Morning Flurries: Sidney Crosby has sports hernia surgery and TJ Brodie collapses at practice

The Avs

The Colorado Avalanche lost 6-2 to the Edmonton Oilers last night. Four power play goals on six attempts did it for the Avs, who had an otherwise good game. More in the recap. [Mile High Hockey]

The Avalanche gifted the Oilers six power play opportunities in the game, and the Oilers converted on four of them, including all three of McDavid’s goals. This was the difference in the game because at 5v5, the Avalanche dominated, out-shooting the Oilers 49-31 in shot attempts (61%), 26-14 in scoring chances (65%), and 58% in expected goals.

Here is the game from the team’s media, including quotes from the coach and players.

Eagles goalie Hunter Miska got in the Yahoo! News with his bare-handed save. Crazy man. [Yahoo! Sports]

During an AHL game between the Colorado Eagles and San Antonio Rampage on Tuesday night, Eagles’ goaltender Hunter Miska stole the spotlight in a second-period scramble. After making a save on the initial point shot, a few Rampage forwards were buzzing around the 24-year-old’s crease and looking to pounce on the rebound.

The Game

Pittsburgh Penguins center Sidney Crosby is out for the next six weeks after having surgery for his sports hernia injury. If you want to know what that is, Pensburgh did a great write-up with input from real doctors. [Pensburgh]

It’s interesting this isn’t a true hernia (with a wretch-inducing definition of “when an organ pushes through an opening in the muscle or tissue that holds it in place”) but rather in this case it’s the muscle actually pulling off a bone. That probably doesn’t make things a lot better, but just for clarity’s sake there.

Here’s a nice small story from minor leaguer Shane Conacher, who penned a story to the fans of Glen Falls for being his rock and supporting him through some major challenges in his life. [Adirondack Thunder]

Glens Falls has been my home away from home for almost three years and I will miss everything about it. Everything from the restaurants, the shops, the coaches, the players, the staff and, as I mentioned earlier, the fans. I hope you all keep giving the visiting team a hard time. I do ask one thing of you though - if those guys decide to ever play in Glens Falls, welcome them with open arms just as you did for me.

His big brother Cory Conacher made a documentary, telling the story of how he overcame diabetes to play in the NHL. November is Diabetes Awareness Month so spread the awareness and strength. [Times Colonist]

Sports Illustrated did a feature on the Seattle NHL Franchise and their use of data and science to create a winning hockey team from scratch. Ron Francis and Alexandra Mandrycky are putting together an amazing team out west. [Sports Illustrated]

On a Friday morning in October, Alexandra Mandrycky, director of hockey strategy and research for the NHL expansion franchise in Seattle, posted a thread of tweets soliciting applications for three jobs in the hockey operations department, hoping for a few nibbles over the weekend. Instead, the interest was so overwhelming—the thread’s first message had 241 retweets and some 1,300 likes at last tally—that Mandrycky had to shut off her notifications.

There was a scary moment in Calgary when Flames defenseman T.J. Brodie suffered a seizure in the middle of practice and had to be taken to the hospital. He was later released and is reportedly in good condition. [Calgary Sun]

“Our good wishes go out to TJ and (his wife) Amber. He’s a great kid,” said Sportsnet’s Brian Burke, formerly the president of hockey operations in Calgary, during a Thursday afternoon appearance on Tim & Sid. “I’m hearing good things. I’m hearing he’s alert and he’s resting comfortably.