grind your soul

WADE MOTHERFUCKIN BELAK That is all.

Hopefully the Sens offense wakes up; I need to see one Ontario team dominant this year. Plus, this way, at least these past couple of games will have been good for something. Good god, Belak has looked horrible this year. I don't understand why Maurice insists on playing him on defence. Him just being on the ice on the blueline this year has been almost a magnet for the other teams to score. He's, I believe, +2 as a forward, and a -4 as a defenceman. Please, end this. I fully expect him to be waived in the next few days.

Wellwood is going to have a BIG year, mark my words. Four assists tonight! He's on pace for 164 on the year!

Excellent stuff, Hajjhowe.

Keep in mind, for 15 games next year [aka 20% of their games and 36.5% of their home games], the Sabres will be wearing their retro blue, white and gold jerseys with the old logo on it, so that'll be pretty cool to see.

I show up once in awhile to check on the LAW in the Dome. Usually I'll gander at Cube hockey-related stories, though I've basically given up on reading dynasties of any sort.

This is a bit old, but...

Ohlund's x-rays came back negative - no breaks, just sore/bruised ribs. So he should be fine in a week or two.

Canada also managed two silver and two bronze medals today, to double their medal total. Go Canada! Hopefully we'll be able to at least double that, if not more.

Yeah it was said that he's basically done for the Olympics but should be ready for when the NHL season resumes. Germany/Canada in about 45 minutes!

While Hossa isn't putting up the biggest numbers ever, you have to realize that he's more of a player than just a scorer. He's probably Atlanta's best penalty killer [which, I know, isnt saying much], and would probably penalty kill on any team he is on. He's not selfish with the puck anymore, and his defensive skills have greatly improved. Spezza, Havlat, Savard and the other players you mentioned are pure offensive players and many only penalty kill in situations where they are looking to break out and score a shortie, whereas Hossa is one of Atlanta's go-to guys and is dependable in any situation. With Jokinen, you're getting the same thing. This year, Jokinen is Florida's best skater, is putting up the numbers that many people were expecting him to put up, and is doing it with, like SDM said, relatively little cast behind him other than a goalie, J-Bo, Van Ryn, and some washed-up vets and underperforming top rounders like Chris Gratton and Rusty Olesz. Jokinen is also a penalty killer and is not selfish in his own end or the cause of a lot of opposing rushes, like Spezza and someone like Marc Savard or Ilya Kovalchuk. Jokinen is one of the faces of Florida, but he's unhappy there and I think he might actually do better if he was traded somewhere else. However, Ottawa's depth at center [spezza, Smoke, Fisher, Vermette, Eaves, Kelly] is already good. Getting Jokinen would likely cause Smoke to move to second line wing, along with Fisher, leaving Spezza to center Alfie and Heatley. I can't see that exactly being a problem for the Sens, but offensively Havlat is a more gifted player than Jokinen.

Well it's not like playing Tomas Vokoun puts them at a significant disadvantage or anything.

Yes, but they also played stretches without Alfredsson, Redden and Spezza while he was gone. So saying that he's the main reason they were winning is a bit insane

Damn Lint, who is that jailbait in your sig? And where can I see more of her pictures without having to pay? I missed the ski jump. I love the ski jump. Luckily, CBC is broadcasting the Olympics "OnDemand" so I can watch that shit in a day or two. Woooooo. Canadian women's hockey is SO BORING because nobody in their division can match up to them. Russia was apparently going to be the "big test" and we won 12-0. Hopefully Sweden can give us a hard time, because I really don't like seeing these blowouts. Luge is crazy. So is short track speed skating. I'm glad I got to see some of that. I don't like any of the converted X-Games, but at least they're all 100x better than ice dancing or figure skating. I can't wait for hockey! Even if Canada's defence is weak and their forwards aren't as strong as they could be, we're still better than the US. I think we're going to have problems with the European teams, but fortunately our round robin pool is really easy, with Finland being a possible tough game [but with their injuries and drop-outs, I'm not sure how tough], and the New York Rang - er, sorry, the Czechs likely wiping the floor wth us. But at least we should do okay in the tournament. SDM: If Liv even gets into a game, I'll be stunned. He's playing behind Lundqvist and Tellqvist, so I don't see it happening.

Leafs re-signed Kaberle because he's the team's most versatile defenceman, also the only one who can skate and the only one who can carry the puck. Also, Redden and Chara are up for renewals this year - they will be making more than Kaberle, or something very similar to. I still think the Leafs are totally fucked in regards to the cap for next season, but at least they'll have one of their best two defenceman there to help the squad. Grapehead: If Emery and Hasek are let go, who is going to play in goal? naiwf: The refs fucked the Leafs over in the first game, however I doubt they would've won anyway. The Rags outplayed them that night by a large margin. And last night, the Leafs only played the third period, along with bits of the other two. Taking penalties against the Rangers = bad thing to do. Someone needs to get this through the Leafs' heads.

Saturday night's Sens game is on CBC.. Hockey Night in Canada, durrrr. McCabe's "unsportsmanlike" penalty was the biggest load of bullshit I've ever seen. But yeah we didn't deserve to win that game.

In reference to Jerichoholic calling the Leafs "old":

I'm just poking my head in to say that the Leafs should firesale for prospects. I've never seen the Leafs re-build [i don't think many others have either] and I'd be interested to see how it would go. They'd need a complete overhaul of the entire team, but it could work. They already have some good defensive prospects. And for any Harrison bandwagon jumpers, I'd been calling that shit for years, so kindly start jocking me for knowing my shit right now.

I don't understand how anyone can call that Cola injury "dirty". HE MISSED A HIT. Had Varada been one stride forward, it would've been BOMBASTIC. But he wasn't. That's not dirty. As for ther est of the game, the Leafs and Sens played very even for the whole game. The Leafs had prolonged periods where they were in control, as did the Sens. That "blown call" may or may not have been blown, HOWEVER the fact that Redden was IN the box, the ref had blown the whistle to continue play, and the penalty had been announced by both the ref AND the PA announcer - and THEN was overturned was complete bullshit. The fact that they scored on what would've been a penalty kill was just bad luck for a Leafs team which is seeing a string of it. At least Tie showed a lot of balls, with a Howe Hat Trick. Congrats, Tie, you had one good game left in you after all! And Ovechkin is the fucking man. If he played on a real team, I might be inclined to purchase a jersey. But alas.. he's on Washington.

Here's me weighing in on things: Vancouver = soft? Tell that to Bertuzzi, Kesler, Linden, Ruutu, Brookbank, Bieksa, Jovanovski and Allen. Calgary = trap? Well, Dogbert bit his own ass by saying that most of the team were two-way forwards, thus making them completely capable of being a trapping team. I don't think they trap more than any other defensively-minded team [who aren't the Devils, Wild or Ducks], but they're not exactly running and gunning. Marcus Nilson kicks ass. Kristian Huselius is inconsistant but has the Northern Touch. Ottawa = best defence? I don't see how you could think otherwise. I'm tempted to run down the rest of the league's top six just to prove my point. But I won't, because the general consensus is that Ottawa's defence is the best. Sure, their seventh best defenceman is Christoph Schubert, but them's the breaks for depth when you have a lot of high-priced players. I'd rank Nashville up there with Ottawa, too. Markov, Timonen, Hamhuis, Zidlicky, Suter, Eaton, Klein, Weber, etc. They need one gigantic shutdown defender before they will be truly elite, but they are solid and have plenty of depth. Leafs = worst defence? Without McCabe, I'm going to say that it's very close. Kaberle cannot carry the load himself, and despite being a terrific offensive defenceman with rushing abilities few others posess, he cannot cut it defensively. Otherwise, they have Colaiacovo, who is inconsistant as hell and isn't very good defensively outside of his bruising hits, they have Klee, who is having a terrible year by his standards, they have Khavanov and Berg, who are just really, really, REALLY bad, they have Kronwall, who is taking lessons on defence from Khavanov and Berg, and then there's Belak, who is best used playing six minutes a night and has looked terrible in a physical role this year, which is about the only thing he's good at. In the AHL, there's Wozniewski, who has exactly one NHL game to his benefit and isn't looking like a stand-out for the Marlies. Then they have Brad Brown, a former Wild captain who is slow as hell and has zero offensively ability, Marc Moro, the Marlies captain who looked absolutely atrocious in one pre-season game and Jay Harrison, a solid, but slow, defensive defenceman with a great slapshot and much improved passing plays who has benefitted greatly from Paul Maurice on the Marlies. So do the Leafs have a terrible defence? Yes. End of story. They aren't "in the bottom half of the league". They're "one or two from the bottom of the league". I mean, give me a fucking break. COLUMBUS has a more solid defence than the Leafs right now.

At the mid-way point: Team of the Year: Ottawa Senators [runner-up: Philly] Pleasant Surprise of the Year: Carolina Hurricanes [runner-up: Buffalo] Disappointment of the Year: Pittsburgh Penguins [runner-up: Boston] I Called That Shit: Nashville Predators [runner-up: Los Angeles] Hart Trophy [MVP]: Daniel Alfredsson, OTT [runner-up: Peter Forsberg, PHI] Calder Trophy: Alex Ovechkin, WSH [runner-up: Sidney Crosby, PIT] Norris Trophy [best d-man]: Bryan McCabe, TOR [runner-up: Wade Redden, OTT] And I'm bored so that's what you get for now. Expanded Calder voting: 1 - Ovechkin 2 - Crosby 3 - Lundqvist 4 - Phaneuf 5 - Svatos 6 - Meszaros