hit the post

the flames honour mcCrimmon

2012-01-31T13:10:00.005-07:00

the flames will honour former team captain and '89 cup winner, brad mccrimmon tonight before the game vs. the wings at the saddledome. i think it's a kind and decent gesture by the club, but it got my blood boiling when i realized that, while they are fast to put on a big extravagant show, they still have not corrected the spelling of mcCrimmon's name in the upstairs gallery at flamescentral; an establishment that the organization itself co-owns.

hence, a letter i sent this afternoon to team prez, ken king, as well as VP of communications, peter hanlon, and (to stir shit up) the grandpuckdaddy himself, greg wyshinski.

Dear Mr. King:

I find it inexcusable and embarassing that the Calgary Flames organization is honouring Brad McCrimmon with a ceremony before tonight's game, while the photograph that bears his image has been hanging in the upstairs gallery at FlamesCentral (a bar that is co-owned by the club) for nearly FIVE YEARS with his name mis-spelled.

I brought this error to the attention of the Flames' Media Director, Peter Hanlon, in person at the Flames' Fan Forum in 2010, and my colleague, mentioned it in an email sent to yourself and Victor Choy (Co-Founder & Co-President of the Flames' business partner in FlamesCentral, The Concorde Group) in March of last year.

The attached photo was taken today, January 31, 2012.

I think it's shameful to endorse a public tribute to a man who was a pillar in the local community, a former team captain, and a Stanley Cup winner in Calgary ---who died in one of the game's worst tragedies--- when you can't be bothered to take the time or the effort to re-create a one-inch by six-inch name plate in a shrine that's been on display for nearly half a decade within an establishment that is owned by the team. Surely if you're willing to spend the money on pre-game skate "McCrimmon" jerseys for an entire team, countless hours by countless people preparing jumbotron footage of his career highlights, and no doubt some kind of donation to charity and/or endowment to his family, you can see to it that this oversight FINALLY gets corrected.

I thank you in advance for your efforts in putting this matter to rest,
walkinvisible

maybe it'll get fixed once and for all. i used caps and everything...

god bless brad mccrimmon. rest in peace, brother.
x

pocket gaudreau takes a left turn !!

2012-01-09T21:46:00.007-07:00

when i was visiting arik in puerto rico a few months back, we came up with the pocket gaudreau project ----cause we decided that john gaudreau was indubitably THE most awesome, and hands down the cutest, flames prospect on the roster. so i went ahead and made a little laminated version of the kid, that was (in theory) gonna be sent around the world and photographed in all sorts of fun places. i snapped him in a snow drift in my backyard before taking the wee one to the dome to watch the flames beat the avs...

and then i set him free.
;)

i heard he made it to aguadilla but arik never sent photos. and then PG apparently went to england but i'm still hangin' out to see what he did there. i have no idea where he got to after that or if he's stagnating somewhere under some books on someone's desk in the motherland.... it's kinda too bad cause i'd love to chart his progress if anyone wants to let me know where he's at... i probably should've written a return address on'im....

but i digress.

all of a sudden, a totally unimaginably different (but FAR COOLER) thing happened: hitthepost became the unofficial web host of AWESOME johnny gaudreau pics.... huge thankyous to the original PG for starting the wave.

pocket gaudreau hits Beebe Plain Vt . USA

SO amazing.
:)

#playIRV

2011-12-18T14:18:00.006-07:00

young leland on the bench in tampa (thx to kingjafi for the pic)

there's a lot of talk about whether or not leland irving should get some nhl starts, and i think the general consensus amongst sane people is that he should get all of the games that henrik karlsson was "scheduled" to play as the flames' #1 backup 'tender. no more, no less. in that time, we'll hopefully get a glimpse of what we've got as a netminding prospect.

in a whimsical sortof analogy, i think young leland is like a geode, and we're on the verge of breaking it open. from the outside, he's nothing really to talk about. y'know, like this:

but we're on the verge of cracking him open and who knows what kind of gem we've got ?!!

unfortunately, i think hank will come back after only a handful of games for the kid (unfortunately ? yeah, i said that...) and the small sample size of games will not sway the flames' hockey ops folks either way. i wasn't a fan of the two year karlsson signing as i thought it essentially told irving they weren't gonna give him a chance with the big club, and that they would likely skip over him in favour of joni ortio in the coming years (with the timeframe and length of the karlsson/kiprusoff deals). i thought it was rather.... discourteous (?) to a goalie who'd given the org his all since being drafted in 2006.

i'd love for leland to prove he's an nhl-level competitor, and then take his contract renegotiations as far as they can go this summer when he becomes an RFA. why ? because i can't stand the continual mismanagement of assets on this team.

#playIRV

Arena Report: Rogers Arena

2011-12-17T13:30:00.000-07:00

There are a lot of things to love about Rogers Arena: fabulous downtown location, easy access via public transit, heaps of great restaurants and bars just a hop skip and jump away, everything that happened there on June 15th, the golden goal... But they are all pretty much outweighed by the fact that the Canucks call Rogers home ;)

Like I said, there are a plethora of choices for drinks and food an easy walk from the arena, ranging from Vancouver-snobby to loveable dives. But last game I pre-gamed at a friend's place in Yaletown rather than at a bar, mostly because the booze is free, and Flames vs. Canucks games tend to require a healthy dose of booze. But also because Yaletown condos have views like this:

Sunset over False Creek.

Rogers has, I guess, become my home arena over the past few years, even though I loathe the Canucks to an unhealthy degree. Vancouver has a great pre-game vibe, with lots of energy in the downtown core, even for an early start game on a Sunday night in December. The walk across town is filled with people in jerseys streaming to the arena and piling into bars for beer and nachos, and it's a pretty friendly crowd, even for those of us in red. The Flames fans — and Calgary is usually well-represented — are always ridiculous happy to see each other, ducking across the concourse to share high-fives with strangers and shouting "Go Flames!" from the other side of the street while the Canucks fans remind us that our team has missed the playoffs two years running, and we ask them if they've lit anything on fire lately ;) It's a great place to be an away fan, really. (Well, except that the Canucks own the Flames. But we can hardly control that.)

Rogers has a pretty generic arena feel, though recent tributes to things like the Olympics and the Canucks' 40 years have helped. The in-game entertainment is decent, and there isn't a bad seat in the house. Which is good when you're paying $60+ to sit in the top row.

Iginla to Crosby and in plays on a loop on the concourse.

I was at the game with two ticket holders, and we had a healthy debate as to what might constitute signature food at Rogers Arena. My votes were for either White Spot burgers — White Spot is a Vancouver institution, after all — or rice bowls, because I'm not sure those are available in a lot of NHL rinks. They thought beef dips, which seemed a bit generic to me. So we appealed to Guest Services, who promptly sent us to get "the best sandwiches in the building" at a concession stand on the exact opposite side of the concourse from us...which was closed. Very helpful. And by that time we had about reached the point where I had to either feed one of my friends or send him home to bed, so we scarfed down overpriced sausages and chased them with crappy — and even more overpriced — beer.

And that beer...yuck. Luckily, Wiser's Centre Ice Grill is a full bar, and one of my friends runs a tab. It's a great place to spend an intermission, and it's possible to get up there, have a couple of drinks, and get back to your seat before puck drop. To be honest, most of the third period is a blur. Too many mystery shots during second intermission? Wiser's is also a convenient post-game meeting location when you've got friends spread across the arena. The only downside? The bartender refused to pour me a glass of water and instead gave me this:

I'm not used to sitting up top in Rogers, but it does allow a great view of the fans streaming out of the game once the score gets lopsided, and there weren't many people in the stands by the time the game ended. Surprisingly it was the Canucks fans who were leaving, while most of the Flames faithful seemed to stick it out. Felt like the building was empty by the time the final buzzer sounded. In recent years it's become more common for Canucks fans to come late and leave early, unfortunately.

Post-game, we headed back to Yaletown, and ended up in...a couple of bars. And, in true Vancouver fashion, we ended the night at a raw bar. Because, well, why not?

FYI, raw oysters to end a night of heavy drinking? Actually pretty great.

nyc: the nhl store boycotts cool flames stuff

2011-12-15T12:01:00.009-07:00

this is definitely overdue (as is my arena report on MSG, i realize now) but the beauty of hitthepost is that we only write when we feel like it.... so i'm gonna try to hammer out a few entries over the holidays. starting today.

for the record: i totally understand the lack of calgary flames stuff at the NHL store on manhattan's avenue of the americas; it's not like merch sporting flaming Cs would be flying off the shelves in a market where half the shoppers probably couldn't find calgary on a map. heck, one of the ushers at the flames v. devils tilt last year in jersey asked me if calgary was in the the same league (ie: the NHL !!!), cause she'd never heard of it.... so yeah. you can definitely buy a jersey, and there are a few different options in tshirts, but what stunned me is that you can't buy a single "cool" item with a flames' logo (aside from this reebok ---avs and oilers seen in the background-- which comes in all 30 team models).

i asked an employee if there was any "good" flames merch available (maybe in the back ?) and he brought me a mug, an ugly banner thingo, a jarome action figure, and a mini-stick. just in case you thought you read that wrong, it was a shitty small mug, a banner, an iggy figurine, and a mini stick. no toques, no glassware, none of the basics, and certainly none of the AWESOME stuff:

(left: flyers zamboni nightlight !!!)

(right: habs hockey bag shaped toiletries bag/purse)

a brief (admittedly not-thorough) look over on nhl.com doesn't have these items with a flames logo, either. i think it's totally bunk. the good news is that my east coast team is the rangers, and there was obviously an exorbitant amount of cool stuff with the blueshirts' logo. except i couldn't bring myself to buy any of it.... so it's not really that good news.

anyhow, it's xmastime and i would have loved it if one of my friends or family had the option of some cool flames stuff to get me. instead, i'll probably get something lame (cause that's all there is). ah, well. i've already got two signed gio jerseys so it's not like anyone could top that anyways... ;)

Happy Holidays Flames Fans.

2011-12-11T22:47:00.000-07:00

Courtesy of my dear friends over at eBay (who I may add are the newest sponsor of my posts here at htp)...I bring you the Calgary Flames Gnome...

Just in time for the holidays, you can get yourselves (or a family member or loved one or that Oiler fan at your office who was so sure the Oil had turned the corner this season) one of these interesting pieces of Flames merchandise. It's not really clear to me what this gnome is used for but it seems to be some sort of garden item. Duh...who doesn't know you're supposed to put gnomes in your garden...especially ones wearing Flames jerseys that appear to be on fire. I'm sure they're supposed to scare rabbits or some sort of vermin away from eating those prized carrots you've been growing for the past few months. Anyways, Travelocity has nothing on this particular bearded little man and your neighbors will be soooooo jealous. Here's the deal...as of the time I've drafted this post, there are two available for $24.95 each plus $4.99 shipping ($30.58 CAD). You know they're gonna get snatched up fast (stocking stuffer for sure) after this post goes live so here's the link...

Calgary Flames Gnome

Happy Holidays Flames Fans!

blogger meetup: DECEMBER 23 !!

2011-12-11T22:37:00.004-07:00

(darren helm as todd bertuzzi. editor's note: i'm now in love with darren helm)

hey, remember last year when we held a blogger meet-up at schanks north (cause steinberg was working the game and had to be there) on december 23rd, and the flames beat dallas and then the entire season started to turn around ? yeah, well we're doing that again and hopefully it'll spurn the same results (though a playoff finish, would be nice this year, thank you very much).

where: schanks north, 103 crowfoot terrace NW calgary
when: december 23rd, 2011 8:00pm
who: flames v. canucks
why: to hang, chill, watch, cheer, drink, and have fun with some of your calgary flames blogger brethren. also ? why NOT ??!

i'm fairly certain that the guestlist will be decent. i'll be there, for starters. i know Pstein will be there cause he gets paid to. hitthepost sometimes-blogger mikeH will be there, and jazzyV from M&G. if any of kent wilson from flamesnation, hayley from M&G, and our very own duncan are in town, they'll show up for sure. maybe dph will come if he can free himself from the new family. newsboy says he'll make the effort from mackenzie town (hopefully he brings the wife cause she's outrageously hot), and wilhelm from edmonton has pondered the journey.... are YOU coming ?!?

(you should)
:)

pocket gaudreau hits the dome !!!

2011-12-08T22:25:00.004-07:00

pocket gaudreau watches the flames beat the avs 3-2

pocket gaudreau looks for the fleury banner

stay tuned for the continuing adventures of pocket gaudreau...
:)

the pocket gaudreau project

2011-12-08T16:32:00.008-07:00

in conjunction with arik from M&G, i present to you: the pocket gaudreau project. born out of pure flames-loving giddiness and a penchant to over-adore prospects (....beer MIGHT have been involved...), arik and i stumbled on this bit of fun during my sojurn at his pad in puerto rico last month. why ? because the flames blogosphere needs a mascot, and because john gaudreau (drafted 2011, 4th round, 104th overall) is unquestionably the CUTEST !!!
:)

my backyard, december 8, 2011

anyhow, it goes like this: when/if you receive the pocket gaudreau in the mail, you must take some photos of him travelling gnome prank style before sending it on. if you would like to participate in the pocket gaudreau project, you can email me or arik your street address (walkinvisible@gmail.com, arik.jamesk@gmail.com), and we'll try to get the cuddly little guy headed your way... please email one of us when/if you find the lovable wee dude in your mailbox so we can track his journey. i've definitely got enough of the current nerdy blog buddy mailing addies to get this party started....the adorable mini fella's making his first trip to the 'dome tonight (along with the inaugural game for the signed gio captain jersey) and then he'll be off to the warm beaches of aguadilla.

and, john ---if you're reading this ? i'm sorry about the harassment you're gonna get from your teammates forevermore...

:)

Stajan, so hot right now. Stajan.

2011-12-07T00:07:00.007-07:00

It never gets old.

arena report: first niagara center

2011-12-01T08:50:00.004-07:00

first thing's first. buffalo gets a bad rap...

after attending the nov3 game at the joe louis, my buddy zak and i packed up the car and took off on a mini roadtrip: via fort erie through canada to the peace bridge into buffalo to catch the flames play the sabres nov4. i never consulted a map on this beforehand (even though the plan had been in the works for eons), so i was somewhat surprised at the distance and route. but no matter, we got there and only fought like a married couple for the last hour-or-so.

admittedly, i can be difficult. i'm pretty sure zak's a saint. ;)

we started at the pearl street brewery for a pregame pint. zak had some kind of gouda soup that looked amazing (when you mix two of the world's most wonderful things, cheese&soup, how can you go wrong??) but i opted to wait for the arena snack... pearl street brewery is awesome, and about a block and a half from first niagara, so we were obviously surrounded by blue sabres jerseys. still, there was the occasional spot of red (mostly IGINLAs but the occasional FLEURY and one, special, solitary GIO retro captain jersey). flames fans represent.

our seats for the game were by the glass and we got a good close-up look at enroth's heroics and karlsson's height. it was nice to see reggie front and centre, too, and i think we were on the telly once or twice. the arena itself is on the newer side, like the excel or the prudential, with a nice windowy & wide open concourse. i wasn't such a big fan of the green floors, though, and i couldn't come up with a good reason why they'd do that. it was also quite a massive leap from the more storied, older joe louis we'd been to the night before... still, we found and photographed their mascot, sabretooth, whilst on a beer run (we were slamming labatt king cans, since our "good" beer options were non-existant).

the arena snack was a bit tougher to find. most people suggested hotdogs or nachos (the nachos actually looked DAMNED fine, with rice and other interesting toppings ---see them in the background) but the information booth dude pointed me towards the fried bologna sandwich. it was essentially a 1/2" thick slab of grilled hotdog meat with fried peppers and onions and topped with fake cheese; SO wrong but actually not that bad tasting.

midgame, i hit the ladies and the girl in front of me had a signed tyler myers jersey. it was rad, but i couldn't help but notice that myers had signed a little extra something that i can only assume is 100% legit (and 100% embarassing):

postgame i met a dude in the concourse sporting a giordano jersey. he REALLY liked the gio captain model and wanted to take some pix of it, then surprised us with the fact he was gio's first cousin and invited us to meet the man himself. the whole giordano mafia was there; gio's bro, dad, uncle, and cousins since the rink is only an hour from toronto. i got the captain jersey signed (gio says sheepishly, "oh, i don't know about that" but his pops looked pleased as punch!) and nabbed some killer photos of this episode, but they're not for public consumption.

after the game, we went bar hopping. first we went back to the pearl and sampled the don cherry cherry ale. generally, i'm not a massive fan of fruity beers but i really enjoyed this one. honestly. probably one of my favorite pints ever (next to the left hand sawtooth i had in NYC, but that's a whole other story). from there we cabbed to cole's up elmwood, but the kitchen was closed, so we ate wings at some other fast food type place, witnessed a Tbone car accident, hit mcgarrett's for a laugh, then the blue monk for some local brews (where we met clutterbuck's cousins), then we cruised down to allentown and tossed back many a brew at hardware. *sigh* it was a fun night but ohmygod i couldn't deal with a 4am last call on a regular basis.... ;)

the moral of the story: buffalo's a pretty fun town.
:)

Arena Report: Nationwide

2011-11-24T21:45:00.000-07:00

Columbus probably isn't at the top of anyone's list of place to take in an NHL game. It's a non-traditional market with a perennially struggling team. Getting there is a pain in the ass: the return trip from Vancouver required 28 hours of travel, five airports, and six flights. And what is there to do in Columbus? (Aside from hang with good friends, of course?) Enough to keep me busy for a few days, it turns out.

Columbus has got a pretty great zoo — complete with otters — some kick-ass locally-made ice cream, and of course, The Ohio State University. It'd be pretty impossible to overstate the importance of OSU to Columbus. At least 1 in 10 of the people I saw out in public were decked out in OSU gear. The Buckeyes stores are ubiquitous, massive, and carry everything from the official OSU candy (George, you'd love these; they have the perfect ratio of chocolate to peanut butter) to underwear to expensive jewelry and signed merchandise. The campus is huge and gorgeous, and as an institution inspires impressive loyalty from the populace.

Loyal locals are an owner's dream, but Columbus's struggles as a hockey market are well-documented. And really, who can blame the fans? One post-season appearance, in which they were swept, in 10 seasons leads to a lot of empty seats. I was on hyper-alert for any hint of a hockey fan. I zeroed in on the guy in the Blue Jackets coat when we grabbed breakfast at Panera one morning. Another in a Jackets t-shirt at at the OSU arena. A hockey equipment store in the northern 'burb where I was staying. And...that's about it.

But we hit the (one and only) hockey bar in Columbus on Saturday night, and lo and behold, shortly after the 8pm puck drop the place filled up. R Bar was standing room only by second intermission and, while there were more than a few OSU-clad fans, the vast majority were in Jackets jerseys. They wore hats and scarves and screamed at the TV. Drinks were decent, our server told me to help myself when I asked if I could have a Blue Jackets pint glass, and there was Leafs graffiti in the bathroom. Just like home... ;)

Game day was the Monday to start a holiday week in the US, so I guess it's not surprising that the announced attendance, just over 11,000, was an exaggeration. Still, it boggles me that you can pick up row six seats for $25 on game day.

Not bad for the "cheap" seats.

There were maybe 30 people watching the warmups (which may explain why there was a close-up of me on SN), and lots of empty seats. This was my first game in a non-sellout building, and it's...different. The crowd was quiet, and it felt really tiny because the stands in Nationwide aren't very steep — it creates a cavernous, empty feel. But there are some definite benefits to a small crowd. I never once waited in a queue for the toilets. During the second intermission, I used the bathroom, went back to my seat to finish a drink, trekked back to the concourse for more beer — where I made friends with the guy in front of me by chatting about how the Jackets can strengthen their fanbase (winning was the consensus) — and was still back in my seat before puck drop. Sorry, wi, I skipped out on the food of choice (which is a "cheese coney," basically a chili cheese dog. And since I don't like pie, I'm sure you can all guess my feelings on that). But the beer...

They sell local microbrew in Nationwide, from Columbus Brewing Company and Great Lakes Brewing, among others. It's not cheap, but arena beer never is, and it was worth the extra dollar or two to avoid the Bud. And like I said, no queue :)

They have their own strange rituals at Jackets games. The crowd tried to get the occasional "Let's go Jackets!" going, but after the first one to start the game, they never got any momentum. Later, a few loud patrons went with "Let's go Clitsome!" and, when that died off, "Get some Clitsome!" which lasted even less time. Sorry, wi ;) After Columbus's third goal, everyone in the place stood up and started chanting "CHILI!" in what was the loudest goal celebration of the night (Apparently a ticket stub gets you free chili at Wendy's if the Jackets score three or more in any game.) No one sings along with Locksley after a goal. Maybe they're still getting used to a new goal song? Or maybe they're just recovering from the cannon. Because the Jackets have a CANNON! And while I heard it too often for my liking on Monday, that's pretty cool :)

(Thanks for inviting me to join the team, wi. I'm very long-winded, so I hope you aren't regretting this already ;) I even have an anti-Canucks post all ready to go in my head for...next week or something.)

hit the post grows again !!!

2011-11-22T18:29:00.003-07:00

without consulting my hitthepost bretheren, i've opted to grow the brand yet again by inviting our favorite flames fan from canucksville to join us in the blogging arts.... (hey, it's not like any of duncan, mikeH, jafi OR myself write anymore anyways).

so, sarah ? welcome. write as much as you want, sister.
make us look bad.

PS: we are gonna kill the SHIT out of the arena reports and all sorts of flames-related baking.

;)

arena report: the Joe

2011-11-21T15:19:00.012-07:00

three months ago, my friend zak took a trip to detroit. amongst the decay and hardships of the rustbelt, he felt an underlying potential and a true sense of community, and that the city's eventual rebirth would be something truly incredible... he wanted to be a part of it.

within weeks he had an immigration lawyer, a house, and season tickets to the red wings.

november 2nd, i flew into windsor and made it cross-border on public transit's "tunnel bus" in one hour flat. i would've been quicker, but the homeland security agents were (to put it simply) a bunch of fucking douchebags. i don't think they bought my "i'm going to catch the flames play the wings" story until they saw the gio captain jersey in my suitcase.... ;)

the thing with detroit is that it has a pretty bad rap. i'm not saying that there aren't areas to avoid, and i'm not suggesting that there aren't sweeping changes that need to be made or that entire neighbourhoods shouldn't be torn down, but i think zak is onto something. there's a certain optimism in the air and the bittersweet smell of opportunity...

the flames seemed to notice, too, as they took to the ice at the Joe with reckless abandon and a rarely-seen ferociousness, and came away with two well-deserved points. like the city, the redwings fans were hopeful yet beaten-down; acutely aware of the grim desperation of the team's current losing record.

we pre-pre-gamed at the legendary marge's earlier in the day, then we pre-gamed at detroit's anchor bar, and even hit the post (yeah, we did) just before puckdrop. postgame, we wandered to tommy's and had a pint with tommy himself. at the rink, you can get a black and tan for under a tenner, and why wouldn't you !?! who wants to drink bud or molson or labatts when you can get a serious arena pour:

as for the arena snack, well there was lots of talk of the coney island dog being a big draw in hockeytown, but i had myself a little caesar's pepperoni and that certainly felt right on the money. for those unaware: mike ilitch started the pizza company in metro detroit (garden city) in 1959, and used $8mil of his fortune in 1982 to buy the redwings (and the tigers, but this column is about HOCKEY).

[editor's note: i had a great pic of my pizza, the black&tan and the ice surface / lower bowl of the Joe, but i lost my camera in NYC. i apparently lose cameras. it's my "thing"].

the rink is old and storied and dark and, like the other aging arenas in the league, feels like it's all just metal-wrapped concrete. the rafters are dripping with championship banners and the concourse boasts some pretty cool statues (ted lindsay stands out, here) and the pillars are "camouflaged" with player photos that can also be used to recall your section ---i used joey macdonald to find my seat after a quick run to the restroom during a tv timeout.... and while most of the newer league venues have painted their concourses in shades of butters (excel ctr) and creams (prudential), the wall colour of choice in motown is black. hm. go wings.

anyhow... it's a pretty incredible joint, i gotta say. you sortof have to see it to believe it....
:)

proof positive that the flames mgmt reads htp

2011-10-28T09:23:00.002-06:00

how else can you explain my two favorite players on a poster together ?! ;) seriously, though. gio: get some sleep. mickis: you're lucky you're swedish, bro, cause the euro-mullet doesn't work on a lot of people.

speaking of mickis' hair: let's all hope he goes as dracula for hallowe'en cause that widow's peak is DYING to be the centre of attention... ;)

not sure about you but i can't WAIT to see who gets to eat popcorn in the dome rafters tonight, cause it ain't gonna be roman horak. i'm sure if glenX is healthy he'll draw back in, in lieu of a defenseman (though, i gotta say: dressing seven D, when only 3 are any good, seems like a bang-up idea to me).

i'm headin outta town for a par-tay. wish me and my hangover luck !
;)

sam roberts hearts the habbies

2011-10-26T00:55:00.003-06:00

just quick: i met sam roberts tonight (see above). he loves the habs and is a good dude. also ? his sax player is awesomer than awesome but doesn't care for hockey. no matter. he would not have partaken in the gang-sign habs (left) v. flames (right).

i think the sam roberts band is taking on the red deer rebels tomorrow am. hilarious for all parties. wish i was gonna be awake before 9am.
;)

a love letter to the new york rangers

2011-10-19T16:34:00.004-06:00

dearest rangers:

it's no secret that i'm smitten with you. i find you so... intriguing. if i'm honest with myself, i'll admit that i do love you... just a little bit....

i've been saying for years (much to everyone's chagrin) that you're my east coast team. it all started when jfj shipped immonen, kondratiev & a pick (korpikoski) your way in exchange for brian leetch on deadline day in 2004. hey, it doesn't hurt that new york is one of the best towns on the planet, that MSG has a storied history, that your fans still make fun of denis potvin, and that your lundqvist is a looker. when i went to a subway series game in 2005, you gave me a bracelet with your name on it ---a much nicer gift than anything the flames ever gave me. honestly.... how could anyone NOT find you beguiling !!!

the move you pulled last night showed me, maybe for the first time, that you really care. i'm so flattered. i mean, i presume that you made the canucks look bad for MY benefit, and i imagine that you made the home fans jeer their starting 'tender just to make me smile. oh, rangers.... (*swoon*) you're just such a FLIRT !!

i should point out that i don't think much of your coach or your GM, and you DID harbour sean avery for years.... all forgiven, of course, when i think about how you turned our prusty into a real man... we agonize about his absence sometimes, but we're really proud of what he's done for you.

look. this is really hard for me to say, rangers, but... can you please go easy on my one true love tomorrow ? they've been having a tough time lately, and are feeling pretty bad about themselves. i KNOW they know how much you mean to me, and i really think it would lift their spirits if you could let them get a goal or six past your king. also, if you could keep your big guns from putting any kind of real effort up, thereby letting kippy get the dub, i'd appreciate it immensely.

if it helps at all, i'd be willing to meet up with hank tonight (even if he insists on wearing his fedora/tracksuit combination) to discuss any possible hurt feelings from you being my second favorite ---i can't help it that the flames are and will always be my soulmate... failing that, i'll swing by for a visit in november, maybe on the 6th when you play the jets. i'll cheer for you and yell "potvin sucks." promise...

much, much love --
wi

why they will sell less beer at the dome (and other presumptions)

2011-10-14T09:10:00.005-06:00

when i first saw the video of the bottoms-up pouring system (above), i thought it was pretty neat. kindof like the way i think that trick photography is neat, that having gio's lady follow htp on twitter is neat, that shadows looking like jim morrison are neat, that cats that bark like dogs are neat.... y'know: super deadly cool for a minute or two and then kinda just part of the fabric of life, filed in the "yeah, i've seen that" category.

i went to the 'dome for calgary's preseason tilt versus the dirty greasers a few weeks ago, and i have to say i was excited to test the bottoms-up system and the current on-tap selection of everyone's favorite americanized brew. the verdict: HUGELY disappointing.

1. budweiser is kinda gross. no way to sugarcoat that fact.
2. (and this is the kicker) the bottoms-up cup cannot rest on your lap/armrest as the precious amber liquid will continually leak out the base. i put it down for a brief instant on my knee and was left with a big, wet ring. infact, i found that my beer-holding hand was wet for the entire duration of my refreshment. i'm quite sure that four or five bevvies would result in pruney fingers....

i do understand the cost-savings in having little-to-no spillage in foam (aka: head) form and therefore i can acknowledge why the org would want to install such a system. i will also point out that i am not the voice of the masses, and perhaps there will be MORE beer sold this way.... but i will drink the tallboys from the vendors ONLY and will not sully my hands or clothing with the draft version... which has historically been my staple.

bummer.

in other news, i'm going to detroit to watch the flames v. wings tilt on nov3, then i'll travel to buffalo to watch my boys take on the slugs (i'll take a moment in the parking lot to mourn where andrew ference got his face proverbially spit on by the club, leading in no small part to the +/- 10 no trade clauses the team currently boasts).

and finally, who's comin' to hudsons tonight to have a pint with me and my bloggy bretheren ? i've got $150 in winnings to spend cause i made mark giordano look like chuck norris.... everyone's invited.

:)
wi

htp Goes eBay Hunting.

2011-10-09T21:17:00.002-06:00

So the mediocrity of the Feaster era has officially started. How about the season opener last night!? Exactly what I expected from an organization that did not make a concerted effort to hire the proper general manager to right the ship. Damn...I promised myself I wouldn't rant.

Well contrary to wi, my absence from htp this summer has been self imposed. I struggled a lot this summer (pretty much from the moment it was made official that The Feast would no longer be "acting") to come up with entries that wouldn't be filled with pessimism and anger at the fact the Flames won't be competitive for the next few seasons. And around August I became positive again to an extent or at least hopeful for the season but I still didn't think I would be able to write something that just wouldn't eventually turn into an angry rant (See Langkow trade. It really is hard to stay positive.). I guess I had a form of angry blogger's block...something like that...until I realized that people come to htp for the lighter side of Flames hockey....and Flames fans would probably come in droves to this site this season (especially after watching last night's debacle).

Well then, regardless of the product that is put forth on the ice, the Flaming C and everything it stands for is something that unites us all as Flames fans, right? (Take a trip to wi's living room and you will know what I mean) And examining how the Flaming C is used and incorporated into society (such as a birthday cake...remember that one?) is probably something that would enlighten Flames fans and htp readers. SOOOOO....I went hunting on eBay for the wackiest, innovative, humorous, original, unique, legendary, practical, cool, ironic, and effective uses of the Flaming C and will be presenting them to you in my posts this season. This kind of writing should be angry rant proof. Afterall, if you like what I present to you...you can buy it...or bid on it...I mean what other Flames blog provides you with such opportunties?

So here we go...I give to you the Calgary Flames Musical Baby Crib Mobile...

Yes, for those of you that have babies...introduce them to the frustration that comes with being a fan of an organization who's owners are absolutely inept at hiring competent hockey ops people. I'm actually upset that my parents didn't hook me up with one of these when I was a little guy. I do recall I loved my mobile...it is one of the few things I remember from being a baby. Mobiles are cool generally...but this one is that much more cool because it has a bunch of bears dressed in Flames jerseys with helmets and hockey skates on. Badass. It plays a song called "Hockey Lullaby", which seems like an oxymoron, but I'm imagining it as some sort of a soothing version of the Fuldans or Barbra Streisand by Duck Sauce. By the way, could you imagine this thing with a bunch Jokers hanging instead of bears...? Ok...that would defeat the purpose...we don't want to scar or scare the babies...we just want to make them Flames fans. Anyways, it's a pretty cool mobile and apparently it is easy to assemble and adjust. The one down side to this product is that Canadian residents need to pay $25.00 USD in shipping, whereas American residents get free shipping. Ouch. That might be a deal breaker. (I'm assuming here that there are more Flames fans in Canada than the US...just a guess based on experience.)

If you're interested in buying this baby gadget, it will cost you $31.99 USD...but you won't have to resort to eBay auction bidding tactics since it's available as a Buy It Now (for those of you not familiar with how this works, Buy It Now is exactly what it says...you buy it now at the list price, no questions asked). As of the drafting of this post, there are still 2 mobiles available. And now for the moment you've all been impatiently reading for....the link to the item...

The Calgary Flames Musical Baby Crib Mobile

You'll thank me later. ;)

hitthepost loves Gio

2011-10-07T10:07:00.000-06:00

Hi all,

I decided that since WI is off in a trench someplace in Medicine Hat, maybe I would fire off my first post for the 2011-2012 season with this piece of wonderful news which we have been expecting around here for ages:

Donning the 'A'
Flames honour heart-and-soul Giordano with an 'A'

Who needs the effin' draft? Not Gio. Send him to Siberia, see if Gio cares. Not bloody likely. Dump him out in front of a goalie who only stops 9 out of 10 shots while he's on the ice. Doesn't matter to Gio, he'll just invent a new position and play goal himself ("New Age Defenceman™").

I hope I can gush enough to come close to something representing WI's Gio-crush. The guy has rapidly become a core member of the team leadership and I don't think anyone doubts the skills (anymore). As a team over at hitthepost, we have always been happy to champion Gio, sometimes going to extremes. All this is why I can say that we are not surpised, but definitely happy that the recognition is going to the right dude.

If there is one thing I'm looking forward to watching on the ice this season (and actually, there may only be one thing), its going to be the continued development of Gio in to a world class d-man. Gio, you may have become the "alternate" on the ice, but here at hitthepost you definitely wear the "C".

2011-10-03T13:14:00.003-06:00

okay fine. i'll write. ;)

so here's the thing: i've been busy.

i realize i haven't written a whole hell of a lot in the past few months, and i chalk that up to being pretty flat-out with work, my brother's wedding, my cousin's wedding in NYC, tiny holiday-type trips to toronto (twice), NYC, montreal, and a shit-ton of time in medicine fucking hat. ;) i've re-connected with old, old friends and pretty much fallen in love with my posse (aka: the screaming denzels), with whom i celebrate friendship day once a week, when possible. so here's my thoughts from the past few months, possibly even in chronological order:

1. development camp

historically, i've prided myself on being the only person in the flames' blogosphere without a 9-5 job and thus the only person in the flames' blogosphere with the ability to show up most days during the july prospect camp. not so, this year. i guess i'll hand the figurative torch over to jazzyV who attended more, wrote more, interviewed more, and cared more than this girl. i blame both work and my advancing age. but i digress.

i only got to go once this year, and had to play a little hooky that day ----i told my boss i needed an oil change (which i did), and he didn't seem to mind, so i took the afternoon off. ps: i have a killer job. ;) anyhow, after picking up some important work-related paperwork in the beautiful NE suburb of temple, i grabbed a sub & poutine from king of subs (btw: FUCK YEAH) and boogied over to the ol' don hartman for the afternoon sesh. jazzyV cabbed it over from westwinds station cause we couldn't figure out where the hell it was so I couldn't pick him up.... anyhow, walking into the sportsplex, i was reminded of that time i saw noodles in the entranceway... was that REALLY four years ago !? wow....

first thing's first: jay feaster and his cronies (read: conny) were suitably situated in the snack bar. part of me wanted to sit down and eavesdrop but really i just wanted to hang rinkside and chilly whilst watching the babies play. to be entirely honest, nobody really stood out to me, though i'd expected to see pretty awesome stuff from brodie and max reinhart. i guess you can't base an entire farm of prospects on watching a 45 minute practice... ;)

2. the tim erixon debacle

so the org couldn't sign a kid who didn't want to be here. hm. i think the scariest part is that the kid didn't want to be here because he was leery of getting a shot in the bigs (because calgary never promotes their chirruns). too fair, if you ask me. i wouldn't want to be a flames' prospect, either. not with the logjam of useless veteran 3rd/4th liners and the surplus of mediocre defensive prospects. it's kindof outrageous.

reading deeper into this, you have to wonder if calgary doesn't have a problem signing guys, full stop. there MUST be a reason (beyond sheer lunacy) that feaster has been doling out the no trade clauses like candy at hallowe'en, even though he swore he wouldn't. there MUST be a reason it takes five suits (edwards, king, feaster, holditch, conroy) to sign a non-franchise guy like curtis glencross. a reason brad richards turns down an eight figure contract. it reeks of "bigger issues" and is superconcerning at the very best. i wouldn't imagine this tim erixon situation will be the last time a kid thinks re-entering the draft would be a better option, career-wise. sad.

3. the overabundance of defensemen

i'm not sure exactly what the org was thinking, building a defensive corps of 12 potential big-club blueliners including jaybouw, gio, sarich, hannan, babchuk, smith, butler, henry, mikkelson, negrin, brodie, and breen. hahahaha remember when the flames went to the cup finals with a bunch of replacement level dudes ? yeah. the current incarnation is built for that exact situation. TWELVE !!? whoah. we're gonna win the cup twice this year.

i started writing this three weeks ago so i'm gonna post it now, even though i'm not TOTALLY done my summer sum-up. this is enough for the moment. perhaps there will be a part deux at some point later this week.

until then, enjoy what's left of first nations summer. it's bloody hot out there.
:)

wi

the real giordano photoshop contest winner

2011-08-29T21:31:00.003-06:00

earlier in the week, flamesnation put together a mark giordano photoshop contest and it looks like yours truly is in good shape to win the bartab from hudsons. the reason i'm gonna take the title ?

1. gio IS chuck norris
2. i learned photoshop for that stupid contest
and
3. awildermode didn't submit this:

so, to my very special friend in cali, whom i've never met but i know is kickass, who i stood in line for 3 hours at a book signing for, who drives a delorean, and if i ever need a place to crash in redondo beach (?) i know i'm golden: you are the uncontested winner of the never-announced hitthepost mark giordano photoshop contest, and someday you'll do me the honour (yeah, with a U) of allowing me to buy you (many) pints.

xox
wi

how is it possible that i never knew about this ?

2011-07-16T15:28:00.003-06:00

it seems that last april, a bunch of the baby flames (aka abbostford HEAT) shaved their heads to raise money for cancer research. no real point other than there are some kickass photos here that demonstrate why john armstrong (pictured) is still an asset to the team (or at least to the girls who like the team), why chris breen should never sport a chelsea cut, and jimmy canaryshirt should never smile.

i actually attended a session at prospect camp before shipping out to the middle of nowhere for the better part of three weeks, and one of these days i'll post my (limited) thoughts on the day. it includes a trip to alberta king of subs, finding feaster miles away from the ice (in the snackbar, no less), and my thoughts on breen in an on-and-off ice capacity.

:)

proof positive that stajan ain't goin' anywhere:

2011-07-14T09:11:00.002-06:00

Canucks Ego Alert

2011-07-06T20:27:00.000-06:00

I know I've been absent around these parts, but now that we're into the offseason, there isn't really much to talk about. Sales of bottled Luongo Tears are not nearly where I expected them to be. I suspect Bobby Lu has granted someone else access to the formula for sodium chokeride.

As it is, I have something to share today. My ex-brother (I say "ex" due to the Canucks ball cap in the pic below) was down in Vegas for the NHL awards. Good times were had, including partying with Roenick, meeting Danielle Sedin, playing slots with Dale Hunter, and hanging at the club with Corey Perry. Plus, this little bit of gold from the pool at the Palms. (I blank out his face mostly to save you from his ugly mug, but also because his kids might have to live with this shame some day. And I really love the nephews.)

Note the highlighted area on Kesler's perfectly sculpted shoulder (What can I say? The guy is effin' ripped). Here's the zoom:

Really Ryan? A Superman shield with a "K"? I was so surprised that I assumed this was some sort of temporary douchebaggery, so I looked it up. Verification here and here (and if anyone ever repeats that I punched "Ryan Kesler naked" into Google image search, I'll rip out their throat). I know that the innertubes are a big place and I am not the first to notice this, but I think it deserves to be shown again. What an amazing display of egotism. I fully expect him to get "Ryan Kesler is AWESOME!" tattooed across his back. Fuck me.

Go Flames!!!

a love letter to robyn regehr

2011-06-23T23:19:00.005-06:00

my dearest reggie:

it is with both great sadness and overwhelming joy that i write to you today, because i've been informed that the biggest decision of your life has fallen into your hands. i understand you've been asked to waive your no trade clause with the calgary flames (the only nhl team you've ever really known) in order for them to send you to the buffalo sabres. you are incredibly fortunate to have your choice of fates, reggie, and i trust that you're giving it the mulling-over of a lifetime...

here's the thing: i know it's buffalo, which kinda sucks. but they do have the anchor bar and the original wingnight. admittedly, that's about it --but their hockey team has a lot of potential and a world-class coach, and i would imagine that might be a refreshing change for you... plus i'd bet a ton of dough you'll get paired with tyler myers and he's a pretty solid, punishing up-and-comer. i bet he'd learn a lot from you, and i bet it'd be swell to leave some legacy behind in the next few years before retiring (which obviously ain't gonna happen in calgary since they'll never bring any kids into the top six). plus you got your boys monty and leo there to welcome you to the fold... it wouldn't be all bad !!!

it IS a lot further from home, and from REAL home in saskatchewan. it's a lot further from roughriders games but they only really play a month into the hockey season anyways. you could still attend in the offseason...

if you decide to stay in calgary, i would be more than happy to watch you railroad the sedins and ales hemsky through the duration of your contract. there will never be anything quite like your tunnel of doom, and i'd be perfectly content to watch you run clinics on it through the next few years. realistically, though, you'll never be paired with anyone good enough to watch your back in the dome, and the D will never be good enough to win games when none of your teammates can score....

the choice is really yours but i can't imagine any good reason why you'd stick around, other than the presumed fact you've made some damn good friends in calgary. but think about it: andrew ference made some good friends here, too, but that guy won a stanley cup. maybe it's a sign from the hockey gods when you realize that he was traded after a game in buffalo....

anyhow, i want you to know this: you have been the best interview on the flames for a decade. you were the handsdown winner of the sideburns contest, and you're the most honest of the bunch; a charismatic yet crotchety beast... i think you would have made as good or better a captain than iginla, and would probably have led the team to greater victories. you were my favorite defenseman until gio came along (sorry bud, but i love gio) and i wish you the best of luck with the rest of your career, no matter where you choose to go. like the guys who left before you (ference included), i will cheer you on regardless of your jersey.... and finally? i want to thank you for playing your best and your hardest for this team through the good years and the bad. and if you ask me, you were worth theo fleury a hundred times over...

much, much love and all the best,
wi

bottled luongo tears: an htp original

2011-06-18T07:02:00.005-06:00

hitthepost writer, mikeH, came up with his multi-million dollar idea during last year's playoffs, and figures he's pretty close to retirement now that he's developed a prototype:

(for the visually impaired:)

Directions: Add liberally to your cocktail to generate a smug sense of self satisfaction. Use plenty, there's more where these came from.

Ingredients: Fraser River water, sodium chokeride, hair gel.

cost will be based on demand. please leave your order in the comments section.

thx
wi

yet another reason to loathe the pink jersey

2011-06-17T11:01:00.007-06:00

i still can't believe that vancouverites trashed their city (and each other) under the pretense of losing a championship hockey game... it really adds a little punch to the term "loser."

this might be a good time to point out that there are ever so many "canucks fans" who really only fly the green and blue for a split second every year when the team makes the post-season. this year, unfortunatly, when it looked like the dirty nucks would take the prize, it was probably these same ignorami (i'm looking at you, nathan kotylak, you unbelievable, utter moron) who decided the best way to console themselves would be to give the city a darned good reason to raise taxes... i suppose by tarnishing the reputation earned during the 2010 olympics, they did take the heat off of the fact that their hockey team took the night off on wednesday. thank god for small miracles, or whatever, i guess...

i do still know some folks that i feel awful for. even though a few pints and a first round win brought the goad out in goad, i still can't help but sympathize for a life-long team supporter who was so thoroughly devastated by the series' outcome that he sullenly described to me what it's like for a diehard fanbase to have such an unfortunate pedigree in playoff losses: "i would even say there is no fanbase more knowledgable in losing than our shitty, carburning, halfwit fans." as a true lover of the game, his team, and all that goes with it, it must be devastating not only to deal with the on-ice misfortune, but the realization that you're being represented by a horde of cretins...

while i like to boast that when calgary went down after the '04 run there was nary a fistfight on the redmile (just a LOT of bare chests), i'm not dumb enough to think that there weren't more extenuating factors that led to the difference beyond my belief that most canucks fans are simply awful... first is the fact that the "red mile" was a seven-or-so block stretch of the same road and therefore radically more simple to police than an entire downtown area. secondly, the city of calgary didn't put up a bunch of large screen tvs and encite the townsfolk to gather in droves without the proper amount of law-enforcing presence. and thirdly: the '04 flames were a mötley crew of nobodies and replacement players, led by a charismatic captain, a hotter-than-hot goalie, and the surliest coach in history. they weren't ever supposed to make it that far... the '11 canucks, alternately, were the best team in the league by a significant margin during the regular season, and were far-and-away the favorites to take home lord stanley's prize. the difference lies in expectation; while the flames fought to the bitter end, the fans were happy to have had the run. the canucks, on the other hand, fostered enormous feelings first of entitlement, and finally disappointment. a far more incindiary mentality, in my opinion...

anyhow, what's done is done. the draft is next up and i'm off to the big smoke then the big apple. it doesn't look like i'll be around for prospect camp this year, which is a drag, but i look forward to a blogger meet-up in ---let's say--- mid-august ? we can catch up then and discuss hockey at the time of year it's least in our minds....

best,
wi

so long, wallin.... heart

2011-06-15T12:58:00.004-06:00

i came on here planning to reference a whole bunch of stuff i've said historically on the subject of niclas wallin, but it turns out i never wrote about it.... *typical* ... which means i can only really say "i toldya so" to the handful of people i've discussed it with in person: niclas wallin retired today, which makes my prediction [that he would throw in the proverbial NHL towel at the end of this season, returning to sweden] totally (though admittedly obviously) accurate. it also means that the cupcakes i made to celebrate his last game (referenced on twitter @hitthepost, may 24) will now be remembered for all-time as bittersweet....

happy and sad simultaneously...

not surprisingly, he will return to his homeland and play hockey for luleå HF, which is appx 30 kms from his hometown of boden in sweden. it sounds like he'll be named captain, too, so that's rad for a dude who was totally loved and will be sorely missed by his teammates... a seriously great guy all-around.

best of luck to the guy they call the big swede. i hope your new nickname is as awesome....
x

not happy about this omen

2011-06-12T20:55:00.002-06:00

i happened across it on my run yesterday, and even went so far as to call it a doomstone today...

not.
good.

(but good for you, goad).
;)

Vote of No Confidence.

2011-06-05T19:47:00.008-06:00

And so it begins. The ineptitude and managerial ridiculousness that made the Calgary Flames an irrelevant bottom dweller in the late 1990s and early 2000s is back in full effect. And I've come to the conclusion that it didn't just arrive over night, it's been brewing for years, it was just shrouded in playoff appearances. But Flames fans, do not kid yourself, this organization is about as Mickey Mouse as it gets today and the trade of Tim Erixon is clear cut evidence that it is.

I've restrained myself over the last weeks to come on htp and draft up my assessment of the Flames hiring Jay Feaster as full time GM. My opinion on the matter is very simple and does not need to be elaborated on. It's a horrible hire and one that will set the franchise back for years to come. Feaster's hiring, qualifications, pros (not many at all) and cons, have been well documented by htp's friends over at FlamesNation so I won't be chiming in with my take. But I will say this, there is a reason the guy couldn't get a hockey job in the years after he was let go by the Lightning. Curious what he was doing during that time, read this. It speaks for itself.

Anyways, I'm digressing...in my opinion the recent (forced) trade of Tim Erixon speaks volumes to who's currently running the Flames organization. It is an absolute vote of no confidence in Feaster in Ken King in Craig Conroy in whoever else you want to insert here. And yes it comes off as arrogant and egotistical from a young Swedish prospect who hasn't proved anything beyond some solid play in the WJC. But you can't take away the fact that his father played in the NHL and is well aware of how things run in NHL front offices. Had Erixon's circle of advisors (if I may call them that) really believe the Flames organization was going in the right direction they wouldn't have requested what they did. In the end, its not like Calgary is some dreaded place to play...the reason Erixon didn't want to sign with the Flames was because of his lack of confidence in the people that run the team.

Unfortunately, this is what Flames fans have to deal with. It's not going to get better anytime soon either. Just wait and see, Butter will get the axe next season when the team falls flat on its face; because for years the organization has been addressing their problems bottom up instead of top down. And I'll be the first to admit it, I was critical of Darryl Sutter but I'm starting to wonder just how many decisions he was really making and just how much was dictated to him, from the hiring of scouts and coaches to scouting and contracts. (Don't take that statement as some sort of backtracking, I am still laying a lot of the blame for the Flames' shortcomings on Daz.) We probably will never know, but we have to deduce things based on what has happened since. I've heard the rumors that Steve Yzerman turned down the GM job last year and if true, it's telling. I see them hire Jay Feaster (of all people) as an AGM when the GM is clearly on thin ice. I see them drag Feaster along as "acting" GM and then make him full time GM the same day they make Craig Conroy some sort of AGM. Then a few weeks into the job, Feaster can't lock up Erixon because Erixon doesn't want to play for them. If that's not a vote of no confidence I don't know what is. But think about it...if you were Erixon...would you want to begin your career with this organization? Think about it...

the game77 theory: an htp original !!!

2011-05-30T21:30:00.006-06:00

y'know what drives me crazy ? stats that don't matter.

while i'm interested in hockey statistics in general (like the stuff that got me to third in my fantasy pool like G/A/PIM/SOG/Sv%), and i'm HUGE proponent of advanced metrics (corsi, qualcomp, zonestarts etc --all definitions can be found c/o behindthenet), when you watch a hockey broadcast or read pregames in the MSM, they often toss around meaningless numbers that make me want to throw things.

the one that comes to mind immediately is that the flames haven't won a game in anaheim since january 2004. that's a lot of losses, admittedly, but let's also consider that the only players who have endured the entirety of that dry spell were iginla and regehr. on the night of december 10th, 2010, when the flames rolled into the pond and every sportscaster in the universe was announcing the aforementioned seven-year win drought, mikael backlund's record in anaheim was a perfect zero-for-zero. brendan morrison's record in anaheim, whilst displaying a flaming C on the front of his jersey, was also unblemished.... as were babchuk's and kostopolous'. ultimately, the 2010 incarnation of the calgary flames had never played in anaheim as a group, and therefore (to me, anyways) the factoid is rendered meaningless...

in effort to show how thoroughly inconsequential some of these media-regurgitated items are, i came up with the game77 theory. i intend to use it as a retort to peter loubardias proving to the world that he can read the game notes, and therefore is aware that miikka kiprusoff is undefeated in the month of september against teams that wear green (or something equally insignificant).

cause here's the thing: the flames have won game 77 every year since 2000-2001... that's like 9 straight years !!! so this obviously means that they'll probably win game 77 next year, and that prospect clearly makes the data thoroughly important for mass consumption. OR, the flames are about as likely to win game 77 as they are game 76, and even mentioning the nine year run is sortof foolish...

these are the things i do when i'm bored.
see here for the actual data (and if you can't read it, i can email you a bigger version).
:)

separated at birth: mmm... sweeedes...

2011-05-29T19:26:00.004-06:00

i saw the photo at left of alexander skarsgård (from true blood) and it reminded me instantly of the forsberg shot at right.

thought i'd share.

on the canucks winning the cup

2011-05-27T10:32:00.012-06:00

there.
i said it.
i've been quietly saying it for weeks now, but there is no point pretending it's going to play out any other way (though i'll be more than happy to be wrong !!): the hated rival vancouver canucks are going to win the 2011 stanley cup.

but here's why it upsets me the most: i don't like canucks fans. i used to say "i don't like canucks fans... save for the select few of my pals who are NOT bullies about it and THOSE guys are AWESOME and i'm honestly happy for them," when the orcas won.... but then there was that one night where that one friend said some unnecessarily vicious and deplorable words following my congratulatory message post-OT victory v. chicago... and everything changed.

i hardly slept that night.
i kept waking up with his comments in my head and i couldn't believe they were ever even imagined, much less stated, by such an upstanding dude... amazing what a few too many pints and a first round victory can do... (apologies have since been offered and accepted, cause i know he's an incredible guy, but i fear there will always be lingering sadness, on my part, that the incident even occurred).

so here are the ground rules. let's try to follow them, mmkay ?

1. flames fans and canucks fans will never agree on things NHL, so let's acknowledge that we are and will always be enemies and move on.

2. FRIENDLY gloating/ribbing/goading is allowed, VICIOUS gloating/ribbing/goading (such as that which appears on theo fleury's twitter) is embarassing and reprehensible. nobody needs to make fun of sexual abuse, child abuse, or drug/alcohol abuse (EVER, UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES), and straight up: nobody likes a braggart....

3. jealousy will occur naturally and unabashedly when one's hated rival is on the brink of a championship. let's just be respectful about it.

4. the canucks are going to win the cup. it's inevitable. i think we can all agree on this, so let's allow our canuck fan friends to be HUMBLY proud (almost lost in R1G7OT), and excessively happy. we, as flames fans, can sit back and dream about tim erixon and max reinhart....

5. canada's team IS team canada.

i remember when the flames beat the canucks in the '04 playoffs, 1st round, OT (i skipped the pixies live show at mac hall to watch game 7). my reaction to the massive victory wasn't "screw you canucks fans !" it was "OMG i'm SO excited, let's go somewhere i can take my shirt off and spend 45 minutes driving a single block !!!"**

good ? yeah ? now let's just all get along, shall we ?
#gobolts.
:)

**i'm paraphrasing cause i don't remember my exact thoughts, but it was something along that line i'm sure cause that's what some girls did.... more likely i was just repeating "HOLY SHIT WE FUCKING WON !!!" over & over in a trance-like state.

i guess the green men took the night off

2011-05-19T09:14:00.004-06:00

screengrabbed by htp buddy and steinberg bff, mitthands, during the broadcast of last night's disaster on ice (aka: game 2). uncensored version here. bummer you can't see the look on ben eager's face....

this post is for you, domebeers. ;)

monday randoms (it's been awhile)

2011-05-09T16:00:00.004-06:00

every year around this time, FFWD magazine polls calgarians about their favorite stuff, later published as their "best of" awards. please go to ffwd's website to have your say, but here's some stuff i submitted (cause i like a theme).

ps: alex ruiz only narrowly won "sexiest woman," because i don't find matt stajan that sexy.
pps: i just wrote "matt shatjan" by accident. hilarious typo.
ppps: i entered domebeers over my own blog cause it was the only way to appease AZR for me writing "loubardias" in as the local tv personality (which was a jab, but seemed like a vicious-roundhouse-to-the-head type jab).

:)

lunch and other tasty morsels for STH's

2011-04-27T14:32:00.014-06:00

first of all, i want to apologize personally to ken king on behalf of myself and my bloggy colleagues from hitthepost who attended the season ticket holder's luncheon today and didn't speak up when asked "is there a blogger in the house ?".... people who have met me know that i'm super personable and easygoing, but in a room full of strangers i get painfully self conscious and ridiculously uncomfortable speaking out (the exception to this rule: karaoke'ing kriskross 'jump'...).

put it this way: my alias isn't walkinvisible for nothing.... but i digress

i will also point out to the masses that i don't believe we would've been persecuted by the org for being nerdy bloggers... unless a rep from domebeers had infiltrated the bowels of the 'dome on an offseason wednesday afternoon. part of me thinks kk wanted to know what a real-life blogger looks like (and part of me thinks he'd know exactly which of the 50-or-so folks we were), but he suggested that he was just curious how fast the following information would spread to the world:

there is a chance that the flames will purchase the calgary roughnecks lacrosse team.

[ps: ken ? if you're reading ? feel free to contact me at walkinvisible@gmail.com ---i'd love to talk to you about having a fulltime flames' blogger/tweeter. i write good reports and would even promise to not swear and i'd TOTALLY use caps] ;)

onwards.

here are some other things kk touched on, in the order of (my) interest:

1. COACHING STAFF
he talked about the coaching staff evaluations, and how it led to the dismissal of mcgill, cookson, and ("uhhhhhhhh....." king's eyes close... hand goes to forhead....looks to rollie cyr for assistance...) McLENNAN. sorry to say it, noodles, but the org president forgot your name for a sec. OR, alternately, refers to you so often as "noodles" that he couldn't remember your REAL name in a formal setting.... anyhow. not much info on gilly but it sounds like cookson lost his job to some tech savvy "consultant" who will be much better at operating the new fandangled video playback equipment. also, according to king, cookson wants to be an "on-ice" coach so the non-renewal of contract (aka: firing) is really in his best interest... as for mclennan, he was offered another unnamed position with the org that king suggests is not a demotion. i was gonna inquire about it but he probably wouldn't have told us anyways since he touched on the subject in his pre-emptive opening monologue. he did, however, offer the info that noodles has until "the end of the week" to make a decision on the offer. ie: two more days. [my feeling ? he's gone.... and i'm TERRIFIED he'll resurface in vancouver... ] king also noted that they wanted a bigger "veteran coaching presence" behind the bench, which hopefully means it no longer applies to the players. my fingers are crossed for the hiring of former AHL affiliate, lowell loch monsters, assistant tom rowe. natch. ;)

2. FRONT OFFICE
as far as announcing feaster as the official GM of the team, well ---don't hold your breath. they are still "going through the process" to ensure the "right fit." from the sounds of it, they want to announce the "package" in the front office all at once and are still filling in the gaps (this may also include coaching, that was unclear). kk DID suggest that feaster was currently in abbotsford reviewing things there, and that they were allowing him to choose his own people ---such as asst. GM--- which leads me to believe the "acting" title is in name only. i think it's fair to say it's been decided that this is the guy that will run the flames' future. hmph.... king said nothing about his own position, though i don't recall him having "CEO" after "president" in his job title before...?

3. UFAs
we were told that offers are out to "more than one" of the UFA players, and that they "want to sign" tangs, glenX & pardy, and that they "like" babs, karlsson & *gasp*staios ---for the right price. he went on about how much the org believes in karlsson & thinks he can take on 22 or-so games, and he also discussed glenny's deal; noting that 29% of his output came during 13 games. while that stat is interesting, more notable is the fact that the org is AWARE of this stat, and the presumption that they're using it to lower glenny's worth. [my feeling ? he's gone.... and i'm TERRIFIED he'll resurface in vancouver... lol]. king admits to the club (*cough*darryl*cough*) having overpaid some contracts, but doesn't mention bouwmeester, stajan, jokinen, bourque, sarich, hagman, kotalik, staios, or ivanans directly. ;)

4. ROOKIES
using the classic businessman runaround model, kk suggests something to the effect of "just because we have room for young players doesn't mean we will have young players on our team." he did seem positive, however, about erixon and brodie, and mentioned them plus nemisz and bouma as the four frontrunners in this capacity. he also suggested "a couple others," though i can't imagine who he's thinking of, unless they feel they want to give jon rheault an actual contract, they're wanting to skip max reinhart straight from the dub, or he's forgotten keith aulie got traded to the leafs for a sack of pucks.

OTHER GEMS:
- they're looking at alternate urban sites for a new arena. places they're looking ? "to the north, uhhh, east, and south.... and west." lol. best quote of the day. ;)
- the salary cap should go up next year "by the cost of one of our UFA's salary." obviously that is massively different if we're talking pardy or tanguay but some maths thrown around were "57% of the total of the new USA tv deal divided by 10." or something equally perfectly clear.
- the next new 3rd jersey will be in three years at the earliest
- they're raising the price of beer by 25cents and will experiment with bottom to top pour technology.
- the team will not be going back to PPVs (sorry, nybo) based on inferior production quality.
- coaches grade the players after every game on a 0-5 type scale, and then there was something about these numbers being plotted on a grid. inneresting.
- conny's fitting in "like a glove" in the front office. sounds like he's going hockey ops direction, is a good player-to-mgmt 'go-between,' is dabbling in player scouting, and even looking into puck technology. no doubt doing it all with that big ol' conroy smile on. ;)
- the flames foundation is returning appx 2 mil/yr to the community. kk seemed very excited about a new project that will be announced sometime in the next year or so.
- asked when they're retiring #14, kk suggested the org is moving away from jersey retirement and towards more acknoledgement-type ceremonies. ie: iggy will get retired and fleury won't. that ticks me off.
- per game playoff revenue (lost) is "north of a million, south of two."
- kk discussed traffic concerns around the 'dome on gamenights and revealed the org has hired a traffic consultant to help make improvements. he wouldn't, however, go into detail because "if it doesn't work, we'll look like idiots."

...kindof like the 10/11 season, hunh fellas ?

The Ugliest Shoes Ever.

2011-04-15T14:37:00.011-06:00

So in an another episode of Flames fandom gone wild, I would like to introduce all of you to the ugliest shoes ever. But just because they are ugly, does not mean they are not absolutely badass. For many years, I never thought I could top the gem of a find I had found at the Puma Store on Newbury Street in Boston, circa 2006...the Puma RS 100 Gold Rush...

Those shoes epitomized a golden era of Flames hockey and have been my go to Flames games kicks since AND you could wear them in public without coming off too flash. Yes, I wore them at the Heritage Classic too...which was not a super good idea cause I froze my feet in the process...but I represented, right?

Well I've topped the Pumas, I kid you not. And it wasn't really a find...I designed them myself on Converse's website and their creation is practically legendary. I have to credit Newsboy aka James Callsen of Calgary's X92.9 FM for informing me of the ability to design the shoes at Converse, so he definitely gets a high five for helping bring these masterpieces to life. For many years I had tried to create some Flames Nike Shox on Nike ID without much success. It was just too hard to capture the spirit of the classic NHL fan gear I was trying to create. The low top Chuck T's gave me the opportunity to capture all the glory of the NHL in the 1980s while remaining elegantly tacky. It is for this reason that while I contemplated including some black (which is a color in the Flames current color scheme) as a component of the shoe, but black did not make the final cut. In honor of the Flames bringing back the retro jerseys in recent seasons, the shoes' color scheme is straight throwback. Additionally, the shoes had to evoke the essence of the Magic Man....Joel Otto...the 86 Cup Run...and the 89 Stanley Cup. Honestly the only thing missing with these shoes is a mullet or a porn-stache. Truth be told, if these shoes existed back in the 80s, someone on the set of the "Red Hot" music video would have been wearing them.

With that said, it really takes a hockey enthusiast, and not just any Flames fan, to see magnificence instead of just an ugly ass pair of shoes. Hence the reason my girlfriend, a Flames fan, gasped in horror and exclaimed "Ronald McDonald called and wants his shoes back!" when she saw them. So if you're reading this blog, I am sure you are going to appreciate the pictures below. If you don't, this is probably your first time at htp or you are just an Oilers or Canucks fan looking to troll a Flames site...because a reader of this blog will just stare in amazement at the following...

Yep...they are ugly...and they say Go Flames Go on the side...but they are definitely #winning.

the real hat trick

2011-04-07T08:19:00.003-06:00

it's kinda hard to see in this half-assed iphone photo, but here's the background story:

there's a guy (who's name is ryan, if i remember correctly) who has seasons tickets in the bleeders on the east side of the 'dome by the pressbox. a few of the times i've met steinberg pre-game to say "hey," this guy has passed us heading to his seats and he's stopped to say hello. so here's the kicker: every single game he brings this $6.00 children's-sized dion phaneuf hat to throw in case of a hat trick. and he's been bringing it for eons.... "why ?" you ask ? cause a nice-looking, adult sized calgary flames hat costs upwards of twenty bucks !!!

anyhow, when iggy got his third last night, this was the VERY FIRST THING i thought about.

now that guy needs to go get a new tossing hat.
;)

fantasy pool factoids

2011-03-31T23:15:00.004-06:00

in case you were interested: this guy in the featurette below went into the "playoff rounds" at #3 in my fantasy pool. i fought him the whole way during the season but ended #4. it ticked me off that the screaming dobermans (my team) lost position to the smelly terriers (his team).

funny and awesome.... if i can knock off #1 and he can take out #2, we'll meet in the finals next week. right now both series' are tilted 5-3 in favour of the higher seed. ie: not looking good. whatever ---last year the dobies came in 12th and the awesomely named graceland kings won the title.

so, either way, i'm stoked to have made it this far.

:)

fuck you, teemu

2011-03-30T11:03:00.010-06:00

i absolutely adore teemu selanne and every single thing to do with his career, skills, and quirks.

having just scoured the vaults of hitthepost history, i am surprised that i never documented one of my alltime favorite hockey moments: when me and my boy strombo were realtime texting about how emotional we were when teemu finally hoisted the prize back in 07 (a win i reveled in ONLY because of the legendary finn).

how awesome is it that teemu was a schoolteacher in his pre-nhl years ? how incredible that he once got a $40,200.00 speeding ticket ? that he played for the winnipeg jets ? that he scored 76 goals in his rookie year and went duck hunting when he broke mike bossy's record at #54 ?!? that he races cars in the offseason (and that he races under the pseudonym teukka salama which "loosely translates as tommy lightning" ---from wikipedia ) ??!!!?

also ? i wouldn't even say he's good looking. i'd suggest he's truly handsome. ;)

anyhow, teemu is a fucking legend. full stop, without a doubt. and i love the guy. except here's the hitch: he's effin' FORTY ----more than halfway to 41----, and he's still pretty much singlehandedly sinking my team's chances at the 10/11 playoffs.

which deserves a big ol' middle finger, if you ask me... hopefully he gets this note and bows out gracefully tonight cause the flambés need this one in the win column in a crazy big way....

(watch getzlaf/perry get eighteen goals tonight now)

;)

why is this guy GRINNING ??!

2011-03-25T12:45:00.004-06:00

okay, fine. i screencap'd this a few weeks back when everything in flamesville was cruisin' along and victories were being had like handfuls of popcorn at noodles' house. now i bet the three muskateers (l-r: uncle feaster, senior vp/asst gm & self-proclaimed "capologist" michael holditch, and director of hockey administration mike burke) in the pressbox aren't smiling, and i bet at least one of them is wondering if he'll have a job next year. [editor's note: the flames brass are in some serious need of updated photos].

i say: buh-bye to all fuggin' three.

1. FEASTER
well in the verrrry limited time at the helm of the flames, he has given us 3 no-brainer moves (waiving kotalik & conroy, recalling backlund) one "meh" (carson) and one "total waste of time and money" (modin). it's the modin move that scares me the most ----anyone who really thinks that a 35-year old who hasn't dressed a full season in half a decade is the go-to stop-gap/depth guy is an imbecile. it's that kind of thinking (*ahem* staios) that got us into this mess in the first place.

as i've said before; i think feaster could be a useful cog in the wheel of this team so long as someone else is making the hockey decisions. the way ken king was touting michel goulet during the darryl sutter dismissal presser, i allowed myself to believe that a hockey guy would analyze and evaluate potential future flames, and that feaster would deal with the legalities (contract length, value, bonuses, clauses etc). the acquisition of modin ----a former player of feaster's in Tbay---- leads me to believe this is far from the case in reality. i think feaster believes he can do this maverick, and that's incredibly frightening for the future of this club.

2. HOLDITCH
while i hold darryl sutter responsible for allowing the capspace to run out and the subsequent short bench debacle at the end of 08/09 (mostly because of the hubris displayed when it blew up in his face), i believe it was holditch that greenlit the jokinen trade dollars-wise, and therefore he should actually have taken the fall. and i've said it before: that was a fire-able offense by both parties, and the fact that they were allowed to stay on in the aftermath is what led us to the current fiasco. anyone who proclaims themself to be a capologist, and then follows that up by exceeding the cap should be dismissed at the first opportunity.

3. BURKE
okay so i admit i know very little about mike burke, so i won't sit here and cut the guy apart. i will point this out, though: he appears to have been in the same position now for 15 years. hm. seems like a change might be in order....? i will also suggest that a guy who's responsibilities include "contract research, analysis and negotiation, player assignments, preparation of salary arbitrations" has done a bum job on a team with 9 no trade/movement clauses and which narrowly avoided arbitration with ian white by shorting him by five bucks.

although i know it will never happen, i would really like to see the org look at other options for the front office. i HONESTLY think håkan loob would be ideal for the job, but i'd be curious how someone like michel goulet would take the reins as well. ultimately, i just don't want any of these three clowns above running my team any further into the ground than it already is.

can't. wait. til. summer.
;)

Apology Not Accepted

2011-03-21T13:57:00.003-06:00

There is a growing sentiment among Flames fans, the media covering the Flames, and the Flames blogosphere that Darryl Sutter aka Daz in KingJafi lingo has been wronged. It is amazing how quickly memories fade, especially in the mind of those that follow the Flaming C. Its become mind boggling to me that Daz apologists are appearing more and more as the Flames fight for a playoff spot. It appeared to hit a crescendo around the Heritage Classic but the movement appears to still be alive and well today. I anticipate the amount of apologists dying down tonight, depending on the outcome of the Flames/Kings game, but the fact remains that it is preposterous that they even existed in the first place. The fact they did really scares me...it says something about Flames Nation. I'll remain optimistic about that and attribute it mostly to a jilted following that has been on a rollercoaster since 2004 and of which the last year was equivalent to a 100 foot bungee jump. In other words, I see where they're coming from...but I don't agree...am kind of annoyed by it all and find it necessary to refresh everyone's memory today.

This current Flames team is not good enough to be a legitimate playoff team. They simply aren't good and when looked at in a 5 year window, there's been a steady decline from division champions to fringe team...at least it wasn't to cellar dweller (that way the seasons have been bearable to watch) but irrelevant in the big picture nonetheless. And while a team's performance is based in part on the the players, Daz' guidance got the team here. When examining this issue, it is important not to be blinded by the post-Daz pop (ie. the Flames' record from late December 2010 to the present). So this leads me to believe that the fact there are even Daz apologists is solely based on this pop, which under the same line of reasoning we should start mailing petitions to Naheed Nenshi's office in support of renaming streets in Calgary after Jay Feaster then. Apologist crowd, all together now: that's ridiculous though, bah! you're crazy KingJafi!!, we all know Feaster turned on some music and actually made an effort to speak in audible sentences to the press...and he still has the "acting" tag in front of his title...this is the team Darryl Sutter built! But alas, its the same flawed logic...this anomaly of a midseason surge should simply be chalked up to that...an anomaly. Yes this post-Daz Flames team is more resilient and has a fighting spirit they didn't have in years past, but they are still not a Stanley Cup contender anytime soon nor are they even close to the 2005-2006 Flames. That's the truth, and that my loyal Flames brethren is the team Darryl Sutter built (there's that phrase again).

So here's my attempt in bringing up things in the past that Flames Nation appeared to collectively fume about in calling for Daz' firing. Raitis Ivanans. Brian McGrattan. McBackup, and the persistence in never actually finding a serviceable backup for Kipper. Daz' press conferences which made you feel like the biggest idiot in the world for caring about the Flames. Resigning as head coach with no apparent plan on what came next and then embarking on a coaching carousel that included Iron Mike Keenan of all people. Ales. Kris Chucko and anyone drafted by the Flames from 2005 to 2008 (excluding Pelech, Backlund, and Aulie but including Daz' son, Gord Baldwin, and Aaron Marvin). Andre Roy. Incestual hirings galore. Ference and Kobasew for Stuart and Primeau. Raitis Ivanans (had to bring that one back up). Lombo, Prust, and a 1st rounder for the Joker. Trading the Joker and then playing him that night. The Joker part deux. All free agent moves in the summer of 2010. Forcing Gio to self impose a banishment to the KHL. The end of season cap space debacle of 2009.

I honestly don't feel like dropping anymore but I have to lay out the best of all...and if none of what I just listed elicited any frustration or anger on your part this should:

Not adequately shopping Phaneuf for a substantial return and instead pawning him off with Aulie to the one team in the NHL that couldn't put together a trade for a bag of pucks and a spare Zamboni tire.

So there you go. I'm sorry to be so direct about all of this, but someone had to say it. Here's to finishing this season strong and an end to the Daz apologies.

#Winning

2011-03-12T23:17:00.000-07:00

So KingJafi had a surprise birthday party this weekend. Absolutely unexpected...great planning by the girlfriend and mom. The best part of the party though...

And while I tried my hardest to preserve it and not have it served, the guests were hungry for cake. At least the cake was really really good. But that shouldn't come as a surprise...it's the Flaming C afterall...the best logo in all of professional sports...of course it tastes good! Winning, duh.

another reason to hate edmonton

2011-03-05T10:34:00.003-07:00

apparently this is what the dudes are supposed to aim at whilst relieving themselves in the bathroom of a restaurant and bar in north edmonton. what a bunch of douchebags...

the best part of this photo, though, is that it was taken and emailed to me by my boss's boss (who just happens to be an oilers fan) about halfway through a full crew wrap party.
;)

jersey foul bingo card

2011-03-04T11:23:00.004-07:00

htp buddy/nemesis goad sent me a link this morning to pass it to bulis, which has a jersey foul bingo card. SUPERFUN !!! my gio captain retro jersey, as goad points out, dabs two squares. enough to be sadly awesome, but not enough to win anything even though one takes an all-important corner.

ps: who wants to go play bingo sometime ? i'm serious.
;)

my minions must be busy too

2011-03-01T10:53:00.003-07:00

i totally thought that i'd bring on some dudes to write for htp so that the weeks-on-end i disappear for sometimes (this time to icy cold deadmonton), something might get written. y'know, grow the brand or whatever ....

ah, well.
*slaps wrist*

anyhow, no big surprises out of flamesville ---other than jay feaster's hockey advisors suggesting that we need ANOTHER defenseman (bet that stings, don't it mikkelson ?) and ANOTHER guy over the age of 35 to hang with staios in the oldtimer's lounge. don't get me wrong, i am actually a big fan of freddy modin (god knows i'd NEVER be upset with the addition of a swede) but i'm not really sure what he brings to the club...

what i really liked about feasters first moves with the flames was that they were all just minor tweaks, in effort to streamline the roster. in essence, i think the moves yesterday were in the same vein; ass-covering moves in case the team DOES make the postseason, and needs experienced bodies to make a run. neither carson nor modin's contracts extend into next season, so the damage is minimal either way.

other than that, DEADline day was just so.

now. get on it, boys.
;)

Back in Florida...

2011-02-21T21:57:00.000-07:00

...Kippy is super excited to have a new Flames jersey!

And the fact it actually comes from a pet store in Calgary makes it that much better.

dude getting sacked at the HC

2011-02-20T21:49:00.004-07:00

note kingjafi (with newsboy) doing the fuldans in the top right corner lanny captain jersey.

glovetap to the best bro in the universe for the tip. ;)

;)

live at mcmahon !

2011-02-19T13:12:00.004-07:00

kippy and joker (haggy on the right)

the canadiens practicing at mcmahon. apparently the ice is decent but the cold is making the puck bounce.

reminder that tonight 7:30pm at the cat n fiddle for the nerdy blogger meet up. i'll drag my sorry hungover ass down and get drunk yet again, and hope to hell that i feel better tomorrow than i do today. ;)

blogger meet-up reminder #1

2011-02-15T10:25:00.004-07:00

(pictured: my new coffee table after a 9-1 flames victory over colorado ---beers, nachos and a little flames' history with azevedo, pbr & mikeH.)

consider this your first reminder of the pre-HC blogger meet-up scheduled for saturday, feb 19 at 7:30pm at the cat & fiddle pub. this will probably be an ideal time for warm-up pints after the alumni game, and an early enough start for everyone right the hangover before puckdrop on sunday. ;) in attendance, from my latest understanding, will be three of hitthepost's finest (duncan can't make it, but mikeH and i will be there and kingjafi's flyin' in from florida), hayley from m&g [ottawa], justin azevedo from the4thline, kent and steinberg from flamesnation, sarah from cwgap [vancouver], leanne from openicehits, newsboy from 92.9, d_p_h from comments infamy, and i believe htp pals pbr and sjc will also make an appearance.

a representative from domebeers is unlikely cause the dude lives in the south. but with any luck his brother will give him so much shit for not going that he'll realize that fulltime anonymity is for the weak, and being in a room full of his brethren is a whole lot of fun. ;)

hope to see you guys there !!
;)

håkan loob for flames GM (?)

2011-02-11T11:49:00.010-07:00

inarguably the second best #12 to ever suit up in a flaming C, håkan loob has been quietly working his way up the front office ranks in sweden to land himself the job of president of elite league team, färjestads bk. while i'm guessing it'd be a near-impossible feat to yank him from the high ranking and no doubt comfortable position with his home club, based in his home town of karlstad in the värmland country in the south central part of sweden, i think loob would be well-suited for the top job in calgary.... and maybe he'd be up for a new challenge.

many of loob's successes as a player are unparalleled internationally, in the nhl, and over in the eliteserien; he is one of the first of only 24 members of the triple gold club, remains the only swede to ever have scored 50 goals in north america's top league, took home the stanley cup with the flames in 1989, won an elite league title with färjestads in 1981, and still holds goal and points records in the SEL (no surprise that the rocket richard equivalent in the eliteserien is called the "håkan loob trophy"). undeniably, the dude's a legend.

in 1996, loob hung up his skates and took the general manager position with the only european pro team he'd ever played with. in his first two years at the helm, the team won the SEL championships and they've made the post season every year since (winning again in 01/02 and 05/06, and losing in the playoff finals four other times during his tenure). the team took the crown again in 08/09, the year loob took the job of club president.

i'll be honest and suggest i don't know a helluva lot about loob's drafting record or trading history, and i'll be the first to admit skepticism that he'd have any interest in helming an nhl club... but his winning pedigree and irrefutable hockey smarts, coupled with his fabled past in flamesville, make me curious if the current ownership group (and ken king, i suppose) would consider him as a viable fulltime replacement for darryl sutter.

i know it would make me and duncan a couple of really happy folks.
;)

ps: devastating decision upcoming: which jersey to wear to the game tonight ??! the brand new undefeated in regulation one ? or the freshly signed one coming off a resounding win ?! comments appreciated. we've got til about 5pm MST.

um.... what ?

2011-02-07T23:46:00.003-07:00

well, i wanted to get my jersey signed in new jersey, but alas ----two years, two weeks, and five days since i got my first (home) rbk ladies' cut jersey lettered GIO, THIS happened:

*grin*

("i like your jersey")

(thanks to azevedo for making shit happen).
<3

where's waldo ?

2011-02-07T11:26:00.003-07:00

saturday, feb 5, 2011 flames v. kings, 3rd period.... lounging. ;)

thanks to apples for taking me to the game. and special thanks to rochelle for leaving me hangin' on the double high five which was broadcast(ed ?) to the nation during the shootout.

ridiculous merch series: vol 2

2011-02-06T21:23:00.003-07:00

i don't even know what to say about this action figure. the fact that it exists (even if it's one-of-a-kind) is thoroughly astonishing....

separated at birth: it's been awhile

2011-02-03T18:59:00.003-07:00

i'm terribly proud that my gio/mr. bean combo is still in the top image hits on google under "mark giordano," and perhaps this will come up when you search for images of brent sutter. cause it's bang on.

:)

arena report: the bridgestone

2011-02-02T09:19:00.010-07:00

mixing travel, visiting friends & watching hockey is pretty much my favorite thing to do in my spare time, and the latest installment of this continuing series (jersey'10, st.louis'09, deadmonton'08, MSP'06, MSG'05, sweden'04), took me to tennessee to catch the flames and the preds last night, with one of the coolest hockey-loving chicks i've ever had the good fortune to meet.

it was way back on a shoot in toronto during the spring of 2006 (when the flames were playing the ducks in the playoffs) that i met her, and we bonded over our love of the sport ---also the fact that she's adorable and funky and straight up inspiring, and somehow understood my forsberg fascination (lol). she returned to nashville at the end of the job and i never thought we'd speak again... until the following season just before the flames were ejected from the playoffs, when she called out-of-the-blue to congratulate my team on a game 3 victory (documented here in a saccharinely sweet tale). *grin*

anyhow. over the course of the past three years, we've discussed this potential visit ---and it got to the point recently where i couldn't overlook how genuinely captivating her sons are, and how much i truly wanted to spend a little bit of time with her family.... oh, and as if it wouldn't be perfect to check me out some nashville and catch a game to boot...

but i know you really want to read about the arena.

the best thing about the bridgestone arena is simply that it is in the heart of the city's downtown. it's literally across the street from the honky tonks on broadway, around the corner from the grand ole opry, and it backs onto the country music hall of fame. it's a cool looking rink from the outside, and pays homage to the city's musical history with the enormous radio tower-looking spier out front. and like i mentionned about the xcel and prudential: you don't ever realize what a dump the saddledome is until you hit a venue like this: open concept concourse and beautifully finished (ie: a looong way from concrete, ducts, and dust). on the other hand: it was effin' cold in there, and the skaters took the ice through a kinda awkward 'pred-head' (pictured here above the "megatron.")

as for arena snacks (aka: mikeH's favorite part), i once again hit the jackpot. my friends didn't have any specific treat in mind as "the penultimate," though i'm told that in the club section there's some better items than there are on the public concourses. as we headed out in search of refreshments, i asked a dude in a preds jersey what he suggested. he suggested we don't eat at the bridgestone... ;) when cornered for an actual answer, however, he immediately came to "bbq nachos." for real ?! oh yeah... SO good. nachos with nacho cheese, pulled pork and bbq sauce and pickled jalapeños on the side. eff. i would eat these anytime. omg, i'm hungry just thinking about 'em.... ;)

....and while i don't generally post pix of myself over here, i see i've done it in the past so i'll just make this really tiny and mostly unrecognizable. while i had mentioned that i really wanted a photo with gnash (the second best nhl mascot after harvey, IMO), i didn't imagine myself chasing him down. enroute to foraging, however, the elevator door opened and there he was !! ha ! he didn't want to be seen with a flames fan, but eventually relented thanks in no small part to the pleading by my gorgeous friend.... ;) what a kickass night. AND the flames won !!!!

to sum up: a good time was had by all, and the flames went to OT/shootout for the fourth time in my five away game experiences, and the prophecy/blasphemy gio jersey remains undefeated.... SO fun.

[many, many thanks to A&T for housing me and showing me a wonderful time, and their little dudes for making me laugh my butt off. xox]

Legendary.

2011-01-29T00:07:00.011-07:00

They don't make them like Jarome Iginla anymore.

I bring this up today because the Flames captain recently hit an impressive milestone, a milestone so unique that it is a testament to the athletic talent and conditioning of Jarome Iginla. When Jarome scored his 20th goal on January 21 against the Dallas Stars, it meant that he had scored 20+ goals in the last 12 seasons. This streak is also the longest active in the NHL at the moment. It put Jarome in the elite class with the select few that have accomplished the feat such as Wayne Gretzky, Brett Hull, Maurice Richard, Mark Messier, Steve Yzerman, Gordie Howe, Luc Robitaille, Mats Sundin, and Jeremy Roenick. Prolific scorers such as Mario Lemieux, Pat LaFontaine, Theo Fleury, Mike Modano and Pavel Bure never accomplished such a streak (in fairness, injuries as well as playing for the Canucks (in Bure's case) did hold Bure and #66 back) and power forwards similar to Iginla like Cam Neely and Peter Forsberg came up short as well. There are a few special players playing today...Crosby, Ovechkin, and Stamkos come to mind...that probably will score at that record clip for such a period. But the fact remains that Jarome Iginla is the only player to be consistent in such a manner during that period, a period not necessarily known for its abundance of scoring. From a Flames standpoint though, this statistical consistency confirms (if you didn't already know) that Iginla is the greatest player to ever wear the Flaming C. But such an accolade, being the greatest Flame ever, is not what makes Jarome Iginla legendary. It's the little things beyond the statistics that make him a great professional athlete.

Jarome Iginla is the poster child for what a professional athlete should be. He is talented, hard working, a leader, and a model citizen. In a world where pro athletes care more about taking their talents places and claiming their actions are driven by a (faux) desire to win it all, Jarome Iginla is the opposite. Iginla has always been committed to the Flames franchise and the city of Calgary. He is not one to inflate his ego and understands his role and influence without complaint. He plays in a hockey crazy market, takes everything in stride, and doesn't complain about the pressures associated with it. And as wi pointed out in her post earlier this week, courtesy of an anecdote from the Fan960's Rob Kerr, Jarome happily agreed to replace Olli Jokinen, after the latter refused, to be the dansare on the Dome Jumbotron. Nothing Iginla does comes off as phoney or scripted and he genuinely gives 100% in everything he does. He's loyal and professional. And as Darryl Sutter drove the franchise to the ground in the last year or so with his suspects moves, Iginla never wavered and stayed committed to his team. He said he would be cooperative if the team desired to move him. He is someone I really want to play a round of golf with. Anyways, you get it...

Which brings me to the next point...oh yes...the Stanley Cup and the fact Jarome hasn't been able to hoist it. And whether he does it or not, should not be judgment of Iginla's success as a professional athlete. As a Flames fan, I would want nothing else than to see him win a Stanley Cup as a member of the Calgary Flames. And if he won't be able to win it with the Flames, he should absolutely get a shot to do it with a team that has a serious chance to do so. I find it humorous how all these so called rumors float around out there re Iginla being traded to the Kings or Habs or Red Wings or Thrashers (yes, I heard that one). They seem to just be thrown around because "hey, the Flames suck ass...let's make up some scenario where we rob them of their valuable asset because you know they suck." Trading Jarome Iginla is not just an average transaction to Flames Nation, it is a big deal. And to Flames fans, if the team weren't to yield a significant return in trading him....it matters more whether he is traded to a place where he can accomplish what he couldn't in Calgary and that's win the Cup. It's why it was important for Darryl Sutter to resign or get fired before he ever pulled the trigger on that trade, it's why Jay Feaster dare not trade Iginla while he is "acting" as a general manager, and it is a move (if it happens) that will have a lasting effect on the next Flames' GM's tenure with the team.

I don't know why I posted all of this really...but earlier this week a good friend of mine, whose knowledge about hockey is about on par with the average Floridian, mentioned to me that he had heard about Iginla's 20+ goal streak and he was amazed. I think his exact words were "I knew the guy was good, but that is really impressive." Well, duh. We went on to briefly chat about Iginla and his accomplishments but it really got me thinking about just how special of an athlete the guy is and his importance to the Flames franchise generally. I had become so numb to the shortcomings of the team and spoiled at the fact Iginla has been there game in and game out, that I had forgotten just how amazing his career has been.

I know that most Flames fans are aware of everything I have just pointed out and understand just how great Jarome is, but I thought it important to point it out nonetheless cause honestly they really don't make them like Jarome Iginla anymore.

i was wrong, and other tidbits of uselessness

2011-01-27T10:40:00.007-07:00

i met a dude last night who works for the org and couldn't say enough about how much he loves olli jokinen. and he's actually met him. presumeably multiple times.... so i guess when i said "nobody" likes the joker (in the previous post) i actually meant "nobody except for this one guy." he went on to tell me that olli had a strangely hilarious sense of humour and was so weird he was awesome. i dunno. it's amazing how much more i like #13 when the team is winning than when they're losing....

in other news, i've long referred to coach sutter as nosferatu ---so much so that when my boss saw this piece by local artist and musician, rodney guitarsplat, she immediately acquired it for me as an xmas gift. the truly amazing part of this scenario is that my boss knows eff all about hockey, or what brent looks like when he's mad (or happy, for that matter). all she knows is that i talk about stupid player/personnel character-related stuff all the time and some of it obviously sinks in (i'm so proud !)... the thing she loves best about the 'chell (i'm starting to like this term, azevedo) is that people used to mis-pronounce her name all the time, but since a young player/captain with the same insanely-spelled surname came into the general consciousness, i'm guessing about 70% of folks now say it correctly....

what else ?

in HUGELY overdue news, john armstrong grew some kickass facial hair in november:

...and since i'm posting random pix, i guess i should hit this one up too... i screengrabbed this one from the team's "mic'd up" piece... impossible to imagine gio laughing harder:

and one final snapshot that i've been meaning to post for eons ---how much fuggin INK does jose theodore have ?!?! full sleeves ?! who'da thunk it....

that's it from me. happy allstar weekend, everyone. i'm not planning to take my computator to nashville with me so it'll be up to duncan, mikeH, and kingjafi to post (or not post, as they see fit) in the meantime.

:)

tentative proof that NOBODY likes olli jokinen

2011-01-25T17:56:00.011-07:00

perhaps based in fiction (or possibly based in reality), rob kerr told a story on the fan960 today about how the insta-favorite internet website with olli jokinen dancing instead became a jumbotron treat showcasing iginla's head....

the story goes that olli didn't want the beauty of a clip to be played for the saddledome faithful (possibly knowing that the song title, "fuldans" translates to "the ugly dance"), and when his teammates started ribbing him about it, he suggested none of them would want to be depicted that way in front of the home crowd either....

iggy jumped on the opportunity and said "sure, why not."

what this tells me is:

1. jokinen might be able to speak swedish, or is best pals with mickis
2. jokinen can't take a joke, which makes his name ironic
3. the rest of the team are internet aware and are jokers (*sorry*)
4. iggy's a good sport, and knows a good thing when he sees it.

rob kerr followed up the story by suggesting that brent sutter wants every player to get their turn following a goal. fuck, i hope whomever's website that is somehow get money out of this....

also ? the song, by swedish "electro pop dance band," fulkultur, is effin' catchy.... and i don't even LIKE duffduff music...

i DO, however, enjoy the swedes.
;)

[as a footnote: dancing foppa here. dancing gio here. this is fun !!!]

everything's coming up milhouse !

2011-01-24T10:00:00.008-07:00

i really can't say enough about how enjoyable it has been to watch the flames win these last few weeks (i'm totally ignoring the 6-0 blanking by minny), and how much better it is to watch them beat their most hated rival. i can't describe what a pleasure it is to watch mikael backlund improve with every outing, see jackman's heart and soul on every shift, and detect the team gelling as a group (except for jokinen, who is probably made fun of afterhours for doing stupid stuff, like calling out gio for not yelling that the clock was gonna run out to end a game... and for being funny looking). i guess 2011 is going pretty well, even if we're gonna get another shitty draft pick.

in the end, though, there is nothing better for me than a sport that includes peter forsberg. oh, how i love thee... to see him back on the ice in the 'chell (lol azevedo) would be such a total joy, and not having to travel to sweden to catch him in a game would be even better...

(although, sweden was fun too.)

tonight the flambés take on a formidable opponent in the nashville predators. nobody really respects this southern team, but with one of the best defenders league-wide in shea weber and one of the hottest netminders in pekka rinne, you really have to wonder if they're gonna embarass the home side.... i like to think it's gonna be a grudge match with no solution in regulation, so that when i visit nashville next week for the rematch it'll be lights out superfun.

i like hockey.
:)

t.k...ohhhhh !!! flames v. nucks postgame

2011-01-23T13:32:00.008-07:00

i really don't have much to write today, but when tom kostopolous dropped kevin bieksa last night with a one-punch, i knew i couldn't NOT lead with the t.k.o reference in the title. duh.... this is journalism, kids: if you see an opportunity to throw a solid pun in the headline, you are expected to take it....

bieksa didn't return to the game and it sounds like perhaps his face was too swollen and sore to play on. look, i don't like seeing guys get hurt in games (even guys i detest, at the hands of tKo), and it would honestly be a shame if bieksa had some bones crushed by the bullseye of a blow, but if bryan mccabe can break his jaw and miss only a single shift, then you have to wonder if KB is really cut out to be a pugilist. no, i know he's not labelled the 'team goon', but neither is kosto.... and i'll be the first to say it: it's kindof a blessing that our current heavyweight took (what looks to be) a career-ending duncan macintyre knuckle sandwich, and some actual hockey players have competantly filled his roster spot. i don't think i know a single person who doesn't wish raitis ivanans the very best for a normal, concussion-free life, but i also can't name a soul who wants him to return to the ice to play out the remainder of his two-year contract with calgary....

moving on.

the flames played a nice little game last night and, even though nobody gave them a chance in hell to win on the second night of a back to back with a struggling netminder starting versus the most formidable opponent, they stayed with it til the bitter end. regehr seems to really step up to the major matchups and he was focussed on taking down the competition in a very literal sense. the remainder of the flames D was steady, for the most part, including the babchuk-pardy pairing and cory sarich, who had a refreshingly solid night. brendan morrison was on the wrong side of a couple of godawful giveaways, but is still doubtlessly a preferrable centre to jokinen on the club's top line....

not to say the flames deserved a win in this one. they were outplayed in the first two, by my eye (and kent's scoring chances, and the corsi metrics tell the same tale), and rebounded a bit in the third ----a total surprise based on fatigue (2nd game in 24 hrs). in the last minutes of the shootout, with a contested goal being discussed in the toronto warroom, and the fans on the edges of their seats, i was convinced the final call would go to the home side. why ? because even though it was blatantly obvious to everyone with eyes and a sense of logic that the puck was in luongo's pads, and luongo's pads were well across the goal line, i thought the "conclusive" evidence to overturn the on-ice call would be lacking. thankfully, the hockey gods intervened and the game was won despite luongo's best attempt at deception.

and lastly, when olli jokinen hit the post in his shootout attempt, i realized that he is single handedly bringing to consciousness the existence of this website, so i will add to his title: official nhl tester of post and crossbar integrity, and hitthepost.ca chief spokesman/mascot. also ? it doesn't hurt that i actually really like this song.

:)

why starting karlsson tonight is a mistake

2011-01-21T11:14:00.002-07:00

brent sutter has announced that henrik karlsson will get the start tonight between the posts at against the dallas stars. here's why it's a fucking terrible idea:

1. the coach is setting his starting goalie up to fail. bigtime. if karlsson gets the start tonight, it pretty much assures that miikka will get the nod tomorrow against INARGUABLY the hottest team in the nhl. when you're playing a goaltender with fragile confidence, this can easily amount in total destruction. the dirty nucks will light him up for a half dozen easy.... a smarter coach would let kippy work out his issues against a (slightly) lesser team in the stars.

2. if sutter intends to start karlsson in both games and wait for a truly diminutive opponent to let kipps work out his issues (*cough*nashville*cough*), i think the damage might actually be increased because poor miikka's confidence will be shattered by the middle finger described by the two back-to-back karlsson starts...

3. if sutter is serious about wanting to win games, he need only look at karlsson's record at home to know that he's probably tossing this one in the trash.

all in all, this is a tough choice for the coaching staff. i bet noodles is getting less sleep now than when he got his heart broke....

sads.

pre-HC blogger meetup: one for the ages

2011-01-18T17:54:00.005-07:00

well, we've done a lot of talking and it's time to announce the official pre-heritage classic blogger meet-up. since this one is sounding a little legendary with the prospective guestlist, i thought i'd put it out there early so anyone fence-sitting can start booking accoms... ;)

saturday, february 19th at the cat n' fiddle. why ? well because it used to be a funeral home and it's stumbling distance for your gracious hosts (me & mikeH). time will be determined by consensus, but let's call it 7:30 for now and we can adjust it later.

while the official invitation has yet to go out, i'm expecting "yay"s from azevedo and most likely arik who's apparently gonna make the trek from bos-town (4thlineblog), sarah (cwgap) is comin' from vancouver, hayley (m&g) will make a triumphant but brief return from the nation's capital, flamesnation should be represented by both steinberg and the local blogosphere's pater familias (kent wilson), open ice hits' leanne might show if she's around, guerrillasportsnetwork's rob will get an offer, as will domebeers ---who lamented not showing up to the last one and got an asskicking for it from his bro, friend and commenter d_p_h could hobble there blindfolded (so he'd BETTER show up), 92.9's newsboy missed the last meetup at schanks cause of dinner with the inlaws so he swore he'd hit the next one, AND htp's newest auteur (kingjafi) is debating the journey from florida to boot.

ie: it could be a fun party....

who's in ?

:)

I go to hit the post.

2011-01-15T23:37:00.003-07:00

They went to Toronto. They won in Toronto.

Allow me to introduce myself. My name is KingJafi and I am the newest contributor to the htp universe. I just recently separated my shoulder snowboarding and it was during my pain induced stupor that I came to the realization that walkinvisible is a female. Don't ask me why...it just happened. All the talk about the ladies cut jerseys, Gio, and male Swedish hockey players never rang a bell in my mind. In any case, that brain fart has brought me here and I am ready to contribute.

A little about myself...I'm originally from Switzerland (French part) and live in the hockey hotbed of Orlando, Florida where trying to catch a hockey game in a sports bar is like finding someone in Tokyo that speaks English (I've never been but I've heard that it's rare). But I do a pretty good job following the Flames here in FL (the NHL Center Ice package (well worth the investment) and the PocketTunes app for the iPod Touch (or iPhone for those of you who choose not to use a BlackBerry) pretty much make it like I live in Calgary but without the snow and the CAD, something like that). I have two Brussels Griffons named Harvey and Kippy. My wireless network is called the Olympic Saddledome. I once counted 37 Flaming Cs in my tiny law school apartment in Boston (a city where I could catch a hockey game in a sports bar, outside of baseball season that is). I travel to random places like Buffalo to see the Flames (and have a puck for every arena I go to). And I hoard all sorts of kitschy Flames memorabilia and merchandise primarily because prior to eBay and the internet it was impossible to get my hands on anything Calgary Flames (except when my parents went to Montreal or my relatives from Montreal came to visit...and they'd usually bring me Habs stuff in turn explaining why I have a soft spot for Le Canadien and when the Flames didn't resign Cammy I was glad he signed with MTL). But you get the picture. Oh yeah, I also miss the Montreal Expos (that has nothing to do with anything quite frankly...I just wanted you all to know that).

So, I'm honored to become a member of the Flames blogging community and considering the way things are going at the Saddledome these days, with Stanley Cup runs and quality hockey not necessarily a hot button item to discuss in the near future, I look forward to giving you my 2 American cents about everything else that makes Flames hockey great. A bientot mes chers amis!

gio jersey #2

2011-01-14T12:27:00.009-07:00

don't worry, jarome. i'm prepping myself for the beer showers and the appearance on puckdaddy's jersey fouls.

:)

fresh iggy scotiabank action.... FINALLY !!

2011-01-13T22:28:00.004-07:00

y'know how we always watch the flames play on tv, and there's always the same hugely annoying commercials ? telus ads play so often that we used to do a count on them in the gamethreads at M&G. then there's that one with the dude riding the girly bike with the handlebar streamers who gets hit by a car ("lalala LA lalala".... i can't tell you what it's for but it drives me nutso). and as much as we all adore jarome iginla, the scotiabank commercial where he tries to open a bank account for the free tin is getting old a year and a half later. plus (and NOBODY talks about this): what kid these days wants a fucking TIN ?! you want a kid to open a savings account ? two words: wii and ipod.

but i digress.

the iggy scotiabank spot was shot in september 2009, the week before training camp opened. well, i guess scotiabank DIDN'T spend all their money on saddledome sponsorship this season, and decided maybe it was time to film another spot. i have it on good authority that iggy's giving the bank two hours of his time on the current roadtrip for a commercial shoot in montreal. hmmmmm..... let's count that game as a loss, then, shall we ?

on the flipside, a win should come in ottawa, and not just because they're terrible or because the only gm who proved more insane than daz still somehow helms that squad. a win should come in ottawa because matty stajan got hisself a hairscut:

i am a firm believer in the follicle theory, and i think the photo above shows proof positive that the flames are in line for a big W on friday.

where are u guys watchin the game tomorrow ?

:)

flames v. tom rowe's team: can't wait !!!!!!

2011-01-08T15:30:00.009-07:00

before looking ahead, let's just glance in the rearview for a moment, shall we ?

first off, bummer about the kostopoulos hit on stuart ----for a couple of reasons:

1. i don't like seeing headshots, no matter who is giving or receiving them. awful.
2. i can't deny that the replay of last night's hit looks vindictive and purposeful.
3. the greek/the jackman were really lighting it up and that's over for a week or so.
4. it's way harder to detest brad stuart when he's bleeding.

the other interesting gamenote from last night is that the flames looked a HELLUVA lot better without kotalik in the lineup. like, stunningly better. i don't know if you can wholely point the turnaround to #26's absence, but..... wow. the team looked interested in being there, and invested in working together. too bad kippy didn't get the "let's show up tonight" memo, or the flames would've gotten that second point.

someone on twitter yesterday wrote "the flames have one bad period and lose, while the wings have one bad period and win." such is the state of affairs in the nhl these days. calgary actually shows up to play and can't effin' BUY a win ----no help, of course, that jokinen is still the league's official tester of crossbar and post structural integrity. what used to be a joke is now facepalm city... *ugh.

looking forward, the flames have the superskills competition tomorrow and i only bring it up because of something interesting mark giordano said on the fan960 between periods last night. he said he was looking forward to seeing how hard babchuk's slapper is, but he also said he thought that adam pardy might give glenX some competition in fastest skater.... ? hm. i never realized A-pardz was that fleet-footed... ;)

next game up for the flambés is in raleigh, where they'll take on one of my favorite EC teams in the carolina hurricanes. sure, i'm a fan of eric staal and cam ward, i like what jim rutherford did last trade deadline (firesale on vets to competetive teams for draft picks and prospects), and i'm curious to see what ian white is up to, but the REAL reason i heart the 'canes is cause paul maurice and tom rowe are two of the raddest dudes on the face of the planet, hands down.

without going into detail, when i was introduced to tom rowe last year i thought i heard "john." "john, was it ?" i asked "no, tom. john's my middle name, though," he grinned, trying to not make me feel like an idiot.... i might've had a couple of pints by that point, so i decided it was cool to call him TJ. :) killer, right ? he didn't seem to mind much, infact inquired and subsequently addressed me by my real-life nickname with good humour, and we had a pretty excellent and lengthy conversation about hockey; the NHL, AHL, trades, players, skills, and (of course) gio, whom he coached in lowell. it was the first time i'd held court with real hockey people and i'm confident i held my own. it was a coup, being a girl and all... ;)

[ps: i'm a girl. i thought it was obvious with all the talk of wanting a ladies cut retro jersey and being pretty much in love with forsberg and wallin, but apparently some people *coughkingjaficough* thought i was just a weird little dude... but i digress... ;) ]

suffice it to say i hope that my team kills carolina on tuesday, but if they lose at least they're losing to a nice bunch of coaches.... it WOULD, however, be slick if gio could repeat the feat of dumping pitkanen into the bench (see below), to prove his physical prowess to his former coach and my bestie-for-an-hour, TJ. i bet eric staal will mind his pretty face a little better.... ;)

i'll be mostly watching to see if TJ has his troops target the sarich side of the ice, since that's the only real note i left him with last year. ;)

flames v. isles: what to drink ?

2011-01-03T16:56:00.003-07:00

many a gamethread over at M&G has had the bloggers and commenters in deep discussion over the evening's booze of choice.

here's mine for gametime tonight :

fyi: it started out insanely bitter, but mellowed to fairly pleasant. :)

why i heart goad (even though he's my nemesis)

2011-01-03T11:58:00.003-07:00

vancouver resident, die-hard canucks fan, and hitthepost BFF, goad, posted the following screengrab on his facebook today (much to my chagrin). one of his buddies commented in jest, "plan the parade." ;)

aaaand if that weren't enough to put a grin on the ol' mug, goad replied,

"Oh the route is already worked out. It starts in Hell that will have just frozen over, goes past your place, and ends in my wildest dreams. Same route as every year."

i love you, man.
xx

flames merch: UNO !!

2011-01-02T13:47:00.006-07:00

i've decided to start a series on ridiculous flames merchandise, and i'm beginning with the age-old kids' game uno. really. REALLY. i mean, i guess the nhl retail thinktank just needs to come up with random items to stamp team logos onto in the name of profits, so why not this ?! everybody loves crazy eights, and i'm sure we could easily develop a drinking game for the name-brand mattel product with the same rules... and if you put players on the cards, it's that much better..... right ?

right.

except WHAT PLAYERS ??!?

if you look closely, that's back row l-r: marcus nilson, rhett warrener, dion phaneuf, matthew lombardi and front row l-r: roman hamrlik, david hale, & jeff friesen. © 2007. i wonder if there's an updated one with gio in it... ;) other players in the deck include langkow, huselius, tanguay 1.0, kipps, regehr, and conroy. in a smirky fun twist, it's reggie who appears on the "miss a turn" card (presumeably cause he's gonna make you sit your ass down).

and of course, you can't play uno without the all-important wild card, and who else would grace the flames version than our beloved iggy with vintage iggy playoff scruff and scoreface (and all neatly contained in a flames chevron-era away jersey box) ??

anyhow.
who wants to play ?
;)

new year's eve fun times

2011-01-01T10:54:00.005-07:00

really good times with mikeH and my buddy B watching the flames beat the avs last night. as every new years, it was nice to see the crew in sec 201 and we gussied up in our fancy hats and drank some domebeers.

this guy was new to new years at the 'dome, and obviously new to domebeers: straws are for slurpees... nice frosted tips though, pal.

my single serving friend was a pretty funny dude with eagle eyes, and somehow spotted this across the rink:

i wonder if he had waffles.... he looks incredibly bored, i gotta say.

;)

my thoughts on feaster: stepping back

2010-12-30T13:57:00.007-07:00

i don't have any formed opinions on flames "acting" gm jay feaster's CV and how it reflects upon the future of my favorite hockey team. i understand that his draft history is spotty except for some obvious slam dunks (who would surely have been selected by any literate human), and i'm aware that he's made some godawful trades. i know that he won a cup but wasn't really responsible for assembling the important winning players, and i know that he spent a long time managing a very successful AHL club. extrapolating these facts to how he's going to handle eleven no trade/no movement clauses, a boatload of lengthy contracts (some overpaid), an aging player corps, and a shallow pool of prospects seems pointless to me, at present. especially since he's not the guy in charge. he's the INTERIM guy in charge....

what i DID come to today, in my semi-hungover haze (after a pretty serious night of booze and laughs ---btw: fun times if you're reading this, teetotaling pals) is this:

it makes no sense that the org would sack darryl ---a guy who's been on his way out for eons--- without a backup plan in place. if feaster was brought in by the owners to replace darryl, then he would have been given the GM title on tuesday, non ? i mean, why keep the guy in indefinite GM limbo when he's already been walking the halls of the 'dome for five months ?? like.... what's the point in that ??

here's my take: feaster was brought in to oversee darryl, and to assure that he didn't make any rash/imbecilic moves before he was ushered out the door. feaster wasn't handed the title of GM outright because the org has earmarked someone else (who needs to concede his current position with another club before joining the flaming C's).

i came to this theory because i just can't get past why the executive/owners wouldn't hand feaster the reins entirely, unless there's something else at play, here. i can't comprehend the value in making the man plead his case a month after darryl's dismissal when he's been exposed to the team, it's players, and inner workings since the summer.... wouldn't his opinion on the club's desired direction have been made quite clear to the ownership by now, ESPECIALLY if they were the ones to bring him in ??!

methinks yes.
i guess we'll see....
:)

my thoughts on darryl's tenure, point form:

2010-12-28T17:27:00.018-07:00

GENIUS darryl sutter moves:
- picking up kippy for a 2nd round pick (2004)
- picking up rene bourque for a 2nd round pick (2008)
- langkow for saprykin & gauthier
- turning an unhappy tanguay into mike cammalleri at the '08 draft
- letting theoren fleury play the '09 preseason ;)
- wearing the road tie

good darryl sutter moves:
- huselius for montador/johner
- re-signing gio
- leopold for ryan wilson/nycholat/2nd (albeit overpaying) cause we needed D badly
- seducing jaybouw (albeit overpaying)/trading leopold for his rights
- bringing in noodles as goalie coach/scout

bad darryl sutter moves:
- ference/kobasew for stuart/primeau
- jokinen/prust for kotalik/higgins
- 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009 drafts (04/08/09 are actually not THAT bad, and selecting dion in 03 was like shooting fish in a barrell)
- letting huselius, cammalleri, and bertuzzi walk without actively replacing them with goalscorers
- telling mickis he should buy a house in calgary [regime change = buhbye, baby backlund...]
- building a team where 11 players have no trade/no movement clauses
- leaving the bench

REPREHENSIBLE darryl sutter moves:
- signing ference to a longterm "hometown discount" contract then trading him six months later
- re-upping primeau for 2 years at 1.4 mil per
- making ference pull his bags off the bus and leaving him at the rink in buffalo
- making jokinen and prust play v.philly after the kotalik/higgins deal had been leaked
- refusing giordano a one-way deal, signing anders eriksson 2 days later
- signing anders eriksson
- jokinen/3rd for lombo/prust/1st
- jokinen for 2 years at 3 mil per with a NTC
- andrei zyuzin
- cheaping ian white out of $5 so as to not sign him a 3 million dollar contract
- staios for johnson/3rd
- buying out a good-value contract in nigel dawes (15 goals, $850,000)
- signing raitis ivanans (1 game, 1.2 mil)
- not promoting rookies (dion/pardy notwithstanding)
- trading keith aulie
- not shopping dion phaneuf to all 29 teams

the move that should have led to darryl sutter's immediate dismissal (and didn't):
- miscalculating the cap (subbing jokinen's 5 mil for lombo's 1.8, leaving scarce room for injury replacement players), and being forced to ice a short bench to end the 08/09 season thereby falling out of first in the NW and thus facing (and losing to) chicago in the first round

am i missing anything ?

mikeH reminds me about the sutter(s) dismissal countdown, which started here on march 4, 2010 (but was alluded to here ---a harbinger of today's 'resignation'). tap out at day 299. booyah....

:)

so long, dazza. thanks for the jokinens....

2010-12-28T13:16:00.010-07:00

"darryl stepped down because i asked him to."
--ken king, 12/28/10

....uhhhh.... then it's not really "stepping down," is it ?

just sayin'.
;)

[ten minutes into this presser, and i'm already kindof missing the smugness and 'quite honestly's.... ken king is a yawn]

Why Mikael Backlund will sit in the press box all season

2010-12-27T10:20:00.009-07:00

I haven't been around these parts much for a couple of reasons. First, our team is losing. This makes it tough for me to get up any motivation to write. Second, I am dwelling in a pit filled with hate. Most of this is directed at Darryl and is probably justified, but I'd rather not pollute the Flames world with more calls to fire the GM. Well, "rather not" ends today.

In Sunday's paper there was a "feel good" story about Mikael Backlund, going on about how Mickis had his whole family in town for Christmas. I'm happy that the young swede was able to chow down on his mom's home cooking surrounded by his loved ones, but one part of the article left me fuming:

"Told to buy his own place this year, he moved into a new home in December..."

Really? Someone told Mickis to set down roots? To my eyes, this means that, realistically, no matter what happens, he is not going back to Abbotsford. You can't tell a player on an entry level deal to buy a home, incur the debt obligation, and then ship him back to the minors to slum it out in some rental condo with four teammates. Daz basically upgraded him to a one way deal with 6 words: “Go ahead, kid, buy a house.” And the blame HAS to be placed on the GM, adding another bullet point to the long list of Darryl mis-steps. All the NMC/NTC deals. The brain dead contract extensions. The bad trades. Picking up Olli Jokinen. Twice.

I can hardly type my hands are shaking so hard, and I hope to get through this piece without throwing my computer across the room. Backlund could be getting solid development minutes, while making $65,000 a year (capgeek), with no cap hit, but instead he's wearing a suit, munching popcorn, and warming a chair in the press box. What a total waste. Maybe up in the rafters of the 'dome is where Daz envisioned Staios' leadership making a difference.

So this is me begging now: Please fire Darryl. As soon as we possibly can. Every day that goes by he finds a way to push the team further from success. Some people have suggested that since we are already hogtied for the next season (because of Darryl), that there is no advantage to destabilizing the management at this point. I think this example with Backlund proves that an early intervention is required.

End venting session. That felt good, but it will feel better when we see some progress. And you know I'm still a fan...

Go Flames!

merry xmas !!!

2010-12-24T21:15:00.003-07:00

sending all the best of holiday wishes to everyone out there.....
much love,
wi

stats on blogger meetups

2010-12-24T11:12:00.006-07:00

there have been a lot of nerdy blogger meet ups, and there have been a lot of losses... it's taken me the better part of the morning surfing the vaults and archives of hitthepost, openicehits, fiveholefanatics, completelyhammered, flamesblog, and (blast from the past) doubledion to try and nail down exactly which games coincided with blogger meet-ups and whether or not the flames did, infact, give away the two points.

the very first flames blogosphere hangout night was in toronto at shoeless joe's. it would've been sometime late in 06 and i'm quite confident it finished in a loss. that was me, duncan, hockeygirl, leanne, randy (stealthunder) from C.H, and my buddy ian. i know there's a photo of this in existance somewhere. maybe someone can point me to it....

there was a repeat of that event april 7, 2007 at the wheatsheaf in toronto with the same gang (think: nachos with onions). oilers took that one 3-2.

december 27, 2007 was when we all watched the flames fall 5-3 to the canucks whilst drinking pints at the kilkenny in brentwood: me, kent, leanne, rob from the GSN, his wife shannon and buddy ryan. i can't recall who else might have been at that one....

when randy and his twin bro were in town on march 7, 2008, we got a mini-crew together at flames central: kent, rob & leanne joined me there. nashville came out victorious 2-1.

12/5/08 we hit up schanks crowfoot and the flames actually beat the blues in OT. i guess we remember it as a loss cause the team didn't deserve a win ----and also most likely we were drunk. ;) kent, subversive (?), fenwick (?), doogie2K, and leanne (?) joined me for that one. details are fuzzy. feel free to set me straight.

saturday, march 27th 2010 was the PPV blowout in boston (bruins won 5-0) ---where we met at 11am at flames central, got loaded on breakfast beers and watched some random bears fan down two pitchers at a front row table by himself.... ;) me, kent, mikeH, azevedo, hayley, and sjc showed up to that one (before moving the party to the ship for way too much booze).

and then there was last night !!! good times had by all at schanks crowfoot (i'm sensing a pattern emerging) where the flames won again !! eight pitchers of 'hopper plus some nachos n' snacks made for a really fun night. supergood to see duncan back in town, as well as mikeH, azevedo, hayley, leanne, sjc & steinberg.... who later gave shoutouts on the fan, noting all the represented blogs... super radness.

happy holidays, everyone.
see ya at the next one....
;)

nerdy blogger meet-up TONIGHT !!!

2010-12-23T13:06:00.008-07:00

anyone who's at all interested in watching the flames lose to the dallas stars tonight should hop a c-train and get on over to schanks crowfoot where we can at least mourn the loss together (over a couple too many pints). i'm pretty sure our team has never won when there's a concerted effort by us followers to hang out.

the RSVP list includes the ENTIRE hitthepost family, together for the first time, (me, mikeH & duncan, fresh off a plane from phaneufville), hayley from M&G, justin from the4thlineblog, and everyone's favorite non-blogger, SJC. steinberg has no choice but to be there repping flamesnation cause he gets paid for it (kent'll be enroute to exotic medicine hat for the holidays).... domebeers may or may not send a delegate, tbd, and invitations have officially gone out to some of the oldschool blogger crew like rob from the guerrilasportsnetwork, and leanne from openicehits.... a "regretful decline" was offered from newsboy at X92.9, who got suckered into xmas dinner with the inlaws.... just remember: you don't have to be a blogger to come, you just have to be able to find us. we look like nerds. keep your eyes peeled for the GIO jersey, as i'll be your gracious host.

ridiculously, gametime is 6:30pm MST.
see you there.
:)

if gio had a pet....

2010-12-20T22:02:00.001-07:00

...he would teach it to sing this:

i know it's stupid but it totally made my day.
;)

flames v. bolts: bits n' bobs

2010-12-08T14:59:00.003-07:00

i had a superfun time at the game last night with my boss & our cordial host from f&d scenechanges, a staple in the calgary film & tv industry for decades and setbuilders extraordinaire. he plied us with booze (and more booze, and more booze) and snacks, and the flames didn't stink out the joint and made the firespitters go off four whole times, so it all made for a pretty fun night.

with kotalik back in the lineup, it's conroy+1 in the pressbox every night and last night it was david moss's turn (much to my surprise). alot of people see the value in sending mickis back to the farm but if the guest's seat beside conny is gonna be a rotating door of players, i don't necessarily see the value in it. and let's be honest: young backlund had a pretty solid game last night. not only did he make a crucial non-play on the game winner, but he seems to be playing with massive confidence at both even strength and on the PK. even after the beauty drop-pass to glenX, he drove the net and took away the man infront, allowing bourque a clear shot. that's some mature play, in my opinion. at this point, i'm not sure a demotion would help his game, so long as he's not eating popcorn upstairs with #24 every night...

before puckdrop there was some talk that the lucky player getting the night off would be olli jokinen. oh, how many flames fans that would have pleased !!! further rumour has it that david moss was feeling under the weather, but it may also have to do with his ill-timed double minor the previous game. either way, i think the lineup looked pretty solid without him, even though the hagman-jokinen-kotalik line did a whole lotta nuthin.

not much else to report; kippy looked in fine form, and it was nice to see gio's face without a bunch of metal cage in the way. also ? you don't realize how small martin st.louis is until he's getting absolutely CRUSHED in the tunnel of doom. i looked for a highlight of this but couldn't find it in the tsn or sporstnet summary packages.

lastly, i just want to point out that darryl sutter is paying the flames' third line nine million dollars. NINE MILLION !!! that's three each for kotalik, jokinen and hagman.... how do i know they're the third line? well, bourquey tells us so when asked about him and iggy both getting goals for the first time since october, "if we're both scoring that means that both lines are playing well & the top six forwards are getting the job done."

that's 6,175,000 for your second line, people. and i guarantee mickis would be happy to know that makes him a second line centreman.

i think i'm gonna be sick...

2010-12-06T18:11:00.008-07:00

i just watched keith aulie stand up ovechkin on a quasi 2-on-1 (beauchemin made it back at the end). also ? he played 21 minutes on saturday in the win over boston. TWENTY ONE MINUTES !!! are you READING THIS SHIT ??!?! keith mafackin' aulie has played 8 national hockey league games and he's being considered a top four defenseman. yeah, i totally saw this coming when the trade was made (ie: "the potential of keith aulie was hardly discussed but TO ME that's gonna be a big deal... ")... i'm disgusted right now.

phaneuf trade: official fail for the flames. not because of dion, not because of white, but because keith aulie is gonna be better than both of them combined. in six months. [if he can stay healthy] book it. brian burke DID fleece darryl sutter... though not the way everyone thought... ugh.

and don't say aulie's only top four since he's on a terrible team, cause he'd damn sure be top four on ours. for 575K thru 11/12.

:(

[as i hit "post" on this one, aulie got schooled by a hard capitals 3-on-2.... but i think my point still stands in comparison to staios, sarich, mikkelson & babchuk]

do you ever wonder....

2010-12-06T09:41:00.007-07:00

....if roberto luongo has a bit of a mancrush on patty kane ?

i mean, there's obviously been the on-ice one-on-one stuff for the past few years, where kaner often gets the better of bobbylou but sometimes the goalie stonewalls the kid. then there was the olympic tournament hijinx where, early on, kane announced to the media "I've had my luck against him personally, so he's a goalie I wouldn't mind facing," and perhaps in response, in the post-gold medal match handshake lineup, luongo said something to make kane laugh (reportedly, simply, "see you in the playoffs.")

now, i'm all for sportsmanship so ---even though i openly detest the canucks as a rule--- i have to hat tip alex burrows* in last wednesday's blowout, for summoning the trainer immediately after mark giordano took a puck in the face, and for leaning over gio's crumpled, leaking body to see if he was okay. it warmed my cold, granite heart just a little to see that kind of humanely concern between bitter rivals (1:31).

on the other hand, when i saw this exchange the other night (@ 0:21, and also seen here at 1:01), i couldn't help but notice that there was MORE concern by the 'nuck for the 'hawk, when the situation was FAR less dire.... it looked more friendly than courteous, more compassionnate than considerate.... and when you factor in their storied past, soooooorrrtof out of place....

do they pal-around after-hours in limos with the ladies ? do they pubcrawl or clubhop in the offseason ? or do they just sit around and write poetry:

*alex burrows !!! in a post about good sportsmanship !!!

:)

paul maurice, ian white, and the situation in calgary

2010-12-04T11:29:00.014-07:00

about nine months ago i had the good fortune to spend a couple of hours shooting the proverbial shit with the coaching staff of the carolina hurricanes, which certainly stands out as one of the single best events of my entire life. tom rowe is an incredibly genuine, personable, and intelligent human being (and coached gio in lowell, so we had lots to chat about !), and paul maurice is pretty much the coolest guy i've ever had the pleasure of meeting.

i won't go into a lot of detail here (but the tales are immensely awesome and i'd be happy to share them in person), but let's just say this: when maurice quizzed me on the dion phaneuf trade, i wonder now if he wasn't already pondering how to poach ian white from calgary... the linked article, here, kindof fascinates me on a few different levels, but before i take that on, i would like very much to wish coach maurice the most enormous of congratulations on his 1,000th game, being the youngest to ever do so at a spritely 42, and of course to offer my best wishes for another thou' before he chucks in the towel...

anyhow.

so ian white was coveted by maurice, a man i have the most intense respect for, who coached him with the marlies and the leafs. i've said time and time again that white was the only piece of the dion trade that made it worthwhile (unless hagman can ever play to potential), and was aghast that darryl sutter offered him the five dollar slap in the face... if i was ian white, i totally would've gone to arbitration.... anyhow, following that debacle, white had to go and have an awful october & november in the flaming C and make me look dumb. well, here's the thing: other than jackman, gio, and kiprusoff.... who DIDN'T have an awful october & november in the flaming C ??!? and it seems that on a team with little-to-no pressure, with a reliable defensive partner (joni pitkanen) on the first pairing, he's thriving. that says alot about the dire situation in calgary, if you ask me.

from the article on white:

He said the pressure to win in Calgary this season exceeded even that of his years in Toronto, with its massive media presence.

"It was big-time refreshing to come here," White said. "I know most of the guys there aren't having a whole lot of fun now. It's not fun when you're losing, especially all of the pressure and stuff there. It was a very, very stressful first two months of the year there for me."

so there you go. it's a pressure cooker in the flames dressing room and 'most of the guys' aren't having a whole lot of fun. while you can clearly chalk this up to the team's losing record, you have to also wonder how much of it can be attributed to coaching, management, ownership, and the other players in the room.

anyhow.
happy saturday, everyone.
:)

flames v. wild: again !!!

2010-12-03T12:05:00.009-07:00

in what will probably be a recurring theme this season, i would like to thank gary bettman for (yet again) scheduling two games in one week with the same intradivisional opponent. it's kindof hard to muster up the panic to want to watch this one, what with all the good feelings around the convincing win against the wild on monday evaporating with the wednesday shaming at the hands of the hated vancouver canucks. so we get to see if we're ACTUALLY better than the wild, or if it was just a one-off. the good news is that this team can no longer be considered elite, even by the city's most hardcore koolaid drinkers and all those guys named sutter.

it's starting to look decidedly possible that kotalik will finally take his #26 off the shelf and suit up for the first time this year. it's also official that our team's favorite hot-head and king of the terrible penalty (rene bourque is the obvious runner-up in both categories), curtis glencross, will be allowed to play: apparently the colin campbell wheel of justice landed on apple fritter. i was totally convinced with glenX's history that he'd get at least a game or two.... i guess that means jackman on the shelf ---it should be kostopolous but we all know how the sutter-to-player tunnel vision works.

follicularly, i give the upper hand to the flames... too bad good haircuts don't win games. perhaps in an anti-movember stance, alex tanguay FINALLY conceded to the baldspot and shaved his lid, and in a show of support (or drunkenness, or desire to be mistaken for his countryman, jokinen), nik hagman also lopped off his goldilocks... iggy was also sporting a fresh bic'ing during monday's pre-game skate. on the wild's side, i gotta say ---although eric nystrom still boasts some killer lashes, he still looks like this on top:

time to throw in the towel, bud. a decent pair of clippers costs about forty bucks...

and speaking of hair, poor, poor gio is gonna have to grow a full beard, since he's gonna have a mess of a time shaving away the 10am shadow with all the foreign material holding his face together:

(god, that looks sore...)

anyhow, i'm gonna stay in this evening and catch the game on the telly whilst socializing with my nerdy blog pals over at M&G. come join us !!! and speaking of joining us.... i'm still aiming for a blogger meet-up on december 23rd for the flames v. dallas game. i believe duncan will be in town, and though i'm not yet sure if kent or mikeH will be in the city, i'm trying to decipher if we'll need to book a table (schanks crowfoot, so we can make life easy for steinberg who may or may not be allowed to drink pints on the job). lemme know if you wanna come :)

flames v. 'nucks postgame: god bless gio's face

2010-12-01T23:08:00.005-07:00

"I will always cheer for the Flames... unless one day I have a son that plays in the NHL then I'll cheer for his team, which I hope isn't the Flames."

--- my friend Bryan, postgame 01/12/10

flames v. 'nucks: i've missed you, goad !!!

2010-12-01T11:47:00.007-07:00

while i can't think there's any way ----short of a kiprusoff xmas miracle---- that the flames might actually WIN the game tonight versus their peskiest divisional rivals, i AM excited to see a good, heated tilt. while we've seen the greasers three times this year already, tonight is miraculously the first matchup between these two squads and it's effin' DECEMBER. thanks for that, gary.

if you want a good pre-game stats report, go check out htp friend kent wilson's write-up over at flamesnation. if you want a bit more humour and some lineup notes, check steinberg's post. and if you want to see puckdaddy's take on the best movember moustaches in the nhl (including one that turns my current favorite swede, nic wallin, from "hawt" to "70's pornstar hawt"), you should click here.

with raitis ivanans still on the shelf (thank god), look to tim jackman & glenX to handle the fisticuffs. and while we're on the subject, i wonder if flames fans shouldn't buy steve mcintyre a little xmas cheer as a thankyou for keeping him out for as long as he has. god knows who will get to sit when our own overaged latvian is deemed healthy (which probably won't be long, given the frequency his name pops up alongside ales kotalik's on the "any day now" list).

on another note, i took a bunch of pix in NYC that i'll have to find appropriate places to post, and today's gem is this ---in the heart of the east village, i found a bar called iggy's selling $5 shots & hipster favorite, or as i like to call it "breakfast beer," PBR.

if only OUR iggy could get five dollar shots. for seven mil, that's a LOT of shots.

flames v. wild: postgame

2010-11-30T19:25:00.002-07:00

in line for pocketdawgs pre-game, me & mikeH saw this utter disgrace : some chick drinking a domebeer through a straw. and in case you want to tell me that she was actually using the straw to avoid unwanted spillage ---she was definitely drinking the beer through the straw. and in case you want to tell me that she was actually using the straw to get a bigger drunk on, i would explain that is a dangerous game with the heroin beers.

(photo credit: mikeH)

(faces blurred to protect the innocent)

arena report: the prudential

2010-11-29T09:55:00.018-07:00

after attending the tilt in jersey last week, i'll be hitting the dome tonight with htp bff, mikeH, for what promises to be another match in mediocrity when the flames meet the wild... didn't bettman and his posse of GMs create a whole bunch of ridiculous new rules so that i didn't have to sit through soul-destroyingly boring sixty minutes of hockey every game ? thank god for 4-on-4 OT and the shootout, cause otherwise the last two games would have been largely outclassed by championship darts and competitive knit-offs...

i missed a lot of good stuff while i was out of town on the eastern swing (though i caught a lot of good stuff too ---i saw the peewee herman show !!), like darryl sutter dropping a couple of "quite honestly"s, yet-again bashing the media, and further proclaiming his delusions in the local rag. i also missed shovelling my walk multiple times while my fingers froze, walking around nyc instead, sweating in my autumn coat. so i guess i win... ;)

anyhow.

it's a good thing i occupy my fan-hood with other things than those pesky, hard-to-come-by wins. i vowed to hit every rink in the league before i die, and i'm trying to knock 'em off one or two a year. st.louis in '09, deadmonton '08, and minny '06, i went to a subway series (rangers v. islanders) at madison square gardens in 2005, so i didn't bother hitting the flames game there last week ---for fifty bucks plus all ticketmaster and MSG service charges, you can get a single seat with "limited view." no thanks. when i attended five years ago, you could buy a seat in the bleeders for andrew jackson, and then sit yourself right beside rookie goalie, henrik lundqvist.

so this year, i chose the 4-year old prudential center, and (other than the fact they overlooked putting in an additional 2000+ seats) it's a beauty. honestly, a brand-new arena really makes the saddledome look like a dump.... i don't know why i thought they'd be jerks, but the staff were insanely polite and courteous and interested in the numerous flames fans. one usher saw my gio jersey pre-game and asked if that was the opposition for the evening's matchup. not only did she not know where calgary, canada was, but she didn't know why (if they were in the same league) she'd never seen them before.... ;)

not only is the building all pretty n'stuff with it's glass windows, but they've got a hockey-playing T1000 out front in an open "square"-like space fit for a really good rally. they call it "championship plaza" and i guess they have a right ---what with all the stanley cups--- though i think it might be a wee while before they bring the silver chalice back to stand with this 30-foot, right shooting dude:

(click to enlarge)

because i'm a total hockey nerd, and a frugal one at that, i elected to buy us cheapie bleeders with the knowledge that the prudential holds 17,000 but attendance rates hover around 12,000. since the red-line section 'club' area was ticket-policed, we decided our actual seats were preferrable to lower level corners and actually pretty effin' decent ---akin to high 200's in the 'dome:

and what would a htp rink report be without discussing the food ??! i was über-impressed that there was a gluten-free stand (hotdogs w/gluten-free buns etc), and a sushi bar that had sushi chefs creating your rolls as you wait, in addition to the pre-packaged stuff.... YUM !! upon arrival and some schmoozing with the prudential ushers & medics (happenstance, not necessity), i was told that without a doubt, the best arena snack was the chicken fingers & fries. it was a hefty $9.50 but could easily be considered a meal for two. the fingers were pretty standard (though tasty !) but the fries were outrageous: imagine deep-fried mashed potato sticks.... eff yeah !!! PLUS their condiment stations were awesome: in addition to your standard K, M, R, they had frank's red hot and a brand name bbq sauce (which i can't currently recall):

anyhow, the flames played listlessly and boringly, as per usual, and i blame brent for the loss (i mean.... who puts TANGUAY in the shootout after he missed the net CLEARLY a half dozen times during gameplay ??!?). le sigh. anyhow, i expect nothing different tonight.

ps: someone should invent deep-fried mashed potato sticks.
pps: god bless gio.

;)

i heart NY

2010-11-23T10:39:00.003-07:00

i like to fancy myself a decent writer, but there is really no possible way to put into words how absolutely magnificent new york can be. i'm not sure if it's the indescribable way the city at once breathes new and old, or the awe inspiring immensity of the surroundings that really gets to me... how i can be the sole being on the latenight platform counting rats scurrying on the subway tracks, as easily as i can be the only soul in a crowd of hundreds who stops to notice a saccharinely sweet couple getting their engagement photos taken at the children's tables in bryant park....

i'm tired.
;)

i can't believe i've only been here four days with all of the activities i've packed in. still, i feel like i've done nothing yet.... *sigh. it's so crazy cool, the perfect dichotomy of it all....

i really seriously considered going to the game last night but in the end, opted for dinner with my two cousins and their partners. good choice, looking at the gamesheet (as though there was any real doubt that last night's tilt would end in a L for my team). the decision was largely based on the high cost of shitty bleeders with "limited view," coupled with the fact that five years ago i purchased those same seats gameday for 50% of what they cost now, and then sat almost directly beside king henrik (before he WAS king henrik) cause there was pretty much nobody there.... i've been to MSG twice, once for rangers v. islanders, and the flames blow ---so the interest dropping a wad to attend last night's game was minimal.

i DID, however, sit at the bar in a high-end sports pub a block away from MSG called "NYC Stout" for about two hours pre-game, where i met a couple of interesting characters, saw a crapload of rangers fans, and managed to get a pretty good buzz on from the ol' brooklyn lagers. for the first while, i sat with a dude named mark who was from boston and had never heard of iginla.

"that surprises me, actually... he's a bit of an allstar," i express.

"an allstar in CALGARY," my new frenemy points out.

"uhh.... no, probably everywhere if you ever watch hockey."

turns out, it's okay for me and my nerdy blog buddies to jack up my team's captain, but it's not okay if that someone is from the US of A.

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

sutters of the world unite !!!

2010-11-17T15:04:00.007-07:00

so darryl finally realized that young brett needed to go further away from calgary than abbotsford cause he did a dumb thing i like to call "drinking" at the team rookie dinner (which, btw, is my take on what an inebriated sutter once referred to as his "rookie game"), and i guess carolina is about as far away as you can go in the NHL.

oh, and brett's cousin brandon plays there. and brett's cousin brandon has had some success there. and i'm sure that's where brandon's dad, brent, will buy a house once he's let go from his current post. and maybe darryl will want to go there when he gets canned since the canes are one of the youngest teams in the league and they might be wanting to bring in more over-the-hill type players.

what a total reactionary move by a GM fighting to save face, his family name, and his job.

hilarious.

what's NOT funny is we just cleared a roster spot that forces steve staios to play every night. AND brendan mikkelson... and even though he started the season with the big club, i would highly doubt that tj brodie will be called up to skate with the team cause he's under the age of 28 and therefore not (according to what appears to be the sutter mantra) NHL ready. i can only presume this means pardy is close to a return. **sorry. babchuk's a defenseman. scratch this. (til he gets hurt).

ian white is having a rough season, but no more terrible than jaybouw (at half the price). yeah, maybe he wasn't "working" with regehr, but you know who won't work there even more ? steve fucking staios. mark my words, this team is now set for a repeat of last year's 9-game losing streak, and (if he isn't relieved of his duties by then) darryl is set to trade the proverbial farm with a bunch of shitty deals that will leave us with less value players and more ridiculous contracts than he did last year. dark days are a-comin'.

like i said before the ian white slap in the face (aka: contract signed for five bucks less than three mil), if darryl can't get the defenseman inked then we got nothing for phaneuf. i still believe that (unless hagman starts playing to ability). stajan's okay but i'd peg him as a natural 3rd line centre. just brutal work.

admittedly i know very little about babchuk or kostopoulous. but the fact that i don't know much about'em means they're probably not huge difference makers. which means we're gonna lose alot more games.

and finally: trading ian white during movember is a disgrace.
just sayin'.
;)

brett sutter likes to party (and other things we already knew)

2010-11-12T09:15:00.011-07:00

i kinda feel bad for brett sutter this morning. not because he got into a bar fight in arizona, and not because it was scottsdale (the "softest" area in the state). i don't feel for him cause he got arrested, shamed his family name (cause, granted, his pops has been walkin' that road for years now), or because he made peter hanlon speak more words in a sentence than "double fisting ?"

i feel bad for him cause the worst possible time for a pro athlete to get their mugshot taken is in the first weeks of movember:

...and let's not joke around ---this is a BEAUTY.

the attempt-to-grow-a-porn-star (or a ringo starr ??) 'stache aside, the kid is clearly:

a) unsoberized
b) fearing the wrath of what will come "tomorrow"
c) tired
d) sunburnt from a day of paintball/golf
e) all of the above

a proud, proud moment for the flaming C's and the entire sutter family. though, no more proud than this moment, i'd imagine.

or this one.

...or this one.

i'm thinking that maybe he did it on purpose to distract the team, its managers, coaches, and fans from all the losses.... and how painful the team is to watch on the ice (kippy, glenX, haggy, moss, gio, and mickis notwithstanding). if so, well done young brett !!

:)

[ps: i get the feeling vicki hall reads htp]

hitthepost roadtrip !!!

2010-11-08T20:33:00.011-07:00

the flames can't notch a W at the 'dome so i decided to drop a metric fuckton of money to go see if they can beat sather's blueshirts or lamoriello's devs in the comfort of their own rinks.

ps: i've paid for airline tickets already but if anyone wants to donate hockey tickets to a very cute flames blogger (and a friend or two) to MSG on nov 22 or the prudential center nov 24, i'll take'em !!!

[i'm lookin' at you, steinberg.]

no, seriously...
i'm sorta cute-ish.
;)

bottom line: me and the gio jersey are hittin' the road mid-month. pix (and other road tales) to follow.

the flames are SO bad, i'm gonna talk about baseball

2010-11-04T12:17:00.006-06:00

please take note:

i am not, nor have i ever been, a fan of baseball. sure, there's something really awesome about going to the park and having a hotdog and a cold beer on a warm summer evening, and hangin' with your buddies under the pretense of watching a live sporting event is pretty kickass.... but 30 teams playing 182 games apiece totally cuts into the REAL highlights on sportscentre, and it drives me mental....

the thing i DO like about baseball (aside from the live-action stuff mentioned above) is the same thing i like about most sports: the characters. i mean, do you REALLY think anyone watches the WWE for the make-believe piledrivers and bodyslams ? no. they watch because it's interesting to see mick foley lay the beats down with a sock puppet, and to see the elaborate ruse of tripleH marrying stephanie mcmahon. people watch because, for example, the rock was one of the most captivating personae ever to grapple in the squared circle. is it any wonder that one of the single highest rated segments in terms of viewership in "raw" history featured the rock n' sock connection ???

but i digress...

i had zero interest in the world series this year until i realized that SF's superstar pitcher, tim lincecum, looked exactly like the kid from dazed and confused... and apparently, i wasn't the first to think it.

click the link, it's an hilarious article.

anyways. if the flames continue stinkin' this way, i'm gonna probably look into other sports that bore the hell out of me, just for something to do.

:)

my new favorite pic:

2010-11-02T15:31:00.003-06:00

thanks to the calgary herald for posting a gallery entitled "changes are a coming for the flames," and captionning this particular photo "Flames defenceman Cory Sarich bounces a puck off of the cross bar while shooting on Miikka Kiprusoff during practice on Monday November 01, 2010 at the Saddledome in Calgary Alberta."

i got a good laugh out of both.

the fact that cory sarich had (undeniably) the worst game of his career the other night vs. washington is probably why the gallery has twelve photos total, with seven of them being of #6... y'know, to prove to the fans that sutters didn't take him out behind the barn and put him out of his misery.

but apparently changes are coming.
le sigh.

i bet a sixer on the game wednesday so i'm gonna guarantee a loss. this puts me in win-win territory: either the flames win a game and i win a sixer, or i'm a visionary.

backlund on backlund is over :(

2010-10-31T00:38:00.003-06:00

while he hadn't written anything since the world championship last spring, mikael backlund's blog has been officially removed from the airwaves.

bummer.

we'll miss your insight, mickis.

gio re-signs and makes me happy

2010-10-29T15:57:00.008-06:00

i'm sure everyone is expecting a comment from me regarding gio's deal, since he's widely known as my favorite player. as i said over at flamesnation: i think it's awesome... and in darryl sutter's team hierarchy, he fits exactly where he SHOULD fit* ----with the (speculated) exact same cap hit as robyn regehr. in the years moving forward, gio is the most likely candidate to become a shutdown/PP hybrid and i think +/- 4mil is where he would've slotted in on most NHL clubs. getting him for 3.5 would've been a steal and i think daz is smarter than to give him a second slap in the face to the tune of $3,999,995 [the first slap being, of course, two-way deal offered and declined in '06]. the difference between those numbers is less than what we threw away to see raitis ivanans to play one game (6 minutes ?) in a flaming C.

bottom line: i think everybody wins.
:)

i thought this might be a nice time to post my entry to the calgary sun "meet mark giordano contest," whereby the winner will be the person who best describes why #5 is their favorite player. hey, i'll probably lose to some kid with a big box of crayons who draws a fun likeness of the 10am shadow, but my mini-essay was honest and as concise as i felt i could be on the subject with the price is right rules (ie: without going over). in the end, i probably lost the competition by not using caps, or more likely by slagging anders eriksson and randy sportak, but.... meh. it was worth it:

It won't be difficult to convince you why Mark Giordano is my favorite player, but it will be difficult doing so in 300 words or less... ;)

when calgary's #5 opened the 2009/2010 season's scoring with a beautiful goal against vancouver, my phone went berserk with text messages. not only had "gio" scored a goal, but my favorite player had tallied the team's first goal of the year !! all of my friends country-wide watching the game acknowledged that nobody would be happier about it than yours truly....

i first started applauding gio as a player in 2006 and i was up in arms when darryl wouldn't sign him to a one-way deal (ultimately forcing him to go to russia). i've often lamented how much better the team would have been with giordano on the blueline the subsequent year, instead of anders eriksson (who was signed the day after gio announced his overseas intentions).

in 2008 when i got my jersey lettered GIO, i was a trailblazer at the saddledome. earlier the same year, i engaged in a spirited email debate with your own randy sportak when he suggested Sutter's aforementioned non-contract decision was a sound one (i wholeheartedly disagreed).

this February, i had the pleasure of speaking with giordano's AHL coach (tom rowe), who was surprised to hear me name him as my favorite player. though he'd always respected his work ethic and hockey sense, he didn't think gio was 'superstar' enough to unseat guys like iginla or kiprusoff as anyone's most-loved flame... the next night, #5 dumped 6'3" 210lb hurricanes' blueliner, joni pitkanen, into the carolina players' bench and virtually onto rowe's lap. i'm sure in the commotion of it all, rowe grinned a little about that gal from calgary who knew a thing or two about mark giordano....

:)

*presuming, of course, that iggy starts earning his 7mil, and jaybouw starts earning his 6.6 mil.

2010-10-27T17:26:00.001-06:00

It won't be difficult to convince you why Mark Giordano is my favorite player, but it will be difficult doing so in 300 words or less... ;)

When Calgary's #5 opened the 2009/2010 season's scoring with a beautiful goal against Vancouver, my phone went berserk with text messages. Not only had "Gio" scored a goal, but my favorite player had tallied the team's first goal of the year !! All of my friends country-wide watching the game acknowledged that nobody would be happier about it than yours truly....

I first started applauding Gio as a player in 2006 and i was up in arms when Darryl wouldn't sign him to a one-way deal (ultimately forcing him to go to Russia). I've often lamented how much better the team would have been with Giordano on the blueline the subsequent year, instead of Anders Eriksson (who was signed the day after Gio announced his overseas intentions).

In 2008 when i got my jersey lettered GIO, i was a trailblazer at the Saddledome (http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_GQcZPpMzX-Y/Sv9JaDNh6rI/AAAAAAAAAKo/0_9egwTgFMU/s1600-h/P1011447.JPG). Earlier the same year, i engaged in a spirited email debate with your own Randy Sportak when he suggested Sutter's aforementioned non-contract decision was a sound one (i wholeheartedly disagreed).

This February, I had the pleasure of speaking with Giordano's AHL coach (Tom Rowe), who was surprised to hear me name him as my favorite player. Though he'd always respected his work ethic and hockey sense, he didn't think Gio was 'superstar' enough to unseat guys like Iginla or Kiprusoff ... The next night, #5 dumped 6'3" 210lb Hurricanes' blueliner, Joni Pitkanen, into the Carolina players bench and virtually onto Rowe's lap. I'm sure in the commotion of it all, Rowe grinned a little about that gal from Calgary who knew a thing or two about Mark Giordano....

:)

M&G gamethread spillover: afterthoughts

2010-10-27T08:18:00.005-06:00

i'm kinda bummed i missed the M&G gamethread last night since it was all about the flames nerdherd, with all of my favorite nerdy blog buddies (except kent) talkin' shop, cuttin' up jokinen and staios, swapping recipes & "how-to-make-beer-BETTER" conversations, and otherwise generally being all-around awesome.

instead, i went over to my buddy AA's place to watch the game cause he's a dirty greasers fan and i figured we'd have a couple beers & figuratively noogie the hell out of each other. except apparently he's a little down on his luck ("man, we can't catch a break." " i'd love to see my team win once in awhile." "it's been so depressing for so long now."). after the flames scored the fourth, he got all pouty and switched the channel to basketball so i totally missed my boy gio pounding somebody's head in. boooo !!!

anyhow, something we were joking about a few games back (over on M&G) was the fact that you can hire the predators' mascot, gnash, for "a birthday party, a classroom full of kids, retail promotions, school fundraisers, corporate events, parades, or even wedding receptions." well, low and behold less than a week later, my friend in smashville posted her kid's birthday pics on the ol' facebook:
what an awesome mom. floor hockey and gnash for a 4 year old birthday ?? i wish i was her kid... ;)

nothin' else goin on, really, except that today is the deadline for the "meet mark giordano" contest. i friggin' better win.

for fun

2010-10-25T14:16:00.003-06:00

my buddy ken$$'s "nhlpa approved" oilers merch.
coupled with eberle, this is almost enough to make me like the greasers.