The Hangover: Nov. 14

NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE
Philadelphia 5, at Carolina 3
Buffalo 3, at Montreal 2 SO
At Winnipeg 5, Tampa Bay 2
Standings are here
Summaries are here

ONTARIO HOCKEY LEAGUE
OHL Selects 6, Russian Selects 3
Summary is here

Addition by Divisions

Every time I turn around, someone is writing about why the Detroit Red Wings deserve a break when it comes to realignment, which will be employed once this season ends.

Funny that nobody mentions the Vancouver Canucks, who are the only team from the Pacific Time Zone in its division. Bu back to Detroit and realignment.

Detroit wants back in the East, erasing the gains the NHL made when they finally had three Original Six teams in the Campbell Conference (Detroit, Toronto, Chicago) and three in the Prince of Wales Conference (Boston, Montreal and New York).

Brilliant, everybody shares. Heck, that was far superior to the deal when the Canucks came into the league. (Here's a quick graphic review from the best in show, sixteenwins.com.)Chicago was shifted from the East Division to the West and the expansion Canucks and Buffalo Sabres were placed in the East.

Over time, division opponents have changed and evolved, allowing next generation of fan to roar that nobody had better shift their team from "LONG-TIME" rivals. And yet the Rangers are no longer in the same division with the hated Boston Bruins and Montreal Canadiens. (Speaking of hated rivals, remember the Adams Division rumbles between the Bruins and the Minnesota North Stars? I sure do.)



At best, the NHL goes back to four divisions and the old names: Smythe, Norris, Adams and Patrick. Those brands have the flavor of hockey, as do the Campbell and Prince of Wales Conferences. Drop the puck and let 'em go. As for Detroit, it should stay in the Campbell Conference in order to allow the Columbus Blue Jackets head to the Wales and get their teeth kicked in regularly by the near-by Pittsburgh Penguins.

Yes, I do mean split the Flyers and the Penguins. If it was good enough for the Phillies and Pirates, the Eagles and Steelers, the Sixers and the Pipers/Condors (OK, went a bit to far; the Pipers/Condors never made it out of the ABA), then Pennsylvania can and will survive this split. Besides, I suspect Penguins fans will grow to enjoy watching their team knocking the snot out of the Blue Jackets, the oh-so-soft Sabres, the smallish Canadiens, the boisterously bad Maple Leafs and the cannot-win-a-faceoff Senators in the reconstituted Adams Division.

Put the focus on divisional play, with home-and-homes for everyone else, and you get a league where everyone plays everyone without the faux conference arrangement that is employed today.

The Patrick Division returns with the Rangers, Islanders, Devils, Flyers, Capitals (welcome back), Hurricanes, Lightning and Panthers.

The Adams Division: Blue Jackets, Penguins, Sabres, Maple Leafs, Canadiens, Senators, Bruins.

The Norris Division: Red Wings, Blackhawks, Predators, Blues, Stars, Jets and Wild.

The Smythe Division of Champions: Coyotes, Ducks, Kings, Sharks, Canucks, Flames, Oilers and Avalanche.

I cannot wait to express my disgust of the Oilers, Flames and Canucks, my old friends from the Smythe.

And then, the big finish here, we expect a return to a divisional format for the first two rounds of the playoffs. Two rounds of "I hate you so much, I cannot wait to trade hits with you again." Survive that and you are ready to take your chances on the final two rounds. Two years of restored divisional play and I guarantee fans that they will not miss the teams who are no longer in their team's division.

And, indeed, if love will tear us apart, then let it be so. I am willing to emerge from the shredder each spring with a smile on my face. Time to embrace the Smythe, Norris, Adams and Patrick Divisions again.

The Hangover: Nov. 13

NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE
Philadelphia 3, at Florida 2
At Chicago 6, Edmonton 3
Minnesota 3, at Anaheim 2
At Vancouver 4, N.Y. Islanders 1
Standings are here
Summaries are here

AMERICAN HOCKEY LEAGUE
Hamilton 5, at Binghamton 2
At St. John's 4, Connecticut 3
Providence 3, at Worcester 2
Toronto 4, at Albany 3 OT
At San Antonio 3, Texas 2
Bridgeport 4, at Hershey 3
At Milwaukee 3, Oklahoma City 2
At Houston 5, Charlotte 2
Standings are here
Summaries are here

EAST COAST HOCKEY LEAGUE
At Reading 6, Elmira 2
Gwinnett 3, at Chicago 2 SO
Stockton 3, at Las Vegas 2 SO
At Alaska 7, Ontario 4
Standings are here
Summaries are here

QUEBEC MAJOR JUNIOR HOCKEY LEAGUE
At Saint John 5, Baie-Comeau 3
At Moncton 5, Cape Breton 1
Acadie-Bathurst 8, at Prince Edward Island 6
At Chicoutimi 6, Blainville-Boisbriand 3
At Drummondville 6, Rimouski 1
Standings are here
Summaries are here

ONTARIO HOCKEY LEAGUE
At Brampton 3, Ottawa 2 SO
At Kingston 5, Saginaw 3
At Kitchener 3, Guelph 2 SO
Sarnia 4, at Mississauga 2
At Plymouth 7, Erie 1
At Windsor 8, Sault Ste. Marie 0
Belleville 2, at Oshawa 1 SO
Standings are here
Summaries are here

WESTERN HOCKEY LEAGUE
At Calgary 4, Lethbridge 2
Saskatoon 2, at Kootenay 1
At Vancouver 4, Prince George 3 SO
At Victoria 4, Red Deer 3 SO
Standings are here
Summaries are here

UNITED STATES HOCKEY LEAGUE
Omaha 6, at Sioux City 4
Dubuque 4, at Youngstown 3
Lincoln 6, at Tri-City 5
Standings are here
Summaries are here

NCAA DIVISION I
HOCKEY EAST
Boston University 5, at Boston College 0
Standings are here
Summary is here

The Hangover: Nov. 12

NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE
At Boston 6, Buffalo 2
Ottawa 5, at Toronto 2
New Jersey 3, at Washington 2 SO
At Carolina 5, Pittsburgh 3
At Detroit 5, Dallas 2
At Columbus 2, Winnipeg 1
Montreal 2, at Nashville 1
At St. Louis 3, Tampa Bay 0
Calgary 4, at Colorado 3
At Los Angeles 5, Minnesota 2
Phoenix 3, at San Jose 0
Standings are here
Summaries are here

AMERICAN HOCKEY LEAGUE
At St. John's 8, Connecticut 4
At Adirondack 2, Toronto 1 SO
At Portland 4, Providence 2
Bridgeport 4, at Springfield 3
Abbotsford 3, at Texas 1
Manchester 2, at Worcester 1
Norfolk 5, at Wilkes-Barre/Scranton 3
Albany 1, at Syracuse 0
At Rochester 2, Grand Rapids 1
Chicago 6, at Milwaukee 3
Charlotte 3, at Oklahoma City 2
Peoria 3, at Rockford 0
Standings are here
Summaries are here

EAST COAST HOCKEY LEAGUE
Wheeling 4, at Florida 1
At Toledo 5, Gwinnett 4 SO
At Greenville 2, South Carolina 1 SO
Elmira 4, at Reading 2
At Kalamazoo 7, Chicago 4
At Cincinnati 3, Trenton 2
Colorado 3, at Utah 1
Idaho 4, at Bakersfield 2
At Las Vegas 4, Stockton 3
Ontario 2, at Alaska 0
Standings are here
Summaries are here

QUEBEC MAJOR JUNIOR HOCKEY LEAGUE
At Shawinigan 6, Drummondville 1
Rimouski 6, at Victoriaville 3
At Moncton 4, Baie-Comeau 0
At Saint John 4, Halifax 3
Gatineau 4, at Rouyn-Noranda 2
Quebec 5, at Val-d'Or 1
Standings are here
Summaries are here

ONTARIO HOCKEY LEAGUE
At London 4, Erie 1
At Niagara 4, Windsor 3
At Belleville 4, Saginaw 3 SO
At Oshawa 6, Ottawa 3
At Plymouth 8, Sault Ste. Marie 0
Peterborough 7, at Barrie 4
Sudbury 6, at Guelph 3
At Owen Sound 4, Mississauga 3 SO
Standings are here
Summaries are here

WESTERN HOCKEY LEAGUE
At Portland 4, Spokane 3 OT
At Swift Current 3, Moose Jaw 2
At Brandon 7, Prince Albert 4
At Kootenay 5, Seattle 1
Tri-City 7, at Lethbridge 3
Saskatoon 5, at Medicine Hat 1
At Kamloops 5, Edmonton 2
At Vancouver 3, Kelowna 2 OT
At Everett 3, Prince George 2
Red Deer 7, at Victoria 4
Standings are here
Summaries are here

UNITED STATES HOCKEY LEAGUE
Muskegon 5, at Indiana 4
At Youngstown 5, Dubuque 2
At Sioux City 4, Cedar Rapids 1
Des Moines 4, at Fargo 1
At Sioux Falls 5, Tri-City 3
At Green Bay 6, Chicago 1
At Lincoln 2, Omaha 1
Standings are here
Summaries are here

NCAA DIVISION I
ATLANTIC HOCKEY
Connecticut 2, at American International 2 OT
Bentley 4, at Army 1
At Holy Cross 6, Sacred Heart 4
At Mercyhurst 3, Air Force 2

ECAC
Cornell 3, at Dartmouth 2
At Harvard 4, Colgate 2
At Princeton 3, Clarkson 0
St. Lawrence 1, at Quinnipiac 0 OT
At RPI 1, Brown 0
Yale 4, at Union 0

HOCKEY EAST
Massachusetts-Lowell 4, at Maine 3
At Massachusetts 4, Northeastern 2
New Hampshire 4, at Vermont 4 OT

CCHA
Lake Superior State 1, at Ferris State 1 OT
(Lake Superior wins shootout)
Michigan 3, at Miami 3 OT
(Miami wins shootout)
At Notre Dame 3, Alaska 2 OT
At Ohio State 4, Northern Michigan 1
Michigan State 4, at Western Michigan 2

WCHA
Nebraska-Omaha 5, at Bemidji State 1
At Denver 5, Colorado College 4
St. Cloud State 3, at Minnesota State 2
At Minnesota-Duluth 3, Alaska-Anchorage 1
Minnesota 4, at Wisconsin 1

NONCONFERENCE
At Bowling Green 3, Canisius 1
At Providence 4, Alabama-Huntsville 2
Standings are here
Summaries are here

The Hangover: Nov. 11

NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE
Washington 3, at New Jersey 1
At N.Y. Rangers 5, Carolina 1
At Pittsburgh 3, Dallas 1
At Buffalo 5, Ottawa 1
At Detroit 3, Edmonton 0
At Chicago 4, Calgary 1
At Anaheim 4, Vancouver 3
Summaries are here

AMERICAN HOCKEY LEAGUE
At Worcester 3, Bridgeport 2
Syracuse 3, at Adirondack 2
At Albany 2, Norfolk 1
Wilkes-Barre/Scranton 5, at Hershey 4 OT
At Providence 1, Manchester 0
Grand Rapids 8, at Hamilton 0
At Lake Erie 4, San Antonio 1
At Springfield 4, Portland 1
At Rochester 3, Binghamton 1
At Oklahoma City 1, Charlotte 0
At Peoria 7, Rockford 6 OT
Abbotsford 3, at Texas 2 SO
Summaries are here

EAST COAST HOCKEY LEAGUE
Gwinnett 5, at Toledo 3
At Florida 7, Wheeling 2
Trenton 4, at Kalamazoo 1
Reading 5, at Elmira 4
At Chicago 5, Cincinnati 3
At Utah 5, Colorado 4 SO
Idaho 4, at Bakersfield 3
At Alaska 8, Ontario 4
Summaries are here

QUEBEC MAJOR JUNIOR HOCKEY LEAGUE
Baie-Comeau 3, at Halifax 2 SO
Saint John 7, at Prince Edward Island 3
Blainville-Boisbriand 6, at Drummondville 4
At Chicoutimi 5, Victoriaville 3
Quebec 5, at Rouyn-Noranda 2
At Shawinigan 8, Rimouski 7
Gatineau 6, at Val-d'Or 4
Summaries are here

ONTARIO HOCKEY LEAGUE
Windsor 4, at Erie 3
At Mississauga 4, Barrie 3 OT
At Brampton 6, Niagara 4
Plymouth 8, at Guelph 4
At Kingston 7, Oshawa 0
At Kitchener 4, Sudbury 3
Sault Ste. Marie 4, at London 3
At Ottawa 6, Saginaw 5 SO
At Owen Sound 5, Sarnia 2
Summaries are here

WESTERN HOCKEY LEAGUE
At Brandon 4, Swift Current 1
Red Deer 5, at Kamloops 3
At Moose Jaw 3, Regina 2 OT
Seattle 5, at Calgary 4
Tri-City 4, at Medicine Hat 3 SO
At Portland 6, Spokane 5 SO
At Kelowna 2, Edmonton 1 SO
Prince George 4, at Everett 1
Summaries are here

UNITED STATES HOCKEY LEAGUE
Green Bay 5, at Indiana 4
Muskegon 2, at Youngstown 1
At Sioux City 6, Tri-City 3
At Waterloo 4, Chicago 2
Des Moines 5, at Omaha 3
At Lincoln 3, Sioux Falls 2
Cedar Rapids 4, at Fargo 3 SO
Summaries are here

NCAA DIVISION I
ATLANTIC HOCKEY
At Bentley 4, American International 1
Robert Morris 4, at Mercyhurst 3
At RIT 3, Air Force 1
Army 2, at Sacred Heart 1

ECAC
Colgate 4, at Dartmouth 0
Cornell 4, at Harvard 2
St. Lawrence 3, at Princeton 2
Clarkson 1, at Quinnipiac 1 OT
Yale 2, at RPI 0
Brown 2, at Union 1

HOCKEY EAST
At Boston College 2, Northeastern 1
Merrimack 3, at Boston University 2 OT
Massachusetts-Lowell 5, at Maine 3

CCHA
At Ferris State 5, Lake Superior State 1
At Miami 2, Michigan 1
At Notre Dame 5, Alaska 4
At Ohio State 4, Northern Michigan 1
Michigan State 3, at Western Michigan 2

WCHA
Nebraska-Omaha 3, at Bemidji State 3 OT
At Minnesota State 4, St. Cloud State 2
At Minnesota-Duluth 5, Alaska-Anchorage 0
At Wisconsin 3, Minnesota 1

NONCONFERENCE
At Bowling Green 4, Canisius 1
At Providence 3, Alabama-Huntsville 0
At Massachusetts 7, Holy Cross 2
Summaries are here

Memories of Searching for a Game

I'm flipping through "I Want My MTV," which pretty much makes clear that drugs fueled the early days of that channel. And yet, there are some pretty distinct accounts given from artists who go on to say that they were caught up in the current of the decade.

Me, well, my book on the 1980s would be "I Want My Hockey on TV." I had taken my first newspaper job -- it was in northern Indiana -- and there pretty much was a game of the week on ESPN and an odd St. Louis Blues game on the short-lived SportsTime channel. Todd Donoho was one of the big voices on the channel that, when not serving up basketball games from every Midwestern college not in the Big Ten, found time to show you highlights of every game from these same Midwestern Colleges.

Elsewhere in the Midwest, you might get a Royals or Cardinals game tossed in, but not in northern Indiana. You got basketball, more basketball, and then, whoops, how did that Blues game find its way there?

SportsChannel from Chicago was a year away and that meant that most of the Blackhawks' games were radio only, if you could pick up the weak signal of WIND-AM. And in the black hole that I call northern Indiana, you could not. You could pick up pro hockey from Fort Wayne, Detroit, Toledo and Rochester, but not the Hawks.

Road trips would follow. My friend Kurt and I would head to Nick's Sportspages in Dolton, Ill., and to the Olympia in Goshen, Ind. That last joint was mid-week games only. In the towns in which we worked, no NHL games -- NONE -- could be found when college basketball was on the menu.

We decided to search for a bar in a town that would allow us to go to the game without spending large amounts of money on tolls and gas. I found a joint listed in the South Bend Tribune that said it had a satellite dish. Being a Sunday night with no college basketball on, Kurt and I headed to South Bend to watch the Blackhawks-Sabres game from the Aud.

A quiet little joint, pretty much a box layout with the bar on your left as you walked in. Ahead of you was the snack table (salad fixings, for the most part, and popcorn) and a juke box. To the right and behind you were booths. The big projection screen was in the corner on the right, facing the snack table. At the center of the joint were four high tables with two stools each.

The best view of the game required you to sit atop the most painful seats in the joint. But it was hockey, and the beer was cheap, so we stayed. Late in the first period, a few of the regulars started to give us the stink eye after we applauded an end-to-end rush and goal by Gilbert Perreault. We explained that though we did favor the Hawks, you had to admire the skills of a great player like Perreault.



Not the right answer, as the regulars just wanted to get blotto in private. Though dirty looks were exchanged, we were paying customers. So the bar's owner came by and offered us a pitcher on the house. Bar owner's on our side, so we will watch and cheer when we want.

Somewhere around the end of the second period, things started to change. The regulars had been beaten back, so they were not a threat. But students from Notre Dame and St. Mary's -- we knew this because they appeared to shop at the university bookstore for some updated sweatshirts with the school name on them before coming in -- and they were not interested in the game.

They say Kurt and I, the only two people sitting at the bar tables, and went straight to the bar owner. Slowly, tables were disappearing one at a time. More students were squeezing into the booths along the edge. Soon the regulars were gone.

Just Kurt and I, the Hawks and Sabres, and the preppy-esque mob from Our Lady of Perpetual Tuition Increases.

The joint owner produced a microphone, cut the sound on the game, and announced that dancing -- DANCING? -- would commence in 30 minutes. And it did, with about 10 minutes left in the game. But we did not move, and the owner did not move us because we still had cash on the table and glasses to fill. But now, we had the preppy mob moving all around us, proving that this particular sample of college students were in need of some remedial gym classes to overcome the poor coordination. BECAUSE YOU SHOULD NOT BE ALLOWED TO DANCE IN PUBLIC THAT BADLY!

The game finished and it was time to leave. The owner was happy to collect both the table and the waitress was happy to collect a tip.

As we walked out, Kurt and I spotted two unattached members of the preppy mob. "Turn to You" by the GoGos came on and, well, we had these girls spinning on the floor, enjoying moves that would make Gilbert Perreault and Denis Savard proud.

And when the song ended, Kurt and I headed to our cars and left. We made our stand. We saw our hockey game and now we were leaving on our own terms. Hmm, a bar dedicated to hockey and music. I'll have to try that concept. I'll call it Vic's Stereo Lounge.

The Hangover: Nov. 10

NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE
At Boston 6, Edmonton 3
Chicago 6, at Columbus 3
Toronto 3, at St. Louis 2 SO
Florida 5, at Winnipeg 2
At Colorado 4, N.Y. Islanders 3 OT
Montreal 3, at Phoenix 2 OT
Vancouver 3, at Los Angeles 2
At San Jose 3, Minnesota 1
Standings are here
Summaries are here

AMERICAN HOCKEY LEAGUE
At Lake Erie 5, San Antonio 2
Abbotsford 5, at Houston 3
Standings are here
Summaries are here

EAST COAST HOCKEY LEAGUE
At Greenville 5, South Carolina 2
At Bakersfield 4, Idaho 3 OT
Standings are here
Summaries are here

ONTARIO HOCKEY LEAGUE
OHL Selects 10, Russian Selects 7
Summary is here

WESTERN HOCKEY LEAGUE
Moose Jaw 3, at Regina 1
Standings are here
Summary is here