also like to give begrudging props to the flyers for not punching anyone in the groin, delivering any flying elbows, or stabbing anyone this evening

by the way that was the weakest misconduct i have ever seen laraque receive

[Edited on December 11, 2007 at 11:03 PM. Reason : =]

12/11/2007 11:01:14 PM

I just dropped Lupul in fantasy. That was quite an entertaining game tonight even if it was a blowout. Great crowd in Philly, 2 hat tricks, lots of fights, great end to end action.

12/11/2007 11:06:04 PM