NHL: 2010-2011 Season Thread

MrJoeSoap

Hey guys, its that time of year again! I'm all fired up and ready to go after being in the Odyssey Arena on Saturday and Sunday!

Thursday see's the return of the NHL season, with five games taking place. There's the small matter of three massive rivalries to be decided on opening night as Pittsburgh host Philly, Calgary travel to Edmonton and the Leafs and Habs face off in Toronto.

As well as those three, Carolina and Minnesota will open the season in Helsinki and reigning champions Chicago travel to the Mile-High City to face the Av's.

ESPN America Schedule:

Thursday 7th Oct 2010 Helsinki: Carolina v Minnesota 5:00pm
Friday 8th Oct 2010 Helsinki: Minnesota v Carolina 5:00pm
Friday 8th Oct 2010 Stockholm: San Jose v Columbus 8:00pm
Saturday 9th Oct 2010 Prague: Phoenix v Boston 5:00pm
Saturday 9th Oct 2010 Stockholm: Columbus v San Jose 8:00pm
Sunday 10th Oct 2010 Prague: Boston v Phoenix 3:00pm

I'll try my best and keep up to speed with this thread this year, my participation in last years was minimal (as was my involvement on boards.ie as a whole really) but I did read it a lot and really do enjoy having a small, passionate NHL following on here to keep in touch with. Would even be nice if we could arrange to meet up some weekend to watch a game somewhere.

So how is everyone doing out there???

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CO29CtoxRQ4

Rented Mule

Fantasy Hockey team sorted on Sunday.

Tickets to watch the Blackhawks hoist the Stanley Cup Championship banner at the United Center on Saturday.

Calling for the 'Center Ice Package' to get all of the games in the NHL for the season.

New 60" Plasma with DVR to watch the games.

I'd say I'm pretty much sorted for the upcoming season

cena

I hope the ducks do well this season. I'm hoping goings going too a rangers game while I'm in new York for the first time.

Is espn America a good channel too have and how much is it.

Rented Mule

I had ESPN America going back to when it was NASN. Very good channel, but I do not remember what it cost. Just google it and you should have all of the answers before you.

MrJoeSoap

cena wrote: »

I hope the ducks do well this season. I'm hoping goings going too a rangers game while I'm in new York for the first time.

Is espn America a good channel too have and how much is it.

What digital provider do you have? Sky/UPC/Other?

Mule, I've been hmmming and hawing about Centre Ice this year, really don't know if it will be cost-effective given that I've got ESPN already. It can be got through ESPN player in Ireland if anyone else is interested. Think I'll go for it just for the simple fact that I can stroll home from work and watch a game of my choice, on-demand. €80 isn't too bad for a whole season when you consider the amount of games you have access to (1200 or so I think?). I just hope my internet connection is strong enough to give me a watchable image, or it'll be a serious waste of cash.

Wonder if its possible to access it on the Playstation, that'd save me a lot of hassle hooking the laptop up to the big telly and surround sound...

Apparently HBO are doing a series of run-up shows to the Winter Classic, that should be an entertaining piece of cheese.

Not long left now!

PS - Mule, how's your fantasy team looking?

Rented Mule

MrJoeSoap wrote: »

PS - Mule, how's your fantasy team looking?

10 man - snake draft - I was drawn in the #8 position (and then the 13th, 28th, 33rd etc....)

2 Centres
4 Forwards
4 D-men
2 Goaltenders

Marty Brodeur with the first pick.
Zach Parise
Mike Richards
Corey Perry
Jason Spezza
Tuukka Rask - goaltenders sorted first
Nathan Horton
Mike Cammalleri (suspended for the opener)
Jay Bouwmeester - (my first d-man taken)
Kimmo Timonen
Kris Versteeg (my first bench player who will start in place of Cammalleri)
Ryan Smyth
Dustin Byfuglien (listed as a D-man who play play PP as a forward - HUGE point getter I hope)
James Wisniewski - will get #1 D-man time for the first time in his career
Steve Mason - backup goaltender
Tom Poti - backup D

MrJoeSoap

Rented Mule wrote: »

10 man - snake draft - I was drawn in the #8 position (and then the 13th, 28th, 33rd etc....)

2 Centres
4 Forwards
4 D-men
2 Goaltenders

Marty Brodeur with the first pick.
Zach Parise
Mike Richards
Corey Perry
Jason Spezza
Tuukka Rask - goaltenders sorted first
Nathan Horton
Mike Cammalleri (suspended for the opener)
Jay Bouwmeester - (my first d-man taken)
Kimmo Timonen
Kris Versteeg (my first bench player who will start in place of Cammalleri)
Ryan Smyth
Dustin Byfuglien (listed as a D-man who play play PP as a forward - HUGE point getter I hope)
James Wisniewski - will get #1 D-man time for the first time in his career
Steve Mason - backup goaltender
Tom Poti - backup D

Not bad, good call on taking Brodeur and Rask I reckon. How did the start of the draft go, who are the sought-after names this year?

Izy

You can't watch espn player on the playstation unfortunately... Was thinking myself about it, bud would like to see a prewiev like on NFL s game pass which works brilliant in HD!
The most I could find about that it's high quality video...
I'd say try the monthly pass for 15 quid and if you happy with your picture get the yearly pass before the 20th of October so you'll get it for 80!!!

Espn has a few games on their HD channel so can't wait for those:D
I wish there was a center ice like package in Ireland :rolleyes: maybe in 2020

Pens lost last nite in the consol energy centre opener :mad:
Played well tho and hit the iron at least 4 or 5 times so here's me hopping...

Rented Mule

MrJoeSoap wrote: »

Not bad, good call on taking Brodeur and Rask I reckon. How did the start of the draft go, who are the sought-after names this year?

TOP TEN
Crosby
Ovechkin
Backstrom
Stamkos
Malkin
H. Sedin
Kane
Brodeur
Kopitar
Thornton

MrJoeSoap

Izy wrote: »

You can't watch espn player on the playstation unfortunately... Was thinking myself about it, bud would like to see a prewiev like on NFL s game pass which works brilliant in HD!
The most I could find about that it's high quality video...
I'd say try the monthly pass for 15 quid and if you happy with your picture get the yearly pass before the 20th of October so you'll get it for 80!!!

Espn has a few games on their HD channel so can't wait for those:D
I wish there was a center ice like package in Ireland :rolleyes: maybe in 2020

Pens lost last nite in the consol energy centre opener :mad:
Played well tho and hit the iron at least 4 or 5 times so here's me hopping...

I went gung-ho and bought the yearly package on opening night. The picture quality on my measly 4mb connection is FANTASTIC. As close to HD as you can get anyway. Watched the Pens on Thursday and thought they were very unlucky, not the best way to open the new rink but there were good signs. At least Washington lost as well eh...

Pens-Habs tonight at midnight, both lost to big rivals on opening night and will be looking to get their first win. Should be a good contest.

Interesting to see Stamkos in there at 4 on the list, great year last year and could well do it again this year. Would've thought Henrik Sedin would have been ahead of him given how much he improved last year.

Dublinproud

I watched the Oilers/Flames game and it was awesome.

Thought the new look Oilers were very exciting to watch,hopefully they make the playoffs this year!

MrJoeSoap

Dublinproud wrote: »

I watched the Oilers/Flames game and it was awesome.

Thought the new look Oilers were very exciting to watch,hopefully they make the playoffs this year!

Eberle's goal was awesome. The Oilers did really well in pre-season, think they only lost to the Flames? Did very well to avenge that on Thursday night.

Pens-Habs are 1-1 going into the third, very good hockey being played by both sides. Thinking of going over to Pittsburgh in early 2011, anyone been there before? New stadium looks fantastic.

MrJoeSoap

Rubbish ending to the Penguins game, 2-1 up and concede two in 24 seconds to blow it. Poor start to the season. Encouraging play from Letestu and Paul Martin, but Sid will have to step up quickly to get a few W's on the board. Montreal won't know how they won it, their rope-a-dope style of allowing shots and grabbing their chances game good tonight... very late.

Washington went nuts and scored 7 on the Devils tonight, not a good start to the season for Marty Brodeur...

Izy

I thinking goin over too but it is very hard to get tickets in Pittsburgh. I think the Montreal game was the 177th sellout in a row!!! I was looking at early February and new york as there is 3 teams to pick from and the penguins arevplaying the islanders on 4 of February( or close to it) and they rarely sell out!!!

Was the near HD picture on your computer or did you have it on the tv??

I have d laptop hooked up to my 40' tv, couldn't watch it on a 15'!!!

Not a good start tomthe season for the pens...need staalsy back and trade away Kunitz and a prospect to get a good winger!!!
I really don't like kunitzs way of playing...

Gooo pens:D

B00MSTICK

Sabres lost their home opener to the Rangers We really just weren't at the races... 2 nice goals from the point though.

Are most people watching on ESPN America? I'd love to use ESPN player but my connection is terrible at the best of times, still I might try it out for a month and see.

MrJoeSoap wrote:

The picture quality on my measly 4mb connection is FANTASTIC. As close to HD as you can get anyway.

You'd make a great salesman!

MrJoeSoap

Izy wrote: »

I thinking goin over too but it is very hard to get tickets in Pittsburgh. I think the Montreal game was the 177th sellout in a row!!! I was looking at early February and new york as there is 3 teams to pick from and the penguins arevplaying the islanders on 4 of February( or close to it) and they rarely sell out!!!

Was the near HD picture on your computer or did you have it on the tv??

I have d laptop hooked up to my 40' tv, couldn't watch it on a 15'!!!

Not a good start tomthe season for the pens...need staalsy back and trade away Kunitz and a prospect to get a good winger!!!
I really don't like kunitzs way of playing...

Gooo pens:D

There are quite a few season ticket holders who sell individual games on the Ticket Exchange, but good seats will cost you big bucks...

I had it on the laptop last night as the missus was watching TV, but the first game was hooked up to the TV via HDMI and it looked fantastic.

B00MSTICK wrote: »

Sabres lost their home opener to the Rangers We really just weren't at the races... 2 nice goals from the point though.

Are most people watching on ESPN America? I'd love to use ESPN player but my connection is terrible at the best of times, still I might try it out for a month and see.


You'd make a great salesman!

I watched last season on ESPN America, no complaints at all but I'd rather have a wider choice of games to watch. What connection do you have? The streaming on ESPN Player is "adaptive" so it recognises your connection and gives you the most suitable picture.

Izy

I guess my credit card is goin to get good use again

all sorted now, cant wait for the pens - devils game tomoro

MrJoeSoap

Izy wrote: »

I guess my credit card is goin to get good use again

all sorted now, cant wait for the pens - devils game tomoro

Big time, and it's at the very reasonable hour of 9pm in the Emerald Isle. BINGO!

Izy

just connected the laptop to my 40'' hd tv and have to say the picture is as good as on espn hd :D:D

i dont use the adaptive option for the stream, just picked the highest possible :cool:

really cant wait for the pens devils game now, lets just hope for the first win

MrJoeSoap

Izy wrote: »

just connected the laptop to my 40'' hd tv and have to say the picture is as good as on espn hd :D:D

i dont use the adaptive option for the stream, just picked the highest possible :cool:

really cant wait for the pens devils game now, lets just hope for the first win

Good start, plenty of shots and an encouraging powerplay. We really need to stuff these Devils to get rid of last seasons memory...

Devils only have 15 skaters tonight, three line attack.

Penguins need Orpik and Staal back fast.

MrJoeSoap

Goallllllllllll-igoski

MrJoeSoap

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oe-U4i3SiMY

Tyler Seguins first NHL goal (what an assist!)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0JYeKEA5AoY

Wisniewski taunts Avery...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6HPdJYIoUxc

Ondrej Pavelec collapses. He's out of hospital and doing well.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VuYO-KqCnL0

Serious respect for Pavel Datsyuk, what a great leader and incredible player.

Izy

MrJoeSoap wrote: »

Penguins need Orpik and Staal back fast.

and now michalek too:mad:

MrJoeSoap

Izy wrote: »

and now michalek too:mad:

Looked pretty innocuous when it happened, but he's definitely hurt.

A good performance thus far but needs to stay strong under the inevitable backlash in the third, especially with only 5 defencemen. Paul Martin just seems to get better every game, he's our star man so far in all three games for me. Letestu is doing well too. Sid is showing great energy and a couple of nice flashes but isn't quite at the races yet, and other than drawing three penalties himself and Malkin haven't figured a whole lot.

In other news, don't you wish all hockey games were played at this time?

Izy

that would be great.

got home from work at half 5 and watched the rangers v islanders game and it was a good one and now this treat

time difrence is a b!tch

i still would try to trade kunitz, nathan horton would have been a great winger for either sid or geno with staalsy going on the wing too...

martin is great but at 5mil/year a bit expensive... so is michalek at 4mil/year. if ray shero saved 1.5 mil/year between those two contracts and trading away kunitz and his 3.75mil/year that would have been a very good winger...

MrJoeSoap

Great stuff, nice way to spend a Monday evening! Pens win 3-1 thanks to some fantastic goaltending by Brent Johnson. And Paul Martin capped off a great performance with an empty-netter, thats 3pts in 3 games now, tied most for a defenceman in the league.

Might watch the Av's - Red Wings tomorrow, but definitely back on Wednesday at 12.30 for the Leafs game, they're on fire!

Izy

With signing Martin and michalek it was always going to be 3-1 or 3-2 rather than 6-3, 6-4 as last two seasons

Not sure which I prefer:rolleyes:

It's good to get the W!!!

MrJoeSoap

Izy wrote: »

With signing Martin and michalek it was always going to be 3-1 or 3-2 rather than 6-3, 6-4 as last two seasons

Not sure which I prefer:rolleyes:

It's good to get the W!!!

Not sure myself either, will be interesting to see the first game of the season against the Caps, thats for sure.

Attached a few pictures of the setup I finished (downstairs, still working on upstairs) tonight for the long season ahead! Always nice to have something to look forward to for the next few months of rain and wind.

EDIT:// Just noticed Martin also got an assist tonight, so forget defencemen, he's just the NHL points leader (joint... for now...)!

Izy

Nice set up!!!

Gonna miss the pens game tonight as I'm working half 5 in the morning on Thursday :mad:

I'll try to gomthe whole day without checking the scores :rolleyes:And watch nit on demand when I finish!!!

Had a little money on the hawks, flyers and Canucks the other nite so it made watching the games really interesting

The red wings let me down tonite :eek:

MrJoeSoap

Izy wrote: »

Nice set up!!!

Gonna miss the pens game tonight as I'm working half 5 in the morning on Thursday :mad:

I'll try to gomthe whole day without checking the scores :rolleyes:And watch nit on demand when I finish!!!

Had a little money on the hawks, flyers and Canucks the other nite so it made watching the games really interesting

The red wings let me down tonite :eek:

Have to warn you, I'll probably post about the game here tonight if I can stay awake that late...

Izy

I have money on the penguins so will check the result anyway

Gooo pens!!!

An Citeog

Watching TB Lightning v Canadiens at the moment. Canadiens 2-1 up in the second period but doing their best to throw it away. Price has made a couple of big saves. I didn't see the game against the Penguins at the weekend but from watching tonight's game and the game against the Leafs, the amount of stupid penalties they give away has them continually on the back foot. Then again, I've only recently started following hockey, so I'm probably full of shíte!:D

An Citeog

Lightning win 4-3 in OT. Canadiens were 3-2 with a couple of minutes to go, another stupid penalty and concede the pp goal. Best for Montreal was Carey Price which says it all really!

Izy

i think i'll stop betting on hockey for a while :rolleyes:, some suprising results the last few days (at least for me)...

have to wait until teams get through 15-20games to see who is who...

will try to watch the penguins game against the islanders tonite...

goo pens!!!

MrJoeSoap

An Citeog wrote: »

Watching TB Lightning v Canadiens at the moment. Canadiens 2-1 up in the second period but doing their best to throw it away. Price has made a couple of big saves. I didn't see the game against the Penguins at the weekend but from watching tonight's game and the game against the Leafs, the amount of stupid penalties they give away has them continually on the back foot. Then again, I've only recently started following hockey, so I'm probably full of shíte!:D

Didn't get to see the Leafs game but after last night I'm sure you're dead right about the penalties. Matt Cooke got three goaltender interference calls against him last night, they were doing their best to make DiPietro uncomfortable.

Referees last night did their best to take things away from the Penguins, that 5 minute game misconduct for Letang was absolutly laughable. Luckily they held on and went on to win it in overtime. Yet again it was the "fringe" players who did the business, ET got his first NHL goal, Goligoski got yet another one and Paul Martin did the business again with an assist. Very little out of Sid or Geno, but they'll come good.

Izy wrote: »

i think i'll stop betting on hockey for a while :rolleyes:, some suprising results the last few days (at least for me)...

have to wait until teams get through 15-20games to see who is who...

will try to watch the penguins game against the islanders tonite...

goo pens!!!

Did you get to see it? Certainly won't be betting on the Pens any time soon!

Leafs are 4-0 and top of the NHL... who would have believed it?

Izy

No I missed the last two pens games coz was working very early mornings:mad:

Had money on d flames to beat the panthers at home and lost 3-0:eek:

Big game tonite, can't wait for it

MrJoeSoap

Izy wrote: »

No I missed the last two pens games coz was working very early mornings:mad:

Had money on d flames to beat the panthers at home and lost 3-0:eek:

Big game tonite, can't wait for it

Early(ish) start but I'm going to the pub. Might watch it delayed tomorrow or pick it up halfway through tonight. This is the Letang hit...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jg04l43zAv4

Appalling decision.

Izy

That's a shoulder hit!!! Nowhere near the head!!!

MrJoeSoap

Great win for the Pens last night, and Sid got 2 goals and an assist to hopefully kick-start his season.

Izy

Yeah Sid getting 2 on pp and an assist is great for my fantasy team too

MrJoeSoap

Pens-Sens tonight, will you be watchin Izy?

MrJoeSoap

Awesome first period by the Penguins, best hockey of the year so far. The powerplay is on fire!

Izy

Didn't get to see it as I left my laptop in work an the ps3 doesn't stream the espn player got a bit of sleep,
Was playing nhl11 till midnight played my first online game and won 7-0 with the pens beating the maple leafs...

Kunitz got two goals but in real life I still trade him away

Will watch the next two on thursday and Saturday as I'm off for a few days

Watched the highlights of last night, starting to gel and still 4 great players missing

cena

Was playing nhl11 till midnight played my first online game and won 7-0 with the pens beating the maple leafs...


i'v been playing online abit lately. the all star setting is hard.

Izy

It's not as hard playing online as it is if you play against the AI!!!
Have a be a gm mode at the all star level and I'm 3-1-1 so far, had a fantasy draft to start the season with

cena

Izy wrote: »

It's not as hard playing online as it is if you play against the AI!!!
Have a be a gm mode at the all star level and I'm 3-1-1 so far, had a fantasy draft to start the season with

well my team isn't that strong.

Izy

cena wrote: »

well my team isn't that strong.

who r u playing with???

cena

Izy wrote: »

who r u playing with???

i'll have too look at the game again. it was some team that came up. its nto a nhl team. thats all i know.

Izy

I don't really play any of the European leagues or chl sort of stuff

Like the proper BIG boy stuff :cool:

cena

my team is from seattle

Shanannigan

dropped the ball last night.. dam you brodeur...