Break out the toques, Timbits, loud jackets, and Officer Koharsky jokes, it's hockey season

The following is written by David Kamoe, a life-long sports fan whose sister is a close friend. David is an avid A's fan, wen to to high school with Drew Gooden and can't believe that Giants commentator Mike Krukow used to refer to the right-centerfield expanse at Pac Bell Park as "Finley Alley," referring to Steve Finley who remarkably wore a Giants uniform for a season. David will likely be stopping by these parts a few times a month, so treat him right. And no sister jokes.

So, it’s hockey season, even if it isn’t quite cold enough for the snow to begin falling in Brampton. Since the season opened already and there’s no point in me trying to make predictions about a sport I didn’t grow up watching, here are a few broad generalizations:

1. The continued success of the “Original 6” is not just good for the NHL, it’s just plain good.

2. It has been 16 years since the Montreal Canadiens hoisted Lord Stanley’s Cup for the 24th time. No Canadian team has won it since and I hope that Vancouver, Edmonton, Calgary, Toronto, Montreal, or Ottawa does.

3. I will bore many a person pontificating on how I think the Winter Classic match-up should be Boston vs. Montreal instead of Boston vs. Philadelphia.

4. That being said, if Chris Pronger and Zedeno Chara get into a center ice/infield fight and they align the rink so that you can check someone into Pesky’s pole, I may be swayed differently.

5. Don Cherry will say something that will make me laugh, confuse me, and make me angry.

6. I will see promos for “The Hour with George Stroumboulopoulos” and being curious only in the time between when I see it and the close of the period.

7. Sean Avery will make someone angry. I don’t know who, I don’t know how, but this is about as easy a guess I can make as saying that Ichiro will have 200 hits again next year.

8. People -- and yes, it has already started: I saw Barry Melrose and John Buccigross discussing it on ESPN -- will proclaim that “The Great 8”/Alex Ovechkin could break Gretzky’s scoring record. This cannot be done, no matter how good Ovechkin is now and can be in the future. Gretzky was next-level good to the point that they changed the rules after him.

9. I will continue to be amazed/envious/slightly jealous of the awe and reverence that Canadians hold for Lord Stanley’s Cup. It will be for this reason that I will once again want the Canucks, Oilers, Flames, Leafs, Senators, or Canadiens to win the Cup if and only if the Sharks are unable to do so.