...i actually am really kinda loving david hale. another excellent game last night, ending even with eighteen minutes on the ice [extra minutes spent paired with sarich while regehr was in the box].... he spent some time on the PK, was steady as the only guy back on a 2-on-1 and each of his bad plays was followed immediately with a sweet recovery....
to me, he's lookin' a bit like gio (without the offensive upside).
am i WRONG here ?????
;)
Sunday, February 10, 2008
Friday, February 8, 2008
the curse of mcgeough
i'm sure most of you are aware that i'm unemployed. i've been doing some odd jobs and taking days of work here and there, so i'm not broke or starving (i know you're concerned), but it also affords me the most ridiculous amount of time to ponder and research things like this:
do the flames win or lose more games officiated by mcgeough ?
ol' mick wore the zebra stripes fourteen times during flames games, going back to the start of the 06/07 season, and the split of calgary wins/losses is exactly 50%. in the past ten games, however (all of which fall within the past calendar year, starting feb 22, 2007), there were no less than seven flames losses. this season the flames have only notched one win in five matches where mcgeough was on the ice, bringing the split to a near-shocking 80% losses thusfar in 07/08.
clearly you have to give some credit to the teams that are winning, and the state of the flames (slumping/streaking) when they're faced with the wrath of mr. magoo.... but with a flurry of bad calls in each and every tilt, it's antagonism at its best. i needn't remind the calgary blogosphere of the officiating agony we felt throughout the loss to vancouver december 27. the guy does not like it when our fourth line appears to score...
enough on that.
it's hockey day in canada and i will be sporting my former #1 jersey (the junior XL of the last era ---what i like to call the 'mike vernon banner' jersey) at the game vs. the oilers. since my rbk edge sweater is now 2-2-1, i'm gonna bench it for the night. it better work.... we need a win in the worst way....
:)
do the flames win or lose more games officiated by mcgeough ?
ol' mick wore the zebra stripes fourteen times during flames games, going back to the start of the 06/07 season, and the split of calgary wins/losses is exactly 50%. in the past ten games, however (all of which fall within the past calendar year, starting feb 22, 2007), there were no less than seven flames losses. this season the flames have only notched one win in five matches where mcgeough was on the ice, bringing the split to a near-shocking 80% losses thusfar in 07/08.
clearly you have to give some credit to the teams that are winning, and the state of the flames (slumping/streaking) when they're faced with the wrath of mr. magoo.... but with a flurry of bad calls in each and every tilt, it's antagonism at its best. i needn't remind the calgary blogosphere of the officiating agony we felt throughout the loss to vancouver december 27. the guy does not like it when our fourth line appears to score...
enough on that.
it's hockey day in canada and i will be sporting my former #1 jersey (the junior XL of the last era ---what i like to call the 'mike vernon banner' jersey) at the game vs. the oilers. since my rbk edge sweater is now 2-2-1, i'm gonna bench it for the night. it better work.... we need a win in the worst way....
:)
all hail hale !!!
i don't want to talk about the loss. it was one of those 'slumping team' games where there should have been at least 2 more goals on the calgary side of the board but our players could not connect stick-to-puck anytime it really counted (ie: infront of the net). i also swear to someday analyze the calgary v. mcgeough track record, and figure out exactly how lopsided the wins compare to the losses under his officiation.
but today is for david hale.
i am not expressing that hale is, by any means, a top-four defenceman. but i am continually suprised ---game after game--- how hard he plays. he is not infallible, to be sure, but he has generally good positioning, an entirely acceptable amount of hustle, a decent amount of size (and ability to throw it into bodies wearing the wrong colour), and is regularly competent when carrying the puck/stickhandling/pokechecking.
i'm pretty sure #21 had the best game of his career last night, against the 'hawks.
not only did he end up even on the night, but he played a helluvalot more minutes than usual. on his regular shift, he was paired with aucoin, but he somehow ended up flanking phaneuf in the last ten-or-so minutes of the third. he spent some time on the PK, he made craig adams bleed (so that iggy didn't have to) and he even rang one off the crossbar; a shot from the point that was inches from accurate and ?HARD !!!!
moral of the story:
daz might actually know what he's doing on this team-building thing (letting gio and tukhs walk, obviously, aside).
but today is for david hale.
i am not expressing that hale is, by any means, a top-four defenceman. but i am continually suprised ---game after game--- how hard he plays. he is not infallible, to be sure, but he has generally good positioning, an entirely acceptable amount of hustle, a decent amount of size (and ability to throw it into bodies wearing the wrong colour), and is regularly competent when carrying the puck/stickhandling/pokechecking.
i'm pretty sure #21 had the best game of his career last night, against the 'hawks.
not only did he end up even on the night, but he played a helluvalot more minutes than usual. on his regular shift, he was paired with aucoin, but he somehow ended up flanking phaneuf in the last ten-or-so minutes of the third. he spent some time on the PK, he made craig adams bleed (so that iggy didn't have to) and he even rang one off the crossbar; a shot from the point that was inches from accurate and ?HARD !!!!
moral of the story:
daz might actually know what he's doing on this team-building thing (letting gio and tukhs walk, obviously, aside).
Wednesday, February 6, 2008
PHANEUF SIGNED !!!!
'bout time....
check anywhere for details.
:)
i guess that means the flames PPV folks can continue using this banner for the next five years or so.... ;)
[amusing note: sportsnet has announced, on the ticker, that "phaneuf sings on." karaoke-style ??]
check anywhere for details.
:)
i guess that means the flames PPV folks can continue using this banner for the next five years or so.... ;)
[amusing note: sportsnet has announced, on the ticker, that "phaneuf sings on." karaoke-style ??]
a love letter to peter forsberg
dear foppa:
it shouldn't come as a surprise, but it's fine time that you were reminded of my eternal love towards your blue-eyed self. they say that absence makes the heart grow fonder, and i will admit that i am very excited at the prospect of watching you in nightly highlights after such a long period of void. so please consider my feelings when you select a team for your comeback.... it would really crush me if you were to suit up in the green and blue out west....
i realize it may be tempting to play with your childhood pal, marcus naslund, and your twin homeboys, but i assure you it is not the way you want to go. it rains so much on the coast, and you'll have to put up with trevor linden. it's possible that your cup memories and loyalties will draw you back to colorado, where the team is sorely missing sakic, smyth and stastny --but obviously denver is a hotbed for injuries (so you'd best steer clear). i really want to suggest you come to calgary, y'know.... cause you'd look so damn good between iggy and juice, but i'm not sure daz is gonna pony up the dough you're presumeably after. it's now public that you hate lidstrom, zetterberg, franzen, kronwall, holmstrom, samuelsson, and lilja, so it's clear you're not seeking another cup....
i guess my suggestion is: head back to the east.... honestly.
i just want what's best for you.... think about how happy you could make MATS !!! :D
according to this, you're dating --which hurts my feelings a little bit. but honestly, pete ? i'll get over it. as long as you steer clear from vancouver....
i look forward to seeing you !!!
kisses,
WI
[NOTE: is it just me, or does everyone imagine foppa sitting around in a bathrobe, getting fanned, massaged, and fed grapes ? every few hours, the harem pauses in electric anticipation until he speaks out in a whisper something like, "tell dallas no," at which time one of his scantily-clad minions would depart to deliver baizley the news....]
[just me, then ?] ;)
true men don't kill coyotes
well, after two periods, i thought it was over.
a devastating forty mintues that seemed to repeat the game in edmonton the night before, i wasn't hopeful for the outcome.
is it just me or does it look like sarich needs a night off (but who would play in his stead) ????
huge comeback led by our boy dion, culminating in an absolutely textbook goal by jarome. beauty.
OT solves nothing (though jovo, in all of his bastardness, saved a a huge one). shootout proves the flames aren't as useless as they appear.....
flaming Cs meet the original 6 blackhawks on thursday. fingers crossed we can get that one right.......
[in truth i wanted to post under that title.... even though it doesn't really apply here]
a devastating forty mintues that seemed to repeat the game in edmonton the night before, i wasn't hopeful for the outcome.
is it just me or does it look like sarich needs a night off (but who would play in his stead) ????
huge comeback led by our boy dion, culminating in an absolutely textbook goal by jarome. beauty.
OT solves nothing (though jovo, in all of his bastardness, saved a a huge one). shootout proves the flames aren't as useless as they appear.....
flaming Cs meet the original 6 blackhawks on thursday. fingers crossed we can get that one right.......
[in truth i wanted to post under that title.... even though it doesn't really apply here]
Tuesday, February 5, 2008
kipper v. the dogs
if you'd asked me yesterday, i would have explained how i dodged a bullet by being overseas for the pathetic month of november, and for being at a birthday party on the night the flames were annhialated by the preds. BUUUUT i suppose i was due to witness an absolute catastrophe at the hands of my team. i'm so embarassed on behalf of the Cs that i will even point out that garon has our number, that the greasers' youngsters skated circles around our vets, and that cujo looked like a 40-year-old who hasn't played pro in eons.
as for tonight, it is my honest hope that it can't possibly be worse. let's have a look, starting from last night's barrel-scrapers:
- barring a tragic bus accident, drive-by-shooting or similarly unpredictable disaster, kipper will be in nets. this is a massive step up already (sorry, cujo)
- godard looks to be suspended for tonight, which takes away keenan's option to bench him (which clearly would never have happened anyways). we've all been questionning godard's value in the lineup for months ---since his last fight, which i believe happened in NOVEMBER. so tonight we'll see if the fourth line has any value whatsoever... i hear it's gonna be mark "minutes" smith (who is useless but can skate), marcus "sign'im & sit'im" nilson (who is useless but can check) and dustin "someday they'll play me with decent wingers" boyd (who is only useless with guys like smith and nilson).
- iggy's got to come around sometime. ditto for juice, tanguay and lombody. ;)
winning tonight will be no easy job, with the dingos playing as well as they have been. our problem, of late, is getting pucks in the other guys' net, so beating bryzgalov is not gonna seem a pleasant task. this should be a low-scoring affair, and with any luck, our guys will tally at least one more than their guys.
fingers crossed.
as for tonight, it is my honest hope that it can't possibly be worse. let's have a look, starting from last night's barrel-scrapers:
- barring a tragic bus accident, drive-by-shooting or similarly unpredictable disaster, kipper will be in nets. this is a massive step up already (sorry, cujo)
- godard looks to be suspended for tonight, which takes away keenan's option to bench him (which clearly would never have happened anyways). we've all been questionning godard's value in the lineup for months ---since his last fight, which i believe happened in NOVEMBER. so tonight we'll see if the fourth line has any value whatsoever... i hear it's gonna be mark "minutes" smith (who is useless but can skate), marcus "sign'im & sit'im" nilson (who is useless but can check) and dustin "someday they'll play me with decent wingers" boyd (who is only useless with guys like smith and nilson).
- iggy's got to come around sometime. ditto for juice, tanguay and lombody. ;)
winning tonight will be no easy job, with the dingos playing as well as they have been. our problem, of late, is getting pucks in the other guys' net, so beating bryzgalov is not gonna seem a pleasant task. this should be a low-scoring affair, and with any luck, our guys will tally at least one more than their guys.
fingers crossed.
Monday, February 4, 2008
cujo v. the dogs
i don't really have much to say about tonight's game except it's the first of a back-to-back pair that should (by all accounts) see cujo holding fort in nets against one of his his former teams. now THAT'S exciting. realistically, keenan should give him the 'easy' task of playing the greasers tonight, but he may draw the start against the dogs tomorrow instead.
as for tonight, well, i'd call it a must-win. if we can't beat the lowly greasers, there's no hope for the future of the current incarnation of this team. apparently horcoff's out, which means some guy named curtis glencross is in. it's been said (on some comment board somewhere, probably over at battle of alberta) that he's an "all-heart" kinda guy. we'll see about that...
as for tonight, well, i'd call it a must-win. if we can't beat the lowly greasers, there's no hope for the future of the current incarnation of this team. apparently horcoff's out, which means some guy named curtis glencross is in. it's been said (on some comment board somewhere, probably over at battle of alberta) that he's an "all-heart" kinda guy. we'll see about that...
Sunday, February 3, 2008
flames v. dallas: post-game
i'm watchin' the habs play my rangers as i write and i've got to say, it would be a very nice time to be a canadiens fan... this team is a scoring machine and huet is looking unbeatable, for the most part. also, i would like to point out that dubinsky is making a good argument for a calder nom, even though one of the blackhawks' youngsters will still probably take home the hardware.
but i digress....
the flames looked pretty sloppy v. dallas last night, though it did seem like the ice was shockingly bad. still, the stars didn't need that excuse to pot a couple goals and hold the flames to a single tally. turco was in fine form and there was an epic amount of hustle from the guys wearing white.
with no scoring coming from anywhere in the second period, keenan et al. started switching up lines: he played tanguay on the wing with langkow and iginla, and moved huselius onto a line with lombardi and moss ---to no avail. kipper looked mostly solid, though the second stars' goal was a bit of a softie.... i dunno. it was hardly the flames' best outing of the season, though it was nowhere near the worst, either.
it'll be interesting to see what, if any, of these changes stick for the oilers game tomorrow. hopefully the flames won't take the matchup too likely as we really need the two points, and the greasers would certainly love to play spoiler (and we know they can if garon/rollie choose to step it up).
but i digress....
the flames looked pretty sloppy v. dallas last night, though it did seem like the ice was shockingly bad. still, the stars didn't need that excuse to pot a couple goals and hold the flames to a single tally. turco was in fine form and there was an epic amount of hustle from the guys wearing white.
with no scoring coming from anywhere in the second period, keenan et al. started switching up lines: he played tanguay on the wing with langkow and iginla, and moved huselius onto a line with lombardi and moss ---to no avail. kipper looked mostly solid, though the second stars' goal was a bit of a softie.... i dunno. it was hardly the flames' best outing of the season, though it was nowhere near the worst, either.
it'll be interesting to see what, if any, of these changes stick for the oilers game tomorrow. hopefully the flames won't take the matchup too likely as we really need the two points, and the greasers would certainly love to play spoiler (and we know they can if garon/rollie choose to step it up).
Saturday, February 2, 2008
not a whole lot to add
first of all, congrats to MG : the guy is gonna get some dough for writing, and deservedly so...
secondly, there's a lot of talk about dion being close to a contract extension. i'll believe it when it's finalized and formally announced. until then, it's just speculation.
additonally, on speculation, i think someone's gonna get traded before the deadline, but i don't think it'll be tanguay. if tangs gets dealt, i think it will be sometime in the summer. there is no urgency to deal him now, unless we're trying to pick up a REALLY expensive guy, and i'm not even sure if a guy that rich exists [because maths are not my forté, i am hard pressed to figure out exactly how much a guy would be getting paid to put us over the cap for this year....]. i still worry that lombo will be the bait to shake warrener, but we shall see.... no point in worrying about it now.
dallas skates into calgary tonight and i'll be attending. which means i'll get to yell "STARS" twice during the US national anthem (one of my favorite quirks in all of sports) and, with any luck, watch the flames notch another in the win column.... hopefully the boys from the lonestar state have had one too many stops at timmy's enroute between their win in edmonton last night. on the bright side, you can tell there's a chink in the armour: not only did turco not shutout the hapless greasers but he allowed a goal by STORTINI for cryin' out loud... here's to hoping that (bad ?) luck will continue here in cowtown and we'll see some teritary scoring from the godard line.... ;)
by the sounds of it, keenan's recent practices have been pretty fun, and it seems as though the flames are really gelling chemistry-wise. it actually 'feels' like it did around this time last year, with some smiling, joking, and assorted good times behind the scenes. i would like to think that sutter is aware of this and can accept the fact that a light-hearted vibe on the bench is as important as trading up, player-wise. i don't think anyone would argue that, while brad stuart was a better player than andrew ference, that trade really fucked up the magic in flamesville. at the same time, i don't see us winning a cup with hale/eriksson/warrener on the sixth pairing....
anyhoo. GO FLAMES !!!
secondly, there's a lot of talk about dion being close to a contract extension. i'll believe it when it's finalized and formally announced. until then, it's just speculation.
additonally, on speculation, i think someone's gonna get traded before the deadline, but i don't think it'll be tanguay. if tangs gets dealt, i think it will be sometime in the summer. there is no urgency to deal him now, unless we're trying to pick up a REALLY expensive guy, and i'm not even sure if a guy that rich exists [because maths are not my forté, i am hard pressed to figure out exactly how much a guy would be getting paid to put us over the cap for this year....]. i still worry that lombo will be the bait to shake warrener, but we shall see.... no point in worrying about it now.
dallas skates into calgary tonight and i'll be attending. which means i'll get to yell "STARS" twice during the US national anthem (one of my favorite quirks in all of sports) and, with any luck, watch the flames notch another in the win column.... hopefully the boys from the lonestar state have had one too many stops at timmy's enroute between their win in edmonton last night. on the bright side, you can tell there's a chink in the armour: not only did turco not shutout the hapless greasers but he allowed a goal by STORTINI for cryin' out loud... here's to hoping that (bad ?) luck will continue here in cowtown and we'll see some teritary scoring from the godard line.... ;)
by the sounds of it, keenan's recent practices have been pretty fun, and it seems as though the flames are really gelling chemistry-wise. it actually 'feels' like it did around this time last year, with some smiling, joking, and assorted good times behind the scenes. i would like to think that sutter is aware of this and can accept the fact that a light-hearted vibe on the bench is as important as trading up, player-wise. i don't think anyone would argue that, while brad stuart was a better player than andrew ference, that trade really fucked up the magic in flamesville. at the same time, i don't see us winning a cup with hale/eriksson/warrener on the sixth pairing....
anyhoo. GO FLAMES !!!
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