Monday, February 06, 2006

 

Flames Game Night

Tonight it's the Flames in San Jose to take on Joe Thornton and the Sharks (Flames PPV). Calgary generally plays very well in the Shark Tank, the most obvious evidence being the three playoff wins there in March '04.

As I noted last week, descriptions of San Jose's momentum since acquiring Thornton are a bit overstated. They have 36 points in 28 games since the trade; if they play at that pace going forward, they'll finish with 95 points, which may be just enough for the playoffs.

However, that does include an incredible 6-game tear right off the bat, where they went 6-0 and outscored their opponents 29-13. Those 6 games were also all part of their Eastern Conference schedule; they went 9-1 against the East, and don't have those teams to punk on anymore.

In their last 12 games (i.e. the 3rd quarter of the season), they've earned 13 points. That pace will leave them well short of the playoffs.

I think the Flames will win 3-2. Now with that out of the way: Story Time!

The Skoda sticker on Joe T's helmet reminds me of a good friend of Sacamano and me from high school, KT (who is today, I believe, a Flames season-ticket holder). Of course every high schooler wants a car, but for some reason our friend KT's parents bought him a Skoda.

KT was harangued regularly and mercilessly about his piece-of-crap. He defended himself as best he could: "at least I have a car", and also, "it's not a bad car!".

Long story short: after probably a full year of this, KT was driving down Shaganappi Trail one day and his beloved Skoda burst into flames. Literally: it was a complete write-off. It burned right down to the steel.

Much, much laughter was had. He's still known to this day by some of our contemporaries as Torch. And a month later, you never saw a 17-year-old so happy to be driving a Pontiac Sunburst.

The moral of the story: kids can be so... very... perceptive.

Comments:

My favourite thing about that Skoda, other than its bright, bright, orange colour, was that you could remove the door from the outside -- without car keys. Just like lego.

I like how you ignore the fact that Flames haven't won in San Jose since January 2001. That's 5 years ago and 8 straight games for those who are counting.

But hey, I guess you're right, Calgary does play very well in the Shark Tank.
 


My other favourite characteristic about that Skoda was that it had "Legendary Rap Artist" Young MC's Bust a Move on a constant loop. Loudly.
 


They have won in San Jose. 3 times (in 3 games) in May 2004. Two of those performances were downright dominant.

If AP wants to disregard those, they're free to do so. And their stats are correct. But you can't say the Flames have played poorly there recently when they haven't.

And I totally forgot about the door. Amazing.
 


Man, I dunno. "Bust a Move" was a fun song for a deck party or something (and it still holds up!), but having it on constant loop in your car? Was this guy in special ed?
 


He had it going in the Sunburst, too: I don't know if the insurance covered it, or if he rescued it during his escape...
 


Keeping along the clever signs theme, I hope some people bring some funny signs to the Anaheim game tonight.

Something along the lines of:

-"Smyth got in my kitchen too, and all I got was this lousy 10 minute misconduct."

or else..

-"I'm not elected either Mr. Harper, can I be in your cabinet too?"

either way, go Oilers.
 


Old? YMC is timeless, baby.
 


Great photo of Thornton. Those European teams really have a way with snazzy threads.
 

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