Is Rick Rypien At Fault for His Actions?

For many years, NHL players and coaches have been trying to avoid getting involved in fans that go against them or hate them. Unfortunately, last night's scuffle was one of them. In last night's Canucks-Wild game, Canucks center Rick Rypien was assessed a double minor for roughing and a 10-minute misconduct penalty. A Minnesota Wild fan was applauding just as Rick Rypien left the ice. Before heading into the tunnel, Rypien grabbed the Wild fan, shoved him, and then was grabbed by teammate Manny Malhotra before leaving into the tunnel.
Now that's been the first in a while since a player has had an altercation with a fan of some sort. Two seasons ago, New York Rangers coach John Torterella has an altercation with a Washington Capitals fan. He was suspended for one game and his team lost the game against the Rangers.
But this Rypien incident goes above what Coach John Tortorella did. He took the fan, shoved him, and disappeared into the tunnel. He has been suspended indefinitely and will get a hearing on Friday, where he will be heard from many NHL board members and commissioner Gary Bettman.
Is the NHL going to be a genius and fine this guy or suspend him? He has already been suspended for tonight's game against the Blackhawks but I have a gut feeling he's going to get more than just that game. He will get fined, he will get suspended, and he will get booed every time he returns to Minnesota. Okay, that last one, I'm just guessing that will happen.
The other big problem was the tunnel to the beaches. It's a tunnel on wheels and it wasn't completely moved out all the way to the benches. Arenas do this so that the fans can't get to the players. But at Xcel Energy Center, it wasn't completely moved out all the way. Instead, it stopped a few inches before the bench.
But Rick Rypien's attitude and temper towards this situation pisses me off. As an NHL player, you're not allowed to interact with fans or touch fans in an aggressive way. I hope he gets a suspension because it is unfair and illegal in the world of hockey. Hockey players try to play like nobody's in the stands but guess what, Rick Rypien didn't think that way in this game, didn't he?
So anyway he's out of tonight's game against the Blackhawks and I think 2-4 more games will be added to his suspension. It wasn't that violent but it's worth a good number of games. He'll probably have to think about what he did but guess what, in hockey, players get aggressive sometimes and for Rick Rypien it was clearly communicated in a negative way. Let's hope the league disciplines more players who decide to do this. Hopefully they all learned a lesson from this incident and hopefully Rick Rypien has as well.

So Much is Wrong with the Devils

Losing 4-1 against the Boston Bruins on Saturday just added to more of the New Jersey Devils and their problems this season. Not only bad goaltending from Martin Brodeur but not enough scoring from their front line.
Of course every NHL team is almost hoping that the New Jersey Devils actually finish outside of the playoffs, but that's no way to think about this NHL season. So let's start from the beginning: The Devils lost to the Stars, then lost to the Penguins, won in overtime against the Sabres, and now this 4-1 drubbing by the Boston Bruins. That's how far this season has gone for these particular Devils.
So is there any chance of a turnaround? Of course there is. The Devils' season isn't over yet; they still have 78 games left and there's still time to turn it around. But there's going to need to get more offensive production from their forward lines like Travis Zajac, Zach Parise, Patrik Elias, Jamie Langenbrunner and most especially Ilya Kovalchuk.
With the kind of deal that Kovalchuk got in the offseason, you would expect the Devils to do very well, if not do better than they did last year, but so far the offensive gain has not given him a single scoring opportunity that he has wanted in a while. He will get back on his game, but the question is: When does he and the Devils finally realize that the teams they beat before are getting better? Everyone's beating them now except maybe the Sabres and Islanders, but they need to find ways to win even if it is ugly.
The next matchup will prove to be an ugly one, especially when they are not favored to win. They will have to go up to Montreal and face the high-scoring Canadiens as well as their rowdy fans. I don't think in the type of shape they're in, they're going to be winning that game in Montreal. But who knows? I would expect them to win the next game against the Sabres in Prudential because the Sabres are having trouble scoring, plus they lost to Chicago. Will the Devils get back on course? Or is it a sinking ship? We'll find out in the coming week.

Penguins vs. Devils: Who is Worse?

It's unbelievable how it has come to this.

The Penguins and Devils are both having trouble right now. The Penguins are 0-2-0 while the Devils are 0-1-1. At least the Devils has one point and are ahead of the Penguins right now, but for how long?

Both of these teams face off tomorrow at the Prudential Center in Newark, and it looks like this will be the game that will determine who is having the worse start of all.

The Penguins are coming off back-to-back losses in their new home against the Flyers and the Canadiens. Hey, it would be nice if they had at least won the game against the Canadiens, but that's history at this point.

The Devils are coming off a shootout loss and a really bad loss against the Stars and the Capitals. Alex Ovechkin burned Martin Brodeur twice while the rest of the Caps team put together goals that compiled a 7-2 win against the Devils.

Looks like Monday's matchup might be a do-or-die situation for both of these teams. The Penguins have had lucky rebounds their way, while the Devils' Martin Brodeur has bailed out his team in incredible form.

Who I pick to win this game: It's tough to go against Martin Brodeur and the Devils, but I'm gonna stay safe and pick the Penguins to win this one. They may have started out 0-2, but they have a better chance of rebounding than the Devils would. Evgeni Malkin, Sidney Crosby, Tyler Kennedy, Zbynek Michalek, and many other Penguins have a better chance of scoring against Martin Brodeur than the Devils would against Marc-Andre Fleury.

Tomorrow's game looks like a nail-bitter. Who will be sitting on the bottom of the rank while the other team saves itself? Only the game tomorrow will tell.

Capitals are Not the Cup Favorites

We've seen good teams go through this time and time again. First, it was the San Jose Sharks, who failed to even get to the Stanley Cup last year. Then, it was the Washington Capitals, who failed to even get past Montreal last season. There's a key there: Even the best teams are vulnerable to the most hyped-up part of the year: the playoffs.
Well, it's a new season. Players have gone and left, contracts were given out to players who wanted to return to the team, and like last year, the Capitals are starting off as the Cup favorites in everyone's mind. Except me.
I don't believe the Caps, the Sharks, or any good team up there should be considered the Cup favorites at this point. Why? It's too early in the season to tell who's in and who's not. Maybe after a few months, we'll have a better picture, but now's not the right time to make a good prediction.
We've all seen how bad good teams have performed in the playoffs. But let's not give any credit to the Capitals or any other good team out there yet. It is SO early in the season that you don't know what might happen. They may start out as great teams but then they'll falter and start losing more and more games. The Kings did this, the Canucks did this, heck even the Capitals and Sharks did this.
Does the impact of Alex Ovechkin help give the Caps more of a Cup favorite? That would seem like what everyone is going after and why they're picking the Caps. But hey, Ovechkin's may be the best player on their team, but he really doesn't know how to produce for his team in the playoffs. On the power play, it is like a faltering rock that won't budge.
This team is gonna be stuck for most of the season, but maybe they'll get hot. Just remember one thing: The playoffs are a very different area than the regular season. You may go through the regular season hot but by the time the playoffs roll around, you were dragging yourself in and about to get whomped by a lower-ranking team.
The season has just started, people. Let us all watch a few games and see who we really think the Cup favorites are. Maybe they're the Capitals or the Sharks or the Canucks or the Kings. Either way, we should be on the lookout for those up-and-coming teams. Maybe they'll surprise everyone and suddenly become the Cup favorites.

Hockey in Las Vegas? A Good Option

What comes to mind when you think of Las Vegas? Of course you would probably say entertainment, gambling, casinos, crazy people doing mime acts on the street, etc. But what if I told you that sports is already having a big impact on Vegas?

I mean, yes, they gamble for teams to win games so that it allows them to get more money. How about watching the game in person? Isn't that a little more exciting? Well guess what. On Saturday, October 2, fans of the Colorado Avalanche and Los Angeles Kings came to Las Vegas, as well as fans in Las Vegas, came to the preseason game between the Avalanche and the Kings.

This game might not mean much for the league, but in terms of Las Vegas, it is a huge deal. Fans of the Kings drove up the I-15 from LA to see their favorite team the Kings play the enemy Avalanche. That's what Las Vegas wants.

The two teamss played inside the MGM Grand Garden Arena and I must say, it is a great arena for basketball, concerts, hockey, etc. But hockey outlasts all the others. The chance to watch a team play in another city is a breath-taking experience for people who love enjoying sports as well as going to them in person.

This event was called Frozen Fury XIII. Why they called it that is way beyond my measures. I think it's been a tradition to have a preseason game in Las Vegas to drive in the money revenue, but that's not my area.

Now with all this hype about hockey preseason games in Las Vegas and so what, does it look like that Vegas will get something more than UNLV football and basketball games? Now don't get me wrong, I love UNLV. I may not have gone to college there, but I love them. But I feel like Vegas could use a little more. Maybe some more professional teams coming on. The Lakers are coming to play in the arena in a few weeks and that should bring in way more fans because almost everyone in Vegas is a fan of the Lakers.

Okay, I'm getting off-track. Back to my question. It looks evitable for Vegas to have a hockey team. After all, they host one preseason game every year and they love sports like hockey. So maybe it is a good idea for Vegas to have its own hockey team. Now, doing that is completely out of my control, but I'm sure the NHL will look into it and see about bringing the team in. Hey, the Coyotes are horrible in Phoenix in terms of money and ownership. Just move the team up to Las Vegas. We're done.

It's never that easy to bring ice hockey to Las Vegas. However, with the support of the citizens and the consent of the NHL, I'm sure Vegas will finally have a hockey team within the next ten years or so. Let's just hope people are still into ice hockey at that time like they are right now.