You collapsed....just like my banana bread

It was all uncooked in the center. I mean, if this is how I do banana bread, then can you really trust my cookies? I think Paul Byron ruined my banana bread.

Mark Yetman starts in nets for the Moose, Marc-Antoine Gelli-donuts is in nets for the Olympiques. Matt Boland has recovered from a shoulder injury so he's back in the line-up; while Alex MacDonald, Ned O'Brien, George Dunn and Guillaume Pelletier (knee) are out for the Moose.

Desjardins, the young rookie forward who has gotten first line ice time with Knotek and Stransky is off the line....despite the fact that there was just a big news story published only 3 days ago about how he played hard to get on that line. As usual this line pairing goes the way of all line pairings in Mooseland. Gerrad Grant has now moved up to play with Knotek and Stransky. Sluttiest line in the CHL.

1st:
In only 31 seconds Jan Stransky gets the Moose on the board with the very first shot of the game. I was not paying attention.

The Moose get a power play but can't get the puck out of their own zone. Pender tried to make a pass to his defensive partner but Paul Byron intercepted to get a 2 on 0 breakaway. Yetman made the most beautiful glove save to shut him down. Why does this all seem so familiar?

How can I learn to hate Yetman if he plays well? I want to be like everyone else and hate him in a bad way!

Louis-XVI took on Ouellet in a feisty scrap and basically nailed him. The removal of his helmet revealed just how luxurious Louis-XVI's hair has become.

2nd:

Moose are up 1-0 going into the second. I missed half of the second because I got so excited by the first period that I started baking.... as any good girlfriend would. I got back just in time to see Gatineau get their first goal, by Touchette, on a rebound shot.

Pender had a breakaway but the tiniest little Olympique player (I will call him TugBoat) just moved Pender off of his shot and towards the boards.

Knotek and Stransky had a breakaway…but instead of shooting Knotek tried to pass. It hit Delisle’s skate. Knotek only had one shot all game. He must have developed a fear of shooting.

Gerrad Grant gets a goal on the wraparound by shooting it low into the corner. Assists were by Knotek and McDonald. This is his 9^th of the season.

Knotek is doing weird things. He was carrying it down the center and he passed it to Stransky who was covered by two guys and skating down into the 'piques zone along the boards. That just doesn't make sense to me.

Bahm makes a huge hit which results in some Olympique retaliation. In the end Bety ends up fighting Domingues…and Bety ends up getting killed.

Bona got hit in the face with a stick which resulted in a Moosehead power play – Jan Stransky gets his second goal of the night- his 19^th of the year, after Knotek passed to Stransky across the slot and he one timed it. Amyot gets the other assist.

At some point Gelli-donuts was replaced by a Chubbeh bunneh in nets.

3^rd

Touchette heads to the Mose net a 2 on 1, but Yetman gets a piece of the high glove side shot. Ben was the defenceman covering it but he was not on Touchette, he was covering the other guy, or an invisible guy, or his own shadow....not sure.

Shortly after that Byron gets around Bona and makes another shot on net which Yetman saves, but he is unable to stop the rebound shot by Chabot. Current score Moose 3: Piques 2.

Penalty called on Stransky. I have got to say, the Moose have been disciplined tonight. We are into the third period and are only now seeing our second penalty kill. I would hate to see them fuck it up now.

The PK was VERY SCARY (Scarier than the Friday the 13thmovie I watched after the game... I am more a fan of the Halloween series). Yetman went down after a shot. He has been down a lot, throwing his body over the puck. The 'piques were not able to opportunize and eventually the Moose got it and carried it out of the zone.

After lots of pressure in the Moose zone Bernard carries it down ice but Piette ends up getting a delayed penalty on a hook in the Gatineau zone. O’Connor and Bona gave Goulet a bit too much room and he made it past them but luckily Yetman, who was well out of his crease, made the save. Bah - too hot.

Unfortunately the defence are slow to clear the puck and Goulet ties it on a PP goal in a shot from the slot. Tied 3:3

Fuuuuuck Pender (look at me, I am my seat neighbours). At the blue line Pender fumbles on the pass from McDonald - Byron steals it, makes a breakaway, and goes high on Yetman to get a goal.

aaaand that is it. Moose lose 4:3

• Paul Byron is the bain of my existance.
• Knotek played funny but still got 3 assists and was a killer at the faceoff.
• Pender is sleeping on the doorstep tonight. If he is hungry he can go next door to the pizza place and maybe find some old crusts in the garbage.
• Piette will be helping him scavenge for old pizza crusts because of his stupid penalty.
  
• Yetman allowed 4 in 32 for a 0.875 sv% but still played well and made some huge saves. If it were not for him it could have been worse - like Drummondville vs Cape Breton worse.
• So while the Moose did not get a point tonight, neither did Val D'Or or Lewiston.
• WTF banana bread? You were in the oven for an hour! I did the stick test, there was no goo! You were crusty on top! Am I a bad baker? Where did we go wrong?
  

The three stars are :

1. GAT - Byron, Paul
2. GAT - Chabot, Jean-Philip
3. HAL - Stransky, Jan

*Edit- News Links
Willy Palov - Third Period Collapse Costs Moose
Game photos from the non-official Olympiques website

Olympiques vs Rouyn-Noranda Game 3: the doughnut game

Oh My. The Gatineau Olympiques were at it again. If the Moose thought we did poorly in Gatineau’s barn at least we can say we did not get a load of double digits to the face. The Olympiques defeated the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies 10-4 and now lead the series 2-1 heading into a second home game at the Centre Robert-Guertin.

I have been such a bum this week. Getting dumped is no fun. I have been drunk dialing my Mooseheads boyfriends at 2:00am and yelling at them. Then I ask them to take me back. Then I yell some more, then I hang up. Drink and repeat. I swear I can hear another girl in the background, giggling, mocking me, calling me pitiful. I will have no more of it. I knew I had hit my low when I had no sleep on Sunday night, and then on Monday I had poutine for lunch with a Boston-cream donut chaser. I desperately need a haircut, I haven’t exercised since the Seadogs were booted and I have had the worst drunken headaches.

I must thank IPB for a swift kick in the ass. In an attempt to counteract my slum, I dug out my playoff goggles, put them on and actually watched the game last night to help get me out of the QMJHL stupor I have been in since losing my team. Mind you, prior to the start of the game I had two martinis. This was followed by my typical exercise routine...albeit a slightly more drunken version. It is all so pitiful, especially since I was watching hockey in French, a language I barely understand.

I have to get ready to get back on the scene – Canada has called and I have accepted a date for May 12^th. It is going to be fab.

If Byron (#20) was a kick in the shins to the Mooseheads, then for all intents and purposes he is the Huskies' poutine and Boston-cream donut. I wonder if they are left with any self esteem at all after that game. Last night Paul Byron had 4 goals, 2 assists, no penalty minutes, and finished the game a +4. If 3 goals is a hat trick, what is this quadfecta? What should we throw? Not panties - I reserve throwing my panties for goalies. Throwing him a copy of “What’s going on down there?” seems perfectly appropriate. This wee Byron kid is blowing my mind – I don’t know how he does it – at least two of those goals were break away goals. Is he so light and feathery that even the breathing of the defenseman chasing behind him is enough to propel him forwards? He is made of 99% pure hydrogen with just a touch of the Ether all wrapped in a fleshy coating. That’s 32076 moles of hydrogen…and still I am forced to ask - why is nobody trying to break Byron?

Buffalo drafted Byron because they wanted to make Ryan Miller feel fat.

Giroux received 4 more points in the form of 2 goals and 2 assists. All in all, the ‘piques racked up 29 points this game. If you look at overall playoff stats for this season, look up, way up, you can see Giroux at the top with 46 points (15, goals, 31 assists), followed at 27 points by Byron (20 goals, 7 assists) and Prokop (2 goals, 25 assists).

Philly drafted Claude Giroux because they wanted a Danny Briere. Then they went out and bought Danny Briere. Now they have two.

Also, why was Gougeon not pulled after the first 5 goals (all scored in the first period on 14 shots)? It left me thinking – “does this team have so little faith in Pucholt that they will not even try him in nets”? I got my answer in the final minutes of the third when Pucholt allowed 2 goals on 6 shots in 15 minutes. You could tell Rouyn were back to playing desperate hockey, since they were back to taking stupid penalties, and even went so far as to run Mior in the third, possibly in an attempt to phase him for game 4 (just as Shawinigan had done in round one). Not that Mior was fantastic, he allowed 4 goals on 22 shots, but he did make a nice stretchy pad save, and he also did something else exciting when I was not paying attention. Hey, I was drunk and exercising…how much attention span do you think I have? I ultimately blame the live Telus feeds and their lack of replays.

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I have been nagging my girlfriend about how she should know more QMJHL players from Cape Breton, if for no other reason than the fact that she is age appropriate and her boyfriend played hockey for years (although she refused to acknowledge this as she hates hockey). We already know about her encounters with BS, but I needed to know if she knows more boys so I started naming names. It turns out that one of her friends from school is Michael Kirkpatrick's sister, she remembers baby Kirky. The next time she goes to CB I am sending some cookies for him, as well as a certificate for his parents to sign which will allow for the transferring of all parental rights over to me.