Good Will Playoff Hunting

Montreal vs. Boston? How do you like those apples?

As teams begin to clinch playoff spots and others are officially eliminated despite being out of contention for months (looking at you Edmonton), it is time to look at the remaining few games those teams on the playoff bubble have left.

Sunday Recovery

After an eventful Saturday of hockey, and probably heavy drinking, its time to relax and recover on the action across the country. Catch up on any hockey news and highlights you may have missed while trying to get that blonde's phone number last night.

Corey Crawford stars in Four's Company 

Every night is a big night for the NHL with the playoffs just around the corner, and last night did not disappoint. 12 games on the schedule meant a lot of important games to be played. Buffalo continued to pull away from the Canes and Leafs with a shutout win over New Jersey. While there are still many BeLeafers out there, we called the Leafs playoff hopes time of death at 9:44pm last night after a 4-2 loss to the Red Wings, Pension Plan Puppets still give them 6 more hours though. Corey Perry continues to lead the Ducks charge into the playoffs as he scored both Anaheim goals for a huge 2-1 win over the Blackhawks. The win pulled the Ducks into 7th place in the West and Perry into a tie with Steven Stamkos for the goal scoring lead at 44. The LA Kings were dealt a huge blow on Saturday when Anze Kopitar went down with a broken ankle. With their leading scorer and their 2nd leading scorer in Justin Williams on the shelf now - how far with the Kings go into the playoffs? Here are your headlines across Canada.

Fate Rarely Calls Upon Us At A Moment Of Our Choosing

James Reimer seemed to have come out of nowhere for the Toronto Maple Leafs this season and rally the team and their fans to BeLeaf in the playoffs. Thanks to the weak groin attached to Jean-Sebastien Giguere and Jonas Gustavsson's heart, Reimer was able to grab some NHL starts and impress. With a save percentage of .924 that puts him in the top five statisically, the nicknames began to pour in: Reim Time, Reimstoppers, Bust-A-Reim, but only one has truly stuck with hockey fans - Optimus Reim. Since then, there's been t-shirts made, superhero signals and James Reimer himself endorsing the nickname in interviews. Topping it all however, has to be this awesome video Steve Dangle recently made to pay homage to the nickname and its Transformers background.

NHL Needs To Do More Than Softer Pads on Stanchions

The aftermath of the Zdeno Chara-Max Pacioretty hit resulted in many suggestions for improving the safety of NHL arenas - as well as the word 'stanchion' becoming one of the most used words on social networking and media sites. Many teams added more padding to their stanchions, or have vowed to look at ideas to reduce the risk of injuries to players. However, no matter how many designs hockey bloggers and Don Cherry draw up or how much padding NHL teams add - players will still be suffering injuries if they get hit or collide into the four stanchions that make up the players benches.

Blake Geoffrion's Dirty Great Great Grand Uncle

A few weeks ago we wrote about the great family tree that Blake Geoffrion has. His father played in the NHL, his grandfather was Bernie "Boom Boom" Geoffrion, and his great grandfather was Howie Morenz. It is quite the lineage for the NHL's only fourth generation player in league history. And judging by Blake's hat trick earlier this week, he is following comfortably in his family's footsteps. However, with all the suspension talk this week regarding Matt Cooke and last week's vicious Manitoba Junior Hockey League hit resulting in a 40 game suspension - Blake is also connected to the word suspension. Enter Billy Coutu - Blake's great great grand uncle - the player with the NHL's longest suspension.

Fantasy Monday

Every Monday we will reveal our fantasy players for the past week, as well as our players to watch out for in the upcoming week for various types of pools and leagues

The fantasy regular season is winding down and it's time for poolies to make that late season push. If you're in a Rotisserie league, make sure to get all your games played and look for players on your waiver wire who've been heating up of late. If you're in a head-to-head league, you should be in the playoffs right now battling it out - don't forget to get your minimum goalie stats for the week.

Sunday Recovery

After an eventful Saturday of hockey, and probably heavy drinking, its time to relax and recover on the action across the country. Catch up on any hockey news and highlights you may have missed while trying to get that blonde's phone number last night.

Welcome to Toronto, Dion, it's a hell of a city!  Right, Tomas?

Busy schedule in the NHL last night with 10 games on tap, 6 of which went to extra time. Those extra points were huge in the Western Conference, with Anaheim, Los Angeles, Dallas, and Nashville each picking up points to keep pace in their log-jam playoff race. In the East, Buffalo destroyed Atlanta 8-2 to distance their 8th seed from those looking to catch them, no word if owner Terry Pegula cried with joy after the lopsided win. In Toronto, the unlikely hero was Joey Crabb, providing 3 points in a performance that will happen once in a supermoon as the Leafs downed the Bruins 5-2. Here are you headlines from across Canada.

What's Wrong With The Maple Leafs Powerplay

Like the playoff race, the Leafs work the outside

Anyone who is a Maple Leafs fan has to be frustrated with their powerplay. The Leafs are fairly skilled and can pass the puck around the perimeter very well. But after many passes - and Leaf fans screaming SHOOOOOOOOTTTTTT at their television screens - there is usually a shot from a bad angle with nobody in front of the net for a screen or rebound. If you look at the Leafs top six forwards, they are are all smaller guys who can't take a beating in front of the net from guys like Hal Gill - far from the days of Gary Roberts, Mats Sundin and Dave Andreychuk who used to always go to the net.

From the Beaches to the NHL

From playing video games with Duco, to playing with him in them

Last night we watched the Leafs lose and toss their playoffs hopes out the window, but it was bittersweet for us at Dirty Dangle. The Florida Panthers had Mike Duco called up from Rochester to play against his hometown Toronto Maple Leafs. In his 10 minutes of ice time he had 3 hits and 5 minutes in PIMs from a scrap with Mike Brown.

What 86 Games In Suspensions Looks Like

This might have to be a record for most suspensions handed out after one game. In Game Six of the 1st round of the Manitoba Junior Hockey League Playoffs, this horrifying hit occurred with just three seconds remaining in the game that would see the Swan Valley Stampeders eliminated from competition. Wait until the 10 second mark and you see Stampeders forward Jesse Enns come flying in to hit Portage Terriers defenceman Tyler Harland from behind.

Observations From the NHL GM Meetings in Boca Raton

So do we golf first, then talk hockey?

Dirty Dangle's expense account got increased this month so we were able to fly down to Boca Raton to cover the 2011 NHL General Managers' meetings. While our homemade press passes did not gain us access to the resort or the meetings, we were still able to take some notes on the action while taking in some sights around town. Here are some observations from the NHL GM Meetings in Boca Raton:

Kesler Interview Bomb

Slap in the goalie pads to Puck Daddy for this one.

Ryan Kesler of the Vancouver Canucks has been dropping in on his teammates post game interviews. This video is pretty funny and I am sure our female readers will enjoy his abs. What would you like his next cameo to be?

Sunday Recovery

After an eventful Saturday of hockey, and probably heavy drinking, its time to relax and recover on the action across the country. Catch up on any hockey news and highlights you may have missed while trying to get that blonde's phone number last night.

I'm number two-two!

There are 4 more Saturday's of NHL regular season hockey left and hopefully they are all exciting as yesterdays was. With playoff races in full swing, Saturday's are one the better days to scoreboard watch with most teams in action. With every game a must win, teams can't look back at lost points they could have had, and just having to keep plugging away. One of the most important things fans have to remember in these playoff races is that shootouts no longer count towards the win total for playoff tiebreakers. Expect this to be discussed as every sports show and blogger breaks down the final 10 games of each team's season over the new few weeks. Here are your headlines from across Canada.

How the NFL Lockout Will Affect a Hockey Fan

With the NFL players union decertified and the NFL locking out the players this weekend, many are wondering if there will be a 2011 NFL season. Sports fans everywhere will be affected as NFL owners and players decide how to split up $9 billion (they should just ask Dan Ellis how to). Hockey fans will be the most affected if there is no resolution and the NFL cancels the season. Here's how:

Flashback Friday

Bad Trade Review: Alexei Zhitnik for Braydon Coburn

Atlanta thought they got Zhitnik, instead they got Shitnik

During the 2006-07 Season the Atlanta Thrashers won their division and were the third seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs that year. At the trade deadline the Thrashers decided to add a veteran player in order to help them in the playoffs.

Is Nikita Filatov A Bust Already?

                                                       "His hot Mom can't help him score"

I can remember watching the 2008 NHL Entry Draft with my brothers, and back then the draft was actually exciting for us because the Toronto Maple Leafs actually had their own early 1st rounder. I will admit that I was really hoping the Leafs would grab Nikita Filatov and when the Leafs announced Luke Schenn's name I might have dropped some f-bombs.

Manon Rhéaume: The First Lady of Hockey

Manon Rhéaume was a hottie, but also a pretty damn good goaltender who became the First Lady of Hockey.

Fantasy Monday

Every Monday we will reveal our fantasy players for the past week, as well as our players to watch out for in the upcoming week for various types of pools and leagues

Some very big fantasy stats for players this week as teams make their push for the playoffs. With the gas pedal constantly down for these teams, look for players in tight playoff races to give your team extra scoring and clutch goaltending. Yes, we are aware this includes almost half of the league.

Sunday Recovery

After an eventful Saturday of hockey, and probably heavy drinking, its time to relax and recover on the action across the country. Catch up on any hockey news and highlights you may have missed while trying to get that blonde's phone number last night.

"Sorry Dad, I was out late last night"

With the regular season winding down, every Saturday will feature pivotal games for those teams battling for the remaining playoff seeds. With 4th to 11th in the West separated by 6 points, and 7th to 11th in the East separated by 7 points - there will be plenty of fireworks in the upcoming weeks. Last night featured some big wins by the Hawks and Sabres, as well as dramatic comebacks by the Coyotes and Stars as they compete to play in late April. The Sharks loss to the Stars was highlighted by Jason Demers accidentally punching a linesman in the face - not too sure who he was trying to punch there. Here's your headlines from across Canada.

Extreme Underwater Ice Hockey

We were recently introduced to the upside down world of underwater ice hockey, sorry - extreme underwater ice hockey. While underwater hockey has been around for decades, extreme underwater ice hockey is quite new. It is played under the ice of ponds or lakes in water temperatures around 2°C. A floating puck is used, and the players surface for air through a breathing hole in the ice when needed, as they don't use any breathing apparatuses.

Maple Leafs Refuse To Say Uncle

Don't look now, but the Leafs are 3 points out of the playoffs. A 3-2 win over the Eastern Conference leading Philadelphia Flyers on Thursday night is the Leafs 9th straight one goal game -  a stretch in which they've gone 6-0-3. Former Leaf Kris Versteeg almost spoiled Toronto's night, scoring both Flyers goals - which he promptly celebrated by eating half of his mouthguard.

Tracing the Morenz-Geoffrion Lineage

 NHL history was made on February 26, 2011 when Blake Geoffrion made his NHL debut for the Nashville Predators. Yes, he was the first Tennessee native to play in the league – but he was also the NHL’s first fourth generation player. Blake also set a new record on March 1, 2011 by scoring a goal - becoming the first fourth generation NHL player to score a goal in the league. Lets take a closer look at his family tree:

The Psychological Well-Being of Cheering for Failure

This is a guest post by Nick - Dirty Dangle's Ottawa Senators Devil's Advocate

In recent memory, I have been unable to recall the benefits of cheering for a team destined for a lottery pick. Sure, there have been tumultuous seasons in the past few years, but a complete season marred by underachievement? No.