Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow. A winter wonderland for most of the east today. Better today then next Friday when I drive to Buffalo. Speaking of which, any Broncos fans (besides me)going to the game at Ralph Wilson Stadium next Saturday night?
You have the Sports Illustrated curse. Now you have the Kevin Gibson "Reverse Curse". I commented on Wednesday that Jarome Iginla hadn't scored in nine games and last night he scored twice. Who shall I bless today? How about Ed Belfour?, tomorrow he tries for a fourth time to pass Terry Sawchuk on the all time wins list. The Leafs are playing Dallas so it would be only fitting that the big victory would come against the Stars or the Black Hawks. The win won't come easy, Dallas has won four straight and they are 8-2 on the road this year.
The Team Canada brain trust are all in Philadelphia today at Ken Hitchcock's house as they trim the Canada roster down, then they'll trim Hitchcock's Christmas tree. We can expect an announcement at some point today on the status of Mario Lemieux's Olympic participation.
Niittymaki had an assist last night, but yet he does not register as a +1. Interesting how that works for goalies. Niittymaki's assist came on the anniversary of Ron Hextall's first NHL goal. December 8th is a good day offensively for Flyers goalies.
Adam Foote is the new captain of Columbus. He losta bet. Foote scored his fourth goal of the season last night and Sergei Fedorov scored his first as the Blue Jackets defeated the Islanders in a shoot out. The Islanders were down two goals with under two minutes to play and they came back to tie. The BJ's avoided the choke when David Vyborny scored the only goal in the extra, extra session.
Kyle Wanvig was a goal short of the Harry Cameron hattrick last night as Minnesota laid the smackethdown on the Penguins 5-0 in Pittsburgh last night. The Penguins had no power plays last night and they registered just 11 shots on net in the first two periods. You can had another P to the Pittsburgh Penguins as in Pathetic. In today's NHL you're not going to draw any penalties if you don't generate any offence and 11 shots in two periods isn't going to cut it. How does a team with Crosby, Leclair, Recchi and Palffy for a period and a bit, generate absolutely nothing in scoring chances or shots from closer than 43 feet? I think the bell is tolling for Eddie O in Pittsburgh.
The San Jose/Florida game last night had the top four draft picks from 1997 participating. Thornton, Marleau, Jokinen and Luongo.
Dave Andreychuk hasn't scored in 18 games. He'll score tomorrow against Nashville or he will not. I guarantee it.
What NCAA schools have sent the most players to the NHL?. Here's a partiallist.
Minnesota-74
North Dakota-64
Michigan-62
Michigan State-58
Boston University-53
Denver-48
Boston College-39
Maine-38
Connecticut-1 (Todd Krygier)
On This Date
On December 9th in 1990, Mark Recchi of the Pittsburgh Penguins is third in the NHL in scoring, just three points behind Wayne Gretzky. Recchi should have paced himself and saved some offence for this year.
Trivia
Recchi's teammate in 1990 was second in league scoring on Dec. 9th, whom was it? answer below.
Little Known Fact
Mark Recchi has a street named after him in Kamloops, BC. It's called Sheppard Ave. It's actually "Mark Recchi Way".
Offside
Once upon a time I worked for a bank. It wasn't a branch, I was at an office. When weather like we had this morning was on the horizon there was always a voice mail or an e-mail that went out to the entire department saying, "snow storm tomorrow, you are expected at work on time, so leave extra early." Thanks Warden. Nothing about, perhaps you could work from home, or take it easy coming in, we don't want you to get into an accident, or we understand you might be late due to traffic conditions or delays in transit. Nope, none of that, just get to work on time or else. Very Ebenezer Scrooge of them, and that my snow shovelling friends, is offside, pass the tissues.
Trivia Answer
John Cullen
Kevin Gibson
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