As hockey fans, TV game coverage is our lifeblood—and when you’re deep into a big game and stuff begins to go wacko with the reception, it can make you start throwing stuff. But do those maniacs at the cable/satellite companies care? Ha! At Battle of Alberta, Matt explained his own incredibly annoying experience this week and concludes:

“I’m not proposing a big grassroots movement; I’m not against PPV games in principle at all; I’m not trying to raise money for anything; and I’m not trying to garner attention. I’m just a Flames fan (and a goddamned capitalist one at that!) reminding the organization and my soon-to-be-former TV provider that they can ‘eat it’.”

In Hurricane Country, hockey players never get a day off. Canes Country, explains why and reviews a team/fan event that evening:

“The Canes had themselves a busy little day yesterday, considering that it was a perfect opportunity to take an “off” day. Which begs the question, do NHL players ever truly have an “off” day? Not if they win the Cup, they don’t! Most of them started off the morning in the RBC parking lot, framing a new house for Habitat of Humanity. [...]

“Build a house during the day, party with fans at night, what could be better?”

Legends of Hockey briefs us on former Toronto Maple Leafs forward, Shayne Corson:

“Unfortunately Corson’s legacy is forever tainted. Unthinkably he ended his career by walking out on his Toronto Maple Leafs teammates during a playoff series in 2003. Baseless and false rumours ran rampant about him being a cancer in the dressing room and even sleeping with a teammate’s wife.

“Shayne Corson is now setting the record straight. Via Sportsnet.ca’s Audio/Video features, Corson has revealed the torturous demons he has faced in the past 4 years.”

One more thing from ‘Legends of Hockey’ this week—Writer Joe Pelletier has put together a new collection of player bios at Buffalo Sabres Legends. A great primer on the Sabres’ greatest. Don’t pass it by.

I didn’t realize this till yesterday, but Chris DeGroat at The Checking Line has been publishing his own weekly power rankings. You can also get the first 11 weeks of the season neatly archived on DeGroat.net. (Nice work.) And TCL referred me to another site—Irish Blues—which is a brilliant resource on team salaries and cap information. This kind of daily-updated breakdown is not easy to find.

Last but not least, Mike Chen explores the many faces of Wayne Gretzky—all that anger!—and even provides a photo gallery to prove a point. But fortunately there’s a solution, and it lies with Star Wars.

Yoda has the answers for all that ails The Great One. Did you ever doubt it?

See y’all later. And may the force be with you. Or whatever.