Don’t Look Now.

It’s that time on the Interwebs where every puck journalist and blogger scours the 2008-2009 NHL season for the ten Can’t Miss Games on the upcoming docket.  Regardless of season, you can count on the same boring list from the mainstream media, year after year. 

1. The season opener (shocker, I know)
2. Stanley Cup rematch
3. Any game not played indoors
4. Matchup of league’s two biggest stars
5. Hometown hero’s new team coming to old town
6. Slightly less important hometown hero’s new team coming to old town
7. Minnesota’s old team vs. Minnesota’s new team
8. Sidney Crosby
9. Sidney Crosby
10. Sidney Crosby

At least Wysh had an inspired choice with Richard Zednik’s return to the ice.  (UPDATE: Wasn’t referring to our PD in the above ‘graph.)

After the jump, MYFO gives you the 10 Must-Miss Games of the 08-09 Campaign.

ESPN Subscribes to The New Math

 

Since the NHL can’t showcase its popularity in traditional sports business terms like “TV ratings” and “merchandise sales,” the fallback is always game attendance.  Ever since we got back from the Lockout, we’ve been getting stories about how attendance is better than ever.  And generally speaking, that is probably true.  Hockey is THE best live sport, and you’re stupid if you’re not taking any opportunity to see it in person.  Plus, draught beer always tastes better when you just spend 7 dollars on it.  Right?

No one knows this better than the fan base of the Buffalo Sabres.  ESPN has the proof?

We Were There: The Legend of Vincent Tremblay Celebrates the New Year with 71,216 of His Closest Friends

Most of the MYFO crew were nestled snugly in the butt grooves of their couches for the liveblog. The Legend of Vincent Tremblay, however, found the right combination of incantations and sacrifices to appease the TicketMaster Gods, and made his way to Orchard Park to witness the Winter Classic first hand. While his attempts at participating in the liveblog by email turned into a fight to prevent his wireless provider from remotely detonating the battery in his phone, he did collect enough notes to prepare this report.

Welcome to Buffalo

The drive up from Pittsburgh was an uneventful 3 1/2 hours. (This is called foreshadowing.)

This was, for all the travel I’ve done, the first time I’ve been a road fan. Other times, when I’ve travelled to a sporting event, there wasn’t a Pittsburgh team involved. So this would be my first chance to take what the Old College Roommate and I have dished out for years from over the visitor’s runway at Mellon Arena.

We Probably Should Have Seen This Coming

BUFFALO (MYFO) — In a completely unexpected and baffling turn of events, tomorrow’s NHL AMP Winter Classic has been canceled due to the ongoing WGA Writers Strike. 

Last minute talks to save the telecast, which was scheduled for 1PM Eastern on NBC, broke down in the eleventh hour in what is being called a “huge blow to outdoor sporting events that are usually accustomed to being played as indoor sporting events.”  The city of Buffalo has been left in complete shock, a welcome change from most of the winter, during which their extremities feel nothing because of the icy wind chills.

Colder: Edmonton in November, or Buffalo in January?

There’s nothing as anti-climactic as a press conference for news leaked a long time ago. For the three remaining hockey fans who haven’t heard, the Penguins and Sabres will be playing outdoors on New Year’s Day. The game will be played at Ralph Wilson Stadium, which won’t be seeing any use for football in January if the first two weeks of the Bills’ season is any indication.

Officially, it’s known as the AMP Energy NHL Winter Classic. We all know that it’s really the AMP Energy Let’s See If The American Media Notices Us Now? Heritage Classic II: Electric Socks Boogaloo.