(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!

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!"

Federer vs Roddick part 18

Tonight will be the battle of the semi-oldies as Roger takes on a rejuvinated Andy Roddick. As mentioned, this is their 18th match up with the Fed taking 15 of the past 17. If that sounds like Roger always beats Roddick it then you're right. He does. These guys have been playing each other for a very long time in tennis years. When you consider that A-Rod was the last person to be numero uno before the Fed took over, it's pretty cool that he's still around in the top ten.

I'm seriously considering watching this match at 2:30 in the morning. Federer has shown that that match against Berdych was a little bit of a blip and he's ready to go for Slam no. 14. Roddick though is looking really good too. I mean, this is the best that he's looked since... a very loooong time. I think Federer will still win but I'm hoping that he's not expecting Andy to be a pushover this time. Should be a good match.

Oh and A-Rod has this to say about the Fed "I was really happy to see Roger win the US Open last year. If I'm being frank with you guys, he was a lot classier in that press conference with everyone here than I would have been if I was in that position."

In this case, being wrong is great

My predictions for the Australian Open have officially been shot down. Murray went out to Verdasco and now Djokovic pulled out against Roddick. So. That leaves Roddick to face Roger. The real Roger hopefully. Mr. no. 2 simply crushed Del Potro with a score of 6-3, 6-0, 6-0. I'm still waiting on the highlights but I'm putting credit on Federer for being great instead of Del Potro being bad. Tomorrow morning we'll see if Simon can stand up against Nadal (I'll say 'no') and if Tsonga can repeat last year's success (I'll say 'yes'). If the Fed plays like he should then he should be into the finals and then it's only a matter of beating Tsonga or Nadal.......granted, a very good looking (I mean playing-wise of course!) Nadal....and a still looking good Tsonga.....Blergh.....

Now if only my Habbies could be as good as Roger.....

These are two big points coming up people. We should have had at least two points from before the break. Tampa Bay has been on a roll as of late - sadly - and Florida hasn't exactly been dead either. In other words, the Habs need to stay focused and play 60 minutes of hockey... When they try hard they can beat almost anyone. When they don't everyone beats them. So people. SIXTY MINUTES. Please!!!!!!!

I'm not going to get into this one too much because every time I try Tampa Bay always plays better than they're supposed to - or the Habs just plain stink. So.... onto the prediction stuff....

A 4-3 win for the Habs. And I'll go as far as to say that Prospal gets a goal and breaks down completely into tears (you didn't think that I was letting that go, did you?). It' would almost be worth it to see him break down..... almost.....

Tonight's biggest challenge against the Capitals?

Getting Ovechkin's name right!!!!!!! I really hope that the Habs don't have to play the Caps too many more times because I'm going to go insane.... But on a different note that's more related to winning....

Pre-game rant

This is Halak's third time facing the Caps and I"m hoping that third time is the charm and they win. Obviously it takes something very special to blank the Ovechkin/Backstrom/Semin filled Caps and Steve Mason is just that good (I mean c'mon... SIX shutouts?) But I don't care if the Habs blank the Caps. They won't do it anyway. But I want a wiiiiin.

1. Obviously shutting down the offense is going to be key to winning tonight. No offense= no shots = no goals = no win, right? Right. I think the Habs were very close to winning or at least having a shot at grabbing a point in OT or shootouts last time, but a total lack of finish doomed them...
2. Which brings me to my second point. Remember people: YOU NEED TO PLAY SIXTY MINUTES!!!!!!!!!! Something which you didn't do against the Leafs.... it was still 59 minutes and thirty seconds. Yes, I'm still harping on that second goal....
3. Also, if the powerplay would be so kind as to work again tonight, we just may have a decent shot at winning. If I remember right, the Caps gave the Habbies something like eight powerplays last time which they completely failed to convert on. POWERPLAY NEEDS TO WORK.
4. Oh and definitely play a more disciplined game tonight than that mess against the Leafs. No giving the Alexes a chance to score on the powerplay.

Oh and don't forget:

1. Stay away from Semin as much as you possibly can. It's already painfully apparent that he won't have a career as a bongo player even if that's where he seems to be headed these days. There's no need to totally crush his not-so-secret ambitions.
   
2. And definitely stay away from the boards if you're anywhere near Ovechkin. Unless you want a concussion of course....Hey, maybe Sergei can get Ovechkin to knock out Grabovski for him? Actually I was more in favour of the idea of setting Jarkko Ruutu lose on him... but I digress....
   
3. And if it's Theodore in nets tonight... SCORE A PILE OF GOALS ON HIM! NO SHUTOUTS FOR THEODORE!

And you thought the Habs were creative losers, eh?

As a Penguins fan, I'm dying right now. Since the beginning of the new year the Penguins have been threatening to break out and soar to the top of their division where everyone thought that they would be long before now. I mean, after all a lot of the core members of last year's team are still around and they really do have some of the most talented players in the league on their team (comes from being horrid for a pile of years in a row which allowed them to grab a lot of good players in the drafts). Unfortunately, the Penguins have decided to do the exact opposite of what everyone expected of them. Yes, people, the Penguins have LOST AGAIN today! Looking at it just from this year - however short it may be so far - it's been awful. The Pens couldn't capitalize on a sub par offensive display by the Habbies (well, minus a very hot Andrei Kostitsyn who got himself a nice hat trick in that game*g*) and instead posted a sub par powerplay which did nothing at all to get the puck past a very good Price (sorry, Pens). They followed that up by getting rolled over by the Bruins in back to back games. They didn't show up against the Panthers at all. They did manage a win against the Thrashers, but um... it's the Thrashers, yes? And Kovalchuk was beating up on Malkin big time which was just plain sad. Somewhere in there the Pens also got blanked by the Rangers. Oh and the Pens were felled stupidly by the Predators who outshot them and crawled back into the game with FIVE unanswered goals.

And what happened today? THEY LOST AGAIN! To the injury plagued Avalanche... AvalancheS... the guys from Colorado. The good news - if there was any - was that we've finally got something from Crosby and Malkin who have been dead on the scoring department. The bad news is that the team didn't produce enough effort to keep them in the game. Getting one goal a period is okay only if the other team is scoring less. Sadly, the Avs got one goal in the first period, three in the second and one more in the third. Whahoo... so much for the Avs stinking big time without a pile of players.... Sabourin and Fleury have been taking turns getting the starting job and getting yanked half way through... this is getting really sad... I think the Pens should trade Staal for a defenseman who can actually do something. Staal's not doing a heck of a lot and I think it's partly because he hasn't had the opportunity to play with decent players enough.

Tennis Talk

MURRAY WON. It was 6-4, 6-2. Like you expected anything else once Rafa and Roger flamed out? At least Roddick almost hung in their for the first set. I actually liked how Roddick did at first but then... of course we all knew that Murray was just going to come up with some better shots than Roddick was and Murray was going to be able to move around the court better than Roddick too. Have no fear, we've only got.... Four or so months before Roland Garros rolls aroun and then someone we want to win will win for sure... maybe... hopefully? *wails* Boo.....

Mikhael Grabovski the goalie jabbing street figher!

Not that I'm one to dwell on things or anything but I couldn't help but bring this up again. Especially considering what the guys said to the media afterwars. Okay so I'm looking for something else to do because Federer keeps making stupid unforced errors against Murray. ANYWAY! Not only did Mikhail Grabovski get the Daniel Briere treatment here in Montreal, but as you all know, he also had a spat with Sergei Kostitsyn (again) which lead to the two of them taking a 10 minute misconduct penalty at the end of the third period. I suspect that at least one of them may be getting fined or suspended for knocking around the officials too. (EDIT: Yup, Grabovski got suspended for three games. Sergei doesn't seem to have gotten anything.) The reasons why the fans hate Grabovski could fill a small book but evidently Sergei had a different reason to go after him.

“He talks too much in the Russian papers about me and my brother,” Sergei said after the game.

So now it's not enough that the two of them have to go at it in Belorussian on the ice. Now they have to diss each other in Russian too? Why the Russians even care about what these guys have to say about each other is beyond me.

For his part, Grabovski had this to say about the whole thing: "I think he is not Belarussian now, he is French because I never fight with Belarussian guys. I don’t know why he wants to fight with me. If he wants to fight, we’ll go in the street and every minute of every day I’ll wait for him and we’ll fight.” He also added why he's only got an issue with the younger of the two brothers: “He’s not smart, because the older Kostitsyn, Andrei, he never fights with me and he never will fight because he plays hockey, he plays the game. I think it’s stupid.”

Oh and he had to this to say about the fans reactions to him “Everyone in Montreal hates me now because I play for Toronto. Enjoy if Montreal wins the Stanley Cup this year, but I’m happy to stay in Toronto; it’s my team now and I don’t care about Montreal."

If I may point out one tiny correction as a fan and that whole "everyone hates me because I play for Toronto now" thing: Everyone hates you because 1) you up and left the team before a game because you didn't like the fact that you didn't get enough ice time 2) you joined another team. Fans don't really care which team it was. You could be playing for the Dallas Stars and the fans would still hate you 3) you jabbed Carey Price last time you played the Habs 3) you got a goal an assist in that game which was a complete embarrassment for the Habs and the fans hate it when the Habs get totally embarrassed. Especially when it's to the Leafs. 4) You play for Toronto. Minus all that other stuff, you're still going to get hated because you play for the Leafs. And now 5) you say stuff about the Kostitsyn brothers to the Russian media. The fans may not speak one word of Russian but they hate the idea of someone dissing their players. Don't you know the rule? Only the fans can diss the player. Current or otherwise.

Anyway.... moving on to something else....

Price is still not ready to come back. While I'm liking the direction that Halak is going in this time around, I still want Price back really badly. Especially considering the Habbies are playing the Caps and the Bruins next....

I also really don't get the deal with the staff not telling everyone what type of injuries the players have. I don't see how it helped or hurt anyone by not saying what type of injury Koivu had (it just annoyed the heck out of the fans). It's apparent that it was fairly serious. Serious enough to keep him off the ice for a couple of weeks. He's still not ready to play and won't be around tomorrow for the Capitals game here at home. *sighs* With Koivu and Higgins returning to the lineup soon it will be time to start considering which Hammies get sent back. But my brain is too tired to think about that now.

And the day wouldn't be complete without a mention about tennis.....

1. Roger lost to Murray. Not exactly unexpected but the 6-7, 6-2, 6-2 loss was kind of.... not so cool... The amount of unforced errors was just not fun. And maybe it was just me but Federer just didn't look into the match for a lot of it - minus the first set obviously. Which featured some great tennis from both of them. I fully expected and I continue to expect Murray to be the one guy who lights up the tour from now until at least the clay court season. What he can do after that remains to be seen. Obviously I'm not going to read too much into the first tournament of the year. Too early. I'm finding it hard to get excited over the Australian Open right now. I think it's the weather difference. When we're buried in a meter of snow here and they have to worry about dying of heatstroke in Melbourne it's hard to relate.... *g*
   
2. Andy will now take on... Andy.... I'm expecting the same results from Shanghai. Murray wins but loses second set. Roddick did look good out there against Monfils but he has no chance against Murray. Unless whatever back problem Murray had today is worse for the finals.