February 9th, 2010

The good ol' days. How did hockey lovers, just like ourselves listen to hockey on the radio?! I did it last night coming home from an away game and I must say, it was flippin' difficult. What I thought was just a simple scrum turned out to be a fight. Maybe it was just me to wound up from our game, we won 5-0 with 9 players and I had my first hat-trick in many, many years. Still, I can't imagine having to listen to your favorite team over the radio. Oh how I love the days of HD, flat screen TV's. Mad respect to all the hockey followers that loved the game just as much as us, without the technology we have today.

San Jose over Toronto 3-2
This is the game I half attempted to listen too. It was 2-2 going into the first and Kessel seems to have found a 2nd part to a scoring streak. Tyler Bozak seems to be fitting in although I still feel that Matt Stajan was too big of a loss. JS Giguere finally let in a goal as a Maple Leaf, now giving him a GAA with them at around an awful 1.00. Ryane Clowe scored the game winner at 7:39 of the 3rd. Russian Olympian Evgeni Nabokov played a great game picking up 32 saves. Francois Beauchemin played the most out of everyone, with 22:42 minutes of ice time. In that time he went -1 and picked up a tripping and also interference penalty.

Philadelphia over New Jersey 3-2
3 straight goals gave Philly the regulation win. Zach Parise scored his 26th goal in the 1st period which was followed by a short-handed goal in the 2nd put in by Anssi Salmela. He left the game on a stretcher later on in the game, after being knocked out by a shot that struck him in the face. He was later seen sporting many stitches and half a tooth missing. He says he has a headache but otherwise okay. The Flyers scored 2 late goals in the 2nd and Mike Richards scored the 3rd halfway through that last period. Michael Leighton played in net for the Flyers. I imagine they are going to give him some time to play before the deadline. He'll be decent trade bait as he has potential, but has had to put it on hold due to limited playing time.

Phoenix over Edmonton 6-1
Pat Quinn has to be sounding like a mother after finding her daughter drunk for the first time. I must say, I've never had the pleasure to see that but I imagine the mom would be disappointed, slightly angry and confused on what to do. He has such a talented group on paper that just is unable to win games. Matthew Lombardi had 5 points in the game, which is always huge for your team. Despite the lopsided loss, Edmonton out shot the 'Yotes by 1, 34 to 33. Ethan Moreau was a nasty -4 with only 14:59 minutes of ice time. Ouch.

Colorado over St. Louis 5-2
Anaheim over Los Angeles 4-2

All my Best; Enjoy Life
Ryan Francis