Here we are, back at the Allstate Arena in what just seems too early for the hockey season to begin. The Wolves are celebrating their 10th season as a team. It's not bad to be around only 10 years and have 3 championships, all of which were under the same head coach John Anderson, who is starting his 7th season. There's been only one player that has been with the team since the beginning: Steve Maltais. The team has a new "lower" affiliate - the Gwinnett Gladiators in the ECHL. There was a looong pre-game ceremony for the 10th Season celebration.

Then there was a video tribute to former Wolves teammate Dan Snyder who died in that horrific car crash. He was buried yesterday up in his hometown of Elmira, Ontario. The Thrasher's had their tribute before their opener on Thursday - tonight was our turn. Not a dry eye in the house. The Wolves painted his Wolves jersey number (19) on the ice behind each net, where it will remain for the season. They're wearing "19" stickers on their helmets. There were posters and banners everywhere in the stands. He was a good guy with a great life still ahead of him. He's going to be missed by the fans here in Chicago.

It was nice seeing familiar faces again, both in the stands and on the ice. Most of the team is back. Our main goaltender, Norm Maracle, is now playing in Russia (if I understand this correctly, he replaced a goaltender that was found dead, presumably a hit from the Russian mob... go figure...). That being said, we had Frederic Cassivi in net tonight. The team had a pretty slow start, but there was something a bit different - there's a hint of aggression, of attacking and not just sitting back. We were down 2-0 at the end of 2. It didn't look too good (we could score on a 5-on-3), but there still was this more aggressive intensity there. In the third, we tied it up and out-shot the Griffins 12-6. Unfortunately, it only took 1:02 in overtime for the Griffins to score, and we lose the season opener 3-2.

Still, I didn't mind what I saw. I saw them play much worse last year, and this was just opening night. Let's see how the year progresses.

If you would like to see the tribute to Dan Snyder from the Allstate Arena, including the National Anthem, I have it right here as a Windows Media file (.wmv) - it's 720 x 480, 5:38, 15fps, and it's huge - 67.3Mb.

If you would like to see just the Wolves video tribute to Dan Snyder, I have it right here as a Windows Media file (.wmv) - it's 720 x 480, 1:53, 15fps, 22.5Mb.

(Boxscore - Gamesheet)