The NHL has seen plenty of good players this week, but none of them has been more important than James Neal. The talented winger of the Pittsburgh penguins has picked up the slack with the injury to Evgeni Malkin. The penguins have won six games in a row, and Neal has been a huge reason behind that recent success. He has scored points in every game during that streak. He has five goals and four Read on …

For a team to hoist the Stanley Cup, it must find a good balance between scoring and defense. If a team is only interested in scoring goals, it leaves its goalie on an island, setting him up for disaster. If a team can not score, excellent defense may not win games because of hockey’s nature of strange bounces and odd angles.

Strong defensemen like the legendary Nicklas Lidstrom give a team that backstop it needs to support the goalie, especially during penalty kills. On the other end of the ice, centers such as The Great One, Wayne Gretzky, put Read on …

Hockey is a sport where anything can happen on a given night, and it usually does. When you attend a NHL game, you can expect to see the best athletes on skates give it their all each and every night. The excitement you experience when attending a gme live cannot be compared to any other sport.

The NHL has some of the best goaltending in the league. Henrik Lundqvist, also known as King Henry, is the netminder for the New York Rangers. Lundqvist gives his all each and Read on …

Hockey is one of the most exciting sports anywhere on the planet. The speed which the players skate up and down the ice is unmatched in any other sport. The players give their all each and every shift trying to score that elusive goal. Each team plays with a heart and determination that is simply missing from every sports.

Hockey is one of the most unique experiences in the entire world. When watching your favorite player take a slap shot from the point or observing a devastating hit, it is clear to everyone watching that this is really Read on …

Sometimes you don’t have a nicely smoothed ice rink to practice with the puck. All you really need to practice hockey is a frozen over pond and some skates. Grab a couple friends and head down to your nearest park, the fun starts as soon as you want it to.

There are many different things you can do on a frozen pond. If you’re just starting out it is a great place to learn how to skate in a very casual environment. Just practice your turns and cuts, Read on …

Who doesn’t love hockey? Now that the season’s over you’re likely going through withdrawal, watching game after game of old footage on the direct satellite hockey channels and wearing your jersey everywhere. Here are a few of our best tips for keeping the NHL spirit alive during the painfully long off-season…
Start a Street League – Even if you’re too old to play, get some neighborhood kids together for a few pick up games of street hockey. When they’re good enough, speak with other local teams about getting the league Read on …

Well over a third of the 2010-2011 NHL season has already passed us by, giving a substantial enough body of work to make long term projections regarding the season’s outcome. Soothsayers? No. Educated guessers? Indeed. Based on current team trajectories and player tendencies, not to mention a little luck and elbow grease, this is an early season stab at how the standings will shake out, along with an even further reaching forecast as to who will skate away with Lord Stanley’s Cup. Without further adoEastern ConferenceAtlantic Division1. Pittsburgh Penguins2. Philadelphia Flyers3. New York Rangers4. New Jersey Devils5. New York IslandersNortheast Division1. Boston Bruins2. Montreal Canadiens3. Buffalo Sabres4. Ottawa Senators5. Toronto Maple LeafsSoutheast Division1. Atlanta Thrashers2. Washington Capitals3. Tampa Bay Lightning4. Carolina Hurricanes5. Tampa Bay LightningWestern Conference Read on …

The issue of player salaries within the NHL has long been an issue. During its early days in the first half of the 20^th century, the league subjected players to salary caps, but these were eventually done away with and forgotten about for several decades. This topic rose to the surface again in the 1970s when the NHL Players Association was created. The issue finally came to a head during the 1994-1995 season and resulted in a lockout and a portion of the season being cancelled. However, the problems solved at this time would only sedate the issue for about ten years. In 2004 a lockout resulted in the entire season being cancelled, which was the first time this has ever happened in a North American professional sports league. However, in the end, negotiations finally resulted in a salary cap agreement. A salary cap per team and per player was set based on revenues of the league. Read on …

If you’ve been trudging through the heat of summer, fantasizing about the cold of the ice rink and anxiously awaiting the start of hockey season, it’s almost time. NHL teams will begin season training camps in just over a month on September 12^th. Teams will hit the ice for several weeks’ worth of grueling, exhausting pre-season practice and workouts. What goes on in this short preseason period can set the stage for the entire season. Just 9 days after training camps begin, the 2010-2011 preseason games will begin on September 21^st. At 7:00 p.m. that night, hockey fans around the country will tune in for the first four games of the season. Columbus will play at Atlanta, Carolina will host Florida, New Jersey will travel to Philadelphia, and Toronto will takes on Ottawa with the home rink advantage. The excitement won’t end there, with 5 more games following throughout the evening. Read on …

Though outsiders are quick to bash this element of the game as ruthless or unnecessary, players and referees alike expect and tolerate a few blows under certain circumstances. Though at first glance it may appear to be a brutish bashing of skulls with no real purpose, there are actually a whole list of unspoken rules for an NHL fist fight. Most hockey fans feed off the excitement of team rivalries especially when it comes to blows on the ice, and players never fail to deliver. Each season we see our fair share of fights, but only a few are worth remembering, so we’ve come up with our pick of the top 5 fights of the 2009-2010 NHL season.

1. Cam Janssen vs. Pierre-Luc Letourneau-Leblond: These two turned what would otherwise be a low-profile game into one of the most watched matches of the season, well at least two and half minutes of it. One of the longer-lasting fights of the year, Janssen and Leblond went at it for almost 3 minutes and never seemed to tire, despite the constant blows and action for the duration of the fight. Read on …