Hockey Inside/Out returns as puck drops on new NHL season

The puck will drop on a new National Hockey League season when the Canadiens face the Toronto Maple Leafs next Tuesday night at the Bell Centre, and today we start a new season of Hockey Inside/Out sections every Thursday in The Gazette.

But the hockey season never stops on The Gazette’s hockeyinsideout.com website, which brings you all the latest news on the Habs yearround.

Mike Boone will return this season with his popular HIO live blog during every Canadiens game, along with our Play-by-Play feature that keeps track of all the key game stats on the fly — which will also be available this season in a mobile version launched from the HIO app. The video HIO Show, which had three episodes last season with Chris Nilan and Jacques Demers among the guests, will return in a weekly format each Thursday, starting next week. The Gazette’s Pat Hickey, Dave Stubbs and Brenda Branswell will continue to deliver the latest news from practices and games, along with videos and photos.

The HIO site, which was launched in November 2006, averages 1.4 million page views per month and. in August. hit the one-million mark in comments from Habs fans.

The annual HIO Summit is slated for Oct. 25-26, with more than 175 members of the HIO community coming to town for a number of events organized by Ian Cobb, a 69-year-old lifetime Habs fan who grew up in StLambert, now lives in Belleville, Ont., and is a regular in the comments section of the website. The HIO group will attend a game against the San Jose Sharks on Oct. 26.

Hickey’s Saturday hockey page will have a new look and a new name this season, Hickey on Hockey, and you can also look for our NHL Preview in next Tuesday’s paper as the Habs and Leafs get set to drop the puck that night.