Todays Versus offering is the Canes at the Leafs. I also read a small story in my sports section and it sounds like the NHLN is being picked up or carried by more and more cable company offerings down here. I am still waiting here for it....

They're not exactly coordinated in this NHL Network launch. The various cable outlets that have deals haven't announced their plans for when they'll pick it up, or whether it'll be in basic or premium packages, etc. And Buffalo may not get it at all, at least at the start.

Meanwhile, with 3 days off before the next game, the Flyers are in Whistler, BC doing team-building exercises...



Of course, they did team-building exercises in previous years, including last year, and look how that year went. But they're 1-1 so far, winning at Calgary and losing at Edmonton.

Carolina looked really sharp in their demolishing of the Maple Leafs last night. Once they got ahead 5-1 I turned it over..former Chiefs Ray Whitney was all over the place...they called him the "wizard" last night. I would agree. Tonights offering is the always entertaining Rangers/Islanders from Long Island...

Maybe playing with Legos is good? The Flyers routed the Canucks 8-2 last night to finish 2-1 on their season-opening western trip. In 3 games Daniel Briere has 4 goals and 7 points.

Late in the third period last night the Flyers' Jesse Boulerice (I'm not even sure why he's around -- he was in their system before and they traded him, and he's done nothing to distinguish himself in the NHL) cross-checked the face of Vancouver's Ryan Kesler. Boulerice was given a match penalty for intent to injure which automatically means a league review. I'm assuming a suspension of some kind will occur.

According to philly.com he was pelted by trash as he left the ice. But since it didn't happen in Philadelphia no one will ever hear of it.

Once I saw the score I kind of had a hunch you would like the result.

Montreal rookie goaltender Carey Price in his first NHL presence got a win against Pittsburgh.

OK - so it seems we will never know what Leafs team we are going to get from one night to the next. After a well played thrilling 4-3 overtime victory over the Canadiens last Saturday, the Leafs stunk the joint out against Carolina losing 7-1 the other night. Then tonight they dominate and crush the Islanders 8-1! Go figure.

Leafs history tonight with Mats Sundin scoring his 390th career goal as a Leaf, which also was his 917th point which in both cases set new records for any Leaf player ever eclipsing the marks held by Daryl Sittler. Sundin has been the best Leaf player I think over the first few games - and that should be no surprise considering that over the last 10 seasons, Sundin ranks fourth among all NHL players in goals (334) and points (787).

I saw the result this morning and thought the exact same thing travel. Hot and cold, on and off....

Thinking of buying a ticket to the Gold Medal hockey game at the 2010 Olypics in Vancouver. It will cost you! 'Cheap' seats for the final start at $350.00 with lower bowl seats going for as high as $775.00!

Wow! That rules me out!

Jesse Boulerice gets a 25-game suspension for his cross-check to the face of Vancouver's Ryan Kesler on Wednesday. Let's hope that, once the 25 games are up, the Flyers do the right thing and send him packing. He's shown throughout his completely undistinguished career that he has minimal skills.

It has been rather glossed over in all the news reports that Boulerice was responding to an attempted cheap shot by Kesler on the Flyers' Randy Jones. Jones managed to avoid the hit. It doesn't remotely justify Boulerice's action, but surely Kesler is no angel.

Nice to see the Panthers and Blackhawks playing better hockey...
The Hawks scored with 43 seconds left in reg to send their game against Dallas into OT, where they won it...

Jokinen has tied the club record for scoring as they beat nemesis Tampa Bay. Two nights earlier, the Cats beat their other nemesis New Jersey...

There is any number of teams playing some super hockey right now I have noticed, Flyers look nothing like last year, Ottawa is rolling and Carolina looks ALOT like the team that won the Stanley Cup in 2006, and there are many others playing quite well. I think the Wild are 4-0, so its shaping up to be a very interesting year in my opinion.

Tonights hockey offering on Versus is the always entertaining Leafs/Sabres...will see which Leafs team shows up for this....when they are on, they are on, and when they are off, well......

I haven't ordered the NHL Center Ice pacakge (trying to save money for a change ) so my hockey on TV is limited to local Flyers telecasts and Versus (at least until that NHL Network shows up). I've had baseball on so far, and just turned to Leafs-Sabres on after getting to this thread. I heard the voice of Joe Beninati, who works some of their games when Mike Emrick doesn't. Beninati has a tendency, noted from prior hockey and college football telecasts, works in mentions of the network about every two minutes. "There's a shot and what a glove save you just saw on Versus!!!" I immediately switched back to baseball.

The Sabres/Leafs game was sheer heaven last night. I don't know of to many rivalries that are more entertaining then when these two clubs get togther....I know former Chiefs Brian McCabe is still hurting this morning, but there are so many similarities between the Buffalo/Toronto rivalry and my Chiefs and Tri-City Americans play each other. For one thing, no one ever wins by more than 1 goal. Tonight its the new look Flyers against the Thrashers on Versus.

Hey Tom - I'm not so sure many Leaf fans would call last night's experience 'sheer heaven'. Entertaining - especially in the third period - you bet! But the Leafs are snakebitten when it comes to games in Buffalo the last few years. Three times they blew third period leads last night! Very similar to a critical game late last year in which the Leafs blew a 4-1 third period lead to lose 5-4 in regulation time - so that they did not even get a point! Remember the Leafs missed the playoffs by just one point last year.

And then to top it off to have the struggling and grossly overpaid - Bryan McCabe shoot the puck into his own goal with just 4 seconds left in the overtime period - well that says it all. McCabe has been at fault on a number of goals against this year and has contributed very little offensively thus far and struggled most of last year. You can hear low level booing when McCabe touches the puck at the ACC and I suspect - that will be more than at a low level in the Leafs next home game.

Actually just had my first glance at the Toronto Star sports section this morning and the two headlines on the section are - 'Will Leafs take pity on McCabe and just ship him out of town?' and 'McCabe wins it for Sabres'. Plus online they are doing a poll - Are the Leafs better with or without Bryan McCabe'. Ouch! This is moving into Larry Murphy territory for McCabe - and all Leaf fans will know what I mean by that and is explained a bit within this article from the Star.
http://www.thestar.com/Sports/article/267234#

I meant sheer heaven for its entertainment value, but I know how the Leafs fans felt though, it slipped away. Sorry to hear about McCabe, maybe he should pakc up his bag and head elsewhere. Tough situation. Look forward to Atlanta/Philadelphia this afternoon though down here on VS.

I do feel sorry for McCabe - it could get quite ugly up here for him unless he starts to play better soon. And Tom - as you may have noticed watching the game last night - there were alot of Leaf fans at the game. Leaf fans have to travel to see their team since it is virtually impossible to get tickets here unless you've got connections.

And that fact has not gone unnoticed by travel companies up here. One company is offering free tickets to the Leafs game in Anaheim on January 9th if people book flights and at least 4 nights accommodation in Anaheim with them. And an even more extreme example is that one travel company is offering Leaf fans the opportunity to see the Buds play in Atlanta - without even spending the night in Atlanta! They have chartered an entire plane - that seats something like 180 people. The package includes:
Flights:
Depart Toronto December 14 at 2:00 pm arriving into Atlanta at 4:25 pm
Depart Atlanta December 15 at 4:20 am arriving into Toronto at 6:30 am
Transportation to and from Philips Arena
$297 (+ $118 taxes) for Upper Bowl tickets
$337 (+ $118 taxes) for 2nd Level tickets
$357 (+ $118 taxes) for Lower Bowl tickets

Those rates are not far off what one has to pay scalpers up here to see the Leafs play at the ACC on some nights!

Had a message in my digital cable box: the NHL Network is now supposed to be added on October 23. Much to my surprise, it will be part of their Sports tier (with the NFL Network and some other channels), so I'll have to pay for that tier to get it. However, it will be on for free as a preview until December 1. Since the NFL Network carries its first game on Thanksgiving night, that would seem to be the perfect time to add it if I want to pay the extra five bucks per month.

Travel: I could hear the Leaf fans. The Versus announcers said about 1/3 there were Leafs fans, 2/3 Buffalo obviously....I will be watching my digital cable box for messages about the NHLN, and hopefully will get that out here. $5.00 more isn't too bad, IMO.

Hockey Tom, in reply to your Oct 4 post: Actually it was the Hurricanes I saw during my recent visit to Ottawa, not the Maple Leafs (tickets to that game, which was the season opener, were pretty much sold out except for some very expensive seats, so I had to settle for the Oct 11 game against Carolina). And wouldn't you know....it turned out to be the first loss of the season (and still the only loss) for the Senators I figured my presence must have jinxed them, although my teenaged nephew, who lives in Ottawa, told me the Senators have lost all five or six games he has ever attended. Like many other fans, we left Scotiabank Place with four minutes left in the third period, thinking the 4-1 lead by the Hurricanes to be insurmountable. We were surprised to find out later that we missed THREE goals in those final minutes! The Sens still lost (5-3, clinched by an empty-netter by Carolina) but I guess next time I go to a game I'll think twice about leaving early.

While still on the subject of the Senators, there appears to be a growing controversy about whether the high-priced Ray Emery should return as the #1 goaltender (now that he's healthy) considering Martin Gerber's success. I'm sure he'll be back in the net soon, although Emery's off-ice behaviour has not exactly endeared himself to the fans in Ottawa. I don't know if it was widely reported elsewhere, but Emery was involved in an ugly 'road rage' incident last month, and apparently that wasn't the first time either.

Meanwhile, after a dismal pre-season and poor start to the regular season, my Flames have won back-to-back road games in Dallas and Nashville, two teams that have given them a lot of grief in recent years. Let's make it three in a row tonight in Denver! Calgary had one of the worst road records in the league last year.

Travelpat, in reply to your post too: I think you're right about Sportsnet West dividing up the Flames and Oilers telecasts so that fans in Calgary and Edmonton see just their own city's teams. Of course, if they are playing each other, then both cities get the telecast, and Sportsnet carries three or four such games this season. However, TSN and CBC will televise some Oilers vs 'non'-Flames games which will be available here. I might even watch a few of those, now that hottie Sheldon Souray plays for them.

The Flyers are now 4-1. Last year they won their 4th game on November 15th, moving their record to 4-12-2. What a difference a year (and a bunch of new players) makes. Meanwhile, the Thrashers are 0-6.

Versus continues to be pathetic. During a game break they updated the score of the Panthers-Canadiens game. Except the onscreen graphic read Panthers-Canucks. Amateurs.

What a difference a year makes.
The Panther's goaltending is much stronger this year with Tomas Vokoun in the nets. The Cats won their 3rd in a row last night in Montreal, after being down most of the game, they scored with 10 seconds left in regulation and won it in a shootout, 2-1.
Good to se them playing well early in the season for a change....Recent history always had them tanking for the first 2/3 of the year, and playing well at the end and just missing out on a playoff spot....

...and now they've fired coach Bob Hartley.

A video commentary on McCabe's "goal" the other night in Buffalo.

Sad. They didn't exactly look very competetive last night.

Maybe it's those awful blue jerseys they're wearing this season!!

Well - the Leafs pull one out tonight against Florida after the McCabe debacle in overtime the other night. Actually McCabe scored again - this time into the right goal - as the Leafs came back from a 2 - 0 first period deficit to win it 3-2 The winner scored with just 28 seconds to go on a goal by suddenly surging Nic Antropov.

Ironically McCabe should take look at Antropov as inspiration for getting out of the Leaf fans doghouse. The highly touted Antropov was constantly getting hurt and often looked like he was moving in slow motion with his skating and he was often the target of the ACC boo-birds over his first 7 seasons with the Leafs. He never seemed to perform up to his potential. In fact in his previous 7 seasons with the Leafs the best he could do was 16 goals and 29 assists back in 2002-2003. Well - this season Antropov is rapidly becoming a fan fave - already with 6 goals and 5 assists in just 8 games so far this year.

The Flyers faced their toughest test so far this year, with a good Carolina team coming to town, and get a 3-2 OT win to make it a 6-1-0 start. Last year, win no. 6 came on the day after Thanksgiving. It's not even Halloween yet! Martin Biron followed up back-to-back shutouts by stopping 40 of 42 Hurricane shots.

Now they have 8 in a row on the road, but 3 of the games (Rangers, Devils, Capitals) are close by so the travel is minimized some.

another nice win for the Blackhawks last night vs the Avs....young stars-to-be Patrick Kane and Jonathon Toews both helped out in the 5-3 win....now if the fans just would start to come back...

Got my new RBK authentic Blackhawk jersey in the mail....they look better then I expected....I like the new lighter weight material, too....perfect for South Florida!

Yep, the Flyers look NOTHING like th eteam of last year. Carolina has just been on fire lately...one thing I really like about them is the 5 forwards they have been using on the pp. Interesting, and not every team can do that....looking forward to the two games on Versus this week as per usual.

...and the Blackhawks' offense keeps getting better!
They scored 5 goals in the 3rd period last night to beat the Leafs 6-4....
..and all of this is without leading scorer Martin Havlat...

Habs and Bruins this evening on Versus. Always entertaining matchup...

The Bruins have started pretty well also, 5-2-0 thus far. But their building was about one-third empty for their home opener, apparently because it went up against Red Sox-Indians game 5 -- which was in Cleveland.

Jeremy Roenick already has 3 goals for the Sharks in 6 games played. He had just 11 all of last season. Maybe the decision to reconsider retirement was a good idea after all?

Rangers visit the Igloo this afternoon on Versus.

It's October 23, and yes, I now have the NHL Network (at least until December 1 or until I pay the extra five dollars per month). Now all they need is some live action.

Flyers' Scottie Upshall took part in a practice in a limited way. He's now hoping to return to action ahead of schedule November 1 at Montreal. Woo-hoo!

Edit to add: They just said on the air that the US version of NHL Network will show a game on Friday evening (I think it's Sabres-Panthers).

The Pens looked pretty good last night shutting down and shutting out the Rangers.....crowd was way into it. Good game...they keep saying the Rangers will come on. We shall see....

The Rangers had big scorers already, and then spent big in the free-agent market, adding Chris Drury and Scott Gomez. Thus far they have 13 goals in 8 games to show for it, their worst output since 1950. They've now lost back-to-back 1-0 shutouts for the first time in their long history.

Did I mention how much I'm loving the new young players on the Blackhawks???
Patrick Kane had 4 points last night in the 6-4 loss to Columbes, and Jonathan Towes had another goal....
What a great line it is turning out to be...

...and a nice win for the Panthers at home against the Flyers! Jokinen and Campbell each had a couple of goals tonite, and good to see the D stepping up, allowing only 21 shots on goal...

What was nice about it?

Simon Gagne left the game in the first period with "dizziness" after he took an hit from a Florida player. He doesn't think it's anything serious, but we've heard that before...

Bill Clement is joining the Flyers' broadcast crew for 9 games this season, working games in place of Keith Jones when Jones is doing his Versus studio thing.

After a nice 6-1 start to wash away the bad taste of last year, the Flyers have now lost two in a row in Florida. Hopefully Gagne comes back from his injury for the next game, to help regain that early season winning form.

And go figure. The Leafs with a season opening schedule loaded up on home games struggle badly - losing the last two home games to the Hawks and Atlanta. So they start the season with 10 games - 8 of which they played at the ACC and their record an unimpressive - 3 wins - 4 regulation losses and 3 overtime losses.

Then they hit the road tonight in Pittsburgh - and look great - winning 5 - 2 with call up Jiri Tlusty - playing in his first NHL game - scoring twice within 35 seconds in the third period to lead the way. I give up trying to figure out this team!

I too was rather shocked by the Panthers taking away two stright from the Flyers, esp. given how impressive the Flyers were playing.

Are MLSE - owners of the Leafs - just trying to find a way to sell some tickets for their AHL team - the Marlies - who play in the Ricoh Coliseum just a couple of miles down the road from the ACC - or are they up to something else a little more devious? Or is this just a Hail Mary Pass by GM John ferguson trying to save his job?

It is front page news in the Toronto papers today that the Leafs are trying to sign 17 year old junior phenom John Tavares to the Marlies. Tavares is pegged as the next can't miss superstar along the lines of a Sidney Crosby. The problem is - by 5 days he is too young to play in the AHL. Then again the OHL changed their age restriction rules to accommodate the phenom talent of Tavares. Will the AHL do the same. And then will the Leafs somehow work it so that Tavares becomes their NHL property? The Leaf Nation rumour mill is in overdrive on this one. Here are links to just some of the whack stories in today's papers on this.

http://www.thestar.com/Sports/Columnist/article/270742
http://www.thestar.com/Sports/NHL/article/270749
http://www.thestar.com/Sports/NHL/article/270740
http://www.globesports.com/servlet/story/R...ortsHockey/home
http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/news/sp...e5-5d40b20e5d25

Are the Flyers the Broad Street bullies again? It sounds like bruin Centre Patrice Bergeron could be badly hurt after a hit from behind by Flyer Randy Jones.

This report from this afternoon's Flyers - Bruins game from the Canadian Press.
Boston Bruins centre Patrice Bergeron was taken off the ice on a stretcher Saturday after a scary hit from behind by Philadelphia Flyers defenceman Randy Jones. Bergeron was chasing after a loose puck in the Flyers zone late in the first period when Jones closed in on him and drove his head into the boards with his forearm.

The 22-year-old crumpled to the ice and lay on his back motionless while the Bruins went after Jones, 26.
Medical personnel cut away Bergeron's jersey and shoulder pads as they worked on him, placing his neck in a brace. They placed him on a board and then onto a stretcher, his legs taped together and his arms folded across his chest. There was little sign of movement. The game was delayed some 15 minutes as he was treated. Bergeron was taken to Massachusetts General Hospital, where he was being treated by Bruins team physician Dr. Bertram Zarins. There was no immediate word on Bergeron's condition.

"Words can't express the way I feel right now," Jones said in a statement read by a broadcaster on NESN, which aired the game. "I am very apologetic for the hit and what I did. It wasn't intentional, it's something I have never done before, it is not part of my character. "I'm extremely sorry, I hope he does OK and everything works out for him. I wish him nothing but the best in his recovery." Jones was assessed a five-minute major and game misconduct at 16:07. Jones' hit is the latest violent incident involving the Flyers this season.

Prospect Steve Downie was suspended 20 games after a hit to the head of Ottawa Senators forward Dean McAmmond in an exhibition contest. Then on Oct. 10 in Vancouver, Jesse Boulerice laid a vicious cross-check to the mouth of Canucks centre Ryan Kesler that resulted in a 25-game suspension.

After the Boulerice incident, the Flyers found themselves fighting off an emerging perception that they were a team full of out-of-control goons. "I think we're in agreement that there's no place in the game for this anymore," general manager Paul Holmgren said Oct. 12. "I do think it was an isolated incident."

Added head coach John Stevens: "It's almost implied that's the direction we're going when it couldn't be further from the truth."

The battle of the two big money teams in the NHL - Leafs and Rangers last night at MSG - and much to my surprise - the Leafs look great on the road again for their second straight road win, taking out the Rangers 4 -1. Forbes had reported last year that the Leafs and Rangers made more money than all the other NHL teams combined. And yesterday the Toronto Star shed some more light on just how profitable the Leafs are.

The Leafs are a license to print money and MLSE are very good at maximizing the money they make. A couple of relatively small examples are a good indication of just how good MLSE are at making money. Hours after Mats Sundin scored his 500th goal last season - an overtime winner in a game I was at against the Flames - MLSE had the nylon netting of the goal that he scored into, removed and the nylon chopped up into 2000 pieces. Each of those 2000 pieces were then individually mounted into a frame with a picture of Sundin with a blurb commemorating the goal and MLSE had over $40,000 in the bank. Another example that netted MLSE $125,000 was the sale of 2500 acrylic pucks at $50.00 per puck. The pucks contained water from the melted ice shavings taken from the Zamboni from the last game played at Maple Leaf Gardens.

Those examples are just small potatoes compared to the bigger picture for MLSE. Among other things MLSE owns the Leafs, Raptors, Air Canada Centre, Toronto FC, Leafs TV, Raptors NBA TV and Maple Leaf Square which is the complex being built attached to the west end of the Air Canada Centre that includes two condo towers - already sold out, and retail and entertainment space. According to confidential private financial reports that somehow the Star got a hold of, in the last fiscal year MLSE generated a profit of $83 million on revenue of $383 million. That is a fantastic 21.8 cents profit on every dollar of revenue. And projections prepared for MLSE forecast a profit of $105 million on revenue of $477 million with $166 million of that revenue figure coming from ticket sales. That is a 30% increase in revenue from ticket sales expected in the next four years. I guess that means the already expensive Leaf tickets are going to get even more expensive.

Either that or look out Raptor and Toronto FC fans, your prices are going up. Or could it be the forecasts are expecting extended playoff runs by MLSE teams, generating that extra ticket revenue? Fat chance - at least as far as the Leafs are concerned.

Another off-ice Leaf story that caught my eye this week and had many people chucking.

The Leafs sent out letters to the 6,000 or so people who are on their waiting list for Leaf season tickets a couple of weeks ago and management went on and on about how critical it was that people reply to the letter to be sure that the Leafs had up to date contact information for everybody on the list. Why is that funny you may ask. Well the Leafs - whose season ticket sales are capped at just over 15,400 in the 19,000 seat ACC - had a grand total of 4 season tickets that were not renewed for this season. That's right FOUR! So if I'm # 4000 on that waitlist - boy its critical the Leafs have up to date information to contact me. After all I should be expecting their call in about ONE THOUSAND YEARS!

And as much as the Leafs are the big money maker for MLSE and their basketball cousin Raptors are expecting increased revenues and are expected to sellout almost all of their games this season, it looks like MLSE have also struck gold with Toronto FC. That first year MLS team sold out every game at B-MO Field and they already have the best fans in that league - just have a look at some of the videoclips I've posted over in the soccer thread for examples of that. TFC have over 95% of their 14,000 season ticket holders already renewed for next season and have already sold additional season tickets up to the new 16,000 cap which is up from the 14,000 cap last season. Here's hoping that their on field performance rewards those fans, something the Leafs rarely do for their ridiculously loyal fans.

Versus offers us Sharks at Stars tonight. First look at these two teams for me this season.

Didn't see the game since I was out of town but this is what it says in today's Phila. Daily News:



Edit to add: Jones was given a 2-game suspension today.

Hearing how hot the Wild are, so looking forward to this evenings matchup with the Pens/Wild on Versus...always enjoy the atmosphere from St. Paul....I was impressed with the Sharks comeback win over Dallas last night.