Illinois - State of Winners

Let us nevermind Rockford was whitewashed by Texas...
Tonight two IL teams moved on in the playoffs. Yes, yes, Blackhawks beat the Predators 5-3 tonight in game 6 and will face Vancouver next, but more(?) importantly - WOLVES BEAT THE ADMIRALS IN GAME SEVEN TONIGHT!

AND I WAS

THERE!!

Alrighty, so last night I asked the 'rents if they wanted to go to today's game. Mom said, "Yeah, let's go!" but she says that a lot, so I wasn't sure if she really meant it. I expected a note from her this morning saying something like Hey, get us some tix, but there was nothing. I had gotten up at noon and did homework for four hours straight, so I was a little... somber when Dad called. He asked what I wanted for supper then basically told me what we were having. While I was checking the pantry for some Chinese vegetable mix, he said, "Mom and I are going to the movies tonight. What are you going to do... watch the hockey game?" I didn't mean to, and I hate myself for saying it, but I said, "...Well, since we're not going to a game..." Dad said, "You really want to go to that game? I could cancel with Mom, she'd be glad if I took you to the game."
"No! Don't do that! I don't want to go," I said.
We went on arguing, we let it go, and he said he'd stop by the grocery store to get some vegetable mix. When he got home he dashed to the den and said he was getting tickets for us. I said, "I want you to go to the movies with mom." He said, "She wants to go to the game too." I said, "You called her?" and he said, "She called me!" So anyway, he decided not to order online because we'd be paying a total of $18 extra dollars for handling fees. We raced to Hammond to get Mom, Dad actually got lost in Rosemont, but we eventually found someone that didn't say, "Sorry, I am not from around here," when asked about directions to the Allstate Arena and got there having only missed about 3 or 4 minutes.

Because we were late, I missed Spencer and Peter's introductions (if Spencer even got one), which are my two favorite names to hear. Oh well, the good thing is the score was 0-0 when we got there.
We had upper level A 20s seats, but we were having a hell of a time getting through the people that looked confused as to why we were asking them to get up (come on, it's not that complicated), so we ended up in C. I had C 17 to be exact. Whatever, they were good seats.
Shortly after we arrived, Stapleton took a penalty and for the first time I paid attention to what he was doing right before he came out of the box. There was a lot of pointing Am I coming over or am I gonna play? I dunno why I like seeing these things... Then Anthony Stewart scored the first goal. Doell then scored what happened to be the game winner. Murray from the Admirals scored the only goal for them in the second period on a power play.
Pretty sure this was the period where it looked like the Wolves should have gotten goal #3, but the referee didn't call it. Later the replay clearly showed the puck squeezed under that pad of Dekanich and crossed the line. Not sure if that happened before the whistle, but judging by the boos and "Fuck you!"s, it was a bad call.
Nothing happened in the third period. No goals. No penalties.



At some point, a voice in the crowd asked, "Have you accepted Chelios as your lord and savior?" That would make a nice t-shirt slogan, eh?

Unfortunately I didn't catch/win anything, but not for lack of trying. Mom was whistling like crazy and seemed to be the only one doing so. I told her I would have been whistling if I could, but instead I just waved my arms around shouting, "HEY, UP HERE!!"

I am excited they are playing the Stars. I want to go because A) I still need to get some use out of my jersey before the season ends, and B) I have decided Krahn is my all-time favorite player since I am pretty sure I deemed him "my favorite" when I first saw him play. So even though he is playing for a team I have no interest in following, I still like him an awful lot and want to see him play.

Game 1 – Fri., April 30 – Texas at Chicago, 7:30 p.m.
Game 2 - Sun., May 2 – Texas at Chicago, 3:00 p.m.
Game 3 - Tue., May 4 – Chicago at Texas, 7:30 p.m.
Game 4 – Wed., May 5 - Chicago at Texas, 7:30 p.m.
Game 5 - Fri., May 7 - Chicago at Texas, 7:30 p.m. - X
Game 6 - Sun., May 9 - Texas at Chicago, 3:00 p.m. - X
Game 7 - Tues., May 11 – Texas at Chicago, 7:00 p.m. -X

Note to Self: UPDATE!

Deary me, I am so far behind.

Game Over

Oilers lost to the Ducks tonight, 2-7. That pretty much sums up their season.

I started a post on Thursday 'cause it was such a great night for hockey, but I'm gonna have to go over the whole week because it was pretty fucking exciting.

Heart-shattering

Done! They're done! Thrashers are officially out of play-off contention!

Erm, idk.

So, the Devils beat them 3-0 and Martin Brodeur had his 600th win and what, his 598th shutout? As was expected, Kovalchuk got booed even after he said, "I hope they won't boo me." I would have booed him after what I heard from Matt McConnell today. He said Kovy wanted to be on a winning team and do what was best for his family (money-wise). Some of us don't even make $20,000 a year, ok? But we still provide for our families. (Not saying I fall in to that category (yet...)) I think the millions he was making with the Thrashers was enough for him to pop out several more babies and still send them all to a private college in Ferarris.
Gah, I can't believe they missed 8th spot by just a couple of points. It makes me think What if they hadn't lost that one game? What if they didn't give up that soft goal, or had that stupid penalty? All those "what if?"s came flooding to my mind when I saw the final score of tonight's game and heard Matt say they were officially out of the play-offs. I'm sad. So fucking sad.

Still have my Blackhawks and Coyotes. Blackhawks broke all sorts of records tonight! Maybe I'll find the time to talk about their game against the Stars tomorrow. Maybe.

NHL Standings

Chicago 49-22-7 (3rd in league, 2nd in west)
Edmonton 24-46-8 (LAST, LAST)
Atlanta 34-32-13 (23rd in league, 10th in east)
Phoenix 48-25-6 (4th in league, 3rd in west)

Not too many regular season games left... bad news for Atlanta D: I have given up hope, so I will have to enjoy these last few games.
The Caps have won the Presidents Trophy with 114 points at the moment. They are currently playing the Bruins and I am rootin' hard for the Bs!!

Foley Saves the Day

It never fails - Pat starts repeating "shutout" and the Blackhawks score to prevent such from occuring.
Blackhawks were in New Jersey Friday night and it was not looking good for them. 0-1 for most of the game, but then Pat came to the rescue and talked about how many shutouts Brodeur would have if he shut out the Hawks,how many he would have throughout his career, etc. Shortly after, with 26 seconds left in the 3rd, Versteeg scored! Could. Not. Believe. It went to a shootout and Toews was the only one to score. So really, Foley, Steeg, Toews, and Niemi saved the day.
I think it's pretty obvious who's going to be starting in net when the playoffs begin...

There was a poll question in the postgame asking if Brodeur would go down as the greatest goaltender of all-time. 49% said no. Pft, I say YES.

Final score 2-1

Wishful Thinking is Never Enough

It was so good to see Timmy Stapleton score his first NHL goal. Even better to see it 3 times. haha I watched it on Versus, then again on Sports South because Darren and Matt obviously were not commentating on Vs (& I like to hear them! Plus, Vs. was focused more on the Caps), and I just turned it on as the 2nd period was winding down and they talked to Stapleton during the intermission and showed the replay. He had the biggest smile and it was oh-so sweet.

Too bad they lost the game. They played really well though, only allowing Washington to score twice when everybody knows they have the potential to score way more than that. I thought the Thrashers had a lot of good chances because Varlamov seemed to be showing off his rookie side. That's just my opinion. It looked to me like he wasn't making himself big in the net and didn't stray too far from the blue. Luck just wasn't on their side, s'pose. Bruins have been losing games to keep the Thrashers within two points of them, as if to say, "Come on, we're giving you a chance!" but they just aren't taking. It is so stressful seeing they have 4 games left and are facing the best of the best in the east. I swear, the Thrashers are going to be the death of me.

Sad, Pathetic, but True

After seeing Krahn live and in action against the Wolves last Friday, I have some serious "I miss you, I love you, come back, why did you have to go?" -pangs. I can't even hate him for beating the Wolves Friday and shutting them out Sunday.

We Meet Again

Blackhawks... Thrashers... my head can't hang any lower.

Blackhawks/Blue Jackets 3-8 Thursday and 2-4 Sunday.
Thrashers/Hurricanes 4-0 Saturday and 1-4 today (Monday)

Um, FML? Thrashers could have tied for 8th since the Bruins lost to the Sabres 3-2 tonight. Unfuckingbelievable. I regret listening to the game because it was a wasted use of bandwidth :\ They are gonna have to bring the heat these next 6 games. Two games versuses the Pens and the Caps, one versuses the Devils, and tomorrow against the Leafs; if they keep playing the way they've been, they will be dead meat (if they're not already, geez).

What the hell is going on with the Blackhawks? I think they've played 13 games since the Olympics and have only won 5. Huet is totally getting bastardized and Niemi seems to be running low on luck these days. On top of that, Johnsson is still out and obviously Campbell is as well. Sharks are now #1 in the west with 104 points. Blackhawks are gonna have to bring the heat as well. Turn on the boilers and go full speed ahead.


In AHL news, the Wolves lost to the Stars AGAIN. This time 0-5. This was after shutting out the IceHogs 3-0 Saturday. Why are my teams loooooosing??

Job Fair (eh) & Wolves (yeah!)

Pretty sure I bombed at the job fair. Everyone took minutes to talk with reps while I took half seconds. haha Basically:

ME: Got any internships?
THEM: Next season.
ME: Here's my resume. K, thanks, bye.

haha
The first booth I went to was for the IceHogs. The guy couldn't tell me about off-ice officiating :\ He said, "Oh, now I remember seeing that on our site (he didn't know that was listed when I brought it up), but this guy *hands over business card* can tell you all about it." Waste of time waiting in line? Probably. Same with the Thrashers. I didn't even give them a resume because the woman made it sound like they wouldn't look at them until next season. Why bother? Plus, intern positions are only available to those that need college credit. Bah. I really liked the Blackhawks rep I talked with and the fact she gave me two nicely made-up papers of what they were offering. I liked the Fielders guy I talked to. We shared the common ground of "Earn experience, then earn money."
The last rep I talked to was for the Wolves. He said I could try getting in to general administration. (I think that's what it was!) He said, "To do good, you have to introduce yourself to the other departments, help where ever and whenever you can. If you stay in a room and make phone calls, that will get you nowhere." Hey, I think I could do this administration thing! I hate being on the phone ;P



After the fair was THE WOVLES vs. THE STARS!!! I was so excited because we were in section 112, row B! I've always sat in the upper level. Not that we couldn't afford 100 level; I'm guessing the 'rents like being high up? I was also excited because KRAAAAAAHN was goaltending for the Staaaaaars!!! More on him later.

As we walked to our section, Mom saw a table with goodies on it. She wanted me to get her a pen. One was not supposed to simply grab a pen and go, one had to win a pen. These people at Clear explained their deal (after I asked, "What's the deal with this?"), made me fill out a card, and then I spun a prize wheel. I didn't win a pen, but I did win a tote bag.

Did you know hockey players have faces? It was a wonderful discovery. I really have nothing else that ties in with that, so...
I was disappointed Spencer wasn't in the starting line-up because I love hearing Spencer Mmmmmmm AC HA CEK! And I was disappointed (but not surprised) Sterling wasn't in the lineup at all. Come back!!

We got to see Mannino twice. (He was on the east, as were we) Mom was all, "You have to watch this guy warm up!"
Even though all goalies do pretty much the same warm-up routines, I go into a trance watching them. I also like to see what they're doing when nobody's in their zone during play. Krahn likes to bend over and rest his arms on his knees, and Mannino stands upright. So you know :)

Saw Krahn once. I wanted to shout how I miss him so, because he would have actually heard me, but decided against it. I didn't want to get jumped. There was a boy a few rows back that kept yelling about how badly he sucked. Pfft, as if, boy. I was close to turning around and telling him to STFUGTFO, leave the man alone, but thankfully he became silent, pehaps he indeed did GTFO.

First period, Wolves and Stars were scoreless. There was a fight between Weller and Gadzik. Weller was definitely the victor. Both got 5 for fighting.
Second period, Stars 2 Wolves 1. Stars scored first, which was inevitable because the Wolves had a number of penalties and Stars had more SOG. Kozek was the only one to score.
Third period, tied 3-3. Postma and Anderson scored. The tie'er was made with just over 3 minutes left by Sawada. Fans were not happy about that!
There was a two minute penalty against the Wolves in overtime. I would have been biting my nails had my hands not been in my jersey sleeves being warmed. (Yes, my jersey's first game-day appearance!!:)
Shootout. Just what I wanted, but not with the result I wanted! Wolves scored once thanks to Crabb. Stars scored twice.

An unhappy ending, but a great game to watch! Plus, I caught a t-shirt! Yes, with my own two hands!!! It has a Sonic logo on back and a Wolves logo on front. XL haha I was going to alter it, but maybe I'll keep it as a sleep shirt. I couldn't believe I caught it. Later, Dad caught a burrito stress thing. It had Holzapfel's name on it. I think if he had scored we would have won a free burrito. We did get $1 off Fisher nuts for having the winning number in an intermission race :P

Final score 3-4

Shutouts: The Good, The Bad

The Good
Blackhawks, namely Niemi, shut out the Coyotes last night! Just what we needed. That's six for the season. Two more and he could be tied at 8 with Bryzgalov! Niemi was the number one star of the game, so Sarah had a chat with him. His English is better than I thought, and his voice is much deeper than I thought. (I've only heard him speak briefly in a commercial...) Anyway, Seabrook was back in action. I think he got the number three star of the game. On that same page, Kane got the number two star.
Yes, I can go on liking the Coyotes :)
Final score 2-0

The Bad
Bruins shut out and shut down the Thrashers last night. Rask got his second shutout of the season. The announcers tried to jinx it, but were unsuccessful. Now they are 3 points out of 8th position. I'm hoping these upcoming road games will give them more W's.
Oh, there was then a quick chat with Rask and he's another one I've never heard speak before. I was surprised at how clear and precise his English was!
Final score 0-4


Not a shutout, but the Oilers beat the Canucks 3-2 last night for a 3-game winning streak. Sharks beat the Wild 3-1, I believe, so they avoided a 7-game losing streak. *phew!*

Big'uns

Two really big games tonight!
Blackhawks vs. Coyotes
Thrashers vs. Bruins

Hawks and Yotes are tied at 97 points. Whoever wins tonight's game will take control of the #1 spot in the West Division. I couldn't be mad that the Coyotes beat the Blackhawks last week, but hear me and hear me now - IT BETTER NOT HAPPEN AGAIN!!

Thrashers are ONE POINT away from the 8th Playoff seat at 75 points. If they beat the Bruins (76, duh), they might actually stand a chance to extend their game beyond the regular season!!!!!


Dubes got two wins in a row and now he's sick X(
I did so much running around yesterday I missed his talk with Brian Duff on Power Play. I was sooo looking forward to it. Even sat in my car for, like, 5 minutes in a Target parking lot waiting. Well, I guess his sickness is due to the Duff Curse. haha


Chicago 45-19-7 (2nd in league, T1st in west)
Edmonton 23-42-7 (LAST, LAST)
Atlanta 32-29-11 (22nd in league, 9th in east)
Phoenix 46-22-5 (3rd in league, T1st in west)

This is the Clincher

The Wolves just clinched their position in the playoffs with their 3-2 win over the San Antonio Rampage.
I don't know what they did to change their luck around, because it seemed not too long ago they were second to last in the west division. They are currently 3rd in the whole league with 94 points. Ahhh!
The game ended in another shootout with MacIntyre in goal. Four rounds this time and Mac stopped all but one. I hope the game I'm going to on Friday ends in a shootout.


ps. Playoff roster

Yeah, Dubes, Jump For Joy

The OILERS, against Detroit last night, WON in a SHOOTOUT. Cogliano and Whitney scored two goals in regulation. Potulny and Brule had the shootout goals. Oh, I was so proud. I was beaming. And there were only three penalties :) At some point during the second or third period Brule laid a nice smack down on Filppula. I watched it several times because for some reason I found it to be rather entertaining. A great legal check :))
It looked like the game was going to end 2-1 in favor of the Oilers, but with less than a full second left in the 3rd, Rafalski had to be a hero and score a goal. Bewildered and scared for my Oil babies, I prayed to the hockey gods to not let this one slip away. Thank you for listening, HG.
And after the Oilers won, and everybody was congratulating Dubnyk, he did some quick Yay, we won! giddy jumps :)))

Final score 3-2




[EDIT] Somehow I managed to miss that last night was Dubnyk's FIRST NHL WIN! I am even happier now! Yes, I just rewatched it on the NHL network ;P
Honestly I thought he had some wins already.

IS THAT COREY?!

Yes. Yes it was. I had seen he was recalled during the NHL on the Fly scrolly updater a couple days ago (or maybe it was yesterday), but I couldn't figure out why. I taped last night's game and started it a little before the anthem started. Near the end of that I saw Corey and scratched my head. Huh? Who is that? I had to lean closer because I was sitting on the back couch and couldn't see 100%. Then I yelled, "IS THAT COREY?!" haha I had to rewind the tape to the beginning of the game to see what Pat and Eddie had to say about this. Apparently Huet is out with the flu and they wanted to give Crawford a chance to play A) because he's had a good [two game] record against the Ducks and the Blackhawks needed a miracle to avoid losing 3 straight B) because he might be a playoff possibility. They told Niemi having him sit on the bench was not a punishment, they just wanted to give Crawford some ice time...

What a depressing game. It wasn't good. I played Tetris and did homework during a lot of it. Terrible calls. Bad plays. Poor baby Corey should not have played the puck [that one time, you know that time]. He weakly poked the puck away and gave it to a Ducks player for them to score an "empty netter." So sad. And then Seabrook took a headshot and I think Wisniewski got 2 minutes...? Though it has now been stated he has an 8-game suspension. And Sopel was shoved to the ice while waiting for an airborn puck to come down. What happened? BLACKHAWKS GET A PENALTY. Wait... I think that's what happened. I don't remember and I just watched it, like, two hours ago. Oh well, I think this is a game I'd like to forget.

Here's a lovely quote from Coach Carlyle: "We knew they were going to be a grouchy hockey club, coming in here having lost their last two games."
I guess now we're the pissed off beyond belief hockey club, thanks.

Final score 2-4



ps. They are still 2 points behind San Jose. As much as I like them (this much______________________) I was thrilled to see them lose 8-2 against Dallas the other night. I thought it had given Chicago a chance to catch up...

Questions/Answers

Brett!

More Like... Daylight Losings!

Bleh. The Blackhawks blew it. AGAIN. 3-0 into the third period. 3-4 OT. That... that wasn't supposed to happen! I think Niemi was worn out. He was up and down, side to side for most of the third period thanks to that 5 minute penalty/5 on 3. Maybe Huet should have been put in the game... But what do I know?
I have to admit I was kinda bummed to see Ovechkin leave the game in the first period for a game misconduct. He pushed Campbell into the boards, but he kinda stayed behind the net and looked over him to make sure he was ok. I am assuming, of course. I don't think there was anything malicious about his takedown. When Ovie finally stood up he was still looking down at Campbell with a look of Gee, I hope he's ok on his face. Yeah, that could have been a look of Gee, I hope I don't get thrown out of the game for this look, but I like to think he was genuinly concerned.
One thing I did like was seeing Bolland push the puck under Niemi's glove to stop the game. Niemi had tried to freeze the puck once, but it had gotten away from him, so Bolland, to the left of him, got it and gave it to Niemi. I haven't seen that before. Yes, I am awed by the littlest things.

Now I'm watching the Rochester Americans playing the Grand Rapids Griffins. I am rooting for the Americans because they have Salak who is a goalie I like:)
Here's the video that includes his drop-kick at the ASG!


[EDIT 3/18]
Ovechkin got a 2 game suspension and Campbell has a broken clavical and fractured ribs. Yes, Alex pushed him, but I like to think he didn't mean for him to collide with the boards like that... I don't know, sometimes I am too kind. Now Campbell won't be able to play in the playoffs :(((

Listen For the Flush

I'm watching the Capitals/Lightning being broadcast from a public bathroom. Seriously, they need to remove the tin cans from their microphones or something because I'm finding it very difficult to keep listening!

The Thrashers are losing.
The Oilers came so close to winning yesterday.

Adam Burish is back in the game! He had an assist in, like, the first 20 seconds of the first period and then got into a fight. I loved his hizzah reaction after that :D So great to see him back!! Now the team is complete ♥

Oh yeah, we still get repeat airings in the living room. That means Dad's not going to do anything about getting it back in the kitchen. That means I can't tape anything unless he lets me use the DVR. I don't want to do that :(

600+

I taped the first airing of the Thrashers/Predators game and came home to a blank tape. Now we don't get the first or repeat airings. *sad* So I asked Dad if I could pay to get those hockey channels back and, well, he was surprisingly receptive to the idea. He said, "Sure, I could get them back." I asked how much it would cost and he said it was only, like, $11 a month. Wow. I thought they'd be greedy and ask for $60, but he said only Center Ice or Game Center Live or whatever charges a whole lot. Swell. I pray to God he orders those channels in the next day or so.

On to further business... I guess three wins was too much to ask for. Thaaaank youuu, Senators.

The Battle of the Wolves and the Monsters

I love the emails I get from the Wolves that are titled like: Wolves Tame Monsters. Bulldogs Nip Wolves. Wolves Sink Admirals. How darling!
The Chicago/Lake Erie game was actually shown on the NHL network. Even though Wolves games air on channel 50, I have never caught a game on television until today. Haven't even caught a radio game because the station is practically non-existent and I'm afraid streaming it online would crash this lousy internet.
It would figure that Brett Sterling was a scratch in today's game. A healthy scratch or an injury, I do not know the reason. He was present though! One of the guys sat in the "hall" to fix his skate or something and I guess Brett popped into view. I wasn't looking, but I heard one of the announcers say he was there.
I liked the commentators. They mentioned that story about one of the guys getting his luggage late during game night and he found two right skates in his bag. One of the commentators said, "He could turn one way really well," and the other sang, "You spin me right round, baby, right round." Gotta love that.
The game itself was interesting. During the second the Wolves were 4-1; pretty much dominating. The Monsters found their feet and made it 4-3 at the end of the second period. They then tied it 4-4 and took the game to a shootout. Thank goodness those AHL shootouts are 5 rounds, because if they were 3, we would have lost! It went in to an 8th round and Anderson made the winning shot. THRILLING!
And don't forget:



Since I'm here, might as well express my dissatisfaction with today's Hawks/Wings game. Kane scored a goal only to have it not count because Byfuglien "interfered" with the goalie, Howard. No no, I don't think so. He wasn't in the blue and I don't even remember him touching the goalie. Because of that bad call, the Blackhawks lost 4-5. Ok, they still could have lost, but I like to think not. At least it was a home game, so there was no booing Hossa. I think our last game against them is a home game too. Hooray.

Hella. Crazy.

Thirty-seven seconds in to tonight's game, 6 penalties were handed out. Only two were served by Blackhawks. Very indicative of what was to come. Thirteen more penalties followed, including two fivers for fighting. Talk about physical!
The number of penalties was not the only impressive part of the game. The Blackhawks scored FIVE goals in the first period alone, and the Canucks could only retaliate with one goal. The goals were scored by Ladd, Keith, Brouwer, Versteeg, and hey! Hendry! His first of the season. Way to go. After the buzzer, Luongo failed to smash his stick along the boards, so he threw it down in anger as he walked to the locker room. I think he was pissed...
Things slowed down in the second (heh) with only two goals beings scored - One by Hossa and one by Burrows. Then the third only had one goal made by the Canucks.
The players were on, and so were Pat and Eddie. hahaha It sounded like they were having a blast up in their booth. I think they did more off-topic talking than gameplay commentating.
All in all, it was a very fun game to watch. I forgot to mention Huet made some brilliant saves, so hopefully that'll shut up the naysayers for a while. And I thought he painted a new mask? He was wearing his usual one with the dreamcatcher on it... Personally my favorite :)
Final score 6-3


What was even more hella crazy than the CHI/VAN game? THE OILERS BEATING THE WILD 2-1 IN A SHOOTOUUUUUT!

What Is Going On?

So, twice this week the Thrashers have scored at least four times. Wow, right? Um, Tuesday night I heard some of the game on the radio. It seemed pretty early on they made it 4-2 against the Panthers. Long story time:
I didn't hear a lot of the game since I didn't drive a long distance, the first time I tuned in it was intermission, and the game was almost over the second time I tuned in, so I figured I'd catch the game when I got home. You know, the usual 10 o'clock game. Well, I got home at 8:32 to be precise and raced inside to turn on the Blackhawks game because I set up recording to end at 8:30, thinking that would be too much anyway since I expected to get home way way way before then. I watched the sad ending to that than decided to check out Thrashers Live. Whaddaya know, a blank screen. That only happens when the game has carried over past the scheduled time, but in this case the game had been over for quite some time. Confused, I switched over to some other 10pm games, and again - NOTHING! Irritated, I asked Dad why this might be and he said it's because we only had those channels for three months for being good customers or something... But, we've had them for more than 3 months, so WTF DirecTV? But later, around midnight, I don't know what led me there, but I tried the Thrashers game again, this time in the living room instead of the kitchen, and it was on! I went to my room and it was on there as well! Yesterday I told Dad about this and he said those channels don't work in his room either, so he thinks they just haven't shut them down for two of our boxes. That doesn't make sense to me :| So, today as I moved the car out of the driveway, I flipped through the NHL channels in the car and saw - NYI 1 ATL 4. Earlier I had checked to see if they were playing today but nothing came on, so again I ran inside the house and looked up games in the guide and found it on MSG. It was the FIRST airing! It was a marvelous feeling watching the Thrashers play LIVE.
I missed all of the first period but managed to catch an Islanders interviewer talking to Bergfors. (More on that later) I saw MacArthur and Artyukhin for the first time. They both did fantastic! Clarke scored in the first period (3) and Evgeny scored in the third (6). I really liked the Islanders commentators! I thought they were bordering on boring, but as time went on I really liked listening to them. They were SO kind and SO respectful to the Thrashers. One of the guys, I forget who... maybe the guy opposite of Howie? said he really liked Slater. Then they complimented Hainsey on stepping up into a leadership role since the departure of Kovalchuk. And interviewing Niclas kind of caught me off-guard! Usually interviewers stick to talking to their own players. Very nice, New York. You have gained my respect.
The final score was 6-3, by the way. A shaky third period, but a win is a win :) And the three stars were:

1st: NICLAS BERGFORS
2nd: EVGENY ARTYUKHIN
3rd: CLARKE MACARTHUR

Welcome to Blueland, new guys!

After that game I tested my luck with some other games. I caught the last 4 or 5 minutes plus OT & SO of the Bruins/Maple Leafs game. Shocking! After that game, which ended with the Bruins winning 3-2, I found the Coyotes/Avalance game. Caught the game at 1-1. It ended 3-1 when Wolski and Vrbata scored in the third period. Wolski scored with 23 seconds left, and then Vrbata scored an empty netter with ONE SECOND LEFT. What a fun, perplexing night.

I have yet to watch the Blackhawks/Oilers game from yesterday. I know the score already. Oh, my poor Oil babies :( I think they have won 4 of their last 30 games.

I Miss Vancouver Already

I would like to begin by saying the Closing Ceremony, while very entertaining and upbeat, was kind of ruined by NBC. They thought it would be a good idea to take a half hour break so we could watch... The Marriage Ref? Please! What a horrible decision on behalf of NBC. We could have done without that AND the news. It's like... leaving a big party for no reason at all and coming back an hour later and saying, "What did I miss?" and everyone's too busy enjoying themselves to answer your silly question. Wait, that's exactly what happened!

It was good to see Ryan Miller and Jack Johnson smiling with their silver medals at the ceremony. I'm glad they weren't all "weepy weepy we feel sorry for ourselves" because you know what? Getting a medal, period, is a thing to be enormously proud and happy about! I know how heartbreaking it was to not get the gold (more on that in a minute), but I really think Canada *gulp* deserved to win this game simply because they had never won a [hockey] gold on home soil. That was hard to say, but I will stand by it.

I think the United States of America would have tied the game earlier (if not surpassed Canada) if they had done better on their powerplays. I am not going to rip them a new one because it wasn't atrocious, but every time USA got the puck into Canada's zone, Canada shot it down to the other end of the ice. It was a 2 minute tease - back and forth, back and forth. If only they could have kept it in Canada's zone, things might have been different. I don't want to stay on the topic of "what could have been," but I must mention that in overtime, right before Crosby scored, the puck had hit the ref's skate. If that hadn't happened...

Overall, it was a very exciting game, to say the least. Definitely one for the history books. It's one of those "You'll remember where you were and what you were thinking 30 years from now" moments. I was in the living room, alone, thinking Dear God, Jesus, San Juan, and Guadalupe! PLEASE LET THE AMERICANS WIN GOLD! PLEEEEASE! When Zach Parise scored to tie the game 2-2 with like, 34 seconds left, I jumped up and shouted in joy. I thought my prayers had been answered! When Crosby scored 5 or 6 minutes into overtime, my heart sank. It happened so fast I didn't even know he shot the puck and scored. I was "fine" (more like numb) watching the handshakes and the medals being awarded, but once the news came on and I knew it was all over, I cried. I seriously cried and let some sobs out. I wanted the Americans to win gold so bad. But then I must go back to how Canada pretty much needed a win in Vancouver. It would have been a huge letdown to have them win silver. The closing ceremony would not have been the same had they not received gold medals.

But then again, the women had won gold days before. Why is everyone forgetting about the women?! I guess I understand because it is more of a man's sport, but the country shouldn't have been too disappointed had the men won silver. By the way, both the men and women's standings were the same: Canada/Gold, United States/Silver, Finland/Bronze. What a nice coincidence, eh?

Men's Bronze Medal Game Reactions

Start of the game: Thank you, Olli Jokinen, for shaving off your mustache.

End of first period: One goal for Finland, that's ok...

End of second period: Slovakia has a chance!!!!!!

Three minutes left in third on a powerplay: pleasepleasepleaseplease
pleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleaseplease
pleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleaseplease
pleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleaseplease
pleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleaseplease

End of third: D: There were tears


I really wanted Slovakia to win. Finland has won enough medals. I am pleased Selanne gets to go home happy though.

Open Letters; I'm-Ripping-My-Hair-Out Mail

Dear United States of America,
Let's step it up ladies. 10:05 losing to Canada by two. >:| Me no likey.

RAAAAGE

I've never disliked Finland as much as I dislike them now. Sort of. I mean, I've never disliked them and I am only mildly outraged... I s'pose. Hmm, ok, I am mostly outraged that the Czech Republic pulled Vokoun, nevermind that they pulled him with, like, 2:10 left in the game with a score of 1-0 in favor of Finland. When has pulling a goalie ever won a game? I think I've seen it happen once, maybe.
And I see Russia is out. Who would have guessed?! I thought they had such a good lineup, but Canada beat them 7-3. I taped it, so I have yet to watch it. Now it's Slovakia vs. Sweden. I am torn! I like them both, but when it comes to players, I know more Slovaks than Swedes.
And I really wish Latvia would have advanced. I think it was Switzerland that took them out. Or maybe I'm thinking about the Belarus game... I can't keep track. I wanted to see both Latvia and Belarus advance. But I guess if all these teams advanced, that would have pushed the United States and Canada out, and I really want them to win gold and silver, respectively.

NHL Standings

Now that the pre-Olympic games are over, we can look forward to the post-Olympic/playoff games!

Chicago 41-15-5 (3rd)
Edmonton 19-36-6 (...)
Atlanta 26-24-10 (24th)
Phoenix 37-21-5 (4th!)

The Coyotes are movin' on up!
The Blackhawks are on a 4 game win streak. Hmm, Niemi had four straight starts...
The Thrashers are really coming together nicely since the departure of Kovalchuk. Bergfors seems to be the guy they needed.
The Oilers... Dear God. They've won 19 games; same as Toronto. 3 W's in their last 10 games.

Giddy as a Schoolgirl

It was nice to see the six Chicago Blackhawks be honored for making the Olympics. Probably was a little awkward for the Thrashers waiting on the ice... they didn't recieve any recognition at their last home game [as far as I know].

I was so anxious to see who'd be goal tending! I saw Friday Niemi would start for the Blackhawks, but I couldn't find who'd be starting for the Thrashers. To my wonderful surprise it was Pavelec! I kind of assumed since Johan played on Friday. Plus, Chicago used to be Ondrej's home, so you know...
I was also anxious to see the new player, Kim Johnsson! I had no idea they planned on trading. So, it's bye bye Cam Barker, hello Johnsson [and Nick Leddy] from Minnesota.

A lot of people might have been amazed to see Slater score the first goal. I know I was. Then the Blackhawks scored three unanswered goals in the first period. Johnsson had the second goal a couple minutes after Sharp scored the first. I just realized Sharp scored first on Sharpie night! Hossa had the third, and it was a short-handed goal. Gee, I thought, maybe I'll get to see both Pavs AND Hedberg!
The Thrashers took over with their own three unaswered goals in the second period (Kane, Afinogenov, Enstrom). This was the 13th time the Thrashers have taken a lead in the 3rd. At this point I thought I'd get to see Niemi AND Huet, too! Nah, both goalies held their nets the whole game.
Bolland scored in the third to tie it 4-4. Oh thank you, Bolly. This was the period where Armstrong annihilated Hossa, as well. It must have been worse than it looked because Hossa never returned and is listed as "day-to-day." Maybe it aggravated his post-surgery healing?
Overtime made me glad both teams tallied a point. It also made me so nervous!! I think I held my breath a few times without meaning to ;)
Then there was a shootout! I think right before the shootout they put the camera on Huet who was making a "putting on chapstick" motion at somebody in the crowd, pointed to them, and laughed. hahahaha What the hell was that?! I wish I had that video... it'd be my wallpaper forever. Anyway, Toews, the first shooter, was the only player to score. Chicago left with two points and is now 3 points behind the Sharks who are #1 in the Western Conference. This also marked 40 wins/60 games.

Dad was watching the Olympics picture-in-picture, so a few times I was distracted by seeing things like Chris Collinsworth ♥ fist bumping Bob Costas and a speedskater getting cut in the leg and bleeding all over the ice [earlier at qualifications].
I will admit I watched the SportsSouth airing of the game immediatly following the WGN airing because I wanted Matt and Darren's side of the story ;)

It would figure this would be a fascinating game that went over 60 minutes and I couldn't go. I guess it was ok though because I didn't have to tape anything! And after the game I turned on the radio for a minute and they were talking to Dustin Byfuglien. I love when they talk to him :D They asked how he made the newcomer comfortable and he said, "I just introduced myself ... and said, 'So, what can I call ya? Lil Kim or what?'" LMAO!

Final score 5-4

Edermton? Plus a PHX/NSH Match-up From the Start of the Month

Edmonton Oilers have THREE wins this year! I listened to the game against the LA Kings last night on my way home from work, but it was 0-0 early in the second when I got home. Reading up on the game, Grebeshkov scored the first goal of the game at 13:38. Penner scored the second goal in the 3rd period and it was a PPG. Shortly after, Brown scored to make it 2-1. Then Smyth tied it 2-2. Eek! Had I been able to watch/listen to the game, I would have been a wreck.
I also read:

In the dying minutes of regulation, the Oilers net was dislodged and the whistle blew but Drew Doughty took the shot anyway. The puck flew into the net and Deslauriers took exception, pouncing on the young defenceman. The surprising brawl resulted in unsportsmanlike conduct and roughing minors and two minutes of four-on-four.

haha Way to go, D! Anyway, the game went to a 10 round shootout and Visnovsky had the winning goal. It's a shame shootout goals don't count like regulation goals.
Final score 3-2

I've been meaning to talk about this Feb. 2nd game, but I've been bogged down with illness and homework. Coyotes and Predators played equally well, which would explain why it was 0-0 after overtime. (And silly me thought shutouts would be handed out AFTER a shootout!) Each team had good shot opportunities, but honestly I don't know exactly how good they were since I was doing a Mng. Finance test. Fun! There were few penalties¹ and stopages of play, so that contributed to the fast periods.
So, there was a shootout². Every time someone was going against Bryz, I was saying, "Don't make it, don't make it, don't make it!" and every time someone was going against Rinne I was saying, "MAKE IT MAKE IT MAKE IT!!" Aucoin had the game winner in the 11th round. Talk about anxiety!
Final score 1-0

¹As a matter of fact, there was one tripping penalty against Rinne of all people in the first period, and then there was a delay of game penalty in the third against Michalek.
²Boxscore

R-E-S-P-E-C-T

Find out what it means to me: Trevor Daley slammed the glass and made it fall on a little boy. He gave the boy his stick in apology. Even though the boy probably wasn't there for Dallas, he should like Dallas a little bit just for that awesome gesture. And now I think I ♥ Daley. Which reminds me: Dallas was on my "To watch" list this season, but that fell through. I could never find their games.

Tonight's game was great! Another goal-matching game. Dallas scored, then Chicago scored. Dallas scored. Chicago scored. Chicago scored again! Then Dallas scored. Dallas actually scored one final time, but it was right as the horn sounded, so it brought them to overtime. Not following? Ok-
Ribeiro scored first. A PPG, as a matter of fact. Kane answered 5 minutes later. Neal then scored -5 minutes later. 1+ minute later, Kane scored again.
There were no goals in the second period. Dallas was 4-2-5 when tied after the 2nd, and Chicago was 7-1-3. The odds were against Dallas, but they beat Chicago at their last two meetings, so it was anyone's game.
Third period saw Brouwer score, giving Chicago their first lead. Ten minutes later Eriksson tied it up.
In overtime, Keith got a penalty with 2+ minutes left. That was scary. It was pretty impossible for Chicago to get the puck out of their zone. I thought for sure... I won't say it. The scariest thing was when Sopel broke his stick. Being a resourceful man, he made a dive at the puck and slapped that shit out around the boards. Impressive, to say the least, but that's just my opinion.
In the end, there were 5 rounds in the shootout. Dallas' record was 8-12 and Chicago's was 6-10 (if I counted correctly). The only person to score was Versteeg.
Final score 4-3


The notes from tonights game were pretty interesting: NOTES: Ribeiro was accidentally struck in the throat by the stick of New York's Christopher Higgins in the Rangers' 5-2 victory on Jan. 6. He spent several days in a New York hospital after undergoing a tracheotomy. [note from Pat: Doctors said if he had left with the team instead of going straight to the hospital he could have died!] He was activated from injured reserve Monday ... Stars forward Steve Ott was scratched after an emergency appendectomy Monday. ... On a snowy night in Chicago, the crowd was announced at 21,446 - the Blackhawks 80th consecutive sellout at the United Center.

Oh yeah, Madden was mic'd for the game, but that didn't last long! Took a hit in the first period and broke it. Then I think he left the game with an injury. I honestly don't remember that happening.

One final thing: Kari is going to be a Star! I am so sad. Why is Atlanta doing this to me? I never got to see him play. But this is what I wanted, isn't it? Since I cherish O/J? Hmph :( Well, I hope he does well and stays healthy. Now Dallas has Lehtinen and Lehtonen. Let the confusion begin!

No wait, THIS is the final thing: Huet changed his mask. Just the other day I was saying how much I loved his helmet with the feathers and the dream catcher. It was my favorite. I don't care much for the new mask :((

Super Bowl Sunday? No Thanks

I wish I would have watched more than a combined... 10 minutes of today's afternoon Penguins/Capitals game. I had to finish the 2nd & 3rd period from last nights Blackhawks/Blues game though. Blackhawks won, by the way. 2-1 Should have been 2-0 but somebody decided to make a last minute powerplay goal >:| Niemi had been MIA with the flu last week, which explains why they recalled... somebody from the Wolves. I'm sorry, I can't recall his name and I'm not in the mood to be researching anything. It wasn't Crawford, I can tell you that much.
Anyway, the Caps won, which was disappointing. I missed all but one goal, and there were 8 total in regulation. After 60 minutes it was tied 4-4 and I was really hoping for a shootout. Unfortunately Knuble scored with a minute or two or three left in OT. I knew once Ovechkin shot the puck at the net somebody was going to get that puck in the net.
Final score 5-4