The Boys are Back

The 2010-2011 NHL Season skated off the starting line last night and even though I'm feeling rather uninspired at the moment I'll do my best to do the occasion justice.  Regardless of the fact that the games so far are partly to blame for my current lack of inspiration.

I did not catch any of the games from Europe and last night's first game in the States was the Pittsburgh Penguins against the Philadelphia Flyers, and the first game for the Pens in their new arena.  It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out who I was rooting for, and I got my wish.  The Pens lost their home season opener in their new arena, but the game was lackluster and not very exciting, save for the last two minutes when the Pens went on the power play AND pulled their goalie giving them a two-man advantage against the Flyers.  Still, they failed to score and tie the game.  Wah wah.  Someone get Cindy his binky and a tampon.

The second contest was Chicago versus Colorado in Colorado.  I went to bed during the second period but was glad to wake up to the news that the Avs won.  I'm still holding a grudge from the Finals last season, but I also realize that Chicago is in our division and I want to win our division for a change.  Therefore, any loss by Chicago helps Nashville.  Despite winning their home opener against the defending Stanley Cup Champions the Avs fell hard to the Wings tonight.

This brings us to tonight's contest between the Caps and the Thrashers in Atlanta.  I was super jazzed to learn that NHL Center Ice is on free preview so I was able to watch the first Caps game of the season.  I had no more than just stopped complaining about Chris Mason being the Thrashers' current #2 goalie when he became the netminder for the evening.  The starting goalie collapsed out of nowhere about two minutes into the game and remained unconscious, it appeared, until they carted him off the ice on the stretcher twenty minutes later.  Mason went on to capture the win for the Thrashers and I can't say it was because of good goaltending on his part or superior play on the part of the rest of the team--despite what the Atlanta announcers wanted to declare.  The Caps play was not up to par, and certainly not up to the talent level the team is capable of.  Let's hope they get their act together before their home opener tomorrow night.

Tomorrow also marks the home and season opener for the Preds.  I won't be attending the game this year because Kirby wants to go to a birthday party (I know, makes no sense to me) and I need to stay with my Uncle while my parents go to the game.  I'll be watching on TV and plan to live-blog the game, which is one upside to being at home rather than at the game.  I was thoroughly unimpressed by the one pre-season game I attended, but in the three games I've watched on TV since I'm reminded that the pre-season is NOT in any way, shape or form the regular season.  It is--literally--a whole other game. 

I also finally discussed subscribing to the Center Ice package with Kirby tonight and we agreed we wanted to subscribe this year, after not subscribing last year.  Funny, my Mom is not planning to subscribe this year (although I do think she'll change her mind before the end of the month) because we seem to subscribe in alternate years then take the next year off.  Having this will mean that I will be watching at least one game virtually every night this season that I am home, so I will be able to keep tabs on all the teams better than when I only have "NHL on the Fly" to rely on for non-Preds information.  This, in turn, means I'll be blogging about more games and more hockey-related topics, including how the new rules regarding hits affects play--and more importantly, if and how much "interpretation" by the officials is affecting game outcomes. 

So...thanks for tuning in...I'll blog to you tomorrow night from the heart of SMASHVILLE!