Saturday, April 05, 2008

 

Flames Game Night

So I gotta admit... I honestly thought that the hockey gods would punish the Capitals tonight for Matt Cooke. Thursday's takeout of Vinny Lecavalier was, by my count, the fifth time Cooke has injured an opponent this season (injured = missing the rest of the game and at least one more). That's really remarkable. The good news for the rest of the players on Eastern playoff teams is this: Cooke was fined $2500 for the incident, so you know that probably made him reconsider his playing 'style'.

The team that formerly employed Mr. Cooke for many years is hosting the Flames tonight (8PM MT, HNiC). They paid the price for this and many other sins on Thursday, losing to the Oilers and missing the playoffs for the second time in three seasons.

Yelle and Conroy will sit out tonight, and Kipper will back up Joseph. I'll be watching and caring; the Flames really need to do what they can to finish 6th. Not-so-fun stat: the two games Calgary played in San Jose this season -- both of which they won in OT, and which were before the Sharks' recent super-hot streak -- they were outshot by a total of 41.

Prediction: plenty of airtime for Trevor Linden's joyless countenance, and a 3-1 Calgary win (Langkow, Phaneuf, Lombardi, and the irrepressible Sami Salo). Go Flames.

Comments:

plenty of airtime for Trevor Linden's joyless countenance

le sigh.

Oh well, I'll be a lot more productive at work with the Canucks not in the playoffs.

Prediction: the crowd chants "One More Year" towards the end of the game
 


Looks like a pretty good night. Barring a third period implosion, the Flames will end the season on a high note. Now it's up to Minnesota to decide who they want to play. Of course, if they choose Colorado, that means they have to lose to them, a bad way to go into the series. I can't see them taking it easy tomorrow, considering the psychological edge that would give Colorado.

Also, with the Capitals taking their division, there is no question who will take home the Hart. I hope Iginla gets nominated this year, but I can't in good conscience believe he deserves it. Ovechkin has done an amazing thing with the Caps this year, and deserves the award.
 


50 goals, and a new personal best for points. Also, revenge is sweet!

plenty of airtime for Trevor Linden's joyless countenance

Is this why Linden was apparently picked as the first star? Was his countenance joylessly starworthy?
 


I loved the end of the game. The 7-1 score was sweet, but the Linden farewell was even better. Thought it was real classy for the Flames to come back out of the dressing room to shake his hand.
 


Any footage of the Cooke fiasco? I didn't see it.
 


I just watched the highlights, so now I understand the first star selection. It was neat to see some of the older guys have a bit more to say when they shook Linden's hand. Did Nolan or Cujo ever play with Linden?
 


The Cooke hit was not so bad, he just got him on a weird angle. Hilarious tonight watchin Cherry callin Cooke a cheapshot-artist and then saying the Bell on Alfredsson hit was "not right". Cookes was a hit that you'll see 50 times in a game, while Bells elbow was flagrant and ridiculous. Oh well, Canucks season is done and i'll be watchin with casual interest.
And yeah, I was impressed with the Flames tonight. Classy move by them, and I was impressed with my fellow Nuckleheads for cheerin Iggys 50th.
Over-all, a game that will be forgotten by mornin, and a season that will be pecked over for a few weeks yet.
I should hope Calgary gets Minny, cause San Jose is lookin unstoppable.
 


Did Nolan or Cujo ever play with Linden?

Nope. A little surprising, but no.
 


Just to clarify: I was wondering more about World Cup, Olympics, etc.

(Now that I figured out where to find the info) Looks like they were all on the Canada World Cup team in 97, plus Cujo and Linden were together in the '98 Olympics.
 


If you see Cooke's hit fifty times a game, you'd have fifty penalties for interference. I don't think it was one that you'd expect to see an injury out of, but it's definitely not a common hit considering Lecav wasn't anywhere near touching the puck. And I think taking a hard hit to a guy without the puck usually qualifies as a cheap shot.

But I thought the same of punching the back of someone's head and Canucks fans have pointed me out as wrong on that too.
 


I'm a casual reader of BoA and I really appreciate the baseball stats that are posted every so often as well as other interesting analysis. Keep up the good work.
I remember last year some stats were posted that showed how teams ranked in the regular season against other teams in the same conference (like, as if the Eastern conference didn't exist) and it demonstrated how powerful eventual cup winners Anaheim were.

Any chance those stats might be posted? Or could someone provide a link if they know?

As a Canuck fan, it's pretty sad to see Linden leave. Some people say that if you retire Linden's number then you have to retire Bure's but I'm not so sure. Linden really "meant" a lot to Vancouver above and beyond any scoring or statistical numbers.
 

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