We Got It

It took a few days but the KHL is the first to deliver.  Not like that is important since they started first anyway.




This comes from the Barys and Severstal game played today.  It happened early on in the game oddly enough because the game ended in favor of Barys by a 10-1 score with no altercations after.  The player in blue is Josh Gratton.  If you can tell, he is not Russian.  He has had an interesting career from the ECHL to the NHL.  He even is what you could say a veteran of the KHL but played in what I consider the minor Russian league last season.  But the former Flyer is back in the top league and looking for dance partners.

AROUND EUROPE

The Austrian league is the only league (that I follow) to have started the season (England started as well but will only contribute brawling to this site).  One game was played yesterday and four today.  Should I even continue to mention that a former Hershey player scored both days?  I'll stop at some point since it will continually be the same guys.  However, Curtis Fraser picked up the first hat trick in the game from yesterday.

The KHL tilt came just in time as in the second day of action for the Austrian league they too had a fight that featured players without North American ties.  Florian Pedevilla got into the scrap.  I mention him because he also played last season for Innsbruck and picked up 99 penalty minutes with a scrap.

RANDOMNESS

Let's remember my great presumption of Kovalchuk leading the KHL in points.  After a solid team showing in the first game of the season but Kovalchuk himself not getting any points, the team put in six goals today.  And guess who did the scoring.  Anybody not named Kovalchuk.  Another zero point game for him.  I should know better than to take a Russian even in a Russian league.

There is nothing like making a bold statement after one whole game which is kinda what I did with Medvescak.  I loved their play making ability and toughness with all thee former AHL players.  After the domination in their first game I thought it was on.  Today they lost 5-1.  Oops.

HC Bolzano is the newest addition to the Austrian league from Italy.  They are the first team to join from Italy that I know of because I'm not going to look into it.  If you are unaware, Italy isn't exactly a breeding ground for hockey and the teams generally tend to be mediocre.  Don't tell that to this team.  They won their first game today 6-1.  I will stop short of going on a rant of how good this team will be after seeing what happens when I did that last time.

Germany and Switzerland begin this week to round out Europe.  AND... Canadian juniors kicks off this week which allows me the ability to follow all the NHL picks and potential picks along with the craziness of 15-19 year olds.