i really have no idea what to expect from the new year's eve rematch between the flaming C's and the guys donning the green-and-blue uglies.... but i know i'll be in attendance.
GOALTENDING:
a jekyll-and-hyde kippsie versus a nearly unflappable luongo.
i see bobby-lu got a tripping penalty tonight against the ducks, so with any luck maybe that means he was slightly off his game. still, he only let in one goal, so he's hardly coming off a netminder meltdown... miikaa looked like kipper1.0 at the end of the night on saturday, so fingers crossed that's the guy that will show up to ring in 2008...
DEFENSE:
the orcas are still without #2 defender mattias ohlund, but seem to be keeping the goals out from behind their #1 guy, luongo. the flames, on the other hand, are all over the map; though eriksson had a decent outing on saturday he can still be considered a liability at any given moment (which makes phaneuf the same). i have to say i've been appreciating the play of david hale, of late, as he goes out and plays shift after shift largely invisibly. except for that one shift where he debateably won a fight against matt cooke.... regehr also looked every inch the strapping lad he is when he absolutely wallpapered a niedermeyer...
OFFENSE:
the good news is clearly that if we can corral the twins, we should be able to notch a W. the EXTRA good news is that vancouver can watch as much tape as they want on the flames' twelve forwards, they'll still step out on the ice with no idea a) who will be on the first line, b) who will be on the second line, c) who will be on the third line, and d) who will be on the fourth line. while i'm not sure this will work in calgary's favour as far as netting goals, it should occasionally leave mike weaver or alex edler on the ice with any/all of iginla, huselius, tanguay.
prediction: 3-2 nucks (and it hurts me). sedins with a couple --let's say one each--- and trevor linden with the winner (for old times sake). on the other side, i'll say d.boyd with one and lombo with the other.
i.
can't.
wait.
:)
Sunday, December 30, 2007
flames v. ducks postgame: whoah
while i intended to watch last night's tilt at home on my crappy tv, my dad called two hours before gametime to say he didn't feel like going and did i want the tickets. so i called my buddy J.Ho, one of the most hilarious and sarcastic hockey lovers i've ever met (who, btw, is KILLING in my pool), and we headed down.
the first period was a disaster, even though we hit the scoreboard with less than two minutes gone. boyd hit the back of the net on his first shift (with lombo and nystrom), and then for some absolutely inexcplicable reason, keenan followed up the goal with mark "minutes" smith's line. infact, our boy "minutes" seemed to be on the ice alot in the first period, with a noticeably absent iggy for huge gaps of time.... i presumed there was an injury of some sort, or an equipment issue, with the way we were juggling line combos four minutes into a game that we were winning...
but i was happy. cause at least i had it allllllll figured out:
keenan had clearly placed money on the anaheim squad....
:)
the second period blew that theory, thankfully. we looked sharper and faster and much more interested. tanguay was now shifting with conroy and iginla ("claaasssic," says J.Ho, referring to october), and "minutes" showed up on a line with lombardi and nolan, and later primeau and langkow. very strange, indeed.
godard never saw a shift after the first buzzer, leaving the pugilism to phaneuf and moen. with nobody around to pummel, george parros decided he might as well get some points and scored a nice one to give the ducks the lead. owen nolan did, however, knock him to the ice late in the 3rd, with a gloved-hand punch to the face.... not sure if that one got replayed on HNIC...
and finally, i have a hangover.
in other news: cross darren mccarty off of the "what ever happened to" list. apparently the grinder will begin practising with the flint generals of the IHL any day now...
the first period was a disaster, even though we hit the scoreboard with less than two minutes gone. boyd hit the back of the net on his first shift (with lombo and nystrom), and then for some absolutely inexcplicable reason, keenan followed up the goal with mark "minutes" smith's line. infact, our boy "minutes" seemed to be on the ice alot in the first period, with a noticeably absent iggy for huge gaps of time.... i presumed there was an injury of some sort, or an equipment issue, with the way we were juggling line combos four minutes into a game that we were winning...
but i was happy. cause at least i had it allllllll figured out:
keenan had clearly placed money on the anaheim squad....
:)
the second period blew that theory, thankfully. we looked sharper and faster and much more interested. tanguay was now shifting with conroy and iginla ("claaasssic," says J.Ho, referring to october), and "minutes" showed up on a line with lombardi and nolan, and later primeau and langkow. very strange, indeed.
godard never saw a shift after the first buzzer, leaving the pugilism to phaneuf and moen. with nobody around to pummel, george parros decided he might as well get some points and scored a nice one to give the ducks the lead. owen nolan did, however, knock him to the ice late in the 3rd, with a gloved-hand punch to the face.... not sure if that one got replayed on HNIC...
and finally, i have a hangover.
in other news: cross darren mccarty off of the "what ever happened to" list. apparently the grinder will begin practising with the flint generals of the IHL any day now...
Friday, December 28, 2007
this one's for ST
well, with 6 of the 9-or-so regular flames blogosphere bloggers out at the ol' kilkenny last night, there's not a whole lot to say here that hasn't already been said. to sum up (for HG and ST, and the folks at BofA whom i've apparently been missing out on), here's a top ten of what was generally discussed:
1. lombardi should be centering tanguay and boyd. they looked incredibly good on the one powerplay shift they were allowed together, scoring a much-needed goal.
2. kipper just isn't quite right
3. conroy's goal was a one-off (sarcastic, yet appreciative, applause ensued)
4. phaneuf needs to get signed ASAP, or we'll need to trade someone expensive to make room for the extraordinarily huge offer sheet that we'll have to match come july 1
5. nachos are better without raw onions
6. sedins are as annoying as ribiero and alfredsson (though we see them more often and two at a time)
7. dave actually does exist
8. losing to vancouver is painful. losing to vancouver repeatedly is excrutiating...
9. calgary's fourth line will never, ever, ever be allowed a goal (especially with mcgeough officiating)
10. the mystery favorite snack of coach keenan is ice
so there you go, kiddies. another meetup, another loss. we will have to keep these group viewings to a minimum and to meaningless matchups... 'twas very nice to finally meet some of the more socially absent bloggers, and put faces and names to the various handles (uhhh, i suppose that means me and MG, specifically)...
flames meet the ducks tomorrow night and god help us if we lose....
1. lombardi should be centering tanguay and boyd. they looked incredibly good on the one powerplay shift they were allowed together, scoring a much-needed goal.
2. kipper just isn't quite right
3. conroy's goal was a one-off (sarcastic, yet appreciative, applause ensued)
4. phaneuf needs to get signed ASAP, or we'll need to trade someone expensive to make room for the extraordinarily huge offer sheet that we'll have to match come july 1
5. nachos are better without raw onions
6. sedins are as annoying as ribiero and alfredsson (though we see them more often and two at a time)
7. dave actually does exist
8. losing to vancouver is painful. losing to vancouver repeatedly is excrutiating...
9. calgary's fourth line will never, ever, ever be allowed a goal (especially with mcgeough officiating)
10. the mystery favorite snack of coach keenan is ice
so there you go, kiddies. another meetup, another loss. we will have to keep these group viewings to a minimum and to meaningless matchups... 'twas very nice to finally meet some of the more socially absent bloggers, and put faces and names to the various handles (uhhh, i suppose that means me and MG, specifically)...
flames meet the ducks tomorrow night and god help us if we lose....
Wednesday, December 26, 2007
flames v. 'nucks: can't wait to see you !
flames v. nucks
8pm
kilkenny pub, brentwood (just north of the station by the blockbuster)
i've met duncan & leanne, so that's easy.
leanne knows dave.
duncan's got MG's #, i believe (and will use it if necessary...) ;)
anyone else will have to look for the congregating crew in flames jerseys... that means you, kyle, rob and any other interested parties....
DD, ST --you will be missed...
[which of my jerseys to wear is yet undecided... the current issue women's shirt is undefeated in regulation, but i'm looking for a proper win tomorrow.....]
:)
8pm
kilkenny pub, brentwood (just north of the station by the blockbuster)
i've met duncan & leanne, so that's easy.
leanne knows dave.
duncan's got MG's #, i believe (and will use it if necessary...) ;)
anyone else will have to look for the congregating crew in flames jerseys... that means you, kyle, rob and any other interested parties....
DD, ST --you will be missed...
[which of my jerseys to wear is yet undecided... the current issue women's shirt is undefeated in regulation, but i'm looking for a proper win tomorrow.....]
:)
Sunday, December 23, 2007
the craig conroy blues
here's the thing.
pretty much the entire month of october, i bitched and whined about conroy being on the first line... well, at some point in november, he moved down to the second line and i was relatively quiet about his play --presumeably because i spend the majority of the month on another continent.
what i've noticed in the past couple of games is that conroy is a stalwart as the team's #2 centre, and (if you ask me) his play DEMANDS that he be demoted to the third line (at LEAST). and i'm not even talking about the god-awful incident that led to elias' overtime winner. i'm talking about his consistant inconsistancy. sure, the guy might be slightly better than average at winning faceoffs, but currently has little to no other redeemable qualities. still, night after night, he ends up on the ice far more than a slumping player of his calibre should be.
there are seven centres on the flames gameday roster, though (obviously) three of them are starting on the wings. currently, our second line is tanguay/conroy/boyd, our third line is nystrom/lombardi/nilson, and our fourth line is primeau/yelle/smith. if you ask me, something is totally wrong here... i've said it once and i'll say it again (slightly louder, and slower for emphasis): lombardi needs some linemates that can keep up to him. and i could easily say the same about tanguay. kudos to boyd for having a helluva game (even after getting rudely dumped in the 2nd period), but i saw an opportunity or two where they probably would have passed to the centreman, had there been one anywhere in the vicinity...
craig conroy spent the better part of the first 20 games on the first line, but in the first 36 games, he's only managed to garner 14 points. [MG covered this a few weeks ago in the infamous STONEHANDS post]. it seems ridiculously obvious to me (especially after tonight's game) that lombardi should be centering tanguay and boyd, because having conroy on that line seems to be a pure waste of otherwise talented players...
not that i have anything against nystrom, mind you....
what i'd like to see is as follows:
huselius/langkow/iginla
tanguay/lombardi/boyd
nystrom/conroy/ ?????
primeau/yelle/nilson
the empty spot can be as easily filled by owen nolan, mark smith or david moss --i don't care.
on the upside, the flames looked solid in the first sixty minutes, and by this i mean ALL THE FLAMES --including eriksson, hale and (yes) even conroy. the devils played an interesting version of the old trap, whereby every decent flames scoring opportunity was stymied by a mess of white shirts infront of brodeur. shots on metal, blown tires, great saves, and fanned attemps were also at premium tonight by the hometowners.... the score probably should not have been as close.
merry xmas to you all, and REMEMBER THAT THE NEXT GAME IS DECEMBER 27, FLAMES V. CANUCKS, 8PM: MEETUP AT THE KILKENNY IN BRENTWOOD...
:)
pretty much the entire month of october, i bitched and whined about conroy being on the first line... well, at some point in november, he moved down to the second line and i was relatively quiet about his play --presumeably because i spend the majority of the month on another continent.
what i've noticed in the past couple of games is that conroy is a stalwart as the team's #2 centre, and (if you ask me) his play DEMANDS that he be demoted to the third line (at LEAST). and i'm not even talking about the god-awful incident that led to elias' overtime winner. i'm talking about his consistant inconsistancy. sure, the guy might be slightly better than average at winning faceoffs, but currently has little to no other redeemable qualities. still, night after night, he ends up on the ice far more than a slumping player of his calibre should be.
there are seven centres on the flames gameday roster, though (obviously) three of them are starting on the wings. currently, our second line is tanguay/conroy/boyd, our third line is nystrom/lombardi/nilson, and our fourth line is primeau/yelle/smith. if you ask me, something is totally wrong here... i've said it once and i'll say it again (slightly louder, and slower for emphasis): lombardi needs some linemates that can keep up to him. and i could easily say the same about tanguay. kudos to boyd for having a helluva game (even after getting rudely dumped in the 2nd period), but i saw an opportunity or two where they probably would have passed to the centreman, had there been one anywhere in the vicinity...
craig conroy spent the better part of the first 20 games on the first line, but in the first 36 games, he's only managed to garner 14 points. [MG covered this a few weeks ago in the infamous STONEHANDS post]. it seems ridiculously obvious to me (especially after tonight's game) that lombardi should be centering tanguay and boyd, because having conroy on that line seems to be a pure waste of otherwise talented players...
not that i have anything against nystrom, mind you....
what i'd like to see is as follows:
huselius/langkow/iginla
tanguay/lombardi/boyd
nystrom/conroy/ ?????
primeau/yelle/nilson
the empty spot can be as easily filled by owen nolan, mark smith or david moss --i don't care.
on the upside, the flames looked solid in the first sixty minutes, and by this i mean ALL THE FLAMES --including eriksson, hale and (yes) even conroy. the devils played an interesting version of the old trap, whereby every decent flames scoring opportunity was stymied by a mess of white shirts infront of brodeur. shots on metal, blown tires, great saves, and fanned attemps were also at premium tonight by the hometowners.... the score probably should not have been as close.
merry xmas to you all, and REMEMBER THAT THE NEXT GAME IS DECEMBER 27, FLAMES V. CANUCKS, 8PM: MEETUP AT THE KILKENNY IN BRENTWOOD...
:)
Saturday, December 22, 2007
coaching solutions
i wish i could take credit for the idea but i can't.
last night, it became clear that the flames were not likely going to extend their win streak to seven games --i realized it about halfway through the third. although tanguay managed to stay out of the sin bin in the final ten, dallas was still able to apply good pressure and tie the game at twos. dallas looked faster, stronger, hungrier with better coaching in the latter part of the match...
so here it is:
keenan coaches the road flames, playfair coaches the home flames.
that should give us W's in about 90% of the remaining games.
done annnnnd done.
:)
last night, it became clear that the flames were not likely going to extend their win streak to seven games --i realized it about halfway through the third. although tanguay managed to stay out of the sin bin in the final ten, dallas was still able to apply good pressure and tie the game at twos. dallas looked faster, stronger, hungrier with better coaching in the latter part of the match...
so here it is:
keenan coaches the road flames, playfair coaches the home flames.
that should give us W's in about 90% of the remaining games.
done annnnnd done.
:)
Friday, December 21, 2007
birthdays
guess what my mum got me for my birthday ?
i suppose i'll have to wear it to the game tonight...
;)
and also, huge congratulations to our boy andrew ference for (pretty much single handedly at a solid -2) allowing crosby's first gordie howe hat trick.
i suppose i'll have to wear it to the game tonight...
;)
and also, huge congratulations to our boy andrew ference for (pretty much single handedly at a solid -2) allowing crosby's first gordie howe hat trick.
Thursday, December 20, 2007
xmas housecleaning
i've been back in calgary for three days now, which is long enough to realize how overdue i am for a proper post, and yet not quite long enough to get past the jetlagged laziness to actually write one. i'll try my best, bear with me.
i watched our currently victorious team play their little hearts out in columbus the other day (is it just me or does everybody fight the urge to write "columbia" every time the bluejackets come around ??). it was certainly a performance that was huge on heart and hustle. this, of course, was a drastic difference from the last game i had the opportunity to watch: october 26th's classic early-season flames 3rd period meltdown whereby we gave the win away with a painfully bad tanguay penalty, and lost the game 23 seconds into OT. against columbus (columbia?) the last five minutes of the third was some of the best calgary flames hockey i've seen.... ever. it was a simple, by-the-book darryl sutter style outing.
fingers crossed that they can continue the winning streak once back in the 'dome...
here's another exciting tidbit i've been sitting on for weeks:
back in october 2006, i went on a bit of a rant about the hideous nhl-issue ladies pink jerseys on my 'other' blog (before i started this one) --feel free to reacquaint yourself with my venom here (aka: my proudest moment). well, apparently the nhl and the geniuses at reebok have finally taken heed of my wrath, and designed and manufactured this little number:
aside from the fact that i still think the new jerseys are kindof ugly, and due to all the on-ice problems i imagine we'll get new ones again in the not-too-distant future, i'm very pleased that it only took a year for them to make good by the ladies...
if you want your jersey customized, though, you have to follow these rules:
to which i have the following queries:
1. what if my favorite player was langenbrunner ? or vanbiesbrouck ? bummer.... (see rule #3)
2. according to rule #2, i can't get "loob" on a flames jersey, but does it not leave the option open (technically) to get "loob" on a rangers jersey ? does it mean i could get "macinnis" in flaming red, but not blue ? or does it mean i can't get "gretzky" on any of LA, EDM, NYR or STL ???? this stipulation makes absolutely no sense to me whatsoever.
okay. i'm done now.
glad to be home. can't wait to see you guys on the 27th.
:)
i watched our currently victorious team play their little hearts out in columbus the other day (is it just me or does everybody fight the urge to write "columbia" every time the bluejackets come around ??). it was certainly a performance that was huge on heart and hustle. this, of course, was a drastic difference from the last game i had the opportunity to watch: october 26th's classic early-season flames 3rd period meltdown whereby we gave the win away with a painfully bad tanguay penalty, and lost the game 23 seconds into OT. against columbus (columbia?) the last five minutes of the third was some of the best calgary flames hockey i've seen.... ever. it was a simple, by-the-book darryl sutter style outing.
fingers crossed that they can continue the winning streak once back in the 'dome...
here's another exciting tidbit i've been sitting on for weeks:
back in october 2006, i went on a bit of a rant about the hideous nhl-issue ladies pink jerseys on my 'other' blog (before i started this one) --feel free to reacquaint yourself with my venom here (aka: my proudest moment). well, apparently the nhl and the geniuses at reebok have finally taken heed of my wrath, and designed and manufactured this little number:
aside from the fact that i still think the new jerseys are kindof ugly, and due to all the on-ice problems i imagine we'll get new ones again in the not-too-distant future, i'm very pleased that it only took a year for them to make good by the ladies...
if you want your jersey customized, though, you have to follow these rules:
to which i have the following queries:
1. what if my favorite player was langenbrunner ? or vanbiesbrouck ? bummer.... (see rule #3)
2. according to rule #2, i can't get "loob" on a flames jersey, but does it not leave the option open (technically) to get "loob" on a rangers jersey ? does it mean i could get "macinnis" in flaming red, but not blue ? or does it mean i can't get "gretzky" on any of LA, EDM, NYR or STL ???? this stipulation makes absolutely no sense to me whatsoever.
okay. i'm done now.
glad to be home. can't wait to see you guys on the 27th.
:)
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
flames rule australia
well, it's clear that the two months away have not dulled the passion i have for my team.
yesterday i was out driving with my friend em and her sisiter through sydney city (to take the token opera house/harbour bridge photos, which i've been putting off mostly due to disinterest). at a red light, i noticed a guy across the street in a current-issue canucks jersey, which i pointed out to my australian friends.... as we passed through the intersection, the guy now in the crosswalk to our left, i could not fight the sudden urge to yell "VANCOUVER SUCKS !!!" out the window...
my friends laughed, the guy was suitably surprised (he perked up at the word 'vancouver', and then looked severely disappointed at the 'sucks' part), but i have to admit that i was quite stunned by the outburst, myself.... i didn't know i was gonna scream it until the words were flying out the window....
anyhow.
seemed like the right thing to do....
yesterday i was out driving with my friend em and her sisiter through sydney city (to take the token opera house/harbour bridge photos, which i've been putting off mostly due to disinterest). at a red light, i noticed a guy across the street in a current-issue canucks jersey, which i pointed out to my australian friends.... as we passed through the intersection, the guy now in the crosswalk to our left, i could not fight the sudden urge to yell "VANCOUVER SUCKS !!!" out the window...
my friends laughed, the guy was suitably surprised (he perked up at the word 'vancouver', and then looked severely disappointed at the 'sucks' part), but i have to admit that i was quite stunned by the outburst, myself.... i didn't know i was gonna scream it until the words were flying out the window....
anyhow.
seemed like the right thing to do....
Wednesday, December 5, 2007
flames blogosphere calgary xmas meetup
is it happening or what ?
we can all hang our heads in shame together, drink some beers (duncan will get cut off after 2, methinks), and maybe do some kind of fancy win-dance to turn this team around.
who's in ?
i'm back on the 17th. birthday 21st. xmas 25th. any of those days are out (well, to be fair i could go on the 17th, but i'll be giddy from the jetlag)...
hunh ?
hunh ?
:)
we can all hang our heads in shame together, drink some beers (duncan will get cut off after 2, methinks), and maybe do some kind of fancy win-dance to turn this team around.
who's in ?
i'm back on the 17th. birthday 21st. xmas 25th. any of those days are out (well, to be fair i could go on the 17th, but i'll be giddy from the jetlag)...
hunh ?
hunh ?
:)
Thursday, November 29, 2007
less than .500
i'll be honest, it's weird being back in the birthplace of the walkinvisible and not writing much of anything.
well, to be true, i'm writing alot, but posting pretty much none of it...
it seems to me that the flames are winning just less than 50% of their games, i see from nhl.com, but i'm gathering much more insightful and useful information from metrognome's sarcastic diatribes....
additionally, i'm drinking heavily and spending some valuable time comisserating with old friends, none of whom really care about 'the ice hockey' (though, admittedly, the aussies are huge fans of the iggy holler)....
hope you are all well.
:)
well, to be true, i'm writing alot, but posting pretty much none of it...
it seems to me that the flames are winning just less than 50% of their games, i see from nhl.com, but i'm gathering much more insightful and useful information from metrognome's sarcastic diatribes....
additionally, i'm drinking heavily and spending some valuable time comisserating with old friends, none of whom really care about 'the ice hockey' (though, admittedly, the aussies are huge fans of the iggy holler)....
hope you are all well.
:)
Thursday, November 22, 2007
hockey-less down unda
i'll have to keep this short due to a clock ticking above on the working internet...
1. how the hell is it that NOBODY has said a PEEP about tlusty-gate ?? i realize it's not flames-related but still.... HG, leanne i expect more out of you when it comes to hilarity involving pics of ANYONE in the NHL, leafs-nation or not.
2.how excited am i about the potential full-time promotion of lombardi to the first line. not only because it makes our team more exciting and hella stronger, but i've got lombo in both my pools... ;)
3. nystrom seems to be settling in, hunh ? please give me more info.
4. i'd link to you all but you're on the right, here, so plain and simple: thanks to GSN, FHF, DD, OIH & FB for keeping me up-to-date. i read your stuff and totally skip over the NHL sites. they're all bunk.
5. i'm getting a tan.
;)
1. how the hell is it that NOBODY has said a PEEP about tlusty-gate ?? i realize it's not flames-related but still.... HG, leanne i expect more out of you when it comes to hilarity involving pics of ANYONE in the NHL, leafs-nation or not.
2.how excited am i about the potential full-time promotion of lombardi to the first line. not only because it makes our team more exciting and hella stronger, but i've got lombo in both my pools... ;)
3. nystrom seems to be settling in, hunh ? please give me more info.
4. i'd link to you all but you're on the right, here, so plain and simple: thanks to GSN, FHF, DD, OIH & FB for keeping me up-to-date. i read your stuff and totally skip over the NHL sites. they're all bunk.
5. i'm getting a tan.
;)
Saturday, November 17, 2007
sydney
i'm glad you guys are blogging, and commenting. i'm reading but too rushed to write much....
i got this note from my buddy jon yesterday:
"how about that southern hemisphere hockey coverage! the flames are still bunk fyi."
love it.
short but accurate.
:)
i got this note from my buddy jon yesterday:
"how about that southern hemisphere hockey coverage! the flames are still bunk fyi."
love it.
short but accurate.
:)
Sunday, November 11, 2007
so long, and thanks for all the fish
so my superfast eastern swing is coming to an end, and tomorrow i'll spend 25 hours in transit to the opposite end of the globe. then, i'll spend the next month-plus in a country where cricket and footy rule, and nobody cares about "icehockey." so be it. to be true, right now i couldn't care less either, since my beloved team can't even notch a win against one of the worst opponents in the NHL. and i'm struggling in my pools (demitra, you bum, it's supposed to be GABORIK who gets injured !!!)...
i was in north bay, on the weekend, for a wedding.
this, in itself, is not nearly as notable as the hockey game which was being televised during lunch at east side mario's on saturday afternoon... game 2 of the 1986 stanley cup finals. wiiiiiiiiicked..... i don't have a whole lot to say about it, besides the following:
1. iggy could be as good a captain as lanny, if he wants to be.
2. game 2 in 86 was a total defensive breakdown, and we lost in OT ---kinda like half the games we've played this year....
3. al macinnis was damn good... DAMN.
4. mikey vernon had a much quicker glove than i give him credit for (see: kipper)
5. huselius, in all honesty, plays a lot like my boy loob (especially on the PP).
the point ? our current team is easily good enough to go to the finals and lose against the '86 habs.
i was in north bay, on the weekend, for a wedding.
this, in itself, is not nearly as notable as the hockey game which was being televised during lunch at east side mario's on saturday afternoon... game 2 of the 1986 stanley cup finals. wiiiiiiiiicked..... i don't have a whole lot to say about it, besides the following:
1. iggy could be as good a captain as lanny, if he wants to be.
2. game 2 in 86 was a total defensive breakdown, and we lost in OT ---kinda like half the games we've played this year....
3. al macinnis was damn good... DAMN.
4. mikey vernon had a much quicker glove than i give him credit for (see: kipper)
5. huselius, in all honesty, plays a lot like my boy loob (especially on the PP).
the point ? our current team is easily good enough to go to the finals and lose against the '86 habs.
i've said it once, i'll say it again....
*sigh*
with chuck kobasew netting the most awesome of goals last night, i will once again re-visit the sadness i have about losing him and ference for a couple of duds. chucky's got 7 goals, 2 assists and a nice lookin' +8 on the board for the first 16 games of the season. and damn if davey moss (his "replacement") ain't 0-4-4, -1 thusfar.
meh.
with chuck kobasew netting the most awesome of goals last night, i will once again re-visit the sadness i have about losing him and ference for a couple of duds. chucky's got 7 goals, 2 assists and a nice lookin' +8 on the board for the first 16 games of the season. and damn if davey moss (his "replacement") ain't 0-4-4, -1 thusfar.
meh.
Friday, November 9, 2007
whoah... what the hell ?
someone's gonna hafta lemme know what the hell happened last night.
i'm lookin' at the game summary and i see eriksson on the ice for all of last night's goals except the first one.
let's count 'em: that's two for and two against....
i presume that on the two vancouver goals, he looked terrible. infact, the burrows goal most likely made all of the on-ice calgary flames (lombo, moss, hale and eric nystrom --who probably just bought himself a ticket back to the QC after last night, btw) look like they should be wearing spongey red noses and floppy red shoes.
but then redemption comes for the swede in the form of a powerplay goal.
HUNH ??
who told him he was allowed to pinch ?!?!
and paired with phaneuf for the second calgary marker THIRTY SECONDS LATER ???
i am totally confused by the state of this team. i cannot understand why sutter isn't landing us a proper blueliner. cause it is painfully clear the guys we have can't do it alone (phaneuf with 26 minutes on a sore foot ??!).
*sigh*
i'm lookin' at the game summary and i see eriksson on the ice for all of last night's goals except the first one.
let's count 'em: that's two for and two against....
i presume that on the two vancouver goals, he looked terrible. infact, the burrows goal most likely made all of the on-ice calgary flames (lombo, moss, hale and eric nystrom --who probably just bought himself a ticket back to the QC after last night, btw) look like they should be wearing spongey red noses and floppy red shoes.
but then redemption comes for the swede in the form of a powerplay goal.
HUNH ??
who told him he was allowed to pinch ?!?!
and paired with phaneuf for the second calgary marker THIRTY SECONDS LATER ???
i am totally confused by the state of this team. i cannot understand why sutter isn't landing us a proper blueliner. cause it is painfully clear the guys we have can't do it alone (phaneuf with 26 minutes on a sore foot ??!).
*sigh*
Wednesday, November 7, 2007
da bears
does anybody else really really really really miss andrew ference, and realize that ference/kobasew for stuart/primeau was a terrible trade ? just wonderin'....
Thursday, November 1, 2007
calgary v. detroit postgame
it's killing me.
get eriksson off the freakin' ice.
if sutter cares at all about the 07/08 flames, he will do something about our 5/6 defensive pairing. you KNOW something is wrong out there when nobody seems to be hackin' on warrener anymore....
i'm about 10 days from heading overseas, so i'll be infrequently online in the next months, and totally getting killed in my fantasy pool...
meh.
:)
get eriksson off the freakin' ice.
if sutter cares at all about the 07/08 flames, he will do something about our 5/6 defensive pairing. you KNOW something is wrong out there when nobody seems to be hackin' on warrener anymore....
i'm about 10 days from heading overseas, so i'll be infrequently online in the next months, and totally getting killed in my fantasy pool...
meh.
:)
Monday, October 29, 2007
kipper signs
so kipps has signed on for another six years. sweet.
does anyone have any info on the no-trade-clause situation ??
good lord, i'm gonna hate it when the flames have to play against phaneuf next year....
does anyone have any info on the no-trade-clause situation ??
good lord, i'm gonna hate it when the flames have to play against phaneuf next year....
Friday, October 26, 2007
in case you didn't know: the new jerseys suck
in addition to being hideous looking, for the most part, (though, personally, i think the new oilers shirts are among the nicest in the league), the new super-high-tech-scientifically-crafted-outerwear-for-professional-hockey-players totally blows.
i won't regurgitate the ideas or comments, but you can read about 'em here and here.
it does take me back to the episode of hockey night in canada, where ron mclean and don cherry were yappin' about the new duds, and had a sample of the jerseys to show the viewers. cherry spills some water onto the fabric to demonstrate how well it 'wicks'. the unpredictable liquid doesn't get absorbed into the material, but instead runs quickly down the surface and (we're told later) pretty much ruins a laptop computer that was unfortunately in the water's path...
what i didn't think about then, but what seems so obvious now is that the water (standing in for hockey player sweat) would not be wicked, absorbed or otherwise removed from the hockey player but, instead, trapped between the miraculous fibre of the jersey and the hockey player himself. when they said the material absorbed 76% less water, uhhh.... where did they imagine that water would GO ???? like, duh. this would create very hot, uncomfortable, wet, tired, and presumeably unhappy dudes, where the insides of their skates and gloves (the 'pooling areas', if you will) would feel like they just went for a dip in the sea...
so what will the NHL do about it ? well, nothing of course. reebok is offering to make the jerseys in the old (perfectly good) fabric on a "player by player" basis. so, speak up boys. that sounds to me like approximately 600+ jerseys with personalized touches.
flames play the avs tonight. could go either way, so let's call it a draw after regulation at about 4 goals apiece. look for both lombardi and ryan smith to be held off the scoreboard, for no reason other than i have them in my pool.
i won't regurgitate the ideas or comments, but you can read about 'em here and here.
it does take me back to the episode of hockey night in canada, where ron mclean and don cherry were yappin' about the new duds, and had a sample of the jerseys to show the viewers. cherry spills some water onto the fabric to demonstrate how well it 'wicks'. the unpredictable liquid doesn't get absorbed into the material, but instead runs quickly down the surface and (we're told later) pretty much ruins a laptop computer that was unfortunately in the water's path...
what i didn't think about then, but what seems so obvious now is that the water (standing in for hockey player sweat) would not be wicked, absorbed or otherwise removed from the hockey player but, instead, trapped between the miraculous fibre of the jersey and the hockey player himself. when they said the material absorbed 76% less water, uhhh.... where did they imagine that water would GO ???? like, duh. this would create very hot, uncomfortable, wet, tired, and presumeably unhappy dudes, where the insides of their skates and gloves (the 'pooling areas', if you will) would feel like they just went for a dip in the sea...
so what will the NHL do about it ? well, nothing of course. reebok is offering to make the jerseys in the old (perfectly good) fabric on a "player by player" basis. so, speak up boys. that sounds to me like approximately 600+ jerseys with personalized touches.
flames play the avs tonight. could go either way, so let's call it a draw after regulation at about 4 goals apiece. look for both lombardi and ryan smith to be held off the scoreboard, for no reason other than i have them in my pool.
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
stephane yelle: my hero
the other day, my dad offered me the choice of games this week: sharks or wild (my brother had already commandeered the tickets to the avs game on friday). it was really a no-brainer...
i have a bit of a history with the wild, having gone to a couple of games at the excel centre last december with jason , and having gotten a little emotional during the state of hockey ... the team is solid --great coaching, good goaltending, exciting forwards, an amazing record thusfar this year, and hey -- i've got demitra in both of my pools, and can't help but love petteri nummelin, the littlest defenseman with the best shootout record...
so, suffice it to say i chose the wild game and my folks went to see the flames implode on monday night v. the sharks.
[note: my mum said, tuesday afternoon, that the only calgary guys on the ice who did a good job during that game were the zamboni drivers, "they had a plan, and they executed it." genius, ma.... x]
anyhow. after monday night's results, i walked to the 'dome tonight with very little hope that the flames would be able to take down the only unbeaten team in the league (overtime/shootout not withstanding). infact, i'm pretty sure i told my sidekick to prepare for a "blowout." sure enough, after the first period, we looked poised to lose by a score of about 9-0. some bad penalties and a worse penalty kill left the flames looking tentative, nervous and flailing against a minnesota squad that looked confident, fast and well-coached. i can't point fingers (have you had the beers at the 'dome ???) but david hale was definitely not making me happy....
well, i don't know what was said (yelled ?) between periods, but the flames that took the ice in the second were a much more interested, cohesive bunch. each pass that was overshot in the first went tape-to-tape in the second. bad bounces against became good bounces for. the urgency was there. and ooohhhhh boy, was stephane yelle on a frikkin' mission....
the first goal was awesome. the second was amazing. the third was moving. the fourth was exciting. and the fifth ? holy cow. the fifth was like the second coming.... brilliant ...
if you put aside the first period, aucoin played very well. phaneuf was solid (as always) and gets extra points for pummelling veilleux. lombardi was on fire. tanguay turned his frown upside-down with his *sigh* two goals (finally). iggy was focussed. huselius was definitely trying. nolan made an effort. conroy was a goat (three penalties ?!??!). godard was only a liability in the first [this is, of course, where i'd need a shift chart to know how much he played in the 2nd & 3rd). mark smith was a non-event. regehr was shooting a ton. hale was only a liability on the PK once, and was on the PK for 1:36. warrener only took one bad penalty. sarich was good. langkow was langkow. moss was.... moss was playing ? ;) nilson was ever-steady (some might say fast on the forecheck). kipper was classic.... but yelle ? ohmygod. yelle was my hero....
[after consulting the shift chart (!!!!!) i see that neither godard nor smith played a shift in the 3rd.... i was at the game and i can only recall that to be accurate...]
i have a bit of a history with the wild, having gone to a couple of games at the excel centre last december with jason , and having gotten a little emotional during the state of hockey ... the team is solid --great coaching, good goaltending, exciting forwards, an amazing record thusfar this year, and hey -- i've got demitra in both of my pools, and can't help but love petteri nummelin, the littlest defenseman with the best shootout record...
so, suffice it to say i chose the wild game and my folks went to see the flames implode on monday night v. the sharks.
[note: my mum said, tuesday afternoon, that the only calgary guys on the ice who did a good job during that game were the zamboni drivers, "they had a plan, and they executed it." genius, ma.... x]
anyhow. after monday night's results, i walked to the 'dome tonight with very little hope that the flames would be able to take down the only unbeaten team in the league (overtime/shootout not withstanding). infact, i'm pretty sure i told my sidekick to prepare for a "blowout." sure enough, after the first period, we looked poised to lose by a score of about 9-0. some bad penalties and a worse penalty kill left the flames looking tentative, nervous and flailing against a minnesota squad that looked confident, fast and well-coached. i can't point fingers (have you had the beers at the 'dome ???) but david hale was definitely not making me happy....
well, i don't know what was said (yelled ?) between periods, but the flames that took the ice in the second were a much more interested, cohesive bunch. each pass that was overshot in the first went tape-to-tape in the second. bad bounces against became good bounces for. the urgency was there. and ooohhhhh boy, was stephane yelle on a frikkin' mission....
the first goal was awesome. the second was amazing. the third was moving. the fourth was exciting. and the fifth ? holy cow. the fifth was like the second coming.... brilliant ...
if you put aside the first period, aucoin played very well. phaneuf was solid (as always) and gets extra points for pummelling veilleux. lombardi was on fire. tanguay turned his frown upside-down with his *sigh* two goals (finally). iggy was focussed. huselius was definitely trying. nolan made an effort. conroy was a goat (three penalties ?!??!). godard was only a liability in the first [this is, of course, where i'd need a shift chart to know how much he played in the 2nd & 3rd). mark smith was a non-event. regehr was shooting a ton. hale was only a liability on the PK once, and was on the PK for 1:36. warrener only took one bad penalty. sarich was good. langkow was langkow. moss was.... moss was playing ? ;) nilson was ever-steady (some might say fast on the forecheck). kipper was classic.... but yelle ? ohmygod. yelle was my hero....
[after consulting the shift chart (!!!!!) i see that neither godard nor smith played a shift in the 3rd.... i was at the game and i can only recall that to be accurate...]
Tuesday, October 23, 2007
KEETLEY ??!? wtf ??
as if to confirm my suspicions from yesterday's post, or at the very least to make me even more suspicious, the calgary flames re-assigned curtis mcelhinney to the quad cities, and called up matt keetley this evening...
WTF ???
i don't know if anyone who has seen him play would argue that keetley is the next #1 in the system (apologies to both krahn and poor curtis, but no apologies to irv --who is younger, but clearly the one to watch). i loved this guy in prospect camp, and stated back in july after a goaltending practise:
"i was really surprised by keetley, as he seemed the most advanced and has a lightning fast, kipper-like glove hand. all around, he seemed more solid today than our leland."
...but is he READY ? that's the big Q. the kid's 21 years old and is, essentially, straight out of junior (save for preseason in alberta and 5 games in the QC). sure, he looked solid in the one preseason game he played against the panthers, but.... why bring him up ??!
it's completely plausible, of course, that mcelhinney is not 100%, and that keenan (having now opened the floodgates on pulling kiprusoff out of games) would prefer a game-ready backup. but it's also entirely plausible that sutter et al. are fasttracking keets to play fulltime, pending the next-season loss of and/or hard press on a contract for kipper.
yikes.
minnesota v. calgary with kippy in some bad headspace ? it ain't gonna be pretty....
glad i'm gonna be there to watch it go down first-hand... :)
WTF ???
i don't know if anyone who has seen him play would argue that keetley is the next #1 in the system (apologies to both krahn and poor curtis, but no apologies to irv --who is younger, but clearly the one to watch). i loved this guy in prospect camp, and stated back in july after a goaltending practise:
"i was really surprised by keetley, as he seemed the most advanced and has a lightning fast, kipper-like glove hand. all around, he seemed more solid today than our leland."
...but is he READY ? that's the big Q. the kid's 21 years old and is, essentially, straight out of junior (save for preseason in alberta and 5 games in the QC). sure, he looked solid in the one preseason game he played against the panthers, but.... why bring him up ??!
it's completely plausible, of course, that mcelhinney is not 100%, and that keenan (having now opened the floodgates on pulling kiprusoff out of games) would prefer a game-ready backup. but it's also entirely plausible that sutter et al. are fasttracking keets to play fulltime, pending the next-season loss of and/or hard press on a contract for kipper.
yikes.
minnesota v. calgary with kippy in some bad headspace ? it ain't gonna be pretty....
glad i'm gonna be there to watch it go down first-hand... :)
Monday, October 22, 2007
hey, kipps --come on in, the water's freezing
so 8 games into the season, kipper gets his first yank at the hands of mike keenan. i wonder how it felt.
i was listening to sutter on the radio the other night, with peter maher and rob kerr, and they were discussing kiprusoff's contract negotiations. sutter admitted they were ongoing, that he was talking to kippy's agent pretty much daily, but that the 'tender had to start showing up to games before sutter would entertain the big numbers (i'm paraphrasing).
what it sounded to me was twofold;
1. kipper won't re-sign until he knows the climate of the keenan era (i've said this before, and i'll say it again).
2. sutter wants a bonafide starter from game 1, and is using it as leverage to get a better deal
i think if this team is not a clear playoff contender by xmastime, kipps might get left on the side of the road in buffalo, ference-styles. i have no idea who we might get to pick up that slack (bless 'em, but krahn/mcelhinney ain't lookin' ready and keetley/irving are a couple of years away), but the cap's gonna have to go up significantly if we want to pay him the dough he wants... personally, i look at this team and think the urgency (and dollars) should be better spent getting dion inked longterm...
everybody thinks i'm crazy on this one, and that kipper should get any dollar amount he wants, but i think we should take a couple of years to build on what we have. we all know we'll lose most of our top two lines next year, and will probably have to pay more to replace them with good players.
what we need to do is get phaneuf under contract (so as to avoid the upcoming offer sheet that i guarantee will happen if we don't) and then trade kipper/langkow/huselius at the trade deadline to bring in some young'uns like philly did with forsberg. my fear is, of course, that phaneuf will be the juiciest tradebait....
i'm also interested in moving tanguay ASAP, before his stock plummets any further. i'm not excited about his 2 remaining expensive years, though i'm not suggesting kovalev is the answer (mind you, kovalev would line up nice with langks and is 800K cheaper...). i know tanguay CAN be good, but dang !! where is the goodness ?!?!?
these are the things i've been thinking while watching my team stink up the joint against the sharks. again, kudos to the opposing team for watching a shizeload of tape on all of our hottest moves. and, again, kudos to the sharks scouts/management for using their 2nd round pick in 2005 to pick up a guy i think will be a norris candidate down the road...
one final thought: why does every single godard goal get reviewed ???????
i was listening to sutter on the radio the other night, with peter maher and rob kerr, and they were discussing kiprusoff's contract negotiations. sutter admitted they were ongoing, that he was talking to kippy's agent pretty much daily, but that the 'tender had to start showing up to games before sutter would entertain the big numbers (i'm paraphrasing).
what it sounded to me was twofold;
1. kipper won't re-sign until he knows the climate of the keenan era (i've said this before, and i'll say it again).
2. sutter wants a bonafide starter from game 1, and is using it as leverage to get a better deal
i think if this team is not a clear playoff contender by xmastime, kipps might get left on the side of the road in buffalo, ference-styles. i have no idea who we might get to pick up that slack (bless 'em, but krahn/mcelhinney ain't lookin' ready and keetley/irving are a couple of years away), but the cap's gonna have to go up significantly if we want to pay him the dough he wants... personally, i look at this team and think the urgency (and dollars) should be better spent getting dion inked longterm...
everybody thinks i'm crazy on this one, and that kipper should get any dollar amount he wants, but i think we should take a couple of years to build on what we have. we all know we'll lose most of our top two lines next year, and will probably have to pay more to replace them with good players.
what we need to do is get phaneuf under contract (so as to avoid the upcoming offer sheet that i guarantee will happen if we don't) and then trade kipper/langkow/huselius at the trade deadline to bring in some young'uns like philly did with forsberg. my fear is, of course, that phaneuf will be the juiciest tradebait....
i'm also interested in moving tanguay ASAP, before his stock plummets any further. i'm not excited about his 2 remaining expensive years, though i'm not suggesting kovalev is the answer (mind you, kovalev would line up nice with langks and is 800K cheaper...). i know tanguay CAN be good, but dang !! where is the goodness ?!?!?
these are the things i've been thinking while watching my team stink up the joint against the sharks. again, kudos to the opposing team for watching a shizeload of tape on all of our hottest moves. and, again, kudos to the sharks scouts/management for using their 2nd round pick in 2005 to pick up a guy i think will be a norris candidate down the road...
one final thought: why does every single godard goal get reviewed ???????
eric nystrom
it would have been more of a coup to write this 3 hours ago when i walked past him at the airport, but eric nystrom was the callup to replace (you choose) david moss or wayne primeau. clearly mark smith will be shooting pucks at the game on monday night but nystrom was the chosen guy from the quad cities to fill the second open spot. i probably would have selected brandon prust or grant stevenson in his stead (both with significantly better stats), but clearly it is not my choice....
all i know about the guy is that he has an unfortunate bald spot, some serious facial hair growth, and only brought a second bag "cause it has a pillow in it"... total fluke due to me picking up my brother at the airport tonight....
anyhow. i didn't realize nystrom did much of anything in camp, or in the QC, to warrant the callup. but so be it.
tomi mäki would still have been my first choice. DVDG would have been my second...
all i know about the guy is that he has an unfortunate bald spot, some serious facial hair growth, and only brought a second bag "cause it has a pillow in it"... total fluke due to me picking up my brother at the airport tonight....
anyhow. i didn't realize nystrom did much of anything in camp, or in the QC, to warrant the callup. but so be it.
tomi mäki would still have been my first choice. DVDG would have been my second...
Sunday, October 21, 2007
The Bloodhound Gang: The Case of the missing shift chart pt.1
anyone as old as me, or older, will probably remember the kid's show 3-2-1 Contact . it was a classic for the kid set. anyone as old as me, or older (or even a bit younger, to be fair) will remember the most famous part of that show : the bloodhound gang. anyone younger than that will only remember the bloodhound gang as a mediocre rock/hiphop band, with such albums as "hooray for boobies," and such hits as "fire water burn" (a track that was 'flames-ified' during the '04 cup run; t-shirts were emblazoned with "phaneuf, phaneuf, phaneuf is on fire"... but i digress....)
it will come to no surprise to anyone who reads this blog with any sort of regularity ---you all knew it was coming. a rant about the decision of the NHL.com folks to remove the shift chart from the options on the game summaries has definitely been in the works. it just so happens that tonight i feel like writing, and have an hour to kill before retrieving my brother from the airport.
i'm going into this rant with very little actual information about the switchover from last year's nhl.com to the 'new and improved' 07/08 version, but i know that there have been some upset people (not the least of whom are the new york rangers, who filed a lawsuit against the NHL, as they weren't thrilled about giving up control of their team site). all i know is that i miss the damn shift chart, and i'm pretty sure it's not grounds for litigation...
i wasn't going to bring it up, but i must begin by pointing out that the shift chart was probably viewed as more important by hockey fans outside the GTA, and i have to presume the guys running nhl.com are mostly leafs fans. every single maple leafs game can be watched on basic cable; each and every hockey night in canada begins with a leafs game (unless ottawa is playing, and then that is shown in their small market), and the other games' televised rights have been snatched up by sportsnet or tsn. and if you decide NOT to stay home to watch the blue and white implode in the 3rd, half the bars in town will be showing it... the bottom line: if you live in the golden horseshoe, you needn't open a shift chart to see who mats spent most of the night feeding passes to.
calgary has 14 games on PPV this year, and one inexplicable total blackout, so on nights there's no coverage i turn to nhl.com to provide me with some information. sure, i can see who scored in the game summary --but i have to check the event summary to see which guy dressed as the backup goalie. the event summary will tell me if lombardi was being loved (18 mins of icetime) or hated (11 mins of icetime), but it won't tell me if he was playing on the 2nd line or the 3rd line. i can gather, from the event summary, if iginla was being double shifted due to TOI... but i can't see when exactly nolan started getting benched to allow him to do so. or if moss disappears mid period, comes back and leaves again, i can know how long he lasted before feeling truly concussed...
oh, and the faceoff chart and the play by play are essentially useless... does anyone actually look at those things ?!?
please please please, nhl.com ? please bring back the shift chart...
(i called this "pt.1" because i do believe i will hear something at some point re: my query to the site in question)
it will come to no surprise to anyone who reads this blog with any sort of regularity ---you all knew it was coming. a rant about the decision of the NHL.com folks to remove the shift chart from the options on the game summaries has definitely been in the works. it just so happens that tonight i feel like writing, and have an hour to kill before retrieving my brother from the airport.
i'm going into this rant with very little actual information about the switchover from last year's nhl.com to the 'new and improved' 07/08 version, but i know that there have been some upset people (not the least of whom are the new york rangers, who filed a lawsuit against the NHL, as they weren't thrilled about giving up control of their team site). all i know is that i miss the damn shift chart, and i'm pretty sure it's not grounds for litigation...
i wasn't going to bring it up, but i must begin by pointing out that the shift chart was probably viewed as more important by hockey fans outside the GTA, and i have to presume the guys running nhl.com are mostly leafs fans. every single maple leafs game can be watched on basic cable; each and every hockey night in canada begins with a leafs game (unless ottawa is playing, and then that is shown in their small market), and the other games' televised rights have been snatched up by sportsnet or tsn. and if you decide NOT to stay home to watch the blue and white implode in the 3rd, half the bars in town will be showing it... the bottom line: if you live in the golden horseshoe, you needn't open a shift chart to see who mats spent most of the night feeding passes to.
calgary has 14 games on PPV this year, and one inexplicable total blackout, so on nights there's no coverage i turn to nhl.com to provide me with some information. sure, i can see who scored in the game summary --but i have to check the event summary to see which guy dressed as the backup goalie. the event summary will tell me if lombardi was being loved (18 mins of icetime) or hated (11 mins of icetime), but it won't tell me if he was playing on the 2nd line or the 3rd line. i can gather, from the event summary, if iginla was being double shifted due to TOI... but i can't see when exactly nolan started getting benched to allow him to do so. or if moss disappears mid period, comes back and leaves again, i can know how long he lasted before feeling truly concussed...
oh, and the faceoff chart and the play by play are essentially useless... does anyone actually look at those things ?!?
please please please, nhl.com ? please bring back the shift chart...
(i called this "pt.1" because i do believe i will hear something at some point re: my query to the site in question)
Saturday, October 20, 2007
WATCH THIS SPACE
i will re-post later, with the youtube clip of mats sundin's shorthanded goal from tonight's game against the 'hawks. it's not so much that sundin's goal was outstanding, as much as andrei zyuzin tripping over his own feet (and subsequently giving away the puck on his own blueline) was poetic. absolutely pure classic zyuzin....
i would have embeded the video here, but apparently NHL.com doesn't know how to use HTML either....
UPDATE**** it's under review but it is decidedly possible that the leafs' second goal went in off of zyuzin's stick... yep. it was an own goal by the unlucky russian, credited to a pinching and crashing kaberle (aka: the anti-zyuzin).
sure, it could be just that he's having a really really really really bad game, but i can't help but wonder if he is just this bad, untelevised, every night... and then i remember that he is.
:)
i would have embeded the video here, but apparently NHL.com doesn't know how to use HTML either....
UPDATE**** it's under review but it is decidedly possible that the leafs' second goal went in off of zyuzin's stick... yep. it was an own goal by the unlucky russian, credited to a pinching and crashing kaberle (aka: the anti-zyuzin).
sure, it could be just that he's having a really really really really bad game, but i can't help but wonder if he is just this bad, untelevised, every night... and then i remember that he is.
:)
Thursday, October 18, 2007
still busy buuuuuut....
huge congrats to daymond langkow for posting a gordie howe hat trick tonight. not only that, but a gordie howe hat trick with an extra freakin' goal. this guy is on FIRE... :)
been busy buuuuut....
sum 41 played the 'dome last night and my buddy's band from toronto was the support band. ie: no pre-game tonight, but stay tuned for pics of me in the bowels of mecca, drinking molson canadian (like a good hockeylovin' girl) just outside the flames' dressing room...
Sunday, October 14, 2007
two !!
i don't have a lot to say, here, except the beer at flames central is JUST like the dome: kinda average, pretty expensive, gets you drunk, and ohhh jeeeeezz, the hangover !!!! a good time was had by all, of course"'all" was just me and duncan...
7-4, though ? that's a bit of a coup if you ask me. 4 goals is still, obviously, too many to let in, but the flaming Cs potted one on the PP, one SH and 5 at ES. that's AMAZING.... i would know more if there was a stupid shift chart, or game highlights [are there no tv cameras at the sommet centre ? would the fans have to pay extra fort that ??] but here's what i gathered:
- langkow was double shifting, on the ice for the 6th goal (with iggy & tangs), but also with huselius & nolan for the 7th.
- lombardi is slick and fast on the PK and takes advantage of the bounces
- godard might be good for something other than making people bleed and taking bad penalties. and even if he's not, he's definitely making a statement about wanting to stay in the lineup....
- keenan seems to have settled on his offensive lineup, but seems very scattered, still, with defensive pairings (i presume this is because playfair is the defensive specialist). here are on-ice pairings for all of the goals last night:
1. 8/33 (PP)
2. 6/28 (SH)
3. 3/33
4. 8/44
5. 3/33
6. 3/6 (SH)
7. 8/44
8. 3/6
9. 28/44
10. 3/33
11. 6/28
HUNH ??!??!?!?!?!?!??????!!!!
congrats, anyways, on two hard-fought road wins. let's see if we can take it to the 'lanche on tuesday...
7-4, though ? that's a bit of a coup if you ask me. 4 goals is still, obviously, too many to let in, but the flaming Cs potted one on the PP, one SH and 5 at ES. that's AMAZING.... i would know more if there was a stupid shift chart, or game highlights [are there no tv cameras at the sommet centre ? would the fans have to pay extra fort that ??] but here's what i gathered:
- langkow was double shifting, on the ice for the 6th goal (with iggy & tangs), but also with huselius & nolan for the 7th.
- lombardi is slick and fast on the PK and takes advantage of the bounces
- godard might be good for something other than making people bleed and taking bad penalties. and even if he's not, he's definitely making a statement about wanting to stay in the lineup....
- keenan seems to have settled on his offensive lineup, but seems very scattered, still, with defensive pairings (i presume this is because playfair is the defensive specialist). here are on-ice pairings for all of the goals last night:
1. 8/33 (PP)
2. 6/28 (SH)
3. 3/33
4. 8/44
5. 3/33
6. 3/6 (SH)
7. 8/44
8. 3/6
9. 28/44
10. 3/33
11. 6/28
HUNH ??!??!?!?!?!?!??????!!!!
congrats, anyways, on two hard-fought road wins. let's see if we can take it to the 'lanche on tuesday...
Saturday, October 13, 2007
NEWSFLASH !!!
it has come to my attention that in last night's 3-2 overtime victory, a square peg did, infact, fit into a round hole. congratulations, conny, you got yourself an assist on a goal scored by your pal, iggy... i'm still not sure that makes me wrong on the whole "you don't belong on the first line" thing...
after 2-goal games by langkow (v. philly, v. vancouver) and huselius (v. detroit), our favorite speed demon matthew lombardi decided to take the game home by himself last night in dallas. on his first goal, he capitalized on a bad bounce, and the second saw him scoop up a bad brendan morrow drop pass. the ensuing play on both goals had him flyin' up the left wing and unloading bullets from the circle. i haven't seen televised highlights (only internet), but it appears turco never had a chance... damn that kid is good... interestingly (though explainable by a possible line change situation), lombo found himself on the ice with iginla for the OT goal.
[also interesting: phaneuf and eriksson were on the ice as well....].
kipper may have let in yet another softy on the stars' second goal. i can't wait till he starts making the saves on those ones... then we might begin winning games in straight time.
tonight we rock into the music city, to meet an ego-bruised bunch of predators. this will be a tough match for the flames, being that that nasvhille got humiliated by the coyotes two nights ago [freddy sjostrom got two goals, for cryin' out loud... i don't know if that's ever happened before...]. they will be out for revenge, and what better way to regain some pride than by sticking it to a team that just came off of seven straight losses ??
i'm hoping that the flames will come out strong and with that extra confidence and just lay it to the preds.
(sorry amy !!!)
after 2-goal games by langkow (v. philly, v. vancouver) and huselius (v. detroit), our favorite speed demon matthew lombardi decided to take the game home by himself last night in dallas. on his first goal, he capitalized on a bad bounce, and the second saw him scoop up a bad brendan morrow drop pass. the ensuing play on both goals had him flyin' up the left wing and unloading bullets from the circle. i haven't seen televised highlights (only internet), but it appears turco never had a chance... damn that kid is good... interestingly (though explainable by a possible line change situation), lombo found himself on the ice with iginla for the OT goal.
[also interesting: phaneuf and eriksson were on the ice as well....].
kipper may have let in yet another softy on the stars' second goal. i can't wait till he starts making the saves on those ones... then we might begin winning games in straight time.
tonight we rock into the music city, to meet an ego-bruised bunch of predators. this will be a tough match for the flames, being that that nasvhille got humiliated by the coyotes two nights ago [freddy sjostrom got two goals, for cryin' out loud... i don't know if that's ever happened before...]. they will be out for revenge, and what better way to regain some pride than by sticking it to a team that just came off of seven straight losses ??
i'm hoping that the flames will come out strong and with that extra confidence and just lay it to the preds.
(sorry amy !!!)
Thursday, October 11, 2007
report card: keenan
in my humble opinion, keenan is failing.
i'm not sure why he insists on starting conroy on the first line, but i really want to throw things at the beginning of every game. tanguay/conroy/iginla DOES NOT FUCKING WORK. quit trying to fit a square peg in a round hole, dude...
according to peter maher/rob kerr, the reason behind putting langkow on the second line was to provide the team with more scoring depth... HUNH ?? let me get this straight....: so, we'll take the only guy on the ENTIRE TEAM who's truly performing off of a line where he's (at the risk of being redundant) PERFORMING, so that he can maybe.... uh.... get used to a couple of new guys and hopefully start performing there ??? while the other guys he was performing WITH try to perform with a guy who's done pretty much SQUAT for the past 3 years [don't get me wrong, i think conroy is a great personality/leader in the lockerroom, and a fantastic 3rd liner, but i'm sick and fucking tired of everybody thinking him and iginla are a great pair. people, that ship has SAILED....].
i have had major concerns about line juggling on this team for a very, very long time. some of my thoughts, historically, on haphazardly switching up combinations can be read here, here, here, and here. maybe i'm not the smartest hockey strategist in the universe, but in my opinion, if you are coaching a struggling team with serious identity problems, that is learning new systems and adjusting to new teammates and staff, wouldn't you consider keeping your ONE WORKING LINE TOGETHER ??!?!?!?????? the flames had FIVE days off between vancouver and detroit, so why not let iggy, langks and tanguay use that time to solidify what they're creating (read: goals, good feelings, positive feedback) as opposed to splitting them up ?!
dayum.
i could really go on for hours, buuuut i might as well save it for the next thousand posts i'll write on the subject. and i really didn't even mention the second line....
welcome back, davey moss.
and corey sarich....? helluva blunder, buddy. what the hell ?
i'm not sure why he insists on starting conroy on the first line, but i really want to throw things at the beginning of every game. tanguay/conroy/iginla DOES NOT FUCKING WORK. quit trying to fit a square peg in a round hole, dude...
according to peter maher/rob kerr, the reason behind putting langkow on the second line was to provide the team with more scoring depth... HUNH ?? let me get this straight....: so, we'll take the only guy on the ENTIRE TEAM who's truly performing off of a line where he's (at the risk of being redundant) PERFORMING, so that he can maybe.... uh.... get used to a couple of new guys and hopefully start performing there ??? while the other guys he was performing WITH try to perform with a guy who's done pretty much SQUAT for the past 3 years [don't get me wrong, i think conroy is a great personality/leader in the lockerroom, and a fantastic 3rd liner, but i'm sick and fucking tired of everybody thinking him and iginla are a great pair. people, that ship has SAILED....].
i have had major concerns about line juggling on this team for a very, very long time. some of my thoughts, historically, on haphazardly switching up combinations can be read here, here, here, and here. maybe i'm not the smartest hockey strategist in the universe, but in my opinion, if you are coaching a struggling team with serious identity problems, that is learning new systems and adjusting to new teammates and staff, wouldn't you consider keeping your ONE WORKING LINE TOGETHER ??!?!?!?????? the flames had FIVE days off between vancouver and detroit, so why not let iggy, langks and tanguay use that time to solidify what they're creating (read: goals, good feelings, positive feedback) as opposed to splitting them up ?!
dayum.
i could really go on for hours, buuuut i might as well save it for the next thousand posts i'll write on the subject. and i really didn't even mention the second line....
welcome back, davey moss.
and corey sarich....? helluva blunder, buddy. what the hell ?
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
+
"...cause positivity is NOT about being soft, it's about being SMART...."
-NKOTB circa 1990
i am on this huge positivity kick right now, in life, and so i'm not allowing myself to think about all those horrible things that could feasibly happen tonight in the motor city... and i'm trying to not be scared.
BUT
if you think that the flames have won only a single matchup thusfar this year, in 10 games (pre-season and regular), it is hard to believe they will walk out of one of the toughest buildings in the league with a W. in all honestly, though, if the LIT line continues to produce, we've got a chance, and if the NHL line keeps at it, they will begin to score eventually. so why not tonight ?
not sure if moss is playing, but i'm starting to think that it will be mark smith and not godard who gets the bench if he does.
oh, yeah.
my brother coined the term "erikzyuzin." feel free to use it as you see fit.
:)
-NKOTB circa 1990
i am on this huge positivity kick right now, in life, and so i'm not allowing myself to think about all those horrible things that could feasibly happen tonight in the motor city... and i'm trying to not be scared.
BUT
if you think that the flames have won only a single matchup thusfar this year, in 10 games (pre-season and regular), it is hard to believe they will walk out of one of the toughest buildings in the league with a W. in all honestly, though, if the LIT line continues to produce, we've got a chance, and if the NHL line keeps at it, they will begin to score eventually. so why not tonight ?
not sure if moss is playing, but i'm starting to think that it will be mark smith and not godard who gets the bench if he does.
oh, yeah.
my brother coined the term "erikzyuzin." feel free to use it as you see fit.
:)
Saturday, October 6, 2007
the double injured goalie scenario (DIGS)
i have wondered, historically, what would happen if both the starting goalie and the backup were injured in a single game. i have mused on the possibilities but realize now that any teammate (presumeably a defenseman) would strap on the pads and pray. i know this because that's what keenan essentially said would have happened tonight if kiprusoff went out with injury...
ie: mcelhinney got hurt in the warmup (damn you nolan and your shots to the nuts)... just kidding [kidding about the nutshot, not the injury, unfortunately].
i'm not sure who the next in line is but i presume we'll see keetley back on the bench for the next game...
as for the game itself, i don't have a whole lot to say. except holy cow, does lombardi ever look so much better flanked with some real players. he had a great game... hunh ? LIKE DUH.
in other news, tomi maki scored shorthanded tonight in the quad cities' season opener. :)
ie: mcelhinney got hurt in the warmup (damn you nolan and your shots to the nuts)... just kidding [kidding about the nutshot, not the injury, unfortunately].
i'm not sure who the next in line is but i presume we'll see keetley back on the bench for the next game...
as for the game itself, i don't have a whole lot to say. except holy cow, does lombardi ever look so much better flanked with some real players. he had a great game... hunh ? LIKE DUH.
in other news, tomi maki scored shorthanded tonight in the quad cities' season opener. :)
Friday, October 5, 2007
the return of playfair
after one period of hockey at the flames' home opener last night, i had decided to hate keenan. why ? for the same reason i detested playfair by the end of last season (and i'm not talking about the suits): certain line combinations are never gonna produce.
in 2003, craig conroy centred jarome iginla, leading to a very productive year for both. well, this is not 2003 and iginla should be playing with langkow or lombardi. conroy is one of the best 3rd line centres in the league, but he is no first liner. seeing him out there with iggy and tangs on every shift in the first made me want to throw things (and by 'things' i am referring specifically to the stupid microphone-shaped BLUE fibreoptic flashlight, that would have been much more appropriate for the season opener at REXALL... last time i checked, my team's colours were RED and black).
it is decidedly possible that lombardi is still nursing a sore wrist, but then i would have rather him in the pressbox than on a line with nilson and yelle. i mean, seriously... this REEKED of 07/08's classic misuse/benching of lombardi, and with ol' jimmy canaryshirt still holding a place on the coaching staff, i can't help but pin blame on him for this combination. lombardi is not a grinder and should never be played as such (except for the PK, of course). it's really simple: flank the guy with a couple of equally speedy/creative wingers and there will be goals. in the 5-or-so minutes he played with huselius, you could see some scoring opportunites present themselves, and if he hadn't been wasted the entire first period, then i would presume there would have been more.
oh, and 20 minutes of icetime does not scream "injury" to me...
eric godard played less than two minutes. sure, he beat the crap outta jesse boulerice, but our problem is SCORING. pardon my language, but fuck eric godard. bring up a rookie or trade for a vet who can put the damn puck into the back of the net. i'd rather see two minutes of boyd/peters than godard.
mark smith looks like primeau: he skates fast and has some decent puck control but is a defensive liability (ending a -1). not sure he belongs on the PK but kudos to keenan (ie: playfair) for flogging that horse....
kipper made a couple of good stops but is ultimately looking totally octoberish....
and, finally, i knew eriksson was bad. but i didn't think he'd be personally responsible for the first loss of the year. aucoin was just as bad (actually, probably worse, truth be told) and was on the ice for all three flyer goals. by the second period, keenan (ie: playfair) had reunited regehr with warrener as the "shut down" pair, leaving our new two worst defensemen (aucoin and eriksson) to absolutely shit the bed together.
[sarich and phaneuf looked really really good. JUST sarich and phaneuf....]
in 2003, craig conroy centred jarome iginla, leading to a very productive year for both. well, this is not 2003 and iginla should be playing with langkow or lombardi. conroy is one of the best 3rd line centres in the league, but he is no first liner. seeing him out there with iggy and tangs on every shift in the first made me want to throw things (and by 'things' i am referring specifically to the stupid microphone-shaped BLUE fibreoptic flashlight, that would have been much more appropriate for the season opener at REXALL... last time i checked, my team's colours were RED and black).
it is decidedly possible that lombardi is still nursing a sore wrist, but then i would have rather him in the pressbox than on a line with nilson and yelle. i mean, seriously... this REEKED of 07/08's classic misuse/benching of lombardi, and with ol' jimmy canaryshirt still holding a place on the coaching staff, i can't help but pin blame on him for this combination. lombardi is not a grinder and should never be played as such (except for the PK, of course). it's really simple: flank the guy with a couple of equally speedy/creative wingers and there will be goals. in the 5-or-so minutes he played with huselius, you could see some scoring opportunites present themselves, and if he hadn't been wasted the entire first period, then i would presume there would have been more.
oh, and 20 minutes of icetime does not scream "injury" to me...
eric godard played less than two minutes. sure, he beat the crap outta jesse boulerice, but our problem is SCORING. pardon my language, but fuck eric godard. bring up a rookie or trade for a vet who can put the damn puck into the back of the net. i'd rather see two minutes of boyd/peters than godard.
mark smith looks like primeau: he skates fast and has some decent puck control but is a defensive liability (ending a -1). not sure he belongs on the PK but kudos to keenan (ie: playfair) for flogging that horse....
kipper made a couple of good stops but is ultimately looking totally octoberish....
and, finally, i knew eriksson was bad. but i didn't think he'd be personally responsible for the first loss of the year. aucoin was just as bad (actually, probably worse, truth be told) and was on the ice for all three flyer goals. by the second period, keenan (ie: playfair) had reunited regehr with warrener as the "shut down" pair, leaving our new two worst defensemen (aucoin and eriksson) to absolutely shit the bed together.
[sarich and phaneuf looked really really good. JUST sarich and phaneuf....]
Monday, October 1, 2007
the iggy holler
my best good friend jason sent an email today, describing how he was checking the EA sports message boards and stumbled upon this thread for NHL 09:
1 - Does your home arena have a goalie chant? What is it? What does it sound like? Do you have any examples?
2 - Who is the crowd favorite and what is the crowd chant that is used to address him? Can be more than one!
3 - What is/are the team chants used in arena during a game?
4 - Are there any playoff specific chants used in your arena?
5 - What, if any, opposing teams does your arena have chants for? What are these chants?
6 - What song or music is played after a goal is scored?
7 - What song or music is played after an opposing team receives a penalty?
8 - What is the intro that your team uses at the beginning of the game? What song plays? Are the lights on/off? Does the crowd chant anything? Are there any props involved in the intro. Ex San Jose coming out of a shark.
9 - Are there any other crowd chants that are unique to your arena? What are they and how are they used?
So here's what someone posted for the Flames:
Calgary Flames
1) Kipper... pronounced KIP PER KIP PER You guys had it right in 07
2) Crowd favorite is Jarome Iginla and when he scores or does something sweet the whole crowd goes " IGGY, IGGY, IGGY (slight pause) OI OI OI" (This would be awsome to hear as every flames fan knows!!!)
3)typical nhl chants
4)To many to even mention
5)To many to even mention
6)Typical songs... However Johnny Cash Ring of Fire is played quite often, and is allways the home win song
7)"Raise a little hell"
8)the calgary flames usually produce a media video that plays as they skate out... here is a you tube link to a a home opening flames start
This video depicts alot about the arena, things to note are flame throwers hanging over the ice, and out of the now old scoreboard. The announcer has also been the same and has the same consistant voice for over 5 years.
This is also a good video showing the flame throwers and ambiance with the announcer
Im sure the arena anouncers will not be arena specific, however if by the odd chance they are, then we also need to mention the fact that when iggy scores and its announced it goes alot like this
"JAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRROOOOOOOOOMMME IGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGIIIIIIINNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNLA"
so there you go.... i'd never really considered what that would look like spelled out.... too funny....
1 - Does your home arena have a goalie chant? What is it? What does it sound like? Do you have any examples?
2 - Who is the crowd favorite and what is the crowd chant that is used to address him? Can be more than one!
3 - What is/are the team chants used in arena during a game?
4 - Are there any playoff specific chants used in your arena?
5 - What, if any, opposing teams does your arena have chants for? What are these chants?
6 - What song or music is played after a goal is scored?
7 - What song or music is played after an opposing team receives a penalty?
8 - What is the intro that your team uses at the beginning of the game? What song plays? Are the lights on/off? Does the crowd chant anything? Are there any props involved in the intro. Ex San Jose coming out of a shark.
9 - Are there any other crowd chants that are unique to your arena? What are they and how are they used?
So here's what someone posted for the Flames:
Calgary Flames
1) Kipper... pronounced KIP PER KIP PER You guys had it right in 07
2) Crowd favorite is Jarome Iginla and when he scores or does something sweet the whole crowd goes " IGGY, IGGY, IGGY (slight pause) OI OI OI" (This would be awsome to hear as every flames fan knows!!!)
3)typical nhl chants
4)To many to even mention
5)To many to even mention
6)Typical songs... However Johnny Cash Ring of Fire is played quite often, and is allways the home win song
7)"Raise a little hell"
8)the calgary flames usually produce a media video that plays as they skate out... here is a you tube link to a a home opening flames start
This video depicts alot about the arena, things to note are flame throwers hanging over the ice, and out of the now old scoreboard. The announcer has also been the same and has the same consistant voice for over 5 years.
This is also a good video showing the flame throwers and ambiance with the announcer
Im sure the arena anouncers will not be arena specific, however if by the odd chance they are, then we also need to mention the fact that when iggy scores and its announced it goes alot like this
"JAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRROOOOOOOOOMMME IGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGIIIIIIINNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNLA"
so there you go.... i'd never really considered what that would look like spelled out.... too funny....
Sunday, September 30, 2007
well.... here we go !
i didn't listen to the game last night, but i'm trying to gather some information about what to expect in calgary on thursday as we open the season against the flyers. the verdict: i'm a little scared...
1. GOAL
kipper seems game ready, and i'm not concerned. mcelhinney (who, btw, was my call for the backup job months ago ---which makes me supersmart, even though he clearly only got that spot due to krahn's injury) seems more comfortable than he was two weeks ago. the verdict : should be fine.
2. OFFENSE
we've got a pretty decent lineup, all in all, and i'm not at all worried that we will watch some highly entertaining games... i am, however, concerned about our inability to put'em in the net, which is a problem that has carried over from last year. there is no shortage of shots on goal, and no shortage of incredible scoring opportunities, what's lacking is that little rubber disc hitting the mesh in behind the goaltender. why ? not sure. keenan blames it on effort. some might blame it on good opposition goaltending. i blame it on rhettro's black cloud of bad luck.... verdict: remains to be seen...
3. DEFENSE
yikes.
1-4 i think we'll do fine. the matchups of phaneuf/sarich and regehr/aucoin allows for some firepower and some conscience on each shift. it's 5-6 that, quite frankly, scare the bejesus outta me. eriksson and warrener, who look to be the ones slotted in as starters, are defensive liabilities and get my heart racing on each shift. but #7, david hale, is no better... rhetzky played all of 12 minutes last night, was penalized twice and ended a -1. there is no way to skew those stats towards anything postitive... verdict: frightening...
*sigh*
it's gonna be a tough year....
1. GOAL
kipper seems game ready, and i'm not concerned. mcelhinney (who, btw, was my call for the backup job months ago ---which makes me supersmart, even though he clearly only got that spot due to krahn's injury) seems more comfortable than he was two weeks ago. the verdict : should be fine.
2. OFFENSE
we've got a pretty decent lineup, all in all, and i'm not at all worried that we will watch some highly entertaining games... i am, however, concerned about our inability to put'em in the net, which is a problem that has carried over from last year. there is no shortage of shots on goal, and no shortage of incredible scoring opportunities, what's lacking is that little rubber disc hitting the mesh in behind the goaltender. why ? not sure. keenan blames it on effort. some might blame it on good opposition goaltending. i blame it on rhettro's black cloud of bad luck.... verdict: remains to be seen...
3. DEFENSE
yikes.
1-4 i think we'll do fine. the matchups of phaneuf/sarich and regehr/aucoin allows for some firepower and some conscience on each shift. it's 5-6 that, quite frankly, scare the bejesus outta me. eriksson and warrener, who look to be the ones slotted in as starters, are defensive liabilities and get my heart racing on each shift. but #7, david hale, is no better... rhetzky played all of 12 minutes last night, was penalized twice and ended a -1. there is no way to skew those stats towards anything postitive... verdict: frightening...
*sigh*
it's gonna be a tough year....
Friday, September 28, 2007
my new favorite flame
as announced by MetroGnome earlier this afternoon, the calgary flames have welcomed a new, redundant, presumeably average centre into the fold. but here's the difference: mark smith is my kinda dude.... [i'm an awesome googler...]
;)
is his hair blonde, brown, or blue ?
sorry ---is his hair blonde, brown or red ?
does he drive a souped up hummer or a vw bus ?
is he in a band ?
i've got my fingers crossed that this will be one of those darryl sutter coveting old players situations that will work out (more like kiprusoff than lundmark)... so while i know we don't need him, and i figure we don't want him, i would like to welcome to calgary the 07/08 version of darren mccarty (meets sean avery): mark smith.
;)
i've got my fingers crossed that this will be one of those darryl sutter coveting old players situations that will work out (more like kiprusoff than lundmark)... so while i know we don't need him, and i figure we don't want him, i would like to welcome to calgary the 07/08 version of darren mccarty (meets sean avery): mark smith.
Thursday, September 27, 2007
it's hard to tell...
when the calgary flames hired mike keenan back in june i figured the team would either skyrocket to the top, under his leadership, or (quite simply) tank. after two weeks and six games of training camp and pre-season, i'm still not sure which way it's gonna go.
the players themselves look pretty sharp. iggy's looking a step faster and lombardi more confident. huselius is starting the season in post-season form, and is gonna be hard to place anywhere but the top line. regehr and phaneuf are dishing out the hits like they're solid gold dancers. nolan looks ready to play in a grinder role (but if he gets stuck in a scoring role, we might have some problems). sarich and aucoin are fitting in nicely....
the line juggling that i detested last season, with playfair, has started up again, but i understand it's absolutely acceptable (and necessary) in exhibition play. still, i think throwing together 'unrealistic' lines is a waste of time and energy --i listed two such threesomes in recent posts: primeau/langkow/iginla, huselius/peters/stevenson. i would also be very surprised to see phaneuf and regehr ever take the ice together (when not killing penalties to either sarich or aucoin)... i would have loved to see a creative speedster like boyd play with another of his ilk (tanguay, iginla), and thought he was mis-used on a line with a guy like yelle, even though sandbox did bring some calmness to the two rookies on his wings...
i think (hope ?) the last two games of exhibition play show a bit more of what the year will show, ie: a full lineup. my understanding is that tanguay and lombardi are both nursing soreness (if not injury) and may not play. i would love to get conroy back at centre, between primeau and nolan. i would adore seeing langkow flanked by iggy and huselius. tanguay and moss centred by lombardi. nilson, yelle and the one remaining rookie (sounds like peters ??)...
is that so much to ask ???
the players themselves look pretty sharp. iggy's looking a step faster and lombardi more confident. huselius is starting the season in post-season form, and is gonna be hard to place anywhere but the top line. regehr and phaneuf are dishing out the hits like they're solid gold dancers. nolan looks ready to play in a grinder role (but if he gets stuck in a scoring role, we might have some problems). sarich and aucoin are fitting in nicely....
the line juggling that i detested last season, with playfair, has started up again, but i understand it's absolutely acceptable (and necessary) in exhibition play. still, i think throwing together 'unrealistic' lines is a waste of time and energy --i listed two such threesomes in recent posts: primeau/langkow/iginla, huselius/peters/stevenson. i would also be very surprised to see phaneuf and regehr ever take the ice together (when not killing penalties to either sarich or aucoin)... i would have loved to see a creative speedster like boyd play with another of his ilk (tanguay, iginla), and thought he was mis-used on a line with a guy like yelle, even though sandbox did bring some calmness to the two rookies on his wings...
i think (hope ?) the last two games of exhibition play show a bit more of what the year will show, ie: a full lineup. my understanding is that tanguay and lombardi are both nursing soreness (if not injury) and may not play. i would love to get conroy back at centre, between primeau and nolan. i would adore seeing langkow flanked by iggy and huselius. tanguay and moss centred by lombardi. nilson, yelle and the one remaining rookie (sounds like peters ??)...
is that so much to ask ???
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
questions for you:
1. how can huselius/peters/stevenson sound like a good idea ???
2. was anyone else aware that jamie mclennan is no longer playing in russia ? as reported last week in the *ahem* edmonton sun:
Jamie McLennan recently returned from Russia where his stint with Metallurg Magnitogorsk was cut stunningly short, fuelling speculation that if Curtis McElhinney or Brent Krahn don't impress during camp, ol' Noodles will be summoned to back up Miikka Kiprusoff again
HUNH ??
2. was anyone else aware that jamie mclennan is no longer playing in russia ? as reported last week in the *ahem* edmonton sun:
Jamie McLennan recently returned from Russia where his stint with Metallurg Magnitogorsk was cut stunningly short, fuelling speculation that if Curtis McElhinney or Brent Krahn don't impress during camp, ol' Noodles will be summoned to back up Miikka Kiprusoff again
HUNH ??
flames v. oil: gameday preview
top ten things i hope to see tonight:
1. adam pardy
2. iggy and lombo together, all night [with tanguay or huselius. don't care]
3. primeau/conroy/nolan [let's give it another try]
4. warrener and hale in the pressbox. not that i like eriksson, but if he's gonna play, let's see how he plays with pardy. [not that he'll play with pardy buuuut....]
5. david van der gulik or tomi mäki on a line with yelle and nilson. [oh, shit... uhhhh.... nevermind...]
6. another W for the Cs
7. another injury, a la moreau, to one of the greasers [to anyone but souray, who i have in my pool] [okay this is just mean]
8. more of robert nilsson
9. more of a kipper-like kipper
10. more of playfair in un-horrible suits [good thing the game's not televised]...
1. adam pardy
2. iggy and lombo together, all night [with tanguay or huselius. don't care]
3. primeau/conroy/nolan [let's give it another try]
4. warrener and hale in the pressbox. not that i like eriksson, but if he's gonna play, let's see how he plays with pardy. [not that he'll play with pardy buuuut....]
5. david van der gulik or tomi mäki on a line with yelle and nilson. [oh, shit... uhhhh.... nevermind...]
6. another W for the Cs
7. another injury, a la moreau, to one of the greasers [to anyone but souray, who i have in my pool] [okay this is just mean]
8. more of robert nilsson
9. more of a kipper-like kipper
10. more of playfair in un-horrible suits [good thing the game's not televised]...
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
flames v. sharks: post game
point form, as i am once again tired.
1.primeau/langkow/iginla
the opening forward line. i was aghast that keenan dreamed this up, and shocked that he put it on the ice for the first shift. such an obvious mismatch vs. cheechoo/marleau/thornton that it led to a goal against 30 seconds in. ugly.
2. primeau/conroy/nolan.
it is possible that i love this line, though preems and connie make o'no look really really really really really slow. still, they were a force on the PK and some good shutdown at ES. also generated some scoring chances and some decent hits. good hard fast forecheck. i'm sold.
3. defensive pairings
i'll admit to being confused by what's currently going on out there. i know it's pre-season but eriksson and hale on the PK ? regehr and phaneuf at ES ? hale on the PP ??? hale looked halfway decent (which isn't great), warrener looked about as good as he gets (which is pretty bad). eriksson looked zyuzinesque but still clocked over 24 minutes of icetime... regehr looked comfortable for the first time i've seen this year, and absolutely levelled a couple of guys.
4. d.boyd and young sutter
probably just played their last games in calgary. they lined up with stephane yelle for most of the night, which gave them some (but not enough) defensive stability. sutter took a couple of bad penalties early and came out relatively unscathed from a couple of bad giveaways. i love d.boyd's creativity and spark but it's just not enough. both players end up a -1.
5. godard
beat the crap out of some guy named murray. in godard's favour, however, was the fact that he got to rest up on the bench before the big tilt --posting a total of 4:13 in icetime.
6. huselius/langkow/iginla
these guys look ridiculously good together, and should really not be separated. i'm starting to think tanguay should continue playing with lombardi, and then when the going gets tough iggy can double shift.
here's my latest lineup thoughts:
huselius/langkow/iginla
tanguay/lombardi/moss
primeau/conroy/nolan
nilson/yelle/prust (when healthy)
phaneuf/sarich
regehr/aucoin
*sigh*/*sigh*
aaaanyhow.
good on the boys for getting a win, and in shootout no less. good on the boys for SCORING THREE TIMES in the shootout...!
1.primeau/langkow/iginla
the opening forward line. i was aghast that keenan dreamed this up, and shocked that he put it on the ice for the first shift. such an obvious mismatch vs. cheechoo/marleau/thornton that it led to a goal against 30 seconds in. ugly.
2. primeau/conroy/nolan.
it is possible that i love this line, though preems and connie make o'no look really really really really really slow. still, they were a force on the PK and some good shutdown at ES. also generated some scoring chances and some decent hits. good hard fast forecheck. i'm sold.
3. defensive pairings
i'll admit to being confused by what's currently going on out there. i know it's pre-season but eriksson and hale on the PK ? regehr and phaneuf at ES ? hale on the PP ??? hale looked halfway decent (which isn't great), warrener looked about as good as he gets (which is pretty bad). eriksson looked zyuzinesque but still clocked over 24 minutes of icetime... regehr looked comfortable for the first time i've seen this year, and absolutely levelled a couple of guys.
4. d.boyd and young sutter
probably just played their last games in calgary. they lined up with stephane yelle for most of the night, which gave them some (but not enough) defensive stability. sutter took a couple of bad penalties early and came out relatively unscathed from a couple of bad giveaways. i love d.boyd's creativity and spark but it's just not enough. both players end up a -1.
5. godard
beat the crap out of some guy named murray. in godard's favour, however, was the fact that he got to rest up on the bench before the big tilt --posting a total of 4:13 in icetime.
6. huselius/langkow/iginla
these guys look ridiculously good together, and should really not be separated. i'm starting to think tanguay should continue playing with lombardi, and then when the going gets tough iggy can double shift.
here's my latest lineup thoughts:
huselius/langkow/iginla
tanguay/lombardi/moss
primeau/conroy/nolan
nilson/yelle/prust (when healthy)
phaneuf/sarich
regehr/aucoin
*sigh*/*sigh*
aaaanyhow.
good on the boys for getting a win, and in shootout no less. good on the boys for SCORING THREE TIMES in the shootout...!
a little fun: flames v. sharks pre-game
so i was looking online for something to say about tonight's game that hasn't already been said, and ended up finding the above. yeah. some dude has WAY too much time on his hands....
we all know that the flames' top line (which is shaking down to be 40/22/12) is starting to click and that adam pardy and d.boyd are still fighting for a roster spot. nolan and conroy are resting minor injuries (is it just me, or are there a helluvalot more sore groins this year than ever before ??), and mcelhinney will be backing up kipper once again... *yawn*
i'm hoping we'll see D.boyd on a line with huselius & lombardi tonight, which will leave B.sutter and davey moss to fend for themselves. if pardy shows up paired with warrener, then i'd think he might actually have a shot at the big club. blah blah blah... (poor gio...)...
the sharks will probably play a straightforward type game. don't expect marleau to get in any dust-ups tonight (if he even dresses)...
Sunday, September 23, 2007
that's GOT to hurt...
my favorite NHL blueliner (and #1 fantasy pool defenseman, sadly) suffered a bit of a mishap last night:
"Boyle was injured in the Lightning locker room when distracted while hanging up his skates. A skate slipped off of the hook and hit him in his left wrist, cutting a tendon.
He'll have surgery on Sunday and will be out of action for several weeks."
-tsn.ca
DANG !!! that makes me cringe... vinny le C apparently also went down with injury last night. if they hadn't beaten us for the cup in 03, i'd feel a little bad for the team....
"Boyle was injured in the Lightning locker room when distracted while hanging up his skates. A skate slipped off of the hook and hit him in his left wrist, cutting a tendon.
He'll have surgery on Sunday and will be out of action for several weeks."
-tsn.ca
DANG !!! that makes me cringe... vinny le C apparently also went down with injury last night. if they hadn't beaten us for the cup in 03, i'd feel a little bad for the team....
exhibition#4: post-game
i take back everything i said about the sutters.
brett sutter worked his hindquarters off tonight, ending up with a couple of decent scoring chances and a few monster hits resulting from a whole lotta hustle. i'd tell you just how much time he spent on the ice on a line with D.boyd and D.moss but nhl.com has let me down yet again by refusing to post any kind of stats whatsoever...
adam pardy also had quite a game, making his defensive partner for the majority of the evening (anders eriksson) look a bit like a clown. while pardy certainly looks like a rookie at times, he has good size and sense, if not always the best positionning. he is a good skater, and he appears to have a huge offensive upside, with a goal and an assist tonight in the OT loss. eriksson, on the other hand, somehow turned over the puck behind the net, which led directly to a goal against... ugh.
further defensive notes, i am constantly surprised to see aucoin with regehr, and sarich with phaneuf. it seems kindof backwards to me, but i'm fairly confident that any pairing of those four will turn out well. it's the bottom two defenders that have me worried... i know hale ain't so great, eriksson is starting to look a lot like zyuzin, and pardy is a longshot at best --so i'm not sure who will be paired with warrener when the season starts...
additional notes:
-to all the people who booed the reveal of the new oilers jersey: i disagree entirely. if you ask me, their away shirt might be the best in the league... simple. clean. HOT.
-as much as i like the idea of lombardi centering tanguay and iginla, langkow certainly can get that job done soundly.
-godard is godawful. can't we just get primeau just do the punching ? at least he can hit the net and has some serious wheels on'im when he's not making other guys bleed. i would venture a guess that (without stats to prove it) godard saw about 4 minutes of icetime tonight. total waste of bench space...
-good effort tonight by both peters and germyn, though i would imagine darryl's buying them tickets to the quad cities currently... stevenson also played very little, while sutter and D.boyd sold me on at least another tryout.
onwards and upwards. tuesday v. the sharkies.
brett sutter worked his hindquarters off tonight, ending up with a couple of decent scoring chances and a few monster hits resulting from a whole lotta hustle. i'd tell you just how much time he spent on the ice on a line with D.boyd and D.moss but nhl.com has let me down yet again by refusing to post any kind of stats whatsoever...
adam pardy also had quite a game, making his defensive partner for the majority of the evening (anders eriksson) look a bit like a clown. while pardy certainly looks like a rookie at times, he has good size and sense, if not always the best positionning. he is a good skater, and he appears to have a huge offensive upside, with a goal and an assist tonight in the OT loss. eriksson, on the other hand, somehow turned over the puck behind the net, which led directly to a goal against... ugh.
further defensive notes, i am constantly surprised to see aucoin with regehr, and sarich with phaneuf. it seems kindof backwards to me, but i'm fairly confident that any pairing of those four will turn out well. it's the bottom two defenders that have me worried... i know hale ain't so great, eriksson is starting to look a lot like zyuzin, and pardy is a longshot at best --so i'm not sure who will be paired with warrener when the season starts...
additional notes:
-to all the people who booed the reveal of the new oilers jersey: i disagree entirely. if you ask me, their away shirt might be the best in the league... simple. clean. HOT.
-as much as i like the idea of lombardi centering tanguay and iginla, langkow certainly can get that job done soundly.
-godard is godawful. can't we just get primeau just do the punching ? at least he can hit the net and has some serious wheels on'im when he's not making other guys bleed. i would venture a guess that (without stats to prove it) godard saw about 4 minutes of icetime tonight. total waste of bench space...
-good effort tonight by both peters and germyn, though i would imagine darryl's buying them tickets to the quad cities currently... stevenson also played very little, while sutter and D.boyd sold me on at least another tryout.
onwards and upwards. tuesday v. the sharkies.
Thursday, September 20, 2007
done work. officially paying attention
i wrapped up the last bit of paperwork on three consecutive jobs (only one day off in the past month) this evening, so i can officially start paying full attention to what's goin' on in flamesville. i will also use the weeks-straight of 14 hour days and lack of time to read/watch much of anything as an excuse to explain why i really thought DVDG would get one more kick at the can.
meh.
i still won't be wrong about chucko...
;)
the thing that i really don't understand is how prust is still listed on the big club roster, when i'm almost positive that he can't possibly be playing... is he playing ?!?!? there's no way he's playing....
nystrom's gone and yet, brett sutter's still around... ? sure, he's fast buuuutt.....? i smell nepotism....
enough for now. i need sleep bad and i cannot wait to get up at noon.
meh.
i still won't be wrong about chucko...
;)
the thing that i really don't understand is how prust is still listed on the big club roster, when i'm almost positive that he can't possibly be playing... is he playing ?!?!? there's no way he's playing....
nystrom's gone and yet, brett sutter's still around... ? sure, he's fast buuuutt.....? i smell nepotism....
enough for now. i need sleep bad and i cannot wait to get up at noon.
i'm not worried.... yet
it's a bit unnerving to see the flames lose 3-0, 3-2, and then 4-0 but i am honestly not all that concerned (yet). kipper seemed to have a decent half-game, and although tanguay is playing constantly with lombardi, they have yet to be reunited in a game situation with our top RW. defensive pairings are still being worked out, and some of the baby flames are still fighting for the 12th roster spot...
i'm devastated that 13 players got sent to the quad cities on wednesday following a game that there are no stats available for. it's not that i'm bummed that i didn't get to see tomi mäki play, it's that there's no way to know if he deserved the demotion...
after last night's loss to the 'nucks (and their scoring youngsters), i would have to say that grant stevenson, eric godard & our boy DVDG are sounding like the favorites to make the big club. with mäki gone, we all know who my pick is...
saturday night v. edmonton. let's get it together....
i'm devastated that 13 players got sent to the quad cities on wednesday following a game that there are no stats available for. it's not that i'm bummed that i didn't get to see tomi mäki play, it's that there's no way to know if he deserved the demotion...
after last night's loss to the 'nucks (and their scoring youngsters), i would have to say that grant stevenson, eric godard & our boy DVDG are sounding like the favorites to make the big club. with mäki gone, we all know who my pick is...
saturday night v. edmonton. let's get it together....
Wednesday, September 19, 2007
exhibition#3: pre-game
i officially hate games in saskatoon.
i'm not sure the deal but there is absolutely noplace i can find any info on the game other than the outcome, and the scorers. i don't even know who dressed, much less who got a ton of ice time and who was benched for the majority. part of me wants to make it up just so i can say tomi mäki had a kickass game.
why has the nhl not posted any stats ? did no stats-takers travel to piskatchewan ? did they not bring enough stopwatches ? were there no available cameramen to film the game ?
i don't get it. but i think it's bunk.
tonight there better be effin' highlights....
*****UPDATE: i see now that mäki got the shaft and played on a line last night with cunning & peters. ie: no NHLers to make him look better (like they did with DVDG). i still don't know how many minutes he played but on THAT line, i doubt it was very much. bah.
i'm not sure the deal but there is absolutely noplace i can find any info on the game other than the outcome, and the scorers. i don't even know who dressed, much less who got a ton of ice time and who was benched for the majority. part of me wants to make it up just so i can say tomi mäki had a kickass game.
why has the nhl not posted any stats ? did no stats-takers travel to piskatchewan ? did they not bring enough stopwatches ? were there no available cameramen to film the game ?
i don't get it. but i think it's bunk.
tonight there better be effin' highlights....
*****UPDATE: i see now that mäki got the shaft and played on a line last night with cunning & peters. ie: no NHLers to make him look better (like they did with DVDG). i still don't know how many minutes he played but on THAT line, i doubt it was very much. bah.
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
exhibition#2: pre-game
in a twisted sort of home-and-home series (whereby the sun-drenched florida panthers get to wear their new red jerseys on well-laid saskatoon ice), the flames get a shot at redemption.
i presume that curtis mcelhinney will start tonight, but then again i'm a girl. i really haven't got a clue how long it takes to heal an O'NO shot to the nuts... ;)
i also presume that any/all of iggy, langks, juice and rhettro will play, and that we'll get our first look at offseason pickups sarich & eriksson. i'm HOPING that they'll dress regehr again, so we can get a handle on his potential pairing with the newcomer from the lightning...
i'm also (clearly) presuming that my boy tomi mäki will see some icetime, as will david van der gulik. and with the best shot of all former omaha players to make the big club, i wouldn't be surprised to see D.boyd out there for a second straight game.
hopefully we win this one.
:)
i presume that curtis mcelhinney will start tonight, but then again i'm a girl. i really haven't got a clue how long it takes to heal an O'NO shot to the nuts... ;)
i also presume that any/all of iggy, langks, juice and rhettro will play, and that we'll get our first look at offseason pickups sarich & eriksson. i'm HOPING that they'll dress regehr again, so we can get a handle on his potential pairing with the newcomer from the lightning...
i'm also (clearly) presuming that my boy tomi mäki will see some icetime, as will david van der gulik. and with the best shot of all former omaha players to make the big club, i wouldn't be surprised to see D.boyd out there for a second straight game.
hopefully we win this one.
:)
Sunday, September 16, 2007
the 2nd annual DREAMCRUSHER award....
....officially goes to....
Kris Chucko.
sorry, man but you are a total waste of all the time and energy invested by the calgary flames organization. i realize that i was totally wrong last year about davey moss, with this baby flames award, but i can't honestly forsee your career turning out the same. you had only 9:00 minutes of icetime, all of which was spent skating far too slowly, passing far too sloppily and looking far too much like a lunkhead. three words for you ? NEVER. GONNA. HAPPEN.
in other post-game news:
-matt keetley got hung out to dry by the rest of his team, and still looked awful sharp. sure, he let in three goals but stopped 31 of 34, 5 of which were seriously decent panther opportunities (including a breakaway and a two-on-none). interestingly, keenan left him in for the full game [i'm wondering what's going on there, to be honest, cause mcelhinney was announced as the starter, but lalande dressed as the backup]. i figure with another year or two of confidence building, keetley will be a superstar. he's got a great glove hand and is quick like kipper... deservedly got the first star tonight...
-owen nolan looked sloppy and slow, but absolutely LEVELLED a guy with about 3 minutes left. i say put him on the ice with any of yelle, nilson & primeau in a grinder situation and he might be useful. on the second line he'll be a dud.
-lombardi is beyond game-ready. he played much of the night with tanguay, and i can't wait to see them both on a night when iggy dresses. 26 minutes, which is over 50% more than playfair was giving him last year. ie: keenan loves'im and is giving him the opportunity he should've gotten last year [y'know... when he was getting benched]...
-d.boyd looked average.
-aucoin looked fairly comfortable paired with phaneuf, even though he began the game (to my surprise) paired with regehr. it's early, but if he continues on this level, [31 minutes on the ice] i don't think we'll miss hamrlik much...
- ramholt played a decent game with our reggie.
- david hale surprised me by making a few good hits and maintaining better than average positionning.
- yelle wears the #7 well.
god, i can't wait for game #2. mostly to see what tomi mäki can do in a game setting...
:)
Kris Chucko.
sorry, man but you are a total waste of all the time and energy invested by the calgary flames organization. i realize that i was totally wrong last year about davey moss, with this baby flames award, but i can't honestly forsee your career turning out the same. you had only 9:00 minutes of icetime, all of which was spent skating far too slowly, passing far too sloppily and looking far too much like a lunkhead. three words for you ? NEVER. GONNA. HAPPEN.
in other post-game news:
-matt keetley got hung out to dry by the rest of his team, and still looked awful sharp. sure, he let in three goals but stopped 31 of 34, 5 of which were seriously decent panther opportunities (including a breakaway and a two-on-none). interestingly, keenan left him in for the full game [i'm wondering what's going on there, to be honest, cause mcelhinney was announced as the starter, but lalande dressed as the backup]. i figure with another year or two of confidence building, keetley will be a superstar. he's got a great glove hand and is quick like kipper... deservedly got the first star tonight...
-owen nolan looked sloppy and slow, but absolutely LEVELLED a guy with about 3 minutes left. i say put him on the ice with any of yelle, nilson & primeau in a grinder situation and he might be useful. on the second line he'll be a dud.
-lombardi is beyond game-ready. he played much of the night with tanguay, and i can't wait to see them both on a night when iggy dresses. 26 minutes, which is over 50% more than playfair was giving him last year. ie: keenan loves'im and is giving him the opportunity he should've gotten last year [y'know... when he was getting benched]...
-d.boyd looked average.
-aucoin looked fairly comfortable paired with phaneuf, even though he began the game (to my surprise) paired with regehr. it's early, but if he continues on this level, [31 minutes on the ice] i don't think we'll miss hamrlik much...
- ramholt played a decent game with our reggie.
- david hale surprised me by making a few good hits and maintaining better than average positionning.
- yelle wears the #7 well.
god, i can't wait for game #2. mostly to see what tomi mäki can do in a game setting...
:)
like huey lewis once said...
"this is it !!"
i'm so very exhausted from nearly a month of work with one day off, and with one more week to go, i figure i can push through. i'm cuttin' out early today, though, cause there's this thing i like to call "a hockey game" to attend... hopefully i can skip out early enough to catch the pre-game skate (unlikely) and the pre-game movie (still a possibility). last year's rip on "Sin City" was kinda lame, so i've got my fingers crossed that they actually hired someone with a respectable portfolio to make these cats look good... i know it'll never be" the state of hockey", but it'd be nice to get an anthem....
anyhow. i'm not sure what the lineup will be tonight. of course i'm hoping my boy mäki will get to take the ice, and i'd like to see a bit more of david van der gulik. i presume boyd will be out there and mcelhinney will play a period and a half (unless krahn's bum knee is feeling better).
poor krahn. his best shot ever at a backup role in the bigs and his knee goes out.
run-down tomorrow. can't wait.
i'm so very exhausted from nearly a month of work with one day off, and with one more week to go, i figure i can push through. i'm cuttin' out early today, though, cause there's this thing i like to call "a hockey game" to attend... hopefully i can skip out early enough to catch the pre-game skate (unlikely) and the pre-game movie (still a possibility). last year's rip on "Sin City" was kinda lame, so i've got my fingers crossed that they actually hired someone with a respectable portfolio to make these cats look good... i know it'll never be" the state of hockey", but it'd be nice to get an anthem....
anyhow. i'm not sure what the lineup will be tonight. of course i'm hoping my boy mäki will get to take the ice, and i'd like to see a bit more of david van der gulik. i presume boyd will be out there and mcelhinney will play a period and a half (unless krahn's bum knee is feeling better).
poor krahn. his best shot ever at a backup role in the bigs and his knee goes out.
run-down tomorrow. can't wait.
Thursday, September 13, 2007
damn you, murphy !!!
played hookey from work.
drove to the 'dome.
9am skate: cancelled.
totally my luck.
;)
see y'all on SUNDAY !!!
drove to the 'dome.
9am skate: cancelled.
totally my luck.
;)
see y'all on SUNDAY !!!
Monday, September 10, 2007
fyi
1. tomi mäki scored a goal today in the red v. black scrimmage.
2. tomi mäki did not accept me as a friend on facebook. he cannot possibly know that i am his biggest supporter...
C2I: tell him that your pal WI is his biggest supporter. and if he doesn't believe you, get him to ask anyone in the blogosphere. and then get him to score more goals...
;)
2. tomi mäki did not accept me as a friend on facebook. he cannot possibly know that i am his biggest supporter...
C2I: tell him that your pal WI is his biggest supporter. and if he doesn't believe you, get him to ask anyone in the blogosphere. and then get him to score more goals...
;)
Friday, September 7, 2007
to commemorate the 07/08 season....
jason got this:
okay, so it's really not to commemorate anything but it's a kickass version of a sacred heart. it's not done yet, but that's a hellofalotta work in one sitting, i must say.... ;)
for all of my blogosphere buddies, i just want you all to know that i love hockey. and YOU love hockey. but jason ? that dude's got it baaaaaad for hockey...
;)
okay, so it's really not to commemorate anything but it's a kickass version of a sacred heart. it's not done yet, but that's a hellofalotta work in one sitting, i must say.... ;)
for all of my blogosphere buddies, i just want you all to know that i love hockey. and YOU love hockey. but jason ? that dude's got it baaaaaad for hockey...
;)
Wednesday, September 5, 2007
rookie camp...
....and dayum am i gonna miss it.
i'm looking at the schedule, and MY schedule and i'm not even remotely convinced i'll make it out for even an hour. and i'm terribly depressed about it. but i'm HOPING that C2I or leanne can make it and then tell me (US ??) all about it...
with the devastating loss of taratukhin, i'm decidedly hopeful about the possibility of david van der gulik. while i thought the former might look pretty sweet in a playmaking role (a la huselius), the latter should fit nicely with guys like yelle, nilson, nolan, or primeau...
oh, and i'm still hoping that my main man tomi mäki can make the big squad. fingers crossed for my (second ?) favorite finn...
who will award the dreamcrusher ??!?!
:)
i'm looking at the schedule, and MY schedule and i'm not even remotely convinced i'll make it out for even an hour. and i'm terribly depressed about it. but i'm HOPING that C2I or leanne can make it and then tell me (US ??) all about it...
with the devastating loss of taratukhin, i'm decidedly hopeful about the possibility of david van der gulik. while i thought the former might look pretty sweet in a playmaking role (a la huselius), the latter should fit nicely with guys like yelle, nilson, nolan, or primeau...
oh, and i'm still hoping that my main man tomi mäki can make the big squad. fingers crossed for my (second ?) favorite finn...
who will award the dreamcrusher ??!?!
:)
Tuesday, September 4, 2007
new UNIFORM good LORD !!!
so here's the thing. i was so focussed on the jersey that i didn't even consider the rest of the uniform. when i saw that the jersey was actually acceptable, i went back to work and thought very little upon the subject, perfectly content until jason mentioned that some teams (such as the blues, it is rumoured) would be spiffing up their breezers. so i took a closer look at the 'jersey unveiling' here at flames central, and was....well, unsure about the bottom half.
until jason forwarded me this gem:
oh my lord, lombo looks like he's headed to the freakin' circus. WHY SO MANY G@#!DAMN STRIPES ?!?!?
the jersey's fine. the socks are average. the breezers are worse than the canucks jersey... i'm depressed...
discuss...
until jason forwarded me this gem:
oh my lord, lombo looks like he's headed to the freakin' circus. WHY SO MANY G@#!DAMN STRIPES ?!?!?
the jersey's fine. the socks are average. the breezers are worse than the canucks jersey... i'm depressed...
discuss...
new jersey
if i had time, i would write a helluvalot more... this post will change as the day rolls along....
re: the new flames jersey---
i don't mind it, actually. unfortunately, i think the alberta flag is a slap in the face to the rest of canada, though, as it seems to somehow flaunt our current state of riches (aka: prosperity cheques). the maple leaf is a good addition on any canadian team jersey, in my opinon, especially a red one... i wish those shoulder patches were a bit smaller, though, cause they look like they were purchased at M.E.C for the backpacks of euro travellers...
in seeing what some of the other teams have done to their logos/jerseys, i'm pretty stoked with the way the flames have left ours. i think i like the black(home) and red(away) piping towards the sides and i'm unoffended by the stripes under the arms. i hate the new vancouver jersey & the new boston logo sucks, so i'm glad to be somewhere in the happy range, here.
there's some talk that a lot of teams will go back to striping on the side of the breezers, and i wonder if calgary will buy into that nonsense, or stick with the solid black of the last era. hopefully the latter...
****UPDATE: the flames went all out with the stripes, so instead of being sleek and streamlined from the waist down, they look a little like they got mauled by the vancouver canucks jersey of old (the flying V). and/or a wee bit too close to a german national team... oh, god, how STRIPEY !!!! :(
additionally, i'm not really sure how conroy became the flames poster boy, but i would have preferred lombo. is lombo too busy (read: pretty) ? i would think that somewhere in his five-year deal, iginla must have signed up to be the "face of the flames," and i'm therefore totally stumped how he came to get the day off...
*****UPDATE: apparently lombo WAS at the unveiling, as was dion... no sign of iggy. what's up with THAT ??!
in related (yet cryptic) news, can someone please tell me if entourage season 3 is out on dvd ??? someone said it was, i said it wasn't, with dinner on the line. ;)
re: the new flames jersey---
i don't mind it, actually. unfortunately, i think the alberta flag is a slap in the face to the rest of canada, though, as it seems to somehow flaunt our current state of riches (aka: prosperity cheques). the maple leaf is a good addition on any canadian team jersey, in my opinon, especially a red one... i wish those shoulder patches were a bit smaller, though, cause they look like they were purchased at M.E.C for the backpacks of euro travellers...
in seeing what some of the other teams have done to their logos/jerseys, i'm pretty stoked with the way the flames have left ours. i think i like the black(home) and red(away) piping towards the sides and i'm unoffended by the stripes under the arms. i hate the new vancouver jersey & the new boston logo sucks, so i'm glad to be somewhere in the happy range, here.
there's some talk that a lot of teams will go back to striping on the side of the breezers, and i wonder if calgary will buy into that nonsense, or stick with the solid black of the last era. hopefully the latter...
****UPDATE: the flames went all out with the stripes, so instead of being sleek and streamlined from the waist down, they look a little like they got mauled by the vancouver canucks jersey of old (the flying V). and/or a wee bit too close to a german national team... oh, god, how STRIPEY !!!! :(
additionally, i'm not really sure how conroy became the flames poster boy, but i would have preferred lombo. is lombo too busy (read: pretty) ? i would think that somewhere in his five-year deal, iginla must have signed up to be the "face of the flames," and i'm therefore totally stumped how he came to get the day off...
*****UPDATE: apparently lombo WAS at the unveiling, as was dion... no sign of iggy. what's up with THAT ??!
in related (yet cryptic) news, can someone please tell me if entourage season 3 is out on dvd ??? someone said it was, i said it wasn't, with dinner on the line. ;)
fingers crossed
the countdown begins:
3 hours till the jersey unveiling...
uhhhhhh gaawwwd i'm nervous.
:)
3 hours till the jersey unveiling...
uhhhhhh gaawwwd i'm nervous.
:)
Sunday, September 2, 2007
spotted
i shook hands with two NHLers tonight on 17th avenue; both were really nice guys when i stopped to say hello. one is a former flame, noticeably not sporting his recent stanley cup ring. the other is easily the sharpest dresser in the league who was standing outside gravity pope hackin' a dart.
'nuff said.
'nuff said.
what's up, russia ?
less than a week after calgary flames' youngster marc giordano signs with dynamo moscow, rumours are flying that our #1 prospect, andrei taratukhin, will also play next year in the motherland. while i find this news utterly devastating, i'm starting to see that the NHL isn't what it used to be.
with new cap regulations, it's looking like the younger players and past-prime veterans are realizing there is money to be made elsewhere. it's these 'mid-level' players who seem no longer satisfied with 2-way contracts and infrequent big league icetime, and are weighing other options. infact, there are some pretty decent NHL players crossing the pond to play in russia this year.
if i'm not mistaken, the following players are due to join the russian superleague next year:
- yashin (like, duh)
- gio
- oleg tverdovsky
- stanislav chistov
- nils ekman
- oleg saprykin
- alex perezhogin
- alex suglobov
- jamie "chopper" "noodles" mclennan
and others still are rumoured to follow
- Danny Markov
- Taratukhin
is this just the beginning ? will the russian league's inflated salaries draw more elite players in the next years ?
interesting....
In other news, brandon prust is out for camp due to recent hip surgery. that, coupled with the potential departure of tukhs, leaves tomi mäki in a pretty sweet position to nab the 12th roster spot... he just needs to take out DVDG ;)
with new cap regulations, it's looking like the younger players and past-prime veterans are realizing there is money to be made elsewhere. it's these 'mid-level' players who seem no longer satisfied with 2-way contracts and infrequent big league icetime, and are weighing other options. infact, there are some pretty decent NHL players crossing the pond to play in russia this year.
if i'm not mistaken, the following players are due to join the russian superleague next year:
- yashin (like, duh)
- gio
- oleg tverdovsky
- stanislav chistov
- nils ekman
- oleg saprykin
- alex perezhogin
- alex suglobov
- jamie "chopper" "noodles" mclennan
and others still are rumoured to follow
- Danny Markov
- Taratukhin
is this just the beginning ? will the russian league's inflated salaries draw more elite players in the next years ?
interesting....
In other news, brandon prust is out for camp due to recent hip surgery. that, coupled with the potential departure of tukhs, leaves tomi mäki in a pretty sweet position to nab the 12th roster spot... he just needs to take out DVDG ;)
Tuesday, August 28, 2007
Friday, August 24, 2007
jersey numbers update
head over to flames daily to check out the new flames jersey numbers, announced today.
no surprise to anyone who pondered the topic (ie: me and conroytoiginla) that yeller has, infact, returned 11 to o'no. sandbox is definitely a standup guy. i hope he got an all-expenses paid vacation out of it...
;)
overlooked by C2I, in his list, was that david moss is taking on mccarty's #25. those are some big ol' skates to fill for our favorite (read: only) sophomore...
watch out for #27. oh, and #57 !!!!!
[sébastien !!!! where to i get to read YOUR blog ?!??!]
no surprise to anyone who pondered the topic (ie: me and conroytoiginla) that yeller has, infact, returned 11 to o'no. sandbox is definitely a standup guy. i hope he got an all-expenses paid vacation out of it...
;)
overlooked by C2I, in his list, was that david moss is taking on mccarty's #25. those are some big ol' skates to fill for our favorite (read: only) sophomore...
watch out for #27. oh, and #57 !!!!!
[sébastien !!!! where to i get to read YOUR blog ?!??!]
Thursday, August 23, 2007
oilers suck
an excerpt from a text message i received last night:
"...sitting with steve staios of the oilers. :) he says hello."
uh hunh, sure he does....
either way, tell him he's gonna get his ass handed to him next year by the redhot boys down south...
[i'm getting AMPED for the season to start, heading back to calgary tonight for a job or three and keeping my fingers crossed that they won't encroach on my intended rookie camp viewing....]
"...sitting with steve staios of the oilers. :) he says hello."
uh hunh, sure he does....
either way, tell him he's gonna get his ass handed to him next year by the redhot boys down south...
[i'm getting AMPED for the season to start, heading back to calgary tonight for a job or three and keeping my fingers crossed that they won't encroach on my intended rookie camp viewing....]
Monday, August 6, 2007
new banner
it's a bit tardy, sure. but i've been busy and there's not much hockey news right now for me to yap about. so, yeah, it's long overdue, but this is my shoutout and kudos to jason from disquiet design for making the coolest logo ever:
the skull and cross-hockey-sticks is puuuure me, and the #44 [and the diamond around it] refers not to niinimaa or warrener (or bertuzzi or souray or pronger, for that matter), but instead to the david blaine incident and my newest tattoo.
so, a huge huge thank you to jason for knowing me, my style, my interests, my passions, and the password to my blog account. ;) the bone detail on the ends of the sticks kills me. love it. it's tooooo rad....
the skull and cross-hockey-sticks is puuuure me, and the #44 [and the diamond around it] refers not to niinimaa or warrener (or bertuzzi or souray or pronger, for that matter), but instead to the david blaine incident and my newest tattoo.
so, a huge huge thank you to jason for knowing me, my style, my interests, my passions, and the password to my blog account. ;) the bone detail on the ends of the sticks kills me. love it. it's tooooo rad....
Wednesday, August 1, 2007
breaking news out of nashville...
looks like the preds are gonna stay after all... some interesting stuff coming out of the music city today, actually. like the biggest threat to the team staying put has signed on as a minority owner or whatnot. i dunno. my mole (aka: the cutest belle in the south) sent me a nice email suggesting as much. i'm sure all the news networks'll have all the deets momentarily, if they don't already.
:)
:)
Sunday, July 29, 2007
this thing is faulty
i thought it would be amusing to "find out the film rating" for my blog, mostly because i think i have the pottiest mouth of all my blogmates, but also because my mum thinks i could be a "real writer" if i toned down the sailor-talk.
well, apparently i've been a good girl lately since NO BAD WORDS were found when i did my test. it seems as though the following words are a-okay for kids of all ages:
-freakin'
-shaggin'
-doin' it
-underage drinking
-shit-disturber
-half-assed
-drills (just kiddin')
so there you go. while ST and MG get PG & PG 13 ratings, i skulk away with a G.
well, apparently i've been a good girl lately since NO BAD WORDS were found when i did my test. it seems as though the following words are a-okay for kids of all ages:
-freakin'
-shaggin'
-doin' it
-underage drinking
-shit-disturber
-half-assed
-drills (just kiddin')
so there you go. while ST and MG get PG & PG 13 ratings, i skulk away with a G.
Friday, July 27, 2007
when will the madness end ??!
it used to be that the hollywood celebs mixed purely with the NBA allstars and NFL quarterbacks, but now there's a new wave of bratpackers mixin' it up with the NHL boys.
first it was elisha cuthbert and sean avery (still goin' strong).
then it was paris's tryst with jose theodore.
and now we've got former american idol contestant kellie pickler doin' it with jordan tootoo AND hilary FREAKIN' duff shaggin' mike FREAKIN comrie....
*sigh*
;)
first it was elisha cuthbert and sean avery (still goin' strong).
then it was paris's tryst with jose theodore.
and now we've got former american idol contestant kellie pickler doin' it with jordan tootoo AND hilary FREAKIN' duff shaggin' mike FREAKIN comrie....
*sigh*
;)
Thursday, July 26, 2007
run, forrest !! RUUUUNN !!!
a bachelor party gone bad.
the recent staal brothers' situation sounds like it's come straight out of one of those movies, where you have that sinking feeling in your gut that something reeeally bad's gonna happen --and then it does. read it for yourself. my favorite part is where they get busted for running off into the woods (though the underage drinking bit is also wickely amusing)...
;)
for old times sake, a videoprint of jordy from that olympic GM spot i keep yappin' about. it was straight, but i couldn't be bothered to re-scan it....
the end.
the recent staal brothers' situation sounds like it's come straight out of one of those movies, where you have that sinking feeling in your gut that something reeeally bad's gonna happen --and then it does. read it for yourself. my favorite part is where they get busted for running off into the woods (though the underage drinking bit is also wickely amusing)...
;)
the end.
Saturday, July 21, 2007
ciao, noodles
word on the street is that noodles (aka chopper) has signed on to play in russia... which kinda makes me think his presence at prospect camp in calgary was simply for lack of something better to do....
:(
:(
tomi mäki: the info
yesterday, in response to my post announcing that my favorite baby flame had been (finally) re-signed, duncan wrote:
How come you never include a Maki picture with these entries so everyone can better understand why he's so great? Honestly, I don't even know what he looks like.
well, the truth is, i don't even know why i think mäki is so great, aside from the obvious WI reasons (he's a finn, his name is really fun to spell, and his nickname is "tomppa"). i just know that in rookie camp, i loved him, in the way that he reminded me a bit of a guy like theoren fleury.... and following that week, i said the following in my awards to the baby flames:
Fastest skater, most underrated player, hardest hitter, biggest shit-disturber, best grinder (according to me): Tomi Mäki.
'nuff said. i love this guy.
-09/11/06
i thought that he played that exact same style and with the same intensity in his only NHL appearance; december 12/07 against the minnesota wild... to argue anyone that thought it was just my opinion, the flames players gave my boy mäki the all business tie at the conclusion of that victory... the guy was playing on the fourth line with mccarty and lundmark, and came away with 11 minutes of icetime.... a solid solid outing.
any other information on the guy would require learning finnish. which is totally and completely unlikely at this point (have you SEEN finnish ???). i was trying to get some juicy bits for this post, and came across an article that i started translating online... :
Mikä on naisihanteesi ja onko sinulla tyttöystävää?
- Sellanen helmi. Ei oo tyttöä tällä hetkellä.
i think it means:
that is ___________ and is it ___________ girlfriend ?
- __________ pearl. no _____ girl at this moment.
aw. he's so sweet.
;)
anyhow, for duncan ---here's what the dude looks like:
How come you never include a Maki picture with these entries so everyone can better understand why he's so great? Honestly, I don't even know what he looks like.
well, the truth is, i don't even know why i think mäki is so great, aside from the obvious WI reasons (he's a finn, his name is really fun to spell, and his nickname is "tomppa"). i just know that in rookie camp, i loved him, in the way that he reminded me a bit of a guy like theoren fleury.... and following that week, i said the following in my awards to the baby flames:
Fastest skater, most underrated player, hardest hitter, biggest shit-disturber, best grinder (according to me): Tomi Mäki.
'nuff said. i love this guy.
-09/11/06
i thought that he played that exact same style and with the same intensity in his only NHL appearance; december 12/07 against the minnesota wild... to argue anyone that thought it was just my opinion, the flames players gave my boy mäki the all business tie at the conclusion of that victory... the guy was playing on the fourth line with mccarty and lundmark, and came away with 11 minutes of icetime.... a solid solid outing.
any other information on the guy would require learning finnish. which is totally and completely unlikely at this point (have you SEEN finnish ???). i was trying to get some juicy bits for this post, and came across an article that i started translating online... :
Mikä on naisihanteesi ja onko sinulla tyttöystävää?
- Sellanen helmi. Ei oo tyttöä tällä hetkellä.
i think it means:
that is ___________ and is it ___________ girlfriend ?
- __________ pearl. no _____ girl at this moment.
aw. he's so sweet.
;)
anyhow, for duncan ---here's what the dude looks like:
Friday, July 20, 2007
thankyou thankyou thankyou
word on the street is that my boy tomi mäki has been re-signed to a one-year deal.
WI takes a deep breath, grins, and starts to get excited about which team sutter will trade mäki to, so she can get to watch him play this year....
WI takes a deep breath, grins, and starts to get excited about which team sutter will trade mäki to, so she can get to watch him play this year....
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
flames prospect camp day 2: updated
here's the pic from the calgary herald report on prospect camp:
here's the pic my parents took off the ctv sports story on prospect camp:
(that'd be me on the right...)
;)
here's the pic my parents took off the ctv sports story on prospect camp:
(that'd be me on the right...)
;)
flames prospect camp day 2
so i was gonna head out early but i am truly terrible at mornings. after hitting my alarm a couple times (i'm supposed to be enjoying this hockey thing, so why make it feel like WORK ??!) and stopping at tim's for the large double double, i arrived at the DHA about 11:15. i grinned to myself as i walked in, zipped up my hoody, and took a seat about eight feet to the left of mike keenan, who was sitting with darryl sutter.
i think it only proper to point out that darryl has either been basking in all this stampede sunniness, or has recently returned from some beach vacation. you could hit fabutan for weeks and still not be that dark... at least he was wearing comfortable footwear, though... keenan was sportin' some seriously hideous dress shoes.
GROUP B was still warming up when i got there, but when they started on drills, it seemed clear to me that sutter spent the first bit checking out taratukhin. i mean, i was trying not to stare but he was acutely interested in the lateral skating & shooting that was happening at the south end of the ice, and thus watching any/all of tukhs, seitsonen, cracknell and lalande. i would think that, due to their apparent advanced skills and experience (along with their presence at the goalie practice yesterday) those are the GROUP B guys to watch.
i tried really hard to overhear their conversations but it was tough with all the skating, post-hitting, slapshotting, and pad-saving --coupled with the fact that sutter ain't the loudest of talkers at the best of times. some suit (with a really nice old briefcase) sat down with them for a bit, and at one point said "he's number 27" and pointed at taratukhin. i can only imagine the question was something to the effect of "which one is the russian ?" or "where's that guy darryl thinks so highly of ?" again, adding to my theory that tukhs will probably end up with a good chance to make the big team. the only other notable comment i heard was keenan pronouncing that his "wife is excited to be here."
other GROUP B notables were:
- all the defensemen (palin, jonsson, pardy, negrin, cole) looked quite solid, big & fast
- seitsonen is sizey and has good hands, but ain't the best skater
- playfair has returned to the goatee
i didn't stick around for much of the GROUP A practice, as it was all skating drills. dan ryder and tim ramholt were noticeably absent, though apparently attended the morning session. it was nice to see prust & boyd, and i must admit that van der gulik looks pretty sharp and could also really contend for a spot come october. boyd looked a bit lazy/half-assed and i don't think it was just me --the on-ice coach was riding him pretty hard... the buzz is that ramholt will be the emerging defenseman this year since richie regehr appears to be playing in europe.
i didn't really see enough to give out any prizes, save for the inaugural "look at me look at me" award which goes to JD watt: not only did he hit an edge and tumble at full tilt (causing sutter to exclaim loudly "OOPS !!!"), but a wayward puck off his stick missed sutter and keenan by mere feet (they both ducked).
****OHYEAH and i was chatting a bit with some guy who had also attended both days, and it turns out that he also had to ask for the 12-pager on monday. therefore i take back everything i said about that guy handing em out, since he was withholding them from any non-press looking folks. i was just the last to pick up on it....
i think it only proper to point out that darryl has either been basking in all this stampede sunniness, or has recently returned from some beach vacation. you could hit fabutan for weeks and still not be that dark... at least he was wearing comfortable footwear, though... keenan was sportin' some seriously hideous dress shoes.
GROUP B was still warming up when i got there, but when they started on drills, it seemed clear to me that sutter spent the first bit checking out taratukhin. i mean, i was trying not to stare but he was acutely interested in the lateral skating & shooting that was happening at the south end of the ice, and thus watching any/all of tukhs, seitsonen, cracknell and lalande. i would think that, due to their apparent advanced skills and experience (along with their presence at the goalie practice yesterday) those are the GROUP B guys to watch.
i tried really hard to overhear their conversations but it was tough with all the skating, post-hitting, slapshotting, and pad-saving --coupled with the fact that sutter ain't the loudest of talkers at the best of times. some suit (with a really nice old briefcase) sat down with them for a bit, and at one point said "he's number 27" and pointed at taratukhin. i can only imagine the question was something to the effect of "which one is the russian ?" or "where's that guy darryl thinks so highly of ?" again, adding to my theory that tukhs will probably end up with a good chance to make the big team. the only other notable comment i heard was keenan pronouncing that his "wife is excited to be here."
other GROUP B notables were:
- all the defensemen (palin, jonsson, pardy, negrin, cole) looked quite solid, big & fast
- seitsonen is sizey and has good hands, but ain't the best skater
- playfair has returned to the goatee
i didn't stick around for much of the GROUP A practice, as it was all skating drills. dan ryder and tim ramholt were noticeably absent, though apparently attended the morning session. it was nice to see prust & boyd, and i must admit that van der gulik looks pretty sharp and could also really contend for a spot come october. boyd looked a bit lazy/half-assed and i don't think it was just me --the on-ice coach was riding him pretty hard... the buzz is that ramholt will be the emerging defenseman this year since richie regehr appears to be playing in europe.
i didn't really see enough to give out any prizes, save for the inaugural "look at me look at me" award which goes to JD watt: not only did he hit an edge and tumble at full tilt (causing sutter to exclaim loudly "OOPS !!!"), but a wayward puck off his stick missed sutter and keenan by mere feet (they both ducked).
****OHYEAH and i was chatting a bit with some guy who had also attended both days, and it turns out that he also had to ask for the 12-pager on monday. therefore i take back everything i said about that guy handing em out, since he was withholding them from any non-press looking folks. i was just the last to pick up on it....
Monday, July 16, 2007
flames prospect camp day 1
on my way home from the don hartman arena/NE sportsplex decided i would write this post in order of interest/importance, but i think now that it makes more sense to go chronologically.
first off, it's apparently been a helluva long time since i've driven mcknight blvd eastbound past barlow.... like... since when is 36th street north from there called métis trail (and since when does 36th street count as a TRAIL, in the vein of deerfoot, sarcee, shaganappi or blackfoot ??!?!). but i digress...
i arrived early and decided to read my recently acquired copy of "the nerve" magazine, which has pride tiger on the cover. this is only pertinent because i think jamie mclennan would really dig pride tiger, and i was pleasantly surprised to him walk through the arena's concourse area while i was reading about them... he was carrying a bunch of sticks with the equipment manager (??), and although i didn't see him after that, i'm kinda hopeful that our noodles (aka: "chopper") might have a future on the calgary flames coaching staff... y'know, cause he seems like such a great dude. kevin lalande also passed by and i'm devastated to say that the guy wears white tube socks with flipflops...
minutes after entering the viewing area rinkside, some corporate flames guy came through and handed out roster sheets. at least, i thought he was only handing out roster sheets (since that's all he offered to me) until i looked around and realized that all of the 11-or-so other people (read: male spectators/media) had recieved 12-page photocopied and stapled booklets, with a really nice colour-copied cover that reads "2007 Calgary Flames Development Camp July 16-22, 2007." it's got specific camp times & info, prospect photos & stats, lineup info by group, # & alphabetically, big club stats & coaching stats and a flames season schedule... i know this because i went over and very politely asked for the complete package, as opposed to the "chick page." [okay, i didn't really vocalize that, but HELL if i didn't want to....] suffice it to say i'm still pissed off about it... and people WONDER why women are so effin' disinterested in hockey, when we get treated like puck bunnies.... *sigh*
moving on...
the goalies took the ice first: keetley, irving, lalonde & james spratt. they did a few drills with david marcoux before the 7 skaters came out of the dressing room: taratukhin, ramholt, seitsonen, cracknell, carpentier, puustinen and david "post" van der gulik. i spent most of the day watching the ice's north end, where tukhs, ramholt & VDG were taking shots, mostly because they seem to be the most likely of the attendees to make the big club, but also because they seemed to be having the most fun. i suppose i could do some research to find out for sure, but i wouldn't be surprised if VDG & tukhs played on the same line last year. they seemed to have a good sense of each other and celebrated the more hard-earned goals with raised sticks and huge smiles....
taratukhin, from the hour and a half i watched him play today, will definitely contend for a big-flames roster spot next year. in rookie camp last year, my biggest beef with the guy was his skating ability --which looks to have improved significantly in the past ten months. he also seems much more comfortable on the ice; he's got the patience of huselius and the finesse of a guy like forsberg. the dude loves the deke... once the main practice was done, and marcoux was chatting with the goalies in the corner, taratukhin & ramholt ran a few of their own drills --one of which involved ramholt (a defenseman) shooting the long bomb from behind the icing line, to taratukhin who would take the pass onside skating full tilt... he was pretty much the last guy off the ice, staying behind to flick all the pucks back into the bucket...
the goalies weren't bad, either. i was really surprised by keetley, as he seemed the most advanced and has a lightning fast, kipper-like glove hand. all around, he seemed more solid today than our leland, who was sporting new red-and-white pads. don't get me wrong, irv looked very comfortable and was quite vocal --and maybe it was an off day for him (or maybe taratukhin's just got a mad good shot)-- but he looked like he might have some blocker side weakness and a gaping five-hole.... buuuuuuut he's come a long way from his nerdy draft pics, and looks like he's gonna be a stunner... [hey, i can love the sport of hockey and still note the guy's potential to be a looker, can't i ???]. spratt and lalonde showed some decent skill as well.
that's it for today, kiddies. kyle ? mg ? i think you guys should show tomorrow just for a bit. the rest of the week looks like this:
group A 9am & 12:30pm
group B 11am & 3:15pm
goalies 8:30 & 10:30.
no idea when i'll go, but probably 1130 or noonish (since it's totally unlikely i'll be up for 9).
GROUP A: tukhs, seitsonen, cracknell, carpentier, sutter, lalande etc.
GROUP B: boyd, chuko, ryder, VDG, prust, ramholt, irv, keets etc.
l-r: puustinen, carpentier, seitsonen, irving, lalande, taratukhin, spratt, ramholt
first off, it's apparently been a helluva long time since i've driven mcknight blvd eastbound past barlow.... like... since when is 36th street north from there called métis trail (and since when does 36th street count as a TRAIL, in the vein of deerfoot, sarcee, shaganappi or blackfoot ??!?!). but i digress...
i arrived early and decided to read my recently acquired copy of "the nerve" magazine, which has pride tiger on the cover. this is only pertinent because i think jamie mclennan would really dig pride tiger, and i was pleasantly surprised to him walk through the arena's concourse area while i was reading about them... he was carrying a bunch of sticks with the equipment manager (??), and although i didn't see him after that, i'm kinda hopeful that our noodles (aka: "chopper") might have a future on the calgary flames coaching staff... y'know, cause he seems like such a great dude. kevin lalande also passed by and i'm devastated to say that the guy wears white tube socks with flipflops...
minutes after entering the viewing area rinkside, some corporate flames guy came through and handed out roster sheets. at least, i thought he was only handing out roster sheets (since that's all he offered to me) until i looked around and realized that all of the 11-or-so other people (read: male spectators/media) had recieved 12-page photocopied and stapled booklets, with a really nice colour-copied cover that reads "2007 Calgary Flames Development Camp July 16-22, 2007." it's got specific camp times & info, prospect photos & stats, lineup info by group, # & alphabetically, big club stats & coaching stats and a flames season schedule... i know this because i went over and very politely asked for the complete package, as opposed to the "chick page." [okay, i didn't really vocalize that, but HELL if i didn't want to....] suffice it to say i'm still pissed off about it... and people WONDER why women are so effin' disinterested in hockey, when we get treated like puck bunnies.... *sigh*
moving on...
the goalies took the ice first: keetley, irving, lalonde & james spratt. they did a few drills with david marcoux before the 7 skaters came out of the dressing room: taratukhin, ramholt, seitsonen, cracknell, carpentier, puustinen and david "post" van der gulik. i spent most of the day watching the ice's north end, where tukhs, ramholt & VDG were taking shots, mostly because they seem to be the most likely of the attendees to make the big club, but also because they seemed to be having the most fun. i suppose i could do some research to find out for sure, but i wouldn't be surprised if VDG & tukhs played on the same line last year. they seemed to have a good sense of each other and celebrated the more hard-earned goals with raised sticks and huge smiles....
taratukhin, from the hour and a half i watched him play today, will definitely contend for a big-flames roster spot next year. in rookie camp last year, my biggest beef with the guy was his skating ability --which looks to have improved significantly in the past ten months. he also seems much more comfortable on the ice; he's got the patience of huselius and the finesse of a guy like forsberg. the dude loves the deke... once the main practice was done, and marcoux was chatting with the goalies in the corner, taratukhin & ramholt ran a few of their own drills --one of which involved ramholt (a defenseman) shooting the long bomb from behind the icing line, to taratukhin who would take the pass onside skating full tilt... he was pretty much the last guy off the ice, staying behind to flick all the pucks back into the bucket...
the goalies weren't bad, either. i was really surprised by keetley, as he seemed the most advanced and has a lightning fast, kipper-like glove hand. all around, he seemed more solid today than our leland, who was sporting new red-and-white pads. don't get me wrong, irv looked very comfortable and was quite vocal --and maybe it was an off day for him (or maybe taratukhin's just got a mad good shot)-- but he looked like he might have some blocker side weakness and a gaping five-hole.... buuuuuuut he's come a long way from his nerdy draft pics, and looks like he's gonna be a stunner... [hey, i can love the sport of hockey and still note the guy's potential to be a looker, can't i ???]. spratt and lalonde showed some decent skill as well.
that's it for today, kiddies. kyle ? mg ? i think you guys should show tomorrow just for a bit. the rest of the week looks like this:
group A 9am & 12:30pm
group B 11am & 3:15pm
goalies 8:30 & 10:30.
no idea when i'll go, but probably 1130 or noonish (since it's totally unlikely i'll be up for 9).
GROUP A: tukhs, seitsonen, cracknell, carpentier, sutter, lalande etc.
GROUP B: boyd, chuko, ryder, VDG, prust, ramholt, irv, keets etc.
l-r: puustinen, carpentier, seitsonen, irving, lalande, taratukhin, spratt, ramholt
Sunday, July 15, 2007
i'm so souray...
if you don't like spending almost 9 minutes sitting through painfully uncomfortable interviews, then i don't recommend watching this. on the other hand, if you have any interest in watching the pride of the edmonton oilers, sheldon souray, dodge ridiculous questions/insinuations/flirtations, i urge you to find the time.
it's an oldy but a goody (i may have posted it previously but can't be bothered to look back that far).
it's an oldy but a goody (i may have posted it previously but can't be bothered to look back that far).
Friday, July 13, 2007
who's comin ???
(from calgaryflames.com)
Calgary, AB - The Calgary Flames will be hosting their annual development camp for prospects beginning on Monday, July 16th at the Don Hartman North East Sportsplex.
The purpose of the camp is to enhance each player’s development process through direction on conditioning, power skating sessions and familiarity with the Flames organization.
All on-ice sessions are open to the public.
On-ice sessions begin around 9 a.m. MT Tuesday through Saturday and end at 3 p.m. MT Monday's goalie session begins at 1:30 p.m. MT
Players Attending the Professional Development Camp:
Goaltenders
Leland Irving
Matt Keetley
Kevin Lalande
James Spratt
Defencemen
Keith Aulie
Gord Baldwin
Brad Cole
Per Jonsson
John Negrin
Brett Palin
Adam Pardy
Matt Pelech
Tim Ramholt
Forwards
John Armstrong
Dustin Boyd
Hugo Carpentier
Kris Chucko
Derek Couture
Adam Cracknell
Cam Cunning
Devin Didiomete
Ryan Donally
Jordan Fulton
Aaron Marvin
Brandon Prust
Jusso Puustinen
Mikey Renaud
Dan Ryder
Aki Seitsonen
CJ Severyn
Brett Sutter
Andrei Taratukhin
David Van Der Gulik
JD Watt
Calgary, AB - The Calgary Flames will be hosting their annual development camp for prospects beginning on Monday, July 16th at the Don Hartman North East Sportsplex.
The purpose of the camp is to enhance each player’s development process through direction on conditioning, power skating sessions and familiarity with the Flames organization.
All on-ice sessions are open to the public.
On-ice sessions begin around 9 a.m. MT Tuesday through Saturday and end at 3 p.m. MT Monday's goalie session begins at 1:30 p.m. MT
Players Attending the Professional Development Camp:
Goaltenders
Leland Irving
Matt Keetley
Kevin Lalande
James Spratt
Defencemen
Keith Aulie
Gord Baldwin
Brad Cole
Per Jonsson
John Negrin
Brett Palin
Adam Pardy
Matt Pelech
Tim Ramholt
Forwards
John Armstrong
Dustin Boyd
Hugo Carpentier
Kris Chucko
Derek Couture
Adam Cracknell
Cam Cunning
Devin Didiomete
Ryan Donally
Jordan Fulton
Aaron Marvin
Brandon Prust
Jusso Puustinen
Mikey Renaud
Dan Ryder
Aki Seitsonen
CJ Severyn
Brett Sutter
Andrei Taratukhin
David Van Der Gulik
JD Watt
Thursday, July 12, 2007
SUTTER DRAMA ALERT
WTF ???!?!??!
okay, if this is pure rumour then no biggie. but word coming out of red deer is that brent sutter is gonna step down (as coach/GM, presumeably) and take the head coaching job with the devils.
WHAT ?
COME AGAIN ??!?!
listen, in the past month i've really come to terms with keenan being the flames bench boss, but BRENT SUTTER ??!?! he could be one of the best coaches in the world, currently.
HOLY CRAPPERS !!!!!
okay, if this is pure rumour then no biggie. but word coming out of red deer is that brent sutter is gonna step down (as coach/GM, presumeably) and take the head coaching job with the devils.
WHAT ?
COME AGAIN ??!?!
listen, in the past month i've really come to terms with keenan being the flames bench boss, but BRENT SUTTER ??!?! he could be one of the best coaches in the world, currently.
HOLY CRAPPERS !!!!!
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
baby flames logo
has anybody noticed this yet ? it was announced about three weeks ago, but DAYUM is that an ugly logo for the quad city flames... i mean, i presumed it would be a flaming Q (if you will) but i didn't expect the Q AND the C. i also didn't expect it to look so... half-assed and just kinda plunked down together (can't you interlock SOMETHING, logo guys ??? or make something kindof semi-transparent ????)... oh, and i CERTAINLY didn't expect them to be in the cup-era 80's red and gold. i figured the new-look sexy black flames would stay on (which, of course, makes me slightly afraid of what the new big club jerseys will look like)...
kinda makes you wish you got an omaha jersey, dunnit ?....
(note: on the flames forums, somebody wrote "The Q looks like a flaming O with a kickstand" which makes me giggle)
kinda makes you wish you got an omaha jersey, dunnit ?....
(note: on the flames forums, somebody wrote "The Q looks like a flaming O with a kickstand" which makes me giggle)
Friday, July 6, 2007
jersey numbers: the fight is on !!!
When Owen Nolan arrived in Toronto in 2003, Nik Antropov (in the midst of his first full year in the bigs) politely and appropriately gave up the #11 to the former Sharks captain. Nolan has worn the double-ones on every jersey he's ever donned in professional hockey: the Nordiques/Avalanche, the Sharks, the Leafs, the Desert Dogs, and each time he's played for Canada including the gold medal winning Olympic team in 2002.
Regardless of his playing history, or Antropov’s youthful gesture, it will be interesting to see if Nolan skates into this year’s training camp with #11 on the backside of his flaming C.
There is definitely a code when it comes to jersey numbers, whether written or not. Teams will occasionally retire jersey numbers of extraordinary players (and Mike Vernon), and no future player on that team will wear it again; exceptional circumstances, such as "unretiring" a number for the son of said player, notwithstanding. In 1999 the NHL retired Wayne Gretzky's #99 league-wide, an honour bestowed only upon one other figure in sporting history: baseball legend Jackie Robinson. The other, unspoken, rule is exemplified by Antropov’s 2003 courtesy; a player with seniority should be given the jersey number he is known for.
Stephane Yelle is a well respected and veteran NHLer, who has worn an "A" for the last few years and #11 for the entirety of his tenure in Calgary. My initial feeling on this subject was that Sandbox would keep his current jersey and Nolan would swallow some pride and select a new number for the first time when he steps on the ice at the Saddledome in September. On second glance, however, it seems that Yelle sported #26 for his first six years in the NHL (with the Avalanche). The reason ? Owen Nolan had already been wearing #11 the four previous years for that franchise. Sure, Nolan and Yelle only laced up their skates together for about 9 games but, as a rookie, Yelle must have had a lot of respect and admiration for a teammate and similar-style player like Nolan. While I am at a loss to find a reason behind Yelle choosing #11 when he arrived in Calgary (aside from the fact that Petrovicky was already wearing #26, prompting a change), it's reasonable to think that the gentlemanly forward will give #11 back to Nolan next season. Complicating the situation, of course, is that fact that #26 is unavailable since Marcus Nilson has been wearing it for years…
Personally, I think Yelle should take #21, so the exact same situation doesn’t occur between Flames newbie Corey Sarich and sophomoric benchwarmer David Hale…
[as a p.s, i would like to point out that this site has some really interesting and useless information on oddball jerseys ---like triple digit jerseys and players who wore #0.]
Regardless of his playing history, or Antropov’s youthful gesture, it will be interesting to see if Nolan skates into this year’s training camp with #11 on the backside of his flaming C.
There is definitely a code when it comes to jersey numbers, whether written or not. Teams will occasionally retire jersey numbers of extraordinary players (and Mike Vernon), and no future player on that team will wear it again; exceptional circumstances, such as "unretiring" a number for the son of said player, notwithstanding. In 1999 the NHL retired Wayne Gretzky's #99 league-wide, an honour bestowed only upon one other figure in sporting history: baseball legend Jackie Robinson. The other, unspoken, rule is exemplified by Antropov’s 2003 courtesy; a player with seniority should be given the jersey number he is known for.
Stephane Yelle is a well respected and veteran NHLer, who has worn an "A" for the last few years and #11 for the entirety of his tenure in Calgary. My initial feeling on this subject was that Sandbox would keep his current jersey and Nolan would swallow some pride and select a new number for the first time when he steps on the ice at the Saddledome in September. On second glance, however, it seems that Yelle sported #26 for his first six years in the NHL (with the Avalanche). The reason ? Owen Nolan had already been wearing #11 the four previous years for that franchise. Sure, Nolan and Yelle only laced up their skates together for about 9 games but, as a rookie, Yelle must have had a lot of respect and admiration for a teammate and similar-style player like Nolan. While I am at a loss to find a reason behind Yelle choosing #11 when he arrived in Calgary (aside from the fact that Petrovicky was already wearing #26, prompting a change), it's reasonable to think that the gentlemanly forward will give #11 back to Nolan next season. Complicating the situation, of course, is that fact that #26 is unavailable since Marcus Nilson has been wearing it for years…
Personally, I think Yelle should take #21, so the exact same situation doesn’t occur between Flames newbie Corey Sarich and sophomoric benchwarmer David Hale…
[as a p.s, i would like to point out that this site has some really interesting and useless information on oddball jerseys ---like triple digit jerseys and players who wore #0.]
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