Monday, January 30, 2006

 

Pulse of the Nation

One of Matt's favourite things is to catch a glimpse of hockey humanity in the TSN Message boards.

Here ya go:

Speak truth to power, friends.

Comments:

Everytime I read those things I think of old stock footage of a mob with pitchforks and torches running at double speed.

Guaranteed: "Fire the GM" thread on HF Boards next time the Oilers lose two in a row.
 


How come the southern contingent has run away and hid? They didn't have the best weekend, but it's not what you'd call adversity. That comes later, when Flip Sauve is found face down in the whirlpool bath and Sutter tries to flee over the Rockies in a white Bronco.

Or whatever. This whole race is starting to have a weird powderkeg vibe on the Calgary side.
 


Heh... jeez, St. Louis and Columbus are sure having a string of goofy upset wins.
 


Flames boards are going nuts. I could see it if we were fighting for the last playoff spot, but that isn't the case. Yes, the Flames should have mopped up the floor with the Blues, but they didn't.

Flamesville has been begging for "a #1 centre to set up Iginla" ever since Conroy left. While that would help, I think the Flames need an emotional leader with a killer instinct. Iggy can do it in big games, but he doesn't seem to have the stomach to call for the kill shot against the weaker teams.
 


Every team stumbles some along the way, but there was something about last night's game that had an extra degree of horrible-ness. I don't know what it was, maybe some combination of the bad ice, the bad refs, the bad opponent, cacking a two goal lead, Jarmoe playing like he partied hard the night before, the play by play guy repeating the phrase ...'gets around Ference ... ' like it was on a loop, I could go on but I think I'll stop now.

I could go on, but we're home again and after what will no doubt prove to be a tough game against Columbus, at least we get the Canucks.

Go Flames.
 


Seriously, it's like there's something screwy going on. I fully expect some season-derailing announcement any day, like "Jarome has hepatitis B" or "Oh shit, everyone but Kobasew tested positive for steroids."
 


I think it started when Sutter inexplicably went ballistic at Sauve.

I mean seriously, sure he had a bad game, but he didn't even throw a punch. I'm not even sure how he got an instigator penalty -- he didn't get a fighting major to go along with it.

Hey, when even Eric Francis can spot something is wrong, you know there must be trouble in paradise.
 


Nothing all that positive to say about that 5 game road trip. Losing to a good team like Colorado isn't the end of the world, I guess, but the Flames have to do better than 2-1-1 against the shitty teams.
 


Francis could be right. Considering Kipper played what I think was his worst game of the year last night in the 2nd of back-to-back games, it's certainly an open question. Hindsight is definitely that Sauve should have been in goal yesterday.
 


And here I thought Canucks fans were the biggest wagon-jumpers.

Who would have ever thought the name "Stempniak" would morph into a vile curse word?
 


Curse word? No way. It's going to be a term for an elegant tactical surprise: "Rommel, the Desert Fox, completely stempniaked the green U.S. troops at the Kasserine Pass."
 


But how big of play would the Sauve remarks get in the dressing room. I mean, the Flames only got home last night, so they would have been absent from the media created echo-chamber in Calgary. I'm sure they heard it, but I'm not sure it would have had the same vitriolic impact that was portrayed in the Canadian press. Lord knows, Chicago & St. Louis aren't the hotbeds of hockey they have been in the past.
 


I like how Francis calls Sauve's numbers "respectable". A 2.62 GAA and .914 save percentage are Hall of Fame numbers, actually, if kept up over the long haul.

Is Sutter morphing into Mike Keenan here?
 

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