POTG Radio Podcast Is Up and Tuesday Tidbits

Last night's POTG Radio Podcast was definitely one to check out on the podcast if you missed it live.

Mark Willoughby, from The View from 111, called in with all the details from the upcoming NHL Tweet Up for Nashville Flood relief that he has been organizing. It is amazing the response from around the league with teams sending in merchandise and signed memorabilia to be auctioned to fund Nashville's flood relief efforts.

Our second guest, Su Ring, also got in on the flood relief donation action by sending an autographed Sidney Crosby and Geno Malkin puck to be auctioned off.

The event will be on June 7 at the Tin Roof in Nashville. Here is the link to the Twtvite to announce your arrival. Most of the Predators coaches and staff will be on hand.

Mark actually called in from Terry Crisp's birthday party that was being held last night and we were fortunate enough to have Pete Weber and Terry Crisp on our show for a few minutes. Pete was Crispy's designated drover so we know he made it home safely.

We also had Su Ring from The Daily Su on after we left the festivities of the party. We have wanted to have Su on for some time and finally got it done. Sue is a Seattle writer for her own site and also as the Hockey expert for KING TV.

While you may not consider the Seattle area to be a key hockey city, it is actually a hotbed of Junior Hockey with four or five teams in the immediate area. Su attended more games than any of us could imagine with the Predator's 41 game home schedule this past year and has keen insight into the Western Hockey League and has a whole different perspective on the NHL as she has seen many of today's stars pass through her area on the way to the NHL.

It seemed like a quick visit with Su so we hope to have her on again soon and will get to meet her in person at the NHL Entry Draft next month. Su also has a BTR show that is on at 5:00 p.m. CDT on Sunday's with Cassie McClellen as her co-host.

You can go to the following player to listen to last night's show or go to iTunes and subscribe.



Tonight's Stanley Cup Action...

Tonight the Stanley Cup playoffs get back into gear with both series moving on to game two.

Montreal will try to recover from their 6-0 thrashing from Philadelphia in a game on Versus at 6:00 CDT. After that, at 9:00, Chicago will try to continue their winning ways in San Jose after winning game one 2-1 in a great battle featuring intense up and down skating.

Memorial Cup Action...

Last night's game between the Windsor Spitfires and the Calgary Hitmen may play out to be a preview of Sunday's Memorial Cup Final. Windsor's 6-2 win propelled them all the way into Sunday's final game, even with one game left to play in the opening round robin. After the first round ends, the remaining three teams will compete to be the other entry in Sunday's finals.

Tonight's game between Moncton and Windsor will be the meeting of Pred Prospects Gabriel Bourque (Moncton) and Ryan Ellis (Windsor). With Windsor having wrapped up the number slot and Moncton having yet to win a game, pride will be the only thing at stake.

At the World Championship...

In Monday's action at the World Championship, Finland, with Pekka in goal, beat Slovakia 5-2, Norway upset the high flying Switzerland team 3-2, Belarus beat Denmark 2-1, and the Czech Republic beat Latvia 3-1.

Today's matches include the final two relegation games and the end of qualification for the quarterfinals. Here is the full slate for Tuesday.

USA - Italy 5:15am (Tied 2-2 in Overtime at 7:25 AM)
Kazakhstan - France 5:15am
Slovakia - Germany 9:15am
Canada - Czech Republic 9:00am
Russia - Finland 1:15pm
Switzerland - Sweden 1:15pm

In Pred Nation...

John Glennon has a note about tonight's clash of Pred prospects Ellis and Bourque at the Memorial Cup. He also has a note about another strong performance by Pekka Rinne on Monday. Finally, although there has been no contact, John speculates that Mike Santos might be a good GM choice for Tampa.

Brandon Felder comes back from a short rest with his thoughts on the off season to this point.

Pred's ECHL affiliate, the Cincinnati Cyclones return home tonight with a 2-0 lead over Boise in the Kelly Cup finals. With the next three games at home, they have a chance to wrap up the league title on home ice.

I had seen a tweet about Jordin Tootoo being in Brandon for the Memorial Cup and the local paper now has the story. Toots is one of the Wheat King's all time favorite players.

In a very sad post, Admirals Short Shifts gives their final good-byes in what is said to be their final post. We will miss the keen insight from Eric and Ryan who have been the eyes and ears of everything going on in Milwaukee. Thanks for all the great work.

Josh C. at Bleacher report has five very optimistic predictions about the Preds next season.

Around the NHL...

Teams don't seem to learn that long term deals can hamstring a franchise. Now the Caps have added Nicklas Backstrom to their stable for 10 years for a $67 million price tag. So now, between Ovechkin and Backstrom that have about 30% of their cap tied up for the next decade.

Fanhouse has a chart showing that the Backstrom deal was a good one. Like all other long term deals, they are good right up to an injury (eg. Rick Depietro).

Dale Tallon will return to the rank of GM at a news conference this morning where he will be announced as the Florida Panther's new head.

Justin Bourne has a good piece on teams "matching lines" in the playoffs and the problems that result. I agree with his argument and it was one of the primary reasons that the Preds failed in their early playoff appearances.

Matt Reitz tries to reel in the over zealous that think a 1-0 lead in a series means that their team will win.

Steve Lapore looks at the CBC's choice of Bob Cole doing play-by-play in the Habs-Flyers series. He also has information on new TV deals with a note that confirms that there will be two outdoor games next season, including one in Canada.

Freddy Charles has a poll for the greatest game of the 2009-10 season.

The Globe staff has an early look at Conn Smythe picks. There looks to be a heavy Montreal bias. So what if they don't make the finals.

Police have released pictures of looters from last week's "celebration" in Montreal. For some reason, these folks don't look like the hockey fans I know. Maybe they look different in Canada.

In another incident, Hab writer, Pat Hickey had his car vandalized while he was covering game one at the Wachovia Center in Philadelphia. It is too bad that folks take the rivalry thing too far. I enjoy seeing all 30 NHL teams and don't have a hate on for any team or player.

Intent to Blow has little known facts about the Blackhawks.

Odds and Ends...

Southern Beale takes a look at why the Nashville flood story was overlooked by the national media. This was another instance where blogs and social media far out distanced the working press at disseminating information to the world about a local disaster. This is the same reason why the NHL has become so dependent on non-traditional media for coverage as there are simply so many minutes on TV and so many inches in print media. The internet is limitless.

JR Lind points us to an Alabama political candidate that is kickin' a** and taking names. He even has a gun in his commercial. It doesn't get better than this.

More Later...

Buddy Oakes for PredsOnTheGlass