HD or not HD?

That is the question.

Whether tis nobler to suffer through the hard to watch Flames broadcast on Sportsnet in something below regular definition, or to take advantage of a Blues broadcast in HD on Fox Sports Midwest...

Actually, there is no question...

Sportsnet West has HD, I've seen it. And if they had tonight's game in HD I'd choose that broadcast over the brilliantly clear one that I'm watching right now. Maybe...

As has been mentioned numerous times by WI (hmmm, actually looking for a recent reference, but can't seem to find one), the Flames team on Sportsnet just seems to be a little less than par. John Kelly and Bernie Federko in the press box? Okay, why not. Its always nice to hear people that aren't Charlie Simmer, John Garrett, or Roger Millions. Sure Kelly seems a little lacking in his hockey knowledge, but how is that any different from Millions?

The funny thing is that I'm relatively new to the Calgary broadcast team, only starting to watch games with regularity last season. I guess in some aspects I wasn't missing out...

But this is just one of the few bonuses I get from living outside of the broadcast zone. I'd much rather the chance to watch with fellow Flames fans, like is happening in Calgary tonight, even if they do have to suffer through the Flames broadcast team and don't get commercials for the casino with the world's loosest slots (don't read that too fast or you might get the wrong idea)...

Busy, busy busy...

So its been a while since I last posted (again), but I have been keeping up with the goings on of the blog world, as well as catching as much hockey as I can. Sometimes your schedule just gets too full and you end up being home only one night a week (if that), and you just want to sit around and not think while watching the players skate around on the screen in front of you...

The last two months have been like that for me. I've been watching the games, pleasantly surprised by the play of this team as of late. They are applying a lot of pressure on the opposition and seem to be outplaying most teams, even if the scoreboard doesn't represent it. I thought they played extremely well against the Red Wings a couple weeks ago and the loss was a hard one. The 5-2 final score was not indicative of how the Flames played...

You can see the farm boys, especially Moss and Boyd, are playing well, and I was even impressed by the play of Pardy the other night. Its beginning to appear that Keenan finally has the team running the way it should after almost a season and a half...

I'm even impressed by Conroy and Primeau's play in the face-off circle(s). Its nice to see Lombardi finally getting to centre the top line after missing a month. The new guys that came in (Cammalleri, Bourque, and Glencross) are all contributing in their respective roles, and I'd even say that Bourque is doing much better than I expected him to coming into the season...

I'm going to be gone for the latter half of this month (away from the internet and even farther away from all Flames games), but I felt I should at least touch base...

The Flames are exciting to watch again, even when they lose. Prairie hockey is back in Cowtown...

Out of the gate

Strong starts?

So I was thinking about how we're always hearing about how strong the Flames have been in the first period this season, and I figured I'd take a quick look at the numbers. Not all the numbers mind you, just the shots and goals for the first five games of the season, by period. Just to get an idea as to how strong their first periods are, compared to later in the game...

Game 1: 6-0 loss to Vancouver

Period		1		2		3
Shots		9-5		10-7		6-11
Goals		0-1		0-2		0-3

Game 2: 5-4 OT loss to Vancouver

Period		1		2		3		OT
Shots		11-7		9-18		7-6		2-3
Goals		3-1		1-2		0-1		0-1

Game 3: 5-4 win over Colorado

Period	1	2	3
Shots	12-10	15-5	8-14
Goals	3-2	0-1	2-1

Game 4: 4-3 loss to Edmonton

Period	1	2	3
Shots	8-15	9-12	12-8
Goals	1-1	1-3	1-0

Game 5: 3-2 loss to Edmonton

Period	1	2	3
Shots	17-3	6-14	10-10
Goals	2-0	0-3	0-0

Total after 5 games: 1-3-1

Period	1	2	3	OT
Shots	57-40	49-59	43-49	2-3
Goals	9-5	2-11	3-5	0-1

Its too bad we couldn't just call the games after the first 20 minutes, since then the Flames record would be a very respectable 3-1-1...

As has been stated in numerous posts (but not in any of mine), Keenan can't seem to leave well enough alone and appears to like to switch things up between periods. I know you have to be able to make in game adjustments, but when what you are doing is working, it should be the other team that makes the changes. Keenan's attempts at pre-emptive line changes isn't throwing the other teams off, it looks like its just making it easier for them...

Back to back battle! Again!

Once more unto the breach!

Canucks last week, and now the greasers in a back to back this weekend? I guess they want to get the divisional races heated up a little early in the season. It can't really get any worse than what happened last weekend, can it?

My hate-on for the Oilers has grown again these last couple of years, what with them becoming somewhat respectable again... Wait, that's not the right word... I can't bring myself to actually respect them... How about the Oilers have become somewhat competent again... much better...

Anyway, the Flames host the kids from up North at the Saddledome tonight, and then take Highway 2 to the Rexall Centre tomorrow for the second game...

At least I'm assuming they'll take Highway 2. But it might be a nice time of year to take the long road through the parks... Which reminds me... The Tim Horton's in Hinton doesn't offer hot chocolate... Which I find kind of weird, since its just outside Jasper and you would think that if some parents were taking their kids through the parks in the colder months, they would like to have a hot liquid option for them to drink... Because I'm assuming kids in Alberta don't drink coffee, do they? Maybe that's why prairie kids are such gritty hockey players... And they probably drink it black, straight up... I'm sure that the Tim Horton's in Vulcan probably only serves black coffee, no double doubles allowed (do they have a Timmy's in Vulcan?)... Or maybe I'm just overthinking this...

Regardless, I will not be around to catch either game, as I'll be Oktoberfesting it up in Kitchener-Waterloo... In fact, I'll probably be three sheets to the wind (five or six actually), by the time the puck even drops on either night...

I would think of recording the games on my PVR (which was so lucky a couple of years ago), but I'm sure my brother would be more than a little skeptical of me taping an early season hockey game, regardless of who is playing in it... Although he did record the start of the Habs-Bruins game a couple nights ago, while muttering something about 100 years and Patrick Roy's jersey... I don't know, I wasn't really paying attention...

I know I should probably go to a bar and watch the game instead of a big fest-hall, but Oktoberfest only happens once a year! Its not like its a date that I can put off for a day or two...

Here's hoping the boys win tonight at least, as otherwise there is apparently a decent chance that Mike Keenan could be fired just four games into the season...

Don't worry about it... yet...

Where is Sean Connery when you need him?

It seems that at the beginning of every season lately the Flames are floundering around looking like they are still playing preseason games. I've gotten so used to the boys losing for a good section of the first month of the season, that I thought I'd look and see just how bad they have been in the previous five seasons...

Now most of you have probably realized by now that stats based articles are not my forte (which is kind of funny to me when I think of how many stats courses I took in university). So I kept this one simple...

I just took the October records for the Flames and compared it to the rest of the season for the years 2002 to 2007. I also did a quick check to see how they started out the month in each year by showing the first four games...

October 2002: 3-3-2-0
Rest of 2002/03: 26-33-11-4

October 2003: 4-4-0-1
Rest of 2003/04: 38-26-7-2

October 2005: 4-7-0-2
Rest of 2005/06: 42-18-0-2

October 2006: 3-6-0-1
Rest of 2006/07: 40-23-0-4

October 2007: 6-3-0-3
Rest of 2007/08: 36-27-0-4

As you can see, last year was the first time that the Flames had a positive record in the month of October since Sutter and Kiprusoff came to town. But if a loss was a loss regardless, they only broke even. And obviously the 2002 season doesn't really fit in since it was when the Flames were still horrible, but I threw it in anyway...

But even last year's anomaly fits in when you only look at the first four games, you can see that they usually start very poorly (with a loss, in fact)...

2002: L, L, W, T
2003: L, W, W, L
2005: L, W, L, L
2006: L, W, L, W
2007: L, L, L, W
2008: L, L, W, ?

I fully realize that I am selecting my data to corroberate my hypothesis (since they won 3 of the previous 5 fifth games and tied another), but that wouldn't change where I'm going with this anyway...

At least I think I'm going somewhere with it...

Basically, relax, cause its only October. Not much of a revelation, I realize, but I was curious about the numbers, and I'm sure that some of you may have been too...

Yeah, it'd be nice to get a good jump out of the gate, but that wouldn't be the Calgary Flames' style...

And you have no idea how much of a pain in the ass it was to create that mock movie poster...

Update: it looks like the boys picked up their first W of the season tonight over the Avalanche...

Update 2: it also looks like Leanne beat me to the punch... which is probably one reason why I shouldn't have spent the better part of last night working on that damn poster...

Hockey's Back! (And so am I)...

Easing my way back into it...

Hey, do I have any readers left?

Yeah, I apparently took the summer off, as well as a good portion of the spring and the first few weeks of fall...

Been kinda busy and I just wasn't feeling it, you know? But with the start of the first Calgary game of the season, I'm refreshed and back on the boat (in the chair, whichever)...

I had a few posts all drafted up and ready to go, one on guys that I can't stand, which I will probably edit and post later on. I had a post on the Festival Cup here in Toronto at the beginning of September that I only had to add my photographs to. There was a significant Flames presence there, so I may just post it with its backdate and if you are really bored at some point you can read through it (I may post it tomorrow, if I remember)...

Actually, as I type this the Flames are down 5-0 with only 7:30 left in the third period. The boys are not looking sharp tonight. They had a pretty good first, but couldn't solve Luongo and the F@%^ing Canucks built on a couple of quick goals to start the second. Have I mentioned how much I can't stand the Canucks? I have? Oh, nevermind then...

There are a bunch of things I should really get around to voicing my opinion on, which I probably will, when the topic comes up again...

But in the meantime, welcome back! And let's just hope the Saturday night game in Calgary goes a lot better...

Update: 6-0 final... ugh...

Postgame - 2008 Festival Cup

Hockey's Back! kinda...

Yeah, I know I've been gone for a while (well, the whole summer and a good portion of the spring actually), but now that I've been to a hockey game at an NHL rink I can officially say that the hockey season has started...

Last night my brother and I attended the Festival Cup at the ACC. I know it wasn't an NHL game, but there were NHLers playing in it, so that's good enough for me (especially since there were some Calgary Flames, current and former, on the rosters). Besides, the game was set up to raise money for Right to Play, and there were even some NHL caliber plays...

As an added bonus, the teams were also decked out in the old Flames jersey template...

Team #1 (White Jerseys)

Coach: Karen Percy-Lowe

Captain: Doug Gilmour (Toronto Maple Leafs)

Players: Sean Avery (Dallas Stars), Jim Balsillie (Blackberry), Cameron Bancroft (Hockeyville, Little House), Tom Bernard (President, Sony Pictures Classics), Mike Cammalleri (Calgary Flames), Andrew Cogliano (Edmonton Oilers), Jim Cuddy (Blue Rodeo), Mike Green (Washington Capitals), Curtis Joseph (Toronto Maple Leafs), Jason Reitman (Thank You For Smoking, Juno), Robyn Regehr (Calgary Flames), Tim Robbins (Mystic River, The Shawshank Redemption), Graeme Roustan (Bauer), Craig Simpson (Edmonton Oilers, Hockey Night in Canada), Jason Spezza (Ottawa Senators), Jason Thompson (General Hospital), Scott Thornton (NHL Free Agent), Wojtek Wolski (Colorado Avalanche)

Team #2 (Red Jerseys)

Coach: Kevin Lowe

Captain: Mats Sundin

Players: Luc Robitaille (Los Angles Kings), Jennifer Botterill (Canadian Women’ National Team), Tim Connolly (Buffalo Sabres), Mark DeCarlo (Raising Helen), Kris Draper (Detroit Red Wings), Andrew Ference (Boston Bruins), Oren Koules (Saw, Two and A Half Men), Nick Kypreos (New York Rangers, Rogers Sportsnet), Lochlyn Munro (Smallville, CSI, Dead Man on Campus), Gary Roberts (Tampa Bay Lightning), Derek Roy (Buffalo Sabres), Joey Scoleri (Hollywood Records), Sami Jo Small (Canadian Women’s National Team), Matt Stajan (Toronto Maple Leafs), D.B. Sweeney (The Cutting Edge, Jericho), Joe Thornton (San Jose Sharks), Jeremy Williams (Toronto Maple Leafs)

Just from a quick glance at the rosters I knew I'd be cheering for the white team, especially given the presence of Lowe behind the red bench...

Now obviously this is a charity game, so there was plenty of hijinx (including Tim Robbins wearing an Obama 08 jersey for the second period), but some of the celebrities actually had some skills. Now some of the Canadian ones you would naturally expect to be competent, like Cameron Bancroft and Lochlyn Munro, who both had dreams of playing in the NHL until they got injured in their teens, but other guys like Tim Robbins I would have never expected to be as good as he is. Of course, there were also a few guys out there that really shouldn't have been, like Scoleri and Reitman. I think my mom can skate better than they can...

This wasn't really a game so much as it was an organized scrimmage. Sure there were referees and they were keeping score and all, but there was a serious lacking when it came to defensive zone play, not to mention actually following the rules...

During a Tim Robbins penalty shot, the refs moved the net from behind Sami Jo Small and he just shot the puck in the dead centre of the net, as it was in the corner of the rink...

You could actually tell the Tim Robbins was really the centre of attention for the night, as he also beat the crap out of Nick Kypreos...

And Sean Avery was being Sean Avery, which is probably why he switched jerseys with Jason Reitman for the third period, since he felt that he was being unfairly tragetted by the officials...

Obviously with this game being at the ACC, they had to find a way to make fun of the Senators and get the crowd into it. Which they succeeded in doing by using the 'kiss cam' and a guy in a Sens jersey, with a girlfriend that obviously had no interest in being seen with him...

But perhaps the funniest and most notable occurence of the evening involved new Flame Mike Cammalleri. Throughout the third period the crowd was repeatedly reminded that in the event of a tie, the game would go to a shootout. With the scored tied 8-8 with less than a minute left, that seemed to be inevitable. Then Cammalleri came down the ice and potted one with about 13 seconds left, and as the spotlight shone on him, you could tell he knew he wasn't supposed to do that. Which was even more obvious when Bill McCreary waved the goal off, even though everyone KNEW it went it. But the best part of it all was the Cheshire Cat Grin on Cammalleri's face...

Oh, and not that it really matters, but the White team won...