Thursday, Feb. 9th

1 - Mario Lemieux's highlight real career had many victims, so without further ado here are the top ten goalies who were torched for the most goals during Super Mario's illustrious career (from The Hockey News):

(T10) Mike Richter - 12 Goals - Only giving up 12 to Lemieux despite playing for a divisional rival his whole career says something about Richter.
(T10) Clint Malarchuk - 12 Goals - THN notes Lemieux scored more goals per game on Malarchuk than any other NHL netminder.
(9) Pete Peeters - 13 Goals - Could have been much worse.
(8) Sean Burke - 13 Goals - Ditto.
(7) Bill Ranford - 14 Goals - THN says Ranford did fine as an Oiler, but got torched as a Bruin.
(6) Kelly Hrudey - 14 Goals - Not to be superstitious, but Hrudey gave up 10 goals to Lemieux while wearing a ribbon in his hair, and only 4 without it.
(5) Glen Healey - 14 Goals - THN says nobody's prouder to be on this list than Healy.
(4) Don Beaupre - 15 Goals - See Pete Peters.
(3) Ron Hextall - 19 Goals - The anti-Healey. Nobody hated getting scored on more.
(2) John Vanbiesbrouck - 32 Goals - THN says he "virtually laps the competition" but still ends up in second. How? Well...
(1) Empty Net - 33 Goals - This does not include games were Lemieux deked out the goalie so bad he slid into the corner. This is just with the goalie pulled. Tough luck John.

2 - Looks like last season's lock-out was for nothing. The Anahiem Ducks are reporting that they're still going to lose money this year! On the other hand, the L.A. Kings say their franchise value has actually increased since the lockout. This proves one thing. Teams who have little to no fan support don't do well, not matter how low the salary cap.

3 - David Emerson Crosses the Floor

Ouch, that hurts. Emerson gets elected as a Liberal, and leaves two weeks later to join the Conservatives. Motivation doesn't count for much here, running as a Liberal before jumping ship two weeks later leaves a bad taste, even though it's completely legal. His constituents should be ticked. Sitting as an independent like David Kilgour did would be a better option. Some people are claiming this is no different than Stronach's defection. Maybe, maybe not. It wouldn't have mattered, except for the never-ending string of condemnation that came out of the Tories when the Liberals poached Stronach. That's what the problem is here. It's not over whether or not crossing the floor is 'ethical' now, or ever. It's about walking the walk after talking the talk. Stronach's change of heart was sketchy at best, laughable at worst, and the Conservatives correctly called her on it. So when they turn around and perform a stunt that is 'somewhat similar' to the Stronach debacle, well, it stinks.

4 - For reasons no living human being can fathom, the Toronto Argonauts are interested in Nealon Greene. We all know they're looking for Damon Allen's heir, but seriously guys, isn't it a little early to be scraping the bottom of the barrel. Interesting little known fact about Greene. In May of 2005 a bunch of huge corporations in Toronto got together and held an event called 'Damon Allen's Quarterback Challenge'. The 'challenge' featured 12 CFL quarterbacks (including Dave Dickenson, Henry Burris, and Allen) who competed in 4 different catagories (Sprint Out, Pass Accuracy, Footwork, Longest Throw) with the winner recieving points for the overall standings. And who do you think won the whole thing? Actually, Spergon Wynn did, or, as fans back then called him: 'Spergon Who?' But you know who finished third: Nealon Greene. He even won the longest throw competition with a 73 yard toss. You hear that, Nealon Greene haters. Greene can throw the ball further than Burris can. So what's the problem? Well, for one thing, the Damon Allen challenge doesn't feature a 'Read the Defense' or 'Best Decision Maker' catagory or a 'Most Mentally Tough' competition. Nobody has ever doubted Greene's athletic ability, just his mental game. Oh, if your wondering who finished second, is was Roughrider cast-off Kevin Glenn. Don't believe me? Check it out for yourself. That just goes to show that talent without smarts is a waste.

5 - If you're a Calgary Flames fan, and you want to see something that's stinkin' funny check this out. Be fore-warned, you should probably have a really good computer to watch this, mine keeps freezing up (sound helps a lot too, since it's a music video).

6 - First Lemieux said he wasn't going, then Yzerman, then Kipper, then Jovanovski, then Naslund and now Scott Niedermayer. With all these great players turning down their invitations, the Olympics are starting to look more and more like the ECFHA Some-of-the-Stars Game.

7 - When Phoenix Coyotes assistant coach Rick Tocchet was charged in connection with an illeagle gambling ring in New Jersey, I wasn't worried about hockey's credibility. And after finding out Gretzky new about the whole thing I'm still not too worried. It is sad though to find out that your heroes are human beings. Everyone thinks the people they look up to are invincible. That's part of the reason we look up to them. It's sad to see them (or rather, our dreams) come crashing down to earth. It's interesting to note that in the Bible all the major characters, except Jesus, make at least one big bonehead move. It's a not so nice reminder that putting all your faith in even the best men and women will disapoint you. I think a lot of conservatives are feeling that right now with Stephen Harper, and hockey fans will be soon too. As many sportswriters have noted, hockey players have always been considered the nice guys of pro-sports, and they're still nice guys, but they've lost their innocence.

8 - While Jose Theodore has been doing his best Andre 'Red Light' Racicot impression Cristobal Huet is turning heads with his terrific play. It appears that Theodore has passed his best before date, which is too bad, because he 'was' the Canadiens the past five years. I like to call him the Nealon Greene of hockey. No one doubts his talent, but his confidence is shot, and his head is not in the game. Playing in that pressure cooker called Montreal probably doesn't help either. I think Theodore is done though. It might not be fair to write him off so early but, just like Tommy Salo, I can't see him getting it back together. And now he has another reason to be stressed out. He's tested positive for steroids. You want irony? He tested positive for finasteride, and panned substance found in hair growth products. The article on SLAM says he's likely to recieve an exemption because the substance was perscribed to him by a doctor (no word on what the doctor's like).

M.O.F.