Hockey

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Lowdown Blog 2012 NHL All-Star Game Results

For the last couple of years, we’ve been having fun with the new format of NHL All-Star Game by drafting our own teams. Let’s cap off our coverage with a statistical analysis of who would have won if our two teams had actually faced off. Our readers were pretty split as to whether Jackie or Steve had selected the superior group of All-Stars. But let’s dissect the teams with some fancy maths to find out whose team was most likely to win the big game.

Let’s take a look at the two rosters and their stats from the real NHL All-Star Game. Continue reading →

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2012 NHL All-Star Game Mock Fantasy Draft

This year’s NHL All-Star Game is continuing the unique format that made quite a splash last year. For the second year, two team captains will get a chance to draft their own All-Star teams to play with in the NHL All-Star Fantasy Draft. Now Jackie and I thought this sounded like a good idea so we decided to do our own All-Star Game mock draft. We’d alternate picks until we both had 21 man rosters like the real thing.

So how did our mock draft play out? Our draft results after the jump. Continue reading →

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Thursday Link-Off: Back Online

The world is back online today after yesterday’s blackout protest to combat SOPA. It turns out that we weren’t blacked out but we do have that snazzy anti-SOPA ribbon in the upper-right. Speaking of snazzy, that’s one way of describing Jessica Alba at the Golden Globes.

Joe Paterno gave his post-firing/retirement interview to the Washington Post. It didn’t do much to clarify things. (The Big Lead)

It used to be that the Habs were a perpetual contender for the Stanley Cup. Now, they’re a shell of them former selves. So what exactly happened to the former model NHL franchise. (Sportsnet)

I’m going to pull a With Leather on this link and plug ourselves but here’s a reminder of what SOPA and yesterday’s are all about. (The Lowdown Blog)

After the jump, how sports writers act like fanboys, the best Sherlock Holmes ever and Vlad Putin: Hockey Superstar. Continue reading →

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Last Day To Vote For The 2012 NHL All-Star Game

It’s the last day to vote for the starters for the 2012 NHL All-Star Game. Unfortunately for hockey fans, Toronto and Ottawa fan boys have stuffed the ballot box which will result in hockey’s all-star game becoming a laughing stock. The leading vote getters are Kessel, Alfredsson, Spezza, Phaneuf, Eriksson and Tim Thomas.

Unfortunately for us, Project Mayhem appears not to have taken the ballot box by storm as we had hoped. There’s still time to cast your 30 all-star ballots. To troll Ottawa Senators fans, you should vote for Dany Heatley, Martin Havlat, Marian Hossa, Zdeno Chara, Chris Campoli and Ray Emery.

Click here for the 2012 NHL All-Star Game ballot.

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Best Images of the 2012 NHL Winter Classic

Since 2008, the biggest game of NHL’s regular season has been the New Year’s outdoor game called the Winter Classic. The fifth edition of the game saw the classic rivalry between the Philadelphia Flyers and New York Rangers take center stage. The game was originally scheduled to start early in the afternoon but concerns over glare forced it to be pushed back two hours. The result was a great game that looked spectacular under the lights of Citizens Bank Park as the scene shifted from day to night. Here are some of the best images of this year’s NHL Winter Classic. Continue reading →

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Sunday Link-Off: A Great Day For Hockey

I seem to be pretty hit and miss with these linkdumps lately. But I’m back today. To make up for some of this, here’s Christina Hendricks with a $250+ bottle of scotch.

Today in absolutely bizarre hockey stories, a player was banned from a Boston men’s hockey league for defecating in an opponent’s glove. You can’t make this shit up. (Deadspin)

Ken Dryden is back on Grantand. This time, he’s talking about what the NHL has to do to get ahead of the impending concussion epidemic. (Grantland)

Esquire’s photo of the year is the kissing couple from the Vancouver riot. But what has become of the famous couple? (Puck Daddy)

After the jump, the start of NHL 24/7, the craziest date letter ever and a Community tribute video. Continue reading →

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Hockey Fighting By The Numbers (Infographic)

We’ve all heard the old joke “I went to a fight and a hockey game broke out.” Well, this infographic by Hockey Monkey shows that there may be some truth to it. Over 37% of NHL games last season had a fight in it. That’s just one of the many interesting statistics on fighting in hockey that are in the following infographic. Continue reading →

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Sunday Link-Off: Seeing Red

It’s the Sunday before Canadian Thanksgiving. I’d like to run some Canadian eye candy to lead off here but I couldn’t find anything recent. So I’ll go Brazilian instead with Cintia Dicker.

Since his death on Wednesday night, the tributes and memorials for Steve Jobs have poured in. However, perspective seems to have been completely lost. Steve Jobs might have created a powerhouse company but he’s not God. (Gawker)

The Occupy Wall Street protests are still ongoing but do you actually know what’s happening and what it’s about? (Esquire)

Fighting in hockey has been a hot issue for the last five months. However, not everyone is ready to banish fighters and fighting from the game. Even self-described pacifists think fisticuffs still have a place in the game. (Backhand Shelf)

After the jump, the latest on The Simpsons, weird original video game concepts and Party Rock is in Pyongyang tonight. Continue reading →

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2011-12 NHL Preview The Musical: 30 Teams, 30 Songs

The new NHL season is just a couple of days away after a spectacular seven-game Stanley Cup Final saw Boston lift the Stanley Cup for the first time since 1972. For the first time in a few years, it doesn’t look like much of a changing of the guard heading into this year. Around here, we have a unique way to preview the upcoming season. We compare every team in the league to a song. Continue reading →

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Join The Lowdown Blog 2011-12 Fantasy Hockey Pool

It’s time once again for the annual Lowdown Blog Fantasy Hockey Pool. We’ve created our fantasy hockey league over on the TSN/ESPN fantasy website. It’s a public pool so anyone can join. As with last year, if we run out of space in the first pool, we’ll create a second one. It’s a head-to-head league with the winner of each match-up based on winning the most of the nine categories (G, A, +/-, PIM, SOG, STP [Special Teams Points], W, GAA, SV%) in play kinda like the old Yahoo pools we all used to play. Each team has 20 roster spots with nine forwards, four defencemen and two goalies starting each night. Continue reading →