In Lou We Trust

Tonight, the Devils will host the Buffalo Sabres at The Rock. I'd have to say that the Devils' 3-game west coast road trip was a success because the two clutch wins against Edmonton and Calgary. They will look to continue their momentum against Buffalo tonight; but they can't rest easy afterwards. New Jersey plays on Long Island tomorrow night. Regardless, Martin Brodeur will start for New Jersey according to Tom Gulitti. Just as important to note, Zach Parise will play, Karel Rachunek will not, Mike Rupp will be scratched and the Devils will go with seven defensemen, and Jay Pandolfo is still injured. Perhaps Kevin Weekes will start tomorrow, but I have my doubts - it may depend on what happens tonight.

In the meantime, let's take a look at what else is out there:

2 Man Advantage has had this Year in Review up for close to a week now and I stupidly forgot to link it. So, here it is - please go read it.

At Devils Daily, Jeremy Kenter reminds us that trash talking the Devils isn't a good idea. Maybe The Hockey News will recognize that, but due to their infinite ability to tune-out other ideas, they likely won't. Keep doubting the Devils guys, we'll just keep on cheering for the greatest team playing in New Jersey and perennial Stanley Cup contenders since 1994.

SELF PROMOTION WARNING - The following sentences are pure self promotion. If you have a heart condition or any type of medical condition, you should probably get that taken care of if you haven't already. Any self promotion will have likely have nothing to do with it, it's just general common sense advice.

Interchangeable Parts has been running a "bloggers questionnaire" and I decided that I should actually respond. So I did, it's now up at IPB where they say many complimentary things about me and this blog. Many compliments. I'm blushing almost as much as Chico did after he got caught on camera licking his hand for ketchup from a hot dog last season.

END OF SELF PROMOTION WARNING - You may return to the rest of this post; but if you seriously have a condition - take care of it if you haven't already. Seriously.

Now we come to the World Junior Championship part of this post. First, I have to correct an omission. Hockey's Future Radio has set up their site to give updated analysis, scores, and rosters from the ongoing World Junior Championships. Now that the omission is dealt with, let's take a look at what's going on.

• New Jersey prospect Matt Halischuk has been doing fairly well so far. In 2 games, he got a goal and has been seeing plenty of time on both even strength and the penalty kill. As I understand it, he's been playing on the same line with 2008 hot prospect Steve Stamkos. Canada, as a whole, has been playing well with wins in their first two games over the hosting Czech Republic and Slovakia. They face Sweden tomorrow and Denmark on Monday to finish out their group.
• How's Denmark doing? Not well. They got owned, pwned, and qwned by Sweden 10-1 today and they were thoroughly beaten by the Czech Republic on Thursday, 5-2.
  
• The United States has been doing well in their own group with a 5-1 win over Kazakhstan and today's 4-2 win over Switzerland. They face a big challenge tomorrow against Russia, who has been idle since Thursday. Hopefully, New Jerseyans James van Reimsdyk (2 G, 3 A) and Bobby Sanguinetti (1 G, 1 A) will continue to lift their team to new heights in spite of any fatigue.
• All stats and scores from IIHF's WJC 2008 page.
  

That's a lot for now. Enjoy tonight's game, I know I will - in addition to looking completely serious in my giant foam puck-hat.