EURO CURVE

Euro Curve takes a look at the latest international hockey headlines.

- Nashville Predators goaltending prospect Pekka Rinne is having an excellent third season for the Milwaukee Admirals. With a save percentage of .920, he may be a No.1 goalie in the NHL faster than some predicted. The 25-year-old Finn played with Minnesota Wild goaltender Niklas Backstrom for Karpat, winning two league championships, and has a bright future ahead of him.

- Jim Cressman writes in The Hockey News about how 70% of the ticket packages have already been sold for the 2009 World Junior Hockey Championship in Ottawa, with the attendance record to be set at 397,000 spectators and record profits in the $12-14 million range expected.

- Southern Bohemian Ho(c)ke(y)j (www.vakfan.blogspot.com), Illegal Curve's favourite source for Czech and Slovakian League news, had a couple of interesting posts on its site from a few days back that needed to be mentioned on our site:

- Ziggy Palffy is still playing hockey? I thought he retired from the professional game two years ago. Apparently not, as he is second in scoring in the Slovak Extraliga with 16 goals and 20 assists.

- A look at how the Top 10 scorers from the 2006'07 Czech Extraliga are doing this year, including Jaroslav Hlinka and his less than outstanding play with the Colorado Avalanche thus far (4 points in 18 games).

For Illegal Curve, I'm Ezra Ginsburg.