1. Which off season movement(s) surprised you the most? (free agent signings/ trades/ retirements... etc)
- Selanne and Kariya going to Colorado for so little! @_@
2. What do you think about the new "road white" jerseys?
- It doesn't matter to me, but I think it's gotta be a pain for the equipment/jersey people. White jerseys get dirty so much easier, so when you're on a road trip, you have to bring a lot more than you would if the dark jerseys were still away.
3. More on jerseys. What's going on with those third jerseys? Who has the ugliest?
- Dallas Stars, hands down. What's with the bull-constellation thing? It looks retarded! Not to mention the colours! Yellow, green, black and RED?!? It may sound like an okay combination, but on the jersey, it's OOGLY!!!
4. With so many significant key injuries this early in the season, how do you think this will affect the teams and how are the teams going to react?
- Well, obviously the teams have to step up and fill the gap. Most of them will probably do fine unless they're all injured like last season's Kings. Or unless they're the Leafs. *rolls eyes*
Well, I haven't been blogging much this year, so I thought I'd try doing the Forecheck Four--hopefully that way I'll post at least once a week. ^_^
1. What do you think has been the biggest surprise thus far in the season?
- The Atlanta Thrashers. Who'd have thunk that seven games into the season they'd be at the top of the standings?
2. What kind of impact do you think the Heatly/Snyder tragedy will have on the Atlanta Thrashers?
- Well, if their torrid start is any indication, it's had a galvanizing effect on the team. It'd be nice if they could make it far into the playoffs this year, à la Carolina and Anaheim.
3. What do you think on the new restrictions on goalie equipment?
- Stupid and pointless! Taking off that little bit of padding isn't going to increase scoring, and it's a real hazard for taller goalies! They could have at least made it a length relative to the goalie's height.
4. Should goalies be protected when they come out of their creases?
- They should only be allowed out a certain distance before they become fair game. If they want to play like an extra forward or d-man, they should expect to be treated like one! Stop the "sacred cow" mentality!! *cough*Turco*cough*cough* xP
6-1 baby!!! OH yeah!! Eat that Salo (you bum)!!! =P
Forsberg got his 200th goal tonight, as well as a hat trick, and Foote got a Gordie Howe hat trick (goal, assist and fight). =D Woohoo!!! I only wish I could've watched the game tonight!!
Darn! Why can't I get ESPN? Why is Centre Ice so expensive?!? Pheh....I'm feeling very Av deprived...Maybe I WILL get that Denver Post subscription, even at $25 US for four weeks.... Okay, maybe not, since I still want my Kaberle Czech Repulic jersey, but, it's a nice thought...
Yay yay yay!! I think this is deserving of a dance:
I don't want to double post (for those great friends who actually read more than one of my blogs), so I'll just point you to my Loquacious Silence post for today. ^_^ If you don't want to read that however, here's a brief summary:
Woohoo! My "Magic Boy" book, a biography on Forsberg arrived today!!! ^____^ It's so exciting! Even though it's in Swedish and I can't read it, it's still exciting--the prize of my hockey book collection!!! After being told by a couple of other online Swedish bookshops that they don't ship outside of Sweden, I was finally able to order it from the Sweden Bookshop. ^_^ It was quite a bit of work getting all the credit information sorted out, so I'm really grateful to Ms. Sanchez for going through all of that just to get the book to me! And it was pretty cheap too--only $15.60 including shipping and handling!!!
Since I can't read Swedish, I've just been going through the pictures so far. The pictures are really well selected too. There're pics of him and Naslund in MoDo (I showed them to Steph, and she was quite happy to see them), and of course from Team Sweden, the Nordiques and the Avs, but the best ones are his childhood photos. There's this one with him wearing a MoDo toque and winter gear, standing with two other kids, and he still looks the same! You can tell right away which one is him! It's really cute!! Awwwwww....... ^_~
So anyway, my next goal is to learn Swedish! Unfortunately it's not offered at U of T, but it is at UBC, so I'm thinking maybe I should spend a year there or something.... Yes, I'd do stuff other than Swedish, but Swedish is the main incentive. That or I might try to do purchase some self-study materials, even though I think that would be rather difficult.
After I've got a bit of Swedish, the next thing is to GO TO SWEDEN!!! Steph wants to see the Volvo factory, and I want to watch a MoDo game, and see the Foppaland sign (what IS it with me and hockey related signage? I really don't know. =P), so it works out quite well. =D Geez, I guess that means that even after Colorado I'm still going to have to keep saving (for Sweden, of course).
Now, for a totally different topic, Ollie won't trade with me for Kaberle (so I can get him, that is). I sent him a trade offer, which I knew might be a little uneven, but I was hoping he would at least counter offer. xP No luck, whatta pooh! *sigh* Guess I'm going to have to do without him in that pool for this year. BOO Ollie! ;P
I did, however, order an 8x10 of that photo from the Saturday Star's Kaberle article. Not going to say how much it cost however, because I know I'm never going to hear the end of it if I do. ^^;; Yeah, so a lot of people would think it totally not worthwhile, but you know, *I* think it was worth it, so that's all there is to it. Even though I'm at peace with my decision though, I'm still not going to divulge the exact price, because I don't really want to have to listen to the scolding. Idoubt that most people would be able to understand; the only way I stopped Steph from commenting was by saying that it'd like her getting a Heatley photo. ;)
Darn, Swedish language self-instruction books are pretty pricey. Guess I'm going to have to hold off on them until after February. Unless anyone wants to get me some off of my Chapters' wishlist? *hint hint* My wishlist is listed under my Hotmail addy... ^_~ I should probably actually just sign up for an Amazon account. If they have the books, they're quite a bit cheaper than Chapters, especially if you don't have one of their reward cards. Even with my reward card, I'd probably still choose to buy them at Amazon versus chapters. Or maybe I'll wait until next year and see if the UT Bookstore has another 30% off language dictionaries, etc. coupon. =P
I heard/read the news about MacInnis yesterday, but I completely forgot that I have him in my Chicks' Pool!! ^^;; Now my D is going to be rather interesting. Argh. Hope Kaberle does really well tonight!
I've been thinking about chronicling my "Colorado Odyssey", but I wonder if it'd really be that interesting? I'd start with the anticipation and excitement of getting tickets, through the "Joe Sakic Quest", and whatnot. Ah well, considering how well my blogs have been doing, it might be a bit unrealistic to expect enough discipline of myself to sit down and write it out.
OH, and I'm temporarily third again in my other (not the Chicks' one) pool! Yay for Burke's awesome start! Let's hope he can keep it up!
The newest thing that I want to get is a Kaberle 2002 Olympic Czech Republic jersey. There's a youth L available at River City Sports, but I don't know if that would fit me or not.... =P
If you're in any of the same hockey pools as me, you've probably already seen this link, but it's just so hilarious, I'm posting this everywhere and sending it to everyone who knows anything about hockey!
Check out reason #3:
http://geocities.com/KABBYS_BABY/whyilike.html
*Dies laughing*
This girl is INSANE! I mean, I LOVE Kaberle, but I would never ever ever describe him that way!
It's especially hilarious considering that I showed my friend a picture of Kaberle from Saturday's Toronto Star, and the first thing she said was "Ew!" =D
Bwa ha ha ha ha!!!
It's hard to believe there's another Kaberle fan out there with a Kaberle webpage, though. I'm in shock. =P
There's been a lot of hockey-related stuff going on in my life recently, but I've been so busy with school and work, I haven't had time to blog about! So here it is, the mega huge post!
This year I am going to watch a grand total of four live games!! ^_^ 400% more than last year. Strangely enough, all four of the games involve the Canucks, even though I'm not actually a Canucks fan (I like them, but I'm not a fan). =P Blame it on having a Canuck friend living with us. Anyway, in chronological order, the games I'm going to see are:
Yes, indeed, I am going out of province to watch 75% of the games! It's kind of crazy, isn't it? At any rate, the big one, of course is Feb. 16th, Canucks @ Avalanche. The tickets arrived a couple of days ago, and my friend, Steph, and I were squealing in excitement for a bit.
We're either right behind the penalty box, or a row or two removed!! VERY exciting! Especially for Steph, since it's a pretty reasonable guess that Bertuzzi's going to end up there at some point during the game. ^_~ We're going to make signs and everything--it'll be SO exciting. We haven't made any headway on finding out about practice times yet, though. I've emailed the Avs organization, submitted a query to the Adrian Dater's Avs Mailbag (Denver Post), but no go; next I'm going to try emailing the radio station KK-something or other.
The Vancouver games will be interested, since Steph couldn't actually manage to get a pair of tickets: for the Edmonton game we're a couple of sections apart, and for the Colorado game, we're on opposite sides of the rink! She says she has a good feeling about the games (that we'll either meet nice people willing to switch, or an adjacent seat will be empty) but I'm not so optimistic. At any rate, it's still hockey, and I'm sure it'll be fun regardless.
My lone Leaf game is as close to obstructed as you can get, without actually being obstructed. =P Thankfully Steph doesn't really care, since it's her Canucks. Me, as long as I can see Kaberle, that's all I ask for! Speaking of Kaberle...
Can you believe I came really close to losing Kaberle in two hockey pool drafts on the same day? Thank goodness Nicole was nice enough to let me have him, or I probably would have cried!! For the first draft, I really regret my decision to pick Drury before Kaberle--I didn't think anyone would remember him. =( I will never underestimate my Kaberle again.
Anyway, that first pool is the same one as last year, and I'm not particularly into it--mostly because I didn't get any of my beloved players. I mean, I was happy to get Shanny again, and I have an ex-Av (Drury) but yeah, no one I can really put my heart behind. I was offered Sakic and Demitra for Lemieux and Shanahan, which is a pretty good trade, but I'm still thinking about it because it would leave my with only Drury and Morrow as choices for LW. I think Drury's going to do well, and Morrow should be okay, but Shanny's reliable, so it's hard to take the chance. Not to mention, if Lemieux does well, he's going to do REALLY well, so I might kick myself later for trading him. But the chance to get Sakic....OH so tempting!!
I'm pretty darn happy with my Blogging Hockey Chicks Pool though. I've got Sakic, Kaberle, Naslund, Selanne, MacInnis--all players I like. I still think Lisa is going to win the pool, but at least I love my team, so that's good enough for me.
I know I'm supposed to be saving for Colorado, but I just couldn't help myself. After working for 20 hrs last week (and that's on top of school!) I figured I deserved to splurge and treat myself a little. I bought the Forsberg series 2, Roy Canadiens series 5, and Sakic Nordiques away series 5 (supposedly the regular version, but I can only find the "variant" home version, which is silly) from some eBay seller--outside of eBay though. They are in the mail as I write, and should be arriving next week or early the week after. The price was pretty decent, all things considering. Sure it would have been 3-4 times cheaper had I been able to buy them in stores when they came out, but I couldn't, so $113 CDN (incl. shipping) for all three is pretty good. I mean, consider that I saw the Roy for sale in a store here for $60, and I've seen Forsberg go for >$40 US on eBay.
At any rate, I'm determined to get a Roy from series six, even if I have to beat off little old ladies buying them for their great-grandsons! (Not really, but I AM pretty determined). I think Hejduk's also supposed to be in this series, and I want him too.
Anyway, apart from those figures, I also splurged and bought a copy of Phil Esposito's autobiography, which just came out today. I think I was fated to buy this book. I mean, I just happened to stop by the Coles in the BCE place after school (I was waiting for my dad to finish work) on Tuesday, on my way to the just re-opened Hockey Hall of Fame store, and I saw this little flyer taped to the bookshelf for a signing session for Mr. Esposito's new book. Of course I immediately determined that I would go, and luckily it was at the perfect time: 12:30pm. I finished my Japanese class at 12:05pm today, got onto the subway and arrived at the Coles just before 12:30pm. As it turned out I had time to buy the book first, since he was a little late. The line wasn't too long when I joined, plus it moved fast, so I finished, rushed back to the subway, and made it into class maybe less than a minute before the professor started to lecture! I even had time to stop off at the WC before going to class! I couldn't have asked for any more perfect timing than that! Plus the adrenaline rush from hurrying to get back to class kept me wide awake through the lecture. =P
Ooh, and even better than the book (which is a highly entertaining gem, from what I've read so far) is that I got to take a picture with Phil Esposito! Now, usually when you take pictures at a signing, you just kind of lean over the table to get a bit closer, and then someone takes the picture for you. But Mr. Esposito was SO nice, and was like "hey, let's do this right! Come over here!" So I went behind the table and stood right next to him, and he even put his arm around my shoulder!! How cool is that? ^__^ I can't wait to develop the film! The picture had BETTER come out properly!
I was really excited to meet Mr. Esposito because in grade ten history, I remember learning about how after game four in the Summit Series, he delivered an address to Canada which rallied the team and the country (which was pretty shocked and critical about Team Canada's performance in the games up to that point). It's funny though, because apparently not a lot of people learned about the Summit Series in high school history. Not only that, but it's interesting that I still remember this little tidbit five years later, especially considering that I wasn't into hockey at the time that I learned it.
Speaking of hockey education, aren't those new "Get It?" ads a hoot? I saw part of the Shania one last night, and I hope I catch it in its entirety soon! =P
I was planning on switching from Leafs TV to the NHL Network for the regular season, but then I figured out that NHL tv is quite a different thing from the Centre Ice package. I mean, the NHL Network costs $2.49/month, whereas Centre Ice costs ~$29/month ($199.99/7 months, i.e. the season)! ^^;; I want it, but it's hard to justify at that price. I'm going to ask my mom anyway, but I don't expect her to say yes.
Heh, a funny thing happened today. The guy on night shift was listening to Q107, so it was still set to that station in the morning (his shift ended at 8am). Anyway, normally I switch the station back to 104.5 right after he leaves, but I heard that John Ferguson Jr. was going to be on, and that they were going to ask him who he would consider "untradeable", so I left it at Q107. I waited and waited, finally the interview started. They went through a couple of questions, then they asked the one I was waiting for. Right when the question ended, my coworker changed the station back to 104.5!! I was pretty amused, I mean, she couldn't have had better (well, worse) timing! Guess I'll never know who JF Jr. considers indispensable, if anyone at all. =P (I was kind of hoping he'd say Kaberle, but not likely!)
So yeah, I guess that's enough for now. I'm sure there've been more things going on that I've left out (and that I wanted to talk about) but this is pretty long, so I'll stop here.
Oh yeah, last thing! Hooray for Kondratiev making the cut and sticking with the Leafs (for now)!!
Oh oh! Extra last thing! You've gotta read the Mogilny article by, who else, Rosie DiManno!! It's another article I'm going to cherish (right up there with the "butt" article)!!
