My favorite US-born player, okay, favorite player, is having a great year. The Sharks were a great move. They’re in first for the Pacific with the Ducks and Stars nipping behind them but the key thing is, this franchise will be in the playoffs with an adequate shot for the Cup unlike the Coyotes; Gretzky must be grateful that Marc “Big Boy” Crawford is having a worse time coaching the Kings. JR used to be the second-leading scorer on the team (hard to beat Joe Thornton) yet he remains respectably in the top six with over 10 minutes of ice time per game. The better milestone is his 504 goals, promoting him to being the number two American player in goals; Modano’s 519 will be harder to top. Anyway, he’s feeling really energized this season, his game is back despite the reduced role and he may shoot for one more year. Why not? Mark Recchi turns 40 February 1, he shows no signs of slowing down as the Thrashers have taken the lead in the Southeast. Heck, Chris Chelios is 45! Look at the season the Red Wings are having, they’re clearly ahead of everybody, finally experiencing their 10th loss several days ago. JR can take some encouragement to press on to close the gap with Modano and/or walk away with his name on the Stanley Cup.
We’re now past the half-way point in the NHL. This month will either make or break the Flyers’ current roster. They’ve weathered the injuries pretty well, especially when Scott Hartnell stepped up his game while Lupul recovered. It’s going to be tough too. All five teams in the Atlantic are within several points of each other so the Rangers could easily jump from last to first in a week. I’m glad GM Holmgren took a stance against Steve Downie’s cheap shot on Jason Blake of the Leafs. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, the Flyers need to deal this guy away, he was trouble in juniors, he’s trouble now and he’ll be nothing but trouble in the future. I don’t mind the Flyers being tough. I will not stand for poor sportsmanship, especially when much of it is exaggerated by the whiners on ESPN.
This week was a bummer though. I was all excited about seeing my first UT hockey game of the year because UW-M (Wisconsin at Milwaukee) was coming all the way to Austin to play. After fighting through an hour of traffic (normally 25 minutes) thanks to an accident on I-35 and Parmer, I arrive only to be told UW-M cancelled a while back. This will make my attendance at this weekend’s Icebats game to break-in our new digital camera even more special. No new rumors about the team folding and/or an AHL franchise taking their place in Cedar Park.