monday randoms: "a valiant effort..."

as mikeH alluded to in the previous post, i have been away in vegas on a bit of a thelma, thelma, & louise style vacation for a few days.... and while we DID indulge in the colossal-sized slushy drinks with an outrageous amount of booze, neither me nor my friends are the gambling types (we ended up three bucks down, and i'm pretty sure we topped out up $2.61). also, i didn't get the chance to watch any hockey at all, so i 'm suffering from a bit of withdrawl... by the sounds of it, missing a couple of last weeks' flames games might have been a good idea. still, i caught the women's game (canada v. USA) last week and will check out the juniors play finland tomorrow... aaaand of course, there's the new year's eve tilt against the greasers that i attend every year (which i'm SUUUPER excited about). so there will be hockey upcoming, to be sure....

other random monday things to discuss:

1. GIO
while i didn't see anything other than a handful of highlights, i understand that my boy gio had a bit of a career game v. the kings.... the comment thread over at kent's place indicates that i might've missed a pretty good opportunity to enjoy watching #5 throw some weight around, dodge the people's elbow, and also to see mike keenan eating crow on the subject.... ;) on another tack, do you ever notice how the world tends to evoke thoughts and memories when you're not stuck inside your day-to-day activities ? well, thank you las vegas for reminding me of this, as i stood across from the bellagio watching the dancing fountains:


















2. THE SWEDISH CHEF (aka: børk børk børk)
i give mikeH full props for writing an email to the org last week, but i REALLY want to give my new pal deliciouscorn a MASSIVE hat tip for helping us on our latest mission: to have the swedish chef tune played by the organist in the 'dome and get the crowd respond with "bork bork bork" (or the norwegian/danish way that mikeH likes to spell it, seen above -----i like the look of that but i just don't have the heart to tell'im that ø is not in the swedish alphabet.... a more accurate spelling would be bårk bårk bårk but i'm guessing only shep would understand how to correctly pronounce this... buuuuuuuut i digress...).

it turns out that DC doesn't just KNOW the organ player, he IS the organ player.... is that rad, or WHAT ?!? i have absolutely no idea what would have turned him onto reading htp (unless my pal sjc had something to do with it, which is totally possible) but welcome, welcome, welcome !!! apparently the swedish chef chant took it's inaugural spin out of the pressbox against the preds on saturday with two minutes left in the third, and was largely overlooked due to the intense audience concentration on the on-ice action (ie: the flames trying to equalize with time running out)... it sounds to me that mikeH got himself a seat in the bleeders JUST to hear history in the making, but managed to also miss it..... the good news is that, according to DC, the "director" (i'm guessing floor director or the like) called the tune "a valiant effort" and it'll get another go during upcoming home games. he even showed the "other" organist how to play it.... :) ENORMOUS fait accomplis from this end. we'll give the iggy holler a run for it's money yet, friends..... *curtsey*

3. birthdays
so it's my birthday today which means i'm old. pretty much that's it except i'd like to acknowledge that via text message and over on the ol' facebook, i got some nice wishes from my friends, my pal strombo, some of my blogmates, and an especially amusing note from awildermode:

"Happy Birthday to the most awesome person I have never met. ;)"

HILARIOUS. i'll be down at the ol' ship & anchor tonight for some celebratory bevvies. odds are that you'll be able to find me by simply asking around if you were interested in swinging by... hey, the place ain't that big.

4. johnson pardy
nothing really to say, here, other than i always like to mention my most favorite of pairings. also ? if johnson's not improving then at least he's started to contribute offensively, and hopefully pardy's fully healed and back in the lineup. hey, remember that.... what's his name.... sarich ? i wonder what happened to that dude.

5. fisher-underwood nuptuals
start the countdown today on how long before mike fisher asks to be traded to the preds.... apparently he and country music starlet, carrie underwood, are officially engaged.... hm. that means that her elusiveness on ellen a few weeks ago was just that. fairly devious for a devout christian, methinks... ;) ffwd to 1:40 ish to see her both gush about ottawa's #12 and define the term "backhanded compliment." also ? as mentioned on one of those gossip blogs, she'd better not change her name... only one carrie fisher should be allowed in this galaxy....



6. A-O
caught this little gem on puck daddy today. ovie (who i love, don't get me wrong) proves that anybody can model with the right stylist, good lighting, and a talented photographer.... my level of curiosity surrounding the ink on his back reminds me just how badly i STILL want to know why the hell lombo writes HENHENHEN on his sticks. cause he still does down in the desert, fyi.... i know cause i watch.

k, well that's it for now.
see you all soon !!!
:)

While the cat's away...

...mikeH gets to play. With WI drinking two foot tall, slushy cocktails in Vegas this week, and considering I managed to snake a ticket to last night's game (thanks half-price), I figure I might have stored up enough minor points to add a little something to the blogosphere. Always good to see a win. Here we go:

GIO!!! - Okay, so I may not have quite as desperate a crush on this guy as my respected blog colleague, but I have to say, he is sure fun to watch. J.Bo and Gio are by far our strongest defensive pairing, and got the start last night. Then watching Gio throw some pasting hits was just spectacular. Twice he lost a glove from the impact (maybe his grandma could sew a string on them), but every hit was clean and set the tone for the whole team. All I know is Dustin Brown is probably being treated for a case of PGSD (Post-Gio-Stress-Disorder).

Johnson Pardy - When Aaron Johnson leveled Oscar Moller in the open ice, all you heard from me and my buddy was, "Welcome to the Johnson Pardy!" Sure I may be biased, but that interference call was bullshit, the puck was right there.

Pocketdawes - Another tally for pocketdawes off a beauty pass from Lanks, and the "second" line continues to click. Other Pocketdawes discussion below...

Børk, børk, børk - as usual, my favourite swede had a good game, even if he didn't hit the score sheet. I e-mailed the team last week to put forward WI's suggestion that the organist learns the Swedish Chef music, so that when they play it the crowd can cheer, "Børk, børk, børk," at the appropriate time. I'll follow up if I get any sort of response from the team's entertainment people.

In non-Flames hockey info, WI, myself and a couple of WI's buddies (Em and Lori) caught the Canadian National Women's team vs. the US at the 'dome on Tuesday night. All I can say is, if those were the two best women's teams in the world, then Canada is #1. Hayley Wickenheiser plays a whole different game; her passes are so fast, her teammates sometimes have trouble getting control. If Canada has a weakness, its that they play a rough and tumble game, which in women's hockey earns you serious penalty minutes. Can't wait to watch them in the Olympics.

At the women's game, we stopped for a few of that favourite Saddledome treat, Pocket Dawgs. It wasn't particularly busy around the kiosk, so WI had a chance to fully inform the manager of the numerous sponsorship opportunities available with Nigel Dawes. It was a lot like this:

"Seriously, all you need to do is change ONE LETTER, and pocket dawgs become pocketdawes! You could donate to charity or give a discount whenever pocketdawes scores. The possibilities are endless!"

Okay, maybe I didn't actually hear the convo, but she was pretty excited and I have to say, pocketdawes is a solid nickname.

It was also recommended to me that I should replace my imaginary girlfriend (you probably haven't met her) with #12, Meaghan Mikkelson (D) (interview clip) from the Canadian squad. Now, Meaghan is in fact a real person, so I am going to limit myself to saying that she's hot and loves hockey, so she's aces in my book. Good luck to her and the team, and I'll be cheering at the TV when she's on the ice. I will be in Van during the games, but with tickets being complicated and expensive, not likely I'll get to see them in person. Still, if anyone has a good idea for a fan nickname for Meaghan that I can shout from the stands, I'm taking suggestions.

Looking forward to afternoon hockey this weekend and the Canadian Junior squad on Tuesday where we'll get to see a little action from Nemisz. Go Flames!

just for kicks....

i found this little gem this morning and i gotta say, it makes me love nystrom just a little bit more... if you ask ME, his answers are pretty much bang on.... ;) also, freddan's been a favorite of mine for ages and i like him even more now: i fully respect his logic (and humour) in this clip....

aaaaaand brandon prust proves undenyably that he's just a caveman deep down inside.



huge matchup against the avs tonight.
fingers crossed...
;)

i have interesting friends (aka: slow news day)

i got the most unbelievably hilarious text message yesterday:

"have you ever heard of a guy named pat lafontaine ?"

uh.... uh-hunh. ummm.... the dude's an effin' HALL OF FAMER.... not to mention that when i was young and my brother and i would play hand-hockey with the neighbourhood kids in my basement (picture it: one-on-one, hands and knees, rolled up sock for a puck) and i was ALWAYS NYI. what can i say, my brother was bigger than me and therefore had veto on being the flames. ;)

anyhow, i'm not sure why but a buddy of mine apparently spent the day with the dude at his house on long island. i'm guessing it was for some tv thing (my friend is known to occasionally tote a wickedly high-end pro camera) but he says there are a ton of photos he took cause he was constantly thinking of me [um, obviously he was thinking of me because he's working my dreamjob]..... for some reason, i feel a little weird posting his personal snapshots here so let me just describe them to you, instead.

the first pic is a team USA jersey, framed and signed by what i presume to be the entire 1984 olympic team. according to my buddy, ol'patty went to the attic and put on his sarajevo jersey for the first time since... the second pic is of the priceless hockey relics above his fireplace: there are some vintage skates and gloves, and what i dare say would be a game-worn lafleur jersey. apparently there are some good stories involved with the items....

anyhow, the pic that i WILL post is this one cause it's pretty beautiful ---like a painting. i guess if you're a hockey legend, you can afford a kickass home on a lake. ;)
*sigh* now i kinda miss that guy....

POCKETDAWES !!!!!

at the 'dome, the dawgs are ALWAYS winning....

i'll give full credit to awildermode for making up the nickname "backelhinney", but i came up with "pocketdawes" all by myself, and i'm awfully proud of it... i told my buddy jho, the other day, that it was the best nickname of all time but he seemed to think that king tut still holds that title (i totally disagree, mind you).

last night, my friend fwy gave me a pair of bleeders and so mikeH and i braved the snow to watch the flames play the thrashers. i think it was the altitude (coupled with the zillion 'dome pints that i ingested along the way) that made me tell everyone in section 303 about nigel's new moniker. i'll be honest, though, they were amused.... Interestingly, another pal o'mine, bennie, sent me the following in an email this morning:

"So I went to the game last night and had really sweet seats the the fan960 gave me. Lower bowl 20th row in a corner. Man are they ever quiet down there. I’m used to sitting 18 rows up in sec225. Anyway, I’ve got a few heroins into me and when dawes scored I stood up and tried to start a pocketdawes chant. Crickets. No one joined in. got a few laughs though. that nickname rules. ;)"

pockedawes, the way mikeH likes him: with mustard and cheese.
(big-ups to my bro for the p'shopping)
:D

on another tack, i've got hand it to ken king for walking along the 'concourse' in the 300's about halfway through the third period. seriously, that's a really good way for the organization's president to get accosted by drunks [so, obviously, i took this incredible opportunity to ask a question for my pal in SoCal]. The exchange went a little bit like this:

"excuse me, sorry.... mr. king ?"

kk, not looking even the slightest bit put out (though, admittedly, not overly excited), acknowledged me with something like, "hi there."

"i just wanted to ask you when you think #14 will be raised to the rafters ?"

kk paused at this, and replied something that i would have probably remembered after the first two or three beers, but after four i'm afraid his initial response has gotten lost in the recesses of my brain.... he continued, "well, some time needs to pass."

"not too much time, i hope...." i said with a grin, "cause you gotta retire 14 before 12."

he smiled a little, i said thanks, and i went back to the chair i was occupying (which was totally not assigned to me). his response leads me to believe that fleury will most likely get his jersey retired eventually, but that it might take another few seasons.... i suppose that's fair ---after all, theo only just got reinstated by the league 3 months ago, after being suspended for six years.... ;)

onwards and upwards, i guess....
:)

if you don't adore giordano, this post might make you puke.... ;)

while i've really liked the guy since his multi-game call-up in 2005/2006, it was just over a year now since i announced mark giordano was my favorite current flames player, and decided that it would be his nickname adorning my favorite jersey (sooooo, we can call it our anniversary, if you like)... ;)


alot of people think that my devotion is based on his rugged good looks and strong italian roots, his uncanny ability to grow a 5 o'clock shadow at 10am, his resemblence to mr. bean, and the way he skates with his tongue out (concentrating like a five year old). the truth is: i'm thoroughly amused by gio's antics but let's not mistake my fascination with him for my fondness for forsberg ---which is a totally different kindof thing... ;) i love gio because he's always been a positionally solid defenseman with a great outlet pass, who makes WAY more great decisions than he does bad, and can skate his way out of trouble.... he's a dude that's overcome going undrafted and is probably the only player to ever roll the dice against darryl sutter and WIN... oh, and he's pretty affordable in the salary cap era.

convincing other folks of my boy's greatness wasn't always easy, but i sure did my best to get the word out.... what can i say ? i've always pulled for the underdog, and gio has made a career out of being an underrated player... bear in mind that his last coach pretty much called him out for getting hisself clutterbucked.

in the past few seasons, gio has climbed his way from undrafted torontonian, to farm-team regular, to russian league ground-stander, to 3rd pairing-low minutes defender to punching bag (keenan era), to goon, to a guy who regularly lines up beside one of the league's elite: jay bouwmeester... and let's be honest, friends: he doesn't look out of place in that 20-or-so minutes per night role on a division-leading team's top pairing (note to anybody who thinks 4 & 5 are NOT the team's top two ? dream on.....) .....ahhhh, it's like watching a flower bloom: soooo beautiful.


one of my alltime favorite blogger quotes came from kyle [and it's been so long i can't even remember what kyle's website was] who said very aptly, "I'd rank our defence as Phaneuf, (Robyn) Regehr, Hamrlik, Ference, Warrener, Giordano, Ritchie (Regehr), You, Me, Darryl Sutter, Zyuzin." while this was written as a comment on how godawful zyuzin was (is?), it still listed gio as a mid-range defender at quite a young age....

well, i was just alerted to the presence of a public loveletter to my boy gio that was printed in an actual semi-respectable publication (thanks to olddog for the heads-up) where he gets some serious love from his peers... allz i gotta say is that it's about freakin' time.... ;)

i'll cut and paste it here, for those future days when it's no longer a vyable link (it's just that good).

Phoenix

Keeping track of his old pals, Craig Conroy remembers tuning in one night.

This is early 2006-07, and Conroy, then with the Los Angeles Kings, eagerly watches the Calgary Flames visit the Toronto Maple Leafs.

One new face dazzles him.

“He scored two goals,” Conroy recalls. “I thought, ‘Wow. Who is this guy? Giordano? Never heard of him.’ ”

At that, the geyser of gushing becomes completely uncorked.

“Now? Just to see how good he is on a daily basis . . . . ”

Kind words, which is Conroy’s hallmark.

But before you smirk and slot this warm — and getting warmer — appraisal of Mark Giordano into the Conroy-being-Conroy file, know this: buzz is widespread.

Columbus Blue Jackets coach Ken Hitchcock, the other morning, is asked about Calgary’s defence. He responds by singling out Giordano. Calls him underrated.

Two weeks ago at Anaheim, Flames coach Brent Sutter, after fielding the obligatory queries regarding Dion Phaneuf, Robyn Regehr and Jay Bouwmeester, takes happy hold of a Giordano question and whacks it out of the park.

“He’s probably been one of our most steady guys, right from the get-go,” starts Sutter, whose Flames next face the Phoenix Coyotes on Thursday night. “He can skate. He can move the puck. He’s a battler. He gets into the areas you need a defenceman to go into. He wants to be the first guy on the puck when he’s playing in his zone.

“He’s been a real, real good player for us — very solid.”

No argument there.

In 26 outings, Giordano has suffered only five minus nights — nothing worse than minus-one, and none in the past month.

But talking about his fine play isn’t easy for Giordano. And not only because Aaron Johnson and Adam Pardy are cackling nearby.

Is he at least proud of his progress? He waves it off.

“Once you start thinking like that, you get too comfortable where you are. You hear a lot of positive talk. When you hear something good from your coach, it goes a long way.”

And, as Sutter notes, the 26-year-old has been sturdy since September. While star forwards struggled in the early going, while high-profile defencemen hiccuped through adjustments, Giordano smoothly left the gate.

He, however, had had as much to worry about as anyone else, after losing the final months of last National Hockey League season because of injury. He needed to prove himself. Again. To another coach.

Cutting short his campaign had been Minnesota thumper Cal Clutterbuck, who pasted him.

(Then-boss Mike Keenan publicly scolded his defenceman for being unprepared for the lick. “I don’t blame myself — it was a hockey play,” Giordano says now. “I had the puck, I tried to make a play, he hit me.”)

The resulting ripped-up shoulder tendon required surgery.

The resulting lineup hole required Jordan Leopold’s addition.

“Everyone talks about (losing Rene Bourque and Regehr to injuries down the stretch) . . . but, to me, I think Gio was the key to the whole thing,” says Conroy. “I said it last year and I’ll say it again — he brings so much more than people give him credit for. He finds you, when you’re open, in stride, on your tape. And he gets back to get the puck quick. As a centre, I’m coming back to support him and he beats a lot of guys on his own down low. That creates time and space for the rest of us to get out of the zone.

“Very under-rated in my opinion.”

While modest in self-assessment — “We’re only 20-some games in . . . I’ve felt pretty good” — Giordano’s best asset is unwithering fearlessness. Not in a brawling sort of way, although he has shucked his gloves twice this season.

But in a gimme-the-puck sort of way.

At his first camp, it was obvious (even to reporters) that he played without pause. Unlike other young blueliners, there was never a hot-potato aspect to Giordano’s approach.

“I have to want the puck. It’s part of my game — I have to want to make plays,” says the Toronto native. “When I’m not playing well, that’s exactly what happens — you shy away from taking chances, you shy away from wanting to make plays. That’s when you hesitate, and that’s when guys in this league will jump all over you.”

Meaning swagger stays at the top of his priority list.

There is no substitute for poise, Giordano knows.

“Confidence, that’s the biggest thing. One year, a guy will be top of the league, the next year, he won’t. Why is it? It’s not because his skill’s gone away. It’s because his confidence has gone away, right?”

Averaging 19 minutes nightly, Giordano, who represents a cap hit of $892,000 US for this season and next, has supplied eight points and a plus-three rating.

Which makes him, what exactly?

A No. 5 defenceman? A No. 4?

A No. 3 on another team perhaps?

Giordano declines to play along.

“I don’t want to define myself in a certain role,” he says. “The thing with me, I just want to be solid every game, be a big part of it every game.

“I don’t want to be considered just an extra depth guy or anything like that.”

----scott cruikshank, calgary herald dec 1/09

eff, yeah people !!! bring on the love for my BOY !!!!

ps: i'm guessing there will be a zillion posts and texts tomorrow to alert me to this article, cause there's a whole helluva lot of people that see gio and think wi.... which i'm undenyably proud of, btw. also proud that when you google-image "mark giordano" at the bottom of the first page is the separated at birth that i did a few years back...

:)

ps: gio, if you're reading this: i want my jersey signed. ;)

monday randoms: into december....!

another week of monday randoms and we'll be into december. god, that's frightening.... :) without further ado, here are the thoroughly unimportant things rolling around in my grey matter.

• you really gotta give it to those 'rider fans.... on their way east on highway #1 at 9am, i passed a green minivan with saskatchewan plates. the passengers looked fairly hungover and hugely disappointed, and freshly decalled on the back windshield were the words "THE 13th VAN." way to take a kick in the groin with dignity, friends...

***UPDATE: it's now becoming clear that 'rider fans refer to themselves (ie: the crowd) as the 13th man.... ohhhh, jeeeez... damian durant was even quoted on friday as saying "I hope to see a home game and green throughout,'' said Durant. "I want our 13th man to be present. It's huge for us to have this game here because this is Rider Nation Part Two.'' i hope there's a lot of room for tongue in those cheeks cause that nickname just received a whole new significance.... i guess that explains how the drunk travellers from the city that rhymes with fun managed to decal their vehicle so effin' quickly !!!! i guess they're gonna have to re-name the fans "the 14th man." ahhhhh, damn you poetic justice !!!

• the grade eight style rubber sparkly bracelets finally all made it to my left wrist after the win in detroit on friday night. the first one is already back on the right wrist after the victory in columbus.... if you have no idea what i'm talking about, that's probably best. if you're curious, it looks a little something like this:

• i am a complete and total loser. most of you already knew this

• i'm still thinking about trying to hook up a blogger meet-up over the xmas season. i'm totally open to dates and games but i'm thinkin' that december 23rd v. the blues looks kinda decent.... monday, december 28th v. the oilers looks like a fantastic opportunity, being that the game is in edmonton, but it's currently not televised. thoughts ? if there's interest, we could go to flames central or the like. if there's no interest then i bet mikeH and i will just watch it from one of our sofas, like usual.... ;)

• while i REALLY like the resilience the flames showed in their comeback against the redwings and the jackets, i really DON'T like the way they tend to give up two goals for the price of one, these days...
  

• jamie lundmark pretty much lost a game for us last week by sending an errant pass out of the corner onto the stick of the opposition (if only i could remember what team that was). i guess he felt bad about it cause he pretty much WON a game for us in the shootout on saturday.... ;)
  

• for those of you following along at home, theoren fleury's book has (apparently, according to #14) sold 75,000 copies. also ? he's taking acting lessons. insert your own joke here.

• if i liked pat quinn at all, i'd probably feel bad for him by now..... just when you think the oilers couldn't get any worse, comrie gets mono, hemsky tears his labrum, khabibooboo's contract is already looking ridiculous (havlat, anyone ?), and pisani's back on the shelf with his gut issues... the best part ? tambellini hasn't done a goddamn thing about it.

• nhl.com has their xmas gift spree on. my favorite was the video for the jerseys: they talk alot about the "authentic" jerseys, and the "premiere" jerseys but (even though the little giggling girlish tart is wearing one) they never mention the "ice flirt" by name. i wonder why ??!? ;)

• has anyone else noticed that pocketdawes has been on FIRE since receiving his new nickname ? ;)

• last, but certainly not least, congratulations to the entire calgary flames organization for bringing the team to top spot in the NW; two points and two games in hand over the avs. we're also tied for second in the conference, though chicago's holding two wins against us for a stronghold on that position. five points behind the sharks with three games in hand means that if the flames can continue a string of victories, we could feasibly take top spot in the league by xmas....
  

okay that's it for now. back to work....
have an awesome week, everyone !!!!

About blogging from Toronto, then some actual Flames stuff on Jokinen and Phaneuf

The price I pay for being a Flames fan in Toronto is higher than the $229 per year I pay for Centre Ice. I also lose a lot of sleep, because games rarely start before 9 p.m. And, as a result of not having other fans to watch games with, I've taken to PVRing the things and watching late, late into the night, not live, and urging hometown friends like WI to NOT TEXT ME ANYTHING ABOUT THE RESULT. And, of course, because I'm not watching live, I'm not participating in the game thread over at Matchsticks and Gasoline, which is usually where I get my motivation to write.

Anyway, oddly, my motivation today is the Stampeders-less Grey Cup I'm sitting through. So, I'm here now, and I have a couple of thoughts past the rare nugget I throw into comments at the various quality Flames blogging locations that I frequent:

1. Four games ago, I yelled at the TV for the first time this year, and did it several times, always at Olli Jokinen. I went to bed grumbling, wondering how this was ever going to work out. Then, the last three games, it's like he realized he'd better mix some good plays in with the bad if he ever wants another NHL contract. (Perhaps WI should take credit.)

I still suspect this is a temporary dip into the pool of respectability, but something that has me quite chuffed is that his biggest improvement has been in the field of "vision." The pass to Boyd last night on the 3-2 goal against Columbus was, frankly, phenomenal. As was the rush on the play at the end of the Anaheim game (the one where I was yelling at him), where he knew Jarome Iginla was going to be in the slot on the tying goal, and found him with a perfect pass.

He's doing a lot of this in crucial moments as well. So: Keep it up, big guy! And, if you don't, I'll still get a kick out of calling you Sex Panther.

2. About a month ago, I noticed that Dion Phaneuf no longer had an "A" on his uniform, anywhere. Last year he had it at home and on the road, and to start this year he was wearing it at home at handing it over on the road. The guy wearing it now, of course, is Jay Bouwmeester. I can't say this is a surprise, given the clear division of skills and maturity between the two players, but I think it also says a lot about how the Sutters are seeing the future. And I think it's a lot like Matt sees it. (Update: The Flames say this is about expanding the leadership group, and Craig Conroy says Phaneuf is fine with it.)

I've long argued here that the Flames ought not give up on Phaneuf's potential, and I'm pleased that he's showed clear improvement this year under Brent Sutter and Ryan McGill. I also know that teams like the Detroit Red Wings do well with more than one star-level-paid defenceman. But I didn't know, till he got to Calgary, what a crazy talent Jay Bouwmeester really is.

He does make Phaneuf expendable.

flambés v. les vestons bleus: in noodles we trust

i didn't think they had it in'em.

early in the third period, with the team looking quite lackluster and the jackets defense continually besting the flames' O, i was resigned to the loss. i was mourning for backelhinney ---who had a pretty seriously good first period and (although he let in a bit of a softie) deserved AT LEAST a point from the well-matched game.... i was already making the "back to back" excuse in my head and wondering what else was on the telly.

"i'm gonna have a ten minute nap," said my roommate, "and when i wake up, the game'll be tied and my cab'll be here."

"fat chance," i thought to myself, "this game is soooo OVER."

well, thank goodness i was totally, utterly, and completely WRONG. ;) my reaction to boyder's tally was a relatively calm head-nod with a "well there you go" face, but i actually roused my roomie from his slumber with my outburst following the pocketdawes goal.... he was beyond amused and vowed to make more pre-sleep predictions in the future.... "well, your cab's not here yet," i proclaimed just before the doorbell rang. ;)

though backelhinney has gotten a lot of criticism on blogs and message boards, i think the guy's doing a pretty solid job (and it seems as though don cherry agrees with me). i did a little bit of research on the unfavorable situations the flames threw him into last season, and noted that the results were less than encouraging.... my hypothesis was that if cumac were ever placed in a position to win, he would....

over the summer, goaltending coach david marcoux was replaced by former backup [note: that's one of my favorite links of alltime] and all-around good dude, jamie mclennan, aka: noodles. last season he tagged along with the C's as the "head of goaltender development" (though some joker on tsn put "head of goaltender equipment" on the ticker).... it's still a bit of a mystery to me what exactly is going on in the netminding department of the flames behind closed doors, but something is affecting the play of both kiprusoff and backelhinney ---and the coach seems like the most likely of sources. as for my hypothesis above, in an article on flames.com, noodles refutes the theory, stating "It’s not about placing him in the right situation, it’s about him earning it. Any situation he’s in, he’s got to rise to the challenge... That’s his job. Curtis has definitely given himself a right to play."

touché....

while i've been pondering it for weeks now, ron maclean straight up announced last night that "jamie mclennan is the secret to goaltender success in calgary." simply by reviewing the play of both kipps and cumac, one would think this statement is accurate.... kipper has never looked positionally stronger, and seems to be handling the puck far more often and with way more accuracy..... over on the gamethread at m&g (which i thoroughly monopolized last night), commenter dph noted that he'd heard "an interesting interview with Kipper where he said that Noodles knew more about trends of different guys shooting habits then anyone he’d worked with." well, if there's truth in that, then perhaps this past summer, darryl sutter made an epic hiring of heroically understated proportions (akin to the kiprusoff and bourque trades).

plus he's a hilarious interview, an all-around good guy, and has astroboy hair.
wait.... is noodles single ?!
;)

flames v. 'yotes: accountability

okay, this is starting to get seriously annoying....

the general manager of the calgary flames hired his brother to be the squad's head coach and the two of them preached that there would need to be accountability for all players and personnel... well, we're 23 games in (that's more than a quarter season) and olli jokinen is still getting some pretty sweet icetime, alongside the captain, even though he's probably one of the worst forwards on the ice every single night. i presume the fact that the flambés are still notching Ws is the only thing keeping him away from the third line.... well, that and the general sutter hubris; there's no way a guy that darryl deemed to be worth 5.5 mil/year + matt lombardi, jim vandermeer & a 1st round draft pick should be playing on the third line. ever.

nothing new here.

what IS a little bit interesting is that the mainstream sports media refuses to take this particular angle on the subject, even though it's become painfully (and i mean PAINFULLY) clear that olli isn't going to amount to a whole heckuva lot here in cowtown. they keep referring to him as "snakebitten" when he consistantly fans on a shots infront of downed goalies and gaping nets, and he's hit more posts than a web surfer.... yet we keep getting told that he's about to turn a corner.... that he's on the verge of being an elite centreman on a stanley cup contending team... but if you look at his stats, he's a career -85 and good portion of his tallies ---almost a THIRD-- have historically been on the powerplay (which is not likely to occur with calgary's horrendous man-advantage record)....
[note: if he actually WERE to turn a corner, i will gladly take all of this back]

it sortof reminds me how last year, the MSM kept informing the general public that bertuzzi was awesome, and i saw enough #7 jerseys at the 'dome to believe their message was getting through.... i can see how he might have had some memorable offensive moments, and i guess he put up relatively decent numbers for a 1.9 million dollar guy, but he was largely useless in the neutral zone and a terrible, horrible backchecker. it seems to me, however, that the sportswriters and radio personnel that we've grown to trust neglected to mention that ol' sparklepants left his mojo back in vancouver 2003....

well, last night i was listening to the fan960's postgame and i was kindof surprised to hear the following (i believe it was rob kerr, but i could be mistaken) in the out of town scoreboard segment, regarding the detroit/atlanta matchup:

"it goes without saying that todd bertuzzi was held scoreless"

um.... seriously ??!?! for a public sports personality to figuratively kick big bert in the groin mere months after repeatedly telling the fans how talented (albeit covertly) the power forward can be, seemed like a pretty enormous statement on what kind of crap they regularly feed the hungry fanbase.... and totally applies to the current jokinen debacle.

as i mention in my post below, anton effin' strålman has put up better numbers than the wildcard this year....

where' the accountability in THAT ?!?!?