Gameday - Nashville

So... anything big happen lately?

As I'm sure that everyone in the hockey universe is aware, the Flames have signed Kipper to a contract extension. Details and reactions to which can be found in the Flames blogosphere here, here, here, here, here, here, and here (oh, and here)... [and from Matt]

Good move that keeps him here for what should be his most productive years, although it remains to be seen who else we can keep around after this season. We'll just have to hope that there is a significant cap increase (which I don't really expect), or we're going to lose at least one of Langkow, Huselius, or Yelle and be forced to rely heavily on what we have on the farm. But I do expect Sutter to sign Phaneuf to an extension before the season is out (the better to keep him far away from the open market)...

I'm not going to get too into the game from Friday night, beyond saying that if the rumours are true that McGeough is retiring after this season, it will be at least three years too late...

The Nashville Predators roll into Calgary tonight to take on the Flames. The Flames apparently won the last matchup in Nashville 7-4, but until I see visual evidence I refuse to believe that game ever happened (although I will keep the 2 points regardless)...

Gameday - Colorado

Just checking in...

As everyone knows, Mark Giordano and Andrei Taratukhin both chose to play in the Russian Superleague this season. As a matter of curiosity, I figured I'd check to see how they are doing over there. Unfortunately I couldn't find a site that would give me anything apporaching in depth stats for players over there, but here's what I did find...



Mark Giordano is playing for Moscow Dynamo. The team is currently sitting in 5th place in the 20 team league with a record of 8-5-5-3 for a total of 39 points (the Russian league uses a 3-2-1-0 point system with regulation win, OT/SO win, OT/SO loss, and regulation loss). Some of his fellow players on the team are Daniel Markov, Fedor Federov, Dmitry Afanasenkov, Jamie Lundmark, and Alexander Kharitonov (leading scorer).



Giordano's stats line is 16 gp 0 g 4 a 4 pts 10 pims ? +/-



Andrei Taratukhin is playing for Ufa Salavat Yulayev. The team is currently sitting atop the Russian Superliga with a record of 16-0-1-4 for a total of 49 points. Fellow players on Andrei's team are Konstantin Koltsov, Alexander Perezhogin, Oleg Tverdovsky, Stanislav Chistov, and Vladimir Antipov (leading scorer).



Taratukhin's stats line is 20 gp 4 g 4 a 8 pts 10 pims +6 +/-



I'm sure that this is a higher level of competition for them than they would get in the Quad Cities, but these numbers aren't exactly blowing me away. I'm very curious about how much time they are getting, and what kind of minutes those are. I realize it is much more than they would be getting in Calgary right now (Taratukhin at least), so I'm not to worried about that, I'm just wondering how its helping their advancement as hockey players. What kind of help are they getting to develop their games?



On to tonight's game where the Flames get to make up for blowing 4-0 lead in Colorado last week. I don't have much of a pregame, as I think most of you have at least as good of an idea as to how Coloardo is doing heading into the game as I do. I am curious to see if Hejduk is back tonight though...



With only one road win for the Avs in four starts (and it was against the Oilers, so it doesn't really count), I'm feeling pretty confident about the boys chances, especially if they can play a complete game...



Flames win 4-1 while I'm out doing some scoring of my own...

Postgame - Wild

ST's Wide World of Sports

This isn't really a column about the game last night, although it may contain some post-game comments. Its more of a chance for me to reflect on a few things going on in the sports world right now that have caught my interest. I'll start off with the Flames and hockey and work my way out...

Flames news

I was near ready to forget watching the last couple of periods of the game last night after the Flames were down 3-0 after the first. Luckily my brother came home and wanted to watch Tuesday night's episode of House, so I decided to record the last couple of periods of the game and watch them afterwards (so that I could fast forward through it if I felt the need)...

Unfortunately I was watching the FSN North broadcast, which meant that I had to listen to the play-by-play of one Dan Terhaar, who is in his first year in the majors. Normally the comments as to what was good and bad is left to the colour guy (you know, the guy that usually actually played in the league, in this case Mike Greenlay, who did a bang-up job). During the Wild broadcast, Terhaar (coming off a stint as the play-by-play guy for the Golden Gophers as well as other regional college teams) seemed to be stunned every time that the Flames scored a goal, insisting that each one had been tipped or Backstrom had been screened in some horribly illegal way. Dude needs to relax and let Greenlay (a former NHL goalie) do his job. I can't believe there is actually a guy out there that could take lessons from Roger Millions...

It was nice to see Tanguay pot a couple of goals, and Dion's fight was pretty sweet (although unfortunate that he had to go to the box opposite some scrub from the Wild)...

Also annoying was my brother's hinting every time that Calgary was about to score a goal. I may have to do the same thing when his beloved Habs play again some time in the near future (tonight?)...

Hockey news

You know how most channels have a give away during the hockey game where fans can win a phone or a vacuum cleaner or a million dollars if a certain players scores? Well, I was watching the Carolina game last night, and apparently down there you can win a John Deere is somebody scores a hat trick. Granted its a lawn mower and not a tractor, but still... stereotypes exist for a reason...

I was also made aware for the first time last night that the incoming head of the NHLPA, Paul Kelly, is also the guy that prosecuted Alan Eagleson. How was this not considered a big deal? He should have gotten the job for damn near that fact alone...

In a related news story, Eric Lindros will most likely become the first ombudsman (person?) for the NHLPA, meaning that he has decided that his playing career is all but over. He just has to hope that, as the liaison between the NHLPA management and the players, somebody doesn't get mad at him for something and punch him in the head during an argument...

Sports News

I'm sure that everyone is aware that the Red Sox beat the Rockies 13-1 at Fenway last night. I actually kind of saw this one coming, not that I wanted to. My only question is that, if the Yankees are the Evil Empire, representative of the empire from Star Wars, who do the Red Sox represent? They sure as hell aren't the rebels. Maybe we have it mixed up and the Red Sox are actually the Empire, while the Yankees are the Trade Federation? Am I thinking into this a little too much? Uhmmm... Go Rockies!!!



My beloved Chargers are being forced to move their home game against the Houston Texans for this coming Sunday due to the fires in Southern California (Qualcomm Stadium is being used as a shelter for the misplaced). The current leader in the quest for an alternate site is Dallas (Texas Stadium, where the Cowboys play). Which makes me wonder if there isn't a better alternate location that would be more agreeable to the Charger faithful, and not quite as favourable to the Houston fans (not that there are that many hardcore ones, as can be seen by the empty stadium last Sunday after the third quarter). I realize that there are a number of colleges and other teams in the Southwest that would be using some of the larger stadiums (as well as other events, such as a motocross event at University of Phoenix Stadium (where the Chargers are practicing this week). With the LA Colesium, the Rose Bowl and numerous other college stadiums just to the North, there should be something just up the San Diego Freeway. There should at least be something closer than Dallas! I do realize that Dallas is an airline hub, but you don't go tailgating in a rental car (how do you take a barbecue with you on a plane?). This would be like the Flames having to change a home game against the Phoenix Coyotes to Los Angeles because the scoreboard at the Saddledome collapsed and there was a circus at the rink in Winnipeg...

Postgame - Sharks

Random Observations

I recorded last night's game (the PVR is no longer a source of confidence, as its record of late is the opposite of stellar, and I'm too lazy to look it up and find out what that word is), and after finally finishing watching it tonight I thought I'd share my thoughts from the broadcast...

How can you talk about somebody taking a skate blade to the neck and not reference Clint Malarchuk? (Rob Davidson apparently took a skate to the neck in practice, but obviously it wasn't serious)...

Apparently the Sharks are the heaviest team in the NHL this season (And Roger Millions pointed out that is by weight... as opposed to some other measure...)

The potential $1,000,000 winner for the Safeway Score & Win tonight is Kiki Kaketsis... poor kid never stood a chance in life with a name like that...

Nice of the refs to blow the play dead as Jarome was starting off on a breakaway...

Wow, that was a nice hit by Regehr on Roenick though... JR is a little stunned from that one...

Godard almost had his second goal of the season (and boy would it have been ugly if it counted), yet they reveal the disturbing fact that his ice time is increasing as the year season progresses...

Holding the stick has to be one of the stupidest penalties to get... I'm pretty sure the refs will notice almost every time... bad time to take a penalty Lombardi...

And the Sharks score a minute later, right near the end of the first period... somebody should have had Clowe...

That's not fair! You can't throw your fight opponent into the players box... Semenov, you cheap bastard...

And Calgary gets another penalty before the end of the first... grrrr... Discipline boys!

Bad time for Tanguay to mess up on the powerplay, just too bad that Kipper's rebound bounced right back out to Michalek...

And Keenan lives up to his reputation for pulling the goalie (in the literal sense)...

McElhinney has a pretty cool mask with the skeleton gunslinger, but I think its the first goalie mask that I've seen with a graphic on only one side... It looks uncomplete... Maybe he's waiting to see if he gets to stay up when Krahn is healthy...

It seems that the Flames didn't offer to pay the refs as much as the Sharks did (which is obvious after they miss the call on Nabokov and give him a stern warning instead)...

I think Curtis needs to learn to stay in the net more often...

I'm starting to wonder if all the trade rumours and the diminished ice time are affecting Tanguay in a negative way (mentally)... he seems like he's trying too hard to do something big and not quite getting there...

Roger Millions just called Miilan Michalek a fine looking young man after he scored his second goal of the night... I'm starting to think that Roger's spending too much time at the rink...

What kind of fighter wears a visor? At least his helmet came off easily...

Nice punch to the face by Godard! Its a small victory... And it gives Nystrom some more ice time as gets gets to skate across the playing surface to the penalty box...

Wow, Ron Murray has some bad teeth...

And Nystrom gets some time on the top line... In the two seconds it takes to skate to the bench from the penalty box...

I always find it a little amusing when the Colour guy will make a statement that seems like a question, but the play by play guy has to keep his head in the game so he pretty much just ignores him... Poor Charlie Simmer...

Its always nice to see a shutout get broken in the final minutes of the game... A little "Yeah, you're going to win, but here's a little 'fuck you!' as a parting gift"...

Every time I hear Mark Vlasic's name I have a craving for pickles...

Roger Royer won a Eureka Boss Rug Saver Upright... another poorly named bastard... One letter away from being a joke in the movie 'Airplane'...

And the Sharks are off to a spa in Banff for a couple days... have fun with your group mudbaths boys, but I wouldn't recommend the teal and orange paint for your toenails...

Gameday - San Jose

Yeah, yeah, I know...

Yes, I do realize that I didn't do a gameday post for the Oiler game on Saturday, but there is a perfectly good explanation... I was drunk...

Actually, if I had done one when I was drunk, it would most likely be a lot more entertaining than the seemingly mindless drivel that I usually put up here...

I was at a birthday party at a bar on Saturday night and by the time the Flames - Oilers tilt started (10:00 PM, my time), I was probably about 5 pints and 3 shots into it...

But I was coherent enough to get the bartender to change over from the baseball game (it was 10-1 at the time, so I wasn't worried about some mindless baseball fan complaining), and I do roughly remember the game, but as I stated, I was at a birthday party. And the drinks didn't exactly slow down after the puck dropped in Calgary...

But the boys won, so I'm not going to dwell on it anyway (not that I really could if I wanted to, as I forgot to record the game), but I'm sure that Torres hit was dirty (as we've all come to expect from him)...

But on to tonight's game! The Sharks are in Cowtown for a 9:00 PM (EST) start at the Saddledome!

I'm not sure what to think of the fish this season, as I haven't heard a whole lot about them, with the possible exception of how Nabokov has been up and down in my fantasy pools. So I'm figuring the team is playing about the same way in front of him...

I could do some actual research, but that's not really my style...

It seems like the boys have begun turning it around already and we haven't even gotten to Halloween yet, woohoo!

Flames win 3-1 and I don't care who scores at this point, as the streak has already ended...

Gameday - Los Angeles

Why pay more?

So I get to watch the Flames hosting the Kings tonight, which is a benefit of not living in Calgary since I don't have to worry about paying for it on pay per view. Although I do get the same ppv broadcast through Centre Ice...

My first reaction as I just turned to the game is 'Why aren't they doing this in HD?'...

People are paying money for something they normally don't get, so shouldn't they do more than just have their own graphics? I realize that the costs aren't being absorbed by a big national sports channel, but then I also wonder why they would broadcast 14 games of the season only on PPV in the first place? Wouldn't it make more sense to have a broader audience? How many people are actually going to a movie theatre tonight to watch a hockey game? It may just be me, but I don't see the motivating factor. The one thing I will say in favour of the Leafs on this issue is that at least the 13 games that are on Leafs TV can be had for $3 a month...

Maybe they reduce the quality of the broadcast on Centre Ice...

I'm hoping...

Colorado postgame

In regards to the game the other night, I don't really know what to say. You can see my gamut of emotions by looking over at Open Ice Hits in the comments section for that game. I sort of made Dave liveblog it with me...

I wonder who's around and watching the game tonight... : D

Gameday - Colorado

Uhm, okay then...

The Flames are in Denver tonight to take on the Avalanche and are coming off a couple of road wins in Dallas and Nashville. Luckily this game will actually be televised...

Just out of curiousity I decided to take a look at sports sites to see what the rankings for the Flames (and the Avs due to them being the opponent tonight)...

TSN has the Flames ranked 20th, down from 8th even after winning the last two games. Their reasoning is that they think the team lacks scoring depth, which I find a little odd given the team's scoring last season and the fact that the forward lines only seemed to get stronger coming into this year. They have the Avalanche at 13, down from 12, and one spot ahead of the Predators (who have a worse record than the Flames and have some serious goaltending issues, not to mention the loss on Saturday)...

Sportsline has the Flames at a more reasonable 13, up from 14 last week. Which seems a fair bit more reasonable. Above the falling Predators and pretty much in line with how everyone has played the last week. The Avalanche dropped from 4 to 9, which is reasonable as well, since they are half a point up on the Flames...

ESPN is a little behind the times and still has their rankings from last week up, but they have Calgary at 8, down from 7 (and this is before the road trip started). Colorado is at 5, up from 8 (as they were at 2-1 at the time). I think the ESPN site is a little more in line with their idea of how they feel things will end up, with a weekly tweaking...

FOX Sports has the boys at 20th, up 7 points from 27th (!?!) last week. Wow, apparently Fox sports puts a lot more faith in the preseason than I do. Tonight's opposition dropped from 10th to 11th in the last week, obviously benefitting from a better preseason...

Sports Illustrated also has rankings up, but they are also a little behind. Calgary at 10, down from 5, and Colorado at 7, up from 13. Scott Wraight appears to be the only one to recognize the start of the season as nothing more than an anomally, as opposed to the norm. This is the only ranking that I read where the author fully admitted at the beginning that its nothing more than a crapshoot...

This gives an average ranking of 14.2 in the 30 team league...

What does all this mean? Sweet fuck all, as these things are always subjective. I just though I'd get an idea of where everyone thought the Flames would end up at the beginning of the season...

Gameday - Nashville

Prove it!

Yeah, I know that the game was 'apparently' on Saturday night, and it is now the following Monday, but since it wasn't aired ANYWHERE, I feel I can do my gameday post today anyway...
Actually, I just didn't want to deviate from the pattern that I set up by doing gameday posts for the 'D' games...

Not that I was home on Saturday night (I was at a country bar doing line-dancing with some friends for the first time ever, which my brother is ridiculously bad at), but I still think that if I'm paying for Centre Ice, I should still have had the option of seeing that game. How hard would it be to grab one of the two dozen Jim-Bobs in attendance and tell them 'Here, just look through this little hole thingy and keep the other end pointed at the ice.' I wouldn't even need commentary or anything, just the ability to see what's happening. I could even provide my own play-by-play, if I really felt the need. 'Huselius stickhandles around the Predators defence', 'Lombardi speeds down the ice', 'Eriksson looks like his skates are stuck to the ice, as the Nashville forward dekes him out again'...

I mean seriously, in this day in age when you can watch you tube videos of some random person crying about the bad press that Britney Spears gets or showing how quickly some guy can funnel a beer, how can you not get some Dwight Yoakam wannabe with a little handheld video camera to follow a game that already has an audience interested in watching it?

Although I do find it a little ironic that I was at a line-dancing bar (the only one in the greater Toronto area, so far as I know) on a night when the Flames were playing in Nashville (in a bar that was until recently called 'Nashville North')...

Oh yeah, and the Flames won the game 7-4, but you probably already know that...

That is two road wins in a row in arenas that the Flames had previously had some trouble in...

Next up is the Avalanche in Denver tomorrow night (I don't include it as one of the D's, since the team uses Colorado in its name)...

And before somebody gets all hot under the collar, I feel the need to point out that I grew up on a farm listening to country music, and I still do to this day. So I'm sorry if I offended anyone...

But if you are getting all offended by something in a blog, you probably have bigger problems...

Looking at travelling to Calgary in early March, possibly during my brother's reading week (he's a teacher), to catch the Blues in town...

Gameday - Dallas

Only two things come from Texas...

Alright, so the Flames head into their 4th game of the season in Dallas tonight and still haven't won a game yet. This does not phase me, as they seem to be getting some bad bounces and its not like they've been blown away in these losses. Plus, its October, and as much as I like beating a dead horse, they always suck in October. And they have a new coach, so growing pains are to be expected...

YAY OPTIMISM!!!

Keetley has been called up to replace McElhinney, who should probably think about skipping team warmups for a while. I mean, what are the chances of having two injuries before the puck drops within two weeks. He might be better off going into games cold...

Of course, we are dealing with back to back games tonight and tomorrow, so there is a decent chance that Keetley could actually see some game action (think Curtis is jealous?). Especially if its a blowout, but lets not talk about that...

Tonight Modano tries to prove that he's not over the hill yet and Aucoin tries to prove he's worth the money... again...

Good luck with that...

Gameday - Detroit

Steal Thunder vs Styles

The Flames visit Detroit tonight to take on the Red Wings and their 'Fire on Ice' theme...


Seriously, how dumb is that... Maybe 'Wings take flight' or 'Flying Monkeys' would be more appropriate... After the 'Red Wave' from last year I think that the Wings slogan for next year will probably be something like 'Flaming Pucks' or 'We're Burning Up'... Maybe they'll redo the 'Young Guns' theme... or worse...


Obviously this is a rematch of the 2007 first round playoff series where the Red Wings dominated on home ice. If you found your way here, then you obviously must have passed by that information at least a couple of times already, so I'm not going to get into it...





The matchup that will provide the most interest and debate tonight (in my household, anyway), is which game gets the most airtime in the Smith household. Thanks to my subscribing to Centre Ice before the season (a bipartisan act to see more of my Flames and my Chargers, while letting my brother catch his beloved Habs games), there will be a bit of a conflict tonight on the television. Calgary at Detroit and Montreal at Pittsburgh both tip off at 7:30 and young netminder Carey Price will be between the pipes for Les Canadiens against Crosby and the rest of the young guns from Pittsburgh (they're like fire on ice)...


I would do a poll as to which everyone thinks we should have to watch, but he doesn't have a blog, so I don't think that would really be fair... in an entirely unrelated note, keep your eyes peeled for a new poll going up in my right hand column shortly... just kidding... kinda... ; )



Although I wouldn't mind catching some Gary Roberts intensity...



Maybe my brother and I will have to have a Guitar Hero showdown to determine which puck drop we watch...

And I have no idea as to why his friends call him Styles...

Finally!

Start me up...

After a long wait the Flames season finally starts tonight at home against the Flyers. It doesn't seem like it could have come soon enough. Between my extremely intermittent posting over the summer and general lack of interest in the preseason (mostly due to my inability to actually see what's going on there), things are about to get back to normal. Which is a relative term, as I haven't even been around for a full season yet...

The big thing for me heading into the season is the addition of Center Ice to my cable package, (meaning I don't have to fret about Sportsnet blacking out Flames games here in Ontario) so I can actually watch most of the Flames games on my big screen and not just follow the boxscores on CBS Sportsline...
Of course, I'm meeting up with some buddies tonight to finalize my keeper league team for the season, so there is an outside chance that I will miss part of the game. At least there would be, if I didn't have my trusty PVR! No commercials for me!

Roster

I've never been one to list my ideal lineups, and things aren't about to change now. I'll leave that kind of stuff to more capable hands, and instead just concentrate on who made the roster. A few weeks ago I was asked by the pensblog to do up a season preview of the Flames, which I happily agreed to. And if any of you are planning on sifting through it, just be aware that the boys over at pensblog aren't exactly known for being completely serious at all times (though it is a fun read every morning)...

Goal

#34 Miikka Kiprusoff and #31 Curtis McElhinney

Kipper will obviously get the vast majority of the starts here, and McElhinney only got the backup job because Brent Krahn is currently on the IR. Which is actually fortunate for Krahn, as I personally think that McElhinney would have beaten him for the job out of camp anyway. There are also rumours that the Flames may resign Noodles, as they may not have been significantly impressed with any of the young netminders out of camp (which I think would be a mistake due to the backlog of young talent the Flames already have). Mind you it doesn't really matter who the backup is, because he won't be playing all that much anyway...

Defence

#33 Adrian Aucoin, #8 Anders Eriksson, #21 David Hale, #3 Dion Phaneuf, #28 Robyn Regehr, #6 Cory Sarich, and #44 Rhett Warrener

Darryl Sutter appears to be taking a more defensive approach to his blueline this season (which kind of makes sense, doesn't it?), grabbing a couple of guys that are a little stronger in their own zone than the players they are replacing. It would have been awesome to have seen Giordano get a chance at a spot, but apparently Sutter thought that a non-productive veteran presence was more important. Not pleased with this decision (like pretty much all Flames fans), though I do expect the Flames to bring Gio back next year (although the idea of giving Eriksson a two year deal is looking a bit like an abatross right now... trade bait?). The defence should be pretty solid, and hopefully the new pairings (whatever they end up being) can develop some chemistry as October progresses...

Forwards

#24 Craig Conroy, #17 Eric Godard, #20 Kristian Huselius, #12 Jarome Iginla, #22 Daymond Langkow, #18 Matthew Lombardi, #25 David Moss, #26 Marcus Nilson, #11 Owen Nolan, #63 Warren Peters, #19 Wayne Primeau, #16 Mark Smith, #40 Alex Tanguay, #7 Stephane Yelle

As I said before, I'm not about to speculate on the lineups for the game tonight, but I'm pretty sure that Godard will be one of the two forwards in the press box tonight. He's become a little redundant with the addition of Warren Peters to the lineup (also a capable fighter, but also has some hockey ability) so I figure it is only a matter of time until some other team needs an enforcer and he can be traded for future considerations or an AHLer. Although he will most likely be on the gameday roster for all Wild games, since he seems to own the 'Boogeyman'...

Owen Nolan appears to be another reclamation project by Sutter (the Friesen project was essentially a failure last year, as was Amonte the year before), but Nolan has actually put up some very solid numbers in his past for a sustained period of time. If Playfair was still the head coach, Nolan would most likely be on the ice at the end of every period if he played well that game or not...

The top 6 forwards (in no particular order), should be Iggy, Juice, Langkow, Lombardi, Tanguay, and Moss. With Nolan possibly replacing Moss on right wing, and Conroy may occasionally get some top 6 time in lieu of Lombardi. Which I'm okay with, just as long as its when they are playing well and the young guys are still getting plenty of ice time...

And yes, for some reason I decided to link to the player profiles on the Flames' site as opposed to the NHL site. Don't ask me why, I just felt like it...

Front Office

Mike Keenan takes over behind the bench for the Flames this year, which should be interesting to say the least. I'm not about to get into Iron Mike's history, as you most likely know it, and if you don't then click here. At least we know that he dresses fairly conservatively and will have the balls to actually make in game changes. Of course, I just hope that those in game changes don't include changing the goalie 4 times...

Darryl Sutter is obviously still the GM, but it will be interesting to see how he gets along with Keenan. The two have been said to be very similar, so hopefully we have a repeat of the 2003-04 season (but with a better start)...

Overall I'm pretty optomistic about this season. Let's just hope that we don't have to deal with yet another crappy October to start the season...

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Seeing as I haven't had anyone comment on one of my posts since the end of July, I'm starting to think that I could write almost anything here and nobody would notice it (or at the very least, nobody would comment on it)...

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Norv Turner is killing my Chargers...

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Debating heading out to Calgary for a game next year, possibly on a weekend in March...

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I've been known to cheer for the Leafs on occasion...