We know it was going to be a loss because it was Hockey Night in Canada. Ottawa can only embarrass itself in front of large audiences. But more importantly, it was yet another game in which Ottawa was badly outshot:
I guess part of this is letting two guys in the top ten in blocked shots walk away, but another is probably that they can’t carry the puck out of their own zone. I think Kovalev is now responsible for strategy in the locker room, piña colada in hand.
Praise be his name, for he said, “Simplify thy game and get thee to the point. Kovalev, get thy slothfulness from mine eyes, for I name you Beast.”
We here at The Review applaud those fans who go to such lengths as to individually apply knuckle tattoos (real or virtual) in honor of a team currently 0-for-14 on the powerplay. I’m going to get J-A-R-K-O R-U-U-T-U on mine (including thumbs) and then punch a leafs fan in the junk. (3-0 is their best start since ’99!) Or O-L-E-G(‘s) I-P-O-D, in honor of Oleg Saprykin, who, by the way, was drafted 11th overall back in 1999. That’s looney.
(Put your entries for knuckle tats in the comments.)
In other news, Ottawa has a game against Carolina tonight. TSN will be good enough to show it nationwide rather than a CFL borefest between the Thunderbay Thunder Riders and the North Bay Rider Bats. I predict that Joe Corvo scores 14 goals but finishes -3.
This is it. It’s been a long summer of existential dread, self-doubt and humbling insecurity; meaningless interactions with loved ones about what color to paint the bathroom and playing games with children we can barely bring ourselves to love; reading stories about Ilya Kovalchuk and CBA politics that look like they were written by an escaped gorilla on the back of a napkin; thinking about taking up model ship building and working on that spy novel while fantasizing about all that dead weight we’re gonna shave off the cap next off season and whether we should go after Brad Richards.
It all comes down to this: back-to-back games, Friday and Saturday night, as the Sens open their season against the pathetically boring Buffalo Sabres and the hated Leaves, who stabbed all of our eyeballs last night with yet another 45-minute opening ceremony designed to celebrate their putrid history.
I have 9 beers in my fridge (Mill Street Organic and St. Ambroise Apricot Wheat. REAL MAN’S BEERS.) and my television isn’t HD and this will be the greatest night. Remember the lockout? How the hell did we survive that?
Conrad to James, Peter
Ok then. Predicated by a Puck Daddy post about which Canadian team is most likely to bring the Cup home, TheCCFR’s BACKHANDED OPINION ABOUT THE OTHER CANADIAN TEAMS.
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James to Pete, Conrad
The 2010-2010 Preview in Review.
Ahhh the smell of preseason (Axe Cooling Gel?). A chance for the National Hockey League’s bright young prospects and future stars to shine, future busts to shine and then later NOT shine, olde tymey vets to play like they are avoiding potential injury and then get criticized for it, and for players whose roster spots are secure to shake off the rust and have runs taken at them and be injured by the goons of tomorrow.
I suppose that point #1 is that preseason was a little too long for my liking. I personally don’t like the idea of putting our vets out there, in back-to-back games in some cases, with the future Steve Downey’s of the world in “Durr, hey coach, watch me! Ima do dis killing!” mode. Not when we have a bunch of guys North of 33 on our roster. It’s not just about putting the Old Uncle Pennybagses of the team at risk, in fact those guys were smartly underplayed, buts it’s more the Fisher’s getting drilled head first into the boards that worries me. It’s the pressure of icing a good lineup for a home game with runs being taken a plenty. It’s not just about Sens like Neil taking a stick blade to the taint, it’s anyone really. How about Cammelleri getting headhunted? So pissed was the feisty-but-typically-gentlemanly Cam, he went straight two hander Bobby Clarke to the ankles of Neiderrider. Bad Craziness. Hockey’s an intense sport where fights in a chippy practice between teammates are common and you are literally allowed to punch a guy in the face as many times as you can before your or his knee touches the ice…but…this preseason just seemed plain risky after a while. Thoughts?
On a related note: Overall, it was a bit of a myth that there were roster spots open this year but with the GDP of Equatorial Guinea coming off the books next year and the showing of many up and comers last month I look forward to the future.
Today, I’m going to put myself out there and admit I straddled a stiff upper lip “who cares these games are meaningless” view and a “holy shit I cant ignore how terrible Leclaire looks tonight” sky is falling attitude.
So what, if anything, did we take out of the preseason? A few points after the jump (WINK, Conrad ….I don’t know what I’m doing)
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Welcome To Your Karlsson Years 