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...