Black Friday Hockey

Black Friday Hockey. Or as I like to call it, "Hockey Night In Holland'. There were so many early games that I was able to watch a whole bunch of games before 1am! So I got myself some nice tasty food morsels, Cherry Coke (usually drink water only, so that is my guilty pleasure lol), started up NHL Gamecenter and settled in for a hockey-filled evening.


Starting off with the WINGS @ BRUINS. Tuned in just in time to see my hero Datsyuk score one of his awesome goals to make it 2-1. A pleasing score ... but I wasn't that happy with the Wings' play once they got there. There was a sense of complacency, which would have been alright with a 2-goal lead perhaps. My view is that when you lead by one goal, you keep pushing pushing pushing for another one before you take it down a notch. And I love Zetterberg, but that was a disgusting giveaway. Of course Bergeron would not let it go by unpunished!

At least it lead to a more animated remainder of the game. The OT was hectic with the Bruins looking just a tad sharper, but it ended in SO. Seguin and Pevs missed, Horton got a goal. But the Wings won this one with pretty nice goals by Datsyuk and Bertuzzi. Yeah! I would have liked to see the Bruins continue their awesome 10-game winning streak and turn it onto an even longer one, but not at the expense of my fave Western Conference team.


Next up. HABS @ FLYERS. Hmm. I had planned to to switch to this game as soon as it started, but the Wings game got me excited enough to keep watching. Unfortunately I saw that at the end of the 1st period the Habs had scored. I hate the Habs so much and for a minute considered watching the Oilers game instead. But have to stick with my Flyers, eventhough I noticed that I hate the Habs so much, that seeing them on Flyers ice made me quite nauseous!

But I persevered and tuned in for the second period. In the early minutes I saw several interesting attempts to score on Price, most noteably a breakaway rush by Sean Couturier and just a few seconds later Roo and Talbot had a great chance as well, both attempts making me wonder 'How in the hell did they not score?!' ... but I like it when my Flyers start playing hard and fast and they definitely went for it. By the time Roo equalised the game, my guys had thrice the shots on goal (2nd period stat: 5 vs 18). And Roo's wrist-shot was amazing. One of those shots taken from an apparently impossible angle. And they kept going and going, succesfully killing a PP and following it up smoothly with another goal. Voracek this time. He's one of the new additions that make sense to me. I am still trying to discover what Lilja and Rinaldo are supposed to add to the mix (feel free to add your thoughts about this in the comments). But I digress, because with 5.9 seconds left in the 2nd, Roo scored again. 3-1! YEAH!!! Oh, Kessel better get some goals tonight, Roo is close to taking over his spot in 'most points'. The third period saw no goals, but I liked the energy shown by my guys and they kept it interesting to watch. And I must point out Sergei Bobrovsky's awesome goaltending, he had several big saves today and looked as sharp as ever.


After that fun game I tuned in to the RAGS @ CAPS game. The Rags were ahead 3-1, but the first thing I got to see was a goal by the Caps which gave me good hope of a possible turnaround for the Caps. Unfortunately just a bit later the Rags answered and made it 4-2. Third period wasn't good for the Caps either and when the Rags made it 5-2 I gave up and switched to ....


... the OILERS @ WILD game. I had been switching back and forth, but decided to go with this game permanently, because I like to see the young Oilers play (4 points combined this game) and they were en route to beating the Wild. A 5-2 win for these former underdogs. And in the end the Caps lost 6-3.


It's 1am here and I don't have any energy left for watching the Pens. The Leafs game is even later, so I will watch those games tomorrow and share my thoughts about later!

Let me finish this post with a fun pic and a little musing ...

That is one scary 'tache! I like my Roo smooth, so can't wait for December lol

Musing: Wouldn't it be funny if Bobs became the starter once more and we'd have the most expensive back-up goalie?!

Twitter Time #14 | Sidney's Return

Ha, I noticed NHL was blogging some players' tweets too the day Crosby's return was announced ... #copycats ... although that would imply they'd come across my puny blog. I doubt it! :D

Anyways, I creeped all the NHL and AHL players I follow on Twitter ... SO YOU DON'T HAVE TO! It was a boring task. Here the tweets I came across ... the prize for funniest tweet goes to Colby Armstrong.

Enjoy! Or not ... ;)

Ryan Whitney
"yup, this leagues still a joke for me." -Sidney Crosby 4 minutes into first game back 

Tyler Bozak 

Wow Sidney Crosby. What a player. It was great for the game of hockey to have him back on the ice putting on a show again 

Colby Armstrong 

Great to have Sid back and healthy. Hes been out a long time but it's exciting for the NHL and our fans to have a player like him back #NHL 

Colby Armstrong 

After this Crosby return stuff all media will turn to trying to find out the return of me....right?? It's gonna be crazy. #mediacircus 

Matt Lashoff 

Wasn't expecting any less from 87. So fun to watch. 

Logan Couture 

Saying #87 makes it look easy is an understatement. 

Jordan Eberle 

Hordichuk told me today CBC was supposed to cover his return tonight but then Crosby stole his thunder 

Paul Bissonnette 

Had to drop myself in fantasy hockey today. Welcome back Sidney Crosby. 

Nathan Thompson

What a night for hockey getting the best player in the world back on the ice. #sidthekid 

Luca Caputi 

Is anyone not watching this game? #sidthekid back in action!   

Luca Caputi
Wow! #sidthekid Sickkk 

Scottie Upshall
Great day for NHL today w/ Sid comin back. Here's him and my bro @brento_ at our last game. Sick stache! #movember pic.twitter.com/Y6957J8T 

Luke Adam
This crosby guy is pretty good i guess, its not even really fair is it? #87isback @NHL 

Mark Dekanich
Any guesses on how much money Crosby put on the board last night? #10grand 

Thomas Kiriakou
Hide yo kids. Hide yo wives...Sid's back!! #GetExcited

Tired Leafs | Game 21

Taking full of advantage of my new NHL Gamecenter subscription and watching as many live games as I can. Luckily that included one Flyers and two Leafs games this weekend. With the weekend gone I'll have to make do with delayed watching, but Gamecenter sure makes that easy!

And after the Taylor vs Taylor post I need to post a real article too ;)

LEAFS @ CANES

Ouch, my guys looked tired during the anthems and looked even more haggard as the game started. I knew this was going to be a tough one. Back to back games, awkward travel timing, just a few hours of rest, lots of players in sickbay, those not in sickbay depleted of energy (that game versus the Caps sure took care of that), our third goalie in goal. Wow. In the end it wasn't even that bad come to think of it.

♦ The first period was weird. Canes generating turnovers, at times upping the pressure just a bit and Scrivens was called upon several times, had a great save to start with too; then Phaneuf went to the penalty box for hooking. I had a look at that several times and that was no hooking, that was Skinner hanging onto Phaneuf's stick for dear life. Oh well, karma will get back at him eventually. OK, the Leafs hardly managed to circle the puck, so it was tough for them to get into that flow where things seem to run so effortlesly. Then we had a boring part, lots of center ice play and just as I thought we'd survive the first, the Canes pressurised Scrivens, took several shots on goal and had everyone scrambling and I was just waiting for a stupid goal. With 29 seconds left, Harrison did score. Boo!

♦ Again a messy start and the first five minutes had my Leafs in some type of survival mode. The game got even weirder when Scrivens ended up without his stick as the Canes were in attack mode. Scrivens did well there, robbing the Canes pf several goal opportunities. In the meantime Connoly had lost his stick as well and it all looked frantic. How the Canes didn't score here, I don't know. Next to be robbed of a goal was Dwyer. Scrivs, bless him, did really well. Unfortunately Jokinen then scored on the PP.  What I missed in my Leafs during this period was any type of forechecking and winning faceoffs. I dare not look at the faceoff stats, because I have a feeling we didn't win much of those. *has a look anyways* ... ouch 20 FO wins vs 37 FO wins by the Canes. No wonder the Leafs had a hard time playing offensively. I kept thinking 'Sound the horn please!'

♦ Ah, the third period. A little rest and the Leafs came out looking much fresher. Don't know what type of incantations were cast during the intermission but at least my guys looked much more alive. They skated better and added some speed and created some opportunities too. And who but Kessel would score to make it a one-goal game? Well, uhmm, Kessel indeed. Several Leafies had their chances after this goal, but lacked precision. It was good to see the energy, but unfortunately it got tempered by Skinner on a breakaway. Staal just ran off with the puck, but Scrivs denied him the goal. Unfortunately Skinner was in pursuit as well and scored on the rebound to make it 3-1. Look, a better team would have pushed on now and enhanced the lead and the Canes sure tried. But the Leafs kept hanging in there, with just a bit over a minute to go, Scrivs was pulled and we had 6 guys attacking and sure enough, Kessel scored another one! The final seconds were exciting, but time ran out and we lost 3-2 

♦ In hindsight we can still be pleased. PPK and PP are both still working well, Scrivs may not be perfect but showed great stamina during the game and despite a total lack of energy, the Leafs at times managed to call up just enough energy to cause some havoc. Sad we lost, but not disappointed in my guys. Onto the next one!

And in other news, the Red Wings beat the Ducks 4-2. Yippee! And I wonder how Crosby's first game will pan out ... exciting!

Hockey Shenanigans #1 | Taylor vs Taylor

Probably not the first one to point this one out, but it's just so uncanny.

*ponders*

Maybe I *am* the first one to point it out to some of you lol ... not sure how many hockey fans are into the whole Twilight Saga. I am never one to shy away from fessing up to stuff, so yeah, I have seen the movies lol

Horrible? For sure.
Entertaining in a crazy way? Yes, unfortunately.

Anyways, Taylor Hall (he of Oilers fame) and Taylor Lautner (he of Twilight fame). Could've been twins!

Eerie!!

By the way, Lautner is a hockey fan. He's been spotted at a Stanley Cup game a few years ago, sporting Red Wings gear and apparently he plays EA's NHL game. Yay for Google Search ;)

Sidney Crosby | He's Back

 Ladies and Gentlemen.

It has finally been announced.
Sidney Crosby is back.

Courtesy of NHL.com

Set to play on Monday 21st, 2011.
Isles @ Pens.

Pens, the Bruins have properly disarmed the Isles last night.
All you have to do is just gently skate across the ice and take shots on goal.

Sidney, I hope you play well and feel well. And that this time no crazy antics take place. Remember that 1 million penalty minutes game last year? Not that kind of shit. You need an easy game to get back on track.

The best of luck in any case!

Season 2011 - 2012 | My 1st Night With NHL Gamecenter

And what a glorious night it was. Could have been even better, but more about that later.

My Gamecenter view - and a nice 7-1 win for the Leafies

If like me, you are European, you will know that getting your hockey fix has been problematic at times. If not, in short: at the end of last season ESPN lost the international NHL broadcasting rights to some shady consortium. I am sure it's not as shady as I make it out to be, but it has definitely less cachet than ESPN in my opinion. Up until the very last week before the season start we had no idea if and where we'd be able to watch hockey, but then word came that we could all sign up for NHL Gamecenter. Since then, in some countries, hockey has returned to television which actually messed up people's access to their Gamecenter accounts (if they got one of course). And ESPN America does on occasion air a game or two (weird stuff), but OK, the Netherlands are not much of a hockey market so I don't have to worry about any TV station acquiring the Dutch broadcasting rights anytime soon ;)

I didn't get Gamecenter straight away. I have very little opportunity to watch games live and I wasn't sure if it would be worth the investment. I have caught a few games online, but stream hunting is not really appealing and quite illegal as well ;) ... so yesterday I decided to give myself an early Christmas present and ordered a year's worth of yummie NHL games!


The first game I watched was the FLYERS-JETS game and this is why the night was not as glorious as it could have been ...
♦ They lost 6-4. To the annoying Thrashers, ah, I mean Jets. Whatever. What is it with these guys that makes my guys choke? The last nine encounters between the two, the Jets won eight times :p
♦ Bobs was in net. I saw people demand his head on a plate. Sure, I will not deny he let in a few soft ones, but lets face it, those first ten minutes of the game the whole team was playing in a most disgraceful manner. This was his first loss in regulation and he still came out of this game marginally better than Pavelec ... .872 vs .871 ;)
♦ So the first ten minutes were horrible, unfortunately the same was true for the second period. At this time I was ready to just ignore the game and solely focus on the Kings-Red Wings game. But I gave it another go as the third period started and was happy enough to find the guys were playing are more focused game and managed to score a few goals to make it 5-4. Actually, I made that sound a bit dull, but it was actually a pretty exciting third period. And damn, Matt Read. Two awesome goals, a huge slapshot followed by a precise wrist-shot. Nice, I was on the edge of my seat. One to watch for sure :D
♦ I will never understand why Lavvy then chose to go for an early - if you ask me - empty net ... a huge gamble if you ask me. It looked uncomfortable from the get go and yeah, that didn't work out well at all
♦ And a final musing about why Bryzgy didn't play this game. Looking at the losing trend we have when meeting the Jets and that horrible game in October - yeah, the one that we lost 9-8 and which had the highest number of goals in one game in the last 15 years and made both teams look crap - and Bryzgy's subsequent loss of confidence ... I am not surprised at all that Lavvy sent in Bobs. Better to preserve Bryzgy's new-found confidence right?


During this game I also kept an eye on the RED WINGS-KINGS game. Gamecenter makes it so easy to switch between games! I needed myself a bit of Mike Richards and Anze Kopitar and of course the Red Wings, who are my fave Western Conference team.
♦ So what a stroke of luck that I changed to that game just in time to see Richie score an awesome shortie! Speed, cunning and precision execution. It was beautiful to see. And he seems happier in LA. He wasn't even grumpy during the intermission interview! :D
♦ And then the Red Wings went on to score four goals, unanswered by the Kings. My hero Datsyuk got two goals. So all is good in the West in my book
♦ And can I just say that the Kings' black home jersey is the most awesome jersey in the league? I see a Richie or Anze jersey in my future lol


At this point I was a bit tired, but decided to wait for the 1am start of the CAPS-LEAFS game. I was a bit scared, what with the November slide and all. And eventhough the Caps are having a bit of a struggle too at the moment, it's still the Caps! 
♦ So, although I had plenty of reasons to be worried (Reims still out; Armstrong, Grabovski, MacArthur, Lombardi *and* Komisarek as well, the Monster in net, a few annoying losses in the last couple of weeks) I needn't have worried. My Leafies looked just fine in the first period and went into the second period with a 2-1 lead. And that's when the schooling started. Four awesome goals, three of which on the PP! And to finish things off, a third period short-handed goal. BOOM! 7-1! I mean I have a soft spot for the Caps and don't like to see them struggle, but when my guys win this big, I can't help but feel elated!
♦ Who did all this scoring you ask? Ah, it started with Connolly, not even two minutes into the game. Then Frattin scored his first NHL goal. Grats! In the second period we saw awesome goals by Bozak, Kessel (14th this season, still leading the League *kiss*), Lupul and Franson. Steckel scored against his former team in the final minute of the game and celebrated like it was a game-winning goal. But hey, he hadn't been involved in a goal in eleven games, so who can blame him. Nice going
♦ Monster looked confident in net and made some awesome saves, and didn't play so messy on the rebounds; lets hope he can keep this up till Reims returns!
♦ And I need to put the spotlight on Lupul for a bit. A goal and three assists! And the game's 1st Star. I liked the way he played at the end of last season and I am glad to see him progress this season as well. Love him! *let me fawn for a bit* Love the Kessel-Lupul-Bozak line in general


Today I also watched the OILERS smash the BLACKHAWKS. Yeah! And BOSTON had a great evening as well, schooling those pesky ISLES.
♦ Love all those youngsters at the Oil. Hall, Eberle, Hemsky all scored goals. Nugent-Hopkins didn't, but he was certainly a driving force with 5 assists, creating great opportunities for his teammates. And some of the goals were so beautiful. Just for a certain tic-tac goal I think I will have to post a second article to feature some of my fave goals last night, cause there were plenty all across the league 
♦ The Bruins had an uncharacteristic start of the season, dwelling near the last place in the Eastern Conference, but they are on a huge winning streak ... won last eight games now. And I haven't seen an Isles game in a while, but this is the weakest I have seen them play. They hardly gave any resistance at all and the Bruins just trampled all over them. The scoreless second period was odd, but hey, still got six goals in the end


*reads back*

Whoa, apologies for that waterfall of words, just couldn't stop myself ;) ... so just a few final observations and then I'm posting this monster!

Other noticeable occurances:
♦ Thank you Yotes for denying the Sabres aka BKK aka Blunt Kitchen Knives the win
♦ BizNasty scored. A goal I mean. And this is sweet, his mother was there for the first time ever to witness it. Biz told us she has been ill for the past two years but for the first time felt good enough to make the trip to the rink (yay for Mum)
♦ BOOOO! The Habs won. Don't like the Rags either, but I like the Habs even less (and I am putting that politely lol)   


PS ... I hope the Leafies have an awesome game tonight versus the Canes ... *keeping fingers crossed*

Season 2011-2012 | The First Month

Looking at how the first month went, I can only say: "Wow. That is quite unexpected."

Lets just start with the current conference standings. I'm an Eastern Conference girl, but lets have a look at both. So, compared to last year, what is odd in the Eastern Conference? Yes, indeed! My Leafies are the current lead. And Boston is not. But, and this is actually quite ironic :D ... as I was writing this, the Bruins gave my Leafs an awful trashing (7-0). I like these little ironies of life! Plus admittedly, Seguin looked really good out there (got his first hattrick) and Timmie was up for his first shut-out game this season. Annoying, but praiseworthy nevertheless. Although I must point out that they were facing our third goalie, Ben Scrivens, recently called up from the Marlies.

Another unexpected turn of events: the Habs having a horrible season start. Well, not quite unexpected maybe, they didn't really look so strong at the end of last season either. Right now I can only gloat however, and I hope their season will get even worse. They did finally manage to go on a four-game winning streak, but that was curtailed by the ever despicable Rangers. Thank you! *yuck*

Onto the West. The Nucks and Red Wings are both struggling and not even in the top eight. Whereas one of last year's 'losers', the Oilers, are doing quite well. The young ones, Hall, Eberle & Nugent-Hopkins are having a great season start and I suppose that acquiring the seasoned Ryan Smyth from the Kings has proven useful. And how about Khabby?! Nice comeback. They were on my 'Like'-list last year (I love the underdog) so I will definitely keep an eye on these guys! Chicago as the current Conference leaders, that is just painful to see :p

But back to my Flyers and Leafs!


Flyers

It's like watching a brand new team. I am not going to lie. It took me a few weeks to get used to the new guys and frankly, I still have no idea what to make of them all. Simmonds and Couturier have impressed me somewhat, but all that money that went into acquiring Bryzgy ... are we getting our money's worth? I doubt it. I mean I like the guy and I have definitely not given up on him, but his season start is less than stellar with an SV% of .893. And when I look at how Khabby ($15m - 4yrs) and Vokoun ($1.5m - 1yr) have been performing, both the Oilers and Caps got themselves a steal for much better performing goalies.

Still, despite a few bad games along the line, all in all we are going strong enough. #4 in Conference is good in my book and you can tell the team is brimming with some type of weird energy. I just watched them play the Blue Jackets and they sent them home crying by winning 9-2! Apart from being delighted with seeing my guys win by such a margin I felt sorry for Rick Nash. Keep wondering when he will finally decide to move to a real team ;)

Leafs 

I know that staying at the top position in the Conference is an almost impossible task, so I am not going to expect that of my guys, but I am very hopeful about them making it to the Playoffs. They play well and along the way also manage to create enough chances and win games they are less comfortable playing. All the lines seem to be producing goals and I am enchanted especially by Kessel and Lupul. Sure, Kessel is a streaky guy, so it's a volatile player, but I like how he started the season. He's such an awkward young man off-ice, I just have to root for him.

Reims seemed on track too, so I hope his current injury will not continue nagging him. I need him back in goal. The Monster has played some decent games and makes for a fine backup I suppose. Scrivens had one good game but today got totally snowed under by a Bruins onslaught. OK, the D left much to be desired as well, but with Reims in net I doubt the 7-0 would have happened.

Who'd have thought ... ?

♦ That Max Talbot would work out so well? You may recall I once wrote I have a secret crush on Talbot, which was doubly clandestine as he was ofcourse playing for the Penguins. So his very unexpected transfer to the Flyers was almost a blessing in disguise for me ;) ... and if he keeps up his current scoring trend he might be on his way to a 30 goal season (he had 8 goals last season). Anyways, he makes for an interesting addition and he seems to have taken on a bit more serious demeanor

♦ That Kessel would have such a hot start? I mean he was last season's top scorer of course and there is no reason why he wouldn't be again, but it was still unexpected and wonderful to see

Disclaimer ;)

Yes, yes, I know, by the time I posted this, the Pens had won their game and with one more game played are current Eastern Conference leaders, but for dramatic effect - and it's just a snapshot in time anyways - I am leaving the standings as they were when I started writing this article ;)

Season 2011-2012 | The First

It has been a while. And I apologise to all my followers! Yes, to the both of you! You know who you are ;)

After the shock of entering hockey draught, which left me feeling lost for a while, I actually welcomed the thought of having a little break from this blog. The final weeks of the regular season were frantic. The World Cup was really interesting. The Stanley Cup run kept me on the edge of my seat. Not to mention the craziness of Free Agency Day. I spent hours and hours each day writing stuff up! So a little time off from the blog? Why not?!

During the first few weeks, like the hockey addict that I am, I was on the look-out for hockey-related topics to write about anyways. August came and the withdrawal symptoms had subsided quite a bit and I could finally enjoy the holiday. Then September came and I was ... *gasp* ... only mildly looking forward to the pre-season games. I was a wee bit worried about myself at this time ;)

Then the regular season started and I went straight back into hockey addict mode! Timewise it is difficult for me to actually watch the games (being located in Europe and all) and I have noticed I need my sleep over the weekends too. So far no all-nighters to catch a Leafs or Flyers game live. And come on NHL, throw a European a bone and have some interesting early games over the weekends! I had a look at the next few weekends and it's hardly a ball. So I will just have to go with the recaps and whatever people care to write about.

But getting into blogging mode again, that is taking quite some time. So here is to the first one of the season. Empty when it comes to real hockey information or some of my amazing insights ;) ... but at least it is a start. And since blog-wise I missed the first month, the next article I write will be filled with my views on how the first month went ;)

Beware! ;)