Never let a little thing like a broken nose stop you. That’s the philosophy Petr Sykora will take into Pittsburgh’s Friday-night opener at Carolina. After suffering the injury in a collision with teammate Brooks Orpik in exhibition play in Montreal, the 30-year-old Czech winger will wear a full face shield for protection. Although Sykora was […]

The leaves are turning brown and the nights are getting colder. But NHL hockey in October always seems livelier than any other time of the year. It’s nice to think the peak excitement occurs with the Stanley Cup finals, but in June, when you’re down to two not necessarily beloved teams and it’s hot enough […]

Although technically we’re already two games into the NHL season, with Anaheim and Los Angeles furiously vying for the President’s Trophy, 2007-08 really kicks off for the majority of hockey fans with Wednesday’s four-game slate. Up until now, it’s been lots of pre-season hype and talk. And these are the quotes that caught my eye […]

I’ve worn many hats (or should that be helmets?) over the years as a hockey writer, largely because I’ve always felt it’s fun to tie this sport into as many areas of life as possible. That’s included covering the launch of Wayne Gretzky’s signature fashion line at the Bay, interviewing the 1980 “Miracle on Ice” […]

If Mike Comrie was surprised, he shouldn’t have been. When you buy Hilary Duff a $100,000 Mercedes for her birthday, expect to end up in People magazine. The same goes if Jose Theodore parties with Paris Hilton or Sean Avery flips off a photographer while escorting Elisha Cuthbert. In the end, it’s all just fodder […]

These rankings are based on projected regular season points, not playoff seedings. (Hence San Jose at #2 and Anaheim at #3 in the Western Conference, and Pittsburgh at #2 and New Jersey at #3 in the Eastern Conference.) Western Conference 1. Detroit: Nobody rules the regular season like the Wings 2. San Jose: Seemingly all […]

Philadelphia prospect Steve Downie laid a disgracefully vicious, concussion-inducing hit on Ottawa’s Dean McAmmond in exhibition play on Tuesday night. Was Downie sending a message that the NHL club known more than any other for enshrining violence as a tactic is back in business as the “Broad Street Bullies”? In recent years, the Flyers haven’t […]

Lars Lindgren, whom the Vancouver Canucks hired as a European scout earlier this month, accomplished a lot of fine things during his playing career. The big Pitea native was a two-time Swedish League all-star defenseman and a mainstay on Vancouver’s blueline during the club’s 1982 march to the Stanley Cup finals. Unfortunately, as Steve Smith […]

It isn’t just because the Calgary Flames and Edmonton Oilers finished eighth and twelfth respectively last season, instead of both being true perennial Stanley Cup contenders. It isn’t just because these two clubs haven’t clashed in the playoffs since 1991, instead of meeting almost annually in the Smythe Division playoffs. It’s because a rivalry is […]

I covered the exhibition opener for the Canucks in Vancouver. It’s good to be back at GM Place for NHL hockey (even of the pre-season variety). My last such experience was Game Seven versus Dallas, prior to heading off to the IIHF World Championship in Moscow. Sure, the atmosphere was just a tad more jacked […]