After Montreal’s Tomas Plekanec said some controversial things about the Capitals goaltending. Washington goalie Jose Theodore proved him wrong, stopping 35 of 38 shots. But in the end Plekanec had the last laugh as he scored the game-winning goal on Theodore in overtime to give the Habs a 1-0 lead over the Cap’s in the series.

One of the big stories in tonight’s game was goalie Jaroslav Halak of the Montreal Candiens. Halak stopped 45- 47 shots. Another big factor in tonight game was how Montreal kept hot shooter Alexander Ovechkin off the score sheet. Ovechkin the league leader in shots was held to zero shots on goal all game.

If Washington wants to win the series they need to find a way to wake Ovechkin up. If Ovechkin wakes up this series could end very quickly, Ovie has the skill and strength to control a series and win it. Also the Capitals need to work ont heir defense, it was a major factor in tonight’s loss. They need to play their game, which is an offensive game, keep doing what you were doing all year long. It worked during the season; they won the league title in points.

Montreal needs to keep up what they’re doing. If they can keep Ovechkin off the score sheet they have a chance at winning the series. Play the Capitals man to man and force them to make errors, it worked tonight and it will work throughout the series. Also if they continue to get the great goaltending from Halak they have a chance at winning the series

This will also be a long series. Ovechkin will wake up and cause the Habs some problems. If Halak keeps up[ the work he might be able to steal a couple more games for the Canadiens. In the end the Capitals will wake up and the offensive powerhouse will; prevail and Washington will win the series.

After Mark Recchi scored in the second to tie the game for the Bruins at one. Shortly after captain of the Sabres, Craig Rivet, scored to put Buffalo on top 2-1, the game stayed at this score and the Sabres won it 2-1.

It wasn’t that the Bruins played a horrible game, most of the game was controlled by Boston. The story of this game was how goalie Ryan Miller stole the show making 38 saves.

The Bruins outshot Buffalo in the second period 24-8 but it didn’t seem to faze the Sabres as they came out in the third and shut down the Bruins offence and doubled their shot total in third 12-6.

Some things the Bruins need to work on in order for them to be successful in the playoffs and to win this series would be: they need to find some scoring somewhere, with the loss of Phil Kessel this season Boston has struggled to score goals and finished last in goals for in the league, Michael Ryder and Miroslav Satan need to pick up that scoring role and help provide some offense for the Bruins. If rookie goal tender Tuuka Rassk keeps playing the way he did tonight stopping 32 shots, Boston won’t have any goalie problems. The major problem I seen from the Bruins tonight was lack of offense, the defense and goal tending was good if not great. You might see a long playoff run if Boston can find a scoring touch.

The Sabres need to work on getting some traffic to the front of the net, make Rassk work for his saves. The Sabres played well but not well enough, they got lucky the Bruins couldn’t finish, also Miller had an outstanding game and kept his team in it during the shooting frenzy Boston had in the second period. Buffalo needs to get more shots and get their star players into action and onto the score sheet.

This is going to be a long series and it is hard to predict who will come out on top. Both teams are very defensive which makes for a low scoring series

Downloading music is so overrated, everyone in the world does it, and they do it for free. It is perfectly legal to do this in Canada but why would you want too? You are not a true fan of the band if you download their music, if you actually cared for the band and what they do you would buy their music instead of taking it for free and not supporting them.

One of the main excuses you hear from people is the fact that they just don’t have the money to spend on a CD. SO what exactly did these people do before the internet and things like limewire and other downloading software’s., they bought the CD’s or the tapes or the eight track or the record. So don’t use that as an excuse because people have been buying music longer than they have been downloading.

Plus the whole saving up your money and buying the CD makes even that more special and exciting. There is nothing better than being in your car listening to a whole CD of your favourite band knowing you spent your hard earned money on it. With CD’s you get better quality of sound and the music seems more meaningful that way. Yes sometimes you don’t like the CD and it sucks, but that is the risk you take.

Some people may say that they only like the one song by the band or artist. Well guess what, there’s a solution for that too. You can buy single songs on Itunes and other websites online, even limewire has an updated version where you can buy songs. Usually single songs are only a dollar sometimes two.

There are no excuses to why you download music. It does happen, but we should all make an attempt and at least buy one CD a month and just notice the difference in the way you enjoy your music.

When playoff time rolls around in any sport people just start to cheer for random teams, usually teams that have performed well throughout the season and that are expected to win the championship.

This is just morally wrong and unacceptable. There is nothing worse than a person who just randomly picks a team because they are expected to win the championship. Especially if you have cheered for your favourite team all year long and they don’t make the playoffs so you cheer for another team. The worst is if your team does make the playoffs and they have an early exit so you cheer for another team.

These people are just trying to find satisfaction in winning because they know there team isn’t going to win anything so they need something to make them happy. It’s just terrible when you see someone cheering for a team and then they “ jump on the bandwagon” in the playoffs, then a couple years down the road their team that’s had a couple bad seasons starts doing well so they “jump on another bandwagon.” Pick your team stick with it, don’t make real sports fans hate you.

Sit down enjoy the game don’t cheer for anyone. It is more relaxing that way. Maybe enter a playoff pool and cheer for the players you have in that pool. But don’t go jumping form team to team. You are not a real sports fan if you do that. You can like other teams and the way they play or even players on that team. But you can’t be switching up your favourite teams, especially if that team is always the best team and always wins everything.

Growing up as Canadian you are pretty much forced into a world of snow and ice. As kid you learn to skate before you can walk. Once you learn to skate your father, grandfather, grandmother or mother puts that stick in your hand and you feel as free as can be. You just skate around the pond not knowing really what to do but you just know your having fun.

When you get a bit older you start watching professional hockey. You find your favourite team and you stick with that team through and through. Usually on that team is your favourite player. Once you start watching these professionals you start to idealize them on the ice and on the street. When you play pick up hockey on the ice or on the street you call what player you want to be and act like him when you play.

In a Canadian winter kids of all ages even adults play hockey on the outdoor rink or on the pond or a frozen lake. You slap on the blades go out don’t keep score and have a good time. Even some play fighting is involved.

As a Canadian you are born to love the game, it just comes natural, it flows in the blood. People always wonder how our Canadian National team does so well at international hockey event. How we can be so clutch in those big moments in hockey games. It’s because we grow up living those moments on the street and on the pond. How many of you can remember playing a game on the street calling overtime and scoring that overtime goal to win.

We’ve done it so many times in our lives that it just comes natural. It’s called Canadian heart and passion, you learn to never give up that too much is never enough. It’s Canadian hockey, there’s nothing else like it.

The Blackhawks failed to acquire a much-needed goaltender at this years trade deadline. While many people are saying that Chicago can win the Stanley cup this year, it won’t happen with the poor goaltender they are getting of late.

Chicago has the power up to score multiple goals and a solid defensive core, but the one thing they are lacking is good goaltending. All year they have been switching between their backup goalie Anti Niemi and Cristobal Huet and have yet to find their main guy. Niemi is a rookie this year, where Huet is a veteran in the league.

The Hawks needed to get a goalie for their playoff run. It will be very hard for the team to have any success in the playoffs if they are getting the goaltending they are having right now. Huet has been pulled out of the net in his last two starts allowing eight goals against.

If Huet decides he wants to play like he used to when he was back in Montreal, and when he was in the playoffs for Washington, Chicago will have a very legitimate chance of winning the cup. If he continues to play the way he is now, Chicago will find themselves having an early exit form the 2010 playoffs.

Some real cup contenders now are the Washington Capitals who acquired some playoff grit and some great third line players. The only thing that might hold them back is their goaltending. The Pittsburgh Penguins have a very good chance of making a repeat. With the acquisition of Alexi Ponikarovski, who provides them with some solid secondary scoring, their goaltending is excellent and the players have proven to be great playoff guys.

I’m not writing San Jose out of my books yet, but from what’s happened past years, they fail to deliver in the playoffs. They have an outstanding season but when it comes to the playoffs they fall way to short due to poor performances from key players

Canadian’s buy bottled water, but why are we paying for it, and why is it so much? Considering the fact that water is a natural resource and a necessity for us to live, we shouldn’t have to pay for it. Yes there is tap water that is free, but it really isn’t that good tasting, and there is a lot of chlorine in it which can’t be to healthy on the body.

The average bottle of water costs around $1.75 for 500 ml. But some bottled water can go for $4.00 a bottle. If company’s want to charge us for water it should not be this expensive, who cares if the water comes from the great lakes or a glacier. Its water and it should be free. But it is sold in stores and there are people working in the distributors, so yes we do have to pay for it, but it shouldn’t be so much money.

Why is it that you can go to a store and buy a bottle of water for $1.75 but yet when you go to a event of some sort, say a concert or a sports event, you end up having to pay double or even triple that amount. You are getting the same product and same amount, but your paying more for it.

People in other countries struggle every day for clean water and here are companies in our country making us pay for something we can get for free. And not only are they making us pay for it they are over charging us for it.

There is absolutely no reason for these companies to charge so much for a bottle of water, you pay the same price for a bottle of water as you do for a bottle of pop, sometimes even more for a bottle water than you do for a pop.

And with all this money these companies are making off of us, over charging us, and all. You would think they could spare a few dollars and a few bottles of water for those countries that struggle every day for clean water.

The water companies need to have a reality check and stop charging so much for bottled water, it should be free, and they need to look into helping out other countries with some water.

Ever since the release of Xbox 360, the PS3 and the Nintendo Wii, we have been introduced into a world of gamers. It seems as though everyone these days is playing video games. Not only are kids playing video games but also middle age adults have even joined in on the fun.

With the Xbox 360 there are games for all types of people of all ages. The gaming experience is great with every game. The online gaming has really taken off with the Xbox 360, people are even starting to buy games just for the online experience. There is even a Major League Gaming, where the best in the world, mainly in the games Halo 3 and Call of Duty battle it out in tournaments to win money. But the rise of competition in games strives companies to make more and more games with better online and better story modes.

The PS3 brings online gaming like the Xbox 360 but not quite as good experience. The best thing about the PS3 is the graphics, they are very realistic and give you the ultimate gaming experience. Another thing about the PS3 is that has a blue ray disc player built in, this attracts a lot of people to purchase it because of the graphics and the blue ray player. The PS3 offers games for all ages just like the PS3.

The Nintendo Wii created by probably the king of game consoles, Nintendo. This system brings in a huge audience, when it was first put on the shelves it was next to impossible to find it, stores were constantly sold out. This is because of its unique control, the Wiimote and nun chuck. A lot of mid age adults play the Wii because of its games. The Wiifit and the and Wiiisports are probably the biggest games for the system. Also the Wii is great for children, a lot of its games are directed towards children.

With such superior gaming abilities, this is why we are seeing such a thriving market in gaming. With graphics at the top of its game and games with excellent story modes and online game play, this brings in a huge market and has brought gaming to another level.

Blogger, Taya Knight, is challenging people to not spend one frivolous dollar in the month of March.

The Canadian blogger is encouraging people to not spend any money on unnecessary things. Knight did it herself a few years ago. She didn’t spend any money for a month other than bills and groceries.

This is a great idea. Even if you can’t do the challenge, try to set a budget for yourself. Find out what your spending a month on unnecessary items and try to only spend half that. If you do this each month you will end up meeting that overall goal of not spending a single dollar.

With today’s money problems, this challenge is the perfect thing for people who are finding themselves waste deep in debt. So why not save a little cash and pay those bills that are haunting you.

Not only is this a great way of saving some money. It’s a great way of putting new challenges on yourself, if you succeed in your challenges you feel better about yourself.

Saving money always seems to be a problem for most people. Even people with millions of dollars have trouble saving money. Its all about spending money within your means. If you don’t have the money don’t buy something because you will find yourself in some serious debt. You are much better off to save the money and then go buy it, if you do it that way it will feel like you earned it and you won’t be in debt.

Another great way to not spend money is to not impulse buy. If you see something you like, think about it before buying it. Try not to just see something, pick it up and purchase it. Think about why you need and do you really need it.

Try not to use a credit card for everything, this is what really puts you in debt especially if you miss a payment. Have one credit card and only use it for large purchases and after you make that purchase, start saving up so when the bill comes you can pay it off right away.

If you try the challenge you will find you have a lot more money at the end of the month and you will also find you aren’t in as much debt as you were before, because the money you would have used buying frivolous things will have gone to paying off some of your bills. This is a great challenge and very beneficial at the end of the month.



After Marc Savard of the Boston Bruins got taken off the ice on a stretcher Sunday, after a hit from Matt Cooke of the Pittsburgh Penguins.

There was no penalty call on the play, but there needs to be a suspension issued to Matt Cooke, this was clearly a head shot.

The NHL needs to look into this hit more closely and issue a suspension. Headshots in the NHL need to be taken out, by sending a message to the players and everyone who watches hockey, that these types of hits are unacceptable in today’s game.

This hit was a clear elbow to the head and caused forward Marc Savard to loose consciousness for a while on the ice. This isn’t the first time Matt Cooke has hit someone in the head. He is a repeat offender and the NHL should be looking into that, and suspend Cooke for a fair amount of time.

Hits like this have no business being in the NHL they need to be taken out and the only way that they can be taken out is by issuing suspensions for hits like this.

Yes Marc Savard did have his head down, and players are responsible for keeping their head up and making sure they don’t get hit like this. But he was shooting the puck and Cooke came out of nowhere and elbowed him in the head.

This isn’t the first time we’ve seen a head shot this year and it probably won’t be the last. We seen Mike Richards head shot on David Booth, Richards didn’t get a suspension after the hit.

If Matt Cooke has a history of headshots you have to think it was a pre-meditated hit. Although he says he didn’t know he hit him in the head and that it felt it was shoulder to shoulder. It wasn’t and Cooke needs to be held accountable for his actions, headshots are becoming a problem in the NHL and the only way to stop hits like this is to start issuing suspensions.

The NHL is looking into the hit and it is up to them if they want to hand out a suspension. If they want to get rid of headshots they would be best to give Cooke a suspension or else players will think they can get away with hits like this. Also Cooke is a repeat offender.