So Stefan Dumaresque was cut. Fine. I guess I will just have to settle for Grondin. He is spriggin'. It is just, well, he is a little young for me. If we keep Grondin then my team has no goaltenders of legal drinking age. It makes me feel dirty...like when Yetman and Kennedy were both 18. You can't tag team THAT.There are 5 goalies remaining at camp. Four if you don't count Corbeil: Collier (19), Grondin (17), Burt (18) and Chisholm (17).
The first preseason home game has been rescheduled for Wednesday at 6:30 at the Halifax Forum. This is my first chance to stare down a goalie in a LOOONG time. Last summer was not so bad: we went to the third round of the playoffs and this was followed by the IIHFs. All I got this summer was fat ball hockey goalies. You will recognize me at the Forum because I will be the small, pasty one who looks like she is suffering from withdrawls.
Yes, I gots the goalie withdraws so BAD that I have been forced to use my Brodeur bobble head as a pacifier. The whole thing fits in my mouth.
With the most recent set of cuts (Dumaresque, B Bernard, Myers, J. Pelletier and Nadeau) the team is now down to 42 players. Five down, 17-20 left to go.
Cherry picking:
Who is likely not going? Well, the team have acquired the rights to forward Matt Stoddard from the Saint John Sea Dogs for a 7th round pick. In addition, Mooseheads 2009 11th round defensive draft pick Stephen Gillard has decided to forgo the NCAA and stay at Moose camp. He had previously committed to the University of Maine Blackbears.
I just have one* thing to say about NCAA prospects. Just because they had decided at some point to go NCAA and then at some other point decided to go back on their word does not make them better than all the other non-NCAA players. Just because they changed their minds it doesn't mean that we have to get on our knees for them. I mean really - where are all the NCAA superstars? Is the NCAA churning out stars en masse? If all these kids decided to go NCAA instead of Q would they have become NCAA stars? If you just answered "not likely" then it is time to get off your damn knees.
With every guy we add to our team my femme-boner softens. I don't feel good about this season. I am sure I will inevitably fall in love with the boys on the final roster...but right now I don't have a lot of hope, not in their ability to play hockey at this level.
For example - remember Matt Snow? The guy who "fell down go boom" - a lot. When Matt left the Moose last year, after playing 25 games (3G, 6A), he went to the Bridgewater Lumberjacks where in 17 games he had 17 goals and 6 assists.
You know who else played for the Lumberjacks? Matt Stoddard. In 17 games he had 6 goals and 11 assists. Not exactly lighting up the MJAHL! Why does Stoddard look so hot in Moose camp? Well, maybe it is because he is playing against a bunch of inexperienced 15 year old Midgit AAA players. Dude is 19.
Matt Snow wasn't good enough for last year's Mooseheads team but Matt Stoddard is good enough for this year's team! Is the Zombie Apocalypse upon us?
Is this really what we want to concentrate our efforts on? He has already failed at the Q level. I don't want him here*. Is that harsh? Do we release one of our veterans just to give Stoddard and some rookies a chance. I would take Charles Bety over Matt Stoddard any day of the week. At least we know what Bety can do in the run of a regular Q season- 14 G, 11 A in 59 games as a 3rd/4th line guy on the worst place team in the league. Stoddard had 7G, 15A in 128 career Q games on a good team. If we dump one of our vets to keep this guy I will scream.
The only other thing I can say is - "prove me wrong Stoddard, prove me wrong"!
A special message from the desk of a girl:
JessyKO Bernard. What the fuck are you made from (my guess is goats cheese)? Why are you injured? - AGAIN!!! At this rate you will be the first to succumb to the zombie apocalypse. Shoulder injury my ass! Toughen up boy. You are like one of those contestants that get injured in warm ups for Dancing with the stars. You are Jewel. Have you seen her dancing? She is no triple threat. At this rate neither are you. Jessyko Bernard: singer, dancer, invalid (?). I don't like the sound of that.
The current 42 zombie roster looks like this. Expect at least two of those 20 year olds to go to parts unknown. The trade deadline was last night and the Moose were seemingly unable to trade anybody.
News:
The Moose are looking to Tomas Knotek for an offensive bump. At this point it looks like the boy may get sucked dry as he is the most prolifically offensive 'well' in the Mooseheads roster - and he had less than a 1PPG average for last season. That is saying a lot.
"I have always been an offensive player so I hope I can score a lot of goals this year and help the team," Knotek said. "Hopefully it will be better than last year."
...Knotek said all summer long his plan was to come back to Halifax for the 2009-10 season. Unlike his 2008-09 teammate Jan Stransky, who jumped at the chance to sign with a pro team back in the Czech Republic, Knotek said that thought never crossed his mind."I always knew that I would be back this year," Knotek said. "I didn’t have any reason to stay home (for hockey). I feel really good here and I’m pretty happy in Halifax so I always wanted to come back."
Not surprisingly, Knotek has been the best forward at camp so far by a wide margin. He has been able to score virtually at will during the intrasquad games and has been regularly setting up his linemates for easy finishes. But Knotek shrugged off the early showings, saying it doesn’t mean a whole lot for a veteran to be tearing it up against a bunch of rookies.
"The first (few) days is just August hockey; it’s not really hockey," Knotek kidded. "There were 59 guys here (to start) and half of them I don’t even know. That’s just the way it is at the start of every camp."
__________________________________________________
*yes I am being a bitch today. I almost expect angry letters from mothers.
Grondin picture from http://www.albatroscollegenotredame.ca/
