Tag: NHL

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NHL General

Feb 26 in Sports History: A good ole fashioned brawl

In 1981: In celebration of the brawl that took place last Thursday in Buffalo between the Sabres and Senators, Sportscolumn presents a video that reminds us how bad Our Dad’s NHL could kick our new My NHL’s pansy ass. The Boston Bruins and Minnesota North Stars didn’t wait to react to some borderline (hell, most outside of Buffalo, including the NHL, thought it was clean) hit on one of their so-called “stars.” All they needed to get going was for the referee to drop the puck to start the game. Seven seconds in, it started with a fight between Bobby Smith of the Stars and Steve Kasper of the Bruins. Then the fun began. By the time it was over, both teams combined for an NHL record 406 penalty minutes (Thursday’s game had 100) and 12 players were ejected.

Oh, and Boston won the game 5-1. I don’t even remember who won Thursday’s game.

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Ottawa Senators

Ray Emery leads a good old fashioned hockey brawl

Check out this video of the brawl last night between the Sens and the Sabres. The absolute best thing about hockey brawls is that the goalies are compelled by hockey tradition to fight each other even though they probably never crossed each other’s paths the entire game. Ray Emery gets the nod for this brawl because not only does he dispatch with Martin Biron, he then turns his sights on Sabres goon Andrew Peters. They always say goalies are a little wacko. Emery is just deranged.

Don’t forget to check out our favorite Buffalo site Bfloblog for their reaction to the brawl.

Links:
[Toss in the Towel]: Ray Emery Fights Biron AND Peters! He’s Crazy…And I love It!

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Chicago Cubs

Odds and Ends: Kerry Wood’s evil hot tub


Kerry Wood makes an early bid for the upcoming “Dumbest Non-Playing Injury” list we’ve been meaning to do on Sportscolumn blog. Wood is out for a few days after slipping and landing on his stomach and chest getting out of a hot tub. It’s gonna be that type of season, Cubbies fans.

In other news…

[Flash Warner]: Why Isn’t Hardaway In Rehab Yet?

[Can’t Stop the Bleeding]: Kenny Smith on John Amaechi

[WBRS Sports Blog]: Handicapping The Entire All-Star Weekend

[James Mirtle]: Analysis of Forsberg to Nashville

[Jeff Little]: Looking at past McDonald’s All Americans (1991-1995)

[DC Sports Blog]: Yeah… this isn’t representative of Sixers fans

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NHL General

The NHL would like to remind us that it exists

Now that football season is over, those of you hungry for some sports that don’t include 20 timeouts in the last 2 minutes can focus in on the hockey season. Since we’re Flyers fans, the NHL season ended sometime around September but for those of you with teams still in the hunt for the Stanley Cup, the NHL has a new ad for you. (via Off Wing Opinion)

Btw, you would probably enjoy this video of Bridget Moynahan and Heather Graham kissing more but we couldn’t really find a sports reason to post it other than it being Tom Brady’s ex. But even that is kinda reaching. In any case, you’re welcome.

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NHL General

Odds and Ends: The state of the NHL


We’ve been neglecting hockey lately but since so much has been made of the ratings of the NHL All-Star game, we thought we’d point you over to two blog entries. First, let’s blame Gary Bettman. Second, perhaps all this angst over the state of the NHL and specifically over the Versus ratings are overblown. However, the big difference between college basketball and the NHL is that the college basketball postseason is a must watch event and the NHL postseason is a “is it on?” event. Finally, we have a sign from a female fan that needs to go into the Fan Sign Hall of Fame.

In other news…

[The Offside]: Fireball soccer? Maybe hockey would be more popular if we dipped the puck in gasoline first.

[Awful Announcing]: Wait, why do black people get two Thanksgivings?

[Can’t Stop the Bleeding]: High School wrestling will never be the same in Minnesota

[Yahoo]: Next time you think NFL players are paid too much

[The Hater Nation]: The best Barbaro story picture

[The 700 Level]: How is it that Freddie Mitchell still in the blogosphere?

And finally…. why white people shouldn’t rap: “take a big dump on the bears”? This type of thing happens every year. Remember when some urologist decided to battle TO? People… please… just stop.

Categories
Dallas Stars

You’d have to try hard to miss this goal

Wayne Gretzky and Gordie Howe scored over 800 goals in their careers. Mario Lemieux had 690. Dallas Stars’ forward Patrick Stefan couldn’t get any closer to them last night despite literally having an open net a foot in front of him. In fact, the former top overall draft pick couldn’t be any farther away from those guys if he were traded to Ice Station Zebra. Or farther away from a 4-year-old midget player whose parents couldn’t afford the skating lessons. Seconds away from a 5-4 victory in Edmonton last night, Stefan made a nifty steal of the puck and had an empty net staring at him as he skated into the Oilers zone untouched. For some reason, he didn’t shoot the puck, instead skating all the way in. He then proceeded to miss the open net as the puck jumped off his stick. Then Stefan fell to the ice a la Happy Gilmore in hockey tryouts as the Oilers went the other way and tied the game on an Ales Hemsky goal. Remember, this guy was a number one overall draft pick!

Just think everybody; for a few seconds last night, you were not the worst hockey player in the world. That goes for everybody, even if you live on the Equator and have never heard of hockey, someone out there was worse at it than you were.

The Stars did bail Stefan out, however, by winning 6-5 in a shootout.

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Pittsburgh Penguins

Dec 27 in Sports History: Mario Returns

In 2000: You’ve always heard of player/managers before, but a player/owner? Well, when your owner happens to be one of the greatest players of all time, it’s not that outrageous. Still, when Mario Lemieux, who had bought the team out of bankruptcy to become the team’s majority owner, joined the Penguins lineup, it was a professional sports first. Lemieux’s no. 66 came down from the rafters, and the Penguins instantly became Stanley Cup contenders. Despite sitting for three-and-a-half years, Lemieux didn’t miss a beat, as he had a goal and two assists to lead the Penguins to a 5-0 rout of the Toronto Maple Leafs. Mario kept up the pace for the rest of the year, tallying 76 points in the team’s final 43 games. Lemieux added 17 points in the playoffs to help guide Pittsburgh all the way to the Eastern Conference Finals. Lemieux retired for good in January of 2006.

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NFL General

Odds and Ends: What? No Christian Slater in the booth?



I have friends who are A-listers

The lead producer of Monday Night Football has admitted that perhaps having “B-listers” in the booth for Monday Night Football was a mistake this year and points specifically to Christian Slater. If you were lucky enough to miss Christian Slater promoting a movie during the Seahawks-Raiders game, well, it was extremely painful. When asked whether he was a football fan by Joe Theisman, he replied, “I have friends who are football fans.” Ummm… ok. So next year, ESPN will no longer have any B-list celebs in the booth during games, although there will be plenty of A-list celebs promoting Disney movies.

In other news…

[Call of the Green Monster]: To Welcome Matsuzaka, Manny Plans to Learn “Chinese”

[NBA.com]: Gilbert Arenas responds to Kobe

[Fox News]: Prosecutors drop rape charges against Duke lacrosse players (still face kidnapping and sexual offense chargers)

[TSN.ca]: NHL is considering realigning to 4 divisions

[Newsnet5]: Personal Info On Dozens Of Ballplayers Taken From Dumpster

[Basketbawful]: Whatever happened to Armon Gilliam and his gumby haircut

[Steroid Nation]: Fighter submits a sample of “non-human urine or urine from a dead human being”

Categories
Edmonton Oilers

Dec 19 in Sports History: Gretzky’s youngest to 1000 goals


In 1984: Wayne Gretzky, in a victory over the Los Angeles Kings, became the fastest player ever (23 years old) to reach 1,000 points in his career. Gretzky did it in only 424 games, which beat the former fastest Guy Lafleur by over 300 games. Gretzky would score his 400th goal a month later, also making him the fastest to 400 goals. To put Gretzky’s 1,000 points into perspective: The Great One reached 1,000 in only his sixth season. Mark Messier needed 12 years to reach 1,000, Ronnie Francis took 13, and Gordie Howe had to wait 14 years to reach the milestone. They are the three players behind Gretzky on the all-time scoring leader’s list. Today’s current leader, Sidney Crosby of the Penguins, better step it up quick if he wants to break Gretzky’s record. Sid the Kid would need to average 179 points a year, but nobody has scored that many since 1989.

In 1999: Offensive lineman Orlando Brown of the Cleveland Browns suffered a career-threatening eye injury in a game against Jacksonville. Was it an accidental poke suffered in the trenches from a Jaguar’s defender? No, it was a careless toss of the flag by a foolish NFL referee. While flagging Brown for holding, official Jeff Triplette needlessly Elwayed his flag – which was weighted with bb’s for some reason — and struck Brown in the right eye. Brown reacted angrily and shoved Triplette to the ground. He was ejected and suspended indefinitely by the NFL. He returned to play for the Baltimore Ravens in 2003 and eventually received a multi-million dollar settlement from the NHL. Triplette was never disciplined for the incident.

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Texas Rangers

Dec 12 in Sports History: A-Rod’s big payday



Broke the bank

In 2000: Free agent shortstop Alex Rodriguez cashed in big time, with a 10-year, $252 million dollar contract from the Texas Rangers. Of course, it broke every conceivable record for amount of money paid to any athlete in any sport. In 2004, he was traded to the Yankees, and A-Rod is still waiting for his first World Series ring. According to our sources, the money never bought him a hug, either.

In 1981: Wayne Gretzky set another of his untouchable records, this one the fastest to reach 50 goals. The Great One’s goal going into the year was to score 50 in 50 games, but he was way off. It only took him 39, and he accomplished it at the old Auditorium in Buffalo. Gretzky went on to smash Phil Esposito’s mark of 76 goals in a season and ended up with a mind-boggling 92.

In 1965: While everyone is talking about Bears’ rookie Devin Hester’s performance last night against the Rams with two kick returns for touchdowns, his performance doesn’t quite match the great Gale Sayers. The Kansas rookie set a record with six touchdowns in a game against the San Francisco 49ers. Played on a muddy Wrigley Field surface, Sayers’ scores included an 80 yard reception, a 50 yard run and an 65 yard punt return. His 22 touchdowns in 1965 are an NFL rookie record.