Hitting the Ice, For Real and For Play

Boomtown Rats - Up All Night
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The QMJHL and the KHL are in action, and the OHL and WHL will begin regular-season play this weekend, if not Thursday. And as for the big league, the NHL, well, the exhibition previews begin tonight.

I'm not a big fan of exhibitions, and the NHL's preference (or perhaps the individual teams' preference) for scheduling playdates with division rivals in many of these contests seem misguided.

Better to have more interconference games to at least give some face time to players and teams in markets where they come around once in a great while. But no, instead, you might get the Islanders and Devils, or the Devils and Rangers or ... you get the idea.

Still, I guess it's better than mowing the lawn. And for your convenience in the United States, the NHL Network plans extensive coverage of the exhibition season. Games, live or recorded, will be broadcast tonight and early this morning (all times Eastern)

The New Jersey Devils will face the Philadelphia Flyers live at 7 p.m. At 10 p.m., it's the Ottawa Senators against the Toronto Maple Leafs. And at 2 a.m., the Vancouver Canucks face the Calgary Flames. (That's 4 p.m., 7 p.m. and 11 p.m. for those in the Pacific Time Zone. Ah, how I miss the Pacific Time Zone.)