And they wonder why I hate Christmas sometimes

Yes, the off-season has really ground to a halt right now (or rather my brain has simply refused to come up with a half decent post about Team Canada). So we're stuck with this crap.

Thanks to Capitals Kremlin for this one.

Yes, that's Crysob the Christmas tree ornament. Yes, I almost just puked.

World peace must be on it's way

(What the hell is that kid doing in a LEAFS shirt?)

I can't read a word of this , but it's quite clear that Sergei has made up with Grabs.

Umm.... EXCUSE ME? I very nearly spit out my wonderful cup of tea at this news.

WHAT ARE YOU DOING? DAMNIT SERGEI YOU JUST COMPLETELY RUINED MY FUN. COMPLETELY. PLUS GRABS STILL NEEDS A GOOD WHACK UPSIDE THE HEAD FOR HURTING MARKOV.

Thank you to the epic twerps who wanted this epic peace deal so they actually run an Olympic team (not that any of it will help you out).

I think I am going to go kick my Grabs voodoo doll around seeing as our dear Sergei has decided not to.

Clearly I haven't taken to this "new team"...

Okay so I went looking for some stuff on youtube of our new team members. You know, in an effort to get to know more about them.

First up on the youtube search list was Scott Gomez.

I ended up with this video:



Me: YAY KOIVU SMACKED GOMEZ! HAHAHAHA!

Little voice inside my head: You know we have Gomez now?

Me: Oh crap....GO KOIVU GO! YAY!

Next up was Cammalleri. After mispelling his name half a dozen times (whaddya mean the Habs didn't sign an octopus?), I finally found this:



Me: ummm.....

Little voice inside my head: I wonder if he still keeps golf clubs in his room in case someone decides to rob him... Oh maybe he'll invite Havlavt over and make him eat those fake plastic limes and then whack him upside the head with a golf club! HAHAHAHAHA....

Spacek's turn came next.



Me: Ow..... I wonder if there was permanent brain damage there?

Little voice: I WANT A GOALIE FIGHT! SMASHY SMASHY SMASHY!

And Hal Gill!



Me: oh.my.god.

Little voice: Yeah, I'm sure Crysob will have a thing or two to say about that! He wants his own snuggy! GIVE THE CRYSOB HIS OWN SNUGGY DAMNIT!!!

Umm yeah *goes back to looking for something better*

Random Monday

Because it's high time we had a day filled with randomness!

EP gets her first taste of hockey

Okay, okay so it was street hockey. BUT STILL.

• It was probably the first time I got to hold a real hockey stick
• I didn't suck at shooting too much
• Yes, I played goalie most of the time
• No, I had no pads
• Yes, the substitute puck (aka a orange ball) kinda hurt
• Yes, I let in about 4 goals
• I played "forward" for a bit
• Yes, I scored
• Yes, I had my Ovie shirt on
• YES, I did the flaming stick of doom thing when I scored "game winner" (it was first team up to 10 goals wins *G*)
• oh and yes, I did say "I win" and walked away (it was okay. I was playing with my sister and her friends)
• I wanna play more now

I wouldn't be mentioing this if it wasn't the middle of the offseason and my poor blog wasn't waiting for me to write something. But yeah. Hockey is fun =)

Metro who?

Umm yeah, in all this "OMFG OUR TEAM JUST GOT BLOWN UP" stuff, we forget who IS staying. And Metro is one of the guys staying (right, Bob?!). Dennis Kane reposted this article about Metro on his blog.. I remember reading a similiar thing in some Habs magazine. If you haven't heard about Metro's life before he ended up in the NHL, go read it. If you have, then you know why I like this guy.

Avtsin doesn't want to be Ovie #2.

Found this interview about our recently acquired Russian.

So you feel like you can’t go anywhere with these Ovechkin comparisons. And in Russia in these days only title that Avtsin wants to be like Ovechkin…

It’s pleasant from a certain point of view. But imagine how much I have to work to get to his level. His level is like that (points a hand to his head), while mine is like that (points the other hand to the ground). And anyway I don’t want to be like him. Ovechkin is Ovechkin, and I have to be not Ovechkin, but Avtsin.

Butbutbutbutbut... Fine. You be yourself. Just make sure you get yourself over here to play!

Speaking of Ovie....

Saw this interview with the party animal. I'm pretty sure there's something slightly off with this translation but I just laughed anyway for no reason.

Evgeni Malkin in an interview said that he was going to seriously improve his English because, in his view, his communication with the journalists was not enough to get him the Hart Trophy. How would you look at it?

If someone believes that Hart Trophy is given only for communicating with the journalists, they can even start learning Chinese if they think it would help.

I can almost picture this.... the thing with Chinese is that if you put the wrong inflection on a word, then you could end up calling your mother a horse by accident.... Could you imagine the type of fail that could come out of an interview with Eggplant speaking Chinese in it? Oh the possibilities!

And... this may be an epic time waster but it's still epically fun:

Thanks to puckdaddy (link is in the sidebar) for alerting me to this place where you can design your own hockey jersey. Here's my first attempt:

I would've written "Pufffles Smashing" but it wouldn't let me... =(

Congrats to Roger and Mirka!

LOOK!

I have some exciting news to share with you: Late last night, in Switzerland, Mirka and I became proud parents of twin girls! We named them Myla Rose and Charlene Riva and they are both healthy and along with their mother, they are doing great. This is the best day of our lives!

Three thoughts:

1. TWIN GIRLS?! I thought it was just one!
2. I guess this means he's skipping Montreal....
3. How long before one of them wins Wimby?

Squeaky Marty to the ISLANDERS?

Damn. I was SO hoping he'd go back to the Flyers so I could continue to make fun of him as a Flyer. BOO! This sucks. Now I'll just have to make fun of him as an Islander instead. Which won't be half as fun. He made such a great duo with Itty Bitty. Oh well...

My favorite Squeaky Marty fail. Which actually wasn't my favorite because it was against the Pens....but it was still....it WOULD have been hilariously stupid if it had been against any other team:



Altogether now: "Failtender!"

Turtle-Pleky is coming back!

Yuppers. He's back for another year!

Make it count, pwease?

And here go the "trade Jaro" rumors again....

Yesterday, the Canadiens signed former Canuck, Curtis Sanford to a year contract with a cap hit of $600,000. Suddenly this turned into a "Gainey wants to trade for some 2nd line center and he'll use Halak in the trade". HUH? I admit that I didn't get this one at first. Not because I wanted to believe that Gainey sign Halak for the rest of his career but because it doesn't make sense to me...

Because I feel like arguing and am enjoying sitting on my deck much too much... You get a boring stupid argument for why Sanford won't/shouldn't be Price's backup:

1. The Bulldogs need another goalie. According to this article in the Spec, Marc Denis is not coming back to the Bulldog's lineup. That leaves the Cedric Desjardins as the main goalie, but right now there's nobody else. From what I understand, none of the goalies from the farm are ready to make the jump to the AHL. So the Bulldogs needed another goalie. Sanford is that goalie.
   
   
2. Halak has played more games in the NHL/AHL in the last two years than Sanford has. But apparently because Sanford has some NHL experience, that means he can easily make the jump to the Habs team and therefore Gainey is trading Halak away. While it's true that Sanford has played more games in the NHL than Halak has (Sanford has 108 to Halak's 54) overall, in the last two years, Sanford has played in 35 games to Halak's 40 (Sanford also played in 16 games in the AHL to Halak's 28 during that span). Halak's stats are also better in his NHL games than Sanford's were.
   
   
3. Sanford is injury prone. What Sanford's numbers also don't say is that he is injury prone. In his first stint with the Blues in 2003, he went down with an ankle injury. He would play 65 games in the 06 and 07 seasons but he went down with an ankle sprain in 06 and had groin issues through 07. He filled in for Luongo (when Luongo was out for an extended period of time) in the past season but ended up suffering back spasms in one game and was eventually placed on IR with another groin injury in December.
   
   
4. Yes, Price could benefit from an experienced goalie.... and yes, Sanford has more experience as a player than Halak does, but Sanford has played mostly in the AHL. Apart from his 65 games over two seasons in 06 and 07 with the Blues, he hasn't had much playing experience in the NHL - which I think is a totally different ballpark in the mental aspect of the game. Sanford is not the goalie they want to help Price with his mental stuff (and if you ask me, that is where Price needs help).
   
   
5. If they trade Halak for a second line center... then what? So they have Price in Montreal. Sanford and Desjardins in Hamilton. If they call up Sanford then they have to go goalie shopping for Desjardins - unless we determine that one of the prospects can make the cut in the AHL. If Sanford is injured or they determine that he won't do well in the NHL, then they either call up Desjardins or go goalie shopping. Either way, unless one of the prospects is ready, they have to go goalie shopping if they trade away Halak.

I'm not saying that Gainey isn't going to trade Halak. I'm not saying that Halak should be Price's backup forever (even though I'd love that). What I am saying is that just because Gainey signed Sanford, it doesn't automatically mean that he going to trade Halak and that Sanford is going to take his place.

Habs sign Curtis Sanford....

The official story here at Shifts and Sets is that Sanford is coming in to do something in Hamilton. He is not here to be Pricey's backup so they can trade Jaro away to some hockey-foresaken city. He is here because the Hammies need some help (because Denis is gone).

That is our story and we are sticking to it until Bob comes around and ruins our lives.

Welcome to Smurf Village, Curtis!

And the Stanley Keg goes to...

....Team Louis! Which wasn't actually called that but I've been calling them Team Louis all day so nyeh!

I was very pleased to show up to the semi-finals and see Team Pickles (that's Vlasic) playing the Powder Blue Team and Team Louis playing.... somebody. Naturally Team Pickles won (I think it was 7-3) and they would take on Team Louis (who I'm pretty sure had at least 9 goals) for the chance to win the Keg of Doom.

The final ended up being the most exciting of the games this weekend. Lot's of action and the goalies both had some really cool saves. Mind you....It really didn't look good for Team Louis at the start as Team Pickles jumped to a 3-1 lead. Team Louis would close the gap (thanks in part to Louis, yes) and it wound up 4-4 as the final buzzer sounded (very loudly in my poor ear, too). OT solved nothing and we actually had to have a real shootout! Team Louis won without Louis' help and his goalie caught to take home the beer equivalent of the Conn Smythe *g*

Number31 took some video which you can see here. I was smartish and lugged my better camera with me and was able to take a pile of pics. The downside to this was that I just spent 6 hours going through and editing the good ones.... Hence the reason why this writeup of the games is a little... lame...

I had the goalie's dad's friend ask me to send him some of the pics I took, which totally scared the heck out of me because I had no idea of any of the pics actually came out okay. Lesson number 2254671845362: apparently using a semi-expensive camera makes people think you know what the heck you're doing.....Erm, I didn't exactly mention that I had never used this camera to take photos of hockey before...

My pics are here. I think a couple of them came out okay, so I should be saved.....

Stanley Keg

There is no hockey off-season here

(apparently I do not have a not-blurry photo of just Louis Leblanc so you'll have to settle for this. Louis just to the left of the ref)

Nope. No off-season here.

Today I went off to the Stanley Keg. Which is a mini-tournament that nobody seems to have heard of where mostly local pros play. There was a few NHLers, a lot of AHLers, some NCAAersand some people from some of the European leagues (I didn't know France actually had a league of sorts!).

I'll fully admit that I went to watch Louis Leblanc but then Sarah told me I had to go looking for Marc-Edouard Vlasic because he plays for San Jose. So I got there for the last half of the game before his game (which was before Louis' game). Vlasic's team is totally stacked with higher level players (hello Mathieu Carle so I just saw last week at the Habs' prospect camp!) and it showed as they decimated their opponents. Actually, I spent most of my time trying to find Vlasic - which i failed to do so I just took pics of everyone on his team in the hopes that I would find him later. I did manage to find him actually... YAY!

Moving on... I wandered around a bit inbetween games, ate, watched some of the other action going on in the other rinks, ate more, looked at all the hockey photos they have up at the area, then went back to watch Louis. He was very uncooperative with my camera and I now have a pile of blurry Louis photos. He was really easy to pick out as he had a Habs helmet, the ugly grey jerseys his team was given, Habs pants, and ugly maroon socks. His team completely killed the mostly EICHL (a UK league)-filled opposition. I think the final score was something like 9-2 or 9-3. Oopsies. He got into a little spat with some of the other players from the other team who were understandbly, not happy with the score *g*

Also, I could've sworn I saw Gui (Latendresse) but he wasn't on any of the rosters..... but the guy looked just like him, had a Habs helmet with the number 84 on the back.... hmm... will have to see if I can solve that one...

If you want to see quality hockey, maybe this isn't the best thing to go to (not that the quality was bad but it's obviously not top-notch players playing all out), but it's a great way to spend a July day (which was mostly crappy here anyway). I"ll take any form of hockey in the summer.

Pics can be seen here, here and here.

Now the Hammies break my heart...

Number31 says Steve Gainey isn't coming back to the Habbies....

This makes me very sad because I liked Steve when he did the commentary with Flandersdude when the other annoying dude wasn't there *sobs*

Okay FINE so it was only for a few games.... BUT STILL!

Can we hire Steve to do the commentary with Flandersdude? Please? Please? Please? Please?! His boring but very knowledgeable comments worked so well with Flandersdude's excitable babbling *g*

PLEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAASEEEEE?!!!!!!

I want a nice big sign that says "Steve for Colour Commentator" *g* Sorry Al (who's name I just had to look up now)..... but Steve did a much better job....

And you didn't think I could get any more obsessed, eh? HAH!

Number31 also says Lehoux, Denis and Kemp are among those not coming back either *sobs some more* AND Stewie doesn't have a new contract yet. HELLO?! STEWIE IF YOU DO NOT SIGN SOMETHING SOON WITH THE HABS I WILL KICK SOMEONE!

I keep forgetting that Boucher is in as the new Hammies coach *mopity-mopey-mope-mope-mope* Dude, it's going to take a while for me to get over the fact that your dumb Drummondville Whatsits knocked out my Juniors..... mind you, I guess I could just try to remember that you were one of the coaches for Canada's Junior team.... maybe.... =/

(no, EP was not drunk while she wrote this... particularly excitable tonight)

Smurf Village

Once upon a time in a galaxy far far away... wait, that's the wrong story. In a land far far away there was a place called "The Cursed Land". To reach it one had to travel through deep forests, deep marshes, a scorching desert and a high moutain...oh and a traffic-filled bridge. Nobody could ever find it however because the road signs were awful.

But moving on... In a small corner of this land was Smurf Village. In this village lived the... Smurfs (Duh). They were short little people who lived in mushroom houses. And they loved their hockey. Yes, they did. The Smurfs lived, breathed and almost tasted hockey. Everyday the Smurfs would either watch hockey, talk about hockey or plan about hockey. Like I said, the Smurfs loved their hockey.

Now...In this land there lived an evil wizard. Technically he went by the name of Gargamel but most people knew him as Gary. Gary had a strange obsession with trying to rid the world of the Smurfs. Nobody knew exactly why he hated the Smurfs, but it was a fact that he hated them. He keeps the Smurfs' long lost cousins trapped in The Great Desert of Phoenix for crying out loud! Every day, Gary would plot various way of trying to destroy the Smurfs of Smurf Village. He would often talk aloud and so his pet cat Azrael Campbell could listen in. Even though Gary doesn't treat Azrael Campbell very well, he still goes along with all his evil plots in the hopes that he can catch - and eat - a Smurf.

Anyway, in general the Smurfs didn't pay much attention to Gary because his plans were usually really stupid and they didn't really work most of the time anyway. Usually they just went about their business... hockey! The Smurfs of Smurf Village even had their very own hockey team: The Montreal Smurfs! Naturally the Smurfs loved their team. On most days anyway. The Montreal Smurfs were going through some tough times however. One day most of the Smurfs from the team suddenly left. The cause was unknown but many believed that Gary was behind this. Why else would a good Smurf leave for the Wicked Land of the Leafs if he wasn't under some type of evil spell?

We don't know very much about the Smurfs who have come to replace our beloved team but we'll keep you up to date once we know more!

Who invented timezones?!

Stand up so I can give you a kick! A few things that stand out to me about the Habs' schedule:

• There are 4 10:00 or later (10:30) and 2 9:00 and several 8:00 or 8:30 starting times this season.... including a western conference roadtrip pretty much right off the bat....
• Longest streak of home games will be after that initial roadtrip and will consist of 6 games
• They also have a 7 game roadtrip in December but they will all be at decent times
• They'll be in San Jose for a 10:30 start time on my birthday...Ugh.
• In a weird bit of symetry they will play the Leafs at the beginning and end of the season.
• Koivu won't be coming back here this year. They get to go to Duckland instead.
• no early January trips to Florida this year
• no Boston until November. Whoo!

And the Caps made things difficult for me by only having two home games in early December....

What's this? A Habbies movie? o.O

Jeez, I swear it's not July with with the cool weather and all this hockey stuff. Anyway...

Check this out. It's a trailer for some movie thing. Which I had no idea was being made? Huh... this could be intriguing.

Oh wait, wait! I found this article from the Gazette from last September about the movie:

Launching movie to mark Habs' 100th
Brendan Kelly, Montreal Gazette

Pour Toujours, les Canadiens!, the upcoming feature film tied to the 100th anniversary of the most storied franchise in professional hockey, will star some of Quebec's top actors, including Céline Bonnier, Jean Lapointe, Denis Bernard, Claude Legault and Réal Bossé.

But the French-language film, which began shooting this week, will also feature some first-time thespians who also happen to be pretty famous. They include legendary Habs captain Jean Béliveau and current team captain Saku Koivu, along with a number of Koivu's team-mates. The first scenes were shot at the Ste. Justine Hospital Sept. 15, and several Habs were on-hand to appear in those scenes, including Koivu, Chris Higgins, Mike Komisarek, Francis Bouillon, and goalie Carey Price.

One strand of the plot concerns a 10-year-old boy -- played by the astonishing Antoine L'Écuyer, currently garnering raves for his star turn in C'est pas moi, je le jure! -- who is in the hospital awaiting a kidney transplant.

"The scene we were filming was of the team's annual visit to Ste. Justine," said director Sylvain Archambault, who just won the Gémeaux Award Sunday night for best drama director for his work on Les Lavigueur, la vraie histoire.

"The Habs players are all playing themselves but the one player you'll see more than any of the others is Saku Koivu," said Archambault.

Given Koivu's own history of grave illness -- he successfully battled non-Hodgkin's lymphoma during the 2001-2002 season -- Archambault said it was touching to see him interact in this scene with L'Écuyer playing an ailing kid at the hospital.

"Saku has some real baggage inside him that nourished him and I was really impressed by his performance," said Archambault.

Archambault and his crew were shooting the real Habs on the ice Tuesday (Sept. 15) afternoon at the Bell Centre and they'll be back to film more on-ice action at the Habs arena Wednesday and Thursday. In addition, Archambault plans to shoot at a number of exhibition games in the coming weeks.

"Hockey is one of the fastest sports in the world and I want to show hockey like it's never been seen before," said the director.

Archambault, screenwriter Jacques Savoie -- who also won a Gémeaux trophy Sunday, Sept. 14, for his work on Les Lavigueur -- and producers Lorraine Richard and Luc Martineau from production house Cité Amerique held a press conference at the Cage aux Sports in the Bell Centre Tuesday (Sept. 15) morning to announce the details of Pour Toujours, les Canadiens!. The $6 million film will open across Quebec on at least 100 screens on Dec. 4, 2009, 100 years exactly from the day the Canadiens was founded.

"100 screens, 100 years," noted Yves Dion, president of TVA Films, which will be distributing the film.

Added Dion: "The film brings together our two great passions -- cinema and hockey."

Former Habs Béliveau, Yvan Cournoyer and Réjean Houle were also at the press conference. All involved were at pains to underline that this is not a documentary but rather a fiction feature about a Montreal teen obsessed with hockey. Dhanaé Audet-Beaulieu plays the main character, William, a 17-year-old star hockey player at Collège Français in Montreal who is going through a rough time emotionally. His mother, played by Bonnier, is a nurse at Ste. Justine and is emotionally attached to 10-year-old Daniel (L'Écuyer), the boy waiting for a kidney transplant. William's father, Benoit (Stéphane Jacques), hasn't much time for his family because he's too busy making a documentary about the 100th anniversary of the Habs, which is the plot device which will allow the filmmakers to include loads of archival footage.

Though the main focus of the film is the fictional drama, there will be plenty of images from the history of the Canadiens, including everything from classic Habs goals to the Rocket Richard riot in 1955, and the film is being made with the full cooperation of the Canadiens and the National Hockey League. The real Stanley Cup will even make a cameo appearance.

"I'm not a documentary filmmaker," said Archambault. "My expertise is telling stories and the challenge is to mix the archival footage with the fictional story. The film is meant to show how le peuple Québécois are tied to les Canadiens."

Guess I gotta see this when it comes out, eh?

Please, please, please make this happen

I love the Sox. I love Fenway. I think hockey in Fenway will be awesome.... that being said... the NHL could very well earn my love if this happens:

From the Globe and Mail.

The Montreal Canadiens’ regular-season game at Olympic Stadium is expected to be on the agenda when the 2009-10 NHL schedule is released tomorrow.

The final tinkering to the 92nd NHL regular season will be made in the next 24 hours, but a league source indicated yesterday that a Habs home game against the Washington Capitals and star sniper Alex Ovechkin “is still in the mix for late November.”

The indoor game at Olympic Stadium is expected to be contested on Nov. 28 or the previous Saturday to help commemorate the Canadiens’ centennial celebrations that will conclude on Dec. 5 with a match against the rival Boston Bruins at the Bell Centre.

The Olympic Stadium game was an idea brought forth, discussed and met with approval at the competition committee meeting three weeks ago – providing the NHL schedule makers could accommodate the request.

I WANT OVIE IN THE OLYMPIC STADIUM! AND I WANT TO BE THERE! Make it happen you twerps in charge of the NHL schedule! I WANT OVIE HERE! WHAAAAAAAAH! It would be SO awesome to have the league's most exciting player playing in the craziest city ever.

Clearly I don't need any caffeine this morning to keep me awake *G*

NHL doesn't want me to be bored

Just as I was about to make a comment about there being no hockey and how boring summer is right now.. I see this on the NHL website:

Yay! Burnt cookies for the NHL today for keeping me happy. Ovie's hattrick still makes me laugh hysterically.

Expect more random junk like this over the summer until I can force my brain to come up with something brilliant... which might be never.... err maybe hold out for something "better" than? =p

Being the Commish sure pays well...

Imagine all those TVs one can buy to watch the NBA with all this money.....

From Sporting News:

NHL commissioner Gary Bettman received a 27 percent raise during the 2007-08 season, pushing his salary with benefits to $7.1 million for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2008, according to league tax filings.

The salary is the highest Bettman has earned in his 16 years as commissioner and a major increase from his pre-lockout salary of $3.77 million. [ahah! So Gary locked everyone out for a year so he could plan on a way to make more money!] League tax filings, for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2008, show Bettman received $4,197,694 in compensation from the NHL and an additional $2,911,550 in compensation and benefits from the NHL's business arm, NHL Enterprises. [I should be getting compensation for having to put up with Gary!!!]

Bettman's salary remains a fraction of what other professional sports commissioners are paid. Major League Baseball commissioner Bud Selig ($18.35 million) [peanuts compared to A-Rod's contract though!] and NFL commissioner Roger Goodell ($10.9 million) both earn more. NBA commissioner David Stern is believed to earn more than $10 million, but his salary is not reported publicly because the league doesn't claim tax-exempt status. [Seriously, Gary should've tried to take over the MLB instead of the NHL.]

COMMISSIONER COMPENSATION
MLB	NFL	NBA	NHL	PGA Tour
Bud Selig	Roger Goodell	David Stern	Gary Bettman	Tim Finchem
$18.35 million	$10.9 million	$10 million (estimated)	$7.1 million	$4.8 million

The NHL declined to explain Bettman's salary increase [no kidding], but the increase came following a 2006-07 season that saw league revenue top $2.2 billion as the NHL set an attendance record and increased NHL Enterprises and broadcasting revenue by double-digit percentages.

NHL Deputy commissioner Bill Daly earned $1.78 million in total compensation for the 2007-08 fiscal year, giving him a 2.3 percent raise from the previous year. NHL treasurer Craig Harnett, the only other officer and executive listed, earned $846,915 during the same period. [Colin the Random is still waiting for his raise!]

In total, the league spent $6,013,144 on NHL officer salaries for Bettman, Daly and Harnett. It spent an additional $22.7 million on employee salaries and $5.1 million on employee benefits. The filing doesn't list the total number of employees that the NHL compensates.

The league generated a total of $74.2 million in expenses. In addition to salaries and benefits, major costs included $7.2 million for travel, $5.8 million for officiating fees [and yet the refs still suck], $2 million in legal fees and $1.5 million for public relations [and then they wonder why nobody likes the NHL], among others.

The league reported revenue rose 14.9 percent over the period to $74.27 million. Most of that revenue came from membership dues paid by NHL clubs totaling $56 million. An additional $4.95 million came from NHL Enterprises licensing, $3 million from copyright royalties and $6.97 million came from playoff assessments.

Those numbers only represent NHL revenue and exclude revenue from NHL Enterprises, NHL Network and other business operations. Additional revenue from NHL Enterprises and member clubs pushed total league revenue to more than $2.5 billion over the 2007-08 season.

Random notes from development Camp!

(Baby Habbies! Of course the stupid bar had to ruin the photo but yeah... they're still smishy!)

Yup, yup! I went to see the Baby Habbies at Brossard today. I really have nothing to offer in the terms of how I think they look as players... so you get totally random and useless information instead.

• Photos are here. Totally the last time I bring the dumb little camera that doesn't focus fast enough.
• I made it there without getting lost. You actually can't miss the building... it's kinda big.... *coughs* Very glad I came early because by 9 it was already filling up and by 10 it was jammed...
• They're buidling is AWESOME. And cold.
• The goalies are HUGE. Seriously. We have smurfs for forwards but giants for goalies. It's weird.
• Desharnais is shorter than Shorty Marty...and I mean.. I knew David was short from hearing about in Hammieland but dude... when he got on the ice, he was really short *G* (don't worry Shorty Marty. You will always be THE smurf of the NHL to me). Simila (the goalie who was just drafted two weeks ago) is a FOOT taller than Desharnais. And even Simila is shorter than Missiaen. Crazy.
• There was a fair number of Hammies there. It took me a while to actually recognize them (thats what I get for only hearing about them on the radio)
• Watching the goalies trying to climb over the boards was a bit... amusing =p It's not easy to do with those huge goalie pads
• it is LOUD when they smash eachother into the boards right in front of you. VERY LOUD. My poor ears...
• I can't wait until PK Subban becomes a Hab though... he was fun to watch and he was also insanely popular today. Number31 took this video of his penalty shot (they were giving out penalty shots instead of actual penalties)

And finally, my REALLY lame video of some of the "game".

Uhoh... Habs sign Paul Mara

Umm.....this is the extent of my knowledge of Mara as a player:



Yes, that's Mara trying to stop Ovie... And this...



Okay fine. So technically that one is not entirely his fault.. but he was still on the ice!

Welcome to Smurf Village Mara! May you never have to be on the ice at the same time as Ovie =p

Cue more sobbing

*sobs*

Kiitos Saku!

From here.

I get that hockey is a business. I touched on that before. I get that as such, Gainey let Koivu go. I get that once he was a free agent, Koivu had the right to sign with whoever he wanted to sign with.

But damnit, I'm still sad to see Koivu go to the Ducks.

Anyone who has read my profile knows that Koivu is special for me. For most of my life, Koivu was the only Hab I could name. I knew him because well, he was he captain of the Canadiens and his face was plastered on the back of the Bell Centre. Sad, perhaps, but the point is, I knew him before I knew about any other Hab. I knew about him before I knew about Maurice Richard, before Guy Lafleur, before Patrick Roy. Saku was literally not only the Montreal Canadiens, but he was hockey. That was the limit of my hockey knowledge: There was a guy called Saku Koivu from some country in Scandinavia and he played hockey for the Montreal Canadiens.

I have vague memories of hearing about him coming back after having cancer. I remember feeling a great deal of indignation when I heard that he "was whacked in the eye accidently-on-purpose" even who I had no idea what really happened (I still maintain a hate for the Carolina Hurricanes because of that incident that I never witnessed).

When I finally started watching the Habs I immediately asked which one was Saku (if I remember correctly, nobody could answer that as he wasn't playing in the first couple of games against the Bruins two years ago). Saku was the first guy who I actually learned to pick out when he was on the ice (quite the accomplishment when you consider that I literally got headaches for the first week I watched hockey because I found the action too fast).

To me, Saku has been a great Hab. He hasn't exactly come at the best time in Canadiens history, but he's put his heart into the game. He's been criticized for all the wrong reasons here. "He doesn't speak French, he's still small, he doesn't speak French and oh, he doesn't speak French." It's ridiculous of course, and I'm amazed he's put up with it all this time. He deserves better and I hope he gets it in Anaheim. I may detest the Dumb Ducks, but I want Koivu to have a good year with them. I want the Ducks fans to cheer for him and I hope they get to see what a great player he can be.

Thanks - or I guess I should say "Kiitos" - for everything you've done here, Saku! We'll miss you a lot.

Lost

....okay so maybe I've seen one too many "lost cat" signs around my area... but I'm almost tempted to stick this up at the Bell Centre.

"How to get a woman to love hockey"

This thing appeared on e-how. It's a guide to getting your apparently stupid girlfriend to get into hockey. I think this article deserves to be reposted here with some snarky EP interjections in between.

How to get a woman to love hockey [aka how to get yourself punched in the face by a woman]

You are the "ultimate hockey fan." You live, breathe, taste, and experience the fanatics of insult bashing, skates clashing, pucks soaring, hitting, thumping, shoving, tripping, elbow shoving, "in your face" winter sports action on the ice called, HOCKEY! [Soaring pucks? What is this, baseball? "And Ovechkin hits the puck. It's going, going, gone! He homers! The Capitals take the lead 1-0 in the first inning err period!" No idea what all this thumping, elbow shoving and skates clashing stuff is either.... ]

Each year, you ceremoniously welcome the sporting season by donning your teams colors from head to toe and rooting them to victory. [Why wait until the fall? I wear my teams' colours all year round] With each new season, you thrill for that first time feeling of cold brisk air that will run across your face as the hockey players make their way up and down the ice. The smell of fresh popped popcorn, decadent treats [what's decadent about a hotdog? Okay, so maybe the price is decadent but the food itself definitely isn't decadent] and cheering fans bring you almost to a point of ecstasy. The excitement of winning, the players, the playoffs, the Stanley Cup.........the very essence of what makes a man a "real man!" HOCKEY!

However, this season has a new added addition to the roster.....a girlfriend. She understands that YOU love the game of hockey but can't understand why men enjoy pushing and shoving each other in the cold, getting beat up, slapped [slapped? You must be a fan of Semin!] and whacked over the head with a hockey stick, all for just getting that tiny little round "thingamabob" into a net! ["thingamabob"? Are you kidding me? Even my dog knows what a puck is for crying out loud] It is just beyond her imagination. How could a woman possibly understand a "real man's" sport and come to love it almost as much as he loves her? Is there some magic to making her understand the “mojo” of a man and his sport? What's a man to do? [Right. A woman would never ever get hockey. Nope. Never. Ever. They're just like, so dumb]

Maybe the solution to a better understanding of the game of hockey, is to take your girl to see the action, up close and personal! [how up close is it going to be if you can only afford tickets way up in the rafters?]

Difficulty: Moderately Easy
Things You'll Need:

* A camera
* Spending money
* A hockey brochure [what the hell is that for?]
* A hockey souvenier [I think you mean "souvenir"]
* A hockey logo blanket [Unless you're planning on sleeping, that's pointless]
* A Bell to ring [No noise making things are needed]
* A few insults to yell
* Warm clothes to snuggle [snuggle? You do NOT snuggle at a hockey game]


Step 1

Don't make things too complicated. Explain the game of hockey in layman terms; There are players, a stick, a puck, a goal, a referee and whole lot of hooting and a hollering. The object of the game is for one team to get that tiny little round black object (the puck) in the net to score. [no way! Players? A stick? (just one? Do they share?) A puck? What is all this? I thought hockey was played by ducks who used spoons to put the ball into the hoop?! This is like, totally shocking to me. Wow!]


Step 2

You will totally confuse her if you say, "There are three basic kinds of players: forwards, defensemen, and goaltenders (goalies). Unless a team is shorthanded due to a penalty or overtime, each team will have six players on the ice during play. Three forwards line up at the front of the team, and they are (from left to right) the left wing, the center, and the right wing. Two defensemen line up behind them, one on the left and one on the right. The goalie is the sixth player. [I've got images of the players lining up and doing the macarena when you keep mentioning all this "lining up" stuff] The forwards are responsible for most of the offense, and they tend to stay out front, while the defensemen are largely responsible for hanging back and making sure they are ready to protect the defensive zone. The goalie rarely strays far from his crease, but he does skate out and pass pucks to the other players." [So how is she supposed to learn about the game if you don't explain it to her? And what do you mean "the goalie rarely strays far from his crease"? Have you ever seen Turco play?]


Step 3

Follow these tips and guidelines designed to make your girl love the game of hockey. In no time flat, the second next #1 hockey fan ["second next #1 hockey fan?" Is that good English?] will be the girl who can appreciate the finer things in sports...........hot dogs, chicken fingers, chips, popcorn, peanuts, soft drinks and ice cold beer combined with great skating and some occasional damn good brawls. [I didn't realize the finer parts of a sport was the crap food. A brawls only count if you're a Flyers fan] You can't ask for better.....a girl in one hand, a beer in the other and watching the love of your life, HOCKEY! [You need to get your priorities straight, dude]

Tips & Warnings

Show your girl attention. Ask her if she is enjoying the game. Don't ignore her. [well, if you're going to bring her, you sure as hell better not ignore her!]

Get a program and show her some of the players. Women love a man "in the know." [you need a program for that?]

Offer to buy her a team logo blanket to share during the game. You can enjoy snuggling together. You will definitely score points practicing this tip. [A blanket? Are you kidding me? It's a freaking INDOOR arena. And what is with this snuggling stuff? Were you not loved enough as a child?]

Show her the game souvenirs and buy her some of those cute team earrings. She will love you for that. [she won't love you if she doesn't like earrings]

Give her spending money so she can partake of all those delicious foods offered at the concessions while you watch the ice babes at the end of the quarter. [What do you eat on a daily basis to consider this crap they have at arenas "delicious" food? And what quarter? This is HOCKEY. There's three periods.]

Kiss her every time your team scores. [Unless of course she's doing what everyone else is doing which is jumping up and clapping]

Share with her some of your favorite "insults" that you enjoy throwing out at the game. [Finally something intelligent here! Yes, by all means teach how to diss the opposing team!]

Give her a camera to use during the game. Tell her you would love to have pictures of your time together. (This will keep her busy forever!) [better hope she's not taking pics of you passed out drunk in the stands....]

Let her use your binoculars. So what if you are down front near the ice. She can use them to "people watch." Warning: Take them away if you find she is spending too much time using them on the players and smiling. [Oh so it's okay for YOU to look at the icegirls but it's not okay for her to look at the players? Wow, that is what I call hypocrisy!]

Teach her the team chants. She will feel important and useful. [The you put that sounds so demeaning. Everyone should feel important singing "Ole!"]

Buy her drinks. She will surely enjoy the game after more than one toddy. If she decides she wants to go down on the ice and skate with the players, it is time to cut her off! [I'd love it if my girlfriend wanted to go and skate with the players. No matter how drunk she was. Not that I advocate getting my gilfriend drunk at a hockey game...]

Thank her for coming the game with you and tell her how much more exciting it is with her there. [Oh now I see why you wanted to get her drunk. So you could make it easier to lie to her!]

Show her understanding and don't laugh at her when she cries over the player who cracks open his skull open on the ice and has to be carried out on a stretcher. She has a sensitive side. [Oh yeah, it's hilarious when a player could have just had his career ended because he got his skull cracked open. HAHAHAHA! Funny! Seriously.. what the hell?]

Hold her hand on occasion and let her know how nice it is to have her right beside you watching your "dream team" together. [More lies!]

Teach her how to pass a hot dog down 3 rows across 10 people victoriously. [What is this? I've never seen or heard of this happening in a hockey game before? Is this some weird ritual they do in Phoenix?]

Don't go "gaga" over the ice babes at half time. (Only when she is in the restroom) [how about you don't go "gaga" over a pile of idiots anyway? And for the last time... This is HOCKEY. There are no quarters, no half times, no innings, no sets. There are THREE PERIODS!!!]

Don't drink too much and don't spill your food all over her. [If anybody spilled anything on me, I'd dropkick them into the stands WAY below....]

Keep your opposing fan slurs to a bare minimum because she still thinks you never use words like that in public. [I'm sure she's never sworn in her life...]

Make sure your girl is warmly dressed. The ice arena can be cold and too much snuggling will hinder your game enthusiasm. [But YOU wanted the snuggling in the first place!!!!!]

Don't tell her you once saw a hockey game, where one of the players was hit in the face point-blank by a hockey puck and they literally picked his teeth up off the ice afterwards or that he returned to the game with a mouth full of packing and a frozen face, and proceeded to play another regular period followed by two 20-minute overtime periods, and a bit of a third. Women just don't understand the best part of the game. [Why wouldn't she understand the amount of grit and dedication it takes for a player who was just injured to come back onto the ice like that? Oh right. She's an idiot]

When the game is over, give her a great big hug and tell her you can't wait for her to join you at the next game. [all this lying is bad for your relationship] If she want to know if she can wear that adorable red and white outfit that she thinks will match your team's colors, make sure you oblige her by saying, "I can't imagine anything that would look better!" [How about you buy her a REAL hockey shirt?] Your real thought being, "except the time you saw an opposing player's collarbone break when he is slammed into a goalpost or when your favorite player crushed his right hand when he used it to break his fall after being cross-checked from behind."[Yeah, I love watching my favorite players get injured too. It's like, the best thing ever!]

Go home and thank God for a great evening. Most important, pray they have hockey in heaven! [if you keep this behavior up, you might end up in heaven sooner rather than later]

This like more like how to breed a puckbunny. And we certainly don't need anymore of those thank you!

"It's just good business"

I don't watch a lot of movies but I was forced to sit through the Pirates of the Caribbean movies. If you ever saw the 2d and 3rd movies you might remember a certain Beckett guy who was rather fond of saying "it's just good business" or variations on that.

The point is?

Hockey is a business.

And since I've been thinking about that a lot, his stupid quote kept popping into my head (which is stupid but that's how my brain works).

As much as part of me really wanted to think that it was something else, at the end of the day, the bottom line is hockey is a business. It's a business that relies on people to invest emotionally in it (because when people are engaged emotionally, they will spend money). On the one hand it asks you to invest your emotions into the players, into the team. But on the other hand, it also plays the business the end when things don't work out. If a player leaves without a backwards glance to take a bigger paycheck somewhere else "just business". That's why we feel hurt. But we don't want to believe that hockey is merely a business. We've been told and we want to believe that it means more than that.

Of course that's how it works, right? The fans need to believe that hockey means more than just being a business. I'm not talking about for the fans emotional well being here. I'm talking about as a business, the fans need to believe it. Because if they don't then they won't pay. If everyone believed that hockey was just a business they wouldn't be willing to fork over the cash for the tickets to see these players. They wouldn't be willing to pay for the over-priced merchandise.

Does this mean that I'm going to stop watching hockey? Probably not. I think I can still enjoy the sport. But I think it's something to think about the next time a player gets traded or a UFA leaves. It's just business.

Although we all know how Beckett's business venture went... BOOM!:



How come all the "baddies" get the best death scenes?

(insert sappy title about Roger here)

©AELTC / B. Martin

Pete's taking this awfully well. Not that he has a choice *g*

Well, that certainly wasn't one of the prettier matches Roger has played in despite Roddick's very strong performance and the sheer length of the match (particularly set 5). I still didn't think it had the same drama as last year's final. But it would've been impossible to repeat that sort of drama from that match. So this year was a good match. A better match than anyone had anticipated. And I'm glad that Roger was made to work for his 15th title.

I also want to say I have huge amount of respect for Roddick right now. I admit he wasn't my favorite player but he's earned a lot of my respect during this tournament. My heart just broke for him after coming *this* close to winning it. That's definitely a heartbreaker. But I hope to see Andy around for a while yet. Keep it up, Andy =)

Love this video here that the ATP did. And Roger looks so cuuute as a little kid!

OH! And let's not forget a CANADIAN guy won something in tennis this weekend. Lost in the Roger drama was the men's doubels final on Saturday which pitted the creepy Bryan twins against the way cooler Canadian Daniel Nestor and Serbian Nenad Zimonjic. So big congrats to Danial and Nenad for winning =) I liked Nenad's little scream when he served up an ace after dumping the ball in the net repeatedly during the last game. Way to go guys!

15

Rafa germs? What Rafa germs?

(photo from here)

I missed the whole damn thing because I was at work, but Roger now has his record breaking 15th Grand Slam.

More sappyness to come soon =)

Roger vs Andy for the finals!

Whoo! Amid all this gloomy Habs stuff, I'm very happy to say that Roger is doing JUST what I wanted him to do. He's made it to the finals once again (7th straight!) with minimal stress. I've been a little underwhelmed by Wimbly this year if only because Roger was behaving like Good Roger instead of like Sick Roger for the most part. But Wimbly semi-finals are special because I first got into tennis during Nadal's semi-final match last year against.... Schuttler I think. Anyway, it's great to see Roger back in another final =)

Also in really good news, there will be no Andy Murray in the finals. Nope. Andy Roddick smashed him in 4 sets (and two tight tie-breaks). Still not sure if it was because Roddick has been playing some of his best tennis in a long time or if it was because Muz wasn't up to par. Maybe a mix of both? I think all the pressure was getting to Muz.

"*sighs* I'm getting bored hitting this..."

"Okay, how about a lovely Roger smash?"

"Load the ball on my racket, slave, and don't screw it up"

"Oh god... I'm actually breaking out into a sweat."

"I FLY!"

Haas: "ROGER! ROGER! Can I have one point? Please? Just one? I mean really, what do I have to do, imitate Sean Avery here?"
Roger: "Aww, alright, fine. But just one, okay?"

Mirka: "My boy is so much more awesome than your boy".

Meanwhile... Roddick finishes a tight 4 set win over Muz only to find out that he will be playing Roger.

"Ohmygod. Ohmygod!"

Looch for Team Canada?

It could happen. He was invited to the training camp in August. Seeing as I have Looch on the brain right now, I'd like to say that if he can promise not to take anyone's head off, he could be a good addition to the team. All he has to do is stand in front of the net threatening the goalie with physical harm, while the more talented people score.

And if Looch really really wants to be nice to me.... then he smash Crysob before the Olympics start so I don't have to worry about cheering against my country. C'mon Looch, you know you want to! We'll have enough other players who can score.

Anyway... the list of the remaining 46 players:

The goalies

Martin Brodeur (ew)
Roberto Luongo (yay?)
Marc-André Fleury (not Floppy Flambe)
Steve Mason (do we really want baby Steve?)
Cam Ward (Faily)

The D...

Jay Bouwmeester (he's Canadian?))
Dan Boyle (isn't he kinda ancient?
Scott Niedermayer (Surprise, surprise)
Chris Pronger (so he can elbow all those nasty Russians?)
Robyn Regehr (I totally didn't know he was Canadian either)
Dion Phaneuf (okay...)
Marc Staal (the non-creepy Staalclone)
Shea Weber (I want)
François Beauchemin (is he going to be a Hab?)
Brent Burns (erm..... I had no idea this guy existed)
Drew Doughty (oh I remember him)
Stéphane Robidas (hmmm)
Mike Green (YES! I WANT)
Dan Hamhuis (Yes)
Duncan Keith (He's a Peachhawk!)
Brent Seabrook (Peachbrook!)

The Twerpy Forwards

Sidney Crosby (UGH. DO NOT LIKE)
Shane Doan (hiii!)
Simon Gagné (hmmm)
Dany Heatley (EW. Do not want!)
Jarome Iginla (okie!)
Rick Nash (yes)
Joe Sakic (do they have snowblowers in Vancouver?)
Martin St-Louis (I want Shorty Marty)
Eric Staal (Staalclone..... eh)
Joe Thornton (No.)
Vincent Lecavalier (No)
Jeff Carter (hiiii)
Ryan Getzlaf (ew)
Milan Lucic (see above)
Patrick Marleau (erm)
Andy McDonald (I had no idea he existed either)
Brenden Morrow (wasn't he broken a lot last year?)
Corey Perry (twerpy!)
Mike Richards (eh, what the heck... can we have him?)
Derek Roy (ummm)
Patrick Sharp (oh yes!)
Ryan Smyth (umm)
Jordan Staal (ew)
Jonathan Toews (Captain Peachy!! Me want!)
Dan Cleary (sure)