Playoff-intensity hockey in February? Yes please. I may have mentioned this before but I had a jaundiced view of this whole tourney as it approached and I’m now officially chagrined. Hell, the Finns/Swedes tilt was just fine in my book. The NHL-or rather, hockey itself-comes through yet again. Let’s take a peek into the goings-on in the NFL first though.

Minutiae:

-Kids These Days: Are stupid beyond belief. Apparently the dumbshits that robbed athletes homes while they were away couldn’t help themselves and threw pics onto their socials with stuff lifted during their illegal shenanigans. This impulse to document everything you do almost every minute of the day for clicks results in this mind-blowingly ridiculous behavior. As someone that didn’t grow up with a phone and uses it for work 75% of the time, I feel that I can be condescending here.

-#1 Candidate for a Knee Replacement at 40: I hope his health insurance is paid up. Offensive lineman Jon Feliciano of the “Feliz Navidad Feliciano’s” sat out all of last season rehabbing his knee. While announcing his retirement he mentions that if a team headed to the playoffs next year needs some help down the stretch, he’ll be available. For a price. The price being the further destruction of his already damaged-beyond-repair knee. Good god, he actually said, “I know I can’t last a full season”. My first reflex was to make a joke about alimony payments but this is sad as hell.

-Brother, Can You Spare a Roster Spot?: Some potential free agents of note (by no means is this exhaustive) include Amari Cooper, Durham Smythe, (he scored his only TD of the year when I streamed him in ’22) Ronnie Stanley, Mike Gesicki, (did not score a TD when I streamed him. Bastard!) Justin Fields, Stefon Diggs, Joe Flacco, Zach Wilson, Josh Palmer, K.J. Osborn (he scored a TD when I streamed him) and Josh Johnson.

-I’ll Have The Brazilian: The Chargers are going to be playing in Sao Paolo, which is not the Big Jesus statue town so we’ll be spared that at least. By my optimistic (it’s still a cromulent word despite [waves hands] everything around you) thinkings, we might get a pair of staggered games on Thursday, this tilt on Friday, the usual triple-thingy on Sunday and a double-header on Monday. That’s a lot of the good stuff.

To The Game!

Canada/USA:

-Just a shout-out to the American hockey fans here on this site. You folks are gold. (hopefully silver tonight, yuk, yuk)

-Canada solving that Hellbuck fella is paramount. He’s got an outrageous .957 save percentage over his two starts.

-If Canada wins and Crosby scores a point, he’s MVP.

-Brady Tkachuk, one of the most beloved of the American players in the Connecticut area, is good to go for tonight.

-For those getting the TSN feed, Claire Hanna handles a lot of the intermission stuff and she’s been cutting her teeth during Senators broadcasts during the last few years. She’s going places.

-Prediction?: Someone wins in OT by at least one goal.

Do your thing.