Never Blog When You've Been Drinking

Wild 5  - Blues 4

We're Down, We're Tied, We're Down, We're Tied, We're Down, We're Tied, We're Down, We're Tied, Overtime and 9 Rounds of Shootout Later - We Win!

Wastin' Away In Margaritaville

I've ever emailed or blogged while under the influence.  I have to believe it's just not a good idea.  That's why I didn't hit the "post" button after coming home from watching the game at the local pub with the gang.  I was a tad bit on the beveraged up side of things when I was putting together the game review.  In the light of day there were a lot of effinghiemers to clean up along with some pretty confusing grammar.  Herradura tequila will do that to your brain cells.   

I was still fairly sober during the first period but that Staubitz v Winchester fight would have been ugly no matter what my blood alcohol content was.  Geez Brad, what a waste of energy.  The Blues clearly outplayed the Wild.  Our guys spent the period running around and running behind.  Bruno's goal was sweet but the Blues took the 2-1 lead into the intermission.  Oh, and Spurgeon has a new nickname/battle cry: SPURGE!   I know Rich will get it ;)   
I'm pretty sure there was a new Wild drinking game invented last night.  

2nd and 3rd Period
I freely admit these two periods kind of slid together thanks to how smoothly those tequila shots were going down.  There was booing whenever the Blues scored and hearty cheers followed by shots whenever the Wild tied it up.  There was a ton of cheering in the third period, but this time it was for the waitress bringing the pizza.  Ole Piper Supreme, baby!  Lots of happy noises from the group but mostly because we were devouring our food and talking about hockey player butts.  Sally would approve.  The table had a consensus that the Wild were going down for the count but Vicki would be proud to know I was having no part of it.  When the Wild went on the power play and then pulled Jose for the extra-extra man advantage I was standing up in front of the nearest t.v.  Good thing everyone was yelling along with me otherwise I'm sure I would have gotten more than just a couple of weird looks as I shouted "who's your man, Vicki, who's your man!!!"  Marty got the goal but that was Koivu's set up of the season without a doubt.  Back to the table for overtime - and a round of Herradura...followed by the shootout...which lasted 9 rounds before John Madden closes the door on the Blues!  Whodathunkit?   
             
Oh, Zanon really made a convincing argument to have his name plate on the back of my new jersey.  Nah, I'm still going with DEE-ICING on the jersey, but I think Zanon needs to be my new last name.            

Busy weekend with the Blues in town Saturday night and the Houston Aeros playing at the X on Sunday.  I'll leave you with the following tidbits to get you through until I'm back on a normal schedule again come Monday.  Right now I gotta go pick up my truck - it was not my night to be the designated driver last night, as if you couldn't figure that one out.  

Jacques Lemaire picked up his 600th win.  I miss Jacques.  Congratulations! 


Hudson Fasching - More than just an Apple Valley High School hockey player.  If this doesn't melt your heart and some of the ice off your roof, I don't know what will.

Hockey Felon 
Matt Cooke is the heir apparent to Chris Simon and he's well on his way surpassing his predecessor.  Here's a rundown of his most recent *ahem* accomplishments:

1. Knee-on-knee hit on Washington Capitals star Alex Ovechkin just last week
2. Monday, Matt made news again because Bruins centre Marc Savard was shut down for the season due to a concussion Cooke caused when he delivered the blindside hit that gave Savard his initial concussion last season.
3. Then on Wednesday, the Penguins' agitator made headlines for a third time after being handed a four-game suspension for his hit from behind on Columbus Blue Jackets defenceman Fedor Tyutin.  It will cost Matt $88,000.00 in lost wages - ooh, that's really hitting a multi-millionaire piece of shit where it hurts, huh? 

Can stomping on an opponents leg, arm or neck be far behind for Cooke?  What's next - swinging his stick at someone's head?  He's certainly not leaving much room for anyone, including his own team, to come to his defense.  In case you're wondering, that would be the Pittsburgh Penguins.  A team that's already missing it's star players due to concussion (Crosby), knee surgery (Malkin - done for the season) and Kunitz (listed as day to day with lower body injury). 

And Things Got Out Of Hand
I'm not a Pittsburgh fan but what the NY Islanders did to the Pens in last night's game is simply disgusting and uncalled for under any circumstances.  The Islanders, clearly looking for revenge from having been embarrassed by the Pens in their previous outing, went head hunting from the get go.  Eight fights  - link/video courtesy of hockeyfights.com.  It will be very interesting to see what suspensions and fines come out of this for Trevor Gilles, Goddard and Matt Martin of the Islanders. 

Penalty Summary - in case you wanna check the math yourself 
1st Period
02:37 NYI Micheal Haley : Roughing - 2 min
10:22 NYI Micheal Haley : Fighting (maj) - 5 min
10:22 PIT Craig Adams : Fighting (maj) - 5 min
14:33 NYI Travis Hamonic : Hooking - 2 min
15:51 PIT Eric Tangradi : Too many men/ice - bench - 2 min
17:56 PIT Eric Godard : Fighting (maj) - 5 min
17:56 NYI Trevor Gillies : Fighting (maj) - 5 min
20:00 NYI John Tavares : Slashing - 2 min
2nd Period
05:21 NYI Josh Bailey : Fighting (maj) - 5 min
05:21 PIT Pascal Dupuis : Fighting (maj) - 5 min
05:21 NYI Travis Hamonic : Fighting (maj) - 5 min
05:21 PIT Michael Rupp : Fighting (maj) - 5 min
05:21 PIT Deryk Engelland : Game misconduct - 0 min
05:21 NYI Travis Hamonic : Game misconduct - 0 min
05:21 NYI Matt Martin : Instigator - 2 min
05:21 PIT Deryk Engelland : Roughing - 2 min
05:21 NYI Josh Bailey : Game misconduct - 0 min
05:21 PIT Pascal Dupuis : Game misconduct - 0 min
05:21 PIT Michael Rupp : Game misconduct - 0 min
05:21 NYI Matt Martin served by Trevor Gillies : Fighting (maj) - 5 min
05:21 NYI Matt Martin : Misconduct (10 min) - 0 min
05:21 NYI Matt Martin : Game misconduct - 0 min
07:51 NYI Frans Nielsen : Slashing - 2 min
17:20 PIT Eric Godard : Roughing - 2 min
17:30 PIT Zbynek Michalek : Slashing - 2 min
3rd Period
01:19 NYI Kyle Okposo : Roughing - 2 min
01:19 PIT Brooks Orpik : Charging - 2 min
04:47 NYI Micheal Haley : Fighting (maj) - 5 min
04:47 PIT Maxime Talbot : Fighting (maj) - 5 min
04:47 PIT Craig Adams : Roughing - 2 min
04:47 PIT Craig Adams : Game misconduct - 0 min
04:47 PIT Eric Godard : Roughing - 2 min
04:47 PIT Eric Godard : Roughing - 2 min
04:47 PIT Eric Godard : Game misconduct - 0 min
04:47 PIT Eric Godard : Game misconduct - 0 min
04:47 NYI Micheal Haley : Instigator - 2 min
04:47 NYI Micheal Haley : Misconduct (10 min) - 0 min
04:47 NYI Trevor Gillies served by Jesse Joensuu : Elbowing (maj) - 5 min
04:47 NYI Trevor Gillies : Roughing - 2 min
04:47 NYI Trevor Gillies : Roughing - 2 min
04:47 NYI Trevor Gillies : Misconduct (10 min) - 0 min
04:47 NYI Trevor Gillies : Game misconduct - 0 min
04:47 NYI Micheal Haley : Fighting (maj) - 5 min
04:47 NYI Micheal Haley : Game misconduct - 0 min
04:47 PIT Brent Johnson served by Marc-Andre Fleury : Fighting (maj) - 5 min
12:12 PIT Brett Sterling : Roughing - 2 min
12:12 NYI Kyle Okposo : Interference on goalkeeper - 2 min
12:40 PIT Tyler Kennedy : Holding - 2 min
16:04 PIT Kris Letang : Misconduct (10 min) - 0 min
16:04 NYI Kyle Okposo : Misconduct (10 min) - 0 min
16:04 NYI Jesse Joensuu : Too many men/ice - bench - 2 min
16:04 PIT Kris Letang : Roughing - 2 min
16:04 NYI Kyle Okposo : Roughing - 2 min
16:04 PIT Maxime Talbot : Roughing - 2 min
16:04 NYI Zenon Konopka : Roughing - 2 min
16:04 PIT Maxime Talbot : Misconduct (10 min) - 0 min
16:04 NYI Zenon Konopka : Misconduct (10 min) - 0 min
16:12 NYI Jack Hillen : Misconduct (10 min) - 0 min
16:12 PIT Brett Sterling : Misconduct (10 min) - 0 min
17:43 NYI Andrew MacDonald : Fighting (maj) - 5 min
17:43 PIT Joe Vitale : Fighting (maj) - 5 min
17:43 PIT Joe Vitale : Cross checking - 2 min
17:43 NYI Andrew MacDonald : Cross checking - 2 min
17:58 PIT Ryan Craig served by Alex Goligoski : Cross checking - 2 min
17:58 PIT Ryan Craig : Misconduct (10 min) - 0 min

Happy 135th Anniversary!
This week we celebrate the 135th anniversary of the first time the term "hockey puck" was used in a newspaper.  Enjoy this read, including a great video of Top 10 Hockey Puck Moments.  

Goalie Porn
The butterfly style of goaltending and it's related health issues is discussed in this great article by Russo in the Strib.  Here's an excerpt from the article.  It conjured up memories of Manny Fernandez's epic butterfly stretch in the net before the start of every period.  You gentlemen readers will probably want to look away for a minute...
Up and down. Up and down. Slide left, slide right.
Dripping with sweat, Backstrom finally got a rest.
In came Jose Theodore, less than a month removed from his hip injury. 
Up and down. Up and down. Left, right.
** wipes the gathering perspiration from my forehead**...Oh sweet Jesus, can I get me some more of that?  What?  People are looking at me?  Fuc...er, I mean...*ahem, cough - cough.


Well, moving right along - here are the related pieces Russo did on the history of the butterfly move and Backstrom's Game Day Ritual.


And because there needs to be eye candy to go along with this - here you go gals, enjoy!
** 44 second marker ladies **



** 30 second mark, ladies**


**39 second mark, ladies**


Next week I'll share some Zanon porn, if you're really good ;)