Hello again, everyone.  Hope everything's been great for you guys and gals since my last post.  It seems like months have passed since this week's Monday Mash/New York Jets eulogy.  It's certainly a transitional period for myself...I started the Reilly Sports Blog in August 2009.  Besides a few dopey hockey and basketball preview sections, the vast majority of my content has been on baseball and more recently, NFL football. 

But here we stand on January 30, 2010.  There is only one meaningful football game left to be played between now and next September.  And baseball talk won't be in full gear until about mid-March.  So what do we do...just put the blog on hiatus for one or two months?

I'll let Big Willy Style answer that one.

Of course not.  The tri-state area has major sports going on every day of the year, and we plan on honoring that.  Sure, I'm not the best at keeping up with the comings and goings of the NBA, but I do have that other sport that always gets lost in the fray.  It's the Hockey League of the National variety.  Also commonly known as the NHL.

Whatever it takes to headline the Big Apple Big-Mouths hockey section...

Now feels like the perfect time to work our way onto the ice.  The season is just about 2/3 complete, and there is the unparalleled play at the winter Olympics to look forward to.  With that said, let's put a little recap into what we've seen so far.  To help out, I will use a sampling of questions that devoted reader Ray Smythe sent to me before the season began.  Sorry I didn't answer when you submitted these on October 1, 2009.  But they provide some helpful storylines as to what's happened through 55 games of the season...

Q: Does Washington's Alex Ovechkin score more than 65 goals this year?
A: Ovechkin hit this ridiculous plateau in the '07-'08 season, but "dropped off" a tad last year as he increased his number of assists.  Early this season, A.O. didn't help his cause when he got himself suspended a few games for an illegal hit.  All in all, he has only played in 46 of the Capitals' 54 games thusfar.  He has still managed to score 34 goals (2nd in NHL, just one short of Patrick Marleau's total for San Jose.)  If he keeps his current pace for the rest of the season and doesn't miss anymore games, it would put him right at the 55-goal mark.  I won't rule out Ovechkin lighting the lamp 60 times, but his missed games earlier this season will keep him below his career-best 65.

Q: Who's the unheralded goalie that can lead his team on a deep playoff run this season?
Let's give this one to Ilya Bryzgalov of the Phoenix Coyotes.  Sure, the usual suspects (Martin Brodeur, Ryan Miller, Roberto Luongo, Evgeni Nabakov, etc.) have all had their typically-stellar seasons for contending teams.  But to call any of them 'unheralded' would be silly.  If you want to talk unheralded, Bryzgalov has already eclipsed his career high in wins this season (currently has 28) and he's in the top-ten in all major goaltending categories.  All this has taken place despite the fact that EVERYONE thought Phoenix would by abysmal this season.  Thanks to the heroic play of their goaltender, the Coyotes currently sit at #4 in the western conference.  I can't be certain that Bryzgalov will lead them on a 'deep run,' but he's the leading candidate to pull it off in my book.

Q: Which rookie will have more points at the end of the season, the Islanders' John Tavares or Colorado's Matt Duchesne?
A: Tavares looked to have this question (and seemingly, the Rookie of the Year trophy) all locked up after his hot start out of the gate.  But he has hit a horrific skid, tallying only five points in the last month.  Conversely, Duchesne has really come on of late, nearly doubling Tavares' production in that month.  They have the same amount of goals, and Duchesne has three more helpers than the Islanders' youngster.  Needless to say, this one won't be certain until the last week or so of the season.

Q: Is Sidney Crosby really that much of a pansy?
A: Undoubtedly.

Q: Does Toronto make strides in returning to glory this season?
A: My smart-ass answer would have been "If getting a really high draft pick qualifies as a stride, they're making leaps and bounds!"  But oops, they traded next year's first rounder to Boston in the Kessel deal.  So, uh, no.  they're no striding towards anything.

Q: How many games started for Rick DiPietro this season?
A: DiPietro has come along as well as anyone could have hoped.  There were realistic fears that he wouldn't play a game this season.  But he is indeed back on the squad, and trying to shake off the completely-understandable rust from all his time missed.  All in all, he's been in 6 games with a 2-3 record.  In the small sampling, his percentages look pretty solid thusfar.  All that matters for the franchise and their fans is that D.P. gets through the remainder of the season with a clean bill of health.

Ok, that will wrap up the Q & A portion of the puck-fest.  Hope that gave you a brief idea of what's happened in the NHL this season,  Realistically, nothing really matters until the final month anyway.  The league is designed to have all the teams bunched up, and there's no better example than this year.  Currently, the Islanders have the 5th-lowest point total in the league.  Well, if they had simply won their game today, they would have skyrocketed to #7 in the conference, with the 12th-lowest total in the league.  One win is all that would have taken.  Any questions?

So as the playoff races become more defined and more exciting, we'll institute the Saturday Puck-Fest for the remainder of the NHL season (Olympics included, of course.)  It will make the time until baseball fly by in a jiffy.  It will also satisfy Ray Smythe and the tens of other diehard hockey fans out there.  I will do my best.  Who knows, maybe I'll be ambitious enough to write some NBA stuff as well!

Ok. I got a little carried away there.  In any case, thanks a lot for reading.