Recently by Justin Piercy

• PHI VS NJ Did You See That: Anton Volchenkov left crumpled by Flyers New Jersey Devils defenceman Anton Volchenkov dished it out, but then he took it back two-fold from the Philadelphia Flyers in Game 5 on Tuesday. Posted: Tuesday, May 8, 2012 | 08:01 PM
• PHI VS NJ Did You See That: Giroux's check to the head of Zubrus The dying seconds of the second period in Newark, N.J. on Sunday night featured a nasty hit by Claude Giroux on the Devils' Dainus Zubrus. Posted: Sunday, May 6, 2012 | 09:19 PM
• NYR VS WAS Did You See That: Alex Ovechkin's hit on Dan Girardi Alex Ovechkin figured out a way to keep the Rangers' Dan Girardi from shadowing him. Too bad for the Capitals it was because the Washington sniper was in the penalty box after his leaping hit drew a charging call. Posted: Saturday, May 5, 2012 | 01:58 PM
• STL vs LA Did You See That: Kopitar burns Blues shorthanded Anze Kopitar must've seen the pronouncement that Martin Hanzal and Radim Vrbata had the prettiest goal in the post-season thus far, because the Kings' forward made a case for that title on Monday. Posted: Monday, April 30, 2012 | 09:52 PM
• PHO vs NSH Did You See That: Vrbata's reverse 5-hole pass to Hanzal The Coyotes and the Predators are lighting the lamp in the desert on Sunday night, but (arguably) the prettiest goal thus far must be a great effort by Phoenix forward Radim Vrbata to teammate Martin Hanzal. Posted: Sunday, April 29, 2012 | 09:32 PM
• NYR VS OTT Did You See That: Spezza hit high by Staal The Ottawa Senators' Jason Spezza left Game 4 of his team's series with New York after receiving a high hit from Rangers' defenceman Marc Staal. Posted: Wednesday, April 18, 2012 | 09:15 PM
• PHX VS CHI Did You See That: Marian Hossa leaves Game 3 on a stretcher The Blackhawks' Marian Hossa left the ice on a stretcher on Tuesday in Chicago after taking a hit from the Phoenix Coyotes' Raffi Torres. Posted: Tuesday, April 17, 2012 | 09:45 PM
• Hockey Night in Canada Did You See That: Giroux, Crosby as dance partners Not much is known about Pittsburgh Penguins captain Sidney Crosby's ability to dance, but he chose to tango with Philadelphia Flyers sniper Claude Giroux on Sunday. Posted: Sunday, April 15, 2012 | 05:26 PM
• NSH VS DET Did You See That: The Mule harpoons a Predator It's only the third game of the playoffs for Johan Franzen and the Detroit Red Wings, but if you look at the wear and tear his face has taken (black eye, nose stuffed with gauze for Game 2), you'd think it was the final round. So maybe all that abuse is why he was so steamed and quite liberal with the use of his stick when Nashville's David Legwand tried to slow him up from the wrong side of the Predators' bench on Sunday afternoon in Detroit. Posted: Sunday, April 15, 2012 | 01:51 PM
• NYR VS OTT Did You See That: Carkner, Dubinsky tossed from Game 2 Madison Square Garden, the 'world's most famous arena,' has seen its fair share of fights, and anyone looking at the starting lineups for Game 2 of the the Ottawa Senators and New York Rangers series on Saturday night knew they might see a scrap or two (or three). Posted: Saturday, April 14, 2012 | 07:30 PM
• First Round An anthem for Canadian hockey fans From our friends at CBC's Irrelevant Show, a song for Canadian hockey fans -- especially if your team recently lost in the Stanley Cup finals. (We're talking to you, Edmonton, Calgary, Ottawa and Vancouver.) Posted: Wednesday, April 11, 2012 | 11:59 PM
• First Round Did You See That: Ilya Bryzgalov's fear of bears While the Pittsburgh Penguins may or may not have been aware of his bear-phobia, hanging three goals on Flyers goalie Ilya Bryzgalov in the first period may have been the best way to make him feel edgy about penguins wearing skates. Posted: Wednesday, April 11, 2012 | 11:00 PM
• NHL Western Conference goalie storylines Arguably the most important position on a hockey team, the role of the goaltender is not one to be taken lightly (right, Ilya Bryzgalov?). While the team itself has its own story of how it got to the playoffs, there is a spotlight shining - at times blindingly - in the blue paint. In this edition, we present the tales of the goaltenders of the Western Conference. Posted: Sunday, April 8, 2012 | 10:25 PM
• NHL Eastern Conference goalie storylines Arguably the most important position on a hockey team, the role of the goaltender is not one to be taken lightly (right, Ilya Bryzgalov?). While the team itself has its own story of how it got to the playoffs, there is a spotlight shining - at times blindingly - in the blue paint.In this edition, we present the tales of the goaltenders of the Eastern Conference. Posted: Sunday, April 8, 2012 | 07:00 PM
• NHL 2012 NHL 1st round playoff matchups finalized The NHL regular season came to a close on Saturday, finalizing the playoff matchups. Here's how the teams stack up against one another. Posted: Sunday, April 8, 2012 | 01:13 AM
• NHL Did You See That: Meltdown in Steeltown USA If anyone forgot how much the Philadelphia Flyers and Pittsburgh Penguins dislike one another, well - that person was the April Fool on Sunday. The Flyers won 6-4, but not before a melee erupted with less than two minutes remaining, which included Peter Laviolette climbing onto the area separating the benches to give Penguins head coach Dan Bylsma a piece of his mind - oh, and a Hulk Hogan impression from the Flyers' Scott Hartnell...to a Hulk Hogan impersonator. Posted: Sunday, April 1, 2012 | 05:47 PM
• NHL Did You See That: Flyers' Simmonds scores off his face Ask any player whose team is trailing 3-0 on home ice and they'd say they would lay their body on the line to get their team going and back into the game.Unfortunately for the Philadelphia Flyers' Wayne Simmonds, that interpretation became quite literal, as he took a puck off the face that deflected past Ottawa's Craig Anderson in Philadelphia on Saturday afternoon. Posted: Saturday, March 31, 2012 | 04:00 PM
• NHL Did You See That: Fight Night at Madison Square Garden When the New York Rangers and New Jersey Devils played on Feb. 7 at Madison Square Garden, the game started with two fights at the same time, just two seconds into the game.How do you top something like that?Easy. Three fights. In the first three seconds. Posted: Monday, March 19, 2012 | 08:48 PM
• NHL Did You See That: Boll, Bogosian deal devastating hits Brendan Shanahan may have a busy Monday. At least two plays on Sunday night may deserve a closer look by the NHL's disciplinarian, the first being an 'illegal check to the head' penalty on Jared Boll for a reverse elbow to the face of the Flames' Alex Tanguay that would have made Lex Luger proud. Posted: Sunday, March 18, 2012 | 10:33 PM
• NHL Did You See That: Andrei Markov's bad luck continues Missing a year and a half of hockey thanks to knee surgery, Andrei Markov played his first game since Nov. 13, 2011 on Saturday in Vancouver. The fans of the Montreal Canadiens rejoiced - their power play quarterback had returned! Injury-free! Well, sort of. Posted: Wednesday, March 14, 2012 | 09:21 PM
• NHL Did You See That: Boom goes the composite stick Chris Neil's pretty (amazing, sick, alley-oop'ish, etc.) deflection goal on Sunday night in Ottawa against the Islanders should have had a second assist added to it - whoever manufactures defenceman Mark Streit's hockey stick. Posted: Sunday, February 26, 2012 | 08:19 PM
• NHL Did You See That: NHL does the time warp, again Every second counts in the NHL. Scratch that. Every millisecond counts.With this in mind, there seem to have been a multitude of last-gasp/second goals this season, but Sunday night's game in New York between the Rangers and Columbus Blue Jackets marks the oddest disallowed goal via clock violation in some time. Posted: Monday, February 20, 2012 | 07:41 PM
• NHL Did You See That: Ref hit in face by puck We may be telling you something you already know, but stripes and a whistle won't grant you immunity to vulcanized rubber hurtling into your face. But a visor, well, that may help a little. Posted: Wednesday, February 1, 2012 | 08:25 PM
• NHL Numbers Game: Extra-time Tuesday It seems as though there were at least a few teams around the NHL so rested from the all-star break that they took it upon themselves to work as long as possible when the 2011-12 season resumed on Tuesday.In this edition of 'Numbers Game,' we take a look at a night featuring plenty of extra action for fans around the league and how teams and skaters stack up in the shootout so far this season. Posted: Wednesday, February 1, 2012 | 01:15 AM
• NHL Numbers Game: Minnesota Minutemen This week, we have a Wild rally that turned a deficit into a two-goal lead in under a minute, plus the Red Wings red-hot record at Joe Louis Arena and who the best shootout teams are so far this season. Posted: Monday, January 23, 2012 | 08:33 PM
• NHL Did You See That: Foligno's low hit on Phaneuf The latest installment of the Battle of Ontario had its fair share of pugnacious play, included amongst this was a moment that resulted in the Ottawa Senators' Nick Foligno spending two minutes in the penalty box after a hit on Maple Leafs' captain Dion Phaneuf.The question: Was the Foligno hit clipping, was it a hip check, and was it 'dirty?' Discuss. Posted: Tuesday, January 17, 2012 | 09:07 PM
• NHL Numbers Game: Shooting blanks Three goalies held their opponents off the scoresheet on Monday night: Jaroslav Halak vs. the Stars, Chris Mason vs. the Senators and Jimmy Howard vs. the Sabres. Posted: Monday, January 16, 2012 | 11:33 PM
• NHL Top 5 NHL ASG slights of 2012 Not everyone can be an All-Star, but that hasn't stopped many in the Twitterverse from railing against the selections because the apple of their hockey eye wasn't named to this year's All-Star game in Ottawa. Posted: Friday, January 13, 2012 | 01:22 PM
• NHL Winter Classic: Rivalry memories, Part II In part two of our mini-series on the history of the mutual loathing between the New York Rangers and Philadelphia Flyers franchises, current Hockey Night in Canada analyst and former Rangers goaltender Glenn Healy gives us his best memories of the clashes he took part in, including playing in front of some very intense fans at the Philadelphia Spectrum. Posted: Sunday, December 25, 2011 | 10:24 AM
• NHL Winter Classic: Rivalry memories + NYR/Flyers news As set out in my opening blog on this year's Winter Classic participants, the history of the rivalry runs deep between the New York Rangers and Philadelphia Flyers. But aside from all the stats and game sheets, there are other stories of how much these two franchises have clashed. For that reason, I asked a few people that are 'in the know' for their thoughts and for some of their best memories and stories of the rivalry. In this edition, we have some stories from Tim Panaccio, Flyers beat writer for CSNPhilly.com Posted: Tuesday, December 20, 2011 | 10:43 PM
• NHL Winter Classic: NYR, Flyers aren't wilting under spotlight Even with the pressure that accompanies being both athletes and television stars, the New York Rangers and Philadelphia Flyers have put on quite a show. The debut of the HBO's "24/7: Road to the Winter Classic" documentary happens on Wednesday night, and the two teams have given their new entourage more than the usual share of 'wow' moments, and that includes piling up the wins. Posted: Monday, December 12, 2011 | 07:05 PM
• NHL Winter Classic: Top 5 outdoor game moments The upcoming match between the Rangers and host Flyers at Citizens Bank Park on Jan. 2 will mark the fifth installment of the Winter Classic franchise and the latest foray by the NHL into the great outdoors, a place that seems to have no shortage of memory-making moments. Posted: Tuesday, December 6, 2011 | 10:49 PM
• NHL Winter Classic: Broadway vs. Broad St. With the 2012 edition of the NHL Winter Classic fast approaching, I'll be blogging periodically about the event, the two teams involved as well as their separate (yet equally rabid) fan bases that will fill Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia, Pa. on Jan. 2. In this post, let's take a look at the history between the Rangers and Flyers. Posted: Tuesday, November 29, 2011 | 02:05 PM
• NHL Winnipeg celebrates 'Jets-giving Day' They're back. Not just the Winnipeg Jets - their thousands upon thousands of loyal fans, many of whom descended on the MTS Centre in the city's downtown to take in the team's first game in over 15 years. Posted: Sunday, October 9, 2011 | 10:03 PM
• NHL Now and Then: Winnipeg fans & their favourite Jets There's a certain attribute held by the fans of the Winnipeg Jets that you will find nowhere else in the National Hockey League. The fact that they are a fan base, interrupted. Posted: Saturday, October 8, 2011 | 04:43 PM
• Hockey Night in Canada Winnipeg and the Jets: A love affair, rekindled On April 28, 1996, the Jets left Winnipeg and broke a fair share of hearts here in Manitoba's capital. A common line uttered by those mired in a long-distance relationship that's seemingly bound to fail comes to mind: 'Don't wait for me.' Against seemingly impossible odds, the Jets are back. But it's not like the past decade and a half never happened. When the team's last incarnation moved to Arizona, the fans who loudly and proudly chanted 'Go Jets, Go' were left jilted by their NHL love and were forced to move on, giving their affection and admiration to another NHL club for the past 15 years. Posted: Friday, October 7, 2011 | 02:15 PM
• What I did over my (extended) summer vacation: NBA edition In a normal year (read: one in which the NBA's CBA does NOT expire), training camps would be rolling in a few weeks time. That's usually where players would get together and chat about what they did with their 'time off.'Instead, we have players heading overseas, taking non-basketball internships, or just hanging out (or not hanging out) on Twitter. Posted: Monday, September 12, 2011 | 08:05 PM
• Russell rides the pine, Raptors history & remembering Randy Okay, so Russell Westbrook is not Ogie Oglethorpe, (for one thing, he's 22, not 21) but it seems like he's becoming a sideshow distraction to a team that needs to focus in the playoffs. Let's take a look at the numbers to explain why Thunder coach Scott Brooks sat his starting point guard for the entire fourth quarter of their 106-100 win in Game 2. Posted: Sunday, May 22, 2011 | 12:00 AM
• Clash in the East, AI's anniversary & the 'bee's knees' The East final begins tonight, and it all comes down to what many thought were the two most balanced teams in the conference with their moves in the off-season.But to me, the series comes down to three key points:1. After Chris Bosh became an X-factor of sorts against Kevin Garnett and the Celtics in Games 2 and 4, will Carlos Boozer be able to regain his form and challenge Bosh in the paint?2. Can the Heat slow down Derrick Rose?3. Will the new "Three Kings of Miami" live this down if they lose? Posted: Sunday, May 15, 2011 | 12:52 PM
• Shaq: A retrospective This could be the end of an era.After sitting out of the Boston Celtics' Game 5 loss against the Miami Heat, Shaquille O'Neal is done for the series, done for the season and likely may leave the hardwood for good. Posted: Wednesday, May 11, 2011 | 07:36 PM
• NBA Playoffs now feature Macho Man-worthy elbows They may not have been off the top rope onto Ricky "The Dragon" Steamboat, but the NBA Playoffs boasted a pair of elbow highlights over the weekend that would have made Randy Savage take notice (and maybe snap into a jerky-style meat snack). Posted: Monday, May 9, 2011 | 01:57 PM