http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i4x1ORED5uY
On a side note, here are my NHL thoughts for the week...
1 a – Daily Oiler Bashing: Edmonton lost to Detroit twice in a one week span. I understand the first loss on the road, fine, but the second at home within a week?! Did the Oilers and the staff not learn anything, especially coming off the big win against Columbus? Did they not know that Detroit shoots about 40 times a game, controls the neutral zone at will and rarely turns the puck over? I don't understand how they didn't make the necessary adjustments...
1 b – I don't understand how people can say that Roloson is our #1 goalie. Being a #1 is all about getting results. I understand Roli is playing well and giving it his 110% effort, but that doesn't equal wins and doesn't get Edmonton to the playoffs. Roli is 3-3-2, Garon is 3-5-0. Deslauriers is 3-1-0. Will the real Oiler goalie please stand up.
1 c – Since it's my blog and I can skew the stats however I want... the Oilers are only 1 point back of the playoff race... but are only 4 points from being in the Western Conference basement... Oh my Dallas Stars... how the mighty have fallen... * sigh *
2 – First Brodeur, now Luongo. Whose next, Lundqvist? Jersey has gone 5-4-0 (30GF, 27GA) without Brodeur, but I'm hesistant to think the Canucks can have the same success. Demitra has been a big lift to the Sedins since he has come back and they will have to continue to score because, frankly, they'll need to win games 6-5 instead of 2-1 now...
3 – The recent trend this year seems to be new(er) 3rd jerseys. With my bias being the Oilers, I'll exclude them in my top 3... LA (gotta love the old-school grey & black), Ottawa and San Jose (that shark looks pretty wicked).
4 a - I saw a recent poll that asked who was the Best Forward of the 2003 Draft... Ryan Getzlaf, Zach Parise, Thomas Vanek, Mike Richards or Eric Staal.
I think I'm going to rank them... Getzlaf, Vanek, Staal, Richards, Parise.
4 b – The same poll asked about the Best Dman of the 2003 Draft... Dion Phaneuf, Brent Seabrook, Braydon Coburn, Ryan Suter or Brent Burns.
I think I'm going to have to go... Phaneuf, Burns, Coburn, Seabrook, Suter.
5 a – Here are some stats to chew on... There are 44 players on a point-per-game pace... There are 21 teams that are .500 or better... Boston and Vancouver, as a team, are +20; Colorado, St. Louis and Calgary are all -12... The highest attendance this year is 22, 690 (Detroit 6 @ Chicago 5), the lowest is 10,183 (Dallas 5 @ NYI 3)... Players are 6/16 on penalty shots...
5 b – Top 5 College Hockey Factories
| | | # of Current NHL Players | Notable Players |
| 1. | Univ. Of Michigan Wolverines | 21 | Marty Turco, John Madden, Mike Knuble, Brendan Morrison |
| 2. (tie) | Univ. Of Wisconsin Badgers | 14 | Chris Chelios, Curtis Joseph, Brian Rafalski, Dany Heatley |
| 2. (tie) | Univ. Of North Dakota Fighting Sioux | 14 | Jason Blake, Mike Commodore, Zach Parise, Jonathan Toews |
| 4. | Boston College Eagles | 13 | Brian Gionta, Bill Guerin, Marty Reasoner, Brooks Orpik |
| 5. (tie) | Boston Univ. Terriers | 12 | Keith Tkachuk, Rick DiPietro, Chris Drury, Jay Pandolfo |
| 5. (tie) | Michigan St. Univ. Spartans | 12 | Rod Brind'Amour, Bryan Smolinski, Ryan Miller, Shawn Horcoff |
5 c – For the 2nd time this year, Mike Ribeiro has given us a gem of a shootout deke. Although he didn't score, he did have Hiller beat and it would have just been ridiculous if he had scored. The clip is only 26 seconds, check it out...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ECXJIaskhQA
Here are my non-NHL thoughts for the week...
1 – The year's BEST psych-out. You absolutely need to watch this clip. I can't even explain the intensity. It's the Rugby World Cup final between Australia (the Red Wings of rugby) and New Zealand (more like Sens of rugby, a good team, but just can't get over the hump) in Australia. The Kiwi's do a 'haka' before the match as a ceremonial prayer (much like a national anthem) and the other team is supposed to act accordingly: some teams go into a huddle, some teams turn their backs and others actually stand and listen. Watch what the Aussie's do. Listen to the crowd, you can't even hear the players yelling. I can only really compare to... If Canada were singing the national anthem, and the Americans got right up in their face while they were singing, could you imagine the emotion and drama? Goosebumps.
2 – Hey, Drew, USC for life. They moved up to #5 this week (Thanks, Texas Tech) in the BCS. The top 4 are in their sights with #53 Notre Dame (how did they do this past week Drew? Oh right, a humiliating 24-23 lose to #108 SYRACUSE!!!) and #69 UCLA. Brett, we just need to pray to the BCS Gods that #27 Oregon can upset #17 Oregon St.
3 a – Hallelujah Adam Vinatieri! A 51-yarder, with no time left, to win the game for the Colts. They are 7-4, have won 4 straight and (because of tie-breakers) guess who is on the outside of the playoff picture looking in... oh would you look at that! It's the Patriots! Quite the turn-around isn't it, Sporer? On a side note, I beat the Pats 38-0 in my NFL 2K5 dynasty.
3 b – Did anyone even care there was a Grey Cup game on yesterday? I mean, I watched the game because I'm a sports fan, but I certainly wasn't into it. I just hate Calgary so much... and Montreal for that matter, plus when you throw in the 'Riders, BC and Toronto and I actually hate over 60% of the league. I think I might actually hate the league itself. Henry Burris was labeled as 'not being able to win the big game', but Anthony Calvillo is 1-5 in Grey Cups... So... Who actually can't win the 'big game'?
4 – Spanish sensation Sergio Garcia is #2 in the world rankings of golf. I adore him. Spanish sensation Rafael Nadal is #1 in the world rankings of tennis. I wish him to be struck dead. Fernando 'El Nino' Torres plays for the Spanish national soccer team. I love him. Fernando 'El Nino' Torres plays for Liverpool FC. I wish death upon him. Spanish athletes confuse me.
5 – Taco Bell is just not as good as Taco Time and I'll give you three good reasons why: 1. Taco Bell uses a beef like paste rather then real meat... 2. Taco Time has 99 cent Taco Tuesday... 3. Taco Time has a cactus as its logo, those are Mexican. Was the bell created by a Mexican? No. So, what the heck does a bell have to do with Mexico or tacos?
Cheers.
-Smith
p.s. Barry, I'm glad our friendship is still in tact.
You moron, you talk to me about spelling but maybe you should try it yourself. For one, Jonas Hiller's name does not have an A in the last name. John Madden's last name does not have an O, and those are some of hockey's easy last names! Oh and one other thing, you name Brendan Morrison over Doug Weight as a U of Michigan grad, for shame! For shame! Oh and p.s. you should take your relationship with your Mike Ribeiro somewhere else.....fags!
ReplyDeleteYou are so right. My bad Sporer. I guess I just go caught up in writing my own thoughts & opinions while researching stats to help OUR blog, not just copy and pasting from TSN. Thanks for your 'witty' contribution comment though!
ReplyDeleteOh and its got, not go.
ReplyDeleteSometimes I think you do copy and paste from TSN though. Brendan Morrow getting fat on his couch makes me smile :)
hey dont argue fags,
ReplyDeleteand steve, USC is going down 2 embarassing losses in a year for USC, GO Irish, and yes i did watch the Irish lose, but the Golden Tate-Jimmy Clausen combo is going so very Epic in there senior year, so what im saying is, watch out for a national championship in 2 years for the Irish, and suck it USC Condoms
Irish for life!!!
ReplyDelete