Barrie

I just want to see another team in Southern Ontario......

How about that goal he saved in Game 2 of the 1997 WCF? That was sweet too! If you forget, it was similar to the one he stopped this year against the Sharks.

Perez and Maggs made sure it was a no-no!

You saw the best parts anyway. The first 5 innings wouldn't have been as exciting as the last 4. I'm surprised at Verlander so far this year. I thought he'd have a little bit of a drop off in his 2nd year, I guess not! Him and Bondo are a combined 12-2! More great news, Rogers will be back before the All-Star Game . Now we just need "Zoom" in there for August, September, and the Playoffs .

I don't understand why the Leafs would re-sign him. Look at all the UFA's this off season. It would have been a lot better for them to use that money to lock up a Drury, Smyth, Briere, etc. for 4 or 5 years instead of bringing back Sundin. The Leafs should have traded Matt's at the deadline last year, instead they are going to get nothing for him. Plus they are stuck with Kaberle's, McCabe's, and Kubina's contracts. The Leafs are a joke!

Just curious, because none of the Detroit teams have moved, if the Pred's leave town for K-W, would you follow them to Southern Ontario, pick another team, or you haven't thought that far yet? I've seen team's move out of Canada, and I've always wondered what they did.

See post #10 in this discussion, check a map, Balsillie has close to 3 Million people within an hour drive of the area, and that doesn't include people willing to drive in from Toronto. Also, with how bad the Leafs are run, price of Leaf tickets, and the number of people who can't go to Leaf games, the area is in bad need of another franchise. Ottawa has about 1 Million people to draw from.

I think Nashville is a better market than Phoenix and Miami.

I wish the Florida or Phoenix teams were the ones possibly being moved. I like the idea of another team in Southern Ontario, but it's to bad it has to be the Pred's moving.

I don't know if this is true or not, but I heard on the FAN 590 that Balsillie is from K-W and his wife is from Hamliton. Both are huge Hockey fans. Balsillie's wife has been dying to see a team in the Hamilton area, so for her birthday, Balsillie is going to buy the Preds and move them to Sourthern Ontario. The radio host at the time, Bob McCoun, had a classic line after that. He said, "I bought my wife a DVD for her birthday".

Still small, but I understand Anaheim is a 'burb of LA, and if the Dodgers won it would be more than 10 times that. I really can't complain that they only had 15,000 for the Cup in Anaheim. It's their first taste of victory. The Wings have been around for 80 years and are rich in history, so it's really not a fair comparison. You can't expect 1 Million to show up if only 100,000 showed up for the World Series. Every team has to start somewhere. Tampa and Carolina are better fan wise for winning the Cup, maybe Anaheim will too. Maybe it's just me, but I have a feeling if we win it all in the next few years we won't draw 1,000,000 to the parade. I'm thinking maybe 600,000-800,000 which still huge, but I would think the numbers would be down a bit without Yzerman, Shanny, DMac, Fedorov, etc.. The 1995-2002 team had an amazing connection with the fans, probably something we won't see for a very looooong time.

True, but look at the surrounding cities within a 60 minute drive: -Mississauga 700,000 -Hamilton 500,000 -Kitchener-Waterloo 400,000 -London 400,000 -Brampton 300,000 -Burlington 150,000 -Oakville 150,000 -St. Catharines 150,000 -Cambridge 110,000 -Guelph 100,000 -Brantford (where Gretzky in from) 100,000 -Niagara Falls 80,000 -Woodstock 50,000 -There's also number of small towns under 50,000 (Stratford, Ingersoll, Paris, Fergus, St. Thomas, etc). He has 2,740,000 people to draw from, and that doesn't include people willing to drive in from Toronto. I live in Burlington and it'll work, no question. Putting the team in Cambridge (right on Highway 401) is a brilliant idea. With how bad the Leafs are run and how passionate the fans are here for hockey, Southern Ontario needs another team very badly. No offence to Nashville fans and Legionnaire11 (I understand your passion), but Balsillie is drooling at the possibilities of moving the team out of there and into Southern Ontario. The city can do all it can to keep the Pred's, but it would be a horrible business decision to pass on the Cambridge opportunity and stay in Tennessee. Balsillie is doing every he can to move, plus he has the money to pretty much do whatever the hell he wants. Edit: Any action taken in Nashville will only delay Balsillie's plan by about a year or two. He'll get it done.....

Just curious how many people showed up for the 2002 Anaheim Angels World Series Championship celebration? I'm sure with all the established teams in LA (Lakers, Dodgers, and Kings), it was a tough sell to get people to cheer for the Ducks, Clippers, and Angels

I can't deny the anti-Ducks comments/arguements. Actually I didn't come around as much during the playoffs this year as I do the rest of the season, because emotions are riding high. I'm been around here since 2003, trust me, things are usually cool .

Cool! I was at that game too! Yzerman scored a goal to pass Messier all time, and we gave him a Standing O during the commercial break. I'm man enough to say I got a little misty eyed and choaked up knowing it was the last time I'd see him live. Actually seeing about 11 Wings games in person (7 in Detroit, 2 in Buffalo, and 2 in Toronto), that was the only goal I saw him score. Anyway, to answer the original question, my 1st Wings game at The Joe was Feb 16, 2001 vs. Columbus (I kept the ticket stub). The Wings won 3-1 I remember, and Vladdy was in the owners box, which made my frist trip really cool.

eva, I like those relocation/expansion teams, and the divisions.

Those are the main ones....

HAHA!! Lou, you da man!!

Oh man, I should have entered. I was 13-2 with my series picks (Ottawa screwed me twice), and was very close with the games too. Oh well, there's always next year.

A BIG from me on expansion. If the NHL really wants teams in KC and LV, they should move 2 organizations that aren't doing well in their current city. Florida and Phoenix come to mind, assuming Nashville moves to Southen Ontario. I like the West too, however, if Nashville moves to Southern Ontario, it would rule for me because I'm an hour away from Toronto, Buffalo, and Kitchener-Waterloo. I'm assuming Detroit would be in a division with those 3 teams and probably Montreal, so I'd be a 60 minute drive from 12 Wings road games.

The Ducks will be back in the thick of it all next year, no doubt! We'll be there too along with Buffalo.

Well I'm not surprised Anaheim won. I picked them before the playoffs started. They paid their dues, and it was their turn to take that next step and win it all. Congrats to the Ducks organization, and that includes Pronger Man, we're soooo close to winning the Stanley Cup again. Even though Ottawa lost in the final, we were the 2nd best team in the Playoffs. Is 2008 our year?

No worries, we'll get it back soon.

Great minds think alike, I was going to post the same score. However, I think Anaheim is going to score the first 4 goals, then Ottawa get's one mid-way through the 3rd. It's over tonight! I had a friend about an hour ago (he's a "Canadian Homer" and is cheering for Ottawa BIG TIME!!), wanting to bet me Ottawa is going to win tonight. My response was, "Nah, I don't want to take your money".

People around here are upset about this one, however, the ACC will still be jammed every game. We need another NHL team in Sourthern Ontario very badly......