Development/Conditioning Camps

Nothing much is transpiring right now in the world of QMJHL hockey. Development camps have begun for many NHL teams, and I have heard no word on any invites for Sea Dogs goaltender Travis Fullerton, which is a damn dirty shame. Robert Mayer, on the other hand, has been invited to Montreal for their development camp. Life is sometimes so unfair to goalies. Travis was a motherfuckin' madman between the pipes, and he never quit on a rebound. He usually had me clench fisted and screaming "ohhhhhhhh yeah, oh, OH, oh, ohhhhh YES, YESSSSSSSS" at the little video box on my computer screen. Satisfying!!! If all else fails, I hope that citizen Fullerton remembers that he is still invited to the development camp in my pants.

I somehow missed that unsigned LA kings prospect Joey Ryan (Gatineau) was invited to NYR development camp. Blueshirt Bulletin has posted this description of Ryan: "The large crop of free agents was largely unimpressive. One player stood out -- Joe Ryan, the only one in the group who had once been drafted. The space between his ears was the reason for his fall from grace, according to one observer present who knew a bit more about him than the rest of us. But he looked good on the ice." Oh poor Joey, not so smart eh? Here, have a cookie!

As for Ryan Hillier:

Sarah over at Neutral Zone Trap has been to the arena to check out the first day of development camp for the Columbus Blue Jackets. She had this to say about Jakub Voracek: “Voracek looked a little out of sorts. His skill was obvious, but he seemed to be making some mistakes, and looked frustrated at times. Hopefully just working out the kinks.”

Let me guess: someone just skated up and stole the puck from him as he was nearing the blue line. Also, he failed to back check. Did I get that right? Do I get a prize? Oh Sarah, please wrap Mior (Gatineau) in a pretty bow for me and ship him here. Put a little note on him that says “for your own personal goalie development camp”.

I know what you are thinking; you are thinking: "both Fully and Mior? Slut!!!". While I am sitting here thinking that I should be able to accommodate at least three in my development camp*. Mmmm Fully and Mior - I would be in a sea of crazy blue goalie eyes; both boys look mildly insane. But, alas no! There really is no development camp in my pants because I could not get funding from the government to rent an extra apartment, or 'sin bin' as it were. Also, we all know that goalies never get to go to the box, and that in itself is a damn dirty shame, because goalies get away with doing all sorts of bad things and then never have to serve their time (Yeah, you know who you are).

Eric at Hockey Buzz also checked out the Blue Jackets and was a little more positive about Jakub. Eric thinks that "Jakub Voracek was a man among boys! Absolute stud that has hands and vision that almost every player in the NHL would dream to have. He even had a time where he fought off a check on a 2 on 2 drill and still built speed going to the net. He is the real deal!"

The Ducks have a feature article on Logan MacMillan at their website. Why am I always slow on the Logan news? I love me some hardworking, backchecking, nostril flaring, makeup wearing...wait, why does Logan look like a makeup victim in these pictures? Did Steve Mason get to him?

__________________________________

*I am really getting into this foursome thing. Unfortunately, while at first it has you screaming halleliljah, afterwards you feel all Huseliused.

Hillier Image from Blueshirt Bulletin

Olympiques vs Rouyn-Noranda Game 4: This is for the Ds

What can I say? - the ‘piques are on a roll. They have defeated the Huskies 4-1 and now lead the series 3-1 heading back to Rouyn-Noranda for a game on Friday. I can even see an evolution in their game from when they were playing in Halifax at the Metro Centre during round three, as compared to their games now. They are playing smoother as a unit, their passing seems better, pucks are connecting tape to tape to tape, and there seems to be less stupid turnovers in the neutral zone (but that could just be due to the larger size of our ice surface). They are still keeping it tight in front of their net.

I am not going to comment too much on the game since I was not really paying attention, but Byron (yeah!!! again) had 1 goal, 2 assists. Unfortunately, I have very few pictures of him, either because he is too small to see behind all of those other players or he is too fast for my camera. Instead I will give you a picture of Byron WITH Matthew Pistilli – who was a getter of 2 assists during last night’s game.

It is hard to tell who is who when you are watching the Telus feeds, especially with no volume (I was TV multitasking) but when the volume was on, one name I did hear over and over was that of Joey Ryan. Oh Joey Ryan, I don’t know how wonderfully defensey you were being to make your commentators scream with joy like that, but if I do say so, it sounded good for them. Was it good for you?

Tell Ryan Mior he can read to me from his text books or throw me up against a wall anyday. All that puck handling and a 0.966 save% not only gets him A) the flinging of my panties in his general direction, but he can also exchange his game winning puck for B1) a coffee date, B2) a romantic walk along the water front, B3) extensive cooing with the fluffy hair smelling, the seductive breathing in the ear, and the neck caressing, B4) things I dare not say on this blog in case P-O or Travis Fullerton find out I have been making advances on goalies other than them.

Dear Ryan, don't tell my other goalies I said rowwwrr.

Halifax seems to have forgotten that there is a QMJHL final going on. They are not covering this in our newspaper. However, there are some good stories to be had where hometown boys are concerned:

Saint John NB’s newspapers have had some write-ups concerning the finals (game 3), as well as a story about Brad Tesink of the Acadie-Bathurst Titan

Ryan Mior has an interview with the St John’s Nfld newspaper- I am loving his down to earth attitude and winning ways. Does anybody know which university he is enrolled with and if he will be playing in the Maritimes next year?

Cape Breton loves the Huskie’s Brett Morrison and Jarrad Struthers, as such the Cape Breton Post have been covering this last round of the playoffs from day 1 - See here for a story on Morrison and Struthers and here for a write up on Game 2.