Hockey: The Best Form of Entertainment

thanks to NHL center ice from directv, i have been catching bits and pieces of tons of hockey games lately. chad and i have of course been watching all of the flyers and lightning games, and i have made full use of the unlimited hockey access provided by center ice. last night while chad was taking a shower i watched the first period of the montreal/atlanta game, which wasn't all that entertaining. i thought that ilya kovalchuk would vastly improve the thrashers play, but i was dead wrong. they were not impressive.

the washington/carolina game was light years more entertaining. it was action-packed, and i got to see several players i really enjoy watching, but who are no longer members of the teams i keep up with religiously, including former flyers rod brind'amor (carolina), justin williams (carolina), and dainus zubrus (washington), and former lightning player corey stillman (carolina). how convenient that williams and stillman are still wearing their old numbers. anyway, despite the fact that i only watched the second period of this game, i managed to see the play with the greatest entertainment value. it was fantastically horrible for the player involved. carolina had pulled ward (the goaltender) due to a delayed penalty on washington. the hurricanes had just scored to tie the game 1-1, and the upcoming power play would give them the perfect opportunity to gain the lead, right? well, it didn't quite work out that way. since there was a delayed penalty, the moment a capital gained possession of the puck, play would stop, so even if the puck found its way into caronlina's empty net the goal wouldn't count. unless the player putting the puck in carolina's empty net was one of carolina's own players. and that is exactly what happened. i have no idea what niclas wallin (of the hurricanes) was thinking. it was so bad. he had control of the puck in the offensive zone, then zubrus kept putting pressure on him, trying to get it out of the zone, when wallin turns toward the empty net and lets the puck fly - right into his own net. every other carolina player on the ice was in the capitals' end. there was no one to receive this "pass." it was just so bad. i'm sure he felt like a big idiot. he put his team behind again at a time when they had a fabulous chance to take the lead. well, carolina did score on that power play to tie things up again and regain their momentum - and they eventually won the game 7-2. so carolina actually scored 8 goals in that game. only one was in their own net.

man, do i ever manage to catch the good stuff, or what?