Millions says "Cocksucker"

I concur, Roger.

Before we go on vacation....

Despite finishing 2nd in the Pacific Division, the Flames were only the 6th seed in the playoffs. They met the 2nd place finisher in the Central Division, the Chicago Blackhawks. It was the third time Calgary and Chicago had met in the playoffs, as the Flames had previously defeated the Blackhawks in 1989, 1986 and 1981. This time around, Chicago had the better of the Flames, sweeping Calgary out in four straight, and continuing the Flames playoff futility."

Wikipedia, on the Flames' playoff run in 1996

So... my sense is, everything old is new again. There are a lot of eerie little similarities here. But let's hope this time it doesn't take us another four years to make it to the playoffs.

I am not hopeful these playoffs. I don't feel we can compete with the young, star-studded Blackhawks. Chicago has been a difficult team to not cheer for this year. It's been fascinating to see the resurgence of the Central Division - when was the last time four teams from that division made it in?

While goals would be nice, I think the key for us this series will be our third and fourth lines. Our defense has been rendered as holey as Swiss cheese, so our third and fourth lines (bolstered by real actual skaters now!) will have to play a grinding, physical, shutdown role in order for any kind of success.

At any rate, we're about to be treated to a fantastic series. Good hockey will come - if at least from those crazy 'Hawks. It's nice to have them back.

Fuck it, I'm really going on vacation

And this... really makes me think it'll be a short one.

Anders? Really?

Screw this, I'm going on vacation.

Really, hockey gods?

Three Canadians out of six make it into the playoffs this year, and you can't even put Calgary vs Chicago on Hockey Night in Canada?

Well, this bodes entirely well.

Oh, TSN, you are evil...

On Sober Second Thought...

I'm still not a fan of the Jokinen/Lombardi trade. I'm not sure we get decent value out of the deal, besides the part where we obviously get to shut up concerned commentators who are worried we don't have a playmaking centre.

What really worries me about this deal is it tells me the status on Daymond Langkow's hand is, "we had to amputate and replace it with a cybernetic implant; we're trying to program him to not take over the world now." And that conclusion in itself is kind of depressing... there are few centremen in the league so underrated as Langkow.

Lombardi, in my eyes, was starting to hit his stride this year (of course, I've said this every year since the lockout). He's invaluable on special teams, was starting to not suck so much on playoffs, and well. We all know he's easy on the eyes. Prust is a "meh" type thing for me; it tells me the Phoenix brass are thinking long and hard about how to make sure all their hot little prospects stay safe on the ice.

I thought the Leopold move was a stroke of genius. You have to feel bad for Nycholat though; the Herald just this morning published a glowing puff-piece about how the local boy works hard and moves around a lot and finally comes home. Butnotsomuch.

My biggest concern with the moves today is that we traded younger steady players for older, more erratic and injury-prone ones. I'm not going to even thinking about the mutterings about Jokinen as a "locker-room cancer"... I do believe the leadership in the room (primarily Iggy and Regehr) is strong enough to keep the team together, but... sigh.

NO, MATTY, NO!!

I have to go and face my class and not beat them up too much now, so more later.

Oi, Oi, Iggy!

If there is any team in the NHL that Jarome Iginla must hate with a passion, it must be the Tampa Bay Lightning? Stole the Cup from you, yup. Beat your team the night you break a bunch of milestones, earn a franchise record, and bag five points, oh yeah.

So. Ugly game Sunday night, despite the Iggy-riffic moments. And I'm starting to just feel sorry for Curtis McElhinney. Seems like he never leaves the bench but for when his teammates need to toss a goalie under a bus.

So tonight! We're going to start off the road trip of brutal proportions. In Ottawa, no less. Now, a month ago, I would have shrugged and figured it was an instant win, but they've picked up considerably lately. In fact you can track it to when they traded for Hillary Duff...um Comrie? I'm kidding about that.

One of the things that cheers me considerably about this team is the mounting number of injuries. It lets us rest up a bunch of guys who we'll ride hard through the end of the season and the playoffs, gives the first bunch of guys we'd call up from the farm some experience working in the bigs, and you know, we're still mostly winning games.

Now, I don't like our chances if we were to stay like this for months and months. But for a couple of weeks, I think it's manageable. And useful even, for the long run.

So... goFlamesgo...and here's hoping Iggy breaks his own record again tonight.

Back to Business

So the roller-coaster season of roller-coasterness continues... some days we're awesome, some days we're doomed, some days we're the most butt-ugly team in the league.

And for the first time in a bit, I would suggest we have a game that actually matters. If we legitimately are the best team in the NW, Vancouver is the team we have to beat to prove it. They're on an upswing after a dismal couple of months, they've shored up their roster with Mats Sundin (Good ol' Matsy - let's forget his rep as a Flames-killer) and an improving Roberto Luongo.

Dunno. I got nothing except that I badly need our boys to win this win. Lately, Vancouver fans have annoyed myself and Dave more than just anybody - Toronto and Edmonton are traditionally our whipping boys, but they just haven't been any fun lately.

So... here's hoping Iggy breaks out of the slump, Dion stops pouting or whatever he's been doing to be so invisible the last couple of games (not a bad thing?), and... 5-1 Calgary. Bert, Lombo, GlenX, Iggy, hell, Kipper, and Mats gets his 500th goal.

What was that about #500? I can't hear you.

Burning Quesitons about the All-Star Game

Will Tilley become the next recession-proof headgear company?

Does anybody remember the days when both teams played the trap for 60 mins, then went for interviews?

Can I call Mike Komisarek "Rory Fitzpatrick" now?

Does Ovechkin twitter from the bench?

Why am I watching this?

When do the Habs run out of old hockey players?

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PS by Dave: When does the game start?

How do I enable PiP so I can play Xbox and have this on in the corner?