Happy New Year

Hockey is back! The NHL opened the season last night with a slate of three games and I was... asleep, actually. Leave it to me to get sick on what should otherwise be one of the most exciting days of the year. I managed to catch some of the Buffalo-Carolina matchup and not much else. Not to worry, though, after my long night's slumber, I'm more than ready for day two.

Some notes from a day of hockey:
Sabres 3 - Hurricanes 2
The night started with the raising of Carolina's Stanley Cup Banner, a cermony that was ably botched by the OLN Versus television crew. It was a pretty good game until it got bogged down by penalties and I fell asleep. The game ended in a shootout with Daniel Briere scoring the only goal for Buffalo and Ryan Miller stopping all three Carolina attempts. The most important development in this game, however, was the revelation that the Sabres are going to be damn near unwatchable because of the rather heinous gold patches under the arms on their new sweaters.

Senators 4 - Maple Leafs 1
This was the lone game that wasn't broadcast in the US, so you probably missed it, but Mats Sundin would like you to know that "I don't think it's as bad as the scoresheet says". For his sake, I hope he's right, because the scoresheet says the Leafs, who are likely to have trouble scoring goals all year, were thoroughly dominated by Ottawa and were only able to score on a penalty shot.

Stars 3 - Avalanche 2
In the late game, Colorado lost by falling for the oldest trick in the book. You know, the take-a-penalty-at-the-end-of-regulation-so-you-can-take-
a-pass-right-out-of-the-penalty-box-and-score-the-game-winner-in-overtime trick. How did they not see that one coming?

Tonight, the NHL kicks it into high gear. The remaining twenty-four teams all start their seasons tonight and you can expect a full, in-depth report on every single game right here. Except, of course, that games that don't involve the Washington Capitals. I don't get to see those games, and for those, you'll be lucky to get something like the cursory glance I gave last night's games above.