Shallow Frozen Water

Sunday morning armchair

really long day for me yesterday, very tiring for these 41 yr old bones.  i started the day off as our work team’s goaltender in a scrimmage against another office.  i did very well if i do say so myself, and since i’m the only one writing here then i do.  we won 3 out 4 games; 3-2, 5-4, 3-4, 4-1.  i almost had myself a shuttie in the last game which would’ve been nice but that’s ok i expect i’ll do that again so maybe next time.

during the evening i attended the Manitoba Football Officials Awards Banquet during which i was awarded the Wrong Way award for being 40 yards out of position  TWICE in the same game.  not nice.  oh, and Brian Dobie, head coach of the Vanier Cup winning Manitoba Bisons was our guest speaker and he actually brought the Vanier Cup with him.  i got me a pic, how cool is that?

vanier-cup.jpg i tried to insert the actual pic but i would’ve had to resize and i didn’t have the time.  sorry, i still hope that works fine.

Donald Brashear may’ve just cost his team the playoffs.  losing that game when they had it well in hand.  the Caps have been a team to watch of late and they needed those 2 pts yesterday.  he took 6 PIMs late and was joined by Erskine and Poti to create two 5 on 3’s during that 6 minute PIM.  those were stupid penalties too but Brashear’s was a back breaker.

Zdeno Chara tied his career high for goals in a season.  man when he was a Sen i thought he was such a phenomenal D and then last year as a Bruin was a disappointment but let me tell ya, Z is an elite D.  he can hurt you in every way, on the scoreboard, defending or just with an Easton to the chicklets (but not in an illegal way, dude’s so tall that he has to bend over to crosscheck most guys).

im pleased that i advised a buddy to roster and start Jose Theodore a couple months ago.  hairboy has been starting a ton and succeeding a lot too.

Peter Forsberg got his first points on the season.  in case you’re wondering, he’s still pretty good at this sort of stuff.  i’d expect 20 pts or so out of him in the 20 games or so he’ll put in this season.  he’s a great add for H2H playoffs.

the Habs were saying that they’d start Halak for one of these games on their Western trip but i was expecting it to be in PHX earlier this week.  it was in LA yesterday and i made the mistake of starting Price.  it sucks when i don’t have time to research stuff and i have to go with a gut call.  Halak isn’t worth rostering even though he’s a decent goaltender, he won’t start much.

Saku Koivu scored a really nice goal on a deflection yesterday.  Saku hardly ever scores a goal so a really nice one is even more a rarity.

Anze Kopitar went 1 and 1 and the Kings only got 2 goals.  Alexander Frolov didn’t even take a shot on goal.  there’s a HUGE difference tween these 2 guys.

i told my wife that she might want to watch the Sens/Yotes on tv since i won’t be around last night (at the football banquet) and she humoured me.  she didn’t watch.  i love her anyway.

the Sens started Darth Gerber for the 7th game in a row, think Bryan Murray may be saying something to Mr. Emery?

when Alffy isn’t playing then Mike Fisher gets more opportunity and he almost always contributes.  he may very well move on though after this season and i hope people realize that he’s capable of a lot more than just being a checking C.

if the Caps are to take over the SE division the the Canes are going to have to stop winning games.  Scott Walker scored an OT PP goal to beat the Sabres.  go take a look at Walker’s stats as they are compared to games played and you’ll a very much neglected power forward option.

if Derek Roy can manage to stay healthy he could do next year what Ryan Getzlaf if doing this year.  if he can be healthy then he’s a keeper type that guys overlook.  that’s if he can stay healthy and i wonder about that … hmmm.

who is Brett McLean that he’s getting  20 mins of ice time and 2 goals in a divisional game late in  the season?  he’s not the prospect McLean who’s an Avalanche, he looks like he’ll be a journeyman plugger.  whatever, if you’re the Panthers i don’t get why you give so much to a guy who’ll project as a 3rd or 4th liner when you have some young guys that i’d want to see on the ice instead.  i can think of a couple kids that i’d much rather see get 20 minutes of ice at this time of year rather than have McLean out there.

Erik Christenson is getting opportunity in ATL, watch out for a bit of a breakout for him next year.  he could be mixed in and complement the stars much like Slava Kozlov has done there in the past.

Zach Parise is a star.  damn it.  can’t believe he sunk my Leafs in the waning seconds of the game.  by the way, it think Paul Maurice has a point when he says that if you push the goaltender into the net while trying to score then that’s a penalty.  whatever.

please Leafs, tank just enough that you have a shot at one of the top 6 picks.  you’re not getting Steven Stamkos but there’s a handful of young D that you can still go get.  if we have a Chris Pronger type in Toronto in a couple years then i’d just wipe the tears caused by this abysmal season and i’d go right into my annual chorus of “maybe next year”.

Scott Hartnell has 22 goals and 139 PIMs, now that is power forward stats guys.  i can’t think of better PIM/pt combinations right now.  Sean Avery might get back there again next year but right now Hartnell is carrying the banner.

i was looking at a keeper league this week that had Braydon Coburn at a really good price.  Coburn has 32 pts on the season and he hsa to be considered as a keep down the road if the price is right.  for example could you possibly get Kevin Bieksa back for $20 next year?  or Alexander Frolov at $32?  quite possibly.  but are you going to get Coburn back at $20?  maybe not.  the guy in this league even offered Coburn up in  several trade talks (with my advice to do so) and got no takers.  i just don’t get some guys, Coburn is going to be a special guy on an offense that’s only going to get better as their deep system continues to feed the Flyers.

i love Brad Boyes.  yes he’s been ice cold of late but he got 2 last night and the Blues looked like they were going to win before i fell asleep as my wife turned the channel over to SNL.  i found Boyes on my waiver wire of my 10 team H2H this week and i was thrilled by that.  no teams play more in the H2H playoffs than the Blues, Flames and Canucks.  load up on those teams in H2H if you can.

Alex Burrows scored after a breakaway that started just past his own blueline.  the other D had gone down low and his partner didn’t realize it.  Burrows got the puck and was gone.  nice move for the goal too.

Barret Jackman got 2 assists and a fight with Ryan Kesler last night.  my first reaction was that Kesler is a little guy and shouldn’t be fighting Jackman but it just turns out that Kesler is 6′2″ and is just excellent as a checker.