Sunday, March 2, 2008

Dogs are good at playing catch up (and fetch)

Oh Saint John
I wanted you to do well for the sake of your 'tender (like maybe a 2-1 loss in regulation) but I did not want you to actually win. It was warm and toasty all alone up here at the top, with the sun shining on only the Moose. Now we have to share our mountain with 22 other guys and it is getting crowded. The 1 point difference between us feels a bit too risqué for a good Irish Catholic girl like myself. Leave it to Fullerton to make me feel all dirty.

The Saint John Sea Dogs defeated the Val d'Or Foreurs with a 3-2 decision in the shootout.
Some pics are already available at the Foreurs website.

Travis Fullerton turned aside 36/38 shots, while Raffaele D'Orso blocked 38/40 in regulation /OT
combined. Powerplays were split 1/4 for each team. I watched part of the first and second periods (en Francais) and saw some pretty nice blocks by both Fullerton and D'Orso - the shiniest bauble being a stop by Fullerton about 10-12 minutes into the second where Fully's legs were splayed across the top of the crease while simultaneously making an awesome glove save. uhhhhhhgggggg drool. Then I got all hot and bothered and had to take a cold shower.

All silliness aside - I am confused about the awarding of Stars
    1.VDO - D'Orso, Raffaele
    2.VDO - Sauve, Maxime
    3. SNB - Liske, Payton
Maxime Sauvé got the only goal in the shootout for Val d'Or as well as an unassisted goal early in the 3rd to give Val d'Or the lead.
Christopher DiDomenico and Payton Liske got the goals in the shootout for Saint John. Liske got the tying goal in the third with an assist from Despres.
More details are available at QMJHL.

So it makes sense to give Sauve and Liske stars, but why D'Orso, and why did he get first star when his save % was only marginally better than Fullerton's (0.95 vs 0.947) and Fullerton was the winning goaltender. What is up?

I am not saying that Raf did not deserve the star, as I did not see the whole game. Nor am I denying him stars because I am bitter about being stood up by D'Orso earlier this season. I even watched him in the QMJHL Canada Russia challenge on November19th (Oy ...that rebound) and that was after he stood me up for our date at the Metro Centre on Nov 10th. Seeing a goalie do his thing live is so much better than on TV though (and way better than on Telus live feeds), which is why I will accept another date next season when he comes calling.

I want to like D'Orso for all the silly reasons a girl could like a goalie:

1) He is small like a Toskala, or a Marty #3 (Turco)
2) He plays a hybrid style...which is more entertaining than butterfly
2) He is from the community of St. Leonard, Montreal...land of Brodeur and Luongo
3) Openly admits to liking Brodeur. Brodeur is an obvious choice for favorite goalie, which is why I think no one else will admit to liking him.
4) He can make the douche-y chinstrap facial hair work
5) He has unilateral control over his eyebrows.
6) He lifts his mask a lot.

If someone knows why D'Orso deserved 1st star please let me know.

If someone has found a cure for my eyebrow fetish could they also let me know - i talk about eyebrows A LOT.

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Elsewhere:
The Q scoring race got a huge jump today when the Acadie-Bathurst Titan faced the Gatineau Olympiques for a 5/4 OT decision (in favour of Gat) at the Centre Robert-Guertin.

League points leader and Washington draft pick Mathieu Perreault (ABT) had 2 goals and 1 assist and close runner up - Squirrels Giroux (Gat/Phi) had 4 assists.

The point leaders are as follows:
Mathieu Perreault (ABT) - 101 (59 GP)
Claude Giroux (Gat) - 97 (51 GP)
Jakub Voracek (Hal) - 96 (48 GP)
Francis Pare (Chi) - 94 (64 GP)
Dean Ouellet (Cap) - 92 (65 GP)

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Baie-Comeau defeated Chicoutimi 4-2 to regain the top spot in the Telus and are the top seeded team overall with 92 points (65- 43, 16, 2, 4). The top seed is a scary merry-go-round that I would rather not have to ride on a day-to-day basis. Let's just say it is always either Baie-Comeau or Rouyn-Noranda and leave it at that, unless something drastic happens, or at least until the season ends on March 16.

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