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*

Twitter Time #3 | Baseball & Burgers | April 26th, 2011

Hi buddies. Another fun tweet-chat with some of my fave players.

Date: April 23rd, 2011
Topic: Baseball & Burgers
Usual Suspects: Joffrey Lupul, Colby Armstrong, Christian Hanson, Bobby Ryan

Joffrey Lupul Just left the Angels game.. My seats were no TD Comfort Zone's... #treatmeright!

Colby Armstrong @ Lupul buddy are u serious. They didn't have a rubber pad for u to sit on in ur seat. #norespect #specialtreatment

Christian Hanson "@ Lupul: Just left the Angels game.. My seats were no TD Comfort Zone's... #treatmeright!" #TellThemYouKnowArmstrong

Colby Armstrong @ Christian Hanson #TellThemYouKnowArmstrong. Save that for tomorrow night

Bobby Ryan @ Ryan Whitney Hahahaha. That will never happen man. Congrats on wiring loops yesterday.

Joffrey Lupul @ Bobby Ryan ur taking Whits side? Welcome to #Unfollowville baby.. FYI they didn't show the DUX score once at the Angels game. #sad

Bobby Ryan @ Lupul I call it like I see it. You know I have your back. Cassidys date soon? #passthehotsauce

Joffrey Lupul @ Bobby Ryan I can't stay mad at you w/ those dangles! Siiick bro. Burgers on me when the time comes...


That would be a fun evening out. Eating burgers with these guys!

Twitter Time #1 | Hockey Yoga Boys

It is not a secret that a lot of NHL players love to tweet. And of course I follow a bunch of them. Tweeting Leafs & Flyers of course, but some others as well. Last night a fun tweet-convo ensued between Lupul, Ryan Whitney, Colby Armstrong and even BizNasty aka Paul Bissonnette chimed in (and got ignored in the process). I like to see this type of banter ...

OK, it started of with Lups looking for a yoga place and then it became a tweet-taunt lol

Joffrey Lupul Where's the best place in Newport Beach for yoga? Feeling like getting my stretch on..

Joffrey Lupul And absolutely NO Bikram! I did that once last summer and I think I'm still dehydrated. I'm from Canada and I don't do anything over 100 deg

Ryan Whitney I did bikram last night. I'm still in bed.

Joffrey Lupul but I'm in peak physical condition and ur Ryan Un-fit-ney.

Ryan Whitney my grandmother has a stronger back than you

Colby Armstrong hahaha unfitney that's solid lups. They are making me change my name to whitney so that works on me also hahaha #feelshame

Joffrey Lupul  these guys were saying they have stronger ankles than you... http://t.co/h8RdwFX

Ryan Whitney your the only 28 year to be traded more me.

Colby Armstrong hahaha oh my god. Pigeon!! Come on whit u gotta have something for lups

Paul Bissonnette whens our t time. Too soon? {ed. *none of the guys reacted to that lol*}

Joffrey Lupul Ha I'm only 27 too dick. How's the view from Mama Whitneys couch in South Boston?? http://t.co/rSs3Tm9

Ryan Whitney why are you hanging out at Getzlaf's house ?

Joffrey Lupul Well that spiced up my afternoon a bit.. I'm off to the gym. I miss ripping on Whit. Ciao

Ryan Whitney when did they rename Cassidys "the gym"? Bye buddy.

LOL ... I had a laugh or maybe you just had to be there :D

Hockey Night In Canada | Feb 27, 2011

Yesterday I watched the Preds-Stars game as a warm-up for the Pens-Leafs game and it was a bit boring. Probably because nothing much happened and there was nothing to gain for my teams based of the outcome of this game. But it's hockey and I'll watch as much of it as I can ;) ... the Leafs game. Now, that was extremely exciting. I was on the edge of my seat throughtout the first two periods. Unfortunately, I couldn't stay up for the last period, I was so tired and it was way past my bedtime, but earlier today I watched the highlights and what I can I say. I am proud of my Leafies, they played a high-octane game! And although they did not win this one, they got it to SO and bagged an all-important 1 point to stay in the race.

Some folks will laugh and based on a really bad run in the first half of the this season, who can blame them? But we picked up pace and suddenly, the play-offs are still within our grasp! *gasp* ... and since we have not reached the play-offs since the 2003-2004 season, you can imagine how much we all want this to happen. Over the past few months I have seen many mad and disgusted Leafs fans on the FB fan page. Personally I am a strong believer of sticking with your team through the good times and the bad times and definitely not disrespecting them, ever. But I digress. Lately people have started to hope again although a similar amount of people is telling 'the hopers' to stop being idiots and that they will just disappoint us again. To an extent I agree with the latter. I think that maybe they found their form a bit too late. Sure, there is still time to reach that 8th, but there are so many factors influencing the final result. The Sabres, the Thrashers and the Panthers have not given up either and are putting in good games too. And I read someplace that even the Devils have an inkling of hope to make it. Hahah, that sound ridiculous, but OK ... the puck can bounce in mysterious ways.

My plan is to just enjoy each and every game. No matter what happens, safe for a few games, the Leafs have showed up and played their games with energy and dedication and sometimes frustration. Six more weeks to go ... and I bet we will be seeing many great games.

OK, back to yesterday. Very happy for Lupul to get his first two goals! And I think he was robbed of his hattrick! The goal that got waived was a good hockey goal in my opinion, although I confess I might be biased ;) ... and too bad that the Pens managed to equalise the game in the third period. The OT was wonderfully hectic. The SO much less so. Heheh, some nice efforts by our guys there, but you have got to hand it to Fleury, he is great on these one-on-ones. Annoyed we did not get the two points, but heck, we got the one and there's another game today!

On to my Flyers. Could not watch this game, and after having seen the hightlights and some of the comments by my fellow fans, perhaps that was for the best. A lacklustre game and it definitely lacked in energy. Even the goals scored by the Sens seemed accidental. So why were we this gloomy? I find it hard to imagine, but maybe the trading shenanigans of the day prior had something to do with it? We were a bit low on D. Prongs injured and the newly acquired Boynton could not make it on time due to travel issues. JVR had to be sent down to the Phantoms for just one game to make room in terms of cap. But no, that cannot be it! We are to good to let stuff like that bother us! So I am going to go with this: we are conserving energy and saving the best for last. Hah. OK.

Elsewhere in the League. You can tell it's getting close to the play-offs. I have found myself cheering for the teams I hate most ... yes, yesterday ... I cheered for the Habs. I need to take a break for a few minutes to overcome the nausea that comes with the thought alone.

Back. But OK, the Habs beat the Canes. And the Red Wings beat the Sabres in SO. The Sabres were ahead 2-0 for a long time and on the road to two points, but thankfully Datsyuk and his teammates fought on and equalised the game. So just one point for the Sabres. So on behalf of the Leafs, thanks Habs and Wings!

And on behalf of the Flyers, thank you Bruins for beating the Nucks and keeping the one-point lead the Nucks have in the League standings!

Hockey Sunday. Sundays are great. A few early games allow me to have a fun hockey evening. Going to watch the Bolts vs Rags. Gooooo Bolts. Then the Jackets vs Preds and I will watch at least the first period of the Leafs game tonight. They play fellow contenders: Trashers. Have to work tomorrow, so unfortunately cannot watch the whole game.