Golden Effort Falls Just Short posted by Brad VanFossan

A Golden Effort Falls Just Short By Brad VanFossan I know it’s more than just a hockey game when my 63 year old father is looking forward to watching, and has been watching most of the hockey games during this Olympics. I know it’s more than just a game when patrons at bars ask to turn the hockey game on, both the men’s and women’s games, as I have seen happen over the last couple weeks. This is about reliving nostalgia for those who were around for the 1980 Gold Medal team‘s “Miracle“ run. And it’s about wanting to experience that same feeling for those of us who were too young or weren’t around then. This is the kind of thing the brings generations of sons and fathers together creating memories that become part of family lore. More importantly, this is a message to the world that hockey isn’t a secondary sport in the United States anymore, but one we can excel at, and even be the best.  It’s almost time for the opening face off, winning twice on enemy territory won’t be easy, but I think if anyone can, it’s this group of relentless young men. No matter what the outcome, they will put forth an effort to be proud of.My in game thoughts from the penalty box: -In the first U.S./Canada match up the U.S. was able to score first, taking the crowd out of things for a bit, today Canada scored first, it’s the first time the U.S. has trailed all Olympics. -Jonathan Toews goal was off of a rebound, not too much cause for concern yet. The U.S. is still playing pretty well, theyContinue reading "Golden Effort Falls Just Short"

Uh Oh, Skettio's! posted by Goon Squad

Officiating has become so intolerable that one general manager filed a protest in a league that doesn't allow protests and several coaches have talked about reading the rulebook again to see if it had changed.

Bettman has put out many fires in his time as NHL commissioner.

On Tuesday, with the Burrows allegations, it was just a spark – and now smoke can be seen coming from Detroit.

NHL rules state that if a call on the ice is to be overturned there must be substantial video evidence to back up overturning a call. 

In this case there was none whatsover--just the word of Mike Leggo, the trailing official who claims he saw what no video camera could--the puck crossing the goal line.

What is the point of having video replay if it's not going to be used for it's intended purpose?

With two teams battling for a very important extra point, assuming the puck crossed the line and going against standard practice, which is substantial video evidence, is absurd. Yet, for the second time in a few days, we have an officiating controversy.

Maybe the call was correct, but the point is that we cannot assume a puck crossed the line.

It was an injustice to the Red Wings, who for the second time this season have been on the wrong end of, plainly stated, an incorrect call.

Coincidentally or not, both games were against Dallas:

Continue reading "Uh Oh, Skettio's!"

Cheechoo - Should he stay or should he go now? posted by Brian Winett

Jonathan Cheechoo is the San Jose Sharks highest valued trade bait.  Jonathan is a young player coming into his prime with an acceptable contract for any team to handle for a second line scoring winger.  Everyone knows what Cheechoo has done, so let’s figure out what to do with him now.

TRADE HIM:

Jonathan’s trade to another team will free up a prorated $3M against the cap which right away will allow the team to bring up Kyle McLaren (providing Kyle doesn’t get picked up on re-entry waivers) from the AHL adding depth at defense for the playoff run and the playoffs when the rosters expand after the trade deadline, not to mention freeing up cap space next year for resigning Ryan Clowe (and extending Pavelski and Setoguchi).  Jonathan is stuck on the third line, a checking line, and whiffs on nearly every check.  Trading Cheechoo for a draft pick isn’t the best way to go, so who could take Cheechoo and who could the Sharks get back in a trade.  At the beginning of the year I fantasized of a Michalek and Cheechoo for Kovalchuk trade, let’s look at some lower profile options however:

Nashville Predators NEED a scoring winger and do I mean badly.  Nashville’s defense is good to go along with inconsistent goaltending and still the Preds are on the hunt for the playoffs even though their offense is 28th in the league in goals scored.  The need is there for Cheechoo, I am just not sure who we could get for him, although a first round draft pick would be nice.  That being said, the fact that the Predators are so good defensively points to the fact that they have a t least one good strong grinding winger who can fit into the Sharks’ third line as a checking/grinding defensive minded player.

Inbound link contest winner announced! posted by Earn Money Blogging

A big thanks to everyone who participated in the "Inbound Link Contest".  We have a winner!  A big congratulations go out to Marija.  Thank you for all your hard work on this.  While we had a lot of people participate, Marija was able to win with only 4 links!  So it wouldn't have taken a lot to win this contest!  We'll be having another contest soon so stay tuned.

The whole purpose of this contest was to get our bloggers networking with other webmasters and to start to build up their inbound links which will help their traffic.  Even a few links can help you with the search engines as they will see you as more of an authority on your topic the more inbound links you have.

To learn more about marketing your blog check out this post: http://www.nbabasketballonline.com/sports_content-rev_share_faq.html#my_faq_2971

Marija's blog can be found here.  If you're a Knicks fan, check it out: http://www.newyorkknicksnews.com/marijak

The original post announcing the contest can be found here: http://www.nbabasketballonline.com/bloggers/weblog/2984.html

And if you're not already signed up with Google AdSense and making money from your blog, check out our Revenue Share FAQ page: http://www.nbabasketballonline.com/sports_content-rev_share_faq.html

Inbound link contest - Win $100! posted by Earn Money Blogging

To try and motivate our bloggers to get inbound links we're going to have a contest to see which blogger can get the most inbound links to their blog. The contest begins now and ends July 31st, 2008. To be entered in to the contest all you have to do is go out and get as many websites to link to your blog as you can and at the end of the month send us an email listing all those links. All links must be active from August 1st through August 7th when we'll be judging the entries - a winner will be announced on August 7th. All entry emails must be received by Midnight on July 31st, 2008. You can email them to sportsfan@nbabasketballonline.com

We're going to impose some restrictions on the types of links you can get so please see below for the full list of links that do NOT count.

To get started simply go to Google and find other websites and blog that are about the sports and teams that you write about. Email the website owner and ask them for a link by explaining that you think your blog would be a good resource for their readers. Or offer to write a guest post for them with your by-line and URL at the bottom of the article. Or offer to exchange links with them by writing a quick write up of their site and a reciprocal link back to them. Some webmasters will be happy to add you to their blog roll even if you don't give them a link back (which is ideal) but some may want you to link back to them - you can easily do this with a quick blog entry on your blog about their website.

To learn more about inbound links and marketing your blog in general check out this post:

2008 NHL Playoff Awards - Round 1 posted by Paul Olsen

Let’s end the suspense- Nicklas Lidstrom has already won his sixth Norris Trophy, regardless of when it will be announced.  Through Round 1 of the 2008 NHL Playoffs, here are some lesser known awards:

The “thanks for showing up” award has to go to the Ottawa Senators.  Martin Gerber didn’t show up until the second period of Game 1, while the rest of the team waited until Game 2.  Every member of the team worked together to cycle in their mental vacations to ensure a consistent lack of consistency.  It will be interesting to see how much of this roster remains intact over the offseason. 

Humanitarian Award:  The Nashville Predators and Boston Bruins came short of providing blueprints for knocking out a conference’s top seed, but each team scored enough to prove that no team in unbeatable.

Better Staal: Statwise, Marc wins with a tiebreaking +3, as each Stall has put home one goal thusfar.  While Jordan’s upside is just as significant, Marc has been arguably the best at his position for his team.  Of course, Jordan has world class competition at his center position, but few expected Marc to outperform veterans Paul Mara and Michal Rosival.

Honorable Mention:  A playoff award should not be affected by regular season play, but the Boston Bruins persisted through an adversity mired season, watched by Patrice Bergeron.  Marc Savard stepped in as the centerpiece of Beantown’s blue-collar Bears, who secured their playoff spot with a run bested only by Washington’s history making push.  Phil Kessel has emerged as a star, while Milan Lucic and David Kreici allow Claude Julien to cycle three playoff quality lines. 

Chris Chelios plays in record 248th NHL Playoff game posted by Brent Blaze

http://wizbangsports.com/2008/04/chris_chelios_plays_in_record.p

The defensemen is forty-six-years-old and still going strong. From AP-

DETROIT -- Chris Chelios was on the ice for his 248th playoff game, breaking the NHL record set by Hall of Fame goaltender Patrick Roy.

The defenseman played Saturday for the Detroit Red Wings against the Nashville Predators in Game 2 of the first-round series. He is making his 23rd postseason appearance, extending his own mark.

The 46-year-old Chelios became the second-oldest player in an NHL game earlier this season. Hall of Famer Gordie Howe was still skating at 52 for the Hartford Whalers during the 1979-80 season -- almost a decade after leaving the Red Wings.

Los Angeles Kings @ Columbus Blue Jackets (12/21/07) posted by Matthew R. Hastings

The Los Angeles Kings gave us hockey fans yet another lackluster performance, one almost not even worth writing about!  They faced-off with the Columbus Blue Jackets in Ohio earlier tonight.

It actually wasn't all bad at first, The Kings got on the board in the first period with a Power-play goal from Michael Cammalerri, his 15th of the season.  Assisted by two potential all stars this season in Anze Kopitar and Captain Rob Blake.  The Kings made it out of the 1st period with a 1-0 lead. 

In the second period the Kings continued to do a good job of keeping the Blue Jackets off the board and staying out of the penalty box.  Then with less than three minutes left in the 2nd period the Blue Jackets got a controversial goal to tie it 1-1.  It appeared King's goalie Jason LaBarbera had the puck covered under his pad waiting for a whistle, when Blue Jacket's forward, Novotny hit LaBarbera's pad causing the puck to slide past him into the net.  Was the ref slow on blowing his whistle?  The Kings bench sure thought so, but anyhow the 2nd period ended in a 1-1 tie. 

The Blue Jackets came out fast and put the puck on net early in the 3rd.  Nicklas Zherdev of Columbus got a bounce and just 37 seconds into the 3rd period the Blue Jackets were in the lead for the first time in the game 2-1.  In the final 19 minutes of the period the Kings managed to put 10 shots on Blue Jacket's backup goalie Fredrik Norrena.  Norrena would stay strong and hang on to get the 2 points and win for the Blue Jackets.

Blackhawks no match for Rinne

Pekka Rinne made 24 saves for his ninth straight win and thesurging Nashville Predators beat the Chicago Blackhawks 3-1 Tuesdaynight in the teams' final game before the All-Star break. [read full article]

From FOXSports.com News for NHL

Rinne, Preds stay hot, beat Blackhawks (AP)

[read full article]

From Yahoo! Sports

Predators stay hot, top Blue Jackets

No matter how many times the Nashville Predators beat Columbus,they refuse to take any game against the Blue Jackets forgranted. [read full article]

From FOXSports.com News for NHL

Fisher leads Preds to third straight win (AP)

[read full article]

From Yahoo! Sports

Surging Predators slow down Blackhawks (AP)

[read full article]

From Yahoo! Sports