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Pilsener Urquell is based out of Plzen, but they could very well have a bar in Prague. If you want to visit a brewery, check out the Staropramen brewery in Smichov. I highly recommend it!

A "c" with no accent in Czech (and other Slavic languages) is pronounced "ts". č is pronounced ("ch"). So Tomáš Plekanec should be pronounced TO-MASH PLE-KA-NETS. I knew those two months wandering around in Central/Eastern Europe would come in handy one day!

I'm not sure about that defense either. I'm not sure how useful guys like Garnet Exelby, Shane Hnidy and Andy Sutton are now that you can't clutch, grab and tackle.

I don't think teams should get a point for losing in OT any more. That rule was invoked in order to encourage teams to open it up in OT and go for the win. Since the style of play league-wide is now more open than it has been in years, that rule strikes me as kind of pointless now. BUT... I'm still not OK with shootouts. I think it's a terrible way to settle a game, and shootouts haven't been as exciting as many of their proponents made them out to be. A point for a shootout loss would suit me fine.

Carolina isn't as bad as we all thought before the season started. Staal is a an absolute stud and they quietly signed some guys who can put the puck in the net (Whitney, Stillman, Matt Cullen). Gerber and Ward have been standing on their heads. But that D is atrocious. I can't really take a team seriously if Mike Commodore, Aaron Ward and Niclas Wallin are in their defensive rotation... and Kaberle + Tverdovsky aren't exactly reputed for their defensive zone coverage either. Atlanta a real NHL team? Blowing a 4-0 lead to Pittsburgh is not a good start.

I, for one, do not think Streit should be put on a plane back to Switzerland. Streit should be treated as a rookie - he's dealing with a league which is much bigger and faster than he's used to, new teammates, and a smaller ice surface. We obviously saw something in him, or else we wouldn't have drafed him in the first place. I choose to trust Pierre Gauthier... I think eventually Streit will adapt and be a decent player in the NHL. Eventually. That being said, at this point Streit is playing poorly and his presence in the lineup is only taking icetime away from Komisarek. Komi has definitely exceeded my expectations of him so far, and he's showing signs that he's starting to develop into a No. 1 or No. 2 blueliner. Komi should be playing 17-20 minutes a game right now (if not more), especially with Souray struggling. Streit's presence in the lineup only keeps Komi on the bench, which does not benefit the team whatsoever. Streit needs to be on the ice. But so does Komisarek, and I don't think anybody on this board wants Streit out there instead of Komi at this point. Send Streit to Hamilton. Let him play 20 minutes a game. He'll turn out OK eventually, you'll see.

http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_...32/ai_110458303 It should be noted that the rivalry had political connotations that most other rivalries in North America simply do not have. In this sense, Montreal-Quebec was, as noted above, more like a European soccer rivalry than the typical NHL rivalry. There was also an economic side to the rivalry, as rival breweries owned the teams. Molson owned Montreal, Carling O'Keefe owned Quebec; then in 1987, Molson bought out Carling O'Keefe, which I'm sure went over very well in Quebec City (I was 5 at the time, I don't actually remember). http://archives.cbc.ca/IDCC-1-41-1639-1135...orts/nhlexodus/ (Listen to "The Battle of Quebec") By far the most intense rivalry in the history of North American sports.

I wasn't a Habs fan growing up. To be perfectly honest, I HATED them. Not really even sure why. I distinctly remember rooting for the Flames in the '89 Finals (I hope you can all forgive me). But then I moved to Montreal in '00... and completely fell in love with the city and everything associated with it. What really converted me to the Habs' cause was the 01-02 season - José's Hart Trophy year, Saku coming back from cancer, the surreal upset of Boston in the first round. I had seats behind the net when José made that unbelievable blocker save off of Murray (or was it Guerin?) in Game 6... And now I'm hooked. I guess I'm a relative newcomer to the cause, but I'm desperately trying to make up for lost time!

Looks like Emery is playing every 4th game. The first game against us was the Sens' 4th game, this one is their 8th...

It wasn't a trade, Chicago picked him up on waivers. Stupidity of epic proportions, the guy had scored 20 goals the year before in about 12:00 of playing time a game.

Does anybody else thing that Nashville is incredibly overrated so far? Sure they're 8-0. But they have only played one team with a .500 record so far (Colorado), they've been outshot in 6 of 8 games so far (including 41-22 last night AT HOME to Chicago) and 3 of their wins have been as a result of shootouts. The Habs are vastly better in my opinion... what does everyone else think?

I don't care if you have Jacques Plante or Georges Vézina in goal, if you give up 40-50 shots a game eventually your team will lose. Their D is garbage. Funny, everyone hates on Berg and Belak (rightfully so) but they only play, what... 15 minutes a game? I doubt all 50 shots on goal happen when they're on the ice... that whole team has no idea what they're going in their own zone. The Leafs will lose to the first decent team they play in the playoffs (if they even make it that far)

Begin, because after Lindros gets concussion #48982478278 Domi won't have a centreman anymore.

Not at that price, no. We can surely find somebody at league minumum to do that job if needed, or call up Vandermeer.

If that actually happened, I would fly to Montreal and protest outside the Bell Centre. I shudder to think of Kovalev leaving, or Lindros/Domi playing in Montreal.

Konowalchuk + 3rd rounder for Battaglia + Jonas Johansson was a good trade. Battaglia is in the AHL this year and Johansson was a complete bust (who Lacroix stupidly drafted in the first place). Shame on George McPhee for making that trade. But yeah, can't think of another one. Lacroix pretty much got lazy with all that money he had to spend.

I liked what I saw (heard) from Ribeiro-Ryder-Higgins earlier in the year. Seems as though there should be a guy like Higgins on a line with Ribeiro at all times: fast, a good defensive player, and a good effort guy.

Um, yeah. Oh, well... let Leafs fans get excited. It'll be that much more amusing when the Leafs fail.

Cam Ward is playing lights out in Carolina too. And look out for Niitiimaki (or however it's spelt) in Philly... no way Esche keeps that job.

I'm not sure what Bonk's excuse is... wasn't he a pretty good face off man in Ottawa? I'm not sure Ribeiro will ever be very good at face offs, he's not even remotely close to strong enough. Perhaps the solution lies in trying to teach a guy like Ryder to take them.

Ribeiro will have to change his whole game this year. The emphasis in 03-04 was on play down low; even though he's not very strong, Ribeiro made things happen from behind the net. Now there's less room back there, and the emphasis is more on generating speed through the neutral zone and free flowing play in general. Not Ribeiro's strength, and it didn't help that he started the year on a line devoid of top flight speed. He's looked better lately, looked like he's starting to adjust (well, it sounds that way anyway... not like I get to watch any games over here!). I know that this has been bandied about... but what do you think we could get for Ribeiro in a trade?

Laraque isn't good enough to take a regular shift in Montreal (if you think Dagenais is slow, watch Laraque skate) and would certainly not settle for being a mere goon and playing only once a week. My friend used to live in Edmonton, and I trust his hockey knowledge implicitly - one of his knocks on Laraque was that he very self-consciously wanted to be known as more than a fighter, and that would sometimes lead to him shirking his enforcer duties. A lot of that is probably guys avoiding him because of his reputation as one of if not the best fighter in the NHL; but evidently there were times where some guys needed to be straightened out and Georges didn't do the business, leaving someone like Jason to have to drop the gloves. Either way - not a good fit in Montreal. Give me Ivanans instead.

Well, my story is quite boring. I'm an exiled Canadian (used to live in Montreal) now living in England. *yawn* Sorry to disappoint!

They need to bring the old song back!

I wish I was watching this on TV!