Hockey

[shadows]

Originally Posted by dauls

So the NHL are closer to selling the Phoenix Coyotes to Ice Edge Holdings, who claim they will keep the franchise in Arizona.

How long will Ice Edge want to or have to keep the Coyotes in Arizona after they acquire the franchise?

Will the Ice Edge deal include the plan to play approx five games per season in Canada, possibly in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan or Halifax, Nova Scotia?

Is it true that Ice Edge are expected to pay considerably less (about 30%) than Jim Balsillie was willing to pay to take the franchise to Hamilton? Would a location west of Hamilton have given Balsillie a better chance of acquiring a franchise?

According to the article I read on tsn.ca, Ice Edge has said that they are going to keep the team where it is and honour the contract with the arena. If that is the case, then they are going to be stuck there for 25 more years, as that is how much time is left on the contract.

I honestly can't see how they can expect to NOT lose money. Could Phoenix be a successful hockey markey? Perhaps. But not in their current location. The spot they chose to place the arena(unless the arena was already there, then they should have just built a new one elsewhere) is horrible. I would not want to be a shareholder for Ice Edge(if they have shareholders), as they would be pissing away my money!

Their offer is $150 million. I believe Basillie's was $215-$230.

[shadows]

Here are the scores from Dec 11th's games.

1. Florida beat New Jersey 4-2. Dauls will not be happy with this result, especially since they did not play well.

2. Washington beat Carolina 4-3 in overtime. Carolina had a 2-0 lead at one point, but Carolina being Carolina(them sucking and all) coughed up the lead and lost yet again. They were lucky to go away with a point.

3. Buffalo beat Chicago 2-1. Buffalo just keeps on truckin'.

4. Detroit beat Anaheim 3-2 in overtime. Detroit can from behind to snatch victory away from Anaheim.

5. Edmonton beat St. Louis 5-3. Down 3-1, Edmonton scored 4 unanswered goals in the third period. Sloppy game from St. Louis.

6. Colorado beat Tampa Bay 2-1 in the shootout. Tampa Bay has suddenly suffered from a loss in power.

7. Minnesota beat Calgary 2-1 in overtime. Minnesota badly outplayed Calgary and deserved the win. The ONLY reason Calgary even got a point was due to the stellar play of their goalie, Kiprusoff.

8. Dallas beat San Jose 3-2 in the shootout. It went 11 rounds. Fun stuff.

[dauls]

Originally Posted by shadows

Here are the scores from Dec 11th's games.

1. Florida beat New Jersey 4-2. Dauls will not be happy with this result, especially since they did not play well.

Getting beat by the Caps or the Penguins I can understand, but losing to Florida is a fg disaster. At least the game wasn't on ESPN-UK last night, so I didn't have to suffer a bad Devils' performance.

Flyers tonight... should be interesting.

Overtime and shootouts in 5 of the 8 games last night, I'm sure they do it just to annoy the OT/SO haters.

[dauls]

Nice 4-1 win for the Devils. Sorry Jen.

And shadows, it was a real thrashing of the Caps this time. That must've been an entertaining 3rd period.

OT misery for ila. One of 5 more games that went beyond 60 minutes.

No hockey to watch last night, ESPN-UK had ultimate fighting.

[shadows]

Originally Posted by dauls

Nice 4-1 win for the Devils. Sorry Jen.

And shadows, it was a real thrashing of the Caps this time. That must've been an entertaining 3rd period.

OT misery for ila. One of 5 more games that went beyond 60 minutes.

No hockey to watch last night, ESPN-UK had ultimate fighting.

Yes. I was quite happy with the end result. I looked at the standings and we are now tied with Philadelphia. Needless to say, I was shocked. We are also only 4 points behind Montreal(and they have played one more game than us). I would never have expected this considering how awful the start to the season was.

Elias has been quite good since returning from his injury. The same could be said for Kessel. Can you imagine the point totals for the two of them if they had played the entire season?

Ila, I'm sure, is happy that Montreal at least got a point. However, they did not have a lot of shots on net again. They need to improve their offensive output, and not rely on Price(or Halak) so much.

[shadows]

Here are the scores for Dec 12th's games.

1. Toronto beat Washington 6-3. This time, they dominated the scoresheet and Toronto's #1 line had more points than Washington's(which says a lot!). Good game, but it's a shame that I was at work while it was on. Toronto is now only 4 points out the 8th position(currently held by Montreal).

2. Ottawa beat Carolina 4-2. Not a shocker at all, but a couple of notes to the game. Kovalev(Ottawa) got a hat-trick and one of the goals was his 400th goal of his career. He may be a floater a lot of the time, but 400 goals is quite an accomplishment.

3. New Jersey beat Philadelphia 4-1. A broken record, it seems, with Philly. They don't score and they lose. I am really befuddled as to why they are playing so poorly.

4. The Islanders beat Boston 3-2 in overtime. Tavares got another assist in this game, and he seems to have overcome the slump he was in.

5. Buffalo beat the Rangers 3-2. While one NY team wins, the other one loses. It seems like that happens more often than not. Buffalo is a really hot team right now.

6. Atlanta beat Montreal 4-3 in overtime. What has to hurt the most is that Atlanta was on the PowerPlay during overtime. That has to piss coaches(and fans) off big time!

7. Anaheim beat Columbus 3-1. Anaheim seems to have picked up their game.

8. Pittsburgh beat Florida 3-2 in overtime. They avenged you, dauls! They beat Florida for you so New Jersey could have a small measure of revenge.

9. Detroit beat Nashville 3-2 in overtime. For the second straight game, Todd Bertuzzi scored the overtime winner.

10. Phoenix beat San Jose 2-1. I almost got the shutout, but Heatley ruined it for me! Darn it! I wanted the extra 5 points! This was also San Jose's fifth straight loss.

11. Vancouver beat Minnesota 4-3. Henrik Sedin had 3 assists and Daniel Sedin had 1 goal and 1 assist. Daniel has been on fire since coming back from his foot injury.

12. LA beat Dallas 3-2 in the shootout. One shootout in twelve games? I can handle that.

[dauls]

Originally Posted by shadows

8. Pittsburgh beat Florida 3-2 in overtime. They avenged you, dauls! They beat Florida for you so New Jersey could have a small measure of revenge.

No, I'd have been happier if Florida had also beaten the Penguins. Why do they have to have one of their fairly rare, good games against us and then lose (in OT) to our closest rivals in the Atlantic Division.

Quiet night tonight. But on Monday night (Flyers-Bruins) it's a warm up for the Winter Classic...

How popular is the Winter Classic in North America?
Would the league/other teams like to hold more than one game outdoors per season, or is the cost of setting up the temporary rink too expensive to do more than one?
Does the NHL cover the cost of the rink build or is it down to the hosts?

From the webcam shot, a hockey rink in Fenway Park just looks wrong.

I doubt if ESPN-UK will be showing the game live? A 1pm start in Boston is too early to show it live over here at 6pm, they'd rather show a live Italian or German football match.

[ila]

Originally Posted by dauls

OT misery for ila. One of 5 more games that went beyond 60 minutes.

The game stayed tied for quite a while. I really hate OT / SO in the regular season. Montreal could at least learn to score in the shootout.

Originally Posted by shadows

Ila, I'm sure, is happy that Montreal at least got a point. However, they did not have a lot of shots on net again. They need to improve their offensive output, and not rely on Price(or Halak) so much.

Yes, I'm glad they got the point. You're right the offense is lacking. Price and Halak are keeping them in every game.