Thursday, May 11, 2006

 

eep

Being a fan is tough. Check out what the front page of Covered in Oil would have looked like if a bounce had gone the Sharks' way in OT. When you're busting out the Vincent D'Onofrio in FMJ pic, boy, you're despondent.

The emotional rollercoaster of the fan is even unmistakeably evident in this site's traffic. It's like the Red Mile/Whyte Ave: lively after a Victory, dead after a Defeat. On an emotional level, I understand it completely, but it's still kind of amazing. A frickin' website.

Obligatory post-game Greg Millen assessment: I basically agreed with his comments regarding OT penalties (though I don't know why he felt the need to conclude his remarks with "it's what the league wants": you're obviously aware that you're entitled to your opinions, dude, go with it).

That said, I think this is what Jim Hughson thinks about when he's falling asleep at night: "How do I gently correct my partner when the need for a correction arises from the fact that he wasn't listening to the thing I said not 10 seconds ago?" There was at least two instances of this in the first period, one of which I remember quite vividly:
Hughson: And the shots are 15-1 in favour of the Oilers
[play progresses briefly, Roloson handles a weak shot, no rebound, play stops]
Millen: It's impressive that Roloson handled the puck so well there, cause that is the first shot he's seen all game... uh, and the rebound makes it two, I guess.
Hughson: [silence]

Good times.

Comments:

Yeah, I've never seen a goalie get so many announced "first saves of the game" before.

Not only that, but I'm pretty sure that he got one within the first couple of minutes because I turned to Mrs. Sac and said:

"That's good, get Rollie the feel of the puck early".

Meh, who knows, maybe the eagle-eyes from the league office determined that it was going to go wide.
 


Good ol' Millen. I mean, at least Garrett was a decent WHA goaltender. Millen didn't have a single season over .900 his entire career. IIRC, he led the league in goals allowed two or three times. And you hire HIM to analyze the playoffs, a place he's rarely been?

I still say they should've hired Ray Ferraro, instead of letting NBC nab him.
 


As bad as Millen is, Hughson was awesome last night. His coverage of the OT was amazing. Credit where credit is due and all. If having Millen is the downside of having Hughson, then I'll take that trade off.

Just think, in just a couple of months, you'll get to see these exact same comments posted at my site about Chris Walby. What would the CBC be without at least one colour guy who is totally helpless?
 


Maybe they'll bring in Harry.

"And Torres beats Toskela with a 27 and a half footer."

Although I think someone commented on the fact that his weird shot distance mojo only works at the ACC
 


Arcanas, I miss the James Curry on CBC's CFL coverage; he had serious, serious problems with the English language and rated a solid 95 on the Unintentional Comedy Scale.

I remember one absolute beauty in about 1994, commenting on a nice catch: "He just made a great athletic ability right there." Fan-tastic.
 


I wanted to bear Hughson's children by the end of the game. He's good enough that Millen actually becomes tolerable as comic relief.
 


That's awesome, Matt. Before my time though (I'm just a pup).

You still can't beat Dunnigan showing that he has, in fact, had almost a dozen concussions :P
 


My favorite Millen moment from last night came after the Torres goal:

Pronger head-mans the puck to Stoll who then finds Torres breaking down the wing with a cross-ice pass...

During the ensuing replays and analysis of the goal, Millen heaped praise upon Pronger of all people. I think the superlative he applied was "best passer in the game".

Now, Pronger has been a beast in the post-season, don't get me wrong - but talk about hyperbole. A standard break-out pass was hardly the facet of the goal that should have garnered praise. And it most certainly wasn't enough to grant Pronger the aura of "best passer in hockey".

Ahhh Millen...
 


I hate Millen. If there was a stronger word than that I would use it.

My favorite Hughson moment was when Rolli robbed Cheechoo in overtime. The words,"GREAT SAVE BY ROLOSON!" sounded EXACTLY like how you would hear them in EA NHL Hockey. Same cadence, emotion, everything. All of a sudden I felt like I could just skate down the ice, make Thornton's head bleed, and slap in the one-timer.
 


Oh I think there are plenty of stronger words that we could use to describe Millen
 


"Spit upon", works. I lost all semblance of sanity when he started his tirade about GG. Thank God Hrudey and Maclean set him straight. Speaking of, any word on a suspension?

And what about the CBC? Again they lost the feed in overtime.
 


Millen said some absolute gibberish in the first period, but I forgot it due to the length and drama of the rest of the game. However, it was very similar to the immortal words of pseudo color commentator Garry Unger, shortly after he retiredmany years ago:
"To have a winning attitude, you gotta have a winning attitude."
 


Nobody noticed this one in the early going from Millen?:
"The Oilers can't seem to get the puck out of their end ... because ... they aren't clearing the puck out of their zone"
 


Oh, and what about Scott Oake asking Scott Hannan after two periods if the position they were in--with a 2-1 lead--was the position the Sharks wanted to be in? Umm no, Scott, we like to be down by 3 going into the 3rd. We find that it really motivates us to play hard.
 


That was an amazing save by Rolli. I was off my seat so I didnt quite catch what Hughson said.

Gotta love Millen...
"That's a huge save, one that might determine the outcome of the game later on." Of course it will! It's overtime!
 

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