Starting Goalies in the NHL tonight Friday, November 9 UPDATED

Below are the reported starters for Friday night:

(Bold is my predicted winner, Italic is an uncertain starter)

Remember these are expected starters and nothing is guaranteed here, just my best research and sometimes just a gut feeling.

Thrashers - Ondrej Pavelec vs Panthers - Tomas Vokoun
Maple Leafs - Vesa Toskala Andrew Raycroft vs Sabres - Ryan Miller
Blue Jackets - Pascal Leclaire vs Red Wings - Dominik Hasek
Blues - Manny Legace vs Black Hawks - Patrick Lalime
Sharks - Evgeni Nabokov vs Ducks - J.S. Giguere
Avalanche - Jose Theodore vs Canucks - Roberto Luongo

How did I do last night?
Tough night for winners
11-14 for starters, 3-7 on winners
(bold is my predicted winner, the actual winner is in italics)

Lightning - Marc Denis Johan Holmqvist vs Hurricanes - Cam Ward
Penguins - Marc-Andre Fleury vs Rangers - Henrik Lundqvist
Flyers - Martin Biron vs Devils - Martin Brodeur
Capitals - Olaf Kolzig - Senators - Ray Emery
Canadiens - Carey Price vs Bruins - Tuukka Rask Tim Thomas
Stars - Mike Smith Marty Turco vs Coyotes - Mikael Tellqvist
Canucks - Roberto Luongo vs Flames - Mikka Kiprusoff

Starting Goalies in the NHL tonight Thursday, November 8

Below are the reported starters for Wednesday night:

(Bold is my predicted winner, Italic is an uncertain starter)

Remember these are expected starters and nothing is guaranteed here, just my best research and sometimes just a gut feeling.


Lightning - Marc Denis vs Hurricanes - Cam Ward
Penguins - Marc-Andre Fleury vs Rangers - Henrik Lundqvist
Flyers - Martin Biron vs Devils - Martin Brodeur
Capitals - Olaf Kolzig - Senators - Ray Emery
Canadiens - Carey Price vs Bruins - Tuukka Rask
Stars - Mike Smith vs Coyotes - Mikael Tellqvist
Canucks - Roberto Luongo vs Flames - Mikka Kiprusoff

How did I do last night?
13-16 for starters, 5-8 on winners
(bold is my predicted winner, the actual winner is in italics)

Flyers - Martin Biron vs Penguins - Marc-Andre Fleury Dany Sabourin
Bruins - Tim Thomas vs Sabres - Ryan Miller
Panthers - Tomas Vokoun vs Lightning - Johan Holmqvist
Predators - Chris Mason - Red Wings - Chris Osgoode
Blue Jackets - Frederick Norrena vs Blackhawks - Nikolai Khabibulin Patrick Lalime
Oilers - Dwayne Roloson vs Avalanche - Peter Budaj
Coyotes - Alex Auld vs Ducks - J.S. Giguere Ilya Bryzgalov
Stars - Marty Turco vs Sharks - Evgeni Nabokov

Greatest hockey hits of all time contest

So I was trolling the blogosphere this afternoon and I stumbled across a post on Orland Kurtenblog that got my juices flowing.

Their concept is that every week they will post video clips showing two of their favourite hockey hits and let their readers decide which is the best one.

Their first two clips are Wendel Clark ending Bruce Bell's career on a clean check in 1986 and Trevor Linden putting Jeff Norton through the glass in the first round of the 1995 playoffs.

If you like hard hitting hockey you have to watch these videos, make sure you read the comments (and vote). Thanks Kurtenblog for a good idea and a great post.

Oh, and almost forgot to send out a thanks to Deadspin for helping me find the post, keep up the good work guys.

Starting Goalies in the NHL tonight Wednesday, November 7

Below are the reported starters for Wednesday night:

(Bold is my predicted winner, Italic is an uncertain starter)

All right, I am going to try to find time to continue my blog here. I have had an extremely busy year with a job relocation and change and it was extremely difficult to find any time to update my blog.

For now, back to posting daily starting goaltenders and we will see where it goes from there!


Flyers - Martin Biron vs Penguins - Marc-Andre Fleury
Bruins - Tim Thomas vs Sabres - Ryan Miller
Panthers - Tomas Vokoun vs Lightning - Johan Holmqvist
Predators - Chris Mason - Red Wings - Chris Osgoode
Blue Jackets - Frederick Norrena vs Blackhawks - Nikolai Khabibulin
Oilers - Dwayne Roloson vs Avalanche - Peter Budaj
Coyotes - Alex Auld vs Ducks - J.S. Giguere
Stars - Marty Turco vs Sharks - Evgeni Nabokov

Much like last year I will update each day with today's probable starters and my record for both starters and winners from the previous night's games. Since this is my first post this season I have no record to post! See you tomorrow.

Bettman puts Boots to Balls

I squish you!

According to the National Post, Jim Balsillie's US$238-million bid to purchase the Nashville Predators is about to be rejected by Predator's owner Craig Leipold. The Post's sources say that Leipold is planning to accept a less lucrative offer from California businessman William "Boots" DelBiaggio that would move the team to Kansas City. The last official offer from 'Boots' was in the US$190-million range.

Okay, enough of the bare facts.

First off, what kind of responsible businessman would seriously consider accepting an offer that is almost $40 million LESS than the one currently on the table? Not to mention one that is led by a guy named 'Boots'? It makes you wonder what kind of pressure is being applied to Leipold and by whom.

Anyone who has been following this story knows that Gary Bettman had his bluff called by Balsillie over the Pittsburgh Penguins deal earlier this year (which reportedly cost the Penguins $300,000 in legal bills from the NHL's lawyers). Balsillie followed that up by steaming ahead with plans to move the Predator's to Hamilton, even going so far as pre-selling seasons tickets through Ticket Master (7,200 season ticket sales in one day).

To put it mildly, Bettman is pissed. Bettman has been using every piece of leverage he has to slow down the Ballsy juggernaut and this latest development just looks like more gamesmanship to me. It wouldn't surprise me at all if we later learn that Ballsy does end up buying the Predators and moves them to Hamilton, but only after he commits ritual seppuku in public by kowtowing to Bettman. Oh... and agreeing to some sort of financial penalty to the Leafs and Sabres for moving into there market.

I do have just one other question...

Is there anyone in the entire universe (other than Bettman) who thinks that Kansas City is a better hockey market than Hamilton? To help out you folks south of hockey central, Hamilton is less than an hour away from Toronto in Southern Ontario and the surrounding population is larger than that surrounding Kansas City. Oh... and about 90% of them are hockey mad. As opposed to the 9% around KC who may be able to spell 'hockey'.

Does this confuse anyone else?