EAST
PENGUINS (1)
BRUINS (2)
CAPITALS (3)
FLYERS (4)
SABRES (5)
RANGERS (6)
CANADIENS (7)
HURRICANES (8)
WEST
BLACKHAWKS (1)
SHARKS (2)
BLUES (3)
KINGS (4)
WILD (5)
CANUCKS (6)
OILERS (7)
STARS (8)
PITT DEF CAR - 5 games
BOS DEF MON - 6 games
WSH DEF NYR - 7 games
PHI DEF BUF - 5 games
PHI DEF PITT - 7 games
WSH DEF BOS - 6 games
PHI DEF WSH - 5 games
EAST CHAMPS - FLYERS
CHI DEF DAL - 5 games
SJ DEF EDM - 4 games
STL DEF VAN - 7 games
MIN DEF LAK - 6 games
CHI DEF MIN - 6 games
SJ DEF STL - 7 games
CHI DEF SJ - 7 games
WEST CHAMPS- BLACKHAWKS
PHI DEF CHI - 6 games
CUP CHAMPS - FLYERS
- Jimmy "the Fish" Forte (beat writer for the Sports Goombahs)
- Twitter: @jimmyforte28
- Facebook: Sports Goombahs
Monday, January 21, 2013
Thursday, January 17, 2013
NHL Gearing Up for Big Weekend
On Friday, training camps in the NHL will end and the race to the Stanley Cup will begin. The 48 game season starts on Saturday, January 19th and ends on Saturday, April 27th. From start to finish, it is 98 days or three months and eight days before the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Lets take a look at the weekend games that will get this season underway.
The NHL on NBC returns on Saturday when new captain Claude Giroux and the Philadelphia Flyers host Sidney Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins in the battle of Pennsylvania. Pittsburgh will be looking for revenge as they were knocked out by Philly in six games last year in the first round of the playoffs. On the West Coast, the Los Angeles Kings will raise their Stanley Cup banner as the Chicago Blackhawks visit the Staples Center. The Kings went into the playoffs last year as the eighth seed in the West and were able to upset the number one Vancouver Canucks four games to one. They then went on to defeat the number two seed, St. Louis Blues, with a clean sweep of four games. In the Western Conference Finals, they breezed by the number three seed, Phoenix Coyotes, four games to one. In the finals, it took six games to prove that whenever the playoffs start anyone can raise that cup, even if you did barely make it into the playoffs. These two games will have a pregame show at 3 p.m. and then FINALLY at 3:30 p.m., the puck will be dropped for the first time this season.
Some other rival-type games consist of the Boston Bruins hosting the New York Rangers in TD Garden. That game can be seen on the NHL Network at 7 p.m. The battle of Canada starts with the Winnipeg Jets hosting the Ottawa Senators, and the Montreal Canadiens hosting the Toronto Maple Leafs. Another Atlantic Division rival game features the Eastern Conference Champion New Jersey Devils visiting Long Island to take on the New York Islanders. In the Southeast division,, the Washington Capitals take on the Tampa Bay Lightning, and the Carolina Hurricanes with newly acquired Jordan Staal take on the Florida Panthers. The remaining games on Saturday are Detroit vs St. Louis, Columbus vs Nashville, Phoenix vs Dallas, Colorado vs Minnesota, and to top off opening night, the Anaheim Ducks head to Vancouver to take on the President's Trophy winner Canucks.
Having broadcasted games on both Saturday and Sunday will be the first time in TV history that NBC has done this. The Sunday game once again consists of the Philadelphia Flyers making the trip to Buffalo to take on the Sabres. This game will start at 12:30 p.m. and will be Buffalo's season and home opener. San Jose takes on the Calgary Flames at 6 p.m., and Pittsburgh travels to New York to take on the Rangers at 7 p.m. in Madison Square Garden. Zach Parise and Ryan Suter play their first game in Minnesota as the Wild take on Jaromir Jagr and the Dallas Stars. Edmonton plays their first game of the season when they take on the Vancouver Canucks in British Colombia. Opening weekend ends when resigned captain Shane Doan takes on Patrick Kane and the Chicago Blackhawks in the Jobing.com Arena.
The season is just one day away and fans have been anticipating this moment since early October. The wait is finally over and hockey is ready to return to the ice with no labor negotiations for at least eight years. I'm going to make a bold prediction for the season that every local fan wants to hear. Eastern Conference Finals will be the Flyers vs Capitals with Philly winning in six games. In the West, the Chicago Blackhawks will take on the San Jose Sharks, with Chicago winning in five games. In a Stanley Cup Final rematch from 2010, the Philadelphia Flyers will defeat the Chicago Blackhawks in six games with Claude Giroux winning the Conn Smythe Trophy and the Stanley Cup in his first year as captain.
-Jimmy "the Fish" Forte (Beat writer for the Sports Goombahs)
-Twitter: @jimmyfort28
- Facebook: search Sports Goombahs
- Thanks for reading!
-Twitter: @jimmyfort28
- Facebook: search Sports Goombahs
- Thanks for reading!
Thursday, January 10, 2013
Coming Soon to an Arena Near You
That's right folks, the NHL lockout is finally over! It took 113 days but early Sunday morning news broke everywhere that the NHL and NHLPA have agreed to the framework of a new CBA. 10 years is the length of the new deal, so fans can breathe easily for at least a decade. the maximum length of player contracts will be seven years with an exception permitting teams to re-sign their own free agents for eight years, and the salary cap for the 2013-14 season was set at $64.3 million with a floor (minimum) of $44 million. There is also a 50-50 revenue split that was agreed upon last month. There was one particular hero who played a huge role in ending the lockout, and that mans' name is Scot Beckenbaugh.
Beckenbaugh was the federal mediator who joined the sessions back in December and almost got the two sides to agree on a deal, but things turned for the worse, when Fehr announced the meetings went really well and the lockout would be shortly over. Minutes later, Bill Daly and Gary Bettman stood at the podium and announced that was a false statement and they were miles apart, and was disgusted by the way things were going regarding the negotiations. This time however, the mediator sat with the NHLPA on Saturday for about four hours, took a lunch break, and then met with the NHL for around four hours and felt an agreement was close. He was absolutely right! After the individual meetings, Beckenbaugh held a marathon session that lasted close to 16 hours. After the 16th hour, Gary Bettman and Donald Fehr went to the media room side by side and announced to the press the five words fans wanted to hear most "hockey will return this season". This is where it gets fun.
On Wednesday the Board of Governors ratified the new CBA deal, and announced the season would be 48 games starting on January 19th with training camps opening January 13th. After the BOG meeting, Bettman made his way to the podium and had some deep statements, that showed he really didn't want to cancel any games, and that he was very sorry for all the fans and players' that had to go through this. If you watched the press conference, it looked like Bettman was tearing up when he talked about the fans. I know people blame Bettman for all this mess, but like I said before the real culprit is NHLPA leader Donald Fehr. The blame game is over and we are just nine days away from seeing the puck drop for the first time this year.
The Flyers will open up the season at the home against their keystone rivals the Pittsburgh Penguins. This game will be an afternoon matinee starting at 3:00PM. Philly beat the Pens in six games last year in the first round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs, and there was alot of fire burning on both benches. If you want to relive that memory just search "Chris Therien tirade" on YouTube. Paul Holmgren announced he will have a new captain by the start of the season, and everyone's guess is 24 year old Claude Giroux. Giroux would be the second youngest captain behind Mike Richards who got the "C" when he was 23, but now a Stanley Cup champion in Los Angeles. This season is going to be real fun and I can't wait for it to get underway. I look forward to start writing about recaps and rumors in the next 5 months, and watching the Flyers make a run for the Stanley Cup.
-Jimmy "the Fish" Forte (Beat writer for the Sports Goombahs)
-Twitter: @jimmyfort28
- Facebook: search Sports Goombahs
- Thanks for reading!
-Twitter: @jimmyfort28
- Facebook: search Sports Goombahs
- Thanks for reading!
Thursday, January 3, 2013
It Could Be Fun Right From the Start
Gary Bettman and Donald Fehr according to many different sources are really close to unlocking the doors to allow the National Hockey League in North America to return to the ice. With a few issues remaining that have to be solved, we are getting closer to the finish line. Pension seems to be the biggest cause of concern, and if the season was cancelled because of this reason, I wouldn't blame the fans who already left to never come back and watch another NHL game.
Bettman was told by many owners that cancelling the season will not be acceptable this year. They have been said to say if the season is cancelled over the issues that remain, there would be a vote that would unanimously be through the roof to have Bettman relieved of his duties as NHL commissioner. With that being said, the two sides were back at it today. Meetings were set for 10:00am this morning and lasted a little over 4 hours with the NHLPA just now leaving the offices in New York City to discuss the latest talks between the two parties. The two sides will meet again tonight at a time still to be determined. All week long joining the meetings was a federal mediator, who usually participates in talks if things are serious. Well folks we sure are getting serious. Another big step today was bringing in a professional who handles talks about pension. The signs continue to be positive and it should only take a matter of days before a settlement is finally reached.
With the season predicted to start on January 19th, the rivalry between the Philadelphia Flyers and the Pittsburgh Penguins is expected to renew as hockey returns. As PGH Tribune reported earlier, the Flyers have a scheduled day game at 1:00pm against the Calgary Flames. With a shortened 48 game season this gets wiped out since it will only be conference games played. Every team will play on January 19th and this particular matchup would be must-see right from the start. On the 19th at 7:00pm the Penn State Nittany Lions will play Vermont at theWells Fargo Center which will be their first time ever stepping on that ice. The Consol Energy Center home to the Penguins is booked at 7:00 which makes the rivalry matchup more likely to happen. This would be a great way to bring hockey back and making it a National televised game on NBC would be even better. First game of the year and we get to hear the legendary voice of Mike "Doc" Emrick, color commentator Eddy Olyck, and inside the glass reporter Pierre McGuire. If the NHL wants their fans back, it doesn't get any better than a Flyers Penguins afternoon matinee to kick off the "2013" season. Much more to come in the next couple of days.
-Jimmy "the Fish" Forte (Beat writer for the Sports Goombahs)
-Twitter: @jimmyfort28
- Facebook: search Sports Goombahs
- Thanks for reading!
Bettman was told by many owners that cancelling the season will not be acceptable this year. They have been said to say if the season is cancelled over the issues that remain, there would be a vote that would unanimously be through the roof to have Bettman relieved of his duties as NHL commissioner. With that being said, the two sides were back at it today. Meetings were set for 10:00am this morning and lasted a little over 4 hours with the NHLPA just now leaving the offices in New York City to discuss the latest talks between the two parties. The two sides will meet again tonight at a time still to be determined. All week long joining the meetings was a federal mediator, who usually participates in talks if things are serious. Well folks we sure are getting serious. Another big step today was bringing in a professional who handles talks about pension. The signs continue to be positive and it should only take a matter of days before a settlement is finally reached.
With the season predicted to start on January 19th, the rivalry between the Philadelphia Flyers and the Pittsburgh Penguins is expected to renew as hockey returns. As PGH Tribune reported earlier, the Flyers have a scheduled day game at 1:00pm against the Calgary Flames. With a shortened 48 game season this gets wiped out since it will only be conference games played. Every team will play on January 19th and this particular matchup would be must-see right from the start. On the 19th at 7:00pm the Penn State Nittany Lions will play Vermont at theWells Fargo Center which will be their first time ever stepping on that ice. The Consol Energy Center home to the Penguins is booked at 7:00 which makes the rivalry matchup more likely to happen. This would be a great way to bring hockey back and making it a National televised game on NBC would be even better. First game of the year and we get to hear the legendary voice of Mike "Doc" Emrick, color commentator Eddy Olyck, and inside the glass reporter Pierre McGuire. If the NHL wants their fans back, it doesn't get any better than a Flyers Penguins afternoon matinee to kick off the "2013" season. Much more to come in the next couple of days.
-Jimmy "the Fish" Forte (Beat writer for the Sports Goombahs)
-Twitter: @jimmyfort28
- Facebook: search Sports Goombahs
- Thanks for reading!
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