Since the boys are off until Saturday, I was worried about not having much to post about. The solution? Silly internet memes! Sleek over at Battle of California and Michael have both tagged me to do this fun little 'If I were a Hockey Player' exercise. Although really, if I were a hockey player, the NHL would have to have some sort of rule that allowed women to play in more than just meaningless exhibition games. Or I'd be a man. Whichever one you think is more possible.



Team: Junior in Mississauga for the IceDogs [before they moved] and pro career for the Senators of course.
Uniform Number: 9. Thanks for freeing it up, Havlat!
Position: Defenseman...woman.
Nickname: S-Club. Or sadly, Sherbear.
Dream Linemates: Zdeno Chara if only because the sight of us together would be absolutely comical.
Rounding out the PP: Paul Kariya-Steve Yzerman-Jarome Iginla.
This is fantasy right?
Job: Offensive defenseman...woman. Playing the point on the PP.
Signature Move: Knuckle Puck. Except due to copyright issues it would be called the "Shaken not Stirred".
Strengths: Due to my lack of size, probably speed. Although in a move that defies all logic and science, I somehow have a kick-arse shot.
Weaknesses: If you breathe on me too hard, I'd probably still get planted into the boards. Thus the 'Bear' nickname.
Injury Problems: The ever elusive upper-body injury.
Equipment: Mission skates and helmet with a half visor, Easton gloves and Sher-Wood stick.
Nemesis: Chelios. Pronger. Avery. Lots of people basically.
Scandal Involvement: Look, ANYBODY could have put Ovechkin's equipment in Jell-o. Or it's revealed that I'm actually a woman. Whichever comes first.
Who I’d face in the Stanley Cup Finals: Dallas. We all know it was in the crease!
What I’d do with the Stanley Cup after our victory: I'm hoping not drop it. Take it skating at Nathan Phillips Square so I can rub it in the collective faces of Leafs nation.
Would the media love me or hate me?: For the most part hate me because I like to pretend I don't speak English even though it is clear that I'm an Ontario native. However, on the off-chance I do talk to them I'll throw out some Bryzgalov-like winners.

And I'd hope to be a better skater than this:

^{I'm actually the one standing up, surprisingly}

Next Up... - Battle of Ontario, Indrew [if he's still alive], and Tapeleg. You're up!

Edit: E over at Theory of Ice has compiled a nice list of blogger answers from around the blog-o-sphere. Definitely worth a fun read.

Labels: general boredom, memes, miscellaneous, off-topic, silliness

Martin Gerber made a rare home start today as the Senators managed to dust themselves off and come out with a victory against the Capitals tonight. Despite their late night finish last night against Montreal [around 11:15 p.m. to be exact], they managed to put in a strong performance. Which is nice, I suppose that's what a night on the couch will do for you.

Mike Fisher returned to the line-up tonight and skated on the wing with Jason Spezza and Mike Fisher. It's the line of the injured centres! The line managed to be very effective with Spezza adding a goal and an assist to the night. Alexander Ovechkin continued his point streak with a goal which now puts him in the lead league. This night would have been even sweeter of Skeletor could have been kept of the score sheet, but I'm not picky.

All in all, a good effort from the boys although it seems like the D for both teams were both a bit lapse tonight as the shots on goal were 37-38 in favour of Ottawa. Gerber actually made a game saver in the third after Dainius Zubrus crashed into him and he managed to keep the puck out. It was only his first start in 16 games but he has managed to win his past 4 starts. This at least helps with the contentious one-goal games that the Senators seem to have so much trouble winning.

Notes of Interest...
Tonight was armed forces appreciation night and the Senators played to a sold-out crowd of 19,178 people. Many of the fans in the crowd wore red and the players all sported yellow-ribbon hats after the game.

Yzerman GM of Team Canada! for the IIHF World Hockey Championships. There's all sorts of speculation of whether or not this is a precursor to the 2010 Olympics. I just hope he has a better eye for talent than that other superstar.

Labels: home win, jason spezza, martin gerber, mike fisher, steve yzerman, washington capitals

All right, Habbies, given that it was a special night for you guys I will say congratulations to Ken Dryden on being immortalized. It is certainly well-deserved [even though he's a Liberal]. You guys had the game tonight.

Senators? You guys are on the couch tonight.

PlanetUSA Beat Team Canada in the AHL All-Star game tonight 7-6. The standout was Hamilton Bulldogs goaltender and Canadiens draft pick Jaroslav Halak.

^{More tomorrow}

Labels: AHL, jaroslav halak, ken dryden, loss, montreal canadiens, road loss

It seems like alot of teams in the States are trying to make hockey look more like basketball or football by employing some eye candy in the form of "Ice Girls". Scotiabank Place has "Ice Girls". Well, they have an "Ice Crew" and they literally go out and clear the snow from the ice. They also get the luxury of wearing full sleeved sweatsuits. Because you know, ice is cold. Somehow, I think they're different from what the Tampa Bay Lightning are trying to accomplish with their band of merry ladies.

On Frozen Blog had a poll going on a while back after Washington Capitals Owner, Ted Leonsis asked readers of his blog whether or not Ice Girls were a good idea.

Personally, I never understood the whole cheerleader sensation. None of my schools had a cheerleading team which was somewhat disappointing in that my high school experience was never as dramatic as a cheesy teen flick promised it would be. Oh well.

I understand some of the teams decisions though. Basketball and Football both have cheerleaders to rev up the crowd and it gives the guys something to look at in case testosterone levels in the building are too high but it just doesn't seem really practical to me.

The Torino Olympics had cheerleaders during hockey games. They weren't cheering for a particular team but they came out onto the steps and waved their pom-poms. The thing is, unless the teams are employing figure skaters and not aspiring models and actresses, there really isn't a possibility for those amazing choreographed dance routines like you see at other sporting events during intermission. Where do they even stand during the game and there's a stop in play to cheer the crowds on? As for the free swag and t-shirts that they give out, that's what the mascot is for! You don't want to screw him out of a job, do you?

I understand that you can never go wrong with giving people something pretty to look at. Heck, I'm betting most of the guys right now haven't even bothered reading this entry and are stuck on the picture above. It just seems like an unnecessary expenditure to me. Hockey fans in those markets are going to show up at games because they're hockey fans and I highly doubt the casual observer will all of a sudden decide to go to a hockey game just to see some ladies dancing around when they can easily do that at home for free on Fox or the Internet.

Speaking of Cheerleaders...
An amusing story from my Economics of Professional Sports class. My professor is a bit of an old-timer [read: old] and not exactly down with popular culture. He was telling us how Beyonce Knowles is going to be designing new cheerleading outfits for the New Jersey Nets because she is dating Jay-Z who happens to be an investor in the team. Only he pronounced Jay-Z the good ol' Canadian way and said "Jay-Zed".

I think it's about time we reasserted our Canadian-ness like he has. What would 50 Cent be called here with the exchange rate, anyways?

Labels: general, ice girls, miscellaneous, tampa bay lightning, ted leonsis, washington capitals

Hat tip to the commentator for the quote of the game. It was in reference to Chris Phillips getting his stick slashed and the play going uncalled. It was one of the few bright spots of the commentating. For future reference Anton Volchenkov ≠ Andrej Meszaros and Christoph Schubert ≠ Peter Schaefer. Capice?

For those of you watching the game and fell asleep in the first two periods, I don't blame you but you certainly missed a doozy. After a scoreless 40 minutes where both teams were skating in slow motion, the Senators and Bruins finally found some jump in them. After getting their legs back from under them, the Senators played a strong third period with quality rushes and scoring chances.

Jason Spezza in his return from a knee injury was the best player out on the ice tonight as he showed great patience in creating scoring chances. He looked like he didn't miss a beat and tallied an assist in his return. He skated on a line with Patrick Eaves and Antoine Vermette for most of it but reunited with Dany Heatley for some Powerplay shifts.

The best goal ever came on Vermette's goal. With under a minute left in the game, the Senators were on the PK while the Bruins net was empty. Daniel Alfredsson sprung Vermette from the zone and he was well on his way to an empty net when Marc Savard threw his stick. In an empty net situation, that's an automatic goal. Easiest point Vermette ever got.

The Senators outworked and outchanced the Bruins and held them to only 3 shots in the second period. Looking at this Bruins team it seems like they are in a bit of an identity crisis. They tried their best to clog up the middle but they don't have enough scoring to balance that out. Tim Thomas had always been strong against this Senators team but it looks like the boys have finally been able to solve him. [For the record, he goes down low when he moves from post-to-post so make him move laterally and shoot high]. He also has a tendency to come out very far from the crease. Also, the histrionics he displays when somebody scores on him is absolutely hilarious.

Things That Make You Go "WHOA"
- Who knew Heatley was such a good defensive player? I'm sure he had been asked this a million times with Spezza out but who knew he was so chippy too. He was out there throwing the body like it was nobody's business.

- Speaking of strong defensive players, the amount of times Alfie completely undresses Chara was rather cathartic

- Welcome back Lyndon!

- Attendance 19,846 was at Scotiabank Place. One of those people was the Stevester himself, Stephen Harper. Say what you want about him, I think it's cool he sits in the crowd with all the common folk.

Labels: antoine vermette, attendance, boston bruins, chris phillips, daniel alfredsson, dany heatley, home win, ottawa senators, tim thomas

^{The one in the middle in green. I'm not as interested as I may appear}

So despite all of the general griping that goes on about the All-Star game, it sure is a great excuse to have a party! No, my housemates and I are not big enough dorks to throw an All-Star bash in the middle of the week, but they are silly enough to throw me, my other housemate Jax and our friend Cindy a belated birthday bash. Our birthdays were all in December. Suffice it to say, we were all very surprised. Well, until I got home and was barred from leaving my room until instructed. And there were ominous messages left on our fridge to be home by 7:30 p.m...but I digress.

My housemates decked out our living room so it was hockey-themed with one side being Leafs region and the other being Senators. Our collection of 15 or so penguins were also colour coded to be either Leafs fans or Senators fans. The ones who were neutral coloured were appropriately enough Pittsburgh fans.


^{The birthday loot from my housemates}

The Game
Well I wasn't expecting anything too extraordinary. The one good thing about the game being so easy not to pay attention to was the fact that we could play games and sing 'Happy Birthday' to one another in different languages when we got bored.

It looks like my prediction was wrong as the West gave the East a nice shellacking to avoid an Eastern conference All-Star sweep. I do firmly believe that this game means nothing but it's clear that the guys obviously still want to win. Another thing that we noticed was the distinct lack of chemistry some of these lines had. See kids? Teamwork is essential!

The intermission programming had my scratching my head. The Wreckers are supposed to be country and I suppose country music is big in Dallas, but when I think hockey I don't really think of two country singing sweethearts. Actually, I remembered when Michelle Branch used to sing pop-rock, whatever happened to that? Is this what motherhood does to you?

As much as we admonish the All-Star game, and I'm guilty of it too, I think it isn't all that bad. I don't mean the quality of the game, but it's nice to see these guys be down goals but still have a big smile on their face. Haven't we learned that having fun is the first goal of hockey from those darn Timbit Sidney Crosby commercials? Seeing those big smiles on these guys faces seems to at least make it worth while at least.

I should probably add that my friend Jax [the one on the right with red hair on the couch] is a Leafs fan and was bothered by the fact that she had to sit on the Senators side of the room. You welcome, Jax.

In this edition of SHUT UP, ALREADY...
Players Rep to Investigate Saskin's Hiring...again. What really got me was this:

The main bone of contention will be who conducts the investigation. The players who support Saskin want it run by a neutral third-party while Chelios' group is said to favour their lawyer for the job.

Honestly, if Chelios' lawyer ends up conducting the investigation, the rep could argue for conflict of interest and it'll got tossed out again and then this group will find new ways to beat a dead horse and it will never stop being annoying. TSN obviously forgot to edit their story from their initial report because near the top of the article was this:

Obviously, for this inquiry to have any merit, the person heading it up must be beyond reproach and have no connection whatsoever with either Chelios' group or Saskin and the current NHLPA executive.

The first suit was tossed out due to jurisdiction issues. The NHLPA is run in Ontario and it was the court's recommendation to file a new lawsuit in Ontario. Their response was apparently to try to file a new lawsuit in Michigan. Brilliant.

Labels: all-star game, housemates, miscellaneous, NHLPA, party, silliness

Here at Scarlett Ice, we like to keep a sense of propriety. So rumours and trashy tabloid talk is usually big no-no, but I had some time to kill and this trade rumour allowed me to have some fun with the jersey customization section of the NHL store.

Although these two guys didn't exactly have transferrable numbers. Obviously 15 is taken by the one and only Dany Heatley and 7 in Edmonton is retired for the great Mr. Paul Coffey.

But logistics aside, does this trade even make sense? From a financial perspective, the Senators could erase the, in retrospect, over payment of Corvo who has stated what we all have been thinking; that perhaps he's not that great defensively.

As for Lupul? Apparently those who are immune to his super-hypnotic-Jedi eyes hate him.

Labels: edmonton oilers, general, joe corvo, joffrey lupul, ottawa senators, trade rumours

As expected, the National Hockey League's annual, well intended but poorly executed little corporate project known as the Skills Competition was about as exciting as a ham sandwich with no mayo. You can't eat a ham sandwich with no mayo!

Of course it wasn't all that bad, some of it was exciting and when you get these guys in a pressure-free situation, some of them actually show remnants of a personality. It's also always fun to see the players interact with one another and see how chummy they can be. It's adorable really.

The Important Junk:

- The Eastern Conference beat the West 15-11 with Sidney Crosby's two shoot-out goals against Roberto Luongo

- Roberto Luongo was top goaltender.

- Andy McDonald won the Fastest Skater challenge at 14.03 seconds

- Zdeno Chara won the 'Hardest Shot' contest with a shot measured at 100.4 mph. He did much better last year at the Sens Skillz competition where his shot beat out Christoph Schubert's rocket at 102.4 mph...I think. [Schubert's shot was measured at 102.1]

- Eric Staal and Marian Hossa tied for the Shooting Accuracy challenge with 4 hits on 5 attempts.

- Alexander Ovechkin had a frustrating night as he finished last in the Fastest Skater competition and also fell after his shoot-out attempt on Luongo. Better luck next time...maybe it was the blue visor?

I was seriously wondering about some of the selections for the competitions though. Joe Sakic had always said he was bad at the accuracy skill and they always sign him up for it. I never thought Dany Heatley had a hard shot [mind you, he didn't do too badly] but somehow he was in the hardest shot competition. He should have been in the accuracy competition; he went four for four last year in the Sens Skills competition.

'High'lights from the YoungStars Game
I think the most entertaining part of this game was to point out how absolutely lethargic the Young guys were. They were playing at maximum half speed but I admire their initiative in trying to create some excitement with the amount of breakaway chances there was. Jim Hughson wondered whether or not there was a rule that each player had to pass three times before anybody could take a shot. It's just like street hockey!

Phil Kessel was a standout with a hat trick and Andrej Meszaros also added two goals. I bet the D-men enjoyed being able to get in and score.

I did feel sorry for the boys who I'm sure were at least a little bit excited, but couldn't really feel it from the crowd. The stadium looked mostly empty and there was a distinct lack of energy from the audience.

I will say that I love the RailCam though.

On the Broadcast...
- Not to bag on Cassie Campbell because I love her but a broadcaster she is not.

- EVERYBODY at CBC...and I mean EVERYBODY just needs to TALK LESS.

The All-Star game will be on tonight at 8 p.m. on CBC and Versus. It can also be streamed live on NHL.com

In the meantime, here is a very nice article on Dany Heatley and Marian Hossa and the different reactions and circumstances surrounding that memorable trade that swapped them.

In Other News...
- Everybody's bagging on Ottawa and Montreal for not voting to switch the schedule. In reality, they didn't vote for the proposed schedule but did submit their own proposed schedule change that also reduced the divisional games from 8 to 7. The initial proposal switch was short one vote, the one Ottawa and Montreal submitted was short 2.

Labels: general boredom, miscellaneous, skills competition, youngstars game

Are other bloggers like me and scratching their heads going 'What the heck am I supposed to blog about for a whole week?!' I was thinking of doing an All-Star game preview today, but let's be honest, who the heck really cares anyways?

I will watch though, if only because I need my hockey fix. Perhaps this All-Star break was God's way of saying that I need to stop spending so much time on the Internet and give me some time to catch up on my school work but let's face it, I'd most likely be spending most of the time watching reruns of "The Office" and "Arrested Development" anyways.

I'm going to give the All-Star game to the East if only because of historical trend. It's like this past season's MLB All-Star game where you know the NL had the better team on it but somehow the AL managed to pull it out of their butts because that's just the way the universe intended for it to be. Actually that might not be true at all since I don't follow baseball but it feels like the truth. In any case, here's a bastardized preview done 20 minutes before class in the computer lab before my coffee has kicked in:

Forwards:
I'm going to give this one to the East if only because Sidney Crosby and Alexander Ovechkin can make everybody around them better. Jonathan Cheechoo hasn't been able to find his old Rocket Richard self, with or without BFF Joe Thornton. Provided that Crosy, Ovechkin and Daniel Briere don't all collectively get into a cat fight, they should be able to create some good chances.

Defense:
West. Even with Scott Niedermayer out they still have a good balance of puck-movers and big hitters.

Goal:
West. I think the Northeast Division knows all too well the rampage and terror Roberto Luongo can cause.

Faithful reader Jean-Francois saw my remark that I in fact knew nothing about the States and kindly e-mailed me the information of the All-Star broadcasts in the States:

The Skills Competition - Tuesday January 23rd @ 7:30PM
The All-Star Game - Wednesday January 24th @ 8:00PM
All on Versus.

Thanks, buddy! Apparently they'll also be streamed on NHL.com in case like most of America, you don't have Versus.

Now by popular demand and something to get your day off to a good start, Brendan Shanahan making fun of the Senators:

Labels: all-star game, miscellaneous, silliness

Too tired for a recap.

Senators! Win! Yay! Drink!

Okay, fine.

The Senators played their last game before the All-Star break tonight and it was against a team that they've had some trouble against this season. While coming off a spirited but ultimately losing performance against the Vancouver Canucks, the boys were looking to get back onto their hot streak against their division rivals.

The boys scored a goal a period, with Dany Heatley adding his team leading 29th and 30th goals of the season. As of right now he's tied with Teemu Sealanne for first overall in goals. Chris Phillips who only had two goals last season also had the other tally.

His name is Raaaaaaay was coming off a somewhat shaky performance against the Canucks but managed to shut out the Bruins, who only had a total of 18 shots on goal. I thought it was interesting that Dave Lewis elected to start Hannu Toivonen given Tim Thomas' success against the Senators, but Toivonen had a strong game despite being barraged with 38 shots from the Senators. Toivonen also came up big when the Senators had two 5-on-3s where they failed to score. Despite the win, should I be concerned about their powerplay? Actually come to think of it, I've been pretty concerned all season but at least it wasn't the anemic league worst it was near the start of the season.

Next up is a nice little holiday for the boys with the exception of Patrick Eaves and Andrej Meszaros who are heading to Dallas for the YoungStars game. The rest of the guys plan on all doing something different with Joe Corvo heading back to Chicago for a couple of days to watch some silly sport called 'Football', Wade Redden going to New York and Jason Spezza is staying in exciting and warm Kanata to continue his rehab.

2007 All-Star Schedule [Canada Only...cause I know nothing about the States]
Tuesday, January 23rd @ 7:00 p.m. - Skills Competition and YoungGuns Game
Wednesday, January 24th @ 8:00 p.m. - All-Star Game
All on CBC.

And Now For Something Completely Different...
Does anybody watch Cute with Chris? Probably not. It's this silly Internet show by a poor starving Canadian comedian that fills your daily cute quota. There's a running gag in the show where viewers repeatedly send in requests for pictures of CSI: Miami star Jonathan Togo shirtless.

Now I've ever watched CSI: Miami until this year because my housemates are all big fans and A&E plays it a billion times a day. Part of the reason [well, maybe the only one] I still watch is because I love Jonathan Togo. I mean the crime stuff is cool but David Caruso talks like Batman. Seriously, does he order a sandwich like that?

Labels: andrej meszaros, boston bruins, cute with chris, dany heatley, jason spezza, miscellaneous, patrick eaves, ray emery, road win, win

Well, I guess we tried.

You know, it's rare that the team who has 0, as in ZERO, shots on goal in the third period actually wins the hockey game but when your goalie lets in 2 on 14 shots, and that magical fairy at the other end of the ice only lets in 1 on 35, that's bound to happen.

See? I can do math!

I was sort of hoping that when Luongo got unloaded to the West, he would no longer be giving us any headaches, but it's just the luck of the draw of the crappy scheduling computer. Daniel Alfredsson was looking to tie Newsy Lalonde's record for 5 straight game-winning-goals, and while he did score tonight, it sadly wasn't enough. He did get 2nd star of the game though. The top-line was once again creating most of the chances but it just wasn't enough to beat Mr.Bongo. You were supposed to aim for the throat!

Losses are always disappointing but the boys played hard tonight. Ray Emery must have gotten up on the wrong side of the bed because he wasn't challenged enough to let in 2 goals. The second goal game off the stick of Rory Fitzpatrick. I bet the NHL hockey operations people are really sorry they left him off the All-Star team now.

Whatever blessed Gatorade the Senators have been drinking lately the Habs must have stolen because they won their game against Hotlanta tonight and are now back in fourth place with one more point than the Senators.

No need for panic though, the Canucks are also a hot team right now and 5th place is still a playoff spot. The good news is that whatever fatigue might be setting in for Emery, he now has the All-Star break to rest and heal-up. If the team can do well without Jason Spezza and Mike Fisher, that means they can only be stronger once they're back in the line-up.



Use responsibly, it is a school night.
Actually in Hamilton, Thursdays are pub nights and then nobody shows up to Friday classes. Good thinking, Hamilton.

EXPLOSIONS!
If you haven't noticed, I've been posting a lot lately. It conveniently coincided with my traffic exploding because of Alanah's nice hat-tip on her FoxSports blog. HLOG also got Deadspin-ed [Deadspun?]. Although somebody over there claims we're setting the women's movement back 30 years. One little blog can do that? Isn't that just giving us a little bit too much power? Maybe she's just upset there's no Devils representation. E-mail us, hun!

Labels: daniel alfredsson, home loss, loss, ray emery, roberto luongo, vancouver canucks

So both Eric at Off-Wing Opinion and Kuklas Korner has the new NHL Jersey designs including boy-wonder Sidney Crosby modelling them but thestar.com has kindly provided a look at what the new Leafs jersey will look like:



If any of you players are hiding a beer gut, now's the time to work on those abs. Painted on jerseys...I know a few ladies who wouldn't mind seeing that.

By the way, am I the only one who thought that picture of Crosby modelling the jersey was an action figure or something? Seriously, how much air brushing did it take for him to glow like that? They really are running with the whole "Crosby is the saviour of hockey" schtick.

Labels: fashion, miscellaneous, silliness, uniforms

Ian Mendes plays a little 'Plus/Minus' with Tom Preissing. Come on guys, he even put on the helmet for you and everything! Interestingly enough he seems to know exactly who and how he was acquired.

Dude, I've been to the Rideau Centre, who knew it was so easy to spot some Senators there. I probably wouldn't have bothered to wait until they asked me but would have discreetly whispered to my friends "DUDE! I think that's Tom Preissing!". But discreetly of course...I'm pretty shy in real life.

While searching for an unassuming picture of Preissing, I found this page from an Economics class he was in at Colorado College. Economics of International Trade to be exact. The Internet sure makes it easy to be creepy. At least it's better than finding his term paper and scanning it for the world to see, right?

Also, Mr. Preissing? 'O' is a vowel, not a consonant.

Yes! Publicity!
A big thanks to Alanah over at Canucks and Beyond for the link on her Fox Sports Blog. For a little blog like this, it sure means a lot!

Labels: canucks and beyond, ian mendes, misceallaneous, publicity, silliness, tom preissing

How misleading the Internet is. Even though CityTV totally blew the dirty Internet fans' cover about the player's secret lives, the movement sure hasn't stopped as it has come to my attention that Kyle Wellwood has Facebook.

For those of you who don't know, Facebook is another one of those silly networking sites like MySpace except only a smidgen less skankier. It used to be only open to people in college as in you needed a valid college server based e-mail address to register. But they opened up membership to everybody last year.

Which, bad idea by the way, the college kids were already addicted as it is. Even though it is completely pointless. I don't use it much myself but some of my friends decide that it's cool to only contact me through it so I login occassionally. One of my friends who happens to be Leafs fan had an exciting message for me that Wellwood does indeed have a Facebook account.

I didn't check into his account for any scandalous information because you can only see their full profiles if they're your "Friend" and I'm frankly not bored enough to pursue that endeavour. The funny thing is apparently Mr. Wellwood's alter ego goes beyond just creating a Facebook account, he actually goes to leave messages of thanks to the fans on various Leafs Nation discussion groups.

Well, that's nice. At least they didn't make him gay like the other hockey role-players do for some reason.

Apparently Wellwood isn't the only one who got Facebook'd as a quick scan of his friends list show that other players decided to catch onto this trend:









There are countless others including Derek Boogard, Alexander Ovechkin and Andrew Raycroft, among others. Who knew the Great One was so Internet saavy?

Publicity!: If you're visiting from FoxSports, please, pull up a chair and enjoy your stay. Help yourself to a drink in the fridge, but no Coors or Molson here. We drink quality beer.

Labels: facebook, general, misceallaneous, silliness

^{I'm using this picture for the sheer hilarity of it. Seriously, look at it. Hilarious!}

I know it's way too early to be giddy but the boys have clawed and slapped their way to 4th place and it sure as heck is a million times better than where they were last month.

The boys continue their hot streak as they have now won five in a row and notch their first win against the Capitals this season. Once again a steady work ethic and simple play characterized this win tonight. Although the simple game they were playing did get away from them for a little bit when they allowed the Caps to come within one in the second, the Senators managed to tighten up and dominate this game.

Once again, Daniel Alfredsson proves to be a key part of the team's success as he notched another game-winning-goal tonight. Perhaps it's the new skates everybody's been squeeing about.

Perhaps the first two games against the Capitals were just experiments for these guys as the Senators have finally figured out how to contain Alexander Ovechkin. Chris Phillips and Anton Volchenkov were once again in charge of making sure he didn't get any space and they managed to do so admirably with "Mr.Gr8" only notching one assist tonight. Mike Comrie continues to endear himself to Senators nation and perhaps draw the ire of Oiler Nation as he notched two goals tonight.

The commitment showed by this team has been extraordinary. Without some of their offensive weapons there to secure a cushy lead for them, they needed to play a defensively tight game. However, the defensive plays lead to offensive chances and scoring has definitely not become an issue for the team. The boys have been scoring by committee lately and when Chris Kelly, a defensive expert with essentially cement block hands manage to make magic happen on the top line, you know there's been a change in how this team plays. Kelly also managed to play a defensive role in containing Ovechkin as well.

Although he doesn't log the most minutes, Wade Redden continues to prove that he is the cornerstone of the backend as he played another solid game contributing both offensively and defensively. Joe Corvo saw his minutes diminished once again and really now it's up to him to earn his minutes. His confidence is understandably low but like the team's slump previously, that's just something he's going to have to work through.

Given the mojo the team has got going, I almost wish they could keep on trucking through the All-Star break. I suppose a mini vacation could do them some good though. As long as they don't spend it binging and on general silliness. Fill in your own blanks.

Starts and Stops and Other Things
- Mike Green went to the dressing room after being struck by a shot by Christoph Schubert. Dude, have you seen Schubert's shot? I could have told you not to step in front of that.

- While there's no disputing Ovechkin's talent, it almost seemed like he wasn't fully there for the game tonight. The frustration was evident in him as he decided to take it out on Dany Heatley. Ovechkin broke a stick in the offensive zone and while making his way to the bench decided to hit Heatley from behind. The hit went uncalled.

You know you're too into hockey when...
You don't think there can be anybody else named "Phaneuf" in sports. Seriously, this headline was just misleading:



The Phaneuf in question is Canadian figure skater Cynthia Phaneuf who is currently first in the women's qualifying round at the Canadian National Figure Skating Championship. Congratulations! Any relation to Dion?

Labels: alexander ovechkin, anton volchenkov, chris kelly, chris phillips, christoph schubert, daniel alfredsson, home win, mike comrie, wade redden, washington capitals

Today, we had a special "celebrity" guest speaker in economics class in the form of Jeff Blair, baseball writer for the Globe and Mail. He came in today to dispell any myths that baseball is in a state of disarray and that Bud Selig is in fact not a ginormous failure like many people might believe.

While I don't really follow baseball, he does bring up some good points in that Major League Baseball is certainly not in any trouble. They've managed to master new forms of media with the creation of MLB.tv, thereby decreasing their dependency on television ratings and they have a commissioner who is actually a baseball fan and doesn't give the impression that he'd rather be anywhere but at a game.

I wanted to ask him about just how important television ratings were for a professional sports league but sort of chickened out. I know, I don't have a spine. It's so much easier behind a computer screen! Actually, the real question I wanted to ask was whether or not he could get me an internship or something.

Of course whenever there's talk of baseball, there's talk of steroids and amphetmines. Blair, did in fact vote for Mark McGwire for the Hall of Fame ballot. He believes those votes should not be based on moral character but what they produce on the field as long as what they do does not effect the enjoyment of the fans. At least that is how he explains it when somebody asked how he could justify voting for McGwire and not Pete Rose. He says that most of the people in the Hall of Fame played under some circumstances that many would question, but that is just a reflection of the era that they played in.

By the way, there are some REALLY WEIRD pictures of McGwire out there. Creepy.

Speaking of "sports that make no difference in Sherry's life", most of my love for Mark Cuban comes from the fact that I think he's absolutely bat-[expletive] insane. And I love it. When there was talk that he might be interested in the Penguins I was one of those people that was absolutely giddy at the thought of YouTube worthy clips of him hopping over the boards with skates on to chew out the Zebras. However, it was not to be but thestar.com has a nice article of him coming out in defense of the NHL.

He's saying that there are more people watching hockey in both Canada and the 'States than people watching basketball in the States. His logic is a little bit flawed in that I doubt most professional sports leagues care about the Canadian market. Actually I'm beginning to think the NHL doesn't care about the Canadian market either. However, he does bring up a good point in that the NHL does have an inferiority complex. While the time and attention OLN Versus pays to the NHL is a lot better than they would ever get on ESPN, that's still essentially settling for second, perhaps third best.

The guy's a proven business man and I can only imagine the amount of coverage his antics would get. Knowing the league, they'd probably be reluctant to slap him with a fine since it's been proven they give preferential treatment [half-zing!]. He's somebody who most likely has never gone through media training yet always finds ways to keep people interested. Just think, maybe he'll even be able to buy Sidney "Melba Toast" Crosby a personality. It's no guarantee that the amount of hillbillies watching ESPN will actually go "Hawt-diggity, that Cuban sure is a nut-job. I'm going to watch a Pens game just to see what he'll do next!", but I know that whenever I see him in the news for something other than doing a horrible reality show, I'm at least mildly interested in basketball. And come on Bettman, he actually wants to keep the franchise in Pittsburgh.

Or that could just be wishful thinking. I mostly love him for this quote in the article:

"Advertisers don't care. You guys drink beer. We drink beer. You guys play video games. We play video games. You guys wear stupid sneakers and pay too much money for 'em. We do the same."

We do pay too much for stupid sneakers.

Meanwhile, Back in Hockey-Land...
Spezza's Job is Safe. I don't understand who is saying the Senators are a better team without him, at least not seriously. If that's true, then the same logic can be applied to say that the Flames are a better team without Jarome Iginla because they've been winning without him too.

Labels: baseball, basketball, economics, jason spezza, jeff blair, mark cuban, mark mcgwire, pittsburgh penguins

^{Alfie says: 'How do you like me now!'}

Daniel Alfredsson named NHL's first star of the week. Alfie had 9 points this past week, including 3 game-winning goals in all 3 of the Senators' victories.

Lines at Practice Today:
Forwards
Heatley - Kelly - Alfredsson
Schaefer - Vermette- Neil
Schubert - McAmmond - Eaves
Hamel - Spezza - McGrattan

Defence
Redden - Meszaros
Volchenkov - Phillips
Corvo - Priessing


If you'll notice...Jason Spezza returns to practice! Centering a line of Denis Hamel and Brian McGrattan. I'm assuming this is only temporary because even if the current top line is making some sweet sweet magic now, the 4th line hardly seems like an appropriate place for him. It could be useful for the first couple of games just to ease him back into things though. He will travel with the team to Boston and will see on Saturday if he's ready to go. I bet he's itching to get back, there may be job security issues here.

Denis Savard wants shoot-out goal reviewed. Manny Fernandez stopped the initial shot by Denis Arkhipov but the 'Hawks are saying it may have trickled over the goal line and the video review wasn't done properly. Will have a video of it up when I can find one.

Of Course We Weren't Going to Fire You! - When the Senators were mired in their slump near the beginning of the season, the buzz around the media was to fire any combination of John Muckler and or Bryan Murray. Now, the general consensus seems to be that if the Senators don't resign him, they would be making a big mistake.

For sentimental reasons, I want to see him back. I'm a big fan of the guy but that can't be the only reason the Senators keep him on board. Has he earned himself a contract extension? The Senators' recent play as of late would indicate, of course. The truth is, while people can debate whether or not Pat Burns or Pat Quinn are better bench bosses, whether or not they would be the right fit for the Senators is hard to say. Not to mention the fact that Leafs nation would collectively commit seppuku over that sight.

Personnel decisions are a strange thing now-a-days. Any human resources manager will tell you that hiring the right person for the job isn't just about how capable they are, but also whether or not they are the right organizational fit. Murray fits in well with this Senators' squad, and not only because they've both historically been underachievers. He knows how to work with the weapons that he's got while at the same time challenging them to elevate their play. Peter Schaefer, Antoine Vermette, Chris Neil and Mike Fisher are all examples of guys who have had career years under his tutelage. When the team succeeds, individuals will succeed as well.

Of course, with such a talented squad, many naysayers might have said it's hard to fail. The true test to Murray's coaching abilities was whether or not he would be able to coach this team through adversity and how would they fare when they can't just coast through the regular season. Looking at the Senators' record without their top 2 centres would indicate that yeah, I think he's doing all right. The change in work ethic for these guys has been remarkable and the team is truly playing by committee. On the other hand, perhaps the best thing for the Senators when they were going through that slump was to have some consistency. Their confidence was probably in a very fragile state at that point and seeing their coach let go, who by all accounts is respected by all the players, wouldn't have helped.

I'm hoping that the Senators' success continues and I'm one of those people that believe Murray's a great coach, but how great remains to be seen. It's expected that they should be even better with Spezza and Fisher back but reinserting players back into a line-up that's already seen success could greatly affect the chemistry they've got going for them and it might take a couple of games to get back into the groove. One aspect of Murray's coaching that unsettled me was how readily he was about breaking up his line combinations. Lines need some time to develop chemistry and he's at least taken that into consideration with his reluctance to break-up his current top line when Spezza gets back.

Unless the Senators make a deep run in the playoffs, the boo-birds will be back to saying that he should have been fired. However, if they take the wait and see approach Murray's stock could go up and by season's end I'm sure there will be more than one club looking for a coaching change. That being said however, I don't think Murray would be wanting to go back to Florida, neither as coach or GM. He's expressed interest in finishing out his career at home and he's said before that he wasn't used to living in the large city on a full-time basis. Not to mention the fact that the man he replaced in Ottawa, Jacques Martin is in Florida. Could you imagine the degree of awkward that would be?

Labels: bryan murray, chicago blackhawks, daniel alfredsson, minnesota wild, miscellaneous, practice lines, projected line-ups, three stars

Brace yourselves, this one is wordy.

After reading the game recaps for last night's Montreal vs. Ottawa game, I read that Senators' president Roy Mlakar apologized to the Canadiens' managing partner, Foster Gillett in regards to a video that was played during the game. For those who don't know about it already, the clip involved the Senators' mascot Spartacat tossing overboard a fan in the opposing team's jersey from a boat Senators' owner Eugene Melnyk was steering.

Reality Check from Eyes on the Prize is outraged by this and while I realize that most of his words were written in the heat of the moment, I still feel that I need to respond.

Yes, it was an unfortunate mistake. One that was extremely insensitive and irresponsible. However, to suggest that the Senators' brass is somehow responsible and there was ill will intended is not entirely appropriate. The video has been in regular rotation as part of the program at Scotiabank Place and it seemed like a lot of people didn't even make the connection right away. It's a horrible video in that it's cheesy but I don't think it's too outrageous to suggest that no malice was intended. Whoever was responsible should be reprimanded and while I agree with Reality Check that the brass should be responsible for their employees, it isn't too much of a stretch to think that the managers at Scotiabank Place who did hire the employees would think the people they hired are responsible enough to realize that perhaps the timing of that video just isn't appropriate. Clearly he or she demonstrated that they weren't, so yes, of course he or she should be reprimanded for it.

However, Reality Check is suggesting that the indiscretion is unforgivable. Mlakar apologized to the Canadiens organization in person and the Senators' organization is drafting an official letter of apology. Mlakar has also gone on the record to admit that it was an irresponsible oversight. To me, the only way this incident would have been unforgivable was if malice was intended and Mlakar and the rest of the organization felt no need to apologize for their insensitivity and came out to defend their choice in programming.

The Canadiens are a proud organization and they are absolutely deserving of it considering what they have done for hockey. Bob Gainey is respected by not just the organization but the rest of the league and I don't think anybody can say they don't feel for what has happened to him and his family. The truth of the matter is had this video been played, say a year or two years from now, it wouldn't have registered in most people's minds. I don't believe that they're so high up on their high horse that they can't accept Mlakar's apology and realize that it was just an unfortunate incident, an ugly coincidence. Mlakar's owned up to it and the person responsible will most likely get fired.

I also feel the need to defend against Reality Check's charge that the Senators never "had much class to begin with." Again, I understand most of the entry was written while everything was still fresh but I feel the need to defend my team. Go to any arena for a hockey game and they will show a similar type of video skit involving the home team "beating" the visitors. I personally hate them because most of the time they're cheesy and I've always viewed any form of "smack talk" as unnecessary anyways. Scotiabank Place plays these skits about twice per game while other arenas play them about twice a period. I'm not saying that's definitive proof of anything, but it at least goes to show that they recognize the fact that there are other fans in the crowd.

For a team that hasn't been around that long, that hasn't won any championships and that operates in a city where a good chunk of their residents don't actually live there or aren't actually from there, the fact that they manage to sell out nearly every game is a testament to how involved with the community they really are. This is also the same team that displayed a "Welcome Back, Phil" sign during Phil Kessel's first game back with the Bruins after cancer surgery. That to me, is not the mark of a class-less organization.

Labels: montreal canadiens, roy mlakar

I'm sorry, Jordi.

The odds for the Senators have not been in their favour for their games on Hockey Day in Canada going 2-4-1, not to mention their lack of luck against the Habs this season. However, on the day that it was announced Dany Heatley will once again be playing on the All-Star game, it was Captain Daniel Alfredsson that turned in the all-star performance. El Capitain had 5 points today with one goal and 4 assists. The puck seemed to have been following him everywhere as he showed off some fancy stick-work and never giving up on the play. He was also outworking his opponents and winning many battles. Go Alfie!

It's great to see the Senators playing by committee. 11 different players had points this game. There's a notable change in this team's work ethic that even Alfie commented on after the game. However, seeing the Senators big blow-out early and then allowing the Habs to come back to score two goals in 22 seconds just gave me visions of game meltdowns from seasons past. Good on Ray Emery as he had another solid game, stopping 37 out of 40 shots from a Montreal team who was really laying it on. The last goal for the Senators' came courtesy of Sheldon Souray who tipped a shot right off the face-off into his own net. Way to make a case for your All-Star status. The credit went to Andrej Meszaros. Souray made up for it by scoring a Powerplay goal for the Habs.

As for the rest of the Hockey Day in Canada broadcast, it was your standard looking back at the hockey heritage and tug at your heart strings stories about community hockey. Not that we needed any reminders but it really is amazing how uniting and how hockey transcends being just a sport for certain communities. It's really also very refreshing to see how involved these major league teams are with the people in their community considering alot of the players are transplants into the city. It really makes me proud.

Hit Parade
- The hits just kept on coming during this game including big hits from the usual suspects of Chris Neil and Anthon Volchenkov. However, the best hit of the game probably came from Antoine Vermette. Unfortunately it was on his own teammate, Peter Schaefer. He left the game but came back with a very convincing swollen lip. Volchenkov also had to leave the game after taking a stick to his ankle where he was injured previously.

- Vermette had a great breakaway goal. Scored with the blade of his stick. If the puck went in, it would have been a gorgeous goal. It looks so close! I was definitely fooled.

- Patrick Eaves has had a goal in the past 5 games. As a reward for his efforts, he will join Meszaros on the NHL Young Stars team.

- I love it when the CBC camera-men take the initiative to suggest a goalie switch. When Ottawa scored their 5th goal they panned to David Aebischer on the bench. They did that tonight too with the Toronto vs. Vancouver game.

Get your Drink On
Our HDIC festivities continue with the Toronto vs. Vancouver game. Little did we know that it would be so torturous. We've decided to make a drinking game to make it go faster.

A drink everytime:
- Everytime there's a penalty
- Andrew Raycroft lets in a soft goal
- Somebody falls on his butt unnecessarily
- Kaberle doesn't shoot
- The commentators mispronounce Kevin Bieksa
- Bob Cole and Harry Neale are too lazy to do their job
- Hall Gill falls on the goalie

Unfortunately I had to retire the drinking game I play whenever I watch the Habs' play. It's a drink everytime Souray broke his stick but it looks like he's using a new model. Dang, I miss that game.

By the way, Mats Sundin is totally being a grumpy old man tonight. Perhaps the fact that he's surrounded by AHL players is finally [and once again] getting to him.

Courtesy of my housemate Elaine, who doesn't really watch hockey but makes a point of cheering for everybody but the Leafs:

"Leafs suck, Leafs suck, nah-nah-nahnah-nah-nah. And they have ugly leggings."

Courtesy of G:

"Oh, oh, Raycroft stopped a breakaway! Let's all have a moment of remembrance."

Labels: all-star game, andrej meszaros, daniel alfredsson, dany heatley, drinking games, hockey day in canada, home win, montreal canadiens, patrick eaves, ray emery, toronto maple leafs, win

Some funny hockey clips on the eve before Hockey Day in Canada, courtesy of CBC. During the lockout, Royal Canadian Air Farce put a compilation together of their greatest hockey skits in order to attempt to fill the void. Admittedly, the show has gone a bit downhill over the past few years but it sure as heck was a million times better than "Movie Night in Canada" with Ron McLean. No, I'm totally not making it up. Here are some of my favourites:

Hockey Players and Spitting


Don Cherry's 7-Second Delay


The anthem as done in Anaheim


Queen's Corner


The Postal Strike?


A recent clip from this season. Mario Lemeiux meets with Jim Balsillie.. And lays down the house rules with Sidney Crosby. It's the last clip on the page.

In this edition of "Why I Love My Team"...
I have to say that I love Brent Wallace, the Ottawa correspondent for TSN. He's a very talented and experienced broadcaster and a staple in the Ottawa area. However, perhaps he's getting a little bit too busy as he allowed Chris Neil to interview Antoine Vermette. I never noticed the Jose Theodore similarity before. Stay away from the Propecia, Antoine! And heiresses!

Labels: antoine vermette, brent wallace, chris neil, comedy, humour, miscellaneous, royal canadian air farce

Way to go boys, because I wasn't already an emotional basket-case.

Let me paint a picture for you guys, the boys are up 5-0 by the third period and you figure, "Dang, they're on fire". Two minutes later, the Rangers get their first goal from Petr Prucha and you figure, all right...one goal ain't that bad. It's still a big hill to climb.

And then Jason Ward scores. Then Marcel Hossa. Then Blair Betts. If you'll notice none of them are Senators players. Obviously the momentum shift came with the Ranger's second goal. The crowd at MSG got back into the game and the team obviously fed off of that energy. Perhaps the Rangers were just a little shaky at first after Tom Renney publically threatened to break up with them.

I just wonder what it's like in the dressing room right now. The boys played strong for the first 45 minutes and then the wheels began to came off. Even if they came away with two points, they really can't afford to have another epic meltdown. Frankly, I don't think my heart can take it.

Patrick Eaves, who couldn't buy a goal last week must have cleared his credit because he's potted goals in the past two games for the boys. All of the goals tonight were even-strength tallies as there were only 4 penalties tonight, two a piece for each team. Antoine Vermette, who was back from a hip injury, looked like he didn't miss a beat as he helped with the new Senators' score-by-committee effort. His name is Raaaaaaaaay was solid in net tonight letting in 4 on 42 shots, the last couple of goals he let in were more lapses on the Senators' part. The Rangers were really laying it on in the third period, outshooting the Senators 14-5.

The Senators were kept shotless the rest of the period, and the Rangers left to a chorus of boos. Lundqvist went to the bench to talk to Weekes, and they left the ice side by side, with Weekes offering a shoulder shrug and a negative nod.

Is anyone else concerned about a coup?

In Other News...
- Wade Redden was named the Hardest Working Senator tonight by the Team 1200 with two assists.

- Clear your schedule and load up the beer, Hockey Day in Canada is coming!

- Ever wondered what exactly you learn while working for a [Honours] Bachelor of Commerce? This post at HLOG might answer that question.

Bitter Leaf Fan Encounter of the Day
I surprisingly haven't been given alot of heck for wearing my new Senators' hat around campus since it's become a daily ritual. I get a lot more ribbing from my housemates. However, while buying my morning cuppa joe this morning from the Union Market on campus, the nice lady behind the counter had this to say:

"It's $1.09 but I'm going to charge you $2.00 if you don't take off that hat".

Your coffee ain't that great, lady!

Labels: antoine vermette, blair betts, hockey day in canada, jason ward, marcel hossa, new york rangers, patrick eaves, road win, tom renney, wade redden, win

The mid-season rankings for the 2007 NHL entry draft are up. As expected, Quebec Remparts centre Angelo Esposito is ranked at number one. American winger James Van Riemsdyk who plays on the U.S.A. Under-18 national team is second and Sam Gagner who was on the gold medal winning World Junior Team this year is ranked 3rd.

Full Mid-Season Rankings Here.

I'm not worthy!
Tapeleg over at Jersey's and Hockey Love has a post about some great underrated hockey blogs you guys should know about and I am extremely flattered and honoured that he included this blog as well. I highly encourage you to check out his blog because he has some great insight about the Colorado Avalanche [and the ducks] and some great pictures of jerseys. And I'm not just saying that because he said such nice things about this blog, I've been a reader of his blog even before I started this venture.

Scarlett Ice - Women in hockey blogging doesn’t surprise me. Go to a game, and see how many passionate female fans there are. Even if the NHL is an all male league, there is women’s hockey everywhere. And there are a lot of bloggers who happen to be women. Sherry is one of the best. She follows the Ottawa Senators, and has a great sense of humor (some would say you have to). She also contributes to HLOG (Hockey Ladies of Greatness) and could probably drink you under the table.

To be fair, I am part Russian.

Enforcers! What is it good for?
Andrew Peters finds a part-time job. It sort of fell flat with me, but the bright shining spot was the adorable hyperness of Martin Biron. I love that guy, how can anybody not love him? Especially that he demonstrates to us how the jersey doesn't fit, in case we were wondering.

Labels: 2007 draft, angelo esposito, mid-season rankings, miscellaneous, sam gagner

According to Tim Thomas, the reason why he has had so much success in Scotiabank Place was because of the lighting. He said that the lights were so bright that he could see the puck so much better and that Madison Square Garden was the worst because of all the shadows.

While this confirmed my suspicion that I wasn't the only one who thought that the lighting in MSG could use some work, it sadly wasn't information the Senators could have used to their advantage. Fortunately, they didn't need it as they managed to erase a 2-goal deficit to exorcise The Curse of Thomas.

Really, I didn't know what the heck was going on for the first two periods. It was a bit of a snoozer as both teams barely showed up even though Boston managed to come away with a 2-goal lead, both scored in the first period. I don't know what Bryan Murray did in the locker room in the second intermission but it sure as heck worked as the Senators managed to come back with 5 unanswered. Mike Comrie had a great third period, hustling hard to the net and providing a physical presence that had been lacking from the roster before. His play in the first two periods didn't look promising as he elected to do some '05-'06 Spezza type passing instead of just shooting the puck. He scored the first goal for the Senators and his first goal as a Senator on a gorgeous backhand.

This was an important game for the Senators as they needed their first win against the Bruins and managed to solve Thomas. They really were making him look better than he really was. No disrespect to him, but he's hardly Martin Brodeur. Murray stressed the importance of driving hard to the net instead of always shooting from the perimeter.

The win also helped them up to 5th place in the standings, vaulting ahead of the New York Rangers who lost against the Islanders tonight. The fact that they were able to come back with a spirited effort despite being down two goals after two periods just shows a type of character that perhaps they were lacking before. As many have pointed out, when it seems like the game is away from them, they have the tendency to just sit back and let things be. They haven't felt much need to adjust their game to suit their opponent. Now they have more fight in them because for the past little while they needed to fight. So, if you can't tell already, I couldn't be more pleased.

The game-winning-goal came off the stick of Daniel Alfredsson and Dany Heatley kept his hot streak going by potting the tying goal. Boston, on their part, didn't play their strongest game either. Whatever Murray did in the dressing room, the boys certainly looked like they had a fire lit under them. Boy, were they fortunate because it's hard to come away with a win when you only show up for 20 minutes. But heck, I'll take it.

Around the Hockey World...
- Ian Mendes talks about the Hard Luck Life of Spezza. He brings up some good points and I've noticed the commenters just like to give Mendes a hard time for the sake of giving him a hard time.

- All-Star Game Line-Up Announced

Starting Line Up:

Western Conference
Joe Thornton - Joe Sakic - Jonathan Cheechoo
Scott Niedermayer - Niklas Lidstrom
Roberto Luongo

Eastern Conference
Alexander Ovechkin - Sidney Crosby - Daniel Briere
Sheldon Souray - Brian Campbell
Ryan Miller

Crosby lead all All-Star voting with 825,783 votes. Unfortunately Rory Fitzpatrick did not make it. The rest of the roster will be filled out by the NHL's hockey operations and the other GMs. Crosby and Ovechkin on the same line? Should be electric. If they don't get into a cat fight.

Labels: all-star game, boston bruins, daniel alfredsson, dany heatley, home win, mike comrie, tim thomas

The L.A. Kings were featured on MAD TV this weekend. Ardain wants to learn how to fight like the Kings and not like a girl...isn't that kind of the same thing [zing!]?



Behind the Scenes with the Staal brother's Sportscentre commercial. You'll be glad to know that they can read...for the most part.

Bruins vs. Senators Gameday
I really haven't been great at making game day posts but here goes:

Projected Lines:
Forwards:
Heatley - Kelly - Alfredsson
Schaefer - Comrie - Neil
Eaves - McAmmond - Schubert
Hamel - Hennessy - McGrattan

Defence:
Redden - Meszaros
Volchenkov - Phillips
Corvo - Preissing

Goaltender:
Emery

- Antoine Vermette will sit out of this game with a hip injury. He's aiming for a return on Thursday against the Rangers.

- Josh Hennessy has once again been recalled from Binghamton. In his last call-up he recorded his first NHL goal in a 6-1 win against the Flyers.

- Ottawa is 0-3 against Boston this season.

- Phil Kessel will play his first game with the Bruins tonight after a 2-game rehab stint down in Providence of the AHL. Hannu Toivenen has been called up to back up Tim Thomas

The Bruins have been giving the Senators heck ever since last season. This season, they've outscored them 13-6 and have been 1-6-1 in its last eight games against Boston. Most of it is due to the play of Thomas who has been a pesky thorn in the Senators' side. However, the Senators may have an easier time, at least mentally, against Boston tonight as Zdeno Chara is day-to-day with a "middle body" injury. We're just going all over the equator these days!

With a win tonight, the Senators can break a three-way tie in the Eastern division standings with the Carolina Hurricanes and New York Rangers. All three teams are in action tonight. Carolina is just below the Senators in 7th place and will also be looking for a tie-breaking win against the Leafs tonight while the Rangers are at home to the Islanders.

In Other News...
- The AHL All-Star Roster announced.

- The Frozen Moment on NHL.com tonight is hilarious. It looks like he's bobbing for apples. I suppose it's only appropriate his name is Konstantin PUSHkarev

Labels: boston bruins, game day, injuries, los angeles kings, projected line-ups, roster, staal brothers, standings

A nice article on Ray Emery's emergence as the Senators' saving grace. Contrary to popular belief, he did not in fact go down to the crossroads at the stroke of midnight and make a deal with the devil. Although, I can see why some of you might think he did.

So satanic arts aside, what exactly does account for this guy's development? When the Senators were ousted from the playoffs last season nobody wanted to admit it was because goaltending failed them because Emery was still a rookie and never should have been placed in that situation in the first place. Unless you're Cam Ward, rookie goaltenders don't typically win you a series. And we all know Ward couldn't have sold his soul.

Given that most of those games ended by one goal, it really was the fact that their goaltender didn't steal any games for them, which is simply what you need sometimes when you've got two strong teams that are very similar in many ways. [I mean, discounting the fact that the rest of the team came into the series playing with their noses in the air before it was too late].

I don't know anything about what he did physically over the summer to improve but having that disappointing experience was probably more helpful than it was defeating. As the old cliche goes, you learn more from losing than winning [I also happened to watch D3 with my housemate over the weekend. Shut up! I don't judge you!]. Despite the lingering bitterness of Ottawa once again being eliminated early, it was probably the best thing that could have happened for Emery. He knew he was capable of playing great hockey and he knew he could either sit back and prove the naysayers right that he simply wasn't good enough to be anything more than media fodder, or he could believe that he could do better.

After Old Man Hasek went down he had no choice but to up his game and that in itself gave him the confidence to show the team what he could do. At that point, he had already been in management's dog house with tales of cockroach eating, tattoos and a penchant for Mike Tyson themed masks. As much as I resent Hasek and his paper-mache crotch, I think having that experience as serving as his back-up was helpful as well. Hasek's a bit of a nut bar too, so they probably got along great.

Signing Martin Gerber was probably great for his development too. Emery is obviously a fierce competitor and he wasn't about to just sit back and take it. Having a little bit of competition between your goaltenders is always a good thing to have because it demonstrates that these guys have a passion to play and a belief that they can help out the team. Gerber's signing also helped to relieve some pressure off of him. Since everybody slated Gerber to be the number one, Emery could quietly work on improving his game and then coming in to blow them out of the water when called upon. Sort of like a sneaky mafia underling that somehow works his way up to head honcho. And we all know how gangsta' Emery is.

It really is a sign of maturity that he's able to put the crazy antics aside and just let his play do the talking. However, he's still good for the odd Hasek impression or crazy looking suit. I love that he's a big ball of weird, although I can understand why John Muckler wouldn't given that he was born before World War II. It's nice to see that he's still got an eccentric side to him because apparently weird goalies are a dying breed. For Christmas, he asked his parents for a three foot ball python. The guy makes over $900,000 bucks and he still asked his parents. I don't know if that's cute or somewhat sad.

Martin Brodeur also approves:

"I like him," Brodeur says. "He's an athletic goalie, and you don't see a lot of that these days. Guys just drop down in the butterfly all the time.

"From what I know of him, he's a competitor, he loves to battle. When you have a horse like that, you have to run with him."

TUC talks about Emery possibly going to the All-Star game. I think she's bang on in that I'm sure Sens nation would be tickled pink to see him go. I really think he deserves it given how far he's come but I too worry about his overall health. His recovery from a wrist injury was slightly rushed because the team was more or less sucking at the time. His workload isn't going to get any easier from here on in either and the Memories of Hasek at the Olympics just ring too true. Maybe they can just give him a commemorative plaque or something.

Although unlike her, I really very much do not want to hear Muckler sweet talking Emery.

Unfortunate Moments in Photography...
I love hockey photography. I love taking pictures of the game and capturing the moment. However, it's simply hard to look very pretty whenever you're playing sports and that's why in all pictures of figure skaters doing jumps, their faces look something akin to giving birth. Josh Hennessy scored his first NHL goal yesterday and he looks absolutely terrified.



"Is it me? Or is it getting 'Dany Heatley' in here?"
Heatley Named one of the Three Stars of the Week - Go Heater!

Labels: dany heatley, dominik hasek, josh hennessy, martin gerber, photography, ray emery, three stars

And the world was as it should be.

After a matinee loss against the Devils yesterday, clearly the anecdote to help with the Senators' confidence was a matinee meeting with the Flyers. Even if they were the bottom feeders of the division, the Senators have always had it in tough with the Flyers. Not to mention back-to-back games are never easy and it was the Gerber Baby starting in net today.

Scotiabank Place hasn't been a great place for the Swiss Cheese this season as he hasn't yet registered a home win. He wasn't challenged all that much today but still played a solid game, stopping 20 of 21 shots.

Today's afternoon game served as somewhat of a confidence booster for some other Senators players asides from Gerber. Joe Corvo registered a goal after games contemplating whether or not he should be moved up as forward. No thanks, we already have one forward with a penchant for turning the puck over. Josh Hennessy appearing in his 8th game with the big club since being called up also registered his first goal. Who would have thought that the Senators would play so well without their top three centres. The boys are really playing by committee now and working really well as a unit.

Dany Heatley seems to be surviving okay without his best buddy Jason Spezza. He scored two goals and an assist today. In attendance at this game was Dan Snyder's parents, Graham and Lu Ann as part of their NHL tour, raising money for the Dan Snyder Memorial Foundation.

To be honest, the goal Gerber let in was a softie that came on a failed poke check on his part. However, given that the rest of the team played very strong it at least helps his confidence for him to finally get a W at home. He's capable of being a bona fide number one goalie but his confidence has never recovered from being ousted by Cam Ward during the playoffs last year. I sort of blame the coach for putting him in even though he had the flu and was throwing up in between periods. There, I said it, Peter Laviolette broke our goalie. [Just kidding, I love Laviolette]

Thanks for your help! - After their win today, the Senators returned Hennessy back to Binghamton. They sent him back down after their win against Buffalo too but then called him back up. Maybe we need him in the line-up to win.

The Comrie Effect - After an impressive debut, the high of coming to a new team must have subsided because Mike Comrie was not as much of a factor today as he was two nights ago, being kept off the scoresheet today.

Buffalo Debut - I may check out the boys take on the Sabres during reading week on February 22nd. More details to come.

Labels: dan snyder, dany heatley, graham and lu ann snyder, home win, josh hennessy, martin gerber, mike comrie, peter laviolette, philadelphia flyers, win

...then again, you're already devils, so that might be a little redundant.

The Devils came into Scotiabank Place and had to spoil the little Senators party they had going on after putting together a great win streak despite missing their top forwards. They also weren't shy to admit that they were looking for a little revenge after their last visit to Scotiabank Place where the Senators shellacked them 8-1.

Then again, you can't expect too much with a team that has Martin Broduer in net. The Senators tried their darndest, managing 35 shots on goal but just couldn't beat Brodeur. On the other end Ray Emery made 26 saves and had a solid game as well. Bryan Murray said in the post-game conference that they tried to play a trap-type game and be opportunistic. Which to me seems a little bit odd. I mean, you want to beat Jersey at playing a trap game? That's like trying to beat Sean Avery at being a jackass.

I'm sorry, I'm not usually that mean. Sorry Avery! Not that he cares.

Christoph Schubert and Patrick Eaves ended point droughts tonight and Dany Heatley was kept off the scoresheet this afternoon. Chris Neil added five hits to his league-leading total and Anton Volchenkov had six blocked shots. Dean McAmmond is actually proving that the Senators should keep him around as he also registered an assist. However, Andrej Meszaros is having the very definition of a sophomore slump as his play has been very inconsistent this season. He turned the puck over for Jersey's third goal and was a -3 on the night. Typically I would have said this guy was untouchable given the monster season he had last year, but despite the turnovers he also needs to learn how to control his temper. He's amassed quite a number of major penalties and game misconducts already this season and called Adam Mair a (bleeper) [Bruce Garrioch's edit, not mine] after they got into a tussle last game.

So I have no idea what the Senators are trying to do to their home fans since their record at the bank is now 9-9-1 and they only lost 9 regulation games at home last season. Maybe Pizza Pizza just got sick of giving away free pizza all the time but were too embarrassed to tell anybody.



It's a Momentous Occasion!: I didn't even notice this until now, but this marks my 104th post! Sweet, sweet 100. Thanks for all of your dedicated readership and for shamefully encouraging this vicious habit. Thanks guys!

Labels: andrej meszaros, anthon volchenkov, chris neil, christoph schubert, home loss, loss, martin brodeur, new jersey devils, panic metre, patrick eaves, sean avery

Wade Redden offering Team Canada some words of encouragement at the World Juniors. And they certainly did not disappoint. Is it weird that I "awww"ed when I saw this? Redden himself played in the World Juniors for Team Canada in 1995 and 1996, winning the gold both times.

With Canada taking an early 4-0 lead it looked like this game was in the bag. However, credit the Russians for never giving up as they pretty much controlled the game from the second period on.

The nation can take a breather now and we can all collectively get back to our lives and stop sneaking a peak at the TSN broadband stream when the boss wasn't looking. This was an exciting game from start to finish and it was a little bit disheartening to see Canada letting Russia take it to them but during the medal ceremony I was absolutely bursting with patriotic love, especially seeing all of those Canadian fans in the stands. Also, envy. How the heck do you guys get to be there and I have to be stuck in class!

The best part was seeing and hearing the boys during the national anthem. Singers these boys are not. When the camera reached Luc Bourdon, I was disappointed to see that he wasn't singing but then had an inappropriate moment when he winked at the camera and I actually uttered the words "That's hot". I think I need some sort of time-out for that.

The Carey Price fan clubs are springing up fast and furious as he was named both tournament MVP and best goalie. To see the development of this guy was incredible. His maturity and poise is evident although he still has a tinge of boyhood to him as he was describing his overwhelming need to puke during the shoot-out in their game against Team U.S.A.

Thank you boys. You've done the country proud!

Fun and Miscellaneous
TSN has a nice retrospective of the Canada vs. Russia Rivalry

- Senators defenseman Anthon Volchenkov remembers the World Juniors quite fondly:

Volchenkov scored the game-winning goal in a 5-4 victory for Russia in [the World Junior championships] four years ago.

“It was real exciting but we still had 11 minutes to play (after he scored),” Volchenkov recalls. “After the final whistle, I was pretty happy. That’s probably my biggest goal so far.”

- Ottawa prospects Ilya Zubov and Vitali Anikeyenko suited up for Team Russia. Brian Lee won a bronze with Team U.S.A...but was not really a factor otherwise.

- Buy your tickets for the 2009 World Juniors in Ottawa!

In Other News...
List of NHLPA Team Player Reps - Chris Phillips and Mike Fisher are reps for the Senators with Redden and Daniel Alfredsson already sitting on the executive committee.

Labels: anton volchenkov, carey price, gold medal, luc bourdon, reflection, wade redden, win, world juniors

CANADA WINS GOLD AT WORLD JUNIORS!

Tournament Awards

Most Valuable Player - Carey Price, G, Canada

All-star team

Goaltender: Carey Price, Canada

Defencemen: Erik Johnson, U.S., Kristopher Letang, Canada.

Forward: Alexei Cherepanov, Russia; Patrick Kane, U.S.; Jonathan Toews, Canada.

IIHF Best Player Awards

Goaltender: Carey Price, Canada

Defenceman: Erik Johnson, U.S.

Forward: Alexei Cherepanov, Russia

Labels: championship, gold medal, world juniors

You know that blog contested I posted about weeks ago held by The Score.ca?

Well here is the information. And guess what? The deadline's tomorrow. Or in two minutes depending on where you are. Yeah I know, I'm brilliant.

So if you guys are in the market for a 30 GB Video iPod and feel like contributing to The Score.ca, you should check it out.

And I didn't enter myself. I don't know how to sell myself and my smack talk could use some a lot of work.

School Might Not Suck This Semester!
This semester I am taking an Economics of Professional Sports course, analyzing the economics that goes into running a professional sports league. It seems interesting and the best part includes special guest speakers in the form of well-known Canadian Sportswriters Jeff Blair, Steve Milton and "Searching for Bobby Orr" authour, Stephen Brunt. If you guys have any general dorky questions you guys want me to ask them, let me know. I know I'll have more than enough of my own if I can somehow find my courage to actually speak to people that...generally intimidate me. Think they can get me a job?

Labels: blog, contests, the score

There's something about meeting the Buffalo Sabres for the Ottawa Senators. It seems like everytime that they meet, I end up freaking out and debating whether or not I actually want to take in this game because it could end up being a mess. Maybe it's just lingering feelings from the playoff elimination, but the Senators have had surprising success with the division leaders this season.

Dany Heatley had a hat trick and an assist to end off the night, continuing his success against the Sabres. Newest Senator, Mike Comrie passed the physical and had everything sorted out in time to be added to the roster tonight and was actually quite a factor. He notched two assists in his debut and created some great plays and it seemed like he worked very hard to win battles. Comrie also saw some quality powerplay time with Heatley.

Truth be told, the Senators totally wasn't there for the first period, being out-shot 19-7. Ray Emery was once again there to bail out his team and was again named first star of the game. Unfortunately his shutout bid was denied when Paul Gaustad scored in the third period. The Senators had a cushy 4-0 lead going into the third and did sit back a little bit, but did manage to regain a 5-goal lead with a tally by Peter Schaefer on a gorgeous breakaway. Chris Neil could have fattened that lead but was stoned by Ryan Miller who had a 30 save effort.

Starting from the second period, the Senators played one of their strongest games this season. Their defensive play has cause for concern as there was 8 turnovers on their part in the first period and the fast flying Sabres team frankly had too much room than I was comfortable with. Their offensive play had considerably improved with Comrie setting up a lot of quality scoring chances. Him and Tom Preissing had alot of chemistry together, with Comrie setting up his second period goal. Preissing and Comrie also assisted on Wade Redden's third tally marker.

I was skeptical about Comrie but I was impressed with his play tonight. His turn in Phoenix was not anything to write home about he did manage seven goals and 13 assists in 24 games. With injuries to Jason Spezza and Mike Fisher, the other guys on the team are expected to step-up and log more minutes. However, once Spezza and Fisher, it'll be interesting to see how Comrie produces with less minutes. Chris Kelly also had one of his strongest games showing good hustle however it is still glaringly obvious he works more effectively as a defensive centre rather than an offensive playmaker. I wouldn't mind more of this effort from the boys, although once again they sort of took their foot off the gas by letting the Sabres come back and score. At least everybody at Scotiabank Place got free pizza.

Fight! Fight! Fight!
- No shortage of rough stuff tonight as the Sabres tried to get their team riled up with a fight between Gaustad and Chris Neil.

- Despite scoring a goal tonight, Jason Pominville had a brutal shift with a number of giveaways, one of which lead to a goal by Schaefer.

- Serge Payer was a healthy scratch to make way for Comrie. Interestingly enough the Senators are 5-0-1 since losing Spezza. The way the boys have tightened up their game since losing some of their most important players make me feel very proud.

- Henrik Tallinder left the game in the second with an injury to his leg and didn't return. He took a check from Heatley and fell awkwardly.

- Canada's Facing Russia at the World Junior's Gold Medal Game. This one was a real nail-biter as it was 1-1 at the end of regulation. Canada was outshot 12-2 during Overtime due to a Canada penalty and they were frankly extremely lucky to come out of this with the win. Carey Price and Jonathan Toews were the heroes in the shootout with Toews going 3-0 in the shootout and Price stoning Peter Mueller to win it for Canada. There may have been some controversy about a potential U.S. goal during sudden death but it was determined that the puck did not cross the line.

The gold medal game against Russia will be broadcasted on January 5th on TSN at 12:30 p.m. Here's a Senators connection; Senators' defenseman Anton Volchenkov was the captain of the Russian Junior team the last time Russia beat Canada for the gold at the world Junior's. Russia is also undefeated in the tournament and Canada will definitely be playing their hardest game yet.

All in all, a good day for hockey. In my humble opinion.

In The Words of a Former Leafs Fan...
When my mother asked my brother why he wasn't into hockey anymore he responded as such:

Because the Toronto Maple Leafs killed all of my interest

See how the Leafs hurt hockey fans?

The Ceremony: I've been sort of quiet about Steve Yzerman's jersey retirement ceremony which may cause many people to wonder since he is admittedly my favourite player of all time. The truth is, I felt the ceremony in general was way too long. The only moments that mattered to me was seeing his banner go up and his speech. His speech just embodied everything that everybody had said about him: class. I loved the fact that he just seemed that twinge nervous and truly surprised and humbled by all of the adoration and attention he was receiving. I loved that he thanked the Ducks players for being there and sharing that day with him, and even acknowledged the fact that they were in fact the best team in the league right now. As deserving as he is of all the fuss they made, I felt like a simpler ceremony would have been just as apt.

Labels: buffalo sabres, dany heatley, hat trick, mike comrie, tom preissing, wade redden, win, world juniors

Remember when Pavol Demitra played for the Ottawa Senators? In fact, he was drafted by them in 1993 in the 9th round, 227 overall. Apparently my brother does because while helping him sort through his ridiculously large mass of hockey cards over the holidays I discovered that he has not one, not two, but three of the same Demitra hockey cards from the '93-'94 season.

That's understandable though. You buy more than one pack of those cards you're bound to get at least three of the same. Admittedly though he had a rather unmemorable career with the Senators and was up and down between the big club and their AHL affiliate which was the Prince Edward Island Senators at the time. Now I'm not a Demitra expert like some people so you'll excuse me if my information is shoddy. In 59 games with the big club he had 12 goals and 14 assists although he did considerably better during his tenure in Prince Edward Island. Then the Senators gave up on him, he went to play for St. Louis and then all of a sudden he's a stud and the Senators were all "Dang, guess we better buy some flowers and chocolate and say we're sorry, huh?" But they never did.

The 1993 draft for the Ottawa Senators must be a dark day in its history as the club had the first overall pick that year and was all "Chris Pronger? Paul Kariya? Pass. Give me Alexander Daigle! He's got such pretty hair." Hindsight is 20/20 though as to be fair to them, Daigle had a monster season in the QMJHL before he was drafted, amassing 137 points in only 53 games. I think the Senators' drafting and development program has considerably improved since then although they're getting screwed for it cause of the salary cap. But that's another rant for another day.

Joe Corvo does his best Manny Legace impression - I've always appreciated this guy's honesty, but I would have drawn the line at actually telling the world you're not very good.

Senators lose out on claiming Nedved - Frankly I'm a little relieved because when I think of him all I see is -20 flashing in my brain.

Jeff Hereema and Serge Payer sent back down to Binghamton - This is potentially good news as it could mean the Senators sick bay is slowly emptying out. Jason Spezza is expected back skating tomorrow and Mike Fisher could also be skating as soon as the weekend. Neither expect to be back until after the All-Star Break though.

His name is Raaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay is the NHL's first star of the week. Razor had a 0.66 goals-against-average and a 0.977 save percentage, good for 2 shutouts. Good for you, man! Now get some rest before you run yourself ragged.

WHAT THE [expletive]?! - Dang it John Muckler you're full of surprises. I don't know whether to be frightened or pleased. I mean it was obvious Alexei Kaigorodov wasn't going to suit up for the Senators in this lifetime, but I'm frankly not sure how to feel about Mike Comrie.

Silly Admin Business - I thought about changing the layout of this place and then realized that I absolutely hate editting with the new blogger so just decided to stick with this look for awhile, but did give it a new header. Given that this blog is fairly new, I don't think a makeover is due until it is at least one years old. Don't want to start them on that path too early.

Labels: 1993 draft, injuries, joe corvo, NHL stars of the week, Pavol Demitra, Petr Nedved, ray emery

A strong outing by the boys in their first game of the new year. The boys hosted the Atlanta Thrashers in a matinee game at Scotiabank Place and mounted a very strong effort against former Senators golden boy Marian Hossa. Despite falling short in the points department, the fans have got to be pretty satisfied with this effort as the boys played a very complete game.

The Senators' sick bay has got to be overflowing now as Peter Schaefer and Antoine Vermette both left with "lower body injuries" in their game against Toronto on Saturday. However, Schaefer managed to play today, even notching an assist on Tom Preissing's equalizing goal that forced OT.

Scoring is noticeably down for the boys with key players in Jason Spezza and Mike Fisher being out. Both of the Sens goals today came on the Power Play, which might cause some slight concern for their play five-on-five but it's not like they were without some great scoring chances. Ottawa had 35 shots on goal and were it not for the great play of Kari Lehtonen, perhaps the outcome could have been very different. Ray Emery had another strong outing stopping 26 of 29 shots, although did come up short in OT. The game winning goal came on a delayed penalty to Joe Corvo who tried, and tried but just couldn't stop Slava Kozlov on a breakaway.

That's two games in a row that the Senators have been down 2-1 and managed to mount a comeback with very little time left. With alot of their key players out with injuries, it's nice to see the boys doing the little things right and playing alot more cautiously. It doesn't make for especially fancy hockey, but what's important is the win at the end of the day. There's been a considerable change in their work ethic as now they have a bit of a fire under their butts. Hopefully it can continue when they got all of their healthy bodies back.

Things of Note...
- An Atlanta goal late in the third was waved off because it was ruled Emery was pushed into the net by Jason Krog.

- The Sens called up Jeff Hereema and Serge Payer from Binghamton but only Payer played. Josh Hennessy who was called up to replace Fisher had a very strong outing although was kept off the scoresheet.

- Petr Nedved will save us all. In 21 games with Philly he's a minus 20 with one goal and six assists. While I suppose it's better than nothing, I'm a little bit frightened of that minus 20...or anybody that's deemed not good enough to play in Philly.

- Canada Loses in Spengler Cup Final Due to [Damn] Pogge - I didn't see the game but apparently it was a gaffe of Ty Conklin proportions.

- I forgot to add that I saw Shaun Majumder from "This Hour Has 22 Minutes" at the game on Saturday at the Air Canada Centre. Unfortunately, he was there just as a fan and not Raj Binder. He was wearing a fedora and he was right behind me as we were leaving the building. I was going to go say "hi" and ask for a picture...but it seemed a little bit awkward. I'm not outgoing enough to do that.

New Years Resolutions for the Sens - Consistent and complete 60-minute effort for every game. I've been beating the same drum, playing the same record...some other metaphor relating to repeating the same damn thing over and over again...the boys tend to leave things on cruise control after taking a lead. Everybody's been talking about how unpredictable the "new" NHL is so how about we not pretend we didn't get the memo. Like in real life, on some nights, simply relying on the fact that you're pretty just doesn't cut it.

New Years Resolutions for Sens Fans [Mainly me] - Have some more faith. Show some more support. Learn how to smack talk properly. Try not to panic prematurely, that's what the panic metre is for.

Labels: atlanta thrashers, injuries, overtime loss, spengler cup, trades, waivers