Wings and Ducks headed to OT!

This is thrilling, 1-1 in the 1st OT and the loser will be hanging on his heels next game.

Catch the game on TSN if you can!

Just a few quick notes...

Before I watch the Preds and Sharks on TSN, here's a few headlines that made way in the last few hours:

-Ray Whitney has signed a 3-year $10.5 million contract extension with the Hurricanes.
Whitney's having a good season and he was set to be a UFA this summer.
-Johan Hedberg will start for the Thrashers in Game Two of the Thrash-Rangers series tomorrow, he will replace Kari Lehtonen who allowed 4 goals on 38 shots in a 4-3 loss to the Rangers in Game 1 and the 4th goal the Rangers scored won't be forgotten, and it wasn't by his coach, Bob Hartley.
Hedberg has playoff experiece and he is apparently very respected in the dressing room.

Just about to go...check out the Sharks and Predators on TSN, should be a good game and if you can, Anaheim vs. Minny much later on TSN (10:30 PM).
Vancouver's playing at 9:00 PM instead of 10:00 tonight against the Dallas Stars at General Motors Place.
Brent Sopel, after hurting his back while trying to pick up a cracker, will play; Matt Cooke won't.
Jeff Cowan will play with Markus Naslund and Yannick Hansen will make his NHL debut.
These guys have already played 7 periods in total, man they must be tired, it's like as if they played 2 games in one day.

McKenzie: NHLPA strike cancels IIHF meeting

Sources tell TSN that a meeting in Zurich to work on a new transfer agreement between the NHL and the International Ice Hockey Federation that was scheduled for tomorrow has been cancelled because the NHLPA cannot send a representative.

The effect on the hockey world of the NHLPA's old problems, have been more important than most thought.

Just a week after getting rid of Bob Goodenow's successor, Ted Saskin, the NHLPA's strike has affected International Hockey as well as the NHL.

Bob McKenzie states on his blog that the NHLPA could not send a representative to a scheduled meeting in Zurich with the IIHF.

The meeting was supposed to be an attempt to salvage the failing player transfer relations with European countries and the NHL.

To give you a relevant example: Evegeni Malkin's little tiff with his former Russian team raised eyebrows, especially when Malkin fled Russia ajust a while after he signed a new contract that would keep him with Dynamo for the 2006-2007 season.

His Russian team attempted to take the matter into court, but the Supreme Court declined the inquiry.

Unless people want to see lawsuits and hockey international relationships vanish, I suggest that the NHLPA finds a way to re-schedule this meeting, and fast.

The story never ends for Kovalev...

Alex Kovalev (above) is suffering from vertigo.

Barely 2 weeks after the Russian radio saga, in which he alledgedly said "bad things" about his teammates, coach and certain players in particular, Alex Kovalev's still got another chapter in his long book to write:

"Vertigo"

Vertigo, from U2, is also the Canadiens' goal song in the Bell Centre, and it is also what Kovalev is suffering from. It's not something you can just brush off like a cold.

Kovalev said he got up in the middle of the night and all was spinning and he was "scared".
He missed Tuesday's game against the Islanders in which the Habs won 5-3 with "diziness" and that it was flu-related.

And diziness is what it is, vertigo has been known to end many players careers including most recently, ex-Canadiens goaltender Jeff Hackett in 2004, however, what Kovalev has is a light form of vertigo and it is not as serious as Hackett's but he still calls it "career-threatening"

According to a recent TSN report, Kovalev is "feeling better" and that he does not wish this upon anyone. He says his vertigo makes him face a labyrinth and that it worries him.

Oh god, please no Kovy!

He must be getting better as he did skate alone yesterday and drove his car to the Bell Centre.

Good luck Alex!
He is also questionable for tomorrow's game in Pittsburgh and it will be determined today whether or not he takes the trip there.