monday randoms: into december....!

another week of monday randoms and we'll be into december. god, that's frightening.... :) without further ado, here are the thoroughly unimportant things rolling around in my grey matter.

• you really gotta give it to those 'rider fans.... on their way east on highway #1 at 9am, i passed a green minivan with saskatchewan plates. the passengers looked fairly hungover and hugely disappointed, and freshly decalled on the back windshield were the words "THE 13th VAN." way to take a kick in the groin with dignity, friends...

***UPDATE: it's now becoming clear that 'rider fans refer to themselves (ie: the crowd) as the 13th man.... ohhhh, jeeeez... damian durant was even quoted on friday as saying "I hope to see a home game and green throughout,'' said Durant. "I want our 13th man to be present. It's huge for us to have this game here because this is Rider Nation Part Two.'' i hope there's a lot of room for tongue in those cheeks cause that nickname just received a whole new significance.... i guess that explains how the drunk travellers from the city that rhymes with fun managed to decal their vehicle so effin' quickly !!!! i guess they're gonna have to re-name the fans "the 14th man." ahhhhh, damn you poetic justice !!!

• the grade eight style rubber sparkly bracelets finally all made it to my left wrist after the win in detroit on friday night. the first one is already back on the right wrist after the victory in columbus.... if you have no idea what i'm talking about, that's probably best. if you're curious, it looks a little something like this:

• i am a complete and total loser. most of you already knew this

• i'm still thinking about trying to hook up a blogger meet-up over the xmas season. i'm totally open to dates and games but i'm thinkin' that december 23rd v. the blues looks kinda decent.... monday, december 28th v. the oilers looks like a fantastic opportunity, being that the game is in edmonton, but it's currently not televised. thoughts ? if there's interest, we could go to flames central or the like. if there's no interest then i bet mikeH and i will just watch it from one of our sofas, like usual.... ;)

• while i REALLY like the resilience the flames showed in their comeback against the redwings and the jackets, i really DON'T like the way they tend to give up two goals for the price of one, these days...
  

• jamie lundmark pretty much lost a game for us last week by sending an errant pass out of the corner onto the stick of the opposition (if only i could remember what team that was). i guess he felt bad about it cause he pretty much WON a game for us in the shootout on saturday.... ;)
  

• for those of you following along at home, theoren fleury's book has (apparently, according to #14) sold 75,000 copies. also ? he's taking acting lessons. insert your own joke here.

• if i liked pat quinn at all, i'd probably feel bad for him by now..... just when you think the oilers couldn't get any worse, comrie gets mono, hemsky tears his labrum, khabibooboo's contract is already looking ridiculous (havlat, anyone ?), and pisani's back on the shelf with his gut issues... the best part ? tambellini hasn't done a goddamn thing about it.

• nhl.com has their xmas gift spree on. my favorite was the video for the jerseys: they talk alot about the "authentic" jerseys, and the "premiere" jerseys but (even though the little giggling girlish tart is wearing one) they never mention the "ice flirt" by name. i wonder why ??!? ;)

• has anyone else noticed that pocketdawes has been on FIRE since receiving his new nickname ? ;)

• last, but certainly not least, congratulations to the entire calgary flames organization for bringing the team to top spot in the NW; two points and two games in hand over the avs. we're also tied for second in the conference, though chicago's holding two wins against us for a stronghold on that position. five points behind the sharks with three games in hand means that if the flames can continue a string of victories, we could feasibly take top spot in the league by xmas....
  

okay that's it for now. back to work....
have an awesome week, everyone !!!!

About blogging from Toronto, then some actual Flames stuff on Jokinen and Phaneuf

The price I pay for being a Flames fan in Toronto is higher than the $229 per year I pay for Centre Ice. I also lose a lot of sleep, because games rarely start before 9 p.m. And, as a result of not having other fans to watch games with, I've taken to PVRing the things and watching late, late into the night, not live, and urging hometown friends like WI to NOT TEXT ME ANYTHING ABOUT THE RESULT. And, of course, because I'm not watching live, I'm not participating in the game thread over at Matchsticks and Gasoline, which is usually where I get my motivation to write.

Anyway, oddly, my motivation today is the Stampeders-less Grey Cup I'm sitting through. So, I'm here now, and I have a couple of thoughts past the rare nugget I throw into comments at the various quality Flames blogging locations that I frequent:

1. Four games ago, I yelled at the TV for the first time this year, and did it several times, always at Olli Jokinen. I went to bed grumbling, wondering how this was ever going to work out. Then, the last three games, it's like he realized he'd better mix some good plays in with the bad if he ever wants another NHL contract. (Perhaps WI should take credit.)

I still suspect this is a temporary dip into the pool of respectability, but something that has me quite chuffed is that his biggest improvement has been in the field of "vision." The pass to Boyd last night on the 3-2 goal against Columbus was, frankly, phenomenal. As was the rush on the play at the end of the Anaheim game (the one where I was yelling at him), where he knew Jarome Iginla was going to be in the slot on the tying goal, and found him with a perfect pass.

He's doing a lot of this in crucial moments as well. So: Keep it up, big guy! And, if you don't, I'll still get a kick out of calling you Sex Panther.

2. About a month ago, I noticed that Dion Phaneuf no longer had an "A" on his uniform, anywhere. Last year he had it at home and on the road, and to start this year he was wearing it at home at handing it over on the road. The guy wearing it now, of course, is Jay Bouwmeester. I can't say this is a surprise, given the clear division of skills and maturity between the two players, but I think it also says a lot about how the Sutters are seeing the future. And I think it's a lot like Matt sees it. (Update: The Flames say this is about expanding the leadership group, and Craig Conroy says Phaneuf is fine with it.)

I've long argued here that the Flames ought not give up on Phaneuf's potential, and I'm pleased that he's showed clear improvement this year under Brent Sutter and Ryan McGill. I also know that teams like the Detroit Red Wings do well with more than one star-level-paid defenceman. But I didn't know, till he got to Calgary, what a crazy talent Jay Bouwmeester really is.

He does make Phaneuf expendable.

flambés v. les vestons bleus: in noodles we trust

i didn't think they had it in'em.

early in the third period, with the team looking quite lackluster and the jackets defense continually besting the flames' O, i was resigned to the loss. i was mourning for backelhinney ---who had a pretty seriously good first period and (although he let in a bit of a softie) deserved AT LEAST a point from the well-matched game.... i was already making the "back to back" excuse in my head and wondering what else was on the telly.

"i'm gonna have a ten minute nap," said my roommate, "and when i wake up, the game'll be tied and my cab'll be here."

"fat chance," i thought to myself, "this game is soooo OVER."

well, thank goodness i was totally, utterly, and completely WRONG. ;) my reaction to boyder's tally was a relatively calm head-nod with a "well there you go" face, but i actually roused my roomie from his slumber with my outburst following the pocketdawes goal.... he was beyond amused and vowed to make more pre-sleep predictions in the future.... "well, your cab's not here yet," i proclaimed just before the doorbell rang. ;)

though backelhinney has gotten a lot of criticism on blogs and message boards, i think the guy's doing a pretty solid job (and it seems as though don cherry agrees with me). i did a little bit of research on the unfavorable situations the flames threw him into last season, and noted that the results were less than encouraging.... my hypothesis was that if cumac were ever placed in a position to win, he would....

over the summer, goaltending coach david marcoux was replaced by former backup [note: that's one of my favorite links of alltime] and all-around good dude, jamie mclennan, aka: noodles. last season he tagged along with the C's as the "head of goaltender development" (though some joker on tsn put "head of goaltender equipment" on the ticker).... it's still a bit of a mystery to me what exactly is going on in the netminding department of the flames behind closed doors, but something is affecting the play of both kiprusoff and backelhinney ---and the coach seems like the most likely of sources. as for my hypothesis above, in an article on flames.com, noodles refutes the theory, stating "It’s not about placing him in the right situation, it’s about him earning it. Any situation he’s in, he’s got to rise to the challenge... That’s his job. Curtis has definitely given himself a right to play."

touché....

while i've been pondering it for weeks now, ron maclean straight up announced last night that "jamie mclennan is the secret to goaltender success in calgary." simply by reviewing the play of both kipps and cumac, one would think this statement is accurate.... kipper has never looked positionally stronger, and seems to be handling the puck far more often and with way more accuracy..... over on the gamethread at m&g (which i thoroughly monopolized last night), commenter dph noted that he'd heard "an interesting interview with Kipper where he said that Noodles knew more about trends of different guys shooting habits then anyone he’d worked with." well, if there's truth in that, then perhaps this past summer, darryl sutter made an epic hiring of heroically understated proportions (akin to the kiprusoff and bourque trades).

plus he's a hilarious interview, an all-around good guy, and has astroboy hair.
wait.... is noodles single ?!
;)

flames v. 'yotes: accountability

okay, this is starting to get seriously annoying....

the general manager of the calgary flames hired his brother to be the squad's head coach and the two of them preached that there would need to be accountability for all players and personnel... well, we're 23 games in (that's more than a quarter season) and olli jokinen is still getting some pretty sweet icetime, alongside the captain, even though he's probably one of the worst forwards on the ice every single night. i presume the fact that the flambés are still notching Ws is the only thing keeping him away from the third line.... well, that and the general sutter hubris; there's no way a guy that darryl deemed to be worth 5.5 mil/year + matt lombardi, jim vandermeer & a 1st round draft pick should be playing on the third line. ever.

nothing new here.

what IS a little bit interesting is that the mainstream sports media refuses to take this particular angle on the subject, even though it's become painfully (and i mean PAINFULLY) clear that olli isn't going to amount to a whole heckuva lot here in cowtown. they keep referring to him as "snakebitten" when he consistantly fans on a shots infront of downed goalies and gaping nets, and he's hit more posts than a web surfer.... yet we keep getting told that he's about to turn a corner.... that he's on the verge of being an elite centreman on a stanley cup contending team... but if you look at his stats, he's a career -85 and good portion of his tallies ---almost a THIRD-- have historically been on the powerplay (which is not likely to occur with calgary's horrendous man-advantage record)....
[note: if he actually WERE to turn a corner, i will gladly take all of this back]

it sortof reminds me how last year, the MSM kept informing the general public that bertuzzi was awesome, and i saw enough #7 jerseys at the 'dome to believe their message was getting through.... i can see how he might have had some memorable offensive moments, and i guess he put up relatively decent numbers for a 1.9 million dollar guy, but he was largely useless in the neutral zone and a terrible, horrible backchecker. it seems to me, however, that the sportswriters and radio personnel that we've grown to trust neglected to mention that ol' sparklepants left his mojo back in vancouver 2003....

well, last night i was listening to the fan960's postgame and i was kindof surprised to hear the following (i believe it was rob kerr, but i could be mistaken) in the out of town scoreboard segment, regarding the detroit/atlanta matchup:

"it goes without saying that todd bertuzzi was held scoreless"

um.... seriously ??!?! for a public sports personality to figuratively kick big bert in the groin mere months after repeatedly telling the fans how talented (albeit covertly) the power forward can be, seemed like a pretty enormous statement on what kind of crap they regularly feed the hungry fanbase.... and totally applies to the current jokinen debacle.

as i mention in my post below, anton effin' strålman has put up better numbers than the wildcard this year....

where' the accountability in THAT ?!?!?

flames v. ducks: righting the ship

i've really only got a couple of game notes from last night's tilt at the pond, and i think there were a LOT of positives to take away from the third period (aka: the third mini-game). i can't wait til the floodgates open up behind some of these middling opposing goalies and we can actually get some goals. certainly wasn't for a lack of effort in anaheim, that's for damn sure....

i know i'm the biggest giordano supporter in the universe but the little things he was doing right a year ago (that made me want his name on my jersey) are taking over his game. sure, he's still prone to making occasional errors [so is jaybouw, who's widely considered to be one of the league's best] but he is SO SOUND positionally, and SO SMART with the puck that some really good things are starting to happen. he's listed as having 4 shots on goal last night, but i think i saw about twice that number of well-aimed bullets come off of gio's stick.

being a solid defenseman makes your partner that much stronger, and pairing gio with pardy was definitely a good call by brent/mcgill cause the young newfoundlander is starting to reap the benefits. i think pardy had his best game last night; i'm fairly sure that he saw some tougher than usual competition and was hella strong on the puck.

right now i see dion as the biggest problem on the blueline and it seems to me that it's a confidence issue. if there's any truth to the "selfish" comments or the presumption that he's disliked by his fellow Dmen, then perhaps dion's not the happiest guy in calgary right now (hollywood starlet girlfriend or NOT). he certainly refuses to engage the body infront of the net, and seems to defer to the point slapper at every turn (especially on the PP ---this HAS to stop). like they're discussing over at M&G today: i just don't see the accountability. if i were coaching this team, dion (not sjöström) would be sitting for a game.

as for my favorite of whipping boys, i think jokinen had a decent match last night. unlike #3, the wildcard was attempting hits, and being a bit more creative with the puck. the pass to glenX for the breakaway goal was pure genius, and the pass to iggy for the tying goal in the third was also well-played. while i still see him flat-footed more often than i'd like, he's unquestionably improving ---even if it IS baby steps...

the officiating in the game last night was some of the worst i've seen in ages. i really hope that whomever is in charge (this is me being too lazy to look it up) has a look at that game and points some things out to their minions.... a BLATANT non-call as glenX was tripped up coming out of the zone on a PK, and i really don't know how ANYONE (much less the refs) could have missed the guy holding sarich's stick behind the net. sarich was pretty much two-handed YANKING on his stick and the duck player still had a hold of it.... aaaaand if there was ever a textbook case of dangerous goaltender interference, it was corey perry's first offense last night. the second one (the one that led to an on-ice scuffle and offsetting minors to phaneuf and boynton) was clearly of jokinen's doing....

the other talking points of the game were:

• iggy not taking the shootout
• mcgrattan and prust drawing in over sjöström

for the first, i gotta say that it was probably a mistake (even though i was all for sitting the captain, who's got a terrible shootout %, at the time)... with bourque and sjöström out of the lineup, iggy's probably a better bet than dawes for the first man.... though i think giving jokinen and glenX the nod was the right call... ultimately, i think the flames had better start practicing the shootout (there's no way we do now), cause those are some seriously big points to lose come the end of the season....

as for the second point , i truly think that freddan's unwell. maybe he had the sniffles or perhaps he's a little extra bruised somewhere but i don't see how that guy getting pressbox time over prust AND mcgrattan is a hockey decision. while he's no longer considered first line material (*snicker*), his +/- 8:00 per night is over twice that of the other two players; i simply don't understand why brent would essentially limit himself to three lines by giving the swede the night off....

still no word on bourque's injuries.
yikes.

monday randoms:

thank goodness that mikeH came along when he did cause i got so busy hangin' with my new bff, the third richest dude in canada (galen weston), that i didn't have much of a chance to write anything over here at hit the post.... okay, it's not entirely true ---we didn't do much hangin' out, me and G, but i DID meet the guy this week and i gotta say that for a billionaire he's pretty chill. awesome, awesome guy...

as for hockey-related stuff, i've come up with the following tidbits:

• mike comrie has been diagnosed with mononucleosis (aka: the kissing disease) which essentially means that he's out of the lineup for at least a month, even if he feels up to playing, to avoid damaging his spleen. this is, of course, the latest in a string of illnesses befalling the northern greasers, and terrible news to both pat quinn and hilary duff.... while there's no indication the duffster is symptomatic of the orally transmitted sickness, it could really knock out the entire cast of gossip girl (what with all the onscreen and offscreen romances). i'd do a chart but it seems like a lot of work... suffice it to say that if comrie's infected and smooching with duff, well duff's character (olivia) is smooching dan AND vanessa on the show. offscreen, the guy that plays dan is making out with the girl who plays serena, and the girl that plays vanessa is swappin' spit with the guy that plays chuck bass. going back to onscreen, serena's about to start neckin' with nate, and chuck bass is on-and-off with blair. if you've managed to follow this at all, it's totally feasible that the entire cast of the hit CW teendrama gets knocked out by the mono supplied to them by some dude from a hockey team in edmonton.
  

• i'm trying to be positive about olli jokinen but he's not making it very easy for me... i was reading some old blogs and found a most hilarious post over at the guerrilla sports network's now defunct original site. let's just say that i would like to dub joker the flames' new official "tester of post and crossbar structural integrity." another thing that struck me late last night was the following:

• if you take note, one set of those stats belong to the wildcard. the other ? anton effin' strålman. yeah, that's right: one set of stats belongs to a guy we traded two roster players and a first rounder (and pay 5.5 million dollars) and the other set belong to a guy we traded for a 3rd round draft pick, and who makes less than a mil. same stats, pretty much. oh, and one guy plays with jarome iginla and the other guy plays defense for the columbus bluejackets.... it's a pretty dismal state of affairs, if you ask me... for the record ? the guy with the better shooting % and fewer penalty minutes is strålman. ugh.

• the good news is that iggy is positively on FIRE and both glenX and mossy showed some signs of life against the kings on saturday. also notable about this game was that the flames were able to come out victorious in an afternoon game.... ;)
  

• bummer that the stamps didn't beat the 'riders, but in flamesville that's probably good news... thanks to mikeH for making me believe that this superstition is actually based in reality... also ? i'm hoping that chris getzlaf is the only getzlaf who does damage against a calgary-based team this week....
  

• how good is rich peverley ?? my old roommate's cousin has as many points as heatley and is really helping me stay in the running for my pool....
  

• the blackhawks' swing thru the NW ended with six points in three games.... they thoroughly embarassed calgary, then won a couple of tighter ones against deadmonton and the ugly nucklings.... i'm pretty sure chicago's the real deal (and marian hossa isn't even healthy yet). cup contender to be sure.... and yet another reason to think that you gotta hit rock bottom and get a high draft pick to win a championship....
  

okay, that's about it... it was a slow news week....
;)

Superstitions: Stamps vs. Flames

Although I am a fan on the Flames, I like to spend time during the offseason on the benches at McMahon stadium. Now, I've heard a lot of hockey fans tell me that football is boring/dumb/sucks, and its hard to argue with personal taste (unless you like baseball). For those people, I offer this scenario: Sunny summer evening, $17 ticket, Spolumbos italian sausage in the right hand, frosty cold Molson product in the left, and brutal, ritualized violence. It makes life worth living.

I know that WI has numerous Flames superstitions; jrXL vs. Gio, jrXL washing, tupperware(?), the black aces, and right now she is passing plastic bangles from one wrist to the other with every win/loss. So when WI was good enough to come along on my second seat this summer, she offered this comment:

"I'm sorry, but I find it hard to cheer for the Stamps. Any season where they're winning the Flames can't get it together."

I'd like to have her on our side this Sunday, so I ran the numbers. To prove that the guys at M&G aren't the only ones who can post mathy stuff, try this on:

I took some artistic license with the axes and had to smooth out the line for the strike season, but it sure looks impressive and carries an air of statistical authority. When I run the correlation, it comes out to -0.3. A weak negative correlation, but she's not completely wrong. Damn.

Then I thought, what about the championships? Maybe both teams have won at the same time, erasing the possibility of a link. Now, the CFL only has 8 teams, so winning a Grey Cup isn't nearly as unlikely as winning an NHL championship. Also, the Flames sample size is a little small, so for hockey I went with divisional champsionships and Grey Cups for the Stamps. Here they are:

Again, it would seem that the two teams cannot have good seasons in concert. This is all unfortunately in support of WI's assertion, so I guess I'll have to let her cheer against my team this afternoon.

Just don't wear green. Only douchebags wear green.

First Post: Hail to the Chief

As previously mentioned by wi, I have tons of useless things to say, and now she's given me a piece of the internet to dump them on. Without further ado...

I attended a luncheon today where Ken King was the keynote. I've heard Ken several times over the years, and he is an excellent speaker and ambassador for hockey and his teams. He looks to be in better shape every time I see him, and he's pretty proud to be 60 pounds lighter (good on him I say).

So Mr. King was a little cautious about the potential for media in the room; he said that after one of these engagements, he got back to the office and the girl at the front desk was reading notes from his speech off a blog. Lucky for him, he won't get this until the next day. Most of the talk was general thoughts on success in business and life. Sincere, well delivered, and valuable. Nothing too earth shattering, and he only really dealt with hockey in the q&a. The hockey related highlights:

New Arena - 3-5 years they plan to roll out a complete proposal. Two potential sites both located near the 'dome with the land already in hand. He got ahead of the important question ("Who's gonna to pay for it?"), and just asked that people don't pre-judge the proposal before its made. He thinks everyone has an opinion of the public value of a new facility, but he doesn't want to presume a financing structure at this stage. In support of the discussion, apparently 1.8 million people travel through the 'dome every year among all of its various events. As for the Saddledome, it would be "decommissioned from its current use". Let's just say the monster truck rally might need to find a new barn.

Hamilton Blackberries (or maybe, RIMjobs?) - He was asked why the Flames voted against Balsillie's proposal (since the BoG vote was unanimous against). The meetings are confidential, but he had an interesting take on the role of the league. He said when you attend the meeting, you have 30 people all working together as partners to make the NHL the best it can be, and then as soon as you leave the room you want nothing more than to destroy those 29 opponents. He suggested that it takes a special kind of trust to make that type of partnership operate, so you need to know that the rules are going to be followed. Balsillie was flaunting those rules before he was even part of the group. That said, he does think that Balsillie will some day obtain a team through a more "conventional" process.

Winnipeg Nordiques/Quebec Jets - At the end of the discussion on a theoretical Hamilton team, there was a little follow up convo on the potential impacts on Buffalo, the large number of Flames jerseys in the stands last Friday, and whether the Flames were the "Switzerland" of the NHL (i.e. when your home team isn't playing, you cheer for the Flames). Out of this came the comment that the most likely new Canadian franchise would be Quebec City. Apparently, french language television generates quite a bit of revenue, which is currently the exclusive domain of the Habs. According to Mr. King, tv revenue is second only to ticket sales in team economics, and Quebec City should have enough of both to harbour a team. News is not so good for the 'peg. The quote was something along the lines of, "If you could run a team on emotional capital, Winnipeg would have two." Unfortunately, that's just not enough.

A-town Heat - The Heat are apparently averaging around 3,000 per game, with a break-even of 3,200 or so, therefore currently running a deficit. They are working on some joint marketing with Chilliwack, as it would seem the two teams are competing for the same butts anyways.

Flu Shots - Not much here that hasn't already been overcooked, but he just went back over the decisions to say at that moment in time it made logical sense to have a family clinic for the team, and no one was ever trying to slip one past or step in front of a person with greater need. Besides the team themselves, 15 children under 5-years, 3 pregnant women, and 3 at-risk people with other illness were part of the "family" that were immunized.

There you go, not too punchy, but at least its long and dull. Sad to say I didn't win the pair of tickets to tonight's game (or the autographed Kipper jersey) that he gave away, so I'll be parked in front of the tube. Thanks again WI for the room to breathe.

Go Flames Go!!!

flames v. hawks: NEWSFLASH !!!

i'm at work in the midst of a meeting as we speak.... ie: this will be devastatingly short.

i feel kinda bad that there will be little-to-no hoopla about this announcement, but good friend and sometimes commenter, mikeH, will be joining the hitthepost fold since he's suitably funny and likes the flames (and over on this site that's MORE than ample in the way of credentials....).

i'm sure duncan will be thrilled to have a collegue who also uses capital letters and proper punctuation.... ;)

so mikeH went to some ken king speechy q&a thing today and emailed me a shitload of notes, to which i said "jeez, man.... post that drivel YOURSELF." ipso facto: welcome to the team, mikeH !!!!

as for the game tonight, the 'hawks have been like water to the flames in the past year or so, and i expect a good match (if not two points)... a little tidbit of insider information came to me a few days ago stating that our good pal robyn regehr has been playing with quite the bum elbow for a couple of weeks.... it's the right one. let's see if it's bugging him during play, shall we ?

go flames GO !!!
:)

the flames, by number

1. if things continue status quo, i doubt backelhinney will see game action until november 28th in columbus ---the second game of a back to back (same ol' story...). the first game's in detroit, though, so: fair enough

3. dion did not have a good game tonight. again. he kindof reminds me of the first line in the chorus of a paula abdul song.... and i don't think comparing dion phaneuf to a paula abdul song is wrong in the slightest.... ;)

4. think about this: on the trade deadline last year, we dealt defensive prospect ryan wilson to the avs (with lawrence nycholat, who we picked up off of waivers) for jordan leopold. in the summer, we turned around and traded leopold to the panthers for the rights to negotiate with jay bouwmeester.... so technically: ryan wilson for jaybouw. good trade. buuuuuuut it didn't look so good tonight....
[ps: i'm gonna have to stop saying that we got leopold for a sack of pucks...]

5. gio skates with his tongue out probably nine times out of ten when he's breaking out of the zone.... it's cute. ;)

6. sarich laid one of his best ever hits tonight just before the final buzzer, but it had nothing on the windexing he demonstrated back in the playoffs a couple of years ago [a "career hit", if there ever was one]:


7. adam pardy is from bonavista newfoundland.... i just figured you might not have heard that yet today.... ;)

8. have a safe trip out west. say hi to backlund and aulie for me. see you soon, i figure.

10: i would imagine mcG draws back in next game, both to try to punch up byfuglien and cause i bet the coach think the flames played better with him on the bench.... [hell, I'M superstitious so it wouldn't be fair to think otherwise...]

11. freddan didn't have the best game; he got relegated to the fourth line from the "first," and played about seven minutes (down from an average of about twelve-ish). also ? i've really warmed up to calling him freddan. that's how he signs his blogs....

12. december 21 is my birthday, so i'm keenly aware that the world is supposed to end on that day in 2012. mm/dd for this is 12/21, which is suitable cause it feels like bad things are gonna happen when those two are on the ice together.... hence: the apocolypse line [i would also accept the doomsday line]... it works especially well with glencross on the wing cause then it's 12/21/20(12) ....i haven't seen the movie but i figure iggy's like the john cusack character, who presumeably comes out A-OK in the end. ;)

15. brand new nickname for #15 and i think it attests to his size, AND how much of a treat he is at the 'dome: pocketdawes. (d)awesome, right ??? how did we not think of this before ??!? ;)

16. there must be some kind of pledge, by the band of zebras that inhabit the ice, to never call a penalty if the dude drawing it is wearing #16 in a flaming C. boyd gets mugged play after play, night after night and rarely draws a call. i bet this gets pretty annoying.

17. i think bourque's tilt in the last seconds of tonight's game was selfish, and i think that he'll skate extra hard for it in the morning.... cause i'm sure brent was STOKED that he had 6 seconds to tie the game and one of his top players not only spent it in the lockerroom, but the faceoff came all the way back to the flames' zone.

bourque gets two points here in 'by the numbers' cause i've been wanting to say this for awhile. i REALLY would LOVE it if the organist at the 'dome learned how to play the beginning of this song, so that at the end the crowd could yell #17's name in unison. RIGHT ?!? ;)



18. i miss you..... <3

20. in the poll on the flames website, glenX is the fan favorite to play the wing on the apocolypse line (see #12) at 28.49%. [interestingly, dawes takes second at 24.53%, even though he's never played on that line, to my knowledge].

21. he shaved the moustache and lost the mojo. wait. there was no mojo... *le sigh*.... didn't anyone explain to olli how MOvember works ?!?! there's still like two weeks to go !!!!! i'm gonna try to be nice to this jokinen guy, so i WILL say that he drew two defenders to him on the half wall tonight, allowing iggy to waltz into the slot on the first goal.... and also ? in describing jokinen today, my pops stated, "he often shows some incredible flashes of mediocrity."

22. langks did not have his best game ever but i gotta say i think he might be the best positional forward on the team. seriously, the guy is so AWARE.....

23. i think the line of nystrom, boyd, and moss (if given time to meld) could be akin to the glenX, conroy, moss line of last season.

24. best fourth liner centre in the league, i'd say.

25. shades of the dreamcrusher [note: it's from my original eponymous blog] ... mossy's been pretty effin' quiet of late. i hope it doesn't continue....

28. oohhhhhhhh, reggie.... i'm not sure if his pure suckage tonight was cause he was covering for dion's suckage, or if it was the other way around... no matter which way you look at it, re-pairing the blueliners might not be far away....

33. according to my roommate, prust didn't win a fight, he lost a cuddle match.

34. kippy had an off night, and it was still pretty freakin' good.

44. i'm still waiting for an injury on D so this guy will draw in... when he does, i hope it's on a pairing with #7 cause i think it would be rad to see a johnson-pardy matchup. i'll go to a johnson pardy !!! ;)

[*whew* !!!! that was a tough excercise....]

so i haven't written in awhile.....

and i'm not going to now.

here's something for your amusement.... thanks to mikeH for sending it to me. :)

danton comes "clean" and other things we already knew

i'm a day late on this one but to be totally fair ----who cares ?

mike danton (born michael jefferson) has a non-contagious case of the crazies and sat down with the hardest hitting interviewer in the nation, nick kypreos. the allure of this tabloid-news story is found in it's lunacy; danton says a lot of things that either don't make sense or entirely contradict previous/later statements ---like how hiring a hitman could be a "cry for help," if he honestly believed that there was another hitman coming from canada to end his life ?

*shakes head*
there are more holes in this narrative than a wheel of swiss....

i'm quite fascinated by the tale, largely because i can't help but think of it as the poor man's rise and fall of theoren fleury (and i'm not the only one)... yet, while i find myself pulling for theo to succeed, i couldn't care less about where danton ends up... where i see theo as charismatic, virtuous, and earnest (if not simply a good anectodalist), i see danton as manipulative, deceptive, and delusional..... it's not even so much that i think danton's lying, i just don't know if he can see past what he's been told to believe.... theo is slaying his beasts, while danton is still hiding from them....

sportsnet continuously aired teasers for the kypreos/danton interview, during the flames v. canadiens game on tuesday, and these ads became fodder for the beer-guzzling roomful of people i had over. some of the highlights (lowlights ?):

"d'you think danton'll go back to the nhl ?"

"naaaa.... i don't think any teams are THAT bad..."

"if he comes back, will he actually hit guys on the ice, or will he hire someone else to do it ?"

"maybe they should hire danton to coach the hitmen...."

while i'm writing this, i'm listening to the sportsnet interview ----i'm not interested enough in the character that is 'mike danton' to take the time to actually watch it... plus, he's got one of those faces that an old friend of mine used to refer to as "punchable." i'm sortof wincing at the the clichés.... the one-liner danton uses to describe the entire murder-for-hire situation, "it wasn't a very good use of judgement," seems like an understatement here and unfortunatly seems to be a recurring theme in mike danton's life....

best of luck to the guy, though.

jersey debacle pt6: decryption

when i was in high school, somebody gave me a tip on essay writing: if you can't convince'em, confuse'em. i'm certainly not suggesting that it was his intention but the most recent email i received from the flames' director of retail follows this motto to a tee... if anyone can decode the letter below, or glean any actual information whatsoever from the words contained within, i implore you to explain them to me in the comments section.....

*******

"I don’t look at this as a trivial issue and don’t view this as a waste of time at all. I always appreciate any feedback from our fans and take every e-mail very seriously.

Just to clarify something that may not seem like a big deal, but the Vintage jersey that the Club is wearing on the ice is not considered to be our Third jersey because it is only being worn for five games this season to honor our 30th Anniversary. Any other Club has the opportunity to wear their actual 3rd jersey for a maximum of 18 home games. There were several different reasons that we made the decision not to order the Women’s Vintage jersey for this season. We did not order this jersey just to “unload” our Home jersey which accounts for about 95% of our jersey sales. Unfortunately it takes Reebok approximately 6 months to produce new jerseys so we would not be able to receive our order until after the regular season. I apologize that we did not offer a Women’s version of the Vintage jersey this season but we are already making plans to order a Ladies Vintage jersey for next season.

I appreciate your feedback and I’m sorry that we are unable to fill your request for this season.

Thank you very much for taking the time to make us aware of this."

*******

clear as mud, mr.gibbs.... clear as mud.
what mr.gibbs ACTUALLY clarifies:

• that, to be technically considered a "third" jersey, a specific design needs to be worn for more than five games and less than 18 home games in a particular season... i'm not sure if this is the letter of the law but he seems to know some rules that i sure don't...
  

• that i should never again refer to the vintage retro-throwback jersey as the "third" jersey.... at least, i shouldn't until next year when i'm led to believe it will officially become the flames' "third" jersey. this information makes the linked wikipedia article incorrect (y'know.... like where they list the calgary flames as one of the teams that released a third jersey in 2009-2010).

• that i will definitely not be getting this jersey in a women's cut this season, and if the "plans" are executed in a timely fashion, i might get this jersey in a women's cut sometime in 10/11.

• that there were "several different reasons" that the organization made the decision not to order the women's vintage for this season. unfortunately, i'm still not sure what even one of those reasons might be.

• that it takes reebok 6 months to produce a new jersey, which obviously means that about eight months ago, the flames must have ordered the vintage-throwback in mens' and childrens' sizes. i might point out that the womens' could surely have been ordered at the same time. heck, i was informed by the nhl store in nyc in early august that the flames would be seeing a 1989 re-release style jersey.... that would've brought the jersey in just after xmas if i was the very first person to know....
  

• that the home jersey accounts for 95% of jersey sales. well, how many other effin' jerseys ARE THERE ??! i mean, the away jersey wouldn't go over too well in the C of red and the numbers probably aren't in for the mens' retro throwback.... so yeah. no shit. 5% of jersey sales = away jerseys, practice jerseys, the ice flirt jersey and the be luv'd jersey i suppose. what a joke. i could've told you that none of those would sell.

can someone please tell me if it's rude to send any more correspondance with this guy ? cause i'm just sick of gettin' the run-around on this issue and i'd kindof like some actual answers....

thanks for your input, friends.

flames v. habs postgame: credit

for me, this was the best game of the season thusfar, and not only cause i had some of my favorite hockey-loving people over to watch it... ;)

it is starting to look like brent sutter might just have something with his particular brand of hard-battling practices... let's face it: jarome iginla wasn't doing so well this season until a mystery teammate blackened his eye a week and a half ago, and now our captain's in almost-vintage form. sure he's never been a quick starter and the shiner coincided with november, but we should still credit that confidential flame for knocking iggy back into gear (via his FACE). ;)

speaking of credit, it's probably way too early to say for sure but i really want to give some props to jamie mclennan for at least HELPING to get kippy's game to where it is, currently. i can't even imagine what noodles offers miikka in the way of tips, other than poring over video and pointing out tendencies & the like, but perhaps it's just the easy climate in goalieville that's working.... and i don't know if you guys noticed but that was quite the long pass that kipper shot last night; from behind his net to halak's trapezoid.... SOMEONE's teaching him these turco-like moves !!! plus, if anyone's the authority on how to take out opponents with your stick, or the best way to spend the last shift of your career, then we've definitely got the right goaltending coach.... not to mention that the habs' netminding world is crumbling under david marcoux....

over on the blueline, credit is due to SOMEBODY for getting dion back to being a halfway decent defenseman and i'd like to give it up to ryan mcgill. i liked him from the get-go when i saw him running drills in rookie camp (meticulous and patient, but insistant on accuracy). phaneuf was an absolute MANIAC last night, laying out hits like he was getting paid per inch of opponent air.... some really nice, hard, clean collisions that prompted comments in the gamethread of M&G like "wow. phaneuf says hi," and "who pissed off dion tonight.... jesus." he and regehr are solidifying, to be sure, and gio and pardy are looking miiiiighty steady out there. other than sarich being hot and cold (and the fact that jaybouw should probably get the credit for just being awesome straight up), the D is starting to look like it should: among the league's best.

as for my favorite blueliner, i'm not sure why nobody mentioned that gio was on after hours last week, even though i'm pretty sure everyone knew i was in missouri... you can watch it here if you're so inclined... the mark giordano drinking game: do a shot every time he says "great experience." speaking of gio, while watching that video i was reminded of an email thread between me and randy sportak in june of 2008 after #5's sojurn with moscow dynamo. even though i was heralding gio's talents way back then, sportak offered some "wisdom" that reads pretty funny nowadays:

"My point is this, Giordano is a 5/6 d-man who struggles in his own
zone, has OK offensive skills and is a good enough skater to sometimes
make up for his positional flaws. It'll take a big step for him to be
a regular in the top-4, although he's very good for the second PP
unit.

"People have actually emailed me saying he'd fit in well with Phaneuf
on a full-time basis — seriously. What do you think their plus-minus
would be? I'm thinking a good golf score.

"Also, fans complain the Flames have too man guys on one-way deals,
meaning far too little actual competition and opportunity for young
players to make the jump. Yet, figure Sutter should have given a depth
defenceman who was a press box regular a one-way deal and guarantee
he'd be playing in the top six?"

this last line is especially wicked when daz signed anders eriksson's one wayer mere days later.... ugh. they were sure some dark times... and i'd still like to understand how jim playfair has a job with this organization when mcgill is just now undoing all the things that playfair/keenan had done.

but alas.
credit to daz for making the change.

jersey debacle pt5: rebuttal

my latest letter --a rebuttal to the flames' director of retail's response to the ken king email. i honestly see this situation going nowhere fast, but here's to one last kick at the can:
:)

I thank you kindly for your response, and i apologize for wasting your time on such trivialities but please understand that this "issue" is actually quite an enormous deal to me, especially after discovering that Calgary is (surprisingly!) one of the few NHL clubs that doesn't offer its' female fans the team's Alternate jersey.

The Heritage Sweater, while totally unoffensive and quite design-friendly, does not allow for lettering on the back (which is largely why i've been chomping at the bit for over a year in anticipation of the Flames' Third jersey).

Am I correct in understanding, from your email, that there is currently an overstock of the ladies' Home jerseys (both with screened and crested logos), and the desire to 'unload' them is the main reason for not ordering the Third jersey in a womens' cut ? ie: if a customer wants a womens' cut flaming C JERSEY, the organization would prefer them to either leave with the Home model, or walk out empty-handed ? In my limited research of sales at the fanattic and jersey city (among other apparel-selling retailers), the womens' cut Home jersey does quite well, sales-wise, so not ordering the Third seems short-sighted from my vantage point (especially in a jersey-obsessed market like calgary as it closes in on the christmas sales season). Isn't the whole point of designing and marketing third jerseys simply to sell more jerseys ??? Admittedly, i don't have all of the information/numbers on the subject, which is why i'm surely annoying the heck out of you.

Ultimately, my original query still stands: will these EVER be available for purchase ?

Again, I thank you for your time --

Sincerely,
WI

arena report: scottrade

i had the most awesome trip to st.louis and i would actually recommend it to people on a weekender or the like, presuming that they can get a good deal on flights/hotel. the gateway arch is unbelievably magnificent in real life, and the city museum is inexplicably FUN in a totally hands-on crazy way.... in addition to the flames v. blues game (which was a riot, culminating in a flames' victory !), we also checked out the laumeier sculpture park, fitz's, the loop, euclid records, and jason's buddy's band, trigger5. just an all-around awesome, awesome time.

the al mcinnis statue outside of scottrade...
methinks we need more statues at the 'dome.

a young blues fan rawkin' the 3D foam finger


st.louis kids sure know how to heckle :)

apparently, the flames have also been cruisin' along this past week, notching three straight wins (albeit two with extra time). here are some notable thoughts from your ever faithful hitthepost author:

1. the glenX/drury hit
curtis glencross received a 3-game suspension today for his ill-advised hit on rangers' captain, chris drury, early in saturday night's game at the sutterdome. personally, i think this might have been the league responding to the the increasing pressure to minimize headshots, as well as owning up to the fact that the flames have sure gotten away with a LOT of shit in the past little while... i think glencross ended up as the fall guy for the team's recent history of rule-dodging:

• kiprusoff took the night off in dallas and was told to go back to the hotel to sleep off the flu. according to the nhl rulebook, rule 15d states, "Each Team shall have on its bench, or on a chair immediately beside the bench, a substitute goalkeeper who shall, at all times, be fully dressed and equipped ready to play." uh, oops....

• last season's cap debacle forced the flames to dress than a full roster for a couple of games towards the end of the year. while the rulebook talks about dressing "no more than eighteen skaters" (exclusive of netminders), and does not specifically discuss LESS than 18, rule 5.1 does say that "A team shall be composed of 20 players (18 skaters and two goalkeepers) who shall be under contract to the Club they represent." it seems kindof like a loophole to me, and can therefore be considered classic daz.

• the dion phaneuf hit on okposo definitely fell in a grey area, and went unpenalized both from the refs and the league officials. in my humble opinion, the okposo hit was far shadier than the drury hit, as there is some debate on whether dion left his feet and whether his elbow might have been high.... i'm not sure the politics, here, but i kindof feel that glenX got the suspension for both his and dion's headshots.
  

clearly the glenX hit was interference, and should definitely have been penalized as such on the ice but from some angles it looks dirty, from others it looks harmless.... i do, however, have to wonder if this would have been an injury if the hit was on a younger, healthier player with no history of concussion. what i mean to say is that (like it or not) drury's got a soft head a la eric lindros/keith primeau, and i'm totally convinced that his grey matter gets injured far easier than most players. also, correct me if i'm wrong but i'm pretty sure that glenX had an otherwise clean record for such dirty hits...
my conclusion ? 3 games is probably 2 games too many.

2. the flu vaccine
this has all probably been beaten to death while i was in the 'lou but here's my stance: the flames got their h1n1 shots when it was still being offered willy-nilly to anyone with an alberta health card. the fact that they didn't have to line up with the rest of the public is a bit suspect, sure, but the fact is that the team requested a private clinic from the appropriate government officials and got one. attending it just seems like a no-brainer to me..... this is not a sports issue this is a political issue. as for the abbotsford HEAT, well it sure looks like a TERRIBLE public relations move in the wake of the flames' situation, but in some ways i believe that pro athletes ARE high risk: they sure sweat and spit alot, and they do a lot of travelling. not to mention the unavoidable interaction with the public: autograph signings etc.etc.etc.etc.etc. i'm probably the wrong person to ask cause i'm not 100% sold on the idea of the h1n1 vaccine to begin with but i'm not sure i see the big deal, here.... not to mention that i have to wonder where the premier got his flu shot (cause i'd be surprised if he waited in line)....

3. the wildcard
olli jokinen is still terrible. he actually didn't look TOO bad in st.louis but from what i've heard and watched on the ranger game, he's reverted to indescribably awful. 5.5 million dollars worth of awful, by the by. ;) maybe he and craig anderson are the opposites of some kind of magical spectrum and will both revert to centre at some point (soon, hopefully). it just seems like the kind of thing that could be amusing the hockey gods....

4. apologies
condolences to nhl official mike cvik and family for the loss of the pater familia, cyril. my good friend and commenter, mikeH, ran across the news today and forwarded me the info.... to be honest, i'm not sure why mike's surfing the obits (looking for a nice apartment to rent, perhaps ?) but he did offer the following: "if you're not doing anything on Thursday, I say we go by the funeral with a couple of dozen eggs in case Kerry Fraser shows up."

.... of COURSE he's kidding !!!! (too soon ?)

5. the mayan calendar
does anyone else find it interesting that the world is supposed to end on 12/21 ? maybe a hint that sutter should be keeping jokinen and iginla apart. ;)

kay, that's it for the moment.
big game tomorrow against a surging squid and his habitants.... i can't WAIT.

also, i'll be the first to suggest the annual xmastime nerdy blogger meet-up.... perhaps december 23rd v. the blues ? the last time we hooked up it was v. the blues, and brandon prust played his last game in a red #29 (if i'm not mistaken) when cam janssen broke his jaw..... oh, and we lost. we always lose in the blogger meet-up game, but i say we do it anyways....
flames central ?

who's in ?
:)

jersey debacle pt4: response

it seems as though duncan might have been right when he suggested that ken king reads and responds to all emails.... :) at the very least, the flames' president skims and then forwards his emails to the relevant employee, who then takes the time to thoughtfully reply.

apparently the appropriate dude chez les flambés, regarding the jersey debacle, is brent gibbs (director of retail). was i aware that there WAS a director of retail ? no... but i am now, and i guess he's the guy who has all the answers.

"...During the 2007 – 2008 season, Reebok introduced a Team Colour replica ladies-cut jersey with screened front and shoulder logos when the new Edge Uniform System was launched. They improved this jersey last season by offering the same cut but added actual crests for the logos on the jersey. We currently sell this version of the Ladies Home jersey for $89.99 and also have the screened version on sale.

"When we launched our plans to wear the Vintage jersey for five games, we still had a lot of inventory of the current Home jersey and made a decision not to order any Vintage jerseys in the Ladies style. Instead of this, we ordered a ladies-cut Heritage sweater to provide another exciting option for our female fans."

how do i feel about this response ? pretty much how gio feels about whatever he's looking at in the photo below... ;)


first of all, i would like to find out what "a lot of inventory of the current home jersey" actually means (in the previous paragraph, mr.gibbs describes how they initially stocked the screen-printed flaming C jerseys, and have recently ordered the crested Cs.... therefore there is probably an overstock of ladies' home jerseys). i would also like to find out that, if this is actually the case, why the fan attic in northhill mall (possibly among others, including jersey cities etc.etc. ??) purports to have trouble keeping them in stock....

ie: it sounds to me like the flames want to push the ladies into buying the overstocked home jerseys and therefore didn't offer a jersey alternative. possibly anticipating this very grievance, they ordered the heritage sweaters in the vintage design. smart, though it seems lacking in foresight when you consider the additional dollars available in lettering/numbering a jersey over this little knit number....

it also seems lacking in awareness, now that it seems most of the other 29 nhl teams offer their third jersey in a women's cut (just not for order on nhl.com). additional to philly and pittsburgh, which i mentionned in the initial post, you can get vancouver, san jose, montreal, edmonton, buffalo, minnesota: some of which are far smaller hockey markets than calgary.

i would also like to find out if mr.gibbs is in charge of flames' items for the fanattic, for calgary, for canada, for the nhl, or exactly for what. i wonder if he's the guy with the final say, or if he's just the local dude.

i will be consulting my buddy blaine when i get back to the motherland to see how it's selling....

i will wait until next week to respond to the email, so if you guys have any comments/suggestions on what to tell mr.gibbs, i'd be more than happy to hear 'em....

:)

st.lou day 2: SNACKS !!!

i have some awesome photos to post, but i forgot my camera-to-computer cables so they'll have to wait. in the meantime, i should point out that if you have an opportunity to go to st.louis --even just for a day-- the gateway arch is something pretty unbelieveably special.... also? if you get the chance to sit in the club seats at the scottrade center, do it. :) when they say "all you can eat snacks" they mean it !!! seat service included PLUS any/all of jumbo hotdogs, pretzel sticks, chicken tenders w/fries, popcorn, peanuts, ice cream, cheeseburger, turkey sandwich, dibs ice cream treats, pepsi, diet pepsi, sierra mist, aquafina, bud light, bud select, miller lite. for REALZ !!! i think they cut you off of the beer at some point if you get rowdy and inebriated, but they sure don't hold back off the top, that's for sure.... they definitely know how to do it up right... HUGE thanks to mark and jen (and mark's stepdad) for providing us with the seats, and to ellen our server for being rad --even though i was wearing the "wrong" jersey... ;)

[when ellen noted my jersey, btw, she said "it's okay, you must have had a fever or something as a child." to which i responded with a grin, "yeah.... it was called 'winning the stanley cup.'"]

my buddy jason, always the excellent host (and sporting the wickedest blues' third jersey ---it's seriously effin' beauty), was a little embarassed by my outward flamesness i think. he never actually told me to stop but i don't think he expected me to be quite as vocal as i was.... ;) i guess it's because the blues' most recurring chant is "let's go blues" which sounds EXACTLY like "go flames go," except it's more of an organ prompt, followed by the crowd repeat.... i was obviously yelling for my team during the organ's bit and i got more than a few hairy eyeballs from the kids in the section (only kids, mind you)... the two dudes in front of me eventually wanted to know why the hell i was a flames fan, but i got fully understanding nods once i explained where i lived... one of the guys was wearing an oldschool blues jersey with 'pronger' on the back, and i had to inquire if he still liked ol'elbows now that he's in philly. the answer was a resounding yes, which caught me off guard. he also plead for a blues win, stating "we really need it," in a way that was so hurt and sincere that it kinda broke my heart.... "so do we," i replied looking at the out-of-town scoreboard and noting that the canucks garnered two points yet again....

the game was no sellout, to be sure, but i have to say that these fans love their team. it's gotta be really effin' hard to support a consistantly losing franchise but they do it ---they drag their butts out to game after game, even though they've scored one goal in the past three outings. [that one goal, btw, was lars eller's first nhl tally and i gotta say that kid looks like he's got quite the future...]. their mascot, louie, has nothing on harv. the announcer's got nothing on beazley. and the foghorn's cool and loud as hell, but it's got nothin' on the fireballs... and on this night, their captain actually scored a goal for US.... gotta hurt.

thanks for the memories, and the snacks, scottrade.
you're an awesome host.

st.lou day 1: toasted !!!

i'm not sure how much i'm gonna write whilst away in the show me state, but i've got a quick one for the masses.... so, my buddy jason is (almost) as nerdy as me when it comes to hockey so he was totally fine with watching the flames v. dallas game online and then we played some ea sports nhl10. he hadn't played much and i'm a kind of "wing it" on the controller kinda chick, so it was pretty even. tied at 3 after regulation, OT, and the first round through the entire team in the shootout.

midway thru the second full round of players, totally improvised and incredibly awesome, THIS happened:

EA Sports: gio

in other news, i ate toasted ravioli tonight... apparently it's a normal thing here but i'd never heard of it. yum !!!

also ?
congrats cumac (aka: backelhinney) on the win !!!! it was ugly and undeserved, but really good to see nonetheless...

see ya in the lou tomorrow, boys !!!!!

monday randoms: the myth of the all-you-can-eat arena snacks !!!

well, it's been a crazy busy week over here at hitthepost HQ with all the puckdaddy exposure, media requests, and the unenvyable task of defending my sexuality to a bunch of random strangers... ;) additionally, any longtime reader knows i pretty much avoid all things flames-related when they're losing, so i don't have a whole lot to say about this past week's events. no, wait. i do have one single thing. lately i've been calling this year's calgary flames squad a house of cards: they appear stable enough, but the slightest breeze comes in and they totally fall apart...

not.
good.

1. the canadian olympic team
hallowe'en activities got in the way of watching the detroit game, but it didn't sound like a very good showing by calgary's potential olympians in front of canadian team brass stevie Y and mike babcock (jaybouw notwithstanding, of course, cause he's pure, unadulterated awesomeness).... i had a big conversation about this with my family at sunday dinner and i'd say that, currently, neither iginla nor niedermayer should make the final roster, leaving shane doan to be the incumbant and rightful captain. obviously this idea wouldn't go over very well with the general public or the pundits, but if the home team wins gold, stevie Y will be considered a genius. if they win anything less (or nothing at all), he will get lynched for not including a couple of potential hall of famers on the final vancouver team....

2. that guy who used to write on here sometimes
duncan and i met up for a pint after the avs game and it was, as always, nice to see him.... he swears that when things settle down a bit at work he'll write more ---and i know he's got a few things he'd like to say.... ie: you should see some capital letters coming up soon. ;)

3. canada's boyfriend
strombo had snoop dogg on his show a few nights ago and his gizzangstaness had some pretty sweet things to say about hockey fo'shizzle (skip to about 39:20). my favorite quote is regarding how the "fast paced action and the adrenaline and the fightin" of an nhl game reminds him "of the hood on ice." ;) in other strombo news (he is, after all, the biggest habs fan i know), we were texting on saturday about the *ahem* warm welcome mike komisarek got from the fans at the bell centre, and he added "wait til they trade price tomorrow." i offered him jokinen for price but i'm pretty sure that sutter and gainey wouldn't let us finalize on that one.... in all seriousness, though, he thinks the kid's gettin' dealt. you heard it here first....

4. dion strikes out
my newest pals over at the hockey junkies took my suggestion and nominated one of the flames' for their weekly date night friday column. unfortunately, they chose the least dateable dude on the team. congrats dion, nonetheless, for joining the likes of mike green and henrik z'berg in the hj's imaginations, and i'm sorry you didn't even make it to first base.... i realize this note might make me seem like a "puck bunny", but i'm just trying to dispel the theory that i'm a lesbian. ;)

5. the show me state
i'm two days away from st.louis, which means four days away from the flames v. blues at scottrade centre. my buddy jason sent this pic from our seats-to-be, and clued me in that our section offers all you can eat snacks. uh.... SERIOUSLY ??!? i've never even been to missouri but i'm starting to understand why they call it "the show me state"... show me what snacks you've got, scottrade, and i'll show you a girl that doesn't eat all day before the game... ;) i've been assured there's nothing remotely as good as the pocketdawg, though, so i guess it makes sense: sub-par arena treats should be free...


6. the infamous scrapbook
in other non-essential news, i dusted off my old flames scrapbook from about 1987 to show my roommate this week and we had a couple of pretty good laughs about some of the stuff found within. y'know, like how john tonelli's favorite tv show was "all my children" or that carey wilson's favorite movie was "on golden pond." it was kindof refreshing to see a team who's musical interest isn't slotted almost entirely in the nickelback category, and you see the players' favorite bands span the range from jimmy buffett (jim peplinski) to van halen (joe nieuwendyk) to elton john (nick fotiu). ps: håkan loob lists his favorite food as ---what else ?? swedish meatballs.... ;)

7. hallowe'en
i was bustin on my greasers fan buddy, druz, on saturday cause he didn't know what to dress up as for halloween. "go out in a towel and you can be cogliano," i suggested. he responded, "i was gonna go as a sutter and just give myself blackeyes."

8. jersey fouls
since i haven't talked enough about puck daddy (or about jerseys) in the past few days, i thought i'd share a couple of shirts i saw at the game last week. i actually sent them to wyshynski for his "jersey fouls" bit on thursday but who knows if he'll use'em.... i honestly adore this first one, even if it is a bit of an overstatement:

and this one would have been better if i took a more time with the photo, but if you look to the left of the numbers there's actually a black dot (as in point-oh-eight):

9. the nhlpa
i thought i'd leave this one til the very end cause it's so obviously far less interesting and/or important than datenight friday and my thoughts on the final olympic team roster. according to reports, mike ouellet and roland lee are now running the nhlpa. let me point out that my spelling of "roland" with one L is correct, even though the espn story has it spelled with two... it's a FACT and i know because i've known the guy for over a decade.
superweird...

have a kickass week, everyone !!
i know i will... :)