Great Start to the NHL Season Out West

October 30th, 2009

First off let me say WOW! and hats off to the Colorado Avalanche, who have come out of the gate and surprised everyone this year. They have a league leading 22 pts as I speak today.  This  is just remakable considering nearly every “expert” was picking them to place last in the Western Conference. Granted there is still around 70 games to go in the season. They have had it all, young forwards stepping up, veteran d-men stepping up, and of course Craig Anderson, who has been labelled as a career back-up.  And they have done all of this, missing around 7 guys; who are  out of the line-up due to injury and the H1N1 virus (Peter Budja). Hopefully they will be capable of keeping this up.


Continuing in the Western Conference and more noteably the Northwest Division, Calgary has played well and is tied for second place in the division with the Edmonton Oilers, who are not expected to keep pace. The Oilers have a lot of talent in the front end. There big offer sheet for Dustin Penner is starting to pay off. He is currently 3rd in the league with 9 goals and 19 pts; which makes him on pace for a 57 goal 120 pt season. Now go ahead and compare this to last years 37 pts total. As for the Calgary Flames, many have picked them to win the west. They surely have the formula to do so this year.  They are a good all around team especially with the off-season pickup of Jay Bouwmeester. Look for the Flames to take the Division lead from Colorado Avalanche in the next few months. The two bottom teams right now are the Canucks and the WIld. After a slow start for the Canucks, look for them to end the season near the top. The Canucks have a very strong team, especially with one of the NHL’s top keepers in Luongo. As for the Wild, boy ‘o’ boy. They’ve have an atrocious start to the season. They simply cannot win on the road starting 0-8-0 away from the home barn. They are going to have to start figuring out their next step because this could end up being a long season for them.


Next I would like to move to the Central Division. Many are saying that this is the year that the Hawks take the reigns from the Wings. The hawks have a lot of talent up front and on the backend. The have to make sure they can continually bring a healthy line-up in, night-in and night-out.  Their captain Johnny Toews is still out and will hopefully return soon.  One problem may be the goaltending. Huet has to prove he can hold his ground in net, if not the hawks have young netminder Antti Niemi waiting in the shadows.  As of now he hawks are in first in the Central Division with the Jackets a few points out.


Not only do I think this to be true, but I don’t think the Wings will be a top two team in this Division. Both St. Louis and Columbus have very good young talent that will keep them above the Wings. That is not to say I don’t think the Wings will make the playoffs, because they always find a way. The weakest link of the division will definitely be the Preds. They have a solid young goaltender in Pekka Rinne and very good d-men, in Suter and Weber, but lack any highly skilled or superstar forwards.


Lastly, the Pacific Division. It will be a dogfight to the end between my dark horse team the Kings and the Sharks.  The Kings are off to a hot start, especially their  number 1 center Anze Kopitar, who is a point behind Ovechkin for the league lead in points. The Kings are currently in first by a point followed by the Sharks, I personally believe it is going to be like this all season. The major surprise of the Pacific could be the Yotes. They are off a rough summer and have a very young roster with a lot of speed; they are currently sitting in 3rd in the Pacific. They are followed by the Stars and then the struggling Ducks. I believe it will be a tough year for the Ducks with the loss of Chris Pronger and Francois Beauchemin. Only time will tell.


Next week I will take a look at the Eastern Conference, until next time…

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Dreams Can Come True

October 14th, 2009

Growing up in upstate New York my friends and I always dreamed of playing in the NHL.  I looked up to a couple of uncles I had that played Pro hockey, one in the NHL. So growing up, pops would go out into the backyard throw up some 2×8’s and kaboom, heaven at last. I would emulate all of my favorite NHLer’s like any young hockey fan.
This would continue all the way through to high school, minus the backyard rink. A few buddies and I would make the most of a tough practice, foolin’ around with the puck every chance we got, givin’ a dangle here, snipin’ a G there.

One of those buddies has ended up playing in his first NHL hockey game just the other night for the San Jose Sharks.  Steve Zalewski was probably the hardest working player I have ever had the chance to play with.  He was always at the hockey rink, when he wasn’t there, he was at the gym, although few knew that he never paid for a single gym membership, nor did his brother, Rich. A few us, along with Steve and his brother would show up at the New Hartford Rec Center about 2-3 hours before our home high school games. We did this just to play around with a stick and a ball and the occasional torching of cheap  stick blades to our own preferred curves, just like a PRO would have it. He would use those curves and the free syn-bombs my NHL uncle would give us to dominate New York State High School Hockey.

After finishing playing his career in New Hartford, NY, Steve attended Northwood in Lake Placid, where he caught the eye of George Roll at Clarkson University, where he went on to be an outstanding College hockey Player for 4 years. He was drafted by the Sharks in 2004, and was signed by them in Spring ‘08. After all of his hard work playing for the Worcester Sharks in the AHL, every hockey players childhood dream came true for Steve, a chance to play in the NHL.

So after all…Old School Hockey would like congratulate Steve Zalewski on playing his first game in the NHL and hopefully many more to follow. It goes to show that any kid can achieve there dream with a little talent, hard work, and dedication.

Tags: AHL, Clarkson Hockey, dangle, hard work, hockey, NHL, Old School Hockey, san jose sharks, Steve Zalewski, Steven Zalewski
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About me

August 3rd, 2009

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