You Say What Now?

Reading a recent article in the Dallas News, I found two things I did not like:

Veteran goalie Brent Krahn should get a chance to become the Stars' backup goalie next season after signing a one-year, two-way contract Tuesday.

Backup? BACKUP? No, I think they meant to say starter. Or maybe the keyword here is "chance," as in, if he decides to play horribly he will exercise that chance of becoming a backup.

"The concussion was just a fluke, and we believe his knees are healthy, so we think he's ready for a big year."

This goes back to the first quote. If he's ready for a big year, why are they speculating he'll become a backup? Because they only believe he's healthy? Do they think he'll have more problems once the season gets under way?


What's happenin'?

It All Happened So Fast

Getting news left and right about trades all over the place.
Byfuglien, Eager, Sopel, AND Fraser are gone. The first three are now a part of the Thrashers organization (so, not as bad as it could be), and Fraser is going to the Oilers. (Again, not so bad. He'll be reunited with Nikolaiii!)
Reasoner is playing for the Blackhawks as part of the trade; Crabb is now a Blackhawk, which is rad. I can't wait to see him ALL THE TIME. But... Sterling? I heard it from the man himself that his contract was up, but I hoped so hard that I misheard... He's moved on to the Sharks. :*( Closer to home, which is nice, but... but... I just bought his jersey :( I got some good use out of it as the 09-10 season ended, but I was hoping... Well, I guess the name on the back doesn't matter. I'm just really sad to see my favorite player go. SO SAD!! I am glad he's going to be in the NHL though (full time, right?). He's been in the AHL for so long.
I almost forgot! Torchetti is now with the Thrashers as well. :*(
Geez, why don't we just get a whole new team for cryin' out loud?!

Dammit, Mother Nature

I knew this would happen. A big storm blew in, knocking out the satellite in the middle of the awards show. One time it was just out for a commercial, another time I missed a whole hell of a lot. When the show came back on, Jose Theodore was giving a speech. I didn't know what the heck was happening... [Just read he won the Masterson trophy. Good for him.] The speech ended with him giving a shoutout to his wife and daughter. It was touching and he seemed pretty choked up. D'aw. I can't even imagine what he was thinking. In other news, Duncan Keith won the Norris trophy! It even looked like he had teeth! Very cool.
I'm real glad I didn't miss the Getzlaf/Ryan video. It was hilarious! And I don't care what anyone says, Jay Mohr is funny. I don't believe half those people when they say they're "big hockey fans," but whatever. I don't really care. It's like a band saying "This is the best place on earth!" at every venue they play. Anyway...

Don't Make Me Laugh!

Home openers have been posted. Someone in the Thrashers organization asked who people would like to see play against them in the home opener. It's going to be the Capitals October 8th. Suddenly someone's suggestion of "St. Mary's School for the Blind" doesn't sound half bad for game #1.

Don't you know, the Blackhawks are going to be playing the Red Wings October 9th, but their first game is against the Avalance October 7th.

Poor Bruins don't play at home until the 21st! For the love of god... They are playing the Caps too.

More information

Going Back In Time - Part 1

Here were the predictions I made before each playoff round.
Bold is who I chose.
Slate is who won.

Round 1

West	East
SJ vs COL	WSH vs MTL
CHI vs NSH	NJ vs PHI
VAN vs LAK	BUF vs BOS
PHX vs DET	PIT vs OTT

SJ 4-2
CHI 4-2
VAN 4-2
DET 4-3
MTL 4-3
PHI 4-1
BOS 4-2
PIT 4-2

I was being really optimistic about the Coyotes, and I thought the Kings would be the spoiler in the west. I figured the Caps, Pens, and Devils would win FOR SURE. Wow, silly me.

Round 2

West	East
SJ vs DET	MTL vs PIT
CHI vs VAN	PHI vs BOS

SJ 4-1
CHI 4-2
MTL 4-3
PHI 4-3

I wanted the Sharks to win, but I just thought the Red Wings had a better chance of not choking. Yeah, sorry. I wanted the Canadiens and the Bruins to win, but I figured the Pens were going to defend their Stanley Cup. I think the only reason I chose the Flyers to win was because I thought they would get more physical and take the Habs down. I also thought they sacrificed their bodies (i.e. blocked shots) more than Habs players. When the Sharks and the Habs won, oh. my. god.

Round 3

West	East
CHI vs SJ	MTL vs PHI

CHI 4-0
PHI 4-1

I thought the Habs had this one. Upset of the east, right? Nope, they blew it. I was SO mad. In a way they were the upset of the east! Know what made me feel a little better? The Blackhawks swept the Sharks. Unbelievable. The Sharks had played so well up 'til this round, what the hell happened?


I didn't predict who would win the Final because I didn't want to jinx it. Of course I wanted the Blackhawks to win. OF COURSE! They won the series 4-2!! IN OVERTIME!! The craziest overtime ever.

Toast

They just made toast on NHL Live.
Hilarious!


Toasters don't toast toast. Toast toasts toast.

... Yep, Disappointment

As soon as I got into my car after work Monday night and started it up, I got the news over the radio that Texas had lost. I buried my face in my hands and hoped Jen didn't look over and see me because I don't want her asking about it the next time we meet. I wasn't going to watch my tape, but then I saw Krahn was playing so I sorta feel like I have to. I mean, I really want to... despite the shutout that was NOT in his favor. Oh boo hoo. I shed a tear, I did. But life will go on. I can continue to dislike them I guess. Wait, no I can't. Krahn just signed a one-year contract extension with the Stars. Um, fml maybe?

I was so mad listening to the Bears players saying they didn't know what to say because this was such a "once in a lifetime experience" or something. I kept shouting, "YOU WON LAST YEAR! JUST REPEAT WHAT YOU SAID THEN!" Then I realized some might be repeating what they said, so I corrected myself, "SAY WHAT YOU SAID THE DAY AFTER YOU HAD TIME TO THINK ABOUT SOMETHING TO SAY!"
Clearly I was being an irrational jerk and probably made up the story that someone said something like "once in a lifetime...", but I was just so mad. I know it's dumb, but it makes me feel like the Wolves lost to a losing team, you know? Like, there was no sense in them losing to this second place team. But then I am reminded that this is the first year for the franchise that is the Stars and I think that is absolutely wonderful for the team and the community. Heck, it is good for hockey in general.

Is That... Disappointment I Am Feeling?

The Stars lost to the Bears 1-2 in overtime tonight. I actually got to watch it instead of listen to it in the car. Ugh, I hate sitting out there.
I was actually hoping for DOT so I had a "good" excuse as to why I wasn't finishing my homework, but Giroux managed to score with... 6 some minutes left? Yeah, I smacked my forehead and groaned when that happened. This could be ok though. The road teams have won every game this series. The last two games are in Hershey, so... yeah, you get it? Riiiight.


NOT disappointing was today's parade in Chicago. I still can't believe the Blackhawks are the Stanley Cup champions :O
I had gotten up at 7 to be awake enough to call WGN before 8 to try and win Cubs tickets. My dumb fingers were too slow when dialing that I got a busy signal right away. The girl that got through didn't even know that she had to be listening yesterday for the answer to the question that was asked! I was peeved... but I found out Fox had been covering the pre-parade happenings all morning, so for three hours I watched the news. Ha, never thought I'd say that!
The parade got a little wild when people rushed the last bus, but things still ran "smoothly" and everybody made it to the stage ok. I was happy to see Skille and Crawford when they were introduced, and I thought it was nice/strange that they introduced Rockford players that have yet to play for Chicago.
I liked the speeches, especially when Kane poked fun at himself about keeping his shirt on and telling the cabbies he loves 'em. I didn't so much like Versteeg's rap... I didn't really understand what the lyrics had to do with... anything. haha Good times though. Good times.


On a more personal note, I think Chicago sports might hold me back from moving farther north as were my plans for the longest time :/ It actually makes me want to move into the city, which is an outrageous idea! Mostly I'd just like to have the ability of walking places and having more things to do. Other than that, unless I could find a well-paying job and an apartment that accepts large dogs, it is out of the question!

One Goal - Stanley Cup Champions

It happened. It finally happened. I have waited 49 years for this. Wait, no I haven't. Um... hmm. I don't know where to begin! So, here's some random thoughts in CAPS:

THE CHICAGO BLACKHAWKS WON THE STANLEY CUP!

4-3 OVERTIME WIN!

KANE HAD THE GAME WINNER & WE DIDN'T EVEN KNOW THE PUCK WAS IN THE NET!

THE PHILADELPHIA FLYERS LOST THE SERIES 4-2!

THERE IS A PARADE TOMORROW!

The 300 some epic pictures on the Blackhawks' site are too much for my computer to handle. I can't wait to see what each player does on their day with the cup. I can't wait to see the parade tomorrow. For a split second I thought about going, but naah, I'd rather be safe at home seeing everything on the television.


Ok, so let's recap. To begin, I was able to switch both my Wednesday and Friday shifts to Saturday and Sunday. Wow, I know. I was all ready for a game 7.
I was so anxious for 7 o'clock, Wednesday night. The Blackhawks had lost the first two games in Philly, so I thought the trend might continue. When I saw them win the first face-off, I was like, Yeah, they got this. Seeing Byfuglien score first, on a power play nonetheless, only gave me more hope.
It seemed the Blackhawks were very much in control throughout the whole game. Not to say the Flyers didn't play well; I thought they were a force to be reckoned with.
There were no ugly goals, no "that shouldn't have happened" goals, nothing like that.
For the longest time the score was 3-2 in favor of the Hawks. Hartnell scored in the third with 4 minutes left. 3:59 if you want to be exact. Both Dad and I just said, "Oh no." I couldn't take it. I was on the edge of the couch biting my nails, begging for the intermission to be over and done with so we could get this over with. My wish was their command and overtime began.
Four minutes and ten seconds into this heart-stopping OT (Philly almost scored as Niemi went down and, oh I can't think of who it was, but a player in orange fired a shot but luckily it was not high enough), Patrick Kane scored a magical game winner. I saw him begin to celebrate as the air was sucked out of the arena and everybody was silent, and my heart fluttered, but nobody had known the puck was in the net because it had vanished. Then everybody flew off the bench and all I could say was, "Oh my god. I didn't even see what happened! This is... this is crazy!!"

Oh man, to see 20+ dreams come true in that one moment was wonderful. I was elated. I couldn't stop smiling :D
Finally they showed the replay and clearly the net gobbled up that puck. Normally I feel sorrow for the losing team, but not so much last night. This was "my" team that won and they deserved to win. Had Philly won last night and in game 7, I would have died. But I don't want to hear this, "The Blackhawks wanted it more" crap. Wanting it more is never the case in any situation. (Ok, maybe like 99% of the time) Both teams wanted to win just the same, it's just that the Hawks, well... you can't even say they were the better team, really. I thought they played equally well, so perhaps it was just... luck. Good fortune. Whatever. They freaking won the Stanley Cup!!

When I gather my thoughts I will write a more coherent post.

Long Time No Post

Last night I listened to the Stars/Bears Calder Cup Finals Game 1 in the car. I was thrilled when the Stars won 2-1 in regulation, so I guess I'm coming to terms with them beating the Wolves.

The Blackhawks, oh baby. I desperately want them to win the series 4-1. That would mean I could be at home to see them win on Sunday. If they go 6 or 7, I'll either have to tape the games or switch shifts at work (God help me). I'd rather see them win "live" instead of being behind everybody else because I'd be watching the game at 11 o'clock after the fact...


I'm kicking myself for waiting so long to discuss the end of the regular season, and actually I am thinking about just forgetting about the whole thing. Wish I would have been keeping tabs on the Playoffs, too. I've been enjoying watching the games rather than talking about them I guess.