Uhm, how long is indefinite?

With the new season on the horizon (well actually, its much closer than that), I figured I'd best chime in on the Flames and my opinion of how the boys look this season...

New guys?

I guess the first thing that everyone has been talking about for the last couple months has been the additions (re-additions?) of Olli Jokinen and Alex Tanguay...

I honestly can't complain about this too much, given the cap problems that the team has, and how much we ended up paying for them compared to the contracts they had in their previous tenures with the team. I'm not about to say that the Flames got them at a discount (since if they were worth more they'd most likely have gone somewhere else), but if they can recover some of their previous glory (obviously previous to their last stint in Calgary), then maybe they can be a functional part of this team. Of course, I also said this about Bertuzzi and his 'discount' season in Calgary. Uhm, nevermind...

Former Leafs, really?

Growing up in the heart of Ontario, and having lived at the Center of the Universe for the last 8 years, I've been subjected to way too many hours spent discussing things such as which Leaf is going to lead the league in scoring, what is the best Stanley Cup parade route, which NHL superstar is getting traded here next, what did Mats Sundin have for lunch, is Wendel Clark gay, and on and on...

Between that and the 'trade' back in 1992, I'm not exactly a Leafs fan, but for some reason I know every little detail about everyone who has suited up for them and why they either going to be great or awful. And it is usually the latter...

I am always hard-pressed to think of a single former Leaf who went on to greater things somewhere else. It seems that they were either stars coming in that faltered and then recovered, or they were never really destined to be stars at all...

So why do we have so many of them (and we seem to just keep on picking up more)?

Injury bug? More like injury elephant...

You know the situation is getting bad when you have to pick up a washed up former Canuck to round out the middle of the roster just before the season starts...

Langkow is out, Stajan is out, Kotalik is out, Moss is out. I mean seriously, we had cap trouble already and now we have to find a way to find replacement players before opening night? And we don't even know how long they are out for. But hopefully they can be back by November when Kipper actually starts playing...

Preseason? We talkin' 'bout preseason?

Well at least heading into the regular season with a bunch of injuries, we can fall back on out undefeated record in a bunch of glorified scrimmages. I mean, its good to see that we may finally have a little depth (well, not really), but I'd be a lot more confident going into the opener tonight with a full, healthy lineup. But at least our scrubs can beat the Oilers' scrubs...

Speaking of the Greasers...

The real season starts off tonight in Northern Alberta (to use the NFL's way of classifying cities), and the game actually gets a national broadcast on CBC. Albeit at 10:00 EST, which means I'll continue my current practice of staying up until at 1:00 in the morning for at least one more night. Who needs to be productive at work anyway (which is where I'm typing this right now)...

I don't know what to tell you about the greasers that you don't already know, or for that matter you probably know more about them than I do. But just wait until January, when I can tell you all about the Leafs...

Loser City

I got this off a friend on facebook, but its just too funny not to share...

After I got over the initial hurt that is... ;D

In Defence of Matt Cooke

After Matt Cooke took Marc Savard out for the remainder of the season with a questionable hit the other night, there was a lot of talk amongst fans and the media as to how many games he would be suspended...

It seems like nobody is on this guy's side except for Colin Campbell...

Heck, his own teammate Bill Guerin spoke out against what he did, so he could probably use a friend...

But I'm here to even out those odds, even if it is just by a minuscule fraction...

Wait, no I'm not...

I hate that guy...

Let me back up a little...

When Matt Cooke played for the Canucks, as my brother and I were watching the games I'd often comment on how dirty this guy was, and how he always seems to be going for the player and not the puck, and usually in ways that weren't exactly above board...

I mean, I love a grinder as much as the next guy, but this guy wasn't just going hard into the corners for the puck, he was leading with his elbows...

And he wasn't just trying to poke at the puck when somebody was skating towards him, he was also sticking out his knees...

People talk about how cheap players like Sean Avery and Jarko Ruutu are, but at least their intentions are blatantly obvious and it usually revolves around pissing off the other team's guys enough to draw a penalty...

The whole time I've watched games when Matt Cooke was on the ice, all I've seen is him trying to intentionally take players out of the game...

This isn't the first time he's dropped his shoulder to hit an opposing player in the head, and it sure as hell won't be the last. Especially since he didn't even get a slap on the wrist for taking a star player out of the game for the rest of the season...

Colin Campbell said that a precedent had been set when Mike Richards wasn't penalized for a similar hit earlier in the season, but there is a big difference between Richards and Cooke. Mike Richards may play with a little bit of an edge, but its not like he's a fourth line player on the ice just to shut the other team's offence down one way or the other...

I know that there are always guys you say that you hate to play against, but would love to have on your team. Corey Perry and Jarko Ruutu are two names that come to mind when I think of that kind of statement. They play with an edge and can get under the skin of the other teams...

But nobody should ever be saying that about Matt Cooke, and it looks like even Bill Guerin believes this. I've been watching Matt Cooke for a long time and I've never seen anything that could be called a redeeming quality in this guy's game. Even his goals are cheap...

I just can't believe the East coast bias is so bad in sports that it took him moving to Washington and Pittsburgh before the rest of the NHL's fans finally realized how much of a stain this guy leaves behind...

Make sure you find a place to watch the Penguins - Bruins game next Thursday, if Cooke is man enough to step up for what he did...

Is that the best you could come up with?

It seems that the cool thing to do leading into the game tonight is to criticize Team Canada about how they needed the shoot-out to beat the Swiss and then fell apart against the Americans, with Martin Brodeur taking the brunt of that...

I'm not exactly going to deviate from that, but I'm not going to stick everything on Brodeur's shoulders either...

As a goaltender myself, I know there are some times when you feel it might help out your team by taking a little chance and it ends up biting you in the ass. I have no idea how many times I've tried to do a fancy little move only to have the puck end up in my own net, but one season my team was actually counting on it happening about once a game (I'm not horrible, I make some fantastic saves, but sometimes I would try things that bordered on complete lunacy if we were up by a bunch)...

So I'm going to give Brodeur a bit of a break on this one...

Although I still wouldn't start him tonight or against the Russians tomorrow night...

Actually, I'd probably play Luongo for the first tonight and then stick Marty in when we have a nice little lead...

Or maybe a nice big lead...

No, my biggest problem is with Stevie Y's insistence on grabbing certain guys just because they play (or played) on the same team as certain other guys...

And Scotty and Chris aren't the only pair I'm talking about here...

Actually, I'm going to list the connections (only by position, as in I'm not listing Richards and Pronger together, or Fleury and Crosby) and give them a grade and a blurb explaining it...

Scott Niedermayer and Chris Pronger (Anaheim and formerly with Anaheim) ~ D+
- These guys played together for years and I'm not sure if that was a part of the reason that Stevie Y and his management team decided to put them both on the roster, but it really shouldn't have been. As I mentioned last post, Scotty looks like he's lost a bit and I really don't think he can play at this level any more (NHL for sure, Olympics, not so much). I don't think I really have to say much about Pronger at all. Sure he's big and plays with an edge, but he might be the only other guy on the ice that's as slow as Joe Thornton...

Duncan Keith and Brent Seabrook (Chicago) ~ B+
- I was originally against this one, as it was widely reported that one of the biggest things going for Seabrook was that he played with Keith. But Seabrook has been one of the only good surprises on this Canadian team. It would have been an A, but they aren't even being paired with one another in the tournament, so the whole reason they got put on the team together goes right out the window...

Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry (Anaheim) ~ B-
- The Corey Perry selection was also one that I was originally a little confused by, but again, there was the connection with a linemate to push him over the edge. And speaking of edge, that's exactly why I'm not too uncomfortable with this pairing selection. Perry has always been an aggressive forechecker, which is one of the reasons I've always kind of hated the guy when he wasn't playing for my team. I just wish the team management had more defined roles for all the players heading into the games, as I think putting these two on a checking line with Bergeron or Richards might be fairly effective. And could really piss off the other team...

Dany Heatley, Patrick Marleau, and Joe Thornton (San Jose) ~ C
- I know what some of you may be thinking right now, and yes, they have scored a solid chunk of our goals. In the first period. Which is where my biggest problem comes in, and its not really entirely their fault, but they really should not have been getting the lion's share of the ice time late in the game against Switzerland, nor should they when the games are close. When I look at that line, all I see is choker - choker - choker. Just think of every playoff series you've seen these guys play. Or not play, when you think about it, as they tend to disappear. You'd think that Mike Babcock would know this, although, in all fairness, his Red Wings didn't get a chance to put them out last year, as Anaheim did that as an 8 seed (and yes, I know that Heatley didn't play for San Jose last year, but he has a reputation for stinking it up when it counts too)...

Oh yeah, and Joe Thornton is really, really slow...

I mean, I love the guy, but...

Okay, I know this may raise a few eyebrows, but I was kind of just wondering...

Why is Scott Niedermayer playing for the Canadian Olympic team?

I know, I know, he's played for our country at every level, and he's won at every level. Heck, he's won at every level he's played at including the Memorial Cup when he was in the CHL...

But why is he leading our men's team in this year's Olympics?

Its not like we are lacking for experienced leadership, just look at Iginla or Pronger for that...

Its not like there isn't a handful of much younger, equally able defencemen available like Jay Bouwmeester or Robyn Regher...

He's not as quick as he used to be, and from what I saw in the first game, he's not as defensively sound as he used to be either...

So why is he there? Just so Stevie can feel good about having one of his old buddies in a relevant role?

I thought we were trying to go forward in the youth movement, not backwards...

That Oughta Do It...

Well, if something was going to knock me out of my funk the day I came back from vacation, this would pretty much do it...

I've lived in Toronto for about 8 years now and over the years I've acquired a lot of friends and acquaintances who are huge Leaf fans (if that is really possible) and are quick to tell me every rumour about the Leafs picking up everyone from Peter Forsberg to Roberto Luongo. When you throw in the fact that my hometown a couple hours to the north is also polluted with them (yes, I did mean polluted), I've pretty much lived my life surrounded by them and I've been very vocal about my love for the Flames...

Which leads me to Sunday afternoon...

I spent last week in the Dominican Republic where I had no idea what was going on in the NHL (which, given the recent play of the Flames was probably a good thing), and I had just gotten home that morning...

So after a few hours of sleep I was reading through my emails and my buddy Tim calls me. I don't usually hear from him too much, unless he wants to make a trade in our fantasy pool or he's blabbing about who the Leafs are picking up now...

So it starts out the same way as every other time...

"Hey buddy, how's it going?"

"We really need to get together for pints some time in the next couple weeks..."

And then he drops this one...

"Your boy Phaneuf is a Leaf now, eh?"

Of course, I consider the source, so my first response is "uhm, yeah, I'll believe it when I see it..."

Which is about when I am stumbling over to Facebook where another buddy of mine starts talking to me over instant messenger about the same thing...

And then I see all the status updates...

And finally the links...

Crap...

But let me clarify a little...

Its not so much that Phaneuf got traded...

Its not that the Flames didn't get a big name back...

Its not even that he got traded to the hated Leafs (well, pitied Leafs lately)...

After just coming back from a week in the sun, where hockey was one of the furthest things from my daily thoughts...

Its that I had to find out about it from about twenty Leaf fans at the same time!

Olli sure could use a friend right now...

Defending the defenceless?

Sounds like a noble cause, doesn't it? Until you realize that I mean that he can't play defence as opposed to can't defend himself...

I've spent a fair bit of my time all over the Flames blogosphere lately trying to defend the Olli Jokinen trade from deadline day (which the rest of the NHL deemed a great pickup for the Flames, but then again, they don't know Lombardi like we do). I've been arguing that this could be a great addition for Calgary, but he needs one big thing to happen first...

Calgary's walking (skating?) wounded need to return from the injured reserve to bolster a lineup that is remarkably weakened right now, what with having no second line whatsoever. When Langkow returns to the Flames lineup, and hopefully Bourque sooner than later (Bertuzzi can take his time), I have a feeling that the Flames will see a bit of a resurgence in scoring. When the LA Kings brought in Wayne Gretzky, it marked a huge up shoot in points for Bernie Nicholls, who got shifted back to the second line and had a record year of 70 goals and 80 assists, up from only 78 points the season before (and he subsequently got traded to the Rangers halfway through the next season). Now, I'm definitely not saying that Jokinen is anywhere near the talent level of Gretzky, but I do think he is closer than Lombardi (nor do I think Langkow is as good as Hollywood Bernie, nor would he wear a hot pink suit). But I have always been of the opinion that having a second solid scoring line will do wonders when it comes to forcing opposing teams to pick one line to defend over the other...

One complaint about Jokinen that was heard often on trade deadline day was his reputation as a clubhouse cancer, especially in regards to how he deals with the younger players, but I just don't think he had a solid example to learn from. I tried a few times to demonstrate that he hadn't had a solid leadership example to follow during the developing stages of his career (admittedly sometimes more effectively than others), and now that he is in an organization that seems to be hemorrhaging leaders with Iginla, Regehr, and Conroy to an extent, he won't be looked upon for that role. When he was with the Panthers, he didn't really have anyone and I don't think he knew what he had to do when he was thrust into the spotlight there...

Sure Jokinen will never be the own-zone presence that Lombardi was, but we have other guys on their way up that can take over that role (I'm looking at Boyd and Nystrom here). I don't see anyone in our immediate pipeline that can add the scoring touch that Jokinen has always exhibited. And I don't consider Backlund on the same level yet...

And you know he has to be happy to be playing somewhere that hockey is very much a part of everyday life (at least, he's happy right now)...

The Flames played horrible in the last couple of games on the road, but that can't be attributed solely to Jokinen. Let's see what he can do against the Devils in Jersey tomorrow night against a good (great?) goaltender and a team that plays solid defence. Not to mention a real playoff contender...

For now I'm still trying to reserve a little judgement...

Looking at the pick ups...

So far it looks like the Flames have grabbed a couple of players to make the push toward the playoffs and to strengthen the injury-depleted lineup...

Calgary re-acquired blueliner Jordan Leopold from Colorado for a guy they claimed off waivers yesterday, a prospect that's playing in the 'O', and a second round draft pick they got off of Montreal in the Tanguay deal. Which is a little of a full circle thing, since the Flames sent Leopold to the Avalanche in a trade for Tanguay in the first place...

Can't really complain about this deal at all, since the boys didn't really give anything up from the current roster...

The Flames also picked up Olli Jokinen from the Phoenix Coyotes in return for sending Lombardi, Prust, and a conditional first rounder back to the desert. Which re-unites Jokinen with Mike Keenan, who should be able to control Olli's apparent clubhouse cancer reputation...

Its tough losing Lombardi, but he wasn't really living up to the potential we all had for him (although he has been playing well of late, which may have helped in the deal). Prust is out for the season, so it doesn't really take away from the Flame roster at this point. And the first round draft pick is at Calgary's option as to whether its this year or next year, but I'm thinking you take that option for this year (given the fairly high finish they are looking at), rather than take the risk of placing even better next year (which they would be very hard pressed to do). The only way you don't is if you have a player that you really want still left in the draft this year, but when you are picking in the 24-27 range, I don't really see that happening...

Also of note is that the Flames still have to do something to clear up the cap overrun that they just created...

Deadlines...

To Deal or not to Deal

With the arrival of trade deadline day, I figured it was time for me to ignore one deadline to concentrate on another. The last couple of months I've been working towards a huge deadline at work, where I've been asked to do 3 years worth of work in only 6 months...

So you'll have to excuse me for not chiming in lately, what with working overtime and still playing hockey five days a week. My mind just wasn't into it. I could probably have written something while watching the games, but at that point I was just content to sit there and not think...

So over at Five Hole Fanatics, Kent has a little contest going to see who can guess the first player that Darryl Sutter trades for leading up to the deadline. Now this 'contest' started over a month ago, but as everybody knows there hasn't been a whole lot of action on the trade front since then...

The major problem being that there isn't a whole lot of separation when it comes to the playoff bubble and the teams at the bottom of the rankings. At one point in the Western Conference a few weeks ago, the 15th place team was only 5 points out of a playoff spot. So most teams are still trying to figure out if they are a buyer or a seller...

Even now, there is only a 10 point difference in the Western Conference between St Louis in 12th (64 points) and Vancouver in 5th (74 points). Even Colorado at the bottom of the West is only 11 points out of 7th place, but with only 18 games remaining and that many teams left to jump, they are essentially out of it...

The Eastern Conference is a little bit easier to figure out, with a bottom tier of 5 teams including the Islanders, Thrashers, Lightning, Senators, and Leafs all being pretty much out of it at this point. But that still leaves 10 teams vying for 8 spots with only a month to go in the season, and there is only 9 points separating Buffalo (69 points) and Philadelphia (78 points)...

If I had to make a decision in regards to buyers, sellers, and standing pat, the lists would look like this...

Standing pat: Sharks, Red Wings, Bruins, Blackhawks, and Devils...

Sellers: Islanders, Thrashers, Lightning, Senators, Leafs, Avalanche, Coyotes, Kings (okay, those were the easy ones), Blues, and Ducks (they are on the bubble and have been dropping a lot lately, not to mention that they have the fewest games left)...

Buyers: Flames, Canucks, Blue Jackets, Oilers, Predators, Stars, Wild, Capitals, Flyers, Canadiens, Panthers, Rangers, Penguins, Hurricanes, and Sabres...

They don't look so bad...

While watching the Flames get beaten by 'a team that they should destroy' on Saturday night, I couldn't help but notice that this year's Phoenix Coyotes squad looks a lot like last season's Chicago Blackhawks...

A lot of young, early first round draft picks surrounded by some experienced guys that you feel are still a little bit too young to be called veterans. When a team is so bad for such a long time, you know that one of these years, if they make decent draft choices, they will eventually get out of that basement and become a legitimate contender (note: not a favourite)...

It happened with the Penguins a few years ago (although they seem to be struggling a little right now), then it happened with the Blackhawks last year, and this year it seems to be happening in the desert...

Granted, you occasionally get those teams that can't seem to pick up the right guys and seem to stay on the bottom for eternity, like the Islanders, Kings, and Thrashers, but those teams also don't tend to hang onto their young guys long enough to see how they can mesh together. Either that or they tend to draft players that start their careers off overseas instead of in the North American farm system...

The Phoenix roster only has six players over 30, the oldest being Ken Klee, born in 1971. And two of them just turned 30 in the last 6 months (Derek Morris and Olli Jokinen). The other three guys, all born in 1976 (the same age as me, incidently), are Steve Reinprecht, Ed Jovanovski, and Shane Doan. Not a bad bunch of 'veterans' to have on a team at all..

And three of those 'over the hill' guys have expiring contracts (Reinprecht, Morris, and Klee)...

Not to mention that a good chunk of the key young guys (Turris, Mueller, Boedker, Hanzal, Tikhonov), all still have at least one year left in their entry contracts...

This team is going to be very good next year, and I'm actually thinking that they will be a tough team to face down the stretch, as they start to gel more and more...

No longer just another notch in the win column...

Yes, I may have a problem

So a friend of mine sent me an email on Monday afternoon, asking if I would play net for a friend of hers on Tuesday night for a pickup hockey game on some ice they'd rented. My Tuesday night hockey league doesn't start up until next week, so I said "Sure, why not!"...

At which point you are probably thinking, "yeah, that sounds rational"...

But maybe I should be more specific...

The pad of ice that they had booked was from 8:30 to 10:00... outside... down by the beach, where its nice and windy... and the windchill took it down to a nice and toasty -25C... and did I mention I'd be playing net, which meant very little moving around for extended periods... and I was travelling over an hour to go do this... and it was just pickup...

I was actually all ready to go, with my bags packed and everything, when I called to ask if my brother could come too (he's not a goaltender, so he's not quite as crazy), when my friend told me it was cancelled since there was a mixup with the permit... but some people were still going to head there regardless...

If I lived closer, I most likely still would have gone...

And now you are probably wondering why I told this story and what it has to do with the Flames...

Its quite simple really, when you think about it...

As I sit here typing the Flames-Sharks game is playing on the TV beside me. If I'm home and Calgary is playing, its on television, I don't care what time it is. This game didn't start until 10:30 EST, and yet I'm going to stay up until its over, blowout or not...

Oh yeah, I also play hockey four nights a week, sometimes five. I actually PVR'd the CHL prospects game. Last year I went to a hockey game in Aurora because a kid my brother teaches is supposedly a phenom in the vein of Tavares or Spezza (did I mention he's still only 10)...

So yes, I may have a problem...

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...

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...

San Jose at Calgary: Game 4 preview

Very Superstitious

This is a common thing in sports, especially in the playoffs, and most especially in the Stanley Cup playoffs...

 

I'm a little bit superstitious myself, as I stopped shaving after the series began last Wednesday night, and I don't plan on shaving my beard off until the Flames are out (of course, I'm not sure how that will go over at the weddings I'm to attend in late May and early June, but I'll take that risk)...

 

Of course, I can't let it run roughshod, as a beard should be maintained on occassion, so I figure that everytime the Flames lose a game, I'll give it a little trim so as not to turn into Jake Plummer. Yes, I realize that a number of hockey fans won't recognize this reference because he is the former quarterback of the Denver Broncos but he was reknowned for bringing the neckbeard back in vogue. Actually, that's not true, as a neck beard hasn't been considered stylish since the Dark Ages (probably because they couldn't see them?)...

 

Which brought to mind a number of other things that Flames bloggers have done over the last year or two that have absolutely no effect on the actual game itself (but somehow give us a little piece of mind). From me recording all of last years games on my PVR and watching them later, to WIs various jersey issues, to HGs pizza, and so on and so on, we just can't seem to stop...

 

But then it stops working (not that it really worked in the first place), so do we stop? No, we just start doing something else, which is the funny part. Since I watched the first game and have absolutely no recollection of the second game (I was really drunk downtown and didn't get home until after 3:00, so I assume that I watched the game, but I don't remember the game even starting, let alone finishing), I figure that I need to watch the game live for the boys to win (which is ironic when you think of last year), so I watched the third game and we won. Looking for a repeat tonight...

 

I was actually reading an article about player superstitions earlier, but you can't compare a fan's superstition to that of a player, as the player's might actually do something to affect the game. If talking to his goalposts calmed Patrick Roy down, and relacing his skates before every game helped Ray Bourque clear his head, then who am I to argue...

 

And I don't expect to stop doing it anytime soon, especially since I need to keep my beard in case I get called up for game 5...