akustyk

the video isn't working anymore. if I understand correctly, it says something about NRK not being holder of appropriate rights or something like that. anyway, I saw it happen live with multiple replays. should have been an interference called on this one and no goal. on the side note: I'm watching Switzerland against Belarus right now. turns out to be a solid, hard fought game by two teams that are much better than many think of them. Swiss seemed to be the favorite to win this one, but Koval in Belarusian net is huge and their forwards aren't slouch either. and... Finnish cheerleaders absolutely rock, perkele!

you nailed it, buddy! and I don't even know which of those is worse. though, after kicking away of Fuhrer Mosley F1's become much better sport, so I'd probably spare Ecclestone in this comparison. FIFA on the other hand... my god... now this is a mafia!

Im not 100% sure. reffing was bad (not that bad as Finland - Slovakia, but nevertheless) but the goal scorer clearly had skate in the crease and AFAIR this is still in the rulebook of international hockey. truth being said, there was clear interference from Russian D-man on this play...

I don't recall seeing A's on players jerseys, but team captains... well... it's in the rules of the ice hockey Alfie is captain of Team Sweden. and he's been playing good

not really. maybe from North American point of view it looks like this, but for European players this event, played almost always in Europe, is a big deal. mind you... it's normal time for people here, we can watch the game without losing sleep, and for a big number of fans it's a chance to see home grown talent. and for those players its a big chance to represent their country which at this side of the pond is still important. in short: just because it is outside US/North America doesn't mean that it is worse...

AFAIK, youtube channels should be available for viewers in restricted countries after installing something to disable country check or something like that. dunno the details, check chat messages on these channels at the start of the game... EDIT: http://www.youtubeunblocker.org/ - but don't complain about commentators. they're really bad

speaking of tonight games... Sweden's up 2-1 against Czechs. goals from Franzen and (our) Kronwall Zatta with 2 assists. and Jimmy had a fine game in US net in the win against Canada. can't explain Slater being called US first game star, after coughing up horrible give away that led to Canada tying game with 1:30 to go in regular time... seriously... how come...?

before last CBA richest teams came around $50M in payrolls. at this point salary cap for all teams is $60M and is likely to get higher. before the CBA NHL games were often dog boring with all the clogging, trap and low scoring, monster goalie pads games. now it's fast, with lot to see in terms of skills and with extremely competitive and unpredictable playoffs. I'll take NHL AD 2012 over the AD 2004 version. any day. and it's really tough to say this is not to attribute to Bettman and the team of people who lead the league. apparently, they've raised the bar significantly and the product, as of now, is much better to the fans. and it makes a lot of money...

was Kronwall wearing #4 by chance? as for the game... lot of good hustle from Ruotsi, but Norway kept playing tight D. anyway... it's just the beginning of the tournament and there's 7 games in group phase this time, so we can't really expect teams to play their hearts out every single game.

www.youtube.com/icehockey

after watching Game 1 of this series I got an impression that Devils are very well structured and have outstanding teamwork which will eventually swing the series to their favor. as flashy as Flyers can be (when it comes to playoffs Danny Briere is f* Franzen plus speed and more skill, and Giroux can be jaw droppingly good), they'd need excellent goaltending to get pass Devils. something they don't have. I can see them stealing next game, but this series is IMHO over in 6 games. and, yup, Parise is better overall player than Ilya. perhaps less flashy and less dangerous all by himself, but less streaky and a monster of a team player... get him, Kenny, at whatever cost below 60M/7yr

good for them. does the beer cause drinker to fall/dive at slightest push and whine to authorities? thought so...

she's hot! most deserving, IMHO, but I'd rather see Preds win a Cup and/or Legwand a Conn Smythe before doing something like that. as it is now, hanging up Legwand's number in the rafters would be even worse than Divealanche "history". truth being said, Weber is probably even better candidate, provided he stays a couple more years with Preds and wins some team award (apart from his overdue Norris)

update: Mrazek is in as 3rd goalie of the Czech National Team for the IIHF WC. not to shabby, buddy!

Nashville is deeper but you never know in playoffs. anyway, I'll be rooting for Preds. the franchise does so many things right, they play hard day in, day out, I'd like to see them reach WCF (at least) finally.

best for the league and rating: Rangers - Kings matchup I'd like to see: Preds - Flyers truth being said, except for Bruins and Blues there's no team left in the playoffs as of now, that I'd be unhappy seeing with the cup.

Philly Predators Sens Yotes in no particular order, though Preds > Yotes, Philly > Sens if they would meet in a series.

while I don't get Hossa booing at JLA, I have total understanding when it comes to Fedorov. the way he handled negotiations with the Wings and finally ditched them, I can understand people being angry. sure, the fact that he felt like a franchise player for a decade doesn't help his case, but IMHO the negotiations and the way he handled them is what pissed me off. can't judge whether it's the same situation with Jagr, and the fact that he went to the arch rival surely makes it worse. on the other hand... I don't really see this "he played ther for a decade" argument for Jagr and Penguins fans. most of those fans didn't even see a game with Jagr on a TV, because back they they're busy in a sand pit or pre-school and the bandwaggoners probably didn't even hear about the NHL before... as for Malkin and Pens play... I think they escaped a fair number of slashing penalties in this game, and Malkin yet again going punk without a call doesn't really wonder me. but the game, in general, has been pretty good officiated. considering the situation (late season, likely playoff opponents, interstate rivals, lot of bad blood... and these are Flyers, mind you!) you have to give the refs big thumbs up...

if there was ever a Wings player who had worse shot accuracy than me, it's Sammy. he could hit everything around the goal, but never the goal itself... brutal, simply brutal

it's all down to matchups and it's pretty tough to predict the outcome of the first round as it is now (http://espn.go.com/n...ayoffs/matchups), not even to mention eventual 2nd round pairings and how the teams will fare in terms of health and fire under their * both are good teams and can make it deep, depending on what kind of adversaries they'll face hey, waz rong wiz pikchairs? emperor Babs is not fine with your attitude, young padawan!

I think it's all down to how ref interprets the "impeding goal" quote. Fraser would have called this the "spirit of the rule" and it probably is same what we understand: puck was heading towards the net, i.e. it was not obvious it's going to miss the goal (and this is not the same as: it was clearly headed into the goal!) but literally, the ref is not totally wrong in making this call the way rule 63.6 stands. truth being said the "impeding goal" statement may need some adjustment now...

on the other hand, if you're a player or players agent about to sign a new contract, will you rather sign for a GM who is known to respect the agreements, even for less money, or chose someone who once counted on league bailout (subsequently stripping players from their incomes) and risk part of your future salary not being paid, thereby effectively lowering the real value of the contract? it's not really a free lunch to GMs here, as they do risk their image and future abilities to sign/trade. thankfully!

using car analogies: US car is usually much bigger than European car and there's by far much more space under the cap to do safe and easier handled assembly. for smaller cars, with less space under the cap, you need to compromise some serviced comfort and ease of error handling in order to have the thing perform good and fit under the space limitation. and I think it has more to do with space limitation that with certain alignment of parts that make up for the whole. it't not much different with other NHL teams. speaking of car brands/makers - I honestly can't stand drivers of German cars. not all of them, but particulary Volkswagen and BMW drivers are pain in the * and I often wish I had a gun in my car to get rid of those cocky SOBs who thing they have the road all for themselves. can't comment about American car drivers, because we don't have many here - space is too precious (and fuel too costly), especially in Netherlands, to waste it with oversized and uneconomical tank-sized vehicles, when something like Toyota Aygo, Peugeot 206 or at most VW Golf is perfectly fine...

what exactly do they have now? decent starting goalie? nope. by far not good D corps? nope decent forwards? yep, but it's not like they have prime talent there... good teamwork in D? absolutely not. their defense is pathetic good teamwork in front? yes, when it works... Maple Laughs are a disaster right now. if you recall how Blackhawks or Penguins rebuild process... they at least were on the right path in their 4th year...

but Burke was supposed to be the best GM out there who only builds winning franchises.... I can't stand Burke and his love for flashlights. looks like he'll go down in the very best place to do so - Toronto. there won't be shortage of flashes and media attention when he's fired next season... gotta say... loving every minute of this situation. this team has been atrocious for years - too bad to reach the playoffs, to proud to admin being bad and tank the season for a high draft pick. and I'm sure they won't pull a decent losing streak for the rest of 2011-12 but do their best to finish 9th. Toronto Maple Laughs. epic fail written all over it. plus: it's great fun to follow Toronto Sports Network how their tune changed from "this is the year" in the beginning of the season to the current doom and gloom.