Hockey

I know some people here follow it. The NHL regular season finally started. Let’s talk about it.

The Canucks are still my favourite team and I’m excited for Demitra and Bernier and the scoring touch they’re going to bring to the table. Although they won’t put up Heatley-like numbers, they make the players around them better, and I’m anticipating a more offensively entertaining season from the Canucks this year, especially since their defense doesn’t look like it suffered at all since last year, and probably got better. I’m looking forward to Kesler reproducing what he did last year on probably the best checking line in the league.

In preseason games they went 6-0-0 and finished first in the league. That’s not necessarily an indication of how the regular season is going to go for them, but… I’m pumped anyway.

Brodeur is about 20 wins away from breaking the all-time record and shows no signs of slowing down, winning the Vezina for breaking the record for single-season wins two years ago. He could end up a couple hundred wins above Roy by the time he retires. As much as I love Luongo… damn.

I’ll also be keeping an eye on Chicago, Columbus, St Louis, and Phoenix. I get excited when I see bottom-feeder teams start to become a threat, and I hope I see some new faces in the playoffs this year. Faces like Nash and Doan. It’d be a breath of fresh air, especially if one of them took out Detroit so I wouldn’t have to watch their spectacularly boring gameplay again in the finals.

NHL only has a four month offseason? Man, that’s… NBA-esque. October is a fine starting month, but it’s a little absurd the season can extend into June.

I’m glad it’s as long as it is. If I followed the NFL I’d be bored off my ass 11 months of the year.

Edit: If I followed the NFL, I’d be bored anyway, just because it’s a boring game. But still.

So long as the ducks make the playoffs, I’m fine with that.