Unstoppable?

Another thing I am quite interested in is icehockey. But only NHL and none of those boring European leagues. I pretty much like the Buffalo Sabres, the team of fellow Austrian Thomas Vanek. He was drafted 2003 as overall #5 pick in the 1st round by the team from the state of New York. Last season they surprised almost every expert and made their way right into the Conference finals (similar to the semifinals in other sports). Being haunted by some serious injury problems within their defensive lines (during those seven games against later Stanley Cup champions Carolina Hurricanes) they were forced to play without four of their top5-defenders during the semifinals. And nonetheless it was a tight and close battle they unluckily lost.

This season, the Sabres are the hottest team in the NHL, winning six games out of their opening six games, scoring unbelievable 31 goals. Yesterday the Flyers from Phily had to suffer from the strength of their opponents, being trashed 1-9. Those are the scorers from yesterday (TV played in a line with Derek Roy [2G] and "Max" Afinogenov [1G 4A]):

1-0 Vanek (Max, Numminen)
2-0 Spacek (Briere, Numminen)
3-0 Drury (Gaustad, Briere)
4-0 Roy (Vanek)
5-0 Tallinder (Lydman, Max)
6-0 Max (Kotalik)
7-1 Roy (Max, Vanek)
8-1 Novotny (Kotalik, Lydman) 9-1 Vanek (Max, Campbell)


It seems like Vanek finally arrived in the NHL after a quite sloppy first season - he made nearly 50 points, but his +/- stats were awfully bad and his defensive play was disliked very much by his coach, Lindy Ruff (the longest active coach at the same team in the NHL). So he was dropped to the bench before the deciding playoff games last season - which seemingly incited him more than it disappointed him. Now he's already +5 up and has scored three goals and four assists within only six games so far. I believe that he can become a true (super?)star - not only measured by Austrian standards, but also by NHL standards. He's only 22 years old and has got the speed, the endurance and the technique to outplay almost every opponent. Nevermind, he will probably never reach the level of Ovechkin or Crosby (two very much hyped wizkids), but if you ask me he's up for 60-70 points every season (excluding playoff stats).

I also very much appreciate the Toronto Maple Leafs, although they are a direct opponent of the Sabres in the Northeast Division. But considering the facts that I love the city of Toronto and that my father brought me some memorabilia from his trip to Canada in 2000, I have to slur over all of that rivalry by those two teams from the North and the South side of Lake Ontario. Mats Sundin, the Swedish captain of the Leafs, has lately reached the 500 career goalmark by scoring the deciding OT goal shorthanded (!) against the Calgary Flames last Saturday. I'd really love to see both teams playing each other in the Eastern Conference Finals. Since Premiere has lost its rights to broadcast NHL games, I pretty much get into watching streams on the internet - well, the quality could well be improved, but nonetheless you get to see all the action and furthermore many funny American TV ad's. Especially, I love these two which connect both advantages:

Peter Forsberg - Game On!
Jonathan Cheechoo - Game On!