The Ottawa Senators are having a bit of an attendance issue in the early part of this season and Tuesday nights result in Philadelphia certainly wont help put more people in the seats.
[b]Air Max 95 Black Sale[/b] . However, there will be a 2-for-1 promotion for Wednesdays home game against the Minnesota Wild. No, there wont be a discount on tickets for this game, but fans will get a chance to boo two villains for the price of one. And considering how ornery and agitated Sens fans are these days, this could be a perfect outlet to vent their frustrations. Dany Heatley and Matt Cooke roll into town as members of the Wild, meaning they would only need Alexei Yashin to centre their line to make it the most hated visiting trio in Sens franchise history. Based on recent history, Heatley and Cooke could very well be Villains 1 and 1A for the Sens fan base. So which player will receive the louder boos tonight? Lets analyze the case for both Heatley and Cooke. Dany Heatley The Dany Heatley saga is well-documented in this town, after the sniper demanded a trade in the summer of 2009. He cited a "diminished role" under head coach Cory Clouston as the catalyst for his departure. When Heatley made his first return to Ottawa on December 2, 2010, he was clearly public enemy No. 1 in this city. The Ottawa Sun ran a headline that screamed Suck It Up Princess and was accompanied by a large photo of Heatley with a super-imposed baby pacifier in his mouth. The sub-headline elegantly stated Heatley still loved by children…….in Africa. Roy MacGregor had the following passage in his Globe and Mail story that day, which perfectly captured the sentiment of the city towards their former hero. "Dany Heatley screwed up the federal by-elections. Dany Heatley is causing area house prices to drop. Dany Heatley is behind this week-long spit that passes for weather around here…Welcome to Ottawa on Dany Heatley Day in the nations capital, the day the San Jose Sharks leading scorer gets blamed for, as the Bible might put it, every little sparrow that falls." That night, fans showed up with old No. 15 jerseys that had the Heatley name plate altered to just spell "H-A-T-E". At one point during the game, a handful of fans came down and threw Heatley jerseys onto the ice in a staged protest. Urinals had Heatley action figures in them, giving a new meaning to the term number-one winger. Ottawa has never had an evening quite like that and unfortunately for the home team, Heatley and his Sharks skated away with a 4-0 win. But since leaving Ottawa, its not like Heatley has made Ottawa fans wish he stayed. His goal production has diminished in each of the last five years, going from 39 to 26 to 24 to 11. And last night at the Bell Centre, he scored a meaningless goal with only two seconds left in regulation time – only his third marker of the season. And for a player who once complained about his role on a team, its interesting to note that Heatley is playing only 14 minutes a night this season under Mike Yeo, marking the lowest ice time of his NHL career. Heatley is no longer a front-line player in the NHL and, with his contract expiring at the end of this season, it will be interesting to see how many offers he receives as a free agent. Ironically, this is the final year of the six-year deal he signed with the Sens in the fall of 2007. The terms of that contract called for him to receive a $4 million bonus on July 1, 2009, which the Senators grudgingly paid, even after Heatley had demanded a trade and refused to accept one to Edmonton. Owner Eugene Melynk was so incensed with that turn of events that he filed a grievance against Heatley and that case was only resolved in the past couple of weeks, although the terms of the settlement were not disclosed. So the book on Heatley is virtually closed for Sens fans. It seems like the pitchforks and torches have been put away and the hatred towards Heatley has been replaced with some level of indifference. Matt Cooke Matt Cooke could receive the lions share of boos tonight because the wound he caused is still fresh in the minds of Sens fans. It was only nine months ago that Cookes skate blade sliced the achilles tendon of Erik Karlsson in a game at Pittsburgh. At the time, Karlsson was arguably the most dynamic player in the game and since coming back from the injury, he has only shown flashes of his former brilliance. This will actually be Cookes fourth visit to Ottawa since the incident occurred and when he returned for his first visit in April, there were Wanted posters that were circulating with his name and face on it. Sens fans wanted Cooke to pay for his recklessness, with some suggesting he deliberately caused the injury. Even Eugene Melnyk went on the record to say he would consider launching an independent investigation into the matter to prove that Cookes actions were intentional. To Cookes credit, he faced the media and answered all of the questions about the incident and adamantly denied he purposely tried to slice Karlssons leg. And to Karlssons credit, he completely downplayed the situation when the two faced off in their second-round playoff series last spring. The Sens defenceman likely holds some deep-rooted anger towards Cooke, but he has done a very good job of masking it and trying to defuse the situation. Still, Sens fans and management cant help but wonder how good Karlsson would be if that incident hadnt occurred. And if Karlsson never regains his Norris Trophy form, Cookes ranking on the villain list will stay firmly at the top. Conclusion If I had to place my bet, I would think that Heatley would receive more boos than Cooke – if only because the fan base still hates the fact that he demanded a trade and had five years left on his contract. And in the case of Cooke, you can make the argument that what he did was an accident; whereas Heatleys decision was calculated and intentional. Both players had a negative impact on the Sens franchise, but only one of them was on the teams payroll when he chose his course of action. But while the Heatley vs. Cooke argument is debatable, we can probably agree on one thing: If the Sens dont play well tonight, they will be the ones getting the loudest boos from the hometown crowd.
[b]Under Armour Shoes Cheap[/b] . Jesus Navas bookended yet another huge home win for City by scoring after 14 seconds and again in second-half stoppage time, with Sergio Aguero also netting in each half to add to an own goal by Sandro and a brilliant strike by Alvaro Negredo.
[b]Air Force 1 Wholesale China[/b] . - While a fast-paced offence has become more of a fixture in recent years, the San Antonio Spurs can still grind out games when needed.TAMPA, Fla. -- Steven Stamkos and Ben Bishop helped the Tampa Bay Lightning keep their solid start rolling along. Stamkos scored a tiebreaking goal with 5:04 left in the third period, Bishop made 25 saves, and the Lightning beat the Minnesota Wild 3-1 on Thursday night. "We found a way," Stamkos said. "When youre a good team, you have to find a way to win these games, and we did." Stamkos gave the Lightning (5-2) a 2-1 lead when he skated in from the right wing boards and lifted an in-close shot over goalie Josh Harding during 4-on-4 play. Sami Salo added an empty-net goal in the final minute. Bishop, 5-0 this season, made a series of saves midway through the second, denying solid scoring chances by Jason Pominville and Dany Heatley. "Again its early, but he gives us a chance to win the game every single night," Lightning coach Jon Cooper said. "Thats what you want in your goaltender." Tampa Bay had planned to split playing time between Bishop and Anders Lindback (0-2) this season. However, Bishops performance has earned him the bulk of the work thus far. "Its just not me," Bishop said. "Its the guys in front of me ... the guys are playing great. We win some games 7-2, and then we can win a game like this." Tyler Johnson also scored for Tampa Bay. Mikko Koivu scored for Minnesota, which was coming off a 4-1 loss at Toronto on Tuesday night in which the Wild outshot the Maple Leafs 37-14. "Obviously, were doing something good, but were missing something and we have to find a way to find the net more," Koivu said. Harding, who entered with an 0.94 goals-against-average, made a pad save on Stamkos during a two-man breakaway late in the second. He finished with 27 saves. Koivu tied it at 1 from the low left circle at 11:05 of the third. Tampa Bay, which entered with the NHLs sixth-best power play, took advantaage of its initial chance when Johnson scored from the left circle at 14:02 of the first.
[b]Nike Air Max Clearance Sale[/b]. . The Wild, who started play with the NHLs second-worst short-handed unit, have given up at least one goal while the opponent had the man advantage in seven of eight games this season. Minnesota stopped the Lightning on 6 of 7 power-play opportunities. The Wild went 0 for 2 with the man advantage. "To me, that was the story of this game," Minnesota coach Mike Yeo said. "We talked before the game about how we have to have the confidence to play the game, but weve got to be smart, too, against a team like that, with that power play, in their building. "Just the momentum that they were generating off their power play put us on our heels all night. And then our puck work wasnt good enough to get us out of that. We have to address that. We cant expect to win an awful lot of games when were scoring one goal." Tampa Bay captain Martin St. Louis was in the lineup two days after taking a shot off his skate during a 5-1 victory over Los Angeles. The right wing was wearing a walking boot on his right foot earlier Thursday. "Tests were to a point where, whatever damage is done, he cant do anything worse to it." Cooper said. "Its a pain tolerance thing." St. Louis said he felt fine. "Its a big win for our team," St. Louis said. "Bis was strong again. Your goaltender is going to hide some of our mistakes, and I thought he did that." NOTES: Tampa Bay outshot the Wild 13-2 in the third. ... Minnesota D Keith Ballard, hit in the face by a puck during Monday nights game at Buffalo, sat out his second straight game "(Hes) not feeling well," Yeo said. "More than anything else this is preventative." ... Wild G Niklas Backstrom was the backup after missing the previous four games due to a knee injury. ' ' '
Find in Directory
Find in Events
Find in Marketplace