Gameday - Ducks

Saturday, December 29, 2007

8:00 p.m. MST

Pengrowth Saddledome

Anaheim @ Calgary

CBC (HD), FSPT

• The defending Stanley Cup champions roll into Calgary on a four game winning streak.
• Last time the Ducks were in town, they beat the Flames 4-1 to close out November.
• Scott Niedermayer came back out of retirement a couple of weeks ago, but has only supplied two assists in his five games, although you can't discount how his presence back in the lineup has been a boost to Anaheim.
• Gigeure is averaging less than a goal a game against in regulation over those five games.
• Calgary seems to have lucked out a little bit, in that Samuel Pahlsson will not be dressed tonight for the Ducks, as he is out due to an abdominal injury.
• Since finishing off a sweep in a 6 game road trip last week, the Flames have lost two overtime games at home, and then most recently lost to the mailto:f#@kin Canucks on Thursday night.
• Corey Perry leads the Ducks with 20 goals, while Ryan Getzlaf paces the team in assists (25) and points (38).

Kipper has been talking about how he needs to step up his game, so I'm thinking this is the game he does it. With Pahlsson out, it gives the Flames a chance to take advantage of the Ducks a little, although the blueline scares me more than a little...

This may sound like a bit of a broken record, but I pick the Flames to win 3-0 tonight, with goals by Iginla, Lombardi, and Tanguay, plus a shutout for Kipper...

Are YOU watching?

Am I the only person that knows about this?

I'm not sure if anyone else follows the Spengler Cup, but tomorrow morning's game holds some special significance for Flames fans (but I'll get to that in a bit)...



For those of you that are unaware of the Spengler Cup, it is an invitation-only club tournament held in Davos, Switzerland every year over the Christmas break. The host club (HC Davos of the Swiss league), invites one team from three other European leagues (usually from amongst the Swedish, Finnish, Russian, German, Czech, and Slovak leagues), as well as a team made up of Canadian players that aren't playing in the NHL (most are either playing in the European leagues, or aren't currently playing anywhere at all). In addition, the host club is allowed to grab 5 other players from the other teams in the Swiss league...



Each team plays four round robin games (one against each other team), and the two teams with the top records play for the championship...

I've been watching the Spengler ever since I found out about it about 10 years ago...

This years version (in addition to HC Davos and the Canadian team) has clubs from the Czech league (HC Moeller Pardubice), German league (Addler Mannheim), and the Russian league (HC Salavat Yulaev Ufa)...


Which brings me to the main point of this whole post. For those of you that have read my blog with anything resembling consistency may know, Andrei Taratukhin plays for Salavat (who, I feel the need to point out, wear bright green from head to toe). And those of you that have been watching the Spengler, if there is anyone besides me, probably know that Mark Giordano has suited up for the Canadian squad. I realize that Giordano and Taratukhin may have played against each other in the Russian league already, but none of us can get those games...

Tomorrow morning the Canadians play Salavat, which means that we get to see the two Flames that we all wanted with the big club this year face off against each other on national TV. Of course, the game is on tape delay (don't read the sports sites!), so it won't be on until 3:30 pm EST (1:30 pm MST), but that just means we don't have to worry about sleeping in...

Unfortunately, this is a little bit of a conflict with the junior game (vs Sweden at 2:00pm EST), but those of us with a PVR (YAY, THAT'S ME!!!), can catch both in HD. The rest of you may have to settle for catching the second half of the Spengler game (or switch back and forth)...

Gameday - Canucks

Thursday, December 27, 2007

8:00 p.m. MST

GM Place

Calgary @ Vancouver

CBC (HD)

• Calgary returns to play in Vancouver for their first game after the Christmas break.
• If you don't know about my personal loathing of the ocean going spawns of satan, then feel free to check my archives from last February.
• Hopefully the Flames can continue their play from their last road trip, and not reproduce their recent home stand where they lost both games in overtime.
• I'm running late with this, so I'll just say that Luongo is the only player on the Canucks roster that actually scares me in the slightest.

This is brief as the game just started, but I'm thinking it'll be a Flames 3-1 win, with goals by Iginla, Lombardi, and Tanguay...

Gameday - Devils

Sunday, December 23, 2007

7:00 p.m. MST

Pengrowth Saddledome

New Jersey @ Calgary

Sportsnet West, FSN - NY

• New Jersey comes into Calgary tonight, after beating the Oilers in Edmonton on Friday.
• Calgary is coming of a tough overtime loss to the Dallas Stars Friday night, in a game were they seemed to dominate play for the last two periods, but had difficulty with a red-hot Mike Smith in net for the Texans.
• Zach Parise is the Devils lead in goals (15), assists (20), and obviously points (do the math). Which obviously points to a low scoring team, as everyone knows.
• The big player for the Devils is Martin Brodeur, and it seems that it is solely his plays that determines if the team wins or loses. They either win a low scoring game, or they get blown out. There doesn't seem to be an in between.
• Iginla was kept of the scoresheet on Friday night (except for his -2), so look for a big game from him tonight.

I won't be able to catch this game, as I'm heading up to Haliburton and my parents don't have Centre Ice (Boooooo! j/k)...

I debated recording it, but I wouldn't be able to watch it for a week, so I'll just catch the highlights...

Given the Devils propensity to avoid scoring goals, I'm thinking this will be a low scoring game...

Flames win 3-0 in a good, old-fashioned, New Jersey barn burner. Kipper finally gets his first shut out of the season, with some support by goals from Lombardi and Iginla x2...

Go Flames!

Postgame - Stars

Ribiero? Really?

Hmm, I may be partially at fault for the loss last night...

Maybe I shouldn't have made fun of Ribiero...

Although I think Mike Smith played way over his head last night. The guy was phenomenal, and also pretty lucky, as the Flames dominated the last two periods of the game...

The Stars stole one, but we'll get them next time...

We did get a point out of it...

But too many games have been stolen from the Flames this season, so sooner or later they have to start getting the bounces...

And one final thing about Ribiero...

Suck it up and get off the ice, you pansy!

Gameday - Stars

Friday, December 21, 2007

8:00 p.m. MST

Pengrowth Saddledome

Dallas @ Calgary

TSN, KDFI

• The Flames return to Calgary after winning all of their games in a six game road trip, to host the Stars.


• Dallas is at the end of a four game road trip, with a 2-1 record coming off a loss in Vancouver last night.


• Mike Ribiero is the goals (16) and points (34) leader for the Dallas Stars, with Zubov holding the lead in assists (18). Yes you read that correctly, Mike Ribiero, the Habs cast-off is leading a team in scoring. Maybe the guy does have some skill, but he's probably just faking it...


• Marty Turco usually plays well against the Flames (career 1.83 GAA), but you have to keep in mind that he also played against the pre-Campbell trophy winning Flames as well...


• Apparently Dallas is the Western conference team against which Kipper has his worst record, so I can't think of a better time for him to steal a game.


• Lombardi scored the game winner when these two teams met early in the season.

I'm not a fan of Dallas, with the possible exception of whenever they play the Oilers in the playoffs. Cause then they take up the mantle of 'Second Favourite Team in the Calgary Flames Universe'...

This game figures to be rather low scoring, as I don't see much offense coming from Texas, and the shutdown style of play from the Stars will probably be pretty efficient against a one-line team...

I watched the game on FSN-O on Tuesday night (c'mon, Roger Millions in regular definition or some Columbus homers in HD, which would you choose?), which was interesting. I got to listen to them complain about Nash not drawing a penalty when Hale decided to stop letting him lean on him and Ricky hit the ice. They must have shown it ten times from twenty different angles (or something more mathematically probable), and even my indifferent brother could tell what had actually happened. Heck, I'm sure that if Ricky decided not to take the dive (I'm not sure what kind of dive it was though, the closest thing I could come up with was a cannonball), he may have actually gotten a shot off. Stupid homerism...

Actually, I kind of like homerism. It gives opposing fans something to rant and laugh about...

Yay homerism!

Unfortunately, I don't think I'll be able to get the Stars feed (as much as I like Darryl Reaugh's work), and I don't think it'd be in HD anyway...

I'm thinking that the Flames winning streak continues tonight and Kipper gets his first shutout of the season (I have to be right eventually, right?) against a low-scoring 'offense'. Flames win in a one-sided barn burner, 7-0. And Lombardi gets a hat trick, including a shortie (doubling the team's output on the season in the category), while playing with somebody other than Conroy and Boyd (Tanguay?). The other Flames goals come from Tanguay (who finally has a centre that can skate), Iginla, Huselius, and Godard (hey, the rest of my prediction is just as unlikely)...

Oh, and somebody will make Ribiero cry (Dion!)...

Go Flames!

Gameday - Blue Jackets

Tuesday, December 18, 2007

5:00 p.m. MST

Nationwide Arena

Calgary @ Columbus

Sportsnet West, FSN-O (HD)

• The Flames roll into Columbus on a five game winning streak and have a chance to set a team record with six consecutive wins on one road trip...
• The Blue Jackets are in the middle of a 9 out of 10 homestand, coming of a 2-0 shutout loss to the Bruins in Beantown (which was their first away game since beating the Flames in overtime at the Saddledome on the first of this month, and their last until the 27th)...
• Calgary has actually gotten points in their last 8 games, but in my mind the 2 extra time losses are still losses (but I'll take the points!)...
• Columbus is all over the place lately, with wins and losses interspersed all over their record. To look for anything resembling a pattern would be counter-productive (although counter-productivity is a specialty of mine)...
• Its a toss-up as to who will be playing in net for the Blue Jackets tonight (well, without actually checking to see if its been posted), as Norenna is coming off the loss to Boston, but Leclaire (who looked so good to start the season), has been more bipolar than the team itself. Which bodes well for our Flames (leading to the next bullet)...
• The Flames' big guns have really been producing as of late (I'm sure everyone at least caught the box score for the Tampa game), with the top 4 (Iginla, Langkow, Huselius, Phaneuf), combining for 15 goals and 18 assists in the last three games (including 16 out of 19 points awarded in the Tampa Bay game)...
• Kipper has been showing flashes of brilliance (especially in the first two games of the road trip), but still doesn't look like he has rounded into form as of yet...
• Rick Nash is obviously the leader of the Blue Jackets, with team highs in goals (18), assists (13), and points (31). He is also in a bit of a drought, not having gotten a point in the last four games, which is either a good thing (streak continues), or a bad thing (it has to end some time). Here's hoping for the former...
• Given Columbus' 4th overall penalty kill ranking and the tendency of the Flames to give up short handed goals lately, lets hope for a relatively penalty free game (like the last one, although it did mark another Gordie Howe Hat Trick for Iggy)...

When I first saw that the game was on FSN-O, my first thought was 'Alright, Fox Sports Net Ontario! And in HD!'. Which lasted about two seconds, wherein I made the correlation between Fox Sports Net and Rogers Sportsnet. Which made me feel a little down for a second, until I realized that I'll probably get the HD feed through my Center Ice! Now I'm pumped (and seemingly as emotionally volatile as Leclaire)!

Debating a live blog, we'll have to see how my brother responds to the idea (the Habs play tonight as well, although I don't know if he's going to be home or not). It will likely be a game time decision, but if you see me start, feel free to join in!

Actually, I'd like to take a moment to thank the screenwriters way down in Hollywood for striking, thereby saving me from the contemplation involved in deciding whether to watch a new TV show episode or a live sporting event. I haven't seen this many hours of sports in a week since... ever!

Which is a point of contention for my brother, as he can't sit and watch me yell at the television for 10 1/2 straight hours on Sundays and usually has to go upstairs...

Serious lack of devotion to sports on his part, as its the best reality programming on television!

Wow, I'm feeling good right now, back in the swing of things...

Flames win in Kipper's first shutout of the season, 4-0! Goals from Tanguay, Iginla, and Lombardi x2...

Go Flames!

I used to have readers...

Introspection

I haven't been updating this site nearly as much as I'd like as of late, and I was trying to blame it on apathy about how poorly the Flames were playing (and something about not having enough time right now, which clearly isn't true). But as the Flames are currently on a five game winning streak (WOOHOO! And on the road, no less!), that clearly isn't true either. My original idea for this blog (or niche, if you will), was to inject some humour and silliness into the hockey blogosphere, since there was plenty of excellent statistical analysis already being done. But I seem to have lost my way a little at some point and tried to make up for it by posting about things I was doing, or meaningless posts about things like power rankings, which nobody cares about (and if they really wanted to know, they could just check them out themselves)...

Wow, I think this post is the most boring one yet...

And a little bit depressing...

I somehow did twice as many posts last February alone, than I've done through the first two and a half months of this hockey season...

And February's the short month!

The ironic thing is that I only got to watch about one in 6 games last season (as opposed to all of them this season)...

Actually, by looking back at the end of last season, I think I may have found the problem...

I seem to have deviated from the path I was on last season, while hockey was on hiatus for the summer...

Time to get back on the path...

Gameday - Chicago

Wait, didn't I just do this?

You know, I could have sworn that Calgary just played Chicago...



What's that? You say that was over two weeks ago? Really?



Huh, where have I been then? Odd...



I've really been meaning to write more, especially since I added that nifty little widget you can see on the right hand side (or not, if you are like my brother, where he just gets a blank space). Any comments on the widget are more than welcome, by the way...



Anway, I've been pretty busy as of late, not to mention that my free time has been taken up with my planning for a vacation at the end of January (going on a cruise and I'm trying to sort out what all I want to do, which is more fun than talking about how the Flames still can't really play more than one good game in a row)...



My Center Ice cut out midway through the last Chicago game, and I haven't really done much with my blog since. At least with that Nashville game earlier this season, I knew the game wasn't being shown at all, so I was only off-put for a minute and then I got over it. It's a little different when the screen suddenly goes grey and doesn't change no matter how many times you flip back there from the Thursday night NFL game...



I've watched at least parts of pretty much every game since, but I'm beyond wondering how they are always getting caught up on the power play, leading to short-handed goals. With all the bad luck the Flames have had so far this season (hit posts, pucks deflected in off defencemen, the injuries that keep on coming), you just know that it can't last much longer... can it?



I was actually amazed that the game against the Penguins made it to the shootout after Regehr went down and there were prolonged lengths of time with Sarich and Eriksson out on the ice together...



Everyone knows that it takes time to get adjusted to a new coach, but I think that after two months, things should really be sorted out by now...



Which makes me really concerned for Kipper. I don't know what's going on with him, but there is no way he should have a lower save percentage than guys like Dipietro and Fluery, let alone Mason, Holmqvist, and Bryzgalov. Something has to change here though, its just too bad that we don't have an experienced backup that can challenge him a little...



I'm not overly optomistic about the game tonight, as I think the injuries will really show up on the scoreboard, as I see the Blackhawks coming away with a 3-1 win...