The Ice Sheet: Hurricanes Blow Away Leafs; Blogger Uses Meteorological Clich�

Every day from Monday to Saturday, The Ice Sheet will take a look at the biggest stories in the league that happened on the ice and elsewhere the night before.

Maple Grief
When I turned on the television this morning, BBC America was showing highlights from Carolina's 7-1 humbling of the Maple Leafs in Toronto last night. My first thought, obviously, was that Gary Bettman's plan for UK media domination had worked to perfection. My second thought was that when the Leafs are trounced on home ice by a Southeast Division team that has seven different players score a goal, that qualifies as an international incident worthy of world media attention. As Bill Lankoff of SLAM Sports noted, it was the worst home defeat of Coach Paul Maurice's tenure with the Leafs:

That it came against his former team likely made it hurt a little bit more. But, reality is that after all the talk by the Leafs about having each other's backs, all they did was stick in the knife and twist last night.

The only faint pulses on an otherwise comatose night came from Mats Sundin, who tied Darryl Sittler for the most points in franchise history (916) with a first-period assist, and the reaction to Jason Blake, making his first start after revealing that he's battling chronic myelogenous leukemia. If this 7-1 thrashing is evidence of the team being affected by that emotional admission on Monday, this might be the most distracting locker room cancer since Claude Lemieux.

(After the jump: The NHL Store opens in New York, The Marc Chouinard Award, The NHL finally goes HD where it counts and Tonight's Games You Should Be Watching.)

Awful Name, Cool Store
"NHL Powered by Reebok" sounds like a bad cologne, but it's the name of the new NHL store located in New York City at 1185 Avenue of the Americas, at the corner of 47th Street. I'm dying to get up to NYC to check it out, because the description on NHL.com sounds simply awesome. "An ice wall, made of real ice, which serves as a backdrop to feature merchandise as well as the Stanley Cup at select times throughout the year." Seriously?

Also very cool: DCRTV.com reports that "NHL Live" will broadcast live on XM Home Ice from noon to 2 p.m. every weekday from a studio that overlooks the retail floor. Seeing E.J. Hradek in the flesh and having the chance to purchase officially licensed Florida Panthers Crocs? Count me in...

HDTV Where It Counts
William Houston of the Globe and Mail offered some interesting technology news in today's media column:

As Hockey Night's Elliotte Friedman reported last week, the NHL is beginning to install high-definition overhead cameras in the arenas as well as HDTV video recorders, which help clarify reviews of disputed goals.

The HDTV technology helped make possible the correct calls on two disputed, but difficult-to-see goals in the New Jersey Devils-Ottawa Senators game on Monday. By the end of the week, 14 arenas will have the HDTV technology. By the end of the month, it will be in all the buildings.

Coincidentally, I had a conversation last week with an NHL replay official about this very issue. Hard to believe, but the boys in the replay booth actually have been working with equipment that's inferior to what you might find in most luxury suites in NHL arenas. Another interesting tidbit he dropped: The replay officials in the arena and those in NHL HQ in Toronto will communicate, or already are communicating, with OnStar-like real-time voice technology. I haven't confirmed this, so grain of salt and all of that good stuff...

Most Embarrassing Stat Line of Last Night
Toronto Penalty Killing: 8 power plays, 4 kills. If Carolina continues to roll at this clip, expect to see some other teams consider mimicking Coach Peter Laviolette's strategy of playing five forwards on the power play. Like he said after last night's game: "When the other team is coming at our two forwards at the back end it's nail-biting time, but the flip side of that is we've got five dangerous players on the ice."

This Week's Glimpse Into the Maddeningly Awesome World of the HF Boards:
"Orcatown" is a poster on the HF Boards, official message boards for Hockey's Future, a magazine dedicated to following NHL prospects and draft picks. Orcatown also had the post of the week for this idea: The annual Marc Chouinard Award for the player recognized as the worst free agent signing of the year. The criteria:

1. Salary level. So being overpriced would be a factor

2. Standard of play. Under this criteria there would be objective factors such goals and points, and plus/minus and subjective factors such as rating their general play.

3. On and off ice deportment. In other words was their behavior both on and off the conducive to team harmony or cohesion. Where they a good teammate? Did they run afoul of the law? That kind of stuff.

Marc Chouinard certainly was a free-agent bust, but in true HF Boards fashion there are plenty of other players to be considered. But for this conversation starter -- Congrats, Orcatown: Your Aitch Effy is in the mail!

Tonight's Games You Should Be Watching
No Chris Simon tonight, but the Islanders and Rangers will exchange hugs and kisses in Uniondale. Wonder if any of those Blog Boxers in DiPietro jerseys will try and interview Ryan Hollweg ... Jonathan Toews should make his debut tonight in Chicago against the Sharks, as Coach Ron Wilson is picking San Jose's lines out of a hat ... Paul Kariya faces his old buddies from Nashville for the first time in St. Louis ... Mike Keenan brings the winless Flames to Detroit for a rematch from last season's playoffs; Calgary's Alex Tanguay said last season's postseason loss to the Red Wings "really was like men playing against boys"... And Philly makes the trip out to Vancouver in a game that probably means a hell of a lot more to Ryan Kesler than it means to any of us.

Gratuitous YouTube Embed
In honor of Mats Sundin tying the Leafs' franchise record for points last night, here's a McDonald's commercial with Gretzky that's a good reminder why Mats chose hockey over acting: