The Nashville Predators are dispatching across the country, heading out on a much-needed and well deserved mid winter break as the NHL All-Star game takes center stage. I guess you could officially call the Predators the hottest team in hockey after Montreal dismantled the Detroit Red Wings last night, who apparently missed the memo that their All-Star break didn’t begin Tuesday night.
The Preds seem to be the sexy story around the league as the break begins, getting love from most major publications across North America, seeing their power rankings on various website continue to rise, hitting number four at cbc.com. The interesting part of CBC’s rankings… three of the top four come from the Central Division. Heck, even Scott Burnside over at ESPN.com is giving the team its’ due.
The chatter around Ryan Suter and potential trades should the Preds not be able to re-sign the All-Star defenseman is quieting. It could be because of the “letter” that was being discussed on NHL Home Ice yesterday, or it could be that the run this team is on could be convincing Suter that this team is closer to contending for a cup than it looked about six weeks ago.
Traditionally the Predators have always gotten better in the second half of the season. It is obvious that the entire team has bought into the Barry Trotz system and the chemistry is building. They will have to slog through the dog days of February, when the season feels like it will never end in order to get to March, when the real race begins and all playoff contenders amp up their game.
Enjoy the break…
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For those real “I gotta watch hockey no matter what” fans, there is quite a bit of college hockey being broadcast over the next few days… here’s the best schedule I could find (stick tap to collegehockeynews.com, all times Central)
Friday 1/27
Colgate vs. Cornell – 6pm – CBS College Sports – DirecTV 613
St. Cloud State vs. Minnesota – 6pm – Big Ten Network – DirecTV 610
Yale vs. Harvard – 6:30pm – NBC Sports Network – DirecTV 603
Wisconsin vs. North Dakota – 7:30pm – Fox College Sports – DirecTV 617
Saturday 1/28
Maine vs. Boston University – 6pm – CBS College Sports – DirecTV 613
Wisconsin vs. North Dakota – 7pm – 7pm – Fox College Sports – DirecTV 617
Minnesota vs. St. Cloud State – 7pm – Fox Sports North – DirecTV 668
Sunday 1/30
Providence vs. Merrimack – 3pm – Fox College Sports – DirecTV 617
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Random Notes
- All-Star Weekend turned into All-Star week this year… a whole week between games is great for the rest and recuperation it affords, but not great for sustaining momentum. At least it will affect all the teams in the Central equally.
-I’ve been wondering why the break seems so long this year, in talking with Pete Weber last night, he had a possible explanation, travel in and out of Ottawa. Limited flights in and out of the Canadian capital has Pete flying directly to Minnesota on Monday as he was unable to get air travel on Sunday evening.
- Antero Niittymaki was waived by the San Jose Sharks on Wednesday… no player is happy to be waived, but this one may have better reason to be unhappy… according to the Finnish goaltender, no one from the organization told him! He found out from a Finnish news outlet, while vacationing. You stay classy San Jose…
- Alex Ovechkin has tweeked the NHL again, this time by sitting out the All-Star festivities because, as he put it, he is “suspended.” A lot of folks ain’t happy with his decision.
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Last night’s episode is posted on the podcast page at SlapShotRadio.com, getting you ready for the All-Star game with an exclusive segment featuring all three Nashville All-Stars, we also chatted with Katie Baker author of Coldhearted, the great hockey blog on ESPN.com’s Grantland and discussed the season ticket holder protest with Columbus Dispatch Blue Jacket beat writer Aaron Portzline. All this on the SlapShot Radio podcast, built by
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