Late last Thursday night I was nodding off during my Southwest flight from San Jose back to Austin. The trip to Google I/O was great, but I was completely wiped. Add in the bonus of no one in the middle seat, and I was having the most restful nap of the week.

Through the fog of sleep, I mostly ignored some mumbling over the loud speaker, but the loud shouting from the back of the plane shot me straight up in my seat.

What’s going on? Is someone sick? Is someone being attacked?

Nope. San Jose just took the lead against Detroit in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Semis.

There’s nothing like NHL Playoff Hockey. Nothing. That’s why I’m happy to announce the 2011 NHL Playoffs version of the Game Tracker. So far, three out of five of the Conference Finals games have already gone HOT. In a pivotal Game 3, what will the Sharks and Canucks do tonight?

One of my favorite features on RUWT? are the videos that are imported every day. There was the humorous dust up when the NHL temporarily blocked YouTube embeds, but RUWT? is the only sports site where you can watch NHL video recaps (with no ads!), while reading NHL news recaps.

You can’t talk hockey though, without talking Canada. Yes, I know that not all Canadians like Hockey, but my market research consisted of renting Strange Brew—forgive me. Our benevolent neighbors from the North have made their feelings known that they’d love to join the party, so I’m psyched to announce that in time for the NHL season, RUWT? will support Canadian TV listings at the end of next month.

In a perfect world I’d be announcing Canadian support today, but my funding is from American Express and Capital One, not Austin Ventures.

If you’re wishing there was a way to get Canada on board faster than 6 weeks…well…there is: get 100 Canucks to email us. That’s right, take it to the streets. Tell a friend. Post it on your blog. Heck, post it on MySpace, if you’re still using that crazy thing. If we get 100 Canadians to email ruwtbot-should-invade-canada@areyouwatchingthis.com, I’ll suck it up, go back to a Ramen diet, and you’ll be seeing TSN logos post-haste.

update: we have a facebook group now! join us and help spread the word!

Do you remember the “There goes the population in Convenville!” mystery? Well it turns out new RUWT? user jtlynchjr has the answer:

The reference is to Sabres second-year winger Jason Pominville. The running joke with the PBP team is that whenever he scores the population of “Pominville” increases.

And the play-by-play guy that rocked my world is named Rick Jeanneret, the longest-tenured announcer clocking in at 36 years straight broadcasting the Sabres. But don’t think Rick is a one trick pony—no, no, check out some more choice calls care of Wikipedia.

“Top shelf, where Momma hides the cookies!” most famous recurring call

“There have been more cheap shots in this game than in a Mexican Cantina during Happy Hour!” 2001 Eastern Conference Quarterfinals

“Pominville better open a Planned Parenthood ’cause it’s population is out of control!” reaction to Jason Pominville scoring two goals in a period

And since it’s a NHL lovefest today, the best sign of the playoffs so far.

“Comcast and RUWT? sitting in a tree. S-T-R-E-A-M-I-N-G…”

I am psyched to announce that Comcast and RUWT? are teaming up for the homestretch of the NHL season to get Hockey fans more great games. Comcast’s Hockey Live service is streaming a bunch of great matchups in the final couple weeks, and we’ll be integrating their broadcasts into the site.

Find a game on the site sporting a Red Light, and it’s available for streaming for free online. RUWTbot will be watching too, and will add these online games to the list of games you can get an alert for. For more info, check out the official page at areyouwatchingthis.com/hockeylive.