Behind Enemy Lines: Senators 3, Leafs 2 (OT)
9 Comments Published by Sherry on Sunday, December 31, 2006 at 10:05 PM.
What a game. I apologize for the general lateness of this post but I had the pleasure of attending the latest installment of the Battle of Ontario and given that it also coincided with my 20th birthday, I've only now fully recovered from the festivities.
I'm not going to argue with the people who say that the Senators were darned lucky to walk away with this win, because for the most part they were out-chanced. Given that the shots were 45-34 for Toronto with Toronto outshooting Ottawa almost double for most of the game, it looked pretty bleak for awhile. It did look like the Senators were on their heels for alot of this game, but Ray Emery absolutely bailed them out. He was fantastic, not giving up many second chances and the defense was very on as well. The Senators had to battle back for most of this game and it was nice to see the fact that the Leafs were leading most of the game didn't deflate them. The first goal was a beautiful short-handed effort by Dean McAmmond who really had a great game and definitely stepped up knowing that the team was short a few bodies. There was also no shortage of rough stuff but no actual fights to speak of since the refs were sure to swoop in to stop any funny business going on. Which, darn but also...yeah I guess I sort of understand.
The atmosphere inside the ACC is a little bit different than Scotiabank Place as in, the Leafs fans sure get excited when nothing happens. They cheer and get up off their seats when they enter the offensive zone which is terribly misleading and causes me to not be able to see anything. I don't want to speak from a personal bias here but I think the atmosphere in Scotiabank Place is more enjoyable. The intermission and programming during the breaks in plays were a lot more entertaining. You can definitely tell the audience they were going for was more of a corporate mood as they were playing commercials during the breaks and were sure to thank their corporate sponsors and season ticket holders. They also made a point to show the hot girls in the audience with their "blonde cam" which I didn't particularly care for, not that my guy friend I went with was complaining. Also, the musical selections at the ACC weren't as impressive. But then again, I am a bit of a music snob. 
Leafs fans are definitely not short on spirit though as it got super loud, super fast anytime there was a good scoring chance. I was really quite impressed although displeased by how automatic the boos were for Daniel Alfredsson whenever he touched the puck. Really, it was like flicking a switch. However my friend G and I were sure to shout out "GO ALFIE!" everytime. There were some people in front of us that took it upon themselves to start some chants and a gentleman in the blue wig also attempted to start the wave several times but it never really made it past our section. My friend Ken was nice enough to give me a Sens jersey for my birthday but since he's a Leafs fan, took part in alot of smack talk that was going on back and forth. The gentleman in front of us with the blue wig was a huge fan of his and after the game said that my jersey looked like a Special Olympics jersey. Rather than to point out the obvious that his team just got beat by said Special Olympics team, I opted to not further the rather political incorrectness of it all. All in all a very exciting game. But the ACC still sucks.
Things of Interest
- Dan Snyder's parents, Graham and Lu Ann Snyder were both in attendance at their game as part of their NHL tour. Check out the blog of their travels at 37 Rising Stars.
- When they're announcing the injuries for your team are you supposed to cheer or boo?
- Chris Phillips and Ray Emery were named the second and first star of the night and I was very pleased to see that they both stepped onto the ice. Emery gave his stick to a kid in the audience wearing a Leafs jersey and had some fun with him by pretending he wasn't going to give it to him.
- While walking to the bar after the game in my Sens jersey I got booed a couple of times but did I care? My friend claims the only reason they won was because it was my birthday. I said what if it was also a Leafs fan's birthday today that was also in the audience. Apparently, that's clearly impossible. One of my friends gave me a hockey stick for my birthday which I had to take with me to the game and while we were clearing out of the building I heard this exchange:
"She's pretty brave coming to Leafs nation like that"
"Maybe that's why she has the stick"
Oh please, I've lived here all my life. Although I'm not too proud to admit that walking down the streets of Toronto can certainly be dangerous...for more than one reason.
- There were a couple of Senators fans peppered throughout the audience. One of them was sitting a couple of rows in front of us and was sure to give all the Sens fans air high-fives whenever they scored.
- There was some smack talk going on after the game between a Senators fan and a Leafs fan. While they were exiting a friend of the Senators fan got the last word by saying "Go Red Wings!"
- I have some great shots of the boys warming up, including this lucky shot of Dany Heatley for those who are so inclined:
Full Game Pictures: Ottawa vs. Toronto, Dec. 30th, 2006.
Labels: air canada centre, game photos, photography, ray emery, toronto maple leafs, win
Hunting Goose Eggs: Rangers 0, Senators 1
0 Comments Published by Sherry on Saturday, December 30, 2006 at 1:29 PM.
Oh boys, I suppose you really did take my rant to heart!
The Ottawa Senators played by committee today and played a very tight defensive game as they blanked the already struggling Rangers last night. Ray Emery and Henrik Lundqvist made the same amount of saves at 27, which was good for Emery's second straight shutout.
With their offensive powerhouse Jason Spezza and temporary first-liner Mike Fisher both out it looked like this was the type of game the Senators needed to play. Daniel Alfredsson opened the scoring early on with the Senators first shot on goal at 37 seconds in, but was robbed of some glorious chances after that by Lundqvist. The captain was really a leader last night as he had a lot of great scoring chances, including one short-handed effort.
However, the Senators did run into some penalty trouble as 6 men went to the box last night, including a five minute major for charging for Chris Neil. The PK was up to the task though as they managed to kill off all of their penalties.
So all in all, perhaps we [read: I] panicked a little bit prematurely. When your offensive powerhouse is out, it's important to play a good defensive game and it's nice to see that everybody was up to the task and Emery was up to form. His shutout streak is now currently at 141 minutes and 10 seconds.
This means that when I visit my boys tonight at the ACC it'll be Martin Gerber in net. Now more than ever we need this guy to get hot.
Shany Watches Senators Interviews!
Those who caught the Rangers' pre-game interviews in the dressing rooms, you'll notice Brendan Shanahan shifting his weight back and forth during the interview. That's his tribute to the Senators' penchant for conducting post-game interviews while on the stationary bike. Who says hockey players are all robots? It's funny because when I first saw them doing those interviews, I had no idea they were actually on a stationary bike and was wondering why the heck they were fidgeting so much. Don't you kind of wish he was doing a REAL Ottawa Senators interview? Sigh.
World Junior Round-Up
- Canada Clinches Berth in Semi-Final With Win Over Germany: 3-1. This actually was a tough game for the Canadians with this surprise Germany squad. The Canadians hadn't let in a goal shorthanded until a lengthy 5-on-3 for the Germans that tied the game. However, the turning point for this game was when the Canadians managed to kill off successfully another lengthy 5-on-3 in the third.
- Russia beats Belarus 6-1: This guarantees Russia at least second place in the standings and are also currently undefeated.
- Finland beats the Czech Republic: 6-2. Mississauga IceDogs Oskar Osala scored a marker for Finland.
- Today the Americans take on Slovakia in a must-win game for them. If they don't win this game and their game against Sweden, there could be a chance that they miss the playoffs.
Spengler Cup Round-Up
- Khimik 5, Canada 0. A bad loss for the Canadians last night. They must now win their game today in order to clinch a berth in the final.
Mississauga IceDogs News
- Had the Mississauga IceDogs vs. St. Michael's Majors game on last night. The IceDogs are making a strong case for themselves and their beautiful, beautiful arena as they shellacked the Majors 8-4. Interestingly enough it's the Majors that will be taking over the Hershey Centre when the IceDogs are relocated. Another thing that caught my attention was when the commentators said the name Darrell Simich, a blueliner for the Majors. Because I went to school with a Darrell Simich. Turns out it's the same guy. It was freakish and somewhat cool all at the same time. Mostly freakish.
Labels: mississauga ice dogs, new york rangers, post-game, shutout, spengler cup, win, world juniors
Well, when it rains in pours in Sens nation as Mike Fisher is now out 4-6 weeks with a MCL strain. Mike Fisher. Our new number one centre that's supposed to replace Jason Spezza. Who is also out 4-6 weeks.
Darth Vader: NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!
And who is slated to replace Fisher to centre the top line? Chris Kelly. Okay, I feel like it is my civic duty to tell all of you now that I really like Kelly. He's brings a lot to the table and I'd say the most important piece to the Senators' PK and contributes a lot defensively. I would, truly be sad if he were to leave the team for whatever reason. That's the thing though, he's a PK specialist and a defensive forward. A first line centre he is not and the times that he played on the wing with Dany Heatley and Spezza, he looked absolutely out of place. I would have preferred Antoine Vermette to centre the top line just because contributes more offensively. It hasn't happened yet but it's expected that Josh Hennessy will be called up from Binghamton [I refuse to call it Bingo]. He's performed not bad in the AHL so far with 26 points in 32 games, but 0 points in the 2 games he was called up for.
It's not that we're just out another centre. The fact that Kelly, he of the 5 goals and 7 assists, is now our new top line centre just greatly exploits the fact that like Dr.Phil's head, we too are a little bit thin down the middle. It's not the fact that the Sens are down another man, Fisher brought a lot to the table. He's not only a defensive forward with scoring ability, he throws the hits, is always hustling for the puck and never gives up on a play. He is a consistently hard worker and definitely a leader on the ice and if the rest of the team was sucking, you could easily say that at least Fisher was playing his heart out. And then you felt bad for him for being surrounded by such lazies. This injury is dangerous too, Fisher has had surgery on his knee before and has been dogged with injuries most of his career.
This would be a lot easier to take if the rest of the team were playing consistently good hockey but the fact of the matter is, this team's been fluctuating more than a pregnant lady's mood swings. It has caused me and my friends to wonder on more than one occasion whether or not boys too, indeed also get their period.
The truth is, John Muckler now has quite a pickle on his hands. It would be a lot easier if this team was on top of the division or conference and already in the playoffs, but since Buffalo took all of that cake and refuses to share, Mucks doesn't have any time to waste. The truth is, even if he does make a trade or claim someone off of waivers, there are still a ton of things to consider such as the cap and the other holes that need to be filled. Frankly, this defense corp is softer than a Downey dryer fresh towel and how in the world Tom Preissing is leading the league with a +21 is beyond me given the amount of turnovers he coughs up on any given night. Don't get me wrong, I've loved the guy since he was a Shark and he's helping me kick butt in my pool right now, but still.
Goaltending is a whole other issue to think about. Ray Emery has established himself as the number one but he's still prone to giving up the bad goal and spontaneously combusting [See: Nashville]. Given that, he doesn't have any time to take a breather either since Martin Gerber is still in need of a few more therapy sessions before he can throw off any "Swiss Cheese" references.
Unless Hennessey suddenly channels his inner Wayne Gretzky and Gerber performs whatever exorcism that's needed to get his butt into gear, the next month and a bit might be extremely painful. Truth be told, this is not entirely a bad thing for the Senators either. Most people though that with Spezza out, there would be little chance for the team to succeed. Instead, the team did the right thing and played with a little bit more urgency and played more blue-collar hockey, something they said they were going to do before the season started. When your star player gets injured you can either spontaneously combust or you can decide to tighten up your game and use the experience as a positive thing. A little bit of adversity never hurt anybody.
So, right now it's looking pretty bleak and those bottles of wine we got for Christmas is looking more and more enticing. [Also, why do people keep giving me wine? I don't even drink wine] The truth is, there aren't exactly a lot of stellar options to pick from Binghamton, who are also floundering in the standings down in the AHL. I so badly want to despair but I know that I have to have faith in my boys. I worried a little bit too much about their overconfident strut back when they were ruling the division in previous seasons, so maybe I should look at this as a good thing. Right? Right?
Happy Birthday...
To Flames rookie David Moss who is absolutely on fire right now with 3 goals in 3 games.
Labels: gripes, injuries, jason spezza, line-up, mike fisher, panic, possibly drunken post, rants
How Funky is your Chicken?: Islanders 0, Senators 2
2 Comments Published by Sherry on Thursday, December 28, 2006 at 2:18 AM.
and that's how you know I've run out of witty titles
The Sens came in and dispelled any fears I had of a turkey hangover in their first game back from Christmas break and shut out their favourite. team. ever. 2-0. Really, a couple of the Senators star players were either former Islanders or potential Islanders [see Zdeno Chara, Wade Redden, Jason Spezza etc...]
Rick DiPietro was riding a wave of hotness by coming in with two straight shutouts. The streak ended at 156 minutes and 30 seconds when the newly minted first-line centre Mike Fisher got the first goal late in the first in what was an extremely fluky play, but I'm not complaining. DiPietro was caught out of position when anticipating a pass that deflected off of defenseman Shawn Hill
Alexei Yashin as always, was welcomed warmly by the Ottawa faithful by a chorus of "boos" whenever he touched the puck. A record crowd of 20,192 people were at Scotiabank Place taking in the game. Peculiar, since the stadium only seats a little bit over 19,000. Yashin might be a jerk, but he sure is good business. He's also found a way to pull his head out of his butt and thriving under the guidance of Ted Nolan, although today he failed to register a point for the first time in six games.
The boys played a great game and improved their record against the Islanders to 28-4-8. They played with a touch of urgency knowing Spezza could be out for awhile. Bryan Murray has publically stated that he expects more from his secondary scorers, especially from Patrick Eaves, Peter Schaefer and Mike Fisher, who all set career highs last season. Ray Emery was not particularly busy at his end of the ice as the Senators outshot the Isles 29-18. The boys also played a very disciplined game with only one penalty in the second period going to Wade Redden for hooking. Hooking? Come on, man. But, he did get an assist on the first goal, so I suppose it's forgivable.
The Isles, on the other hand, completely let the dogs out in the last few minutes of the game. Richard Park took a minor for tripping while Yashin took a hooking penalty, both on the same play. This lead to another bench minor for unsportsmanlike conduct. Chris Kelly managed to score on the last second of the penalty.
So two wins in a row is good news for the boys who really had trouble putting together consecutive wins the week before the Holidays. Up next is the New York Rangers who gave them an absolute headache the last time they met and then the day after is at the ACC against the Leafs, where yours truly will be in attendance. It also happens to be my birthday so I'm hoping that they don't disappoint me like the last time I saw them live. I'll be sitting behind the Senators bench about 17 rows up. G is making a sign even though Spezza will be out and I'm debating about whether or not I should make one myself. I'm far too shy in real life to actually get away with something like that.
Enjoy the win, Sens nation! Dany Heatley sure is:
In Injury Land...
- Good news! Spezza will not require surgery on his knee but is still out indefinitely. Another blow came to the Sens as Fisher left the third with an undisclosed injury. The poor man's never played a complete season due to injuries. And he's our first line centre right now!
- Everybody Hates Rory. Badge of honour? I'm thinking most of the players are flattered to be selected as an All-Star as it's a nice stroke of the ego, but would rather not actually play in the All-Star game. I mean who wouldn't like some time off right? Don Cherry went a little bit too far by calling Fitzpatrick a "jerk". It's not like he exactly asked for all of this hubub. I like the idea of Fitzpatrick going because the fact of the matter is this whole campaign has sure given the NHL some interesting attention. However, if he does go, playing alongside some of those elite defensemen might just serve to highlight some of his deficiencies. He's currently third in Western Conference voting. Choose wisely, voters. I've already voted for my choices and really couldn't be bothered to do it again.
World Junior Round-Up:
Canada Pastes U.S.A. 6-3: Jonathan Toews scored twice, including once on a penalty shot. Darren Helm also scored twice and the other goals were scored by Tom Pyatt and Steve Downie, who also received his second 10-minute major in a week. Nice job. Erik Johnson, Mike Carman and Bill Sweatt scored for the U.S. Next up for the boys is against Germany, who are also undefeated.
Germany beat Slovakia, 4-2
Switzerland beat Belarus, 4-1
Spengler Cup Round-Up
Remember this one? Pat Quinn is the man with the plan for Team Canada and Justin Pogge is in net. They won against HC Davos today, 6-3, making their record a perfect 2-0-0.
"I don't like hockey. I'm under the impression people should actually work for their money"
4 Comments Published by Sherry on Wednesday, December 27, 2006 at 9:05 PM.
OLN is premiering a new 13-episode reality show/documentary/series-type-thing called "Road Hockey Rumble" in January in a valiant effort to make people care about hockey. In Canada. Sure. Of course, this would only actual work if most people have actually even heard of OLN.
Imagine if you will: Hockey Night in Canada plus Jackass plus Citizen Kane plus the dresses stolen from Kids in the Hall, actually minus Citizen Kane, but plus that scene in Homeward Bound when we think the cat is dead but is miraculously discovered to be alive. Umm, yeah, you get the idea.
Okay, so anything that purposely likens itself to Jackass is enough for me to hate it and of course the trailer is full of profanities and nudity. But heck, it sure looks like fun.
"On a cross-country road trip each
week our hosts Mark and Calum draft local players and face off in a kick-ass game of road hockey! For the winner, bragging rights and beer...while the loser gets punished for sucking!"
Basically it's two guys, possibly with attention issues, traveling across Canada and drafting the local folk into a Battle Royale of Road Hockey. The losing team has to be subjected to such fun punishments as "100 Yard Dash" or "Human Shield". Despite the silliness, it actually seems like something that would be rather informative about Canada's hockey history. I probably won't watch because like most people in the world, I have no idea what channel OLN is. And I have a generally low tolerance for stupid.
There are a couple of "celebrity" appearances such as Duane Sutter, Terry Ryan and probably the most famous of them all, Wade Redden. The series starts on January 10th at 8:30 p.m. I especially like the episode synopsis for the Toronto episode:
After settling the score in Thunder Bay, Calum and Mark move on to Toronto, Ont., the city that the rest of Canada loves to hate! This game pits Mark’s team of native-born Torontonians who love the city against Calum’s team of non native-born Torontonians who hate it. The losing captain gets “Spic ‘N Spanned.”
I think I would fall into the latter category.
Trailer: PG-13 Rated for Nudity and Expletives. If you're under 13, what the heck are you doing on the Internet unsupervised anyways?
Scotiabank Place: The Pilgrimage
6 Comments Published by Sherry on Tuesday, December 26, 2006 at 8:58 PM.
So I had promised to talk about my trip to Scotiabank Place for the Ottawa vs. Tampa game but laziness got the better of me and I procrastinated. Now that I have some time off, I feel that it is my duty to fill you in. Because I'm betting so many of you actually care.
I figured my first official visit to the Motherland was going to be very planned: you know, with the tickets already purchased and the hotel and the train ride all worked out months before hand so that that time in between included me not being able to sleep and seeing my marks on a steady decline. You know how it is. However, my housemates and I had planned a trip to Ottawa for awhile and since we were on a student budget, wanted to limit our spending.
We stayed at one of my housemate's brother's apartment who had gone home for the holidays. The night before the game I got an e-mail about a Student Rush Offer where students could purchase tickets for only $16. We weren't sure if we wanted to go at first since two of my housemates were Leafs fans and they didn't want to feel like they were betraying the Blue and White faithful.
The morning of, I purchased the tickets over the phone and then we spent the day at the War Museum [pictures here]. My housemate G was singin "I'm so excited!" all day long. She had never been to a pro hockey game before and was very much looking forward to seeing Jason Spezza. I just heard that morning that Wade Redden was back in the line-up so clearly it was meant to be. We drove out to Kanata to pick up the tickets and then went to a nearby Swiss Chalet for dinner. Kanata reminds me of Mississauga, consisting of suburbs and strip malls. Really, Scotiabank Place is literally in the middle of nowhere. It makes for a rather inconvenient drive there since the only way to get there is on the 417 and it's usually jammed in the afternoon before game time.
The building is really quite beautiful though. The stadium had state of the art technology and what not and I highly approve of the musical selections. The pre-game show consisted of some fun clips from their website and a nice musical montage of highlights from the players. The throw image to the highlights consisted of a soft-filtered, slow-mo shot of the guys in suits, like the one for the "A-Train" video. It was very GQ and cheesy at the same time and I couldn't help but laugh sometimes. Male models, some of these guys are not.
We were sitting in front of some people who weren't as enthusiastic as us. They looked at us funny whenever we cheered. The guys next to us were clearly frat boys of some sort as they were drunk when they came in and kept on downing the beer. They were flirting with the group of girls behind us who kept on trying to get on camera and saying not too kind things about the kids that did. Come on, they're kids, they should need more attention than you.
Asides from the ending, the game itself wasn't bad. The Sens got off to a great start and created scoring chances early on but then Tampa kind of took it from there. Martin St. Louis seems alot tinier in person. I did see the collision between him and Spezza, but it really didn't seem as bad at first. G was really worried that she brought bad luck now that he's out for a month. Intermission consisted of a goalie race where the goalies just ended up crashing into one another and people dressed in puck outfits racing around as well. You can tell that they were promoting more of a family-friendly atmosphere. Everything was extremely G-rated to almost the point of cheesiness. Then again I'm 20 [almost] and maybe not in their key demographic. Spartacat also made an appearance dressed up as Santa. I was really tempted to run down and get a photo with him but it was sort of inconvenient. When he appeared in our section he had a cowbell. That's what the Senators needed that night, MORE COWBELL. A lady ran up to him and gave him a big hug and Sparty made a gesture to show that she had obviously been drinking. I thought Sparty liked hugs!
Most people started leaving after Tampa took the lead but we stayed until the bitter end. When they were calling the three stars St. Louis was the only one who skated out even though nobody was there. He even gave his stick to a kid in the stands. Even though I'm sort of upset with him, that's still very classy. I'm one of those people that think the 3 stars should always skate out on to the rink. The parking lots were absolutely jammed with people trying to clear out so we just walked outside the building for a bit. Somebody had told me where out back the players parked and we debated whether or not we should actually go and try to see them, or if that would be way too stalker-ish. We ended up going and we saw two other guys waiting there. We saw the Tampa players getting on the bus and my friend suggested we throw eggs at them, but I opted to just waving at them when they drove out. As I was doing so, I tripped on a hole that was in the lawn. Smoooooth.
We didn't really see any of the Sens players but while we were waiting we were commenting on their cars. Most of them were surprisingly unspectacular. We saw an unnecessarily large white hummer with ALOT of lights on and around it, which I'm told belongs to Ray Emery. This doesn't shock me, he does seem like the type to drive a white hummer.
After awhile it was getting really cold and we were feeling EXTREMELY stalker-ish so we opted to leave. Drunkards and the loss aside, I have to say it was a great visit. Looks like I'll have to give my boys sterner talking to about winning the next time I'm around. I'm turning the big 2-0 on the 30th and I'll be taking in the next installment of the Battle of Ontario, from some prime real estate, thanks to a friend who got them for me. He was very sketchy about just what avenues he went through to get them, but I figure the less I know the better. If you have any suggestions on good places to grab a drink afterwards, give me a shout. I've lived near Toronto all my life but since my affectionate nickname for it is "stinking pile of crap", I haven't exactly made an effort to get to know it.
Hockey Photos by Yours Truly:
Ottawa vs. Tampa - Scotiabank Place
Preseason: Pittsburgh vs. Buffalo - Copps Coliseum
World Junior Round-Up
The World Junior Championships started today and the first day was full of upsets:
USA 1, Germany 2 (OT) - Christopher Giebe scored a power-play goal for Germany at 13:45. The Germans did not know that the round-robin format had been changed so that games can no longer end in tie. When the buzzer sounded for the end of regulation, the Germans left the bench to celebrate and were called back for OT. Cute. And totally something I would have done.
Finalnd 3, Belarus 4 - Finland was leading midway through the game 2-1 before Belarus battled back. Belarusian Sergei Kostitsyn of the London Knights had a goal and two assists.
The non-surprises was Russia beating the Czech Republic, 3-2 and Canada shutting out Sweden 2-0, although given Canada's lack of luck against Sweden lately, maybe I should be surprised.
Scoring Summary - Canada vs. Sweden
FIRST PERIOD - 1. Bourdon (Letang, O'Marra), PP, 14:22
SECOND PERIOD - 2. Marchand, (Letang, Cogliano), PP, 19:12.
THIRD PERIOD - No Scoring.
STARTING GOALIES:
Price (CAN)
Gistedt (SWE)
Some Ottawa Senators prospects to keep on an eye on at the World Juniors:
Czech Republic - D Tomas Kudelka: Shoots left - 6'3/194 - 03/10/87 - Junior Team: Lethbridge (WHL)
Kudelka had a very impressive training camp and caught the attention of many during the pre-season. He has above average size and agility and very positionally sound. He'll most likely be seeing a spell in Binghamton starting next season before making the jump to the big club.
U.S.A. - D Brian Lee: Shoots right - 6'3/205 - 03/26/87 - Junior Team: North Dakota (WCHA)
There has been alot of buzz about Lee for the past couple of years now. Like Wade Redden he's a puck moving defensemen with a very good outlet pass and is a very excellent skater.
Also of Note: Blake Geoffrion, grandson of Montreal Canadiens legend, Bernie "Boom Boom" Geoffrion is also playing on Team U.S.A. this year. Geoffrion was drafted 56th overall in this year's NHL entry draft by Nashville, city where he grew up.
Happy Your Thing!* From everybody at Scarlett Ice Headquarters and the 2002 Ottawa Senators:
Oh and the 2006-2007 Ottawa Senators as well.
Because I'm on a student income and wasn't able to buy all of you gifts [thanks for the gift, Jes and Greg!], I can offer you some photographic evidence of my trip to Ottawa. The Ottawa vs. Tampa game is in the second album.
I don't know if I've been a particularly good girl this year, but I suppose it's too much to ask for Santa to surprise me with one of these in my size, in my stocking tomorrow morning:
Your favourite athletes do 'Twas The Night Before Christmas, courtesy of TSN. Roberto Luongo is a little bit too enthusiastic with his read there.
Merry Holidays!
* - Courtesy of the Daily Show. My thing is Christmas.
Oh and the 2006-2007 Ottawa Senators as well.
Because I'm on a student income and wasn't able to buy all of you gifts [thanks for the gift, Jes and Greg!], I can offer you some photographic evidence of my trip to Ottawa. The Ottawa vs. Tampa game is in the second album.
I don't know if I've been a particularly good girl this year, but I suppose it's too much to ask for Santa to surprise me with one of these in my size, in my stocking tomorrow morning:
Your favourite athletes do 'Twas The Night Before Christmas, courtesy of TSN. Roberto Luongo is a little bit too enthusiastic with his read there.
Merry Holidays!
* - Courtesy of the Daily Show. My thing is Christmas.
Crisis [Temporarily] Avoided: Senators 6, Flyers 3
6 Comments Published by Sherry on Saturday, December 23, 2006 at 8:59 PM.
Spent the good part of the morning driving back from Ottawa so I missed most of this game. The rest of the time was spent uploading and editing my pictures so you can look forward to those being up later on tonight or tomorrow.
After a disappointing loss where they let a 2-1 lead slip out of their hands, and yours truly was in attendance, the Senators was spiraling back into panic mode when they rolled into Philly for a marquee matchup this afternoon. Perhaps meeting a slumping Philly team, who had lost their past 8 games before today, was just what their confidence needed.
Initially, it didn't seem very optimistic for the Senators, who are without Jason Spezza. He's out indefinitely after colliding with [darn] Martin St. Louis two nights ago. This just as the Sens were finally receiving good news with Wade Redden returning to the line-up.
Martin Gerber got the call in net today which wasn't all that surprising. Ray Emery had a decent game on Thursday but the last two goals, the tying and game winner were both softies, so perhaps it was just fatigue getting to him. Gerber made 26 saves and Antero Nittymaki was considerably busier, being pelted with 42 shots.
The boys stepped up today when they needed to, realizing that they were weaker offensively without Spezza. Daniel Alfredsson, scored twice, giving him officially 700 career points. Chris Phillips, Joe Corvo and Peter Schaefer also scored for the Sens.
It's really hard to figure this team out. Really, a win against Philly isn't anything to boast about and may not be enough for people to take their finger off the panic button. But the boys have been see-sawing for the past two weeks and unless they want an early summer, they need to play with more consistency. I'm not going to question their work ethic since I'm not in their heads, but they definitely played a tighter game with more urgency knowing that Spezza wasn't in the lineup.
I don't know if Bryan Murray has done all that he can do, although given his pattern of coaching in the past, it seems like that's a certain possibility. He has great hockey sense and was probably the best GM the Ducks ever had but that hasn't necessarily translated into long-term coaching success. I like Murray, and would be disappointed to see him go solely for fan-related reasons, but you shouldn't keep people around for sentimental reasons. If the rumours prove to be true, John Muckler will be retiring at the end of the season with Murray slated to take over the GM spot. If that happens, can we hire Part Burns or something? I know the Leafs faithful will be unwilling to give him up, but he doesn't belong to you anymore so NYAH.
A drink to my boys' win. For now.
What the Deal?: Lightning 4, Senators 2
5 Comments Published by Sherry on Friday, December 22, 2006 at 2:59 AM.
I'm about to collapse so I'm going to keep this short.
Why this game rocked:
- Thanks to a Student Rush offer, my friends and I were actually at this game. I have to say my first [well technically second] official visit to Scotiabank Place was alot more spontaneous as I had originally thought. With Wade Redden slated to be back in the line-up it just seemed meant to be. After the pitiful exhibit against Boston the other day, I gave my boys a [metaphorically] stern talking to and hoped that things would turn around with my supervisory presence there. Yeah, it didn't.
- They started off great, creating great scoring chances early and then the wheels sort of just came off.
Why this game sucked:
- Yeah, see the score?
- The drunk guys who were drunk already when they came in and proceeded to get more drunk who were sitting next to us.
- The girls sitting behind us who kept on trying to get on the screen and saying mean things about the kids who were getting on the screen
- Jason Spezza left on crutches.
I could go on. But...sleep time. I took a ton of pictures and I'll have those posted when I'm back from my vacation.
[EXPLODES]: Senators 2, Bruins 7
7 Comments Published by Sherry on Wednesday, December 20, 2006 at 3:26 AM.
The boys are not making this easy for me. It looks like not only I exploded tonight but Ray Emery self-detonated, which coincided with the Bruins' offence exploding as well.
Seriously guys, double-u tee eff?
This was how you welcomed back Zdeno Chara? By letting him walk all over you guys? Granted, that's not very difficult...but yeesh.
To be honest, I didn't know what to expect from tonight. The first game back after a roadtrip always runs you the risk of a fatigue. Frankly, the boys need desperately to improve their record at home, falling 6-8-0 with tonight's loss. Not to mention, you can't be giving up games like these when you're in the middle of December and still hunting for a playoff spot. Like the Senators' wins, it just seems like they can't lose these days without it being a blowout of some kind. It's becoming a frightening trend.
There was no shortage of rough stuff as 24 penalties were handed out, 10 to Boston and 14 to Ottawa. The boys tend to lose their patience when they know that they're losing and become extremely lax in their discipline, which allows the opposition more powerplay chances, which results in Sherry ripping out her hair. And I like my hair. School's already making me lose it more than is necessary, I don't need any help from you guys, thanks.
In all honesty, this team is extremely schizophrenic. There isn't a specific trade or hole to fill in the back that'll automatically make this team better. Emery has proven to be a great goaltender at times but he's collapsed twice in the past week. It's not enough for the organization to trade him away and give up on him but I think we're past the point where we want to be pinning all of our hopes and dreams on one, Martin Gerber.
Bryan Murray needs to start cracking the whip. The guys need to tighten up and work together and the half that decides not to show up for certain games need to get their act together. At this point, there's not much need to panic as the boys are allowed a bit of a roadtrip hangover, not to mention that they didn't lose any ground in the standings. Although a gain would have been preferable. In any case, 15 of their next 20 games are at home and the fanbase is getting impatient. Nobody is expecting first in the division but with a team as talented as this, not making the playoffs just isn't acceptable.
Next game is on Thursday against Tampa. I'll be in the Mother Land in that day although I am a smidgen less enthused about visiting the Home Base now. We'll see how the boys greet me then. I apologize for my lack of posting in the past couple of days as finals have been taking over my life. Not that I would have had a life outside of school and hockey anyways. In the meantime, consider this my last post until the weekend as I'll be soaking in some Ottawa air.
P.S. Can be a little bit scared of Montreal now? Seriously, they're scary good right now. It's just not fair, they have about a million Stanley Cups for crying out loud, share with the rest of the class! And the Leafs got blown out of the water by Florida tonight. Guess we're not that different after all.
Silly Admin Business: I realize that some of you have new web addresses for your blogs. I promise I'll get to updating my side bar after my mini-vacation. I'm thinking of giving this blog and HLOG a makeover. With Supreme Over Lord Jordi's permission first, of course.
Playing Games with my Heart: Senators 3, Sabres 1
7 Comments Published by Sherry on Sunday, December 17, 2006 at 1:15 AM.
Alternate Title: The Return of Emery
The boys like to play games with my heart. When you live with people who listen to Backstreet Boys, you sometimes throw in a Backstreet Boys reference here and there.
After getting blown out of the water by Nashville the other night, the Senators finally get their act together and beat the conference leaders. I was prepared for a slaughter tonight. The Sens have won against Buffalo twice previously this year and I was expecting their luck to run out sooner or later. Boy am I glad it hasn't. The bad news is that this win tonight really doesn't gain them any ground in the standings, but it's all about taking it one step at a time.
Jason Spezza had two of the nights goals, both on a Powerplay. He had the chance to make it a hat trick from a penalty shot after getting hauled down on a play but couldn't beat miller. Ray Emery was back to form, stopping 35 of 36 shots from Buffalo. Guess that humbling Nashville experience did him some good. When stepping off the ice back into the dressing room, he was named first star and gave his stick to one of the kids in the crowd. Awesome.
Daniel Alfredsson was back in the line up tonight, same with Peter Schaefer. Alfie's presence was especially missed and although he didn't register a point tonight, it was still obvious the boys played with a lot more confidence.
Next up, the boys return home to face Boston on Tuesday and Tampa on Thursday. Yours truly will be in Ottawa on Thursday but am debating whether or not I have enough disposable income to shell out for tickets.
Meanwhile, in other parts of the universe
- The Leafs completely embarrassed the New York Rangers by shellacking them 9-2. Henrik Lundqvist was responsible for 8 of the goals. I suppose Tom Renney was teaching him a lesson that in North America, the coach decides when you're getting pulled. That being said, Lundqvist was more or less hung out to dry as the Rangers were completely outworked by the Leafs. Bob Cole and Greg Millen were doing the Leafs game tonight. What a combo. I brought down my guitar to drown out the sound after the first ten minutes.
- The anthem singer in Vancouver is doing his best Oil Country impression as he held up the mic up for the crowd to sing O Canada. They got into it. Eventually.
- Off Wing Opinion has a great video of Alexander Ovechkin up. I'm not an Ovie fan but that video is stellar...even if it's only because "Bliss" by [thebestbandintheuniverse] Muse serves as the soundtrack.
- Speaking of my trip to Ottawa, I'll be there from the 20th until the 23rd so I probably won't be posting in that week unless I shell out for Internet access [or artfully steal some]. Any of you have any suggestions on fun things I should do there to maximize my Senators experience? I'm not sure if I'll want to shell out the cash for the Tampa game [hey, I'm on a student budget] so any suggestions on good sports bars I should check out?
Better Know an Owner: Colorado Avalanche - Part 4 of 30
0 Comments Published by Sherry on Saturday, December 16, 2006 at 2:03 AM.
The Basics
Name: Enos Stanley Kroenke
DOB: 1948
Estimated Net Worth: $1.4 billion
Owner Since: July 6, 2000
Claim to Fame: Owner of the Kroenke Group, a real estate firm with investments in office buildings, shopping centers, apartment projects and other forms of commercial real estate. Also the head and owner of Kroenke Sports Enterprises, the owner of a plethora of other sports teams.
Philanthropic Work: More than $15 million in contributions have been made to various Colorado charities through the funds of his various sports teams. Founded the McCormick Tribune Foundation in 2000. These community groups have raised more than $4 million in just 10 days for the victims of Hurricane Katrina.
Claim to Infamy: He’s married to the niece of Wal-Mart founder, Sam Walton. And to save myself the trouble of copying and pasting everything bad about Wal-Mart I’m just going to say: Dude, Wal-Mart.
Really, Really Likes Sports:
Kroenke Sports Enterprises also owns the following teams:
- Co-owner of St. Louis Rams (NFL)
- Denver Nuggets (NBA)
- Colorado Crush (AFL)
- Colorado Mammoth (NLL)
- Colorado Rapids (Um…soccer)
Not a Bad Business Man:
- Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Awar
- 2001 City Of Clayton Businessperson Of The Year
Currently…: Married with two children living in Missouri.
The People Think: I have no idea. Apparently I’m not alone as he is known to be quite elusive to the press. For a rich guy, he’s not particularly eccentric and by all accounts he’s a normal, polite guy. Snore. Frankly,I'm not convinced he actually exists until I get to poke him in the flesh. Apparently he has no entourage either so that could be a very successful venture. But seriously...Wal-Mart?
Better Know an Owner Projection: I predict that 20 years from now, Sherry and her housemate G will own a NHL team located in Nunavut. Our slogan will be "We're taking NONE OF IT!" We're geniuses. Now all we need is $175 million dollars. If Bettman's willing to give us a discount, we'll gladly take Pittsburgh off his hands. I absolutely have no interest in moving the team anywhere else. I would never subject anybody to Hamilton.
Or at least he has a license plate in his room that says "Slasher". NHL's latest marketing campaign is featuring short videos of some of the players, which I'm sure many of you have noticed already.
Highlights include Cam Ward eating cereal out of the cup, and Thomas Vokoun cooking Japanese food. My favourite one is probably still Rick Nash's video and how he says a stuffed Oscar the Grouch is his only companion in that big-arse kitchen he has. Also, the one labeled "Aaron Miller" is actually Ryan Miller of the Buffalo Sabres. In that he talks about his love of photography, thereby ensuring that there is a reason for that emo hair of his.
I think it's great that the NHL is allowing fans to get to know the players more and humanize them but I have to be honest...some of them are really boring.
In this edition of 'Who the Sens are Alientating Now...'
The Senators Suspend Michal Barinka. Barinka was acquired from the Hawks and was once of the pieces in the Martin Havlat deal. Barinka went back to the Czech Republic to be with his fiance's mother who has fallen ill. The Sens have suspended him in order to retain his North American rights but will lift the suspension if he decides to stay in the Czech Republic.
World Junior Roster: Team Canada is set: Notables include Marc Staal, Jonathan Toewes, and Mississauga native Ryan O'Marra who plays for the Saginaw Colbeagles.
Peter Schaefer has "Schaef-itis" - I could have done without the gory details of his eye infection though. Also of note, Martin Gerber is turning into a grouchy old guy as he ignored apology attempts from Serge Payer after he ran a shot off of his mask in practice. Maybe that's why they sent him back to Binghamton. Ray Emery gets the start in Buffalo on Saturday. I hope he's done whatever magical ritual he has to do in order to get back to being AWESOME again.
Ilya Bryzgalov knows why Chris Pronger wanted out of Edmonton. He also demonstrates that he can do math. "Here is like the North Pole!"
And now for a special announcement:
A very happy birthday to my housemate Jax who is turning 20 today. Jax, you may be a fan of the Leafs, otherwise known as the Army of Skanks [a term you coined by the way], but I guess I still kind of like you. Happy Birthday! To celebrate, here's a picture of Darcy Tucker
...no, I can't do it. It's just too wrong.
This game was particularly hard for several reasons:
1) The boys just flat-out sucked
2) Nashville was wearing their ugly, gastrointestinal coloured jerseys.
3) I actually like Nashville. Well, Paul Kariya anyways.
That being said, I stopped watching/listening after it was 3-0 so I really can't say much about the game tonight except...this can't be good for my blood pressure. And I'm betting Gerber gets the call in net next game. He stopped all 19 shots he faced. Emery was not looking good tonight.
Attention Canadian Team Hockey Bloggers: The Score is holding a contest to find funny, entertaining blogs for each of the six Canadian teams. So if you or anybody on your Christmas list has ever wanted a 30GB Video iPod, you should check it out. There isn't any info up on their website yet but you can catch 'The Spin' [11:00 p.m. ET] for details.
They also have this interesting piece looking at the 30 Weakest Links, one for each of the Canadian teams. I don't really agree with all of them but it's good for a read. And because I'm 10, I had a laugh out of Minnesota's issue being "Gaborik's Groins".
I have an exam in two hours...in the meantime, here are some more hockey commercials to tide you over.
Sundin does me the favour of flattening a rude punk in a Leafs jersey:
Adam Oates is Off-side:
People in Anaheim actually know who Paul Kariya is! Was.
Unhand that Panda, Teemu. Man that's alot of chocolate. Is that...chocolate?
Sergei!
Kovalchuk and Naslund
Sakic and Foote
Fluent in Hockey
Bowling would be better if...
Crosby wants you to drink Gatorade
For the sake of the production interns, I hope those sticks were computer generated.
Iggy and Naslund:
Rick Mercer did a parody of this back before the election earlier this year with Stephen Harper.
Casinorama, you'll have to sit through the BMO one first.
They smack talk like I do. "In the faaaaaaa....cee"
Off to pretend I know something about Human Resources Management. See you after the game tonight.
A couple of weeks ago, we talked about mascots over at HLOG. Thus, in keeping with that theme, I thought it was very important to share this with all of you. Polar bears probably shouldn't be in Barbados. Wait, is Carlton male or female?
Taking the A-Train. That slow-mo, soft-filtered in a suit shot at the beginning? Made me laugh. But kind of hot. But made me laugh.
In This Edition of "Shut up, Chelios":
"Whether Murray was frustrated or Ottawa was frustrated with him, I think personally it's a stupid move to get rid of Dom because he was playing at the top of his game when he went out," the 44-year-old defenceman told Detroit reporters Monday. "Things happen and everybody looks for a scapegoat or excuse, and Dom seemed to be the guy last year. We're so lucky to get him at the price we did, it's incredible ... he just picked up right where he left off."
The anecdote at the top of the story is also pretty entertaining. The Dominator, or "Dumbinator" as VCOE affectionately dubbed him, may-or-may not know how to use a stereo system.
Also, this:
A three-foot tall son of Tomas Holstrom's accidentally collided with injured D Danny Markov around a corner of the Wings dressing room yesterday morning, and when Markov tried to hold him up, the kid responded by throwing a punch. When a surprised Markov went to grab him in a wrestle, the young lad spit at him and ran away. And the Red Wings were always such a close-knit family, weren't they?
Absolutely:
Emery, his name is Emery, his name is RAAAAAAAAAAAY
Today the Senators paid Dominic "Angel-Hair" Hasek a visit in Motor City where they managed to squeak out a 3-2 victory, ending their mini three-game losing skid. There was much hubub over the game as it would be the first time that the Senators would meet their former tender before they bitterly parted ways last season. Despite Hasek's insistence that he's not bitter over Bryan Murray publically declaring "Thanks, but no thanks" to him returning this season, this game still had meaning to both sides.
The team started out poor, only generating 3 shots in the first period and allowing the Red Wings 18 shots on goal. Ray Emery was the star of the show tonight as he made 43 saves. He was on fire and frankly the Senators didn't play that well tonight and have him to thank for keeping them in it and squeaking out a one-goal win, something that has been haunting them since last season.
All those days practicing on Hasek helped as both of Jason Spezza's goals tonight were highlight reel worthy, good enough to earn him the first star of the night. When Spezza, the King o' Assists is scoring, you've got to be careful. There are times last season when you'd just wish he would shoot the freaking puck instead of dishing it and I'm glad he's taking my hair-pulling and hand-wringing to heart. At times, he just seems downright lazy out there but it actually seemed like he was moving his feet and hustling with the play tonight.
The boys played a very disciplined game today, visiting the box only once tonight. I'm thrilled with the losing skid coming to an end, especially against a team that's pretty strong. However, this was not a complete effort from the boys and they've got Emery to thank for this W. Hopefully the boys will play with more confidence and a little more tightly when they visit Nashville on Thursday.
Maybe Hasek just got scared of Emery down the rink. He knows how gangsta' Emery is.
Shut Up, People on T.V.
- Why do I watch "Off the Record" again? Today the panel was having a discussion about the state of Ottawa. Some of the "informed guests" they had tonight said that had they saved the money they used to sign Martin Gerber to keep Martin Havlat, the Senators would be "so much better now". Okay, first of all, yes Gerber was a bust and that's money they could have used to say...shore up their D. But frankly, with or without Havlat, scoring has never been the issue with this team, it was goaltending. There was no way John Muckler could have resigned Hasek without people calling him a loser, those mediots included. Emery's proven himself to be the number one goalie on this team but that's not a spot he had earned yet when the Senators were bounced from the playoffs. He probably wouldn't have been able to earn the role if he didn't have someone like Gerber, who was coming off a great season, pushing him. The teams that are having success right now are teams with two reliable goalies and Gerber was the best guy available.
- The Leafs also stopped their downward spiral tonight. Whatever.
- A moment of silence was held at the beginning of the Habs vs. Bruins game tonight for Laura Gainey. Rescue missions have been suspended for the daughter of the Habs GM. Please continue to keep their friends and family in your prayers. As well, for a speedy recovery for Bruins rookie Phil Kessel who is coming off surgery. He is a very talented hockey player with a bright career ahead of him.
This Week in Scarlett Ice Theatre
10 Comments Published by Sherry on Monday, December 11, 2006 at 7:29 PM.
Goldberg: Be careful man, it almost hit me that time!
Charlie Conway: Goldberg, you're the goalie. It's supposed to hit you.
Goldberg: Does that sound stupid to anyone else?
So after a long night wherein I completed my marketing report at 2 a.m. and had to get up at 9 a.m. to submit it, I thought about taking a nap. However, after watching this morning's edition of SportsCentre, I noticed my housemate's copy of "The Mighty Ducks" sitting by the DVD player. I figured why not, I could use an actual heartwarming story about hockey after the Great Sens Suckitude that was last night.
Let me just start off by saying this. This movie is terrible. I mean, I know it's a Disney movie and it's not a movie you watch when you feel like questioning the ideas of the world. Plus, it's before Emilio Estevez learned how to act and the dialogue is all sorts of cheesy and everything that happens there has to be a lesson learned from it. However, I have fond memories of this movie and its sheer silliness is what makes it so good. Back when I first watched it over a decade ago it was the greatest thing ever. I think I might have even had a crush on Coach Bombay and his ridiculous bouffant hairstyle. [Don't judge me!] It's also sort of sad when you watch it and realize that only Joshua Jackson managed to survive child star obscurity. Can I also just say that Charlie Conway is absolutely adorable in this movie? And then he went on to annoy me in Dawson's Creek, but I digress.
Despite the cheesiness, I think this movie doesn't hurt hockey as much as seeing Avril Lavigne and that Simpson girl trapezing around on skates. This movie's got two very important things that are also pertinent to hockey: heart and grit. Grit as in the boys came from the rough side of town and heart as in the rest of the movie is just one big Hallmark card. Hockey redeems! Hockey unites! Hockey teaches you how to win at life! Hockey's good for the soul! etc... etc...Truth be told I don't really remember what the state of hockey in the States was when this movie came out. From what I can tell this movie did very well and surely this helped with creating a little bit more buzz about hockey. I'm sure there were a ton of kids that saw this movie and wanted to be Charlie Conway...just because that's how kids are. I know I definitely thought that the girl playing with a bunch of boys was the coolest thing ever.
I think we need another great hockey movie. Something comedic and light hearted without so many rule infractions [I tried to turn my brain off during it. It worked for most of it]. Preferably not backed by Disney. Their movies have truly gone downhill in the past little while. Sports movies always do very well, although I don't know if the reason for that is because they're usually about football. Football doesn't need the T.V. ratings help so it's hard to say if these movies are actually effective in creating any buzz. It's important to generate interest in the sport itself first before fans will commit to watching it on T.V. or shelling out money for it and since the NHL's current methods really haven't been working, perhaps it's time to think outside the box a little. There have been a couple of hockey-themed movies in Canada in the past couple of years [The Rocket, Bon Cop Bad Cop] but I get the feeling you really don't need to generate anymore interest in hockey up here, despite the ratings dip.
Super Ducks Fan Sleek was lamenting the fact that nobody in our All-Hot Pool had JS Giguere and his 16 wins two weeks ago on our teams given that this pool is primarily, you know, based on hotness. In my search for relevant Mighty Ducks pictures I came across this nice picture of Jiggy, sans bald spot and probably from his younger, handsomer days.
Maybe Bryan Murray should tie Martin Gerber to the net. No, wait, he stays deep enough in it already. Ray Emery then.
Overall Rating Three Jeremy Roenick Fledgling Acting Career Heads
Next Week on Scarlett Ice Theatre: Slapshot. Or D2.
I have a major marketing report due tomorrow. This is all I have to say:
- I don't care if I sound whiny. I don't care if I have no right to say anything because I didn't watch the game. But seriously, the officiating is so crappy even crap is jealous.
- You guys worked so hard to be above .500 and into a playoff spot, do not piss it away.
- Columbus. Last team in the NHL.
I don't have an exam tomorrow. I'm hitting the drink.
Come back Alfie!: Rangers 3, Senators 1
0 Comments Published by Sherry on Sunday, December 10, 2006 at 2:32 AM.
Usually I love afternoon games because it means I can actually watch them on CBC. However, while the boys were busy losing to the Rangers this afternoon, I was busy being getting thrashed by my Finance final and Jordi and Hockeygirl were taking over the HHOF. The loss doesn't fare well for the results of my final. Anyways.
Ray Emery is showing signs of wear and tear. It's clear that he's not 100% yet as the book is more or less out on him to shoot high glove side on him. The Rangers played a very good road game against a Senators team that for the most part played a hard game but just weren't all there. On the other end Henrik Lundqvist made some excellent saves turning the Senators away 34 times.
Serge Payer, called up from Binghamton played all right although he's certainly no replacement for Alfie. Are we really missing him that much?
Other Notes:
- We're in 9th place now with Washington skipping ahead of us by only a point.
- Leafs lost tonight. That's minimal comfort for me at least.
- How awesome is Christoph Schubert's shot?
- There might be no "Better Know an Owner" this week as I was better knowing Finance. Look forward to two editions next week if not.
Blue Jackets up tomorrow...GO SENS GO!
Quick hits for a Friday morning before I plant my butt in the library for 6 hours to study
- Rory Fitzpatrick Doesn't Like Being the Centre of Attention - Yeah guys, you're making him uncomfortable! He'd still vote for you though.
- Peter Schaefer Fined $1000 for White Flag Incident. Okay, I will concede it was unprofessional. But the officiating in that game was horrendous from what I hear. He should have left the complaining up to me man, I would have done it till the cows came home! Still. Hilarious.
Maybe he was just missing Roger. Here's a picture of him in his Vancouver Canucks days. It just looks so wrong:
I will give props to the music choice at the Verizon Center though. OK GO? Very nice.
- CBC May Not Lose Hockey Night in Canada. - Everybody knows the complaints of how HNIC has gone completely downhill for the past few years and especially after letting Chris Cuthbert go after the lockout. However, I like the additions of Scott Morrison and Drew Remenda and frankly, someone out there will pay Don Cherry a ridiculous amount of money to let him talk wherever you go. Not to mention that HNIC is the CBC's highest rating getter and without them they're looking at some major need for life support. They've been making strides in improving the broadcast by providing regional coverage of games, however ratings in Canada have still dropped.
- Mark Bell Faces 3 Years in Prison - This is for a drunk driving hit and run incident that happened over the summer. Three years is a long time but my bet is he gets less than that if he serves any time at all.
- Finish the Sentence....with Jason Spezza - Unfortunately it's not a terribly exciting segment. He likes the Tragically Hip and he's trying to convert all of his friends who grew up Toronto fans into Senators Fans. Good on you! His pre-game meal also inclues a Caesar Salad. This may or may not be important information. I'm not sayin' anything. I'm just sayin'.
Addendum at 4:40 p.m.: Apparently Schaefer's fine is actually $2500. Way to go, League. Also, this morning I was sitting at a computer across from someone that could be Joffrey Lupul's younger, scrawnier brother. No sneaky camera phone pictures for you as evidence because frankly, I'm not that much of a stalker.
- Rory Fitzpatrick Doesn't Like Being the Centre of Attention - Yeah guys, you're making him uncomfortable! He'd still vote for you though.
- Peter Schaefer Fined $1000 for White Flag Incident. Okay, I will concede it was unprofessional. But the officiating in that game was horrendous from what I hear. He should have left the complaining up to me man, I would have done it till the cows came home! Still. Hilarious.
Maybe he was just missing Roger. Here's a picture of him in his Vancouver Canucks days. It just looks so wrong:
I will give props to the music choice at the Verizon Center though. OK GO? Very nice.
- CBC May Not Lose Hockey Night in Canada. - Everybody knows the complaints of how HNIC has gone completely downhill for the past few years and especially after letting Chris Cuthbert go after the lockout. However, I like the additions of Scott Morrison and Drew Remenda and frankly, someone out there will pay Don Cherry a ridiculous amount of money to let him talk wherever you go. Not to mention that HNIC is the CBC's highest rating getter and without them they're looking at some major need for life support. They've been making strides in improving the broadcast by providing regional coverage of games, however ratings in Canada have still dropped.
- Mark Bell Faces 3 Years in Prison - This is for a drunk driving hit and run incident that happened over the summer. Three years is a long time but my bet is he gets less than that if he serves any time at all.
- Finish the Sentence....with Jason Spezza - Unfortunately it's not a terribly exciting segment. He likes the Tragically Hip and he's trying to convert all of his friends who grew up Toronto fans into Senators Fans. Good on you! His pre-game meal also inclues a Caesar Salad. This may or may not be important information. I'm not sayin' anything. I'm just sayin'.
Addendum at 4:40 p.m.: Apparently Schaefer's fine is actually $2500. Way to go, League. Also, this morning I was sitting at a computer across from someone that could be Joffrey Lupul's younger, scrawnier brother. No sneaky camera phone pictures for you as evidence because frankly, I'm not that much of a stalker.
SIGH: Senators 2, Capitals 6
2 Comments Published by Sherry on Thursday, December 07, 2006 at 2:39 AM.
Ouch, boys. That hurt. Let's never do that again. Ever.
Just a bump in the road. Good thing I didn't watch this game.
My good friend and housemate G has some notes of interest from the game. Which is alot more detailed and relevant than anything I can offer. Unless you guys want to know about Working Capital Management. Do you...want to know about working capital management?
D'oh! Ovechkin is doing nothing to make me like him more. Not that he's losing sleep over this. Or is he?
Miscalleneous
- Any of you watch 'Behind the Lines' with Ray Scampinello on The Spin? He's sort of a chump and will instantly agree with whatever call was made or whatever the league decided. Thanks for the insight.
- Ovechkin switched to a new model of sticks tonight because his old ones kept on breaking. The new model promptly broke on the first shot he took tonight. The linesmen and referees are quick to pick up the broken pieces and give it back to him because if the opposing team ever got their hands on it, they'd notice how extremely illegal his curve is.
Tic-Tac-Goal: Senators 4, Islanders 2
3 Comments Published by Sherry on Wednesday, December 06, 2006 at 2:02 AM.
Finals week. I'll just highlight the important points:
- Martin Gerber didn't suck!
- 6th place, baby!
- NOOO Alfie!
- NOOO Volchenkov!
- YAY Spezza!
- YAY Heatley!
- YAY Joe Corvo! With a visor! And stitches!
- Happy 64th Bryan Murray!
Meanwhile in Leafs Land....
The Leafs game was on tonight in the house because of our resident Leafs fan. Looks like they gave up another 2-goal lead. How hot is Hotlanta right now? They scored 5 unanswered in the third period. But the highlight of the night came from Jax, the resident Leafs fan, talking about the Leafs defense:
"STUPID GILL AND HIS STUPID... ARMY OF SKANKS!"
Classic.
Quick hits for today as this is more or less the Weak 'O Death for me [finals, final projects.]
Clarke Named Senior VP of Flyers - I love Bobby Clarke me. Mostly because he's such a magnificient bastard and probably bat-[insert expletive here] insane. I hate what he did to Roger Neilson, but he's good for a laugh. And now this ensures he'll never ever be anywhere near my team.
File this under Are You Freakin' Kidding Me?. Sabotage at the Bell Centre? Sort of looking like sore losers here although apparently the League thinks they have a legitimate complaint. Paul Maurice said they were probably going to lose anyways so...why exactly are they asking the League to investigate this?
Okay to be fair, Darren Dreger has stated previously how ice conditions in Canadian cities aren't always ideal. Toronto, for example, despite being a hockey hot-spot is still pretty mild from September - November and considering the winter we've been having so far, the weather's been downright freak-ish. The ACC is still not equipped with a dehumidifer to keep out the humid air to protect the ice [despite it being on the books for the past four years].
Don Cherry Doesn't Hate the Sens!. Sort of. But he still wants Alfie out of town. You know, "for his sake".
World Junior 2007 Selection Camp Roster: Team Canada - Notables include Marc Staal, Luc Bourdon, Angelo Esposito, Jonathan Toewes and John Tavares. Also on the roster is Ottawa Senators prospect Cody Bass previously with the Mississauga IceDogs.
Clarke Named Senior VP of Flyers - I love Bobby Clarke me. Mostly because he's such a magnificient bastard and probably bat-[insert expletive here] insane. I hate what he did to Roger Neilson, but he's good for a laugh. And now this ensures he'll never ever be anywhere near my team.
File this under Are You Freakin' Kidding Me?. Sabotage at the Bell Centre? Sort of looking like sore losers here although apparently the League thinks they have a legitimate complaint. Paul Maurice said they were probably going to lose anyways so...why exactly are they asking the League to investigate this?
Okay to be fair, Darren Dreger has stated previously how ice conditions in Canadian cities aren't always ideal. Toronto, for example, despite being a hockey hot-spot is still pretty mild from September - November and considering the winter we've been having so far, the weather's been downright freak-ish. The ACC is still not equipped with a dehumidifer to keep out the humid air to protect the ice [despite it being on the books for the past four years].
Don Cherry Doesn't Hate the Sens!. Sort of. But he still wants Alfie out of town. You know, "for his sake".
World Junior 2007 Selection Camp Roster: Team Canada - Notables include Marc Staal, Luc Bourdon, Angelo Esposito, Jonathan Toewes and John Tavares. Also on the roster is Ottawa Senators prospect Cody Bass previously with the Mississauga IceDogs.
The Washington Capitals surprisingly trounced the red-hot Buffalo Sabres tonight, beating them 7-4. However, the bigger story might be this questionable hit on Daniel Briere from Alexander Ovechkin
I don't think Ovechkin hit Briere that hard but it was clear that Briere was slowing down and his back was towards him. Not to mention that Briere didn't have the puck anymore and Ovechkin wasn't moving so fast that he didn't see Briere clear the puck into the zone and couldn't stop his check or just continue the play. Upon second glance, it does look like he purposely went out of his way to lay a hit on Briere. It could have been much worse than it was as Briere luckily just ended up suffering a cut.
I don't think Ovechkin hit Briere that hard but it was clear that Briere was slowing down and his back was towards him. Not to mention that Briere didn't have the puck anymore and Ovechkin wasn't moving so fast that he didn't see Briere clear the puck into the zone and couldn't stop his check or just continue the play. Upon second glance, it does look like he purposely went out of his way to lay a hit on Briere. It could have been much worse than it was as Briere luckily just ended up suffering a cut.
Revenge is Such an Ugly Word: Lightning 2, Senators 5
7 Comments Published by Sherry on Saturday, December 02, 2006 at 10:14 PM.
The Senators were looking to redeem themselves after letting a 2-goal lead slide their last meeting with the Lightning. They came out strong early tonight, scoring 4 goals in the first but once again was in danger of letting it slip as the Lightning came back to score 2 goals in the second.
Johan Holmqvist who was looking absolutely invincible their last meeting, was chased from the net after letting in 3 goals on 7 shots. Interestingly it wasn't Marc Denis dressed as the back up as he was out with an injury, but Karri Ramo, who fared a little bit better, letting in 2 of 18 shots.
Patrick Eaves opened the scoring with a short-handed goal on a Peter Schaefer penalty. I believe this is the fourth of the year for the Senators and about time considering the amount of SHGs they've given up already. Jason Spezza had a goal and an assist while Antoine Vermette scored the third and fifth goals of the evening.
Our boys are on a bit of a streak now and it's good to see that they've managed to set aside any demons that was haunting them before...at least for now. The good news is that this win officially puts them in 9th place in the conference. And can I just say how fantabulous Ray Emery is? During the playoff series last year John Tortorella implied that he was the Senators weak link, and I agree that he wasn't the goalie last year that he is now. He didn't have to stop as many shots as his counterpart down the end of the ice did tonight, but man did he make some spectacular and key saves for the Senators.
Because Montreal won their meeting against Toronto tonight in a shoot-out, the Senators are only two points back of the Leafs, and they still have one more win than them. They are three points behind Montreal and I don't even want to bother with Buffalo. They're just not human.
Keep on keepin' on, boys!
News and Amuse
- Hooking penalties was the theme of the night as 6 out of the 10 penalties tonight were for hooking.
- Anthon Volchenkov had a penalty for playing with illegal equipment. I never saw this part but Indrew kindly informed me that it was because he was touching the puck with his own stick while handing back Emery his stick...which I guess is a rule?
- Earl is Coming Back!. It's true, it's not like the Sharks are struggling without him and many has suspected he couldn't repeat his Rocket Richard season. But still, Team Scarlett is suffering and we need all the healthy bodies we can get.
We all knew Marty Biron was adorable and snarky, but did you know he also raps?
Sabres Delight
"Why'd you make me do this? Marty, I don't even like to rap"
This is an obvious cry for more starts.
Ground Control to Jaroslav
I don't know if Oil fans will particularly enjoy this one.
Man, Sports Radio people can be really funny. When they're not too busy being tools.
Tip of the Hat to Heather B from HLOG and Sabretooth from the NHL Forums at TWoP
Cam Ward: Great guy, questionable taste in music
Waiting for Stanley has pictures of Cam Ward's New Mask. I have to admit that the technology used is quite fancy with the holographic embellishments and what not. Guess he put his Stanley Cup money to good use. But yeesh, Nickelback, Wardo? More pictures from the Nickelback Website.
Better Know an Owner: Washington Capitals - Part 3 of 30
1 Comments Published by Sherry on Friday, December 01, 2006 at 8:34 PM.
The Basics
Name: Ted Leonsis
DOB: 1956, Brooklyn New York
Estimated Net Worth: ~$1 Billion
Owner Since: 1999
Claim to Fame: Vice chairman of America Online (AOL). He joined the company in 1993 and repositioned AOL’s product, turning it into one of the wealthiest businesses in America. Prior to that, he was the founder and CEO of Redgate Communications, the first venture-capital backed media company. Products affiliated with AOL include:
- AOL.com
- AOL Instant Messenger (AIM)
- Mapquest
- MovieFone
- Netscape.com
Philanthropic Work: Involved in many charities including Best Buddies, Hoop Dreams, See Forever Foundation, Youth Aids among others. Serves on the board of directors of Georgetown University, his alma mater.
Produced a documentary feature called "Nanking," about the Japanese occupation of Nanjing, China during the Second World War. It will premier in 2007 at the Sundance Film Festival. He also has two other films in development for theatrical release.
Claim to Infamy:
- One of the few owners who embraces the blog life, with his own blog Ted’s Take which is more or less updated daily. Actually the real reason he did this was to crack Google’s algorithm so that more flattering websites about him would show up first. Sneaky.
- This is AOL we’re talking about. We could be here forever. In 2002 the federal government began investigating their operations after some research data was leaked among other things.
- In March, AOL announced a “Certified E-mail Program” where in e-mails will be delivered with “virtual stamps” for people who paid the fee. So yes, you would essentially be paying for your e-mails. Your e-mails. People were best not pleased.
- Vincent Ferrari
- Those darn free AOL CDs I got in the newspaper every month. I’m pretty sure I used them as coasters.
Also Collects Sports Teams Like Monopoly Estates:
- 100% owner of the Washington Capitals
- 100% owner of the Washington Mystics (WNBA)
- Owns 44% of the Washington Sports and Entertainment Limited Partnership who also owns the Washington Wizards (NBA) and the Verizon Centre.
Grab Life By the Horns!
Leonsis survived a serious plane crash in 1983 and after that, he’s drafted a list of 101 Things to Do Before He Dies. According to ESPN, he’s up to 71.
They Like Him! They Really Really Like Him!
- Was named one of the 20 most powerful people in sports by The Sporting News
- Was Washington’s Businessman of the Year by the Washington Business Journal
- Was Washingtonian Man of the Year by the Washingtonian Magazine
- Was Time Warner’s Action Man of the Year in 2005. Time Warner owns AOL by the way.
- Was a judge in the 2004 All-Star Blogger Contest.
Is Alexander Ovechkin considered a Washingtonian yet? I bet he’d give Leonsis a run for that title. Olaf Kolzig already is.
The Kerouac Connection
Apparently he’s somewhat related to Jack Kerouac, the hero of every disaffected 20-something out there. The connection is somewhat confusing but according to Wikipedia:
Leonsis's uncle and cousin, George "John" Apostolos and Sebastian "Sammy" Sampas, were best friends of Jack Kerouac, which Kerouac mentions numerous times throughout his writings. Kerouac's 3rd marriage is with Stella Sampas, older sister of Sammy & Ted Leonsis' cousin.
Currently…: Lives in McLean, Virginia and Vero Beach, Florida with his wife and two children.
The People Think: The guy owns AOL, so if you don’t use AOL or have used AOL in the past, you’ll probably have a lot of reasons to make fun of him. Still, he seems like a genuinely passionate and hard-working guy. People love Google though, so him schtumping them might not have been the best way to endear himself to the public. Since Leonsis purchased the team, the Caps have made three playoff appearances along with two Southeast Division Titles. Still, even with Alex O on their team, the Caps still have a bit of a ways to go before they’re a contender. Rich Uncle Skeleton as an eccentric millionaire who also happens to be your prototypical shrewd businessman.
The Senators come home from a successful roadtrip without any signs of a hangover by shutting out the Panthers in front of the Ottawa faithful. I admit that I didn't watch the whole entire game as I have deadlines coming from all angles next week and spent most of the evening in a group meeting. However, from occassional checkups of the scoresheet, I think it's safe to say that they played a full 60 minutes and did not succumb to The Great Sens Collapse.
The boys took advantage of a poorly performing Panthers team that has now been shut out of their last three games, which totals to around 201 minutes and 21 seconds of play. Perhaps they were tired from the travel, but nonetheless most of the team failed to show up today as they made it very easy for the Senators' transition to skate through the netural zone and break into offensive territory. Olli Jokinen and Gary Roberts can't do everything you know. Alex Auld was put out of his misery after letting in 5 goals and Old Man Belfour came in and actually attempted to keep his team in it by letting in one goal but keeping the Senators at bay during the third. Of course with Belfour being an ex-Leaf and the fact that the Senators' more or less had his number last season, came some good-natured jeering. [Beeeeeelfooouur. Beeeeeeeeelfouurrrrr]
Ray Emery was solid as usual, making an awesome glove save in the third that was labelled for the top shelf. [He's still using Gerber's glove...his wrist is still not 100% apparently]. Many people questioned with Martin Gerber giving them an impressive outing two days ago in Carolina, whether or not they should ride that wave. But I think going with Emery was a good idea seeing as there is alot more pressure that comes with playing in front of the hometown fans. We know the fans love Emery, there's a song about him and everything! Again, I'm really hoping Gerber can get his confidence back seeing as how playing Emery to the ground when he's not 100% healthy can't ever be a good idea.
So the Senators appeared to have gotten out of whatever funk they were in before. They've finally achieved the glory that is playing above .500 but let's just hope they can keep the groove going. I'm being cautious but optimistic with the Panic Meter. Baby steps, people...baby steps.
News and Amuse
- Chris Kelly is trying to be the Grit-Off Champion of the Senators as he still refuses to wear a visor. Last seasons he played 82 games in a row, and only decided to wear a visor after his face sprung a leak from taking a puck to the face. Today he got an elbow in the face but still got up and skated it off. He's no Ryan Smyth but...dude.
- Daniel Alfredsson had three penalties in a row tonight. The first was in the second for slashing, the second and third for unsportsmanlike conduct and roughing after getting into a bit of a tussell with Stephen Weiss. You don't want your captain dropping the gloves, but I guess Alfie's just trying to prove to people he's not a softie.
- The glass in Scotiabank Place needs to be changed, ASAP as the game was delayed for almost 10 minutes in the first when Weiss gave Chris Phillips a hard hit and the glass shattered. A family of four including two children were taken to the hospital for precautionary reasons after being a given a glass shower. Seriously, there's a problem with the glass almost every game.
- Emery isn't the only Senator with a song. Is Ian Mendes always this awkward when he's narrating?
- He only returned a couple of games ago but Wade Redden is out again with an "upper body injury". I have to admit, after seeing the hit I got a little bit overprotective. The guy is not a particularly physical player but he's willing to take a hit in order to finish the play and protect the puck. I guess the break is officially over. Come back soon, Reds!
