Thursday, April 26, 2007

dreamcrusher

back in september, i ducked into the chill of the saddledome to check out the rookies at camp. at the end of my evaluations, i handed out "awards" in a post on my regular blogsite, that indirectly led me to starting this one... the first annual "dreamcrusher" award was given to david moss, who (at 24) was one of the oldest on the ice and appeared to have no shot whatsoever to crack the big team.

i've said it once and i'll say it again a thousand times. i was wrong.

although, by the end of the season, i think he looked alot like the guy whos roster spot he took (kobasew), he started out his big-league career really well --scoring some seriously timely goals. i do believe he fell victim to playfair's line juggling.... but that's neither here nor there. the POINT is that my initial impression of the young #58 was not, in fact, out of line. he did actually suck at camp:

"David didn't have a good training camp and didn't make our team. Within a couple of months he was back here and earned the right to be here," said darryl sutter yesterday.

so there. i'm right again.
(though ooohhh sooooo wrong on the rangers & vancouver series.....)

noodles is one of the best goalies in the league !!

check it out ---miikaa plays his ass off for six games, but look who has the best GAA in the playoffs !!!



(thanks to jason for the heads up)

Tuesday, April 24, 2007

it's a crapshoot

well, with the first round out of the way and the flames out of the running, i can take the time to reflect on more than just how shitty they were playing (does anyone else realize that the flames only won two of the last ten games ???).

one thing that never ceases to amuse me is tsn's maggie the monkey, and her pre-series "selections," which she does by spinning a wheel with segments that alternate between the two contesting teams. her claim to fame was that she rode the mighty ducks from round one all the way to the finals in 03. this year, she's 4/8, which is only slightly worse than jeremy roenick's 6/8.

as for the remaining series, here are my (quick) thoughts:

WEST

(1) Detroit vs (5) San Jose
this one's too tight to call, but i cannot wait to see game action. i will say SJ, purely based on goaltending. let's just say that calgary shouldn't have scored so many goals on so few shots.... SJ in 7

(2) Anaheim vs (3) Vancouver
vancouver in 5. partly because i think luongo is stronger than bryzgalov AND giguere, but mostly because i can't effin' stand pronger. (which, in hindsight, is probably why the ducks will meet alfredsson & the sens in the finals). in my books, there is no science in hockey.


EAST

(1) Buffalo vs (6) NY Rangers
this is the series to watch. buffalo should, by all accounts, walk all over the blueshirts, but i don't think it's gonna be that easy. jagr seems to want to play and has a very competent cast of characters around him, one of whom is henrik lundqvist. if this guy is on his game, i think he's better than miller... NYR in 6

(2) New Jersey vs (4) Ottawa
i simply don't think NJ has the firepower to out-score the sens. emery, somehow, looks a little sharper than brodeur. and the amount i hate alfredsson is almost balanced with the amount i love spezz. sens in 5.


with the amount of time i spent agonizing over the flames in the past few months, i have to admit i'm a little out of the loop on the rest of the league. my hockey pool is totally out of reach, now, as i made some errant picks... i just can't wait to see if i'd be more accurate in my series picks if i spun a wheel like a monkey....

Monday, April 23, 2007

hockey... it brings people together...

well, it's the morning after and i have to say i'm feelin' good. i'm countin' down the days till calgary cans playfair and starts a-fresh. i could begin speculation about who should/could be hired as new coach, but it would only make every day that much more painful, knowing jimmy canaryshirt hasn't boxed up his belongings. soon enough, my friends...

[there is also some merit in speculating that sutter should get the axe, too. watching the situation progress in jersey makes the calgary deal that much more frustrating. realistically, however, i wouldn't want darryl to GM for an opposing club... (though, cliff fletcher appears to be out of a job....)]

in the past 18 hours, i've received the following:

12:41am EST: "are you ok ?" (strombo)
9:38 am EST: "Sorry for your loss. I watched it up until the end of the first OT. I could hear Harvey banging his heart out up in the stands..." (jason)
9:39am EST "sorry about your team. now hockey is over, maybe you'll let me take you out for dinner" (dan)
11:19am EST: "sorry about your flamers. they should can playfair." (tanzy)
4:41pm EST: "Sorry your Flames lost. If it's any consolation, Detroit's pretty f*&% good." (glenn)

but the best flames-related greeting i got came last wednesday morning. i was lazing around, trying to turn my clock back around following the nightshooting, and my phone rang. area code: 615. 615 ??? where the hell is 615 ???. it didn't take long to figure out, once the woman started talking, that she was fram tha saath. nashville, to be precise... it was a woman i worked with a year ago ---when the flames were playing the ducks--- and she dug up my number to congratulate me on the flames' game 3 victory.... she's a huge predators fan, so now that we're back in touch, i'm seriously thinkin about a trip down next year. i've always wanted to go to nashville... (specially if forsberg re-signs)...

thanks for thinkin' of me, guys...
x

the end...

my agony over the end of the season was softened by booze and the fact that my pal strombo called the first OT for me over the phone, as i was unable to watch.... a few months ago, he was in LA during a habs-leafs shootout, and i called that one for him. this was proverbial payback. and i have to say that, even though i was convinced the flames would lose, i was grinning like a fool during his play by play of the period...

and when all was said and done after detroit scored in 2OT, i received his text that said "are you OK ?" and i can honestly say i was. cause it's the end of this excrutiating era.
playfair best be gone.
go flames 08, and go rangers 07.

thanks for being around, kids.
sincerely,
walkinvisible

Sunday, April 22, 2007

oh, and btw:

if his ridiculous work as bench boss for the flames doesn't get playfair sacked, the 100K fine to the organization for the final-minute antics in game 5 just might....

check it out, blogmates: our FIRST LOOK AT CURTIS McELHINNEY !!!!!!
:)

[and hey, noodles ---thanks for a great year, buddy. sorry franzen's an ass and clipped you in the face with his stick. i sorta liked your slash. but i guess that makes me a bad person.... x]

so long, and thanks for the memories....

sure, it's premature but i won't want to post this later when i'm drunk and depressed... so here's why i think we're gonna lose tonight:

- today i found a penny, picked it up, then remembered the last time i found a "lucky" penny, and what ensued on the night i met up with duncan and HG at the 'sheaf (ie: flames obliteration at the hands of the OILERS). so i flipped it --heads being a win, tails being a loss. it came up tails. "best two of three," i tell myself... tails again. "third time's a charm," i think. tails. i tossed it on the street, and it came up heads. too little too late, i'm afraid. and that's what i think this game will be. three shite periods with some really good action right at the end.

- i passed no fewer than three flames fans on the street in toronto today. IN TORONTO.... so clearly the world is coming to an end.... one guy in a jersey, one in a hat, and one in a "detroit sucks" tshirt. the dude in the hat was riding a bike, and i smiled as he passed and blurted out (as i'm oft to do) "GO FLAMES GO !!!" his response ? "not this year, unfortunately." guy in the hat, if you're reading this: i couldn't agree with you more...

- i am free tuesday night and would love to meet up with the blogospherians for brews and game-heckling. we're gonna have to pick a different series, i'm afraid.

- i've got huselius and hamrlik in my hockey pool. they've both been sucking since game one, and are sure to be eliminated.

- playfair's a hack (i know this ain't new, but it's still valid).

- i'm heading back to calgary on friday and my pops has seasons.... thereby guaranteeing no second round action....


you think i'm wrong ??
watch.
i'm a slave to my superstitions....

Saturday, April 21, 2007

chew on this:

my brother came up with a couple of doozies re: #7 this afternoon:

new nickname : lazy zyuzin. genius.

new saying: you zyuze, you lose. genius x ∞.

review: game 5

maybe it's a cop-out but it seems to me that every questionable action by anyone in a flaming C (during the game today) can be attributed to having a hack coach. that includes noodles going off the deep end after 18 seconds on the ice, or the continual post-whistle scrums in the last 5 minutes. oh, and the inability to score by anyone EXCEPT ZYUZIN, the plethora of unnecessary penalties (yeah, i'm talking to you tanguay.... warrener), the flat-footed defense etc. etc. etc.

if there is any post-season action to re-sign this idiot, i think ken king might need to sack SUTTER.

on the bright side: lombardi looked pretty good.
everyone else: meh.

detroit in 6. fo rizzle.

GO RANGERS !!!

[just thinking about next year and am devastated to discover that zyuzin is making 1.425 mil in 07/08. CRAP !]

mark my words:

regehr will play tomorrow.
and the flames will lose in 6.

ouch...

i was trying to decide if "embarassing" or "brutal" would be better to describe the flames' play in the 2nd period. i've chosen "brutal" because dan cleary cornered the market on "embarassing" when he slid into the boards with nobody around him, and knocked himself silly.

love those neverending hankerchiefs & squirty flowers, boys.

playfair, you absolute fucking chump, you. i cannot wait till next year when we have a real coach.

GO RANGERS !!!!

Friday, April 20, 2007

ad infinitum

once again playfair's flames have redeemed themselves at home, looking very solid in a 3-2 game 4 win last night. but i'm no stooge: i'm wise to these tricks, we've been doing it all effin' year.

clearly, if the team that showed up wearing the black flaming C's over the past two games make an appearance for three periods on saturday afternoon, we'll head back to calgary up a game in the series. BUT (and this is a huge but), i am entirely skeptical that it will happen; for reasons that absolutely nobody on the planet can seem to explain, the road flames (aka: the evil twins) are a really really bad hockey team. and, as expected, after a couple of sutter-style outings in the 'dome, everybody seems to have forgotten that the flames will probably still look like a bunch of clowns back in hockeytown. sure, i hope they prove me wrong, but i figure the trainers are already diggin' out the enormous shoes and spongey red noses...

things in our favour:

- gio. 'nuff said. :)

- goaltending. one highlight from the net-cam last night showed miikka pulling some crazy moves that appeared to be in fast-forward, even though it was being replayed in regular speed. dude is on his game. conversely, hasek looks kinda... um... mediocre ? maybe the word is just "old" but give the guy some credit, right ?? he's still a top-10 'tender.

- working line combos. playfair has hit on a winner by reuniting iggy with langkow & juice. this, of course, puts moss back on with conroy and tanguay (who, btw, needs to stop taking penalties). the 'grind line' of yelle, nilson & friesen looks fast, strong & potentially lethal shorthanded. and --whoah-- when you pair lombardi with primeau, good things happen... like amonte looking just less than not bad... and the best part ? playfair left them together for most of the game... :)

- our PP looked awesome, with two goals. our PK looked better with bodies dropping in front of shots and a lightning fast kipper.


things against us:

- while our defense is looking much better these last two games, the wings are still able to penetrate the zone at will. this will lead to goals (read: their second last night). full stop.

- playfair & playfair's tragic suits

- away-game, white-jersey, harvey-less mental inenptitudes

- ST's desire to watch a game in real time (if i count correctly, the flames are 10-0 when ST PVRs the game)...


it's still possible to win this series.
;)

Thursday, April 19, 2007

GRAOW GRAMES GROAW

i decided not to go to detroit for game five for a few different reasons: because my cousin's probably comin' in from ottawa, one of my besties is comin' in from australia (which i just remembered), and cause my boy strombo is in LA and thereby not accompanying me (and i have no other hockey-passionate friends, aside from all of you chumps)...

tonight, i would imagine very little in difference from tuesday night's game. that is, the same lineup and a similar game plan. if playfair deviates from either of these, he will prove himself the fool that we all believe him to be. the only acceptable exception would be for him to re-insert a close-to-100% healthy regehr, thereby removing the inconsistant zyuzin. if reggie's back and playfair benches gio instead, i will be seeking more bandwagon-jumping attire than just the rangers rubber "livestrong" style bracelet i've been sportin for a year and a half. i'll be lookin' for a rangers jersey...

with all the people gunning for giordano's return (or "giordino" as the numbskulls at cbc kept calling him the other night), i was ecstatic that he didn't disappoint. sure, there were scattered and occasional moments of defensive ineptitude by the rookie blueliner, but they were far outweighed by his offensive prowess. maybe it had to do with the aforementioned calmness brought on by a certainty of the rangers hittin' the second round, but i didn't hold my breath every time the 5/6 defensemen hit the ice, as i had done in previous games. dude's got a good career ahead of him, to be sure...

tonight's game is a tell-all. win, and we can feasibly come back and take one in hockeytown. lose, and we're sunk --no doubt in 5.

i still think harvey should travel with the team.... they win more with the tongue-less pooch in the building...

Tuesday, April 17, 2007

*sigh* FINALLY...

toooo tired to write much, so i'll keep this to point form:

1. when i saw that babcock and playfair had traded suits, i was confident the flames could win.
2. when i saw gio come out of the dressing room towards the ice, i was more confident.
3. when i saw the rangers had killed the thrashers 7-0 i was filled with a certain calm
4. when gio scored i actually pumped my fist in the air (GOOOOO GIOOOOOO)
5. when iggy scored the winner i high-fived my roommate
6. when amonte took the ice at 1:32, i was pissed at playfair again

the end.

Sunday, April 15, 2007

is it too late to fire playfair NOW ???

update: the answer to my question, according to bob mckenzie in an article on tsn.com today, is NO. " if I were general manager Darryl Sutter and the Flames' ownership, I would look long and hard at replacing Jim Playfair going into Game 3.
Is it dramatic? Absolutely."
check it out for yourself
.


i'm shooting nights right now, but i still woke up today after 4 hours of sleep to watch my team stink out the joe louis (again). this, my friends, is dedication. unfortunately, in this case, it seems to be the fans (ie: me) & not the team (ie: the so-called-calgary flames) with the passion for the game...

we came flyin' outta the gates with maybe a little TOO much heart, leading to 5 penalties in the first 9 minutes. by then we're two goals down, and what's a guy like jimmy canaryshirt gonna do ??? well, the same things that led to innumerable regular season losses, of course !!

a guideline on how to coach a stacked team into oblivion goes as follows:

DEFENSE
as i predicted yesterday, regehr's return to the lineup was momentarily beneficial. but then when a mediocre check put him back on the IR, we were faced with more icetime for the 5/6 pair. this extra pressure led to nervous jimmy shuffling his pairings (look at the shift chart, it's wickedly amusing) and inevitably to two bad penalties by hale in the last 5 minutes. if gio doesn't play game 3, i will wish for the bright sparkly finger jewels to be bestowed on the rangers (islanders ?)...

ICETIME
put amonte on the ice for the last shift of the game, of course.

PREPAREDNESS FOR OPPONENT
- it is undenyably obvious that the wings were watching tape on not only jarome, but huselius, langkow and lombardi as well. when juice touches the puck, he's immediately surrounded by redshirts that close both his passing lanes and available ice to make juice-y moves. langkow and lombo can't pick up any speed before getting decked. we needed a new game plan for today, and clearly didn't find one.

i can't even elaborate further, it makes me too fucking angry. if any member of the organization read any of the flames blogs online, they would realize that they are doing it all wrong. and how can they just keep on doing the same exact things they keep on doing ???

poor avalanche. if colorado was playing, i bet this series would be 2-0 the other way...

c'mooon.... don't sugarcoat it....

kelly hrudey says to ron mclean, in the first statement of the first intermission of this second game debacle:

"calgary's really ready, hunh ?"

and this is why kelly hrudey will have a long career in broadcasting... thank you for your pure deserved sarcasm. i appreciate it immensely, sir. fo rizzle.

a love letter to santa claus

dear santa,

i'm not sure if you remember me, but last christmas i didn't want for anything; so i asked for nothing (world peace and end to poverty aside, 'course) and got a lot of nothing, too. well, i think maybe it's time i collected on my xmas '06 present, and if you wouldn't mind, i'd like that gift to be in the form of a calgary flames victory over the detroit red wings today [april 15, 2007]. it's really not that much to ask, since almost all of the other playoff series are tied up at one game apiece. and i've been a really good girl...

[batting eyes very innocently]

okay, well, if you feel like a little spring trip south, i'd appreciate it immensely...

sincerely (and with much love to mrs. claus and all the elves & reindeer),
walkinvisible

Saturday, April 14, 2007

the question is....:

to regehr, or not to regehr.

if our favorite brazilian-born defenseman takes the ice on sunday, i truly believe we will have a better shot at evening up the series. if he's somewhere close to 100% healthy, that is... but here's how it works in the real world of the stanley cup playoffs: guys play with injuries....

it's recently been discovered that last year, during the flames early playoff exit at the hands of the ducks, dion phaneuf was playing with a broken foot, and we all know that in the 2006 winter olympics, chris pronger also played with a broken foot.
the difference ? the 2006 flames didn't have a guy like dan boyle sitting on the sidelines ready to play.
the similarity ? both teams lost huge games cause the D weren't all finishing checks or playing with enough spark and aggression (also, the teams were not scoring, but that's another tale)... clearly i'd be exaggerating if i proclaimed the losses were directly due to a couple of the teams' top blueliners playing with injuries, but i am a huge proponent of icing a healthy lineup, when at all possible.

which brings us to the current day flaming Cs.

at the beginning of the season, i was pretty excited about the depth of our defense. one to six, i thought we were one of the more fortunate teams in the NHL: hamrlik, phaneuf & regehr were all top-2 guys. warrener and ference were fairly consistant and generally steady. and sutter seemed to really like that zyuzin guy (so he MUST be good, right ?). well, the zyuzin image fell apart early, but the emergence of gio as a solid #6 gave me much faith.

then came THE TRADE.

i was never a fan of this move, and i'm still not really convinced that it was beneficial to the flames (if you consider it ference-for-stuart and primeau-for-kobasew, i am referring only to the defensemen in this scenario). everybody seems to think brad stuart is a better player than ference, and i'm not saying they're wrong, but i put a lot of value into the chemistry of a team, and it would be hard to argue that the calgary flames post-trade are tighter than the pre-trade lineup. which brings us back to regehr...

i have to admit that brad stuart looks pretty unshakeable when playing with reggie. with warrener, he looks pretty terrible. so, instead of a really truly solid top 4, we've currently got a good top 2 (presuming hamrlik's having an alright game), a shaky 3/4, and (with playfair's insistance on pairing hale, the new guy, with zyuzin instead of giordano) a crapshoot in our 5/6. put a healthy regehr back in the mix and i wouldn't be surprised to see a win v. the wings. put a still-injured regehr back in and we'll end up seeing more minutes by the 5/6 pairing, which would probably be worse than the stuart/warrener shifts.

i hear regehr is skating, though, which leads me to believe he'll play sunday. my take on it is that we will know if he's still injured by how many minutes he takes, and how often we see #21/#7 on the ice.

(please please please let jimmy canaryshirt dress #5 instead ?).

Friday, April 13, 2007

i can't take credit buuuut.....

jim playfair will hereafter be referred to as jimmy canaryshirt, effective immediately.

(duncan, you're a genius)

Thursday, April 12, 2007

sometimes, i hate being right...

i will not gloat for being 100% accurate on my previous post:

1. kipper is gonna have a really hard time dealing with bertuzzi, if he's healthy.
no bertuzzi, sure. but enough traffic in front of kipps to be problematic.

2. if regehr is hurt, i think we will have alot of trouble containing their offense (everyone talks about datsyuk & zetterberg, but their secondary scorers --guys like robert lang-- can be absolutely lethal as well).
lang gets an assist on the second goal. the franzen line scores the first. neither z'berg nor datsyuk on the ice for either... but clearly we had trouble containing absolutely anything that moved (how bout that second period giveaway on our blueline by amonte, who had no business pretending to be huselius ?). 46 shots in regulation is absolutely unacceptable by any team, ever, in the playoffs. PERIOD.

3. the wings have seven swedes on their active roster. that's seven huseliai. seven loobs. seven forsbergs... watchout for the finesse plays (YOU GOT THAT, ZYUZIN !!??).
finesse plays all over the place. pretty passes. sweet moves. lidstrom. holmstrom. franzen. you can't get away from these guys in the motor city. they're everywhere...

i have a bad feeling that our phaneuf/hamrlik, stuart/warrener, hale/zyuzin combos will get drastically outplayed in game one.
right combos. but clearly no further commentary necessary on that one.

we looked horrible in the first. worse in the 2nd. showed some life in the third that led to a big 5-on 3, with both dion and giggles laying some smack down on z'berg. i cannot believe nobody actually fought (though i'm not suggesting godard gets ice in game 2, i think preems might need some stitches). kipper looked solid. really. 4 goals on a hellofalotta shots.

game 2 suggestions:

1. two words: regehr. friesen. 'nuff said.

2. is it too late to fire playfair ? (if no, is it too late to find playfair a new FUCKING SUIT ???!?!???!)

3. uhhhhh, scoring a goal might be a good idea [editor's note: i wrote this post midway thru the 3rd, pre-goal].

i would have to check the stats but i think we're officially on a 5 game losing streak. so, i'm only slightly hopeful that we can pull out a win at the joe louis.

(is it REALLLY too late to fire playfair ???)

:(

Wednesday, April 11, 2007

short but sweet

i will not predict the outcome of the flames v. detroit series. i will only point out the following:

1. kipper is gonna have a really hard time dealing with bertuzzi, if he's healthy.

2. if regehr is hurt, i think we will have alot of trouble containing their offense (everyone talks about datsyuk & zetterberg, but their secondary scorers --guys like robert lang-- can be absolutely lethal as well).

3. the wings have seven swedes on their active roster. that's seven huseliai. seven loobs. seven forsbergs... watchout for the finesse plays (YOU GOT THAT, ZYUZIN !!??).


i have a bad feeling that our phaneuf/hamrlik, stuart/warrener, hale/zyuzin combos (cause, obviously, playfair prefers the hot & cold russian over the young & steady gio) will get drastically outplayed in game one. if this series goes even-stevens at one game apiece, i think calgary will have a chance to rein it in in 6 or 7. providing, of course, that sutter's in the building to offer some stern words. i don't think this team is coached well enough to win a series...

i think this is the first time maggie the monkey has gone against the flames... let's prove her wrong...

ya... well... i've been busy !!!

i am seriously hoping i'll have time to write SOMETHING later today or tomorrow.
the good news is that i've slotted all 4 initial games into my schedule.
:)

Monday, April 9, 2007

flames v. wings game 5

so, i'm trying to talk a friend of mine into drivin' down to detroit-rock-city for game 5 (if there is one), cause it's on a saturday at 3pm. which means a nice, easy one-day road trip. this guy is super fun and loves hockey, but is totally unreliable. thus, i'm curious if any of you geeks are going... ?

there seem to still be some decent tix online and i'm sure i'd be able to find a buddy... but would i be able to find a buddy with a car ? would i rent a car ? would i panic to the point of heart failure at the prospect of driving into detroit (done it once before as a passenger and i have to say it was... um... uhhh.... a bit scary)...

just throwin it out there for debate.
:)

Sunday, April 8, 2007

seperated at birth: re-post

since i spent so long on this one, and nobody seems to remember it, i'll post it again.

go FLAMES go !!!



henrik lundqvist (NYR) & jc chasez (n*sync)



mark giordano (CGY) & mr. bean



richard zednik (MTL) & daniel craig (007)
[this one's a stretch, i know...]



lundqvist & jc again...


fire marshall bill & mats sundin (TOR)... yeahhhhh.....


and then there's the ones that i absolutely ADORE that were published in the hockey news:

mike commodore (CAR) and ronald mcdonald


a love letter to the nashville predators

thank you, nashville, for doing last night what the flames haven't been able to do for weeks ---eliminating the colorado avalanche. realistically, sakic and the boys (namely hejduk and young stastny) probably should have made it to the big dance, but it seems good on-ice play was no longer necessary this season. what counted, instead, was off-ice strategy, and playfair is clearly a genius at this; he must have known that you would do all the dirty work for us. infact, playfair probably made a ton of money last night betting against his own team in a "guaranteed win." hopefully he gave you guys a cut...

i wish you the best of luck against the sharks. i hope that my boy foppa can stay healthy through the series, and i hope you can give rich peverley some decent icetime cause my toronto roommate (his first cousin) loves it when he does well. and i love bringing it up...

sincerely,
walkinvisible

Saturday, April 7, 2007

flames v. greasers: postgame (aka:i've been duped)

okay. so. i met HG and duncan at the wheatsheaf tonight, only to find out that the 'sheaf ain't open tomorrow fpr the festivities.... which obviously upsets me, but i'll deal with it...

so we're up by one midway thru the second when we check the score of the nashville/colorado game: and the preds have won it 4-2, thereby eliminating the avs from playoff contention (and i high-five my table-mates over beer and nachos)...

the 'sheaf is not open on easter sunday. fingers crossed that we can still watch the game at the non-descript shoeless joe's. MG is still in my head saying "if we can't beat the oilers, we shouldn't be in the playoffs" or the like...

the flames did not look great this 'eve. i am not a fan of benching friesen; one of the few flames to look good even strength and on the PK. additionally, i thought my boy amonte looked best bleeding, and not on the goal or assist that he scored in the earlier eve. he's still my favorite, though. watchout.

i had some fun, i ate some nachos (and some onions), and drank some beer.
can't wait to see u guys tomorrow.

still in disbelief that we didn't beat the greasers;
WI

Friday, April 6, 2007

fingers crossed...

so, it's obvious that the flames should win the game tonight. HOWEVER, in saying that, i will quickly add that i really don't think it's gonna be as easy as it should be. i would bet good money that we will trail at least once in the game, and i can only hope that the boys can pull it together for the win...



fight hard, boys. please !!!!!!
(somebody spent waaaay too much time cutting and pasting all our boys' faces onto the 300 poster)...

here's the thing:

i am actually starting to think that colorado might win the cup.

Thursday, April 5, 2007

flames v. sharks: pregame

here's the thing. i've been busy, okay ?

the flames enter the sharktank tonight in hopes of finally locking in the 8th playoff spot in the west (it hurts me enough that we're fighting for the LAST SPOT). i, myself, am not convinced this will be an easy task --partly because the sharks are a damn good team, and partly because i am a true believer in murphy and his f*&$#'in law.

on my birthday, december 21 (the winter solstice, the shortest day of the year), the flames were scheduled to play a game in denver. a game that, at the time, didn't really seem that important. due to a massive snowstorm that grounded flights and closed businesses, the game was cancelled. even though calgary was in town and ready to play, the powers that be decided it would be unsafe for the fans to make their way to the rink. so they re-scheduled for april.... who would have known that the playoff hopes of both teams might come down to this game ???

sure, if we win tonight, it doesn't matter. sure if we can lay the smack down on the greasers on HNIC, it doesn't matter either. and if the 'nucks or the preds can pull it together and kick colorado where it hurts, then it doesn't matter ad infinitum.

fingers crossed...

Wednesday, April 4, 2007

flames v. avs: post game cont'd

i've been pretty busy at work today, but not too busy to think about this:

when the flames were losing pretty much every other game a few weeks back (before sutter laid the smack down on the lockerroom), i was calling for playfair's head. there was about 10 games to go, and i was not-so-silently wondering if it was too late to pull the plug on the guy's job, and salvage some serious playoff wins with heir sutter behind the bench.

well.
apparently it WASN'T too late (read: claude julien). and apparently all the things playfair was doing then, he did again last night. like putting tony amonte out for way too many minutes at inopportune times. like shuffling lines with far too much frequency [last night we all questioned the re-insertion of david moss into a team that was winning like it was going out of style].

i dunno, man. i guess maybe it's me being the pessimist, but i am certainly not 100% convinced we've got the 8th spot in the bag. SJ is a solid team, and it seems if the avs had sucked it up and pulled it together one week earlier, we'd be in a different place right now... and what scares me the most is that NONE of our last 3 matches are in any way "in the bag." think about it... edmonton HATES calgary. wouldn't they just love to come out guns a-blazing for one last shot at ruining our entire season ?

i truly hope that when we all get together on sunday (i'm still thinking we might be able to pull off some wheat sheaf action) it is for good times beer drinking and wing eating, with our favorite team on the telly --not a "oh my god i'm gonna have a heart attack, down by a goal with one minute left, kipper on the bench and amonte skating one last shift in a flaming C."

[come onnnn... you EXPECT it from me !!!!]
:)

Tuesday, April 3, 2007

flames v. avs: post game

we lost.

and playfair's suit looked good, even.

so it's like this: i'm pretty sure the flames have never lost when i've attended at the 'sheaf. which means i'm gonna pull hard for a sunday night game there. shoeless joe's was alright --they didn't put the game on till after the leafs won in OT, but they DID leave the sound on for the duration of the flames heinous loss to the 'lanche. it's a tossup. but it WAS seriously good to meet duncan and ST, and to eat wings and drink beer.

as for the flames ? they looked average at best. they were winning till we started watching (first period lost to the toronto games: hockey and basketball). sooooo.... i'll put a call into the wheasheaf to see if they'll hook us up right.

:)

flames v. avs: pre-pregame (aka: cancel the parade)

i hate the flames.

okay, it's not true. i love them with a passion that's probably unhealthy. but i hate whoever is in charge of their television schedule. there will be no beer, no wings, no tickertape parade for mathematically eliminating the avs tonight (or, possibly, angered outbursts if we lose). the game is, unfortunatelly, on pay-per-view.
["unfortunatelly" was a typo, but DAMN if it ain't funny!]

i watch a lot of matches at the wheatsheaf, cause they are able (and willing) to get sportsnet west; the network that most of the televised flames games are on. yesterday, when i checked to see if tonight's game was on the teev, i forgot to see which channel. and i'll be darned today (when checking the status of SUNDAY's game for my pal HG) when i noticed that both games vs. the avalanche [ie: the last two really good matchups of the year] are on PPV.

i will probably still head down to the 'sheaf, tail between my legs, to watch the leafs try to beat scottie upshall and the flyers. just because i like wings. and beer... and i've invited everyone i know.... and i might stick around to watch the gaaad-daaaamn intermittent highlights before going home to listen to peter maher call the 3rd.

today sucks, allofasudden.

who's in for saturday ?

******UPDATE: the PPV edumacation site mentions that in ontario, the game MIGHT be televised on centre ice. i doubt most bars will have this, since 98% of leafs games are televised on the regular networks. but i'll try... mostly because i have a shizeload of work to do today...*****


***********UPDATE: the wheatsheaf guy has no idea if they have centre ice. but they have "the package with all the games". i will call back after 3 to talk to the owner, who loves me. :) ********



****************UPDATE: shoeless joe's at king and dufferin says they've got it. channel 462. if the 'sheaf doesn't work out, that's my new plan, i don't even care how much or how shitty their wings are....******************

Monday, April 2, 2007

flames v. 'avs: pre-pregame (aka: the social schedule)

here's the deal. i'll be at the wheatsheaf on tuesday evening for this game. puck drops at 9pm EST but they probably won't put it on till the leafs season --errr... game (which starts at 7:30pm EST) is done. you can count on me to be the only chick in a flames jersey. and, hey if there's any another chick sportin' the flaming C, then you might get lucky and meet her too...
:)

i hate to attempt to rally the troups when HG is still on some hot getaway with dion, but i'll be heading down to watch regardless of my blogmates' attendance. ST has expressed some hesitant interest and i'm fairly sure that duncan lives in the area, so one can hold out some hope... leanne ? dave ? i can probably convince my oilers-turned-flames fan and my leafs-turned-flames fan buddies to show up as well.

did i mention half-price wings ?

[hell... i should be earning a cut...]

:)