Wednesday's notes: Vancouver's Rypien goes Wild in Minnesota

by Dirk Hoag on Oct 20, 2010 8:03 AM EDT

Cheer up, Predators fans. Yes, the guys lost another winnable game last night in overtime, and yes, one of our star defenseman left due to injury, but... um... well... hey! Pekka Rinne looked great last night!

After the jump we've got lots of hockey news to distract from last night's game. Besides reaction from around the blogosphere, we have a Vancouver player going after a fan in Minnesota (with video), and a look at a new jersey for the Anaheim Ducks...

Sidney Crosby & the Pittsburgh Penguins play the Preds at Bridgestone Arena on Thursday. Use this special offer for OtF readers to save money on Nashville Predators tickets for this, or any other home game this season.

Nashville Predators News

Weber’s strength is easy to see - Vancouver Sun
In a profile piece on Nashville's new captain, Vicki Hall highlights the personal loss he suffered over the summer.

3-0-2, Game Recap | PredsBlog
Sam gives some credit to Kevin Klein for stepping up in Suter's absence.

Preds On The Glass: Kiprusoff Out-duels Rinne in 1-0 Loss for Preds
The lack of goal-scoring almost had Ryan nodding off...

Nashville Predators lose more than a game Tuesday night - Nashville Predators Examiner
Jim Diamonds notes that pretty much only Steve Sullivan showed some fire in response to Sarich's aggression last night.

Hockey Night in Nashville: Injury Strikes Again; Preds Give Another Point Away
Robby speculates about a temporary partner for Shea Weber, and decides on ABK - anybody but Klein.

The View from 111: Flames Frustrate Predators With a 1-0 OT win
Mark cites the lack of power play results as playing a key role in the loss.

Preds lose Suter early, then lose to Flames in OT… | Section 303
Probably the best thing I heard about last night was Anders Lindback's appearance on the Megatron...

Predators Stay Undefeated In Regulation, Losing Again In OT - Predlines
Amanda notes that at least the Preds continued picking up point despite losing both games and players.

Suter Injured | Admirals Roundtable
Ryan mulls over the options for a callup from Milwaukee to shore up the Preds blueline. We'd assume that Alexander Sulzer will play, but they may still call up a 7th D.

Predators lose another player, another game in overtime | Nashville City Paper
Here's an interesting tidbit from David Boclair - the Preds have already lost as many OT games (OT, not shootout) as they did all last season.

Postgame ponderings - Predators Insider
Josh Cooper wonders if having Wade Belak in the lineup might have slowed Cory Sarich down. Personally, I doubt it.

Around the NHL

Rick Rypien's Fan Appreciation Night - Nucks Misconduct
Vancouver's Rypien can expect a long suspension after he get into it with a Minnesota fan (video below).

Rypien faces disciplinary action after going at fan - The Province
Rypien's teammate Manny Malhotra sticks up for his fellow Canuck, but gets his facts all wrong in the process.

Let's all get over the hate for Alex Kovalev - Silver Seven
Panic is breaking out in Ottawa, and some are focusing on high-priced puck dangler Alex Kovalev as a target for criticism.

Versteeg on a learning curve - The Globe and Mail
Toronto's off to a good start, but Kris Versteeg will need to provide scoring punch if it's going to continue.

Late Roster Additions Are Hit Or Miss - From The Rink
Cory looks at the players who joined each team just before the start of the season, and how they're doing for their new squads. Shane O'Brien appears to be fitting in well here.

Hockey dads (and moms) told to chill - The Globe and Mail
Calgary officials are trying to get parents of youth hockey players to tone things down a little.

Former Referee Calls for Outlawing of Hits to the Head - NYTimes.com
Kerry Fraser is speaking out against the NHL's tolerance of dangerous hits. The league says all the right things about player safety, but you do have to wonder about the glacial pace of change when it comes to dealing with head shots.

Team Canada hopefuls: Part Deux - Buzzing The Net
Examining the prospects for Preds prospect Charles-Olivier Roussel to make Team Canada's entry at the World Juniors.

Leaked: New Anaheim Ducks third jersey by Reebok - Puck Daddy
Meh...

Down Goes Brown: A transcript of every hockey game ever broadcast
What? No fading-out-of-focus shot of an empty net before a late 3rd-period faceoff?

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Comments

Totally agree with Jim Diamond's story

Teams will continue to come after Preds players until we stand up for ourselves. Its time for us to do some headhunting of our own or SOB or Toots to crack some heads so that some of these teams lay off. The NHL and the refs are not going to handle the situation. I think there is no better time than to knock the golden boy Crosby out tomorrow night.

by ablairnash on Oct 20, 2010 8:53 AM EDT reply actions

DISAGREE

We don’t need to go headhunting of star players as a show of standing up to our own. What they need to do (since the NHL WON’T) is IMMEDIATELY step up and punish the player who has attacked us. Going after Crosby is not how you show we’re tough. We show how tough we are by making a statement that dirty hits on our players will not be taken lightly.

TN Sports fan in Hoosier Country....

by Evanbio on Oct 20, 2010 9:10 AM EDT up reply actions 1 recs

I agree 100%

It’s slightly better with O’Brien in that he clears folks away from the net in an expedited manner but it’s almost like our guys don’t want to retaliate for fear of taking a penalty.

by Tim P on Oct 20, 2010 9:16 AM EDT up reply actions

Whooooooooooa, there, tiger. There’s a big difference between someone standing up for Franson getting clocked in the face and targeting Sidney Crosby specifically for no reason. I’m an advocate of the first scenario, to an extent – Weber or O’Brien should’ve politely let Sarich know that the next time he tries that, he’ll get his lunch fed to him.

Targeting star players just to hit someone is not how you show you’re tough – lets show we’re tough by winning the hockey game.

by Chris Burton on Oct 20, 2010 9:42 AM EDT up reply actions

Blah

Yall always take all the fun out of everything. LOL. I still dislike Crosby. ; )

by ablairnash on Oct 20, 2010 10:05 AM EDT up reply actions

Our Number 6

Should have killed their number 6. No doubt he could have. Someone really needed to take a run at Sarich last night. I thought O’brien was going to fight him after their dust up going into one of the periods. I thought for sure they would fight immediately when the next period started.

by 29thWard on Oct 20, 2010 10:16 AM EDT up reply actions

LOL Yeah Yeah Yeah..

Your are probably right. I was just kidding about the headhunting, we can’t stoop to goon level. I still would love to see Crosby squirming down on the ice. evil grin : )

by ablairnash on Oct 20, 2010 9:23 AM EDT reply actions

Rypien video

You hear that announcer say that fans can’t reach over? It is clear that the fan is just clapping when Rypien decides to break the fan/player barrier. Sure his friend decides to step in and defend him, but that’s after Rypien has started it. Rypien is an animal. Should have expected this from a Canuck.

by 29thWard on Oct 20, 2010 10:12 AM EDT reply actions

Yeah what is up with that

How stupid can you get if your Rypien. You have to expect that the fans are going to razz you. You have to just walk to the dressing room.

by ablairnash on Oct 20, 2010 10:19 AM EDT up reply actions

I hate it when announcers show blatant favoritism for their team and simply LIE about what is happening on video. Do they think we can’t see what’s happening with our own eyes?

by Lil cutie on Oct 20, 2010 12:15 PM EDT up reply actions

belak

We needed him last night. I think it was a smart decision for obrien and weber to not fight and take an already hurting d corps down to 4 guys for at least 5 mins, and possibly more.

"It's gonna be fun on the bun."

by flyalder on Oct 20, 2010 11:09 AM EDT via mobile reply actions

I would have liked to see a fight. Maybe energized the crowd and the team. Also, you don’t have to fight to send a message. A couple stiff checks would have done the same thing. Someone needed to keep Sarich honest and we didn’t. As a result, he took liberties on our players. He kept taking what we and the refs would give him.

by 29thWard on Oct 20, 2010 11:15 AM EDT up reply actions