Rambling Hockey Fangirl

Long overdue hiatus notice

2009-09-02T03:04:00.003-04:00

I've been living/working in Japan since August 2007 and don't expect to be back (permanently) in Canada until 2010.

Until then, you can read about my life in Japan at http://melt-in-japan.blogspot.com

Total Hockey

2007-03-14T22:17:00.000-04:00

I fnally got a chance to visit Kevin (Shea) at Total Hockey in Bowmanville today. It's not the biggest place, but the displays/exhibits are very attractively designed. There's a distinctly different feel to the place, compared to the Hockey Hall of Fame: it's more accessible.

The HHOF feels more like a museum, with the predominance of glass display cases, but Total Hockey feels more...homey. I mean, there are sticks and skates and things that aren't in cases, and I loved the memorabilia/collectible area living room design!

Also, I just liked the use of different materials (fabrics, tapestries, etc.) and styles. I thought the giant Richard and Bower cut-outs--like table hockey figures--were a unique concept. Don't know why exactly, but I particularly admired the look of the Hockey Night in Canada broadcast section (if you put on the headphones, you can actually hear old broadcasts). It's very simple--a curtain, stools, and hanging headsets--but attractive.

Now, it's been a while since I went through the interactive/game section of the Hall, but I think Total Hockey's got a more varied collection of activities. Don't get me wrong, the Hall's Shoot Out and Shut Out games are really cool, but I like how the Total Hockey games allow you to test specific skills.

The goaltending activity, for example, tests your ability to both observe and react. After you press the blue button (top right corner), one of the yellow buttons will light up. You have to hit the button for another one to light up, and so the process repeats for 30 seconds. Of course, this simulates stopping pucks coming from all different directions. It's pretty challenging. Not only do you have to be able to quickly identify which button is lit, you also have to be able to respond quickly to hit it. Not to mention there's a degree of flexibility required to go from top to bottom, left to right.

There's also an activity that tests your puckhandling skills. Basically the game has a bunch of circles on the floor and you need to move the puck over the different circles which light successively in a random order. The goal is to finish all the circles and to return the puck to the centre in the shortest period of time. I was really terrible at that! When Kevin demonstrated, it took him 24 seconds to complete, but it took me 50 seconds!! ^^;;

Of course they also had a slap shot game to clock the speed of a shot. I thought I was bad at the puck handling, but I was even worse at the slap shot! It was pretty embarrassing. Even with Kevin there to give me tips, I couldn't get the puck up, much less moving towards the net with any speed! The fastest I managed (after dozens of tries) was 26 mph. @_@ Half of the time I couldn't even get the puck up to the net! Oh well. Kevin said it just means I need to practice more--maybe I should go to Total Hockey more often. =P

Apart from those three games, they also had some things to test your hand and leg strength. The hand strength one was this thing that you just had to squeeze to see your grip strength. For leg strength, you just had to stand on a mat and jump as high as possible for the machine to measure the height of your jump. I thought these two were really good ideas because even self-conscious kids/people who don't have any experience hockey sticks can do these activities without feeling too exposed/awkward.

Apart from the games, I had a lot of fun taking pictures of myself in the little photo set available. There was even a handy-dandy ledge that made it easy for me to set my camera up with the timer to take the pictures by myself!

So, all in all I enjoyed my visit to Total Hockey! It's a great little gem of a place for hockey fans. I just wish more people knew about it! I mean, the Hockey Hall of Fame is great and I love it, but Total Hockey's got its own unique appeal/feel.

"Not to be missed" event ^_~

2007-02-26T22:34:00.000-05:00

ROFL

Leaf fans, here's an event you don't want to miss *snicker*:

Hey guys,

Just a reminder that Wade Belak will be signing at Untouchables next Sunday - March 4th - from 2-4pm. Tickets are $10 per item. We will have photos and pucks available for purchase at $5 each.

Worried about waiting in line? Advance tickets are available at the store! Your calling time will be on the ticket so you can show-up just before that time instead of committing your day to waiting in line!

This is our first autograph session and we really want it to go well; more sessions will be sure to follow if we get a good reception for Wade Belak! Even if you're not interested, please consider telling any Leafs fans you know who might want to stop by!

To find out more, check out the store's website: http://www.untouchables.ca/

Sakic Hits 600-Goal Milestone!

2007-02-16T01:06:00.000-05:00

Woohoo!! I'm so thrilled! Sakic became the 17th player in NHL history to score 600 goals in Thursday's 7-5 win against the Calgary Flames!

The only regret I have is that I didn't have Centre Ice to be able to watch the game. I mean, sure it was an empty netter so it wasn't a super-cool goal or anything, but it's a major milestone for my favourite player, and, as a fan, I feel that I should have been watching him achieve it.

Oh well.

And of course the victory against Calgary is HUGE. I mean, the Avs totally need the momentum considering that tonight was their first of FIVE games against division rivals within exactly one week. (Yes, I think the NHL schedule makers are absolutely insane and/or sadistic.) If they can't win the majority of these games, particularly the one against Minnesota (their nearest division rival currently occupied a playoff spot), their already slim chances of making the playoffs are going to get even slimmer.

ARGH. Darn the Avs for playing themselves into such a poor playoff position!

. . .

In other news, Forsberg is going to Nashville. *sigh* It's a little depressing to see such an illustrious player get shunted around this way. This is my Avalanche bias talking, but I really think he would've been better off staying in Colorado, even with a significant pay cut. I mean, at least he would've been appreciated there, regardless of his performance/health.

But yes, you can read more of my thoughts on both tonight's (Thursday's) game and the Forsberg trade on my MVN site: http://mvn.com/nhl-avalanche. I'm pretty pleased with myself, actually, for managing to get the game recap/Sakic's 600th goal post up within half an hour of Yahoo and Colorado Avalanche.com's posts. Hopefully this prompt post helps to make up for the pathetic job I've been doing of updating my MVN column in recent months. ^^;;

Whodathunk...

2007-02-14T23:39:00.000-05:00

It's disconcerting, but I have to admit that one semester of teaching has done a lot to put a damper on my hockey mania. I mean, I still consider it a passion, but I've got to admit, it's no longer natural for me to spend nights watching hockey, and even when I'm free I often schedule my time for things other than HNIC.

On the bright side, I guess it's a good thing that I basically had some balance forcibly injected into my life. I mean, there's nothing like feeling like you have no free time to make you realize the importance of pulling yourself away from the computer and television and spending time with friends and family.

I've got one game lined up for the rest of this season: Colorado @ Buffalo. It's on March 7 and I've got 3rd row seats! Again, another good thing about not spending as much time on hockey is that I truly appreciate and look forward to going to games in a way I didn't before (I think I was starting to take going to games for granted, last season).

Anyway, I've still got to find someone to come to the game with me... My mom suggested that I invite my dad (I don't think he's watched a game live before) but I don't know... It may sound a litle mean, but I'd like to go to the game with someone who'd really appreciate that they're 3rd row seats!

Any takers? =P (Of course, this probably isn't the best place to ask since I'd bet my 5-month "hiatus" has killed off most of my readership, such as it was. Oh well...)

Neglect...

2006-12-26T13:24:00.000-05:00

Many apologies for the neglect! As you can see, getting a job as a teacher wreaks havoc with one's hockey life. The Avalanche played in Toronto this year, and because I was teaching I didn't even TRY to get tickets to the game.

How sad is that?

Other ways teaching has messed with my hockey life:

- I didn't have time to plan for my hockey pool draft
- I don't have time to manage my hockey pool team (hence I am currently 11/13)
- I don't have time to watch hockey games, so I didn't buy the Centre Ice package
- I don't have time to watch games, so I didn't buy a mini-pack from Buffalo this year

Sad, sad, sad, sad, sad!!

Anyway, I will be done in February (I was only hired for one semester) so I expect to be posting regularly again then!!

One Step Forward...

2006-07-26T22:57:00.000-04:00

...two steps back!! Each time I think that John Ferguson Jr. has earned my respect--like signing Kaberle to a long-term deal, refusing to trade Steen, picking up Raycroft, and dumping Belfour and Domi--he does something stupid like RE-SIGNING WADE BELAK!!!

Seriously.

I don't know if all the intelligent wheeling and dealing in the world can make up for re-signing Belak not once, but TWICE when faced with an excellent opportunity to dump him.

ARGH.

Maybe JF Jr. feels like he needs an enforcer type player now that Domi (who was playing a much reduced role anyway) is gone? But surely there are more skillful "grit" players out there than Belak, who's such a defensive liability for the Leafs, by rights their opponents should be paying for some of his salary!!

ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH... I don't know if I can take another season of Belak.

Why, why, why, why?!?!

Another Signing, and My Adventures with FedEx

2006-07-06T21:28:00.000-04:00

So I got a call from UpperDeck at around 2pm (EDT) yesterday asking if I'd be free to do a signing today because they needed the cards back tomorrow. Being the obliging person that I am, I agreed, even though it's month end and work is really busy and I should be planning on doing lots of overtime there rather than rushing home to do contract work.

But yes, I agreed, and asked them to FedEx the cards to my workplace instead of my house because I didn't think anyone would be home to sign for them. That turned out to be stressor #1. We have a mailroom and all the mail is supposed to go through them to us so I was worried that the package would get there too late in the afternoon for anyone to want to bother bringing it up to me, and then I'd be screwed. So my co-worker kept calling the mailroom to see if the package had arrived yet, and I kept checking FedEx.com to see where the blasted thing was.

Actually, that was also a bit of a pain because I had forgotten to ask them to email me the tracking number when they called to see if I'd take the job, so I had to call my Upper Deck contact to get the tracking number--LONG DISTANCE (California) on my CELL PHONE. Did I mention that I'd stupidly left my calling card at home?

Anyway, right when my coworker was calling the mailroom for the 10th time, the FedEx guy walked in around 2:45pm--just under an hour before my usual quitting time. *Phew*

As I said, it's month end at work, and a heck load of stuff came in right at 3pm so I stayed until 4pm (1/2hr of overtime) but I had to rush off to catch my 4:30pm train. Everyone else was staying for at least another half hour of overtime. Did I mention that I had to rush off at 4pm yesterday as well (when everyone else was staying again until 4:30pm) to catch a movie with a teacher's college friend?

Caught the 4:30 train no problem. I figured I should be at home by around 5:15pm so I could go to the bathroom, grab packing tape and scissors (so I could drop off the box at FedEx on my way home rather than coming home first and then going back out) and just have some breathing room before heading out for the scheduled 6pm signing. Well, the train was delayed about 15min at one station because they had to go out and manually switch the signals (or something) for the tracks, so I actually ended up getting home at 5:30pm instead. Considering that the guy only lives a 15min drive away from my house, you'd think I'd be cool with the delay, but being the worrywart that I am, I actually got more stressed. I'd planned to leave at least 20-25min before 6pm in case there were any traffic problems (although I was going against the flow of rush hour traffic, so I really needn't have worried) so I actually still had enough time, but I just felt stressed because I didn't have that 20-25min break between getting home and heading back out as I'd planned.

Anyway, I got to the player's house maybe 5-10min early, and the signing went very smoothly, no problems. Oh, and he was probably the nicest guy out of all of them (and that's saying a lot, considering how nice Anthony Stewart was!). I met his dog (who drooled on my black work pants! =P) and we chatted easily throughout the signing. The only minor problem was that included in the box was 2 copies of this form that both he and I were supposed to fill out (separately) and return for tax purposes. At first he wasn't sure if he had all the information, and I KNEW I didn't have an American taxpayer identification number (i.e. a social security number). So I had to call my Upper Deck contact again (long distance, on cell phone, NO calling card, *sigh*) to ask about that. I got lucky though, since he didn't pick up when I called initially, so he called me back instead (hopefully meaning I avoided the long distance charges?), and in between the time that I tried calling and he called me back, the player figured out that he did actually have all the information. I was told that I could just use my Canadian SIN (social insurance number) on the form, and the player was able to ask about getting some of his cards for his dad (a big collector).

*PHEW* So everything worked out very well, and the player even said "good job" and smiled at me as I left!!! WOO HOO!!! Quite the most appreciation I've ever had, and after all the stress, I'd had, it was particularly encouraging.

Oh, but my adventures didn't end there!! Since they wanted the cards back tomorrow if possible, or Saturday at the latest, I had to go to the main FedEx shipping centre in Brampton to drop off the package before the 8pm pickup. Not a problem in terms of timing, since we finished just before 6:30pm, but of course, I had some minor issues finding the place.

First of all, when I Map Quest'ed it, Map Quest didn't actually give me directions to the specific address (6895 Bramalea Road), it just gave me directions to Bramalea Road!! For some reason I didn't notice that when I printed out the map, and of course I needed to send the Map Quest maps with everything else so I could claim my mileage, so even if I'd noticed it before I left for the FedEx, I wouldn't have been able to go home to print off a new map AND make it to the FedEx on time.

But that was a moot point since I didn't notice until I was on the highway and trying to determine where to turn off. Map Quest told me to turn off on Queen Street and to to left (north) onto Bramalea Road, but as I was on the highway, I remembered that the FedEx site had said the nearest intersection was Bramalea and Derry Road--which ended up being a good two or three exits BEFORE Queen Street! So I goofed in following the directions to exit the highway at Queen Street, but luckily I had sufficient sense to go south on Bramalea instead of north (as directed). But as I was driving down Bramalea, I was trying to see building numbers, and as I neared Steeles I saw that I was at number 17 Bramalea, and the numbers were going down!! I freaked a bit and turned into a parking lot to park and call FedEx to confirm that 6895 was indeed at Derry and Bramalea, and not north.

I selected the option to find a FedEx location, but I could only select by postal code, and of course the only postal code I knew was my own, decidely non-Brampton one! So it gave me info on the closest one, and then offered to let me hear about the next location or to choose a different search method. I listened to two more explanations of Mississauga locations before I waited for the ENTIRE option selection spiel and found out that I could simply press '0' to speak to a customer service agent!! D'uh!! So I spoke to someone who very kindly confirmed that I could drop off my package for an 8pm pickup at Bramalea and Derry and that it'd be on my left and I couldn't miss it. With that reassurance, I continued heading south on Bramalea on did indeed manage to find the very clearly and obviously marked FedEx building. (It was about 7pm at this point.)

But that wasn't the end of my difficulties! I saw a sign that said "FedEx pickup and drop off" so I turned in, but came across some barriers so I turned around. Then I remembered that the FedEx customer service lady had said that I should go to a small building and I saw that the entrance for that had been before the entrance I turned into so I circled out and went there. I pulled into the parking lot, brought the box and headed to the building when I saw a notice that said the customer service area had moved to the building behind that one, a little west (the direction I had just come from!). At first I started walking around the building, but then the only one I saw was the big one whose entrance had the barriers which required ID to get through!

Luckily I saw a FedEx employee sitting in his car with his window open, so I asked him where I could drop off my package and he said I should go back out and turn left (indeed! exactly the way I'd come from!) and there'd be a parking lot and I couldn't miss it. So I went back to my car, headed back, and saw a place where I could turn left and park. Naturally, I did so, and then I went up a small slope and there was this covered bridge type thing to the building, so I went there. When I entered the building, I saw that they had a metal detector/security check point so I was pretty sure I was in the wrong place yet again. But the receptionist guy was on the phone, so I wasn't really sure what to do. Luckily one of the security guys manning the metal detector came out and gave me directions to the customer service centre.

So I left, when back to my car and went all the way back the way I'd come, but this time I went past the entrance I'd entered the first time and saw a smaller driveway that led to the parking lot for the customer service centre!! At last!! By this time it was about 7:25pm, so I was heartily relieved to stick the shipping label on the box and to drop it into the pickup box (which reassured me that the 8pm pickup had not yet occured--thank goodness!).

Oh, but before my travails for the night were over, as I was leaving the FedEx, I started going east for about a block before I realized that I needed to go west to get back to the highway, and I had to make a U-turn at a light. *sigh* But at least my sense of direction IS getting better! In my earlier days of driving I wouldn't have figured out my mistake for at least five to ten blocks! And I probably would have blindly followed the (erroneous) Map Quest directions north on Bramalea to the middle of nowhere before turning south, and thereby missing the 8pm pick up! So all in all, despite the stress and bad directions, I feel quite accomplished!! =P

I <3 UD!!

2006-06-27T23:39:00.000-04:00

Have I mentioned how much I LOVE my contract job with Upper Deck?

Wait! Have I mentioned that I work part time, here and there for Upper Deck?

Whoops! Sorry, posted about it at Avalanche!, but I forgot to mention it here.

Anyway, to make a long story short, every once in a while I'll get a call from someone at Upper Deck asking me if I'm free to take some unfinished cards to get them signed by a player. So far I've done three signings in the past three weeks or so with HOCKEY players!! Although I know one day I might get asked to do a signing for a baseball player or something, so far it's been all hockey, so of course I've been just thrilled.

I can't think of a more awesome part time job!! I get paid to get hockey cards signed by NHL players!! It's so great!! Of course I can't ask for autographs or to take pictures with them or anything (that'd be very unprofessional) but it's more than enough that I get to meet different hockey players!!

And who knows? Maybe one day I'll get lucky and I'll get the call to bring some cards for Kaberle to sign.

Oh, but the reason I'm talking about this now is that, as a result of this Upper Deck job I've got, I was able to meet the Avs' 2006 first round draft pick, Chris Stewart, tonight!! It was really cool! I was actually there to get his brother (Anthony Stewart, Florida Panthers rookie) to sign stuff, but I made it a point to wear my Avs' Sakic t-shirt, so Anthony's girlfriend (who's an extremely nice person, btw) made it a point to introduce me to Chris. Well, sort of, anyway.

^________________^

I'm thrilled to pieces with my UD work, and I haven't even gotten paid yet!!

Anyway, if you want to read more of my ramblings about my UD work, check out the articles I wrote for my MVN blog: "Just Met Chris Stewart," and "First Upper Deck Job Trumps a Playoff Game

Raycroft!

2006-06-26T21:39:00.000-04:00

Finally here's a move by JF Jr. for which I can unequivocally express my approval! (Which is a wordy way of saying: I approve!!)

Raycroft didn't have the best season for the Bruins, but I have no doubt that he's a high-calibre NHL goaltender. Tuukka Rask may be a great prospect, but as the TSN commentators kept saying during the draft broadcast, he's just that: a prospect. Raycroft is an NHL-tested goaltender, and while he might not be as tried and true as Nabokov, he's got the advantage of youth and a correspondingly lower cost for a club that desperately needs improvement (and therefore as much cap room as it can get!).

As for their draft picks, well, I'm inclined to think that Jiri Tlusty will do very well for the team. Of course, the only thing I'm basing that on is the fact that he's Czech and plays for Kladno, just like another certain Leaf player. =P

As for the Avs, well, I'm sad to see Tanguay go, but Giguere's move is quite understandable. They've got already got Sakic who's reliable, Hejduk who will hopefully return to his goal-scoring form, and Svatos and Wolski who are definitely going to be big for the team, and Giguere did say that re-signing Blake is one of his top priorities, so something had to give.

It's tough to see a star player that was drafted by the team get traded, though--especially to a division rival!! Oh well. It's not like I really want the Avs to win the division title anymore. It's now three years and counting that the Northwest Division Title curse has struck (division title=first round playoff exit).

Off the Edmonton Bandwagon?

2006-06-06T18:01:00.000-04:00

Yikes. That was a completely brutal Stanley Cup Final game one for the Oilers in so many ways. Not only did they blow a 3-0 lead, they also injured their own goaltender so badly that he's out for the rest of the playoff, and then they lost the game with just over 30 seconds left in the third period on a miscommunication play.

Ouch.

I wonder if all there are lots of Edmonton "fans" jumping off the bandwagon now? Oh, and I don't mean it as a critique or anything, it's natural that a Canadian team in the NHL Stanley Cup final would accumulate extra fans. That's just part of hockey in Canada.

It really is too bad, though. I mean, I did and do want the 'Canes to win (they've had a soft spot in my heart since 2002), but I wanted to see them play their best against Edmonton at their best. And while it's still possible that Conklin or Markkanen might surprise everyone, I'd have to say that Roloson was the best for the Oilers.

Well, game two will definitely be a big game for the Oilers. It'd be nice if they could win and show that they're still in the series.

I wonder if this latest turn of events will help or hinder the television ratings?

Oh, and on a completely random note, I found out why I didn't make it as a finalist for the Greatest Canadian Hockey Fan contest. I won't say why here (because I'm not really supposed to know any of this), but if you're interested in finding out the details, feel free to email me.

Didn't Make the Cut =*(

2006-05-14T22:42:00.000-04:00

Sadly, I did NOT make it as a finalist for the Greatest Canadian Hockey Fan contest. I would be lying if I didn't say that I'm pretty bummed about it, particularly after reading the actual finalists' entries.

They've all had unique and interesting experiences for sure, but (and I don't mean to sound conceited or anything) in terms of presentation, they weren't "creative and unique" AT ALL. All of the finalist just wrote plain paragraphs, but I guess, in the end, it was probably the lack of community involvement that killed me? Or maybe it was because I used too many names, etc. (I noticed that they edited out team names etc in the finalists' entries) that couldn't be edited out without ruining my entry?

I don't know.

Maybe it was unrealistic of me, but I really had high hopes that I would make it as a finalist.

But anyway, I tried my best and I ended up with something that I can be really proud of, so that's as much as I could do.

Anyway, if you want to see the finalists' entries and vote for one, go to http://www.tsn.ca/contests/lays/

This is just my opinion, but I'd like to encourage everyone to vote for Brigette Mcilmoyle! Not just because she's the only female finalist, but because having a hockey-themed wedding is a pretty darn good demonstration of passion for the game!

Actually, that's the thing that REALLY disappoints me about the finalists: not one is a member of a visible minority, and all of them are, well, relatively "old." But I guess that's a harsh reality of this type of contest: older people have a natural advantage because they've had more time (and thus opportunities) to do things to show their dedication to the game. It's hard to compete against that, but I'd like to think I gave it a good try.

I'm really disappointed, and it's extra bad because I actually allowed myself to get my hopes up. I've always been so afraid of failure that I've always lowered my expectations of myself and others in order to avoid disappointment. This time, though, even though I tried to downplay it, even to myself, I really wanted to make it as a finalist very badly. And I know the fact that I didn't make it is more a reflection of the particular way the contest was judged than of me and my efforts, but it's still difficult for me to not feel like a bit of a failure for not making the goal I set out for myself.

Anyway, I'm going to stop writing now, before this degrades into a pity party.

The Mania Continues

2006-05-14T15:42:00.000-04:00

If you thought it was crazy that I actually wrote my own lyrics to the tune of Stompin' Tom Connor's classic "The Hockey Song", well, you haven't heard anything yet! Since a song (in this case, "Mel's Hockey Song") isn't a song until it's sung/played, well, I decided I'd make my own amateur recording of it!

So I downloaded EXP Studio Editor on Friday night, sat down with my laptop and mic and sang away! It's a cappella, an MP2 file, and completely unprofessional, but it was fun nonetheless! And here it is, for your free listening entertainment!

http://www.savefile.com/files.php?fid=9208324

Just be warned, though, that after you click the "Download" button, you'll be directed to another page where you'll have to click the text link "Download the file now" before the download will actually start. And you may need to fiddle with your computer's sound settings to hear it properly as well. I need to have both Windows Media player AND my laptop volumes set to full in order to hear it (and even then it isn't all that loud).

Like I said, it's 100% amateur (you can hear me accidentally breathing into the mic a couple of times, and I left my laughter and sigh of relief at the end of the recording on the file), but it was fun! So yes, feel free to comment!

Oh, and the Greatest Canadian Hockey Fan contest that I wrote the song for (you can see my complete entry--lyrics and photo--in my April 23rd post) closed on May 5th. I'm currently waiting for the five finalists to be announced!! They're supposed to be posted for voting from May 15th - June 2nd on the contest site (http://www.tsn.ca/lays), so if I get selected, expect me to post here again to solicit some votes!!

Not only do I really want a chance to win personally, but I also think it would be an awesome statement for Canadian hockey to have "the first fan honoured in the Hockey Hall of Fame" be a young, Asian female! That would definitely tell the world that hockey (and in Canada in particular) really is for everyone! But yeah, I'm sure the competition will be pretty stiff, and I haven't even heard about making the first cut, so I guess we'll see! *crosses fingers*

But yeah, definitely download and listen to the song, and let me know what you think!

http://www.savefile.com/files.php?fid=9208324

The True Meaning of Home Ice Advantage

2006-05-13T14:53:00.000-04:00

Wow. Go Oilers. I thought at the trade deadline that the Oilers would be a scary team to face in the playoffs, but I never expected they'd be this crazy! They lost games 1 and 2 to the Sharks in San Jose, but won games 3 & 4 at home to keep the series tied.

Game 3 went into triple OT. Game 4 they overcame a 3-1 deficit halfway through the second to score five unanswered goals--winning the game 6-3. Absolutely INSANE!!

Before the playoffs I'd almost forgotten that the Oilers were an insane comeback team. I always used to say that if any team could come back from a large deficit, it was the Oilers--and this was in the "old NHL" days! (Not to mention Salo was still their goalie then too!) There were a couple of games against Dallas in the playoffs that I remember where, if they didn't win, they at least managed to come close to tying things up.

But yeah. Two crazy games at home for the Oilers. The Avalanche could definitely take some lessons from them!

7-6 OT Final Score? Insane!!

2006-05-05T22:55:00.000-04:00

Wow. This is the new NHL indeed. The Buffalo Sabres won the first game of their series against the Senators 7-6 in overtime. For the Senators, by all accounts, it's a tough loss since the Sabres scored the game-tying goal with 00:11 left in the third period, and then the game-winning goal at 00:18 in the overtime period.

Crazy!! Maybe they were scoring for both games tonight? After one period, the Ducks and Avs are still scoreless. Lots of chances (for the Ducks, at any rate, as they outshot the Avs 14-4), but both goalies were playing well when tested.

Bittersweet

2006-05-01T22:57:00.000-04:00

I am thrilled that the Oilers won against the Wings tonight. Not only because they're Canadian, but because it was the best possible outcome for the Avs!! Now, regardless of the outcome of the Anaheim-Calgary series, there's no possible way that the Avs will face the Flames in the second round!!

It was a little sad, however, to see Stevie Y hugging all of the Red Wings coaches/trainers. I guess he's played his final NHL game.

Go Maggie!!

2006-04-30T18:20:00.000-04:00

TSN's Maggie the Monkey has got at least one right so far!! She "predicted" that the Avs would beat the Stars, and they did--completely defying all expectations!!

I've never been so happy to be wrong in my life!! ^_^ Then again, I can't help but wonder if a bit of it was Murphy's Law at work. At first I had Colorado picked to beat Dallas for my bracket pool, but then I changed my mind and picked the Stars. I figured it would at least set up a win-win situation for me: if the Avs lost, I'd be right in the pool, but if the Avs won, I'd have more playoff hockey to watch! And lo and behold, the Stars lost!

Woohoo!! The best thing about the win today was that the Avs won because Theodore was playing well! So that's another thing I got wrong; I thought the Avs would only ever win in spite of their goaltending. I'm still not convinced that the Avs will manage to get further than the first round, but I'm more than willing to be proven wrong!

o(^-^o)(o^-^)o o(^-^o)(o^-^)oo(^-^o)(o^-^)o o(^-^o)(o^-^)o

Go Avs go!!

Classy Quinn

2006-04-27T23:37:00.000-04:00

I'll admit I've had my share of beefs with Quinn--particularly his seemingly endless and unfathomable faith in Berg and Belak--but I also acknowledge that he brought and gave a lot to the organization. His accomplishments during his tenure with the Leafs--seven straight years with a winning record, and a post-season every year except this last--are well known and need not be recounted here, but I feel I would be remiss if I did not acknowledge that the "unfathomable faith" he had in players benefited me far more than it irritated me.

It was his confidence in and coaching of Kaberle that helped him to become the increasingly respected defenseman that he is now. I was, of course, reminded of this by Quinn's admirably and classy low-key departure message to Toronto fans:

Quinn said there were too many players to thank by name, but singled out the three Leafs who were there from the beginning with him: Mats Sundin, Tie Domi and Tomas Kaberle.

"Mats was our great leader, Tie played with so much heart, and Tomas has developed into an outstanding all-around player," said Quinn. (TSN.ca)

I don't think I can think of a classier coach at this moment. So thank you, Pat Quinn for all the hard work and good years!

. . . .

And on a completely different note, I just had to share this lovely birthday gift from Jello (aka "Jose"--don't ask)! Thanks again, it's lovely!

Shocked and Amazed

2006-04-27T00:48:00.000-04:00

Wow. So the Avs are up 3-0 in the series on the strength of two overtime wins (after tying the game late in the third).

Crappy for my bracket pool, but awesome for me as a fan!! I've got to admit, I've still got my doubts about them (right now they're winning in spite of, not because of Theodore's goaltending--sorry Jose!) but at the rate the Stars seem to be self-destructing, I'm feeling a lot more hopeful than I was even after game 2!!

They may just pull off this series, against all predictions!! Still don't think they've got a snowball's chance in Hades to make it much beyond first round, but at least it's not as embarrrassing as bowing out in the first. Considering that I was expecting them to be eaten alive by the Stars, I'm just taking things a game at a time and celebrating each victory as if it was their last.

Canada's Greatest Hockey Fan Entry

2006-04-23T22:40:00.000-04:00

Well, since I've already submitted my entry, I figured I'd post it here. Now that I know that they were looking for community involvement as well as uniqueness/creativity, I'm not really sure what type of a chance I'll have, but I'm still quite proud of my entry:

Mel's Hockey Song
(To the tune of Stompin' Tom Connor's "The Hockey Song")

To correctly say "TOE-mash KAH-bear-lay" I took a course in Czech
I eat McDonald's three weeks in a row, each card ‘n mini-jersey for to collect
For friends I make Jello 'n cupcakes with NHL logos ‘n names
At Induction each year I volunteer at the Hockey Hall of Fame

I'm the biggest fan of the game, and Melissa is my name
Melissa is the name, the biggest fan of the game

Second period...

From Toronto, I'm on the go, headin' to a game each night
In Buffalo, or Colorado, or takin' a B.C. flight
I've been to AHL and NHL—the World Cup was insane!—
World Juniors, Legends "seniors"! Give me any hockey game!

I'm the biggest fan of the game, and Melissa is my name
Melissa is the name, the biggest fan of the game

Third period... (Last game in the playoffs too!)

At a wedding bash, I had to dash, a TV I needed to find
A game I wouldn't miss, Tampa-Calgary's sixth—Stanley’s Cup was on the line
Went to Burnaby, 'cause I wanted to see ‘n photograph "Joe Sakic Way"
From in the street—could've been dead meat—'twas a real life "Frogger" game!

I'm the biggest fan of the game, and Melissa is my name
Melissa is the name, the biggest fan of the game (repeats)

Kudos to the many friends who helped me to edit this! It was quite terrible at first as I didn't realize that the first two lines of each verse actually rhymed (the original used a lot of half-rhymes which I didn't catch the first time around), so the edits were really vital! ^_^

Anyway, if anyone's interested in entering the contest, it's open until 11:59:59pm on May 5th, 2006. Contest details and entry submission are available on http://www.tsn.ca/lays.

Playoff Pool Junkie

2006-04-22T20:12:00.000-04:00

Woohoo!! NHL playoffs are here!! The Leafs aren't in the playoffs, but the Avs are, so I'm still happy. ^_^

Anyway, first two days of playoffs so far are going mostly as I would expect, with a few minor surprises. Nashville beating San Jose 3-4 was one surprising thing. Colorado beating Dallas 5-2 was another.

Even though I'm an Avs' fan, I didn't think that they'd be much competition for the Stars, much less to win so convincingly against them. I knew Wolski would make an impact on the team, but I didn't expect it to be so large or immediate. He scored the game-tying goal and assisted on the powerplay game-winner. All in all, the kid from Brampton is having a good year. ^_^

Hopefully the Avs will be able to keep this up! Of course, that'll mess me up in all of my playoff pools--all four of them. I'm in a Sportsnet, a Futureshop, and two FSN pools. When I was selecting players and teams, I went on the assumption that Colorado would go down in the first round, so if they don't it'll be great for me hockey-wise, but bad for me pool-wise.

In other news, I found a link to a cool thing on Vancouver Canucks Op Ed: an NHL fans group map! If you look at the map in the left sidebar, the blue represents Western Conference fans, and the red, Eastern conference. ^_^ Since you're reading this, you're obviously a hockey fan, so add yourself to the map!!

Speaking of joining something, I'm a co-webmistress with Jello of the Mikael Tellqvist Fanlisting. I know he didn't do so well after Belfour went out, but he's still an amazing goalie, and once he gets some consistent starts, I'm sure he'll prove himself.

Post-script: Montreal is currently up 4-1 and it's the start of the third period. If first games are any indication, Ovechkin may've been right when he predicted the Habs for the upset series win.

Leafs' Character...

2006-04-17T15:15:00.000-04:00

Well, I said going into the Leafs-Sabres game on Sunday that the game would really show the Leafs' character. Unfortunately, it seems that, as with the goals they scored, it appears they haven't any.

Granted there were moments when they showed some spark and energy--they had a couple of shifts in the second period, right before the Sabres scored their third and fourth goals, where they actually looked dangerous--but for the most part, it was truly embarrassing watching them play.

Considering the number of Leaf fans who not only paid to see them play, but braved the holiday border traffic to watch them play an essentially meaningless game, the least they could have done was to actually make a game out it!

On the bright side, at least I got to take some decent pictures, including two of the Sabres scoring. I think my sports photography skills have greatly improved with the number of games I've attended this year. ^_^ Although, I still have a tendency to "stalk" my favourite players with my camera.

Oh, and thanks to the Olympics and the Leafs pathetic season, this is the first year that the Leafs and Avalanche won't both be eliminated on my birthday!! Moreover, there's no possible way the Avs could be eliminated from the playoffs on my birthday this year since they'll just be starting the playoffs on Sunday! I wonder if they'll have a game on the day? That'd be nice, but even if they don't, I'm planning on going to watch "The Rocket" in theatres, since it will have just opened on Thursday! Yes, I'm expecting a very good hockey birthday this year! ^_^

Darn Carolina!!!

2006-04-15T22:37:00.000-04:00

ARGH! Even though I fully expected the Leafs to miss the playoffs this year, it still sucked to see the Canes blow an OT powerplay and then allow the Lightning to score to win the game and dash the Leafs' slim chance/hope at making the playoffs. At the very least, it takes some of the excitement out of my Toronto-Buffalo game tomorrow. :(

Still, at least they beat Ottawa soundly (5-1) in their last meeting of the season. And Kaberle had an awesome game, which is good for me in both of my pools!! I guess what it really goes back to is those two games they lost to Montreal about a month ago. If they had won just one of those games, they wouldn't have had to depend on Carolina to keep their playoff dreams alive.

*sigh* Oh well. The Leafs played well tonight, so I'm still going to wear my Leafs' jersey tomorrow.

Leafs Game!

2006-04-14T01:48:00.000-04:00

Okay, so this is two days after the fact, but it WAS a long game, so I didn't get home until nearly 12am, and then I was marking like mad all day Wednesday (stayed up all night, in fact) so I didn't get a chance until now to post about it!

The game in question is, of course, Tuesday's crazy 6-5 OT Panthers-Leafs game. The game I WATCHED LIVE!!! ^____^ It was awesome!! Well, it was exciting at any rate. There were definitely a lot of times during the game when it was irritating because the Leafs kept letting the Panthers score, but there's definitely something to be said about high-scoring games.

And Luongo wasn't in net anyway so I wasn't feeling sorry that the Florida goalie got shelled. =P Funny how that works, isn't it? The two times in my life that I've bought tickets to Leafs games (coincidentally both on Tuesdays) to see goalies that I like, the goalie in question wasn't even played that night! First time was my first ever NHL game. It was in 2003, and I wanted to see Irbe. At that time, of course, he was on his way to leaving the NHL so Weekes was in net. Then last night, McLennan was in net.

How far the Leafs have fallen, eh? The Florida Panthers don't even consider the Leafs worthy of starting their number one goaltender against them!! =P Don't really blame 'em...

Anyway, here's a selection of pics from the game (click to see larger image):

The third picture is a shot of the play that led to one of Sundin's first three goals, the fourth is of Sundin's game-tying goal, and the fifth is Kaberle's game-winner (you don't see Kaberle in the pic, unfortunately, but if you look carefully, you can see the puck in the net).

2006-03-27T18:33:00.000-05:00

Kaberle's BIG Year!

Woohoo!!! To top off Tomas Kaberle's exceptional year (new long term contract, Olympic medal), he's getting a McFarlane figure this fall!

NEW HOCKEY 3-PACKS COMING
In Stores Across Canada and Available Online
March 24, 2006
Copyright 2006 TMP International, Inc.

McFarlane Toys salutes our Canadian hockey fans with a trio of team-centered NHL 3-packs coming this fall to Wal-Mart Canada. Previous hockey 3-packs for the Detroit Red Wings and Toronto Maple Leafs, as well as our "In The Crease" Goalies 3-pack were offered exclusively at Wal-Mart Canada in 2005 and were a big hit with collectors.

These 3-packs will be released at Wal-Mart Canada and staggered throughout the fall, with extra product being sent to each team's home market. Weeks after their Canadian debuts, a limited amount of each 3-pack will be made available to customers outside of Canada through our online Spawn Store.

Enough jibber-jabber! Let's dig into the lineups for this fall's NHL 3-packs:

* TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS: Mats Sundin 2, Tie Domi & Tomas Kaberle

* EDMONTON OILERS: Jason Smith, Ales Hemsky & Chris Pronger

* MONTREAL CANADIENS: Saku Koivu, Michael Ryder & David Aebischer

(Souce: Spawn.com)

2006-03-25T23:03:00.000-05:00

Leafs Done

Even though I'd thought from the beginning of the season that the Leafs probably wouldn't make the playoffs, it really wasn't until last Thursday when I watched them lose against the Sabres that I knew with absolute certainty that they'd be done mid-April.

They were truly terrible in the second period of that game--they certainly didn't deserve to win that game, although they gave it a good shot in the third. Then there was the game against Montreal this past Thursday.

*sigh* At first I had Tellqvist benched, but then I made the mistake of second guessing myself, and I played Tellqvist in my hockey pool, and lo and behold, they were blown out, 5-1. And then tonight they were terrible again, losing 6-2. James Mirtle did a little breakdown of the win-loss records teams need to guarantee a post-season berth (http://mirtle.blogspot.com) and the Leafs are 10-2.

Yeah.

That's TOTALLY not happening. Which is too bad, because I was really hoping that my April 16th Toronto-Buffalo game would be a really significant one (even though I don't expect them to win), but now I'm wondering if the Leafs are even still going to have a shot when I'm watching them play Florida on the 11th.

All I can think, is thank goodness I'm an Avalanche fan, or I'd be completely depressed. Even though the Avs are suffering, at least they're really working for every point, despite losing key players--Svatos, Tanguay, and tonight, Hejduk with the flu.

2006-03-14T23:05:00.000-05:00

Crazy SO Win

Wow. I was only half-watching the game, but even in my distracted state I could tell that it was something else. Really, I can't believe the Leafs managed to come back!! They were SO lucky that the Bruins took bad penalties!

And Tellqvist looked a bit shaky in places, but he did come up with some spectacular saves at key moments. Hopefully this will be the start of a winning streak for the Leafs and Tellqvist! Stupid Belfour! I was thinking of dropping him and picking up Biron on Sunday (in the MCBC pool), but then I thought that it would be better for me to have someone who plays regularly (since who knows when Aebischer will get his chance in Montreal) and to hope that his play would pick up.

Then Alan picked up Biron yesterday, and today I find out that Belfour's back is acting up again, and Tellqvist will be playing more! ARGH!! So I picked up Tellqvist, but I could've had Biron!! ARGH!!

Oh well. His play today gives me hope that all is not lost.

And I guess it's past time that my goalie stats would start to reflect reality. I mean, it was amazing that I managed to stay on top of the wins category for so long with just Aebischer and Belfour!

Speaking of Tellqvist, did I mention that I'm helping to run the Mikael Tellqvist Fanlisting with Jello? Check it out--she's done an amazing job with the site!

2006-03-09T15:57:00.000-05:00

Lacroix is CRAZY!

I can't believe Lacroix traded Aebi for Theodore! It's not so much that the trade is bad, as it is the TIMING that sucks!!! The Avs need someone who can win games for them NOW, and Aebischer has been doing that. Even if Theodore revitalizes after the trade, they're still going to have to wait for him to finish healing first!

If some argue that Aebischer isn't a bonafide starter, I'd argue that Budaj is even less of one at this point.

My Avalanche! site goes a lot deeper into my opinion on the trade, but this pretty much sums up my feelings:

ARGH.

Ah well, on the bright side, I have a better chance of seeing him play live now that he's in Montreal...

2006-03-05T22:04:00.000-05:00

Appearing at Frozen Pond...

Passer Extraordinaire
TOMAS KABERLE
Sunday March 5th, 2005

Woohoo! Today, of course, was my much anticipated Kaberle signing! We left the WAY Winter Retreat at about 8am and got back to the church around 10:30am (I was asleep pretty much the entire way since I had stayed up until about 5:00am with the kids on their "all-nighter"). The signing wasn't until 12pm, so after another nap in one of the pastoral offices, I hung out with everyone and bought some treats from the bake sale for the Open Door. Finally left the church a little after 12pm and made it to Frozen Pond around 12:30pm.

The line-up was quite a bit longer than I expected it to be. By the time I had purchased my signing tickets and lined up, the line already circled the entire inside perimeter of the store. There were, of course, lots of giggly females who kept gushing on about how "hot" they thought Kaberle is. *sigh* I know I shouldn't judge, but it drives me insane when people only like players because of their looks! Yes, I am a huge Kaberle fanatic, but I actually appreciate his skill!

At any rate, the start of the signing was delayed until 1:30pm, so it was a good thing that I came later than 12pm (which is what I had originally intended). The line moved really quickly. It was only about half an hour before I was at the front of the line, talking to Kaberle!

I did try to ask him "jak se mate?" ("how are you?" in Czech) but I don't think he heard, so he didn't answer. Either that, or he decided to politely ignore my atrocious accent! =P He did, however comment on my jerseys, saying something along the lines of: "Wow, you've got the whole collection, eh?" ^_________^

o(^-^o)(o^-^)o o(^-^o)(o^-^)oo(^-^o)(o^-^)o o(^-^o)(o^-^)o

Yes, indeed, I brought all five of my Kaberle jerseys--1 Leafs, 1 All-Star, 1 Team Czech, 2 Kladno--to get signed, and I think I was pretty much the only person there who brought something other than Leaf stuff. Almost definitely I was the only person with the All-Star jersey, not to mention the Kladno ones. So I'm hopeful that Kaberle might remember me, if ever so vaguely, as a person who actually had pretty much all of his jerseys.

Well, regardless of his memory of the event, it is definitely something I will cherish. ^_________^ If I don't sound as excited as I usually do, it's not because of a lack of excitement, but because of a lack of sleep!

So here are two of my photos from the day:

Kaberle and I

Auto'd Kaberle Jerseys

2006-02-19T20:58:00.000-05:00

"Passing Fancy"

Since Team Canada's recent performance is too depressing to talk about, here's a little thing from Thursday's Toronto Star:

Passing Fancy: Czech Republic defenceman Tomas Kaberle is often criticized in Toronto for not shooting the puck enough but he had little choice yesterday when he found himself alone in the slot with the puck twice against Germany.
He scored both times.
"I was there pretty much alone so I had to take the shot. But if I get someone in a better position, I'll pass the puck for sure probably," he said.

"For sure probably"?! LOL His English has greatly improved, but still isn't quite perfect!

In other news, my long-anticipated meeting with Kaberle (March 5 at Frozen Pond) may be in jeopardy thanks to the stupid snow storms in Barrie/Orillia this weekend.

The church high school youth group I am a counselor for was scheduled to have a winter retreat this weekend, but since we had to pass Barrie to get there, and the OPP was issuing travel warnings to avoid driving to that area, we ended up having to cancel the retreat. We were lucky enough to be able to rebook the site, but the re-scheduled dates are March 3-5!!! And if there aren't enough counselors on the trip (this time we would've had 6, but now we're down to 4 maximum, with two of them unconfirmed and the only other confirmed counselor also needing to get back early) so it might not be possible for me to go!!

I don't know if I'm sad, upset or pissed off at this turn of events. Actually, I may be feeling a little bitter. It wasn't completely our (the counselors') decision to cancel the trip this time, so I'm feeling rather resentful that I may now have to sacrifice this event that I've been anticipating since NOVEMBER for a decision that I didn't even make.

2006-02-15T21:41:00.000-05:00

Kaberle Nets Gamewinner for Czechs

Who is Team Czech's leading goal-scorer after their first game in Torino? That's right, TOMAS KABERLE and not, as most would expect Jagr!! Woohoo! Of course, it's only been one game, and I'm sure this statistic won't last, but that won't change the fact that Kaberle scored the first two goals of the game for the Czechs in their 4-1 victory over the German team.

Bet John Ferguson Jr. is feeling pretty pleased with himself right now! That reminds, me, actually, is it just me, or does it seem like Kaberle has started to learn to shoot more? I started noticing it when McCabe was out (but was too busy/pre-occupied to write about it at the time), and was surprised to see the trend continue (albeit to a lesser degree) even after McCabe's return. And clearly I feel that Kaberle's performance in this opening Olympic game supports this opinion/view.

Let's just hope that Kablere carries whatever momentum he picks up from the Olympics back to the sad-sack Leafs!

Speaking of Olympic implications for the NHL season, it's probably really mean of me, but I'm rather pleased that Hasek got himself injured. I'm sure Vokoun will do fine for the Czechs, and Ottawa can't be pleased with this development. Northeast Division teams, on the other hand, are probably singing "Hallelujah" choruses. =P

2006-02-12T21:00:00.000-05:00

"Fasel unhappy with NHLers skipping Torino" (TSN.ca)

"It is disappointing that some NHL stars are skipping the Winter Olympics," the president of the International Ice Hockey Federation said Saturday.

Rene Fasel said the Games are an opportunity to showcase the sport and its best players.

''This is a platform here,'' said Fasel. ''The Olympics Games - 3.2 billion TV spectators, 200 countries.

''If we want to show our game to the world and make this promotion for hockey, for the game, for the NHL, for the IIHF, for the teams, this is the best place in the world.

''I would tell anyone who has this egoism just to work for their own team or their own profit, they should forget that. I think maybe we need more discussions with the NHL.''

(Source: TSN.ca)

I'd have to say that I very much disagree with Fasel's comment that the decision to skip the Olympics is a matter of simple egoism and/or profit. Has he never heard of professionalism?

Yes, it is an honour for NHLers to compete for their country, but it's their JOB to play for their NHL teams. It's a matter of professionalism, and, I'd even go so far as to say ethics that players keep themselves healthy for NHL games.

It's like teacher-coaches. Teachers are paid to teach students; they volunteer to coach. So as good as extra-curricular activities are, and as much as teachers may love them, they shouldn't overwork themselves coaching at the expense of teaching because they were hired to teach. That's not a matter of ego or profit, it's professionalism.

And I'd say it's the same thing for hockey players. They have an ethical/moral responsibility to fulfil their obligations to their NHL teams to the best of their ability. If that means passing up on the amazing opportunity to play for their country in a world showcase, well, I may wish differently, but I won't criticize them for the decision.

2006-02-11T19:17:00.000-05:00

Beyond Ecstatic!

WOOHOO!!!!!! I am beyond ecstatic at the news that Kaberle has signed a contract extension with the Leafs for FIVE YEARS!!!!! Best of all, TSN's sources (see "Leafs lock up Kaberle for five years") say that he's got an unconditional no trade clause for the first three years of the contract!!

o(^-^o)(o^-^)o o(^-^o)(o^-^)o o(^-^o)(o^-^)o o(^-^o)(o^-^)o

There hasn't been much in regards to the Leafs to be happy about this year, but one of the things is Kaberle's performance and now this!! SO HAPPY!!

"Tomas represents a core part of our organization and we rely on him to play in all situations," general manager John Ferguson said. "Tomas figured to be one of the young premier free agents in the offseason we are pleased that he is committed to being a big part of our future success." (Source: NHL.com)

2006-01-30T22:40:00.000-05:00

Amazing Deal!

Here is an AMAZING deal for Stevie Y fans! The Yzerman: The Making of a Champion book by Douglas Hunter is on sale at Chapters/Indigo for $5.99 CAD!!! That is an AMAZING bargain!! I bought it for twenty-something dollars a Christmas or two ago, and am kicking myself for not waiting now! If you can find it in a local Chapters/Indigo and have a rewards card, that's an extra 10% off as well!

Even for American customers, the price is pretty good. With shipping, it will cost $15.89 CAD ($7.95 per order, plus $1.95 per item, but no tax), which is STILL cheaper than the $16.47 US charged by Amazon.com. Of course, the paperback edition would be cheaper than ordering from Chapters/Indigo, but if you like the hardcover editions, this is really a steal!

So if you're interested, you can purchase the book online (or search for in-store availability) at: Chapters.Indigo.ca!

2006-01-29T17:24:00.000-05:00

Why Centre Ice Rocks

After getting Centre Ice this year, I don’t think I could survive without it now. I can turn on the television pretty much any night now and know that I can watch hockey. Tonight in particular I was thankful for the package as it allowed me to watch Ronnie Francis’s banner raising ceremony in Raleigh.

It was most moving: viewing highlights from his career, listening to his speech, watching his banner being raised, and seeing him take one last lap around the rink with his two sons. (Although, I did wonder why his daughter didn’t get to lace up some skates as well…) I definitely wouldn’t have wanted to miss the ceremony!

Another thing is that Centre Ice has allowed me to get a sampling of all the various NHL television commentators. Fox has got to have some of the WORST broadcasters ever. Watching the Florida game on the 24th, the day of Mario’s second retirement, one of the Fox Florida guys actually wondered aloud whether the Hockey Hall of Fame would waive the three-year induction eligibility waiting period. Even I know that Lemieux was inducted in 1997, the year after his first retirement, and I wasn’t even watching hockey at the time! Altitude (the Denver/Avalanche network) was also pretty bad in beginning, before they replaced Doug McLeod. Sure some of them are fairly decent (I thought the NBC guys were quite good), but overall I feel that a lot of the US hockey sportscasters have a long way to go. Definitely makes me appreciate our TSN and Sportsnet guys. Sure the CBC guys can be pretty bad (Harry Neale, argh!), but I’d still take them over many of the Fox guys any day.

Oh, and Centre Ice also enables me to see/pick up on totally random things, like Kari Lehtonen’s mask! I just happened to flip to an Atlanta game one night this week and they had a close-up on him and I thought I saw…Rikku from Final Fantasy X-2! Went on the net, did a bit of Google-ing and found that my eyes hadn’t deceived me: he actually has Yuna and Rikku from FFX-2 on his mask! LOL What a kid! =P

2006-01-17T23:45:00.000-05:00

Kaberle Still Good!

Despite the embarrassing 5-3 loss to the Avs, Kaberle still came away +1, with 2 SOG, and 1 PPA. ^_^ So really, the game worked out in the most ideal way possible for me! My team won, but my player also did well. =P

When the Leafs went up 2-1 in the first I was worried that Murphy's Law was going to bite me in the butt for playing Aebischer, but the second period assured me that I was fine. ^_^ This doesn't make up for my decision to play Belfour against the Coyotes instead of Aebischer against Philadelphia on Saturday, but it's still nice to know I made the right decision.

2006-01-17T20:45:00.000-05:00

Kaberle!

"He is the guy who carries the play." (And other accolades!)

Woohoo! Nice to know that one benefit from subscribing to Leafs TV, apart from getting the Leafs-Avs game is hearing good things about Kaberle! ^_________^

Feels like people are finally truly starting to appreciate him. Lots of comments tonight about how he controls the play, transitions the game, carries the puck, etc. etc.! Apparently even Marc Crawford talked about his play in Vancouver.

Oh, and when I was in B.C. and Jon & co. came over to Steph's place for dinner on New Year's Day, even he was talking about how he's a great player.

Yes, indeed, I am feeling quite vindicated in my faith in him for the past 3-4 years. =P

2006-01-17T18:05:00.000-05:00

Lattes for Literacy!

Not hockey related at all (sorry, I've been SWAMPED with school stuff, and my HHOF internship fell through so I've been scrambling to find a new one), but this post is pertinent to an issue dear to my heart: literacy!

Upgrade your coffee to a latte for a good cause!

Lattes for Literacy
Thursday January 19th
Promote literacy one latte at a time.

Join us on Thursday January 19th and buy any size latte to support Lattes for Literacy. Starbucks will donate 100% of the purchase price to supporting family literacy in initiative across Canada.

Starbucks is dedicated to supporting family literacy in Canada. That's why we are working with ABC CANADA Literacy Foundation and Frontier College to enrich the reading and writing experiences of young Canadians. We believe that when a community comes together to equip children with the tools for literacy, we provide them with the keys to opportunity, hope and discovery.

Spread the word about Lattes for Literacy and help to create a brighter future for our kids.

2006-01-05T21:36:00.000-05:00

Is Gretzky Psychic?

Let's see, Gretzky predicted that Canada would win 4-1 against Russia (final score: 5-0 Canada with 1 should-have-been-but-refs-missed goal by Russia). Apparently he also told Steve Downie that if he worked hard he could score the game-winner. And he did!!!

I'm thrilled for Canada, but at the same time, I feel sorry for the Russians. It's so sad seeing them all sitting, dejected and crying on the ice. Khudobin (remember I have a thing for goalies!) especially! Poor guy! Apparently at the end of the game he slammed his stick against the ice, threw it down, broke down crying and had to be comforted by his coach. =*( So heart wrenching, yet also heart warming to see the depth of their passion for the sport.

Dang, I wish I had stayed in B.C., now!! It would be SO awesome to be there, celebrating our "kids" (hard to believe they're only a handful of years younger than me!).

I'm glad the Canadian fans are showing their class by cheering wholeheartedly for all the honoured players (not Canadian Staal, but also Rask and Malkin) and the Russians as they receive their silver medals.

Man oh man do the Leafs have a lot of hope for the future! Justin Pogge was outstanding for Canada, and Tuukka Rask was really the only reason the Fins medalled at all!

Ah....How I love hearing our anthem played!! Although...most of the boys really seem quite tone deaf! =P

2006-01-05T20:26:00.000-05:00

Canada-Russia Classic

Hard to believe too that Canada was considered something of an underdog at the beginning of this tournament! Okay, so I admit that I had my doubts when they squeaked by Switzerland 4-3 and only managed 4 goals against Norway (when the US got 11), but dang they've looked good this game--early penalties and ref's missed Russian goal notwithstanding.

Even though I'm home watching on my own, it's still fun yelling WOOHOOOOOOOOOO!!!! after every single Canadian goal!! Much as I love the Avs, nothing compares to cheering on a Canadian team in international competition.

Speaking of international competition, I actually watched two World Junior games--both of which included Switzerland!! =P I saw the Switzerland-USA tie game which was totally awesome! The atmosphere was amazing: everyone was cheering like Team Suisse was Team Canada!! And honestly, I think the crowd may have had something to do with the final score because I don't know how else Switzerland could have managed to score two against the US. They kept up good pressure in the offensive zone, but they simply couldn't generate decent chances. Even on the powerplay they had practically no offensive zone possession. Don't get me wrong, I love Switzerland (mostly for giving the NHL David Aebischer), but they are on a totally different level than the US.

The other game I watched was the relegation game between Switzerland and Latvia. Even though the game wasn't as well attended or loud as Switzerland-USA, it was still a heck load of fun. It was clear that neither team was really top-level in terms of skill, but they showed so much heart and never gave up, you had to love them! And everyone there definitely did: right at the start of the second intermission, the announcer asked "who's cheering for Switzerland" and the crowd just roared. Then, the announcer asked "who's cheering for Latvia" and the cheers for them were as loud as they had been for Switzerland. It was awesome!

Speaking of Latvia, they won their relegation game against Norway, 4-0. ^_^ Good for them! I do feel rather bad for Norway, which didn't win a single game (most of them pretty badly, too), but I've got to admit that after watching them, Latvia's got a special place in my heart. (I was already inclined to like them because of Irbe, but watching them play just confirmed my good feelings.)

2005-12-24T00:31:00.000-05:00

Why Kaberle Rocks

I was a bit bored tonight, so I decided I would go through the score sheets from Leafs' games this season to create some stats to show why I think Kaberle is such a great player. Here's what I came up with!

Although much ado has been made so far this season about Bryan McCabe—-and rightly so—-Tomas Kaberle has been left largely underappreciated. Well, by the media and fans, at any rate. McCabe, for one, certainly hasn’t taken Kaberle for granted:

McCabe credited defensive partner Tomas Kaberle with “making my life easy.”
[. . .]
  “. . . but I can tell you Tommy (Kaberle) is one of the best defencemen in the league,” McCabe said.
  Kaberle has been paired with McCabe for much of the past three seasons, a fact McCabe underlines as part of the reason for his mounting success.
  “I think we had a year apart when Robert Svehla came in . . . and I suffered, I definitely had an off year,” McCabe said.
  “Then last year, we got Brian Leetch in and we were split up again. But when you play with Tomas, he’s unbelievable, you just know he’s going to get the puck down the ice’” (Toronto Star, Oct. 19, 2005, E4).

Out of Kaberle’s 25 assists this season, 9 (that’s 36%) have directly resulted in McCabe getting a goal. In fact, when Kaberle gets an assist on a goal, it usually is the first assist. A full 68% (or 17 out of 25) of his assists directly result in goals. And of those 17 assists, 5 have resulted in a first goal for the Leafs, 2 had led to (final) game-tying goals, and another 5 have ended as game-winning goals. When Kaberle passes, he does some pretty important stuff!!

And a fact that may have gone unnoticed by NHL-centric North American fans is that Kaberle had a stellar season playing for Kladno, his home team in the Czech Republic during the lockout last year: in 49 games he had 39 points, and was awarded the Czech League regular season MVP, Best Defenseman, and Top Player (as voted by the fans) honours!

In short, Kaberle rocks!

2005-12-22T22:02:00.000-05:00

Season So Far, Season Ahead

Ah!! It's been so long since I've posted here!! Many apologies!! The past couple of weeks have bene so busy I haven't even really been watching hockey!

Anyway, went to Buffalo last Sat. (Dec. 17) to watch the Pens play the Sabres. There were supposed to be six of us going, but three people bailed, so it was just me, Alan and Liz. Still, it was a lot of fun! It was nice that the game started early too, so we got home in good time.

Heh, and we learned a bit about selling tickets. We ended up selling the tickets to the first scalper we saw. At first we thought we got a pretty good price for them, but when we asked the guys who bought our tickets how much they had paid for the tickets, we found out that the scalper made a 300% profit on each ticket! So yeah, we realized that we should have asked how much it would cost to buy tickets in the same level as ours first, and THEN offered to sell them. =P It also turned out that that particular game was only the third sellout for the Sabres of the season, so the scalper probably felt that he really lucked out when we sold him three 100-level seats. (AMAZING seats, by the way.)

So let's see, so far this season I have watched four games with five different people:

- Wings-Leafs with Andre (pre-season)
- Habs-Sabres with Ben
- Capitals-Leafs with Anna
- Pens-Sabres with Alan and Liz

That's what I really missed with no hockey--hanging out with different people while watching games! Unfortunately this year the HNIC nights at my place haven't really worked out. After the first couple of times when I invited people and got no takers, I guess I kind of gave up asking--that and things got pretty busy with school so I didn't have time to organize.

Anyway, that's it for the season so far. Coming up I've got a bunch of games I'll be watching in B.C. ^_________^ Steph is awesome! She got me tickets for the Predators-Canucks game, and two World Juniors games--USA-Swiss and one relegation game. ^_^ VERY exciting!

Back home I've got a Flyers-Sabres game in Feb., Leafs-Sabres in Mar., and Panthers-Leafs and Leafs-Sabres in Apr. I wanted to try to get tickets to the Colorado-Detroit game, but then I realized that it's on the same day as Kaberle's signing at the Frozen Pond, and I can NOT miss the chance to see Kaberle in person. ^^;;

Don't know how the heck I'm going to keep up with Olympic hockey either, but I'll do my best (and probably be a zombie at school for a while!)

So yes, it's an exciting year of hockey ahead!

Merry Christmas everyone!!

2005-12-09T00:13:00.000-05:00

Love the Mullet!

Steph sent me the link to this article, and it was so great, I had to share: "Mullet Wish." (This isn't the actual title of the article, it's Steph's! But I liked her title better, and thought it would intrigue more people into reading the article! =P)

2005-11-30T21:50:00.000-05:00

Boston Shocker

In a shocking, blockbuster trade, the Boston Bruins traded Captain Joe Thornton to the San Jose Sharks for Marco Sturm, Wayne Primeau, and Brad Stuart.

Although Thornton has had decent numbers--7 goals in 13 games, he has been under fire for not producing and playing at the level expected of the team's leader and highest paid player.

The Sharks have a decent group of young players, but have lacked leadership.

2005-11-29T00:41:00.000-05:00

Spectacular Goaltending

Something you don't see very often in the NHL nowadays, a 2-1 final score, with spectacular goaltending from both teams! Luongo made a whole bunch of crazy saves to keep the Panthers alive (their offense is quite sad), and Belfour made a whole bunch of amazing plays too!

Definitely a great way to get your 447th win to tie Terry Sawchuk for career wins!

Kaberle was great tonight too! And I'm not the only one who thought so: he was Molson's third star pick for the game! ^_^

2005-11-23T19:02:00.000-05:00

HHOF Presents...ONLINE!

I've known about this for a while now, but I forgot to mention it earlier: the Seneca Hockey Hall of Fame Presents course is going online for the Winter 2006 term! The course will run from Jan. 13 to Apr. 21, 2006. For more information, you can check out the Seneca website: http://www.senecac.on.ca.

If you will recall, I was in the course about two summers ago, and that's how I met Kevin and Phil and got involved with all of the wonderful people at the Hockey Hall of Fame!! ^_^

2005-11-22T20:00:00.000-05:00

Dream Come True!!

Tomas Kaberle is doing a signing at the Frozen Pond on Sunday, February 12th from 12-2pm!! You can bet I'm going to skip Sunday school to be there!!! ^_^ I may have to spend a small fortune on autographing fees, but I am determined to get as many of my jerseys signed as possible (plus I may get my Toronto Star photograph signed as well)!!

And I am DEFINITELY going to brush up on my Czech before I go to the signing! I'm not out to impress him or anything, but I'm at least going to say "hi," "how are you?" and "thanks"! ("Dobry den," "jak se mate," and "dekuji"!) ^_^ SO excited!! I can't wait!!!

2005-11-21T21:04:00.000-05:00

Prayers for Fischer

Partway during the first period of the game between Nashville and Detroit, defenceman Jiri Fischer suffered a seizure on the bench. CPR had to be administered and a defibrillator was also used as he had stopped breathing and his heart had stopped. He was taken to the hospital and is reported to be in stable condition. Prayers go out to him and his family for his recovery.

The gamw was cancelled and will be rescheduled for a later date.

2005-11-20T02:32:00.000-05:00

Right Choice!

Woohoo! For once I made the right goaltending decision and played Belfour instead of Aebischer!! =) The decision between playing a goaltender facing Atlanta and one facing Los Angeles seems like a no-brainer, but with my luck, I was half expecting the Leafs to get bitten on their behinds by the Thrashers! Luckily this was not the case and I got the win and the good SV%--although the latter had me a bit worried when the Thrashers had 1 goal on 2 shots at the end of the first!

Beyond that, I was thrilled with Kaberle's play tonight!! His passes resulted in the first two goals of the game!! The play he made to get the puck to McCabe was especially a thing of beauty! ^_^ Very happy!

If only Aebischer would start winning games, my hockey happiness would be complete...

2005-10-31T22:34:00.000-05:00

Neglect!

I'm so sorry! I've really been neglecting this and all of my other personal blogs! Things have been pretty crazy with my student teaching (high school English!!) so most of my time is spent doing lesson planning. The games that I do watch are generally Avs games, and that means that I post about them on my MVN blog or Hockey Cagematch if it's a NW division game.

Besides, the Leafs have been too depressing to blog about recently. I mean 8-0 to the Senators was just pathetic. And Heatley's fourth goal (after McCabe fell) I totally don't know what was going with Kaberle for that! He just let up!! Totally indefensible--even by me! After the first period I wasn't even really watching the game! I mean, I had it on, but I was trying to do my lesson planning for Hamlet at the same time, and my attention was definitely more on Hamlet than the game. You know it's pretty bad when I am not even watching!

Tonight wasn't so bad, but it looked like almost the exact same thing happened on Roberts goal! Well, it wasn't quite as bad because it looked like Kaberle was actually making an effort, but still...! *sigh* Anyway, after that they played a lot better.

2005-10-14T02:04:00.000-04:00

Welcome Back!

I'm a bit behind, but Vancouver Canucks Op Ed is BACK!!!! Woo hoo! ^_^

Oh, and the Leafs FINALLY won. Go Tellqvist!

AND, I finally decided to switch my starting goalie in the Blogging Hockey Chicks pool from Aebischer to Luongo, and he lets in 3/15 shots and gets pulled in the second period. ARGH!!! I am SO staying at the bottom of that pool!

2005-10-08T23:22:00.000-04:00

I Told You So!!

I hate to say...Well, actually, I have absolutely no compunction against saying "I told you so" right now to JF Jr. When he re-signed Berg and Belak, I knew it was a stupid move. And tonight they have totally proved me right!

Maybe I'm remembering/reading this wrong, but I believe, and think that the offical NHL shift chard for the game shows is that Berg and Belak were on ice for all of the even strength goals against, plus one PP goal--meaning 4 out of all 5 Montreal goals! And on one of them--the second goal, by Sundstrom, I think--the goal didn't just happen to occur on their shift, but was most definitely caused by their sucky defensive abilities!!

Now I'm not just blaming JF Jr. for signing them, or even just Berg and Belak for sucking, I'm also blaming Quinn for putting the two together as a defensive pairing!! As soon as I saw them playing together (and Arthur can corroborate this), I was wondering if Quinn had gone out of his ever-loving mind!?! Pairing your two worst--also two of the worst, IMO--defensemen together is just asking for trouble.

ARGHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thank goodness the Avs won tonight, or I would've been in a real pisser of a mood (again).

2005-10-07T01:22:00.000-04:00

Avalanche Ultimate Fan Contest!

Woohoo! It's actually something I've been thinking of for a little while, but I've finally decided to do it--in honour of the Avs' 10th anniversary and the first season of my Avalanche! blog--an Avalalanche fan contest! You can read all the information/rules at avalanche.mostvaluablenetwork.com/?page_id=53. ^_^

I'm very excited! So if people would like to spread the news about it, that'd be awesome! There are prizes!

In other news, I've got Centre Ice!! It's SO amazing!! So much hockey!! The only negatives are that I have so much choice I end up flipping a lot and actually missing a lot of goals/action and that I need to work hard for teacher's college, so I can't just sit in front of the tv all night every night to watch hockey! :)

KABERLE!!! He is going to have an amazing season this year. I can feel it! (Knock on wood!) Ahh!!! HOCKEY IS BACK!!!

And I love that Molson Canadian commercial (even though I saw it at least half a dozen times) with the guys singing! You know, the counterpart to the "Bring Hockey Back" one? ^_^ It's great!!

2005-10-02T01:09:00.000-04:00

Leafs Win 4-2!

The game was great! The seats were the best I've ever had (again, Huston rocks!) and the Leafs won!! =D One bad moment, unfortunately, was the goal Datsyuk scored (the lone Detroit goal)--Kaberle was just standing in front of him! ^^;; Thank goodness I didn't manage to get photograph that one. *sigh* Why, Kaberle...?

Anyway, I've uploaded a couple of my pictures to Photobucket, so you can view them at: http://photobucket.com/albums/v708/preseamelt/Detroit%20vs%20Leafs/.
[Edit: My bad! The password for read-only access is: manga]

Also, here's my favourite photo from the game:

It's like Kaberle's saying "Thank You Leafs Fans!

Oh, and I finally uploaded my pictures from the Sep. 20th Bruins-Leafs game:
http://www.imagestation.com/album/?id=2119863784

2005-10-01T16:00:00.000-04:00

OMG!!!

Oh my goodness! Huston is the most amazing person ever!!!! I was awakened this morning by a call from Huston asking me if I wanted to go to the Leafs game! It was kind of funny actually, because at first I asked "when?" I was confuseed (and remember I was still half asleep) and thought that the Leafs had played Detroit in Toronto YESTERDAY, and that today they would be playing in Detroit. Well, of course it was the other way around, and so I'm going to the Red Wings-Leafs game tonight!!!!

o(^-^o)(o^-^)o o(^-^o)(o^-^)o o(^-^o)(o^-^)o o(^-^o)(o^-^)o

2005-09-25T19:46:00.000-04:00

"One-Man Wrecking Crew"

Unfortunately, I don't think I need to say much beyond quoting this article. Poor Kaberle. =(

Kaberle was a one-man wrecking crew, with his wounding of O'Neill, a goal, topping the Leafs with almost 26 minutes of ice, breaking up plays and deflecting the Habs' winner past hometown teammate J.F. Racine.

While the Leafs are glad the pass-happy defenceman finally is shooting more, especially with power plays bound to dominate the early weeks of the new-look NHL, Kaberle was mortified when he nailed O'Neill just under his helmet. A few days ago, he accidentally knocked Carlo Colaiacovo out for a few days with a shot off the latter's foot.

"I talked to Jeff right away between periods," Kaberle said. "Thank God it got his helmet first."

(Excerpted from: Hornby, Lance. "Tommy Gun Hits: Kaberle scores, but also gives teammate O'Neill a scare." Toronto Sun. 25 September 2005 <http://www.torontosun.com/Sports/Hockey/2005/09/25/1234784-sun.html>.)

2005-09-25T00:50:00.000-04:00

Chick Pool!

Woohoo! Had the draft for our chick pool tonight--it was SO fast and easy! ^_^ I really like having only 6 people in a pool--lots of choice!

Very pleased with my team this year--although I wish I had drafted a bit better with my wingers...

C: Joe Thornton; Joe Sakic (two #19 captain Joes!)
LW: Alex Tanguay
RW: Martin Havlat
W: Ryan Smyth; Richard Zednik
D: Nicklas Lidstrom; Adrian Aucoin
Util: Marian Gaborik
G: David Aebischer
Bench: Pavol Demitra; Brendan Morrow; Sergei Gonchar; Roberto Luongo

Right now I've got Aucoin in the lineup because he's got a better +/- than Gonchar, but Gonchar does score more (and get more PPP), so I might switch them... Also I'm not sure if I want to start with Luongo or Aebischer. Louie'll get the SV%, but Aebischer'll get the wins... Last year Aebby's SV% and GAA wasn't too bad, but this year Foote's gone and things are supposed to be opening up, so...Louie I have no worries--he's used to facing tons of shots! =P Another question mark is Demitra. He's very reliable, but apparently LA's going to be putting him on a "stopper" line. @_@ I didn't read that before drafting, obviously. Something to look out for for the MCBC pool, I guess!

Actually, I realized just before the draft that I goofed on the set up. Since we have so few people I should added more roster positions--at least one more G, and probably another Util as well. Oh well, next year!

(Random info: I actually did the draft at my friend Andre's place since a bunch of us had gone over for dinner. The timing was actually pretty good since it enabled me to miss out on most of the mush in the Princess Diaries 2--which we had started to watch shortly before the draft. =P)

2005-09-24T17:36:00.000-04:00

Boston-Toronto Preseason Game

Did I mention that I went to the Boston-Toronto preseason game on Tues. Sep. 20th at the Copps Coliseum? Well, I did! ^_^ It was lots of fun--especially since four of my guy friends also came, and the Leafs actually won (whodda thunk?)!

The Copps Coliseum is actually a pretty good venue! It's pretty small, so even upper bowl seats feel a lot closer than many seats in the ACC!

What else? Oh, it was kind of weird watching the game actually, since I hadn't really done my homework on the Leafs and so we kept looking at all the players' numbers and asking "who's that?!" I actually was better off than most of my friends since I'd at least heard of some of the Leaf farm team players (e.g. Wellwood, Steen), but I was still pretty lost. =P

Of course I was positively thrilled with Kaberle's first assist--it was a beaut! And it really made my night when I heard the guys behind us talking about Kaberle: "Everyone says Kaberle isn't any good, but I think he's great." Or something along those lines, anyway. Alan (or was it Matthias?) said they were probably just being complimentary because they could see that I was wearing a Kaberle jersey, but I choose to believe otherwise.

Anyway, I still haven't really had time to go edit the photos/upload them to the web, but for now I've got videos of two of the shootout shooters: Joe Thornton and Patrice Bergeron (thanks Paul for filming!)

Oh, and just be warned, the sound might be kind of wonky in the streaming!

2005-09-18T22:35:00.000-04:00

I love Canada, but here's a reason to live in the States...

http://avalanche.mostvaluablenetwork.com/?p=36

(Hint: It's related to the Avs!)

2005-09-13T22:06:00.000-04:00

The Only Time You'll See the Leafs for Free!

ALL THIS WEEK WATCH THE LEAFS PREPARE FOR THE SEASON AT RICOH COLISEUM

Fans can come down to Ricoh Coliseum, home of the Toronto Marlies, to take a look at Pat Quinn put his players through their paces.

Practice begins at 8 a.m. each morning with a daily scrimmage at 10:45 a.m. and ending around 1 p.m.

Parking is free each day from Tuesday to Friday underground at the National Trade Centre. Access to parking is at the east end of the NTC just west off of Strachan Ave. and just north of the Princes' Gates.

Ricoh Coliseum is also accessable by TTC, just take the 509 Exhibition streetcar from Union Station. The GOTrain also has a stop at the Exhibiton Grounds.

Personally I think this is a brilliant move (one of the few) on the part of Leafs management to show some goodwill to the fans!

2005-09-06T23:29:00.000-04:00

Frozen Pond is Hiring

For any GTA people with convenient modes of transportation, here's something you might find interesting:

This is a fantastic opportunity to enter the Sports Marketing workplace by joining the top sports memorabilia organization in the country.

We are currently looking for 2-3 friendly, personable individuals to fill full and part-time roles in our Customer Service Department.

Potential candidates must be outgoing, computer literate, and have an excellent phone manner. Some sales and marketing experience an asset. You must be willing to work flexible hours, including Saturdays and some weeknights. An extensive knowledge of NHL hockey and sports in general is required. We have at least one senior and one entry-level position available immediately.

Please forward resume and cover letter, mentioning any and all hockey knowledge and customer service experience, to:

Frozen Pond Inc.
3232 Steeles Ave. West #12
Concord, Ontario
L4K 4C8

905-760-8410

info@frozenpond.com

If I wasn't already committed to other things, I would definitely want to at least apply for the entry-level position (gas prices be darned)!

2005-08-20T10:56:00.000-04:00

Blogging Hockey Chicks Re-Unite!

That's right, after a long, sad (albeit academically good) NHL lockout, the Hockey Blogging Chicks pool is back!! I've sent out an email to everyone from our last time round, so if you'd like be join us again, that'd be great! If you don't receive a message in either your inbox or spam filter, please email me and I'll re-send the information! If there's a fellow blogging hockey chick I've missed whom you'd like to invite, please pass on her contact info to me, and I'll get an invitation sent out!

Here's the basic info for the league (a few changes from last time, denoted by a *):

League Name: BloggingHockeyChicks
Draft Type: Live Draft
Draft Time: Sat Sep 24 11:00pm EDT
Max Teams: 12
Scoring Type: Rotisserie
Max Moves: No maximum
Max Trades: No maximum
Trade Reject Time: 1
Trade End Date: March 9, 2006
Waiver Time: 2 days
Can't Cut List Provider: Yahoo! Sports
Trade Review: Commissioner
Post Draft Players: Free Agents
Max Games Played: 82
Weekly Deadline: Daily - Tomorrow
Start Scoring on: Wednesday, Oct 5
Roster Positions: C, C, LW, RW, W, W, D, D, Util, G, BN, BN, BN, BN, IR
Stat Categories: G, A, +/-*, PIM, PPP, SOG, W, GAA*, SV%

Woohoo!! I'm so excited! Hope all you chickies can join!! (Sorry I didn't get any input for the draft date/time, but I figured that a month's notice would be enough for people. Plus with the Yahoo live draft people can pre-rank and let Yahoo draft for them if necessary.)

2005-08-11T20:59:00.000-04:00

Leafs Make Another Questionable Signing

The new CBA might as well not exist for all the impact it seems to be making on the decision-making process of Leafs' management. While smaller market teams are stocking up on starpower and other established franchises are making moves to secure their future (like Colorado re-signing many of its young/rising stars), the Leafs continue to throw away money in short term deals on older, historically injured or otherwise suspect players.

Heck, forget the old CBA days, this feels like (as Jello commented) the old Pat Quinn as GM days! At least with Quinn we all knew and expected that he would, given a choice, stick with the tried (if not true), but when JF Jr. came on, he was supposed to take the team in a new and improved direction!

Anyway, let's say we take the word of Lindros' father/agent, Carl (as quoted in The Toronto Sun), and accept that Eric hasn't been constantly sidelined by concussions: "'On average, in the past three years, Eric has missed five games a year with concussions,' he said. 'That's fewer than Peter Forsberg or Jeremy Roenick. The bulk of Eric's concussions came in one year.'"

So what?

The timing of the concussions doesn't mitigate the danger of serious re-injury that comes from having had so many concussions.

Geh. Forget it. I'm sick of talking about the Leafs and their spectacularly UNimpressive deals.

2005-08-10T22:08:00.000-04:00

Leafs are SUCK!

I CAN NOT BELIEVE THE LEAFS SIGNED BERG *AND* BELAK. Apologies to any JF Jr. fans, but I think he's completely out of his bleeding mind!!! What has Berg ever done to deserve 1-year, $1.06 million deal? And why the heck would anyone want to keep Belak for another 2 years?!

Now I know that playing the comparison game across positions and with teams of very different financial and player needs is totally useless, but nonetheless I feel compelled to marvel at the fact that the Leafs are willing to pay Berg--an older and totally sucky d-man, who's only going to get worse, IMO--2.5 times as much as the Hurricanes are willing to pay Radim Vrbata--a decent young R-winger with a reasonable upside, again, IMO. It totally boggles the mind.

This does NOT bode well for the Leafs' 2005-06 season.

2005-08-08T00:07:00.000-04:00

Apologies!

Heh, sorry I haven't updated here in a little bit! I've been pretty busy--working lots of OT, plus I got a new student for tutoring--so I forgot to update here!

Just for future reference, if you're interested in my thoughts on Avs stuff, check out my MVN Avalanche! blog (http://avalanche.mostvaluablenetwork.com) first!

Anyway, the Leafs recently signed Domi and Allison. Domi was probably a political move--hoping to appease fans angry at the loss of Nieuwendyk and Roberts--but I'm pretty hopeful for Allison. Yes, concussion recovery is a tricky thing, but if the Leafs are lucky, this could end up as an amazing steal. Don't quote me on this, but I have a good feeling about Allison. At the very least I think it was worth the shot.

On the Leafs in general, though, sorry, but I think they're going to suck this year. They've got an aging goaltender who hasn't played for an entire year (a year for recovery, or a year to get rusty?) and no real stand up leaders in the locker room (like Roberts). If the reports are to be believed though, Ferguson Jr. is sacrificing this season to put himself in a better position for next year's batch of quality young free agents (like Thornton, I believe). That doesn't make me any happier about this year, but at least there's hope there's some method to the apparent madness.

About the Avs, well, although I'm not happy about losing Foote or Forsberg, I do feel that the team is going in a good direction. They're making good progress in securing the team's future--locking in Hejduk for 5 years, resigning Tanguay for this year at least, and making offers for Aebischer, Liles, and Svatos--while keeping Blake and Sakic for experience and leadership (although I would've preferred Foote over Blake, frankly). I don't think they're going to win the Cup, but I think they're going to do well enough this season.

2005-08-03T22:23:00.000-04:00

Right Now...

...it sucks being an Avs fan.

"Forsberg headed to Philly"

2005-08-02T23:13:00.000-04:00

. . .

A moment of silence for the end of a 13-year career with the Nordiques/Avalanche franchise.

(Read more at DenverPost.com)

2005-07-30T19:16:00.000-04:00

Hurray O'Neill?

Hmmm...Strangely enough, I'm not exactly sure how I feel about the Leafs' acquisition of Jeff O'Neill. I mean, I've liked him as a player since the 2002 Toronto-Carolina Stanley Cup Eastern Conference final, but...

Sure, 29 isn't exactly geriatric (in hockey years), but it's not exactly young, either. I think I read/heard somewhere that players start hitting their prime around 24, and I'm not sure if that means that they start to hit their stride starting from that age, or if that's supposed to be when they peak.

Ah well! I *do* like O'Neill, so I might as well be happy about it for now and hope for the best! =P

In other news, it appears that MLSEL listened to me (and thousands of other fans) and actually *gasp* reduced their ticket prices!! Yes, it's a paltry 5% compared to other teams of similar reputation and revenues (the Avs lowered prices by at least 10%, and in some cases, 20%, remember?) but at least it's something. And that's really all that I asked for. ^_^

2005-07-25T20:10:00.000-04:00

Leafs, Take Note!

The Avalanche just announced that they're reducing ticket prices for the 2005-06 season--20% for season ticket holders that maintained their deposit, 10% for those that took a refund on the deposit, and 10% for single games--so I hope that the Maple Leafs organization is taking note!!

Considering that the Avs have had an average 97% renewal rate for their season tickets over the past few years, and had been consistently selling out games (as far as I know) before the lockout, I think it's safe to say that Kroenke Sports Enterprises didn't do this because they were desparate to lure fans back. Maybe I'm being naive, but I'm taking it as a gesture of goodwill to the fans.

MLSEL, you'd better be paying attention to this! Fans are going to be expecting a price cut! It doesn't have to be a major one, but simply maintaining 2003-04 ticket prices isn't going to cut it.

(Of course the fact that I'm probably going to be buying tickets to games, regardless of the price takes a lot of bit out of my "warning", but oh well, you get the point anyway.)

2005-07-23T20:33:00.000-04:00

Darn New NHL Scheduling!

Looks like #2 on my "possibly not-so good" list has become a reality.

*sigh*

This is one of the few suggestions about which I immediately thought "this is idiotic" when I first read it.

To be optimistic, however, I do admit that there's still a chance that the new league emphasis on divisional play in the scheduling will not turn out to be an entirely crappy thing for the Leafs, Avs, Canucks, Sabres, and every other team in the Northwest and Northeast divisions.

I don't feel like getting into it here, though, so if you'd like to read an explanation of why I think the new scheduling is a bad thing, and how I think it might possibly end up okay afterall, please read my post on the subject on my MVN blog: http://avalanche.mostvaluablenetwork.com Yes, this is shameless self-promotion, and I fully admit it! =P

2005-07-22T17:23:00.000-04:00

Amazing Young Team

Looks like the Penguins are going to be one amazing young team to watch! Hopefully with Fleury and now Crosby they'll be able to keep up interest in the team. And then maybe Mario will get the reward he deserves for his loyalty and support of the team. ^_^

My beloved Avs, unfortunately, not only lost out on the #1 pick (can you imagine a team with Sakic, Forsberg and Crosby? man oh man!), but they also were unlucky in scoring the 27th pick. Ah well, the team usually drafts well, regardless of their pick position, so I'm not worried about them.

The Leafs were also unfortunate enough to end up in the bottom third, but the way I see it, they generally draft poorly anyway, so it doesn't really make a difference. =P Okay, so some of their more recent picks like Colaiacovo and Stajan have done quite well, but before that there was only really Kaberle, and he was a very late pick

Speaking of Kaberle, remember the story from Phil that I posted a while ago? Well, the HHOF finally got Kaberle's helmet today! What a guy, huh?

Oh, and Phil gave me another great story today! Apparently when Kaberle was drafted and came over at age 18, his parents were a bit worried about some of the crazy things a young guy alone in North America could get into, so they sent his girlfriend along with him, and either his parents or her parents came over every three weeks to visit just to make sure he didn't get into any trouble! Isn't that great? I'm sure it helped a lot to ease the homesickness during the transition period. (Thanks Phil, for sharing that anecdote!)

And Kevin was on the phone with Bobby Orr yesterday (yes, Bobby Orr) and during the call, Orr asked him to hang on while he took another call. Well, the call was from Kaberle (Frantisek Sr. works for Orr, and Frantisek Jr. and Kaberle are clients of his) so when Orr got back on the phone, he told Kevin "Every kid should be like him. Respectful, polite and a pleasure to be around. Great wives, too." Also, apparently Tomas' mother was a volleyball player or something, and Orr said, "Wish they got their Mom's size. Oh well."

Man, I really wish the Leafs would keep Kaberle! I mean, it's not he asked for an exorbitant amount when his contract was renegotiated two years ago, and he's the only regular on the team that was actually drafted by them! Oh well, if his contract is bought out and he ends up going somewhere else, that just means I'll have one more game to buy tickets for, and I'll have to get another jersey as well! =P

I await Saturday, July 29th, 5pm with baited breath!

2005-07-21T21:13:00.000-04:00

MVN Blog!

Well, I've made my very first post to my new Most Valuable Network (MVN) blog! Feel free to check it out at http://avalanche.mostvaluablenetwork.com! For now, due to my stunning lack of creativity, it's called "Avalanche!", so if you have any suggestions for a better name (it won't take much!) please do share!!

Oh, and I've been encouraged to do link exchanges (for the MVN blog) so if anyone's interested, please email me!

I also know that they're still looking for writers for some teams (like the Penguins and Canucks), so if you're interested, email dan_benton@mostvaluablenetwork.com. All that they ask is that you try to update 2-3 times a week--no requirements for specific subjects, as far as I've been told.

2005-07-13T21:13:00.000-04:00

Anyone Want to Go to Buffalo with Me?

I feel obliged to mention here (although I'm sure anyone who would bother reading this already knows anyway) there will be a 2005-2006 NHL season!

The Good:

1)Hockey Blogging Chicks, re-unite!! ^_^
2)HNIC at my place! I expect to be seeing a lot more of Alex and Keith starting October!
3)Something to look forward to most nights!
4)A second chance at (hopefully still) cheap Buffalo tickets!
5)An excuse to go back to Colorado!
6)Fodder for my new (coming soon!) MVN Colorado Avalanche blog!

The Possibly Not-So Good:

1)Bettman will probably remain Commissioner, if this deal is as skewed in favour of the owners as the press has made it out to be; I was hoping that the NHL would be rid of him and find a new commissioner who's actually a hockey person.
2)Stupid rule/structure changes like 20 teams making the playoffs, or even more divisonal play (Detroit wins easy playoff berth, Northeast and Northwest division teams--generally the most exciting, competitive ones--get rocked).
3)Players get bad reputation and bad deal, and teams still lose money because owners are still idiots. (To paraphrase a quote I once read: the NHL is trying to make an idiot-proof CBA when they should just get be getting rid of the idiots.)
4)Less attention paid to non-professional and international hockey.

2005-07-09T20:57:00.000-04:00

Hockey Purse!

So I went to Philadelphia last weekend for a cousin's wedding. We left on Thursday night (June 30th) and left on Monday morning (July 4th). On the way back we stopped at the Waterloo outlet mall between Syracuse and Rochester. There we bought a bunch of polo shirts for my brother, and my mom went crazy at the Dress Barn! Out of the ~3 1/2 hours we spent there, I'd say that 2 1/2 of them were spent in that store! Oh well, I got two white shirts and a snazzy bag from there, so I'm not complaining.

Actually, I really love the bag! It's black and can be customized with 5/x7 photos! So of course yesterday after work (yes, I went to work--and did 2 1/2 hours of OT as well!) I spent my night going through photos and Photoshop-ing them for printing and pick-up today. I love it because, really, how else would I be able to get a hockey bag/purse? Right now I've got an Aebischer picture in it, but I printed out a bunch (special deal! 5x7s for only $0.99 at Futureshop!) so I'll be able to change the picture when the mood strikes me!

All the photos:

2005-06-30T20:44:00.000-04:00

Congrats Men's Olympic Invitees!

Just a quick note before I'm off to Philadelphia for a wedding for the weekend (yes, I'm going in the States on CANADA Day, and no, I'm not going to be at the Live 8 concert there because I'll be at the wedding and I doubt I would've been able to get tickets anyhow): Congrats to the Men's Olympic Invitees:

Goaltenders:
Martin Brodeur
Roberto Luongo
Jose Theodore
Marty Turco

Defence:
Rob Blake
Jay Bouwmeester
Dan Boyle
Eric Brewer
Adam Foote
Scott Hannan
Ed Jovanovski
Scott Niedermayer
Chris Phillips
Chris Pronger
Wade Redden
Robyn Regehr

Forwards:
Shane Doan
Kris Draper
Simon Gagne
Dany Heatley
Jarome Iginla
Vincent Lecavalier
Mario Lemieux
Kirk Maltby
Patrick Marleau
Brenden Morrow
Rick Nash
Michael Peca
Keith Primeau
Brad Richards
Joe Sakic
Ryan Smyth
Martin St. Louis
Alex Tanguay
Joe Thornton
Steve Yzerman

Woohoo for Tanguay! ^_^ I really hope he makes the cut! And of course I'm also cheering for Sakic, Yzermnan, Foote, Blake and Luongo.

It will be interesting to see what happens with Bertuzzi as well... =/

2005-06-25T21:00:00.000-04:00

Welcome to TO, Paul Maurice!

Woohoo! I'm a bit late in talking about this, but Paul Maurice was named head coach of the Toronto Marlies!! I'm very excited! (And wondering if maybe I should've bought season tickets after all! =P)

I really liked Maurice when he coached the Canes, and I didn't really think that he deserved to be fired, as poorly as the Canes were doing. (Or at least I think that was my opinion at the time--I might be getting him confused with Bob Hartley.)

So yes, I think this is definitely a good thing for the Marlies!

Oh, and in other belated news, Brian Burke was named the Ducks GM. Good for them! Definitely a good move! Hopefully this will see the team do better (not that I'm a huge Ducks fan or anything, but it is Giguere's team, and I like him, so...)

As for the NHL-NHLPA situation, as I posted in the Tagboard, I am personally not holding my breath. A lot of people have been saying that a deal's close, but I'm not going to believe/listen to anything until it's a done deal.

2005-06-22T18:48:00.000-04:00

Ditzy Kaberle Story

Courtesty of Phil! It's fun having big shot friends! =P

After Team Czech won the World Championship, everyone threw their helmets and gloves off and it was all a big mess. So when the Hockey Hall of Fame guys asked (Tomas) Kaberle if they could have his helmet for the Hall, he couldn't find it. But he was going to Toronto in two weeks so he said he'd get it to them then.

He gets back to Toronto, gives the Hall a call and tells them he'll leave it for them at the front desk of the Harbor Westin hotel where he was staying. (He sold his apartment in Etobicoke since he's now a free agent, and who knows where he'll end up. =*( *sigh*)

Well that's fine. So one of the guys goes to the hotel to pick it up, and it's not there. That's a bit weird, but they leave it and wait a couple of weeks for him to get in contact with them again, or to drop it off.

Then they start asking around--apparently he's been practicing/working out at the ACC--and they find out (or he gets in contact with them again, I can't exactly remember which) that the hotel wouldn't let him leave it at the front desk and so he left it with the guy from whom he bought his car (presumably a friend) in...ORANGEVILLE!!!

The HHOF guys eventually pick it up since there's someone who lives far out there anyway, but why Kaberle didn't leave the helmet at the ACC, or walk across the street to the Hall to drop it off was totally beyond them!!

LOL

He's a great defenceman, and I like the way he interviews, and from all accounts he's a really nice guy, but apparently he's not the sharpest skate in the locker room. =P Oh well, guess we can't all be perfect! And that's probably why he's my second favourite player, instead of my first!

2005-05-21T11:52:00.000-04:00

Both Ways

On Tuesday I received an email in response to my Sunday post from Michal from the Czech Republic. It pointed out that "in the final game, [. . .] the ref was very nice to Canada, particularly your captain" and had a clip of the whole Fischer/Vokoun-Smyth altercation attached.

Since I am Canadian, naturally my bias leads me to forget/not mention the calls that the ref should have made against Canada but didn't, but being Canadian doesn't mean that I am blind to the faults of my team. I remember watching that little scene and listening in disbelief to the TSN commentators who were upset with Vokoun for getting involved in the "good, clean" (or something along those lines, as they described it) battle between Smyth and Fischer. Smyth was actually hacking away at Fischer's ankles, which is what led to both Fischer, Vokoun, and other Czech players taking exception to Smyth's actions.

Although I didn't mention it in my Sunday post (selective memory, again, caused by my bias in favour of my national team), at the time I saw it, I wasn't particularly pleased with Smyth's undisciplined actions, and if I didn't necessarily want a penalty called against Canada, if it had been called, I would've accepted it as the right call.

Anyway, I guess what I'm trying to say is that the bad aspects of the refereeing in the gold medal game went both ways. I thought that, in general, a lot of things were called that didn't need to be called, while many things that should've been penalized were let to slip. If my initial response to the game seemed biased in favour of Canada, that's because I am Canadian, and not because I believe that the refereeing was lopsided. Like I said, the Czechs well and truly deserved that win and the gold in the tournament, and better calls wouldn't have changed that fact, it just would have made the game less frustrating to watch. =P

So thank you, Michal for your comment, and the reminder for me to be a bit clearer, and less obviously biased in my comments. ^_^

2005-05-15T21:33:00.000-04:00

Be Careful What You Wish For

Well, I wanted the Czechs to win against Sweden so I could see a Canada-Czech final, and considering the way the Swedes played today (dismal 6-3 loss to Russia), I'm regretting that wish just a little.

*sigh* I guess I should remind myself that Canada played really terribly the entire tournament and that I was amazed that they made it past Slovakia in the quarter-finals, never mind the final!! So yeah, on the bright side, at least they still got silver, which is actually quite significant considering the way they've been playing the entire tournament.

The Czechs, more than any other team would have, in my opinion, actually deserved the goal. They were totally solid defensively, without being deadly dull. Jagr stopped sucking, Vokoun was perfect, and Vyborny was excellent (a little Czech joke, since "excellent" in Czech is "vyborný").

Plus I've got to admit that I'm quite happy that (Tomas) Kaberle has finally won something significant in hockey!!

But still, when you believe, despite all of your complaining and criticisms, that Canada is going to win, it really sucks that they didn't come through.

My only consolation is that, even with all of my waffling and indecision, I decided to go to the baptism and to tape the game. Maybe I had a premonition or something, because the thing that made my decision was when I thought to myself that I'd be really pissed at myself for missing the baptism to watch the game if Canada ended up losing.

But...ARGH!!!!! Not to take anything away from the Czechs--who, as I said, totally deserved the win--I can't believe that Andersson (or however it's spelled) ref!!! He gives Maltby a roughing penalty after ignoring the Czech player holding Doan and dragging him across the blue line for an offside, and then when the Czech player (Fisher?) does some roughing of his own, he totally overlooks it!! And what about the freakin' closing the hand over the puck?!? Don't tell me he couldn't have seen it!! The guy had it in is hand for a good couple of seconds!! He even spun around a bit with the puck in his hand before he threw it!!! At that point the game was pretty well over (I had a bad feeling after the Czech's first goal, even though it was so early in the game), but if the stupid ref had called it, at least Canada might've ended a bit more respectably by getting something on the board!! ARGH!!!!!

2005-05-14T22:15:00.000-04:00

Dilemma

Why does the WHC gold medal game have to coincide with the first baptism in our newly renovated church?!? Four of "my kids" from the high school youth group (I'm a counselor) are going to be baptized too!! I can't just skip out, but...it's the gold medal game!! Between Canada and the Czech Republic!!! My two favourite teams! How can I miss it?!?

I can't believe Canada has actually made it to the final. They almost blew a 4-0 lead in the second period to a very young Russian team!! The first half of the second period (when I started watching) they looked very good. Even up to a bit after the first Russian goal (very pretty!), Canada was looking fine, but then they started to look a bit lazy/sloppy. The third goal, of course, was horrible.

It came partially from an error on Jovo's part, I believe. I don't know if it's just my timing or something, but it seems like Jovo's been making errors and contributing to goals again quite a lot this tourney--every time I've watched he's done it, at any rate.

Thanks to Jello for pointing out how negative I was sounding!! After reading that comment, I chilled out a bit and realized that even if they aren't playing as well as usual, Team Canada is still OUR team, and adversity only makes victory sweeter! ^_^

Go for three in a row!! GO CANADA GO!!!! (Although I've got to admit, if Team Canada's going to lose the gold to anyone, I'm glad it'll be the Czechs!! Then Kaberle will finally have won a championship!!)

2005-05-09T23:32:00.000-04:00

ARGH!

Stupid Team Canada!!! I didn't get to watch the Canada-Finland game because I was in church, and I missed the TSN encore presentation because I was cleaning all afternoon/night and then we took my mom out for a late dinner at Café Hollywood, but after I found out the score (today), I'm glad I missed it!

How could they tie after losing to Sweden!! Darn it all, we needed that win!!! ARGH!

Stupid NHL. If they'd actually been playing all year, I'm sure we wouldn't be sucking this bad. >_<

At any rate. I'm glad Louie at least got a tie instead of a loss (you know I'm not that fond of Brodeur, even though he's historically been excellent for Canada).

*sigh* Man, the way they're playing, I can't even get excited about watching the games, and this is probably the most significant hockey I've had/will have this year!

The ways things have been going (hockey-wise) since last summer, I'm really really grateful that I was able to go to all those World Cup games. At least they give me something in fairly recent memory to recall fondly.

Argh. Stupid NHL. Stupid Team Canada. (Unlike the Olympics, they don't have Gretzky this time to launch into a diatribe in their defense, and to draw away some of the attention.)

2005-05-07T17:02:00.000-04:00

5-4 SWE-CAN

BOOOOOOO!!!! I can't believe stupid Canada lost to Sweden!! They weren't particularly impressive in the loss either--well, from what I saw of it.

*sigh* It's pretty sad when the only hockey I'm getting is WHC and I'm not even really watching (I was reading manga with the tv on in the background).

Ah well. Good for Sweden. They've been pretty shaky on the international (world) level for a while (World Cup was pretty darn sad) so it's nice to see them doing well!! 4-0 is their tournament record, in fact. I just wish it wasn't them doing well against Canada.

Like I said, I wasn't totally paying attention to the game, so I don't know, but I wonder if maybe it's time for a goaltender change? Brodeur's let in, what, 10 goals so far this tournament? I think that's like twice as much as he allowed for the whole of the World Cup!! Of course, Luongo was played against Slovenia so the comparison isn't really fair, but nonetheless...

Of course, Team Canada as a whole (and not just Brodeur) really needs to shape up! Even just from what I saw, they were looking rather rusty/shaky. C'mon Canada! Don't make us have another panicky "future of hockey" summit like after Nagano! LOL

2005-04-30T23:20:00.000-04:00

Extremely Rusty!

Man! I absolutely cannot believe that Canada allowed Latvia to score 4 goals against them!! @_@ Sure they got 6 goals of their own, but...

Geez. Guess you can really see the effects of the NHL lockout in our guys, huh? Jovo made a really big gaffe that led to the...third or fourth goal. It was quite ugly to watch.

*sigh* At least I got to see Irbe again! ^_^ Heh, and one of the TSN commentators even mentioned how he missed seeing Irbe play, and how he was really great...when he was at the top of his game, anyway. =P

Anyway, hopefully that game got the rust off of the Canadians' game so they'll be able to play much better than they did today!

2005-04-21T17:47:00.000-04:00

World Championship 2005

Congrats to Ryan Smyth, Mr. Captain Canada!!! This is what, the seventh year he's captained the Canadian team at the World Hockey Championship? I think he also has the all-time record for Canadian men's games played at the WHC, with 50. Pretty darn impressive. ^_^

Speaking of the WHC, is anyone interested in being part of a league for the FSN World Championship challenge? I'll gladly set one up, but only if people are actually interested! I mean, with the lack of NHL hockey this year, it feels like a lot of people have just given up on hockey altogether. So yeah, if you're interested, let me know sometime soon!

2005-04-19T14:25:00.000-04:00

Penalty for Being Canadian

Hah! I was watching some of the World Under 18 tournament game between Canada and Russia, and apparently one of the Canadians got a game misconduct because he was speaking in French to one of his teammates on the bench and the ref thought he was talking to the linesman!!

ROFL

That's like a penalty for being Canadian! It's so amusingly ridiculous! =D

2005-04-12T22:13:00.000-04:00

World Championships 2005

Well, they announced the roster for Team Canada, and it's got a lot of younger players:

Goalies:
- Martin Brodeur
- Roberto Luongo
- Marty Turco (ICK! xP)

Defencemen:
- Dan Boyle
- Scott Hannan
- Ed Jovanovski
- Chris Phillips
- Wade Redden
- Robyn Regehr
- Sheldon Souray

Forwards:
- Shane Doan
- Kris Draper
- Mike Fisher
- Simon Gagne
- Dany Heatley
- Kirk Maltby
- Patrick Marleau
- Brendan Morrison
- Brendan Morrow
- Rick Nash
- Ryan Smyth
- Joe Thornton

The players that I am saddest to see absent, of course, are Joe Sakic, Adam Foote, and Rob Blake. *sigh* I'm glad to know that the torch is being passed earlier rather than too late (what I suspect to be the case for Team USA), but I will miss my favourite players. In terms of defence, especially I think it'll be a difficult thing, missing players with so much experience and poise.

And of course the goalies are a huge question mark. I mean, Brodeur and Luongo are excellent, but they haven't been playing professionally this season, and their European opponents have. They're really going to have to make use of training camp and the round robin games, I would think.

Of course, I'm still confidant that Canada can come away with the gold, but I think they're going to be challenged by the Czechs (who were Team Canada's best opponents in the World Cup, for sure).

Man...It's been WAY too long without hockey!! I mean, I'm excited about the World Championship, but not that excited, if you know what I mean. *sigh* At least the timing couldn't be better--it starts shortly after my Czech exam, which is really the only difficult exam I'm going to have!

2005-04-06T23:43:00.000-04:00

My Eyes!!

OHmygoodness!!! The cover of this week's Hockey News had the most horrible sight I've ever seen: Joe Sakic in a New York Rangers' jersey!!!

The horror!!!

In other news, our women are slaughtering the competition!! At the World Women's Championship so far, they've got a 3-0 record, and have outscored opponents 35-0. @_@ They're monsters!!! (And I mean that in the positive, Pierre McGuire way!)

Ah...How I miss hockey! I'm going to try to catch the women's final on Saturday, and I'll probably watch as much of the men's as I can, but even international hockey isn't the same as the NHL.

Darn you Bettman and Goodenow (and the owners and players for choosing them)!

2005-04-02T12:25:00.000-05:00

The Bright Side

Well, it's April and there aren't any playoffs going on. *sigh* Even though there hasn't been any hockey all year, the fact that there aren't any playoffs is still depressing.

But, as Steph said, I can look on the bright side: at least the Avs and Leafs won't get eliminated on my Birthday this year. =P

Speaking of birthdays, Happy 19th Lisa!! You're now able to drink anywhere in Canada (and not just Quebec)! Cheers!! ^_^

2005-03-22T01:06:00.000-05:00

Decisions, Decisions...

Heh, my friend (and former suitemate) Sam asked for a photo for her birthday, so I took this picture for her this weekend (although the thought bubble is something I added today). ^_^

Anyway, in case you're curious, I'll identify the various jerseys pictured (starting from the green Western Conference one, going clockwise):

- 2004 NHL All-Star Game Western Conference (youth XL)
- Buffalo Sabres dark (men S)
- Vancouver Canucks "Mogilny 89" white skate (men S)
- Toronto Maple Leafs "Kaberle 15" dark (youth XL)
- Quebec Nordiques dark (youth XL)
- Quebec Nordiques white (youth XL)
- Colorado Avalanche white (men S)
- Colorado Avalanche "Sakic 15" dark (youth XL)
- Colorado Avalanche "Foote 52" third (youth XL)
- 2002 NHL All-Star Game World (youth XL)
- HC Rabat Kladno "Kaberle T. 15" dark (men XS)
- HC Rabat Kladno "Kaberle T. 15" white (men XS)
- Team Czech "Kaberle 15" dark (youth M)
- Team Sweden "Forsberg 21" yellow (men S)
- MoDo "Forsberg 21" dark (men S)

2005-03-18T17:28:00.000-05:00

"Lacking Motivation, Salo Retires"

Or so says the headline on TSN.ca.

For those who aren't aware, I've got a bit of a "history" with Salo. It started with my first experience in a hockey pool. We were drafting online, and I didn't really know the players that well, so I was asking my friend Sam's opinion as to whether I should go with Salo or Belfour (this was his first year with the Leafs). He recommended Salo, so I went with Salo. And cried. It was through the hockey pool that I discovered that Salo is/was a very...unstable goalie. He'd have a short good streak which would get me all excited and renew my faith in him, then he'd totally suck until I decided to bench him (and of course by the time I decided I should play him again, he was back at playing poorly).

Then there was the playoffs. I was cheering for Edmonton because they were a young, exciting team, plus I absolutely despised Dallas (mostly because of Turco), and of course, Salo couldn't keep it together at key moments. Not that it was entirely his fault, but still...

Oh, and again in Vancouver, when I went during the Christmas break and saw the Oilers play the Canucks. I was really looking forward to being able to heckle Salo "Saaaaaalooooo, Saaaaaaalooooo" (and so on), but of course, he played well and the Oilers ended up losing.

I guess I've had this one-sided ove-hate relationship going on with Salo (I always seem to get his hockey cards, too) since early on in my hockey days. So yeah, how do I feel now that he's retired?

Well, I find it extremely sad that he's retiring because of "aching hips and dwindling motivation" (TSN.ca) I realize that a lot of players retire for similar reasons, but it just sounds so very sad coming from him phrased that way, and set in the context of the lock-out and his dimishing/diminished reputation of the last few years. As much as I've said it in a frustrated, mock-angry tone in the past, I do sincerely wish that he could've retired while he was still in his prime and highly regarded, rather than kind of fading the way he did.

2005-03-17T09:49:00.000-05:00

Happy St. Paddy's Day!

Okay, so this really isn't particularly hockey related, except that I decided to wear my 2004 All-Star Game Western Conference jersey (it's green, if you forgot) to celebrate St. Patrick's Day! ^_^ I still need to get it customized (Joe Sakic--MVP! ^_^) but that's probably going to be a little while from now...

Oh, and Salo's supposed to announce his retirement today, I think. When he does, I'll probably write something here about that sometime afterwards. =P

2005-03-12T23:53:00.000-05:00

AHL Game Pics

Just got my card reader this week! So here're my pics (although they're not particularly exciting):

Preparation and Entrance:

Auld and King:

Random sausage race and 2nd intermission sumo match:

Kesler:

King in the box and Final score:

2005-03-02T21:47:00.000-05:00

Happy Birthday, Kaberle!

Kaberle, p?eju vám všechno nejlepši k narozeneninám!

Woohoo! I felt like I needed to redeem myself with some Czech here after I bombed my Czech test today (I mixed and mixed up personal and possessive pronouns, forgot my numbers, and couldn't do the translations!)

2005-03-01T17:40:00.000-05:00

Moose @ Bulldogs

I went with Steph to watch the Manitoba Moose play the Hamilton Bulldogs (in Hamilton, obviously). It wasn't a bad experience, but like Steph said, we've been spoiled by NHL (and international) hockey! ^^;;

The first three periods were actually rather sad. Auld let in a goal in the first 43 seconds, then another one with 1 second left in the period--giving Hamilton a 2-0 lead. Needless to say, he did not return in the second period. ^^;; At least Steph and I were in the right section--there were a bunch of Moose fans behind us, so they were also diasppointed by the Moose's showing.

Speaking of seating, I can't believe how cheap it is for good seats at the AHL level!! Including all the service charges, etc., I think I paid ~$46 for both tickets, and we were right in the center, THIRD row!! If only the action had been a little bit better, it would've been totally amazing! As it was, the hits really sounded quite impressive. =P

Some other fun stuff was that they actually gave out those inflatable stick things you bang together to make noise ("Bam Bams"). And Shoot for a Cure happened to be doing a charity auction, so in the second intermission, Steph and I went out to take a look. Steph almost won a Brad Richards autographed jersey, but there was a guy who bid after us, and he looked like he could afford a lot more, so she gave up. I bought two autographed photos for $7! Drury cost $2, and Foote, $5. Sure, the signatures were smudged, but the price was worth it even for just the photos! ^_^

But back to the game. The Moose, á là Canucks played really well in the third in their comeback bid. They had a really great chance with the extra attacker, but no luck. So then the Bulldogs got the empty netter and that was it. But at least they made it into a game at the end!

I took a bunch of pictures (plus I still have to post pics of my Kladno jerseys--I haven't forgotten!) but I've lent my friend my card reader, so they'll have to wait until I feel like "borrowing" my brother's. =P

2005-02-22T21:38:00.000-05:00

Baby Leafs Signing at Eaton Centre!

I got an email yesterday announcing that some of the Baby Leafs would be at the Eaton Centre to meet fans and to sign autographs (see, sometimes it's good to sign up for newsletters, etc.) from 5-6pm! Luckily that fit perfectly with my schedule!

Shortly after "teaching" at Woodlands, I caught a Go bus down to Union station, and ended up at the Eaton Centre around 4:30pm. The line-up was actually pretty short at that point. ^_^ They started pretty promptly, which was nice. Anyway, onto the photos!

The guys, from right to left, are: Kyle Wellwood, Mikael Tellqvist, Harold Druken, Matt Hubbauer, and Nathan Perrot.

This is me basically moving down the line, getting autographs. (Actually I took the photos without me in them after I got my stuff signed, but it looks better arranged this way! =P)

The great thing is that they actually had these pads of photos which they signed and then tore off to give you--so even if you didn't bring anything to get signed, you could still walk away with something. ^_^ Very nice!!

I also brought my (Stajan-signed) Leafs jersey to get signed. Yes, I realize that Hubbauer hasn't actually played for the big team yet, but I'm confident that he will--I even told him so! See, when I went up to him, Druken was like: "Have you played for the big team yet, Hubby?" and of course, Hubbauer said no. Then I handed him (Hubbauer) my jersey and said: "I'm confidant you'll be playing for them." I also said something about how I watched every episode (of "Making the Cut"), and he smiled . Now, normally I don't pay attention to these things, but my goodness, Hubbauer is pretty good looking in person!! =P

Another thing I realized, after hearing Druken's comment, is that Hubbauer's nickname is pretty amusing too: "Hubby." I don't know if people are as familiar with the word nowadays, but it's a kind of short form/term of endearment for "husband." LOL. Just think of all his teammates and coaches and stuff, all calling him "hubby." ^_~

Anyway, all in all, it was a very good experience. The only thing I regret is that I was silly and forgot all about my Team Sweden Nike cap!! I could've brought it for Tellqvist to sign!! See, the silly part is that I had the cap hanging above the jersey, so when I took down the jersey to pack, I should've seen the hat and thought about bringing it! Ah well. The jersey is more than enough!!

Actually, I lied, another thing I regret is that I didn't get to see Jello there as well! =(

2005-02-19T11:00:00.000-05:00

Disappointed with Moore

I understand that I cannot possibly understand the feelings of Steve Moore and his family--the suffering they have and will continue to have to endure--but nonetheless I am extremely disappointed with the lawsuit against Todd Bertuzzi.

It's not so much that I disagree with the lawsuit in priniple, but rather with the specifics of the lawsuit. I think the conspiracy charge, for one thing, is retarded. His use of some of Bertuzzi and May's statements to the press, in my opinion, represents a willful misinterpretation of the meaning and intent of their words. As for the allegations that Crawford and Burke openly encouraged the players to assault Moore, I think they're completely ludicrous.

Another thing the bugs me is the fact that the suit was filed in the US instead of Canada, considering that the parties involved are Canadian, and the incident occurred in Canada. I admit this isn't something I wouldn't have thought about if not for the TSN article, but it's still a very valid point, in my mind:

Some observers may wonder why Moore brought the suit in Denver and not in Canada, since he and all the defendants except Burke are Canadian.

There is a better chance of a bigger financial award in the U.S.

''In the U.S. one is not constrained as much as plaintiffs who are injured in Canada are by caps on damages paid for pain and suffering,'' said Holmes.

Does he deserve restitution for his physical, mental, and emotional suffering, and that of his family? Certainly. But I think these two things together (the charge of conspiracy and the filing of the suit in the US) indicate that Moore is going beyond seeking fair restitution and mvoing towards immoderate vengeance. He seems to be caught up in the American litigation culture--sue for and over everything.

Now I absolutely accept and believe that Moore was the victim in the "Bertuzzi Incident," but I don't think that gives him the right to ask for more than restitution ("a making good of or giving an equivalent for some injury" - Merriam-Webster Online) from the law. And to me, that's what he's doing by trying to make a conspiracy out of Bertuzzi's wrongdoing.

As for filing in the States versus Canada, to me--right or wrong--that just smacks of plain greed. I know I shouldn't judge his desire to get as much money from the suit as possible--after all, I can't imagine the degree of his suffering--but nonetheless, something in me recoils from the hint or idea of simply going for all you can get, rather than what is fair and equal to the wrong. But again, maybe the Canadian maximum really wouldn't have been fair compensation for his pains. Or maybe he didn't think he'd get such a fair hearing in Canada, considering that Bertuzzi plays for a Canadian team.

The difficult thing in evaluating the lawsuit, I suppose, is that there's the Heatley situation against which to compare it. I mean, the situation is totally different--the lack of the rivalry/enmity/competition aspect here is key--but I can't help but think about the forgiveness and grace and mercy that the Snyders showed to Dany Heatley in comparison to Moore's refusal to even acknowledge Bertuzzi's apology (supposedly a calculated act to prevent weakening his position for the lawsuit).

I don't know. All I can say is that, right or wrong, Moore's lawsuit leaves a bad taste in my mouth and definitely severely undermines my respect for him. It's an awful thing to acknowledge, but I have to work really hard to think of Moore as the victim of a devastating hit that could potentially have ended his career rather than as the villain of the lawsuit against Bertuzzi.

2005-02-16T21:42:00.000-05:00

It's Official

So yes, the cancellation of the NHL season is finally official. Whoop-de-doo-da (sarcastic) I just got three emails--one from each of the Colorado Avalanche, Toronto Maple Leafs, and Vancouver Canucks--about it in my inbox, and you know what, I really don't care.

Sure the league/teams are all sending out mass emails telling all the fans "how sorry we are," (Gary Bettman) and how "with deep disappointment...I am writing to you" (Dave Nonis) but that's really a load of bull. If they really cared about the fans, they would've started seriously negotiating a heck of a lot earlier--long before the All-Star weekend, before the start of the season, or even before the old CBA expired. Waiting until the absolute last minute and then giving some half-baked attempt to come up with a deal for a 20-game season is so pathetic, they might as well have not bothered.

I'm not blaming just the NHL here. The players didn't exactly make an effort to get things done in a timely manner either, and in the face of that, even their astonishing 24% pay rollback and salary cap doesn't seem like much more than a ploy in a hopeless publicity battle. I say hopeless because any intelligent fan recognizes that both the NHL and NHLPA are to blame for the lack of a 2004-2005 hockey season.

And you know what I've learned from this whole fiasco? Hockey is NOT the NHL. Sure I don't watch nearly as much hockey as I used to without the NHL, but Sportsnet and the NHL Network (ironically) do broadcast games from other leagues, like the Swedish Elite League, the AHL, ECHL, and etc. Plus there's all that international hockey (World Championship, World Cup--well, maybe not this one anymore--and the World Juniors) and that serves just as well.

So congratulations to the NHL and NHLPA, you've just succeeded in showing your fans that not only do you not give a hoot about them, but that they don't really need you either.

2005-02-05T14:38:00.000-05:00

Kladno Jerseys!

Woohoo!! My Kaberle HC Rabat Kladno jerseys FINALLY arrived on Wednesday!! (I can't believe I forgot to post about it until now!) It's very exciting!! They're so lovely!!

I'll try to put up some pictures soon (feeling lazy right now). *sigh* I do so love my international jerseys! ^_^ Now all I'll need to do is get my All-Star jersey (World jersey from the one in L.A.) customized--with Kaberle, of course--and I'll have all of my Kaberle jerseys! ^_^ So great!!

2005-01-21T15:33:00.000-05:00

Czech Hockey Comic!

Although my homepage is set to www.hokej.cz, I don't really pay too much attention to what's on the site. I mean, my Czech isn't that good yet, so it's too much work to even attempt to read any of the articles.

Anyway, today for some reason I looked at what was on the page and I noticed a litle picture advertising "Cepel: komix na téma?" hokejové dresy..." which translates roughly (I think) to: "Blades: Comics on themes? Hockey jerseys..." And lo and behold, there was a comic showing a conversation between Kaberle and Domi!If you're interested, take a look at it here. Below is my (very rough) translation!

Top: We find Toronto teammates Tomas Kaberle (presently with Kladno) and Tie Domi (momentarily nowhere) trying to resolve the problem of ads on jerseys.

Panel 1: Hahahaha... What do you have on your jersey? You look like a clown...

Panel 2: Well, for the most part not clowning around [over displays] (not sure about that part!) but the difference from you is I'm playing in a proper league.

Bottom: In the NHL they don't wear ads on jerseys. Indeed they have beautiful jerseys, but for those playing this year there isn't, in fact, even hockey.

Like I said, it's a pretty rough (i.e. BAD) translation, but you get the gist of it, I hope!

[Edit: I sent the comic to my Czech teacher to ask her help for a more accurate translation, and this is her reply:

Tie is making fun of Tomas because he has advertisments on his hockey jersey
(reklam) and telling him he looks like a clown or a fool (sasek). Tomas
replys that at least he is playing hokey and not playing the fool at exhibits
(refering to their public appearnace and exhibiton games) and actually playing
real hockey in a real hockey league.

The underneath part expains that the NHL does not have ads on their jerseys,
and that although they have beautiful ones, that what the players are playing
this year is not hockey!

So I guess I didn't do too bad on my translation, huh (even though panel 2 was pretty sketchy)? ^_^]

2005-01-13T22:27:00.000-05:00

Do You Really...?

Words are few, I have spoken
I could waste a thousand years
Wrapped in sorrow, words are token
Come inside and catch my tears

Do you really want to hurt me?
Do you really want to make me cry?
Do you really want to hurt me...

Hockey, please come back

*sigh* I watched the Farjestad @ Linkoping game on Sportsnet tonight, and you know it's a very sad state of affairs when you're falling asleep while watching the first professional hockey you've seen in months. =(

Tonight's game really made me wonder how the heck Farjestad can be fourth in the Swedish Elite League. I mean, they haven't scored a single goal in two whole games, and, tonight at least, they didn't even have particularly good defense to make up for their lack of offense!! I feel so bad for Gerber! He just needed one period and a bit to set the Swedish League shutout record, but his team totally wasn't helping him out!!

That was something at least, I guess: the game today showed me that Martin Gerber's a pretty amazing goalie. His performance tonight was Luongo like, in that he didn't get much help from his team, faced a whole bunch of shots, but nonetheless managed to keep his team from being totally creamed. Go Gerber!!

Anyway, I hope the next few Swedish hockey games I watch are more exciting! I don't mind low scores, but I like to see teams play well!!

Oh, and the good news is that the company that distributes the Kladno jerseys got my money order last week! The bad news is that they're not going to send the jerseys until after they've cashed it, and who knows how long that'll take. =/