Yes, that's what I am, a stupid idiot!! I deviate a little from my long term plan and bench Salo, thinking that he isn't going to play well considering that he's getting over the flu and tonsilitis, and Minnesota can be an unpredictable high scoring team.
And Edmonton wins 5-1!!! Salo has a .966 SV%!! ARGH!!!! Now I really don't know what to do. My original plan was to bench Salo yesterday and today since he's against Vancouver, and play Luongo tonight against Detroit.
When Salo sucks, he really sucks, and against a team like Vancouver, it could be deadly. My SV% has taken more than enough hits from his slump as of late. But when he's good, he's really good, so he might do a good job against the Canucks tonight, if he's actually starting a streak now and last night wasn't just some weird aberration. Besides, Edmonton has lost to Vancouver so many times, they're about due for a break.
Any opinions? Should I start Luongo or Salo? Or bench both of 'em?
Well, according to my handy-dandy NHL 2003 box calendar: "The time-honored tradition of players raising their sticks after scoring a goal was actually a league policy initiated in 1947. Montreal's Billy Reay was the first to do so in a 5-2 win over Chicago." Now, I wonder why it would be a league policy to raise your stick after scoring?
Maybe so the scorekeeper would be better able to tell who had scored? If that's the case, was there a policy that no one other than the scorer could raise his stick after the goal? I mean, in the NHL now pretty much everyone around the net for the scoring team raises his stick after a goal.
Ah well, whatever the reason, it's an interesting fact to know.
Even though Sakic wasn't playing, I was still glued to the screen tonight. Forsberg's aerial cross-crease pass was something else!! He's pretty darn cool. I'm thinking about adding another player to my favourites list now!
Actually, all of the goals were quite pretty tonight. Reinprecht's was extremely cool--kind of reminded me of Sundin's against Calgary (?). ^_^ And I'm glad for Tanguay too, especially since he was off to such a slow start. Hopefully he'll keep playing as well as he did tonight. Makes me wonder if I should've picked him up instead of Parrish or Conroy. =Þ Ah well, as long as those two are fairly consistent, I'm not going to be in a hurry to make any more changes.
I rather wish that Toronto had played a better game, though I'm glad for Roy. Speaking of whom, I haven't really heard Roy talk all that much, but I was quite impressed with what he had to say in the post-game interview. Unlike a lot of player's he spoke clearly and coherently. Plus I thought it was kind of cute/sweet how he said he felt like he was back to one, starting fresh again after his 1000th game.
Oh, and on the satellite hotstove they mentioned that Yzerman said that he'll definitely be playing this season, although he doesn't konw if it'll be for twenty games, or ten. For the sake of the pool, I hope it's earlier, although not if it'd be at the sake of his health. ^^;;
Toronto fans can be pretty harsh, huh? (Sorry, I'm jumping around a lot.) They were really booing loudly. =( Three nothing isn't that bad, especially considering that it's Colorado. Maybe I could understand the booing if it was the Buffalo game...
...that I correctly predicted the goalie situations for yesterday? See, Florida has home-and-home games with Carolina, and since they were in Carolina yesterday, I figured that they would probably start Luongo for that game, and possibly start Hurme for today's game. I was debating whether or not I should abandon my long term plan and start Luongo instead of Salo. Even though Salo was going against Phoenix, I had a feeling that he would let in a lot of goals. I decided to ignore my gut and do the sensible thing by leaving Salo in, though. ^^;; Sometimes it sucks being right.
Argh!!! Salo is really testing the limits of my patience here! He let in 5/21 shots?!? That's SO sucky!! I knew I should've gone with Luongo...He didn't win either, but at least his SV% was decent. ::grumble grumble:: What is Salo's problem? If he doesn't stop sucking soon I'm going to die in the pool!
On the plus side, Conroy got a point on his first day on my team, and so did Parrish, which is nice. I don't imagine that they'll keep it up, but every little bit helps when you lose two contributing people from your team.
In other news, Belfour came back tonight, and it wasn't a very impressive return. ^^;; Buffalo got four goals off of him before he got pulled for Tellqvist. Ouch. What a sad way to lose, 4-0 to Buffalo.
Geh! Just when I was starting to believe that all I'd have to do in the hockey pool is decide who to bench and who to play, TWO people get injured!
I found out about Brind'Amour last night, and at first I figured there wasn't any huge rush to replace him, but then today I found out that he was definitely getting surgery and that he'd be out for the rest of the season. =( It's pretty sad for me because I liked Brind'Amour. I mean, maybe he hasn't been as productive as he was at the start of the season, but he was fairly reliable.
Not only that, but Sakic's ankle is injured again, and he's going to be out a couple of weeks!! Almost makes me wonder if it was a good thing that I didn't manage to get tickets to the Avs @ Leafs game this weekend... But no, I'd want to see the Avs anyway, even though I'd be incredibly sad that Sakic wasn't playing. =*( My poor Sakic!!
So yeah, now I have to try to pick up one or two players to fill the gap. ::sigh:: I hate having to make changes on my team, especially since I still don't really know all that much about the various players.
The only good news in hockey this week (other than the great new Hockey News look) is that I'm going to be buying the "Avs Around Town" calendar. It's black and white with photos of the Avs players in regular clothes at various Colorado landmarks. ^_^ Proceeds from the calendar sales go to the Colorado Avalanche Community Fund. It's only $15 US, plus $5 US shipping and handling, since I don't live in Colorado and I can't just go to the Pepsi Center to pick one up. I'm planning on waking up early so I can go to the bank before class and get a money order!! Hooray! I can't wait!
Well, bad news is the Leafs lost. The saddest 22 seconds I've experienced in a while, =( especially since I was so excited when Kaberle (I was reading the Hockey News and looked up when I heard "Kaberle") made the pass for Mogilny (apparently affectionately known as "Al Mo" in the dressing room) to score. Even worse, it was Tellqvist's first start! I really wanted him to get a win on his first start! In my scrapbook (which I still haven't caught up on ^^;;) there's an article from before the start of the season talking about Tellqvist's adjustment to the NHL, and I wrote something along the lines of "poor guy, wonder how he'll do this season" next to it. So yeah, I've kind of been rooting for him since before the start of the season, even though I didn't really think he'd get a chance to play apart from the preseason.
The good news is that I got my Hockey News today (a day earlier than usual) and the new format is awesome!! With the smaller size and staples, it's so much more convenient to read! I remember I was reading last week's issue lying in my bed, and it was totally awkward because it was so tall, and the pages kept slipping out while I was turning pages. The new ink is great for providing both an ink-rubbing-off free read, and more vibrant colours. Oh, and I love the nifty little graphics they've got for a lot of the stats now. So yeah, big thumbs up for the Hockey News! The new format is more sleek and convenient, and it's got just as much info!!
I'm so glad for Tellqvist! Before the season started I remember reading some articles about how he had had a difficult time adjusting to playing in the NHL so he wasn't ready to be a back-up goalie last year, and I really wondered how he'd fare this year. ^_^ Must be a nice memory, to have your very first official game in the NHL be recorded as a win. He seems like a nice guy too, I mean, he thanked Antropov for giving him the win!
In other news, Luongo got another shut out, and again I had him benched!! Argh. Salo wasn't even playing for the Oilers tonight, Markkanen was!! Very frustrating. But I'm going to stick with my long term plan and only play Luongo when Salo isn't playing and Florida is against a relatively low scoring team. Salo's a good goaltender, and Edmonton is the better team. ::sigh:: I do wish that Luongo would start doing poorly or that Salo would start streaking again, though, for peace of mind.
Actually I wasn't paying too much attention to the games tonight, because I was busy working on an entry for an art contest on a forum I frequent. The theme is "world cultural costumes" and I went with Canadian rather than Chinese culture so you can guess what my entry was about. =Þ Well, actually you don't have to guess since you can check out my picture here.
I'm really proud of the way the logos turned out, especially the Team Canada one! ^_^ I thought the Senator's logo would be the hardest, but actually the Canucks' one was because of the multiple colour borders on the image, as well as the detailing.
Wow, I don't watch hockey for a while, and when I finally watch again, the Leafs win and Sundin has a beaut of a gamewinner to boot!! Maybe it's a sign that I should be watching hockey? I mean, I'm being welcomed back so nicely. =Þ Just kidding!
Anyway, it really was a nifty goal. I can't describe it well, but Sundin took a drop pass from Antropov then just kind of stepped around the defenseman (Lydman?) and shot it into the top shelf (is that the right term?). Geh. Like I said, I can't describe it well, I'm just trying to remember as much as I can from all the commentary I've heard about the goal.
I think I've watched it at least five times between the time it was scored and the end of the game: first when Sundin scored and then during all the replays! Each time I watched it I was equally impressed. I haven't seen such a pretty goal in a while. The last one that I saw was probably that Kapanen goal, and that was more pretty for all the skillful passing that preceded it than for the actual shot itself, y'know?
Wow, looks like everyone was just going crazy shooting tonight! Well, everyone except for the Leafs maybe, who once again got outshot. -_-; Too bad they had Kidd and not Belfour in there, maybe it would've made a difference--5-1 for the Rangers!! Ouch!
Other scores from tonight: Mon 4- Cgy 2; Atl 7-Phi 4; Was 4 - NYI 3; Det 5 - Chi 4; NJ 6 - Fla 2. Ick. Whatever happened to 1-0 games? Maybe I'm in a minority, but I actually liked it when there were low scoring games--well, as long as there were lots of good chances. I mean, there's nothing more suspenseful than to be well through the third period without a single goal; you know that the first team to score will have a good chance of winning!
My preference for lower scores might also have something to do with my admiration for goalies. Goalies are probably my favourite players on a whole, so I hate seeing them beaten or making costly mistakes.
Speaking of goalies, I sure hope Columbus takes a lot more shots, because right now Salo is at an amazingly horrible 333!! One save, and two goals. Eek! He's still winning, but if he doesn't make some more saves, my SV% is going to do a nosedive and I'll probably end up back in second or third last in the category again! @_@
Oh, and as a random fact, I started a hockey thread in a forum that I've been frequenting recently, and it's cool because I've been meeting lots of other Canadian and non-Canadian hockey fans. ^_^ I love being able to talk hockey with people! As someone mentioned recently, I talk about it even more than anime because there are more people to talk about it with!
It's pretty funny how my ears and eyes are trained to seek out any signs of hockey, though. Today when I was teaching in a grade five class, one of the kids mentioned that he plays hockey and I was immediately on the alert. Then on the front page of the GTA section in the Toronto Star today there was a picture taken in Humber Bay Park. About 80% of the picture showed trees and the sky, while in the bottom 20% you could see that the iced over pond, with two guys (just tiny silhouettes) on it. Naturally my first thought was: "Are those guys playing hockey?" A closer inspection of the picture and caption proved my guess right, but I thought it was pretty interesting that I saw it as a hockey picture first and foremost. =Þ
So even though I haven't been watching as much hockey as before lately, I think I can safely say that I'm just as passionate about it as ever!
I was in the Chapters yesterday and I skimmed a book of Canadian jokes and read an amusing joke. It's not word-for-word since I don't have that great of a memory, but I think I can still relate the gist of it, so here goes:
Satan welcomed a Torontonian to Hell one day, asking with a grin: "So what do you think? Hot enough for 'ya?"
"This is nothing," the Torontonian replied. "It's just like a summer day in Toronto."
Well, Satan thought, this certainly won't do, and so he went to turn up the heat twenty degrees and coming back to the man he asked:" How about that?"
The man smiled and shrugged, clearly not bothered. Irritated, Satan turned up the heat yet again. Still the man didn't seem to be showing any signs of discomfort. Then Satan had an idea!
He brought the temperature as far down as it could go--the Lake of Fire even froze over! Looking over to where the man was, he saw the man jumping and yelling. Well this looked promising, so Satan went closer to more fully enjoy the man's suffering. But as he got closer, Satan was able to make out the man's not anguished, but triumphant yells: "The Maple Leafs have won the Stanley Cup! The Maple Leafs have won the Stanley Cup!"
Naturally it read a lot better in the book, but I just loved the whole idea of it, so I had to share it, even if I did a poor job of it! Most of the hockey jokes in the book seemed to be Leaf (and Leaf fan) jokes, actually, although there were a few about the Senators and the Canadiens. =Þ
It's been a while since I last wrote, so I thought I should explain briefly what's been going on with me (non-hockey related). First this holiday was really busy going out with people, having people come over and whatnot. Then this week I've been trying to be a more diligent student because I didn't do very well first term. So the former kind of explains why I haven't been posting too frequently recently, and the latter why I might not be posting as much as I used to.
Anyway, my suitemate got me the NHL 2003 desk calendar which has an interesting fact everyday, so I wanted to share the little piece of trivia that I learned on Monday:
"It's tought to get a penalty on a penalty shot, but Calgary's Joe Mullen managed to do just that on March 28, 1987. Awarded a free pass against the Los Angeles kings, Mullen thought he had done his job when he scored. However, the Kings came up with their best save when they demanded a measurement of Mullen's stick. When the referee determined it to be illegal, Mullen's goal was disallowed and he was given a two-minute penalty."
Interesting, isn't it? I would never have thought og that happening myself!
In other random news, my goaltending stats are not doing so great right now, unfortunately. My SV% is now only the second highest, and I haven't been getting too many wins recently. Boourns. Well, at least I've seen some improvement in my forwards stats since I got Forsberg and Sakic came back. Gagne and Kapanen are now pretty much permanent benchers. @_@ I wouldn't have thought Gagne would turn out that way...
Since I haven't been getting the paper daily while I'm at home (unlike in res) I haven't really been keeping up with the news, particularly hockey news. Luckily I have alert friends, though, because there's this awesome article in the Toronto Star today by Rosie DiManno about "superior posteriors". If you remember, Ms. DiManno was also the author of an article about Bryan McCabe which talked a lot about his behind, and which used to be my favourite article. So today she's written an article all about the backsides of Leafs, and I have a new favourite article! ^_~
If my friend hadn't posted a message about the article in the hockey pool I would've missed the article, and that would've been a real shame! Now if only it wasn't snowing so much, I'd go out and buy the Star today, just for that article! It's so good, you have to read it!! In fact, here's the link. So go! Read it now!! I think I'm even going to go read it again!! =3
Well, 2002 ended very well for me in terms of hockey related stuff. The Leafs beat the Canucks!!! =Þ Hehehe. When my brother told me the score was 5-3, I assumed that the Leafs lost 5-3, but then I checked the score and was pleasantly surprised. Maybe it was because I wasn't watching? I think I might be a jinx... ^^;;
The Canadian World Junior team also won, meaning that they get a bye into the semi-finals!! Woohoo!! I'm REALLY REALLY hoping that we take the gold this year! (Debating whether it'd be a good idea for me to watch the semis and the finals, considering the possibility of my jinxing things.)
And this is probably the BEST part. ^_^ My friend Matthias got me a Leafs away jersey!!! =D He was pretty surprised that I said that adult medium would be the best size for me, considering that he was looking at the kids sizes, but I did try on an adult small, and it didn't leave a lot of extra space when I was wearing one of my bigger hooded sweatshirts, so... Now I just have to find a good place to get it personalized. I'm pretty sure that I still want Kaberle, just to be original if nothing else. Hope he doesn't get traded anytime soon though. ^^;; I was thinking it might be safer to get Sundin or Mogilny, but Kaberle is my favourite Leaf, so it'd make more sense to get his name, and it'd show that I'm kind of different in my tastes--I'm sure there are tons of Sundin and Mogilny jerseys out there.
Some friends and I were at Matthias' place for New Years, and we got in a couple of games of NHL 2002 before we did the countdown thing. My friend Syv and I played as Team Canada and we beat Finland too. =Þ So that was the end of 2002. The start of 2003 was pretty darn good too. We stayed over until 4am still playing NHL 2002. The shootout mode is pretty fun! I didn't actually play because my eyes were going weird from watching everyone else play for so long, but we saw some pretty funny attempts. Matt accidentally shot as soon as he got the puck one time, and a few times people confused themselves so much by spinning that they ended up simply dropping the puck or shooting it behind them! Then there were the times when a friend either didn't realize she was the goalie or she didn't know what she was doing, so she ended up wandering out of the net to give away an easy goal! Sorry, you guys probably aren't seeing the humour in this; it was one of those "had to be there" things, I guess.
Also, in the world of NHL hockey, Forsberg got six points in the game against the Predators today (Jan. 1--technically yesterday)!! One goal, and two assists (and two powerplay points)! For the two games that I've had him, he's given me nine points total: three goals and six assists! What a beast! I'm telling you, there really is something about loving the players that you have on your team. The only other girl in the pool is a Canucks fan, and her Canucks are probably the best producers on her team.
Okay, so Brind'Amour hasn't done much recently, and Kapanen hasn't lived up to his promise yet, but most of the players that I actually picked because I liked them have done really well. For example, when I had Belfour he was awesome.
Anyway, I'm quite confident that I will be able to achieve my goal of not being last in the pool, so I'm very happy. If only Sakic and Yzerman would start playing again I'd be ecstatic. Speaking of Yzerman, did you know there's an arena named after him in Nepean, a suburb of Ottawa? I have a suitemate who lives in Ottawa, so maybe I can ask her to take a picture of the arena sign for me...Yes, I'm that crazy... =Þ
