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According to Tom Gulitti, Devils defenseman Paul Martin will return to the lineup for tonight's game against the Pittsburgh Penguins.  It'll be the first time since October 24th, coincidentally against the Penguins, when Martin took a shot in the forearm from Bill Guerin.  Mark Fraser and Anssi Salmela will sit out tonight, as Jersey's Team's best defenseman is finally back in his rightful spot.

"It's been a long time coming," Martin said. "It's just exciting to be around the guys and get back in there and play a game. I'm trying not to get too excited, but I think it will be fun."

Martin had a brief chat on the ice at the end of the morning skate with Devils coach Jacques Lemaire, who skated over to him to discuss whether he would play tonight.

"He asked how I felt and I said, ‘good' and that was about it," Martin said.

Lemaire said it was essentially Martin's decision that he would play tonight.

"He made it," Lemaire said. "That's how it works. He's just got to come and say I'‘m playing and he plays."

Lemaire said that Martin "probably" would not play in Thursday's game in Toronto, but left open the possibility of changing his mind depending on how Martin plays and feels after the game tonight.

If that isn't the Devil way, I don't know what is.  In other injury news related to tonight's game, Pensburgh mentioned yesterday that Evgeni Malkin may not play, and that enforcer Eric Godard may return to the lineup for tonight's game.  Also, Jay Pandolfo will tap in for PL3 on the Jersey side.  With all the buzz surrounding tonight's game and the emotional boost from the return of Paul Martin, tonight is shaping up to be a pretty must-see atmosphere at the Prudential Center. 

UPDATE: Malkin will not, in fact, play tonight.

More photos » Ben Margot - AP

This is a play in a NHL game. It was pretty exciting. Maybe this would excite someone you know that enjoyed the hockey games at the recent Olympics. (AP Photo/Ben Margot)

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In the fast-paced world of hockey news, made even faster with the Internet, talking about the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver is pretty much old despite it ending only this past Sunday.  However, I want to bring some following facts to your attention about the men's ice hockey tournament.  Steve Lepore manages the hockey media blog Puck the Media and here's some ratings from the last four hockey games featuring USA Hockey.

• The United States-Canada preliminary game on Sunday, February 21 drew 8.2 million viewers on MSNBC.
• The USA-Switzerland quarterfinal game on NBC at 3 PM EST on Wednesday, February 24 and on tape-delay on the west coast drew 5.9 million viewers.
• The semifinal between USA-Finland on NBC at 3 PM EST on Friday, February 26 drew 6.0 million viewers.
• The gold medal final live on NBC on Sunday, February 28 was not only a big game on the ice but across the nation as a staggering 27.6 million viewers watched the last game of the tourney.

That's a lot of viewers in the United States who paid attention to an American roster of all-NHL players throughout the Olympics.  Sure, it spiked in the gold medal final and the Canada game on the weekend drew additional interest. But I am most impressed that the quarterfinal and semifinal games did this well despite the time of broadcast.  That doesn't even include all the people who watched in public places or in groups; so the true number who witnessed an United States national men's team game in the last 2 weeks may be considerably higher.  In any case, that's probably a lot of people who aren't necessarily serious hockey fans who watched the Americans play.

And if you're a big fan of hockey like I am, then you should be suggesting and encouraging those people to check out the NHL.

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Today the annual New York area Emmy Award Nominations were announced, and the following people and events involving the Devils broadcast team on MSG Plus received nominations:

• Live Sports Event: Program/Special Martin Brodeur's 552nd Career Win.  March 17, 2009 (MSG Plus) Bob de Poto, Senior Coordinating Producer
• Promotion: Sports Promo Martin Brodeur: Celebrating 552.  March 10, 2009 (MSG Plus) Doug Field, Vice President, On-Air Promotions
• On-Camera Talent: Sports Anchor Steve Cangialosi.  October 10, 2008 (MSG Plus)
• On-Camera Talent: Sports Play-by-Play Mike Emrick.  October 10, 2008 (MSG Plus)
• On-Camera Talent: Sports Analyst Glenn Resch.  October 10, 2008 (MSG Plus)   

Congrats to Doc, Chico, Steve and the rest of the Devils broadcast team.

You've read the blog.  You've looked at the analyses and opinions.  You've commented on the site, contributed to posts and GameThreads, and maybe even posted a FanPost or a FanShot.  You may have even told your friends, co-workers, your significant others, and someone you kind of know but not really about the site. You clearly are a hardcore New Jersey Devils fan.

Why not tell the world about it with an In Lou We Trust shirt?  

No, really, there is now In Lou We Trust apparel, on sale at SBN Hockey Stores, the online retailer for all SBN hockey-blog apparel.   Read on to learn more about the first design available in stores now.

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The last few days have not gone well for the New Jersey Devils.  They lost their last three games with some common problems and disturbing trends across all three games.  Patrik Elias is now out with concussion symptoms.  Dainius Zubrus will return to skate soon, but Paul Martin and David Clarkson remain out.  Prospect Patrice Cormier has been suspended indefinitely after throwing a vicious elbow at an opposing player's head.  The last Devils performance can be best described was something awful.  There hasn't been a whole lot to cheer for in recent days for the Devils.

Rather than get down about it and/or move on to the next game, let's talk about  something else: NHL Gamecenter LIVE, the online streaming program of hockey games both live and as far back as the 2007-08 season.  In the interest of full disclosure and complying current electronic media law, I was given a free account to NHL Gamecenter LIVE for the purposes of this review.

Currently, NHL Gamecenter LIVE has slashed it's prices down 30% for the rest of the season and the people behind it are interested to get other people's takes on their platform.  So I gave it a go. I haven't used NHL Gamecenter LIVE before, but I'd have to say it would be a very good purchase for any out-of-market hockey fan with a decent Internet connection.   Neulion did a great job with the interface and the online streams provide a great picture.  The ability to do picture-in-picture, watch archive games, and pop-out the feed are useful and intuitive, especially as playoffs come ever closer and other games become important for more than just the two teams playing.   There's only a few minor things I'd like to see changed on the service that could improve the overall product.

More details about my experience and thoughts with NHL Gamecenter LIVE after the jump.

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In the recap for the 4-0 dominating performance by the New Jersey Devils over the Dallas Stars, ILWT user Devil_Hard_Core raised this issue in the comments:

But a podcast would be very interesting. It would also take plenty of time. Not sure how many of us are registered on InLouWeTrust, but for sure your podcast would not fall on deaf ears.

Well, I'm still not at all sure about a podcast for a myriad of reasons I won't get into here (or in the comments, so don't ask!). However, I can and will answer the bold thanks to the help of the people behind the scenes at SB Nation.  They compiled the number of members, comments, stories, FanPosts, FanShots, and most active commenters by year.  They did such a great job, I felt it would be fun to share it with you all.

Here's how the community grew in this last year. And did it grow, with two new writers (Tibbs and Steve) being added to the site; as well as features on draft picks, free agent signings, player expectations, and the usual day-to-day coverage were done.  Traffic peaked just after the draft day through the opening of free agency.  Even with an increasing trend in traffic right now; July 2009 remains the best month in ILWT history.   As of January 1, there are 604 registered members of In Lou We Trust.  The detailed numbers are broken down after the jump (incidentally, ILWT started in November 2008 so it doesn't make much sense to include details on 2008 beyond the general stats.)

I thank each and every one of you (yes, you too, you non-registered readers) for your readership and continued support.  Continue letting people know what this site is all about as well as continue supporting the World Class Hockey by Jersey's Team.

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Have a happy holidays and a merry & blessed Christmas.

Don't rest too much: Devils play Washington and the WJHC begins tomorrow.

Monday, December 21st

7:00 RANGERS vs. Carolina (MSG) 

7:00 Tampa Bay vs. ISLANDERS (MSG Plus 2) 

7:00 Buffalo vs. Toronto (VERSUS)

7:30 DEVILS vs. Pittsburgh (MSG Plus) 

Tuesday, December 22nd

8:00 San Jose vs. Chicago (VERSUS)

Wednesday, December 23rd

7:00 Florida vs. RANGERS (MSG)

7:00 Toronto vs. Islanders (MSG Plus) 

7:30 Chicago vs. Detroit (NHL Network)

Saturday, December 26th

4:00 WORLD JUNIOR CHAMPIONSHIPS: Latvia vs. Canada (NHL Network)

6:30 WORLD JUNIOR CHAMPIONSHIPS: Czech Republic vs. Sweden (NHL Network)

7:00 ISLANDERS vs. RANGERS (MSG/MSG Plus 2)

7:00 DEVILS vs. Washington (MSG Plus) 

8:00 WORLD JUNIOR CHAMPIONSHIPS: Slovakia vs. USA (NHL Network)

Sunday, December 27th

4:00 WORLD JUNIOR CHAMPIONSHIPS: USA vs. Switzerland (NHL Network)

6:00 WORLD JUNIOR CHAMPIONSHIPS: Czech Republic vs. Finland (NHL Network) 

Sunday, December 27th

5:00 Philadelphia vs. ISLANDERS (MSG Plus)