New York Rangers Games vs. SC Bern and Metallurg Magnitogorsk Live on NHL Network!

We just found out, to our great excitement, that the New York Rangers games vs. the Swiss club SC Bern and the inaugural Victoria Cup final against current European Cup champions, Metallurg Magnitogorsk of the KHL will be shown live in North America not just on local New York based MSG, but also nationally on NHL Network!

The game vs. SC Bern will be shown at noon Eastern on Tuesday and the Victoria Cup vs. the Russian Magnitka Wed at 1:30 PM Eastern.

Update: If you’re unable to watch the game on the NHL Network look for a link to the Russian telecast of it on this site sometime on Thursday or Friday. Delayed coverage of it was just added. Yes, amazingly enough it won’t be shown live in Russia because of this week’s UEFA Champions League matches.

Update #2: You can watch the MSG telecast of the game almost in its entirety (unfortunately the first 5 minutes including a great first goal by Magnitka are missing) split into 10 parts here. We linked to part 1. We’re sure you can figure out the rest.

Can the Russian Hockey League Challenge the NHL?

Extensive interview with former CSKA Moscow, Detroit Red Wings and New Jersey Devils star defenseman Slava Fetisov, now the Head of the Russian Federal Agency of Physical Culture and Sport, on Russia Today. Large part of the interview is devoted to the creation of the new Continental Hockey League and its ultimate goal to someday challenge the NHL as the best hockey league in the world.

NY Times: Russia Is Luring Back N.H.L. Stars

An interesting article in the New York Times that has, predictably, caused a firestorm of extremely negative comments on their blog. We could not resist, but to reply to some of them in our comment on NYT’s Slapshot.

Newsflash: Samsonov Remembers How to Play Hockey

It appears that Sergei Samsonov has finally gotten the message. After a pathetic season with Montreal last year and an equally unimpressive start with Chicago this year Sergei was sent down to the minors. Yes, things were so bad that no one even claimed him off waivers despite the fact that Chicago would have to pay half of his salary. It seemed that Samsonov’s NHL career was over as everyone in the league has given up on a man with boatloads of talent.

However, after just a couple of games in the AHL the Hawks decided to recall Sammy and had to clear waivers once again. This time the Carolina Hurricanes, hit by injuries and struggling to score, decided to give him his last shot at the NHL. So far so good. Sergei has gotten a lot of playing time in Carolina and is back to putting up excellent numbers. 9 games played, 8 points earned (3 goals and 5 assists).

For a man blessed with the talent Sergei possesses his numbers last year for Montreal and this year for Chicago were simply inexplicable. Let’s hope he keeps it up because when he’s playing well he’s still one of the most exciting hockey players to watch.