SO excited for thursday...

so i'm gonna hit the 'dome with my pops on thursday for the flames second pre-season tilt; this time against the islanders...

will tavares suit up ?
will gio ?

according to the scoop on the flames, put your money on #14 taking the ice along with pretty much everyone i could hope to see for the flambés (including backlund with iggy and olli, and freddy sjöström)....

last night's game against the oil was a good test of our young guns; a lot of vets suited up for the grease (staios, horcoff, gilbert) while calgary's most seasoned players were boyd and moss --both of whom looked really good wearing the A... it was also boyd and moss who stood out, to me, as actual nhl-calibre players. dawes, i'm afraid to say, did not (he was mostly invisible for the majority of the game, which reminds me that he may not be the second coming of rene bourque and might have been placed on waivers for a reason).... still, "invisible" also means he didn't screw up much (if at all), so i guess that's positive.... anton strålman had a very steady game and showed his skill ---right up until the end where an ill-advised pass ended up in the empty net... guys like negrin, pelech, greentree & chucko still get the ol' "meh" and keetley demonstrated in a period and a half that his skills/confidence are trailing off and he's likely destined for the echl...

in REALLY unfortunate news, john armstrong is back on the injured list which means come october his salary is counting against the cap once again.... i honestly think he's got some skills but injured in training camp two years in a row is kinda devastating....

it seems that four of calgary's future stars have been returned to their junior teams: wahl, brodie, nemisz & bouma. i have high hopes for all four of those guys but they'd be in way over their heads with so many older players vying for the pro clubs' roster spots.... i wish them the best of seasons and hope for a breakout by any or all....

darryl sutter watch: so far so good, buddy.

:)