Tuesday, August 10, 2010

as promised: puckdaddy link

thanks, wysh, for taking me along for this ride.

:)

Monday, August 9, 2010

monday randoms: puckdaddy, mostly....

- i'm once again flattered to have been asked by greg wyshynski, over at puckdaddy, to contribute a female perspective on NHL issues. i'll link to it tomorrow (or whenever it's up).

- another thing happening, currently, over at puckdaddy: the mount puckmore exercise. in a nutshell, they've got team representatives from all 30 NHL squads picking which four people best describe the history of their teams (aka: which faces would be carved into your team's mount rushmore). i've been thinking about this alot, actually, and i decided to share my decisions with you in advance of the actual unveiling of our monument [ps: which of you is writing it, hunh ???]

1. the obvious two
there's no way anyone can try to convince me that the first two faces on the flames' mountain would not be lanny mcdonald and jarome iginla. without a doubt, these two franchise players define the class and leadership displayed in their respective eras and any conversation about the history of my club would be incomplete without their names.

2. the third
after lanny and iggy, it's a little more difficult. i have been hugely vocal about wanting theoren fleury's #14 retired to the rafters at the dome, and i think he should be the third face on puckmore for all of the same reasons. he's a former flame recordholder in scoring titles (until iggy came along), and he's overcome so much adversity in his non-hockey life. also ? the fans effin' love the little dude. personally, i'd be hard pressed to imagine this shrine as complete without theo's scarred mug up there...

3. and finally....
the last guy's tough. REAAALLLY tough. if you think about incredible team players, you've got a few left to choose from (kippy, and gilmour come immediately to mind) but most of the other big names would appear on other teams' foursomes (mcinnis & niewendyk are good examples here). håkan loob is somewhat entitled, being the only swede to have ever scored 50 goals in one NHL season (a record that still stands), but the majority of his hockey contributions have come overseas as GM of eliteserien oft-champions, färjestads BK. oh, and just because mikey V lucked out and has a banner in the rafters doesn't mean it deserves to be there....

no, the fourth guy should be a non-player. some good options, here, are doc seaman, bob johnson, and cliff fletcher.... but to ME the last face on mt.puckmore should be this one:

not only does he boast one of the best nicknames in pro sports, but he was an active part of two cup runs, had a thirty-some-odd year career, and was the first professional hockey athletic trainer to be inducted into the hall of fame. additionally (as if we need more reasons), he remains a community ambassador to the Flames, and his on-bench celebratory dance is one of the most memorable in the 89 cup win. i heart bearcat murray.

**UPDATE: hayley wrote up the puck daddy mt.puckmore yesterday, and you can find it here. i have no idea why sarahM (who alerted me to the aforementioned article in the comments) deleted her note. meh.

i guess that's it for today.
:)

Wednesday, August 4, 2010

thoughts on the heritage classic presser

i listened to most of the press conference today that was broadcast live from mcmahon stadium and here are my thoughts, in order of importance:

1. if steve staios is the new voice/face of the calgary flames, i'm starting to doubt that he'll get sent off to abbotsford after training camp. this is nerve-wracking due to the fact that his salary cap number is enormous, that he's gonna get top-line minutes (and drag down jaybouw yet again), and he's gonna suck all over the place. and while i'm totally gutted by this revelation, i'm sure matt pelech can now be considered a jumper.

2. what. the eff. is this ??

i was listening to the unveiling in radio form (ie: picture-less), so it was described as "burgundy and yellow... unlike anything the flames have ever seen before." know why ? cause it's mafackin' UGLY. all of a sudden i'm craving a happy meal....on a positive note, kudos to those in charge for realizing that the C of red means that any jersey created by the org MUST be in the crimson/burgundy/red family. also a bonus is that the guy with zero taste or style, who presumeably designed the 25th and 30th anniversary crests, is continuing his run of mediocrity. and the worst part is that if they offer it in a women's cut, i can't even say with any certainty that i'd avoid purchasing one.... sweeeeeet !!!

from steinberg's twitter :

from the calgary sun:
(i admit, it looks better in person... it's starting to grow on me already but still appears to have been designed by a child... also ? it looks as though glenX might have been hittin' the cheeseburgers, and i ain't talkin' about the jersey....)

(further investigation, aka: reading puckdaddy, shows where the design originated. too bad all the things that are awesome about this uniform are absent in the latest version... and here i'm talkin' about the haircut, the gloves, the skates, and the fact that the photo is in black & white.)

3. unless there was some change of ownership in the past few years that i'm unaware of, mcmahon stadium is still owned by the university of calgary. thus, when gary bettman was going on and on about its storied history, it probably would've been nice to at least MENTION the calgary dinos, and when he was doling out thankyous to the stampeders etc. (jon haverstock comes to mind here), it would've been courteous to also hat-tip the U. all class.