AHL- Apolyton Hockey League 07/08: VI They brought their ****in' toys with 'em!

[notyoueither]

Paul Barnes, is that you?

[Asher]

Are you calling me a gay pastor?

Jesus christ, this is stupid. Thanks Imran.

[notyoueither]

[Flubber]

Originally posted by notyoueither


I gather you take things too personally as well, especially since I have not taken 3 or 4 shots at you period outside of one evening, and you certainly didn't ignore them.

I mainly ignored them until I finally asked if you intended to call me a booogerhead or poopie head or something. I find such shots amusing more than anything and that was my not so subtle way of pointing out the level of the discourse.

I did not respond in kind and you stopped

I take pretty much NOTHING personally on here. I simply hope that adults can be civil. A discussion board rife with personal insults would not offend me in any way, it would simply bore me to tears. I simply don't care enough about anyone on this thing to bother.

I do like hockey-- a lot and will very much engage in hockey debates-- I enjoy banter and sniping about teams and opinions

[Flubber]

Originally posted by Imran Siddiqui

Again, you're saying insults are acceptable. Is that really the direction you want to head in?

If mild ribbing in sports threads wasn't accepted, you'd have been banned a number of times in the last few months, so are you really sure this is really the direction you want to head in?

I'm in favor of very heavy ribbing about teams .

Anyone out there want to discuss the Leafs ??

[snoopy369]

Originally posted by notyoueither




I see what you mean, but even a European sized rink wouldn't fill it up.

I'd like to see this every Jan 1. There are maybe 9 American teams and a couple in Canada to host them.

I'm not sure who have covered stadiums. What is available in the Boston, New York, Chicago, Detroit, and Minneapolis area? Are they all outdoor?

Obviously Buffalo is OK, and I think Mile High is open, so Denver would be good too.

Not all Canadian cities could do it. Vancouver does not have an ideal climate for the purpose even if they had an open stadium, which they don't.

Chicago is out doors, Detroit is not but has the Big House (Univ. of Michigan) not an hour away (100k seats!); Buffalo is of course outside, NY has an outdoor stadium or two, MIN I'm not sure about (the football team plays indoors, but perhaps the university has an outdoor stadium). Personally I'd prefer the Big House for one, though of course a Chicago one would be great and I'd probably attend (in very cold weather gear!!).

[Kontiki]

Very few Canadian cities would work for this, actually. As nye said, Vancouver doesn't have an outdoor stadium of any real size and the climate doesn't favor it anyway. Ottawa and Montreal's CFL stadiums barely hold more than their NHL rinks, so that's not all that special. Montreal or Toronto could use the Olympic Stadium or Rogers Centre respectively, but even at their most open, they're too closed to really recreate the atmosphere, plus you can't always count on Toronto to be cold enough at that time of year.

Only Edmonton and Calgary (with temporary seating) truly fit the bill.

[Flubber]

Originally posted by Kontiki
Very few Canadian cities would work for this, actually. As nye said, Vancouver doesn't have an outdoor stadium of any real size and the climate doesn't favor it anyway. Ottawa and Montreal's CFL stadiums barely hold more than their NHL rinks, so that's not all that special. Montreal or Toronto could use the Olympic Stadium or Rogers Centre respectively, but even at their most open, they're too closed to really recreate the atmosphere, plus you can't always count on Toronto to be cold enough at that time of year.

Only Edmonton and Calgary (with temporary seating) truly fit the bill.

and Edmonton and Calgary both have a decent opportunity to have weather that was far too cold . .. plus Edmonton did it already and Calgary has a chance to have a chinook

Bottom line is that there is really nowhere that you do not run a weather risk. Still its a nice spectacle that attracts interest so it may be worthwhile to do one of these a year

[Asher]

Another game without a regulation win by Edmonton.

This time they won in the dying seconds of OT thanks to a brutal call of a ref. I've never seen a team accumulate so many undeserving points before.

[Asher]

And the Flames continue to roll with another win (and in REGULATION!).

Iginla notches another couple goals, Huselius adds 1G 3A...

[Flubber]

Originally posted by Asher
And the Flames continue to roll with another win (and in REGULATION!).

Iginla notches another couple goals, Huselius adds 1G 3A...

It was actually a decent all around effort. Kipper was pretty decent making 29 saves but many were pretty routine. The Flames were actually pretty good defensively despite giving up over 30 shots

There were more goalmouth scrambles and decent chances around the Rangers net. Lundeqvist though did not have a particularly good night. The 4th Flames goal was one that any NHL goalie should stop.

The Flames on balance slightly outplayed the Rangers and therefore probably "deserved" the victory but they have played better in some of their losses


Oh and I am liking that the Flames are utilizing there depth defenseman more. Hale who is seventh on the depth chart saw 12 minutes while Erickson got 17. The Flames seem to have abandoned the "two big shooter pairing of Aucoin and Phaneuf and last night went with

Phaneuf -Erickson
Sarich- Regehr
Hale-Aucoin

and Warrener is due back any day

[Flubber]

the Flames these days are winning --7-1-2 in their last 10 and the only regulation loss was to the Canucks in a game that frankly Kipper stunk and Luongo stood on his head.

But the situation with Kipper is an odd one that brings me optimism and pessimism at the same time. I do see it as a very good thing when a team can win games even when the goalie is simply adequate. This winning stretch has NOT been a result of Kipper stealing games when the Flames are outplayed. They are winning games that on balance they "deserve" to win or are very competitive in. It has been a while since I have seen the Flames outplayed (Detroit and San Jose games are two that I remember well) If Kipper had been at his very best in the last 10 games Calgary probably would have won NINE ( I don't know that any human would have scored on Brodeur on dec 23)

My pessimism comes from the fact that Kipper has been merely adequate far too often and for too long this season. I cannot point at a single game he has "stolen" while in other years he did so with a reasonable frequency. To move forward in the playoffs, the Flames will need stellar goaltending and I am not ready to assume that Kipper will inevitably rise to his superlative levels of the past. I hope for it-- I have seen him do it so many times in the past ( last eyar the Detroit series was an example as Calgary was completely outclassed and but for Kipper the series probably should have only gone four games.

But take last night- Kiper was ok-- None of the three goals were absolute groaners but then again none of them were impossible to stop either and I have seen Kipper play at a level in the past where the quantity and quality of shots he faced last night would have seen him vying for a shutout. There were times in the last two years when you just KNEW that a two goal Flames lead was completely safe-- It almost felt inconceivable that Kipper could surrender two goals. This year I haven't felt the same confidence

[Asher]

Rollin', rollin', rollin'!

[Asher]

This is just poor journalism...

http://sports.espn.go.com/nhl/recap?gameId=280103018&campaign=rss&source=NHLHeadlines

Iginla's game-winner lifts Flames into tie for Pacific Division lead

[Kontiki]

Man, my team is sucking donkey balls this week. I had six skaters going last night, and they managed a whopping one PP assist and a -7 rating. I'm -12 for the week and only have one goalie game under my belt which netted an impressive loss and an .818 save percentage.