2013-14 NHL Season: "We Are North American Scum"

[Kramerica Industries]

If you had known about this innate skill much earlier on, the Yankees dynasty never happens and the Mets win the World Series in 2000, so, hey, that's your fault buddy.

[njmeadowlanders]

Well I was at Game 4 sitting front row loge down the LF Line at Shea. First pitch, Jeter takes Bobby Jones deep into the bleachers.

Scarred for Life.

Wait, isn't this supposed to be hockey?

Uh...

Potvin Sucks!

[maz]

Well that's some B.S. interesting that JLA has a few Norris banners still up from '87 and '88.

Didn't the Penguins also hang Patrick Division banners for '91 and '92 and they weren't regular season champs.

Yes, but as part of their "Triple Banners" (Which the uniqueness of I still miss dearly), which probably got a pass since two of the three championships on those banners are recognized by the NHL. But then when they updated the banners before the '08-09 season they kept banners for the 91 and 92 division championships, so I guess either the NHL never noticed or has since changed the rule.

[Kramerica Industries]

Tyler Johnson is good at hockey.

[tutorhunky]

Buffalo wins 5-2. Jackets 8 game win streak comes to an end.

Perspective : Still 3rd in Metro. No ground lost. Bob had off night. Miller did not. Let's start a new streak on Monday in Carolina.

[teddthebucfan]

It's kind of sad the number of has-been and c-list celebrities being showcased on the preface show for the LA game.

[cmm]

Anyone else having some audio problems on NBCSN?

EDIT: Apparently other Cablevision folks are having the same problem...thanks, Dolan!

[rams80]

I don't find this over-complicated in the least, really. It's not what I might have chosen, but it's pretty simple.

A. There is no 1-8, since the playoffs are "divisional".

B. Each division's top three are in automatically.

C. The two highest point totals in the conference get in as wild cards.

D. 2 v 3 in each division.

E. The division winner with the higher point total gets the wild card with the lower point total, and vice versa.

F. Brackets are closed; they don't "re-seed" after the first round like in the 1-8 version. Division finals, then conference finals, then Cup Finals.

It's not that hard to understand.

Now, what I would have done with E is kept the wild cards in their own division; in the case that both wild cards are from the same division, they lower one has to switch to the other division.

(Well, ok, really I'd've just kept 1-8 conference playoffs with the division winners getting the top seeds; but people get whiny about that because "reasons".)

So, currently, we have this:

Atlantic: 1. Boston vs 4. Toronto (WC1); 2. Tampa Bay vs 3. Montreal

Metro: 1. Pittsburgh vs 4. Philadelphia (WC2); 2. NY Rangers vs 3. Columbus

Central: 1. Chicago vs 4. Vancouver (WC1); 2. St. Louis vs 3. Colorado

Pacific: 1. Anaheim vs 4. Minnesota (WC2); 2. San Jose vs 3. Los Angeles

Don't even use the Wild Cards. Top 4 in the division get in. With the unbalanced schedule, if you can't crack the top 4 in your division, you don't deserve to get in the playoffs.

A day after signing with Vancouver's AHL affiliate, Vinny Prospal retires. When faced with Utica or not playing hockey, Vinny Prospal chose not playing hockey.

Happy retirement to the guy. Loved him when he was a jacket and he seemed like a great dude. I'll never forget the scoreboard point, haha.

Ah Peoria used to have that effect too. Only with the Europeans though.

[teddthebucfan]

Ice just looks terrible at Dodger Stadium.

[Sport]

Buffalo wins 5-2. Jackets 8 game win streak comes to an end.

Perspective : Still 3rd in Metro. No ground lost. Bob had off night. Miller did not. Let's start a new streak on Monday in Carolina.

I'm not too broken up by it. It was just one of those games. The Blue Jackets dominated in shots and possession and they'll win that game more times than not. The real test will be how they respond monday night in Raliegh.

[HedleyLamarr]

The Kings should really go back to wearing the crown on the front of their jerseys. That pencil-shaped logo has always looked strange for a sports logo.

We're watching the CBC feed.....Mark Lee can cure insomnia with his broadcasts. He usually calls the west-coast Hockey Night in Canada game, and I'd think he puts a lot of the east coasters to sleep when the back-end of the doubleheader is on.....

[Kramerica Industries]

I just can't get behind this game. I love the color contrast between uniforms, but outdoors in California makes no sense.

[DEAD!]

Well, an outdoor game on a clear 17C night in Southern California seems to be more consistent to what the players are used to than a cloudy and snowy -20C game in Michigan.

[njmeadowlanders]

I think the green grass behind the far half-boards is such an awesome stark contrast, that's for sure.

[The_Admiral]

I don't like the Sabres scoring goals all of a sudden. They're really jeopardizing The Mission to 163 here.

[dbadefense1990]

I'm going to laugh if hockey traditionalists complain that the SoCal outdoor game was less than impressive, given how the league relegated the telecast to cable status (a high-tiered network out of reach for many people in this market), botched the whole logistics of ticket sales (face value for the game shooting 2-3 times up despite Dodger Stadium holding twice the capacity of either the arenas in Anaheim and Los Angeles), and produced gimmicks to further stereotype the passionate fanbase of this region ("let's add in beach volleyball and a concert stage because these people don't care about hockey").

I have a theory on one reason why this game couldn't be on national NBC but on NBCSN:

People on the east-coast would be furious and throw tantrums over missing "Saturday Night Live."

It's kind of sad the number of has-been and c-list celebrities being showcased on the preface show for the LA game.

Because all the A-listers attend NBA games in this city, whether or not the Lakers/Clippers suck.

[cmm]

Tickets are marked up for all outdoor games because of the event nature of the games. Islander tickets normally range from $24-$235, but at Yankee Stadium they went for $79-$349. Capacity had nothing to do with it. The tickets are in demand so the NHL can charge high prices for them.

[Cosmic]

I don't like the Sabres scoring goals all of a sudden. They're really jeopardizing The Mission to 163 here.

What's 163? I was hoping they'd break the record for fewest goals in a season that was around 130 somewhere.

[infrared41]

Buffalo wins 5-2. Jackets 8 game win streak comes to an end.

Perspective : Still 3rd in Metro. No ground lost. Bob had off night. Miller did not. Let's start a new streak on Monday in Carolina.

I'm not too broken up by it. It was just one of those games. The Blue Jackets dominated in shots and possession and they'll win that game more times than not. The real test will be how they respond monday night in Raliegh.

Two short handed goals - one of which hit Bobs right in his glove. It was definitely just one of those games. But I'll take 8 out of the last 9.

I may be in the minority, but I'm really digging Ducks - Kings. There's something cool about seeing palm trees at an outdoor hockey game.

Paul Stanley should hang it up.

[HedleyLamarr]

Tickets are marked up for all outdoor games because of the event nature of the games. Islander tickets normally range from $24-$235, but at Yankee Stadium they went for $79-$349. Capacity had nothing to do with it. The tickets are in demand so the NHL can charge high prices for them.

Well, it's more to do that these outdoor games are run by the NHL. The 'home' team isn't running things. The home team does get some preference (such as the organist, STH's getting first-crack on tickets, things like that), but they have little-to-no say on most of the particulars.