The courts confirmed late Monday evening that Jim Balsille’s US $212.5 million dollar offer to purchase the struggling Phoenix Coyotes franchise had been rejected.

After a long and strenuous series of legal rallying, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman once again came out victorious in what can only be speculated as his personal grievance with the co-CEO of Research in Motion, billionaire Jim Balsille.

Judge Baum, the official overseeing the case, conferred that there would not be an appropriate amount of time to sort out the large web of issues involved in relocating the team to Hamilton. At least not by Balsillie’s self-imposed end-of-June deadline.
More after the jump!

With all of the cash the Yankees forked out this offseason, it’s hard to believe that they lost their first game of the season on Monday to the Baltimore Orioles. The $161 million spent on starting pitcher CC Sabathia didn’t seem worth much after the team’s 10-5 loss.

This was supposed to be a solid pitching rotation, at least four-deep with Sabathia, Burnett, Pettitte and Wang, plus Rivera closing. So, was it A-Rod’s absence that caused the team to falter? Or could it be the number of past-their-prime players? Or did the boys of summer just simply have a weak opening game?

Despite the economic upheaval in the US, the Yankees have managed to spend over $200 million on their payroll this season. After all, splurging is what the Yankees are good at.
More after the jump!

Dion Phaneuf, Georges Laraque, Riley Cote, Donald Brashear. What comes to mind when you hear these names? I think of the biggest, meanest, most intimidating, most feared players in the National Hockey League. They are the best enforcers the NHL has to offer – protecting, defending, and ensuring their team is taken care of.

Since the days of the Original Six, toughness has always prevailed as a defining characteristic of hockey. This is a basic principle and premise upon which the game is built – fighting is essentially what hockey is made of. The raw passion that results in the bruises, scars, broken bones and missing teeth is what defines a hockey player, and if you couldn’t handle it, you simply didn’t play.
More after the jump!

Our own budding (real-life, not just on the internet!) journalist Tieja MacLaughlin is working hard for Wilfrid Laurier University’s paper, The Cord Weekly. We’ve posted a few of her pieces before, and here’s one more - a nice look at this year’s NHL All-Star Game compared to those of year’s past. Tieja thinks it’s lost some luster.

Check it out!

Tieja has thrown down a new article for The Cord: The Origin of the Hat Trick!

Tieja has a new piece up for The Cord: Burke and bunnies have NHL hoppin’!

They’ve been talked about, hyped up, analyzed, critiqued, and exhausted to all ends for the past three years, but when it comes to these two all-stars, we can all agree on one thing: that the controversy will be everlasting, just as some of the greatest rivalries in history.

On one hand, you have Sidney Crosby of the Pittsburgh Penguins; the earnest, all-Canadian 2005 first overall draft pick, and the youngest captain in NHL history. Considered to be a legend since the age of 12, Crosby is highly regarded as the next “Great One”. He is best known for his humbleness, work ethic, and play making abilities.
Then there’s Alexander Ovechkin; the Russian born assistant captain of the Washington Capitals, whom although fresh to North America, has demanded attention and been deemed a force to reckon with. He is continually charming the press with his rock star ways, and broken English. Overshadowed by Crosby’s mass media influence, and the long forgotten lockout, it is often overlooked that Ovechkin was also the first overall pick; in the 2004 draft.
More after the jump!

This article has been submitted by Tieja MacLaughlin.

Working our way into mid-July, unrestricted free agency continues to be the only real hype the NHL garners at this time of the year. With all the trades, deals, and new contracts being signed, I thought I’d focus on gaining some insight into the league’s future stars. I got the chance to speak with three fresh NHL draftees last week; Zac Dalpe, Justin Schultz, and Brandon Burlon, and each was eagerly excited about their up and coming careers in the National Hockey League.

Justin Shultz went 43rd overall to the Anaheim Mighty Ducks, Zac Dalpe to the Carolina Hurricanes 45th, and 52nd to the New Jersey Devils was Brandon Burlon. Since being drafted, the boys have been busy getting a lot of attention. Aside from celebrating and receiving much praise and congratulations, they’ve been lending their time to answering interview questions, have witnessed their Facebook accounts light up with many new requests, and already have friends thinking they owe them free tickets. But they don’t seem to mind it at all, Dalpe is nonchalant, saying it comes with the territory and, “it’s flattering”. Justin Schultz would agree, “it’s all been fun”.
More after the jump!

This article has been submitted by the debuting (and female) Tieja MacLaughlin.

So it‘s official…CBC has dropped its legendary Hockey Night in Canada “dunt-da-DUNT-da-dunt” theme song, and in turn, killed a small piece of each and every Canadian. No longer can we Canucks look forward to the excitement of getting all jacked up at the first sound of this heavenly music; because there will be no more humming along, there will be no more intoxicated sing-alongs, and lets just face it, you might as well just loose the Saturday night hockey hype all together without an anthem we can all get excited about.
More after the jump!