Indeed, Opening Night in the NHL is here, and boy am I glad the wait is finally over. To be honest, on some level, hockey fans have it better than fans of other sports. If you love baseball, you need to wait from October to April -- five months and change -- between the end of the World Series and Opening Day. In basketball, we're talking June till the very end of October. In football, it's February to September.
But in hockey, it's been barely 3.5 months since Carolina won the Stanley Cup Finals in seven games over Edmonton -- and that's after a season where we got to enjoy an Olympic tournament on top of everything else.
Face it, for all the carping we might do about the product -- and carp we do -- we've got it better than any hockey fans in the history of the sport.
Here's tonight's lineup. All times are U.S. EDT:
Buffalo at Carolina, 7:00 p.m. Versus HD
Ottawa at Toronto, 7:00 p.m., TSN HD, NHLCI 2
Dallas at Colorado, 10:00 p.m., Versus, TSN HD
Versus Season Schedule
Hockey Night In Canada Season Schedule
TSN Season Schedule
NHLonNBC Season Schedule
HDNet Season Schedule
There are two moments in every NHL season that should not be missed: The parade of Lord Stanley around the ice by the winning team, and the raising of the champaionship banner on opening night the following season. If you can manage it, catch the opening of Buffalo@Carolina, and watch the fans let out one last sustained cheer for their heroes. I know I'll be watching.
Eric – with the new season comes the start of the arguments for goal of the year. Thoughts on Robbie Schremp’s shootout attempts (see link below)?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CgLmH4PuR-I