Vacation was LAST month...

I'm left cursing the NHL schedule again. Curses! What do you mean there's exactly one Flames game a week from last Friday till next Friday? I'm not disputing the guys need a break, but really, we should pack in as many games as possible before Eriksson feels better.

I'm not kidding!

I meant to do a post-game about last night's tilt a bit earlier, but alas, alas...

It's amazing how much better Matthew Lombardi looks (not that he isn't already lookin' good, heh) when he's not babysitting Boyd or Nystrom. Simply amazing. Though I was a bit surprised that he and Yelle turned out to be such a good combo offensively. I would have put them as strictly a PK tandem...

And Tanguay. I understand the mathematics of the salary cap, but I don't think there was a better cogent argument against trading him than seeing him all pissed off and afire last night. He's usually much more chill than that...it's nice to see him pour it on.

(Note to Fletcher: No, we're not giving him up for Gary Leeman. No! Not even Gary Leeman AND Doug Gilmour...)

And no, I didn't miss Eriksson. While the D was by no means air-tight, it was much improved.

This was the sort of game I think I needed to see the Flames win again. Tight, low-scoring, boring as all hell. Lately, these sorts of games have been the ones that have eluded them, whether they're being hypnotized by the Isles or flat out asleep against Nashville. We've seen more than enough this season already though - we're not out of the woods yet.

Overall, I'm feeling pretty good headed into the All-Star Break. Team looks good, team is mostly healthy, Kipper is in fine form again (hopefully he doesn't spend a week in Aruba and lose his edge over the break).

Hopefully Huselius will continue to show us some fine fine moves. How about that off-the-leg-and-into-the-net-trick? YES?

I have a few plans to keep us all entertained while we wait for the games to start again.

For one, Dave and I usually do a Sporting News fantasy league or two to while away the season. A new season starts up after the All-Star Break, and any of you who are interested in joining up should drop us a line soon, in return for an invite. Yes, WI, that's you! And Kyle? And anyone else...

As the league stands...let's say I can guarantee you guys won't come in last. Dave already has a lock on that, right?

Dave?

The Juice

Huselius has steadily crept up to the status of being one of my FavouriteFlames. Check out this sick move from the skills competition yesterday:



Lombardi was "nursing a charlie horse" so he wasn't part of the competition. :( Conroy was in LA fetching more clothes and other personal items. :D

Here are some fun stats:

Puck Control Relay
Team Red: Ritchie, Huselius, Langkow [teh win]
Team White: Giordano, Tanguay, Zyuzin

Fastest Skater
Team Red
Friesen: 13.839 seconds [teh win]
Ritchie: 14.1 seconds
Ference: 14.4 seconds

Team White
Moss: 14.2 seconds
Zyuzin: 14.4 seconds
Giordano: 15.1 seconds

Hardest Shot
Team Red
Amonte: 90.5, 95.0
Friesen: 90.8, 92.8
Iginla: 97.9, 97.7
Ference: 94.4, 93.5

Team White
Giordano: 92.9, 96.1
Moss: 93.5, 90.8
Phaneuf: 96.9, 95.7
Zyuzin: 98.8, 99.1 [teh win -- wait, wtf?]

Shooting Accuracy
Team Red:
Langkow: 3 targets on 8 shots
Ference: 4 targets on 6 shots
Iginla: 3 targets on 8 shots

Team White:
Richie Regehr: 4 targets on 5 shots [teh win -- wait, wtf?]
Lombardi: 2 targets on 8 shots [Lupul award]
Tanguay: 4 targets on 7 shots

Breakaway Relay
McLennan is the stopper.
Team Red:
Ference: Miss
Langkow: Post
Huselius: Scores (see above clip)
Ritchie: Scores
Iginla: Stopped
Amonte: Stopped

Team White
Giordano: Scores
Zyuzin: Scores
Tanguay: Scores
Moss: Stopped
Godard: Stopped
Phaneuf: Stopped

Final Score
White 12 - Red 6

It's bizarre most of our best players are so bad on breakaways.