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This season we're going to be trying a new News & Notes format. Instead of the weekly column (which we all know was actually a "non-column" last season), I'll be doing more of a blog-type column. That is, whenever the mood strikes, be it stats night on Wednesday, the middle of a Canucks-Flames game at midnight, or maybe even a Friday morning before I leave for work, I'll come here and post entries. Sometimes it will be just a paragraph or two, sometimes longer. I'll make sure I put a date on everything so you can easily tell what's new from what you may have already read. So feel free to come to this page often, or continue checking in once a week as the stats update, to check out and catch up on the latest entries in what I hope to be a season long stream of (un)conciousness. If anyone else has anything to contribute, I'll be more than happy to post it here, with all credit given to the author of course. November 30th, 2006 Did you ever sit there watching a hockey game and wonder what it would be like if instead of watching whatever two teams OLN (sorry VS) decided to give us tonight, you could pick the two teams that were playing? That those two teams could be from any time in the history of the NHL? Well then we could have games like these: - The 1940 Rangers battle the 1994 Rangers to see which Cup winner is New York City’s finest So are you interested yet? Do I have your attention? Now how about if I told you that the game would be played in 10 seconds and then you could pore over the box score for as long as you liked? Then you could do it all again and see if the outcome changed? Well let me tell you, I have found the perfect place on the ‘Net that makes this all happen and here’s the best thing of all… It’s free! For those of you who have not yet discovered WhatIfSports.com and their “Sim Matchup” (short for Simulated Matchup of course, not related in anyway to Thrasher forward Jon Sim I don’t think), then finish reading this column and follow the link I provide at the end and you’ll be happy you did. Oh, and one more thing. Don’t plan on sleeping or moving from your computer anytime in the next 48 hours, you won’t want too… So what this does is allow you to pick two teams from anytime, anyplace in NHL history, Original Six to Over Expanded Today, set which team has the home ice (or play at a historic neutral site), set the type of game you want to play (regular season or playoffs), pick the starting goalies and away we go! The game runs in about 10 seconds (so you can sneak a few in at work!) and once it’s done you get the final score, a full box score to peruse and an entire play-by-play account of the game that you can print out and save. Hockey freakin’ heaven I tell you! Oh, and did I mention that you can do the same thing for baseball, football and basketball games too? (Yes Walt I know what you’re thinking, definitely do call me!) Whoever built this site deserves to be in all four sports halls of fame, but also should pay the bills for my sleep deprivation treatment if I ever get out of this chair… OK, you’re drooling I know, here’s the link, the rest is pretty self-explanatory once you get there. If you have any trouble or questions just drop me a note, I’ll be happy to help. Oh, and if you want to see how those games listed above came out, just continue reading past the link… http://www.whatifsports.com/nhl/default.asp Now about those games (recaps made up by me after perusing the box scores of each game)… 1994 New York Rangers 3, 1940 Rangers 2 1975 Flyers 7, 1986 Oilers 2 1976 Canadiens 1, 1995 Devils 0 1972 Bruins 4, 2001 Avalanche 1 2006 Hurricanes 4, 1927 Senators 3 1980 Islanders 6, 1991 Penguins 5 1948 Maple Leafs 4, 1963 Maple Leafs 3 1976 Golden Seals 4, 1977 Barons 2 Here’s that link again so you don’t have to scroll up to find it: Enjoy the games and please let me know if you found this as cool as I did! I’d love to hear about the games you set up and how they turned out. I’m contemplating a Round Robin tournament involving all the Rangers, Islanders and Devils Stanley Cup winners but I really should get some sleep instead! November 23rd, 2006 Happy Bird Day everyone!
Top 10 Ways To Tell It's Thanksgiving In The NHL (WARNING: The next paragraph is some funny s**t but the disclaimer is that I’ve been printing the same thing for like the last four or five seasons so you may have already read it…) Oh the beloved kid's table at the family Thanksgiving dinner. You know it doesn't matter how old you are. I'm 38 and I still have to sit at the "kiddie table". And it's always one of those 55-year old fold out card tables with the wobbly leg draped by some just as ancient table cloth colored like one of Don Cherry’s ties, isn't it? While the head table is this massive oak thing that your great-great-great grandfather's grandfather carved out by hand! You see the problem is that the main "adult" table can only fit so many chairs around it. So the only way to go from the kiddie table to the adult table is to have some old relative with a seat at the main table die so that you can "move up" and fill their seat in some strange "royal secession like" holiday ritual. It's kind of like moving up from the checking line to the third line, no? Now don't go giving your grandparents the evil eye, or plot to go all Sean Avery on them during dinner or anything, just wait your turn patiently and hope that your family doesn't have any of that longevity DNA stuff floating in their gene pool. Because if they do, you may wind up sharing that beat up card table with your own kids some day (or perhaps you already do?). And that's enough to make anybody "slip a little something" into Grandpa's cranberry sauce… November 16th, 2006 Hello everyone! Time for an early season pop quiz to see who’s been paying attention. Don't worry too much, it's multiple choice. Eyes on your own paper and no cheating! 1. The head coach recently fired by the Columbus Blue Jackets was: 2. This song was an 80’s hit for German pop star Falco: 3. Borat is: 4. The new Buffalo Sabres logo looks most like: 
5. Which of these is not a real NHL player: 6. Complete this phrase: _____ Is The Word: 7. Johnny La’s team name, Hock E. Coli, refers to getting sick as a result of: 8. The “Hoegaarden” in Mike Bineau’s team name refers to: 9. The Lone Phantom’s partner is: 10. Rob Hanratty, owner of the California Golden Showers, resides in which city: 11. Put the following in the order in which they will occur: 12. Complete the following phrase: 15 Gets You ______ 13. Which of the following players will “He-Man” Don Cardoza hate the most: 14. If rookie owner Tyler Burnham wins, loses and ties, but then loses the tie in a shootout what will his record be and how many points will he have? 15. What did Crashing The Crease owner Charlie Baker actually crash? 16. The most likely person for Jonah to pass the puck to would be: 17. If you Whack Wang you will: 18. Which direction would Walt suggest you “foil”? 19. Put the following in order from youngest to oldest: 20. The Lady Byng trophy goes to: Extra Credit: Describe how Brian Legere’s team was able to gain 23 ½ points in one week of stats. Please show all math work that helped you arrive at the answer. Ok, time's up! Put your pencils down, the test is over. Now Please Czech your answers below and give yourself a score. Answers: Rankings: November 9th, 2006 Here's something to do on a rainy day or if you're looking to kill some time at the office and won't get in too much trouble if the boss catches you goofing off at work. Linked below are three games courtesy of NHL.COM. I've listed a brief description of each one, try one or try them all. Simply click on the red links to play each game. Or if you're feeling technically proficient, right-click on the red links and select "Open in another window" to keep this window available to come back to and switch between games. First up, it's Classic Concentration, NHL style. Click on the squares to reveal the team logos, match them up two at a time until none are left and see how you scored. This one is The Commish's favorite, I've even caught my boss playing it in his office... Now here's a unique one. In this next game, you are the goalie and you must defend your net from objects thrown by fans. Yes folks, we're talking hat-trick chapeaus, those old rubber rats from Florida and the dreaded Detroit octopi! Make sure you read the directions on this one before you start but in case you're impatient it's the mouse to move your goalie left and right and the "A" key to "shoot the puck" at the oncoming invaders. Yes you use your keyboard in this one, very "old school", like the Cleveland Barons or Kansas City Scouts... At lastly, for the not so coordinated amongst us a simple "Pong meets hockey" game. You control the guy in blue. So basically you're Keith Tkachuk or Doug Weight, or perhaps you'd prefer to be that Stempniak guy... Enjoy!
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