best. pic. ever.

still busy buuuuuut....

huge congrats to daymond langkow for posting a gordie howe hat trick tonight. not only that, but a gordie howe hat trick with an extra freakin' goal. this guy is on FIRE... :)

been busy buuuuut....

sum 41 played the 'dome last night and my buddy's band from toronto was the support band. ie: no pre-game tonight, but stay tuned for pics of me in the bowels of mecca, drinking molson canadian (like a good hockeylovin' girl) just outside the flames' dressing room...

two !!

i don't have a lot to say, here, except the beer at flames central is JUST like the dome: kinda average, pretty expensive, gets you drunk, and ohhh jeeeeezz, the hangover !!!! a good time was had by all, of course"'all" was just me and duncan...

7-4, though ? that's a bit of a coup if you ask me. 4 goals is still, obviously, too many to let in, but the flaming Cs potted one on the PP, one SH and 5 at ES. that's AMAZING.... i would know more if there was a stupid shift chart, or game highlights [are there no tv cameras at the sommet centre ? would the fans have to pay extra fort that ??] but here's what i gathered:


- langkow was double shifting, on the ice for the 6th goal (with iggy & tangs), but also with huselius & nolan for the 7th.
- lombardi is slick and fast on the PK and takes advantage of the bounces
- godard might be good for something other than making people bleed and taking bad penalties. and even if he's not, he's definitely making a statement about wanting to stay in the lineup....
- keenan seems to have settled on his offensive lineup, but seems very scattered, still, with defensive pairings (i presume this is because playfair is the defensive specialist). here are on-ice pairings for all of the goals last night:

1. 8/33 (PP)
2. 6/28 (SH)
3. 3/33
4. 8/44
5. 3/33
6. 3/6 (SH)
7. 8/44
8. 3/6
9. 28/44
10. 3/33
11. 6/28

HUNH ??!??!?!?!?!?!??????!!!!


congrats, anyways, on two hard-fought road wins. let's see if we can take it to the 'lanche on tuesday...

NEWSFLASH !!!

it has come to my attention that in last night's 3-2 overtime victory, a square peg did, infact, fit into a round hole. congratulations, conny, you got yourself an assist on a goal scored by your pal, iggy... i'm still not sure that makes me wrong on the whole "you don't belong on the first line" thing...

after 2-goal games by langkow (v. philly, v. vancouver) and huselius (v. detroit), our favorite speed demon matthew lombardi decided to take the game home by himself last night in dallas. on his first goal, he capitalized on a bad bounce, and the second saw him scoop up a bad brendan morrow drop pass. the ensuing play on both goals had him flyin' up the left wing and unloading bullets from the circle. i haven't seen televised highlights (only internet), but it appears turco never had a chance... damn that kid is good... interestingly (though explainable by a possible line change situation), lombo found himself on the ice with iginla for the OT goal.
[also interesting: phaneuf and eriksson were on the ice as well....].

kipper may have let in yet another softy on the stars' second goal. i can't wait till he starts making the saves on those ones... then we might begin winning games in straight time.

tonight we rock into the music city, to meet an ego-bruised bunch of predators. this will be a tough match for the flames, being that that nasvhille got humiliated by the coyotes two nights ago [freddy sjostrom got two goals, for cryin' out loud... i don't know if that's ever happened before...]. they will be out for revenge, and what better way to regain some pride than by sticking it to a team that just came off of seven straight losses ??

i'm hoping that the flames will come out strong and with that extra confidence and just lay it to the preds.
(sorry amy !!!)

report card: keenan

in my humble opinion, keenan is failing.

i'm not sure why he insists on starting conroy on the first line, but i really want to throw things at the beginning of every game. tanguay/conroy/iginla DOES NOT FUCKING WORK. quit trying to fit a square peg in a round hole, dude...

according to peter maher/rob kerr, the reason behind putting langkow on the second line was to provide the team with more scoring depth... HUNH ?? let me get this straight....: so, we'll take the only guy on the ENTIRE TEAM who's truly performing off of a line where he's (at the risk of being redundant) PERFORMING, so that he can maybe.... uh.... get used to a couple of new guys and hopefully start performing there ??? while the other guys he was performing WITH try to perform with a guy who's done pretty much SQUAT for the past 3 years [don't get me wrong, i think conroy is a great personality/leader in the lockerroom, and a fantastic 3rd liner, but i'm sick and fucking tired of everybody thinking him and iginla are a great pair. people, that ship has SAILED....].

i have had major concerns about line juggling on this team for a very, very long time. some of my thoughts, historically, on haphazardly switching up combinations can be read here, here, here, and here. maybe i'm not the smartest hockey strategist in the universe, but in my opinion, if you are coaching a struggling team with serious identity problems, that is learning new systems and adjusting to new teammates and staff, wouldn't you consider keeping your ONE WORKING LINE TOGETHER ??!?!?!?????? the flames had FIVE days off between vancouver and detroit, so why not let iggy, langks and tanguay use that time to solidify what they're creating (read: goals, good feelings, positive feedback) as opposed to splitting them up ?!

dayum.

i could really go on for hours, buuuut i might as well save it for the next thousand posts i'll write on the subject. and i really didn't even mention the second line....

welcome back, davey moss.

and corey sarich....? helluva blunder, buddy. what the hell ?

+

"...cause positivity is NOT about being soft, it's about being SMART...."
-NKOTB circa 1990

i am on this huge positivity kick right now, in life, and so i'm not allowing myself to think about all those horrible things that could feasibly happen tonight in the motor city... and i'm trying to not be scared.

BUT

if you think that the flames have won only a single matchup thusfar this year, in 10 games (pre-season and regular), it is hard to believe they will walk out of one of the toughest buildings in the league with a W. in all honestly, though, if the LIT line continues to produce, we've got a chance, and if the NHL line keeps at it, they will begin to score eventually. so why not tonight ?

not sure if moss is playing, but i'm starting to think that it will be mark smith and not godard who gets the bench if he does.

oh, yeah.
my brother coined the term "erikzyuzin." feel free to use it as you see fit.
:)

the double injured goalie scenario (DIGS)

i have wondered, historically, what would happen if both the starting goalie and the backup were injured in a single game. i have mused on the possibilities but realize now that any teammate (presumeably a defenseman) would strap on the pads and pray. i know this because that's what keenan essentially said would have happened tonight if kiprusoff went out with injury...

ie: mcelhinney got hurt in the warmup (damn you nolan and your shots to the nuts)... just kidding [kidding about the nutshot, not the injury, unfortunately].

i'm not sure who the next in line is but i presume we'll see keetley back on the bench for the next game...


as for the game itself, i don't have a whole lot to say. except holy cow, does lombardi ever look so much better flanked with some real players. he had a great game... hunh ? LIKE DUH.

in other news, tomi maki scored shorthanded tonight in the quad cities' season opener. :)

the return of playfair

after one period of hockey at the flames' home opener last night, i had decided to hate keenan. why ? for the same reason i detested playfair by the end of last season (and i'm not talking about the suits): certain line combinations are never gonna produce.

in 2003, craig conroy centred jarome iginla, leading to a very productive year for both. well, this is not 2003 and iginla should be playing with langkow or lombardi. conroy is one of the best 3rd line centres in the league, but he is no first liner. seeing him out there with iggy and tangs on every shift in the first made me want to throw things (and by 'things' i am referring specifically to the stupid microphone-shaped BLUE fibreoptic flashlight, that would have been much more appropriate for the season opener at REXALL... last time i checked, my team's colours were RED and black).

it is decidedly possible that lombardi is still nursing a sore wrist, but then i would have rather him in the pressbox than on a line with nilson and yelle. i mean, seriously... this REEKED of 07/08's classic misuse/benching of lombardi, and with ol' jimmy canaryshirt still holding a place on the coaching staff, i can't help but pin blame on him for this combination. lombardi is not a grinder and should never be played as such (except for the PK, of course). it's really simple: flank the guy with a couple of equally speedy/creative wingers and there will be goals. in the 5-or-so minutes he played with huselius, you could see some scoring opportunites present themselves, and if he hadn't been wasted the entire first period, then i would presume there would have been more.
oh, and 20 minutes of icetime does not scream "injury" to me...

eric godard played less than two minutes. sure, he beat the crap outta jesse boulerice, but our problem is SCORING. pardon my language, but fuck eric godard. bring up a rookie or trade for a vet who can put the damn puck into the back of the net. i'd rather see two minutes of boyd/peters than godard.

mark smith looks like primeau: he skates fast and has some decent puck control but is a defensive liability (ending a -1). not sure he belongs on the PK but kudos to keenan (ie: playfair) for flogging that horse....

kipper made a couple of good stops but is ultimately looking totally octoberish....

and, finally, i knew eriksson was bad. but i didn't think he'd be personally responsible for the first loss of the year. aucoin was just as bad (actually, probably worse, truth be told) and was on the ice for all three flyer goals. by the second period, keenan (ie: playfair) had reunited regehr with warrener as the "shut down" pair, leaving our new two worst defensemen (aucoin and eriksson) to absolutely shit the bed together.


[sarich and phaneuf looked really really good. JUST sarich and phaneuf....]

the iggy holler

my best good friend jason sent an email today, describing how he was checking the EA sports message boards and stumbled upon this thread for NHL 09:



1 - Does your home arena have a goalie chant? What is it? What does it sound like? Do you have any examples?
2 - Who is the crowd favorite and what is the crowd chant that is used to address him? Can be more than one!
3 - What is/are the team chants used in arena during a game?
4 - Are there any playoff specific chants used in your arena?
5 - What, if any, opposing teams does your arena have chants for? What are these chants?
6 - What song or music is played after a goal is scored?
7 - What song or music is played after an opposing team receives a penalty?
8 - What is the intro that your team uses at the beginning of the game? What song plays? Are the lights on/off? Does the crowd chant anything? Are there any props involved in the intro. Ex San Jose coming out of a shark.
9 - Are there any other crowd chants that are unique to your arena? What are they and how are they used?

So here's what someone posted for the Flames:

Calgary Flames

1) Kipper... pronounced KIP PER KIP PER You guys had it right in 07
2) Crowd favorite is Jarome Iginla and when he scores or does something sweet the whole crowd goes " IGGY, IGGY, IGGY (slight pause) OI OI OI" (This would be awsome to hear as every flames fan knows!!!)
3)typical nhl chants
4)To many to even mention
5)To many to even mention
6)Typical songs... However Johnny Cash Ring of Fire is played quite often, and is allways the home win song
7)"Raise a little hell"
8)the calgary flames usually produce a media video that plays as they skate out... here is a you tube link to a a home opening flames start

This video depicts alot about the arena, things to note are flame throwers hanging over the ice, and out of the now old scoreboard. The announcer has also been the same and has the same consistant voice for over 5 years.


This is also a good video showing the flame throwers and ambiance with the announcer
Im sure the arena anouncers will not be arena specific, however if by the odd chance they are, then we also need to mention the fact that when iggy scores and its announced it goes alot like this

"JAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRROOOOOOOOOMMME IGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGIIIIIIINNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN NNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNLA"




so there you go.... i'd never really considered what that would look like spelled out.... too funny....