All-purpose hockey thread...

Re: New NHL vs. the old NHL

Not so much those two.

If you get two teams that can actually play hockey, I'm in like flint

Six hours? Are we talking Michigan here?

 

Re: New NHL vs. the old NHL

If I recall correctly, the Toronto area to the Pittsburgh area is about six hours. Not sure how fast you drive.

Ok, next time say, Nashville-San Jose is on, you bring the Molson XXX.

 

Re: New NHL vs. the old NHL

According to Mapquest, it's about 320 miles. No brainer.

Get me tickets and I'll bring 2-4 of Molson, Labatts, Keith's, whatever you want.

Gas+exchange+plus tickets is still probably cheaper than trying to buy tickets at a Leafs Game.

Oh, and I drive fast.

 

Re: New NHL vs. the old NHL

Devils Get Behind Lamoriello, the 'New' Guy Behind the Bench

By JASON DIAMOS
Published: December 21, 2005

The Devils were less than six minutes away from being shut out last night in Lou Lamoriello's first game behind the bench in more than 17 years, when their evening turned in a 16-second span.

Lamoriello is hoping their season does the same.

Two days after Larry Robinson stepped down as the Devils' coach because of health concerns, and one day after Lamoriello, the team's general manager, stepped in as an interim replacement, the Devils rallied for a 3-1 victory over the Rangers at Madison Square Garden.

"When you work as hard as you did, and you don't get frustrated and you get a break and you get rewarded, there's no question what that does to build confidence and just to build trust in each other," Lamoriello said after Brian Gionta and Alexander Mogilny scored in quick succession late in the third period.

Gionta, who on Monday was selected to represent the United States in the Turin Olympics, spoiled Rangers goaltender Kevin Weekes's bid for a shutout at 14 minutes 19 seconds of the third period. Mogilny then capitalized on a bad bounce off Rangers defenseman Michal Rozsival to score at 14:35.

The Devils, who wasted 11 power plays, won for only the third time in their last 10 games.

The victory was Lamoriello's first as an N.H.L. coach.

Devils goaltender Martin Brodeur, who finished with 30 saves, gave Lamoriello a puck as a memento.

The souvenir came with a little warning, however. Brodeur said he told Lamoriello: "I don't know if you want to put that one in your office. It has a Rangers emblem on it."

The Devils (15-13-5), who also received an empty-net goal from John Madden, trail the first-place Rangers by 9 points in the Atlantic Division.

But the Rangers (20-11-4) have lost three straight games, all at home, and have scored only four times in those games.

"We don't score many goals," said Rangers right wing Jaromir Jagr, who has gone three games without a goal. "Of course, I'm frustrated. Who wouldn't be? You don't want to lose three straight at home. And you've got a tough schedule coming up to. I'm more upset than frustrated."

The 63-year-old Lamoriello was behind the bench for the first time since May 10, 1988, a 7-1 loss to Boston in Game 5 of the Wales Conference finals.

Lamoriello, who was in his first season as the Devils' general manager, coached that night because Jim Schoenfeld had been suspended one game for his infamous "Have another doughnut!" crack; Schoenfeld chased the referee Don Koharski after he left the ice following a Game 3 defeat.

Before that, Lamoriello had not coached since the 1982-83 season, when he guided Providence to the N.C.A.A. Frozen Four.

"I really wasn't even thinking about it, to tell you the truth," Lamoriello said. "The way the game was, with how close it was and the intensity of everything. When you're in a situation like that, your mind is thinking about nothing other than what's happening."

Before the game, Lamoriello, who is in his 19th season in the Devils' front office, was asked if there was any set of circumstances in which he could envision himself coaching the Devils for an extended period.

"No, I do not," said Lamoriello, who is the Devils' chief executive, president and general manager. "This is something that, as I stated yesterday, I felt was an alternative for the meantime."

Steve Rucchin scored the Rangers' goal, at 14:19 of the second period, on a nice assist by the rookie Petr Prucha, who made like Bobby Orr in the 1970 Stanley Cup finals on the play. He dived headlong for the rebound, swiping at the puck and somehow centering it to Rucchin, all in one motion.

That is how things have gone for the Devils for much of this season.

No matter how much the Devils have struggled, however, Madden said he never could have imagined Lamoriello taking over as coach.

"But under the circumstances, with Larry leaving all of a sudden with no warning, I'm sure Lou said it before, he didn't want to make a knee-jerk reaction and throw someone else behind the bench," Madden said.

"And maybe he wants to evaluate a little more, get a little closer to the players. I'm not sure. Some people say it's good for us, some people say otherwise. We'll find out."

 

Re: New NHL vs. the old NHL

Messrs R & Dude,

The unofficial record for Toronto-Pittsburgh is held by the redoubtable Chuck Tatum, a thwarted Grand Prix driver. He has done it routinely (with border crossing) in four hours. The stretch south from Erie to Pittsburgh is particularly harrowing--Mr Tatum treats it as his own Bonneville Salt Flats, albeit with smacked dear littering the plain. I've always imagine that US Customs gets in the spirit when they see him coming and treat his passport check like a pitstop. Mr Tatum of course holds all major NHL driving records and his employer started receiving resumes for an expected job opening when word got out that he had bought a vintage sports car. (Just think of him as the James Dean of the beat.) He once advised me that his approach to driving was based not on danger or fatalism but on economy--the less his tires touched the road, the less the wear.

Sane people with the border crossing and toll do Tor-Pitt in five-and-a-half hours, though once I did an eight-hour white knuckler through a Buffalo school-closing-worthy blizzard.

YHS, etc

 

Re: New NHL vs. the old NHL

Mr. Miler,

As I recall from one of your posts last year, Mr. Tatum also holds the Canadian and Commonwealth record for fastest trip (whilst eating) between Toronto and Kanata correct?

 

Re: New NHL vs. the old NHL

Looks like the Penguins might be staying in Pittsburgh after all. This just moved on the wire:

PITTSBURGH (CP) — The Pittsburgh Penguins’ partner in a proposed $1-billion US development at the site of Mellon Arena is willing to put up $290 million to pay for a new 18,000-seat home for the NHL team, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
The Penguins’ development, which would keep the team in Pittsburgh, is contingent on winning a licence for the city’s slot machine casino, however.
The development would also include offices, residential units and retail space.
The Penguins will team with a yet-unidentified gambling operator and with Nationwide Realty Investors of Columbus, Ohio, to handle development, the newspaper said.
The NHL team scheduled a news conference for 2 p.m. ET Wednesday.
As part of its application for the Pittsburgh slots licence, the gaming operator intends to pledge the money to build a new arena, the Post-Gazette reported Wednesday. It also would finance construction of the casino for 3,000 slot machines, with room to expand to 5,000.
The Penguins will not receive any profits from the slots casino. Once a new arena is built, it will turn ownership over to the city-county Sports & Exhibition Authority.
The casino and arena developments are expected to cost $600 million to $700 million. The team is planning at least another $400 million in development at the current 20-hectare arena site.
Nationwide Realty financed construction of the 18,500-seat Nationwide Arena in Columbus and spearheaded development of the 38-hectare arena district, which includes bars, clubs and a cinema.

 

Re: New NHL vs. the old NHL

Mr Huggy,

You are quite correct. With bagel crumbs across his shirt like they'd be some sort of fire protection, Mr Tatum advised me on how black ice in fact enhances his times--by turning half-stops at signs into controlled Rockfordian skids.

YHS, etc

 

Re: New NHL vs. the old NHL

Encouraging, but I think the fly in the ointment remains Mario's prospects of winning the slot licence, and I believe he's in over his head there considering who he's bidding against.

 

Re: New NHL vs. the old NHL

Mr. Miler
And what was Mr. Tatum's landspeed record to Kanata?

My time from Lansdowne Stadium to Mimico may give him a run for his money.

 

Re: New NHL vs. the old NHL

I thought I was the shit because I can make it from Peterborough to Owen Sound (just under 200 miles) in 3.5 hours. Sounds like I've got nothing on some of you psychos.
The driving achievement of which I'm most proud is driving straight through to Nashville (about 800 miles) in 16 hours and needing only 14 hours to make it home four days later.

 

Re: New NHL vs. the old NHL

Back in August drove my kid to school in Wolfville, NS.

Return trip (on my own); 18 1/2 hours non-stop: 1200 miles.

Not recommended.