Hockey Page 564 - Sports News, Headlines & Highlights

Introducing The NHL Closer
We're gonna try this out for a couple of weeks and see how she works: It's the NHL Closer. We may alternate authors a bit — those guys at Melt Your Face Off do this quite well themselves — but for starters, we pass the mic to the kids at Orland Kurtenblog. Their NHL Closer is written by Canadians fo...

Saying Goodbye To Eric Lindros
We remember, when Eric Lindros first came into the NHL, someone describing him as the type of special player who will be measured "not by the number of All-Star appearances, but by the number of championships won." Well, he made six All-Star teams and never won a title. One suspects people were expe...

Al Arbour Promptly Removes Penguins From His Lawn
• This Was Actually How The Redskins Wanted To Bring Joe Gibbs Back, But He Thought It Was Permanent, And Nobody Had The Heart To Tell Him Otherwise — This story about Al Arbour coaching the Islanders again after 13 years to round out his coaching career at an even 1,500 seems pretty cool, doubly so...

Yes, That's Right, It's An NHL Closer
• Caliendo Can't Impersonate Him. Learn well, kids. When you have a choice between shooting at the goal and not shooting at the goal ... shoot at the goal. This was where I failed miserably in youth sports. But John Madden knew better, and decided against clearing the puck on a power play. His lack-...

The Video Game Version Of What You'd Look Like Playing Hockey
This is Shawn Chambers, who played 23 years in the NHL and won two Stanley Cups. He also has a more modern, odder distinction: He's the worst video game athlete in history....

Imagine That: Being Able To Watch Your Team On TV
We don't mean to speak ill of the dead, but we don't find it all that surprising that less than a month after the death of owner Bill Wirtz, the Blackhawks are close to finally having their games on television....

Put Your Faith In The Philadelphia Flyers
The Philadelphia Flyers have split their first two games of the season, and are generally not considered a serious Stanley Cup contender. But worry not: They totally get along as a team. They even do team-building exercises....

The Islanders Love Those Cute Little Bloggers
You might remember when we told you about the New York Islanders' "revolutionary" Blog Box, in which "bloggers" were "credentialed" to "cover" the "hockey." (We're quote crazy today!)...

It's The Real NHL Opening Night!
Because our hockey knowledge is scant, we've asked Mark Duffy, of copyranter and the Lies Well Disguised column at Gawker, to present a few things to look for during the 2007-08 NHL season, which has its North American puck-drop tonight....

Your NHL Eastern Conference Preview
As you know, we make no pretense at being experts in the world of hockey. (Or anything, really.) Because the season is starting, like, this weekend, we've asked Eric McErlain, of Off Wing Opinion, to preview the upcoming season for us. We don't know anyone who knows hockey better than he does, so h...

Of Course; Electric Skates! We'd Be Idiots Not To Try Them!
Introducing, the Therma Blade! Battery-warmed skates that melt the ice to provide more speed. Wayne Gretzky endorses them, so that's something, right? However the first thing that caught my eye about this item — and it may be a telling metaphor — is that the bottom half of the above photo distinctly...

Your NHL Western Conference Preview
As you know, we make no pretense at being experts in the world of hockey. (Or anything, really.) Because the season is starting, like, this weekend, we've asked Eric McErlain, of Off Wing Opinion, to preview the upcoming season for us. We don't know anyone who knows hockey better than he does, so h...

R.I.P. Bill Wirtz
They say that no one on their deathbed ever says, "I wish I would have worked more" — other than Jack Donaghy, anyway — but one wonders if, ultimately, former Blackhawks owner Bill Wirtz, who died this morning at the age of 77, would have secretly smiled to learn that the first line in his obit invo...

Hockey's Almost Here, In Case You've, Like, Forgotten Eh
If Chris Simon and Ryan Hollweg are trying to kill each other, you know that the NHL regular season can't be far off. Saturday, to be exact; unless there's an earlier game I didn't detect, which is entirely possible. Anyway, drama on the slippery surface! If you're planning on attending an opener, h...

Suddenly, There Just Aren't Enough Hockey Tickets To Go Around
With every story about the NHL seemingly existing only to make fun of it, here's a good one: The Sabres-Penguins game, scheduled for New Years Day at Ralph Wilson Stadium, sold 42,000 tickets in 25 minutes. We might question the wisdom of having a huge event like that on a day dominated by college f...

Gay Hockey Players? Now We've Seen EVERYTHING
As we learned from "ESPN Hollywood," the line between the entertainment industry and the sports industry is a blurry one. But one delineation is clear: Hollywood is a lot cooler with the gays....

Hockey may not have offseason tales of dogfighting, point-fixing referees, steroids, or strip club altercations, but they did have an underage drinking party busted. Hey, maybe the NHL isn't in such bad shape. Heck, I can even watch the games on TV, provided I cover my dog in tinfoil and stand him o...
