stephane yelle: my hero

the other day, my dad offered me the choice of games this week: sharks or wild (my brother had already commandeered the tickets to the avs game on friday). it was really a no-brainer...

i have a bit of a history with the wild, having gone to a couple of games at the excel centre last december with jason , and having gotten a little emotional during the state of hockey ... the team is solid --great coaching, good goaltending, exciting forwards, an amazing record thusfar this year, and hey -- i've got demitra in both of my pools, and can't help but love petteri nummelin, the littlest defenseman with the best shootout record...

so, suffice it to say i chose the wild game and my folks went to see the flames implode on monday night v. the sharks.

[note: my mum said, tuesday afternoon, that the only calgary guys on the ice who did a good job during that game were the zamboni drivers, "they had a plan, and they executed it." genius, ma.... x]

anyhow. after monday night's results, i walked to the 'dome tonight with very little hope that the flames would be able to take down the only unbeaten team in the league (overtime/shootout not withstanding). infact, i'm pretty sure i told my sidekick to prepare for a "blowout." sure enough, after the first period, we looked poised to lose by a score of about 9-0. some bad penalties and a worse penalty kill left the flames looking tentative, nervous and flailing against a minnesota squad that looked confident, fast and well-coached. i can't point fingers (have you had the beers at the 'dome ???) but david hale was definitely not making me happy....

well, i don't know what was said (yelled ?) between periods, but the flames that took the ice in the second were a much more interested, cohesive bunch. each pass that was overshot in the first went tape-to-tape in the second. bad bounces against became good bounces for. the urgency was there. and ooohhhhh boy, was stephane yelle on a frikkin' mission....

the first goal was awesome. the second was amazing. the third was moving. the fourth was exciting. and the fifth ? holy cow. the fifth was like the second coming.... brilliant ...

if you put aside the first period, aucoin played very well. phaneuf was solid (as always) and gets extra points for pummelling veilleux. lombardi was on fire. tanguay turned his frown upside-down with his *sigh* two goals (finally). iggy was focussed. huselius was definitely trying. nolan made an effort. conroy was a goat (three penalties ?!??!). godard was only a liability in the first [this is, of course, where i'd need a shift chart to know how much he played in the 2nd & 3rd). mark smith was a non-event. regehr was shooting a ton. hale was only a liability on the PK once, and was on the PK for 1:36. warrener only took one bad penalty. sarich was good. langkow was langkow. moss was.... moss was playing ? ;) nilson was ever-steady (some might say fast on the forecheck). kipper was classic.... but yelle ? ohmygod. yelle was my hero....


[after consulting the shift chart (!!!!!) i see that neither godard nor smith played a shift in the 3rd.... i was at the game and i can only recall that to be accurate...]