Monday, March 06, 2006

 

More of the Same

Well, it's deja vu all over again

First, the Blues beat the Canucks once again.

I just don't get how the hell the Blues, of all teams, pwn the Canucks like Saudi Arabia owns the USA.

My friend Duc was at the game and shared some thoughts on his journal.

I was cautiously optimistic when I had my ticket validated. I mean, the Canucks had their heads presented to them on a gold-gilded silver platter the past few times they faced the Blues. I thought, "could this be the end of the Blues' dominance over the Canucks?"

Obviously not.

The Blues played a very strong, hardworking game. The Canucks, being the overhyped, overrated, and overpaid idiots that they are, did OK, but most of the time they were outworked by the tenacious Blues. My St. Louis Blues are one of the worst teams of the NHL, but you couldn't tell this night. I do admit, however, that the officials (led by Mr. Kerry Fraser) may have been a tad biased towards the Blues; that "hit from behind" from Richard Park didn't look that serious at all. Oh well, we'll take 'em as we see them, I guess.
It's too bad the game was on PPV in Vancouver, so I had to settle for the damn Oscars (I'm still mad ever since T2 was gypped out of a Best Picture Award). Oh, and John Stewart > Whoopie Goldberg.




---

Theoren Fleury is in trouble...again!

From HockeyRefs.com:
Belfast Giants player Theo Fleury’s future in the Elite Ice Hockey League (EIHL) is unknown following Saturday’s game against the Basingstoke Bison.
Theo Fleury had to be forced into the penalty box in the second period

After being in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons a few weeks ago for his alleged verbal abuse towards hooligan fans and his recent tirade in late February, the Belfast player was thrown out of the game.

He was called for a straight forward two-minute minor penalty for elbowing by referee Mike Hicks, but Fleury argued the call and refused to take his place in the penalty box before being assessed an additional 10-minute misconduct penalty.

Later when the Bison scored an empty-net goal in the closing minute of play, he retrieved the puck and fired it at Hicks, reportedly missing the referee’s head by inches. Hicks replied by assessing game misconduct and match penalties, which expelled Fleury from the game.

HockeyRefs.com’s correspondent for British hockey says the ex-NHLer and 2002 Olympic gold medalist then lost it and proceeded to threaten the officials, resulting in a second match penalty.
*sigh*, what a doofus!

Comments:
At this point, I wonder if ol' Theo is even serious about the game, or if he's just become hockey's professional wrestler -- he KNOWS the fans are expecting him to lose it, he needs the spotlight almost as badly as Roenick does, and so he does stuff like this.

Or, perhaps, he's legitimately insane.
 
bad spot to make a check on the park play. it was typical nhl checking from behind/boarding call. many of which are the player getting hit's fault to start with. not really a bad call per se, the lying on the ice upped its time/effect though.

the bad call? todd "braindead" bertha elbowing dallas drake on a fly by check after the game was decided. at least kt dropped the gloves in a non fight (4 minute penalty for kt, instead of the insane thing that would have happened had they gave him the instigator penalty he likely should have gotten). after all that (and THAT was an attempt to injure. PERIOD) the blues end up short manned!

can't say much good about the canucks obviously lol, i have seen them beat people once or twice this year, but i'm telling you this, that team I saw last night is near death.

Not cos they can't beat the blues.. but because their d is so exploitable in the canuck's end (the blues not only out worked many canucks, the blues' forward kids schooled the canucks d-kids and if not for solid goaltending it would have been a laugher.)

BUT MORE THAN THAT. those nhl reject quality d-men are killing the canucks offense. the canucks top players probably have what? 6 goals or so in 10 games? no break out, no transition, no support, forwards being forced to come and stay further back in the d-zone.

and then there is todd. ouch. i'm not sure i'd trade danton for him..

anyway the canucks need a body in net and 2 top 4 quality d-men. its going to get ugly up there :)

i suggest them picking up sanford. no st louis fan is in love with him (he is most often compared to vinny reindeau) however the blues brain trust is so insane (they think bryce salvadore is - or at least was- a franchise quality d-man) they may lamont is the next luongo :)

sanford is cheap in salary, should be cheap in acquasition price, is a warm body, and can be trusted not only to start occasionally, but effectively start for longer periods should the need arise.

i dont think there is any way the canuks can now afford to bid on a real goalie and still fix the suddenly more important d-line problems..
 
Hello,

Thanks to the above poster on the thoughts on the Park check from behind.

I understand that the NHL wants to discourage checking from behind, and with very good reason, too.

However, does it warrant a 5-minute major and a game misconduct? I didn't see any sort of injury on Park's "victim," so I figured a minor or a double minor would be an appropriate punishment. If there was any sort of injury, however, I would welcome the 5-minute major plus the misconduct.

Duc
 
Yaaah Blues! Now, my 5th favourite team in the NHL. I have a blog too but its about Canadian politics, not hockey. Though they are kind of the same thing if you think about it...

Later, Sweeden haters.
 
I honestly think Theo's just letting the UK get to him. Fans here in any sport can be brutal, and pro athletes can essentially get away with murder (though if accused of infidelity or somesuch, they're hounded by press for weeks). Obviously, he's not the biggest star in the British press, but it's not such a hot environment, you know? You would not beleive the crap that gets yelled at players here etc etc.
 
Don't have to tell me a thing about the Blues owning the 'Nucks...I've about given up on thinking the Blues are a given when choosing which goalies to bench on my Fantasy Hockey teams.

Auld's overall been good to me, but certainly not against the Blues...
 
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