All-Purpose Hockey Thread II

What was the first number retired?

 

Speaks volumes of how shitty or over-acheiving that franchise has been at times when compared to the rival Oilers.

 

Lanny's.

 

Thing that's really crazy is he really doesn't have the best rep around these 'burbs. And just so anyone has forgotten what some of the other hot Flames were:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6053863688509045791

 

Dallas falls again, losing to Chicago 2-1 today. Blackhawks outshoot the Stars, 13-5, in the third period.

Seems like the Dallas offense has fallen asleep a little.

 

Holy shit! The Hawks won a game?

 

So you're a Hawks fan and a Stars fan? By any chance am I riding up to Nashville with you on Saturday night? I didn't realize there were two such people in the world.

 

D-Hack, my sports loyalties are more complicated than most...and no, I'm not the guy headed to Nashville with you Saturday...although I'd rather be there than where I'll be that evening.

My dad was from Chicago and since sports loyalties among men tend to be patrilineal, he raised me with a loyalty to the Chicago teams.

My mom is from Dallas and I grew up mainly in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, so I have a natural loyalty to DFW teams.

I went to college in Boston and became a naturalized fan of the Boston teams while there.

As far as hockey goes, I grew up a Hawks fan (the Black Hawks had a minor league team in Dallas, coincidentally). Unfortunately, I started to become a cognizant fan right after Billy Reay got the shaft, so I didn't have too much to cheer about in the late 70s, but I enjoyed the hell out of those early- and mid-80s Hawks teams. Savard, Secord, Wilson, Larmer, Esposito, Bannerman...

I was lucky enough to be in Boston during the Bruins' Renaissance of the late 80s. I went to lots of B's games. That cemented my love of hockey. Borque, Neely, Lemelin, Moog...plus the atmosphere in Boston. Going to a sports event in Boston beats the hell out of going to a sports event in Dallas. In Dallas, it's just another entertainment venue and the fans are fickle. Not so in Boston.

When the Stars moved to Dallas, I had mixed feelings. For one thing, I always hated the North Stars! I also thought it was disgusting how Minnesota got screwed over...particularly since Minnesota has such a special relationship to the game. But, eventually I warmed up to the Stars. That 1999 Cup win was about the most unsatisfying Cup win imaginable, though. You have Hull's disputed goal...concluding a game that I thought would never end...man, hockey sucked during the trap era. (shudder) Still, it's nice to see that Dallas has some continuity, with Lehtinen, Modano, Sydor and Zubov still remaining from that team (although Sydor was gone briefly).

It'll be interesting to see how Dallas rookie goalie Mike Smith does tonight at Washington. He's looked good...nice for Turco to have a quality backup to push him a little.

 

For someone like me, who loves hockey, but believes there ARE, IN FACT OTHER SPORTS, this is refreshing:

Canadian hockey fans' euphoria at having their game back, which produced record TV ratings, has apparently cooled off.

National ratings for CBC and TSN show a significant decline from last season, the first after the NHL lost the entire season to a labour dispute.
Hockey Night in Canada ratings are down 19 per cent for the early game and a whopping 33 per cent for the late one compared to last year. TSN's ratings have dropped 18 per cent.

 

Final word on the Pronger thing.

He didn't, doesn't and will never "owe" an explanation to anybody. This "he owes it to his fans who pay his salary" is fanboy crap.

It was a personal decision, based apparently on family.

The rest is none of anyone's business.

 

I was going to say, I never thought Vernon was well liked in Cow Town. I thought the likes of Al McInnis would be in the rafters first, maybe even a Joe Mullen or Joe Niewendyk.