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Tuesday, February 05, 2008

Happy Monday!

You would not believe the dream I had last night... for starters, the Flames got hammered by the Oil, which is bad, but it's hockey, and these things happen sometimes. Here's the nightmarish parts though:
  1. CuJo got the start, and looked as bad as a goalie can without letting one in from the red line. He was terrible handling the puck, and made poor decisions with it, and kicked out massive rebounds all night. Some might look at it as "hey, he actually made a few nice saves"; I look at it as, "name a goalie in the league who would have allowed more goals".
  2. One of the Flames' comparative advantages this season is supposed to be veteran savvy. The roster is jammed with guys who won't win a lot of races to pucks, but can more than make up for it with skill, smarts, & experience. Yet for some reason, in my nightmare, both halves of their veteran shutdown D pair took fighting majors against a guy whose only conceivable usefulness as an NHL player is to goad effective players into taking fighting majors.
Anyway, the Flames play in Edmonton tonight and the Coyotes back home tomorrow night (9PM MT, RSN West). Keenan needs to put it out there that if anyone besides Godard, Primeau, or Nolan gets into a clutch with Stortini, they fly back to Calgary in the cargo hold. Go Flames.

27 comments:

  1. "name a goalie in the league who would have allowed more goals"

    Apparantly, Curtis McElhiney?

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  2. crazy. i had the exact same dream last night. it was one to remember. storts seems to have taken a liking to this agitator role. it seems to work. it seems to piss off nhl players to no end that they have to share ice time with this clown. did i mention that i am finally getting over my life long fear of clowns?

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  3. One of the few bright spots of the last few seasons has been watching the backup goaltender circus in Calgary.

    Although, I have to say, I do miss Noodles.

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  4. One of the Flames' comparative advantages this season is supposed to be veteran savvy. The roster is jammed with guys who won't win a lot of races to pucks, but can more than make up for it with skill, smarts, & experience.

    Just to pile on: Wayne Primeau, he of the 1.4M cap hit, 3 points and -5 rating played a mere 8 minutes last night and was on for 3 of the 5 goals against. ARGH!

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  5. Is that the same Wayne Primeau who is all that remains from the A.Ference/C.Kobasew trade? The Wayne Primeau with a career minus-93? Hard to believe he makes more than either one of those guys.

    Not exactly Sutter's best trade, two young affordables for one salary dump and one I'm-outta-here.

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  6. That ... sucked.

    I have to agree about Joseph, I thought he was inept. Granted, you won't win by scoring zero goals, but your goalie has to give you a chance.

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  7. First time seeing Nolan live since his TO days. I wonder if his skates are made out of cement?? Good to see him flailing around on the PK. Uselius and Iginla forgot to show up.

    Its always nice to see the Oil hand it to the Falmes - and watch the Falmes self destruct in the game topped off by a rediculously selfish play by Godard running Garon in the 3rd.

    For us Oil fans it will be a bright spot in an otherwise tough year.

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  8. they fly back to Calgary in the cargo hold

    Not as fun as it sounds.

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  9. Matt, I realize it was a nightmare so you may not be thinking straight, but blaming Cujo is a little rich:
    - Regehr was beaten badly to the net by Pisani, who potted the rebound (not a huge rebound...and it *was* a nice initial save)
    - Penner snipes one after a great pass from Sanderson. Yeah, Cujo was fooled on the play, but so was every other Flame on the ice.
    - Hemsky scores a pinball PPG off his knee.

    After all that, it's 3-0 going into the third.

    Flames response? Regehr fights with Stortini seconds into the period. He doesn't even get out of the box before Godard starts sucker punching everybody on the ice, leading to a 7 minute Oiler powerplay.

    Meanwhile, Junior Iginla was held off the scoresheet. Yeah, Cujo was a major reason for the loss. Good think Kipper wasn't in, or you'd really be confused. ;-)

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  10. Where did I blame CuJo, or say he was a major reason for the loss? Did you comment on the wrong blog?

    CuJo didn't make a single play or save above what one would expect from a so-so AHL goalie, and handled the puck like a young Matt Greene under pressure. There was absolutely nothing to like about his performance.

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  11. Where did I blame CuJo, or say he was a major reason for the loss? Did you comment on the wrong blog?

    See item #1 in your post, or the paragraph you wrote below the above sentences.

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  12. It's not fair to blame Cujo for the loss ... I don't think Matt did ... but he has to wear a lot of it. When your goalie can't make the save, it just sucks the life out of your team. Last night, the best place to stand looking for rebounds was right between the hash marks.

    There were other life-sucking performances out there, but CuJo's was easily the most awful.

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  13. where's andy? katz has the franchise. the new arena is all but certain. it's a win-win right?

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  14. Now I can't wait for the new arena. Are we all in agreement that we just didn't want to see the EIG with a new arena?

    Am I right?

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  15. Peter Mueller.

    Give me strength.

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  16. Ferris Mueller's enjoying yet another Flames Day off;)

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  17. And to think, on Saturday, it looked like Iginla was playing his way out of the 0-fer. Tonight has probably been worse for that line than last night, at least the rest of the fwds have been better.

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  18. Again Roger, Charlie Simmer is a blockhead.

    He has possibly broken the all-time record (previously held by Charlie Simmer) for mutually contradictory statements in a single broadcast. Excelsior!!!

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  19. Flames and Oilers fans: I went to the Leafs-Panthers game tonight. None of us have a single thing to complain about.

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  20. at least the rest of the fwds have been better.


    Yeah. The 4th line doesn't look like a bag of suck for some reason.

    The defense sure looks bad tonight. They can't seem to make a break-out pass to save their lives. And Sarich is having his worst stretch as a Flame I think as well.

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  21. That's a good way to break out of a slump.

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  22. So honestly who saw that third period comeback happening. After Mueller's hat trick I turned off the radio only to now see that it is in the shoot out. What the hell woke them up.

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  23. Let me guess - Phaneuf's contract negotiations are reaching a climax.

    I'll take my win with a side of drama, thanks.

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  24. What the hell woke them up

    This wasn't like yesterday; they really were carrying the play all night (though the Iginla line was a void in the first 2).

    Check out the EV Shots/Misses/Shots-Blocked For and Against (team totals are #34)... that's like a particularly lopsided Wings game.

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  25. Holy crap! Can the defencemen's Corsi/Fenwick numbers ever swing from game to game. Ballard sports a minus 30! I had no bloody idea.

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