The NHL Needs a Fix: You Don't Understand I'm ...

By Hockey Guru

Okay, brain injuries are serious and every year it seems the medical community learns more about the long-term implications of concussions. Along with the treatment of concussions, the diagnosis for concussion has come a long way. The NHL and NHLPA both need to monitor this situation and determine what more can be done to curtail this issue.

But is it an epidemic? Is it inevitable with the speed, size and nature of the sport? Certainly players freely decide whether or not to sign a contract and take on risks of playing this or any sport professionally.

I hope to keep a running tally of concussions from the 2010-11 regular season and playoffs. If any are not included, please leave a comment below.

Player	NHL Team	STP Team	Date	Description	Penalties Assessed	Games Missed
Raitis Ivanans	Calgary Flames	Free Agent	8-Oct	Knocked out cold in a fight with Steve MacIntyre of the Edmonton Oilers. The Kings and Ivanans both insist that no concussion resulted	5-minute fighting majors to both MacIntyre and Ivanans	Missed 5 games so far, resuming skating
Cam Janssen	St. Louis Blues	Frozen Bastards	9-Oct	Hit by teammate, Brad Winchester, who was trying to hit Philadelphia's Oskars Bartulis	None	Missed 4 games so far and remains on IR
Ondrej Pavelec	Atlanta Thrashers	Top Shelf	9-Oct	Concussed himself after collapsing to the ice	None	Missed 5 games so far, beginning to practice
John Tavares	New York Islanders	Stanford North Stars	9-Oct	A collision with Adam Burish of the Dallas Stars	None	Missed 3 games before returning
Jamie Benn	Dallas Stars	Stanford North Stars	9-Oct	Hit by James Wisniewski of the New York Islanders	None	Missed 3 games before returning
Jason Pominville	Buffalo Sabres	Perrysburg Polar Bears	11-Oct	Hit by Niklas Hjalmarsson of Chicago Blackhawks	5-minute major for boarding, a game misconduct penalty, and a 2-game suspension	Missed 4 games so far; resuming skating
Johan Franzen	Detroit Red Wings	STL Older Guns	14-Oct	Hit by Mark Fistric of the Dallas Stars	None	Missed 1 game and returned
Matthew Lombardi	Nashville Predators	Stittsville TwoPhors	14-Oct	Unspecified	None	Missed 3 games so far, remains on IR
Keith Ballard	Vancouver Canucks	Montreal Nerdpucks	15-Oct	1st Period Injury vs Los Angeles	None	Missed 3 games so far

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Souvenir Game Program: Football Midseason 2010

By Spezzal Teams Playa

Welcome, everybody. Please take your name tag and sign the guest book. The punch table is over there, and the buffet is along the back wall. I hope you all have fun and get to know your neighbours.

I have listed everyone in order of their seniority within the Sports Talk Pool. You'll note that while most faces are new as opposed to last month's full-season league, only nine of us are actual STP rookies.

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Stittsville Two-Putt

manager: Spezzal Teams Playa

email: spezzalteamsplaya@gmail.com

aliases: Nepean Hotspurs, Tito "TD" O'Dell, Ottawa Roughwaivers

location: Ottawa, Ontario

2009 Football – 14th-place

2008 Football – 10th-place

2010 Baseball - 11th-place
2010 Baseball (midseason) - 9th-place
2009 Baseball – 11th-place

2009-2010 Basketball – 10th-place
2008-2009 Basketball – 1st-place

2009-2010 Hockey – 10th-place
2008-2009 Hockey – 4th-place
2007-2008 Hockey – 9th-place


Sunnyvale Redemption

manager: Will-He-M

email: habs_rock_100@hotmail.com

alias: London Pigskin Picks, Sunnyvale Shithawks, Toronto Euros

location: London, Ontario

2009 Football – 6th-place

2010 Baseball - 10th-place
2010 Baseball (midseason) - 11th-place
2009 Baseball – 8th-place

2009-2010 Basketball – 6th-place

2009-2010 Hockey – 8th-place
2008-2009 Hockey – 8th-place
2007-2008 Hockey – 6th-place


MN Limelighters

manager: Minnesota Chris

email: cjk863@yahoo.com

aliases: MN Sidewinders, Minnesota Snot Bombs, Minnesota Frostbite, Hell Lions, Thorns In Your Side

location: St.Paul, Minnesota

2009 Football – 17th-place

2010 Baseball - 3rd-place
2010 Baseball (midseason) - 5th-place
2009 Baseball – 12th-place

2009-2010 Basketball – 2nd-place

2009-2010 Hockey – 4th-place
2008-2009 Hockey – 3rd-place
2007-2008 Hockey – 10th-place


Dakota Bulldogs

manager: Hardee Star

email: hills@sstel.net

aliases: Dakota Flash, Dakota Magic, Eastside Slammers, Hills City Falcons

location: Sioux Falls, South Dakota

2009 Football – 11th-place

2010 Baseball - 19th-place
2010 Baseball (midseason) - 18th-place
2009 Baseball – 2nd-place

2009-2010 Basketball – 19th-place
2008-2009 Basketball – 7th-place


STL Rams

manager: Scott We Go

email: intothesun8@yahoo.com

aliases: STL Birdmen, STL Young Guns, STL Try-Agains, STL Spirit, Billy Stevens

location: St.Louis, Missouri

2009 Football – 2nd-place

2010 Baseball - 16th-place
2010 Baseball (midseason) - 17th-place
2010 Baseball - 17th-place
2009 Baseball – 5th-place

2009-2010 Basketball – 20th-place

2009-2010 Hockey – 14th-place


Manoa Morays

manager: Div'er Down Dave

email: fastwillie.parker@yahoo.com

alias: Fowl Play

location: Manoa, Hawaii

2009 Football – 10th-place

2010 Baseball - 4th-place
2010 Baseball (midseason) - 13th-place
2009 Baseball – 6th-place

2009-2010 Hockey – 6th-place


Isle Wynn

manager: Gary “Ace” Ventura

email: aventuraexisle@yahoo.com

aliases: Ice Landers, Ex-Isles

location: Las Vegas, Nevada

2010 Baseball - 2nd-place

2009-2010 Hockey - 3rd-place


Colt 45 Malt Liquor

manager: Buzz74

email: aaronverklan@yahoo.com

location: Buffalo, New York

2010 Baseball - 6th-place
2010 Baseball (midseason) - 4th-place

2009-2010 Basketball – 7th-place


Redskin Mark

manager: Redskin Mark

email: mzentko@earthlink.net

alias: Memphis Redbirds

location: Memphis, Tennessee

2010 Baseball (midseason) – 2nd-place


Ball Hawks

manager: '03 Seahawk Fan

email: seahawkfan2003@yahoo.com

location: Alexandria, Louisiana


Bone Heads

manager: Johnnyplax

email: plaxico077@yahoo.com

location: Idaho Falls, Idaho


Chargée du Fort Laïfe

manager: Brandon Greenz

email: greenzisgood@yahoo.com

location: Fort Laïfe, France


Exeter Ream Hitters

manager: Triple X Dougie

email: xxxdougtodd@yahoo.com

location: Fresno, California


Gridiron Gorillas

manager: Dan Waybelow

email: danrobalo@yahoo.com

location: Houston, Texas


Happy

manager: Tang Hound

email: tangjie_1987@yahoo.com

location: Bald Knob, Arkansas


King of the Hillis

manager: The Cleveland Viking

email: vikings2167@yahoo.com

location: Cleveland, Ohio


Pigskin Paulié

manager: Monsieur Magoo

email: bobbymagoo413@yahoo.com

location: Toulouse, France


Silky Johnson

manager: ERA Erik

email: erakian34@aol.com

location: Kansas City, Kansas

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Travelling Riverside Blues: No More Season Ticket

By Scott We Go













These pics were inspired by St. Louie's best: The Checkerdome, 42, Bradford, beer and multi-ethnic females, acid wash jeans, and vintage Blues.

I must admit, I've been such a die hard Blues fan since childhood, it's hard for me to see the NHL in any other color besides blue. My dad brought me to Blues games at the old Barn starting at age 2 and we had season tickets until a 4 year hiatus (replaced with heavy drinking at U of Illinois - Illini hockey? .... meh, not so much). Some of my most vivid memories of childhood are being at Blues games with Dad, smashing peanut shells with our boots, mullets and mustaches everywhere, acid wash jeans, giving high fives to the players as they came back to the locker-room, getting pucks from Bernie Federko, Bobby Bassen, Hullie, Oates, Garth Butcher and CuJo among many others; the towel guy, the fog horn, going nuts for a Hull from Oates goal against the Winnipeg Jets and realizing, as we're going nuts, Hullie has just put another one in before the first one was even announced!

This year is a bittersweet one for my Blues and I. Since I got back from school, I've had 6th row goal-line seats on the Blues-shoot-twice-end with my best friend, Dustin.

HIGHLIGHTS: Dustin winning one Halloween costume contest (as Richard Simmons) and coming in 2nd by a hair (as Pauly Shore) to an old lady dressed like a beer pong table, meeting the Blues Chick while winning the Clarkson Eyecare contest for a T.J. Oshie autographed stick (nice!), our playoff run two seasons ago, the Perron goal, the Oshie goal, almost catching the Towel Guy's towel .... so many more. The bittersweet part comes from the fact that Dustin now has twins due on November 27th, which also means that $ is not leaving his pockets right now unless it has to do with diapers, baby food, or breast milk pumps. I tried to convince my girlfriend to join me, but to no avail. And also, I see it as a result of the U.S. economy, that no one else was willing to make the financial commitment. Although I was tempted to be "that guy" that goes it alone, I couldn't bring myself to cough up a small fortune for many nights of lonely drives home. It's also bittersweet because I'm so excited about this year's squad with the addition of the Halak-ness Monster and the other boys having grown up a bit.

So, I can't watch every game from the edge of my seat, but my best friend does have healthy twins on the way. I'll miss getting there on time (ya, right!), the first Budweiser of the night, the terrible introductory video, the between-period entertainment, the towel guy ("that guy" alone at every game .... I know this because we followed him to his car one night .... CREEPY, I know), not knowing anyone around us even though we had season tix (I think we were in the corporate section, new people every night), yelling out each player's nickname way too loudly and too many times throughout the game, screaming at Jackman about how much I hate him, and Cam kicking ass (Dustin coined the phrase, "He just Cammed all over your face, bitch!" © 2008).

Oh well, I guess I'll be hitting up Stub Hub a few times this year and watching too much TV. In conclusion, I wasn't sure what this post was going to be about, but I had to get that off my chest.

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My Enormous Crystal Balls: The 2010-11 NHL Season

By Hockey Guru


The Sports Talk Pool is proud to publish it annual edition of predictions about the 2010-11 season.

The last thing we saw in the 2009-2010 hockey season,

was Patty Kane scoring the Stanley Cup winning goal in OT (didn't we all do that on the pond, or in the driveway, once or twice, growing up).

The 'Hawks proved to be the class of the league and really weren't tested. The biggest test they faced was the salary cap, once the season ended.

So what's in store for 2010-2011? Let's look into the enormous crystal ball and see. Using my patented Guru's Giv'er 800%™ method for determining each team's playoff odds:


Eastern Conference

Washington Capitals 100%
New Jersey Devils 95%
Pittsburgh Penguins 90%
Philadelphia Flyers 80%
Buffalo Sabres 70%
Boston Bruins 70%
Ottawa Senators 50%
New York Rangers 50%
Tampa Bay Lightning 49%
Atlanta Thrashers 40%
New York Islanders 40%
Montreal Canadiens 30%
Toronto Maple Leafs 25%
Florida Panthers 10%
Carolina Hurricanes 1%


Western Conference

Chicago Blackhawks 100%
San Jose Sharks 100%
Vancouver Canucks 100%
Detroit Red Wings 90%
Los Angeles Kings 70%
Phoenix Coyotes 60%
St.Louis Blues 55%
Colorado Avalanche 45%
Columbus Blue Jackets 45%
Nashville Predators 30%
Anaheim Ducks 30%
Calgary Flames 30%
Edmonton Oilers 25%
Dallas Stars 15%
Minnesota Wild 5%


Conference Finals

Pittsburgh vs. Washington
Chicago vs. San Jose


Stanley Cup Finals

San Jose over Washington


Okay, not my best work. For some reason, the start to this season is just not capturing my full attention. The enormous crystal ball has been gathering dust for months. It's late, and the millions of visitors to this site demand a prediction, so there it is.

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The Guru Report: A Fitting Tribute to Bill Guerin

By Hockey Guru


With the NHL season about to start- the Philadelphia Flyers did not offer a contract to Bill Guerin and before getting into any predictions - this tribute needed to be put together. When Pittsburgh won the Cup- Sid handed it first to Billy.



That respect is well deserved over his Hall of Fame-worthy career: 18 years in the NHL (he missed a year due to the lockout), 1263 games, 429 goals, 427 assists, 856 points. On top of that, 89 scraps and 1,660 PIM - he was a power forward who earned respect. In 140 playoff games, he amassed 74 points (39 goals) and 162 PIMs. His locker room presence also earned him an 'A' in Boston and Edmonton, and he became the captain on Long Island, before even playing a game there.



Billy may have lost a step, but as the young players come into the league, his leadership cannot be replaced. If he does not end up playing again, he will be sorely missed, but as one of his good friends might say, "Billy is a better person than he is hockey player and he may very well be a Hall of Fame hockey player."

So no matter where the road takes him from here, he'll always be a champion, and maybe, if fate will have it, he can take his good friend Stan out for another beer or two.



[Editor's Note: It was mentioned by the author that he wished he had included video of the famous fight with Mike Keane, when Guerin was with the Devils. There's also a copy that comes with no audio, but a better picture]

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