Smytty

It's been a tough couple of days, almost to the point where this trade doesn't faze me. It does. I just don't think it really hit me until a second ago. Ryan Smyth was one of the reasons that the Oilers drew me in. He's my favorite player, not just on the Oilers but out of all my teams. For me, one of the worst parts about this trade is that he was partly to blame. With the situation between him and the Oilers the way it was, there wasn't much else to do. I don't know. I hate it. Actually I'm pretty upset now. I just feel bad for people on the team, like a Shawn Horcoff or something, who are going to miss him. I guess this stuff happens a lot but I still feel bad. I'm trying to stay rational. The last trade I blindly hated was Nomar.

The Bruins traded Brad Boyes for Dennis Wideman, and Paul Mara for Aaron Ward. I like the second trade and don't know enough about Wideman to tell on the first one. With two losses in a row they needed something. I was at the game last night with Liz and Paula. We moved down to seats directly next to the Bruins' bench, three rows from the glass. When they fell apart in the third period, Andrew Ference had a look on his face that I'm all too familiar with. He looked like he wanted to single-handedly carry his team to a win and that, if he had anything to say about it, there was no way they were going to lose. He's just one player, though, and no matter what he did they still lost. I appreciated the effort and he's on his way to making me like that trade. At least he's trying.

The Avs traded Brad May for a goaltending prospect. I'm pretty sure May is useless so this is fine. The Real Marek Svatos has been around for a few games now and, in the one redeemable event in the past few days, is developing some chemistry with Tyler Arnason. I'm still legitimately terrified that because I've talked about him he's going to get hurt. You can call it paranoia, but I see the Bruins sucking, Smid getting hurt, and Smytty being sent away as evidence that I really am a death curse.

That English teacher, Skinder, has spent the first couple days of this week trying to make me miserable for no reason. He's an ass to everyone, but he's been targeting me so much lately that even other teachers are wondering what the hell he's doing. At first I didn't know what to do, because I've never had someone treat me like this before, but now I know that I just have to deal. I only have to deal with him for a few more months, then I'm free to get the hell out of that school. He's stuck here. Like it tends to do, hockey reflects life. The Bruins have a shot at making the playoffs, but it's not anywhere near guaranteed. The Avs only have a very dim chance, if any, and the Oilers are officially rebuilding. This isn't a great time, but it's not going to be like this forever. Things are going to pick up for all of my teams- maybe not this year, but at some point. To enjoy those times I have to suck it up and get through these. We're all going to miss Smytty, but just remember that someday things will be better.

The Tooth Fairy

My god do I have awful luck. You'd think I'd be smart about it now, but of course I'm not. Over the past 10 days or so, my outlook on the Bruins has morphed from resigned and depressed to hopeful and optimistic. They've gone from winning to losing. Let's look at the evidence.
February 16: "Things with the Bruins have gotten so bad that I don't even know what they're attempting to do anymore." Next game: 4-3 win over Buffalo
February 19: "Of course the reason that they looked like a legitimate team is because they were playing the Forsberg-less Flyers." Next game: 3-0 win over Toronto
February 20: "I have no idea what they're trying to do to me but I don't like it." Next game: 6-2 win over Tampa Bay
February 24: "Things are looking up for the B's right now. Montreal should drop, the Bruins should get some wins in the next few games, and by the time the two meet on March 3, there could be some shaking up happening in the standings." Next game: 7-2 loss to Florida
It's like fate waited patiently for me to have faith in the Bruins again just so it could crush my heart. Yes, I'm overreacting to one loss. But if you think this isn't the start of a free-fall right out of the playoff race, you clearly don't know the Bruins.

This despondent mood might have something to do with my movie night. There is definitely such a thing as watching too many Ed Norton movies in a row. The guy is intense. Last night Eliza and I watched The Illusionist, 25th Hour, and Red Dragon. We slept for a bit and when we woke up we watched Primal Fear. Sometime soon we're going to finish this and watch Death to Smoochy, Rounders, Keeping the Faith, and American History X. I'm completely burnt out from the experience and probably scarred for life. Also I'm pretty sure I had dreams about Ralph Fiennes after seeing Red Dragon, and what's worse is that I don't think they were nightmares.

Eliza somehow brought up the topic of accents, and that somehow got me thinking about the adorable interview Ladislav Smid gave after he scored his first goal. I showed it to her and she fell in love with him, so I told her about Paula's interaction with him and that I'm becoming a fan of the boy. Less than 24 hours later, he's out of the game with a leg injury. After the fit I had when I found out Marek Svatos scored again last night, I'm surprised a frickin' piano hasn't dropped on his head. I swear to god the next horror movie to come out will be Final Destination 4: Katie Likes You.

Atlanta went on a shopping spree and picked up Alexei Zhitnik and Keith Tkachuk. It seems like Glen Metropolit, a first rounder, second rounder, third rounder, and possibly another first rounder is a serious overpay for Tkachuk. Unfortunately whether they overpaid or not, the Bruins have to face the Thrashers on Monday. Maybe I'll make Rick DiPietro my new favorite player and hope the B's can catch the Islanders while he's hurt.

Afternoon Thoughts

NHL fines Sabres coach Lindy Ruff for sending out tough guys in brawl
I'm always looking for ways to bring down the Sabres, but I never expected this from the NHL. It's legitimate, but is it even something you can penalize? I guess after the investigations and Ruff admitting that he told them to "Go out and run 'em" it seems pretty obvious, but I still can't imagine explaining this to someone who knows nothing about hockey. You could show them something like the Ovechkin hit on Briere (blown out of proportion, in my opinion) and they'd immediately understand why it's bad, but this is too strategically specific for them to get without an explanation. That being said, I'm impressed that the NHL took action on something that's more of an unwritten law. I also have a newfound respect for Ray Emery, as he seems like a complete psychopath and I appreciate that in a player, and especially in a goalie.

In other news, the Bruins re-signed Marco Sturm to a "multi-year contract extension". As Marco's been hot lately (7 goals in the last 7 games), this should please Bruins fans. I like Marco, and when he's put with good players he can really score. I just hope they didn't overspend on him.

In the five games that Patrice Bergeron has been out...
The Bruins lost one game and won the next four.
They've scored 20 goals.
Marc Savard has 10 points.
Tim Thomas has let in 11 goals on 165 shots for a .933 SV%.

The playoff picture in the Eastern Conference is making me extremely nervous. There's 7 teams within 8 points of each other. Including this afternoon's game in which the Islanders beat the Canadiens, this is how it looks:
6) Atlanta- 63 GP, 72 PTS
7) Islanders- 62 GP, 70 PTS
8) Montreal- 64 GP, 70 PTS
9) Carolina- 63 GP, 69 PTS
10) Toronto- 61 GP, 67 PTS
11) Boston- 60 GP, 64 PTS
12) Rangers- 61 GP, 64 PTS
The problem with the Bruins' situation right now is that, as well as they're playing, they have to overcome a lot of teams to get that last playoff spot. Carolina has a pretty tough schedule over the next few games, playing Atlanta and Ottawa twice and Pittsburgh once, so the Bruins can probably pass them. But the Islanders get to play Philadelphia, St. Louis, and Washington before they play the Rangers. The Bruins have a slightly easier schedule than Montreal and Toronto, but maybe not easy enough to move into a playoff spot in the next few games. Even still, things are looking up for the B's right now. Montreal should drop, the Bruins should get some wins in the next few games, and by the time the two meet on March 6, there could be some shaking up happening in the standings. If Toronto and the Rangers have trouble, then with the games in hand that they have, the Bruins just might be able to sneak into a playoff spot. I'm going to the game against the Thrashers on Monday with Liz, Paula, and Liz's friend, who is on the Berklee hockey team (coached by Pie McKenzie) and being interviewed by Versus. He's from Atlanta and is, according to Liz, the only other person she's met who's as obsessed with hockey as I am. I warned her that right now that's not a good combination, as this playoff push is very nerve-racking, and when I get nervous about things like this I look up statistics. At the moment I know way too much about the Bruins situation for anyone's good. But whatever. Since I also have front-row tickets to the game against the Avs (right next to the benches, too), I'll be at both remaining Bruins games that were going to be on Versus, successfully avoiding having to watch them. I got the Avs tickets for Christmas, despite asking only for a Ryan Smyth jersey. But who am I to complain about a gift like that?
Now that I've said good things about the Bruins, they're going to fall off a cliff again. So for good measure:
Bruins, you suck. Go to hell.
It was for their own good.

The Ed Norton Movie Marathon got pushed back to tonight, so off I go.

Doyle's Law

I was going to devote this entire post to bitching about the Columbus announcers, but luckily slept on the idea and decided against it. In my defense, they made it nearly impossible to enjoy a good Oilers' win. They spent the entire game repeating that the Vyborny goal should have counted (even on their replays you could see his stick was high), that people have been taking liberties with Rick Nash all season and he's had enough (even though Thoreson barely touched him), that they couldn't believe Hainsey got an extra minor for defending Nash (though they didn't have a problem with Roy's misconduct defending Gilbert), that these teams were battling for not only points but for pride (?), that Stortini had been headhunting all night long and Shelley was just fed up with him (Zach had one clean hit, while Shelley got a misconduct for his unnecessary stupidity), that players could get hurt by some of the hits the Oilers were dishing (again no mention of Gilbert), and that in addition to Ethan Moreau and Fernando Pisani, Jarret Staal is also out for the Oilers. I was pretty much ready to kill them. They were overdramatic, insanely biased, and the only time they mentioned anything about Gilbert was to tell us he had a concussion. They called him "Matthew".

They couldn't entirely kill my happiness, despite their best efforts. I'll always be happy watching a game where Horc and Smytty get three points each, Raffi shows some dangling skills, Joffrey actually tries, and my lover Laddy Smid scores. Most impressive was the way that Raffi and Lupul owned the ice together. I mistook both of them for Ales at different times because they were destroying the Jackets de so handily (Lupul especially at one point, where he ruined the defenders, drove to the net, and passed it away). Even if Pouliot didn't have his best game, I like him on that line. In some weird way, it seems like he helped those two get going. A few games ago Pouliot was busting his ass, playing very physically and energetically, and Raffi was gliding. Since then Raffi's picked up the pace, and now Lupul was really working last night. Energy is contagious. I get the feeling that this is a major reason why Tyler Arnason started flying. Playing with Brett McLean and especially Lappy will put a jump in your step. Also, he's the most skilled player on the line, so they know enough to get the puck to him when they can. I noticed this last night when they switched the lines up. Arnason was on a line with McLean and Ben Guite. They were all in pretty close quarters around the net, but McLean made a desperate effort to push the puck to Arnason, even though Guite may have been closer. I don't hate this.

I did hate that the Avs switched things up so much with the forwards, though they came close enough to winning to justify it. They had 7 de and 11 forwards, apparently because they would mostly be running 3 lines at this point in the season (according to my Altitude buddies). What ended up happening was that they sent out a completely random assortment of 11 forwards in a pretty steady stream. While this was maybe even more confusing for the players than it was for me, what it did do was keep the forwards fresh, enabling them to attempt a 3rd period comeback despite going in down 3-0. With the Avs 3rd period play this year being so questionable, I never expected them to come as close as they did, even after Ken Klee got the first goal. They didn't draw me back in until Brad Richardson scored and they completely took over the game. Even when Finger broke his stick and the Wild came down and scored I wasn't out of it, and rightly so. The next goal* confirmed that they weren't done, and made the end of the game all the more heartbreaking, with the Avs losing 4-3. The game was heartbreaking in every way that the 2004 ALCS vs the Yankees wasn't. When the Sox went down 3-0 in the series, much like when the Avs went down 3-0 in the game, I convinced myself not to get my hopes up. After Game 4 (the Klee goal) I was still cautious. Game 5 (the Richardson goal) made me a complete emotional wreck. I broke down and cried at least 3 different times during Game 5, once because Curtis Leskanic was warming up in the bullpen and, as he had been used a lot lately, the announcers said his arm was "hanging on by a thread". I don't know who he is anymore, but at the time he was clearly very tragic. That's where the comparison ends. After Game 5, I knew the Sox were going to win and wasn't worried or crazy anymore. The Avs spent the rest of the game in Game 5 limbo, not near enough to a win to be certain but not near enough to a loss to be hopeless. Luckily, I didn't have an emotional breakdown during this one, but the loss was still painful.
*MAREK SVATOS MIGHT ACTUALLY BE BACK. I'm not getting my hopes up too much (lie), but that goal last night was not only his second in two games but a Marek Svatos goal. He got it and buried it, despite not having much to shoot at. That was him last year, and the reason why I'm so enthusiastic right now. I really do miss having the Real Marek Svatos around. Despite having an awful year, he's still one of my favorite players and I still have faith that he can come back. I've got Paula hooked on him now. She kept insisting that everyone from Slovakia, including the women, looks like Zdeno Chara and Milan Jurcina ("very tall and dark haired with large noses and awkward facial expressions"). I used Marek as proof against her, and upon looking up pictures of him she agreed that he's very sexy but "definitely has a Slovakian adam's apple...they all stick out their necks and have adam's apples". I don't really know what to do with her.

If I want to remember something when I'm watching a game, I'll jot it down somewhere. This morning I realized that I wrote down some weird things. I'm blaming this on the fact that we were getting some carpets put down and the fumes started to get to me. Some from the Oilers game:
-put Ales through electroshock therapy to make him shoot
-announcers just went 5 minutes without a verb
-RAFFI FUCK YEAH
-even stupid Columbus announcers figured out powerplay
-oil finally getting physical, killing bitches
-Ales just "bitch pleased" someone
From the Avs game:
-23-26 on pk together, wedding next week
-Marek on powerplay MAREK ON POWERPLAY
-Marek w/a hit, love it when he plays rough
-40 w/19-15 HE DID HIS FOOT THING I'm happy
-Marek doing something I'm in pain from the excitement, actually
Almost everything I wrote was either about Marek Svatos or hurting the Blue Jackets and their announcers. Anger at Columbus+obsession with Marek Svatos+carpet fumes=some really strange and discomforting notes.

Quick notes

• I'm extremely upset to see Gilbert go down. Is there any timetable on his return? He was playing well and this time is pretty valuable to his development. Also, now we have to dress Matt Green again. This isn't awful, I guess, but I'd really, really, really rather have Gilbert there, if not just to get a better idea of what he can do.
  
• Does Zach Stortini have a catchy nickname yet? It doesn't feel right to just call him "Zach", but his last name is hard to get anything good from ("Storts", for instance, sounds like an STD).
• There are't any people on the Avs as random as Paul Mara, and I credit Altitude with this. They're starting to freak me out with how much they're in tune with what I'm thinking. For example, this past game they specifically explained what Brad May brought to the Stastny-Hejduk line (toughness, giving them room) and noted the success those two have had since he joined the line. In addition to toughness, I noticed that he's usually the one to go deep in the defensive zone and feed them the puck. So yes, he's the third wheel, but an effective one.
  
• J-M Liles is up to 17 minutes of ice time, which is still low but definitely comforting.
  
• There was a hilarious moment when Smytty lost his stick and the ice-level Columbus announcer tried to jokingly give him one they had there. Smytty was thoroughly not amused by this, making me love him even more.
• Carolina just acquired Anson Carter for a 5th round draft pick. If he plays well, this could really hurt the Bruins, who are trying to catch the Hurricanes for that last playoff spot. They're now 7 points out with 4 games in hand. If Carolina should pick things up, hopefully Montreal (8 points up of the Bruins, who have 4 in hand) will drop off again.
  
• Tonight I'm having an Ed Norton marathon with my friend Eliza. We're watching The Illusionist, 25th Hour, Primal Fear, and American History X. The only one I haven't seen is The Illusionist- any reviews? I trust anything with Ed Norton in it but I want to make sure it's worthy. We're taking this very seriously and only allowing two other people (at most) to join us. We might even interview them for a spot. I'm not kidding.
  

Edit

The other colors were a bit too much and kind of hurting my eyes, so I changed things around. It's nothing too fancy, mostly because I haven't figured out how to do anything fancy yet. Oh well. Enjoy.

I Still Hate the Bruins

Quick one here. I missed most of tonight's action because I was out. When I got home, I realized that I was locked out of the house and called my parents, who were about 15 minutes away. While I waited I went on my phone to check the scores and saw that the Oilers were in OT. Panicking, I did the only thing I could do- climb through a window in my backyard. I was just in time to see them lose in a shootout. Thank god.

The Bruins beat the Leafs 3-0. I don't know how, but now they're 5 points back of 8th place Carolina, still with 3 games in hand. Tim Thomas forced the Bruins to win, kicking and screaming, with a 44-save shutout. Though apparently the defense is on vacation, they've gotten a good amount of scoring recently despite injuries. Even though Patrice and now Muzz are out, the B's have gotten 13 goals in their last 3 games, winning all three. I have no idea what they're trying to do to me but I don't like it.

The only game I caught in regulation was the Avs game against Calgary, which they won thanks to a breakaway goal from Marek Svatos. Even though he scored, he still isn't himself. Earlier in the game, he was going in on a defender and tried to slip the puck through him, but was stopped. My buddies at Altitude noted that the same move worked for him a million times last year, and it basically did. The difference is that last year, his feet were moving. He came down on the defender at full speed, flicked his heels and toes in completely unnatural ways, then slipped the puck through him and went by. Tonight he was gliding, almost as if he were uncertain of what to do. I don't know if beating Kiprusoff to the glove side will improve his confidence any, but for his sake I sure hope it does. He's Marek fucking Svatos- when he plays to his potential like last year, he's breathtakingly good.
Edit: Last night I had a dream that I accidentally went to bed too early and missed the end of the Avs game, in which Marek scored more goals and basically proved everything in this last paragraph wrong. Can this happen in real life?

Working again for the Avs tonight were Hejduk (goal) and Stastny (two goals and an assist). They're basically in love on the ice, which makes me wonder where that leaves Brad May. He's been on their line for a few games now, and their line has done well. In the last five games, Hejduk has 8 points and Stastny has 7. May has 1. I haven't watched closely enough to tell whether he plays an important role on the line that has little to do with scoring or if he's just the third wheel, but either way he's not hurting their production and they might as well not mess up a good thing. Unless "messing up" involves putting Marek there, of course. Nothing will boost his confidence (and point production) like being put on a line with those two lovers.

I Hate the Bruins

This year doesn't make any sense for the Bruins. They had everything. The forwards are young and talented. The most sought-after de at the trade deadline was our #2 guy on a good defensive corps. Tim Thomas is criticized sometimes, but he's kept us afloat and stands on his head when we need it. There was a time earlier in the year when everyone was labelling them as the surprise in the playoffs, should they make it, which it looked like they were going to do.

Now? The Bruins are 6 points out of a playoff spot with a game in hand on Toronto (and a game against them tonight). They're also only 7 points behind Carolina with 3 games in hand. Overall they've got 7 head-to-head matchups against teams they can catch or have to pass to make the playoffs, including 4 against the floundering Canadiens. It's possible that, if the stars align and the Bruins stop sucking, they can sneak in. But I still don't see the Bruins making the playoffs over the Avs or the Oilers. The Oilers are 8 points out of a spot with a game in hand, and Colorado is a point behind them. Their opponents are about equal- Boston and Edmonton's remaining opponents should get an average of 92 points this season, while Colorado's should get about 93. The Oilers also have seven head-to-head games against teams they can catch or have to pass. The Avs have nine, but that's including games against the Oilers that I counted for them but not Edmonton, as they're the ones that have to do the passing. Basically, all three teams are in similar situations, with the Bruins having a slight mathematical advantage in the standings but more teams to get by. There's no reason why I should be dismissing the B's more than the other two, but I'm still doing it. It's just that they've always managed to disappoint me and I don't trust them anymore. For example, the year before the lockout, they were up in the first round 3-1 against Montreal. The Canadiens came back to force a Game 7, which fell on my birthday. We had people over for a small family party to eat cake and watch the Bruins. They lost.

Of course the only reason I'm even putting the words "Bruins" and "playoffs" in the same sentence is because they looked like a legitimate team last night, and of course the reason that they looked like a legitimate team is because they were playing the Forsberg-less Flyers. Ignoring that little fact, I was impressed by the Bruins' effort. Pretty much every player was hustling, led again by Marc Savard, whom I'm starting to have a serious friend crush on. I was talking about this with Paula at the Carolina game a while ago. She was raving about how adorable he is and I agreed, saying that he's the type to cuddle with and tell your problems to. She looked at me like I was diseased and said, "I definitely don't just want to be friends with him, Tizzle." Whatever you want from him, he was working his ass off last night, and for the first time this season looked very frustrated. It was almost a relief to see him shove someone and swear to himself after the whistle- he has so many reasons to be fed up with this team that it was starting to freak me out that he wasn't. Instead of letting his frustration get to him, he channeled it and got himself a 3-point night. PJ Axelsson's goal was entirely Savard's doing. He skated hard into the offensive zone, forced a turnover out of the de, then spun and made a seemingly blind, tape-to-tape pass to PJ in the slot. That goal, coupled with the fact that Marco Sturm called him "Savvy" when interviewed after the first period, made me a happy, happy girl. By the way, is there a person who looks angrier than Marco Sturm? During his interview he seemed like a complete sweetheart but he's got the second meanest-looking face I've ever seen (no one beats Raffi- NO ONE).

The Bruins forwards also benefitted tonight from having more concrete lines (Savard-Muzz-Axelsson, Boyes-Tenkrat-Chistov, Kessel-Sturm-Bochenski, Mowers-Donovan-Reich). In the beginning, there was a lot of miscommunication, but as the game went on there was some chemistry working up. Savard's line has been good together all year, but the other two lines were also working it. I liked the chemistry between Boyes and his wingers and Kessel was good with whoever he was out with. I feel like Phil is one of those people who's meant to be a center. On my team, the girls that we always put at center were the girls who were a liability in any other spot. Since it wasn't very common to find people on the team who actually watched hockey, it was very common to find people who didn't really understand the game. Some girls ("wicked ADHD" as my dad would say) couldn't seem to grasp the positional aspect of the game. They were drawn to the puck and were unable to stand still. So we put them at center, where it was basically their job to fly around the ice, following the puck. I'm not saying that Phil is "wicked ADHD", but if you watch him, he flies around the ice, following the puck, and also seems to love it. Something tells me he'd be a very restless winger. That's not to say he's dumb on the ice, of course. He made a really nice pass to Savvy on the powerplay, which turned into a goal for Sturm. The Bruins have a strangely successful powerplay, sitting at 7th in the league. It hinges on Savvy, who was born to quarterback a powerplay. If there is an open player, he will find a way to get the puck to them. The Bruins coaching staff is smart enough to know this, and have probably told all of their players to get him the puck and get open. Kessel's pass, for instance, was a beautiful pass because it had to go through a lot of traffic. If they're not necessarily forcing it to him, they're definitely intent on getting it there. Why not? Savvy then made a wonderful pass that Sturm just had to tip in. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

This doesn't apply to the Oilers powerplay because their bread-and-butter play is much more fixed than the Bruins'. Savvy is hard to defend because he creates options. If you give him a passing lane, he'll get the pass there, and if you give him enough space he'll shoot it himself. The only way to defend against him is to keep him from getting the puck and double-teaming him if he does. The Oilers' play has no options- if the other team takes away the shooting lane from the point, they've got the entire powerplay covered.

So how will the Oilers' 27th-ranked powerplay will do against Ottawa tonight? Let's just hope they don't draw too many penalties.

Quick notes

• Paul Mara is possibly the randomest person on the Bruins. I have no idea whether he's good or not. Last night was the first time I noticed him all year, and only because he got in a fight with Mike Richards. Also because Versus told me his hometown is somewhere in New Jersey, while the Bruins keep telling us he's from Belmont, Massachusetts. He is from New Jersey. He's even more random than before.
• I kind of like Mike Richards. He reminds me of Jarret Stoll. The fight confused my feelings about him, though. I love a 5-11 guy that'll get in a fight, but since Mara is so random I don't know whether or not I like him yet. If he fought Andrew Alberts or something, I definitely would.
  
• Speaking of Alberts, he loves playing with Andrew Ference. Ference is working insanely hard all over the ice, and Alberts looks pretty content letting him do that. There were a couple of plays where Alberts backed down because he knew Ference would take over. I would break this pairing up if I were Dave Lewis. It would benefit both of them.
  
• Joni Pitkanen is a very good defenseman, but I couldn't tell if he was putting effort into the game or not. He could just be like Joe Thornton, who got criticized because he never looked like he was working hard, or he could be mailing it in because he's playing for the Forsberg-less Flyers. Even if it is the latter, on a legitimate team he'd be a treat.
• Tim Thomas owned the third period, recovering well from letting in a shaky goal earlier.
• On the goal-cam view of that shaky goal, we got a hilarious view of Chara flailing his arms wildly, trying to keep the puck out of the net. Every cloud has a silver lining.