Tuesday, September 20, 2011

POTG Tuesday Headlines, News and Links: Preds Split in Florida and Head to Baltimore

Yesterday, when the Predators played their doubleheader in Florida, a picture of the opening face off indicated that there may have been only a few dozen folks in the Bank Atlantic Center.

Dirk Hoag Tweeted "The puck is dropping on the 2011 NHL pre-season, but apparently in some form of witness protection program." Between the scarcity of folks in attendance and the information flow from the game, it did appear to be a secretive affair.

The official scoresheets that we received look like it had been smuggled from behind the "Iron Curtain" during the cold war era. Due to some type of glitch, it even had A. Radulov listed as #47 instead of Scott Ford. I really do not understand the Panthers did not provide information on par with the other two games last night.

The trip, however, was a success as the Preds beat the Panthers 5-3 in game one and then lost 4-3 in a close one in the nightcap. Colin Wilson, Sergei Kostitsyn, and Blake Geoffrion had big games.

This morning, another 20 players will head to Baltimore to play the Washington Capitals in a game that will be on Predators Radio at 6 p.m. CDT (102.5 The Game). It will be the preseason debut for Pekka Rinne, Shea Weber, Ryan Suter and Marty Erat. The Washington Examiner reports that Alex Ovechkin will play.

Here is our story from this morning on Barry Trotz's return to Charm City. Caps coach Bruce Boudreau also has fond memories of playing in Baltimore.

Make the jump for the rest of today's news and links...



In Pred Nation...

Leafs TV had a special moment of silence and video tribute for Wade Belak, Alexander Karppovtsev, and Igor Korolev before last night's preseason game at the Air Canada Centre.

Josh Cooper talks to Shea Weber about his love for Vandy sports. He also reports Nick Spaling was back on the ice on Monday and that Marty Erat is ready for action.

Sergei Kostitsyn is better prepared for his second year in Nashville.

Ryan Porth talked to Blake Geoffrion about the coming season.


The other brothers Geoffrion, Brice and Sebastian, are fighting for the survival of the UAH hockey program.


Jas Faulkner has a special report to USA Hockey on the Geoffrion Legacy.

Amanda DiPaolo says Matt Halischuk plans to build off last season.

Patten Fuqua has another take on Trotz's return to Baltimore.

Cellblock 303 announces yet another road trip, this time to Milwaukee on 3/03/12.

Dirk Hoag has an interesting link in his afternoon roundup that states that Mattias Ekholm can return to play in Sweden if he fails to make the NHL out of camp.

Robby Stanley says that Shea Weber is now more comfortable as a leader.

Mark Willoughby finishes up his blogger round-table where the rubber meets the road, the Central Division previews.

The Ice is painted at the Bridgestone Arena and The Tennessean has a time-lapse video of the process. Jim Diamond was one of the ice painters and has a story about the new glass and boards as well as a few pictures.

From @hfialkov: #flapanthers GM Dale Tallon told me this doubleheader will be in Nashville next year.

Predators.com has a look at the busy week ahead.

From @NHLPredsInsider: Just looking at Oct. 3 edition of @thehockeynews. Award predictions: Weber (Norris) & Rinne (Vezina). Top 20 by position: Suter No. 9

Paul McCann has his Monday roundup and a look at yesterday's doubleheader.

We really enjoyed this series last season and now Puck and Punk is back with and updated color scheme guide that include all the new NHL jerseys.

Long time Nashville sports talker George Plaster is no longer with 104.5 The Zone. Details are sketchy at this time. here is a second story.

Around the NHL...

NHL teams and players have received the video explaining this year's rule changes.

A hearing on bidding procedures for the Dallas Stars will be on Thursday.

Elliotte Friedman's thirty thoughts are back.

Ex-NHLer Mike Danton has an unusual past and now has saved a teammates life with medical training that he received while in prison.

Ken Campbell defends Drew Doughty by pointing out that the hold out is out of character for the young defenseman.

Jonathan Toews and his brother David will play together tonight for the first time as professionals and will not be far from their home of Winnipeg in Saskatoon.

Houses of the Hockey looks back at how holdouts affected the careers on NHLers in the past.

After last year's comeback, Ray Emery is fighting for a job in Chicago.

Steve MacIntyre is the new hire in Pittsburgh to protect Sidney Crosby when he returns.

The latest installment of "Hockey Diaries: Change the Game"  is a radio documentary of the Washington Capitals 2010-11 season. It Premiered on NHL Home Ice last night and should be on their web site as a podcast today. Every episode has been well done.

For a "limited time" The Fourth Period is giving out free digital subscriptions.

Steve Lapore has the on air talent lineup for Versus this season. He also explains the schedule for NHL Overtime on Versus.

Sports fans in Toronto picked hockey over baseball last night with 18, 556 going to a not sold out Leaf's game at the ACC while only 11, 178 showed at the Rogers Centre down the street to see the Jays' baseball game.

Finally, this is an old video of Pavel Datsyuk that I made at the 2009 NHL Awards show that could have been the original "Kesler-Bomb" as he was unintentionally in the background. Hats off to to phlupple for the sighting.

Odds and Ends...

The City of Nashville is in the process of seeking recommendations on the location of a new baseball stadium.

One more piece of space shuttle history is gone with the gantries being removed from Pad 39B at the Kennedy Space Center.

Cumulus wants to compete with Groupon and the other deal providers. I say, the more the merrier. I love half price deals.

More Later...

Buddy Oakes for PredsOnTheGlass

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