AGRI Biz

Written By: Mark “The Hard Hitter” Ritter For many NHL hockey fans this is their favorite time of the year, the playoffs are just around the corner and, for most teams, it is “crunch time”. Looking over the Eastern and Western Conference standings we see a very muddled picture at the bottom of the pack. The Eastern Conference features five teams that are within five points of the sixth place Philadelphia Flyers, ...

Written By: Mark “The Hard Hitter” RitterIt’s official.  For the majority of NHL teams there is less than 20 games left in the season.  For some teams, most notably the Toronto Maple Leafs, New York Islanders, and Edmonton Oilers, it’s time to put their playoff hopes on the shelf and take a look at the kids on the farm. For others, it’s crunch time—time to get hot in hopes of ...

With a little over 18 hours until the NHL trade deadline expires, there are a lot of names being bandied around as possible trade bait. If you listened to all the idiotic comments from all the Sidney Crosby haters after Team Canada won the Olympic gold medal, youÆd think he was on his way out of Pittsburgh. After all, heÆs a ôwhiner,ö ôhas no heart,ö ôis not a leader,ö ...

Heading into the 2010 Olympic tournament CanadaÆs hockey team was the prohibitive favorite to win the gold medal. As fate would have it, Canada fulfilled the ôexpertsö predictions, capturing the gold medal Sunday afternoon at the expense of the surprisingly strong American team. ItÆs easy to say, ôCanada won because they were expected to win,ö but given their trials and tribulations throughout the Olympics, Canada earned the gold and were full ...

Written By: Mark “The Hard Hitter” Ritter   Just hours after Canada celebrated their gold medal victory over the United States, the Florida Panthers and Pittsburgh Penguins pulled the trigger on the first trade since the Olympic break.   In what many perceive as a depth move, the Penguins have acquired defenseman Jordan Leopold form the Panthers in return for the Penguins 2010 second-round draft choice.   Leopold, who registered seven goals and 18 assists in ...

There were no Canadian hockey players spotted smoking cigars and drinking beer on the ice after Canada’s 3-2 victory over Slovakia last night; same can be said for the American players who embarrassed Finland by a score of 6-1.With Canada and the United States winning, it sets up the match that everyone in North America wants. In what should be one of the most watched hockey games in the history ...

á Written By: Mark ôThe Hard Hitterö Ritter Fours years after finishing an embarrassing seventh in Turin (2006), CanadaÆs Men's Olympic Hockey Team started on its journey towards redemption in front of a capacity crowdùand the legend himself, Wayne Gretzky, in attendance for the game in Vancouver. With the crowd decked out in a sea of red and white and the benefit of having VancouverÆs golden boy, ...

The suspense is over. TSN is reporting that Ryan Getzlaf will be on CanadaÆs MenÆs Hockey roster. Getzlaf, who had injured his ankle when he become tangled up with Los Angeles Kings forward Dustin Brown in Monday nightÆs NHL tilt, underwent an MRI last Tuesday. The results were inconclusive at the time, leading Team Canada Executive Director Steve Yzerman to ask Philadelphia Flyers forward Jeff Carter to be on ...

Written By: Mark ôThe Hard Hitterö Ritter The suspense is overùTSN is reporting that Ryan Getzlaf will be on CanadaÆs MenÆs Hockey roster. Getzlaf, who had injured his ankle when he become tangled up with Los Angeles Kings forward Dustin Brown in Monday nightÆs NHL tilt, underwent an MRI on Tuesday. The results of the MRI were inconclusive at the time, leading Team Canada Executive Director Steve ...

Anaheim Ducks forward Ryan Getzlaf appears to be on the mend. Question is, will he be  at the level he needs to be 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 Jeff Carter—who has four goals in his ...