Notable Stats, March 1st

A few goals were scored

Lighting vs. Flames

Final score: TB wins 8-6

Players with 5 or more points: Jarome Iginla, Mark Recchi

Players without any points: 15 out of 36

Combined goalie save percentage: 80.3%

League median save percentage: 90.3%

Longest time without a goal: 11:07 (to start game)

Shortest time without a goal: 38 seconds (Lecavlier, 2nd period)

Goals scored less than 3 minutes after another goal: 7

Largest lead: 2 goals (Calgary, 2nd period; TB, 3rd period twice)

Lead changes: 4 times

A poor year for Canadian hockey in the NHL

Ice hockey is the pride of the nation of Canada. Hockey is the only of the major sport sports leagues to have more than one representative team from north of the border, boasting six different teams, all of which have better support than some of their singular counterparts in other sports.

However, these Canadian NHL teams just aren’t living up to the hype this year. None of the Canadian teams are in the top five in points in the league right now, and only one division leader is a Canadian team.

It’s not just that the best of the best are in the US this year (which they are), but even on the average the US teams are performing better. Up to this point, the 24 American teams are averaging a negligible 0.26% more goals scored per game, but a very notable 4.89% less goals against per game. This has led to an average of nearly two points more for the American teams than their Canadian counterparts (52.38 vs. 50.50) through the halfway point in the season.

Perhaps this shouldn’t be all that surprising, taking a look back at the last decade or so of hockey. A Canadian team hasn’t brought home the cup since 1992, and four out of the last five years there’s been a Stanley Cup Finals the runner-up was a Canadian franchise. This must be just so disheartening for a people so proud that the teams just haven’t put in the full effort this year.

Or it could be a random occurrence, considering Canadian-born players play on every team in the league, and foreign-born player play on all the Canadian clubs. But let’s not ruin the story, and continue to just blame Canada.

It’s never failed us before.

Thoughts on the upcoming Winter Classic

On New Year's Day, the Red Wings head to Wrigley to take on the Blackhawks in another installment of the "Winter Classic", a new NHL tradition for a league desperate for increased national face time.

It's working. Tickets originally priced at a maximum of $325 are selling for nearly a thousand dollars on StubHub, especially in a city with a revived love for its Blackhawks.

As just a casual hockey fan, I've still been checking the Chicago forecast daily hoping for a snowy New Years Day, just to enhance the experience. There's nothing quite like hockey with snow coming down in HD while fighting off a hangover. Snow looks unlikely now, but the excitement still builds.

Despite all this grandeur, I, being the over-thinker I am, began to think about the actual logistics and reality of dropping a hockey rink into the middle of a large baseball field.

Hockey, due to the nature of playing with a small puck in an enclosed area, can be difficult to follow for the average viewer. The league tried to assist in this over the years, but wisely decided to let the game be the game.

Wrigley field holds, when configured for baseball, over 40,000 people, nearly double the United Center's 20,500 hockey capacity. Many of these seats are nowhere near the shallow outfield where the ring is being placed. It's not just the capacity that's the issue, its the distance away from the ice of seats near the infield that concerns me. Baseball stadium seats are designed to focus attention toward home plate (unless you're at Fenway Park), not towards midfield. I can't imagine all the seats are particularly conducive to watching hockey.

On the other hand, playing the game in a football stadium was and is a perfect fit, as the rink is simply proportionally smaller than a football field, and all the natural focus would lead to a great viewing experience.

I'll clearly watch the game this year, especially with two hot contending teams, but I'll continue to root for 2010's game to match up the Flyers and Penguins at Beaver Stadium, which would be truly classic, once again.