gio jersey record for 09/10: 1/1

okay, so THAT happened....
:)

i'm not gonna lie, that was pretty much the most fun game i've been to since.... well, since the olympic camp tryout a couple of weeks ago.... a lot of stuff to talk about and i'll go point form (in no particular order).

1. theoren fleury
let's be honest: flames fans still love the tiny mite something FIERCE.... and with good reason: when he's on his game, he's pretty awesome. the problem being, of course, that he is 41 years old (bless'im) and definitely cannot keep up to the north/south mobility that current NHLers are accustomed to. #14 came out flying in his first few shifts, had a couple of seriously decent plays but was mostly flat-footed, slow, and largely motionless in the way that bertuzzi was (only probably worse). in the later minutes, he was clearly exhausted and if pierre maguire was calling the game, i'm certain that "sucking dirty pondwater" would have been the term describing fleury's final shifts.... nigel dawes got three points during this game, but i found myself thinking that he could probably have gotten more if he and langkow were playing with a more mobile hockey player.... there was really no doubt that theo would score in the shootout, and what a goal it was..... ooooooohhhhhh it sounded like a playoff game in the dome when he notched the winner.
thing. of. beauty....

2. mark giordano
yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah i love the guy blah blah blah... i was asked yesterday what it was about gio that i liked so much and my answer was demonstrated to perfection tonight: "he's SO smart both on and off the puck, he's got an AMAZING outlet pass, and he can hold the zone no problems." what i DIDN'T say is that he's got an incredibly amount of heart and stands up for his teammates.... the dude fought tonight, and also jumped in on morency as he was coming after dion ----honestly ? watch this clip of the okposo hit (click "hockey" at left, then click on the bar that translates to "dion phaneuf crushes kyle okposo"). at about 7:09 he sees morency hop over the boards and skates about twenty feet in two seconds to intercept the retaliatory beating of phaneuf.... he's such an unsung hero on this team, i can only presume he'll continue to be as strong..... in classic gio style, he took a phantom penalty for hooking and a coincidental roughing minor, neither of which show up on the game log, and gio ain't on the player summary.... just another example that the powers-that-be don't seem to realize that mark giordano exists...
***UPDATE*** i guess someone else noticed that gio didn't make the gamesheet, and it has since been resolved.... good work by my boy with 18 mins of ice.... :)

3. miikka vs. david shantz
this point will be short. the 8-million dollar goaltender stunk up the joint. the journeyman AHLer was strong and steady, and will definitely give master dynamite a run for his money out in abbotsford.... and let's not forget it was david shantz's shootout shutout that allowed fleury to claim the gamewinner, unsung-hero-style....

4. nigel dawes
also a short one, here: dawes was ho-hum against the grease on tuesday. dawes will most definitely challenge for a top-six role in the real season. dawes showed some chemistry with both langkow and jokinen. dawes will heretofore be referred to as dawesome. ;)

5. olli jokinen
i hated the lombo/1st rounder for jokinen trade when it happened last march and even though his first two or three games in a flaming C were amazing, i was hugely disappointed in his skills towards the end of last year.... if olli can play the rest of this season like he did tonight, then sign me up to the fanclub... not only was he good on-ice with iggy and backlund, but he nailed the PP with moss and dawes as well.... and any player gets big points for sticking up for their teammates and it seriously warmed my heart to see olli drop the gloves after watching mikael backlund get railroaded against the boards in the first period. it's only game 1 but i've got a lot of hope....

6. other notes
- dvdg didn't get much ice (the least of anyone) but i gotta say i noticed him when he was out there.
- as the only non-nhl calibre blueliner for the flames, keith aulie made the most of his minutes.
- brendan witt has really, really, really bad hair.
- reggie joined the rush much more than i ever remember him doing.
- the guys had some new moves on the powerplay. it looked like they knew what they were doing.... :)
- dion phaneuf is a dirty player moonlighting as a clean player. also ? he needs to hold the zone better.... like, ALOT better.... like, y'know... once or twice a game.

that's about it for now, i guess.
:)