flames v. wild: new friends

on a one-off tip from kent, i clicked over to hitting the post, where nick was hosting a flames v. wild liveblog. i used to have some feelings of animosity towards the guys over there (both for having almost the same name as this blog, and for being fans of the once-formidable wild) but tonight was admittedly superfun....

and i would have said the same thing if we'd lost.

while i fully expected a slow first period and wasn't altogether surprised that the second was a total yawner, i give full props to the wild for coming out in the third with far more energy and interest than i'd predicted from a team who gotten smoked by the hawks in another country the previous night. i presumed we'd see a cat-and-mouse act, much like was demonstrated with the ducks and sens: a slow first, an even second, a blowout third... but i guess i wasn't entirely right since i was pretty convinced the game would go to OT as the puck dropped on the third period.

[this was partly because i'd forgotten to don my jersey until the second intermission. with the regulation win, i feel 8-0-2 is kindof unfair.....?]

i credit my newest blogmate, ms.conduct, for precogitating the game winning goal. on a side note, she knows far too much about the baby flames for a wild fan, but from reading her stuff, i see she follows the houston aeros (baby wild), who play in the same division [my favorite postgame quote of hers from last week: "Chucko got a goal and the second star. Gag."] but i digress... so tonight, about halfway thru the second period, she piped up "Nystrom... I love him." of course, the comment kinda threw me for a loop, but it turned out she was referring to this, nystrom's finest on-ice moment before tonight's unbelieveable short-handed game-winning breakaway goal....

i've definitely noticed a softening in mike keenan's demeanor of late. if you get a chance to see him giggle about nystrom's goal, i highly recommend watching it (something to the effect of "oh yeah i've seen him do that move tons of times when we do shootout drills.... NOT !!!!"). and i might point out that keenan actually pauses and says NOT. then proceeds to REALLY LAUGH.... i'm not even sure i knew that keenan had teeth before tonight.... i should also mention that after brent sutter's first goal v. the ducks, he provided some soft ribbing towards darryl sutter (again, not verbatim, "it was only the tying goal --darryl would've maybe cracked a grin if it was a game winner").

i remember iggy discussing mike keenan's iron wrath last year and he referred to it being essentially hellish if the team was losing, but if the team was winning, the coach would more-or-less hand the reins over to the players re: practices etc. i'm guessing the lockerroom of the calgary flames is a pretty enjoyable place to be right now...

i think that part of the winning (aside from the newly implemented system since the bay-area blowout) is that the team has totally bonded. if you look at last year's squad, you know that tanguay was miserable, that huselius was a shell of his former self --and that was reflected in team play. this season, you can't wipe the smile off of iggy's face. cammalleri is laughing non-stop. the first thing roy does after scoring a goal is make a joke to bertuzzi. the boys are all standing up for each other against tougher opponents... it's exciting to watch....

and did anyone else see the wonderful canaryshirt/tie combo that jimmy had on tonight ??? apparently his son didn't steal the yellow ones...

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