I HAD A DREAM…

Last night my sub-conscious was taken to a ride to left field, when the usual suspects in my dream world consisting of the likes of Angelina JoLee, Scarlet Johanson, any of the heroines from the Austin Powers series and the double mint twins (together of course) were replaces with the storky outline of Chris Lee. Turns out Chris Lee doesn’t look as good in a red cocktail dress, but after haven subconsciously take a baseball bat to his face, forced him to sit through a whole Abba album and fed him through a wood chipper he was just as fulfilling. He was back to his antics last night, and anyone who disagrees that he is monumentally biased against the HABS is a blind fool who’s mental incapacities can rival the Crazy Cat Suit Man (speaking of which, haven’t seen Crazy Cat Suit Man yet…hope he’s OK).

With the exception of one or two, I’ll give it to the refs that they called valid penalties against us…no argument there. However they let the Wild go Wild on us and missed a few calls and decided to knit pick against the Bleu Blanc et Rouge as a direct result of a hissy fit by Jacques Lemaire. I suppose it is the reality of the game that junior refs are susceptible to the influence of established coaches.

In the meanwhile it was great practice for our PK, and a game like this can really get them on a roll and point them down the right track. Superb show for Carey Price and it was good to see Markov pot his first goal…it was long overdue and well deserved.

On a final not…I hate Chris Lee.

AROU YOU READY TO KOIVU?!

Sweet…two brothers, the captains of their respective teams, facing off against each other tonight (starting from the opening face off I presume) in the NHL. Boy would I love to be a fly on the wall during the Koivu’s Christmas get together this year. This game has bragging right written all over it. The team who wins will crown one brother as superior to the other, so we can expect both Koivu’s to play at the top of their game. This could potentially be a good thing for us, if the young Koivu lets his emotions get the better of him, and tries to attack too much, thus opening the crap trap game Minnesota likes to curse the world with.

We have had difficulty last year against teams that play this style of game, and are repeating the same patter this year. I will be hoping in a pessimistic fashion that we can not only deal with this style of game, but dominate it. The key is to score the first goal and score on the power plays, thus forcing the opposing crap trap to open up in an attempt to increase scoring chances. Our problem of course has been to score first and on the power play. Here’s hoping we can win this one without chewing through what little remains I have on my finger nails.

PS Some members have been having trouble refreshing the MN Table and NL standings. If the refresh button doesn’t fix it, we found that logging off and back on to the forum helps fix the problem.

IT’S MY FAULT IT’S SNOWING, BUT IT’S ALL ABOUT THE CHEMISTRY

My apologies MN-Nation…I am the one responsible for the snow. I had my winter tires installed on the car yesterday, winterized my car (which is a fancy way of saying I threw my brush and scraper on the back seat), set-up my Tempo, and BOOM! Snow. I feel aright about it knowing that I am ready for the winter, but I am sure I have burdened many of you who are yet to tackle the winterizing issues around the house and the car.

To make up for the white stuff, I struck a deal with the All Might Sponge Bob. He told me the HABS were poised to loose the game against the Canes, because they were unable to give as a team, and this will lead to failures in the transition game, defensive end as well as turn-over’s in all three zones of the arena. The big yellow porous guy owes me one so he said he’d hook us up with another “phew…at least we got the two points” win, like a few other we already got in this early season.

I’m not worried about the team performing, but I am beginning to wonder when the team will get going. It’s a chemistry thing IMHO, and once the chemistry is there, the passes will be crisp, which will help the transition game and allow our defence-men to NOT look like a bunch of McCabe’s on the ice. The chemistry will also help our special teams, especially on the scoring end. The chemistry is what this team is missing, and perhaps it has to do with all the attention around the centennial celebrations. It can, and most probably is, a major distraction to the locker room. Furthermore, the media pinned them as the Eastern Champions before the puck even dropped, so I can imagine it would be fairly difficult to remain in “the here and now” and remain focused on the game.

We couldn’t have asked for better role models for the locker room than Bob Gainey, Guy Carbonneau, Kirk Muller and Doug Jarvis in helping them stay focused on the game instead of the media and marketing circus happening around them for our entertainment. Such is the plight of a professional athlete competing in a town where the team surpassed all major religions in the hierarchy rector scale, but it is an issue that must be tackled none the less.

In the meanwhile I’m happy we’re on the receiving end of the two points, because we just as easily could have been 3-4-1. Hopefully a nice road trip will help the boys come together, away from all the distractions that Montreal throws their way.

DO IT FOR THE TEUS’

Mateus is back and can watch the game in peace with no guilty conscience. So go out there and give us lots of goals to watch…or so help me…

TIME IS NOT ON MY SIDE

Phew…what a weekend and what a start to the week. I am all for 50 hour days so I can get around to the more important things in life…such as the HABS and the forum.

A quick recap of Saturday would be to say the lazy plays on our end were expected. Not justified but expected. The guys had entirely too long between games. No one is gelling yet this early in the season, and an elongated six days from game day to game day just cooled everyone off. Might as well have been the first game of the season. As for the refs, I didn’t agree with a few of their calls and missed calls (what’s new there) especially on the penalty shot.

However there is a sliver lining to this loss. We were down and we caught up. We got ahead and let it slip out of our hands. We left our goalies out to dry and it was an all around disappointing and pathetic loss. The locker room was pretty demoralised I’m sure, and the coaching staff must have (should have / hopefully did) pull a John Tortorellaesqu tantrum after the game. So what’s so good ni all this. This is our first significant adversity in the season. It might be just two points lost against an out of Conference team early in the season, but mentally and emotionally it was a pretty hard blow. It will be interesting to see how the team and locker-room react to this, and I’ve got my money on a Dominant (with a capital “D”) win over the Canes.

I NEED HOCKEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEY!!!!!!!!!

All work and no hockey make HLD something something…

As tough as a week I’m having at work, and as hard as it is having two poopers at home to look after, and as sleep deprived I am, the agony would have been significantly more bearable had we had a proper dosage of Les Habitants to numb the pain.

34 hours till HABS puck drop tomorrow seems entirely too far and I’m going slowly crazy I am slowy going crazy slowly crazy I am…

In the meanwhile, no news about Andrei coming back…not good. On an individual level he is a human being and the life style as well as the level of comfort for the rest of his life hangs in the balance. More importantly, on a selfish level, he is an integral part of the team, and if we are to push for a cup this year we need him in the line-up – no questions. Here’s hoping for a solid and 100% recovery.

MN NUMBERS LOOK GOOD

MN Playoff didn’t drop last night, but MN TO sure did. It’s already at 140. I have a feeling MN TO NO GO will be clinched far earlier than MN Playoffs this year.

That’s all I have to say for today. Short, sweet, uplifting and yet another backhanded pimp slap at the Maple Turds :D