Getting the bounces

The Flames are in Detroit tonight for a game against the Red Wings after a tough loss in Montreal last night. Which was made even tougher for me, given that I was watching the game with a Habs fan…

When the Flames played the Red Wings a couple weeks ago, I thought that they played a pretty solid game, even carrying the play at times against one of the more solid teams in the league. The final 5-2 score of the game didn’t really reflect what was happening on the ice that night…

The same could easily be said for last night’s 4-1 loss to the Canadiens. At points in the game Calgary easily looked like the better team on the ice, but then they would get into penalty trouble and les Habitants would take over the momentum. Between a hot goaltender in Halak, and some bad bounces for the Flames, they lost by three goals again in a game that they were not overpowered in…

Which means that one of these days they’re going to get the bounces, right? It’s a rule of nature, isn’t it? You can only have bad luck for so long…

Having games on back to back nights in cities that are over 800 km apart (over 500 miles) has got to be rough, not to mention going from playing one of the top teams in the league to playing one of the top teams in the league. And there’s the question of whether Kiprusoff will be between the pipes for a second game less than 24 hour of finishing his last one, or if Keenan will opt to go with McElhinney, who didn’t exactly shine in his last outing…

I’m not expecting a lot tonight (kind of like how I haven’t expected a lot from Bertuzzi this season), but if the boys play like they’ve been playing the last few weeks, and they finally start getting the bounces, they could actually pull of the upset…

That being said, I still think the Red Wings take this one 4-2…

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...