Sunday, May 29, 2005
Cinderella: Death by Powerplay
And so it ends.
The 67s came crashing back to earth in their final three games, ending their magical run through the OHL and into the Memorial Cup by going down 7-4 to the Rimouski Oceanic in the semi-final. It was easy to get frustrated with the team's play (not to mention London management's shenanigans....but I won't even start on that BS) over the last three games but I had to keep reminding myself what a great miracle it was that they had made it there in the first place. Even after they made it, they were the tournament's Rodney Dangerfield, garnering no respect. After the opening game 2OT magic, reality came crashing back, but the memories of a great spring remain.
Thanks for the great run guys.
The 67s came crashing back to earth in their final three games, ending their magical run through the OHL and into the Memorial Cup by going down 7-4 to the Rimouski Oceanic in the semi-final. It was easy to get frustrated with the team's play (not to mention London management's shenanigans....but I won't even start on that BS) over the last three games but I had to keep reminding myself what a great miracle it was that they had made it there in the first place. Even after they made it, they were the tournament's Rodney Dangerfield, garnering no respect. After the opening game 2OT magic, reality came crashing back, but the memories of a great spring remain.
Thanks for the great run guys.
Monday, May 23, 2005
Blast from the past...
In memory of the other, non-67, hockey team that once played here, and that may one day come back to choke again (or in a perfect world instead possibly show a fraction of the resilience the 67s have shown the last month or so), take a listen to this collection of NHL goal horns.
Sunday, May 22, 2005
Batman steals another (+Lynx stuff)
Holy shit. What a game.
The 67s and Kelowna Rockets fought it out in the longest game in Memorial Cup history, and by the time the dust finally settled after Brad Staubitz hammered one home deep into a second OT, Danny Battochio had stopped 62 shots, including a few he had no business stopping and the 67s had escaped with a 3-2 win over the Rockets .
Jes Golbez is one of my favourite hockey bloggers out there but he deserves to get thumped with a barber pole for this heresy:
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As mentioned below, potential future (gonna take a few more years of putting up numbers) HOFer Frank Thomas was in town on a rehab assignment earlier this week. I made it to the game on Wednesday to see a 1-5 performance. Although the numbers don't show it, he hit the ball hard a couple of times (nearly to the track in centre in his first at bat) and stuck out spectacularly a couple of other times, spurring some wisecracks from the crowd, which got a laugh out of the big hurt.
One other thing I noticed about Thomas was that his stance was much different than I thought. Not that I get to see the White Sox much, but for some reason I always thought that he had a wide open stance. Instead, his feet were almost together and his stance was closed.
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I was in the car for a few moments on Friday evening during the TEAM1200's broadacast of the Lynx game. Or maybe that should be the TEAM1200's brodcast *from* the Lynx game. While maybe I just caught a bad inning, the broadcast consisted mostly of talk radio with an occasional update of the goings on in the field. For example, I was in the car (and they were talking) for 2-3 minutes before I found out that, oh yeah, we interrupt this banter to bring you the news that, no big deal here, but there are runners at first and third and there's a 3-2 count on the hitter.
Glad you could tear yourself away from that banter, fellas.
All the more reason just to show up at the ballpark, I guess.
The 67s and Kelowna Rockets fought it out in the longest game in Memorial Cup history, and by the time the dust finally settled after Brad Staubitz hammered one home deep into a second OT, Danny Battochio had stopped 62 shots, including a few he had no business stopping and the 67s had escaped with a 3-2 win over the Rockets .
Jes Golbez is one of my favourite hockey bloggers out there but he deserves to get thumped with a barber pole for this heresy:
Whoever designed the 67s uniforms should be arrested and bullwhipped for Sartorial Abuse. These things are truly offensive to my eyeballs.Fortunately, all is forgiven for posting this gem earlier this week.
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As mentioned below, potential future (gonna take a few more years of putting up numbers) HOFer Frank Thomas was in town on a rehab assignment earlier this week. I made it to the game on Wednesday to see a 1-5 performance. Although the numbers don't show it, he hit the ball hard a couple of times (nearly to the track in centre in his first at bat) and stuck out spectacularly a couple of other times, spurring some wisecracks from the crowd, which got a laugh out of the big hurt.
One other thing I noticed about Thomas was that his stance was much different than I thought. Not that I get to see the White Sox much, but for some reason I always thought that he had a wide open stance. Instead, his feet were almost together and his stance was closed.
---
I was in the car for a few moments on Friday evening during the TEAM1200's broadacast of the Lynx game. Or maybe that should be the TEAM1200's brodcast *from* the Lynx game. While maybe I just caught a bad inning, the broadcast consisted mostly of talk radio with an occasional update of the goings on in the field. For example, I was in the car (and they were talking) for 2-3 minutes before I found out that, oh yeah, we interrupt this banter to bring you the news that, no big deal here, but there are runners at first and third and there's a 3-2 count on the hitter.
Glad you could tear yourself away from that banter, fellas.
All the more reason just to show up at the ballpark, I guess.
Monday, May 16, 2005
More catching up
Another week, another posting whitewash. Between the new job, visitors and the Bo Jacksonesque gruelling schedules of both the Barrhaven and Hi-Tech softball leagues, shite happens, I suppose. I didn't even get to see the 67s turn back into a pumpkin in games 4-5, although I caught most of it on the radio. I'm still optimistic that they can pick it up again in the Memorial Cup. The cliche works: one game, anything can happen. Learn it. Love it.
The Big Hurt, Frank Thomas comes to town this week on a rehab assignment with Charlotte. The Lynx more than weathered their longest road trip of the year with a 5-5 record and return home a game and a half back of Buffalo in the division. It's an embarrassment that I haven't made it to a game yet, but I'll be catching at least one of these (likely Wed)for sure.
From 0-100. The Team1200 site was more or less just a shell for a long time. Hardly any content, and what little there was was tough to find. It was mostly just a poll, a bikini pic, and some links to TSN. Finally, however, they're starting to beef it up a bit. The Three Guys on the Radio (aka TGOR), section of the site is starting to fill in and add some functionality. Coolest of all, they've added podcasting capability. I'll be able to catch the parts of the show outside the 20 minutes that I'm in the car. On the down side, I'll still be in the car during the worst part of the show (yes/no game, which got old about a week after it started). On the up side, I won't miss Pierre McGuire anymore. Hopefully the podcasting will spread to the other shows, especially Gross and Galley, who are usually pretty good on the rare occasions when I can listen to them.
The other addition to the site is a link to Steve Warne's (more or less) new blog. Good stuff. I've added him to the sidebar.
Welcome to the Interweb Team 1200.
The Big Hurt, Frank Thomas comes to town this week on a rehab assignment with Charlotte. The Lynx more than weathered their longest road trip of the year with a 5-5 record and return home a game and a half back of Buffalo in the division. It's an embarrassment that I haven't made it to a game yet, but I'll be catching at least one of these (likely Wed)for sure.
From 0-100. The Team1200 site was more or less just a shell for a long time. Hardly any content, and what little there was was tough to find. It was mostly just a poll, a bikini pic, and some links to TSN. Finally, however, they're starting to beef it up a bit. The Three Guys on the Radio (aka TGOR), section of the site is starting to fill in and add some functionality. Coolest of all, they've added podcasting capability. I'll be able to catch the parts of the show outside the 20 minutes that I'm in the car. On the down side, I'll still be in the car during the worst part of the show (yes/no game, which got old about a week after it started). On the up side, I won't miss Pierre McGuire anymore. Hopefully the podcasting will spread to the other shows, especially Gross and Galley, who are usually pretty good on the rare occasions when I can listen to them.
The other addition to the site is a link to Steve Warne's (more or less) new blog. Good stuff. I've added him to the sidebar.
Welcome to the Interweb Team 1200.
Saturday, May 07, 2005
Catching up
Once again it's been a while. Started a new job and posting has fallen to the wayside for a bit. With the start of the 67s-Knights series, it's time to get back at 'er. A few notes from the last week or so:
- Missed the first two periods of the 67s game last night because I had a softball game, but one thing is clear to anyone who saw the game or not:
First rule of playing the Knights is stay out of the box. Second rule of playing the Knights is stay out of the ^$^%$# box!
Now the 67s didn't give them many PP chances with only 5, but when you convert at a 60% clip, you don't need many.
The 67s put up a good fight in the third, climbing back within one at 3-2 before the Knights scored an insurance marker (once again on the PP, their 3rd of the night in 5 chances).
Once again Battochio was outstanding. He robbed the Knights of 2-3 goals in the third period alone.
- The Lynx are in a mini-slump having lost 3 straight to the Syracuse Skychiefs. They now head off on a 10-game road trip, starting with a pair of games in Buffalo who they lead by 1.5 games in the North division race.
- Oh those wacky Renegades! What will happen next. I've written little-to-none about the Renegades over the winter, mostly because the constant parade of players out of the city was too depressing. An ownership situation, which Brad Watters assured us would be resolved within a few weeks of the Grey Cup, is as murky as ever three weeks before training camp starts. The most likely possibility at this point is that the Gliebermans will return for another kick at the can. I wasn't here during their first run so I'll reserve judgment for now, but needless to say based on their reputation I'm tentative. At least Dexter Manley is retired.
Some good Renegades news: they picked up PK Matt Kellett from the Alouettes.
Some bad Renegades news: Kellett had trouble with double-vision last year. He says that he's fine now. However since doctors don't know what caused the problem, they don't know if it'll come back.
- We're #8! Got another mention in the Ottawa Citizen's best local blogs contest. I was 8th on the list.
- Missed the first two periods of the 67s game last night because I had a softball game, but one thing is clear to anyone who saw the game or not:
First rule of playing the Knights is stay out of the box. Second rule of playing the Knights is stay out of the ^$^%$# box!
Now the 67s didn't give them many PP chances with only 5, but when you convert at a 60% clip, you don't need many.
The 67s put up a good fight in the third, climbing back within one at 3-2 before the Knights scored an insurance marker (once again on the PP, their 3rd of the night in 5 chances).
Once again Battochio was outstanding. He robbed the Knights of 2-3 goals in the third period alone.
- The Lynx are in a mini-slump having lost 3 straight to the Syracuse Skychiefs. They now head off on a 10-game road trip, starting with a pair of games in Buffalo who they lead by 1.5 games in the North division race.
- Oh those wacky Renegades! What will happen next. I've written little-to-none about the Renegades over the winter, mostly because the constant parade of players out of the city was too depressing. An ownership situation, which Brad Watters assured us would be resolved within a few weeks of the Grey Cup, is as murky as ever three weeks before training camp starts. The most likely possibility at this point is that the Gliebermans will return for another kick at the can. I wasn't here during their first run so I'll reserve judgment for now, but needless to say based on their reputation I'm tentative. At least Dexter Manley is retired.
Some good Renegades news: they picked up PK Matt Kellett from the Alouettes.
Some bad Renegades news: Kellett had trouble with double-vision last year. He says that he's fine now. However since doctors don't know what caused the problem, they don't know if it'll come back.
- We're #8! Got another mention in the Ottawa Citizen's best local blogs contest. I was 8th on the list.
