Put your hands up in the air!

Jake Allen is buried under that group hug somewhere

*dances* Okay, that song is going to drive me insane.

With the clock ticking down until the Habs hit the ice for their first game, it's time to talk about...

The Juniors and the Hammies.

Why? Because 1) I went to the Juniors game tonight and 2) the Hammies played tonight and 3) I don't want to talk about Sergei wanting to get traded to some god forsaken team.

So. Juniors. They've been alternating winning and losing and it just so happened that I ended up being their for the day that they won. Whoo! Put your hands up in the air!

It was my first time out to Verdun for the Juniors game and I was super happy. The building is ancient and the seats are super uncomfortable but my seats were really close to the end where Jake Allen was so it was cool. Even if he was bored for most of the night and it was former-Voltiwhatsit Cousineau who got all pucks smacked his way.

The game was kinda off to a slow start. It wasn't helped by the parade to the penalty box either. However, things got exciting when Chouinard made up for his stupid penalty before and scored a goal. I sorta forgot the finer points of the goal but the important thing is a Junior scored it.

The second period got off to a dismal start as the Rocket(s) scored twice in the first 7 mins. Blocked out the finer points of these. HOWEVER1! Now was not the time to despair! Gouchie, Chouinard and Asselin all had prettitful goals to put the Juniors up 4-2 by the end of the second.

I was kinda pouting slightly at this point because I didn't get to see the Juniors score pretty goals down at my end of the rink (I had kinda forgotten the finer points of Chouinard's first goal). Not to fear! Dion had a pretty goal. After some end to end plays, the David Foucher decided to give the Rocket(s) a gift by taking a dumb penalty where they then scored. Things got a little interesting when the Rocket(s) then put their own player into the net along with the puck. On his way in, the Rocket knocked the net off and there was then a lengthy review on whether it was a goal or not. Gotta feel bad for the Rocket(s) at this point though. The goal would've put them within one of the Juniors but instead it was (rightly in my biased opinion) waived off. The kicker came a couple of minutes later when Dion scored another goal on Cousineau who got really grumpy and shot the puck down the rink and into the back of Allen's net (no goal - obviously).

And that was pretty much the end of that.

Put your hands up in the air!

A few notes:

• Did I miss the memo that said that Joel Bouchard was the assistant head coach of the Juniors? 'cause I've been wondering for DAYS now why the hell he wasn't on RDS and now I see he's standing behind the Juniors' bench. It was a bit of a shocker. Yes, I'm dense sometimes.
• Seriously, Sherbatov is from Israel?! And here I've been assuming that he was Russian. Oops. That is awesome although I didn't realize that hockey was a big deal in Israel? Oh well. I like this guy. And he's seriously only a few inches taller than I am. My point? My point being: always root for the short guy.
• I like sitting pretty much right near the ice. It makes for some nice pictures (which I took, because the Juniors never got back to me on whether they had a camera policy. Nobody came after me so I'll take that as a "Nope we don't have a policy").

Pics are here. Ignore the baby Rag (no 10 for the Rocket(s)). Someone requested pics of him so yeah... Normally I wouldn't take pictures of the "enemy" =p

Annnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnd. YAY HAMMIES. Way to show those Marlies who's boss by beating them 3-0! Now, just do this in the REAL game on the 4th instead of in the pre-season/random Scottish events. And congrats to PK for his first unofficial goal as a Hammie!

Put your hands up in the air! Put your hands up in the air!

Man, who said you need NHL hockey to keep you entertained? I'm all set in the event of another lockout. Seriously. At this point, I wouldn't mind skipping all the Habs-drama. Not that I don't want to see my Habs. Just... leave your drama at home everyone. That means you, Sergei. That means you, you idiotic media who will be FEASTING on this little Sergei incident. And it means you, you "fans" who are already throwing the team under the bus. I wish I could stuff a sock down all of your throats sometimes. (/rant over)

8 random thoughts

Okay, make that 9 things.

1. Five Hammies were sent back to Hammie-town. Maxwell, Pyatt, Carle, Weber and Sanford were sent back.
2. Why are there rumors that Sergei will skip town for the KHL? In all honesty, I can see him doing it HOWEVER, I have a feeling that these rumors are just a bunch of crap.
3. Peachhawks demolished HC Davos last night 9-2.
4. Peachhawks then fell to the Zurich Lions 2-1 for the Victoria Cup thingy.
5. I LOVE the crowd in Zurich though. So much singing and tons of enthusiasm. So awesome. I wish we would sing a bit more here in Montreal.
6. Fact: I almost picked Zurich as my "random team to follow in some European league". I actually picked Bern first but upon learning that a certain Itty Bitty had played for them, I picked Zurich only to then change it to HC Lugano (yes, Huet and Metro both played for Lugano at some point in their careers and yes, Lugano sucked last year).
7. Why is this place saying that Gio will be the new captain?
8. Someone explain what the hell Mr. Perky is doing signing with the Coyotes? DAMN YOU.
9. Speaking of Gio... Just saw this Gio goal on some highlight thingy on RDS the other day. Had to find it again.

Although... If you ever saw that one where he just floated the puck up and over Nittymaki.... I love that one too. If only because it shows how epically faily the Flyers goalies are. Failyfailyfaily.

Sergei back to the Hammies

Surprised?

I was. Sorta. Kinda.

Until I looked at the waiver situation. And then I wasn't.

All together now: "WAIVERS SUUUUUUUUUUCK".

Really. Only Patches, Sergei, Maxwell and.... somebody and Pyatt can go back to the Hammies without clearing waivers. That's right. If they want to send Stewie or Dagger back, they have to clear waivers. Which means we take the huge risk of letting some idiotic team picking them up.

When it comes down to Patches or Sergei being sent back, then really, there's no contest. Patches has been less injured and he's had a great training camp + a good pre-season. Sergei has been..... injured and hasn't looked fantastic. Maybe this'll work as a nice wake up call for big bro Andrei too (*coughs*).

So back to Hammie-town with you, Sergei. Please don't sulk (although I suspect you will for a little bit). Go out there, light up the AHL (and squash a few Marlies for me, okay?) and come back. I want you to come back, but not if you're going to be all mopey and lazy. I don't want that.

Annnnnnnnnnnnnnd.....apparently the Leafs fans want to waive Vesa. DON'T WAIVE VESA. C'mon, it's bad enough the Flyers ditched Squeaky Marty. I want to have my fun laughing at the Leafs and the Flyers. KEEP THE FAILTENDERS.

Hammies win the Gardiner Cup!

Eeeee!

• Brrrrrrrrock Trotter had TWO goals! Although Flandersdude didn't do his whole "Brrrrrrrock Trotter scooooores!" because he was busy talking and didn't really notice Brrrrrrock Trotter scoring until after he scored. Derp.
• Benoit also had a goal!
• The Hammies shutout streak ended when some Marlie went in on Ced and scored. Poop.
• the Scots seemed to be fully behind the Hammies (or at least the guys behind Flandersdude were). And they wanted blooood too.
• They pretty much had it when Giliati tried to fight White but he ended up getting beaten to a pulp instead (that's good in case you forgot that White is a Hammie).
• I want Pogge back for the Marlies. Reimer did a good job keeping the Hammies from winning 7-1. I'm sure Pogge would've let us have a couple of more goals.
• A ref grabbed a Marlie and it tried to fight back before it realized that it wasn't a Hammie... Oops.
• With the Hammies and the Marlies getting in each other's faces all night, the announcers started wondering what they were talking about. Scottishdude said they were talking about haggis. Yes, White must've dumped Giliati because the latter had stolen some haggis from the Hammies. Yup.
• Quote of the night:"Bloom had his helmet popped off like the top of a dandelion"

So now the Hammies will come home, play a pre-season game against the Marlies and then get ready for their opening game against the.... Marlies in Marlieland. Um. Are there any other teams out there in the AHL? Any at all? I'm already tired of the Marlies...

Fail of the night: Leafs/Sabres game tonight. Lalime tried to take Vesa's spot as the failiest goalie in the NHL but there was NO way Vesa was going to let that happen. Nuhuh. Vesa won the battle of the failiest goalie as the Sabres slugged out a 7-6 win. And this was after the Leafs were leading 2-0 after the first period. Hah.

Regular season here we come!

The Habs finished up their last pre-season game with a win. After getting demolished in the first period, it sounded like they were pretty lucky just to be down 2-0. Thankfully, Pricey decided to show up and that ended the Sabres goal-scoring fiesta. As the game wasn't on the radio and I got bored and put on the Leafs/Wings game (shut up!), it was kinda hard to follow the Habs exactly.I can tell you that Pyatt was demolished by Kaleta and that O'Byrne tried to demolish Kaleta and that both took a pile of minutes in penalties. I can tell you Gio had a PP goal in the second period, but I seriously can't tell you how he got it. Turtle-Pleky got an assist! Lapierre tied it up with 22 seconds to go in the second after yet another penalty was about to be assessed to the Sabres (really, it was a bit of a parade to the penalty box for everyone tonight). Pricey did most of the heavy lifting to make sure the Sabres didn't come back with more goals. Annnnnnnnnnnnnd GUESS WHO GOT THE GAME WINNING GOAL? Steewieee the rock headed almost-enforcer! Aiie! Metro ended the night with two assists as well! Wheee!

On the other side of the pond, the Hammies did what they were supposed to and demolished the Belfast Giants by 7-0. They'll play the hated Marlies (who only won 6-1 over the Edinburgh Capsomethings) for the Gardiner Cup tomorrow. The match was obviously lopsided although the Giants goalie did a fantastic job considering he faced a whopping 52 shots compared to just 14 for the Hammies goalies (somewhere Jaro is sadly shaking his head in understanding). He did a good job of keeping the Hammies' scoring down to just one goal after the first period after White scored on the PP. Unfortunately for him, it fell apart in the second period when PK did all the work only to have Russel take credit for their second goal just 12 seconds into the second period. Brrrrock Trotter added one and Russell took more credit for another goal after PK did all the work again. Johnansson, Anderson and Brrrock Trotter (again) would score in the third to completely stomp on the Giants. I really want to trade the Marlies for the Scottish announcer dudes. Flandersdude even had a brainmeld with one of them as Giants goalie almost allowed another goal.

Annnnnnnnnnd Hockey Night in Toronto is back. And guess what they were playing tonight? Hmm yeah. Leafs/Wings game. Meh. Wasn't really paying attention other than to diss the Leafs and scream at the Komisaurus.

REGULAR SEASON HERE WE COME.

And yes, this post is lame. I'm tired. Pooh.

Oh no, Roger Federer can NOT sing

The man may be perfect in tennis but oh my god, can he NOT sing. Not at all.

So excuse me while I just sit here and die LAUGHING at him.

Hammies are baaaaack!

Eeee Hammies squashed the Marlies 1-0 in their pre-season game. YAY! Missed the first half but it was SO great to hear Flandersdude again. And he got some help from some Scottish dude was pretty awesome too. Hey, how about we trade the Marlies for the Scottish dude? The Scottish dude said people in Edinburgh hate all the other teams anyway so the Marlies would fit right in with the hatefest.... but then I'd have no one to hate.... Oh well.

A few things to note:

• They seem to like the Hammies. I heard on the radio the other day that the dudes in Scotland were pretty insistent on having the Hammies come to play.
• More evidence that they're loved in Scotland: They had 300 kids at the their morning skate. Maybe we could loan some of these kids to the Coyotes?
• The radio kept cutting out. Apparently this was an issue in Edinburgh. Only mentioning this 'cause Flandersdude never knew when it cut out so it was amusing as he tried to figure it out.
• The ref in Scotland decided to make up the rules. He apparently made a movement that looked like "he was trying to land a plane". Play stopped but nobody could figure out what the deal was. Not Flandersdude who wondered if this was some special Scottish rule nor the Scottish dude who insisted this wasn't a Scottish thing either.
• Why was there a guy on the Marlies called "Hamilton"? Seriously. "Here comes Hamilton for Toronto". GUHHHHH!

And yeah...

To sum up the Habs game:

Sobotka..... be thankful you're still in one piece after hurting my goalie tonight. Be very thankful.

...although despite the uh loss, I liked a lot of what I was seeing. So. Yeah. Thank you Sergei for the goal. Thank you Turtle-Pleky for helping on that goal. Thank you PP for not looking like the OTHER team was on the PP. Thank you Gomer for the awesome PK at the end of the game. And yeah. Someone please smash Sobotka next time. No matter what league he's in. Smash him. And yes, this is coming from someone who actually almost likes the little Czech bulldozer.

Let's just celebrate the Hammies coming back and Jaro not being dead.

Ole?

Oleeeeeeeeeee!

Where to start......

• hockey is indeed more fun once you've had something to drink.
• The Habs HAD to win this one because Greg was at his first and only hockey game of the year.
• The ice looks awful.
• The Habs looked awful for the first two periods minus Gionta and Pricey.
• Okay so when they said the Habs were being kept to the perimeter for the most part, they really didn't want to mean that the Habs were being kept along the boards IN THEIR OWN ZONE. Can we please stop leaving the Pens RIGHT in front of Price?
• Price with a save!
• Gui smashed someone!
• At least we're not losing. But we're not winning either. Guhh.
• PRICE WITH ANOTHER AWESOME SAVE.
• Can someone smash Crysob? PLEASE? Don't make me throw something at him.
• Oh hey, Habs scored a goal. Gio with a goal! Oh.My. God. We're winning?
• Don't get all smiley yet, Gio.
• Gui smashed someone!
• Okay here comes the second period. Maybe the Habs will wake up this time?
• Erm maybe not. Was that Eggplant with a goal right after the Habs just finished their dismal power play?
• ERM HELLO HABS? Why are the Habs losing 2-1 now?!
• Oh yes.... now they're booing. Stuff it, idiots, it's a pre-season game.
• Mind you... .it is pretty bad. I think they've forgotten who they're own teammates are as they keep passing to the Puffles.
• Then again.... they're probably sleep deprived.
• I wonder how the Caps are doing? Guh, they're losing just to make me mad.
• Oh. Someone hit Crysob! YES! YES! YES!
• Erm... Carle is scaring me.... as is Belle.
• Umm can we please remember that the guys in RED are our teammates and not the guys in white?
• hello? Pass to the guy in the red. not the guy in the white.
• Price with a save!
• ...yawns....
• Some Hab in the box for smacking a Pen in the face....
• Wait. FOUR FREAKING MINUTES? Are you kidding me?!!!!
• Bring on the third period.... please!
• Okay... why are the Habs sucking? Oh. We're not sucking. We're on the PK. Right. Sorry.
• OH OH GIO! GOMEZ!
• SCOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOORE!
• 2-2!
• Too early to be singing Ole.
• umm what's happening? Why are we all standing? Seriously?!
• GOAL?!!!! WHO? HOW? WHEN? OLE?!
• Oh Gui puts it over Floppy Flambe's Apprentice. Whoo!
• Hey, Andrei, I see you with the assist. Are you trying to make up for your awful game from last March when I was there? 'cause I'm STILL waiting for you to make it up to me.
• Seriously, I should be put in charge of playing the music at the Bell Centre. It wouldn't be half as deafening if I was in charge. Guhh.
• OH OH OH OH NOW WHAT IS HAPPENING?
• GIOOOOOOO WITH ANOTHER ONE?!
• NOW WE CAN SING OLE!
• ummm PP for the Pens?
• Ummm goal for the Pens with 3 mins left? Do not blow it Habs.
• AIE stop giving the dingbats the puck *closes eyes*
• Game over. Habs win. Ole ole ole. So awesome.
• OLE! Best. Song. Ever.

In other news:

• Habs finally assigned 17 players to the AHL so the Hammies can have a team as they head off to Scotland tomorrow. OLE!
• Habs also assigned Bell and Nielson after the game. Not surprised. However, I'm not sure why Carle is still there. He's scaring me in a very bad way.
• Mayer and Ced will be the goalies headed off to Scotland while Sanford stays put for now.
• Patches is injured.
• We (the Juniors) got Jake Allen back from the Blues. Thank you Blues.

Limmericks before bed!

The Habs went to the land of Quebec
Where the Bruins were waiting on deck
Jaro was left on his own
While Tukka sat on his thrown
Such was the end of the Habs in Quebec

Although really, it wasn't as awful as it could've or should've been. At least it was entertaining. Although I think most of the non-Habs were cheering for the Bruins. But whatever.

And.. Look, I really love seeing all these Hammies, but Flandersdude needs a team so he can tweet about it in Scotland.

Say what?!

YES FLANDERS DUDE HAS TWITTER. Although he's going by the really lame name of "dogsplaybyplay". What is that? Guhh. But yeah. FLANDERSDUDE IS ON TWITTER.

And the Hammies are on Facebook if you care about Facebook.

Let the cuts begin! + bed time story. Kinda.

....because seriously, the Hammies need a team to send to Scotland, yes?! They have nobody to take with them right now. And how exactly do you beat the baby Leafs when you have no team in which to beat them? Exactly. YOU NEED A TEAM TO WIN. And you need those epically awesome Hammies to do it. Okay? Okay.

Now that we'ce settled that one......... Might I ask the lovely people of Montreal to PLEASE CALM DOWN. C'mon, it's a PRESEASON game. A game in which the Habs still haven't put their full roster on the ice. A game in which the announcers and Sens fans would LOVE to have count but won't count.

And do NOT tell me that the Booins beat us 8-0 in the preason and then decimated us in the regular season. Just don't say that. Yes, you Booins fans lurking around here. I MEAN YOU.

ANYWAY!

The few things that were downright ugly and I don't want to see being carried into the regular season are:

• odd man rushes. Seen enough of those last year. Didn't like them.
• Special teams fail. Seen enough of that last year too. Fix it.
• idiotic penalties. Who do you think you are? The Flyers?! Stop it.
• O'Byrne fighting. Don't do it. Please.
• I had no cider.

What I did like (and yes, there was stuff to like so stuff it and continue reading):

• Patches destroying Kovy. Patches has been smashing up his own potential teammates for the last two weeks. It was awesome that he finally got to smash up the opposition. And hey, Kovy is one of THEM now, so he's fair game.
• Johannson... Johansson... Johan... whatever. You know who I mean.
• um yeah... there might've been something else but I can't really think of it

And now.... Before I leave you all so you may go and do something more productive. Here is a bedtime story. Seriously. A certain sleepy Bruins fan demanded a story. So I obliged. Kinda.

***** BED TIME STORY ******

There once was a kid called Briere. He was a midget who thought he was so awesome. Not that midgets aren't awesome. I'm short. And awesome. Kinda. Maybe. Whatever. Moving on. One day he somehow found his way onto a team called the Flyers. We're not sure HOW he got on the team. Only that he did. He used his teammates as body guards when they were off the rink. ANYWAY. The only thing you need to know about the Flyers it that they're orange. And have a weird symbol on their shirts. ANYWAY. One day Briere the Midget decided that he wanted to take on the Evil Leafs of Toronto. It was a stupid idea because the Leafs had magically turned into goons over the summer. Kinda like how people turn into wolves at full moon, you know? But being the new dictator of the Flyers that he was, he 1) had no idea what he was talking about and 2) still abused his rights as supreme dictator of the Flyers anyway and made them all go on this little expedition.

When the Flyers arrived to face the Evil Leafs, they appeared to be well prepared. They fought long and hard with the Leafs. Throwing punches every which way. Seriously. In the midst of battle when all seemed lost, Briere the Midget found an open space (well, when you're that short, there's a lot of space) and grabbing the magic black disk of doom he threw it into the net behind The King of the Failtenders. At that moment it looked like the Flyers would have the victory. They looked unbeatable. The Leafs looked positively dejected. Ready to give up.

It was at this moment - right when Briere the Midget and his troops thought they had the victory - that their dear leader did something horrendously stupid. He tripped up one of the Leafs top generals. Of course it was a complete accident because the Leaf didn't see Briere running around his feet, but fall he did. And as he fell, he landed right on top of Briere the Midget. Squashing him to death.

It didn't take the troops on both sides long to realize that the Flyers leader was dead. And suddenly the Leafs found new energy. They attacked the suddenly disoriented Flyers. SMACK! SMACK! SMACK! The Flyers fell one by one until only Boucher the Floppy Goalie was left. He didn't last long either. As Khadri came running towards him, he ran away, back to Flyers country to tell of what happened. And that was the end of the Flyers.

Now every town herald in the wicked land of Toronto will be proclaiming their victory and thinking they now have a shot at winning the much revered Stanley Cup. The Holy Grail of Hockey. The Shiny. With this victory over the Flyers, it would now only be a matter of time before the Shiny returned to Leafsland....

In their flipping dreams, maybe.

But yeah.

Whatever.

Leafs stink.

The lesson learned here is that if you're a Briere, don't get stepped on at the most inconvient time. Seriously.

The End.

***

In other news:

• Leafs beat the Flyers. Bet you didn't guess that one.
• BingySens beat the Wilksiewhatsits Pens.
• Caps beat the Hawks in OT. Missed it all.
• Juniors got beat up by the Huskies and their awful goal horn. Guh. Stop putting jet lagged goalies in nets. Jeez. And someone teach the guys on Team990 how to say Berube's name.

cider + habs winning + juniors winning = YAY!

You heard me. Habs victories are always much nicer when you've had a tad bit to drink (umm, Price, you didn't hear that, okay?). Despite Ottawa icing their better players compared to the Habs "B team", the Habbies managed to pull out a win.

For the most part, it was pretty sad. Michalek got a goal within the first three mins whilst the Sens were on the PP (something that they seemed to be on for quite a while in the first period). Second period picked up slightly with Nielson getting into a couple of fights. Seriously, I'm trying to find how exactly where we got this guy from..... Skip forward to Ben Maxwell's AWESOME goal and yeah, it was really time to break out the cider. So pretty. So awesome. I love Maxwell. Well, I loved him as a Hammie and yeah.... moving on to more cider and more PPs and more missed chances and.... just when I was pleading with the Habs to end the game so I could go home at a decent hour, guess who scores?

Oh yeah.

Gionta.

So really most of the newbies have scored/been part of goals on the last two games. So. Cool.

Patches and Turtle-Pleky were a little sad not have goals but hey, there's plenty of time in the REAL season to do this, yes? Yes.

While I'm not really jumping up and down too much - hey, as lovely as it is to see hockey on TV again, it's still a pre-season game - I'm still happy for the boys! hockeyhockeyhockeyhockey!

In other news

• Leafs trade away their first round picks for the next three years and a second round pick to nab Kessel. They then feel motivated to make a go of it against the Pens and beat them 3-2. Or 4-3. Or something with a 3 in it.
• Panthers got blanked by the Oilers. Clearly, pre-season games aren't their thing.
• The Blues decimated the Avs 6-2. Ow. A baby Junior goalie was in nets for part of that game too!
• Phoenix is beating Anaheim. Derp. Derp. Derp.
• I don't really care about anyone else right now
• JUNIORS BEAT THE......FOREURS! 6-5. In OT. Hrm. Can we say "scoring fest"??! What were they doing putting Berube in there?! He just got back from the LA training camp. Guuh.

On a whole: YAAAAAAAAAAAAAY! HOCKEY!

hockeyhockeyhockeyhockey

YAAAAAAAAAY! The boys are back!

YAY! Gomer and Squishy scored. YAAAAAAAY! D'ags scored what sounded like a really awesome goal. YAY! Pricey sounded like he had a boring night for the most part! Booo the Panthers also scored on Sanford but it didn't matter 'cause they lost.

YAY!

Juniors play tonight! YAY!

HAMMIES COMING BACK SOON! YAY!

HABS ARE BACK!

YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY

Hockeyhockeyhockeyhockeyhockey!

Renind me to dig up this post when we're in the middle of January and my teams are all on losing streaks.

Hockey means random stick people drawings

Because I'm seriously procrastinating doing any work. This idea is completely borrowed from Number31. In a nutshell: The president of Belarus apparently was the guy behind Sergei and Grabs getting along again. Now, if Obama asked Looch to stop beating up Komisaurus.. what would he say? Well, apart from "in your dreams"? Maybe he'd ask for some concessions from the president in return?

(click for full size)

I probably should've added the healthcare bit in there...I was too busy laughing because I can almost see Looch actually saying "lumberer"......

Of captains and ex-goalies and whatever else comes to mind

When I said that Martin would pick a captain when he was ready, I didn't mean that he'd pick one before the end of the training camp. I really don't like this idea at all. I think it's much too early to pick a new captain when everyone is still getting to know each other and still working on establishing their place on the team. While Martin may have an idea of who the leaders are based on what he's seen during the training camp, leaders emerge during adversity (ie. REAL games that count). Not training camp. And not in the pre-season games. Yes, we know what some of these guys are like based on what they did with their previous teams but that was then, on a different team with a different set of guys.

Also, I'm not sure how well Martin picking the captain - versus the team voting for one, which is apparently what the Habs have traditionally done - is going to work. The last thing we need is a pile of resentment from the other players. Apparently the last this time happened was when Gainey got picked to be captain and it didn't go over so well with the players (which makes me wonder why this bit of information isn't coming to Bob's mind?).

The last thing they want to is kill a player's season because of they end up imploding under the pressure of being captain. The media will be all over the new captain for just about everything. From his lack of French (and no, please do not tell me Latendresse or Lapierre will be named captain. I will die of shock if that happenes), to how he plays, to what he eats for breakfast. Do you really want to put that all on a guy when the team is just starting to figure out it's way and when everyone is just figuring out their roles?

I could go on here, but I won't. Instead, we'll move on to another team naming their captain. The Juniors apparently named Nicolas Chouinard as their next captain. I'm probably the only one around here who cares, but oh well. Chouinard is bilingual (GASP) and was acquired by the Juniors earlier this summer via some trade that I seriously can not remember. In the one game that I listened to, he sounded like he had a good game so yeah... the article that I read this in seems to have disappeared along with all the other archived articles so.... I'll come back with more once that's worked out.

And speaking of the Q... Marc Denis has apparently signed with the Chicoutimi Sagueneens...not as the goalie - he's like, what, 15 years too old for that? - but as the goalie coach. Nice to see Denis doing something. I guess. Maybe. Going to miss Flandersdude yelling out Denis' name for some reason. Mind you, I'm just plain missing Flandersdude calling out anyone's name right now. GIMME FLANDERSDUDE RIGHT NOW.

Ahem.

Where were we?

Oh yeah, you probably heard that Philippe Lefebvre got a nice 3 year contract before being shipped back to Drummondville. Very awesome for a guy that didn't get drafted by anybody this year. Congrats! Welcome to the family, etc, etc, etc. Now. If you don't mind, until he becomes a Hab or a Hammie, he's getting blacklisted because he plays for the Voltiwhatsits. Sorry.

training camp!

We scored a goal! We scored a goal! Whooo!

In note form because... because.

• There was a lineup to get into the rink. For a flipping scrimmage. Practice started at 10 and they let people into the rink an hour later. The lineup probably strarted at least at 9. I suggested we donate some of these lovely fans to Phoenix.
• As much as this pains me to say, Mayer is way better glove side than Jaro. Only thing is, he's kinda shakey blockerside so I guess we're almost even.
• Gomer had fun scoring on Mayer during the practice. Now show up during the regular season, please.
• I like Bennett.
• I'm now Calling Cammalleri "Squishy" because Cammalleri sounds like calamari which I could never remember if it was octopus or squid. It's one of those squishy beasties. So anyway, that's why Cammy is Squishy now.
• Patches was on the warpath smashing everyone that was silly enough to get too close to the boards. Actually, he's been doing that for the past two weeks. We get it, you have something to prove, but please don't injure anybody before the season has actually started!
• Sanford... well... he did well until Patches came along and just ripped the puck past him. Err actually, that would be over him. Sanford went splat trying to stop it and Patches went over his head. Epic fail for poor Sanford.
• Turtle-Pleky hates me and wouldn't stand still long enough for me to get a decent photo of him...
• Actually Metro - who was practicing with Team A when the B-C scrimmage was over, kept hiding along the side of the boards. I swear if I didn't know any better, i'd say he was hiding deliberately from me. BOO.
• On the bright side, Patches stayed put along enough for a decent photo as did Stewie who was wandering around with Team A. Finally!
• Pricey has a new tactic for keeping the opposing side from scoring on him: hug the guy in front of you so he can't move. Seriously. I didn't get a pic, but Metro seemed to think it was funny. And he was the one getting hugged. Okay then....
• More pictures are here. And yes, I swear these guys notice when you stick a big camera in their direction. Buhh.

Shoot me

...no explanation needed...

Just shoot me. And then watch as I come back as a ghost and make sure Del Potro never wins another match in his life. Unless it's against Muz.

Will be off to Brossard AGAIN tomorrow so from here on out tennis season is dead to me. It always feels like the end at the US Open anyway. So look out hockey season. I'm coming for you. For real.

Frazzle time

Whoever predicted Delpo would be in the final should be given a medal. Seriously. With all this "Andy Murray is going to win the US Open!" and when that failed all the "Rafa is going to beat Roger and win the US Open" everyone forgot about Delpo.

I don't think I've seen one match of his on TV. Okay. Maybe one. But that's it. And Cilic annoyed me with all his errors so I called it quits.

But anyway, DELPO IN THE FINAL?

Frazzle. Frazzle. Frazzle. He completely smashed Tumbleweed. Completely. 6-2 6-2 6-2. How much of this crappy score is because of our poor Spaniard's NEW injury, I don't know. But what I did see from Delpo was some great tennis regardless of what his opponent was doing. And that my friends is bad news for us Roger fans. I've having nightmares of Delpo smashing his way through a set or so against Roger.

There is one tiny ray of hope here. And that is this: While Delpo has the capabilities of doing some serious damage to the TMF (and he very nearly did some devastating stuff in the semis at Roland Garros), he has never been in a Grand Slam final. This is good news because you can't ever undestimate the power of being in your first final. Just look at the last two years here. Nole in 07 and Muzzy in 08. Both newbies to the Grand Slam finals and both losing to the TMF. We can only hope Delpo does the same: choke under the pressure of his first final.

That being said... I still think that it'll be a tough match....adkjsdkjahsdkjahkweu

Frazzle... frazzle... frazzle...

In other happier news....

Congrats to Kim Clijsters! This is such a fantastic story for her. Coming back after two year break (and a having an adorable kid). When everyone else was imploding, she was playing solid tennis. I never saw her play before, but she looked to be playing with conviction in this tournament. She kept her cool for the most part. I like this very muchly.

Welcome back to the tour, Kim!

I think Jada could get used to sharing some camera time -and the trophies - with mommy.

The Shot

Behold. Roger Federer with the point of the tournament. Heck with that, let's just call it the point of the year even.



And now you know why he's The TMF.

Um wow

What. A. Day.

In terms of sports.

In order:

• 12:00 Sox begin their first game against the Rays
• 2:00 EP participates in her first ever fantasy hockey draft. Somehow I ended up with Chara. Don't ask how. I just traded for him. Yeah, I probably was on the losing end of the deal. Whatever. My goal is to finish last anyway.
  3:00ish Sox win against the Rays
  
• 3:30 EP learns that Delpo has beaten Rafa and will be in the US Open final
• 4:00 Juniors take on... Whatever the name of the team is in Victoriaville. EP forgets that they are playing because she's screaming at Roger.
• 5:00 Sox take to Fenway again for their second game against the Rays
• 6:30 EP remembers that the Juniors were playing and runs to find out what happened. Juniors won 4-1. YEAH!
  
• 7:00 Roger gets the point of the flipping match (highlights to come soon) which happened to bring him to match point on Nole's serve. Roger wins. HUZZAH!
• 8 something: EP learns that the Sox have swept the Rays. HAH!

Somewhere in there I also bought another set of Juniors tickets as a very,very,very,very,very,very,very early birthday present (they're playing in Verdun on my birthday). YEAH!

Roger played amazingly. Nole was reduced to begging at several points during the match. Which was probably more due to the fact that Nole just felt like being theatrical than the fact that he was playing badly. Because this was the best he's played this year in a Grand Slam. Heck, it's probably the best he's played all summer. When push came to shove, Roger came up with the points that he needed to get and he came up with the drop dead amazing shots to do it.

Too awesome.

Excuse me while I die of shock

No. Ovie wasn't traded to the Puffles. And no, Del Potro didn't win the US Open. Mind you, Kim Clijsters is now in the finals of the US Open. Which is amazing considering she just came back from a two year break. Then again, all anybody's going to remember is Serena Williams smashing her racket and swearing at the linesperson. ANYWAY.

I am now the happy (but poorer) owner of two sets of Habs tickets for the regular season+ one pre-season game.

Excuse me while I go off and die of shock that 1) I got into the waiting room and 2) affordable tickets were actually available.

Unbelievable. I'm still in shock. Seriously. THIS IS AWESOME!

Do I dare push my luck and try to get out to Brossard again this week?

Random whatever day it is

Because I said so.

• I hate mornings, trains, really any form of public transit and I hate not having caffeine when I wake up. However, I dealt with all of those to head off to see the rookies. Yeah, I'm such a martyr. NOT. But it was great to go out there again (thank you to All Habs for helping this poor girl without a car get out there).
  
  
• Byebye Gillet. It was nice having you around and I'm sorry you had to sell the Habs because you really didn't think it through before buying Liverpool. You helped turn my team around to the point that I will now risk my sanity to go buy tickets for. Thank you! I mean it. Thank you.
  
  
• Hey, what's this? Boivin getting all uppitty because reporters were saying that the Habs don't have enough French peeps on their team? Interesting. You tell them, Pierre! I think. Maybe. I dunno.
  
  
• I'm trying a new tactic this year. It's called: Pretend the media doesn't exist.
  
  
• Apparently Air Canada has been banned from making mutiple stops within the USA. This affects hockey in that our teams use Air Canada to travel to the desert and the beach. Great.
  
  
• Another round of legal stuff in Phoenix. Seriously, I wish I could've been there when King Gary took the stand.
  
  
• Speaking of Phoenix.... and Toronto....and this supposed veto power they have to keep other teams out of their area... There was an interesting conversation on the Fan 590 about what it would take to get another team into Southern Ontario. Not necessarily Phoenix, but any franchise. The basic premise being that the Leafs could demand a huge sum of money to allow a team into their area.
  
  
• They should put a roof over Arther Ashe stadium at the US Open so matches won't get rained out for days on end.

I go to see baby Habs and guess who shows up instead?

Allow me to go fangirlish on you for one second...

EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!! HABBIES GOALIES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Okay.

Really. I was kinda hoping that they would show up for an informal practice but I wasn't counting on it but umm yeah.. they showed up. Right as I was about to watch the baby Habs. Baaad timing. Oh well. I'm sure the babies won't mind as I kinda already took pics of them on Monday. Added incentive to make it to the NHL: People won't abandon you're practice for the big boys' practice. ANYWAY.

A few thoughts:

• Shawn Belle was there... which I'm only mentioning because I wasn't expecting him to be there? Why is he here? And why wasn't he with the rookies?
• Stewie and Dagger were there.
• I didn't see either Andrei or Gomer there. Although maybe I didn't recognize Gomer. I was a hell of a time trying to remember who the heck was who (no names, no numbers on the practice jerseys).
• Pricey looked perky. Haven't seen him look perky in a while. It was nice.
• Gionta is short. For real. I'd love to see him standing next to Misshy (Missiaen). Just for the heck of it.

More pics here. And yes, they are mostly of Price and Halak. Sue me.

Rookie camp!!

So as you all know by now, rookie camp started today. Pretty much everyone from North America that was at the prospect camp earlier in the year was here so I knew pretty much all of them.

• I stupidedly decided to head out to Brossard on Labour Day - which was dumb as everyone and their cousin was there.... Never go on a day when everyone is off from school/work. Never.
  
  
• This was the first time I had actually seen Cedric Desjardins. Hearing how the guy does on the radio and actually seeing him are totally different. Naturally as the most experienced goalie at the camp, he looked the best (not that I saw Mayer that much, but I think it goes without saying that Ced would look the best).
  
  
• Did Missiaen and Simila grow over the summer? Seriously, they look taller than before even...!
  
  
• Wyman was pretty amusing as he was practicing with two of the baby goalies. They were doing drills were someone would skate right in front of them and try to score. Except that Wyman kept hitting them instead of putting it away. Sounds sad, but it was actually amusing. He was laughing about it too.
  
  
• Missed this part, but apparently in one of the drills, Patches ended up checking PK behind the net. Dunno why this is relevant. People seemed to find it amusing though.
  
  
• Speaking of amusing... a woman behind me was talking about the Jumbo Goalies and she was like "look at how tall he is. He's like... over 5 feet!" Umm.... even I'm over 5 feet tall!
  
  
• PK does NOT stand still for more than a second. Seriously. The guy was zooming around the whole time. If he was standing still, he was making faces. When can this guy play for a team that I can actually follow?!
  
  
• my brain is tired from editting 200 + photos so it can't think of anything else to say right now...
  
  
• more pictures here.

oh yeah, there is tennis going on...

We'll take a quick break from hockey (and I mean quick) to talk about tennis... because umm there is a major event going on, yeah?

The least we need to know is:

• Roger is lucky to have survived that match against Hewitt in 4 sets. He looked like he had been up all night with the twins the night before that match. UGH. Also... Roger had a weird fall which had me screaming because I thought he had rolled his ankle. Apparently though he "thought the ground was closer to me foot than it actually was"..... Yeah.. okay.. whatever, Roger. Glad you're okay.
• Rafa looks all injured but he still beat some other Spanish dude. The crowd seemed to appreciate Rafa changing his shirt mid-way through the match. Yeaaaah...
• Andy Roddick lost to John Isner in an epic 5 setter. It was a pretty awesome match. For Isner. Not awesome for Roddick.
• Nole is all struggly. But that goes without saying.
• Muzzy isn't struggling too much. Poop.
• Are there seriously any top ranked women left in the draw not named "Williams"? Dementieva, Safina, Jankovic, Azarenka. All out.
• Err scratch bit about the Williams. Venus just lost to Kim Clijsters in a really weird match. So that just leaves Serena (2), Kuznetsova(6), Zvonareva(7) and Pennetta(10) as the top seeded players.
• Can Muzzy please lose?

Top 10 things I don't want to hear about this season

I'm sitting here bored out of my mind while I wait in this stupid waiting room to get Habs tickets so I figured I might as well write something... Top ten things I don't want to hear about this season with regards to the Habs:

1. The Habs are smurfs. Guess what? Someone did some number crunching and on average, the Habs are the same size as the Bruins. In our division, the Sens are actually the biggest team. Yes, the Sens. Go figure.
   
   
2. The Habs need a captain. When Martin thinks he's found a captain, he will pick one. Not before. Hopefully not after.
   
   
3. Trade Halak for a big center. And umm just who will be Price's backup? I've already said, I do not believe that Sanford would be a wonderful choice. And anyway, it's BOB's decision whether or not to trade Halak (unless our little goalie asks to leave). So if you're name isn't Bob Gainey and you're not the GM of the Habs, quiet.
   
   
4. Trade all of Hamilton for Kovy! Hahahahahaha..... you're kidding right?
   
   
5. Omg the Leafs are like, so amazing! Yeah... sure they've gotten better on the blueline but who's going to score? And I'm seriously thinking it's going to take some time for Allaire to get Vesa to actually stop a puck...
   
   
6. The Habs don't speak French! And you don't speak their language. Guess you're all even.
   
   
7. The Booins are going kick the Habs to Phoenix. Wouldn't it be more useful to kick the Coyotes to Hamilton?
   
   
8. Vinny! ..will be showing Tanguay all the best places to lounge around on the beach while waving his NTC around.
   
   
9. Gomez's contract ....sucks. Yes, we know. Blame Sather. Gomer is here now and there isn't anything you can do about it.
   
   
10. I hate the Habs! *smacks*

Random Wednesday.... err Thursday!

Whatever day it is today...! We take a break from all the sarcasm to bring you random information around the league! YAY!

• So I'm late to the party on this one, but I'd like to say a quick "byebye" to Tanguay. I for one, am really not going to miss him. I was never particularly fond of him from the start and unlike Lang who ended up growing on me a lot, I never got to like Tanguay a whole lot. He never excited me as a player and he just ended up irking me a lot. I hope he enjoys his time on the beach with Skinny Vinny and Shorty Marty....
  
  
• Puckdaddy has the latest on the NHLPA mess. Including some theories on why Kelly was fired. There are some reports that "he was allegedly caught reading a transcript from a confidential meeting between the union's advisory board and 30-member player executive last June." Interesting...
  
  
• Also while we're all SO fascinated by this implosion, here is Glenn Healy's resignation letter. He was part of the NHLPA and resigned after that meeting in Chicago.
  
  
• The Habs FINALLY have info about the upcoming training camps (I've been waiting days and days and days for this. Not necessarily pleased to see Louis won't be at the rookie camp though). Now I need to figure out for sure if they're letting us mortals in or not.
  
  
• My political science course books are TOTALLY Canadian. One said something to effect of "helping a candidate or party win an election can be as exciting as being part of a winning hockey team". The other was dicussing the use of the word "power" and how we see the word a lot. "this person has power, that person is seduced by power, another person is on "a power trip," while Forbes trucks have more power and Sidney Crosby has perfected the power play". Great job, textbook. We're no talking for a while...
  
  
• The baby goalie that I saw at the Juniors pre-season game is apparently not even 16 yet. I say this with much surprise because while I thought he looked like a baby, I didn't think he was THAT young. Jeez, now I feel really old.
  
  
• And in US Open news...Apparently the top ten men have yet to lose a set in the tournament. This is great news and makes it all the more sad that two of the top 5 women are already out of the competition. Women's tennis is NOT in a happy place these days...

Gauthier wanted to be a Hab?

I think Bob Gainey must have lost his mind.

I really do.

Apparently Denis Gauthier wanted to play for the Habs and Gainey said no.

Seriously, what is going on, Bob?!! How could you say "no" to signing Denis Gauthier?

Betrand Raymond wrote the other day that Gauthier's agent approached Gainey during the Draft and asked if he would have a place on the team for Gauthier. Gainey being Gainey initally said "We'll talk later". Then when the free agency period came up, the agent called him up and really politely asked if Gainey had considered signing his client.

And do you know what Gainey said? Do you know what he said?!

"Keep calling other clubs".

Oh my god. How could you say such a mean thing, Bob? That is just so... so... cruel!

Gauthier is perfect for this team. He's a local guy, he speaks French, he loves the public and he wouldn't go around St. Laurent street at weird hours. What more could you want?

Oh you mean he has to be able to play hockey too? Well he does! He's had 2 goals in his last season with the LA Kings. That's 2 more than he had during his two year stint with the Flyers. And he had 2 assists. How many did that Russian Markov have last season? Exactly! Gauthier also had 90 PIM and god knows how many suspensions. Plus he turned Josh Gorges' brains into jelly.

So you see, there really is no reason why Gainey shouldn't have signed him. He's perfect for the Habs.

Seriously. Gainey has lost his mind. Next thing you know, Stephen Harper will be appointing Jacques Demers to the Senate.... Oh wait.....

[note: yes, I am being 100% sarcastic in this post. Do not think for a second that I would actually want Gauthier here. Because I don't.]