The Hockey Thread

[Simey]

Next weekend in Prague and Stockholm, the 2008-2009 NHL season gets underway, and the hockey season is already a month old here in the U.K., so it's time - well, I think so anyway - that we had:

THE HOCKEY THREAD

Of course, from Thursday 9th October, the NHL will return to North America for the rest of the season. But what will happen?

Can anyone stop Detroit from winning back-to-back Stanley Cups? Can Pittsburgh take things one step further having come so close just a few months ago? Can Montréal put together another terrific regular season and keep their skates on for the Play-Offs? Can the Florida Panthers....well, anything....?

And most importantly, of course, can any goalie lay claim to a cooler name than Cristobal Huet? (now of the Chicago Blackhawks - how exciting!)

Also, can BC put forward some more pertinent questions than me, since he knows so much more than I do?

Here in the U.K., last year's Elite Ice Hockey League champions, Coventry Blaze, have got off to a slightly shakey start, but as of last night have squeezed into the top half of the table, which is currently headed by Nottingham and Belfast. I can't help but wonder if Coventry are missing über-goalie extraordinaire Trevor Koenig a little as they've so far let really rather a lot of goals in by their standards.

Anyway, to kick off a bit of hockey fever - well, for at least two of us on the site, I think - and to mix Coventry with the NHL, here are entertaining Eastern and [url=http://www.coventryblaze.co.uk/news_features.php?id=68
]Western[/url] Conference previews via the Blaze website.

On a sad note, Paul Newman, who - amongst many other things - was the star of probably the greatest ice hockey film, Slap Shot, died on Friday. Here is the NHL site's tribute to him.

[Black Cat]

Ahhhh... Slap Shot... One of the most popular movie in Quebec because there were so many French Canadians playing in the movie and it was dubbed in French Candian language. Brings me to talk about the movie The Rocket which is on Habs' great Maurice Richard that the CBC broadcast yesterday. Not a bad movie at all. It's not exclusively about hockey, it's about the man himself. And we get to see Sean Avery playing as a goon for the New York Rangers. For some reasons, I thought that he was good. ;D

Ok, Maurice Richard is part of the rich history of the Montreal Canadiens. The Habs are playing their 100th season this year, and on December 4th 2009, the club will celebrate its 100th birthday! And for this occasion, they are preparing a bunch of bonus things for the fans. Here's a slideshow regarding this:canadiens.nhl.com/team/app/?service=page&page=MediaGalleryPlayer&galleryId=7269
You will be able to take a look at the 6 Centennial Jerseys (well, the one from 1970 is no different than the one they already use on the road) that the team will each wear on two occasions this season (except for the two oldest ones which will be worn next year), including the "Barber shop" jersey!

Now, from jerseys of the Habs, let's move to third jerseys for the other teams. Yeah! Third jerseys are making a comeback! JerseyDatabase.com got an inside look at what is coming. Well, in fact, they got some written descriptions of what is coming. That didn't stop them to draw these jerseys based on the descriptions. And surprise! On the four third jerseys that have been officially unveiled, the drawings that JerseyDatabase.com have made were really similar to the final product. So, here's a link for the first part of third jersey concepts:www.jerseydatabase.com/blog.php?p=22
And here's the link for the second part:www.jerseydatabase.com/blog.php?p=27

Here, in honor of Paul Newman

[wildhare]

Oh the good old hockey game is the best game you can name and the best game you can name is the good old hockey game. (Sorry couldn't resist)

Speaking of narional athems, I wonder what the new theme song for HNIC will sound like? Guess I will have to wait till saturday night Leafs vs Habs the second best rivalry in sports (Yankees vs Redsox being #1-hey if the leafs and habs ever get good at the same time again then we will talk- And as a shout out to the brits Chelsea vs Man U the last couple of years has been pretty intense.)

Hurray for Hockey and very sad about Paul Newman.

Hey Jean-Guy changer le cannal...
Non Jean-Guy Touche pas...Touche pas

[Simey]

Well, the Rangers took both matches over Tampa Bay in Prague, while Pittsburgh and Ottawa shared the honours in Stockholm.

Meanwhile, the Habs lost 3-0 at home versus Minnesota.

Over here, Coventry lost a very tight 3-2 to Belfast. Again:

I'm excited, however, by the new subscription service that NHL.com seem to be trying out next weekend - will I actually be able to use it from the U.K. to watch more hockey? Here's hoping!

[Black Cat]

The Habs lost wasn't important since it was still an pre-season game. However, the president of the French Ice Hockey Federation was present to that game and talked with the president of the Habs of the possibility to see the team playing their first game of the 2009 season in Paris, just like their were games in London last year and in Stockholm and Prague this year. Will be interesting to see how it will go.

As for the new anthem of HINC, I know there're five finalists, but one of them has supposedly already worked with the guy who've made the edit of the submissions for CBC. So the other finalists say it's unfair and that there is some bias...

Hey, Simey, you know that you can watch the Habs game on the net? Of course, it costs something like 2,75$CDN per game, but you might like it.

[wildhare]

Games in Paris you say hmmm sounds interesting but do they still have any french players on the Habs or did the montreal media chase them all away?

[Black Cat]

Haha, funny. That's what a lot of people are saying around town. But it seems that it is not quite true. Georges Laraque once said a few years ago that he would never come to play for the Habs because of the mediatic pressure. And look who signed a brand new contract with the team as a free agent this summer! Mike Ribeiro also said something similar after he had been traded to Dallas. But last year, he said that he would come back to Montreal anytime now because he felt he could deal more easily with the pressure.

Actually, we have more French players than last season because of the addition of Big George and of Alex Tanguay.

And Tom Kostopoulos speaks French!

And I'll get to listen the old HNIC anthem tonight now that RDS and TSN own the rights!

[Simey]

Oct 9, 2008 15:40:51 GMT -5 Black Cat said:

Hey, Simey, you know that you can watch the Habs game on the net? Of course, it costs something like 2,75$CDN per game, but you might like it.

That sounds good, but will the commentary not be in French?

And will I be able to use the service here? Other on-line services seem to have been blocked 'in your region', whatever that means.

I have just found an encrypted service on our FreeView box that appears to broadcast some stuff from NASCN (?) including some NHL matches, so I must find out how costly that will be to use. Meanwhile, I'm impatiently awaiting the return of the Channel Five NHL show in November.

Have the Hockey Night theme rights returned whence they came of is this going to be on a different broadcaster?

[Black Cat]

Oct 10, 2008 16:37:07 GMT -5 Simey said:

That sounds good, but will the commentary not be in French?

And will I be able to use the service here? Other on-line services seem to have been blocked 'in your region', whatever that means.

Supposedly, yes. The only place where you can't watch the games online are in the US since the internet rights are own by... someone else, I don't who. And yes, the description will be in French, but hey, don't you want to learn French? ;D

[wildhare]

I heard the new HNIC anthem this weekend and it is pretty underwhelming, sure it starts out ok with the bagpipes but then it just sort of goes nowhere. I walked away not being able to hum any of the tune.

Sigh count me disapointed.

[Black Cat]

Haha, and I keep hearing the hockey theme on every single Habs game on the French broadcaster. Problem is, I'm starting to get annoyed by it as they overuse it. Every freakin commercial break must start with it!

[wildhare]

Annoyed by it how can this be all I have to hear is the first 5 bars and i'm instantly whisked away to cold winter nights under cotton candy colored skies, playing till my toes go numb or my ears which ever came first. I can still hear my friends yelling what's the score and Eric ( he always knew the score) answering 56 to 48. Like this mattered at all because any minute Mrs. G would scream out her window "Eric you're mother called" and it would immediately be a case of 'NEXT GOAL WINS'

Long live hockey, the greatest game ever invented by man...

[Simey]

Gah! Missed the return of the Channel Five NHL show last night 'cause I tried to grab a couple of hours sleep in order to be able to stay awake until four in the morning watching it and didn't wake up until ten hours later - I think I must've been tired (I even slept through my massively loud Radio 1 alarm).

Needless to say, am annoyed with self.

[Simey]

Sooooooooooo....

Buffalo beat St. Louis on Wednesday night. How do I know this? By finally seeing some dratted hockey, darn it! I was flagging during the last ten minutes (played shortly before four in the morning here), but it was a decent match and, well, it was hockey at last!

Next week they're showing Buffalo again, this time versus Boston - could be a nice little match-up.

Must up the pace of my enquiries about the digital service that sometimes shows NASN broadcasts - the time that the information at the bottom of the screen said 'NHL: Montreal vs. [can't remember which team]' whilst the screen was blank and just said 'Encrypted Service' was painful.

[Black Cat]

Habs have not be playing well recently. They won yesterday against St. Louis, but it wasn't the best game of the century. Hope they get back to the way they were playing at the beginning of the season.