all hail hale !!!

i don't want to talk about the loss. it was one of those 'slumping team' games where there should have been at least 2 more goals on the calgary side of the board but our players could not connect stick-to-puck anytime it really counted (ie: infront of the net). i also swear to someday analyze the calgary v. mcgeough track record, and figure out exactly how lopsided the wins compare to the losses under his officiation.

but today is for david hale.

i am not expressing that hale is, by any means, a top-four defenceman. but i am continually suprised ---game after game--- how hard he plays. he is not infallible, to be sure, but he has generally good positioning, an entirely acceptable amount of hustle, a decent amount of size (and ability to throw it into bodies wearing the wrong colour), and is regularly competent when carrying the puck/stickhandling/pokechecking.

i'm pretty sure #21 had the best game of his career last night, against the 'hawks.

not only did he end up even on the night, but he played a helluvalot more minutes than usual. on his regular shift, he was paired with aucoin, but he somehow ended up flanking phaneuf in the last ten-or-so minutes of the third. he spent some time on the PK, he made craig adams bleed (so that iggy didn't have to) and he even rang one off the crossbar; a shot from the point that was inches from accurate and ?HARD !!!!

moral of the story:
daz might actually know what he's doing on this team-building thing (letting gio and tukhs walk, obviously, aside).