AGRI Biz

Written By: Mark "The Hard Hitter" Ritter Anaheim Ducks forward Ryan Getzlaf appears to be on the mend, question is, will he be  at the level he needs to be at to participate in the Olympics? There is no margin for error here, Steve Yzerman can ill afford to take any risks with his roster. With that in mind, Getzlaf should be left off of Canada’s final list with Philadelphia Flyers ...

Written By: Mark ôThe Hard Hitterö Ritter NHL.com is reporting that the Philadelphia Flyers are set to loan goaltender Ray Emery to their AHL affiliate, the Adirondack Phantoms, for conditioning purposes. Emery, who has been sidelined with a tear in his abdominal region, has missed 16 games. The Flyers went into a downward spiral when Emery went down, highlighted by a seven-game losing streak in mid ...

Written By: Mark ôThe Hard Hitterö Ritter With my Eastern Conference Buyers and Sellers article completed, my thoughts now turn to the Western Conference. As the saying goes, ôthe best is the westö and this season the NHLÆs Western Conference have proven that beyond a doubt. The margin for error in the Western Conference is very slim. As such, when one team makes a move at the deadline the others will follow ...

Written By: Mark ôThe Hard Hitterö Ritter Every year NHL fans from coast to coast wait impatiently for the trade deadline to near. This year is no exception and, while it is only the halfway mark in the 2009-10 season, I thought it would be fun to take a look at the Eastern Conference teams and which teams fall into the category of buyer or seller? Begin Slideshow

Written By: Mark “The Hard Hitter” Ritter Coming off an impressive 25-goal, 78-point season with the Ontario Hockey League’s London Knights in 2008-'09, the Toronto Maple Leafs rewarded Nazem Kadri by selecting him in the first round (No. 7 overall) in the 2009 NHL entry draft. This season, with expectations being so high for the young centre, anything short of a breakout year would be deemed a disappointment by ...

Written By: Mark "The Hard Hitter" Ritter Entering their matchup on Wednesday, the Philadelphia Flyers and the Toronto Maple Leafs were only separated by two points in the standings. Considering that, one would have thought that the Flyers and Leafs were in for a close, hard fought game tonight. As fate would have it, nothing could be farther from the truth as the Flyers routed the Leafs by a score ...

Written By: Mark “The Hard Hitter” Ritter Patrice Bergeron, arguably the biggest surprise addition to Team Canada’s Olympic roster, took a shot off his right hand last night versus the New York Rangers. By all accounts, Bergeron’s injury looks to be serious as it is suspected that Bergeron’s hand may be fractured. Early reports suggest that Bergeron will be out from two to six weeks. If this is ...

Written By: Mark “The Hard Hitter” Ritter Lost in all the hoopla over Boston Bruins forward Marco Sturm scoring the winning goal at the Bridgestone Winter Classic at Fenway Park on Saturday afternoon was Mark Recchi’s tying goal, the goal that started the comeback. In speaking with Recchi in the Bruins dressing room last Friday, his reaction to media questions was more animated than anyone in the ...

Written By: Mark “The Hard Hitter” Ritter After spending two days taking in the sites and sounds of Fenway Park, the Boston Bruins and Philadelphia Flyers outdoor practice and numerous players and management interviews, I headed to Fenway knowing that today was the day, today the Bruins and Flyers would square off in front of over 38,000 fans. As the saying goes, “game on!!!” On my ...

The announced crowd at todayÆs Winter Classic at Fenway park in Boston was 38,112. Rest assured, outside of the Flyers fans in attendanceùwhich admittedly there are plentyùevery Bruin fan in attendance booed when, at 4:42 of the second period, Flyers defenseman Danny Syvret scored. For Syvret, who has 43 career NHL games behind him, it was the first time he lit the lamp in his young NHL career, a ...