As we get into the third week of the 2010-11 NHL season, let’s kick off a new feature. I figured that our hockey coverage could use a little boost so I’m starting The Lowdown’s NHL Power Rankings. Just about everyone has a power ranking list but if you need a quick primer, each of the league’s 30 teams are ranked from top to bottom. I’ve never really understood why people do power rankings but I find them oddly compelling. Hopefully these ones will be too… Except for Leafs fans. Continue reading
Hockey
Lowdown BlogCast: October 12, 2010
A couple weeks late and a couple dollars short, it’s time for another edition of The Lowdown BlogCast. We were hoping to get this episode online sometime over the last couple of weeks but general laziness prevented it. So tonight, here’s our NHL season preview. The show starts with the guys’ championship-calibre fantasy hockey tips for your standard draft fantasy pool and for your salary cap pool. They pick the best players at each position whether you don’t need to worry about money or if you need bang for your buck. That’s followed up by entertainment which is dominated by electronic/dance-ish music in each of Jackie’s single of the week, It Came From YouTube and the Worst of Music. The boys also do a brief examination of the new TV season after a couple weeks. After entertainment, it’s back to more hockey. The boys pick their division champions, season-end award winners and make their picks for this season’s Stanley Cup champion. In all, it’s 85 minutes of classic Lowdown fun and hilarity.
Click here to download The Lowdown BlogCast.
Click here to download the podcast quality version.
30 NHL Tattoos for 30 NHL Teams
Summer has come and passed. Now it’s time to lace them up for another season of NHL hockey. We’ve already had a couple of special NHL features to kick off the season but we have one more before the puck drops in Helsinki on the 2010-11 season. Hockey fans are a special breed when it comes to showing their dedication. It takes a special breed of fan to permanently brand themselves with a tattoo dedicated to their favourite team. So here are the best tattoos for each teams. Continue reading
Join The Lowdown Fantasy Hockey League
As a sort of spur of the moment decision, I’ve created a Lowdown fantasy hockey league over on the TSN/ESPN website. It’s a public pool so anyone can join. That means I can’t guarantee that you’ll be able to get one of the 20 spots available (but with our sizeable readership, you should be able to get in). 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, PPP, W, GAA, SV%) in play kinda like the old Yahoo pools we all used to play. Each team has 19 roster spots with nine forwards, four defencemen and two goalies starting.
The autopick draft takes place at 5:00 AM tomorrow (Thursday, October 7) so sign up now and set your picks.
Click here to go to The Lowdown Blog Fantasy Hockey League.
UPDATE: We ran out of space in the LBFHL so we’ve set up a second league. Same settings as the other one. Check it out here.
2010-11 NHL Preview: The Musical
The National Hockey League is gearing up for another season. Last year saw record TV ratings after an epic Canada vs. USA Olympic gold medal hockey game brought the sport closer to mainstream. Following up on our popular 2009-10 NHL preview, we once again preview the 2010-11 by comparing every team in the league to a song. Continue reading
Casting The Mighty Ducks with NHL Stars
An idea that’s floated around Lowdown HQ for the last couple of years is which NHL players are most like players from the Mighty Ducks movie franchise. In my opinion, the original movie, The Mighty Ducks, is the greatest hockey movie ever made so this comparison has to do the franchise justice. That’s why this post has taken us an obscenely long near two years of debate over this one to get the perfect roster of NHL players who are most like players on The Mighty Ducks. Continue reading
Wednesday Link-Off: The Best And Worst
To kick off this edition of the Wednesday linkdump, here’s Bond girl Olga Kurylenko.
The latest NHL games hit shelves this week. EA Sports’ NHL 11 is the only game on PS3 and 360 so I’m not linking to those reviews. However, 2K is releasing NHL 2K11 exclusively for the Wii. (Kotaku) Meanwhile, EA has their own Wii exclusive NHL release with Wayne Gretzky starring in NHL Slapshot (with hockey stick peripheral) for the Wii. (IGN)
Nokia’s promotion for its latest phone gives you a chance to star in a short film with Pamela Anderson. The joke just writes itself on this one. (Gizmodo) Okay, I’ll bite. You’ll join Tommy Lee and Vince Neil in the ranks of co-stars in Pam Anderson short films.
And a blogger says that Albert Pujols’ head is getting bigger. What is he hinting at? (Midwest Sports Fan) In fairness to Jerod, he’s not the one doing the hinting this time.
After the jump, the worst IndyCar driver of all time, the return of Kimbo Slice, and a football promo that’s not a trap. Continue reading
Sunday Link-Off: Fortunate Son
In honour of all the Comic Con coverage that we’ve got on the blog this week, here’s Kelly Brook in a Princess Leia bikini. Well, that’s how it was billed.
Sports Illustrated has released their annual list of the fifty highest earning athletes in North America. A familiar face is again on top of the rankings. (SI Fortunate 50)
SI also released a list of the 20 highest athletes that aren’t Americans. Just goes to show you how ridiculous sports has gotten in the western hemisphere. (SI International 20)
On the opposite end of the scale, Sports Pickle found the 7 lowest earning athletes in the sporting world. (SP Unfortunate 7)
After the jump, football links, hockey links, and SERENITY NOW! Continue reading
Hockey (Last) Night In Canada: Free Agent Frenzy
July 1st had it all going on. It was the start of NBA Free Agency which kicked off LeBronukkah. In Canada, it was a national holiday and Canada Day. I mean that it was the start of NHL Free Agency and the country’s birthday. The 30 teams continued their quest for Lord Stanley’s Cup which started at the draft. At least “Free Agent Frenzy” is better than being named after one man. Unless you call this “Koval-up-chuk.” Anyway, did your favourite team make a big move over the last 24 hours? A recap of the day’s events and analysis after the jump. Continue reading
Hockey (Last) Night In Canada: The Drought Is Over
A moment of confusion quickly gave way to the biggest moment in a young player’s career. Patrick “20 Cent” Kane danced out from the corner and slid the puck under Michael Leighton but no one realized it except for him. The party was on hold for a moment as the play was briefly reviewed but in the end it was the Chicago Blackhawks lifting the Stanley Cup for the first time in 49 years. Continue reading
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