HP Pavillion

As I'm back on the road to Michigan, tonight's addition of Hockey Hits is abbreviated: Hockey Wilderness: View From The Frontier - Season Warm Up. Wild fans will have to be patient with as they await a re-birth in style in Minnesota. Lowetide: Does Pre-Season action mean anything? It would appear that if the coaches are serious about the player, they will give him plenty of playing time during this time. Heated Skates: Canucks prospect camp. Agreed that it does seem somewhat irrelevant to get too excited considering how many players will actually make the team. Fear the Fin: The Ice At HP Pavilion. It appears that fans believe that poor ice conditions can adversely affect one team more than the other. Perhaps this is truly what determines 'home ice advantage'. Ice Man: Atlanta Thrasher Zach Bogosian is scary good. Pretty high praise from someone who is himself, pretty 'scary good' (Ilya Kovalchuk). On Frozen Blog: A new season begins. The anticipation (and expectations) in Washington are very high and it will be interesting to see how the favoured Caps respond to this pressure. Faceoff Factor: Recaps of the Pens rookie games 1 & 2. The New York Rangers Blog: Reaction to the speculation that the Rangers have prospects to make a Kessel deal work. As he says, they may have prospects but they are not exactly blessed with cap space. Sens Town: www.danycheatley.com. They ask the question and I feel it is appropriate to reiterate, how can he come back to Ottawa with all that has transpired? That first Senators practice is going to be a gong show. The Bruins Blog: Heatley has his ticket to Ottawa booked. As stated above, can you imagine the reception he will receive from his teammates? From the Rink: Balsillie's bid grows to $242.5-million. Things are getting more and more interesting. The Spin: Cox is wondering how high will Balsillie go in order to purchase the Coyotes. This is the most expensive game of chicken I've ever seen. NHL Fanhouse: From assistant in limbo to Stanley Cup winning coach. Interesting read from a writer who was "on the inside" for part of the story. If you are missing hockey, here is some action from the Ranger rookies as they took on the Thrasher rookies down in Traverse City courtesy of Hockey's Future:

Hockey Hits: Sens fans continue to hate Heatley, the ice at HP Pavillion arena is questioned, How high will Balsillie go and does pre-season action mean anything?