Wednesday, October 05, 2005
eeeccchhh
Flames lose 6-3 to Minnesota.
Bad points: Ference. He looked like the guy who was an occasional healthy scratch early last season, not like the guy who was the #3/4 defenceman for a Stanley Cup finalist. (Seriously, he was awful -- the stats will show him at -2, but he was on the ice for all 5 of the Wild's goals; all but the empty netter).
Good points: the forwards. Yeah, Simon was logey, and Kobasew was invisible, but everyone else looked pretty good, I thought. (Time to get Ritchie in there, though.)
Also, obviously Kipper wasn't heroic, but I thought he looked decent. I only had sound for the game in the 1st period, and the lads seemed to be saying he was out of position on the 1st goal. That's not what it looked like to me; it looked to me like Ference was afraid to touch Chouinard as he moved to the net (or his head was somewhere else).
Anyway, it could have been worse - this could have been a home game. I was sincerely hoping that Calgary would start out with the outright lead in the division; as I type this, it's entirely possible that they'll be alone in 5th at the end of the night. It's not ideal; they need to beat C-Bus on Friday, and come home with at least 4 points off of their 4 game season opening roadtrip. The points math this season requires that you be .500 on the road. It used to be that if you were anywhere near .500 on the road, you were easily in the playoffs; that's not going to cut it anymore.
The only time I was seriously alarmed watching the game tonight was the first 10 minutes, when Calgary's forecheck was not aggressive, at all. They turned that around fast, reassuring me that they still have that desire and capability. Now the D just needs to get up to speed -- mainly, Ference needs to wake up, Hamrlik could look a lot sharper, and Montador would look a lot better if he was Robin Regehr. 1 down, 81 to go!
Bad points: Ference. He looked like the guy who was an occasional healthy scratch early last season, not like the guy who was the #3/4 defenceman for a Stanley Cup finalist. (Seriously, he was awful -- the stats will show him at -2, but he was on the ice for all 5 of the Wild's goals; all but the empty netter).
Good points: the forwards. Yeah, Simon was logey, and Kobasew was invisible, but everyone else looked pretty good, I thought. (Time to get Ritchie in there, though.)
Also, obviously Kipper wasn't heroic, but I thought he looked decent. I only had sound for the game in the 1st period, and the lads seemed to be saying he was out of position on the 1st goal. That's not what it looked like to me; it looked to me like Ference was afraid to touch Chouinard as he moved to the net (or his head was somewhere else).
Anyway, it could have been worse - this could have been a home game. I was sincerely hoping that Calgary would start out with the outright lead in the division; as I type this, it's entirely possible that they'll be alone in 5th at the end of the night. It's not ideal; they need to beat C-Bus on Friday, and come home with at least 4 points off of their 4 game season opening roadtrip. The points math this season requires that you be .500 on the road. It used to be that if you were anywhere near .500 on the road, you were easily in the playoffs; that's not going to cut it anymore.
The only time I was seriously alarmed watching the game tonight was the first 10 minutes, when Calgary's forecheck was not aggressive, at all. They turned that around fast, reassuring me that they still have that desire and capability. Now the D just needs to get up to speed -- mainly, Ference needs to wake up, Hamrlik could look a lot sharper, and Montador would look a lot better if he was Robin Regehr. 1 down, 81 to go!
# posted by Matt @ 10:49 pm 
Comments:
Sorry about the loss...
See? I can be magnanimous, especially after an Oilers win. Although it was a bit of a shaky Oilers win -- plenty of rust on both teams there, hoo boy.
In the spirit of Mike's comment, I suggest renaming the page to "The Knitting Circle and Fondue Club of Alberta".
But hey, I'm feeling magnanimous too. Hell, I'm sure there are one or two other six-goal nights in the history of the Minnesota Wild franchise--it could have happened to anyone! Of course, Gaborik was probably in the lineup those other times. Aw, sorry, I'm not very good at this.
I'd say roughly half the readers of this weblog are believing you bigtime.
Actually, I wasn't that impressed with the Wild. Or rather, what impressed me was the opposite of what is supposed to impress people about them.
They had some nice individual performances; their goals were nice goals, where the scorers looked real handy with a puck.
The vaunted system, or Team D, or whatever you want to call it, was weak. They took a lot of penalties. Halfway thru the 2nd they were up 3-0; halfway thru the 3rd they were up 4-3 and on the PK again.
Then again, that W looks pretty good...
The flames got smoked, but it was good to see Iginla and Langkow get in the action.
We must remember that Iginla is a slow starter. I'm hoping this year he gets past this, but by December Iginla scores in buckets.
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Sorry about the loss...
See? I can be magnanimous, especially after an Oilers win. Although it was a bit of a shaky Oilers win -- plenty of rust on both teams there, hoo boy.
In the spirit of Mike's comment, I suggest renaming the page to "The Knitting Circle and Fondue Club of Alberta".
But hey, I'm feeling magnanimous too. Hell, I'm sure there are one or two other six-goal nights in the history of the Minnesota Wild franchise--it could have happened to anyone! Of course, Gaborik was probably in the lineup those other times. Aw, sorry, I'm not very good at this.
# posted by 
: October 05, 2005 11:38 pm
: October 05, 2005 11:38 pm I'd say roughly half the readers of this weblog are believing you bigtime.
# posted by : October 06, 2005 2:55 am
: October 06, 2005 2:55 am Actually, I wasn't that impressed with the Wild. Or rather, what impressed me was the opposite of what is supposed to impress people about them.
They had some nice individual performances; their goals were nice goals, where the scorers looked real handy with a puck.
The vaunted system, or Team D, or whatever you want to call it, was weak. They took a lot of penalties. Halfway thru the 2nd they were up 3-0; halfway thru the 3rd they were up 4-3 and on the PK again.
Then again, that W looks pretty good...
The flames got smoked, but it was good to see Iginla and Langkow get in the action.
We must remember that Iginla is a slow starter. I'm hoping this year he gets past this, but by December Iginla scores in buckets.
# posted by : October 06, 2005 12:54 pm
: October 06, 2005 12:54 pm Post a Comment
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