Live ... blogging? What is this "live blogging" you speak of?
Friday, March 16, 2007
You know, I haven't done a liveblogging of a game since, if I recall, last year's Western Conference Finals, when on a whim I decided to liveblog the last game that the Anaheim Ducks and the Edmonton Oilers played before the Oil headed off to the Stanley Cup Finals!
So, I figure ... Hell, why not now, right? I'm not sick anymore, I have a nice comfy living room to crash in, and a giant TV to oogle while writing. Let's see if I can't do something worthwhile.
Go easy on me and my piddly liveblogging skills, folks. I bruise like a peach!
==10:20 PM EST (pre-game show)==
Man ... the behind the scenes of the Joe Thornton commercial is really amusing me. Who knew the nuances of screwing up toast were so complex?
==10:35 PM EST (commercials)==
Oh, Hitch ... to see you have to do Haydacy Automotive commercials ... it's so painful. In fact, seeing any Jackets' player do those commercials is more painful than even the worst loss.
==10:38 PM EST==
Oh, God, what the Hell! It's like the camera is all washed out! ::Gouges eyes.:: The ice seems so ... off-white. The picture itself at the HP Pavilion seems extremely weird.
==10:41 PM EST (17:12 (1st) remaining)==
Jeff Rimer referred to the Jackets as the Panthers when talking about Doug MacLean. I wonder if anyone would ever consider tracking how often Rimer calls the Jackets the Panthers over a full season, starting next season.
==10:46 PM EST (14:07 (1st) remaining)==
Man, what a close call. And what a load of bunk that that Sharks player knocked the net out of its moorings when there was such a perfect opportunity for a shorthanded attempt. But alas, it's obvious that it wasn't intentional, and was simply a slip of the skates.
==10:53 PM EST (10:31 (1st) remaining)==
Watching as Svitov flubbed the pass by Vyborny, I get the feeling that is what I was concerned about when he was back with the top line for a few games. True, Veeb's pass could have been more on the tape, but he already did more than enough zipping the puck through a crowd from east to west in front of the net.
==10:58 PM EST (7:30 (1st) remaining)==
2 for 2 on the penalty kill against the #1 power play. So far, so good. I like what I've seen from Vyborny on the PK while manning the point during it.
==11:05 PM EST (3:02 (1st) remaining)==
Ugh. What a total letdown when it comes to covering your man. Tollefsen just didn't have the speed to keep up with Thornton, and that much was evident by the way he tried to catch him. What a mismatch.
1-0 Sharks.
==11:15 PM EST (1st intermission)==
I don't really understand the fire and pitchforks that I seem to see from certain regions of the Blue Jackets' fanbase which want Anders Eriksson off the team faster than a Road Runner on speed. He's one of just a few defensemen with a positive +/- standing, even considering his low point output. He's a UFA at the end of the year, and I know I wouldn't mind seeing him return. In fact, I'd be all for it. True, he doesn't score, and he isn't as speedy as some of the younger blue line. But he actually knows how to play D, which says a lot for this team.
==11:29 PM EST (18:10 (2nd) remaining)==
Holy crap! What a save! No, I mean, what a pair of saves! Norrena deserves all the credit in the world for both of those!
... !*&@ ... another penalty on the Jackets. Damnit, Methot.
==11:34 PM EST (16:10 (2nd) remaining)==
Cheechoo, you twit. Way to go hacking at Norrena. You deserved a lot more than just a minor scrum and then a penalty.
... argh! Fedorov! I know you were being pressured a little from behind, but that was such a gaping wide open net on the odd man rush! You need to put those away! That could've been the tie-breaker!
Incidentally, the clock apparently is malfunctioning. So it's hard to give any definitive time in the game at the moment until it's fixed.
==11:49 PM EST (7:04 (2nd) remaining)==
Well, the Jackets are trying hard, but right now it doesn't seem like it's enough. Give Aaron Johnson credit for playing as hard as possible, and there's been a couple prime opportunities for the team so far. They've continued to play a moderately strong penalty kill, so give them credit for fending off the best PP unit in the league so far.
They just need to score, is all. Toskala is just back from injury ... take advantage of any shakiness.
==11:53 PM EST (5:45 (2nd) remaining)==
Penalty on the Sharks for a trip on Shelley. The Sharks didn't seem too happy about it, and the penalty did look a bit shaky. Then again, Shelley doesn't seem the type to intentionally klutz around on his skates to draw anything. Then again, maybe that pugilistic demeanor is all a clever ruse! Oh my!
==12:00 AM EST (1:39 (2nd) remaining)==
Man, just this team's luck that they're somehow dominating on the shot co--
... fucking fucking fuck. What a horrible, horrible goal to give up by Norrena. Even factoring in his stupendously amazing, miracle saves earlier ... what a horrid goal to give up. How could you give up such a wretched goal?
Sigh. 2-0 Sharks.
==12:06 AM EST (2nd intermission)==
Man, Johnson seems to always be on lightning in a bottle whenever he's interviewed.
==12:21 AM EST (18:22 (3rd) remaining)==
I can't help but be unable to shake the feeling that the bad goal against the Jackets at the end of the last period deflated the team a little too much. I hope it's just me being excessively pessimistic.
==12:35 AM EST (9:50 (3rd) remaining)==
Tic ... toc ... tic ... toc ... closer we come to the shutout record clock.
Labels: Blue Jackets, liveblogging, Sharks
Wait, what?
Friday, February 16, 2007
Rick Nash starting fights, dropping the gloves, and wrestling people to the ice in rage (and the player turtling instead of retaliating)?
Adam Foote with a maniacal, almost evil grin on the jumbotron as he grappled with a Sharks player?
Nikolai Zherdev doing dives a full quarter rink width's distance to deflect a shot in to the netting with his skates?
Jody Shelley playing sound defense, even without a stick?
... Columbus shutting out San Jose?
This makes about as much sense as a huge anthropomorphic pear laughing and grinning with teeth the size of my head.
Well. I stand corrected.
(I'm still intending to post on Sunday, by the way. Just had to get this out of my system before I went to bed. Accursed 11 PM shift on a Saturday.)
Adam Foote with a maniacal, almost evil grin on the jumbotron as he grappled with a Sharks player?
Nikolai Zherdev doing dives a full quarter rink width's distance to deflect a shot in to the netting with his skates?
Jody Shelley playing sound defense, even without a stick?
... Columbus shutting out San Jose?
This makes about as much sense as a huge anthropomorphic pear laughing and grinning with teeth the size of my head.
Well. I stand corrected.
(I'm still intending to post on Sunday, by the way. Just had to get this out of my system before I went to bed. Accursed 11 PM shift on a Saturday.)
Labels: Blue Jackets, insanity, post-game, Sharks
Eat a puck, referees.
Sunday, January 07, 2007
What a load of !^&#ing malarkey. In the immortal words of Ray Ferarro: "That's the most ridiculous thing I've ever seen!I'm still beyond disgusted an evening's sleep later. What bothers me the most is the fact that the NHL will most likely just shrug their shoulders, go "Our bad", and then merrily move along without so much as punishing the referees for last night's gaffe.Patrik StefanBrad Watson and Chris Spada, you should be embarrassed for what you just did! That does not belong in the National Hockey League!"
In case you don't know what I am talking about, here is the overview: At 2:39 of the first period, a scrum ensues with a few Blue Jackets players and Sharks players on the ice, resulting in coincidental minors between Manny Malhotra and Ryane Clowe. So both teams are now playing 4-on-4. However just 33 seconds later, Rusty Klesla clips a Shark, and gets sent to the box as well. That's fine ... in all honesty, he did get caught giving the wood to a player accidentally with a high stick.
On the ensuing 4-on-3 power play, the Sharks score on a weird angle shot from Patrick Marleau. So now it's 1-0 Sharks. This is where things get weird and extremely stupid. Instead of sending Klesla out of the box, they instead send Malhotra out.
Why? Well, apparently in the delusional, dreamland minds of referees Watson and Spada, some new rule had been implemented, where if two players were sent to the box, if they weren't "matching" minors and just "coincidental" minors, the team that was scored on during a power play sends that player out first if they also have another player in the box with a minor.
In short: What in the [expletive] Hell!?
So Klesla is forced to stay in the box. Of course, a gaffe like this -- and against the number one power play in the league -- is like dumping a bucket of chum all over someone and throwing them in to a shark tank at Sea World. 38 seconds later the Sharks score again, the score is now 2-0, and that pretty much is the end of that.
The thing that I hate most of all about what happened is that you really have no idea how the game would have turned out if this didn't happen. The obvious assumption is "Well, they would have definitely played better if that never happened." And that might very well be true, too; the Jackets pretty much lost themselves in being pissed off, it seemed, and instead of using their heads the rest of the game, began to get chippy -- too chippy -- and extremely stupid when it came to a variety of the penalties levied against them throughout. Then again, who knows? Maybe they would've actually done even worse for some strange reason if the penalty box fiasco was actually handled in the proper way.
All I know is this: Watson and Spada should be sat down for a game after what happened. Will that happen? No, of course not ... the game was not only not close, with the Sharks winning 5-2, but it was also just a fluke against a team like the Blue Jackets. Don't start thinking I am getting some sort of persecution complex here, but you know that if this had happened to a team like the Red Wings or possibly even the Maple Leafs, there'd be Hell and high water unless the league at least publicly punished the referees involved, be it just embarrassing them or actually suspending them for a game or two.
Labels: Blue Jackets, post-game, referees, Sharks
