Monday, December 21, 2009

Oilers v. Capitals - 1 Kings 7:13-22

King Leonsis sent to Washington and brought George McPhee, whose mother was a hamster and whose father smelt of elderberries. McPhee was skilled in all different kinds of hockey management but in this case Leonsis demanded a rebuild. So McPhee came to King Leonsis and did all the work assigned to him.

Oilers v. Predators - Proverbs 19:1-3

It's better to be poor with understanding than it is to be rich but foolish.

Zeal that ignores knowledge leads to disappointment; celebrate too much today and you will mourn tomorrow.

A man's own folly ruins his team, yet his heart rages against luck, injuries and God.

Oilers v. Kings - Psalm 102:18-20

Let this be written for a future generation:
"A team not yet fully formed was blessed by Yahweh.
Yahweh looked down from the heavens
to see his hockey club being trampled.
He heard the groans of its fans
and he breathed life into a team that was condemned to death."

Oilers v. Blues - Jude 1-16

Ulanov, a servant of Jesus Christ and both brother and secret blood brother of Horcov, to those who have been called as members of the Oilogosphere, who are loved by God our one true father and kept by Jesus Christ: may faith, love and peace be yours in abundance as you watch God's own hockey team.

Tuesday, December 8, 2009

Oilers v. Panthers - 1 Kings 13:20-26

When God's team had finished celebrating their second consecutive win, the word of Yahweh came to the old coach. He cried out to the team he had brought all the way from Edmonton, "This is what Yahweh our Lord says: 'You have defied Yahweh's words and not kept the commands of Yahweh in your hearts with all of this celebration! Even with these two wins you are no better than 14th in the Conference! What are you celebrating?! Surely, you must be punished.'"

Avalanche v. Predators - Scoring Chances #25

TmPTimeNoteCOLOpponent
NSH118:39
82226274154611202529355v5
NSH117:02Goal2237414455
619202635714v5
NSH113:08
45826415489102235515v5
COL112:23
9222327404168192226355v5
NSH19:10Goal452539415529102232355v5
NSH12:06
526414454
1011293235514v5
COL218:45
51620264041210202935
5v4
NSH216:32
202325394144212182732355v5
COL216:23Goal52325394144212182732355v5
COL214:50
82227374041219202635715v5
NSH212:20
222326274154619202635715v5
COL210:54
42326274154220252935
5v4
COL210:53
42326274154811263551
5v4
NSH29:21
58916404129112035
5v4
COL28:50Goal42326274154812253551
5v4
COL25:46
4537394041812182235515v5
COL25:27Goal4525374041611202529355v5
COL24:46
452537404128112529355v5
COL24:04
4232627415489103551
5v4
NSH23:30
4916274041825293551
5v4
NSH219:54Goal42326274154220252935
5v4
COL314:41
452537415469202229355v5
NSH37:02
4516374155811252935515v5
NSH34:45
458925416891022355v5
NSH33:54
222326274154819263551715v5
COL33:30
4523264154211252935515v5
COL31:08
459394041611202529355v5
NSH44:12
422232641
619202635
4v4
NSH42:00
45234041
811193551
4v4
NSH41:54Goal45234041
811193551
4v4


#PlayerEVPPSH
4J. LILES21:47674:26420:0100
5B. CLARK20:55761:35111:0301
8W. WOLSKI14:49131:49010:0000
9M. DUCHENE11:53211:51020:0000
16D. TUCKER10:58012:03120:0000
20T. PREISSING10:55010:32100:0000
22S. HANNAN21:37240:00002:2801
23M. HEJDUK17:45364:12410:0000
25C. STEWART11:33430:00000:0000
26P. STASTNY20:08154:24511:3801
27K. QUINCEY19:39234:08421:4800
28D. KOCI2:24000:00000:0000
37R. O'REILLY14:43510:00002:0301
39T. GALIARDI12:38320:00002:1400
40M. SVATOS11:26622:09120:0000
41C. ANDERSON53:119116:15533:4102
44R. WILSON11:29110:00002:0202
54D. JONES17:47244:06411:1301
55C. MCLEOD9:57020:00000:1401


PeriodTotalsEVPP5v3 PPSH5v3 SH
1151300000200
21055253000000
3333300000000
4030300000000
Totals141691153000200

The Avalanche came out rather flat in this particular game and ended it in the same fashion. This was not a particularly good effort on home ice and was probably especially frustrating for the coaching staff who saw the team play well for exactly one period of hockey. Fortunately for the Avalanche that one period of hockey was good enough to earn one standings point. The game lacked excitement throughout but I did get a rise out of the wonderful play by Martin Erat that set up the Predators' second goal of the game, a beautiful deke around the defender and then drop pass to Marcel Goc for the goal. Aside from that play, the most exciting part of the game was checking out the awful mustaches that the Predators were wearing for Movember. My favourite was J.P. Dumont.

A couple of underperformers on the Avs worth a mention are David Koci who took yet another penalty this game despite playing less than five minutes of ice time. Unbelievable that he can be such a useless hockey player who takes so many penalties and yet stay in the lineup every night. Wojtek Wolski had one of his weaker games here as well generating very little. It looked like Sacco was moving him around the lines a fair bit trying to find a fit but he just didn't have his usual creativity.

On the other side of the coin, I will damn John-Michael Liles with faint praise by saying that he was only -1 on the night for chances and has looked quite a bit better since his return to the lineup. His most egregious giveaway didn't even result in a chance as he was able to recover in time. I don't mention his name often but I also thought that Marek Svatos had a particularly strong outing in this one. If the Avs could get more consistently stronger play from Hejduk and Stastny they could well right this ship and make the early run of good luck payoff in the form of a playoff appearance.

Saturday, December 5, 2009

Oilers v. Stars - Isaiah 14:18-23

All the great players of other teams are exalted,
lifted to the rafters and honoured by fans.
But you exile your hero to Russia
like a loathsome cap hit.
Wandering the outskirts of hockey relevance,
he is forgotten.
You have neglected his proper exaltation
and have trampled his memory under your feet.


Preceded by: Oilers v. Stars - Isaiah 14:3-11 and Oilers v. Stars - Isaiah 14:12-17

Avalanche v. Flyers - Scoring Chances #24

TmPTimeNoteCOLOpponent
COL119:00Goal822262741541418202125295v5
COL117:50
416374144553591517295v5
PHI114:55
1622273741551314202527295v5
COL114:30Goal81026274154517192029485v5
COL110:04
510163741551820212528295v5
PHI18:47
5810264154317192948775v5
PHI15:10
102225394155313142527295v5
PHI11:48
92225273941313142729775v5
COL11:05
4582641541719202529485v5
COL10:45
82226274154517182944485v5
PHI10:35Goal82226274154515182944485v5
PHI219:35
822262741541719202529485v5
PHI219:32Goal822262741541719202529485v5
COL218:21
59102340411821282944775v5
COL217:38
5910234041915202529425v5
COL213:59Goal4253741445559152942445v5
COL213:06
82226274154313172529485v5
PHI212:34
5910234041313142729775v5
PHI212:32
59102340411314272944775v5
PHI212:21
5910234041518212829445v5
COL210:56Goal82226274154317192948775v5
PHI29:32
510253941541820212528335v5
COL27:17
101637414455313142733775v5
COL27:15
101637414455313142733775v5
COL25:54
51623274041517283344
5v4
COL25:53
51623274041517283344
5v4
COL24:45Goal4103739415439152528335v5
COL316:50
49234041443591328335v5
COL313:37
41627374155319273348775v5
PHI311:31
91023274041513171825335v5
COL310:42
45162340411420273377
5v4
PHI38:45Goal592541445535131933485v5
PHI38:23
4162737394135192733485v5
PHI37:52
910232740411415202533425v5
PHI37:19
52326404144314212528335v5
PHI34:41Goal58104155
35171933484v5
PHI31:03
5910162341517182033
5v4


#PlayerEVPPSH
4J. LILES18:39614:19100:0000
5B. CLARK15:38473:34310:5301
8W. WOLSKI15:58644:54000:3401
9M. DUCHENE14:12373:01010:0000
10K. CUMISKEY18:36781:52010:3401
16D. TUCKER11:44524:09310:0000
22S. HANNAN8:28460:00000:4600
23M. HEJDUK15:27364:05310:0000
25C. STEWART7:40140:00000:0000
26P. STASTNY15:57654:40000:1900
27K. QUINCEY21:02685:12201:4800
28D. KOCI2:26000:05000:0000
37R. O'REILLY12:28720:04001:2700
39T. GALIARDI11:08140:27001:2900
40M. SVATOS10:31362:41300:0000
41C. ANDERSON48:4816168:50312:2201
44R. WILSON15:13520:35000:4300
54D. JONES15:42754:32000:2100
55C. MCLEOD11:57630:00000:3401


PeriodTotalsEVPP5v3 PPSH5v3 SH
1656500000000
21068620000000
3372511000100
4000000000000
Totals1918161631000100

Another game, another blown lead. Again the Avalanche jumped out to a two-goal lead only to squander it as the game went on. Fortunately for the Avalanche this game had a different ending than their last two as the Avs came back to score three more goals and then sat back in the third (which, according to the Avs broadcast team is something they're being coached not to do... yeah... I don't believe that for a second) as the Flyers tried to press for a tie.

The game featured another penalty by David Koci, though this time the opposition didn't capitalize. It also featured some pretty extensive running of the goalie throughout the game, something the officials didn't do much to discourage. Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but wouldn't this be the point of having a guy like Koci in the lineup? Isn't he there to prevent the opposition from doing this? Joe Sacco just watched Koci take another penalty in his two and a half minutes of ice time and watched the opposing team ignore Koci's presence on the bench as they ran Anderson time after time. And yet I feel confident in saying that Koci will dress again for the next game. Utter foolishness.

Going back to the conversation with BeachNSnowGirl that I talked about in the last post, she mentioned there that she didn't see any problem with Liles as she watched this game. And I'm inclined to agree! This was probably his best game of the season at even strength. Sometimes it's funny how things work out.

The confrontation between Ian Laperriere and Cody McLeod was downright amusing. Laperriere really wanted to fight him for one reason or another and McLeod just resolutely refused with an "oh come on Lappy" expression on his face the whole time. It was hard to tell if it was the smug Maltby "oh come on" or genuinely heartfelt appreciation. Probably a bit of both.

For the Flyers, their bench was interesting. They have two big money defenders in Pronger and Timonen and it seems clear that the guy they're leaning on is Pronger. He played more minutes and he was assigned to the Stastny-Wolski paring throughout the evening. Timonen, meanwhile, played fewer minutes and drew the very much less challenging Duchene-Hejduk pairing. Now, both of these guys are great players but it seems to me that it will be difficult for the Flyers to keep their top four together going forward since Braydon Coburn will be demanding a raise. At this stage I'd imagine plan A is to move Matt Carle who's been paired with Pronger. But if the Flyers were forced to choose between Pronger and Timonen going forward, I'd bet they take Pronger.