When Keenan was hired, almost everyone figured this would be a season of extremes for the Calgary Flames - a year marked by rousing success or humiliating failure.
Thus far, the team has populated only one end of that dichotomy. Following a familiar script, the Keenan-helmed Flames have thus far lacked any real urgency or cohesion on the ice. New coach, new players, rookies in the roster, granted - but this is a song I've heard before. After the lock-out, the Flames were mediocre in the pre-season and terrible in October. Last year, the Flames were mediocre in the pre-season and terrible...well, you get the idea.
A 4-7 October isn't a season killer, obviously. But it sure as hell is difficult to watch. I'd prefer to see the Keenan era get off on the right foot, so a reversal of fortunes through these last few exhibition games would be nice.
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I listened to the first couple periods of the game last night. Hard to know what to make of it. But here goes...
Sounded like McElhinney held his own and Hemsky had a field day with the Flames lesser lights on the back-end.
For the second straight game, Huselius was probably the best Calgary forward.
Peters continues to get noticed in his limited role, while guys like Stevenson and Germyn seem to be falling away. I think Boyd could put up better results if he was played a.) with better players or b.) more than 6 minutes a game. He apparently made a gorgeous no-look pass out of the corner that led to a scoring chance last night.
Apparently, Lombardi has an injured wrist and Tanguay "tweaked" his groin. Here's hoping they heal in time for the game opener against Philly.
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I discovered an interesting new website recently: Livescore - by Flashscore. It's basically a collection of sports scores from around the globe. And I mean ALL sports scores. Under the hockey tab, for example, you can find scores from the NHL AND all the notable European leagues: RSL, Swedish Elite, Finnish Elite, etc.
It's an interesting and convenient tool for the "global" hockey fan. Now I can follow the exploits of Dynamo Moscow and Mark Giordano pretty easily (DM beat Lada Togliatti today 2-1 in a shoot-out. Lundmark apparently scored the winner).
Good stuff. Check it out if you get the chance. I've added a link to the "Sports Media" menu at right.
