Thursday links for Thursday Rockers!

And on we go with more news from around the NHL. It's worth paying attention to the pre-season now as teams are starting to ice near NHL complete rosters. Story lines are already developing that will be worth paying attention to over the seasons. 

Did anyone see Beauchemain wallop Kovalev today? Wow! I think Kovalev forgot what he gets paid for on that team. The Oilers are also playing better than anyone expected. I predict Calgary won't make the playoffs this year. Philadelphia might struggle with their goaltending all season. 

And those poor poor Islanders... :(

Links after the jump!

Hump Day FTS!

For some reason, Wednesday's FTS always seem to be the most entertaining. I guess the MSM's pencils are still sharp, laptop batteries are charged and internet connections are still juiced from the weekend. Anyhew, enough from me....

P.S. Someone tell Ryan Miller he is holding the stick wrong!

Today's links are after the jump!

Iggy... Iggy!... IGGY!!

According to the NHL rulebook, A captain has: "sole privilege of discussing with the Referee any questions relating to interpretation of rules which may arise during the progress of a game"

Yes, and the rest! Over the next short time Auspuck will be profiling the top five current captains in the NHL. Everyone loves a strong willed, disciplined, talented and relentless captain. These are the traits that we have built around to determine our top five listing. Unfortunately Liam Webster will not be profiled, but it was not for his lack of the above characteristics.

We start today with number five: Jarome Iginla!

(More after the jump)

Pre-season thoughts and today's FTS

OMG! Redden for Team Canada? It happened!!

Wow, the NHL is really on a roll now! Just over a week until the season starts. No need for me to mention again how excited I am about this upcoming season. So many unanswered questions, so many things to watch out for, the parity of the league could lead to so many outcomes. Everyone stay tuned because if you forget to look at the standings regularly you could lose touch with what is happening.

Anyway, on to some interesting pre-season thoughts:

• How bout that 11-round shootout game between Toronto and Philadelphia! The rivalry between these teams comes in to play no matter what the situation.
• Poor Josh Harding. I like him as a goaltender and for him to be already injured (and to likely miss the entire season) is such a shame.
• More bad news on Wade Redden. He's been waived. A $7+ million dollar defensemen playing in the minors? Only in America. But truth be told, he's crap.
• Does anyone else miss Scott Neidermeyer already? I know I do! 
• I believe the Oilers will be all razzle-dazzle... which will lead to about 25 wins this season.
• The Chee-choo train (Jonathan Cheechoo) has left Dallas. This former 50 goal scorer, who could really still be an offensive force if he ever remembers how to, was cut on a tryout basis from Dallas this week. Off to Europe for this guy I guess.
• Looks like Bill Guerin will likely get a contract out of Philadelphia. Boy I hope so!
• LOL, Carey Price getting boo'd in his first pre-season game in Montreal. 4 goals on 10 shots will do that. Is this a sign of things to come for Montreal's season?

Today's FTS links are after the jump!

Hump Day FTS! - The NHL is BACK!! Well.... sort of!

That's right folks, today marked the start of NHL pre-season action! Watching teams made of half-full NHLers is not as good as watching teams made of NHLers (except when watching the leafs, islanders, thrashers, hurricanes et al) but it's pretty dam close! Needless to say that I didn't get much work done at all today. So exciting!

Find today's game in 6 below and today's FTS links are after the jump!

One_piece's best game in the world review (NHL 11) :)

Ok guys here we go, the long awaited review for NHL 11. I’ve played it a billion times now as auspuck mentioned before and I must say, WOW! Now I know they get better every year but this is a new level of better.

Let’s start with the intro. The game starts with the usual dramatic intro of bone crunching hits, powerful shots and a flurry of dangles that makes it impossible to keep yourself from drooling all over the control
 s. For the first time ever the Intro is similar to the game play, what you see in the intro is ultimately what you can do during the game itself. More after the jump...

Tuesday's FTS makes me :(

"Pineapple Stabbing, it like I.."

Hi Everyone,

Such a sad day for today's FTS articles. I usually stick to the compelling yet upbeat stories from around the NHL, but unfortunately, those stories are scarce today. On the bright side, NHL action is still right around the corner so we all will definitely have something to look forward to.

You might be wondering why I have Mikail Grabovski as today's photo? He is know through the blogosphere as the crazy pineapple stabber, for obvious reasons. It is all in good fun. Unfortunately he is the victim of a selfish, stupid and utterly annoying Canadian Frenchy who got into an altercation with Grabs while he was attending and watching the Olympics (He was injured at the time.. A broken wrist!). Grabs allegedly punched the guy (fair enough) and is now being sued for, get this, a head injury, multiple facial fractures requiring reconstructive surgery, a back injury, trauma to his mouth, teeth and eyes, memory loss, a change in personality and ongoing headaches, among other things. AMONGST OTHER THINGS? Global Warming perhaps? Canada is just as bad as America when it comes to liability claims and the above example is the reason why!

Anyhoo, enough from me. Today's FTS links are after the jump!

Weekend Reading from the FTS! - Auspuck Goal of the Year!

Hello everyone,

So I've been trawling through my list of favourite goals from the 2009-2010 NHL season. There certainly were some doozies! It was actually good to see some players crack the 50 goal barrier as that is something that I expect to happen every season, but sometimes doesn't. I'm sure anyone that pays attention to anything that is said here on Auspuck knows that I'm all about defense. I like gritty, in-your-face hockey, with players having the mentality of "yeah, score if you can.... but it ain't gonna happen." However, even though I take all of that into account, nothing gets me out of my seat like a sweet deke, a twisted wrister or cannon of a slap shot that hit the back of the net. I present to you my favourite goal of the 09/10 NHL Season:

Today's FTS links are after the jump!

Podcast iTunes Feed

Hi All!

Finally have the link for the new podcast on iTunes. I think there has been some changes and you may want to subscribe to this new feed. Anyhow, both episodes are available through the link below. Enjoy!

Auspuck iTunes Podcasts!

Howzabout a puck? - Thursday FTS!

Oh Yeah! NHL11!

Hi all,

Suddenly out of nowhere there are a number of cool stories to read about from around the NHL. Good timing huh? Here I am trying to play NHL 11 and get a good review for everyone and I have spend all my time screening and reading the articles for today's FTS. Not to worry though, if you haven't bought your copy of NHL 11 yet, you'll have plenty of entertainment from today's link.

Grrr, I'm still waiting on iTunes again for the podcast link. Apologies for the delay everyone.

Stay tunes for one-piece's review of NHL 11 as soon as he's rocked up 1,000,000,000 games played (yeah, it'll be sometime in the next day... haha?)

Links after the jump!

Hump Day FTS - Back to Business!

So hopefully everyone has had a chance to check out the new podcast... lol, I kid, no one has listened to it yet. You should check it out when you have a chance. Probably better than the first one... Oh I mean, DEFINITELY BETTER! :P

But that won't stop us from bringing the noise from around the NHL on a daily basis.


Today's FTS links are after the jump!

Auspuck Podcast: Episode 2!

 Just when you thought Auspuck couldn't get any better.... we bring you the second podcast. Bigger and Better than the first! Here are your links!

For the straight MP3:
http://www.mediafire.com/?xx02rb4qek79quk

For access through iTunes (p.s. apparently it is going to take 24 hours or so for it to appear on here, but just subscribe now)
http://itunes.apple.com/au/podcast/auspucks-podcast/id390658772

Pre Pre-season NHL Action

Hi All,

Rookie tournaments got under way overnight so I thought I would post the highlights of the first game available here. Enjoy!

Who Ledba Dogs Out?? - Weekend FTS!

Someone actually signed this guy...

So close to the NHL Season.... so close to the release of NHL 11.... everything is just so second tier right now..

Lots of links for the weekend people.

It's interesting to note the amount of established NHL players that are still free agents. We're in the middle of September! Mike Comrie, a former $4M a year player, signed for $500K with the Penguins. I see a lot more of these contracts coming out before camps open and during the NHL season. I guess every team thinks they can pull a "Miro Satan" contract during the season and get some bargain basement contributor to the team. So many things to pay attention to.

Links after the jump!

Who is your favourite team of all time???

Simple enough question right? And I'm really interested in hearing about people's opinion on their favourite NHL team of all time. I'm not talking about a Franchise. Everyone has their favourite franchises and I respect that, but I think everyone would have their favourite team right? A team that embodied what how they wanted a team to play? Maybe a team that was more exciting to watch than any team they had seen before? So c'mon people, throw 'em all at me in the comments of this article!

I'm going to throw my hat in the ring here. I've been watching hockey for forever and without a doubt, my favourite team of all time is the 2007 Anaheim Ducks.

(read on after the jump)

FTS for Wednesday - Boy do I hate Dan Carcilio!

"Haha *snort* haha"

Hi All,

So I was doing what I do all the time during the NHL off-season, watching old hockey games. At least this one was from the 2010 playoffs. Anyhew, I was watching Dan Carcilio play and, even though I can tolerate the different "types" of hockey players, he is one guy that instantly gets under my skin. Can you believe he gets paid over a million dollars a year?!? Granted that's not much for NHL standards, but still!

Read on after the jump for today's links and some interesting videos from the man (Don Cherry) who backs me right up.

OFF-SEASON SHANAHANIGANS

I SCORED! I ACTUALLY SCORED!

Hey guys, one piece here, long time reader first time blogger, so be gentle on the criticism. :) Just joking; go nuts.

So it’s been one week since the finals and the AIHL season has come to an end. No doubt all the teams have by now had their end of season party (for some, sooner than others) and are looking forward to the summer and some time away from the game. After one practice and one or two games a week for five months, who can blame them?

Tuesday FTS... - It's 'labour' intensive!

"Psssst... can you ask Santa to bring me some defense?"

What a lovely spring day. Well from what I could tell from my office window it looked nice. :(

Oh, NHL 11 comes out on the 16th of September. Anyone who listened to the podcast knows that I have this date penciled in to my calendar.

NHL rookie training camps open on the 11th (ish) for each team. So it's worth visiting your favourite NHL teams website or blog (try sbnation.com) to see what rookies are worth keeping an eye on.

How 'bout that election result eh?

Still some interesting topics out there for today's FTS. Links after the jump!

Monday FTS - Kick 'em out!

"FOCUS!... Remember she won't like me if I lose!"

Hi All,

Welcome to another week. Still no NHL, but the deadline is drawing near. I can't wait to watch  Hi-Def hockey games on my new Foxtel IQ2. I will let everyone know how it looks but I'm already pretty certain it will blow my expectations away.

I'm so starved for hockey action that I was forced to watch an old old old school game. Leafs vs Blues from the '93 playoffs... yeah that's right... a game from 17 years ago! Hurry up and get here already NHL!

On to today's links. More Kovi talk and some more updates from around the league. Check out the video of my favourite goalie ever! I wonder if hockey is his day job? There are some great articles to read today.

Links after the jump!

Auspuck Fantasy Hockey League!

Hi All,

I've started a fantasy head-to-head hockey league through ESPN this year for all loyal AUSPUCK readers. It will be 16 teams and contain fairly detailed scories categories.

It is an open league at the moment so anyone can join. The title of the league is Auspuck - 2010/11 Season.

If you do struggle to find it through ESPN.com check out the link below or feel free to email me at auspuck@gmail.com and I will send you an invite.

Remember there are only 15 spots left. First in best dressed.

AUSPUCK Fantasy Hockey League

FTS! How good is September?!

"It's *cough* Captain *cough* Dion to you!"

I'll tell you how good September is! We will see NHL Rookie Camps, NHL Training Camps and NHL Pre-Season games all in the great month of September!

The NHL season opens on the 7th of October with Toronto Vs Montreal as the highlight game for that day.

So Dion, stub out the ciggie and hit the gym already!

Todays links are after the jump!

Podcast iTunes Feed

 iTunes Podcast Feed

Click HERE for the Link!

The Recap - Goodall gets Icey!

"I love you Melbourne.... No really, I do!"

Well it has been a few days and I have come to grips that the Melbourne Ice are this years Goodall cup champions.

Congratulations to them on a fantastic season and well deserved championship.

Recapping the season of the Melbourne Ice really did lead me to some interesting facts and I probably should have paid more attention to them when predicting who would really win this tournament.

Starting the season, the Ice featured a deep and talented roster. One that wasn't solely relying on the performance of their imports, had a great mix of offense and defence and the advantage of playing in the premier rink in Australia in front of a loyal, vocal and large fan base.

(More after the jump!)

Podcast Update!

Hi all, me again.

Early feedback has told me that the podcast in stereo is quite annoying.. lol. I've set it all to mono.

Please download from the new link! I have to update iTunes again so it will be a day or so. Thanks!

http://www.mediafire.com/?1s1kr1d3e94j103

FTS for Wednesday

Hi Everyone,

It's rare that I actually check the stats for this site. I don't really expect people to (ever!) visit and I'm afraid of looking at the results. However, to my big surprise, we had over 2,000 visitors to the site last month. I am humbled that people actually come here. So thank you very much for you time. One quite fascinating fact was that people from all over the world actually come here. Hopefully I got your flag in the picture above today. I have absolutely no idea how you heard about us, but I'm glad to have you on board!

Errrgh, I am still having trouble with iTunes and getting the feed up and going. Don't fret though, it will be there soon. It would be great to get some feedback on the podcast. If you have any criticisms or positive feedback please let me know. If it something that you would like to see continue.

FTS for today is following up on the podcast. Links after the jump! :)