As a Devils fan I know this is wrong but....

I kinda like the Philadelphia Flyers. I guess you could say that I have a crush.

The Flyers have recently done something smart and inked Moncton Wildcats Goalie and their 2009 5th round draft pick Nicola Riopel to a contract. Because some girls like to listen to french boys talk, because west coasters are not familiar with Riopel, and because everybody else hates the Flyers and would never dare to visit their web page - I am including Riopel's draft day video here as a final goodbye.



It appears as if Riopel will not be back with the Wildcats and that the goaltending reigns will be handed over to behbeh LBD, goaltender for Canada's under 18 team and hot list hottie for the hockey news. That is a list of young hotties, right?

So while everybody in Halifax was doing a Stanley Cup /Sidney Crosby birthday celebration pee-dance of excitement yesterday, I was sitting around sighing for goalies and the Flyers. This was followed by soulful Flamenco...the expressive dance of my own personal suffering at the hands of heart breaking goalies.

To get my mind off of goalies today I watched this video of former Gatineau Olympique star forward Claude Giroux, who now also plays for the Flyers. Enjoy, and please don't forget his name. I suspect he won't let you! If you don't know him now you will know him soon enough.




Now my mind is wandering. Why does he have a giant inflatable dinosaur in his back seat? Sometimes it takes the BIG questions to get goalies out of my head.

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Riopel Image from Courrier de St-Hyacinthe via RDS

A perfect opportunity for sexual harassment

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

Ich bin ein ente

According to TSN:

The Anaheim Ducks made a pair of trades just prior to the NHL's Trade Deadline sending forward Samuel Pahlsson to the Chicago Blackhawks for defenceman James Wisniewski and a draft pick.

The Ducks then shipped forward Travis Moen and defenceman Kent Huskins to the San Jose Sharks for prospect Nick Bonino and goalie Timo Pielmeier and a conditional draft pick.

The KEYWORD here is TIMO PIELMEIER. Timo, goaltender for the Shawinigan Cataractes, signed a three year entry level contract with the Sharks just last summer. This season Pielmeier has a 2.62 GAA and 0.916 save % in 41 games with the second overall ranked Cataractes. This puts him within the top five for both GAA and sv% in the league.

PS. I am still totally having that affair with the NJ Devils

Grown men know how to satisfy!

Oh yeah, that feels good.

Tonight I was just sitting about, probably watching whatever hockey game was on TV (Detroit vs Vancouver) when my boyfriend informed me that "Marty Brodeur is about two minutes from doing that which cannot be named". I replied "fucking your girlfriend?"

97 career shutouts baybee.

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News links from around the Q-niverse:

Nathan White (Telegraph Journal) - Dogs rearguard off to blistering scoring pace (a David Stich story- which reminds me, why do none of our Mooseheads players step out and block shots. We have to toughen up)

Nathan White (Telegraph Journal) - Dogs Dominate PEI again (now with Bobby Nadeau quotes - yummy) ...or if we tell the same story with a PEI based slant it goes something like (Charles Reid: the Guardian) - Rocket Drops close one to sea Dogs (now with more Bobby Nadeau quotes)

Neil Hodge (Times and Transcript) - Wildcats dominate Titan

Nathan White (Times and Transcript) - Rivalry stays on the ice (a too cute story about the sweet goalie love between opposing netminders. Let me just squish myself into the middle of this goalie love sandwich.)

Neil Hodge (Times and Transcript) - Cats Forward has Strong Bloodlines (A Matt Brown Story)

Peter Assaff (the Northern Light) - Cameron Critchlow leads by example

T.J Collello (Cape Breton Post) - MacLellan finds home in Dieppe (what happens to useful 20 year olds in the Q; they end up in the MJAHL)

Czech over-ager Patrick Prokop was traded from the Gatineau Olympiques to the Drummondville Voltigeurs.


Four QMJHL teams are in the Mastercard top 10 CHL rankings:
1. Windsor Spitfires (8-1-0-0)
2. Cape Breton Screaming Eagles (10-2-0-0)
3. Quebec Remparts (9-1-0-0)
4. Moncton Wildcats (8-0-2-0)
5. Swift Current Broncos (8-2-0-0)
6. Vancouver Giants (7-0-0-2)
7. Guelph Storm (7-2-0-1)
8. Drummondville Voltigeurs (8-1-0-2)
9. Spokane Chiefs (6-1-0-2)
10. Belleville Bulls (6-3-0-0)

Dearest Zdeno, you can contact me at...

Boston and Halifax are so up in a tree it is not even funny. We let them borrow Haligonians, BFFs and Mooseheads players Brad Marchand and Andrew Bodnarchuk. Also, for more than 30 years the people of Nova Scotia have been donating a giant ever green tree to the city of Boston, just to thank them for their assistance following the 1917 Halifax explosion. For what purpose do they use that tree? This is the tree that we all 'get up in' for the sole purpose of making kissy faces.

In the fall of each year Boston gives something in return, usually they send their finest studs to play some quality pre-season hockey in our lowly NHL deprived city.

As a child I was enamoured with all things Boston...because I had a speech impediment that made me sound like I was from Boston. I would say things like cAr, bAr, and I also had a problem with making the 'th' sound. I had to attend a special speech class, as did the boy who was my very first school crush. That boy grew up to play for the Mooseheads and the Voltigeurs, and now I am in love with all Mooseheads - kawinkidink! - nein doch! But I digress.

Because everybody said I sounded like I was from Boston, I loved all things Boston and thus as a child the Bruins were my favorite hockey team. Don't even try to discern the logic of a child.

Now I am one of those evil creatures that likes lots of teams for various different reasons. I like Boston (again) because I love Zdeno, and there is lateral transfer of my tingly feelings from Big Z to his Boston Jersey. I, like many people, think that trading Big Z was the dumbest move Ottawa ever made. Ottawa broke my heart (which did not even belong to them) but I still watch them ALOT because, being from the east coast of Canada, Sportsnet pumps us the Ottawa feeds like young men pump their boners, thinking that this is the team we should care about (WRONG). We are just lucky that Ottawa plays Montreal and Boston a lot.

Anywho, what does it all mean? It means that Zdeno, Milan Lucic and the rest of the boys in yellow will be in Halifax playing not only Montreal (yum yum) but also Detroit this pre-season. To top it off the Bruins have also decided that they will be having their training camp here.

According to an article by Monty Mosher in today's issue of the Chronicle Herald:

The Boston Bruins are coming to metro in September and they are bringing their suitcases.

Boston head coach Claude Julien made an appearance in Halifax on Wednesday to announce the Bruins will hold five days of training camp, which will be open to the public, at Cole Harbour Place and Halifax Metro Centre surrounding a pair of exhibition games in Halifax.

There will be two practices on Sept. 23 (10 a.m. and 11:15 a.m.) and Sept. 24 (11 a.m. and 1 p.m.) at Cole Harbour Place.

There will be two practices at Metro Centre on Sept. 25 (10 a.m. and 11:15 a.m.) prior to a game against the reigning Stanley Cup-champion Detroit Red Wings. There will be two more skates at 10 a.m. and 11:15 at Metro Centre the following morning before departure.

...There will be a lot of local content to display during camp with ex-Halifax Mooseheads Brad Marchand and Andrew Bodnarchuk of Hammonds Plains trying to make an impression.

"They were in Boston a couple of weeks ago at our development camp and both of them looked good," said Julien. "Bodnarchuk is a very mobile defenceman, a very good skater and moves the puck well and he’s a young player who will definitely get an opportunity to showcase himself."

Marchand’s time with the Mooseheads ended poorly and his talents became secondary to a lack of discipline. But Julien said he was all business at camp.

"He focused on just playing hockey and he went out and did his job. He’s a pretty good agitator, he doesn’t back down from anything and he scored some goals in the scrimmages. So both guys I think are going to have a really good look."

There is more to read here at the Halifax Metro.

So that is the deal. I will be starting my hockey season in Germany, where I will likely catch Jason King's first game with the Adler-Mannheim Eagles in Düsseldorf, but I should be home by the 15th of September. My German friend C.B. and I have it all planned out as long as we can get his wife (and Mooseheads' lover C.G.) to agree with our hockey shenanigans road trip from Mannheim to the rival town of Düsseldorf.

Yes, we spread Moosemania all over Germany. There are scientists in Wurzburg with Mooseheads mousepads, I will be bringing C.B. the Mooseheads jersey he requested, and C.G. has become the secret lover of Steve Lund, Colby Pridham, PJ Corsi and Mark Yetman. CG's special hockey trick was cursing at Denis Reul (who should also be here with Boston) in German whenever Lewiston came to town.

However, come training camp time the Bruins will be here, I will be here, and I can guarantee that when I am not slobbering all over Carey Price (because he should be here as well), I will be thinking about some Bruins - namely BigZ and Milan Lucic. I have one thing to say to these fellows - my e-mail address is in the sidebar on the right!

NHL Draft: Rounds 1 & 2

The televised first round of the NHL draft was so delightfully pleasant that I couldn't wait to fall asleep to dream about it. Yes...it was just that exciting. Luke Schenn's mom was dreamy. Even dreamier was Nikita Filatov (and his mom). I want to put Filatov in my mouth and roll him around on my tongue. He probably sparks like POP rocks.

...and yet, no QMJHL players were chosen in the first round. I must admit it is all my fault. The new favorite snack of children is fruit and I keep on insisting that my Q players eat cookies. So unhealthy. All things considered, I am still perplexed by how the NHL can resist the awesome power of Maxime Sauve's eyebrows.


Now it is Saturday morning and we are early in round 2 and ....motherfucker - Jake Allen goes second round at 34th overall. This is a kid who backstopped his team to a whopping 9 regular season wins - 9. WAKE UP PEOPLE of ST. LOUIS - you are taking a huge risk. Y'all better hope you are not getting another Antoine Lafleur.

• Forward Nick Deschamps of Chicoutimi has been drafted by Anaheim 35th overall.
• Dreamy defenceman Yann Sauve of the Saint John Sea Dog has been picked up by Vancouver with the 41st pick. Vancouver likes 'em handsome.

• Buffalo decided that sometimes big guys are worth it and selected Fog Devils/ Montreal Jr forward Luke Adam with the 44th overall pick.
• Boston was weak in the knees for Maxime Sauve's eyebrows, so they selected him 47th overall. Boston is also quite keen on picking up kids from the Q. Two players from this year's Mooseheads team have contracts with Boston (Bodnarchuk, Marchand)
• Holy hell in a handbasket. The NJ devils picked up a Q-boy! NJ gets Rimouski Centreman Patrice Cormier at 54. Patrice played 51 games this year with 18 G and 21 A.
  
• Defenseman Marco Scandella of the Val d'Or is bunkin' with Shep and the Wild at #55
• Lewiston goaltender Peter Delmas has been selected by Colorado with their 61st pick. Who'da thunkit that Colorado would be smarter than St. Louis. Wait? What? Owie my brain!

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Draft pic from TSN at http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/

NHL Draft: The QMJHL Skaters

Central Scouting has ranked 35 skaters from the QMJHL as projected picks in this years NHL draft. I have listed them here by round and ranking amoung North American Skaters. If I have found local news articles or other interesting items, these are included in links besides the players name.

Draft Picks by Name, Team and Position

Round one:

21 Nicolas Deschamps, CHICOUTIMI C
26 Maxime Sauve, VAL D'OR C
29 Yann Sauve, SAINT JOHN D - NHL, Telegraph Journal

Yann Sauve

Round two:

42 Luke Adam, ST. JOHN'S C - The Telegram
45 Danick Paquette, LEWISTON RW - NHL
46 Kelsey Tessier, QUEBEC C - Times and Transcript
55 Jacob Lagace, CHICOUTIMI LW
57 Mikhail Stefanovich, QUEBEC C
61 Patrice Cormier, RIMOUSKI C

Adam and Paquette

Round three:

69 Mathieu Brodeur, CAPE BRETON D - Cape Breton Post, Chronicle Herald
73 Joel Champagne, CHICOUTIMI C
76 Samuel Groulx, QUEBEC D
80 Philippe Cornet, RIMOUSKI LW
82 Marco Scandella, VAL D'OR D

Brodeur and Cornet

Round four:

107 Alexandre Neron, RIMOUSKI D
111 Mathieu Tousignant, PEI C
118 Antoine Roussel , CHICOUTIMI LW
120 Samuel Morneau, BAIE-COMEAU LW

Tousignant, a beer I drank, Morneau, and Neron

Round five:

122 Jordon Southorn, PEI D
125 Marc-Andre Bourdon, ROUYN-NORANDA D
130 Chris Doyle, PEI C - The Guardian
134 Mark Barberio, MONCTON D - Times and Transcript
137 Luc-Olivier Blain, CHICOUTIMI C

Southorn, Doyle and Barberio

Round six:

164 Pierre-A Vandall, SHAWINIGAN LW
N166 Jean-Sebastien Berube, ROUYN-NORANDA LW
169 Pascal Amyot, SAINT JOHN D
171 Steven Delisle, GATINEAU D
177 Mike Hoffman, DRUMMONDVILLE C/LW
179 Mike Thomas, SAINT JOHN W
180 Thomas Knotek, HALIFAX C - Chronicle Herald

Amyot, Delisle, Thomas and Knotek

Round seven:

182 Eric Louis-Seize (aka BigHits E.L.XVI), HALIFAX LW
197 Travis Stacey, GATINEAU LW
200 Jonathan Bonneau, VICTORIAVILLE LW
206 Ashton Bernard, SHAWINIGAN LW - Cape Breton Post

Louis-Seize and Bonneau

The 2008 NHL Draft Is Chock Full O' Defensemen.

I will be doing my Q update later, but I just had to come online to point out the following jailbait. Say meow to Yann Sauve (Saint John Sea Dogs), Zach Bogosian (Peterborough Petes), and Luke Schenn (Kelowna Rockets). QMJHL, OHL and WHL - it's little something for everyone. You can thank me later.

NHL draft. It's Like I Am Just Giving Away My Babies

The NHL draft is this weekend and I have compiled a list of all of the QMJHL players on the NHL draft list from Central Scouting Services, along with their expected draft position and round. I have been meaning to do this post now for about two weeks, but I have been too lazy to dig through my team photos to find pictures of all of the boys.

I will start of course with the goaltenders, because goalies make me feel all funny down there. Tomorrow I will cover the skaters. Do not expect me to cover skaters like I covered goalies; skaters and I aren't down like that.

In addition, TSN has posted a list of their top 60 prospects, some of our Q boys are on there, including one of today's subjects Jake Allen of the (oh fuck it) St John's Fog Devils and 2008 Canada under 18 team. Jake is ranked by TSN at #31. Peter Delmas of the Lewiston Maineiacs gets an honourable mention. Before I get to the list may I just say that I am still completely mesmerized by Zach Boychuk and Maxime Sauve's eyebrows. TSN's pics are an eyebrow fetishists dream come true. Zach Bogosain is the newest member in my club. Let's all give him a warm welcome.



Of the 30 goalies listed by Central Scouting Services, 7 play in the QMJHL. I have included links (click name) to their game-by-game stats. The goalies are are listed by

Rank, Name, Team, Games played, GAA, Minutes, Save %:

3 Peter Delmas, LEWISTON, 34, 2.84, 1987, 0.903
7 Kevin Poulin, VICTORIAVILLE 52, 3.69, 2733, 0.887
8 Jake Allen, ST. JOHN'S 30, 3.14, 1507, 0.901
14 Robert Mayer, SAINT JOHN 32, 3.77, 1669, 0.877
20 Marco Cousineau, BAIE-COMEAU 58, 2.81, 3226, 0.903
22 Mathieu Leclair, BAIE-COMEAU 22, 2.92, 1005, 0.896
26 Nicolas Champion, BATHURST 38, 2.96, 2130, 0.857

Delmas, Poulin, Allen, Mayer, Champion

Delmas is definitely the dude to hold the top spot amoung Q- goalies, and deservedly so. He has been rockin' it consistently for two years, so we have a pretty good idea of what this kid can do. Like his mentor Bernier, his biggest asset is positioning. You can't really take away from his skill by saying he does what he does only because he plays for a team with a good defensive system. If I had to choose between Delmas and Allen, I would go with Delmas. Delmas makes me feel safe, warm, loved. He has only been usurped by Allen recently because of Allen's stellar performance at the World Under 18s, in which Canada walked away with the gold and Allen won MVP of the tournament.
*edit - Wuest has a new article on Delmas in the Metro. There is a picture - he is adorable like a snappy lobster.

It is not that I don't like Jake Allen, but he has lost more than he has won and he has been outplayed by a number of goalies who are far lower on this list than him. Furthermore, I just have not seen enough of him, and neither have all of these people who are projecting him to go in the second round. Ya know what though, that little MF is gonna go high. I feel it in my bones, I feel it in my sitemeter. Jake is a good puck handing goaltender and he has that same sexy little cross crease wiggle that I have seen Travis Fullerton do. I do not know what is in the water in new Brunswick to make these boys move and puck handle like they do, but it is a sight to behold. That wiggle ain't right. No really it ain't right, I think it may be technically incorrect and lazy, but it works for these boys somehow... and it looks damn sexy.
* edit - An interview with Jake can be downloaded at the pipeline show

What I can tell you is that Jake Allen definitely deserves to be ahead of Kevin Poulin in the Central Scouting report. Kevin Poulin is a temperamental ragdoll. I think that Victoriaville probably rode this kid into the ground when there was absolutely no need to do so. They had perfectly cromulent goaltender in Blanchard during the first half, and overplayed Poulin in the second half behind a weaker team. According to an older report from in La Nouvelle L'union, written about the time of the Combine, Poulin was expected to have talks with the Hurricanes and about 11 other NHL franchises.

Swiss import Robert Mayer had mad skillz half of the time, the other half the time he was just standing around dreaming of lollipops and ponies with sparkles in their flowing manes. Either that or he was all distracted by his sexy teammates. I mean honestly, who wouldn't be. He, like many of us (me) will have one less distraction with Travis Fullerton having outgrown the Q. Robert can do stretchy moves like its no-ones business where or how he learned those stretchy moves. Furthermore, he does those stretchy moves with little cost to his own wellbeing. He needs to work more on his attentiveness (it is not all about impressing me with stretchy moves), positioning and rebound control. Either that or he needs to join a circus.

Champion only joined the Q at the Christmas trading period, and he did not get much icetime until late January when his goaltending counterpart Antoine Tardif, a boy who was apparently not long for scouting lists since he has fallen completely off the map, got injured. The Titan rode Champion like I would ride a goalie - long and hard. He plays flashy in the net, but if I recall correctly he is not big on adventurous puckhandling. Anyway, the kid was worn out by playoffs, no doubt. He had absolute moments of brilliance, but by the end of the season it was pretty much guaranteed that if you got those shots on net, some of them were going to slip by.

I cannot tell you much about LeClair or Cousineau, except to say that they played on a defensively minded team. The Moose faced these guys only twice all season, once at home, once on the road, and both times Cousineau was in nets. What I can tell you is that we shut them out: 4-0 the first try, and we were about 30 seconds from shutting them out 4-0 on our second go.

Duh...Detroit Wins the Cup

Dear Players from Detroit

The world is overpopulated. You are only supposed to have two kids per family – replacement children for you and your wife*. At your salary, condoms are very affordable, so is birth control. Did you know that men produce the most potent seed and have more 'swimmers' after short absences from their partners? This is because your body automatically suspects that she was with someone else and says "I'll show him". It is funny, because odds are that while you were on that roadtrip, YOU were actually with someone else, while she was at home being distracted by your 10 children.

Is hockey player sperm just that potent? If so, I am glad that the boy gave up hockey for science, thus exposing himself to toxins which exponentially decreased the effectiveness of his seed. Unfortunately for Chris Draper, he did not know that children can spontaneously generate from shed hairs, skin flakes and the slime that accumulates in your bathtub. Did you see that mini Draper? This is why it is very important to keep the bathtub clean.

*Jr hockey players - please take note for the future.

Combine updates

According to NHL.com there are 35 skaters and 7 goalies from the QMJHL listed for the the 2008 draft. Mathieu Brodeur, a defenseman and otherwise sweet-little-big-thing from the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles is listed at #69 overall, while Joel Champagne a centreman from Chicoutimi is listed at #73.

According to TSN, here is how the boys are faring at this weekend's NHL combine:

"Mathieu Brodeur of Cape Breton also looked like he was here to try out for the Raptors. Brodeur and Myers almost hit the top of the vertical jumping apparatus."

"In the third group, Joel Champagne of Chicoutimi looked good physically. His body-type would project well at the pro level."


Also, isn't this just too kind and totally awesome for the Kitchener players- "Mikkel Boedker (ranked 11th by CSB) was missing from the seventh workout group. He is in the Bahamas on a vacation with the rest of the Kitchener Rangers. They were apparently rewarded with the trip by the team owner after winning the OHL title and reaching the Memorial Cup final."

Jake Allen invited to the NHL combine...

...for processing? kinda ...but it is most likely for analysis. Seventeen year old New Maryland New Brunswick native Jake Allen has had a breakout season this year playing in goal for the St. John's Fog Devils. He is listed #8 overall by the NHL for North American goalies at the entry draft, and is ranked as the #4 goalie by International Scouting Services. In his rookie season Jake has had 9 wins, including 2 shutouts, 12 losses, and posted a 3.14 GAA and 0.901 save%. He was also invited to play for Canada at the IIHF world under 18 tournament in Russia this spring. Canada won Gold and Jake had a 1.43 save %, thus earning him the Most Valuable Player of the tournament award.

The NHL combine is an opportunity for teams to meet with prospective players. Only 100 players are invited. It is here that players undergo interviews, participate in psychological evaluations and undergo medical examination and fitness testing. The fitness testing does not look fun.

But here is the fun part - according to the Telegraph Journal "Scouts representing the St. Louis Blues, Montreal Canadiens and New Jersey Devils have called the Allen's house".

The New 'Fricken' Jersey Devils. Woooooooooo. Is it because he already has a Devil on his mask?

Bryce Swan - Contract Negotiator

Mr. William Bryce Swan was a second round pick (38th overall) of the Anaheim Ducks in the 2006 NHL entry draft. For almost two years Bryce has been sitting around by his phone (when he is not playing hockey), alternately growing and shaving his moustache and waiting for that fateful call. He does not know if the Ducks prefer the moustache or not, but sometimes he thinks yes - because look at Georgie Parros, then he thinks no - because they have not called, then he thinks yes maybe they do prefer the 'stache because when he shaves they still do not call. Don't make Bryce think too much, he is from Cape Breton and his brain cannot handle all of those action potentials.

Bryce has had to sit by his phone grooming his 'stache, weeping and consuming milk and mini-pizza after mini-pizza, all the while watching as teammate after teammate gets their contract, their big money and their fancy car. This has made Bryce sad and the Moose did little in the way of providing psychological counselling to rid him of his misery for the greater part of the season.

Well apparently at the tender age of 20, and no longer eligible to play in the Q, Bryce Swan's time to be a pro has finally come. He is currently in contract negotiations with the Ducks and he is all like "You can have Q-girl Whitey. You can have her and you can keep her, because I will have a contract and big money and fast cars and California (or Portland Oregon) ladies soon."


Congrats in advance to Bryce Swan.

Pittsburgh signs Keven Veilleux

Yeah you read me right. After joining the baby Penguins for their Calder cup run, the growed-up Penguins have finally decided to sign 18 year old Rimouski Oceanic forward Keven Veilleux (formerly of the Victoriaville Tigre) to a 3 year contract with the big club. I think that while he is on the Baby Penguin's roster, he has not actually been playing any games (since no playoff stats are available).

Oh secret lover Keven Veilleux WHY? WHY? Does this mean we will have to break up now? I do not want to break up, I love secretly loving you. Ugh, It all feels so dirty.

Check out the W-B Scranton Penguins homepage
I can't think of Scranton without thinking of "The Office".

When I see Heatley and Spezza at a pub...

...I do nothing. Absofreakenloutely nothing. doh!

I could get a picture (I have my camera), I could shake some hands and say "hello, good game" since Dany had two goals. Instead I smiled at Dany from my table (Jason had his back to me) and said nothing, paid my bill and left.


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oops, I can't spell

News and Hype and more News

Eagles vs MAINEiacs:
Here is a little article from today's Chronicle Herald about the Eagles vs MAINEiacs first round matchup. Damn, that best of 7 series is going to rock socks. Rock Socks son!!!

This is from the Cape Breton Post. Have I already said that this would be Sock rockin'? Oh my loins. The CB Post has all the inside scoop - apparently Czech netminder Marek Benda has had his arm in a sling lately, a little residual injury from the final game last Sunday . Hopefully he is OK, and can get in a few games because otherwise there will be a lot of pressure on Olivier Roy, and Benda seems to be able to come in pretty solid in relief when Roy has one of his 'bad' nights.

But if you want to know how the defending champs the Lewiston MAINEiacs feel, then you have to check out the Sun Journal. They feel funny in their tummies.

Mooseheads vs Tigres:
Willie Palov lines up the Pros and Cons of a Halifax Mooseheads matchup with the Victoriaville Tigres. Once again we stroke our highly lauded offense. Oh offense - please gel!!!

Then we get Weust's blog articles and stuff from the Halifax Metro- lots of stuff:
Experts favour us to win
The awesome power of experience
Stroking Marchand
Playoff stats
More stats, including stats which indicate why P-O is my man
Quotes from players (always my favorite)
Sportsnet think they know what is going down

Sea Dogs vs Rocket:
I know what you are thinking?
But what about the PEI rocket and Q-girl's secret lover- the Saint John Sea Dogs. For PEI's perspective we must check out the Guardian. Ohh, the commenters in PEI are as bitchy as they are in Halifax. Meow. In Halifax we would argue about stocks and weather (on game days it is always hideous) and walking the dog on a sports thread just to have something to bitch about.

NB newspapers have this to say:
Telegraph Journal: There is a little story about the former PEI - Saint John hockey rivalry. They say "Fully is Sexy - here is a picture". Well no, they don't really say that, but they do have a little picture of him even though there is very little about the Dogs in here.
This is more Dog Specific - but it is yesterday's news.

I will also include this news from yesterday (there is also a link at the bottom of the page) because it is Fullerton related and you know how I love Fullerton. It is so unhealthy. He is thinking staying in the Maritime's for university. Maybe he will play AUS hockey. If this is the case I plan on never graduating.

Titan vs Fog Devils:
It turns out that the Titan and the Fog Devils are also secret lovers kept under cover. Slick. Timo, why didn't you tell me? I offered you authentic German marzipan and you gave me nothing. If this is the case I expect a good lover's quarrel and steamy make up sex between these two teams during the playoffs.

Bathurst strokes Perreault and are grateful for the magic that is the Perreault effect. Tardif is still listed as day to day. Poor sweet little goalie.

The Titan playing rock stars (aka poor imitations of Steve Lund) would have been more amusing if you gave me a video or an actual newspaper article instead of just a picture. Ahhh but there is an article - apparently Champion can sing and play everything. Is he the next Gord Downie?

From a Fog Devils perspective we get this and this from The Telegram

See, sometimes I do provide useful information.

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NHL news
Why Devils why? ohhh Marty #1 - you so pretty. I finally get some Devils game on my TV and you lose (AGAIN) to the Rangers. I was so happy that the Rangers defeated the Penguins just the day before (lesser of two evils), but there was no need to let them go and win two in a row. I am just glad Gomez was irrelevant to that Rangers win. I am gonna punch that guy right in his face.

This (re. Toskala and the puck bounce heard around the world) is just funny:

"I almost threw up when I saw it last night," former NHL goalie Kay Whitmore told The Canadian Press on Wednesday.

There have been a lot of Carey Price interviews on my TV lately. That boy has the worlds sexiest forearms...and always with the wristbands. I would be all like - "no Carey leave the wristbands on - rowwwrrr". You can leave the new pads on too.

Little things

Apparently the Moose got their playoff hair 'did' today. Mohawks again?

I think the Sea Dogs got their dos too...and they went blond. I told them not to go blond. Boys never listen to me. There is a Canada AM video which was filmed this morning, in which enforcer Brett Gallant appears with the Sea Dog's #1 fan Kathryn. Brett had blond hair.

David Connell has posted new pics from the Saint John vs PEI and Moncton games and so I finally got a good look at Fully's new helmet. Why the new non-Sea Dog themed helmet? Does Fully have secret post playoff plans that we all don't know about? Also, why get a new helmet now, 3 games prior to the end of the season and with only the playoffs remaining in his QMJHL career. Fully is definitely hiding something from me. The helmet has the Fullerton family crest on the front. It turns out that the name Fullerton is Scottish, not Irish as I had originally thought (it also explains the man in the kilt on the side of the helmet). The weird thing about the family crest is that it actually looks like it has three angry seal heads on it (what the hell are those things) which would make it perfectly appropriate for a Sea Dog.

This is why I love Fully. My love for him grew out of this kind of save, and really has nothing to do with how very fucking sexy-dirty he looks, or the fact that Scotsmen...


Awards night:
PEI Rocket had their awards night. Player of the year went to netminder M-A Gelinas.

Moncton also had their awards night last night

The Eagles had their awards ceremony 1000 years ago (aka March 11), but I am posting this now due to its association with all other Awards nights.

Sea Dogs have their Awards night tonight. ohhh the suspense.


Q-girl has problems:
It has only been 2.5 days since my last game and I am having the DTs. I don't know how I will survive the summer. I also said this last summer, yet somehow I survived. I told myself I was not going to do this to myself this year. I skipped pre-season games and the home opener. Then I saw the engineering students heading to game 2 and I started jonesing for hockey. I cracked like all addicts do and went to that game, better late than never. I have not turned back.

I will miss P-O. He had me totally wrapped around his blocker from the very first time I saw him play. I am very loyal to my netminders, so if you got me...you really got me. I am like a motherfucking leech. I hate that he is not our number one going into the playoffs. I think he fucked up just to hurt me. Either that or we broke him during the Lewiston game (Feb 6) and nobody noticed but me (you have to look in the eyes - he looked miserable by the end of that game).

Oh well, he got a pretty picture of himself in his Mooseheads gear that his parents can put up in the den (his hair is so fluffy here and he looks kind of evil-dangerous-sexy, which is not his usual look). This year with the Moose was just not the best way to round out a very promising hockey career. I want to speak with him, ask what went wrong, and let him spill his guts to me while I feed him freshly baked cookies. Smart hos before selfish bros and all that - however, maybe there is no story to tell. Or maybe, I don't really want to ever meet him because in real life he is really a total ass and not as sweet and misunderstood as I imagine. I often give boys more credit than they deserve. He is, after all, a boy jock, while I am like Tina Fey if she was younger and a scientist...and never the two shall cross paths for fear of apocalyptic levels of awkwardness.

Now he can run back to St. Louis-Du-Ha!-Ha! and be a volunteer firefighter or an accountant (or both) and waste his life; maybe knock up some dumb blond and have 2 babies by the time he is 23. Not that I want this for him, I really wish him much more success in his hockey future, if he actually has a future in hockey. I want him to be able to share the 'tall glass of French prettiness' that is Pier-Olivier Pelletier with the world. I also hope he has the common sense to refrain from making babies until he is at least 28, but he is a hockey player and I find that many of them make foolish decisions, like getting married and having babies before they are 22. Married at 22, divorced dad by 30 - who would want you now? Oh wait, are we talking about Brodeur now? I would love to... but the 4 kids thing really kills the romance.
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NHL News:
Poor Vesku. Now that I see that, I think nobody has the right to bitch about what P-O does or doesn't do ever again. I will be a little puck Vesa can carry around in his man-purse for good luck. At least the leafs won. No wait: is that good or bad? ...and Colaiacovo got hurt AGAIN. He is more delicate than me - and I can hurt myself eating bread.

I don't hate the leafs. I am just bitter because of the years of love I gave to them and yet got nothing in return. As a fan I know when to hold 'em and know when to fold 'em. I dumped the leafs a few years ago because they could not give me what I really wanted in a hockey team. Loyalty to a team is a foolish concept, especially when the team changes so much over the run of 10 years. I already know that the NJ Devils may not be my boys within 5 years of Marty's departure. I hate Oilers fans who are still holding on to the glory days of Gretzky. Those days are long gone boys, pack up and move on. I don't let oilers fans pet my dog.

Captain Rick Nash is adorable.

Somebody or something broke Rick DiPietro. Stupid all-stars game.

My daily breakfast bowl of Biron eyes

Yes I start every morning with a bowl of Biron eyes. Poor Marty #2. He has to regrow his eyes every morning. He also always starts a starter, but is always usurped. But Marty #2 is no longer in the Q, so I digress.

The Moose played the PEI rocket on Friday and I was pleasantly surprised that we got the game on Eastlink, which means no low resolution Telus feeds for me. Horray. As usual I was disappointed by the first two periods, but we managed to turn it up at the end to come out of the game 6-2. By doing so we have managed to clinch 1st seed in the East. So even if Saint John wins today so that we are tied in points, the Moose have more wins overall. By winning their game against Moncton, Saint John have secured second seed because they currently stand 3 points ahead of the Titan.

Here are the current standings and todays matchups:
Halifax - 89
Saint John - 87
Acadie-Bathurst - 84
Cape Breton - 84
Lewiston - 81
St. John's - 72
PEI - 62
Moncton - 56 (eliminated)

Today:
Halifax vs Saint John
PEI vs Moncton
Lewiston vs Cape Breton
Bathurst vs St. John

They are still fighting it out for first and last in the Telus - ohhh the suspense.

Bathurst and Cape Breton are in a desperate fight for 3rd in the East. I could throw out random guesses as to who is going to win, but such foolishness is for men. They sit there all day on their boards, "Lewiston wins 3-1 with 2 goals by Bundil"- shut up. Why even waste your fucking time? I use my imagination for greater things.

Halifax vs PEI:
I don't have much to say here. The 4th line still looks nice. Smith has been looking fresh since his return. He does what he was meant to do, be big and knock guys off the puck. What more do you want from your 4th liners? The people of Halifax want them to have different DNA, and if they get what they want all the boys would be from Halifax. The people of Halifax hate change, tall buildings and French boys.

I love French boys. I say load us up with French boys. Get me some more tall blond French boys, the Louis-Seize is not blond enough. Why don't the Moose have blond French boys? Maybe some Keven Charland and Keven Veilleux (-9, oh snap). Tee Hee they spell Kevin like Keven - weird. Now say something dirty in French. What, I will be gettin' me some Charland at 2:00 today? OK then. Did I just distract myself by letting the girl in me take over? - Stupid girl.

I was kinda wanting to see Lafleur. I have had an irrational hate on for Lafleur all year. It does not help that he was drafted by the Rangers. He also looks like he has wonk eye - I figured that his recent bout of suck was related to the fact that eyes that wonky just can't focus well enough to see the puck. However the Moose have been ODing on Gelinas, and may I be frank - Gelinas is dull. I watched Saint John vs PEI the other day and PEI played Lafleur, and I know that Lafleur has been stinking it up for the greater part of this year, but he was really fun to watch in that game. He does things with a dramatic flourish. Part of his problem could be that he fails to simplify? I don't know, I don't draft goalies, I can only rank them on who is fun to watch, and big ol' Lafleur was fun to watch. I am beginning to feel a little robbed. Also, Lafleur has the goalie rage thing going on - he received a penalty for slashing Yann Sauve in the back - dirty. I like it - slash the pretty defenseman.

Necessary Fully rant:
Travis Fullerton did not face many shots in his last game against Moncton, but he did come out the winner and so I threw more panties in his general direction. I was particularly impressed that it appeared as if he stopped pucks while laying on his back. I think the first nice stop, about 11 minutes into the game was a slide across the crease on his side which connected with his glove, so he was technically not on his back. I don't really care about technicalities, I prefer to think he was on his back.

Halifax vs Saint John
The men on the boards keep saying that Cam will start P-O. In my dreams. Does he have that kind of foresight to realize that you are not supposed to let your goalies rust up before the playoffs? I don't see it.

I am hoping for a low scoring game. Show those stupid forwards who is boss. Anyway, one of the goalies I love will be the goalie who loses. May I recommend that the losing goalie for today's game be turned over to me for some tough love. What is tough love? Well it depends on what goalie I am punishing. I had a little list of specific punishments prepared but it makes me look even crazier than I already look, so I will refrain. But let me just ask: if I say I want to play Helen Keller with your face, would you get that? No, it's not meant to be dirty (for once), it could be dirty, I could make it dirty, but technically it is meant to be a fairly innocent concept.

Punishment for a goalie would be forcing him to spend time with me. When I am done playing nice with my delicate little toy I will give him a slightly less chocolate-y cookie and pack him back into his box but I will use less bubble wrap than usual - because I am cruel like that.


NHL news

Brodeur gets his 40 wins for this season in a game against the Avs (and sexy STD laden Pixie Jose Theodore). This is Marty's 1 billionth season of 40 wins. My hockey hubby makes me so proud. I pick 'em good. NJ still lead the East, 1 pt up on Montreal and 3 pts ahead of Pittsburgh (who have a game in hand). I have already started warming up my jersey for the post season.

Goodbye for now to Pronger, his Pixie nose and his weird jaw device.

Faust Arp

Moose,

Do you remember why you love me? I am pretty (my mother says so), I am smart (my boss says so), I am funny (my friends say so), I have a huge toolbox, I can rock a pair of 4 inch heels better than any other girl I know, I like hockey, I have maintained my girlish figure, I dance like a pro, and you are under no pressure to marry me or make babies (I strongly dislike babies).

Do I remember why I love you? The answer is yes. I love you because you are dangerous. Are you unpredictable? Of course. But are you also number one in the East? Mais oui! You are the James Dean of Hockey teams. Let’s not crash any cars tonight. That being said, I will still love you whether you win or lose. I am your one woman pep squad. No, the other one woman pep squad - the younger one that does not have silver pom-poms and flashing glasses.

I was walking home from work the other day with my iPod on shuffle and I came to the realization that your unpredictable nature is a lot like the music on my iPod. It is somewhat surreal when Radiohead is followed up by Ol’ Dirty Bastard. I guess that makes me a bit unpredictable too. Oh, you don't believe me?

How to score goals:

My other boyfriend Jonathan Bernier will be playing well tonight, he has been on a roll lately. If we have a hard time getting pucks past Gelinas, how the hell are we going to deal with Bernier? I have created a guide for you. The green circles are where you should shoot, the red circles indicate where you should not shoot. While I love Jon and I don’t normally recommend infractions on goalies, I am currently of the opinion that we must do anything to win, so should it take a few shots to the head to phase him and throw him off his game…go for it. I bet you never saw that one coming. See, I AM totally unpredictable. I know, I am a total bitch…no mercy. I will make it up to Jon later.

...and yes, the Titan are now in third. They must have found my secret guide on how to score goals. Damn you Perreault. So while I do not want Saint John to overtake us, and the Titan do not have enough games left to overtake us, I still do not want the Titan to overtake Saint John. My loyalties ARE fucked.

Good Luck tonight Yeti/Yetty. We all know Yeti/Yetty's game is not a matter of Luck - it is a matter of concentration and skill. The luck part relates to which defense is going to show up in front of him tonight.

If it inspires White to score a goal, I have found this little video starring his hero Wayne Gretzky . If you ever wonder why some people hate Gretzky, it is because he is a total whore. Speaking of which, I wonder when I will be seeing sugar coated Crosby flakes (now with Penguin shaped marshmallows) in the breakfast cereal isle.

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NHL news:

Montreal have regained top seed, overtaking my sweet NJ Devils. I don’t mind, except 4 goals against is not the best situation for Marty #1 to be in. However, better Montreal in 1^st than Pittsburgh. Also Carey Price got his second career NHL shutout. Then TSN gave me an interview with both Carey and Marty. It is cruel to leave me all frisky like that. Carey’s overwhelming joy was obvious (as always). When the sportscaster said that Carey smells like victory I got VERY excited. I headed out to Montreal to discover what exactly victory smells like. I brought along my climbing shoes and mountaineered all the way to the top of Carey Price to smell his fluffy hair. What a big boy!!! I didn’t even get vertigo, but he left me exhausted. It turns out that victory smells like cupcakes.