Speaking about hockey ......... the World Junior Hockey Championships are coming up next month and Calgary is the National training facility and has and will see the brightest Junior talent in hockey here to come together as a squad to try for another gold medal. This is hockey country and most if not all games will be sold out.

The games will be shared between Calgary (Saddledome)and Edmonton (Rexall Place) this year starting on December 26th 2011 and here is a breakdown of the pools:

GROUP A
Calgary, Alta.

1 - Russia
4 - Sweden
5 - Switzerland
8 - Slovakia
9 - Latvia

GROUP B
Edmonton, Alta.

2 - Canada
3 - United States
6 - Finland
7 - Czech Republic
10 - Denmark

The medal round and relegation games are slated for Calgary.

Here is a breakdown of the games and locale and should you want tickets but don't hold your breath as all games are almost sold out with a few tickets left for walk-ins.

Monday, December 26, 2011

1 01:30 PM MT CAN - FIN B Preliminary Rexall Place Edmonton, Alta.
2 03:30 PM MT SWE - LAT A Preliminary Saddledome Calgary, Alta.
3 06:00 PM MT USA - DEN B Preliminary Rexall Place Edmonton, Alta.
4 08:00 PM MT RUS - SUI A Preliminary Saddledome Calgary, Alta.

Tuesday, December 27, 2011

5 06:00 PM MT DEN - CZE B Preliminary Rexall Place Edmonton, Alta.
6 08:00 PM MT LAT - SVK A Preliminary Saddledome Calgary, Alta.

Wednesday, December 28, 2011

7 01:30 PM MT FIN - USA B Preliminary Rexall Place Edmonton, Alta.
8 03:30 PM MT SUI - SWE A Preliminary Saddledome Calgary, Alta.
9 06:00 PM MT CZE - CAN B Preliminary Rexall Place Edmonton, Alta.
10 08:00 PM MT SVK - RUS A Preliminary Saddledome Calgary, Alta.

Thursday, December 29, 2011

11 06:00 PM MT CAN - DEN B Preliminary Rexall Place Edmonton, Alta.
12 08:00 PM MT RUS - LAT A Preliminary Saddledome Calgary, Alta.

Friday, December 30, 2011

13 01:30 PM MT CZE - USA B Preliminary Rexall Place Edmonton, Alta.
14 03:30 PM MT SVK - SWE A Preliminary Saddledome Calgary, Alta.
15 06:00 PM MT DEN - FIN B Preliminary Rexall Place Edmonton, Alta.
16 08:00 PM MT LAT - SUI A Preliminary Saddledome Calgary, Alta.

Saturday, December 31, 2011

17 02:00 PM MT FIN - CZE B Preliminary Rexall Place Edmonton, Alta.
18 04:00 PM MT SUI - SVK A Preliminary Saddledome Calgary, Alta.
19 06:00 PM MT USA - CAN B Preliminary Rexall Place Edmonton, Alta.
20 08:00 PM MT SWE - RUS A Preliminary Saddledome Calgary, Alta.

Monday, January 2, 2012

21 11:00 AM MT 4A - 5B - Relegation Saddledome Calgary, Alta.
22 03:00 PM MT *2A - 3B - Quarter-final Saddledome Calgary, Alta.
23 07:00 PM MT *2B - 3A - Quarter-final Saddledome Calgary, Alta.

Tuesday, January 3, 2012

24 11:00 AM MT 4B - 5A - Relegation Saddledome Calgary, Alta.
25 03:00 PM MT **1B - W(G22) - Semifinal Saddledome Calgary, Alta.
26 07:00 PM MT **1A - W(G23) - Semifinal Saddledome Calgary, Alta.

Wednesday, January 4, 2012

27 11:00 AM MT 5A - 5B - Relegation Saddledome Calgary, Alta.
28 03:00 PM MT 4A - 4B - Relegation Saddledome Calgary, Alta.
29 07:00 PM MT L(G22) - L(G23) - 5th Place Saddledome Calgary, Alta.

Thursday, January 5, 2012

30 01:30 PM MT L(G25) - L(G26) - Bronze Saddledome Calgary, Alta.
31 06:00 PM MT W(G25) - W(G26) - Gold Saddledome Calgary, Alta.

 

Wow ... Vancouver 5 of 6 on the powerplay against Chicago for a 6 - 2 win.

Why can the Sedin brothers score like crazy all of a sudden and not when it counted last season.

 

Tampa Bay pulled one out of the hat and beat my Flyers in OT last night 2 - 1. Both teams sit with 8 wins.

Winnipeg is motoring right along with a 5-7-3 record and are actually ahead of Boston, Montreal, Islanders and Columbus in the standings at present. Good on them and I'm sure their fans are pretty pleased with that.

 

I'm looking forward to the Outdoor Classic in 2012 which will see the Philadelphia Flyers and the New York Rangers on Jan 02, 2012

They get to toughen their knuckles in 2 regular season meetings before then.

 

Oh ya I forgot to ask .......... WTF was that shit in the Flyers/Lightning game last night. Standing around like that is not good for hockey in any way.

 

On a Women's National Hockey note, the 4 Nations cup is underway in Sweden.

Way to go Shannon, that's my girl.:excited:

​

 

I like the call to put Charline Labonte of Boisbriand, Que. in the net for Canada.


On a note about Jesse Vetter, she is a fine goalie that also won an NCAA championship with Wisconsin in 2009 and has an award named after her for the best goalie in W. prep school

 

The Chicago Blackhawks wore Camouflage Jersey's in honor of Veteran's Day in their warm-up before the game against the Calgary Flames last night and won 4-1 with an empty net goal to seal it. Calgary outplayed Chicago but Ray Emery stood on his head and made some great saves.




As did the Pittsburgh Penguins, beating Dallas 3 - 1.

 

This is pretty much like last year.

The Bruins could not buy goals in the first third of the season, then slowly put it together.

What I really do not get is how they can bury Toronto twice and can't score against anyone else....

 

Since the 4 Nations Cup is one and it is an off day I thought I would mention a true hero of mine.

Just have to mention Hayley Wickenheiser and I have known her since she was still in Diapers and have watched her advance her hockey career over the years. She is such a skilled female player that she usually practices on men's teams to give her that level of competition that makes her as good as she is.

Without a doubt, Hayley is the most accomplished female hockey player in history and her achievements rival those of Wayne Gretzky ... in stats and stature. She turned down an offer from Phil Esposito one time to play for the Cinncinati Cyclones of the ECHL and Bobby Clark was so impressed with her that she was invited to the Philadelphia Flyers rookie camps in 1998 and 1999. She has played in men's professional leagues in Europe as well.

There is nothing this great hockey star has not accomplished in hockey and has 21 Gold medals and 5 Silver including 3 Gold and one Silver Olympic medals in her trophy case that takes up an entire room with all the awards she has collected. She was listed as "one of the most influential people in hockey (#59) as well as one of the "25 toughest athletes" by Sports Illustrated and also "one of the "50 most powerful women in Canada"

She is currently playing for the University of Calgary when not competing Internationally.

Her cousin is Doug Wickenheiser 1st overall draft pick in 1980 of the Montreal Canadiens, who died of cancer in 1999 ... may he rest in peace.

Oh ya ........... she kicks ass at Softball as well.

 

Latest suspensions in the NHL.

Patrick Kaleta BUF 11/3/2011 4 games for head-butting

Andy Sutton EDM 11/1/2011 5 games for hit to the head

Dan Carcillo CHI 10/29/2011 2 games for hit from behind

Kris Letang PIT 10/18/2011 2 games for boarding

Pierre-Marc Bouchard MIN 10/9/2011 2 games for high sticking

Clarke MacArthur TOR 10/1/2011 1 pre-season game, 2 regular season games for hit to the head

Brendan Smith DET 9/30/2011 3 pre-season games, 5 regular season games for hit to the head

Tom Sestito PHI 9/28/2011 3 pre-season games, 3 regular season games for hit from behind

J-F Jacques ANA 9/27/2011 4 pre-season games, 5 regular season games for instigating rule

Brad Boyes BUF 9/25/2011 2 pre-season games for illegal hit to the head

Brad Staubitz MIN 9/24/2011 3 pre-season games, 3 regular season games for illegal check

James Wisniewski CLB 9/24/2011 3 pre-season games, 8 regular season games for check to the head

Jody Shelley PHI 9/22/2011 5 pre-season games, 5 regular season games for hit from behind

PL Letourneau-Leblond CAL 9/22/2011 4 pre-season games, 1 regular season games for boarding

 

I watched that game against Toronto and it was sad indeed.

I didn't watch last nights Canucks game but I heard they scored 3 goals very close together and that is all the gossip I heard about it so far this morning.

 

They are getting their stride slowly.

Odds of winning Stanley Cup 2012 at present.
Anaheim Ducks
30/1
Boston Bruins
12/1
Buffalo Sabres
30/1
Calgary Flames
30/1
Carolina Hurricanes
30/1
Chicago Blackhawks
12/1
Colorado Avalanche
50/1
Columbus Blue Jackets
40/1
Dallas Stars
50/1
Detroit Red Wings
10/1
Edmonton Oilers
50/1
Florida Panthers
100/1
Los Angeles Kings
20/1
Manitoba/Winnipeg
30/1
Minnesota Wild
50/1
Montreal Canadiens
30/1
Nashville Predators
30/1
New Jersey Devils
30/1
New York Islanders
100/1
New York Rangers
40/1
Ottawa Senators
100/1
Philadelphia Flyers
12/1
Phoenix Coyotes
30/1
Pittsburgh Penguins
6/1
San Jose Sharks
12/1
St Louis Blues
30/1
Tampa Bay Lightning
20/1
Toronto Maple Leafs
30/1
Vancouver Canucks
5/1
Washington Capitals
10/1

These are from Bodog and I don't come up with the same numbers but the top 5 are still pretty close to correct.

 

Calgary Flames knock off Colorado Avalanche 4 - 3 on Saturday night and went out to 4-0 lead before Colorado woke up and came back. Calgary missed an empty net chance twice in the last 30 seconds and Colorado made a last ditch rush and almost tied it with 4 seconds left but Kipper was there to stonewall the effort.

Sorry cg ......... Santa still isn't listening, lol. :excited: :rose:

 

NY Rangers are on a 6 game winning streak.

Boston Bruins are on a 5 game winning streak.

Detroit Redwings are on a 4 game winning streak.

Chicago and Pittsburgh are atop the standings tied with 23 points, Dallas is 3rd with 22.

My Flyers are in a logjam with 6 other teams with 19 points, all looking to take over the 9th spot.

Columbus has yet to break the double digit mark with a lowly 7 points. Seems they may be the next team up for sale and Saskatchewan is looking for a team so who knows.

 

Oh btw .......... Sportnet has a new segment on their hockey coverage called "Are you kidding me". I will not say it is directly my idea but if you ask Nick Kypreos, who was credited with the name, he will tell you that "a little birdie told him". :excited:

 

I forgot to congratulate the USA woman's hockey team on their gold medal victory over Canada in the 4 Nations Cup last Sunday. Well done ladies.

The USA won in the shoot-out.

 

This is a great competition with such a cool prize for the winner.

Kraft Hockeyville nominations start Friday

Seriously, who wouldn't want an NHL hockey game in their community rink?

 

Hey why don't some of you bitches get your head out of your ass and out of the political bullshit for a second or two and visit a decent thread once in a while.

And put that fucking soccerball down and pick up a puck, fucking sissy's

 

Blue Jackets are next.....seven in a row.....GO Bruins......
....Wooooooooooooooooooooooooooo