Cross-continent tour to continue

Everything is fine ... I've had the last two days off, and will be off Sunday as well. A rare three-day weekend for me.

I will be heading to Denver two weeks from Monday to visit a woman I used to work with almost a decade ago and with whom I reconnected last year. The plan is to see "Sweeney Todd" the night I land, and then the Avalanche and Nashville Predators at the Pepsi Center the next night.

That will be one more arena off the list.

For those interested, here's where I have seen NHL games from east to west:

Boston Garden: Bruins-New York Rangers on a Saturday afternoon in the late '80s with an ex-girlfriend. The highlight was her buying a $500 leather dress that she needed to pour herself -- including her 'D' cups -- into.

Madison Square Garden: Countless Rangers games as a fan and covering games for ESPN SportsTicker. My father took me to my first NHL game there in 1971 against the California Golden Seals, and later we'd go see the WHA's Golden Blades before they hauled stakes across the river to New Jersey.

Nassau Coliseum: Covering Islanders games for Ticker and had front-row tickets for the Isles and the Central Red Army during their tour in the '80s. Home of the steepest press box I have ever been in.

Brendan Byrne/Continental Airlines Arena: The former home of the Devils. Really a bland, flavorless arena in the middle of a swamp, but the press box was at center ice. Sat next to a bitter Paul Holmgren there once.

The Spectrum: Several dates there to see the Flyers, including one game against the Canucks when Jim Sandlak took a shot off the foot that left him unable to skate the remainder of that game.

Le Colisee: Fevrier 1989, temperature somewhere around 20 below zero, Winter Carnival winding down ... and me sitting three rows off center ice watching the Quebec Nordiques and Minnesota North Stars -- now Colorado versus Dallas. Two things from this game: first, explaining to Dino Ciccarelli leaning over into the tunnel that, yes, I speak English, and yes, I was wearing a Minnesota Vikings sweatshirt. Second was watching the North Stars' Neal Broten skating up ice and using his back skate as a kind of rudder. Quebec won, 6-4.

Bell Centre: Saw the Canadiens and Rangers, but here was an odd twist -- both teams wore their road uniforms. That meant blue helmets for both, at least for the first period. Montreal played the final two periods in red jerseys with white helmets.

Corel Centre: Now Scotiabank Place, been there a couple times to see the Senators, including a New Years Day matchup against the Devils. Guy cheering after an Ottawa goal elbowed me in the ribs.

The Aud: The former home of the Buffalo Sabres. Saw them play the Islanders there in the spring of 1985. Animotion, anyone?

Mellon Arena: Much to the chagrin of Associated Press sports writer Alan Robinson, I was at the game in 2000 when Mario Lemieux made his latest comeback. I was there to write a color sidebar of fans at the game against the Maple Leafs in which Super Mario assisted on Jaromir Jagr's goal 33 seconds in and later added a goal and assist in a 5-0 win. Also had been there to see other games as a fan, and an AHL matchup between Wilkes-Barre/Scranton and Cincinnati.

Verizon Center: On a whim, and in the pre-Ovechkin days, I drove to Washington DC from Queens, N.Y. to see the Capitals play the Red Wings. Sitting in the last row behind the net, there were far more Detroit fans in attendance.

Nationwide Arena: Early last season, I drove from Chicago to Columbus to watch the Blue Jackets take on Phoenix. The best thing about going to a game in central Ohio is that I almost assuredly will never have to go there again. The next best thing was finding this place on Interstate 70. Gimme a double-double ...

Chicago Stadium and the United Center: First, the old barn on Madison. Saw an Easter Day matchup in the early '90s against Tampa Bay. Danton Cole scored twice for the Lightning, and Jeremy Roenick netted his 49th for the Blackhawks in a 3-3 tie. Home of the best foghorn in the NHL -- at the time. Also the loudest building I've ever been in. The UC, while more plush, is little like the old building. Even the foghorn isn't quite the same.

Scottrade Center: The most recent arena I visited in December 2007. After driving to St. Louis to watch Brett Favre and the Green Bay Packers dismantle the Rams during the day, I wandered over to see the Blues and Flames that night. Mike Keenan returned to St. Louis, the fans still hate him (and in Philly ... and in Chicago ... and in New York ... and in Florida ... and in Vancouver), but he earned his 600th career win.

Reunion Arena: Was fortunate to cover a handful of Stars games there in 1997 when I was working for a piss-ant little paper in Oklahoma. If I had to cover prep events in places like Lone Grove, Healdton and Thackerville, I made sure that I took time to visit civilization now and again. This was the home of the best foghorn in the league -- one blast for every Dallas goal.

Xcel Energy Center: Hard to believe this was once the place where I used to watch the Minnesota Moose of the old International Hockey League, sitting upstairs for about $5, and then getting vouchers for free tickets to see teams from places like Fort Wayne and Kalamazoo. Today, it's the gleaming home of the Wild, who I saw in 2005 against Toronto. Wondered why I saw so many Canadians there for that game, when, duh, it hit me that Minnesota borders western Ontario.

Met Center: A pit, right down to the green, white and yellow seats. But it was a pit that was comfortable and a fun place to go to. Watched Wayne Gretzky, then with Los Angeles, barking at a referee for not getting a call his way. The fans made sure Wayne heard it.

The Saddledome: Flew to Calgary in the early 90s to see the Rangers (who lost, what else?) Following a Flames goal, two things on each side of the scoreboard would release flames. That's what you want to see in an indoor arena -- fire. I also got to spend several hours in a Calgary hospital when I woke up in the middle of the night, and was unable to hear. Two inner ear infections will do that to you. I also ended up in a clinic and was taken care of by a doctor who loved boxing ... and was a dead ringer for Gomez Addams in the old series "The Addams Family," save for his white hair.

Pacific National Exhibition: The old home of the Canucks back in the days of the stick-in-rink logo, the "V" unis and the flying skate. Flew to Vancouver for a weekend in 1993, and saw the expansion Mighty Ducks of Anaheim (stupidest fucking name in professional sports history ... EVER!) Jyrkki Lumme had two assists and Kay Whitmore made 18 saves as the Canucks lost, 6-3.

Flame on?

You know it's not a good day when your home computer catches fire.

I have a four-year old Powerbook G4, which is far better than any Windows-based machine I've ever owned. The adapter was on its last legs anyway, and while I was surfing the net, I noticed a wisp of smoke. Followed by a crackle. Then a small flash, and some small flames.

Luckily, all is well. The only thing needed is a new adapter.

And perhaps a fire extinguisher.

THREE STARS OF THE NIGHT

1. Evgeni Malkin, Pittsburgh Penguins: Malkin posted his first NHL hat trick to lift the Penguins to a 6-2 win over the Toronto Maple Leafs. After winning the Calder Trophy last season as the league's top rookie with 33 goals, Malkin has only 18 so far in '07-'08.

2. Marian Gaborik, Minnesota Wild: Gabroik scores twice in a four-goal first period -- a short-handed marker and an unassisted tally -- to lift the Wild to a 6-3 win over the Dallas Stars. Since Dec. 8, Gaborik has 11 goals and six assists.

3. Jarome Iginla, Calgary Flames: Iginla scores two goals for the second straight game, including in overtime of Calgary's 3-2 win over the San Jose Sharks. Iginla has reached 30 goals for the seventh season in a row, and needs only 22 more to eclipse his career high set in 2001-02.

Completing the comeback

See -- people do watch!

Now the media just need to get back on board.

The Winter Classic between the Pittsburgh Penguins and Buffalo Sabres brought in huge ratings on television. The 2.6 overnight rating and 5 share on NBC were the best since 1996.

Again, I can hear the naysayers -- too many bad bowl games ... of course, those were played long after the hockey game ended.

Fans appear to have come back, but the media by and large still is willing to stay away. Even in the company I work for, editorial supervisors still think the NHL is a garage-league sport -- "No one cares about the NHL."

Right. If that's the case, then why does The Associated Press have a hockey writer? Why do we spend so much time and effort writing previews for sites like NHL.com and dissecting headlines for sites such as this.

Maybe readers should ask.

THREE STARS OF THE NIGHT

1. Steven Reinprecht, Phoenix Coyotes: Facing the team he helped win a Stanley Cup with in 2001, Reinprecht recorded a hat trick and added an assist in the Coyotes' 5-2 win over the Colorado Avalanche. Reinprecht's second goal also was the 100th of his career.

2. Jarome Iginla, Calgary Flames: The red-hot Iginla scored twice in the Flames' 4-2 win over the New York Rangers. Iginla has 16 goals in his last 15 games, leading Calgary to a 10-1-4 record and into second-place in the Northwest Division -- where the top four teams are separated by only four points.

3. Henrik Zetterberg, Detroit Red Wings: After missing five games with a back injury, Zetterberg picked up two assists in the Red Wings' 4-1 win over the Dallas Stars. He has four goals and seven assists in a six-game points streak and leads Detroit with 25 goals and 27 helpers.

A little outdoor shinny

Wow.

To anyone who says the National Hockey League is dead, I hope they took the time to turn on the television this afternoon.

Naysayers would have seen more than 71,000 attended today's Winter Classic between the Pittsburgh Penguins and Buffalo Sabres in the snow and cold at Ralph Wilson Stadium.

By the way, both the Penguins and Sabres need to go back to those uniforms full-time.

Just over four years ago, the Edmonton Oilers and Montreal Canadiens played in the Heritage Classic at Edmonton's Commonwealth Stadium in sub-frigid conditions -- who can forget Canadiens goaltender Jose Theodore's throwback toque complete with pom-pom?.

Of course, that was in Canada, where hockey is nothing short of religion. If there were a way have 100,000 on hand, it would have sold out, no question.

Could the same thing work here? Seems as if the answer was pretty clear on Tuesday. True, there wasn't much scoring -- the Penguins got a shootout goal from Sidney Crosby in the 2-1 win -- but I have no doubt that the players and coaches were able to revisit their roots of playing on frozen ponds, canals and lakes in Canada. In Finland. In Czechoslovakia.

"I'd love to do it again. I thought it was awesome," Sabres coach Lindy Ruff said. "It was good for the game. It may not be the best hockey game because of the situation, because of the weather, because of the snow, but the atmosphere was incredible.

"The hell with the cynics."

Indeed.

Will the league do this again? It was probably wasn't cost-effective, but if it generates a buzz, I cannot see a reason for not capitalizing on it. Any positive press for a sport still trying to vault itself back into competition with the NBA and NASCAR.

How about the Chicago Blackhawks and Detroit Red Wings at Solider Field? In the future, I'm thinking the Wild and Dallas Stars hooking up in the Minnesota Twins' new outdoor ballpark.

Noted Gurnee-based blogstatician Chris Altruda has chimed in with the New York Rangers and New Jersey Devils at Giants Stadium.

Oh, the possibilities.

THREE STARS OF THE NIGHT

1. Ladislav Nagy, Los Angeles Kings: After failing to record a goal in nearly a month, Nagy had his first hat trick since Dec. 3, 2005, and a career high-tying five points in a 9-2 rout of the Blackhawks. The last-place Kings have won three in a row including a home-and-home set from Chicago.

2. Sidney Crosby, Pittsburgh Penguins: Amid the snowflakes in western New York, Crosby scored in the fourth round of the shootout giving Pittsburgh the win in the first outdoor NHL game played in the United States.

3. Mike Green, Washington Capitals: Green had two goals and an assist in the Capitals' 6-3 win over the Ottawa Senators. Green has 10 goals this season after totaling just three in his previous two years combined.

Happy 2008!

Here's wishing a happy, safe and successful 2008 to all friends, readers and hockey fans.

Yes, even the Islander fans. Potvin still sucks.

THREE STARS OF THE NIGHT, DEC. 31

1. Tim Thomas, Boston Bruins: Bounces back after giving up two first=period goals and stops 15 shots in final 40 minutes of 5-2 win over the Atlanta Thrashers, allowing the Bruins to snap a six-game losing streak.

2. Manny Legace, St. Louis Blues: Facing his old team, Legace made 31 saves for his 20th career shutout, and St. Louis snapped a four-game losing streak with a 2-0 win over the Detroit Red Wings

3. Dan Ellis, Nashville Predators: Why not another goaltender? Facing his former team, Ellis made 22 saves and Nashville snapped a seven-game road losing streak to the Dallas Stars with a 1-0 victory.

Lots of pain ... looking for gain

You know that feeling you get when you go the gym and work out for the first time in a few months?

Yeah, I'll be feeling that way later today.

For those who knew me back in the day (an expression that really does want to make me sick into a bucket) when I was approaching four spins, I have indeed changed a lot physically thanks to the wonders of modern medicine, but one thing hasn't changed: I can gain weight when the wind blows.

I'm nowhere near the size I used to be, but I also need to ensure I don't get back to that. So it's back to the gym after a long layoff due to laziness and the holidays.

Pass the Motrin.

I didn't go see the Blackhawks on Sunday night. In fact, I spent most of the weekend catching up on much needed sleep. Thing is, I could use a 48-to-72 hour coma to get truly back to normal.

That being said ...

THREE STARS OF THE NIGHT, DEC. 30

1. Dustin Brown, Los Angeles Kings: Brown's second goal of the game with 1:29 to play in overtime lifted the Kings to a 3-2 win over the Chicago Blackhawks. Los Angeles has won back-to-back matchups after an eight-game losing streak, but haven't scored more than three goals in 10 consecutive contests.

2. Brendan Shanahan, New York Rangers: Another overtime winner. Shanahan scored 66 seconds into the extra session getting the Rangers past the Montreal Canadiens, 4-3. Shanahan has scored in consecutive games for the first time this season and needs nine goals to become the 11th player in NHL history with 650.

3. Antero Niittymaki, Philadelphia Flyers: The Finn made a season-high 38 saves Sunday in a 1-0 win over the Florida Panthers for his third career shutout. Relegated to backing up Martin Biron, Niittymaki blanked an opponent for the first time since a 1-0 victory over the Boston Bruins on Jan. 2, 2006.