Echolalia

Shane Doan would've been a dream to throw on the third line just for his energy but I think he's too much of a star for this thread. Mostly the local boys. Keslser, Grier, etc. I'd love em all here. I'd also take Jordan Staal in a heartbeat.

The timing was close. I could see one ref calling that hit fair and another ref calling it a late hit. It also looks like the East-West contact to the head the league is really trying to step down on in contrast to a North-South hit. The slow-mo replay shows that Sexton's head turns in synch with Doan's shoulder so I don't doubt that contact to the head was made, although I don't think it was the main point of contact. It appears (whatever that means) that Doan leaned into his head hard enough to kink Sexton's neck a bit but made full contact in the chest/shoulder area. I can definitely see a suspension coming out of this, but with this league who the hell knows? I'd certainly be pissed if that was Kronwall getting hit. At the same time, Sexton was really admiring his pass so I feel like he's at least a bit responsible for his injury. After 2 seconds of the puck leaving your blade you should be focusing on your surroundings again.

This is what i came in to say. I do like the new format for OT they're considering, though. I expect it'll greatly reduce the amount of shootouts that occur and thus the amount of games that are won and lost on individual talent and not team play. It'll also make what shootouts that do occur that much more exciting because there won't be five of them every night. My biggest concern is that once it gets to 3v3, teams will play very passive and not take any chances in the other team's zone due to the severity that a turnover will cause. It may end up being four minutes of one pressuring and two at the blue line, which I don't suspect will generate a whole lot of opportunities. Sustained pressure might go out the window, because it'd be so difficult to keep the puck in with only three guys to patrol the zone and blue line.

I wonder if it will have Crowdwave technology: http://sports.yahoo.com/nhl/blog/puck_daddy/post/CrowdWave-Changing-NHL-arena-experience-for-be;_ylt=Av_HPrTopE3C0F.Mld_oK8t7vLYF?urn=nhl-277518

You're looking at the wrong video. Rick Zombo's ghost was kind enough to embed one in the thread for us, that's the one we're talking about.

Diversity isn't limited to just dark-skinned players, but no I can't think of any other team with as many African Americans as Atlanta.

The Chicago bashing is getting pretty old. We already established they lost a good bit of depth in the off season and the jokes that spawned over the past four months have been enough to last us the whole year. Now its just getting stale.

Is this in response to the play on Franzen, by any chance?

I've been thinking the exact opposite. Datsyuk has had a lot of uncharacteristic giveaways so far and hasn't really had that magic yet that we're used to. That line as a whole isn't meshing too well. I've seen Zetterberg and Datsyuk try to take on four guys at once way too many times already. I think its too soon to blow the line up though. The potential that they have when they're all on the same wavelength is worth the potential losses it takes to get to that point, imo. I hope Babs makes them fight through for it a little longer before adjusting the lines.

Zetterberg and Datsyuk have looked pretty bad this year so far. Homer has nothing to do with the turnovers and poor defensive coverage that these two have been committing. They just aren't playing with the passion that they had a couple years ago.

Friday, October 15 Colorado at New Jersey Toronto at NY Rangers NY Islanders at Pittsburgh Chicagoat Columbus Montreal at Buffalo Atlanta at Anaheim Vancouver at Los Angeles Saturday, October 16 Ottawa at Montreal Boston at New Jersey Colorado at NY Islanders Pittsburgh at Philadelphia Tampa Bay at Florida St. Louis atDallas Washington at Nashville Columbus at Minnesota Buffalo at Chicago Detroit at Phoenix Edmonton at Calgary Atlanta at San JoseX2 Sunday, October 17 Phoenix at Anaheim Carolina at Vancouver

Howard certainly didn't play like a number 1 goalie in the last game. I'm glad Babs is allowing Ozzie to pressure him by giving Ozzie some time between the pipes.

I don't think Bertuzzi has a Cup and Modano has 1 Stanley Cup ring with Dallas. Rafalksi has three rings. Miller also won the Cup with the Ducks.

They need to not be so fancy. Only Datsyuk can consistently pull that off, and he was bad all night. Modano had the right idea and was an inch away from winning it for us.

The feistiness that Howard has already shown in his limited time with the Wings (and in the AHL), I suspect he'll have a fight or two before too long.

He was the best 50-goal junior scorer the Wings ever had

My first impression is likely too good to be true over 82 games. Chicago lost, Pittsburgh lost, Washington lost, and the Wings won against a rival convincingly, with scoring from three lines, a Gordie-Howe hat-trick from an unlikely player, a shut-out from someone concerned with a Sophomore slump, a goal from a "washed up player who should've retired with Dallas", I couldn't have wrote a more ideal script.

This needs to be sig'd

Yeah what the hell does that even mean? How have the Hawks proven better than everyone else they're best poised to repeat in recent history? Or even to win the Cup this year? Last time I checked a bomb went off in their lockerroom and only half the team made it out alive.

I voted to play Bert but I do think that we should see off the Wings' best 50 goal Junior scorer in style.

Oh my... could it be...? The off-season is finally over?!?

Nope. Americans actually start the week on Tuesdays, but when it comes to sports the calender starts on Sunday. This is because Americans love football so much so they consider Sunday day one of the week, so all games (and stats) that occur throughout that week are compared to the Sunday before not after. Somehow this crazy "Sunday being the first day of the week" thing bled into hockey and baseball as well, but in terms of calenders that you buy at Patriot-Aid (a popular American pharmacy found all over here) the week begins on Tuesday. Hope that helps!

So in previous years Versus only covered games on Tuesdays (Maybe Mondays or Wednesdays also, I forget right now). Clearly today is Thursday. So does VS have a wider scope to work with this year, or is Hockey night on Thursdays instead of Tuesdays, or is this just a special occasion because its the beginning of the season?

Friday, October 8 Minnesota at Carolina San Jose at Columbus Dallas at New Jersey Anaheim at Detroit Buffalo at Ottawa Washington at Atlanta [X2] Saturday, October 9 Phoenix at Boston Columbus at San Jose NY Rangers at Buffalo Dallas at NY Islanders Montreal at Pittsburgh Ottawa at Toronto New Jersey at Washington Atlanta at Tampa Bay Philadelphia at St. Louis Anaheim at Nashville Detroit at Chicago Los Angeles at Vancouver Sunday, October 10 Boston at Phoenix Los Angeles at Calgary Florida at Edmonton

I'm interested in knowing how early you have to show up to see warm-ups as well, and if you can just go through the main doors. I remember the doors being closed up until a certain point before they would let anybody in for some games a couple years ago, and we weren't particularly early. Also, what's the protocol for maximizing your chance at an autograph?