Hockey Nights In Canada

After months and months of wondering "Is it October yet?" hockey fans can finally switch on the television and know that it is time.
Depending on what team you cheer for, this summer may or may not have been an eventful one, but fall is finally here and it is the month of fresh starts.

Quite a lot has happened in the NHL since the Boston Bruins starred in their very own version of Miracle On Ice against the Vancouver Canucks during the 2011 Stanley Cup Finals. From triumph (the city of Winnipeg finally has its hockey team back after 15 years) to tragedy (the deaths of Derek Boogaard, Rick Rypien, Wade Belak and the entire Lokomotiv Yaroslavl KHL team made this an unbelievably sad summer for the sport) the drama that unfolded around the league in the offseason made life pretty riveting for any hockey buff.

But with only 1 more day until the official start of the season, the attention is now shifting from what happened to what is about to happen.

The Toronto Maple Leafs, Vancouver Canucks and Montreal Canadiens are the only Canadian teams to play on opening night, with the Calgary Flames making their on-ice debut on October 8 and the Winnipeg Jets and Edmonton Oilers on October 9.

There is a lot to look forward to, with the return of the Jets to Winnipeg being the main storyline. There's also the tale of the Oilers' young guns. Magnus Pajaarvi, Taylor Hall and Jordan Eberle are now more comfortable playing in the big league in their sophomore season, and no doubt the world is anxious to see what they can do this time around.
The Calgary Flames, who were very optimistic this summer about being playoff-bound, are suffering a few setbacks just weeks before the season opener. Jarome Iginla missed all of the preseason games due to a back injury, Rene Bourque was also out since training camp due to an undisclosed "mystery" injury, and most recently, young forward Mikael Backlund broke a finger and will be out for approximately 6 weeks.
Carey Price, coming off of a remarkable breakout season, is coming into the next one with the entire weight of Montreal on his shoulders. He proved to thousands of Habs fans that he had what it took, and now he needs to prove that he will have it for years to come.
And perhaps no other Canadian team will be as finely scrutinized as the Canucks, who rose up the ranks to become the NHL's most formidable team only to be cut down slowly and surely by the resilient Bruins in the finals.

Unlike history, hockey seasons rarely repeat themselves, so it's tough to gauge what will happen in the next seven months. The only guarantee is that it's going to be a nail-biting, edge-of-your-seat, eyes-wide-shut winter. So let's get this show on the ice!

Saturday nights are just not the same without Don Cherry and Ron Maclean

Whoa, Canada!

All across Canada, hockey fans were glued to their TV screens watching as their teams did battle on the ice. Today, all 5 Canadian teams played, and it was a good day for Canadian hockey indeed.

The only losers of the Canadian NHL clubs were the Edmonton Oilers, who can't seem to get out of their downward spiral. The Oilers, who currently sit very last in the league, faced off against the Ottowa Senators on home ice. Perhaps it was no surprise that the Sens swept the game 4-1, given their outstanding season, and the Oilers' disappointing one.
The solitary goal for Edmonton was scored by Fernando Pisani, his third of the season. Goals scored by the Sens were made by Cullen, Fisher, Michalek and Kelly, respectively.

While the Sens continued their hot streak in a win against the Oilers, the Vancouver Canucks were busy jumping over their northwest rivals the Colorado Avalanche to claim the top spot in the division. It was an exciting game that boasted several goals during each period. Though the first period was owned by the Avs (3 goals, 2 of them by Matt Duchene and the other by Chris Stewart), the second period saw the Canucks answer back with 3 goals of their own. But by the third period the Canucks managed to come back from a 1 goal deficit and bring the final score up to 6-4. Daniel Sedin played a major part in the comeback, scoring the first hat trick of his career.

The Montreal Canadiens took to the ice against the Tampa Bay Lightning and came out victorious, with the final score at 5-3 in favour of the Habs. The first goal was shot in a power play, by Glenn Metropolit, less than 3 minutes into the first period. Scott Gomez followed it up 10 minutes later, giving the Habs a 2-0 lead going into the second. Though the Lightning did their best to tie up the score in the second by scoring twice, those goals did not go unanswered, as Benoit Pouliot and Mathieu Darche made sure the Habs maintained their 2-goal lead.
In the end, despite the Lightning's best efforts, the Canadiens did manage to keep that 2-goal lead and skate off with the win.

Luca Caputi played his first game as a Maple Leaf tonight against the Boston Bruins, and it was a good one. Caputi scored one of the goals that put the Leafs ahead, and led them to a 4-3 victory over the Bruins. Primeau and Gunnarsson also contributed to the regulation time goals but it was Nikolai Kulemin who scored the winning goal in overtime.
A little over 19, 000 fans packed the stadium to watch their team win, and it was a much-needed win for the Leafs, who have lost 3 of their last 5 games.
Maybe homegrown Caputi, who is from Maple, Ontario, could be the good luck charm for the struggling team?

And it was a great day for Calgary Flames fans, who anticipated the big game against the Red Wings in Detroit today. The Red Wings sat in 8th in the western conference, just ahead of the Flames, denying them that spot into the playoffs. But the Flames and their fans waxed optimistic, given the Flames' stellar performance in their past 2 games.
The entire first period went by with neither team making it onto the scoreboard, but shortly into the second the Flames gained the lead courtesy of Daymond Langkow. As the period progressed however, the Red Wings rallied not only to tie the Flames, but take the lead, with Holmstrom and Datsyuk each claiming a goal. Coming into the third, Jarome Iginla stepped up and reminded the NHL once again why he remains one of Canada's current hockey heroes with a powerful backhand. Iginla followed that up with an assist for Rene Bourque, and in the last 2 minutes of the game, Christopher Higgins earned his name as a new Flame in the recent trade, by delivering a slapshot and taking the final score to 4-2, Calgary.

It was the third straight win for the Calgary Flames, who, prior to the Olympic break, were sliding down a slope of back-to-back losses. The Flames had not had a 3-game winning streak since early December of last year.

The Vancouver Canucks lead their Canadian counterparts in league standings, sitting pretty at #4, while the Calgary Flames have moved up one spot to cinch 13th. They are followed closely by the Montreal Canadiens, who are at #16, while the Toronto Maple leafs (#29) and the Edmonton Oilers (#30) are expected to watch the playoffs from a distance, holding the last 2 places in the NHL.

Flames vs Red Wings, March 9th 2010