Hockey: Week Two Review

Par for the course with last week, here's a quick review of the highlights and low-lights of the second week of the 2010-2011 NHL hockey season.

I'll stick mainly with the same format as last week also, emphasizing on some of the surprises and disappointments, and a quick focus on who's Hot and who's Not.

Surprises

Rick Rypien an enforcer for the Vancouver Canucks was suspended indefinitely earlier in the week, following a game with the Minnesota Wild where he received a game misconduct and grabbed a fan while being escorted off the ice. On Friday the league suspended Rypien for six games, in what many would consider as setting an example, and also fined the Canucks 25,000$, per league policy.

Holy Hat Tricks Batman! Hat tricks are not a rarity in the NHL, but it always seems that when one of them takes place, a chain reaction soon follows. This Friday night alone saw 3 of 5 scheduled games feature a trick, with Rene Bourque of the Flames tallying three, Daniel Alfredsson doing the same and also scoring his 1,000th career point, and Steven Stamkos rounding out the trio, with a four point night against the Atlanta Thrashers.

Despite my somewhat early doomsaying, a fire must have been lit under the asses of the Anaheim Ducks, whom after nearly starting the season on a 4 game deficit, finally started to see their stars put pucks into the back of the net.

Disappointments

There are still a few teams with high potential who are trying to catch a break. The Buffalo Sabres, despite having some bright flashes in week one, have lost 6 of their last 7 games, including a 5 game losing streak where most games were decided by one goal. Likewise, the New Jersey Devils are having trouble falling into a groove, although Martin Brodeur managed to nab two shutouts, including a decisive one Thursday night in Montreal.

Who's Hot

Teams:
Pittsburgh Penguins - (5-3-0) - 4 Game W Streak
Boston Bruins - (4-1-0) - 4 Game W Streak
Tampa Bay Lightning - (5-1-1)
Dallas Stars - (5-1-0) 
Toronto Maple Leafs - (4-1-1)
Chicago Blackhawks - (5-3-1) - After a bit of a slow start, the Hawks have picked up steam with an early season hot streak by Marian Hossa and some clutch scoring by Patrick Sharp who racked up 3 game winners in a row.

Players:
Steven Stamkos, C (TBL) - 8G 6A +6 - A 4 point night Friday, including a Hat Trick has Stammer on course for what is sure to be a repeat and surpassing of his breakout sophomore season last year.

Marian Hossa, RW (CHI) - 7G 4A +4
Brad Richards, D (DAL) - 2G 8A +9
Daniel Sedin, LW (VAN) - 7G 4A +2
Henrik Sedin, C (VAN) - 10A +1

Tim Thomas, G (BOS) - 4W, 1 Shutout, Save% .978, GAA 0.75 - Thomas has started all four games following the Bruins opening game loss and has been a force, as per usual. 
Kari Lehtonen, G (DAL) - 5W, 1L, Save% .927, GAA 2.60

Who's Not

Teams:
Buffalo Sabres - (2-5-1)
Edmonton Oilers - (2-3-0) - After a breakout start to the season with a 4-0 win over Calgary and a close win against Florida, the Oilers are now on a 3 game skid, which is enough to scare any Oilers fan with memories of last season.

Players:
Simon Gagne, LW (TBL) - No points, -4 in 6 games
Kimmo Timmonen and Chris Pronger, D (PHI) - No points, -4 combined
Tyler Myers, D (BUF) - 1G 1A -9 - Sabres are in a slump and their sophomore defenseman ranks worst in the league on the +/- right now and is not showing an early season strength shown in his Calder nominated Rookie season.

Here's to hopefully another interesting week in NHL hockey.

Hockey: Finalizing Picks and Week One Review

Last Friday I took the time to do a more or less quick write-up of the beginning of the 2010-11 NHL hockey season, including short outlooks on some of the teams and plays that were in the spotlight (or limelight) for the beginning of week one.

I also alluded to the fact that I rejoined one of my old hockey pools, so needless to say for the past week I've been tracking some of the games, keeping an eye on early stats and getting a feel for what changes (if any) that I would need to make to the picks in this particular pool.

The pool itself follows most of the standard rules you'll find in any hockey pool or fantasy hockey league but with it's own tweaks and spins that make it more enjoyable for first time participants, and even allows groups of people to fill slots in the pool roster.

Friday is the deadline to finalize your picks for the season, leaving some moments throughout the year for potential swaps and changes. After all, injuries do happen. But this Friday remains the last chance to give your initial picks (aside from drafted players - they're locked) a bit of a makeover.

As such I've decided I'm going to do a sort of Week in Review of what's gone down in the NHL, including surprises, disappointments and my take on who's Hot and who's Not.

Since this is the first week there's not too much to go on, as for who's really Hot or Cold, give it another week and we'll see who's really sleeping on the job.

Suprises

The Toronto Maple Leafs started last season 0-8 and notched only 2 wins in their first 11 games. In a complete 180 degree turnaround the Leafs have opened up this season at 3-0, including a lashing of the Ottawa Senators and their latest victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins tonight.

Mr. Lady Byng, Pavel Datsyuk, who won the Lady Byng Memorial trophy 4 years in a row (prior to last season) got into a scrap with Corey Perry during their opening game against the Anaheim Ducks, marking Datsyuk's first regular season fight in nearly 10 years in the NHL.

The Lady Byng trophy is given to the player judged to have exhibited the best type of sportsmanship and gentlemanly conduct combined with a high standard of playing ability.

Disappointments

The Anaheim Ducks are off to a disastrous start, currently sitting 0-3 and currently facing Vancouver as I write this. In 4 games, the Ducks have scored only three goals and allowed a whopping 15, though I wouldn't blame Jonas Hiller for that (see below). The Ducks blue line is obviously reeling from the loss of Scott Niedermayer and need to get their act together if they hope to get things back on course early in the season.

I hate Sidney Crosby and the Penguins but luckily this falls under disappointments, which is fine with me. The Kid and his partner in crime, Evgeni Malkin haven't started off the season with much of a spark, having each only 1 goal and an assist in 4 games. Hardly tragic, considering this is only the first week - but like I said, I hate those guys, so good riddance.

The New Jersey Devils began the season with a streak of bad luck, including blowing a lead in their opening game and a blowout against Washington which saw Martin Brodeur surrender 7 goals. They notched their first win tonight in OT thanks to Ilya Kovalchuk's first goal. Their front line has the potential to go on a tear, so I don't expect them to sit in this category for long.

Who's Hot

Teams:
Toronto Maple Leafs - (3-0-0) 

Washington Capitals - (3-1-0)

Players: 
Alex Ovechkin, LW (WAS) - 4G 3A +3
Steven Stamkos, C (TB) - 3G 2A +1 (only two games played) 
Marian Hossa, RW (CHI) - 3G 3A +5
Derek Roy, C (BUF) - 4G 1A +1
John-Michael Liles, D (COL) - 5A +4

Johnathan Quick, G (LA) - 2W Save% .964, GAA 0.96
Nikolai Khabibulin, G (EDM) - 2W, 1 Shutout, Save% .969, GAA 1.00
Jimmy Howard, G (DET) - 1W 1OTL, 1 Shutout, Save% .932, GAA 1.94 

Who's Not

Teams:
Anaheim Ducks - (0-3-0)
Ottawa Senators - (0-2-1)

Players:
Anaheim Ducks, except Jonas Hiller - faced 39/43 and 45/49 shots in his first two games before being pulled before the end of the second period of their third game, after already having faced 35 shots in as many minutes.

Like I mentioned before, it's still very early in the season, but it's definitely off to an interesting start.