Pekka Rinne

Earlier this week, the NHL announced the roster for this year's All-Star Game. The goalies making the trip to Ottawa are as follows:

- Brian Elliott (Blues)

- Jimmy Howard (Red Wings)

- Henrik Lundqvist (Rangers)

- Carey Price (Canadiens)

Hockey historians, experts and pundits all agree that the most important part of a hockey team is its goaltender. A team follows its goaltender onto the ice and they are often thought of as the team’s second leader after the team captain.

The goaltender is a team's last line of defense and is usually the reason why a team does or does not make the playoffs.

Columbus Blue Jackets opened their 2011-2012 season last night in the sold-out Nationwide Arena against their divisional rival, the Nashville Predators.

Last season Tim Thomas took the NHL by storm and captured his second Vezina trophy—awarded to the league's best goaltender—in dominating fashion.  Tim Thomas has two wins in the past three years, Martin Brodeur had four wins in five NHL seasons from 2002-2008, and Dominik Hasek ruled the '90s as he pulled in six trophies.  Despite the award's veteran tendencies, there is always room for a surprise candidate to rule the ice for a year, from Ryan Miller—off an MVP Olympic year—to Jose Theodore, who won the Hart and

In one of the biggest shockers of the playoffs, the so-called experts picked all the favorites to advance to the second round. 

Yet, some of us were still brave enough to pick an underdog, and the Nashville Predators have stepped up and won their first playoff series in franchise history to prove that it doesn't always pay to follow the herd. 

Without a doubt, Nashville Predators fans will always remember 2011 Easter Sunday as they saw their team win a statement game in a statement series.

A lot has changed for the NHL since the infamous lockout wiped out the 2004-2005 NHL season. After all the dust settled, it seemed like an entirely new NHL was born.

Ahh, the Stanley Cup Playoffs. A place where some players "bring it," while others fall well short of the so-called “experts”' expectations.

Heading into the 2011 Stanley Cup Playoffs several reports were calling for Nashville Predators goaltender Pekka Rinne to have a huge playoff; others were a lot more realistic about Rinne's talent and the talents of the team in front of him.

In the betting world, the term "square" refers to an average bettor who consistently loses money over time.

NHL Playoffs are just around the corner and hockey fans are deciding who to pick in their playoff pools and which team to get behind.  Fans look all over the internet to see who is being predicted as the teams to beat. 

From the research I have done, four teams stand out the most: Boston Bruins, Detroit Red Wings, Vancouver Canucks and Washington Capitals.  There are a few out there that feel the Philadelphia Flyers and San Jose Sharks are the dark horses to win it all this season.

Once upon a time, the Nashville Predators were an organization that no one outside of the city limits of Nashville really knew about.

Some 13 years later, and five playoff appearances, very few outside of Nashville know about this organization and its group of hard working players. In all reality, this team gets very little national attention, despite their consistent success in their short time as an NHL franchise.