yesterday was opening day (or premiere weekend, if you like…) for the NHL.  i was really glad to get the CBC feed for both games!  some random thoughts…

• you never know how much you missed ron maclean until you see the first hockey night in canada every season
• wade redden did not look as comfortable/good as i expected on the rangers D
• barry melrose is not capable of making the facial contortions of john tortorella
• i think you are going to hear a lot of “gomez to naslund” all season long
• marty st. louis smoking dmitri khalinin on his way in to score.  as a buffalo sabres fan, i am glad that it is happening to another team this season… 
• even though i miss him in buffalo, it was cool to see chris drury with a “C” on his jersey
• a LOT of ranger shots.  or should i say tampa bay saves.  smith looked pretty good…
• tyler kennedy looked really small out there.  clearly small enough to not be handled well enough and score twice.
• martin gerber needs to have serious sit-down with his preparedness.  either that or rust.  it didn’t look like nerves…
• the penguins coulda/shoulda/woulda powerplay…
• heatley and spezza score.  but not alfie?  in stockholm?  when i have him on my fantasy teams?  c’mon!!! 
• the woman that sang the canadian and swedish national anthems was awesome.
• it was absolutely cool to see a friend of mine, on camera, jawing with a linesman during a commercial break.  whip those ice shovelers into shape! 

We missed out on Friday’s comeback win against the Minnesota Wild, sadly, because I was ill.  Ugh.  And those of you that know me, know that I have to be pretty ill to miss anything hockey related…

We took the Western bus to and from the game this time around.  Unfortunately, the bus schedule for Sunday nights sorta sucks, but we did make it home in time to catch the second half of the Eagles/Bears game.

On to the game…

---

As a Sabres fan — as well as a Blackhawks fan — I generally despise Dallas.  It’s even more fun to despise them this season with Sean Avery on their team!  ;-)  I am not sure what I expected in terms of tempo for the game as there were a lot of starters playing, but no “starting” goaltenders…

First Period:

I was not even on my second sip of beer before the ‘Hawks were on the powerplay.  And not three sips in before they scored their first goal!  Dallas followed up about 5 minutes later on a shot that Chicago should have never let them take from the point.  Sharp lit the lamp with a nice screener — again on the powerplay — about halfway through…

Avery did not disappoint from an agitation point of view.  He was chirping as soon as hit the ice and mixed it up heavily about halfway in.  That brought Ott into the scrap.  Coming out…?  4 minute PP for the ‘Hawks with Ott being tossed, Avery sitting on 2 and 2 for roughing and an unsportsmanlike and Chicago with no one in the box!

Second Period:

The ‘Hawks started early again with yet another PP goal — a sweet deflection from the low slot by Toews from a Soupy point shot.  Dallas put up another marker before Soupy made a sick pass angled perfectly off the boards to a rushing Skille.  Skille beat his man and buried the shot.

The Stars came out strong in the first half of the period by playing a “full low” offensive zone set up — all three forwards down below the hashes with one of them usually behind the net and no one on a screen.  It was effective for a while, but the ‘Hawks eventually caught on.  I would say that Chicago needs to recognize and adjust a bit faster to things like this..

We saw the patented Soupy Spin-o-rama for the first time this season.  Love it!

Ladd — the player, not my wife — took a sucker swing at Avery landing sqaure on his face.  It was almost worth the extra two minutes. 

Third Period:

Dallas did get one in the third, but Chicago spent a LOT of time in the offensive zone to mitigate any comeback attempt.  The did get some good PK as well — especially in the last few minutes!!

The ‘Hawks were able to overcome a huge shot deficit in the third — marking 13 shots in the period.

---

Overall…  Soupy had an assist on every ‘Hawks goal.  The PP looks fantastic.  Dig it.

It all starts with this game…

For us - as new season ticketholders.  And for them - as a young, exciting team with a lot of expectations.

We are going to try a coupla different ways to get back and forth from the United Center for games.  Last night we took the Western bus to Madison and walked it.  I was pleased to know that I was recognized as we walked passed the Walgreens — “Hey!  White Man!!” — but I decided not to hang out…   We took the Damen bus home — which was convenient, but only runs through ~1030, so if when we hit OT another mode of transport will be needed.

We got there pretty early and took the opportunity to walk the whole arena on the 300 level (our level) — finding Labatt’s just outside 309.  The only Labatt’s we found, sadly.  Alison bought a new hat and a hoodie at “Fandemonium” and then we headed to our seats.

Wow.

The view is better than I expected.  Corner section on the side the ‘Hawks shoot twice.  Fourth row of section 330.  Aisle seats.

We talked to the guys behind us — also season tix holders — who were pretty dang cool.  I think I may have an “in” for a few hockey teams to play on both in the city and in the ‘burbs.  Nice!

On to the game…

---

I expected the game to be “rough”.  CBJ are pretty big to start with and that’s the way Hitchcock plays them.  Add in half rosters of rookies and guys that are trying to make squads and you have a recipe for some bruisin’.

First Period:

No scoring.  A few chances and some great saves on both ends.

A lot of scraps and several fights.  A lot of jawing from bench to bench.  I wish I had a mic down there!

Second Period:

Pelletier went high glove for the first goal for the ‘Hawks and Versteeg scored about minute later.  Two to zip early…  CBJ came back though with one from Jiri Novotny — and it was nice to see him doing so well after the time he spent in Buffalo and one from Chimera who was attoning for earlier sins… 

I don’t remember who the Blackhawk was that dealt it, but Chimera got squeeze slammed just across the ‘Hawk’s blue line so hard his helmet went flying.  You could just see what was going to happen next and Chimera ended up in the box for a checking for behind penalty less than a minute later…

Third Period:

CBJ scored almost half through the third which started a bunch of hand wringing around us.  It was one of those goals, though, that does not seem like the “end” of scoring.  The Blackhawks just looked confident — especially with the Kane/Sharp line out there and when Keith/Seabrook were bringing it on the back end.  We were not disappointed.

On the powerplay…  Kane threads a pass through the slot to a wide open Sharp who swept it home before the CBJ goaltender even had his head pivoted…

Brouwer knocked one home from very close to put the ‘Hawks ahead with a few minutes to go.

More fights punctuated the period and CBJ spent the last ~5 minutes in the box after Brouwer’s goal effectively taking them out it.

---

We are definitely looking forward to the Minnesota game on Friday!!

really?

amazing.

sky rink @ chelsea piers might be falling into the hudson.

seriously.  are the blackhawks intent on locking up even the best front office talent?

scotty bowman — yes, scotty friggin’ bowman! — is going to be advisor with the ‘hawks this season.

they are on a roll.  clearly.

when scotty bowman leaves the reigning stanley cup champions to hang with ‘hawks…  well, that says something to me.  (beyond him getting to spend more time with his son…)

I’m a nerd.

I am publishing — if you want to call it that — an import file for Outlook with the entire 2008-9 regular season for the Chicago Blackhawks.

I know that you can get the schedule from a zillion locations. What’s different about mine? I added the location for each game in the format “Arena Name (City, State/Province - Country)”. I also set the “Private” flag and added a category of “blackhawks hockey”.

Chicago Blackhawks / 2008-9 Regular Season / Outlook Import File / Central timezone

  2008-9 Chicago Blackhawks Schedule - Outlook - Central (12.3 KiB, 78 hits)

– Destructions for Importing into Outlook –

1. Click on the link for the schedule you wish to download and “Save target as”/”Save file” to your computer. Remember where you saved the file to!
2. In Outlook, click on “File -> Import and Export” from the toolbar
3. Select “Import from another program or file” and click “Next”
4. Select “Comma Separated Values (Windows)” and click “Next”
5. Browse to where you saved the download file, highlight it and click “OK”. Make sure the path to that file is correct in the “File to import:” area
6. Do not change anything under “Options”
7. Highlight “Calendar” under “Select destination folder:” and click “Next”
8. Make sure there is a check in the box in “The following actions will be performed:” to the left of “Import…”
9. Click on “Finish”
10. Do a happy dance.

I’m a nerd.

I am publishing — if you want to call it that — an import file for Outlook with the entire 2008-9 regular season for the Buffalo Sabres.

I know that you can get the schedule from a zillion locations.  What’s different about mine?  I added the location for each game in the format “Arena Name (City, State/Province - Country)”.  I also set the “Private” flag and added a category of “sabres hockey”.

I am currently living in the Central timezone, so I have two files here to download:

Buffalo Sabres / 2008-9 Regular Season / Outlook Import File / Eastern timezone

  2008-9 Buffalo Sabres Schedule - Outlook - Eastern (11.2 KiB, 71 hits)

Buffalo Sabres / 2008-9 Regular Season / Outlook Import File / Central timezone

  2008-9 Buffalo Sabres Schedule - Outlook - Central (11.2 KiB, 40 hits)

– Destructions for Importing into Outlook –

1.  Click on the link for the schedule you wish to download and “Save target as”/”Save file” to your computer.  Remember where you saved the file to!
2.  In Outlook, click on “File -> Import and Export” from the toolbar
3.  Select “Import from another program or file” and click “Next”
4.  Select “Comma Separated Values (Windows)” and click “Next”
5.  Browse to where you saved the download file, highlight it and click “OK”. Make sure the path to that file is correct in the “File to import:” area
6.  Do not change anything under “Options”
7.  Highlight “Calendar” under “Select destination folder:” and click “Next”
8.  Make sure there is a check in the box in “The following actions will be performed:” to the left of “Import…”
9.  Click on “Finish”
10.  Do a happy dance.

excellent!  the rumours are true!  the worst kept secret in the hockey world was that the winter classic 2009 would be in chicago.

apparently, after negotiations with nyc and yankee stadium did not pan out, the league turned to chicago for the game.

last year it was in buffalo at the ralph which looked so amazing on the 120″ screen while we were on vacation in north carolina.

this year will be even better.

we are blackhawks season ticket holders!!  WOO!!

the game will be on 1 january 2009 at 100pm eastern between the chicago blackhawks and the detroit red wings.  at…  wait for it…  wrigley field!

i can’t wait!

the blue bombers (d6) started out the fall season on the right foot taking out the wildmen 5-1.

it was a great team effort with a really long bench.  dom showed no rust in goal…

personally…  i scored the first goal from the low circle with a circus slash bad angle shot that dropped through the goalie’s pads.  and…  i scored the last goal on a breakaway — my first shot went directly to the goalie’s shoulder and dropped down in front where i poked it through on the same stick movement.  sweet!

wooo!!

after almost 6 years, 18 seasons and 5 teams at chelsea piers…  i am part of a winner!

the blue heroes took out the blights in the championship game with a shutout victory — 4-0.

the “heroes”?

jeremy…  with a natural hat trick!  and…  adam…  with yet another shutout!

on to the fall season…