Here's a video of most of the shootout competition that occured at half time of the Dallas Stars Alumni game last night in Frisco for full season seat holders.

The start of it caught me by surprise, and I think caught Ralph by surprise too. Ed Belfour just hopped off the bench and started the thing on his own volition by the looks of it. He was funny all night.

Krys Barch probably had one of the best goals of the night but I didn't catch it. (Buy season seats to see further Krys Barch shootout goals). Jere Lehtinen scores a beauty here that you can see, as does Joe Nieuwendyk. Much of the rest of it looks like...well, 45 year-olds in a shootout.

Here also is a link to Shannon Byrne's photo gallery of the proceedings last night if you'd like a better up-close look at some of these guys. The lack of shoulder pads in most cases make them look a little funny. Thanks to Shannon as always for sharing with us.

Updates:

1:34 p.m. CST: Los Angeles Kings Trade For Dustin Penner

12:00 p.m. CST: Phoenix Coyotes Acquire Rostislav Klesla

11:50 a.m. CST: Brad Richards Says Ownership Must Be Resolved For New Contract

11:22 a.m. CST: Brad Richards Not Been Asked For List, Has Not Given One.

11:07 a.m. CST: Brad Richards Skates, Getting Healthier

9:28 a.m. CST: New York Rangers May Be Only Team In Play

2:00 a.m. CST: Dallas Stars, Brad Richards trade Deadline Primer

This is just the very start of our NHL Trade Deadline coverage today my friends.  We don't like to brag often, but Defending Big D is going to be all over this deadline day frenzy like Pierre McGuire is on any hockey player he gets within a one foot radius of.  (Sorry for such a creepy visual)

Anyway, consider this your one-stop shop for all trade news involving the Dallas Stars (of course) but we'll also be keeping an eye on the other five Pacific division teams today and if they are involved in any major deals that we feel will impact the division race (which we still consider the Stars to be a part of) then we'll be reporting it here as well.

Feel free to share your opinions and comments below as always.  When and if news breaks we'll be posting links to new posts covering that news in the comments section as well as refreshing this post with links to all the news of the day.

Have at it kids!

Just a short reminder that the second annual Defending Big D watch party is now just a week away and will be held at Buffalo Wild Wings in Addison TX (View Larger Map)

We had a lot of fun last year and we can't wait to see as many of you as possible for some good hockey fun with food and beverage. Depending on how this goes we can hopefully do another one this season and, hockey-gods forbid, maybe even a playoff version if the fates should align thusly.  Of course, I myself won't be able to make it but you will have Brad and the two Brandon's as your hosts.

So make sure to RSVP here or post away in the comments here to set your RSVP!

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The young forward turns 23 today. Personally, I'm celebrating by wearing my #18 jersey shirt around campus today, and I don't care if I'm in Blues country. From all of us at DBD, we wish that James Neal's birthday is "The Real Deal". To celebrate, here's a highlight video of his rookie season, courtesy DallasStars.com.

Maybe he'll get a contract for his birthday?

The crew here at Defending Big D (minus Art) were at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington on Friday night, in full support of the Texas Rangers in the midst of their big season.

We also showed just how deep our support runs. Just a few more months and we can all move on from the hell that Tom Hicks has brought upon us.

Oh yeah...we were on television as well.

Welcome to Defending Big D's coverage of the 2010 NHL Playoffs!  Against our rather loud protests outside the NHL office in New York, the NHL has foolishly decided to continue with these playoffs even though Dallas isn't involved.  Sometimes there is no justice at all...  Anyway, every night there is playoff hockey we will walk you through a quick run around of the NHL playoffs in hopefully an entertaining and enjoyable way.

I love the NCAA Basketball tournament and watched a ton of it this past March.  Two years ago I really didn't care much about it at all and couldn't even tell you who the final four was.  So what changed?  Last year our local cable company - here in Canada I may remind you - made tournament basketball games available for free on demand.  Did I miss two games during the day while I was at work?  Not a problem.. I could go home, order them up for the cost of zero pennies and keep up with all the action.

Being able to see all the games - or at least have that option - is huge for fans like me who crave to see as much as we can se we don't feel we've missed anything.

Yet, there is nothing like that for the NHL playoffs.  Does this make sense?  Even in hockey mad Canada there is no way for me to go back and watch one game because I was busy watching another that was on at the same time.  I can only imagine how frustrating it is for fans in the States who don't even get the option of all the games on TV.

C'mon NHL...  If the NCAA can put up games on demand for free here in Central Alberta, how hard can that really be?

/ soapbox mode

Boston - 1 / Buffalo - 2 (Sabres Lead Series 1-0)

When I first saw this match-up on paper I was stoked that these teams were going to meet in the playoffs because I had thought they were long time playoff rivals that always meet much like the Oilers / Stars do.  Turns out I was a little wrong - they've only met in the playoffs seven times before, the last in 1999.  No matter, it was still as physical and as chippy as I think many of us expected.  Best moment of the game wasn't a goal or a save, but Czech Zdeno Chara (clearly taking inspiration from Stephane Robidas) going cage to visor with the Finn Toni Lydman.  Somewhere Don Cherry had to be pulling out what little hair he had left.  Rask played well, but I can't help but feel a twinge of regret that we don't see Tim Thomas in a battle of US goalies.

After the jump, two overtime delights and video of a fan who really took the Caps loss hard...  

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Welcome to Defending Big D's coverage of the 2010 NHL Playoffs!  Against my rather loud protests outside the NHL office in New York, the NHL has foolishly decided to continue with these playoffs even though Dallas isn't involved.  Sometimes there is no justice at all...  Anyway, every night there is playoff hockey we will walk you through a quick run around of the NHL playoffs in hopefully an entertaining and enjoyable way.

Before we cover the games, I know the biggest question on your mind is "I wonder how Martin Havlat is doing having left the Chicago Blackhawks for the Minnesota Wild and if he's overly upset that he's not playing hockey now..."

Don't deny it.. it's exactly what you were wondering!  Well thanks to his agent and uber-Twitterer extrodinare Allan Walsh, we have our answer:

The Best playoff hockey tonight...in my family room with Marty Havlat and my 7 yr old son. http://twitpic.com/1fnxb8

Now that your fears about Havlat have been put to rest, lets go over what happened on night one of the NHL playoffs although after seeing that high action photo of Havlat, it all may seem kind of anti-climatic!

Detroit - 2 / Phoenix - 3 (Coyotes lead series 1-0)

Ok I need to vent a little here...  First off the WhiteOut thing doesn't really work that well when the visiting road team is the ones wearing white.  It also doesn't work if all the seats aren't full and those seats are black.  It also doesn't work if you're in a city where half of Detroit lives in the winter and you're playing the Detroit Red Wings because let's face it, if you have a chance to get the hell out of Detroit for four or five months or more, you do it.  As for the game, the tin foil hat wearing Red Wings fans I am sure will point out all the calls against their team as a reason the Coyotes walked away with a win, but bottom line is the refs cant score goals and it's on the Wings to kill penalties.  Ilya Bryzgalov looked shaky early but settled in nicely in the second half of the game.  Oh and the other important score from the game?  The animals on ice scoreboard of course!  Most agree that the final tally was Snakes: 2 - Octopus: 1

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