Ever find yourself watching a game on tv, or even being at a game and thinking, “God, this team’s fans have to be the worst in the league!” I do all the time, so why not settle this once and for all?

Here are some reasons that I can think of off the top of my head:

• Their fans invade your city and boo your home team.
• They constantly fight in the stands.
• They feel superior to everyone else, not just the teams, everyone.
• They boo the national anthems.
• They are ignorant to the rules.
• And on and on…

Whatever your reason is for hating their fans, let’s start off voting for all 30 NHL teams to see who makes the top 16. How about we think of this as the regular season. Everyone gets 5 votes for this round, so get on it! Have more to say than just a simple vote? Write a comment at the bottom! Now let’s go!

Voting ends on March 10, 2010 at 9pm

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Yeah, that’s how I feel when I’m watching the NHL lately. “But Mother Pucker, you’re a massive hockey fan!” That hasn’t changed at all, but I think after the Olympics, the watered down quality of the NHL really shines through.

Before the Olympics, I declared the games as being the best professional hockey we are going to see for quite a while, and they did not disappoint. Of course I’m biased towards Canada and their trouncing of the Russians, and the massive victory over the Americans in the gold medal game, but overall I still think the tournament was the best hockey we will see for a while.

I can also look back to the World Junior Hockey Championships where Team USA won gold. That tournament is also one of the best, as those kids battle their hearts out over the Christmas break and show us what true passion for your sport is all about.

So now we’re back to the NHL regular season, and all I can say is “ugh.” I’m sure that this feeling will pass, but the last few days have just been like a long zero-booze hangover for me. The game is slow, they don’t play with intensity, the crowd is quiet, etc etc etc. Maybe this is why the NHL doesn’t want its players going to the Olympics? Because the Olympics kick serious ass, which emphasizes how watered down the NHL product is? Must be it.

Anyway, I’m sure I’ll get back into it eventually… possibly starting tonight at the Wild/Oilers game… yeah that’ll surely be the barn burner that will change my mind!

Till then… I’ll keep on watching, and maybe even watch some highlights tomorrow morning to see if my perception has changed.

Trade deadline day in the NHL is here, and this is what you’ll have to look forward to as you watch on TV:

• Guys on TSN pretending they are getting the inside scoop on their blackberry.
• Guys on Sportsnet pretending they are getting the inside scoop on their blackberry.
• Other than Duthie, guys on TSN not paying attention to any of the commentary because they are working their blackberries.
• Kypreos pretending to have a direct connection to the thought process of every GM in the NHL.
• Fake trades being announced because the station wants to be the first to break the news.

I’m not going to be watching this year. Last year I parked myself in front of the TV at 7am or something ridiculous like that and what did I see? A whole lot of nothing… pure garbage in fact. Is that why I’m not watching? Not really because the true reason is that I have other commitments that are keeping me away from the TV today, so I’ll just have to catch up on things via twitter or other outlets as the day goes on.

For those of you that are watching, hopefully it isn’t as boring as last year…

Why not start your day off with the mouth from the east?

I always knew we’d do it! Yeah, I wish I could say that without a smirk because I can’t even remember the number of times that I almost went into traction, or had a heart attack as this tournament went on. Regardless, Canada beat the USA 3-2 in the Olympic hockey gold medal game yesterday, and I couldn’t be happier!

That was a barn burner of a game, even if it caused a few people to want to pick up knives with 24 seconds to go in the third period. It was a clash of the two best teams by far, and it took overtime before the game could be decided.

When the USA tied it up with only seconds to go in the third period I threw my hat on the ground and sat there in disbelief as I listened to profanities fly around the local drinking hole. Did that just happen? Did anyone think that wouldn’t happen? Was that a dirty trick from above to make every Canadian want to throw some shit around, and give the Americans that actually care about hockey something to feel good about? Whatever it was, it happened, and it sure didn’t feel good.

Thankfully overtime brought on some great 4 on 4 play that was capped off by Sidney Crosby scoring the winner off a Jarome Iginla feed. I jumped up and started cheering so hard and fast that I nearly blacked out due to the g-force that I left in the chair behind me, but it was worth it. A few high fives later everything started to sink in; we realized that we had done it again, and we were the proudest nation on earth.

Congratulations Canada! We really are number one! We own this game!

Well it all comes down to this… is this a rematch of 2002? How about February 21, 2010? However you want to look at it, this is the Gold Medal Game of the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics and it is shaping up to be a beauty!

I know this is going to be a lot to ask, but what I do want is for everyone to be civilized today and cut down on the ‘cocky’ comments until after the game… if that’s possible? I doubt it though as ever since Sunday when Team USA beat Team Canada in the round robin, insults have been flying back and forth in all shapes and sizes. Why would they stop now?

Ok, in all seriousness, this game has the potential to be legendary. The only Canadian loss of the tournament was at the hands of the unbeaten Americans. The Canadians had a tougher route to the gold medal game by far. There is no debate that the Americans road to the final was paved nicer by going unbeaten in the round robin, and the Canadians had the tougher games. Ask anyone in the tournament who they’d rather play, Russia and Slovakia, or Switzerland and Finland, and it would be a resounding vote for option two. Sorry Switzerland, you put up some good fights, but you’re no Russia.

Now, onto today’s game. What do I predict? Last Sunday I predicted Canada would beat the Americans 66 billion – 0… this week I’ll throw in a more modest prediction of 6-3 Canada. Fair? Too low? Too far apart? Knee jerk? Yeah kinda as I’m rushed writing this before I head out to the bar to get my drink, hoot and holler on. What better way to spend a Sunday afternoon than watching the best pro hockey we’re going to see for a while? No matter the result this afternoon, both teams deserve to be in this game, and I look forward to the trash talking afterward… yeah, even from you yanks if you win

I was lucky enough to get shipped to Toronto last week, and managed to sneak out to the hockey hall of fame while I was there. I’d like to say that the HHOF visit was the whole point of going there, but it unfortunately wasn’t so I didn’t have all day to spend in there.

Anyway, I took a whole whack of pictures, and also a short video of the trophy room. It’s pretty cool seeing those things up close instead of just on TV… even if some/all of them are replicas. Here is the video first, with pictures to come later.

What’s this? Why not post photos from the Team Canada vs. Slovakia game as they come in? Enjoy!

Wow that was one hell of a finish! Congratulations Canada for holding on, and congrats Solvakia for giving us such a run!!

If someone would have told me that the final score in this game was going to be 7-3 and wanted to make a million dollar bet on it, I would have taken it. I did not expect that result, but holy smokes does it ever feel good! The boys played their hearts out, fed it to Russia all game, and got the bounces they needed.

This game was slated to be an Ovechkin vs. Crosby duel, but those two hardly had a sniff of anything as the rest of Team Canada dominated. What to blame it on Nabokov? Maybe you can, but why not throw some of it around at Ovi, Semin, Malkin, etc who were supposed to be the most lethal offense in the tournament?

Well, I don’t really have much to say about this game right now because a) I’m hungover and b) I can sum it up with only three words:

THAT WAS AWESOME!