Hampton Talbots lose 5-0 in Penguin Cup Finals

After an unexpected season, the Talbots finally end their season with silver medals around their necks. The Talbots lost 5-0 to their rivals the Mars Planets of all teams. As a former player for Hampton I hate Mars hockey with a passion. Watching my Talbots give up after beating the number 1 team in all of A 6-2 only a week earlier was very hard on me.

The reason Hampton lost was because of a lack of overall enthusiasm from the team. Everyone was skating at a slow pace, everyone was making poor passes, everyone had bad positioning. It was truly a team effort to lose.

However the Talbots still need to look at this past season as a success. Years earlier it was predicted their would be no team this year. They proved them wrong. Many invluding myself didn't believe the team would even have a winning season. They proved us wrong. The Talbots exceeded expectations and should be very proud of their season.

Penguins 1st Round Upset

Well the Penguins are officially out of the race for the Stanley Cup for the 2011 postseason. With Penguin star forwards Evgeni Malkin and Sidney Crosby out not much was expected of the injury bitten squad. Then came the postseason after the aqcusition of James Neal and former elite player and Penguin Alexei Kovalev.

Personally I didn't think the Pens would make it past the second round either way. But to lose to Tampa in the series after leading 3-1 with game 5 and 7 at home is ridiculous. That squad had already proved what they could do. Unfortunatley they didn't show up when it counted in Game 7 and elimination. I guess their is always next season.

Thursday April 7th, 2011

What a day for sports from my perspective. Today I am completely dedicated to sports. Let's overview why I am excited:

First Round of The Masters
How can I as a lover of golf not be excited for The Masters? The Masters in my eyes is the best event on the PGA Tour. The Masters signifies for many the beginning of spring. The Masters takes place at Augusta, an absolutley marvelous course.

Pittsburgh Pirates Home Opener
Sure the Buccos aren't the best team. But starting out 4-2 and 2 road series wins, how can Bucco fans not feel some excitement even if most likely it's only for a little.. The Bucs are facing off against the Colorado Rockies.

NCAA Frozen Four
Like I wrote about yesterday today is the Frozen Four for NCAA D1 Mens Ice Hockey. Mens D1 college hockey is extremley physical, fast paced and passionate. Great games for any hockey fan!

It all lines up perfectly. The Masters runs through most of the day. The Pirates play at 1:45pm, and the Frozen Four games are at 5pm and 8:30pm.

Final Four vs. Frozen Four

Well the NCAA Final Four is now finally over and we can prepare ourselves for the NCAA Frozen Four. The Frozen Four is the Final Four for NCAA D1 ice hockey. The Frozen Four is this Thursday, Notre Dame vs. Minnesota Duluth at 5pm and North Dakota vs. Michigan at 8:30pm. These games will be played at the Xcel Energy Center in Minnesota, the home rink of the Minnesota Wild.

College hockey is one of the most exciting forms of hockey. College hockey is extremely fast paced and hard hitting. Many of these players are undrafted and are working to be signed as undrafted free agents by an NHL club. I also feel like their is an amazing passion in D1 college hockey. A lot of these skilled players are at the end of their competitive careers and play like it. They play for love not for money.

We still have a couple more weeks until NHL playoff hockey. Let's watch some skilled college level, playoff style hockey. Never a bad day for it.

Bucco Hope

The Pittsburgh Pirates have started the 2011-2012 MLB season 1-0. To make things even better the game was won off of a Niel Walker Grand Slam. Walker is a Pittsburgh native from the suburb Pine Richland, a township right next to my own.

The only thing we Pirate fans have is hope. The beginning of every season brings along thoughts of maybe. While this wonderful 1.000 record  is enjoyed and is sure to fall. .500 would suffice at seasons end . Maybe dreams become reality this season.

Headshots in the NHL

The most recent topic of debate at NHL GM meetings was the implementation of a no tolerance policy on hits to the head. I don't like hits to the head at all, however I would not be in favor of implementing a no tolerance policy.

Hockey is a fast paced sport. Sometimes people get hit in the head completley by accident. In some cases it is the player who is getting hit fault when he gets hit in the head, usually because he is trying to duck away or a avoid an oncoming check. I don't think it is right to have mandatory suspensions for accidents. Not to mention this new fear of being suspended for accidentally hitting a player in the head would deter hits and take a lot of the physicality out of the game.

The NHL needs to enforce the rules better. The NHL is continually criticized for small suspensions or most of the time lack of any. If the NHL really wants to take a serious stance on headshots they just need to handle disciplinary action better.

A Love/Hate Relationship with the NFL Lockout

Most people would call me crazy, or claim that I wasn't a fan of the NFL or football if I told them I hoped the NFL locked out for the 2011-2012 season. I don't, but I kind of do.

I love football and the NFL. If the league locks out this coming season I will be upset. No football for a whole year is going to be rough on me for sure. However the NFL lockout opens up a huge opportunity for my favorite sport league, the National Hockey League.

An NFL lockout would allow an amazing opportunity for the NHL to expand it's fanbase. Football is a contact sport. Hockey is a contact sport. Football fans are going to need to watch something with some hitting and violence. Basketball is not going to be enough for the fans who love the hard hitting of the NFL. The NHL can help fill that void for those fans and hopefully create fans for life.