The Hockey Fan's Guide To iTunes

I'll deliver the promised topic shortly, but first, an NHL interlude...

1) How on Earth did the Rangers manage to lose tonight? Giving up a 5-0 lead like that is absolutely disgusting. At least they had the decency to get a point out of the deal.

On the positive side, I do love the Avery-Dubinsky-Jagr line...surround Jagr with that much energy, and it makes him give a damn. Also on the positive side, the power play scored twice.

I suppose what it boils down to is a craptacular defensive performance, espectially on the fourth goal. Given that the blueline corps is hardly a star-studded outfit - and Marek Malik continues to find his way onto the ice at times that I really don't want him there - one of those is likely to come out every now and then, although not of such epic proportions.

2) In another annoying collapse, the Panthers surrendered a 2-0 lead to the homestanding Penguins in a 3-2 loss. Tanner had less than a minute of ice time in the loss, so we won't say much about this one.

3) The Blues, on the other hand, posted a 5-1 win over the Blackhawks tonight, which I caught bits and pieces of while the Rangers were breaking my heart. Stemper had one of three power-play goals for St. Louis, which was wearing its white jerseys tonight, a departure from the standard of the road teams wearing white as it has been, I believe since the lockout.

In discussing the game with a colleague, he said that the arrangement of the home team wearing white was as it should be, agreeing with INCH's Found On A Cocktail Napkin on things the NHL should borrow from college hockey. Personally, I don't particularly care, except insofar as my Stempniak jersey is in blue, not white, and I go to see the Blues on the road, not at home.

It never struck me as a huge deal. But now...as promised, my thoughts on what's out there for hockey fans on iTunes.

As one might expect, the Canadians - but not the Canadiens - lead the way when it comes to hockey podcasts. The Canucks and Oilers have great video podcasts with player interviews, both on game days and after practice, but they can't hold a candle to the Maple Leafs. Not only can you get the "Leafs Game in Six Minutes" podcast but you can also get "Marlies Game In Six Minutes," which is much more entertaining for the college hockey enthusiast. I find the Marlies podcasts more entertaining myself, seeing familiar faces like Jaime Sifers, Reid Cashman, and most of the time, Robbie Earl.

Sifers, for the record, is one of my favorite college hockey players that I had the pleasure to work with. Jaime is a great kid, a former Hockey Humanitarian finalist, and was a fantastic leader at Vermont, wearing the captain's C for two and a half seasons. One thing that I've noticed about the Catamounts is that they rarely, if ever, come out flat to start a game, and while a lot of that has to do with Kevin Sneddon as a coach, Sifers set the tone as captain early in the Sneddon era, and when UVM gets back into the NCAA tournament (and I believe that day is coming), their success will be traced back to Sifers' influence.

But I digress.

Hey, I wouldn't be me if I didn't do that, right? Anyway, moving right along...

As for college hockey video, Boston University does a fantastic job putting up the highlights from home games, a combination of the ultra-professional scoreboard feed and Bernie Corbett's calls from the radio broadcast.

My former employer also puts highlights from broadcasts up on iTunes, and I hope that continues once the name change goes into effect next month.

Finally, there's audio. There are a lot more options out there for audio-only podcasts, and chances are that whoever your team in the NHL, there's something out there for you. However, this is what I go with:

- The Melrose Line. Now that I no longer look at ESPN as the competition, I can say that I am a big fan of Barry Melrose, his involvement in the disaster that was Slap Shot 2 notwithstanding. His weekly exchange with ESPN.com's Joy Russo is exceptionally entertaining.

- Inside College Hockey podcast. Similarly no longer the competition, I get a kick out of these guys, especially the "deterioration" segment that closes the podcast.

- New York Hockey Report - It's nice to get converage of all three New York-area teams in one shot, not only because of the convenience, but because it allows for multiple perspectives on one podcast.

- TSN's NHL Insiders - Pierre McGuire and Darren Draper's segments are very brief, but worth hearing.

- NHL Radio - I generally go with DOC~!'s history segments and the Sam Rosen One-on-One interviews, but it's all good.

Personally, I wish there was more video out there, but the truth is, that there's plenty of material out there to keep hockey fans occupied.