NOVEMBER 12th

Europe - Karjala Tournament
Backlund (SWE) - W - 1.00
Koschechkin (RUS) - W - .926 - Shootout: 2 saves of 3 shots
Malek (CZE) - L - .946 - Shootout: 1 save of 3 shots
Wallinheimo (FIN) - L - .958

NHL
Backstrom (MIN) - L - .921
Boucher (CHI) - W- 1.00
Giguere (ANA) - W - .923
Markkanen (EDM) - L - .862
Norrena (CBJ) - L - .947
Sanford (STL) - W- .909

NOVEMBER 11th

Europe - Karjala Tournament
Cechmanek (CZE) - L - .909
Eremenko (RUS) - W - .818
Ersberg (SWE) - L - .844
Wallinheimo (FIN) - W - .967

NHL
Aebischer (MTL) - L - .862
Aubin (TOR) - W - .962
Belfour (FLA) -L- .833
Biron (BUF) - W- .867
Brodeur (NJ) -W- .900
Fernandez (MIN) - W - .938 - Shootout: 3 saves of 6 shots
Garon (LA) - OTL - .941 - Shootout: 2 saves of 5 shots (1 miss)
Gerber (OTT) - L - .862
Holmqvist (TB) - W - .900
Huet (MTL) - n/a - .923
Joseph (PHX) - L - .889
Kiprusoff (CGY) - W - .923
Kolzig (WSH) - W - .976
Lehtonen (ATL) - L - .861
Luongo (VAN) - L - .857
Lundqvist (NYR) - L - .893
Mason (NSH) - W - 1.00
Nabokov (SJ) - n/a - .929
Niittymaki (PHI) - OTL - .865
Theodore (COL) - L - .968
Thibault (PIT) - L - .828
Thomas (BOS) - W- .893
Toskala (SJ) - W - 1.00
Ward (CAR) - W - .900

NOVEMBER 10TH

NHL
Auld (FLA) - OTL - .808
Biron (BUF) - W - .789
Bryzgalov (ANA) - L - .333
Caron (CHI) - W - .960
Fleury (PIT) - L - .864
Gerber (OTT) - W - .824
Giguere (ANA) - n/a - 1.00
Hasek (DET) - W - 1.00
Kiprusoff (CGY) - 1.00
LeClaire (CBJ) - L - .862
Lehtonen (ATL) - L - .800
Lundqvist (NYR) - W - .933
Roloson (EDM) - W - .963
Sanford (STL) - L - .882
Vokoun (NSH) - L - .949

Who's the best in the net?

Alan Muir of SI.com gives us his list of the best netminders as of opening night this season. The usual suspects are there, but there is a surprise or two.

And what the heck is happening in Sweden? Linköping and Frölunda, who finished 2nd and 3rd last year, are in 10th and 11th places, respectively. Frölunda's record is atrocious: 0-3-2 after being soundly beaten by HV71 today by a score of 6-1. I've watched several video clips of their games and find myself wondering if someone put a Salo jersey on some random guy off the street and put him in net. There is no way Salo played this poorly last year, not with the success the team had. Looking only at the scores of the games, I thought maybe the defense is porous this year. But the video shows sloppy positioning and terrible reaction time on his part. What's happened? He's no spring chicken at 35 years of age, but there has to be something going on for there to be such a dramatic difference between this season and last. HV hasn't been faring much better, but they finally leapt ahead of the pack of "former-winners in the basement" today with their victory over the Indians, putting them in 8th place. Ooooooh, look out, here they come now!

Catching up with the team previews

There's more great analysis on nhl.com, looking at many aspects of the teams as we inch closer to the start of the regular season. As far as the goalies go...

All jokes aside, Rick DiPietro's confidence is back after a career-high in wins last season. (Note: Wade Dubielewicz is featured as backup in this article, but the Isles appear to be courting Mike Dunham, who has played in all three of the Islanders' pre-season games so far.) King Henrik will be out to prove his stellar season was no fluke, just as the Senators will benefit from Martin Gerber proving himself in a new city, with hungry Ray Emery at his heels. And in Minnesota, now that the question of the #1 position has been settled, the battle for ice time will be played out for the backup role between club prospect Josh Harding and Finnish import Niklas Backstrom. With Antero Niittymaki's unfortunate injury, the Flyers will have to rely on Robert Esche as their starter, rather than go with the tandem plan as predicted. Predators players and fans alike are relieved that Tomas Vokoun's health problems cleared up and he is ready to pick up where he left off. The kid with the bright yellow pads gets his first shot at a full season as the #1 goalie. Pittsburgh's backup situation is a lot less confidence-inspirig. CuJo is the undisputed #1 in Pheonix, and John McGourty thinks an improved Coyotes defense will do wonders to help improve his numbers.

Goalie geek heaven continued...

Phil Coffey continues his team-by-team analysis at nhl.com. With Marc Denis gone Pascal LeClaire can really come into his own in Columbus. No look at Dallas would be complete without discussing Marty Turco's strange tendency to fall apart in the postseason, and what is there to say about Detroit other than: Hasek ? Alex Auld has a few interesting things to say about his old team. Up in Habs territory the crease is a bit crowded. And the worst job in hockey might just be being Martin Brodeur's backup.

A goalie geek's gold mine

Phill Coffey over at NHL.com is doing a fantastic job of previewing the teams for the 2006-2007 season. He looks at each aspect of the teams, but of course I go right for the goalies.

Will Bryz or Giggy end up with the #1 job in Anaheim? The Thrashers focus on keeping Lehtonen healthy and closing the revolving door to the backup position, while Toivonen may get the chance to shine this season in Boston. Even though Buffalo has no worries in net (which will free up management to do something about their hideous new logo), there couldn't be a bigger no-brainer than Calgary's goaltending situation. Brind'Amour gives Cam Ward kudos, Nikolai Khabibulin is out to prove 2005-2006 was just a fluke, and Jose Theodore intends to start fresh in Colorado.

Another conversation with the Flyers fan

I’m not a huge football fan, but I am a casual Giants fan just by default because that is the team my family has always rooted for. (Yes, I know this is a hockey blog… stay with me on this, I promise it will tie in).

Yesterday as I carbo-loaded in preparation for my first official game with my new team, an all-women’s team, I watched the Giants/Eagles game. I actually found myself quite into it, even yelled at the TV a little. And this was during the first half, so you can’t call me a bandwagon Giants fan for that. I did wander off to do some other things but came back when I found out they’d tied, and watched the rest of the game. I was happy that the Giants came back and won, but was even more gleeful about the fact that I could gloat about it to that Philadelphia transplant in my office. My opportunity came toward the end of the day as I was getting my afternoon coffee. Flyers Fan happened to be loading up on caffeine as well.

Me: So… I watched a football game yesterday.

FF (warily): Really? What game did you watch?

Me: Oh…the Giants/Eagles game.

We had a friendly banter about the game, and then when we both discovered that the other had lost their cable connection mid-game, the conversation turned to Cablevision, otherwise known in these parts (ok, just in my house) as “Evil Empire”. He complained that they are always telling him to buy this or that device to increase his bandwidth.

FF: I think it’s just a ruse so they can keep paying your Rangers.

Me: Nah, the salary cap has saved the Rangers from themselves.

FF: Ok, then it’s for the Continual Mark Messier Retirement Party.

Me: Maybe. But it might be funneled into the Brian Leetch Retirement Party fund, since it looks like we’ll be getting him back in time for him to retire.

FF: What happened? You guys were doing so well, sticking with the young guys… now you have Shanahan, and maybe Leetch? Why don’t they just call up Wayne Gretzky and ask him to play for another few years?


Is it me, or does this “Flyers fan” know an awful lot about the Rangers?


In other news…
The only good thing this Ranger fan can say about the Devils’ 5-0 mauling of the Bruins in their first pre-season game is that defenseman Johnny Oduya, formerly of the Frölunda Indians, had 3 assists.

And speaking of the Frölunda Indians, they played their first game of the regular season today, and lost to Linköpings 5-2. Goaltenders were Salo for Frölunda and Cechmanek for Linköpings. (Talk about retirement parties…)

Yesterday, Ak Bars Kazan bested Metallurg Magnitogorsk by a score of 3-1 and kept Czech sensation Jan Marek scoreless.

14 hours...

In 14 hours the first pre-seaon game will be underway, and I can finally start to relax. I honestly don't know how I survived the lockout, so edgy have I been for the last two weeks or so, waiting for the season to start. Tomorrow's matchups will be: Bruins/Devils, Predators/BlueJackets, Oilers/Coyotes, and Panthers/Flames.

In other (actual, real) news, the Hawks just can't seem to get a break in net. Hopefully they won't have to rely on the services of a backup very much, if the old Bulin Wall can stay healthy and get back to his old form.