Who Else Is Missing HOCKEY, And How Has Your Team Changed????
 

Okay, guys, only about nine more weeks and the pre-season games start!!! YEE-HAW!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :D (Are you around, techwife?)

My Carolina Hurricanes have lost Erik Cole ... that's the bad thing ... but we had to lose a good forward in order to get a good defenseman. He's the only 'Cane that I've had my arm around ... for a picture at a golf tournament. :( I wish him well, except for when he plays us! We also lost John Grahame, our back-up goalie, but that's okay, and for the best, I think.

The new schedule is released tomorrow. (Hope we have a New Year's Eve game here again, as we've had the last two years.) So it's not too early to say ...

GO 'CANES!!!

SERIOUS WITHDRAWL HERE!!! We didn't lose anyone we really liked...Kalinin comes to mind. But we did get a great fighter from the Sharks! Craig Rivet! At least this July wasn't as traumatic as last year losing our two capitains! That was dreadful!!

Bring on pre-season!!

GO SABRES!!!!!
SABRETOOTH ROCKS!!!

I am a fan of the Dallas Stars, as I am from Dallas. They did really well this past season, I look forward to seeing them go far next season. Hopefully I can catch a few more games. I only got to go to one. My boyfriend is a fan of the Kings, because he's from California. I made fun of him for liking one of the worst teams.

Click on the link....if it works

RIVET!!!

:rofl: I had to check out this thread! My hockey brain has been shut down for the summer, so I have nothing sensible to say:shrug:. However, my husband is a hockey FREAK, and I can't help but absorb stuff during the season. Luckily he's found a message board to "talk to" over the summer, so I'm off duty for now. But it's good to know there's somewhere to talk hockey on here, if the need arises!

Go Flyers!

GO SABRES!!!! Remember how good we were and then the next season how much we stunk?! Yeah I'm in VA, homegrown in Buffalo and my Sabres and Bills support won't die even when I don't or can't watch them.

Sabres didn't change much. They got a defenseman but thats about it. I don't think it will compensate for Campbell :mad: Just like nothing compensated for Briere and Drury!

I have a Briere jersey you can have for cheap!! :lol:

Techwife... You are a Sabres fan too, eh?

:o:o:o:o:o

Oh, no!!! I'm outnumbered by Sabres fans on here already!!! GO 'CANES!!!

:o:o:o:o:o

:D:D:D:D:D

Um, yeah, we're slightly obsessed. I'm a new hockey fan, though, not really understanding it until my DH started watching the playoffs (the last year they were wearing red and black unis) and he explained the whole game, I got to 'know' the players and I became a huge Briere fan. I've been glued to the Sabres roller coaster ride ever since. I used to be an obsessed Bills fan (still a fan, just not obsessed anymore), but I've discovered hockey is more fun to watch than football...and the players are cuter.

I wasn't a HUGE Soupy fan...I liked him, but I think Rivet is going to add a nice layer of experience to the team. I'd say we're about even between Campbell and Rivet. I do miss him, though. I especially liked his hyper hydrosis commercials on MSG. :lol: My new favorites are Pominville, Vanek and Kaleta. I didn't like Roy too much a couple years ago, but he's grown into a nice maturity that has really made a difference on the team last year. And, of course, who doesn't LOVE Afinogenov!!

Babe: You know it had to happen!! ;)

Do you have a Biron? ;)

:cry:

Techwife, would you BELIEVE that my wonderful Cory Stillman is now going to play for those nasty Florida Panthers???!!! :( I was just getting ready to put his name on my jersey when he was traded North. Now it will be Scotty Walker ... :) So the new schedule is out! We do have a New Year's Eve game ... the Atlanta Thrashers, so that will be fun. Techie, our last home game will be against your guys ... which will be a beat-down BY US, of course! :devil:

GO 'CANES!!!!!!!!!!!!

You could smack us down. A lot remains to be seen at the beginning of each year. Last year I was very unoptimistic after losing Briere and Drury, but this year, I'm excited to see how our young team comes out on the ice.

Panthers...bleh. You know, the Sabres' AHL team has been the Rochester Amerks since I can remember (I grew up in Rochester and it's just always been that way) but this year, the Amerks are now the AHL team for the Panthers and the Sabres are now working with the Portland Pirates. Weird. I just can't imagine the Sabres/Amerks working with anyone else. Apparently the owner of the Amerks is a total tool and blew the relationship up.

Anyhow...I apologize in advance for the potentially rude behavior of the Sabres fans. We're just really feverish for a Championship is all and all Buffalo sports fans are getting cranky ...a Superbowl would be nice, as well!!!

We just signed Miller (YOMAMMAWEEN!) for five years! :carrot: I'm not a HUGE fan of his skills, but he's a good guy and good for morale at the very least. I'm happy we signed him.

I'm a hockey fan and I'm missing it quite a bit...but I think my team is gonna have a pretty good year... hopefully just as great as last year.. I mean...the Red Wings did win the cup afterall :) And I'm looking forward to watching college hockey as well.

PRE SEASON SCHEDULE IS OUT! I'M HOPING TO GO TO THE MAPLE LEAFS GAME!! :woohoo:

GO SABRES!!

I'm all for the Wings. Even when they were crappy when I was little lol. I don't tend to pay attention much in the offseason, but I did glance over their schedule and I'd heard not long ago they got the outdoors New Years Day game. Other than that, I really don't know who's coming back, and who's not (other than Hasek). October's coming fast. Guess I'd better catch up!

LOL LOL LOL LOL LOL

surrrrre they will, baben :P

Hey Julie, even though we're Flyers fans here, DH thinks the Redwings will win the cup since they've kept the team pretty much intact for this season. Of course we're still hoping the Flyers will get it together...

I was hoping to have another flyers/wings cup finals, auntie. Like back in '97 when Lindros was around (gawd I hated him against the wings though lol). Was sad that didn't pan out this year.

julie, when the Hurricanes won the Cup a couple of years ago, the pre-season analysts put us in the absolute basement for the NHL that year! Boy, did we show 'em! :o So be careful what you bet on here ... :D ;) Thankfully, most of our injuries should be behind us when we start this season .. we were the walking wounded this past year, by the end.

Don't you guys LOVE that they're going to continue the New Year's Day Classic? Amazing last year in Buffalo; the outdoor setting was beautiful. I guess warm-winter teams will also get a turn ... they'll just have to play in the Northern snowy cities, huh?

Nahh... doubt it...that's my dad's birthday....he always has good luck on his birthday lol.

Amanda, I wish for your Dad a great birthday but a victory by the Red Wings that day will NOT be among his gifts ... :p

Summer power ranking of teams from Burnside/ESPN, if you're interested:

http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/column...ott&id=3504426

GO 'CANES!!! CLIP SOME WINGS!!!

I'm a Pens fan...still heartbroken over that loss in game 6. We lost The role players and fan favorites Ruutu, Laraque, and Roberts. Also lost Malone and Hossa.

Gained a ton of players as well. The GM did a good job not overpaying anyone and alot of new guys took less to play here which is promising.

I'm anxious to see how the new guys gell with the core and how good the team turns out.

Catherine, I think your young Pens are going to be frighteningly good this coming year!!! I think ESPN has picked them as their top team in the Eastern Conference ... (If you could just get rid of Brooks Orpik, I'd really respect most of your guys! Sorry but I can never forgive him for what he did to Erik Cole ... :()

Okay, guys, we are two months from Opening Night!!! Is everybody ready??????????????? :p:D:o

GO HURRICANES!!!!!!!!!

:drool:

Flames fan here and I can't wait for the season to start. I'll be in the dome (helping make up the C of red!) for both the first pre-season game and the season opener. I literally can't wait. I'm not sure how I feel about us picking up Bertuzzi, he's just to much of a goon for my liking. I'm Disapointed that owan nolan has left, he was one of those under the radar players that I really enjoyed watching. I can't wait to see Phaneuf and Iggy again. Those two really know how to get the crowd going.

Hopefully, we'll be able to actually pull together and do something this season. Either way it should hopefully be a good year.

shantroy, I can understand your feelings about Bertuzzi! I wouldn't want him playing for the 'Canes! Know what you mean about the opening games ... I want to see us welcome the Florida Panthers in for that first game for a beating (because they bumped us out of the play-offs; oh, what an awful night! :() Then I want to be there for a good go at the Red Wings on Oct. 13th!

GO 'CANES!!!

I was disappointed when the Wings picked Bertuzzi up 2 or 3 seasons ago, I think. I was thrilled beyond belief when he got shipped to Anahiem. Couldn't stand him.

Sorry, Babe...love him or hate him... Ovechkin is smokin HOT in this picture... :drool: in a wife beater sort of way...

Just to give us puck bunnies something to look at during the boring summer months...

techie, Ovie is not bad there, I'll admit it! :D But he didn't look that good to me when he was killing us the end of last season ... :devil:

How's your summer going, techie? I've actually managed to lose 19 lbs. since April. I'm trying to get into a real cute, classy 'Canes tee that only goes to an XL (but I have a WAYS to go, and I don't want to hang out of my swimsuit on vacation next month! :p )

babenwaiting, calgary's never been much for having goons on the teams. So I was super shocked when I heard that we got bertuzzi. Previously, Phaneuf was the closest thing to an "enforcer", but he could actually play! Bertuzzi is just a bully. I get the feeling that a lot of people around here are unimpressed with that move!

sorry, I just changed my username. Yes they should be good, we have Malkin, Sid, Fleury and Staal with another year of experience under their belt. I don't think theres a team in the league (or many teams) that wouldn't want to trade cores with the Pens right now. I'm just taking a wait and see attitude because there are alot of arrivals and departures and I'm anxious to see how the chemistry with the new guys devolops.

As for Brooks Orpik. He's a good guy overall, does not have a reputation as a dirty player and I don't think he's out to injur people. He is a defensive defenseman and likes to hit people. If Cole had not tried to duck and put his head down it wouldn't have been nearly as bad. Would have been a clean hit if Eric hadn't ducked. Orpik just signed a deal with the pens for 3.75 per year when the rangers were offering him in the neighborhood of 4.5. He will remain one of my favorite pens, if for nothing else but the shift he had in game 3 of the finals when he had like 5 hits in one shift.

Scarlett, if you think Orpik is a good guy, then we might as well not discuss him further; you are, of course, entitled to your opinion. I'll only say that he did not even have the good grace to try to call Erik afterward, for a very long time, and that told me a lot about his character. I don't think Erik was in any way responsible for that injury. Erik has moved on to another team now, but he will always be one of my favorite players.

Islander season ticket holder here... I like torture. :dizzy:

I try not to obsess about it over the summer, as when it starts up I get totally engrossed into it, considering we go to every single game. I do always remember over the summer when the monthly payment shows up on my credit card bill! :stress:

Blazesyth, I WOULD go to every single game if I could ... BUT ... :( Oh, well, I have a widescreen HDTV, so next best thing! I usually manage 15 to 20 games ... that's about all my DH will spring for.

You're right ... it does become an obsession during the season, doesn't it? Oh, well, if hockey is our worst vice, we're in good company ... :D

Okay, guys, it's 39 days to our first pre-season with Ovie and the Caps! When's yours?

GO HURRICANES!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Okay, 36 days to opening game! Did anyone here have the Center Ice Package, and if so, what did you pay for it last year? I'm wondering if the economic downturn is going to hurt attendance at the games very much ... they are a "luxury" for many of us ... :?:

I only go to pre-season games. One per year. Its the only time we can afford to go and STILL MAKE OUR MORTGAGE!! :(