The Ultimate Fighter,Devils win pre-season opener

The New Jersey Devils won their pre-season opener 3-2 on a shootout goal by Travis Zajac.
David Clarkson scored the other two Devil goals on the power play.
Yann Danis went the distance in net for New Jersey after the initial reports were that he would share game action with Jeff Frazee.
I don't have too much to say about the game,but here are a few thoughts.

1) MSG+ changed the graphics on the in game scoreboard again.
Seems like they do that every year.
Not bad,but a bit on the small side.

2) The biggest news of the day involved Patrik Elias,who underwent groin surgery (gee,that sounds delightful) and will miss 3 to 6 weeks.
Elias had a huge bounce back season last year and his loss will be a huge one to the Devil offense that already was light at the center position.
Perhaps this will be the impetus for the Devils to make the move to add a center that was expected over the off-season.

3) The Devils used a lot of the players that you will see at Lowell and some of the youngsters battling for a roster spot here.
The player that stood out the most was Nicklas Bergfors to me.
The Swede seemed to be around the Ranger net often and assisted on one of the Clarkson goals.

I watched the first episode of the Ulitmate Fighter last night on Spike Tv.
There was not much on television and I watched the episode,knowing that I was only familiar with a few names(the coaches of each team and Kimbo Slice) and didn't have opinions formed at all.
The program wasn't that bad until they got to the actual fighting part.
That was pretty dull despite an absolutely brutal cut on one of the fighters.
I just don't see the appeal of the fights themselves,they are violent and the fighters take a pounding,but I don't see the excitement part of the sport.

Seattle will lose linebacker Leroy Hill for longer than expected as it appears that Hill will be out for six weeks.
Will Herring moves into the starting lineup to replace Hill in a significant downgrade.

The Browns released veteran linebacker Leon Williams yesterday.
Williams was inactive for the loss to Minnesota.
No word on a roster addition.

Saying goodbyes

to Patrick Swayze.
Swayze was never a huge favorite of mine,but I thought Point Break was a good film and Road House was one of those less than great movies that you seem to stop and watch when passing it on the remote.
Swayze was 57.

to Mary Travers.
Travers was the "Mary" of folk trio Peter,Paul and Mary was successful in the folk boom of the 1960's and moved on to a career in children's music after their run had passed.
The trio used songs from unknown writers to give them their start in the business such as Bob Dylan,Gordon Lightfoot and John Denver.
Travers was 72.

to Henry Gibson
Gibson was best known for his work on Laugh-In,but was also well known as a character actor.
I will remember Gibson best for his role as the leader of the American Nazi Party in the classic Blues Brothers film.
Gibson was 73.