2024-'25 NHL Season

Don Wassall

Don Wassall

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The Arizona Coyotes have moved to Utah and are now known temporarily as the Utah Hockey Club. They are off to a 3-1-1 start.

Two Penguins hit milestones Wednesday night. Sidney Crosby scored his 1,600th point while Evgeni Malkin scored his 500th career goal in the same game. Crosby is only the 10th player ever to score that many points. Malkin is the 48th NHL player to score 500 goals. Both have played their entire career with the Pens. Very cool to see it happen in the same game in front of the home crowd.

Here's the big Russian's 500th, scored while flat on his back on the ice:

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Heard Utah had a vote for the new franchise name with many options. Of the ones I heard, the Yetis and Blizzard sounded pretty cool.
 
Hockey Club sounds beyond lame. Yetis was a missed marketing opportunity.
 
That's why I wrote "temporarily" in the first sentence above.

Actually I don't mind that name, has kind of a cool ring to it. I preferred "Washington Football Club" to "Commanders."
 
Compared to Commanders and Guardians… Ya Hockey Club isn’t so bad lol.

Noticed they beat Blackhawks other day. They (Chicago)really stink. Tickets probably crashing down compared to their Championship runs a decade ago.
 
I don't mind "Hockey Club" that much because at least it's not a name change mandated by wokeness like Indians to Guardians and Redskins to Commanders. Yeti or Blizzard are much better names, though.
 
Same reason I'm glad that Seattle went crazy/goofy with "Kraken" for their new team. I like it when new teams just go for it with names as opposed to playing it safe like the Golden Knights.
 
It's been a year since former NHL player Adam Johnson was killed on-ice by Matt Petgrave leaping high and slitting Johnson's throat with his skate. An entire year, and so-called British authorities have not yet decided whether they will bring charges against Petgrave. He should have been charged with manslaughter, which would almost certainly have been the case if the races had been reversed, but such a long delay indicates Petgrave will either never be charged or the case will eventually end with nothing but Petgrave being given a slight slap on the wrist.

Adam Johnson has not been forgotten. All the teams in the UK-based Elite Ice Hockey League are honoring his memory before games this weekend and his team, the Nottingham Panthers, will retire his jersey.

 
Don Wassall said:
It's been a year since former NHL player Adam Johnson was killed on-ice by Matt Petgrave leaping high and slitting Johnson's throat with his skate. An entire year, and so-called British authorities have not yet decided whether they will bring charges against Petgrave. He should have been charged with manslaughter, which would almost certainly have been the case if the races had been reversed, but such a long delay indicates Petgrave will either never be charged or the case will eventually end with nothing but Petgrave being given a slight slap on the wrist.

Adam Johnson has not been forgotten. All the teams in the UK-based Elite Ice Hockey League are honoring his memory before games this weekend and his team, the Nottingham Panthers, will retire his jersey.

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A disturbing trend. Certain race getting away with murder, without even catching a charge. Apparently doesn’t matter if it’s on the ice, or Lebron James Akron Playground. Authorities in the West won’t charge em if the skin tone isn’t right.

RIP Adam Johnson
 
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Alex Ovechkin declined noticeably last season, dropping to 31 goals, his lowest total ever. But this year at age 39 he already has 15 goals with less than a quarter of the season played and the Caps as a team are playing much better than anyone predicted. With 868 career goals, Ovechkin's closing in on Wayne Gretzky's all-time best 894 goals and has an excellent chance to surpass him later this season.
 
Don Wassall said:
Alex Ovechkin declined noticeably last season, dropping to 31 goals, his lowest total ever. But this year at age 39 he already has 15 goals with less than a quarter of the season played and the Caps as a team are playing much better than anyone predicted. With 868 career goals, Ovechkin's closing in on Wayne Gretzky's all-time best 894 goals and has an excellent chance to surpass him later this season.
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www.espn.com

Within 25 of Gretzky, Ovechkin scores in return

Alex Ovechkin, out since he fractured his left fibula Nov. 18, scored a goal in his return to action, pushing him to within 25 tallies of Wayne Gretzky's all-time NHL mark of 894, and the Washington Capitals upended the Toronto Maple Leafs 5-2 Saturday.
www.espn.com www.espn.com
 
The Philly fans are often castigated, but they are actually great fans overall. This video, when Mario Lemieux retired for the first time in 1997, captures their knowledge and appreciation of a rare talent even though he was on their arch-rival. They wouldn't stop cheering for Mario even after the Flyers eliminated the Penguins in a playoff match at home that year and even while he was being interviewed:

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white lightning said:
www.espn.com

Ovi breaks one record, gets closer to Gretzky's

Alex Ovechkin broke the NHL record for the most goaltenders scored on, beating Leevi Merilainen in overtime to give the Capitals a 1-0 victory over the Senators. It was his 874th goal, 20 shy of Wayne Gretzky's mark of 894.
www.espn.com www.espn.com
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I have mixed feelings on this. I've got nothing against Alex but it feels right for Gretzky to have the all-time record.....
 
Freethinker said:
I have mixed feelings on this. I've got nothing against Alex but it feels right for Gretzky to have the all-time record.....
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I feel that way also, but on the other hand Ovechkin has had a long and great career and has been far and away the leading goal scorer during an era when scoring isn't nearly at the level it was when Gretzky was playing. I liked hockey better in the freewheeling '80s and '90s, as being a Penguins fan meant often having the league's leading scorer (Lemieux and Jagr) and high scoring games are more exciting in general, but all credit to Ovechkin if he surpasses The Great One, as seems inevitable.

Speaking of goals, a goalie scoring in an NHL game is a lot rarer than many would think. Alex Nedeljkovic tonight became just the 16th goalie to do so, the 19th goal overall by a goalie counting the regular season and playoffs in a league that's over a century old.

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Rather than having the usual three-against-three, no contact, farcical All Star game, this year the NHL will instead have the first "4 Nations Faceoff," to take place Feb. 12-20 in Boston and Montreal. The four competing countries are Canada, the U.S., Sweden and Finland. The tards who run hockey are similar to the ones who run the Olympics and tennis and other sports, so Russia, the second greatest hockey country after Canada, was excluded.

All the competing players were drawn from current NHL rosters, so it could turn out to be a very compelling event. Mike Sullivan, the Penguins long-time head coach who is as unpopular in Pittsburgh as Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin, will coach the U.S. team so I'll be interested to see how the Americans perform. Canada is the favorite and with half the games being played in Montreal, anything less than a championship will not go over well in the Great White North.
 
The 4 Nations Faceoff started tonight with Sweden playing Canada in Montreal. Canada's super line of Connor McDavid, Nathan MacKinnon and Sidney Crosby scored on a power play in the first minute of the game and Canada continued to dominate early on. But Sweden came back from 3 to 1 down in the third period to tie it before losing about six minutes into a ten minute 3 vs. 3 overtime, 4-3 on a goal by Mitch Marner. Very entertaining game. Crosby ended up with three assists.

This was the first time NHL players have competed in an international event since the World Cup of Hockey in 2016 and the Winter Olympics in 2014 and if the first game was any indication it should be a fun tournament to watch, far better than the league's all-star game.
 
The U.S. team defeats Finland 6-1. No games tomorrow, then on Saturday Finland and Sweden play followed by the heavyweight event, U.S. vs. Canada at 8 pm EST, which will be televised nationally by ABC. The atmosphere in Montreal should be extra intense given how many Canadians are less than thrilled with President Trump calling their country the "51st state." The U.S. national anthem was being booed in some Canadian rinks before the 4 Nations tournament started, whereas before neither country's anthem had ever been booed before games in Canada or the U.S.

Each country plays the other three once, so it's a quick moving round robin event. None of the four teams has a magical athlete playing.
 
If you've never watched hockey before, check out the U.S.-Canada tilt on ABC. The U.S. national anthem was soundly booed, followed by three fierce fights in the first nine seconds of the game!
 
Yes, great game so far.

My guess is there will be zero fights in the stands and the crowd will have a good time with the rivalry.
 
Even first period, McDavid with a trademark fantastic goal using his speed and moves, and then Jake Guentzel with one through Binnington's five hole that should have been stopped. Lots of hard hitting, in great contrast to NHL All Star games where the players should be wearing skirts. I hope none of the players get injured as I'd like to see this format more often, though next year they'll be playing in the Olympics for the first time in 12 years.
 
The U.S. played great defense and stifled Canada, winning 3-1. Jake Guentzel scored an empty netter, giving him two of his team's three goals.

The Americans have now qualified for the championship game. The other three teams still have a chance, but if Canada beats Finland it will likely set up a U.S.-Canada rematch in Boston on Thursday.
 
The U.S. and Canada will face each other again in the championship game Thursday night in Beantown. Should be a great atmosphere. All this happened in just the first 9 seconds of Saturday night's game:

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