Thank God hockey season is back. That was the longest 3 1/2 months of my life. This summer wasn't so bad as I discovered hockey podcasts. Listening to the weekly broadcasts of the Puck Podcast and The Face Off Hockey Show eased the hockey-less pain. So I have been looking forward to Monday for quite some time as it is the first Nuck game of the year. Even though it is pre-season it is still better than nothing. I usually listen to the pre-season games on the internet radio but then Monday afternoon I read a post on the Canucks board that said that the NHL was offering a free internet preview of The Center Ice package and this would feature pre-season games, including tonight's Nuck game. Needless to say I was excited, if not a little annoyed seeing as how I PAY for the cable package and they would not air there, but what can you do. So three hours of screaming at the computer later (the site immediately crashed, it didn't support Firefox very well, the site itself was extremely rinky-dink, I had to sign up EVERY time that it screwed up, etc) I am met with two options: The Thrashers game which was not working anymore and the Nucks game which said BLACKED OUT in huge black letters just like that. Nice, thanks NHL. It took me more research to find out that the game was basically reverse blacked out, only people in Vancouver could actually watch the game. Which is rad since they also have the option of going.This is doubly idiotic seeing as how Center Ice regular season games will be blacked out for them and only them. Once again the NHL has proved that it is probably the most poorly run sports leagues out there. I have seen more WNBA and Arena Football coverege on ESPN in the last few years than hockey. And this is why. They treat their fans like garbage. So yes, I pay a somewhat large amount of money (for me) for Center Ice and yet I can't get the "free" pre-season games that others can. Thank you. Thank you so much.
So obviously I listened to the game on the radio which makes it harder to make observations but I will give what I heard. Balej sounded like he fit pretty well with the Sedins but I don't see any way that he is going to make the starting roster. Shannon's name stuck out a lot during the game and it sounded like he had pretty good night. Of all the new guys we aquired during the offseason I think he and Ritchie have the best shots of making the squad. Speaking of Ritchie he left in the 2nd period for some reason. Burrows was ejected for fighting and having his jersey come up. What a stallion. Isbister sounded worthless. McIver had a few good hits and his name came up quite a bit. Sanford, as always, was strong in goal and he will make a much more reliable backup this season than old Sabby. Aside from that my favorite part of this game was the Ducks' George "The Stache" Parros scoring the first goal and assisting on the second. That's probably more points than he had all last year. Only 16 days to the first real game. Let's do this.
Sedin - Sedin - Balej
Raymond – Ritchie - Shannon
Cowan - Classen - Isbister
Burrows - Moran – Brown
Mitchell – Fitzgereld
McIver – Bieksa
Edler – Bourdon
Sanford
MacIntyre
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