Pengrowth Saddledome vs Rexall Centre

This will have to do...

After attending games in Calgary and then Edmonton on back-to-back nights a couple of weeks ago (both against the Blues), I'd originally intended on writing up a blog entry on each game. Especially since each game had a record breaking goal in it. On the Monday night in Calgary, Jarome Iginla scored his 365th goal as a Flame, to take the club lead ahead of Theoron Fleury. On the Tuesday night in Edmonton, Andrew Cogliano became the first player in NHL history to score an overtime goal in three consecutive games. There is no telling the next time that the Flames will have a player breaking the club goal lead (both because of Iginla's lengthy career left ahead of him, and the fact that there doesn't appear to be anyone in the system right now to challenge him for it), so that was a big milestone to be at. When it comes to Cogliano's record, it requires a lot of chance just to have back-to-back-to-back overtime games, let alone have one player score the decider in all of them. That record may never be broken...

But I've been so ridiciulously busy since then with hockey of my own (tournaments and league play and pickup), that I just haven't had the time and/ or energy to sit down and get it done. Now with it being so long ago, I've decided to just merge the two and compare the experiences in the same post...

Location

I know that this is a big point of contention for the boys up North, especially with all of the talk going on right now over the building of a new arena complex in the city core. If any of you have been over the the Battle of Alberta blog in the last year and a half, you've more than likely seen Grabia's coverage of every nuance of the proposal...

But I'm just going to cover my experiences with what is in place right now...

The Saddledome is located just southeast of the downtown core, and is just a few minutes walk from the c-train (Calgary's rapid transit system). There is the infamous connection to the Red Mile, which is just down 17th (albeit, it is a little ways down 17th from the Saddledome with a fairly 'interesting' area inbetween them). The fact that it is on the Calgary Stampede grounds means that there is ample parking on well-maintained lots while the Stampede is not in use. Given that a very significant portion of the population take advantage of the transit system and also the bars on 17th, there didn't seem to be any traffic issues before or after the game...

The Rexall Centre is located to the northeast of Edmonton, well removed from the city core. The parking areas were not overly well maintained and walking to the arena required being consistently at the mercy of the elements, as there was no coverage. As well, the arena itself is situated in such a way so that anyone going to the game only had a few apporaches to the building due to the necessity of crossing major roadways, which led to large crowds moving slowly together across bridges and such. And don't even get me started on how long it takes to get out of the parking lots after the game...

Advantage: Saddledome (and that doesn't even take into consideration the view of Calgary when you are leaving the arena)...

Pregame, intermissions and postgame

Before the Calgary game, when the team was on the ice doing there warmups, Dion Phanuef kept on coming in on the net from different angles and at different speeds and put it just inside the top right corner of the net on every shot. I'm putting this down because it seemd that no matter how far out he was from the net at the time he took the shot, he was able to put it exactly where he wanted to. I was reminded of this after seeing his goal in the Vancouver game last night, where he picked the top left corner as he was streaking in on Luongo...

There wasn't a whole lot different between the Calgary and Edmonton pregames, beyond the flames in Calgary, and the use of a big oil derrick in the entry of the Oiler players. And speaking of which, they could really stand to light it up a little better. They have a great prop, but it would definitely benefit from a little more in the way of pyrotechnics or at least better lighting...

In terms of what happened on the ice during the intermissions, there isn't a whole lot to write home about (the typical Timbit hockey stuff), beyond the irony of Edmonton having shootout competitions for their first one. When I saw this I just about busted a gut...

Off the ice however, my brother and I were a little stunned when we walked into the concourses in Edmonton. Usually whenever I go to an NHL game, people do the same thing between periods. They use the bathroom and then go get a beer and/ or something to eat and then bring it back to their seat. But Edmonton reminded us a lot of a small town rink. There they don't head right back to their seats, but instead they hang around in the concourse, or even sit at tables provided and talk with other fans until the next period starts. It was weird...

In terms of postgame stuff, both teams did the usual three stars thing and then everyone left...

Advantage: Rexall (the intermission thing was odd, but in a good way)...

During play

We actually had seats in nearly identical spots for both games (even down to being on the aisle both times), so our vantage points didn't vary. During the game in Calgary I had a kid that looked to be about 6'2" sitting in front of me and leaning forward the whole time. This was a little annoying, so I was pleasantly surprised when we got to Edmonton and noticed that they had notices up on the screens to keep your back pressed to your seat when play was going. And for the most part, everyone did...

There was a lot said during the playoffs a couple of years ago about how loud the Oiler crowd is during a game. When you walk into the Rexall Centre, you can certainly see why. The arena is tiny and is actually well built for amplifying sound. That being said, I thought that the Calgary game was more consistently noisey (in a good way). Granted, whenever they flashed 'I can't hear you!' at Rexall, the place suddenly got deafening... for about 5 seconds...

There also seemed to be problems with the out of town scoreboards in Edmonton, as they seemed to freeze on the score for the Anaheim-Phoenix game for the majority of the night. There was nearly a full slate of games that day, but it was hard to follow what was going on outside of the arena. I realize that we were there to see the Oiler game, but you still should be able to follow other games going on that night...

Advantage: Draw (Rexall impressed me with the seat thing, but I was equally unimpressed with the oft-advertised 'noise' and the non-functioning out of town scoreboard)...


Intangibles

On the way into the Flames game we picked up a program for $5. On the way into the game at Rexall, they handed one to both my brother and I, and after asking how much, we were told they were free. Imagine that, giving out a free keepsake that would help you follow the game better. Colour me impressed...

I realize that Rexall is a very old building in NHL terms, but I think I saw more concrete there than at the LeFarge plants west of Calgary. This seems to keep with the small town rink feel that I commented on before, but it killed the excitement a little. I want to be impressed when I walk through a storied building, no bored...

On the way to our seats in the Saddledome, they were giving out 4X7 hockey cards of Dion Phaneuf to the kids and apparently to the attractive girls as well. Which was kind of cool and made me wish I had brought along an attractive girl instead of my brother (but only for a second, as I like hanging out and watching hockey with my brother). But it was all good afterwards, as some people didn't feel the need to keep them (for shame!), so I managed to pick up a couple of them...

I realize that this doesn't really fit in anywhere, but it was also cool that the Flames had Theoron Fleury in the building that night to congratulate Iggy on his 365th goal on the big screen...

Last season (or maybe it was early this season), I remember WI talking about pocket dawgs on her blog and figured that whenever I made it out to a game in Calgary I would have to have one. Having now partaken in the odd cuisine, I was impressed. You think its just a hot dog, but they somehow taste better. And the burgers on sale outside the rink after the game were also very good...

Advantage: Saddledome

Final Tally

The Saddledome takes it! You didn't honestly think that I would let Edmonton win, did you? But I will concede that it did go into overtime and give them a point...

I'm sure I'm forgetting a number of things, in which case somebody will have to remind me and I may have to do some editing...

Postgame - Lethbridge

Stupid Rules...

On our continuing travels around Alberta, my brother and I got tickets to the Hitmen game on Sunday which pitted them against the second best team in their division, the Lethbridge Hurricanes (Calgary is obviously the top team in the division)...

Before I really get into the game, which I will, I'd just like to set the scene a little bit, by telling you that we were sitting five rows behind the players benches, at centre ice (so we were actually right behind the 'professional' photographers). Oh, and I have a pretty decent camera of my own...

The first thing that I noticed heading into the game was the overabundance of children, which makes a fair bit of sense when you think about it in terms of the price of the tickets and that many of them are probably too young to know the real difference between a WHL game and an NHL game. There was also a large number of Lethbridge fans (it seemed like half the city was there, as one group of them took up the better part of one of the sections), which meant for a loud game no matter which team did anything...

The first period was a bit of back and forth, with Lethbridge opening up the scoring only to have Calgary tie it up shortly thereafter. Then the Hurricanes scored again late in the first, only to have the Hitmen knot it up before the end of the frame...

The second period continued the pattern of back and forth play, with neither team really looking like it was owning the other, although if I had to give the edge to one team, it would probably be the Hitmen. That is, until a massive defensive breakdown right before the second intermission, when the Calgary blueline was nowhere to be seen as a Lethbridge player skated in alone and gave the Hurricanes their third lead of the game heading into the final frame...


Which is where I take a brief sidestep from the game itself. Throughout the first two periods I had been predominantly using my telephoto lense, since my regular lens doesn't give a whole lot of an advantage over a regular digital camera. At the beginning of the second intermission the usher for my section came up to me and asked how many millimetres my camera was, which I thought was a little odd, but I was in a pretty good mood, so I told him, '300'. To which he responded 'How many?', followed by 'Can I see it?'. At which point I probably should have said no, as I'm not overly fond of people I don't know touching my camera, but I handed it over to him after which he told me 'You'll have to come with me...'

Over the course of the walk to Guest Services, he told me that there is a restriction on lens size due to some licensing fees for professional photographers. Apparently the RCMP tours the arena as well, and if they had caught me I could have been arrested. For using my camera. In a public place. To take pictures of hockey players. Seriuosly...

Apparently they are worried about people taking shots during the games and selling the photos. They have obviously never seen any of my pictures. Nor have they ever tried to take pictures through the glass...

When we finally got to guest services, which was on the opposite side of the rink (with the usher carrying my camera the whole time, which Im still a little ticked about), the nice people hanging out there (all 7 or 8 of them), seemed to be impressed with the size of my, uhm, lens. After finding out that I also had a regular 18-70mm lens, Carla, the nice young woman in charge, told me that I didn't have to check my lens for the remainder of the game as long as I promised to not use it anymore. And if my usher had a problem with that, he could take it up with her (apparently Guest Services people are better at dealing with people than ushers, although I know that he was just doing his job...

This was the first time I'd ever heard of this though, as I walked in with my camera bag on, and nobody checked it. I've been to numerous Jays and Argo games with no problems. I even went to a Hamilton Bulldogs game last week with no issue. I'm actually thinking it may have had something to do with being behind that one tiny photographer guy and him noticing my camera and pointing it out to the usher. Must have small-man syndrome as I think my camera was bigger (actually his was probably worth about 5 times as much as mine, especially judging by how much he cowered everytime the play came anywhere near him)...

Luckily I didn't end up missing any of the game, as that all took place in a span of about 10 minutes...

The third period started of simlar to the end of the second. No team really controlling the play, until the Hitmen defence disappears again leading to a 4-2 lead for the visitors and some very vocal Lethbridge fans. In an effort to tie the game late, the home team pulled their goaltender, leading to a 6 on 5 advantage which potted a goal with just under a minute left. Unfortunately, and despite some good chances, the Hitmen couldn't tie the game and Lethbridge walked away after gaining a little ground on the divisional leader...

And since I am typing this in the car on the way up to Edmonton to catch the Oiler game tonight, I'm wondering something. Am I the bigger geek for blogging about a hockey game on a laptop while riding in a car, or is it my brother who actually checked the odometer accuracy on a rental car and reacted like it was going to be close every time he passed one of the markers?

Oh yeah, so to those of you thinking of taking pictures at a hockey game, try to stay at 200 mm or less (that's lens size... get your mind out of the gutter)...

Postgame - Nashville

At least my surroundings were good...

As some of you may know, I'm currently in Alberta to take in a little hockey while on my vacation (and I'm ever so happy not to be in Ontario right now). And since this is a hockey vacation, I may throw a little extra stuff out there that isn't completely hockey related and you probably don't really care about...

On Friday night my brother and I went to Flames Central where we met up with WI, MG, Rob and Leanne to watch the boys lose to the Nashville Predators. We really aren't good luck for the boys when we gather in large groups, but unless we decide to start getting together for Oiler or Canucks games, I don't really see a way around this (maybe we'll just have to wait until they wrap up the division and the games don't mean as much). Unfortunately, Rob had to jet before the game even started to take care of famiilial obligations, and Leanne missed the start, but it was good to get together to meet some more members of the Flames blogosphere and have a few pints (which were a little pricey, but apparently not nearly as expensive as they used to be). And I'd have to recommend the Club sandwich, which was pretty good, as were the fries that came along with it...

The atmosphere was pretty good, as it seemed like pretty much everyone in the place was a pretty solid hockey fan, even if the ones that got up on stage during the intermissions knew less about the Flames than my Habs-loving brother. And it was pretty neat seeing a huge room full of Flames fans booing the Oilers in the early game...

The Flames game itself wasn't overly inspiring, as the boys looked slow again, which may be why I have a difficult time remembering everything (of course, it may also be due to the fact that I'm typing this out a few days later)...

Semi-Live Blogging Trade Deadline Day

Crap, I'm stuck watching the Sportsnet coverage for a second year...

Alright, so apparently I had a little trouble getting back into blogging after my vacation (not to mention that the last few weeks have been very busy). But I'm back now and I'm dedicated to posting on a consistent basis (at least until my next vacation, which is to Alberta in about two weeks). I figure that blogging the trade deadline (despite having no expectations of the Flames doing anything) would be as good a spot to start as any...

Oh, and I can't get the TSN broadcast, so I'm stuck watching Sportsnet here at work again this year. And unlike Onrait, I actually have another job to do, so updates may be far between at times...

4:10 - Alright it looks like most of the deals are done. Time for me to check out what everyone else has written...

4:00 - G Jean-Sebastien Aubin from Los Angeles to Anaheim for a 7th round pick in 200? - Depth move, from the looks of things. I'm actually curious as to which team cleared the most roster space today though, as it looks like Los Angeles made a bit of a push to catch Tampa and Columbus...

3:57 - D Marc-Andre Bergeron from Long Island to Anaheim for a 3rd round draft pick in 200? - Like Brad Stuart, this is his second deadline deal in a row. That's gotta suck, I wonder if he's even going to unpack this time...

3:55 - LW Chad Kilger from Toronto to Florida for a 3rd round draft pick in 200? - I liked him when he was in Montreal... and that's about all that I have to say on that...

3:50 - G Al Montoya and LW Marcel Hossa from New York to Phoenix for G David LeNeveu, RW Fredrik Sjostrom, C Josh Gratton, and a conditional draft pick - A number of young players in this one, but nothing that really stands out. Neither of these teams looks to be a real playoff contender, so it looks like Phoenix is trying to get a couple of good young guys, while the Rangers look to be adding a little depth...

3:32 - I love listening to the Canucks broadcasters argue about how unhappy the Vancouver fans must be that they didn't really do anything... Between that and Matt Cooke leaving town, I'm almost ecstatic...

3:29 - D Christian Backman from St Louis to New York for a 4th round pick in 2008 - Another good young player I won't be able to watch when I'm in Alberta next month. Yaaayyyy...

3:24 - D Brad Stuart from Los Angeles to Detroit for a 2nd round pick and a 4th round pick - Stuart gets traded at the deadline for the second year in a row. I hope he's just as unproductive in Motown as he was in Calgary last year...

3:22 - LW Chris Simon from Long Island to Minnesota for a 6th round draft pick - I wonder how many games Simon will actually hit the ice for...

3:13 - Oh yeah, and the deadline passed at 3:00, but as everyone knows, deals could keep coming in for the next few hours... Oh, and apparently (there that word is again) Adam Foote is getting on a private jet right now to head to Calgary to try to make tonight's game... crap...

3:02 - RW Marian Hossa and LW Pascal Dupuis from Atlanta to Pittsburgh for LW Colby Armstrong, C Erik Christensen, prospect Angelo Esposito and a 1st round draft pick in 200? - Wow, the Penguins gave up a lot of youth, but it looks like they are most definitely making a push for the cup this year. I'm very curious as to how the boys over at PensBlog will react to this one...

2:45 - D Hal Gill from Toronto to Pittsburgh for a draft pick in 200? - The Leafs lose another defenceman. I think the only way the Leaf blueline gets better today is if McCabe gets traded away too...

2:39 - LW Kristian Huselius and RW Bill Guerin have been traded for LW Scott Hartnell and RW Miroslav Satan - Oh wait, that just happened to me in my money pool and its still pending the commissioner's approval...

2:25 - Apparently the Thrashers have traded Hossa to the Penguins... I didn't even know they were in the hunt for a player... of course, I've lost my feed yet again, so I'm pretty much just guessing at this point...

2:14 - Okay, if you aren't going to listen to the broadcast from early on, don't everybody try to jump on at once. All the people in Alberta on their lunch break seem to have decided to overload TSN and Sportsnet at the same time and I've lost my feeds. Actually, my Sportsnet feed goes in and out every couple of minutes, which may be even worse, as I catch snippets but not enough to know what they are actually talking about...

1:58 - John Garrett just referred to the abundance of 3 point games by calling it the Nobody Hardly Loses league... clever...

1:44 - LW Matt Cooke from Vancouver to Washington for LW Matt Pettinger - I'm so sad to hear that one of the players that I despise is not only leaving the Northwest division, but the entire conference. However will I survive... And I love it when they talk about Canucks' players getting hurt...

1:42 - D Rob Davison from Long Island to San Jose for a 7th round pick in 200? - Oooooooooooh...

1:17 - C Sergei Fedorov from Columbus to Washington for D Ted Ruth (Notre Dame) - Now I'm starting to wonder if Columbus and Tampa have a competition going to see who can clear more of their roster by the end of the day...

1:09 - Looks like I lucked out this year and Eklund is no longer with Sportsnet. Sweet!

1:03 - D Adam Foote from Columbus to Colorado for a conditional 1st round pick in '08 or '09, and a 4th round pick - Apparently (and yes, that is one of my favourite words) the Blue Jackets have decided to dismantle after losing out on the Brad Richards 'who wants an overpayed star' sweepstakes and send their captain to a team that is currently only one point up on them in the standings. Wow, talk about giving up. Fortunately, I think its damn near impossible for Colorado to get their new players into the lineup before tonight's game in Calgary...

12:57 - RW Martin Lapointe from Chicago to Ottawa for a 6th round pick in 200? - Looks like the Sens are looking to add a little grit for nothing. You can't really argue with picking up depth before the playoffs...

12:52 - The people at Sportsnet just won't let the Tanguay thing go. Christine Campbell on their broadcast was trying to make a big point out of him not being on the ice for the Flames for the morning skate (she's in Toronto so she probably doesn't follow the Western Conference), but Gord Stellick just pointed out, to those that don't pay attention, that Tanguay took a high stick in the last game...

12:39 - D Ruslan Salei from Tampa to Colorado for D Karlis Skrastins and a 3rd round pick in 200? - Wow, quite the fire sale in Central Florida in the last 24 hours. 'We have too much payroll to be playing this poorly! Everything must go!'... Well, everything that's overpriced anyway...

12:37 - LW Tuomo Ruutu from Chicago to Carolina for LW Andrew Ladd - A whole lot of IR time in this trade. Ruttu was a highly covetted player coming into the league, but hasn't really had a chance to live up to the hype. Andrew Ladd is a player I've heard of...

12:21 - I gotta grab some lunch, I'll be back in 10 or so...

11:55 - G Cristobal Huet from Montreal to Washington for a 2nd round pick in 2009 - Huh, I didn't see this coming. And why did the Habs get so little back? I realize that Carey Price could be the next big goaltender in Montreal, but I don't think this is the right move heading into the playoffs. It looks like Gainey is clearing some space to potentially pickup Hossa, but that is a bold move to put the playoffs on a very young goaltender. Although I may just be a little upset since I have Huet in one of my hockey pools (but he should get more starts and there is word that the Capitals may be making a push for the playoffs - mind you, I have very little faith in that thing they refer to as their defence)...

11:47 - C Brad Richards and G Johan Holmqvist from Tampa to Dallas for G Mike Smith, F Jussi Jokinen, and C Jeff Halpern - This isn't good for the rest of the Western Conference either, but it keeps the overpriced Richards away from Vancouver, so I'm good with it (well, relatively). Oh, and there is talk of Smith being the new starting goaltender in Tampa, which I will believe when I see it...

11:39 - D Brian Campbell from Buffalo to San Jose for F Steve Bernier and a 1st round draft pick - Looks like a solid pickup for the Sharks, who were lacking a puck moving blueliner. Which is a bad thing for the rest of the Western conference... BOOOO!

11:38 - RW Wade Belak from Toronto to Florida for a 5th round draft pick in 200? - as I said before, who cares...

11:34 - Rumours of Brian Campbell going to San Jose...

11:29 - Talk of Wade Belak going to the Panthers, but I don't see either of these teams in the playoffs, so who cares. Oh, and apparently Brad Larson was wearing Hossa's helmet on the ice in Montreal to make a half-hearted attempt at fooling the media...

11:15 - Apparently Atlanta has taken the ice in Montreal for their warmup before their game tonight and Hossa is not out there with the rest of his team...

11:12 - Sportsnet is talking about Columbus getting Brad Richards from Tampa, which would be interesting, as I have often thought that Richards is overpayed down there and his exorbitant contract isn't coming off the books anytime soon. I think they'd be better off getting St Louis...

11:05 - No sign of Eklund yet (Yay!)

10:35 - D Bryce Salvadorfrom St Louis to New Jersey for F Cam Janssen - New Jersey gets some defensive depth and only gives up a guy that's coming off injury and has scored one goal in his short career. I actually thought that St Louis would be more of a threat in the NHL this season, and I wish they were, as I have tickets for them in both Calgary and Edmonton next month. Of course, maybe Janssen will fight Godard...

Trades completed before today (in the last few weeks, and only ones that may actually mean something)...

• LW Vaclav Prospal from Tampa to Philadelphia for Alexandre Picard and a conditional draft pick - It looks like Philly is really, really serious about making a run for it and wanted to get their trades done early. With rumours abounding of Bryan McCabe going to Long Island, the Islanders just may be in the mood to help them get there...
• D Jim Vandermeer from Philadelphia to Calgary for a 2009 3rd round pick - I guess that Vandermeer was expendable to the Flyers with the acquisition of Modry, so they send him to the Flames for practically nothing where he can get some solid playing time (preferably in the place of Eriksson and Warrener)...
• LW Cory Stillman and D Mike Commodore from Carolina to Ottawa for RW Patrick Eaves and D Joe Corvo - Some solid recent playoff experience going to Ottawa in exchange for another young forward and an experienced defenceman. I don't think this will mean a whole lot in the grand scheme of things, as I don't think it really changes the dynamics of either team...
• D Jaroslav Modry from Los Angeles to Philadelphia for a 2008 3rd round pick - Philly is just out of the 8th playoff spot in the East and is looking at making a run for it. Although these trades always confuse me a little, since you would think that LA wants them to fail at that so as to get a higher draft position. Not that 3rd rounders are that highly coveted in the first place...
• Oh yeah, and some Forsberg guy is going back to the Avalanche. But this is a TRADE blog, so who cares (I actually do care a little, but I figure he'll be injured by the end of next month anyway - groin and/or ankle, you heard it here first)...

Round up

Chiming in...

I didn't really post during the Christmas break, as I was watching too much hockey. But there are a number of things on my mind, including stuff that has happened recently, that I wanted to at least mention...

Canada wins the Spengler Cup!

This year's version of the Spengler Cup had a somewhat special significance for Calgary Flames fans, as both Mark Giordano and Andrei Taratukhin were playing, albeit for different teams. Team Canada beat Taratukhin's Ufa Salavat Yulaev squad in the final 2-1. The official Spengler Cup site is a bit of a pain to get through, but from what I could discern from the scoresheets (which weren't complete, especially for Ufa's 6-1 win), both Flames prospects (?) got 2 assists in five games. From the lineup sheets I was also able to figure out that Giordano was in the first pairing for Team Canada and Taratukhin was playing on the third line. Which actually makes sense when you look back at how Andrei wasn't really putting points up on the board when I found his stats a couple of months ago. I may have to look up their respective Russian league stats again in the next month or so...

Curtis Joseph shines on the international stage!

Another story to come out of the Spengler was the play of Curtis Joseph, who everyone knows was looking to use it as a showcase for a potential NHL job. The Russian squad in particular was a very good test for Joseph, especially given the abundance of NHL talent on the squad. Which leads to current stories in the mainstream media about Cujo's interest in playing for the Calgary Flames or San Jose Sharks...

I think that at this point in his career, Joseph is more interested in finally getting that evasive Stanley Cup ring (finally winning international gold being good and all, but really...), than he is in finding a starter's job. When you are already this far into the NHL regular season, the only teams that are really looking for a new starting goalie (if there are any), are probably either so far out of the playoff race that they'd be better off just trying out some young talent between the pipes, or they are looking for somebody to take over for an injured netminder. So I'm not of the mindset that he wants to be a starter...

That he wants to go to a legitimate competitor leaves me to believe that he is willing to accept a backup role where he will get limited starts (especially since the two keepers that he's interested in backing both play the very large majority of games in a season). He would obviously just be a rental and would only be around for half the season, probably at an affordable price...

In my opinion, I think the Flames could really benefit from this, as Curtis McElhinney obviously isn't ready for the big leagues yet (and isn't going to get any better warming a bench spot). Plus, the way the Miikka Kiprusoff is playing right now, I think he could benefit from a little healthy competition from a player that is obviously of NHL calibre (which Curtis is not). I love having the Kippper in net, but I can't help but think that he's a little off right now and could use some help. And I don't think having an AHL goalie backing me up would provide me the motivation to take a couple of games off to fix myself...

Canada wins gold at the World Juniors... again!

Congratulations to the Canadian junior team for winning gold again! There were no Flames prospects on the Canadian squad, but we did get to see an impressive performance from last June's Flames first rounder Michael Backlund for the Swedish team. You could tell that Darryl Sutter was extremely impressed with the youngster's performance...

Team Ontario wins the under-17 tournament!

While I realize that a bunch of young kids that aren't even eligible to be drafted until 2009 is of little interest to most of you, the Ontario team beat the American squad in the final game to win gold. This game did hold some interest for me though, as there was a young kid from Haliburton named Michael Duchene playing for team Ontario, and playing quite well. My hometown isn't exactly known as a hockey factory, as we have only had 3 players get drafted to the big leagues (Ron Stackhouse, Bernie Nicholls, and a kid I know that was taken by the Ducks in the 7th round a few years ago), so this is big news back home. Not to mention that we have another kid that is draft eligible this off-season and expected to go in the first round (Cody Hodgson), that I once helped babysit. Hodgson will be playing in the upcoming prospects game. Both Duchene and Hodgson play for the Brampton Battalion in the OHL...

Flames play as of late less than stellar...

Despite not posting for an extended stretch, I did manage to catch pretty much every Calgary game in the last two weeks. I think teams have really been noticing the tendency for our defencemen to pinch in a lot (I noticed it a number of times last night, and I'm sure every other team has noticed it as well). I think you can probably attribute at least one out of every eight goals against the Flames have come from guys being left alone behind a defenceman, which could explain the team's tendency to give up shorties. That and things like Mike Sillinger's breakaway goal last night as well. The defence has been missing coverages like crazy lately...

I've also decided that I should probably stop my habit of calling out opposing teams' players, as it seems to bite us in the ass all the time. Damn you Trent Hunter!

Gameday - Islanders

Friday, January 11, 2007

7:00 p.m. MST

Pengrowth Saddledome

Long Island @ Calgary

Sportsnet West, FSN-NY

• The New York Islanders roll into Calgary tonight for the first time since January 15, 2002. Yes, you read that correctly, the Islanders are 4 days shy of not being in Cowtown in 6 years. Of course, if the Edmonton game on Monday is any indication, there's a chance they might not show up tonight either...
• The Islanders have 3 points in their last 4 games, all from extra time losses. Unfortunately, their most recent 3 games have been against divisional rivals (Colorado, Edmonton, and Vancouver)...
• Calgary had a five game winning streak snapped by the Coyotes on Tuesday night in the Saddledome, but this may be just the right team to face to start another one before heading out on the road for a 3 game stint...
• Bill Guerin leads the Islanders in goals with 15, which wouldn't have been as surprising if this game took place 5 years ago. And you can say ditto for team assists (20) and points (33) leader Mike Comrie, but then again he does have a pop starlet to impress. Former rookie sensation Trent Hunter seems to have found a way to extend his sophomore slump into his fourth season...
• With stunning offence like that, its no wonder that Rick Dipietro was the only one from the fishsticks to make the All Star game (which I plan on posting about tomorrow at some point). Although he did rightfully merit his selection, as he is playing extremely well. Just not Roberto Luongo well (way to go Mike!)...

You could say that the Islanders have much more balanced scoring than the Flames do (since the point differential between the 1st and 8th forward is only 2 points per player), but that would imply that they actually have scoring. Their +/- leader is Blake Comeau with a +4, and that's because he's only played in 11 games (although he did get 4 points, which puts him right up there with the team's ppg leaders). These guys appear to be the Toronto Blue Jays of the NHL, where the only reason that they win games is because of standout performances by their stoppers (I'm comparing goalies to pitchers in this equation, for those of you that I may have lost there), including wins by Dubielewicz while Dipietro was injured a couple weeks ago. Wade Dubielewicz!!!

If there was one game all season that Kipper should most definitely be able to get a shutout in (hell, Mathieu Garon did), its this one!

I pick the Flames to win this one 5-0, giving Kipper the long overdue shutout and topping the goal output from the Oilers. Flames goals by Iginla x2, Huselius, Lombardi, and Smith (dude's putting my last name to shame, even I would have had at least one goal after 34 games)...

Gameday - Coyotes

Tuesday, January 8, 2007

7:00 p.m. MST

Pengrowth Saddledome

Phoenix @ Calgary

Sportsnet West, FSN-A

• Calgary returns home on a tear tonight to face the Phoenix Coyotes, who are in the midst of a 6 game road trip. The Flames has won their last 5 games since the loss in Vancouver two weeks ago. Unfortunately for Calgary, tonight's opponent is also on a bit of a tear, having won their last 4.


• The Flames are 12-1-4 since the beginning of December and have climbed back from a 10-13-3 start to take over first in the Northwest division (albeit with a couple of games in hand on the Canucks).


• Phoenix is on an 8-2-1 streak since early December, and have pulled themselves out of the Western Conference basement (now solely occupied by the LA Kings) and are within four points of a playoff spot (and if you made all losses into losses, they would still be 2 games above .500 and would be just out of the playoffs with numerous games in hand on most of the teams ahead of them).


• Radim Vrbata leads the Coyotes in goals with 24, while Shane Doan tops the scoresheet in assists (23) and points (34).

If the Flames weren't playing so well right now, I'd be a bit more concerned about a hot team coming into the Saddledome, especially one that I'd typically underestimate like the Coyotes. Not that I'm willing to take them that lightly right now, especially with Mueller providing a youthful spark, which the Flames have had trouble dealing with in the not too distant past...

As well as Ilya Bryzgalov has played as of late for the Desert Dogs, I still think Kipper will dominate this matchup. I mean, he has to return to his old form at some point this season, right? Right?

Flames finally get the shutout win (yes, I will keep saying this until it happens) 3-0, with goals from Iginla and Lombardi x2...