Ivan Provorov was up until this past week an obscure defenseman for the Philadelphia Flyers, in his seventh season with a team that’s only made the NHL playoffs twice in his career and, based upon their current last place standing in the Metropolitan Division, seem destined to miss out again. A far cry from their … Read more
When the NHL finally decided to add new teams for the first time since a late 90s explosion bloated the league tota to 30, there was great desire for the league to add teams in Canada, where the sport is most prominent and its fan bases ever loyal. Expansion teams traditonally don’t win often, and … Read more
We’re at roughly the halfway point of the NHL season, and with the weather atypically horrible in Southern California and weekday evenings finally back to football-less norms, last night was a rare chance to focus on the local teams. Both the Kings and Ducks were at home, competing head-to-head on local TV, and both were … Read more
In a city as sports-crazed as Boston, a winning team produces a passion and love not otherwise seen in most cities. Boston hockey fans are particularly rabid, and I’ve known it for a looooong time. I had the pleasure of seeing a game in the old Gahden, the ancient escalator-less, climate-uncontrolled barn that the team … Read more
Alex Ovechkin has been playing hockey in the United States–indeed, in its capital city–since 2005. He has largely been known best among fans and within the Beltway among its rabid core of fans who have learned to appreciate his talent, zeal and prowess in the same manner that Ted Williams achieved in Boston and Michael … Read more
Very, very quietly, the NHL season has reached the quarter pole, and without question one of the surprise stories of the year to date has been the New Jersey Devils. After a 7th place finish in the Metropolitan Division last season which followed three consecutive seasons in the cellar of wherever they were placed, the … Read more
I’m a very passionate sports fan, and I’m especially fascinated by the culture of cities in major professional leagues where its team is the only one of its kind among the five top team sports. So I’ve always had a jones for the Green Bay Packers, liked the Portland Trail Blazers even before I learned … Read more
I watched two hockey games played in on-campus arenas online last night. The first was played at the Cooler in Geneva, New York, where my alma mater Oswego State opened their season against host Hobart. The second took place in Tempe, Arizona, where the NHL Arizona Coyotes opened their home season. The Coyotes drew only … Read more
The 105th season of the National Hockey League–and the 104th in which they will actually play games; remember 2004-05 was completely wiped out by a strike–will debut tonight, finally looking at something resembling normalcy with arenas in both countries at full capacity, and teams who missed out on something better than they wound up with … Read more
NHL free agency opened up this week exactly two weeks after the NBA began its frenzied off-season. You’re forgiven if your shrug is obvious. Put this in perspective: the top NBA contract so far is a $264 million deal signed by MVP Nikola Jokic with his current Denver Nuggets employer, wiith hundreds of millions more … Read more