Hammies: they understand the term "puck possession"

......Which is more than I can say for Martin. Once again, he says it's "pretty obvious that we're trying to play a puck possession game". Obviously his idea of puck possession means the opposing team controls the puck in the Habs zone and get half a gazillion shots off.

The Hammies on the other hand, understand that "puck possession" means THEY have to control the puck. We have such a smart bunch of Hammies, I tell you. The completely dominated the first period - and had nothing to show for it on the scoreboard. They then looked like crap in the second period (which means yes, they gave up a goal. Oh the shame and horror!) before PK tied it up. I was almost sleep when Flandersdude started yelling. White or David scored a super ugly goal after that and then White put one into the empty net.

YAY! As nice as I'm sure it sort of was to see Don and Ron back, it's nicer to have the Hammies win! =)

And.... Flandersdude is getting grumpy. He managed to dis two teams while also taking a(nother) swipe at the lack of people at the game. And I accused the Screaming Eagles guys of being grouchy. Boo. Stop crabbing about the attendance. I know it sucks but stop crabbing about it.

.....

Hello Juniors! I've missed you D: Finally got to catch a bit of their game tonight. First time in a long time I've actually been able to catch one of their games.

By the time I remembered that they were playing, they were midway through the second period. Surprisingly enough, they were up 3-1 and GOOOcheeeee added another one. I was stuck with the Screaming Eagles guys. They're very negative and very grumpy. They also amused me by asking if Eli was one of the import players. They wondered if he was Russian. Having been there and done that, I can laugh at them. Dear people, Eli's name may sound Russian, but he's very muchly Israeli/Canadian. Thanks for thinking he's one of those awesome Russians though.

Oh and Xavi's back. Yay!

Jake's going to Drummondville!!!!!!

Sorry, I'm just dying of laughter at this.

Drummondville gave up two first round picks for Jake.

Oh Voltigeurs. Oh Juniors. Excuse me while I continue laughing.......

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

My two teams actually traded with each other. Why do I find this so hilarious? SERIOUSLY?! Must be the sleep deprivation setting in now.

Okay. I'm done.

Obviously, the Voltigeurs listened to me telling them what epic fails they had for goalies. OBVIOUSLY. They traded Tardif to the Remparts already, which left me wondering if they were really going to keep Piche as their main goalie (and the Sea Dogs thing obviously fell through because they already picked up Cousineau from the Rocket a few days ago).

HAHAHAHA. Oh Jake. You'll probably enjoy being a Voltigeurs. They WIN games (sorry, Juniors. I love you too but you know... you don't win games). Say "hi" to my Baby Habs there! (and kick Philippe for me. He needs to wake up).

As a Juniors fan, I'm pretty unhappy though. Two first round picks are nice and all, but does mean we've already thrown in the towel for this year? Berube and Baby Marcoux can't carry this team. I know this is most likely Jake's last year in the Q anyway so the two picks are nice to have and all that stuff, but yeah... throwing in the towel for this year... meh.... mind you... the team still sucked with Jake in nets.... they just sucked slightly less...Poor Juniors!

Oh well...

This makes my trip to Drummondville in February for the Juniors/Voltigeurs game all the better. Pretty excited now!

One write-up to rule them all

I've come to the conclusion that I keep saying the same things over and over and over again about each and every Habs game that has been played thus far. I'm running out of patience and creativity for my write-ups. So instead I'll just write one generic write-up which you can all just consult after each game.

(insert lame title that usually involves "*yawns*" or "meh" here)

Meh.

• Habs get outshot and outhit by the opposition. 
• I fear for Patches' career. I really do. He should be in the AHL. 
• And Pricey/Jaro stands on his head again....... 
• ...and again.....
• oh and again....... 
• and one more time.... 
• Oops. Couldn't stop that one. Mainly because he was being obstructed by his own defenseman! It's okay. The Habs still have 55 minutes to tie the game up. 
• And there goes Pigeon/Hammer/Gorges/Gomer/Poo/anyone else to the box.... PK time! 
• Goalie goes back to standing on his head.... 
• ...and again.... 
• oh and again....... 
• and more one time.... 
• How is it that the most average goalies in the NHL look brilliant when they play the Habs/ how come the good goalies super human against the Habs?
• Have I ever said how much I hate Gomer's contract?
• And there goes Pigeon/Hammer/Gorges/Gomer/Poo/anyone else to the box.... PK time! 
• Oh my god. We actually got a PP! YAY! Now go score! 
• Yeah! Tied game! Now let's get some freaking momentum going!
• ....not for the OTHER team..... 
• the goalie goes back to standing on his head... .
• ...and again... .
• oh and again.... 
• and one more time...
• And there goes Pigeon/Hammer/Gorges/Gomer/Poo/anyone else to the box.... PK time! 

Now if they play a good team then this will happen:

• Hey looky, we're stuck in our own end
• And there goes Pigeon/Hammer/Gorges/Gomer/Poo/anyone else to the box.... PK time! 
• and the goalie goes back to standing on his head..... 
• and again.....
• and.... oh damn that went in. Where was the defense? 
• And there goes Pigeon/Hammer/Gorges/Gomer/Poo/anyone else to the box.... PK time! 
• Oooof another one..... 
• Do get a PP? No? Damn. 
• Man, I feel so bad for the goalie..... 
• Ooooooof. Okay, this game sucks now. 
• Gizmo will now tell the media that the Habs played a great game but were outworked in some key moments (this is despite the fact that the score sheet will say that the Habs were ousthot 50-10, out hit 23-2, spent twice the amount of time on the PK than on the PP and looked to be half dead for most of the game)

And if they play a crappy team:

• We have the lead! YAY! 
• ...and we're sitting on it... for like.... 40 mins........?
• And there goes Pigeon/Hammer/Gorges/Gomer/Poo/anyone else to the box.... PK time! 
• And the goalie stands on his head......... 
• and again..... 
• and again..... 
• oh and again...... 
• Maybe the Habs need some caffeine?
• two mins left! Can we hold on for the win?!
• Nope. Tied game. Whoopy. 
• OT time. I love giving out loser points to loser teams. My team is SO generous. 
• Oh looky. Someone scored. Game over. Thank you. 
• Gizmo will now tell the media what a great job they did and how hard they competed (this is despite the fact that the score sheet will say that the Habs were ousthot 50-10, out hit 23-2, spent twice the amount of time on the PK than on the PP and looked to be half dead for most of the game)

Danny, you have your entire Habs career to make it up to me

Yup. Get your Habs or Hammies jersey on because you've got years worth of wins to make up for this. Can't wait to start yelling at cheering for him for real. We're going to have SO much fun yelling at err cheering for  Danny. Oh yes.  Bwahahahahahahaahahahahahahahahahahahaha...hahahaha.............ha............ha................

Anyway........

Jake, I like you a lot, but you just channeled your inner Floppy Flambe from 04 tonight. Not good, mister. We still love you but yeah.. that wasn't great....

Eberle, you are f*cking awesome. I love you. Between you and Pajaarvi-Svensson, I may just be an Oilers fan in the future. Maybe. Maybe not. But still. You are freaking awesome, Eberle. Thank you for being Team Canada this year.

Taylor, you're talented, you'll probably go first overall. But Eberle is Team Canada. If we could clone, Eberle, and just make sure his clones never age, then Team Canada would always win gold.

Kadri - Nice to see you're practicing being a Leaf by being very inconsistent through the tournament. I'm sure you're making all those Leaf-haters very proud (what? Of course I'm going to bash the Leaf. It's called "being a grumpy Habs fan who just also saw her team lose to CAPTAIN Ovie and co).

Team Canada - hey, 9 straight finals and five gold medals isn't something to cry about. It's time to go to Buffalo next year and start a new streak! You're still awesome =)

Team USA - Congrats on the win. You really did deserve it!

Some of the USA "fans" who think it's okay to diss Canada - you're a bunch of trolls. Scram or else I'll start regretting every nice thing I said about your team and believe it or not, I said a lot of nice things about them. (to the great fans I ran into, you're awesome. Be super proud of your team!)

Oh and....

Pepsi? You're fired. You and you're freaking cheer are totally fired. Now get lost before the Olympics or else I'll start a "this cheer is cursed" rumor and then you'll be sorry. dhkjadhskjadhs, I hate that cheer.

Wishing someone hadn't poured my cider down the sink otherwise I'd go have a glass..... Guh....

Perpetuating the stereotype

Obviously never having been a hockey fan growing up, I never played the sport. I never had a rink in my backyard and I only set foot on my local outdoor rinks to skate around in circles and crash into the boards (it was the only way I knew how to stop). And even at that, I haven't been on an outdoor rink since I was 8...

So I was out shoveling paths in my backyard the other night (another long story. Don't ask). It was a really nice night. Not that cold, a bit cloudy but it wasn't snowing anymore. While I was busy lugging snow everywhere, I had this sudden desire to build a hockey rink in my backyard and play hockey. Or at least be one of those poor kids who begs to stay up later so they can shoot pucks for another hour or so.

I know, it sounds insane.

Maybe it was a lot colder than I thought and my brains froze and stopped working. But I really, really, really wanted a rink.

Actually, as of right now, I still want a rink. REALLY BADLY. I really feel like I'm the only kid who didn't have a rink in their backyard growing up now (which isn't true at all as all of my neighbors never had rinks either but still!). I really, really, really want a rink D:

I guess I could just go to my local outdoor rink..... and get laughed at by the real stereotypical people skating around playing hockey...... maybe not....

Edit: Wow. Just went to my rink. Because I'm that much of a dork. One of the hockey organizations had a team of little kids practicing there. Seriously, there is nothing more awesome or stereotypically Canadian than watching these kids playing a shinny game. So bloody awesome. And so bloody cold. I'm sooo happy right now though! =)

*yawns*

It would seem that everyone - including myself - left their brains somewhere else yesterday.

I nearly forgot the Hammies were playing at 4 and I completely forgot until two minutes ago that the Juniors and Voltigeurs were also losing playing today too.

I think I can be forgiven for not paying any attention to the Habs. I was busy trying to make arrangements for Anze the stray cat who's been living at my house for the past week. Doesn't really look like I missed a whole lot. Another snooze-fest in Habsland. I guess everyone exerted all their energy shoveling the snow out of their way just to get to the arena. In their defense, there was a lot of snow out there.

The Hammies seemed destined to blow this game. They trailed the Admirals four times throughout the game before the fear of the imaginary bagskate took over and they finally won. Stewie had two goals (thought he might have had a hat trick but they later credited his third goal to White), White had two goals and Maxwell had two goals. Pricey's backup in Tri-City didn't sound like his normal self. Last game he totally robbed the Hammies of a win. Not tonight. At the other end of the ice, Teddy was shakey too, which has me super worried because now we're stuck with a no longer hot Teddy and Mayer for at least two weeks while Sanford is rehabbing an injured shoulder (grrrrrrr Sanford! How can we stop you from being injured so much?!). hakjhadskjdh. Very pleased the Hammies didn't blow this one. A two game losing streak would not have been very pretty. Especially not when you keep giving up soft goals!

In other news

• Canada downed the Swiss and blew them out in the last ten minutes of the game and won 6-1. Very anti-climatic. I was hoping the Swiss would make it a little harder. I'm not sure I have a lot of confidence in Team Canada and how they've been playing in the last two games. Oh well. Waiting to see who they'll play in the finals. Hoping it's Sweden and not the USA. 
• I know why Tardif wasn't sitting on the Voltigeurs bench the other night. It's cause he was sitting on a bus bound for Quebec City. He was traded for a fourth round pick. Oh well. Bybye Tardif! Voltigeurs must have been missing him or something 'cause their lost to Baie-Comeau 3-2. Poop. 
• Juniors lose to Rouyn-Noranda. Meh. 

Sometimes I love CBC: Enter "Goose the Puppy"

No really.

They're a fantastic inspiration for new nicknames for players. They brought you Ketchup as a nickname for Sergei Shirokov. Tonight, they bring you "Goose the Puppy". I know it makes no sense, but if you recall, I've been calling GusGus "The Puppy" because this whole "The Monster" thing is stupid. ANYWAY,  I was catching some of the Leafs/Flames game and I promise you the CBC guys were calling GusGus "Goose-stuff-son". So now, I will have to call GusGus "Goose". Obviously I'm still going to call him "The Puppy" so officially he's "Goose the Puppy". I know that Gaustad of the Sabres is already called "Goose" but I didn't name him that so it doesn't count. 


No, I'm not drunk. I named the chocolate éclair that my sister demolished on her plate "Komisarek after Looch has squashed him into the boards"! Really!

Anyway....

Hammies lost a snoozer to the Monsters. BAGSKATE. Even if you have to play tomorrow. BAGSKATE. BAGSKATE. GUH.

Flandersdude was calling out all the people who think that Hamilton should have an NHL team when they don't even show up to the Hammies games. Those poor Hammies. I feel so bad for them. They're one of the best teams in the AHL right now and they routinely only have about 2000 people in the building. Brutal. GO SEE THEIR GAMES, HAMILTON PEOPLE! GO! GO! GO! I would, but I live in the heart of Habsland and Hammie-town is too far away D:

Speaking of Hammies and nicknames.... I had no idea that Johansson's nickname was Jojo (pronounced: yoyo). Now I know!!! Jojo isn't terrible at interviews either! Whoo! I'm surprised that he said that he's never had major injury issues in Sweden. He's been routinely injured here. Poor guy.

Speaking of injuries... Sanford's gone for at least two weeks. Mayer better turn into the best goalie ever when he gets to play!

In CHL news:

• Some Junior who I never knew existed before scored the shootout winner as they beat Scandella's team. NYAH. 
• Voltigeurs had some guy I've never heard of as backup goalie to Piche. I don't like Toni Ritter as much as a Voltigeurs but there we have it. He is one and he had a goal. Dumont had a goal (again) but no penalty. Weird. Oh well. Someone give Philippe some decent line mates please.... D: 
• Niagara wiiiiiiins! Poor Simila though. His country loooooooost to the Americans. He was wearing a cool toque with a huge fluffy pompom on it :D 
• The Petes blew a two goal lead and imploded in the third period. Boohoo.... Bad Mishy! 

Holy $%^&, Canada, are you out to kill me?!!!!!!!

I thought I was going to be happy to just report that my lovely conference-leading Hammies demolished the Griffins by a beautiful score of 7-3 (and not 7-4 like I kept saying on twitter for some reason). It was a nice, nice, nice win as the Hammies came up from BEHIND only to score SIX UNANSWERED goals in the second period.

I thought I would be able to just dance around celebrating this lovely win and a nice win by my Habs - which I actually forgot about until right now. I mean, who the hell plays at 5:00?! Must have been one of those early bird specials for those elderly snowbirds. ANYWAY. The Habs win. The Hammies win (Sanford's injured). Misshy had a shutout. Niagara lost and Simila and the Finns got smoked by Sweden but on a whole, I was having a great night...

Until Canada played the US.....

Bloody freaking hell. It was a HORRENDOUS game for Canada. It was turnover city. It was like someone transplanted MAB's brain and put it into every single Canadian player. It was brutal.

It really didnt' get any better until Eberle saved the team (again). Man. I thought everyone was putting a lot of pressure on him by constantly bringing up that goal that saved Canada's hopes last year and that it was wrong to expect him to save them this year, but really... Eberle is awesome. Period. End of story. He tied the game at 2 for Canada and after Canada seemed headed for defeat after going down 4-2, he put Canada back to within one goal in the third. And hows' this for some poetic justice: after the Americans scored TWO freaking short-handed goals (I am not even kidding), Alex Pietrangelo scores shorthanded to tie the game.

I won't even mention that goal that should have been a goal but didn't count. I'll just instead make sure everyone knows that I don't like Kristo right now. Until he puts on a Habs and/or a Hammies jersey, we're not getting along at all. No really. He very nearly ruined my night on several occasions......... can't wait until he ruins the nights of some NHL teams though. 

The Canadians eventually stopped playing like MAB long enough to win the game. Over time was stressful and solved nothing and then we went to a shootout. In short: Eberle is awesome. We'll live with Kadri scoring a really nice one (tonight, he's a Canadian. Not a faily Leaf). We'll be very thankful that Kozun decided to be a Canadian at the WJC instead of an American. Ooh and we'll thank Jake for stopping Jordon Schroeder who had to score to keep the Americans in the game.

Jake did a victory splat afterwards. I was wondering what the hell he was doing and apparently he tripped on the puck on his way to celebrate on the bench. What a dork. It's okay, we love you anyway.

Canada probably shouldn't have won this game, but they did. And we're super pleased with this. Now, they just need to get their act together for Russians (or the Swiss). I am SO happy that they won't have to play Finland and then Sweden just to get to the finals. Last year's Canada/USA match was crazy, THAT semi-final match was just amazing. Tonight, definitely ranks up there. Amazing game.

P.S. I saw the Sweden/Finland game on some Swedish station. Very entertaining. They looooove Pajaarvi-Svensson. They had this interview with him in some Christmas setting thing. It was weird and funny. Especially when the camera kept zooming in on all the Christmas tree ornaments and fake presents and then proceeded to zoom in on his face. Whoever said zooming in on acne covered faces of 18 year olds was a great idea should be fired. Mind you.. .if you zoom waaaaaaaaaaaaaaay out, he kinda looks okay. Hehehe.

(hehehe, I looked at my writeup when Canada beat Russia last year. It was all nice a well-mannered and here I am putting all bloggers to shame by my horrendous writeup this year. Sorry guys!).