Thursday, September 17, 2009

Opening Night (Preseason Version) and More

Live hockey action is back, finally. Albeit preseason hockey, it is still better than what we have seen in Nashville for the last five months. So here's a little ditty to get you in the mood for tonight's action.



Tonight's festivities mark the beginning of Preds Fest 09 which will start with the official unveiling of the new third jersey prior to the game. Other activities will continue through Saturday night.

The lineup should be interesting for the Predators tonight. Word is that Colin Wilson and Ryan Ellis will make their Sommet Center debut. Thrashers411 has the travel team that Atlanta will bring to face the Preds tonight.

In Pred Nation...

The Predators warmed up for tonight's contest with an intra-squad game yesterday morning that produced more offense than defense with the Silver team coming from behind to beat the Blue 5-4. Mike Santorelli made a strong case for a roster spot with two goals (was thought to be three until a scoring change). Colin Wilson also had a strong two point outing.

Dirk the Forechecker was at the game and had good coverage of the whole affair. John Glennon also covered the game at Inside Predators.

This morning John has a couple of posts at the Tennessean, one about Colin Wilson and a notes column that won't let the Phil Kessel rumor die.

Jim Diamond has five questions with Shea Weber.

Mark at the View from 111 finally posted a story about high dollar fraud that he was telling me about a few weeks ago. It was from research he did for an hour long presentation to a group of internal auditors. It does relate to hockey also. Imagine that.

You may have missed The Red Light District's Predators preview so here is a link.

Sports Illustrated appears to have set the record with a second Preds story in less than a week with a feature on Colin Wilson.

Chris Rahn has his preview of the Milwaukee Admirals in his 29 teams in 29 days (AHL Style).

Dan Ellis is now on Twitter at @dellis39. If you followed Dan and Sully yesterday there were some interesting exchanges about the intra-squad game. After Sully razzed Ellie about getting a shot past him, Dan replied that the sun was in his eyes. Ellis should be a great addition to the Twitterverse.

If you can figure out this Pred produced video, you should win a prize. The only thing that I know is happening on September 28 is the POTG Radio Western Conference Preview. Wait, we are making a big announcement on the show that night but I thought we were the only ones that knew about it. I need to get with "The" Schwartz and see if he leaked it.


New Pred blogger Big Kev is back with a few thoughts.

Around the NHL...

B D Gallof's Hockey Independent rolled out yesterday and received rave reviews including this interview of B D from Kukla's. Our friend Mark, from the View from 111 will contribute Predator news to the new site. Mark and B D should make a good team. Congrats to all involved for the start of a great new site.

New additions were announced for the Hockey Night in Canada team including one of my favorites, Goalie Kevin Weekes. I always wanted to see Kevin in a Preds uniform but I guess that won't happen.

ESPN had a mock fantasy draft that was interesting.

One of our guests for POTG Radio on Monday, Katrina Cady, The Psycho Puck Lady has a really odd post about a dream. She's also looking for a mental health assessment if anyone is up for it.

Matt Reitz has some interesting numbers for the upcoming season. If you were a bookie, where would you set the over/under for the number of times Gary Bettman will irritate a person. Matt also has a little advice for Wayne Gretzky.

Eklund buries the Preds at the bottom of the Central Division in his preview. With his past prediction success as a guide, that could mean that we will challenge for the Stanley Cup.

In spite of being offed by the NHLPA, Paul Kelly will retain a position on the Board of Directors for the Hockey Hall of Fame.

Michelle Kenneth has a post about the NHL and the new marketing methods including Twitter that are being employed.

Word yesterday from Kukla's corner that the dispute between Air Canada and the US Feds may have been resolved. From Twitter, @kuklaskorner: "Dreger just mentioned on Leafs Lunch Canada PM Harper & Pres. Obama have come to an agreement on the NHL travel issues". We have been following this story for a while. It's good to see that common sense won for a change.

Eric Smith had another good edition of the Fire The Cannon Podcast last night with Alan Walsh, the super agent as the guest.

Finally from @reporterchris: "Go figure: Only 16,872 in attendance at Air Canada Centre on a free ticket night." Do you think Jim Ballsillie will swoop in to try to by the Leafs since they are having "attendance issues".

More Later...

Buddy Oakes for PredsOnTheGlass

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