Kukla's Korner

Flyers Bond In Whistler

Blog: KK Hockey By Paul

10/08/07 at 08:58 AM ET | Comments (0)

from Ed Moran of the Philly News,

Join the NHL and see the world.

That was Derian Hatcher’s take on this year’s version of “holding hands in the woods,” or in this case the temporal rain forests of the Whistler Blackcomb Ski resort, where - by the way - it was pouring all day yesterday….

This year, with three off days between Saturday’s 5-3 loss in Edmonton and Wednesday’s game in Vancouver, the Flyers have stopped off in Whistler.

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Monday Odds and Ends

Blog: Abel to Yzerman By IwoCPO

10/08/07 at 08:57 AM ET | Comments (0)

The Nina. The Pinta. The Santa Maria. The BJ.  All historical references to the great Christopher Columbus.  Celebrate them all today, my friends. Celebrate them all.  As you do, consider the stress that awaits us at this early stage of the NHL season.  I’m even considering firing up the train.  The toughest month of the season starts tonite with Edmonton then continues with the Flames and resurgent Hawks, before it’s on the road twice to hit the traditional Wing foes in the West and Far West (Thanks Gary…Ass).

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Oilers Playing A Different Game

Blog: KK Hockey By Paul

10/08/07 at 08:40 AM ET | Comments (0)

from the Edmonton Sun,

“This is fun, it’s refreshing,” said defenceman Steve Staios, adding that wasn’t always the case in previous seasons. “This team is adapting to the league, the way the game is played now.”

Stoll says it’s as much about the new-look Oilers as it is about the new NHL.

Nobody’s ever going to mistake this bunch for Gretzky, Messier, Kurri and Anderson, but GM Kevin Lowe added a mess of speed and talent in the likes of Andrew Cogliano, Geoff Sanderson, Robert Nilsson, Sam Gagner, Sheldon Souray and Joni Pitkanen.

They’ve got defencemen who can move the puck and forwards who can really move when they get it.

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Holiday Means Matinee Games

Blog: KK Hockey By Paul

10/08/07 at 08:21 AM ET | Comments (0)

We can celebrate Canadian Thanksgiving and Columbus Day with a couple of early games today.  Enjoy!

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Madden’s Offensive Side

Blog: KK Hockey By Paul

10/08/07 at 07:58 AM ET | Comments (0)

from the Staten Island Advance,

With new coach Brent Sutter refusing to play the kind of passive, line-matching style that has made the Devils targets of criticism around the league for years, the harness is off Madden. His two goals were instrumental in the Devils’ 4-1 victory over the Florida Panthers Saturday night and suggested that this could be the start of a new Madden.

“I try to score goals as much as anybody,” Madden said. “Have I been put into position to score goals? No, but things have changed.”

read on

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  Tags: john+madden, new+jersey+devils

Slow Starting Rangers

Blog: KK Hockey By Paul

10/08/07 at 07:45 AM ET | Comments (0)

from Larry Brooks of the NY Post,

It isn’t only Scott Gomez, who appears to have fallen immediate victim to the well known Stephane Quintal Disease, named for the defenseman who lost his game on Broadway by trying to do way too much in order to justify his (comparatively) massive free-agent contract. It isn’t just Jaromir Jagr, who has looked in need of a GPS navigation system on the ice. It isn’t just Brendan Shanahan, whose start to the season has stalled shifting gears.

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The Role of the Enforcer

Blog: KK Hockey By Alanah McGinley

10/08/07 at 01:50 AM ET | Comments (0)

From Jim Gintonio at the Arizona Republic,

Boogaard, the Minnesota Wild’s 6-foot-7, 258-pound enforcer, can rule through intimidation. It’s one reason that penalty minutes for players of his type usually decrease in the NHL from the staggering figures they compiled in the minors while trying to make names for themselves.

“The role is important,” said Shawn Thornton of the Boston Bruins. “I think it keeps people a little more honest. It’s just our job, and we know that, and it has to be done. It’s not that we have any disdain for each other.”

It can be a cat-and-mouse - make that a lion-and-rhino - game when two enforcers are on the ice.

more…

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  Tags: fighting

What Do People Like About the NHL?

Blog: KK Hockey By Alanah McGinley

10/08/07 at 01:37 AM ET | Comments (0)

From Desmond Bieler at the Washington Post,

We could go on about how nobody noticed the season starting for what’s supposed to be a major sports league, and how hockey gets lower TV ratings than mah-jongg tournaments, but that wouldn’t be kind. We wanted to go in a different direction and find out what people actually like about the NHL, eh?

1. Let’s start with the fact that the NHL easily has the coolest championship trophy going. The Stanley Cup looks the part, while the NFL has a football on a stick and the NBA has a basketball perched on the lid of a Big Gulp. The Cup actually has held its share of beverages and, thanks to the NHL’s excellent policy of letting each winning player spend quality time with it, has also found itself onstage at a gentlemen’s club and at the bottom of Mario Lemieux’s swimming pool. Of course, before the Cup makes its annual appearance, you have to wait out a regular season that goes on for longer than the presidential campaign, but it all makes sense once the stakes are raised. The checks just seem harder, the passes crisper and, impossibly enough, Barry Melrose’s hair more lacquered.

continued… (*link may require free registration)

Filed in: NHL Talk, | KK Hockey | Permalink
 

Ovechkin Getting More Defensive

Blog: KK Hockey By Alanah McGinley

10/08/07 at 01:32 AM ET | Comments (0)

From Tarik El-Bashir at the Washington Post,

In his first two seasons, Alex Ovechkin had more ice time on average than any Washington Capitals forward. Yet there was always one situation in which he’d be glued to the bench: as his team protected a lead in the final seconds.

That, however, has started to change this season. With a renewed commitment to defense, Ovechkin has gained Coach Glen Hanlon’s trust, and as a result, was on the ice in the last minute during each of the Capitals’ first two games, both victories.

“Coach trust me more right now,” Ovechkin said after yesterday’s practice at Kettler Capitals Iceplex. “The reason is because I play well in defensive zone, I try to play more smart and I go to spot where I have to stay. It’s working.”

continued… (*link may require free registration)

Filed in: NHL Teams, Washington Capitals, | KK Hockey | Permalink
  Tags: alex+ovechkin, washington+capitals

Sydor Still in Transition with Penguins

Blog: KK Hockey By Alanah McGinley

10/08/07 at 01:21 AM ET | Comments (0)

From Keith Barnes at the Tribune-Review,

When Darryl Sydor takes the ice Wednesday in the Penguins’ game against Montreal, it will be a milestone night for the 35-year-old defenseman.

He officially will pass Mike Ricci on the all-time games played list and will join an elite group of players who have appeared in 1,100 career games.

Including the Penguins, Sydor has played for five teams in his NHL career. He won the Stanley Cup in 1999 with Dallas and 2004 with Tampa Bay and has played in two All-Star games. But through his first two games with the Penguins, the seventh overall pick in the 1990 draft by the Los Angeles Kings has had some problems adapting to the defensive system run by coach Michel Therrien.

continued…

Filed in: NHL Teams, Pittsburgh Penguins, | KK Hockey | Permalink
  Tags: darryl+sydor, pittsburgh+penguins

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