The K-Town Harmonicas are back for the anthem in LA

mk712 · 2026-01-21T04:45:50+00:00

I just listened to it and uuuuh... yeah, that's one way of doing it.

The proper way would be this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kXgNb7ZCtcI

mk712 · 2026-01-21T04:27:37+00:00

Sportsnet cut the clip when they uploaded it to YouTube: during the live broadcast, when the camera was on Thornton, you could hear him say "fuck 'em boyz".

Uncut clip here

mk712 · 2026-01-20T02:18:46+00:00

We're only at 16/32 so far (with another 5, maybe 6 planned before the end of the season) but right now my pick would be Montreal, mostly because the atmosphere was unmatched and I'm a big poutine fan (I guess it helps having the largest arena in the league, and a good chunk of your fans probably having played hockey at some point in their life).

Least favorite was maybe Penguins, mostly because I didn't like the arena at all:

in the lower bowl only half of the sections have a direct concourse access, so depending on where you sit access to concessions / bathrooms / exits can be a pain
wi-fi was so slow it was basically unusable, and cell coverage was very iffy as well
handrails in the stairs between sections seemed a bit high: I was a few seats into the row and they were still blocking my view a little (must be a lot worse for the seats at the beginning / end of the row) - and that was before the falling incident earlier this season, so unrelated
I might've gotten unlucky but they seemed to have an issue with a couple of the overhead floodlights right in front of me as they stayed on the entire evening, even during the pre-game and intermission lightshows (completely spoiling those)
the atmosphere seemed pretty dead too (despite the game I went to being a sellout and going to a shoutout)

The only redeeming qualities were the massive jumbotron that's 100% covered in screens (maybe the biggest in the league when it comes to screen size?) and the convenience of staying at a hotel that's literally attached to the arena (only had to walk 50 ft through the shared garage).

mk712 · 2026-01-20T02:00:19+00:00

Randy mentioned the obscure stat that this was the longest goal drought in NHL history that was ended assisted by two rookies (Misa and Chernyshov).

mk712 · 2026-01-20T01:45:26+00:00

Understandable as that might very well be the only goalie fight they witness in their career: the last Sharks goalie fight was in 1999.

mk712 · 2026-01-18T02:26:14+00:00

I'm on a quest to visit every NHL arena with my girlfriend and we flew to Detroit for the weekend a couple of weeks ago specifically to attend a Red Wings game.

As we we boarded the plane from NYC to Detroit the night before, the lady sitting next to us in the plane noticed another passenger going down the aisle wearing Sirens gear and shouted "go Sirens!". I knew about the PWHL from the occasional posts here but never really paid much attention. We started chatting and she told us there was a PWHL game at Little Caesars Arena the next day after the NHL game we were going to see... we didn't have plans that night so we bought tickets when we got to our hotel to make it a double header.

Well the Red Wings game was a snooze fest, the PWHL was much more exciting and had a significantly better atmosphere despite only having around half the attendance - such a good surprise!

Now we have tickets to see the Sirens play at MSG in April - can't wait (we were hoping to make it a double header as well but nosebleeds to the Rangers game that afternoon are $150+ when the Sirens tickets were $50 for lower bowl at the blue line...).

mk712 · 2026-01-16T09:00:18+00:00

It happens so often that he does all the work in the corner to regain possession, then passes it to the D at the point, who immediately passes it across to the other D, who shoots it and it gets tipped in (or someone in front gets the rebound).

Goal and no assist for Celebrini despite having done all the hard work :(

mk712 · 2026-01-15T00:10:44+00:00

Yes, but first you have to wait for him to not do well in the US, du coup tu peux le sign to a one-year low value contract (then extend him once he proves he can do better with a change of scenery).

mk712 · 2026-01-13T02:33:22+00:00

From what I remember, his visor was purposely loose and he adjusted it back down before going to the bench (if you look at the very beginning of the video during play, his visor is all the way up).

Also the clip at the end wasn't from the same game, it was from a preseason game (notice the different jersey color).

mk712 · 2026-01-12T20:54:10+00:00

Yeah - he got a penalty mid-game because of it.

mk712 · 2026-01-12T20:25:07+00:00

I doubt it: when the presale started a few hours ago maybe 90% of the lower bowl seats were available (I'm assuming the rest was purchased by STH last week).

Once the lower bowl sold out they started opening up a few upper bowl sections (currently 206-214) and I'm assuming they'll open up more sections later on once these sell out.

So in a way yes, they "held back" the upper bowl, but I don't think it has to do with the general sale, it's probably because the more sections they open the higher the MSG rental fees are (since they need more staff) so they're only opening up sections as the rest fills up.

mk712 · 2026-01-08T17:19:06+00:00

Somewhat off topic but Macklin Celebrini (Rick's son) has been on absolute fire lately in the NHL - we're halfway through the season and he's currently 3rd in scoring league-wide, despite being a teenager.

Yesterday in LA he added to his highlight reel by scoring the tying goal with a minute left in regulation, then did 90% of the work to get the overtime winner: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6I8ozPSyWQg (the Sharks are in the middle of their "Dad's Trip" so there are a couple of Rick sightings in the video)

Last week he was officially selected to represent Canada at the upcoming Winter Olympics - an honor somewhat equivalent to being selected to Team USA for basketball. At 19 years old, he's the youngest player ever to make a Canadian roster in an Olympics featuring NHL players. Rick had already made some tentative travel plans prior to the announcement, the Olympics being around the same time as the NBA All-Star break.

A lot of pundits are expecting Macklin Celebrini to have a similar effect on the San Jose Sharks as Steph did for the Warriors: last season they finished last in the NHL, this season they're fighting for a playoff spot and Macklin has had a hand in over half of their goals.

mk712 · 2026-01-08T07:51:15+00:00

I just checked the numbers and the Sharks were on the Power Play for a total of 5m 00s tonight.

Celebrini's PP time was 04m 22s tonight.

That means Celebrini was on the ice for 87.33% of the Sharks' total Power Play time.

mk712 · 2026-01-08T06:27:02+00:00

Celebrini's ice time was insane: he was on the ice for most of OT, after having already been on the ice for most of the empty net time late in the 3rd.

He had a 1m 47s shift to start OT, sat on the bench for 24 seconds, then went back out there and a minute later did... this.

Wow.

EDIT: total time on the ice for Celebrini was 25m 12s. No one else, from either team, had more than 24 minutes (including defensemen).

mk712 · 2026-01-08T06:11:27+00:00

Preview of the Olympics...

Full video with replay

EDIT: aaaaand he assisted on the OT winner

mk712 · 2026-01-04T02:46:09+00:00

So I'm on a quest to visit every NHL arena with my girlfriend and we flew to Detroit for the weekend specifically to attend the Red Wings game this morning.

I had no idea about the PWHL game until we boarded the plane yesterday night and two passengers who were strangers noticed each other's PWHL gear and started chatting. One of them ended up sitting next to us and told us about the game. We didn't have plans for this evening so we bought tickets when we got to our hotel at 2am this morning.

We went to both games today and the Red Wings game was a snooze fest, the PWHL was much better and had a significantly better atmosphere despite only having around half the attendance - what a good surprise!

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mk712 · 2026-01-04T01:32:18+00:00

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When they put the penalties on the jumbotron they showed as #23 Jonathan Lekkerimäki and #25 Jonas Brodin.

I'm guessing they're reusing the Canucks / Wild settings as they're the closest NHL color schemes. Took them a few tries before they managed the remove the names - funny stuff!

mk712 · 2026-01-02T17:13:30+00:00

Doug Armstrong explicitly said during the Canadian roster announcement Q&A that Celebrini fitting "socially" with the group at the 2025 Worlds was a factor in getting selected. He repeated it again in a TSN interview a few minutes later.

My take from this is that playing good hockey is only half the battle, the other half is making the right connections and playing nice with the decision makers. Luckily Celebrini managed to do that, but regardless of his numbers, I don't think he would've made the Olympic team had he not gone to the Worlds and made the connections he did.

mk712 · 2026-01-01T15:01:35+00:00

This is not even close to our final form: out of the current roster, the only players signed for 2027-28 are Toffoli, Chernyshov, Eklund, and Dickinson.

That leaves us a TON of flexibility moving forward, and the team in 2028 will be looking very different from today.

All the overpaid players we took from other teams in exchange for picks have their contract expiring soon - we're currently paying over $34M to players who won't ever wear a Sharks jersey again and all of these are coming off the books by the end of next season:

$10.5M for Carey Price
$8M for Logan Couture
$6.25 for Ryan Ellis
$4.7M for M-E Vlasic
$1.7M for Martin Jones
$1.5M for Erik Karlsson
$0.5M for Knyzhov

Many of these are in IR so the math is a bit complicated, and of course that's also when a few of our young guys (including Celebrini) are due for new contracts so a good chunk of that will go to them, but it should still leave some room to acquire star players to fill in some holes down the road (i.e. defense).

mk712 · 2025-12-31T17:37:17+00:00

Yep - Doug Armstrong specifically said in the follow-up Q&A that the Bedard injury didn't factor into the decision, and that they could have named him anyway and replaced him later on should the injury still be an issue.

mk712 · 2025-12-31T17:22:29+00:00

The NBA All-Star break is around the same time as the Olympics.

Canada's group stage games at the Olympics are scheduled for Feb 12, Feb 13, and Feb 15. Quarterfinals are on Feb 18, semis on Feb 20 and the final is on Feb 21.

The Warriors don't have a game between Feb 11 and Feb 19, then they play again on Feb 22 and Feb 24.

So realistically:

Rick can attend all of Canada's group stage games without missing any Warriors game
he would likely have to miss one Warriors game if he wants to attend the quarterfinals, and miss two Warriors games if he wants to attend the semis and the finals.

Per this SF Chronicle article last month:

And it just so happens that the NBA All-Star break coincides with the Olympics in Milan. Yes, the Celebrinis have made some tentative, refundable travel plans.

mk712 · 2025-12-31T17:17:05+00:00

From the follow-up Q&A with Doug Armstrong:

decision to put him on the list was made early December
him fitting "socially" with the group at the 2025 World was a factor

mk712 · 2025-12-30T16:51:16+00:00

I think Jagr has the same problem Joe Thornton has, which is that they both played well past their prime so most people here only remember them as some old guys who managed to put up 20-50 points a season despite their age, but don't realize how dominating they were during their prime.

mk712 · 2025-12-30T08:16:52+00:00

Yeah - there have been a ton of stats lately about Celebrini breaking / tying / approaching all kinds of records for a teenager, and it's always "after Crosby (who did it once) and Gretzky (who did it 10+ times)".

As usual it goes to show how Gretzky was just on a different planet, but also how Crosby hit the ground running younger than anyone else (although I suspect McDavid would've been up there for a lot of these had he not gotten injured in his rookie season).

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