2010-2011 Pro Hockey Thread

[trwi7]

Thought I'd start one for this season and I thought I'd lead off with former Badger Derek Stepan getting a hat trick in his first career NHL game.

[tristarscoop]

Stepan was just the fourth ever NHLer to record a hat trick in his first game. Way to go Derek!

[zurch1818]

I actually just picked Stepan up in my fantasy league. Goodbye Andrei Kostitsyn. Does anyone else do fantasy hockey?

[trwi7]

I actually just picked Stepan up in my fantasy league. Goodbye Andrei Kostitsyn. Does anyone else do fantasy hockey?

 

Yes, this is my first time. My goaltending is horrible. Here I thought Dan Ellis would get maybe 60% of the starts and I have Ty Conklin and Johan Hedberg as backups. All of my Capitals (Semin and Backstrom) as well as Sharks (Marleau and Vlasic) and Kings players (Simmonds, Smyth and Ponikarovsky) have been terrible. The only good games I've gotten were from my Coyotes players, Yandle and Vrbata.

 

Not surprisingly, I'm down 11-4 in my matchup.

[owbc]

Looks like I actually live in an NHL market now with the Florida Panthers being a 30 minute drive to the north. I actually thought they played in Orlando before I moved here, so it was a nice surprise to find that out. Of course nobody goes to actually see the Panthers play, but I'm planning on catching a few games live this year--definitely my favorite team (Sharks) in February.

[zurch1818]

It's my first time too this year. So far it's been fun even though I am getting destroyed this week by my brother who hates professional hockey. I know everyone on my team and he knows nobody. I know what you mean by a slow start. The Coyotes starting wings (Wolski and Doan), the Kings Simmonds, and the Sabres stud goalie and my first pick Ryan Miller really haven't been very good so far this year. It was nice seeing Jeff Carter have a good game for a change. Yandle hasn't been too bad for me either.

 

I was really happy today talking to my roommate (who is also in the league) about picking up Stepan. He was going to pick him up later tonight. Luckily I snatched him up first.

[trwi7]

I do have bragging rights for best name in my league, so I'm happy with that.

[rwa12]

My Blues are off to a 2-0 start with phenomenal goaltending from Halak. Can't wait to get to my first game of the year!

[burniebrewer]

Does anyone else do fantasy hockey?

I do. Been playing for about 10 years. Unfortunately, I usually have to do a random public league. Let me say this, I always lead the league in PIMs, but it does not hurt me. I get my PIMs from mid-range scorers like Steve Downie and Alex Burrows.

 

A side question for trwi7 who I know is an Admirals fan...are there any real good promotions/cheap ticket deals for the Admirals? Now that I live here again, I want to take my daughter to some games. I may be mistaken, but it seemed like ticket prices were kind of high when I looked on the website...maybe I misread.

[trwi7]

Private Bank Family Day which is 4 Stern and Bow tickets, 4 hot dogs and 4 sodas for $44. I would choose Stern which is sections 204-210 because the Admirals attack that net twice. 4 of those tickets would normally cost $68 for the Stern sections and $64 for the Bow, plus 4 hot dogs and 4 sodas so you're playing saving around $30.

 

Here's a list of Family Day's.

 

November 7th - Chicago

December 12th - Oklahoma City

January 2nd - San Antonio

January 9th - Hamilton

February 20th - Texas

March 13th - Peoria

March 27th - San Antonio

April 3rd - Peoria

April 10th - Grand Rapids

 

There are several promotions throughout the year, though the ticket prices remain the same for them.

 

http://www.milwaukeeadmir...promos.html?date=2010-10

 

I don't know how old your daughter is, but she might like some of those promotions.

 

Still, the prices are pretty affordable overall, especially for the entertainment and how close you are to the action and this is the first time they raised ticket prices in at least five years.

[RyDogg66]

Is Hockey making a comeback or am I just now getting into it?

[trwi7]

Is Hockey making a comeback or am I just now getting into it?

 

Hockey started making a comeback after the lockout. It's just you who's getting into it. http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif

[zurch1818]

Hockey has been growing ever since the lockout. I'm glad your starting to get into it. Now Wisconsin somehow needs to get an NHL team (not that there is anything wrong with our Admirals). The Wild just recently put all of their FSN-WI games on their website. It will be nice to tune into them again along with the Versus coverage.

 

In the default settings for the ESPN points league, I kind of like how PIMs are counted as positive points. Maybe next year, if there is enough interest, we should start up a Brewerfan fantasy hockey league. It's always more fun when you know the people in the league.

[RyDogg66]

Id definitely be interested in getting into a fantasy hockey league. out of desperation I just signed up for a public league which starts tonight. I have no idea if my team is any good or not, it was auto draft. I have two Badgers and Sidney Crosby.

[trwi7]

Post your team, we'll see if it's good.

 

Very happy with the Predators start to the season 3-0-1 against the Ducks, Blackhawks, Blues and Capitals. And a little over three of those games have come without Rinne.

 

Admirals, very disappointed so far. Great first game against Abbotsford, Pickard epically fails in the second game against Peoria, can't hold a 2 goal lead in the 3rd period against Chicago and lose in overtime and then the next day they have a 1 goal lead in the 3rd period against Chicago and lose in a shootout.

[RyDogg66]

Sidney Crosby

(Pit - C)

Eric Staal

(Car - C) Player notes

Pavel Datsyuk

(Det - C,LW)

Bobby Ryan

(Anh - C,LW)

Joe Pavelski

(SJ - C,RW)

Jakub Voracek

(Cls - RW)

Sergei Gonchar

(Ott - D)

Mark Streit

(NYI - D)

Brian Rafalski

(Det - D)

Erik Karlsson

(Ott - D)

 

Olli Jokinen

(Cgy - C)

Nikita Filatov

(Cls - LW)

Rene Bourque

(Cgy - RW)

 

G

Tomas Vokoun

(Fla - G)

Jonas Hiller

(Anh - G)

Steve Mason

(Cls - G)

 

12 team league.

[zurch1818]

Crosby, Staal, Datsyuk, O. Jokinen, and Ryan are definite studs. Pavelski, Streit (too bad he's hurt), Gonchar (old but still is solid on the PP), Rafalski are also solid picks. I'm not really familiar with Voracek, Karlsson, or Filato. I've heard of Bourque but I am unaware of how good he is.

 

Regarding goalies, Vokoun has always been awesome in the save department but probably won't win much because he plays for the Panthers. Hiller is solid. Steve Mason has potential to be a great goalie too. He was great two years ago in his rookie campaign. He kind of had a rough sophomore year. I look for him to have a better year (he is my third goalie too). Mason is the only player on your team that is also on my team.

 

Overall, you should do pretty good. Besides Streit, I really don't see any terrible picks. Either drop him or put him on the IR if you have one. I'll be happy to tell you who I would pick up if you give me some potential names.

[trwi7]

That's not a bad team. It's actually pretty decent.

 

I got totally screwed on my goalies. I'm desperately looking to trade for one in my league, I seriously had three goalies I was looking to draft in the 4th round, I was picking 60th overall Cam Ward goes 56th, Semyon Varlamov goes 57th and Niklas Backstrom goes 58th. Just like that, all three goalies I looked at were gone so my best goalie is Dan Ellis who is splitting time with Mike Smith. I just picked up Anders Lindback but Pekka Rinne is likely to be back next game so he's not going to get much playing time.

 

I have a trade that offered one of the dudes. I give Nicklas Backstrom and Matt Cooke for Ilya Bryzgalov and Andrew Brunette. I'm hoping that goes through, he's pretty weak at center and Backstrom would help him there, plus he has Craig Anderson as another starting goalie and Rick DiPietro is a capable backup.

 

I got screwed in my first week due to lack of goaltending. The only things I lost on on the offensive side were goals (by 5), PIM (by 10), shots on goal (by 7) and faceoffs won (by 30) but I didn't win a single goalie category. I tied in games started (3) and shutouts (0) but lost in wins, goals against, goals against average, saves and save percentage. Boo I say.

[trwi7]

Admirals once again lose to the Wolves. They had leads in the 3rd period during the first two games only to lose in overtime and a shootout respectively. Today they go down 4-0 after 2 and score 3 in the 3rd but fail to get a fourth goal and lose 4-3. Annoying.

 

Predators. Those three consecutive overtime losses were annoying, but really you couldn't ask for a better start to the season. 5-0-3 against some tough competition. Anaheim isn't very good, but they beat them soundly. They've also defeated the Stanley Cup champions on the road, St. Louis a very solid team, Dallas another solid team, Tampa Bay which is currently 1st in the Eastern Conference with a ton of offensive fire power and the OT losses came against Calgary a solid team, and Washington and Pittsburgh. I don't really have to say if they're good or not, do I? http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/wink.gif

[trwi7]

Bumping this thread back up.

 

Nashville takes a 4-1 lead in Toronto last night only to give up four straight powerplay goals in the 2nd period to lose 5-4.

 

The Admirals have made a heck of a comeback in the standings now sitting in 2nd place in the Western Conference West Division with 21 points behind only the San Antonio Rampage who have 27. The Admirals have three games in hand and can close the gap on Friday when they travel to San Antonio as they play their 4th game in a 10 game road trip.

 

They've also added to their promotional schedule.

[zurch1818]

Time for a NHL thread bump. Anyone see this goal scored by Bobby Ryan? It's at the 18 second mark in this video. To fully appreciate it, watch it because it looks much more awesome than what it sounds like.

 

link

[trwi7]

Ha. Awesome goal.

 

Predators win again tonight with two late goals. Now 4th in the conference, 2nd in the division. Anders Lindback has done an amazing job filling in for Pekka.

 

Linus Klasen is the best offensive player the Admirals have had since Darren Haydar.

[zurch1818]

Lindback has been amazing. In my fantasy league, I had Niittymaki as my third goalie but he has really struggled of late (well next two my other two goalies Miller and Quick). I dropped him and picked up Corey Crawford. I really am starting to think that I should have picked up Lindback (but now it's too late).

 

Speaking of Quick, how amazing was his 51 save shutout? I really haven't followed hockey long enough to know the answer to this, but I wonder if is one of the highest save totals in a shutout post 2005. He has been amazingly solid this year. At the beginning of the year they were expecting Bernier to play 30% of the time, but how can you shut Quick down when he has been hot for most of the year?

[trwi7]

Yeah, Quick was amazing. 51 has to be close if it isn't.

It's amazing what Lindback is doing, came over from Europe and was fighting with Dekanich for the backup job and beat him out just barely.

Speaking of amazing goaltender performances, 2008 AHL playoffs Philadelphia Phantoms vs Albany River Rats. Michael Leighton (now with the Flyers) faced 101 shots and saved 98 of them. Unfortunately, Albany only let in two goals and the River Rats ended up winning 3-2 2:58 into the 5th overtime.

http://theahl.com/stats/game-summary.php?game_id=1004697

And here's video of the GWG.

[trwi7]

Anders Lindback is an absolute stud. Only allowed one goal last night to New Jersey on the power play with quite frankly, some bad defense. Now 9-1-2 on the year with a 2.08 GAA and 93.1 save percentage.

 

Milwaukee shutout Lake Erie last night 3-0 in Jeremy Smith's first AHL shutout. Rinne is supposed to be back soon for Nashville which means Dekanich will be back in Milwaukee soon and that performance by Smith last night likely means Chet Pickard is heading back down to Cincinnati.