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.

Sorry.

I knew if I turned on the TV tonight, the Pens would be doomed. And what a hell of a way to lose the game, as it turned out.

Well, good for Detroit for just dominating these playoffs. That said, in the grand pantheon of Flames gone by, Gary Roberts >>>>>> (Stuart + McCarty).

Think about that.

Brad Stuart has a Cup ring.

And maybe now everybody will spell it "Brenden"

Well played last night, Dallas Stars, well played. Well worth staying up for.

Thank you for avenging our golfers.

Damn you, Anders Eriksson.

And yes, JR. You are still a doofus.

On the Edge

I was thinking back to last year's Detroit series and how much more one-sided that series seemed. By the time Noodles had done his lumberjack thing at the Game 5, it was a foregone conclusion that the Flames would not be advancing (as much as we all tried to deny it).

By comparison, the games this year have been a lot more even-handed. That, and the Sharks bloggers haven't really done too much bargin' in and making bold declamations (actually, we've been the ones doing that). That said, there just hasn't been the same air of desperation we saw at the end of last year's playoffs, and really, there ought to be. It is much more go-big-or-go-home time than it was at Game 6 last year.

I think this is the night all the chips go on the table. Right now, all the pieces, such as they are, are here. A top-heavy team, questionable secondary scoring, aging role players, spotty defence, young prospects more likely than not to be third or fourth-line grinders all the rest of their careers.

If we don't win tonight, Sutter can move on to an interesting summer trying to re-sign players with little cap space left, and trying to bring in reasonable replacements for those guys who don't remain. Iggy gets another year older before he has a stab at the Cup, and well, summer can start in Calgary anytime it wants to.

So let's say BOO to all that. Flames in 7.

Sarich is a Catalyst for Good? // SJ@CGY G4 Pre-Game

I'm still in shock that something Sarich did was the catalyst this team needed to take it up to the next level (well, stratosphere in the microcosm of the game...). Let's just say I loved the hit. Clean, I thought. Anyone who thought it was a dirty hit doesn't know hockey. Let's leave it at that.

Needless to say, tonight is big. The Flames can take control of this series with a victory tonight, or the Sharks can even it out yet again. My money is going to be on the Sharks trying to exact revenge on their wounded pride, but I don't think they've got the heart, the balls, the strength, or the know-how to do it. I recognize San Jose's regular season excellence, but these aren't regular season games. What wins games for you in the regular season won't always win games for you in the playoffs. This series is a great example of that.

Despite this strong start to the season, I keep flashing back to last year. By far, the biggest difference between this year and last in the playoffs is the competence of the coach. Under Playfair, I never had any confidence in the team on a game-level (hold the lead), let alone on the series-level. Keenan is showing -- through what appear to be trivial moves -- that he's got experience in this area. The mind games he plays with the officials is a great example. The line juggling seems to be throwing San Jose's defense in a loop. Frankly, thus far Keenan has been out-coaching Wilson as opposed to last year, where Babcock handily out-coached Playfair. I've got to believe the lack of "Nervous Jimmy" biting his nails behind the bench as coach is one reason the Flames were able to have the confidence to come back as they did last game.

That said, I'm still going to cry if they get off to the same start as last game. We got away with that once, but let's not press our luck.

Your typical keys to victory:
1) Stay out of the damn box
2) Get the momentum and lead early
3) Keep up the physicality, make the d-men scared to touch the puck
4) Win

GO FLAMES GO!

Game 3 Postgame: Oh, ye of little faith.

Let's just pretend the first five minutes didn't happen?

We're all good?

Good.

Seriously though, fantastic hit by Sarich to really get the guys going. Great effort by Cujo to blank the Sharks the rest of the way, and did anybody else smile at seeing a reaction out of Sutter up top? Now, who knows whether we'll be able to maintain this momentum onwards to Game 4, but here's hoping we do.

More appropriately, I flipped to an episode of Family Guy after the game, and they were in the middle of a Kool-Aid gag.

Try it out, it's plenty tasty!

Belated Post-Game 2: This Game Will Self-Destruct in 3,2! Yep, period 2. Pre-Game also.

So, uh, yeah. How about that game? I thought we held our own in the 1st and 3rd, if not holding a bit of an edge in the 1st. But that was a remarkable perfect storm of ref inconsistency + lazy/undisciplined play that comprised our self-destruct in remarkable fashion. Does anyone know the record for consecutive penalties in a playoff period of hockey?

That said, there's positives to be found here. It was "only 2-0" due to Kiprusoff playing out of his mind again and outstanding penalty killing. San Jose has only potted two goals in both games, so if our offense can solve Nabokov as in Game 1, defensively we're pretty good.

Tonight's game will be interesting. We now know Bettman is to be there along with some relatively young officials, so my gut tells me tonight will be another penalty parade and special teams clinic. Not even going to bother with a prediction here, but GO FLAMES GO!

Now that's hockey

How fantastic was last night's game? The refs kept their whistles down, the players played fast and hard, and Kiprusoff stood on his head. It's the best game I've seen in quite some time, it could've gone either way. There were stretches of domination by both teams, but the bigger top-end talent won out in this game with Iginla and Kiprusoff grabbing the game by its throat, and Yelle playing hard-nosed opportunistic hockey. Just incredible.

But let's not get too far ahead of ourselves. As amazing as last night's game was, it was a close one. The Sharks are going to come out flying tonight and the Flames will need to buckle down and nail them with some Open Ice Hits to knock the senses out of the Sharks. I also have a feeling the officials will be a bit more whistle-happy tonight after an uncharacteristic game where they let the boys play. I disagree with Mike Chen of the Battle of California where he says "let the boys play" means "letting them get away with cheating". There was a lot of stuff on both sides that could've been penalties, including a completely missed double-minor on Nolan that drew blood. But the reffing was fair, even-handed, and consistent throughout the night from what I'd seen. It seems to me the Sharks (and indeed, the Sharks fans) simply want more penalties called because they know the Sharks are better on the special teams.

I'm pumped for tonight, but I go in without high expectations despite last night's game. San Jose is going to want revenge, and I expect for them to bring their "A" game as opposed to last night's "B" game now that they know this won't be a walk in the park.

Is it just me or does Joe Thornton shit himself playing the Flames? He had one good point last night, and was otherwise MIA. Clowe and Marleau were the only consistently dangerous Sharks. Campbell got a bit of a rude awakening in that game -- hey buddy, welcome to the West. Have you met Jarome Iginla? You'll find he's a bit tougher to play against than most of the Eastern players you've toyed with in the past.

This is going to be one hell of a series if the pace is anything like last night. I just about died in the last 5 minutes of that game.

Prediction for tonight? I'm going to predict the Flames keep the intensity up and San Jose doesn't know what to do with it, but still an incredibly close affair...4-3 Calgary (Iginla, Phaneuf, Nolan, Conroy; Marleau, Marleau, Pavelski), and Edmonton wins it in a shootout.

GO FLAMES GO!

PS: Happy Birthday, Dion. Remember the party comes after the game, not the night before.

Go Time

I love this time of year, though I've forgotten how miserable playoffs combined with school can be.

I haven't done a preview for this series, and I'm almost debating whether I should. San Jose I just know as the team of fantasy playoff heartbreakers. I've drafted a couple of guys from there this year, and with the exception of a late-season addition of Brian Campbell to a team in a league where I had no chance of winning, it's been ugly.

In a lot of ways, I see San Jose post-lockout as having made changes in ways we probably should have made changes. They've gotten rid of a lot of deadweight and guys who've gotten older and less useful (hi, Wayne Primeau), and replaced them with lots of youth. Oh. And some guy named Joe Thornoton?

The conventional wisdom has been that there's no point in looking at our head to head record versus the Sharks prior to the trade deadline, since they got Brian Campbell after that and apparently that's made all the difference. I rather disagree with this - they're still playing the same system, after all, and they're 95% the same team. While they're arguably a much more effective team now, I think we need to look at mistakes we made in these games and clean those up. Nothing too earth shattering:

Keep the Sharks' shots down: In a good majority of games this season, the Sharks badly outshot the Flames. More shots => more goals. More goals bad. We need Sarich to be back to the form he was in earlier this season, Eriksson to spend as little time on the ice as possible, and the other guys to be a bit smarter. Overall, I think I'd like to see the forwards committing a bit more to defense than has been their wont this year. They've done that a couple of times this year, and it's resulted in fantastic results on the scoresheet.
Inconsistency: This one's been done to death. I think we need to remember that as drunken-sailor-wandering-all-over-the-map as we've been, we're not the only team to suffer so. Looking back at the year that was, I see I've called San Jose inconsistent any number of times.
Special teams: We need to minimize activiation of these. Dead simple. Theirs have been better than ours.
Role players: I'm beginning to believe the main battle in this series won't be Iginla vs Thornton, or Kiprusoff vs Nabokov. It'll be Lombardi, Nilson, Boyd, Aucoin against Mitchell, Carle, etc, etc.

Anyways! I'm totally in the mood for playoffs! As I seem to often do near times when we're set to play the Sharks, I had the chance to catch the Hitmen in action last night, and they squeezed out a win for Game 3 of the Eastern Conference semifinals against my relatives' Swift Current Broncos. And guys, it was a hell of a game! It was also the longest game in Hitmen franchise history, not even bothering to count the twenty minutes spent replacing broken glass). We should be so lucky if any of the Flames' playoff games are this effin' good.

GO FLAMES!

28 games later

I have nothing. MG has the most fantastic analysis about how this is going to be another short playoff run. I'm going to take another tack and hearken back unto the glory days.

In 2004, the year of the Flames' (insert-adjective-here: surprise, unlikely, miracle, improbable) run to the Finals, Darryl Sutter famously divided up the last twenty-eight games of the season, and explained to the guys that, well, they had four series of seven games each. Win each set of seven, and, you'd be pretty close to a Stanley Cup. He was right, as it turned out.

So how do we compare to that year? Let's find out.

2004		2008
Opp	Outcome	Opp	Outcome
ATL	W	EDM	L
VAN	W	PHX	W
ANA	W	CHI	L
MIN	W	EDM	W
MTL	L	SJ	W
OTT	L	LA	L
NJ	L	ANA	L
Wins: 4/7		Wins: 3/7
COL	W	PHX	W
DET	L	DAL	W
PHX	W	DET	W
STL	W	MIN	W
DET	L	COL	O
DAL	L	ANA	L
COL	W	PHX	W
Wins:4/7		Wins:5/7
EDM	T	CBJ	W
OTT	W	NAS	O
NSH	T	STL	W
STL	W	WAS	L
DET	W	ATL	L
CLB	W	CHI	W
NSH	L	CBJ	L
Wins:4/7		Wins:3/7
DAL	L	COL	W
PHX	W	MIN	W
SJ	L	COL	L
LA	W	VAN	L
PHX	W	EDM	W
LA	W	MIN	L
ANA	L	VAN	W
Wins:4/7		Wins:4/7

Verdict: Ooohhhhh, not good. This season, we're losing 2 of those seven game "series", and overall have one fewer win.

Even more worrying to me is the greater number of games which we've lost, and have been blown wide open. In 2004, the only two games in which there was a goal differential of 4 goals in favour of the other team were against perennial Flames-killing Dallas. I'm willing to let those go. But even this month, there's been too many games where the team just forgot to show up.

On the bright side, even with the terrible-most final seven games of this season, we managed to take four games. That suggests to me that maybe it is possible to squeeze out a series win. Mayyyybe.

If we can play like we did in that second series (approximate timeframe: mid to late February), then we're as good as any team in the playoffs. However, right now my gut feel is that we're not that team.

What are we going to have to do to beat San Jose? We're going to have to be the Flames, circa pre-trade deadline. We're going to have to clamp down on the penalties. Kipper will need to be on (this is not impossible - much of the playoff analysis to date has ignored the fact that his goalie stats have largely trended upwards since the beginning of the season).

A lot of things are going to have to come right for the Flames. But hey, it's happened before.

Right?

Guys? Right?

It's been a while

Not looking good.

I'm not convinced the Flames are entirely prepared for this next upcoming game. The opposition has been talking trash, and yeah, our guys might not be able to step up.

Mind you, they've all been retired for quite some time, and being all musicians, the opposition is famed for putting together words rather than action.

Will Lanny, Vernie, and the rest of the Flames (circa '89, plus a few guests) be able to take on a bunch of musicians? Who knows?

As for the real Flames, I am just going to consider yesterday's game an abomination, and maybe just leave it at that. Unfortunately, that seems to be their MO lately. I have a couple of theories, but nothing terribly conclusive.

Iggy, Iggy, Iggy: See, when Iggy gets close to a milestone, the team always falls apart. I'll point to when he was chasing Fleury's record for most goals scored by a Flame earlier this year. I'll point to any game where he's scored two goals, with time to spare. I don't know that it's Iginla specifically who encourages this, but the rest of the team has a tendency to pass up perfectly reasonable scoring chances in an effort to set it up. Now, it's lovely that they love him so much, but yeah... they need to be more selfish and just get 'er in.

Hungry? Too bad about too many cooks: The other thing is that the team is aging, slowly and surely. Dave, in the past weeks, has had heated debates with fans of other teams, where he has been able to promote as a real feature of the team that we have so many established veterans. Now, this is great in terms of leadership, blah, blah, but that means also that maybe there's conflicting messages out there in the dressing room.

Also, teams that are young are hungry. Teams that haven't been to the big show for some time are hungry. Teams that know they're more or less going to make it to the bonus round and who have done it for a while... not so hungry. One of the key drivers behind the Cup run in 2004 surely must have been hunger. And now, we're playing our fourth playoffs in a row(ish), the guys are older, and yeah... the league is full of youth right now. Hungry, eager youth who want to see what the playoffs are all about. 'Nuff said.

I am right now going to write off tomorrow night's game... not only does it matter, I wouldn't be surprised if our current trend continues. If weird things happen and we pair up with the Wild, however, we've just pooched ourselves by not going out and squashing them. We had a chance to send them a message about how the playoffs are gonna work, and muffed it.

Sigh.

So, I figure the geezers will beat the rockers tonight by a score of 13.6 to 9.79, and yeah. Don't hold your breath tomorrow.

Go Flames!

Lights Out for Earth Hour... and for Edmonton

Really, if they want to hold an awareness-raising, life-changing event like Earth Hour? They gotta check out the hockey schedule first.

So my computer will be going and my TV will be showing those moving picture-sound thinguses tonight... there are never games on the schedule as big as the ones against Edmonton.

We shouldn't expect a cakewalk tonight, nevermind what the big Huselius drama ends up turning out. The Oilers been really, really good lately, minus a few hiccups. Mind you, they are barely clinging to the edge of playoff contention, and with a strong game tonight, we can stomp on their fingers and send them flying down the cliff (Listen for the "SPLAT" when they hit bottom, it's the best part.)

I have had several friends over the last couple of days suggest that in the mutual interest of seeing Vancouver not make it to the dance, we should throw this one for the Oil... but really, where's the fun in that?

That said, three days off doesn't necessary let the Flames rest - could very well throw them off their game. That said, I'm expecting a good team, a hungry team, a team that is hitting their stride just as they're hitting the playoffs. And they'll be the ones wearing red and black.

Go Flames.

Going to Disneyland

Er. That is all. Just had an 80s nostalgia moment.

Hi. Hello. Anybody listening?

Testing, testing, 1, 2...

Just want to confirm with all you other kids.

What: Game 3, or, "Will Ottawa respond better to some homecooking and ice that actually might be frozen?"
Where: The Wheat Sheaf
When: Tomorrow (Saturday, June 2... argh! June) Game starts at 8 - I suggest meeting there a touch early so we can find each other.

Dave is still my imaginary friend (sucker!). Anybody Calgary-based who'd also like an empty seat to be there in spirit, let me know...if you want to bring somebody random who has no connection to the Flames blogosphere, the more the merrier.

See everybody out there!

A day late...

... a dollar short... you guys are lucky we're still paying attention, at this point!

My thoughts on the final?

Emotionally, speaking from the heart, all that, you have to want Ottawa to win. Canadian, right?

What I've seen all season has suggested to me that Anaheim will be the team to beat. They're more physical, they have an intriguing mix of youthful energy and a ton of playoff experience. While their big line has been a bit disappointing since losing Kunitz, they're not ineffective, and they've seen players like Getzlaf and the other kids, their big D-men, and their shutdown men step up. Their only downfall (as exhibited by Game 1) will be a lack of discipline. We've seen other teams teeter on the edge between playing aggressively and playing dirty before - it's all good fun.

Ottawa on the other hand, has been more unpredictable. There are a lot of wild cards in play here. Emery. The big line. The coaching. What I'm going to point to (since I have nothing original nor insightful to say about the team itself) is that Ottawa hasn't been particularly successful this season against Western Conference teams. Put another way, of the six Western Conference teams they played this year who qualified for the playoffs, they had a 2-3-0-1 record. Of the remaining four teams, Ottawa went 2-2 against them. Make of that what you will.

But it doesn't matter, right? Playoffs are a whole new story...

Huzzah! The end is near...

We will see.

Oh, it is on.

Did this catch anyone else's eye this morning?

Personally, I'm not too excited about the Sens, but that's just because they don't play in the Western Conference. They do deserve props for being another team that's going all the way. And am I hallucinating when I take extra note of the fact that the three Canadian teams to have gone all the way recently are all classified as small-market?

Anyways. We can't have them think every hockey fan in Toronto pulls for the Buds. And while I don't have a death wish, people have wondered before. So I'm going to have to rally the Toronto Chapter of the Flames blogosphere, for some Cup final goodness. We'll prop up some empty chairs for any Calgary-or-elsewhere-based bloggers who want to be there in spirit. And cheer for the Sens or no, I don't really care...I still need to see who comes out of the West.

Drop me a line once the schedule for the last round comes up to let me know what your availability is... we should also pick a bar and whatnot. I guess.

Thoughts on the third round

Are we done yet?

I was going to present my third round predictions, but then I realized that a) I had nothing new, b) my picks do not have any bearing on logic, reason, or any of that good stuff, c) if I publicized them no one (I'm looking at you, Anaheim) will off Detroit for me. What's a girl gotta do to get a good dose of revenge 'round these parts?

So, I have two main realizations.

Ottawa vs Buffalo. Despite living in Leafsland, I've been exposed to this matchup too many times this year. Yeah, yeah, it's emotional after that one game earlier this year...but...they played each other eight times total. I can't pretend I'm too interested. Blame scheduling, blame Bettman, blame the onset of spring and my resulting apathy.

Anaheim vs Detroit. There is no reason Anaheim shouldn't win, right? So why did they play a shit game yesterday? I'm not going to make any other comment on this besides that every time I watch Detroit in action this year, they win another series.

And my conclusion? Well, there's a fantabulous world championships going on, Canada just advanced to the gold medal game, and Lombo is having a helluva coming-out party. I'm delighted for him, though a bit apprehensive about what this means for him and his full time gig.

I've believed steadily in his potential at least since he came back from injury in '05-06 - there's at least one guy out there who will still blame me bitterly for picking him up for fantasy hockey. I'm liking what I see of his defensive play as much as his much-vaunted charge-down-to-the-other-end offense - I just hope that the Flames front office can figure out how to use him the way Andy Murray clearly has.

So...go Canada, and let me know when we're into the last round....