Nice to finally be back! After a laptop issue that took a long time to resolve, too much stuff going on at work and my general disdain for pre-season professional sports, it’s been hard for me to get excited about hockey this year. That changed after back-to-back games this week at the X, though.

I took one kid each night and got more and more excited as each period passed. Thoughts from the past two days:

• Price increases all around it seems: tickets and most concessions – waiting to see if regular season game programs go to $4 too
• Buffalo Wild Wings appears to be MIA on the first floor (chicken strips with sauces now)
• Bergeron really, really needs to stop fighting (or attend Boogie’s fight camp)
• As if we needed a new reason to hate Skoula – watch that stick, buddy!
• Will Sheppard join Koivu this year as a face-off master? Initial signs are good…
• Took a bunch of pre-game pictures that I’ll get uploaded later this week

One final thought tonight. A lot of season ticket holders for pro hockey and football hate the pre-season because they are not “real” games, yet cost full-price. I think the NFL is considering a shortened pre-season, but I like what baseball does: cheap games in unique locations that people actually plan trips around. How about NHL scrimmages at college rinks for $5 or $10 a head? The teams make too much money under the current setup to change, but wouldn’t it be cool to have the local rink rats get to see their heroes in their own backyard?