Saturday, February 05, 2005

 

EuroUpdate: and then the truck runneth over

Let's just pretend that the NHL doesn't exist. It's not really hard, is it?

Games are still being played at every other level (AHL, CHL, Europe, etc), the Super (Hype) Bowl goes tomorrow, and the NHL and PA guild surely seem intent on losing a full season to get what they want.

It is certainly not hard for many Americans to forget the NHL exists.
Take the Sports Guy, Bill Simmons, for example:
First, you know a sport has reached "Code Red!" status when it shuts down for a long time, someone in a large group mentions dissatisfaction about that shutdown and everyone assumes he's kidding.

And second: readers send me hundreds and hundreds of sports-related e-mails each day. Plus, all my friends like sports except two -- Fanning and Ricky, and they made up for that by watching "Boogie Nights" with me 39 times in the summer of '98. When I meet someone, the conversation invariably turns to sports. Point is, not once in the past five months have I heard someone say anything that remotely approaches, "You know what's killing me? This NHL lockout!"

So, let's update what's happening in Europe...where there is real hockey being played by real NHL players.

1. Some little newsbits from Joeri at Eurohockey.net
2. Despite the fact that I am usually right, I am not ALWAYS right :)
a. Jaroslav Svoboda was not booted from Trinec. He returned to the lineup last night in yet another loss for my poor Steelers.
b. There was another round of games before the European teams convene for various International tournaments. I need to learn to read schedules a little better...

3. Before the stats, how about some Zlata Helma Video Clips?? This is as close as I'm getting to high-level hockey action since I can't stomach televised AHL games for some reason.








1. My favourite Extraleague drunk, Roman Kadera, give two shakes of a lamb tail to the Plzen defence.
2. Kamil Jarina of Litvinov stops Slovak Lubomir Hurtaj on a penalty shot.
3. Ctirad Ovcacik, the strangest name in the Extraliga, threads a nice pass.
4. Golbez favourite Zdenek Skorepa of Trinec roofs the puck over Kladno's Zdenek Orct. That's a lot of Zdenek's
5. Zigmund Palffy sets Marek Tomica free with a nifty breakaway pass.
6. Kladno captain Josef Zajic forgets what sport he is playing....

There was a matinee match today as crappy Karlovy Vary beat HC Hame Zlin by a 4-2 score.
Jaroslav Balastik - 0pts and -1
Radek Bonk - Did not play
Roman Hamrlik - 1 assist, even
Martin Erat - 1 assist, even, 4PIM
Milan Kraft - 2 assists and +3 (a rare good game for Kraft Dinner)

and the stats from yesterday's games...



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