Love Guru Trailer

This looks like a funny movie. I mean, the possibility of the Toronto Maple Leafs winning the Stanley Cup anytime soon? HAHAHAHA

Hockey Commercial 29: This is my best looking linemate

It's Leap Day, and it's also the last day of the "Hockey Commercial" series. It certainly has been fun, from Molson's curved stick commercial to Joe Thornton and his buttered toast.

Good times.

So, without further ado, here are three "This Is My NHL" commercials that aired last year. They're wicked great :)







Hockey rocks, injuries suck. Go Pens.

Hockey Commercial 28: We Believe

We believe in the Next One.



Go Pens!

Hockey Commercial 27: Is this the year?

"Is this the year the Cup comes to Pittsburgh?"

We've all seen the original, now here's the spoof:



ESPN Two

Go Pens

What on Earth is going on in Pittsburgh?

The deadline has passed and I'm left with a bad taste in my mouth. Just minutes before 3 PM ET, Gord Miller announces to the world that Hossa has been traded to....the Pittsburgh Penguins.

WHAT!?!???!?

I said last night that Shero inquired about Hossa, but I didn't think that it would happen. This isn't like Shero - Mario Lemieux must have put pressure on him to make it happen now. Most of the guys at TSN like this deal but I'm with Pierre McGuire - I hate this trade. Just hate it.

Pens fans have been saying that we need a scoring winger for Sid. Is Hossa that? Well, he is a sniper. But will he even have chemistry with Sid? I don't know. Just because you pair a top playmaker with a top sniper doesn't mean that it's a match made in heaven. Gretzky was traded to St. Louis to play with Brett Hull in the 1990's, and seems to me there weren't fireworks between them.

There are more questions about Hossa:

Will he disappear in the playoffs? Hopefully not. The playoffs are not the time to take a break and relax.

Will he resign with the Pens this summer? If yes, he will want a lot of money and a lot of years, and the Penguins will be the Tampa Bay of the North. Look how well Tampa's doing now. I'm sure Pens fans out there love this Hossa deal, but how will they feel in 3 or 4 years when Pittsburgh is back in the basement of the Eastern Conference, selling off Malkin...Staal....Fleury...Malone...Is this the price that they want to pay?

Let's say Hossa doesn't sign with Pittsburgh this summer. Well, then the Penguins will be in search of another scoring winger for Crosby and they'll be without Colby Armstrong, Erik Christensen, Angelo Esposito, and this year's first round draft pick (which will be a strong draft). All the Pens will have to show for this trade is Pascal Dupuis.

If you look at the League as a whole and what happened today, you could say that things were blown wide open in the East. A few of the top Eastern players were traded out to the West (Richards, Campbell) and the Pens made the biggest deal of the day. The argument could be made that the Penguins could win the East if Hossa plays well with Sid and if Hal Gill does what he does best - be a big body, shutdown defenseman who is good on the PK.

So, let's say the Pens do make it to the Stanley Cup Finals - can they actually win the Cup against the West? Detroit has the best record in the NHL and should be healthy by the time the playoffs roll around. San Jose has been really good all season and they just addressed their glaring need of a puck-moving defenseman. Anaheim was .500 at the start of the season, then something like 12-7 since getting Niedermayer back, and virtually unbeatable since Selanne came back. Dallas has been crazy good, and now they have Brad Richards. I'm not sure the Pens, or any team in the East, can do it.

If the Pens can't win the Cup this year, can this Hossa deal be seen as a success?

I don't think so.

Hockey Commercial 26: Bowling would be better if it were hockey

I would love to see his happen at the bowling alley.

Forsberg back in Colorado, and Hossa a Penguin?

One week ago, Peter Forsberg said that he probably wouldn't be back in the NHL this year because of his wonky foot. This afternoon, he signed a one-year contract with Colorado.

What gives? Did his foot miraculously get better? Hmm...I think he may have made that statement last week to get the media people off his back. You have to admit, after he said that he was essentially done for the season, the focus shifted to Mats, Hossa, and everyone else still on the trading block. A week of peace and quiet probably made the negotiations a little more pleasant, and less pressing.

Is it just me, or is Colorado starting to look good? I (and others) have been saying that getting Crosby, Fleury and Roberts back from injury is like the best trade deadline deal in the League. If that's the case, then Colorado has the second best deal going on - they got Smyth, Stastny and Sakic back in the lineup this month, and now they have added Forsberg without giving anything up. If Foppa is healthy for the remainder of the season, the Avs just may go on a tear in March like they did last year. Heck, they may do it even if Forsberg isn't healthy.

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Marian Hossa is the big fish to catch now that Mats Sundin is officially out of the trade talk.
Rumour has it that Montreal and Ottawa are making a big push to get the winger from Atlanta, but could he end up being a Penguin tomorrow? Bob McKenzie said tonight on OTR that Shero has been inquiring about Hossa.

As far as I'm concerned, this is just a rumour. I would be infinitely surprised if Shero won the Hossa Sweepstakes, and infinitely concerned. Scoring winger he is, but how has he done in the playoffs? And how is his attitude in the locker room? And what kind of contract would he want to sign in July? Sorry, but I don't want to give up 3 draft picks, a prospect and a roster player for a guy who won't show up in the playoffs and commands a big money, long term contract that will make it impossible to resign Malkin, Staal, Fleury, Malone, AND Letang. Not worth it.

Hockey Commercial 25: Street Zamboni

I post this in honour of the Zamboni that died today before the Pens/Sharks game.

James Duthie was right - it did look like it had run over Iceburgh.



Absolutely gotta LOVE that song playing. "Someone roars, Bobby scores!"
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A few random thoughts on today's (yesterday's) game against the Sharks and other stuff:

1- Were the Sharks on the PP the whole game? It certainly seemed like the Pens were asleep at the wheel for most of the game and the Sharks really took it to them. Thankfully Conklin was awake.

2- I was so glad to have Gord Miller/Pierre McGuire for the game. There were satellite issues for a few minutes and TSN had to switch to the FSN Bay Area feed, and I can say that I prefer the TSN crew. Always the Miller-McGuire tandem; they know so much about the game, and they are absolute freaks with stats (and I say that in a good way). How on EARTH does Miller remember all that stuff? Even if he has it written down on sheets of paper, how does he read that and do play-by-play?

3- Sundin is stayin' in Toronto, so that's that. Brad Richards, however, is rumoured to be on the move if he waives his no-trade with Tampa. Cities in the mix are Vancouver, Dallas and Columbus.

4- Exciting week ahead! TSN has a full day of hockey analysis ahead - TradeCentre starts at 8 AM ET and goes until 5 or 6. The whole crew is on set to discuss each trade, and JFJ is joining the team. With Duthie as host, it should be a rockin' good time, AND there's an NHL game on after TradeCentre.

5- Speaking of the trade deadline, there should be great coverage over at FF. Can't get enough of this stuff.

6- Philly = hahahahahahahahahahaha. That's for all the crap you gave us after the Pens lost to the Flyers in December.

7- Detroit = second worst record in the NHL (behind the Flyers) for the last 10 days. AND they're without Lidstrom for at least another 2 weeks. AND Hasek is out. AND Rafalski is out. AND Chelios is out for the time being. AND Dallas is only 6 points back. Something tells me that Detroit is coming down to earth just like Ottawa did, and that they may not be number one in the West by the time the playoffs start.

8- Murphy's Law = you drop a guy from your fantasy team who hasn't scored a point in like 2 weeks, and that very night he scores 2 goals and 2 assists. Ribeiro sucks.

9- In case I haven't alluded to it before, James Duthie is the best host in sports history.

This is from the second intermission of the Pens/Sharks game:



And for my all-time favourite Duthie moment, here he is last summer at the Roger's Cup tennis tourney in Canada. He was the umpire for a 'celebrity' match involving Anna Kournikova (number 4). I can be your hero baby....

Hockey Commercial 24: Workin' the Corner

Here's an old Nike commercial with a Bruins goaltender who is upset after being kicked out of the League because his stats were ruined by Jeremy Roenick. I thought I'd post this one today because JR's team is rolling into Pittsburgh this afternoon, and *knock on wood* the Sharks will be put in their place by the Pens.

The way I see it, the so-called food chain has Penguins over Sharks.



...but the best part of this commercial has to be the Flyers' goalie trying to find a street corner for himself. How sad, can't even get his own corner...I guess that's what happens when you lose 10 games in a row.

Hockey Commercial 23: Canadians are Polite?!?

I don't think so!

(Okay, so maybe this commercial isn't a true 'hockey commercial'...but whatever)

I swear every Molson commercial has a hockey theme. It must be the law. They sell beer...but hey, just show a bunch of hockey and put up a maple leaf and the crowds will buy.



It's a Hockey Night in Canada triple header tonight, starting with Sens/Pens this afternoon. Ottawa may be semi-slumping, but they know that a loss tonight will mean that there will be a new Eastern Conference leader. The Ottawa lead has been challenged for a few weeks now, but they have managed to keep it despite losing a few games. Tonight, the Sens will show up to play and the Pens will have to play like they did in Montreal.

Watch for Cory Stillman - he's starting to settle into the Ottawa lineup and I predict he'll be the key for the Sens.

Now that I wrote that, watch the CASH line start to actually produce.