A recent report from the Ottawa Sun stated the the Tampa Bay Lightning were going to fire head coach John Tortorella and replace him with current ESPN announcer Barry Melrose, who would sign a 3 year contract worth $2 million a year after the sale of the team from Palace Sports and Entertainment to Oren Koules’ OK Hockey LLC. The NHL Board of Governors is likely to approve the sale of the Lightning when they vote on the issue on June 18th and after that approval is when Melrose would be... Read Full Story

Is there a better time of year to be a hockey fan than right now? We are all excited about the Stanley Cup Finals starting on Saturday, with two high flying clubs competing for hockey glory, we should be excited with the likes of NHL superstars Crosby, Malkin and Hossa competing against Holmstrom, Zetterberg and Datsyuk for the coveted Stanley Cup. However, the Pittsburgh Penguins vs Detroit Red Wings Stanley Cup final is only one of the few amazing hockey events that are going on right now. ... Read Full Story

After allowing the QMJHL champion Gatineau to tie the Memorial Cup opener at 5 after having leads of 3-0 and 5-2, the tournament host and OHL Champion Kitchener Rangers won 6-5 in overtime in their home arena thanks to a goal by Center Justin Azevedo. Azevedo scored the game winner 6:59 into overtime, it was his first goal of the Memorial Cup and he also added 3 assists during regulation. Kitchener out-shot  Gatineau 53 to 28, but the Olympiques were resilient throughout the game, eventually ... Read Full Story

The consensus number one pick of the upcoming 2008 NHL Entry Draft is Sarnia Sting Center Steven Stamkos. With the Tampa Bay Lightning holding that pick it has been obvious that the club would select Stamkos. How obvious? Obvious enough that the club has put out a website for the kid already and he is not even on the official roster. Stamkos is an incredible goal scorer netting 58 in his final year in Juniors with Sarnia, 14 more goals than current Lightning star Vinny Lecavalier. The website... Read Full Story

Despite the normal negative opinions of the NHL that seem to permeate throughout the press and population of the United States, the NHL is on pace to have a season that I believe will go down as the true turning-point for the league’s future. There are always hordes of fans calling for the firing of Gary Bettman, the retraction of southern NHL teams and the addition of teams in cities such as Hartford, Winnipeg and hell, why not Saskatoon? The reality is that the NHL could be surging in... Read Full Story

The hardest thing to do is eliminate a team from the playoffs when their down to their last game and last chance to stay alive, because their going to give their best shot. While you would expect there to be veteran leadership on any team, there are just certain players who are special and have another kind of aura about them that motivates their team. The Sharks came back from a 2-o deficit in the 3rd period to  win Game Five 3-2 and stay alive against the Stars tonight. I am convinced Jerem... Read Full Story

After defeating the New York Rangers 5-3 tonight, the Pittsburgh Penguins extended their playoff winning streak to 7 straight games. It is the first time since the 1994 Rangers that a team has won their first 7 playoff games and it’s only the eleventh time it has been done in NHL history. It may also be a good sign for the Penguins, as 7 of the 10 teams who have accomplished this feat before them, have gone on to win the Stanley Cup. The Penguins will have a chance to extended the strea... Read Full Story

Up until this point in the playoffs, things have gone pretty much the way I expected. The one thing I wasn’t expecting, was how well the Dallas Stars would be playing. It was pretty easy to see how good the Penguins are, that the Rangers were just flat out faster than the Devils, that Montreal would eventually take care of business against Boston and that the Flyers and Capitals series would go 7 games in the East. In the West, I expected Detroit to take care of the Predators, The Flame... Read Full Story

Earlier on in the season, I wrote an article entitled 2008: Canada’s Cup? I figured that 4 of the 6 teams North of the border would make the playoffs, only 3 of them did. (See Vancouver tanking at the end of the regular season.) Now there is only one out of those three teams left. Ottawa was quickly erased during the first round against the high flying Pittsburgh Penguins, although most teams probably would have swept the Senators in the first round the way their season spiraled downwar... Read Full Story

Once in a while we all lose our cool, it’s human nature. The nature of the goalie fight has seemingly been passed down from father to son. We all know that Patrick Roy was in some excellent fights during his NHL career, the fight against Mike Vernon may have been the best goalie fight in NHL history. What Jonathan didn’t learn however, is that you dont just go sucker punch the opposing goalie at the other end of the ice when he wants nothing to do with you and then flick off an en... Read Full Story