One part game, one part pep rally, all fun.

So I thought it was a bit early for hockey yet... and I guess I was wrong about that.

We managed to, yes, SELL OUT, the Saddledome for what was billed as a scrimmage. In August. There was a bizarre red-headed guy running up and down the aisles throwing free towels at the fans. And a mascot. I had no idea Hockey Canada had a mascot.

Nonetheless, from our third-row seats in the corner, we had a great view of both teams last night, most particularly of Luongo making some incredible stops early on in the game. The goaltending all night long one was pretty spectacular - of the five goalies at the camp, Cam Ward was the only one I didn't manage to get a good look at. Luongo and Steve Mason in particular impressed. Mason might be the young guy, but he's got ice water for veins. Not much fazed him.

The scrimmage itself was low-scoring and low-hitting (of course). While on paper, I'd figured Team White ought to take it handily, Team Red did a great job of keeping the puck in the offensive zone - their forwards (particularly Jordan Staal and Doan) were more effective at both ends, and their defensemen were just working together that much better. For Team Red, Brent Burns, Jay Bouwmeester, Shea Weber, and Duncan Keith were simply solid. Mike Green wasn't as much - I'm really curious now has to how well he'll play without Ovechkin around.

In terms of our guys, Regehr was a bit meh - though he got better as the night went, and Phaneuf frankly looked out of place. He's not nimble, and remains ridiculously easy to draw out of position. Barring injuries, I'm not convinced there's a spot on the team for him on the basis of what I saw last night - besides four vets (Regehr, Pronger, Niedermayer, and Bouwmeester) I'd consider locks, there's easily four other players his age (Seabrook, Keith, Weber, Burns) who are ahead of him depth-wise, and the remaining players are at least comparable. Phaneuf will have to have a terrific fall in order to be seriously considered for the team. And Jay Bouwmeester was simply solid. I'm excited to have him play for us this year.

Forwards - I can't believe how deep this camp was for centremen. What an embarrassment of riches! That said, the flashiest moves I saw all night were the sledge-hockey players in the 2nd intermission. Heatley (no love from the locals) and St. Louis had some nice breaks, but I'm not convinced offensive flash alone will get them on the roster.

The guys who were the most noticeable in the scrimmage were the grinders. Cleary showed some offensive flash in addition to his usual play, as did Perry. Milan Lucic is obviously struggling to make an impression - but he'll have to play a lot smarter to stand a chance. Smyth and Doan both played the way you expect them to for Team Canada.

All in all, you can't possibly envy the decisions they'll have to make in announcing a roster. But for one night - having all of these guys on the ice? Pure magic.

It is what it is, but it is not a cliché

What a crazy season this has been. We're at the half-way mark already? That can't be right. I'd like to apologize for the infrequent postings to this blog, but the real world cannot be PVRed and life goes on. But in the meantime, Kent, WI, and Matt have all been prolific and analytical and highly entertaining.

I'm not sure many people predicted that by the midpoint of the season, the Flames would be a "top six" team in the league. And if they did predict that, they probably changed their mind after the infamous events San Jose beat-down on November 13th. They've pulled it off, somehow. The team has simply looked consistently good since November 13th, and even our 3rd and 4th lines are looking good.

What is notable about this season is how little our "top three" guys are contributing to this. In most years, Iginla, Kiprusoff, and Phaneuf are all-stars and there's a dropoff from there. This year, all three are arguably underperforming: Kiprusoff is getting wins, but he's still not performing like an elite goaltender in my eyes. Iginla has been good, but he hasn't been exceptional. Phaneuf needs to work on his aim and still work on his defensive coverage -- I don't think "lazy" is the correct word but on many goals, I see "#3" skating well behind the player that scored. The Flames' success has come from the hands of the team as a whole, and it's a great thing. The work ethic, speed, and skills of Rene Bourque and Curtis Glencross have, in my view, inspired this whole team -- I believe they supply additional motivation to the rest of the team. It doesn't have to be the Jarome Iginla or Dion Phaneuf show each night, and these guys keep proving it. The effort and consistency from everyone on the team, and the continued underrated efforts of Daymond Langkow, are ensuring that this team is ferocious and firing on all cylinders each night. Even Todd Bertuzzi, oft lamented by my fellow bloggers, has been playing fairly well all season. I still stand by my assertion that he's not even close to being the "biggest disappointment" on our team this year, in fact he's overperforming if you take into account his salary in my estimation...things are looking good.

But now we've had a break. The Flames have been sitting idle since Thursday, and now we're facing off against St. Louis tonight. It'll be all too easy to underestimate St. Louis (especially since they've lost their one-man-army in Lee Stempniak), combined with potential overconfidence from their recent record and 5-2 wins and the challenge of getting back in the saddle after a long weekend, this may be a bigger challenge than is expected. In a lot of ways, I'm looking at tonight's game against lowly St Louis as a barometer for future near-term success. If the Flames can shake off the little bit of rust, play competitively, and put in a solid game tonight I think we'll be okay. It's about forming those good habits again.

We can't forget that Vancouver isn't too far back. With Loungo back and Sundin on the team, they will get better. I'm glad we've extended the lead as much as we have with Loungo out and Sundin playing like a Maple Leaf, but that can be short-lived. Vancouver's a one-man show, and that one man has returned.

Walk This Way, Talk This Way

The Flames have split the first four games of this roadtrip, and are now facing the most challenging opponent of that entire road trip. Dallas has a history of owning the Flames as of late, and I'd hope that this does not continue.

Iginla has been picking it up again. I'm not going to say he's been hot, but he's been better than he has been recently. Phaneuf has been a (sorry) MONSTER. Ever since his signing, he's been the top Flame.

But on not-so-optimistic side, Calgary currently sits in 8th. On the edge between Playoffs and "This Is Oil Country", and a first round date with Detroit (which admittedly, isn't as scary as it once was right now). This is somewhat of an oddity, but Vancouver and Calgary are in an exact tie right now and I'm not sure why Vancouver is in 7th and not Calgary -- can't we at least go alphabetically by city name?
Vancouver: 60GP, 30-22-8, 68pts
Calgary: 60GP, 30-22-8, 68pts

I'm also continually amazed to look at Kiprusoff's stats and see a big fat "0" in shutouts this season. The guy can't seem to buy himself a shutout this season, though his sub-standard play is of course part of the blame, worse goalies have gotten shutouts this season? Is tonight the game for his shutout? Nope.

This will be a tough one, and everyone knows it. Part of me is scared to watch it. But, make no mistake, this is a BigGame™. Winning it can be the start of something beautiful!

Four Guys To Take On Chicago

Jarome Arthur-Leigh Adekunle Tig Junior Elvis Iginla, Miikka Sakari Kiprusoff, and Robyn Regehr recently welcomed into their new family an adopted boy named Dion Phaneuf. These four brave men alone will take on the ferocious Chicago Blackhawks in a battle of the ages tonight.

Will they take the night off, like the Edmonton game; or will they show up, like the last 15 minutes of the Phoenix game? My money is on "show up", Iggy's last second(s) goal in the Phoenix game is remarkably similar to one earlier this season in the last second(s) against the tenacious Florida Panthers. My completely unbiased heart tells me this will be the start of another streak.

I've got some concerns over the top-heavyness of the roster starting next season. But ultimately, like virtually every other Flames fan, I'm thrilled Dion will be with the team for many years to come. The cap will go up, but at what point does the ownership group set their own cap for how much they can pay? I'm starting to think we're approaching the ownership's cap, and it does concern me slightly.

I also think it's time to post some Fantasy hockey standings for the Sporting News league I'm in with Leanne:
#1. Marcus Nilson Allstars: 1294 (this is me)
#2. Leafs Still Suck: 1281
#3: The Zack Stortini Hug-Fighters: 1013
#4: P Rod's Punishers: 905
#5: Timbit's Hockey: 885 (only players 5'11" and under)
#6: Team Affirmative Action: 697 (visible minorities only)
#7: number 9: 681

And LASTly:
#8: Leanne: 594

Booya indeed, Leanne!

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOYA

It's a bit more expensive than I wanted, but looks like we bagged Phaneuf for another 6 years. It's roughly $6.5 M/year according to all sorts of sources I haven't bothered to verify yet.

Overall? A bit more expensive than we probably want, but them's the prices...

As for Huselius/Langkow/Tanguay/10 other guys next year?

Sigh.

(Can I just add that Nilson played last night, and we won? I'm just saying)

Did I mention I think this is a touch expensive?

Update: TSN has the story here

Calgary Flames: Offensive Powerhouse

Iginla is on pace for 49 goals, 82 assists for 131 points.
Langkow is on pace for 66 goals, 49 assists for 115 points.
Tanguay is on pace for 16 goals, 74 assists for 90 points.
Huselius is on pace for 49 goals, 33 assists for 82 points.
Phaneuf is on pace for 25 goals, 49 assists for 74 points.
Aucoin is on pace for 8 goals, 41 assists for 49 points.

Now, I'm not saying they're going to keep this up. I sure hope they do. But how unreal is this? We're not so far removed from a time where all the talk was on getting Iginla a playmaking centre and we were winning 1-0 games and proud of it. Now we're scoring goals like it's going out of style, tied with Detroit with most goals scored in the Western Conference.

This does come at the expense of defensive excellence, as we've seen. Normally I'd be upset that Kiprusoff's stats are suffering like this, but the timing really could not be better. A statistically sub-par season will do wonders in bargaining for a lower wage for him, which means good things for the team and a better chance of keeping him and Phaneuf.

I'm not one that thinks you have to choose between strong defensive play and strong offensive play. I'm not seeing anything systemic with the Flames' system that is inherently poor defensively (with the exception of the 4-forward, 1-defense powerplay configuration we've seen on occasion), just lots of little brain lapses, puck hops, and some poor puck control defensively. I think that given the time for our defense to find its groove (and to be fair, half of them are new to this team), this team will become even more of a force to be reckoned with.

Looking at the shift chart for last night's game, the defensive pairings at even strength are as follows:
Sarich - Regehr
Phaneuf - Aucoin
Hale - Warrener

I've been slightly impressed with Hale as of late -- he's better than I expected, and certainly better than Eriksson has been. The biggest surprises for me this season has been the play of Aucoin and Sarich. I was less than thrilled to hear about either acquisition initially, but Aucoin and Sarich have both greatly exceeded my admittedly low expectations. The pieces are all here for a very solid defensive corps, they just need to work with eachother. Every single pairing is a new pairing, and it does take time to slip into that groove and work well together.

Our forwards in the last game were arranged in the following lines:
Tanguay - Conroy - Iginla
Huselius - Langkow - Nolan
Moss - Lombardi - Nilson
Smith - Yelle - Godard

Conroy was also initially as suspect choice for a top line centre for me. But distributing the scoring power across two lines is clearly working, and who am I to disagree? I also think Lombardi and Moss can work some magic together, though Nilson's more of a dud on that line (but decent defensively).

I'm also liking the grit the team seems to have compared to last year. Both the intangibles (like last night's come-back victory with five unanswered goals) and the tangibles (Flames are tied with the Ducks for most fights this season with 10). [Sidenote: The top 10 teams in terms of number of fights are all Western Conference teams. Real hockey!].

I can see big things for this team if and when they find their groove and start firing on all cylinders. The inconsistency (period 1 last night and the entire SJ game) is a bit upsetting, but not at all unexpected at this point in the season. As Leanne has pointed out, the passing is suddenly "crispy" as opposed to "crunchy" rather suddenly in the 2nd period last night. Maybe Keenan is getting through to the boys.

Clarification from Leanne: I actually didn't have an opportunity to watch last night's game, but the crisp passing is something I've observed in several games this season, already. This is something Keenan's specifically been working on in the team - recall all those statements about "muscle memory" early on. I rather like this - work on the simple things, like making clean passes, and suddenly the hard things aren't quite so hard.

Job application

I'm trying out for the position of HG's link bunny.



(Courtesy of the Herald of course)

Lombardi Lights the Lamp

Our boy Lombardi keeps lighting it up...2 goals so far in today's game. Phaneuf's got 2 assists also.

Go Flames Go!

There is a line, and it has been crossed.

Ladies and gentlemen, today's game was beyond embarrassing. The play is bad enough -- it was just bad hockey. But towards the end of the game, when it descended into goonery, thuggary, and downright unsportsmanlike behaviour, I was completely ashamed of my team.

Langkow's undercut...
McLennan's slash...
Iginla's butt-end...

Shame on you guys, because you have shamed us all.

As far as I'm concerned, the post-season is now over. Sutter has a lot of work to do, and I'm starting to lose my patience with him, too. He should have had the balls and the smarts to dismiss Playfair long ago before we even got to this place. No post would be acceptable without a shot to Playfair, but of course I blame him for this as well. He should've been fired a long, long time ago. The man has no spine, no intelligence, and no career in this league.

I will see you all in 07-08, hopefully on a better note.

Phaneuf's Hit on Nash

The blogosphere is a wonderful place. It lets you peer in on worlds other than your own, such as the world where many Oiler fans live which so clearly is not one we share. For instance, at the Battle of Alberta, Andy Grabia posts what's titled a "Oilers Gameday" post and then uses that to discuss a genuinely interesting team in Alberta, the Flames. Of course, he is not a fan of Phaneuf (as are most opponents, I'd imagine).

But I'm starting to get a bit dizzy from the spinning from the Oilers fans. Today, for instance, Grabia characterized Phaneuf's hit on Nash as a "dirty and dangerous hit", and went on to call Phaneuf a "cheap" player.

He claims to have watched the hit from the side angle, but I doubt very much that he has. If he had, I think he would clearly be trained enough to check the position of the skates of Nash before the hit. Or maybe check the position of his torso. Or maybe notice that Nash hit shoulder-first into the boards, which is why he was not injured. In any case, this was missed. I took a screencapture of the YouTube clip right before impact to illustrate this, for our perception-disabled comrades to the north:


I would not characterize this as a clean hit, nor a dirty hit. To me, it falls within the grey area. Had Nash had his head up, like he should when Phaneuf is on the ice and he's in the Flames' zone, there wouldn't be any problem at all with this hit. The whining is coming from people who seem to think players with their heads down should be immune from hitting, which is something I completely disagree with. If you enter the Flames' end with your head down, you do it at your own risk -- that should not be rewarded.