- By ChunkyMoose
Well, it’s been a long off-season since my humble hockey-related prose has graced the virtual paper of this site... and let me tell you, it’s desperately needed. SOMEONE needs to stem the flow of Metrognome’s postings that display at least half of the key elements from the ‘disease’ medical model, and almost all of the ones from the ‘addiction’ model.
I must admit, I have been tentatively stapling my heart to the sleeve of my UnderArmor golf shirt this season when it comes to the Flames... there’s a lot of question marks. Although, I had a surge of hope after watching the boys take on the Avalanche last night.
Now when you blow a 4-0 lead, especially in the manner in which the Flames did, I don’t think that a simple ‘minus’ is sufficient to describe some of the defensive gaffes. Instead, I vote for the inclusion of a new statistical category – “DT” or “Defensive Treachery”. Numbers should also not apply to this category; they should have little daggers beside their names, or even blood droplets. Perhaps there is a symbol that identifies the onset of an aneurysm.
3 goals off the skates of our defensemen? Are you kidding me? I’m convinced Anders Eriksson is a mole sent in by the Blue Jackets and their ex-Oilers-brass GM to sabotage close games. Think of him as a Mole Assassin, “MoleAssas” for short.
There were some bright sides. Some REALLY bright sides to the game. As was typical of the Avalanche before the end of the year, we chased off Budaj AGAIN. Unfortunately, we failed to capitalize on how bad Theodore can be.
Iginla made Avalanche defensemen look silly. Even their new shut-down expert, Hannan, could barely handle him all night. He had jump, determination, and I think he would indulged his pugilistic talents given the chance. Instead he peppered the score sheet AND scored a crucial shootout goal. Welcome back.
Phaneuf is turning into one of the leagues best workhorses. He’s not logging minutes by playing an active stick game (i.e. anyone with a “sson” or a “strom” in their name) and conserving precious energy. Instead he’s crushing guys, playing head games by jawing the competition, and trying end to end rushes. He’s not comparable to any other defensemen in the league. He’s special. The good special.
I don’t know what the public consensus is yet on Nolan, but I think he’s a great addition. He’s still using old school moves and plays, and demonstrating why they were so successful in his heyday. He uses veteran brains and consistently fools younger players. He reminds me of the grizzled vet on my beer league team that doesn’t look like he’s got one good knee... heck he doesn’t look like he’s playing the same game, but still manages to make everyone look stupid. I think he’s going to do what we hoped Amonte would do for the last two seasons.
Unfortunately, we split periods with the type of play we needed to destroy the Avs. The way we played in the first period (strong forechecking, physical attacks) sets them on their heels, and is ultimately what got us up 3-0. The way we played in the second period (scrambling, kicking the puck in our own net, letting the MoleAssas log some icetime) is what got us back to square 1.
All-in-all 5 points out of 8 on a roadie is a huge improvement on last season.
Awards for the game:
Iginla – 5 stars
Kipper – 4 stars (not mentioned above, but I think Roger Millions and John Garret did a good job of massaging his berries)
Phaneuf – 4 stars
Nolan, Lombardi, Nilson – 3 stars
Eriksson – 2 turkeys, a blood droplet and 3 daggers
Sarich – 1 turkey
Regehr – 1 turkey
