flames v. greasers: it ain't over...(aka: longest meandering post of alltime)

yes, the hated 'nucks beat the kings last night (i was hoping for a loveletter but alas, no...), and kent pretty much jinxed any chance we had of playing columbus, but the fat lady ain't singin YET... like nystrom's been saying for weeks now, the flames' playoff positionning will depend on their own wins and losses.

although, if you weren't good at maths and you were watching NHLlive! this morning, you would believe otherwise.

here's the WC table:


so these two doofuses above the NHL store in midtown manhattan look at this and begin by explaining to the listeners that the canucks will probably end with 102 points to top the NW.... hm... so the canucks get to play 83 games this year, then ? is that an olympic bonus ????

by pure miscalculation, these chumps outlined the WC top three, who (according to them) have all clinched division titles: SJ, DET, VAN. i won't claim to know the NHLlive! idiots' names, but the guy on the right (the grey-haired, bearded one fortunate enough to have a CHAIR) begins explaining to the guy on the left (the one who seems stunned and confused pretty much 100% of the time) about how the west still has a lot of potential movement left. the standing guy asks if calgary can still "finish in fourth" and the sitting guy looks at the chart and does the math.

"if calgary wins out [its next two games] and chicago loses out [its next two games] then by having more wins, the flames would move ahead of chicago for fourth place, yes."

uh, YEAH... AND THEY'D ALSO MOVE AHEAD OF VANCOUVER TO FINISH FIRST IN THE NORTHWEST !!!!!! i want them to do it now, just two spite these two morons...

honestly, if i overheard this conversation in the next booth at earl's, it would bug me a bit. but these two dunces are being PAID to know the answers to these things. these two blockheads are PAID to inform/entertain people and it's totally infuriating to watch them get it ass-backwards.

i should really stop watching this program...

the flames will enter the contest tonight down almost 50% of the players who played the pre-season in a flaming C: bourque, conroy (i can't actually find info on this injury/resting anywhere, but i'm sure i didn't fabricate that he's not playing tonight), giordano, phaneuf, primeau, regehr, roy, sarich, warrener, lombardi & prust. with all the cap problems, i'm not sure how bourque comes off IR in the next two games even though the rumour is that he's ready. especially because the team had to (once again) demote peters in order to recall johnny negrin...

the new-look flames are gonna suit up against a team who has (more or less) thrown in the towel. “I don’t think it matters if it is Calgary or some other team. It’s tough,” Souray said. “You want to maintain your level of professionalism but today is a tough day. It’s an accumulation of two months of disaster," said sheldon souray yesterday. macT has announced that roloson will not start either game this weekend, and that the team is rife with disappointment.

injured/cap maimed team v. disappointed/resting squad ? could go either way.

here is my projected (skeleton) lineup for tonight:
squid - olli - iggy
bert - langks - lundy
moss - nystrom - glenX

negrin - leopold
vandermeer - pelech
aucoin - PARDY !! (thanks for the reminder, RO)

and my projected lineup for game 1 of the playoffs (when cap doesn't count):
squid - olli - iggy
bert - langks - bourque
moss - conroy - glenX
nystrom - boyd - lundy

regehr** - aucoin
sarich ** - vandermeer
dion - leo


**fingers crossed (and if not insert PARDY !! and/or rhett warrener, uncross fingers and bang head against the wall).....

;)