Each and every Saturday this season I'll be taking a look at the random happenings and absurdities that occur in the world of hockey. Feel free to suggest stories, complain or otherwise babble at me via electronic mail.
There's something to be said for Canadians and their level-headedness at least as it compares to us Americans. They always seem so much calmer. But during the past week our neighbors to the North have been in an uproar about Calgary Flames Flu Vaccination Crisis 2009. Sure, they're rightfully up in arms in Alberta that the Flames and their peeps received shots before some of the neediest people in the province but that almost seems like a trivial matter compared to what's going on down here.
The first month of the NHL season is behind us, and I'm taking a look back at the early returns on attendance numbers for October. According to ESPN, the numbers aren't that peachy for the NHL. Only nine teams had an average attendance higher than their average attendance last season. On the flip side, 18 teams are down, including five which are down more than 10 percent from their 2008-09 averages. Of course, looking at stats for only one month is a small sample size, but I still think these numbers give us a look at some of the early trends around the league.
After the jump are the full numbers for the entire league.
Each and every Saturday this season I'll be taking a look at the random happenings and absurdities that occur in the world of hockey. Feel free to suggest stories, complain or otherwise babble at me via electronic mail.
You've got to love the spirit of minor league hockey. The promotional departments for the teams love to give fitting tributes to things that usually have a tenuous relation -- if any -- to their teams, sport and locales. I'm not criticizing, simply stating an observation. The latest team to host a promotional night chosen from their Wheel-O-Random Promotions (I hear all minor league teams keep one snugly in the back of the marketing office for when the mood strikes them) is the ECHL's Bakersfield Condors.
The team hosted King of Pop Tribute Night on Friday complete with Michael Jackson jerseys and players wearing one white glove. And don't worry, the media was naturally all over the clever puns.
In the NHL, coach firings are as common as parking tickets in New York City. Throughout the NHL season I'll be taking a bi-weekly look at five coaches who are the most likely to get fired. Be advised your local coach may be axed at any moment. Consider this fair warning.
We've made it through the first month of the NHL season and not one coach has gotten fired yet. That's got to be some kind of record. This is the NHL! Coaches are fired for lots of reasons and sometimes no reason at all. How is no team displeased enough to have fired a coach yet? And what have you got to say for yourself, Lou Lamoriello? Why is your finger not on the trigger?
Next year, the IIHF World Junior Hockey Championships will be held in Regina and Saskatoon, cities in the Saskatchewan province of Canada. To honor the province and their CFL football team, the Saskatchewan Roughriders, Hockey Canada has decided to unveil a green version of the team's jerseys to be worn twice during the tournament.
In a press release, Hockey Canada COO Scott Smith had high praise for the jerseys. "We believe fans in Saskatchewan, and throughout Canada, will rally around the green jerseys prior to and during the 2010 IIHF World Junior Championship," he said.
They're rallying all right, but it's not the kind that Smith had in mind.
It probably does and has probably left you wondering who it was taking on the Toronto coach. Was it Joe Thornton? Maybe Evgeni Nabokov or Olaf Kolzig? Well, the answer is none of the above. The former player who laid into Toronto Maple Leafs head coach Ron Wilson on TSN's Off the Record this week was Jim Thomson.
Each and every Saturday this season I'll be taking a look at the random happenings and absurdities that occur in the world of hockey. Feel free to suggest stories, complain or otherwise babble at me via electronic mail.
Of all the cities in the hockey world, no town's media may be quite as big or as hard on the folks it covers than the one in Toronto. The Toronto Maple Leafs are covered from every angle -- two or three times over -- and every year it seems the Leafs are going to trade for every star player in the NHL. Add to that a very fine microscope that is placed on the players and employees in the organization and, well, we get one of the toughest places to play in the NHL in terms of media attention.
Each and every Saturday this season I'll be taking a look at the random happenings and absurdities that occur in the world of hockey. This is the first edition. Feel free to suggest stories, complain or otherwise babble at me via electronic mail.
One of the stories to watch this season is the youth movement that is currently taking over the NHL. I'm not talking about Sidney Crosby and Alex Ovechkin. At 22 and 24 respectively, those guys are old news. The kids I'm talking about are a bit younger and dare I say, better.
When was the last time that the evening Sportscenter (I'm not talking about Sportscentre, mind you) led off with a teaser about something that happened in the hockey world?
That's a rhetorical question, since I'd have to do a lot of digging through a lot of film that I don't have access to to find the answer. Maybe it was when the Penguins skated the Cup around Detroit after winning Game 7. Or it could be further back, when Chris Simon stomped on Jarkko Ruutu, possibly?
Each and every Saturday this season I'll be taking a look at the random happenings and absurdities that occur in the world of hockey. Feel free to suggest stories, complain or otherwise babble at me via electronic mail. 
The first month of the NHL season is behind us, and I'm taking a look back at the early returns on attendance numbers for October. 
Each and every Saturday this season I'll be taking a look at the random happenings and absurdities that occur in the world of hockey. Feel free to suggest stories, complain or otherwise babble at me 
In the NHL, coach firings are as common as parking tickets in New York City. Throughout the NHL season I'll be taking a bi-weekly look at 
Next year, the IIHF World Junior Hockey Championships will be held in Regina and Saskatoon, cities in the Saskatchewan province of Canada. To honor the province and their CFL football team, 
Doesn't that sound like a juicy headline? 
Each and every Saturday this season I'll be taking a look at the random happenings and absurdities that occur in the world of hockey. Feel free to suggest stories, complain or otherwise babble at me 
Of all the cities in the hockey world, no town's media may be quite as big or as hard on the folks it covers than the one in Toronto. The Toronto Maple Leafs are covered from every angle -- two or three times over -- and every year it seems the Leafs are going to trade for every star player in the NHL. Add to that a very fine microscope that is placed on the players and employees in the organization and, well, we get one of the toughest places to play in the NHL in terms of media attention. 
Each and every Saturday this season I'll be taking a look at the random happenings and absurdities that occur in the world of hockey. This is the first edition. Feel free to suggest stories, complain or otherwise babble at me 
When was the last time that the evening Sportscenter (I'm not talking about Sportscentre, mind you) led off with a teaser about something that happened in the hockey world?
