Thursday, January 19, 2006

 

Flames Game Day

It's always fun to play the Montreal Canadiens, and they come to town tonight for a 7PM MST start (Sportsnet West).

For the second time in a week, the Flames play a team hot off of canning their coach. The Islanders rode that adrenalin for a whole game, following their win over the Flames with an 8-1 crushing by the Canucks. Montreal is marginally more talented than NYI, so the 2-game high they've had since Julien got fired seems about right.

I think the Habs will be totally hapless tonight. I think that equates to (A) about a 4-1 Calgary victory, and (B) Gainey and Carbonneau, just in case they're having "thoughts", remembering that the Habs weak record in the past 2 months hasn't just come from a lack of effort & inspiration. There's some loft issues there too.

For the view from the other side (and this should really be a feature of our game previews), check out Sisu Hockey. Here's something I didn't know:
So, the Montreal Canadiens now have a collection of eight Selke trophies behind the bench: Gainey has four, Carbo has three and Jarvis one. I pity the forward (Mike Ribeiro) who backchecks lazily.

No kidding. And I think Tommy is due for some more pinball wizardry. Go Flames.

Comments:

Ribeiro isn't what you'd call rock solid, but the man has compiled a 40-15 takeaway-giveaway ratio somehow.
 


Rock solid?? He isn't even sponge solid. Or would that be flaccid?

I question the value of those stats. If they make Ribeiro look good, they can't be right. When exactly is a giveaway/takeaway awarded? From the look of them, it seems dump-ins are giveaways.

From Puckerings:
http://www.hockeyzoneplus.com/puckerings/puck003.htm

"The meaningfulness of giveaways has yet to be determined; there is some evidence that they reflect something positive, rather than the negative they were intended to indicate."
 


In other words, I guess we're all agreed that "it's a game of puck possession" is the dumbest thing that colour commentators repeat often.
 


Yeah, I'm familiar with Puckerings's ruminations. The elite offensive players all have huge numbers of giveaways because they're carrying the puck so much. But takeaways are still a good thing, and 40 is a very large number for a forward.
 

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