1,2,3,4 tell me that you love me more

After a 12 game losing streak the Halifax Mooseheads have come back with a four game winning home stand. Yes FOUR wins. Last night the Moose defeated the Baie Comeau Drakkar by a score of 4-1. Four wins, four goals and FOUR fights last night.

I don't want to write a big blog post. It is already too late for that. Newspapers have done their job.


Some small things:

• Konrad Abeltshauser and Garrett Clarke will each be out for over a week with knee injuries.
• If anyone else checks Gillard from behind again I will personally kill them. I can be far more vicious than Spencer Metcalfe. Ok that is a lie, but I bet you any money I can give that pretty little Olsson girl a hard bitch slap and make him her cry.
  
• Gerrad Grant needs to take his cloths off more often. May I suggest he not wear underarmour next time. Skinny is good. Girls like skinny, or at least they prefer skinny to over muscled meat-heads. Because Gerry couldn't follow up Friday night's 1G,1A performance with more goals he opted for fighting. It's like a Gordie Howe hat trick- but extended over 2 games.
  
• Goals were by Knotek, Bety and Gelinas (x2)
• Assists were by Bahm (x2), Stoddard, Andrews, Brunet, and Dimitruk
• Game stars were Gelinas (1), Bety (2), and Knotek (3)
• Mathieu Corbeil had another good performance making 32 saves on 33 shots for the win. The only Drakkar goal was on the power play.
• Fights were by Metcalfe (perfectly normal behavior), Hannay (take me now), Grant (what the?... oooooh striptease), and Gelinas (or dear God have mercy on his little face).
• Hannay has AMAZING eyebrows.
• I am not bitter about Stoddard anymore.
  

The team is currently participating in a giant orgy of verbal fellating. Everybody is sooooo in love with each other and that's what makes it OK (and no one is getting used- this is what we tell our moms).

I mean check out these quotes from the past two days:

Metcalfe on the team - “We were talking about it in the room, we needed to have a good start and we did. Everyone played solid and everyone was confident.”

Dimitruk on the team - “That’s a hell of a hockey team, the Moncton Wildcats. They’re probably one of the most complete teams we’ll see all year … And that’s a testament to our work ethic that we beat them.”

Dimitruk on Corbeil - “He’s playing unbelievable. He’s bailed us out time after time. We’re absolutely riding on his back right now. He’s playing fantastic and I can’t say enough about his work ethic.”

Randell on my skills with men - "That feels unbelievable"*
Corbeil concurs - "It feels great"

Bety on Corbeil - "We’re winning because we’re working hard and Mathieu is also really helping us. He’s been playing really well since last week. We’re all very happy for him. And when he is playing like that, it is more comfortable for the rest of us. He is a big (reason) we are winning right now."

Corbeil on team - "Everyone kept working hard and everyone’s really happy now".

Randell on Corbeil - "With the goaltending we’re getting from Matt, if he keeps it up we’re going to have a chance to win every single night no matter what."


Quotes stolen from the following news links:
Palov - Moose win fourth straight
Moose shock Wildcats

Wuest - Moose top Drakkar for fourth straight win
Herd keeps rolling with win over Wildcats

Other news:
Casey - Mooseheads make it a perfect homestand


* actually he was talking about winning 4 in a row.

Shame didn't work

As a member of the Mooseheads Borg-like collective of fans I must admit that I am feeling the pain. The Mooseheads promotions people would call me the 7^th player. I do have a street hockey stick – I call it the ovipositor (that has dual meaning) - and am beginning to believe that if you put me on the roster I may have some positive effect on the outcome of the game. I can chop at shins, I can fall unpurposefully in front of the opposition (I fall a lot) and if all else fails I can stand at the blue line and flash my tits at the goalie while Randell drives the net.

Tonight the Mooseheads were in Baie Comeau to take on the Drakkar in what has been dubbed the “battle for the basement”. Sounds Epic.

Before the game description begins there are a few things to note:

1) The Moose are going with 7 D today including wee behbeh ginge Jamie Bishop.

Sitting out are defencemen MacDonald, Gillard and Abeltshauser and forwards Brown, Costello, Stoddard and Pelletier.

2) As of last night the Moose have the 5^th best PP in the league with 26.3 %, at least according to the “special teams" stat page. The team page says they are at 25.something %. Whatever. The QMJHL tells lies, but both values are still are pretty good.

3) Corbeil is back in nets after a game off in Chicoutimi.

First Period:

The game started out with turnovers by Amyot and Dimitruk. The boys are NOT being careful about turnovers in dangerous places. mmmm turnovers (kinda hungry for sweets)

Gerrad Grant gets a PP goal on the third rebound when the net was practically empty as Dunnett appeared to be diving around trying to stop pucks. It is great that the team is taking advantage of these opportunities… practically empty nets. Sometimes they shoot and miss them (YES, YOU DO).

Shortly thereafter (1.5 minutes to be exact) Charles Bety made a bad pass onto the sick of a Drakkar player who was standing around in the moose zone. Two Drakkar drove to the Mooseheads net. Bourque gets the goal for the Drakkar to tie the game up at 1-1. Disappointing.

Bety made up for it seconds later by stealing the puck on the Drakkar PP and making a run for their net.

Intermission:

Costello reminds me of the thing I think whenever I hear intermission interviews – these rural Maritime kids have some fucked up accents. They make the foreigners sound so refined.

Second period:

The Drakkar got a goal early in the 2^nd. Thus breaking my heart. Drakkar up 2-1 on a high shot by Bourque that cleared Corbeil’s glove.

The Moose had a PP which turned into a 5 on 3…then back into a 5 on 4 and then – d’oh - still no goal. This was immediately followed by another PP with no goal. The PP is usually pretty good but the boys are kinda stinking it up today. They had almost 5 minutes of consecutive PP time and failed to score. In total there were 6 PP’s in the second period but no goals. Clarke appears to be the machine behind our power play.

On the 6^th PP opportunity of the period the Drakkar almost got a goal but Corbeil made a huge save. Then Clarke got stupid and took a revenge penalty to end the power play

Knotek then took a cross checking penalty for his second penalty of the game. This is very unlike Tomas Knotek…he is like our superman – so seemingly moral (well at least he looks angelic), except probably when it comes to underage drinking. Europeans won’t stand for our stupid rules.

Intermission:

awwwww Guillaume Pelletier gets interviewed. Gui’s keys to winning in the third – score on the PP. Damn straight!

Third period:

Drakkar start on a 5-4 which quickly turns into a 5-3 when Travis Randell, one of the Mooseheads best penalty killers, gets tossed into the box. Then they score on the 5-4. The Drakkar are up 3-1 with 3 goals on 20 shots.

So Metcalfe decides to fight Richer just to add some zing to the game. It didn’t work.

I haven’t heard Bishop’s’ name in a while so I guess the behbeh is not getting so many minutes.

Dimitruk gets a hooking penalty, a double minor, his 2^nd (or does that count as 2^nd and 3^rd) penalty of the game. Dudes – stay the fuck out of the box. To punish me for using curse words Hannay elbows some Drakkar dink. Drakkar on the PP, their 8^th of the game.

I sat around like a bum waiting for another PP opportunity and the Moose finally get it with less than 3 minutes left in the game. It quickly turns into a 5-3 when Cheremetiev took a hook from Bourque. Now the Mooseheads get a 5-3 for 1min 40 sec. What will they do?

…nothing.

With seconds left they pulled Corbeil and still nothing happened.

Mooseheads lose 3-1

Positives:

Moose dominated the faceoffs winning 47 of 80. Only Randell was in the faceoffs loss category.

Big shooters include Knotek, Clarke and Dimitruk

Ummmmmmmm, I got nothing.

Bonus evil thoughts:

Tomas Knotek’s point streak comes to an end. Gerrad Grant’s remains in tact.

What, not enough energy left to hit? Only 11 hits by the Moose. That doesn’t look like the actions of a team that is going to make your life a living hell (unless you are a Mosseheads fan)

I bet the team's PP stats just went wayyyyyy down.

Corbeil stopped 21 of 24 shots by Baie Comeau.

The Drakkar now have 9 points and the Moose are still stuck at 3. The Mooseheads record now stands at 1-13-0-1.

Yes, Mr. Lester Brown, lots of Dutch people have been visiting the blog trying to find out more about you. I would tell them more about you if you would actually get a chance to play

Cookies for Who? I shall consider all arguments for or against, but I am leaning towards Clarke even though I don't like that he took 2 minor penalties.

Dear Moose Brass,

You can sit Andrews out and give him a break now. Just because he was the first round pick does not mean he gets to play every game. Especially when he is 14 games into the season with only 2 assists - having gotten only 1 point in the game against Val d’Or since his first game (and first point) in PEI. When boys get favoritism by being played every game for no good reason then I start to dislike them for being spoiled. Andrews is getting spoiled.

Here, enjoy these news links
Lineup: Mooseheads at Drakkar
Moose lose to basement buddies

Don't rock the boat

Tonight the Moose were on the road to take on the Baie-Comeau Drakkar.

Sitting out for the Moose are:
Justin Pender (hip)
Guillaume Pelletier (lower body / knee?)
Jessyko Bernard (groin)
Jan Stransky (suspended)

Graham Bona was playing on forward, and a semi-recovered Ned O'Brien is back in the lineup, despite having been physically ravaged by a serious flu.

I took a look at the new team line-up:
Current average age = 18.16
Average age before trades = 18.29
I think. I could show my work and double check my math, but meh, there is a reason no one should read this blog. It is not high quality hockey analysis. High quality eyebrow analysis, maybe, but hockey.... not so much. Ohhh we got sooo much younger; I almost feel like a child molester... almost. 0.13 of a year. That would make the Moose, like, a whole 1-2 months younger.

This could explain why we are the same shitty Mooseheads (see how I insert myself in there as a 'we' like I have something to do with the miraculous poopification of my team) that we were before X-mas. The kinda team that loses 7-2.


First:
Not bad. The Drakkar get a goal on a 5 on 3 by Goulet, with assists by Lessard and Petit. I can live with a 5 on 3 goal... not the fact that we gave them a 5 on 3 opportunity though.

Second:
Piette gets a goal to tie it up but immediately afterwards Yetman lets in an unassisted softie by Kalin Paul, Paul's second of the year. No matter how this ends - no cookies for Yeti. It has been declared.

Then the Drakkar get another, by Villeneuve, on a wraparound or similar 'behind the net shenanigans'. The Moose are allowing goals by a bunch of guys who do not normally get goals. ohhh hoorah. This is followed instantly by a high glove side goal, by Mimar, though I have to wonder why that Drakkar player was just allowed to skate in like that with the puck... what the fuck defence? Three goals in 3 minutes. bah *hand gestures*.

The nets themselves are playing their own game of 'just the tip'. They must be, because the posts keep slipping off the... whatever the fuck those things are called. Damn.

A BREAKAWAY right off the next face-off gets the Drakkar up 5-1. Yetman seemed to be way off to the side, Goulet just stepped around him. Someone's goalie brain must be broken. As per-usual, the coaching staff waits until it is too late, and the game is too far out of reach, to swap netminders. 5 goals allowed in 16 shots.

Drakkar get a 2 on 1 - followed by another goal, this time on Corbeil. Why am I torturing myself? I need a drink. Gin or Baileys?

Third:
Frankly...I was not paying attention. Except... stop it with the fucking penalties, because penalties = powerplays for them = goals. Guess what - yeah, Drakkar goal. Well, the Moose did get a goal in the third (welcome back Desjardins baby), but at 7-2 it all seems a little bit pointless.


MacAskill gets all the cookies, at least for periods 1 and 2, which I was watching. If he would like he can share with Amyot. Why Mac, you ask:

• A big hit about 10 minutes into the first
• What peeps don't respect about MacAskill is that he does a fairly good job bringing the puck down the ice, as he did on the Moose's 2nd pp.
• In the second he was battling on the boards to get the puck, which, once we did get the puck, lead to a rush down ice and Piette's goal. Our first of the game.
• Later, he was battling for the puck while on his knees.
• The assist on Desjardins' goal.
• Being a +2 in a game in which there were 7 goals against.
  
• My girlfriend A.N. would want it that way. She calls him fluffy.
  

PS. I chose Baileys.

Edit - Oh yeah. The team released 17 year old Ryan Matheson back to the MJAHL's Restigouche Tigers. Dear Ryan, please pet Stefan Dumaresque for me.

Edit2 - Wuest's game review.

One of three in three: A Piss Poor blog post

The Mooseheads are on the road, having taken on the Baie Comeau Drakkar last night. This is the second game of a five game road trip and the first of a weekend three in three. Yetman was in nets for the Moose, while Marek Benda and Cousineau both stood watch for the Drakkar. MacMillan is still out with a knee injury while forwards Snow and Desjardins, and defencemen Matheson and Greer sit out for the Moose.

1st
I tune in late only to discover that the Mooseheads are down – 2 goals (Laroche and Goulet) on 3 shots in three and a half minutes. The Laroche goal was a PP marker goal on a Knotek penalty. Boo. I quit my team.

I go to the kitchen, because I am baking my road-tripping boyfriend(s) a banana bread. I consider burning it. Then I return just in time to discoverer that the Mooseheads have magically gone up 3-2. What the hell? They must smell the banana bread. Excellent noses on those boys. Apparently the first goal was by Knotek (from Pender) at 13:56, possibly an attempt to make up for his earlier penalty, the second was by Bernard (from Knotek and Cheremetiev) at 14:48 and the last was by Gerad Grant unassisted at 17:30. All were even strength.

Honestly…you miss 5 minutes of a hockey game and madness ensues. I am beginning to think that my watching brings bad luck.

This Cheremetiev, Knotek, Bernard line is amazing. They have some real chemistry. Will they be broken up when MacMillan returns? My guess: most likely. In Moose Universe solid line combinations are fairly short lived.

2^nd
Cousineau replaces Benda in nets for the start of the second period. Pender and Trembley fight early (very early) in the second. Did they really need to fight? Pender is kinda essential. It is not always good to be sitting in the box for 5 when the team needs defence.

Moose get a PP -Bona carries the puck cleanly down the ice and deep into the Drakkar zone but then we lost the puck, allowing the Drakkar get a two-on-two during our PP. Bernard does a good job breaking up a cross ice pass and taking the puck back out of the Moose zone. We are still unable to get a goal in the PP – this is a HUGE problem.

The Drakkar get a two on one…but they really suck at opportunizing. They stop and think, then start to write an essay detailing their next move…they lose the puck. Hey I’m not complaining. The Drakkar are really messy tonight. It took them forever to notice the puck had left the Moose zone and they were all offside. By the time they realized this, the Moose were down in the Drakkar zone. If they have a female blogger she is likely baking them pot brownies.

I can smell the Banana bread. I decide the boys deserve it (it is rich in Vitamin K)...I shouldn't let it burn. I go to check on it and while I am on my way down the stairs I can hear: "Drakkar get a goal". Damn. Why have I missed every goal this game. I am going back downstairs to the kitchen…magic happens when I am there. Oh…all I am doing is thinking of leaving and we get a goal.

Matt Boland from Earle and Bety. In only two games Boland is 2/3 of the way to matching his 3 year career points total of 1 goal and 2 assists.

On a 4^th PP we are having a hard time keeping the puck in the Drakkar zone. I don’t like when the other team is getting shots on our net during our PP. Bona carries the puck all the way in. DEEP. Then he is out of position when he should be on the point. Is this a problem? I think this is a problem.

3^rd
Moose get a PP when the Drakkar get caught with too many men on the ice. We just had two exciting end-to-end chances: the Drakkar had a break-out but as the puck neared the Moose net Yeti left the crease and poked it away, then the Moose picked it up for a reverse rush, allowing Piette to get a chance but Cousineau denied him.

Damn, with about 6 minutes left the Drakkar get a goal on their fourth PP to tie the game 4-4.

OT
While I was distracted Yeti made the most spic-spectacular save. Why did Pender take a penalty in OT? Damn…Ouimet scores, Drakkar get a goal against a screened Yetman to win the game 5-4. The Drakkar have just jumped the Mooseheads in the league standings.

Team in need of a PP?
Honestly boys: 0 for 7. Two power play goals in the past 37 chances (???). We have a 15% efficiency. That is piss poor. This is one problem that no one can blame on Yetman.

Yetman: 5 Goals on 26 shots
Marek: 3 goals on 15 shots
Cousineau: 1 goal on 22 shots

Stars:
BAC - Petit, Félix
BAC - Ouimet, Maxime
HAL - Knotek, Tomas

Was that F'n awesome or was I just drunk?

The Halifax Mooseheads defeated the Baie Comeau Drakkar by a score of 6 to 4.

Like sex, sometimes the messier it gets the funner it is...and this was a messy, messy game. Linden Bahm had a Gordie Howe Hat Trick with a messy/loverly wrap around sharp-angle goal, Logan MacMillan had two break-away goals, Knotek and Cheremetiev started getting their offence on, MacAskill gets a golden macaroni star for four (mutherfuckin' four) assists, Pender also got a goal and put a beat down on a Drakkar player with sassy consequences, and Gabriel O'Connor was this close (||) to getting his fight-on when stupid refs pried him away from all of the fun.

Drakkar goaltender Marco Cousineau was pulled in the second after allowing 5 goals on only 15 shots and was replaced by former Cape Breton Screaming Eagles 'tender Marek Benda. Benda allowed MacMillan's breakaway goal with the first shot on the Drakkar net, but was pretty solid after that, stopping the next 11 shots.

While the game was awesome and had a lot of energy, it was not ideal. There were so many turnovers and the Drakkar had a number of breakaway chances, coming one on one with Mark Yetman, and getting 3 goals in the process, including one shorthanded goal. On the third goal Bona just let a Drakkar player pick the puck right off of his stick in the slot and put it on Yetman point blank. The puck slipped in five hole. These moments seem to happen in sloooowww motion.

Even still, Yetman had a number of big saves, some of which were absolutely beautiful - yep catching the puck after a mis-play while lying on your back with one leg in the air is a beautiful thing. A very beautiful thing.

So to recap:
Ben MacAskill: 4 assists
Logan Macmillan: 2 goals, 1 assist
Tomas Knotek: 1 goal, 2 assists
Linden Bahm: 1 goal, 1 assist, 1 bow chick-a wow wow
Yuri Cheremetiev: 1 goal, 1 assist
Justin Pender: 1 goal, 1 scrap attack
Charles Bety: also scrap-tastic
Richard Greer: who? (I know he finally played some games on the road last weekend...but will I ever get to see him?)
Mark Yetman: a 0.84 save % on 25 shots, including a bazillion brake away shots on net and one panty-creaming glove save.

The three stars* were:

1. HAL - Bahm, Linden
2. HAL - MacMillan, Logan
3. HAL - Pender, Justin
4. *HAL- MacAskill, Ben*

I want to bathe myself in Linden Bahm.

You can check out Matthew Wuest for a story on Jessyko Bernard, a game recap and the team lineup for tonight's game. Rik has his game photos up already, but no good fight video.


I was a naughty girl today. Don't send me to hockey with my girlfriends. Giggling will transpire. I think I permanently traumatized the man who sat beside me. Oh, and speaking about sending me to hockey with my girlfriends...TOMORROW FULLERTON...YOU ARE MINE. I was skating at the Dal arena today and I thought about pinning a note near the goaltender's seat on the bench, a note that said on the outside "For Fullerton", and on the inside "rawr"...that is all. It seemed a touch creepy, so I refrained. I am, however, so going to be there with my girls. We shall be silly and I shall be drunk and lusty. It can't get much easier than that.

Goodbye Marc-André Dorion and the Baie Comeau Drakkar

Holy crap... the Drakkar are out and my secret boyfriend Keven Veilleux of the Rimouski Oceanic (formerly of the Victoriaville Tigres) is totally mostly to blame with his 2 goals and 2 assists. The Drakkar have lost tonight's game 5-2 and the series 4-1. All the defense in the world could not help them in the face of offense...and to think we wanted Lessard. I guess defense does not always win championships. Oh my, I can't believe that those words could even be typed by my fingers because I am a total whore for defense . The team that ended the regular season with 96 points goes out in 5 games to a team with only 67 points. Rimouski will be moving on and facing the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies in the second round of the QMJHL playoffs.

AND THE MOOSEHEADS WON. I caught the first two periods before a work related pot luck tore me away from my computer - and we were up 5-2. By the end it was 7-2. Justin Pender got another goal, and then Jake finally started to get things going by the end of the second. But the big name of the night was kindred spirit Colby Pridham with 3 goals and an assist- excuse me while I go rub myself with potatoes. I will have more to say later, I need to watch the third before I use my stumpy fingers to type more words. For now satisfy yourself with a picture of Colby Pridham, a ref (ugh) and some Tigres.

Sigh, it is almost as if we were there.

Things are mostly as expected

When it comes to the games of Saturday Feb 23, pretty much everyone who was expected to win actually did win. The one exception being that PEI managed to make Cape Breton cry, and Olivier Roy was pulled from nets after allowing 3 goals in 11 shots. All hot streaks must eventually come to an end. PEI went on to win the game 4-3, with Marc-Antoine Gelinas turning away 37 of 40 shots.

In the Telus Division, the Quebec Remparts faced the Baie-Comeau Drakkar. The game started with both back-up goalies in nets: Jonathan Roy for Quebec and Mathieu Leclair for Baie-Comeau. However, some weird reversal of fortune had both teams benching their back-ups - Leclair at 20:00 after allowing 2/6, followed shortly thereafter by Roy at 23:22 upon letting in 3/16. Daddy Roy must 'fear the Cousineau', and so he decided to bring out the big guns. Not that Desfossés fared much better, because in the last 36 minutes of game he let in 3 of 19 shots. As a result B-C came out with a glorious 6-3 victory, thus bringing them back into first place in the Telus division, and first overall in the league.

I did not watch the live feed, and I will not watch the archived footage of this game. That being said, I should probably not comment too much on this game or on the actual production of the goalies. Maybe the Quebec D was shit last night? I doubt B-C became an offensive powerhouse, and started snipin' like mad. But who knows? However, if anyone can dole out the appropriate spankings I am sure that person is Patrick Roy.