Fight Site
October 31, 2005
Here’s a good site for videos of the latest hockey fights.
FINALLY
October 31, 2005
Last night the Binghamton Senators won their first game of the season. The paper credits Heerema with his two goals, but I say all the credit should go to the whole team for taking only 6 penalties. It is much easier to win a game when you’re not on PK half the time.
For a little icing on the cake, Ottawa has sent Brandon Bochenski back to Binghamton. Bochenski had a great preseason and earned a spot on the top line with Spezza and Heatley, but once the season started he had trouble keeping up. If Bochenski is going to earn a return trip to the NHL he now needs to prove he can play without Spezza on his line. He will see plenty of ice time on a struggling Binghamton squad.
This move also answers the question of who will be sent down once Havlat completed his suspension. Kelly and McGrattan were also candidates, but I’m guessing they would have had to clear waivers first. Next question: Will Ottawa send someone else down when Fisher gets healthy?
Happy Halloween!
October 31, 2005
This Halloween remember to say another big thank you to Canada. Not only did they give us hockey, but they also make Smarties!
Weekly Crosscheck Vol.1, #2
October 31, 2005
Hi Hockey Fans!
What a long strange week it’s been for the Hockey Blog All Stars.
The Sundance Oochamkumutk still hold on to the lead in the Willsboro Division, but remain 8 points back of the league leading Philly Phlamers. The Birchcliff Icebats are tied with Ooch, but are ranked 3rd place overall because of the win/tie ratio. The Monks are creeping up the ladder with another strong week, but the Sublimators slipped several places to 7th overall. The Sublimators had strong goaltending including an excellent game last night from Jean-Sabastien Giguere, which did give them one point overall.
The Bats still remain the PIM kings, however the Pucknuts have set a new league record for goals scored with 25. (Heatley’s four goals Saturday night didn’t hurt, eh?) The Fenton Pucknuts look poised to break into the top three this week unless Ooch can find a way to shut them down and stay within striking distance of first place.
Speaking of which…. The Phlamers are playing the Badabings this week. Mr. Commissioner… I know you are reading this… Please convince the Badabings that THIS is the week to get in the game. We don’t need the Phlamers to get completely out of reach.
Willsboro Division Match Up of the Week:
Sublimators and Monks.
Regardless of this past weeks results the Sublimators are a strong competitive team with first rate goaltending. The Monk’s week depends on the New York Rangers (vs Montreal and N.J.), and we all know how the Rangers can choke when you least expect it. The Monks goaltending is also in trouble with Brodeur still listed day-to-day, Belfour acting like a mega-sieve, and Weekes looking like he’s ready to take back his place in the Rangers line-up. I wouldn’t bet either way on this match-up to save my life.
Also watch:
Ice Bats vs Moonshimers
Meanwhile the Bats will have their work cut out for them against the MoonShimers. I predict this to be another close one. The MoonShimers have traded their way back into a strong Islanders team, while the Bats have unloaded an Islander (Hunter) {Potvin Sucks}, and also rejected a MoonShimer trade offer for Blake. Why oh why couldn’t he have asked me for Pronger????? I HATE THE CAN’T CUT LIST!
Meanwhile in the Winnipeg Johnny Home, John & Juliet are loving NHL Center Ice. Karen hasn’t gotten tired of it yet, but I have a feeling that I am pushing my luck some nights. Now that we have it, we should get our money’s-worth out of it, right?
Drop The Puck.
That is all.
Down Goes Domi!
October 30, 2005
Whoa! I missed the Sens game last night, but caught the highlights of their 8-0 whooping of theMaple Leafs. Dany Heatley scored four goals, but the best part of the game was the smackdown between Brian McGrattan and Tie Domi. The fight was pretty short and ended when McGrattan knocked Domi on his ass with a punch to the nose. Here’s the blow:
Here’s Domi in the penalty box after the fight.
Here’s the whole fight.
Tie Domi vs Brian McGrattan
He Shoots, He Scores!
October 26, 2005
Found another one of my hockey pictures. This one is a great shot of my son Ethan about to score on Martin Brodeur.
Power Play
October 26, 2005
Sorry for the inactivity on the site. After being ill much of Sunday and Monday, mother nature decided to drop a little snow early in Central NY. We got 8 inches of wet heavy snow last night that knocked down trees up and down my road and took down several power lines. Most of the road is still blocked, but I was able to get to work. We’re hoping to get electric and heat back tonight, but it doesn’t look promising. They better have back for tomorrows Rangers-Fishsticks game!
Weekly Crosscheck Vol. 1, #1
October 24, 2005
The Hockey Blog News
Breaking Story
Oochamkunutk take the league lead, and for the first time a Willsboro division team is in front. Kathleen (Ooch GM), who dumped a few losers last week and picked up a couple of Devils last week was named the Hockey Blog manager of the week by the Willsboro Hockey Association president Juliet. “Kathleen’s management style of sitting in front of the computer and moving players around instead of grading homeworks, is very similar to that of Bats GM Winnipeg Johnny, her hockey mentor” said Ms. Juliet. “It provides a nice lap to curl up in, but is not conducive to getting dinner in the bowl on time.”
Meanwhile the Greenbay Monks took an early lead over the Bats this week, and stuck it out to the end, although it went down to the last player on almost all categories. Now that the Monks rookies are settled in, and starting to play well, we expect to see the team climb steadily through the ranks. Not much for talking to the media, Bill’s only comment this week was “Potvin Sucks”.
Bats Manager, Winnipeg Johnny, is assigning extra laps during practice for all players who didn’t get at least 4 PIM this week. “That was WAY too close… thank god Selanne picked up 2 min for holding last night. Sure the goal and the assist were nice, but that’s not what I want from these guys.”
Sublimators GM Cara is still trying to juggle the IR players in her line-up. Even with two skaters down, the Sublimators pulled ahead of the Bats this week too. Hey Cara, Bure isn’t really hurt. He’s just a whiney girley-man. Drop his ass and get a real hockey player.
Match-up of the week:
Sublimators vs Bats. Loser of this series may have to compensate all other Willsboro division coaches at the North End of the arena.
That is all.
Bears 4 - Senators 3
October 22, 2005
After the excitement over last weeks performance, the Senators had me worried after falling 4-3 to the Bears in a game that wasn’t as close as the score. The Sens came out flat and were outplayed by a much larger and more prepared Hershey team. Once again they took far too many penalties, but this time their opponent took even more, but this only gave us an opportunity to see that our special teams has a lot of work to do. Hershey had an excellent PK unit and gave our shooters no time to setup and little room to pass and they made a point of keeping Martins out of the game and allowed no one to setup in front of the net.
The Bears were led by two Binghamton alumni, Brooks Laich (Sens) and captain Boyd Kane (Icemen). They capitalized with all four goals scored on the power play, but they also missed just as many open net goals and had numerous others robbed by Billy Thompson.
One sign of concern was Denis Hamel, who kept trying to skate in alone through 2 or 3 defenders only to end up lying on the ice. Maybe he was hoping to draw a hooking penalty, but the result was always a turnover. Fans didn’t like it, but one of the rules that has not changed is that defenders ARE allowed to ’stand up’ a rushing opponent when they have the puck or just had the puck. Yeah there was a facial or two, but this is hockey, not basketball. I know Denis is expected to carry the B-Sens offense, but he needs to learn to utilize his new teammates.
On the bright side, Danny Bois continued to impress with his skating and hustle. Here is one kid who wants to make the most of his increased role on this team. Novak continued to show great speed, but had trouble controlling the puck on the power play and was shoved around by the much larger Hershey players.
Overall it was a rough game to watch, but the Sens stuck with it and didn’t let the game get away from them. Like I said last time, this is a young team and will require some patience. Tonight starts a short road trip and this will be an excellent chance for the players to get to know each other a little better on and off the ice. With only two games in 2 weeks I think the Sens are ready for a little less practice and more game time. I expect we’ll see a much better team on November 5th.
Notes: We got to the game early to get good parking and watched the warmups from the blueline on the visitors side. Brooks Laich took the time to give pucks to both my boys so we gave him the applause he deserved when he scored his goals and got named first star of the game.
Welcome Back to Earth, Rangers Drop 2 to Fishsticks
October 21, 2005
Well it had to happen. After a glorious run, the honeymoon is over and the Rangers dropped two games to their crosstown rivals. The first game was fantastic. Superb goaltending at both ends. For better or worse the game was decided in a shootout.
Last night, the Rangers came out flat while the Islanders were once again prepared and pounced on the opportunity. Rangers fell behind fast and tried to play catchup, but in the end 3 games in 4 nights seemed to have taken its toll.
I was actually hoping this would happen. Not to the Islanders, but I did want the Rangers to drop a game or two. All it took was a couple good wins to get the MSG faithful giving standing Os and chanting players names. I didn’t want these guys thinking wins were always going to be easy and for them to get a too cocky. Now with a pair of losses to the team’s biggest rival, the Rangers should be back to earth and ready to continute the hard work in practice and on the ice that led to those wins. The NHL has a long season and I want this young team to experience their growing pains early so they are better prepared for a run for the playoffs in the Spring.
