This is a post title. It is made of words and witty.
Wednesday, October 18, 2006
After a little dramatic back and forth with Time-Warner, cable service (and my cable modem) was re-connected this morning. If I was a smart person and actually got a standard phone line instead of my phone through the cable modem service, I could have at least gotten on via some sweet, delicious 56kbps goodness. Good thing I also have a Wi-Fi enabled laptop, since it meant I could at least take care of some non-hockey related items of business (see: school) before midnight via the neighbor's wireless router!So, yeah. What's going on, right? It's the middle of the week and things are about as dead around here in Columbus as the Flyers were last night after the Sabres reminded them how they left the playoffs last season. I am so hating the fact I couldn't catch it on Versus because of the cable situation I had going on.
Other than that, I wanted to mention that along with Eric at Off Wing and James Mirtle, I've also gotten a big hankering to get back on the ice after at least four years without so much as a pick-up game at a local rink. When I was at the University of Missouri for a couple years, it was just about impossible to get to any sort of ice rink. And when you lack a rink, you just can't go play.
So now I'm really chomping at the bit here and trying to at least get back into respectable shape before I go and embarass myself. I've dropped weight at exponential speeds since I started excercising in late August, and another couple dozen pounds and I think I'll feel good enough to get out there and get my ice legs under me again. And since Columbus is brimming with ice rinks both in and around the region, it won't be a task just getting to one for once.
Man, I really am kicking myself for ever leaving Allegheny College now. Even if it was just club hockey, it was awesome.
But, anyway! The Blue Jackets are, by all accounts and reports, practicing to exhaustion with the time they have between last Saturday's demolishing by the Wild in Minnesota, and this Friday's game against the visiting Toronto Maple Leafs, who will only be coming to Columbus for the second time in their history.
If the loooong ticket image isn't enough hint, I'll be going and be seated dead center in the upper bowl. As much as I love the vibe and the feel of being in the lower bowl, it's both costly and can be a real pain if you don't get just the right seat (see: middle and several seats away from the glass). That, and the price ... it's like someone's sticking a vacuum in your pocket if you ever try to look for decent seats around there.
The big story right now that is leading up to Friday's game? Will Sergei Fedorov play or not? It probably is not a good sign if Fedorov is still wearing the no contact sweater as late as Tuesday, but maybe I'm looking too much into that. What I do know is that it's been a real game of waffling when it comes to Fedorov's condition since he was first injured. Most people will recall the earlier reports in the start of the season that both Fedorov and Alexander Svitov were recovering at a faster pace than they were expected, which definitely helped fans to hold out hope for a speedier recovery than was first projected.
Now we're in the fourth week since the injury, so we're in that minimal time range for Fedorov's projected return. Fedorov himself is saying that this could turn out to be a game time decision, so all we can do is keep an eye out for any new updates on things. If he starts practicing without the no contact jersey any time today or tomorrow, that'll definitely take a load off my shoulders and help me jump from "wary" to "cautiously optimistic."
Closing up, I just want to throw out that despite the lack of anything positive from the Wild game Saturday, the CBJ still rank 3rd in the PP. On the other hand they now rank about 21st on the PK, in large part because of their giving up two power play goals on eight opportunities that the Wild had. Not pretty. Here's hoping they can start to move that PK up the charts and hopefully keep that PP clicking, especially if Fedorov is back in action and on the point for it.
Saw last night on the news (haven't checked the paper yet this morning) that Sergei is expected back on Monday against San Jose.
On the same news broadcast, there was a story about Rusty Klesla dropping by OSU to sit in on a Czech language class.
I'm looking forward to the CBJ getting back on the ice. Win or lose, I need hockey!