Sunday morning homily XVIII

Once the NHL drops the curtain on tonight's All Star Game in Atlanta, we'll be at the unofficial halfway mark of the season. It also marks when hockey starts to get fun.

Beginning Tuesday, teams start ramping up for the playoffs. Some will make it. Some won't. Every point, from here on out, is precious.

Here in Tampa, though, it won't be as intense. Sure, the Lightning will make every effort to make a run for their only shot at the playoffs -- winning the Southeast Conference. No. What I'm talking about is holding myself to a promise I made last year.

Rather than hound every team that comes to Tampa, it's time to add a few breaks into the schedule, especially with those we see fairly often. In a sense, it's pure cherrypicking. Teams like Vancouver and Minnesota deserve undivided attention. Others, such as the Leafs and Hurricanes, can wait until next year.

Heading into this season, I pledged to have more fun hounding this year. To a degree, that's been attained. Colorado was fantastic. So was Calgary. Edmonton, too.

Going forward, where less will be more, I'll remember that.

Goalies are nuts

This is just an observation, but any human being willing to stand in front of a slapshot by Boston's Zdeno Chara needs to have their head examined. At 103-plus miles per hour, there's no amount of equipment (I'll talk, though, about money) that could keep me in the net while he was winding up.

There is a difference between brave and foolish.

5 Big Sigs

With as many as three opportunities this week, I'd probably run myself back into the ground. That's why I'll probably pass on the Sabres (Tuesday) and Panthers (Saturday), and focus on the Canucks. I see those other teams all the time. The Canucks? They're a different story.

I'll keep it pretty simple, too:

~ Roberto Luongo on a new Canucks puck;
~ The Sedin twins on new Canucks pucks;
~ Markus Naslund on new Canucks and Penguins pucks;
~ Ryan Kesler on a 2005 AHL All-Stars card; and
~ Alex Edler and Nathan McIver on their Rookie Class cards.