Battle Of Hudson

I’m speechless at that rant Steve and totally agree. Moving the games to that time in this zone is horrible. Who wants to waste away their whole day watching a game instead of taking advantage of the outdoors?

You know what this is about, right? The same thing that the stupid freaking NFL has done to us and paying customers. Moving games later and later to make it easier for the West Coast. We may as well not even count anymore. The disrespect is sad. Anything to inconvenience the Eastern time zone. I’m telling you man. One day a vast majority who live in this zone aren’t going to care enough to tune in. And maybe then they’ll learn their lesson.

Some off-hockey stuff, and because I had no where else to whine about this and Wyshynski’s never on AIM on weekends and no one else but the people who read this will listen to this rant:

How retarded is MLB On Fox?

First of all, how often is a game in HD? Baseball is even slower to adapt than the NHL!

Secondly, it’s not a national TV package if you air 26 weeks of coverage, 2-3 games regionally each week, and don’t include 7 teams at all (Baltimore, Cleveland, Milwaukee, Tampa, Toronto, Kansas City, Pittsburgh).

Third, dropping one game and moving every telecast to 3:55 PM on Saturdays. Three-Fifty-Five. I do not want to watch a ball game at 3:55!

Here’s the schedule, as I point out stupidities along the way

(NOTE: ALL GAMES START AT 3:55 P.M. ET, Pre-game at 3:30 P.M. ET, TWIB airs at 3)

April 7
NYM vs. ATL
MIN vs. CWS
LAD vs. SF

April 14
HOU vs. PHI
LAA vs. BOS
TEX vs. SEA

April 21
NYY vs. BOS
STL vs. CHC

April 28
BOS vs. NYY
CHC vs. STL (This is not a mistake)

May 5
CWS vs. LAA
PHI vs. SF
SEA vs. NYY

May 12
DET vs. MIN
CHC vs. PHI
LAA vs. TEX

May 19
NYY vs. NYM
CWS vs. CHC (Only 1 game in both series will air on Fox this year)

May 26
BOS vs. TEX
CHC vs. LAD
PHI vs. ATL

June 2
NYY vs. BOS (Were up to 3 on the BOS-Yanks count)
STL vs. HOU

June 9
NYM vs. DET
HOU vs. CWS
OAK vs. SF

June 16
SF vs. BOS
LAA vs. LAD
DET vs. PHI

June 23
NYY vs. SF
PHI vs. STL
HOU vs. TEX

June 30
NYM vs. PHI
MIN vs. DET
COL vs. HOU

July 7
LAA vs. NYY
ATL vs. SD
MIN vs. CWS

July 14
HOU vs. CHC
STL vs. PHI
LAD vs. SF

July 21
NYM vs. LAD
CWS vs. BOS
COL vs. WSH

July 28
SD vs. HOU
DET vs. LAA
ATL vs. ARZ

August 4
NYM vs. CHC
LAA vs. OAK
COL vs. ATL

August 11
LAD vs. STL
OAK vs. DET
SD vs. CIN

August 18
DET vs. NYY
STL vs. CHC (Up to 3 times for this game)

August 25
LAD vs. NYM
BOS vs. CWS

September 1
NYM vs. ATL
DET vs. OAK
TEX vs. LAA

September 8
MIN vs. CWS
LAD vs. SF
FLA vs. PHI

September 15
NYY vs. BOS (4th Time)
CHC vs. STL (4th Time)
TEX vs. OAK

September 22 & 29 are flex scheduling dates.

I wasn’t thinking of that Jamie. But rather your Jamie who sometimes a few impatient fans complain about when he’s not finishing. I always wanted him on the Rangers. Naturally, they instead wound up with Todd “Heartbeat” Harvey. He was a hard worker but his game took too much of a pounding. I always was a huge Langenbrunner fan and am not surprised by how vital he’s become in New Jersey. The definition of interchangeable.

As for Lundmark, I’m like you. I used to live in Connecticut and saw him dominate a few games for the Pack. I thought he had a future as a player. Then the Rangers mismanaged him. He finished his rookie year strong but then wound up buried on the fourth line thanks to the vet pivots in front (Lindros, Holik, Messier). He wound up lost in the shuffle and predictably lost confidence. He then was relocated to Phoenix for Jeff freaking Taffe. Is he even in hockey anymore? Then wound up with Calgary where he was a fourth liner. Now he’s on his fourth team and I believe is 26 already. Good god. How time flies.

At ths juncture, I can’t see him being more than a support player Steve. If he did better, that would be a great accomplishment.

Jamie was in the Conroy deal. And I always thought Jamie had potential, but now it seems to have become wasted on about 6 teams.

Hearing of Lundmark’s potential, that’s what listening to too much Steve Somers pre-lockout (When hockey was a big part of his show) does to you.

I don’t know about an online debut yet. Tell you what, I will only go on under the name “Eklund”.

I’d love to do more YouTube videos, but I think with so much regulated NHL YouTubbery, it’s gotten harder to find something truly cool.

What does the trade Jamie to LA thing mean? Where the heck did that come from? I think I know and it makes me smile. I guess some things never change, huh?

Hey buddy. I wanted to get your opinion on maybe adding a YouTube video of the week. It could be a great goal or great save or even a great scrap or hit. Maybe we can have a local play if there is one and a league one as well. I’m thinking of ways to make this place even better for everyone who reads it.

Also, are you interested in maybe coming on a future show? I might be having my own show courtesy of blogtalkradio. Maybe one night for a seg, we can discuss the locals’ plight as well as the Eastern race between the Sabres and Devils along with trade rumors. This could be your chance to debut and maybe also plug our site. It’s your call.

Regarding your point on the difference between the Devs, Isles and Rangers, I couldn’t agree more. The Islanders showed me a lot as well. The question is will they win enough to get in. Carolina got a point in an OT loss to Boston which puts them at 59, one ahead of Toronto and three ahead of the Islanders. The Rangers sit five out. At this point, many are agreeing they should become sellers. We’ve seen this script before. This team just isn’t good enough. Renney refuses to break up the top line and give Shanahan a real center. If he moved Hossa up with Straka and Jagr, that line wouldn’t lose much. Sticking Nylander with Shanny would make a huge difference. But the coach has no guts. In any event, our D is horrible now without Malik and Rozsival. And the coach only played Dan Girardi a shade under 12:00. That is crazy. He shows more than the others.

Here were some comments about the officiating in the Ranger-Lightning game in which way too many questionable penalties were called which begged the question has the league gone too far:

“WTF!!!!! ARE YOU F’ing KIDDING ME? HOW DID HE HOOK?“

“This league is bullsh1t. I’m out.“

“You can thank Mr Bettman for that.
Cannot watch this garbage anymore. The refs have ruined a great game. I’m done. That was the last straw. I’ll be back when Bettman is either dead or fired, or when they straighten this game out.“

“Win lose or draw I’m done too..this isn’t the hockey I grew up with and this year it always seems the rangers are at the wrong end.”

I never thought that things would get this bad. But it is disturbing when you look at almost every boxscore and notice all the penalties. The officials are far from perfect. But if they’re going to continue to make every call at this rate, it will continue to slow down the game to a crawl. A perfect example. The Rangers-Lightning game was at least five minutes ahead of the Buffalo-New Jersey one due to the Devils honoring their past players from the 1995 Cup team. By the end of the night though even with the officials combining for 10 or 11 minors in that Devil game, it actually concluded before the game in St. Petersburg. Both games were decided by a goal. But one had more stoppages which hurt the flow. Many traditionalists I spoke too last year who weren’t in favor of the tacky obstruction calls would evolve into. A year later, they look prophetic. The biggest question is how will it be called this Spring? I am not sure.

I really feel it’s time for the league to get a new commisioner who is in tune with what needs to be done to address these issues along with other things which have been pointed out a lot. Bettman has had his reign. He has failed miserably. I am very down on what’s gone on. This isn’t the sport it was. The diehards love battles in the corners for loose pucks. Me personally, I like when a player works his ass off to draw a legit penalty. And what I mean by that is they have possession of the puck, make a move and then get hooked or held and the arm comes up. It seems to me that they’re rewarding the guys who go down more than the guys who skate through that crap. Isn’t that what they put the rules in there for? To reward the guys who battle and don’t flop to the ice. If they’re being impeded, fine. But if it’s a small hook which has no effect, it shouldn’t be called.

We’ve seen ups and downs regarding this league the past two years. It’s upsetting to see passionate fans so disenchanted with the product that they’re ready to throw in the towel. I love the sport and I’m sure they do too. But they’re older than myself and have seen a much different game change a lot through the years. How can it be fixed? I’ll continue to watch because that’s part of my responsibility. If I didn’t write or take part in an internet show, I’ll admit that my interest might dwindle as well.

I’m lost. We really need to get Greg Wyshynski on our show Wednesday and see what he has to say. He is a diehard Devil fan but also a very knowledgable writer who knows the game and understands what’s wrong as well. He has a Devils book coming out I believe soon. Hopefully, we can land him as a guest and discuss the game as well as how close that book is to finally being out.

Maybe the trade to LA will unleash his poten….oh even Derek probably couldn’t get through that sentence without laughing.

It’s the second game this year they’ve done it. Was there a basketball game or something?

It does suck enough to be a goalie, especially in this incarnation of hockey, so anything that seems close to wronging you is right.

The Devils played exciting hockey the entire third. No really, they did. It was fun and fast-paced.

Sellout on Tuesday perhaps?

Between the Devils and Islanders, and the Rangers, is that, because of their styles of play, you feel NJ and Long Island could take any team in the playoffs in a 7-game series.

With the Rangers, it looks like they might just fall back in 4 again.

You know they’ll do something stupid at the deadline though.

The Isles were very impressive today. I will never count this team out because of Ted Nolan.

At the Moment:

Team-PTS
1.BUF-74
2.NJ-70
3.ATL-66
————
4.OTT-63
5.MTL-62
6.PIT-60
7.TB-60
8.CAR-58 and Tied at the Moment in their game with Boston
————
9.TOR-58
10.NYI-56
11.NYR-54
12.FLA-50
13.WSH-49
14.BOS-48 and Tied at the Moment with CAR.
15.PHI-33

Islanders win in Washington tomorrow, and Carolina loses tonight, the Islanders will be tied with the 2 and have a game in hand on them, in fact, 3 on the Whaler-Canes. If only they’d show up to play Carolina on that night in Raleigh they got dumped on, they might be in playoff position.

Two good games tomorrow. Washington probably needs to win this one to stay in the race, and the Islanders can do what was said above with a win. Derek correctly set up the Pens-Habs game, which will be on national TV in Canada, but not webcast on Comcast or Yahoo. Shame.

I could understand his frustration as that goal was a crusher which certainly turned the tide. And btw…you and I both know that if that happened to Brodeur, he’d be furious. Goalies usually do get pretty hot on plays like that. Just go back to Mike Richter when Zelepukin legally tied Game 7 to force OT. There was nothing illegal done. But his frustration boiled over at Bill McCreary over what was a good non-call. You will usually see goalies complain whenever there’s a player in front like that and a goal is scored.

I can’t really comment for what happened after that as I didn’t see the next two goals. I’ll just assume that it was the Devils’ puck domination which got them that one break you referred to and the eventual winner.

A congrats to the Devils on honoring their first ever Stanley Cup team, the 1995 Devils.

There are two other huge games taking place. Nashville leads Anaheim 2-0 with 5 and change left. If they win, their lead is five. Chris Pronger is back for the Ducks but it hasn’t mattered. In a Northwestern first place battle in Alberta, Vancouver and Calgary are scoreless five minutes in.

Other games of note:

-The Leafs win again, defeating the Senators in a shootout 3-2 to reach 58 points.
-The Hurricanes and Bruins are tied at two headed to the third. Any reason why this one started so late? If Carolina loses, they fall behind Tampa for eighth.
-Flyers surprise Atlanta 5-2. They scored the last four in the third. Btw…Forsberg got 2nd star.
-Kings smother Florida 7-0. Yes, Jamie Lundmark tallied his first of the season. Oh my.

Who cares? We all know in our heart of hearts Marty is, and Miller whined about that Madden goal to know end, so it was appropriate.

Reminder, these are never the most accurate fans (see Better, Parise’s) but they always mean well and are always emphatic when they want to make a point. Miller’s complaining annoyed them, so they chanted Marty’s name.

18,589 at The Swamp tonight to watch NJ beat the #1 team in the East. This I believe, is the third “Newark Sellout” or a game that’s attendence will sellout the Newark Arena. Biggest crowd of the year, partially due to the Buffalo traveling circus, and frankly, the other half to see Valeri Zelepukin again.

It was made 1-0 in the 1st on a sweet little goal from Chris Drury going around the net. I’ll ignore the non-goal goal and refer you to Derek’s post. The score remained such until the third, where John Madden jammed away at Ryan Miller until the puck went in. He clearly didn’t have possesion. Ryan’s gotta’ get the glove glued to the ice!

Miller did have a bad break on Jamie Langenbrunner’s goal. He sent one in front for Parise and it went off a leg in front and riccoched in. Then Parise just rifled a wrister for big #20, a great milestone for The Zach. Teppo Numminen (Hello, Numminen. Hello, Jerry) got his first of the year late, but the Devils prevailed in front of a large crowd, 3-2.

Speaking of Newark, enjoy this video:

http://www.sportsnetamerica.tv/flvplayer.swf?file=http://www.sportsnetamerica.tv/flvideo/73.flv&autostart=true&showfsbutton=true?file=http://www.sportsnetamerica.tv/flvideo/73.flv&autostart=true&fs=true
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Sweet.