New England Hockey Talk

[bethandlouis]

Quote: Originally Posted by MGB Boy (original)

I ought to change my last name to Dodgeinen or something.


-Ricardo

You should change your name to Dodgeiinen. Need to have the double i's in order for it to be authentic Fin.

[bethandlouis]

Ohhh Hat trick. If Florida can do it so can I!

[MGB Boy]

I saw none of the terrible Caps game. But I do know this; getting outshot 53-13 is bad. Getting outshot 53-13 by Florida, that's just embarrassing. Fans always blame the goalie when the team is losing. Early on this season, when the Bs were sucking ass even more than now, the fans were routinely whining that a new goalie was needed, that they never should have traded Raycraft, etc. (didn't matter that Thomas had better stats then Raycroft). Then they go on a run in November and December and suddenly Timmy's a "folk hero" (according to one Boston article I read). It's always the goalie's fault. Fans seem to believe that no matter how numerous or deep a team's problems, trading for a hot goalie will turn it all around. Silly.

That roster thing on the Isles website is just plain bizarre. Every single thing about that franchise for the past few years is bizarre. I'd love to know who thought up that roster, though.

-Ricardo

[MGB Boy]

Tonight's songs stuck in my head:

First period - "The Price Is Right" theme song. Honestly. And actually, that was my best period.

Second period - "Against the Wind" by Bob Seger. My god, I hate this song. I don't like anything by Bob Seger. Why and how this got into my head, I have no idea. I was actually pleased late in the second when, out of nowhere, "Pressure" by Billy Joel suddenly took over. And that's saying something, because I really don't like Billy Joel at all.

Third period - "Bittersweet Me" by R.E.M. Big fan of R.E.M., seen them in concert eight times. But I haven't heard this song in about two years, no idea how that got in there.

The game itself sucked. The regular season ended last week, and the first and second place teams got a bye into the semi-finals. Instead of having us sit at home, the league decided they'd have #1 and #2 play each-other one more time to determine seeding, so the winner becomes the #1 seed and gets the worst remaining team in the semis. Umm, I thought that's why we played the whole regular season. We finished in first, we had a record of 2-1 against the second place team, why do we have to play them again? We've been playing since September to determine who is the #1 seed. Silly. But they had a time slot on the calendar and they had two idle teams, so we played. They showed up. We didn't. Well, we showed up physically, but not mentally. There was way too much "this game doesn't count", "this game doesn't matter" type talk in the locker room, and they decided to spend the first period screwing with line combinations and stuff. We showed up for a scrimmage, the other team showed up for a game. They showed up angry because they were running away with the league midway thru the season, then they stumbled and we surged and we took first place away from them on the last night of the season. They showed up wanting to beat our brains in and take back that #1 seeding. And indeed they did. So we spent the first period screwing around and screwing with lines and consequently they got about 54,454 shots on me (rough estimate). How we got out of the first only down 1-0, I have no idea. Mr Glove was working well. But I was dead on my feet, I pretty much used up everything I had in the first period. Down 6-0 after two. In the third, my team finally went back to the usual lines, and started playing a bit, and we ended up with a final of 6-2. Woo. So all that work to get up to the #1 spot goes away. Brilliant. In the locker room afterwards, one of my forwards said "you still had a really good save percentage tonight, even with the 6 goals." Yes, I probably would have (no shots on goal stat). And thank you so much for your support. I really enjoy getting the crap kicked out of me for 90 minutes on a Sunday night. The rest of my skaters had enough common sense to realize it was a "don't talk to Ricardo right now" sort of locker room after the game.

I never call out my teammates. If they make a crap play, I don't yell "what the hell was that, what were you thinking?!" Maybe I should more. I've been told that. Generally, if my team screws up and it hangs me out to dry, I don't say anything, I won't even make eye contact with them. They might say something to me, but I don't say anything to them (unless they ask an obvious question like "did I screen you?", in which case I'll give the appropriate one word response). I've been known to let out a frustrated "what the f***" after a goal, but that might just as easily be one where I think I screwed up vs one where they screwed up. But after the initial outburst, that's it. I guess my mindset is "I sure as hell don't want some forward telling me how to play goal, so I they probably don't want me telling them how to play D." I know that's not true, most D I've played with want to be told where to go and how to handle situations, but I need to learn how to give that feedback in a calm, constructive manner. I don't say anything after goals because I know that if I did tried to give some advice, it wouldn't come out in the most constructive manner. It would more likely be something along the lines of "Christ, an orange traffic cone would be more effective than you! Next time they have a 2 on 1, how about taking away the f***ing passing lane and leaving me the shooter like you're supposed to, instead of trying to play the shooter and just screening the hell out of me and leaving the backdoor pass wide open? Every mite over the age of 6 knows that, jackass!" So I say nothing. I'm all the way down the other end of the ice, so I can't hear it, but I gather that Kate (the other goalie in my Monday night pick-up group) is far less restrained about giving "advice". Maybe I should try that method.

On a completely different note, after canvassing the local rinks, the weekend "public skate" at Essex, Leddy, Cairns 1, and Cairns 2 are all on Sundays, no Saturdays. No public skate at Gutterson, the ice is reserved for game-day skates by BC and UVM. So nowhere to skate on Saturday...

-Ricardo

[bethandlouis]

You should watch Slap Shot again and take tips from the goalie (who cracks me up, especially at the beginning where he's explaining what he does). So it the game you had last night was the Caps/Panthers game (so you did get to see some of it ). I think that it's important for a goalie to offer constructive critisim on how D gets played. Definately don't do it after a goal is scored though because constructive becomes damaging. i admit that I don't play, never did. But I would think that the goalies would be the backbone of the team. Offering help where the team needs it most. Don't think of it as I'm telling them how to do their job, think of it as I'm telling them how to help me do my job.

Wierd, wild and crazy things happened in the only NHL game yesterday. The Hawks/Wild game went to overtime and then a shoot-out. I am personally a big fan of the shoot-out (and so is Louis) The Hawks decided to shoot first and missed. Then the Wild shot and scored. There was 2 more missed shots and then a very controversial shot. One of the Hawks players shot the puck at Manny Fernandez (in which he actually blocked the shot). When he went to stand up the puck was still in motion and motioned it's way across the goal line. He looked down and then swiped it away with his stick. The linesman had signaled a goal. It went to the war room in Toronto and came back no goal. But there were 1,000,000 replays. It was a close call but ultimately the puck never fully crossed the goal line. So the Hawks lost in an overtime shoot-out.

Well then what are we going to do on Saturday. It's not like you have to satiate too many people. I mean it's only 4 of us. Is there anything fun to do in Burlington? How's the weather up there?

[snid]

Quote: Originally Posted by bethandlouis (original)

Is there anything fun to do in Burlington?

Nope, we have to go to NH for anything fun. Ask Rick.

[Actual Size]

I always have a good time when I'm up there. Burlington justs needs to join Killington and become part of NH.

[MGB Boy]

You're quite welcome to have Killington, but you'll have to pry Burlington from my proverbial cold dead fingers....

-Ricardo

[bethandlouis]

Is X-Box 360 backwards compatible? If it is we could play NHL 2005. Hell, you can have it for all I care. There are way too many buttons to remember to play that game.

[bethandlouis]

I say we just go to Church Street and hang out. Is the weather supposed to be super crappy? I'd also be up to get some lunch and/or early dinner somewhere. Don't know if there's a great restaurant that we should eat at.

[bethandlouis]

"Denis, I know that some in our audience don't know the finer points of hockey.
Could you tell them, for example, what is icing?

Well, icing happen when the puck come down, bang, you know,
before the other guys, nobody there, you know.
My arm go comes out, then the game stop then start up.

I see. What is high-sticking?

High-sticking happen when the guy take the stick, you know, and he go like that.
You don't do that. Oh, no. Never, never.

- Why not? -

Against the rules.
You stupid when you do that, some English pig with no brains...

Denis, what is slashing?

Slashing is like that, you know?

Mm-hm. And there's a penalty for that?

- Yeah. And for trip also, you know. - Oh?
Like that. And for hook like this.
- And for spear, you know, like that. - Mm-hm.
All bad. You do that, you go to the box, you know.
Two minutes by yourself, and you feel shame, you know.

- Mm-hm.

- And then you get free. "

Back to hockey

[MGB Boy]

Okay, so it's time to make some plans. Sure, I could use the "official" thread, but what's the point, it all happens here anyhow. Don't want the thread police to get me for talking hockey in more than one place.

Saturday plans. Gametime is 7:05p for the big match between the #7 Eagles and the #14 Catamounts. Don't know if you're "show up early to see warm-ups" type people, but I'm cool with that, then there would be time to check out the arena (not that it would take more than 7 minutes), buy some popcorn, load up on paraphenalia at the souvenir stand, etc.

Prior to the game, there's things to do and see in BTV. Church Street, the waterfront (nice and cold), etc. I'm sure we can find somewhere for food, there are about 95,423 restaurants in the Burlington area, including a couple dozen right around Church Street.

Johnny Weatherservice's current forecast for Saturday:

Saturday: A chance of snow showers. Mostly cloudy, with a high near 22. Chance of precipitation is 40%.

Saturday Night: A slight chance of snow showers. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 6. Chance of precipitation is 20%.

So come on up whenever you'd like, just let me know when so I can be sure to have all the bodies stashed by the time you show up.

I'm told that the xbox 360 is backwards compatible with xbox games, but only if you have the optional hard-drive. I don't have the hard-drive, I just have a little memory stick thingie for saving games. Doesn't matter anyhow, I got NHL '07 for xmas!

FYI, the Friday night UVM game is on CSTV, if you happen to get that channel.

I have an autographed photo of Yvon Barrette (the actor who played goalie Denis Lemieux) of the scene where he's on the phone demanding a trade. He signed it "trade me right f***ing now! Yvon Barrette / Denis Lemieux".

-Ricardo

[bethandlouis]

It's gonna be cold! Maybe we should just build a fire in your condo and hibernate their. Louis is up for anything. I am one of those crazy people that get to the rink to watch practice. If you don't usually we don't have to.

I went to a Caps game and got there 1 1/2 before the game. My seasons were way up there that year (we were in the last row you could buy season tickets in) There was a thing that always happened in the game and I couldn't figure out how to get it to happen to me. It was called the Pulte move of the game (after the sponsers). Apparently if you are sitting in your seats and yours are the highest up of anyone at the rink at whatever time the t-shirt throwing people come you win! As soon as they walked up to me they said We have a deal for you. I said O.K. We got to move from 408 Row M Seats 13/14 to 112 Row C seats 14/15. We were on the jumbotron and Slapshot signed my jersey. It was a very memorable night (I kept the ticket!)

How's 2007? I remember that Louis bought it for me and I spent 1 hour going between the directions and then just said, "I can figure this out." I couldn't it was the most difficult game I had ever encountered and because of that I have yet to play it ever again! I wanted it because you could get into fights. Why did they have to put on so many buttons? We mostly have racing games for our original X-Box. It was the only thing that Louis and I could both play without too much difficulty. To this day whenever he plays with the X-Box he always says, "One button, One joystick!)

That's cool that you got that autograph. Was it done in person? We don't get to see so many famous people so all the autographs I have are done and sent to me. I got a Brendan Witt puck (1/2 season ticket plan purchased), A Peter Bondra hockey stick (a souviner hockey stick with Bondra's signature) and a hockey stick signed by a good portion of the 03-04 Capitals (including, but not limited to, Jaromir Jagr, Robert Lang, Olaf Kolzig, Peter Bondra and a few others that I can't read). My jersey is signed by Pettinger and Stephan Peat (those are the only 2 we ever met). I have met Bill Clinton and Marion Barry though I don't have an autograph to prove it. Marion Barry nearly ran me over to get to Bill Clinton so I got an I'm sorry from him (this was after he was released from jail and was re-elected to the mayorship again).

I think that I'll be baking the cupcakes on Friday and I'm not sure if I'll be able to ice them before I have to go to work. My best guess is that we will be up somewhere around noon. (it takes about an hour for you to get to Lebanon right?) I'll try to be more concise once I tempt Louis from the coccon that he has wrapped himself in.

[MGB Boy]

I don't mind going early, I actually prefer it. But my brother and I have season tickets, and we carpool and he can't be bothered to go that early. But since he's on his own this weekend, I'm game for going early. If Snoop-Jasie-Jas (snid) doesn't want to, we can get him his ticket early.

I've never won any "move of the game", but last year I was named the "Cat Pride Club Fan of the Game" (by random drawing at each game) for which I won a gift certificate to a local restaurant, and at a game the year before I won the "Get A Piece Of UVM Hockey History" raffle (they raffle off a game used jersey from previous seasons at every game), got me Graham Mink's road jersey from a couple years back (played a few games for the Capitals, now playing in Worcester for the San Jose Sharks' AHL team). Oh, and earlier this season they had the annual "teddy bear toss" where you bring a teddy bear to the game, then during the first intermission everyone tosses their bear on the ice and they are subsequently given out by the players to kids at the local children's hospital. Anyhow, you write your name on the tag on the bear, and they select five lucky winners. They picked me and sent me a copy of the yearbook/media guide with every player's page signed by that player. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that a couple of the ones who have been drafted go on to long and successful NHL careers!

My last game console was an Atari 5200, but I've gotten pretty good (in the few weeks I've had it) at mastering all the buttons and doo-dads on the 360. I haven't played the original xbox, but my bud Rob (whom you've met a couple times) has an original xbox (he's a former Microsoft employee, no less) and after playing with my 360 at xmas, he said that they've really improved the controller over the original xbox. But having never played it, I can neither confirm nor deny that observation. I'm getting the hang of NHL 07, I like it. I hooked it up to the web so I could download all the latest rosters (so guys like Leetch were dropped from the roster, etc.). Good clean fun.

The Denis Lemieux autograph was from the outfit up in Quebec which is officially licensed for all things Slap Shot related, "Mad Brothers". Got one for me and one for my brother. I've gotten a few sigs in person (John LeClair, Marty St Louis, Ray Bourque, and the one and only Bobby Orr, who was a really nice guy), the rest on my "wall of fame" in my home office are from various reputable sources (like the Cam Neely auto'd puck from his number retirement ceremony, which I got from the Bruins Pro Shop at the rink on the night of the ceremony). I haven't met Bill Clinton, but I did get a graduation card and a letter from him when I graduated from UVM. Nothing from Marion Barry, though. Only other sigs I've gotten in person (that I can think of) are Jim Rice (Red Sox) and Robert Parrish (Celtics). But I did once sell a pair of boots to Donald Sutherland. Really. Oh, and a few years back Rob went to a book signing and got me an autographed copy of a book by Michael Palin (of Monty Python).

But I'll be happy to sign any sticks, pucks, 8x10 glossys, etc. I don't charge much.

West Leb to here is 87 miles, so however long 87 miles (nearly all on the interstate) takes you. I've done it in an hour.

Solid game by the Bs today. They resisted the urge for a third period collapse. They still got outshot 14-8 in the third, but Timmy held the fort and shut them down in the shootout. After four goals in the first (two for each), it turned into a pretty good goalie duel, with 35 saves for Miller and 34 for Thomas. Miller made some crazy saves, but Timmy made one more save at the end, when it mattered most. Gotta love that goal at 19:59.1 in the first period. Talk about waiting until the last second. And the Bolts won too, with a goal and an assist from Marty plus an assist for UVM classmate Eric Perrin. A very satisfying day in the NHL for UVMers.

Very solid pick-up game tonight, bounced back well from Sunday's train-wreck. Even made a couple "oh no you didn't!" level saves, one with the blocker and one with the glove. Very satisfying. Had the music from Terminator 2 stuck in my head (I think it's the music from when they lower Ahhhnold into the smelter near the end). As usual, I have no idea why.

-Ricardo

[bethandlouis]

Didn't get to see the B's game (even tried to stay up to midnight but that didn't happen). I got to see highlights from the game during intermission of the Flames/Predators game. Did watch the Flames game (ouch). Strange that I never think of Nashville as a team that's any good. It's strange. Also caught the last bit of the Stars/Kings game.

I'm glad you had a better hockey night last night. Although you have some crazy music stuck in your head! Still can't figure out how the price is right theme got in your head (currently the Mamas and The Papas Creeque Alley is in mine) that just seems wierd. Maybe you should listen to some Survivor on the way to the games. Get some "Eye of the Tiger" in your head

We have an Atari 2600. I bought it for Christmas one year. We got the XBox with Christmas Money (though I can't remember when) I like the racing games. My dad used to buy me a game for Christmas but he would always buy these strange games. Hey bought us DRIV3R (I still have yet to play it, Louis played it once) It's been a while since we played the XBox then I got The World Series of Poker and we have started to play it more. I really like my Nintedo DS (maybe because of the simplicity 4 buttons and a pad). Plus, they have great games like Super Mario Bros in 2-D!!!!

Now I have Eye of the Tiger in my head!!