Some of you, our valued readers, may have noticed that the web site was down for most of the past week. Well, what can we say? It was just another example of the man tryin' to keep us down.

At least nothing much happened while the site was busted. I mean, it's not like the NHL season started or anything. Because that would have been terrible if, like, the NHL season got underway and the site wasn't working. That would have just been silly. Can you imagine how embarrassing that would be? Talk about lame. That's just... um, wait a minute... never mind.

The 1997-98 NHL season is indeed underway. In the East, Washington has sprinted out to a 3-0-0 start under the guidance of new coach Ron Wilson. So far the Caps hardly resemble the offensively-impaired clubs that usually call Washington home. Under Wilson's watchful eye, the Caps have racked up 14 goals in their first three outings. One reason for the improved production is the presence of such talented youngsters as LCS favorites Richard Zednik and Jaroslav "Yogi" Svejkovsky. Zednik, who LCS first hyped way back at the World Cup when he and his Slovakian mates almost knocked off Team Canada, has three goals, bagging one each time out. Combine the youngsters with the likes of Adam Oates and Peter Bondra, and the Caps are a dangerous squad. Things should only get better now that skilled Russian blueliner Sergei Gonchar has been re-signed.

Washington's been doing it all without the services of the great Billy Ranford. Olaf Kolzig has been the man in net, taking over after Ranford got blasted in the sunshine by a Per Gustafsson slap shot during the first period of the season opener in Toronto. And I think we all know painful that can be.

The other powerhouse in the East is obviously the Philadelphia Flyers. The orange and black suffered a rather shocking 2-1 defeat to the Phoenix Coyotes at home to drop their record to 2- 1-0, but hey, that stuff's gonna happen over 82 games. Eric Lindros and crew are all the more fearsome now that Chris Gratton and Luke Richardson are on board. Dainius Zubrus has stepped up and filled in for the departed Mikael Renberg on the Legion of Doom line, while Gratton is skating on the second unit with rookie Vaclav Prospal and resident stiff Pat Falloon. This, of course, leaves Rod Brind'Amour on a third line. Not only is he missing out on even-strength ice time, but Brind'Amour is also sitting on the bench when the power-play units hop over the boards. He's not happy. Coach Wayne Cashman might need to rethink playing Falloon on that second line. Sure, he has two goals in three games, but that won't last. Having Brind'Amour unhappy isn't good for the team's long-term success.

Speaking of long-term success, the Flyers won't have any unless Eric Desjardins is healthy. Desjardins is out for the foreseeable future with a somewhat mysterious pelvic injury. The club is hoping that rest will do the trick.

The New York Rangers are the only team in the Atlantic Division without a win, but the Blueshirts have posted two ties in their first two games, both by scores of 2-2. That's odd. Each game required some late heroics from Big Apple newcomers. Patty LaFontaine did the honors in the season opener, deflecting his first goal as a Ranger past Tommy Salo in the third period to earn a draw with the Islanders. The next time out it was Kevin Stevens providing the drama, stuffing home a puck at the right post in the final seconds to deadlock the Kings. The goal by Stevens could be his first of many this season. Wayne Gretzky has told Stevens he'll buy him a Cadillac if the former Penguin sniper can reach the 40-goal plateau. But more importantly, I myself have some major scratch ridin' on Stevens to score at least 35 goals. I can't offer Stevens a Cadillac as incentive, but if the thought of me with two broken legs helps his quest at all, then so be it.

The Northeast Division can't boast a club in the class of either Philadelphia or Washington. Hell, it can barely boast a club in the class of a high school gym team. Pittsburgh has played extremely hard in compiling a 1-1-1 record, but if they were any smaller they'd be living in mushrooms and getting chased through the forest by Gargamel and Azrael. Montreal is 1-0-1 thanks in large part to the success of the top line of Mark Recchi, Shayne Corson, and Saku Koivu. The trio tore up Boston for 10 points in a 4-1 win. But, then again, that's Boston. The Bruins were able to squeak out a season-opening win against the visiting Kings, but hopes for a successful season are still slim.

The big surprise in the early going is the sad play of the Carolina Hurricanes, who are winless at 0-3-0. It's the Curse of the Whale. They should have never left Hartford. They also should have never given Trevor Kidd the start in the season opener. Kidd was abused by the Tampa Bay Lightning in a 4-2 loss. The club turned to Sean Burke for its second game, but the star veteran wasn't too happy about missing the opener for the first time in his career and was shaky in a 4-3 loss to the Penguins. Kidd was back in net for a 3-2 loss in Ottawa. Coach Paul Maurice is doing his club a disfavor by rotating his goaltenders. Burke should be the man.

The other big story in Carolina is the return of Gary Roberts. The former Flame legend has yet to light the lamp and isn't quite back to the form that made him so dominant in Calgary. But the guy's only played 43 games the past three years. It's going to take some time before he's back to his old self. And I don't just mean one or two weeks. He may not find his stride until after the All-Star break. But that's okay. Because the wait will definitely be worth it. The good news is that his neck seems strong enough to compete. Darius Kasparaitis put Roberts to the test early, crushing him in the side of the head with a devastating check in the first period of Carolina's loss to Pittsburgh. It was brutal. If Roberts could survive that hit, he can survive anything.

Turning our attentions to the West, how would you like to be the Calgary Flames? Brian Sutter's troops opened up the season at home against the Detroit Red Wings and Colorado Avalanche. That's not good. As expected, the club dropped both games. At least the Flames fared a bit better than the Edmonton Oilers. After opening up with a 5-3 win over the Sharks, the Oilers were spanked at home by the Red Wings, 8-2, and whitewashed by Patrick Roy and the Avalanche, 3-0. Hey, life ain't no boat ride.

The Wings have looked mighty impressive against the Flames and Oil, even without Sergei Fedorov, who remains unsigned, and Vladimir Konstantinov. But don't let the hot start fool you. The Wings will have their problems this season. It just won't happen until around January or February, when the loss of Konstantinov will really hit home.

As for Colorado, the Avalanche have switched to a more defensive scheme this season. So far so good, as the club is 2-0-1 and has only allowed a total of three goals. The defensive gameplan is the perfect fit with Keith Jones and Mike Ricci being out of the lineup recovering from off-season surgeries and Sandis Ozolinsh having separated his shoulder in the season opener. Ozolinsh should be back to boost the offense in the next day or so, but the Avalanche attack could also use a lift from Joe Sakic. The captain has yet to score a goal and has just one assist in the first three contests.

The Dallas Stars, predicted by LCS to be the beast of the Central Division, have stumbled early on without their captain Derian Hatcher. With the big blueliner sitting at home unsigned, the Stars managed a 2-2 tie in Colorado and then dropped a 2-1 decision to the Blues at home. They haven't played that poorly, but they'll never reach their full potential until Derian gets signed. The sooner the better.

Chicago and Toronto are both pointless, each owning a record of 0-2-0. The Blackhawks got rocked 7-2 by Jeremy Roenick and the Coyotes in the season opener, with Roenick torching his old mates for a goal and two assists. The next time out they were bitten by the Sharks, 3-2, despite a goal and an assist by Tony Amonte. As for the Leafs, they lost the season opener at home to Washington, 4-1, and then got blanked, 3-0, by Salo and the Islanders. Maybe it's best if we just moved on...

The only other starts of note took place in Japan, where the Vancouver Canucks and Anaheim Mighty Ducks opened up the season with a two-game set in front of the Japanese faithful. The Canucks took the first game, 3-2, behind Mark Messier's first as a Canuck and a Pavel Bure slap shot. The Ducks, who remain without Paul Kariya, answered back in game two with a 3-2 win of their own, even though Bure recorded his second goal. Bure is back to wearing his good ol' number 10. That's a smart move. I don't care who you are, it's just tough to score goals with a 96 on your back.

One of the best things about the young season has been the officiating. Referees are back to actually calling interference and obstruction. Well I'll be damned. In a related story, the temperature in Hell was measured at 29 degrees today. So to that kid that was on the AOL chat the other night that thinks Pat Falloon is gonna tear up the league this season, make sure you bundle up before you go there. Ya jagoff...

Hey, that reminds me, LCS Hockey's AOL coverage is back in full swing. So be sure to sign up to America Online and visit our site for, like, five or six hours each and every day of your life. Its keyword is "LCS". We can't wait to see you online! Well, really I could... but I have to act like I'm excited and stuff or the people at AOL won't give back my dog.

One final note, make sure you check out the baseball playoffs. We worked out a deal with Major League Baseball. They're gonna be mentioning us during all their telecasts of the American and National League championships. So watch the games and just count the number of times you hear "LCS"... it's really cool of them to help spread the good word of LCS. It is appreciated.

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