The ice for the 2010 Winter  Classic has arrived at Fenway Park as the trucks rolled in this morning to the legendary ball park. With the big game just three weeks away and there is a lot of work to be done. So who is responsible for the construction of this winter wonderland?

Meet Dan Craig, the NHL facilities operation manager. Dan brings 38 years of ice making experience to Beantown and assures the hockey community that they will not be disappointed. Here is a few questions and answers about the ice that will be constructed on the infield of Fenway Park. The NHL has set up a live web cam from the park, see it live here.

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The NHL has finished the first quarter of the season. The theme so far this season seems to be injuries, swine flu and hits from behind to name a few. Credit to the NHL as they have clamped down on the vicious hits to a degree. The latest injury goes to the Red Wing’s Niklas Kronwall as he was the recipient  of a leg check from Montreal’s Georges Laraque on Saturday night. Although the trip was called by the officials, the Red Wings are calling it a dirty hit. The NHL agreed with Detroit and suspended Laraque early Monday evening for 5 games. Continue reading »

The Boston Bruins Twitter site has reported that David Krejci has been diagnosed with the H1N1 Virus. Krejci will be out of tonight’s line up against the Montreal Canadiens. Krejci will be  isolated from the rest of the team until he is symptom and fever free for 24 hours. This is another huge blow to an ailing line up for the B’s.

“Like most people, we are taking many precautions to try to prevent our players and staff from contracting the H1N1 virus,” said Chiarelli.  “Our medical staff is working with David to get him healthy as soon as possible, and our players and staff will continue to take precautions with hopes of preventing the spread of the virus to others in the organization.” *from BostonBruins.com

Happy Halloween to everyone from Stick to Hockey. Today I decided to throw together a quick “trick” or “treat” article about some of the who’s hot and who’s not in the NHL so far this season. Here is a few stand outs for you.

Treats

I don’t think anyone is hotter than L A Kings foward, Anze Kopitar right now in the NHL tallying 8 points in his last 3 games including a natural hat trick against Dallas on Thursday night. The Kings early success this season has a lot to do with Kopitar.

The Colorado Avalanche out to a great start and best in the west need to give goaltender Craig Anderson a pat on the back. Anderson leads the league with wins (10) and is sporting a 2.04 GAA and a .939 save %.

Speaking of goalies, Ryan Miller of the Buffalo Sabres is leading the league in save % (.944) and GAA (1.65) . Miller is still undefeated at 8-0-1, Buffalo is 3rd in the east at 8-1-1.

The New York Rangers got a very good treat aquiring Marian Gaborik from the Minnesota Wild. Gaborik has 10 goals and 8 assist as he sits 5th in the league for points. The much anticipated return to Minnesota last night was a let down as Gaborik was out with a leg injury.

Tricks

Nathan Horton of the Florida Panthers has been less than impressive with a mere 2 goals and a -3. Those are not the numbers that the Panthers were expecting out of Horton when they gave him that 4 million dollar contract. There has also been trade rumors circulating with Horton’s name attached.

The Detroit Red Wings are in the market for a goaltender as Chris Osgood could have passed his prime. Osgood , one game over .500 and a dismal 3.41 GAA and a .882 save %, there is no surprise on why Detroit is shopping.

A big part of the Carolina Hurricanes success a few years ago when they won the Stanley Cup was the outstanding play of goaltender Cam Ward. This season Ward has started out very shaky with a 2-6 record.

Have a safe and Happy Halloween!

The injury bug continues in the NHL with two more stars going to the sidelines. Pittsburgh Penguins star, Evgeni Malkin will miss the next 2 to 3 weeks with a shoulder strain. Malkin has played in 254 consecutive games after missing his first 4 professional games. That streak will obviously come to an end.

Vancouver Canucks goalie, Roberto Luongo will miss at least the next two games as the team travels to sunny California to face the Kings tonight and the Ducks tomorrow night. Luongo has a hairline fracture of a rib on his right side.

Dominic Hasek at 44 years of age was going to make a run to play in the 2010 Olympics and that now seems to be unlikely. Hasek suffered a thigh injury playing in the Czech league this past weekend and will be out for 3 weeks.

Last week we saw what appeared to be three dirty and/or cheap shots in the NHL. The NHL’s disciplinarian Colin Cambell obviously doesn’t see it that way as he hands out just one suspension for 3 games to Tuomo Ruutu for giving Darcy Tucker a concussion and 40 stitches.

Over the weekend I sounded off about cheap shots and I faulted Cambell for giving just 3 games to Tuammo Ruuttu on the hit that hospitalized Darcy Tucker and his latest non call comes to Mike Richards who will not receive any suspension or fine for his hit on Florida’s David Booth who was also hospitalized.

Here’s the irony of the NHL suspension policy. Eugeny Artyukhin of Anaheim received the same 3 game suspension for a “slew-footing” (tripping from behind with your leg) penalty in Wednesday nights game on Dallas Stars defenseman Matt Nickanen who was also injured with a head injury.

NHL commissioner, Gary Bettman has on several occasions said that he wants this kind of behavior stopped. The NHL is also trying to cut down the fighting in the league.

According to NHL Senior Vice President of Hockey Operations Mike Murphy, who was in charge of making the final ruling, there were a number of reasons that led to the decision not to suspend Richards: he did not target Booth’s head; he did not leave his feet to deliver the blow; he did not hit an unsuspecting player; he is not a repeat offender; and he did not hit Booth late, as it was determined the blow was delivered less than a half-second after Booth passed the puck. *source NHL.com

That being said, how is it possible to turn the other way on these actions this week. The Referees on the ice did their job, Murphy and Cambell have not. Not handing out the proper suspensions has invited retaliation actions the next time the teams meet.