When black on white isn't enough of a contrast..

Every evening at 7:30 I sit down in front of my TV and watch SportsCentre. In amongst the World Championship highlights, the NHL playoffs stories, the MLB scores (the Jays are no longer last!), and the Academy Award-worthy drama involving the Toronto Maple Leafs, I see a story about the NHL and Versus. I guess they are cooking up new ideas to bring to the 2 or 3 fans that have access to Versus.

Or drudge up bad ideas from the past. Take your pick.

See, the word out there is that Versus is planning on introducing a brand new puck tracker sometime soon. Now, you won't have to strain to see that black puck on the white ice - you'll have this comet-like tail of light streaming across your screen!

Something tells me that this won't be a popular idea among hockey fans in the States, and if they tried to sell that crap in Canada it would go over as well as privatized health care. And if Bettman actually thinks that this piece of technology is going to draw in more fans to the sport, then he is most definitely on something.

If Versus decides to make hockey a little more 'flashy', I hope it stays States-side. I don't want that thing messing up my screen when TSN broadcasts a Penguins game using the Versus feed.

The Amazing Playoff Race

With only two and a half weeks left in the season, and with teams playing divisional rivals, we should be treated to a series of good hockey games leading into the playoffs. Each game is a four-point game and teams are trying to pass each other in the standings.

Pittsburgh and New Jersey are trying to win the division...and the conference

Montreal wants to stay on top of Ottawa...and the conference

Ottawa wants home ice advantage

Washington and Buffalo are breathing down Philly's neck for the final playoff spot.

Minnesota is hanging onto the division lead...barely...and Vancouver/Calgary/Colorado are also in the top 8.

Edmonton is currently on the outside looking in, but their current 8-2 record has them dreaming of the possibilities. Maybe a repeat of 2006 is in store?

San Jose became the second team to clinch a playoff spot, thanks to their great 11-game winning streak, but Dallas wants to reclaim top spot in the Pacific.

What about those Ducks? I hope they crash and burn and find themselves on the golf course in April.

Detroit clinched the division about 20 years ago and are currently the only Central team in the top 8, but Nashville is trying to save their season. They are 9th and sit 4 points behind Colorado for the final spot, but have Edmonton and Phoenix breathing down their necks.

My, it's going to be a great couple of weeks as we see how the final standings shape up and how dead wrong I was in my pre-season predictions.

Good times.

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Long weekends rock. Yep. Four days of doing n-o-t-h-i-n-g productive.

Happy Easter. I'm off to Monkey-town.

Leafs are d-o-n-e

You know it's bad when you're watching the Leafs-Sabres game and CBC breaks away to catch Markus Naslund's penalty shot in the Canucks-Stars game, and then CBC decides to not go back to the Leafs game.

Yep, that's the sign that the season is done in Toronto. Just givin' up on their team.

There were 3 games on HNIC tonight, and we in the Maritimes actually didn't get to see the entire Leafs-Sabres game! Imagine that...we saw the Habs shutout the Islanders 3-0. Those goalie kids are crazy in Montreal. Add up their ages and they are still younger than Hasek. haha

After the celebration in Montreal, CBC cut to the Leafs, who were desperate for a win to stay in the hunt. They were down 5-2 with more than 3 minutes left and Toskala on the bench for the extra attacker. Then Tallinder had to take the 180-foot shot and get the empty netter, his first goal in 82 games. The silence from the crowd was deafening. It was shortly thereafter that CBC went down to Dallas to see the Canucks hang on for a 4-3 victory.

That Willie Mitchell...what a warrior. He took a puck to the mouth in the third period, stayed on the ice, blocked a shot with his ankle, and when he went to the bench, his jersey was covered in blood. He stayed on the bench, got the trainers to stop most of the bleeding, and went back out to play. You could see the blood in his nose and mouth, but he played his heart out and helped his team earn the win. He may not be offensively gifted, but it's guys like that who will win you a Cup.

Tomorrow is Pens-Flyers on NBC. Big game if we hope to stay close to New Jersey for the division/conference lead.

Sitting Duck

Well, well, well, it looks like Chris Pronger has been suspended after all. The NHL brass has handed him an - wait for it - eight game suspension for stomping on Ryan Kesler's leg.

Wow. Can somebody say double standard?

On the one hand, you could say that at least the NHL did something, but isn't 8 games a little light considering what they gave Chris Simon? Hmm...8 games vs. 30 games. No wonder Simon is angry.

Sure, the situations are a little different. The Simon/Ruutu incident happened at the bench and Simon basically knocked Ruutu to the ice and stomped on his foot. The Pronger/Kesler incident happened on the ice after Kesler fell to the ice and Pronger stomped on his leg. The common factors here are that (1) both are dirty players and (2) both stomped on their victims leg.

I wanted to see Pronger gone for at least the remainder of the regular season and into the playoffs, but he'll be back for the last game of the season.

I wonder, did the NHL not suspend Pronger for any longer because they think of him as a superstar that should be with his team as they enter the post-season? Did Burke call up Campbell and say, "Don't you dare take away our captain for the playoffs!!!"

Think about it. How many people are looking at the Ducks and saying that they could repeat as champions? How many new fans does Anaheim have? How many people like the rough and tough game that the Ducks play?

Meanwhile, you have players like Chris Simon looking at the situation and wondering why he was treated so harshly for basically the same incident. Was it because he has less talent? Or is it something deeper...I don't think you could blame Simon for wondering if racism was involved.

People always talk about karma, that 'what goes around, comes around,' but will it ever come around for Pronger?

It's a European Game...?

The NHL has formally announced that the 2008-09 season will open in Europe, just like it did this year.

However, there is one difference: four teams will open their seasons in Europe.

The Pittsburgh Penguins and the Ottawa Senators will open in Stockholm, Sweden, while the New York Rangers and the Tampa Bay Lightning will play a home-and-home in Prague, Czech Republic.

Granted, these countries love hockey. The game in Sweden will be nice because the Swedes love Daniel Alfredsson, and the Czechs will go nuts for Jaromir Jagr.

But, in my humble opinion, this is not the greatest of ideas.

First, I remember how the Anaheim Ducks played after starting the season in London, England - they were tired and didn't play well.

Second, why in the world is the NHL focusing on Europe? Is this further proof that Bettman wants to expand across the pond?

Silly me, I thought the NHL wanted to make hockey more popular in the US, where they already have 24 teams but are hardly more popular than Major League Soccer.

I thought that it didn't make sense to play four games overseas and forfeit most of that revenue. I don't think the money from those sold out arenas are going back to the NHL clubs...

I thought the only logical thing would be to stabilize your product where it already exists before branching out. Maybe relocate a few franchises to cities that actually care about hockey...perhaps focus the cash and the efforts on marketing plans and events this side of the Atlantic...

But hey, what do I know?

I am a liar...for an hour, at least

Eh, hiatus schmiatus. I'm bored and there's too much interesting stuff happening to not write anything.

So, here's a quick recap of this week in the NHL:

- Wearing black apparently means you're a thief. Tuomo Ruutu of the Blackhawks was arrested earlier this week after he was spotted jogging a mile away from the scene of an armed robbery, and he fit the description of the criminal. No worries though, as the Chicago PD realized they had their wrong man when they started questioning him. Kinda hard to miss that Finnish accent...Luckily, Ruutu thinks the whole ordeal is hilarious.

- The NHL's superstar goalies began the season on a sour note (think Brodeur and Luongo), but now they are playing like superstars again. Luongo has three shutouts in three games (whaaa??) and Brodeur's Devils are on a roll, blanking the Habs tonight. I guess they call these guys franchise goalies because they always rebound from a shaky game - or a shaky stretch of games.

- Speaking of Brodeur, his shutout against the Canadiens was his 94th career shutout and, when added to his 22 shutouts in playoff games, he is the all-time record holder for shutouts. Sweet.

- Pens win tonight, beating the Stars 4-1. I guess their little break did them good. Three-game winning streak, back at .500, Leafs game tomorrow night on HNIC...good times.

- Speaking of the Leafs - JFJ is still kickin' in Toronto. I'm a little surprised, as I thought Peddie's comments, although unprofessional, signaled a change to come. Sure, that change could come tomorrow, but I figured it would come earlier in the week.

- Ottawa's in a free fall. Five-game losing streak, Alfie out with a groin injury, and now Volchenkov is out for a month with a broken finger. Nothing like losing one of your top D-men to make a bad situation worse. The Sens better hope that Alfredsson's groin heals itself quickly.
Update (01 Dec): Ottawa lost to the Rangers. Alfie came back, but was the invisible man - except for a couple of secondary assists. That would be 6 straight losses, my friends...bad times.

- Party's over in Phoenix. The Coyotes had a great stretch of games when they got their hands on Bryzgalov, but the Russian goalie showed his human side tonight when he allowed 5 goals on 7 shots in the first ten minutes in a game against the 'Hawks. Chicago went on to win 6-1.

- Caps are still the worst team in the NHL. Twenty-five games, 8-15-2 = 18 points. Their closest 'rivals' for basement dwellers are the Kings and the Oilers, with 21 points a piece. I shouldn't bash them too much, though, since the Pens aren't all that far ahead..

- Gary Bettman, commish extraordinaire of the NHL, announced this week that the League may not allow players to play in the 2014 Olympic Games. His reason? Those Games are in Sochi, Russia, so it won't really benefit the NHL (like the Vancouver-Whistler Games), and the time change might be too rough on the players...funny, isn't this the professional sports league that is starting to play regular season games in Europe and is thinking of expanding across the pond?

I know a lot of people don't like seeing professional athletes compete at the Games, but I like to see the best of the best compete for the gold - if they happen to be pro, so be it.

- In probably the only 'real' change in the NHL this year, the League has decided to change the schedule for next season. Now, each team will play every other team. Here's the breakdown: 6 games against division teams (24 games total), 4 games against conference rivals (40 games), 15 games against the 15 teams in the other conference, and three 'wildcard' games. I am dubbing this the 'Sidney Crosby Schedule Change,' because Western teams have been complaining about only seeing Crosby in their respective cities only once every three years, and I agree with their reasoning and actually think that the schedule could divided so that each team plays in every other city. Oh well...

Enough from me...hiatus, continue.

Pens TV: It's good, and then it sucks

Pens TV. It's this great little thing that you can click on and watch Pens-related videos. Like the "Town Hall Meeting." Or videos of the guys delivering tix to the STH. Or training camp footage and player interviews. You know, the good stuff that us fans like to see, and an excuse for me to blow off school work.

So imagine my excitement when I heard that the Pens/Wings game was going to be shown online on Pens TV. I believe my reaction was something like, "Schweeeet something to do on Saturday." Or something.

How naive of me to think that the NHL couldn't disappoint me tonight. At 8:30, I logged on to Pens TV and signed up for the FREE (ooo lovin' that word) Centre Ice pre-season package and then BAM I see two words that made my heart sink: BLACK OUT. What the frig? The game isn't being broadcast at all here in Nova Scotia, so why the hell is it being blacked out?

As it turns out, the NHL big wigs have something against Canada or something. Okay, maybe I'm getting a little carried away (although a number of Canucks wouldn't think so...), but they are stopping the feeds at the border. Not all of the feeds, mind you - we get the pleasure of seeing any Canadian pre-season games, such as the Leafs/Bruins tonight.

But no Pens.

Darn.

Maybe I should try signing up with a fake American-based address, but they probably have the CIA watching to make sure that doesn't happen.

Go Pens.