Your Hockey Update

Here's the lede graf from Paul at Kukla's Korner, quoting the Usual Hockey Suspects at ESPN:

With the first quarter of the season in the books, Scott Burnside (East) and Pierre LeBrun (West) evaluate each team’s performance:

Eastern Conference
Pittsburgh Penguins
Grade: A
Trending: Up
Summary: The Penguins roared into the second quarter of the NHL season riding a nine-game winning streak and with captain Sidney Crosby playing as well as he ever has (he has put up points in 16 straight games as of Tuesday). Marc-Andre Fleury appears to have found his mojo and the Penguins look like a team to be reckoned with come April.

Western Conference
Detroit Red Wings
Grade: A-plus
Trending: Up
Summary: A second-round exit last season had some people wondering if the NHL’s model franchise was nearing a downturn after being one of the elite squads for 15 or so seasons. Um, scratch that thought. The Wings are back and apparently as great as ever, screaming out of the gates in the opening two months of the season with the best record in the Western Conference. Nicklas Lidstrom appears ageless at 40, Pavel Datsyuk and Henrik Zetterberg both deserve Hart Trophy consideration, and Jimmy Howard just can’t lose a game. Life is grand in Hockeytown, USA.

 Well, Jimmy CAN... and did... lose a game.  Last night, to be more specific, against the Hated Tiburones of someplace out on the Left Coast.  But, Hey! ... 17-5-3 is still good enough to lead the Western Conference by three points.  

SN1 and I watched the game together but separate last evening, as is our custom.  In so doing we got off into the weeds and began discussing the NHL in general and prospective match-ups for the Wings in the Stanley Cup Final, should it come to that.  Buck asked if it was really, rilly true that the Flightless Birds were on a ten game winning streak and I replied in the affirmative, assuming they won their game last night, which they did.  I believe it was at that particular point in time when SN1 mentioned that SN2 was liable to bring this lil fact up in our next conversation, what with SN2 being a Flightless Birds bandwagoneer since he took up residence in the Steel City.  I laughed and acknowledged that that was indeed a possibility... and since we're on the subject, I was thinking about buying SN2 one of those ghey third jerseys the Flightless Birds wear every so often as a Christmas present.  Which got a laugh out of SN1, of course.  "Do it!," sez he... "I dare ya!"

I won't do that.  I'm not gonna drop well over a hundred Yankee Dollars on something I KNOW SN2 wouldn't wear.  I don't know how any self-respecting hockey player can wear that sweater, let alone a sometimes-fan.  Hell, it might as well be pink.  Just sayin'.