Seattle Tries To Lure NHL and NBA Team with New Arena

There’s a lot that stands in the way of Seattle landing an NHL team or even another NBA team anytime soon but thanks to a wealthy local the city is getting one huge step closer.

Christopher Hansen, a wealthy San Francisco hedge-fund manager with Seattle roots, is part of an investor group seeking to build a sports arena south of Safeco Field, where the current MLB Mariners attempt to win during the summer.

The efforts were created to lure an NBA basketball team back to Seattle. The Sonics left the Pacific Northwest after failing to get a new arena and were then relocated to Oklahoma City a few years back.

The ugly loss of the NBA team may make it hard to get a franchise back in the city in the near future but if a solid ownership group and arena come together it could happen. And this is important to NHL fans because if the city gets a new arena they will need tenants.

Even though nothing is official yet, the rumblings are good news. NBA and NHL teams can easily share an arena and the prospect of finally bringing an NHL franchise to Seattle hinge on this development.

And getting an NHL team in Seattle is great. The NHL needs to build up rivalries. Nearby Vancouver is isolated from most of the league. The nearest rival is in San Jose or Edmonton. Establishing a rivalry between Seattle and Vancouver would be fun for fans and anyone who watches MLS Soccer knows that this is the case.

So let’s hope Seattle citizens can get behind the idea of getting a new arena and possible NHL franchise.

Goalie Cam Ward Scores Goal Without Shooting Puck

Ah, the rare goal by a goalie. The New Jersey Devils thought they were going to even the score in their game against Carolina in the final minute. Things were looking good as the Devils were getting things setup to net the game tying goal but they ran into Hurricanes goalie Cam Ward.

Ward didn’t just keep the Devils from scoring the goal to tie the game but he took things into his own hands and scored a goal himself!

Kinda.

The Devils fudged a pass to the blue line and the puck sailed into their empty net goal at the other end. Ilya Kovalchuk of the Devils passes the puck back and it sails past his teammate. Because a player doesn’t get credit for scoring on his own goal the stats give credit to the last player on the other team to touch the puck.

And that’s the goalie Cam Ward. So not only did Cam win the game in goal with his play, he got credit for the goal on a shot he didn’t even make. You don’t see that everyday!

Sharks Lose to Anaheim, Fans Throw Dead Duck on Ice!

Throwing things onto the ice during hockey games is nothing new. Players get hats for hat tricks, catfish in Nashville and even octopi in Detroit.

There’s also the Eggo waffle, my personal favorite. Nothing says ‘I’m fed up with my team‘ like a frozen breakfast treat tossed onto the ice.

Then someone in San Jose got creative, and a bit mean. After a loss to the Anaheim Ducks at San Jose’s HP Pavilion, a fan threw a dead duck onto the ice.

I’d hate to see what Sharks fans would do if the team lost to the Flames. Molotov cocktails everywhere!

According to CSNBayArea.com, one fan threw an actual duck onto the ice, ostensibly in an attempt to rile up the crowd and intimidate the visiting team. ProHockeyTalk did one better, and tracked down cell phone video footage of the actual toss.

Ducks goalie Jonas Hiller appears to contemplate cleaning up the mess, but seems to reconsider once he realizes that someone actually threw a dead duck onto the ice. [via NESN]

 

NHL Ice Girls Wish You A Very Merry Christmas

NHL Ice Girls are the most important element for any teams victory. While I don’t have the facts to back it up, I can safely say that teams with a stable of hot Ice Girls are better performing through the season. Or better yet, the hotter the girls the better they perform.

And to celebrate the holidays why not have some of those lovely young ladies dress up for Christmas? Have a great holiday!

NHL Sexy Christmas Ice Girls

◄ Back

Next ►

Picture 1 of 11

Benoit Pouliot With Goal Of Year Entry

The year is almost over but there’s still plenty of time to get in for the highlight of Goal of the Year. With a crazy 2011 nearing the end, Benoit Pouliot of the Boston Bruins makes his case and he makes it strong as he embarrasses Florida Panthers defenseman Dmitry Kulikov on his way to a sweet goal.

It was left to goalie Jose Theodore to save the play but instead Pouliot is just too strong and flips the puck between his legs and then into the corner of the net while falling. Very nice.

Whoa! Penalty Shot Fails When Pucks Stops On Goal Line

Whoa! Stephen Weiss of the Florida Panthers gets a chance to tie up the game with the Phoenix Coytoes in the final minute with a penalty shot against goalie Jason LaBarbera.

He did get the puck free past the goalie but came up a few inches short. In fact, the puck just stalls out on the goal line in a surreal video. I’m not sure Weiss could recreate this if he tried.

59 Year Old Woman Wins Truck By Making Hole in One

Mrs. Brenda Hewlett, who is 59-years old and had never played hockey before, won a chance to be one of 5 people to shoot the puck to win a brand new 2011 Ford F150 4×4.

Frenchies Ford from Massena, NY, held the contest last week at the Massena Arena, home to the minor league Warriors, and called out Hewlett who just landed an early Christmas present when she netted this sweet hole in one shot to win.

Personally, I never get lucky like this. Maybe she could give me some pointers.

59 Yr Woman Wins Truck From Frenchie’s Ford By Making Hole in one from Clayton Plourde on Vimeo.

Ref Blows Offsides Call Which Leads To Goal

The L.A. Kings officially dubbed Darryl Sutter their new head coach. They might want to line up the ref in Monday’s game vs the Leafs who gave them this lucky call.

A bad break for the Leafs happened in the second period as the linesman missed an offside call which lead directly to a Kings goal. And it made a huge difference as the Kings won the game 3-2, a direct result of this blown call.

Ouch.

Flyers Victory Song

The Philadelphia Flyers Celebration Song Is… Mac Miller – Knock Knock

Who knew? On HBO’s Season 2 of “HBO 24/7″, the New York Rangers and Philadelphia Flyers get down and dirty for the cameras. Behind the scenes the cameras caught a nice moment after a Flyers win as we see the team celebrate the victory with a little locker room dance.

In case you dig the tight rap by Mac Miller, here’s the full version so you can grab your retro Eric Lindros jersey and bounce around your living room.

Chris Pronger Out For Season With Post-Concussion Syndrome

Well, looks like that temporary whole in my fantasy defensive lineup just got permanent. The Philadelphia Flyers announced this week that 37-year old defensive stud has an injury worse than expected. His head injury has turned into a huge headache, literally.

Pronger will be out the season and post-season with post-concussion syndrome. His future, being at the age of 37, comes into question as well.

It’s a huge blow to the Flyers as the team was succeeding without him, 11-4-1 since his injury in mid-November, but they no doubt would rather have it easier with him in the lineup after they went 8-3-2 in the first part of the season with him.

The loss of Pronger hurts the Flyers in the long run as his experience and skills just can’t be beat in the NHL but they are extremely deep and talented. It’s not a loss season by any means, even if they lost their captain.  But come April I expect the Flyers to still be looking to run deep into the playoffs.

Next Page »