Road Trippin'

Introduction:

Friday night the Mooseheads begin a massive 3 in 3 through Montreal and its respective suburban areas. They will be taking on Montreal, Dummondville and Victoriaville, in that order.

It is generally accepted that  facing Montreal will be the easiest of these three tasks as the boys will be rested (should be arriving in Montreal today) and because the Montreal Juniors can be easily distracted by their own ice girls (if they still have them).

Chapter One:  Halifax Mooseheads vs Montreal Junior

The problem: Goaltender Jake Allen

The mission: hugging

As TSN's Jay Onrait pointed out - The goal of hockey is to hug your teammates in public as much as possible. This is FACT - The team with more PDAs always wins. The more elaborate the better. I want to see massive displays of fist pumping, ass tapping, and dry humping.

Jake Allen, fresh off the Canada/Russia Challenge (or whatever they are calling it nowadays) is probably full of confidence. Allen, an early second round draft pick of the Saint Louis Blues (the team you go to when you want to be forgotten about) is 8th amongst goaltenders in the QMJHL for  GAA (2.71)and is also sporting a healthy  0.909 sv % in 16 games (6W, 9L). Back up 'tender Berube, on the other hand, has not been so lucky.  His fortunes mirror the losing fate of his team - 3.40 and 8.91 in 9 games  (4W, 3L). Since Berube has already occupied the nets in a win over the Mooseheads this season it remains a possibility that he is again handed the reigns for this upcoming bout. However, given the fact that Montreal are also playing a 3 in 3 (Halifax, Shawinigan, Quebec), and Shawinigan are also a weak opponent one would expect to see goaltending duties divided up thusly: Allen, Berube, Allen.

Other possible dangers include David "balls of steel" Stich on defence, Pier-Antoine Dion's on fisticuffs, and Trevor Parks on forward. Parks was QMJHL offensive player of the week two weeks ago... he is the biggest point producer on the team and yet has only 20 points in 24 games. It may also be important to keep an eye on former Screagles Chouinard (23GP, 8G, 10A) and Gouchie (24GP, 7G, 9A) - they may know us too well.

Because of their lack of offense Montreal have an abysmal powerplay (14.7%) but that is offset by their respectable penalty kill (80.9%) and respectable defence. In 24 games they have allowed only 75 goals, while in the same number of games the Moose have allowed 95.

Chapter Two: Halifax Mooseheads vs Drummondville Voltigeurs

The Problem: Marc-Oliver Vachon

The Mission: Deciding which is your favorite flavour of Passion Flakie.

Vachon has 18 goals and 17 assists in 24 games and is currently third amongst all point getters in the QMJHL, and first among scorers. I have not been making  a Marc-Oliver Vachon voodoo doll out of discarded 'ah caramel' packages.

Other offensive threats include Sean Couturier (24GP, 16G, 12A), Gabriel Dumont (18GP, 9G, 16A) and Ondrej Palat (24GP, 7G, 14A). The team currently has 13 players with 10 or more points.

Did I mention that the Volts are currently the 4th ranked team in the CHL with a 19, 4, 0, 1?

Their PP (21.1) is actually just worse than that of the Mooseheads (21.9) but could not be considered shabby.  Their PK, on the other hand,  is awesome (82.1%).

If the Moose can get the puck past off the sticks of Drummondville's forwards and dodge their defence there is a possibility they can get it in the net. Oh I know that the Volts have allowed only 65 goals in 24 games BUT they have also only allowed 550 shots on net, an average of only 23 shots per game. Now look at the goaltender stats: both goalies have a sv% under 0.9. Starting goaltender Antoine Tardif has a 0.881%, while Ginger has a 0.895%. In his 4 wins Ginger has the league's best GAA at 1.75... but that is just 4 (+) games. Last year with the Titan Ginger had 19 losses and 0 wins. He doesn't scare me.

Chapter Three: Halifax Mooseheads vs Victoriaville Tigres

The Problem: Tomas Kubalik

The mission: Czeching - any way possible.

This is the Tigres Second week in the CHL top ten. The team are currently ranked 4th in the Q with a 17,7,0,1 record and are on a seven game winning streak.

Kubalik, Nestracil, Devos and Hynes are all at or above a PPG pace. Don't take this adorable face lightly - it can now grow facial hair and is developing a mighty five head. Puberty is cruel.

If you can catch Hynes I recommend simply picking him up and putting him in your pocket to take him out of the play - yes, he is pocket sized. Once pocketed this 16 goal scorer can be restrained until it is time to be shipped to Santa's workshop (its getting busy up there now and he needs extra workers). Don't let his small size and funny accent fool you - he is from Northern Newfoundland. He is not a leprechaun.

The Moose will need grit to keep the Tigres's forwards down. Body czeching, sneakily cross-czecking (while the refs aren't looking) or simply maintaining possession of the puck could all help.

The problem with Victoriaville is not just the offence, but also the defence. Their Penalty kill is the best in the league at 84.7% efficiency and Joel Chouinard (9G, 10A) QBs the power play with ruthless effectiveness (6 G on the PP).

Goaltender Kevin Poulin is rocking 12 wins and 5 losses with a 2.42 GAA  and 0.921%. second best amongst starting goaltenders in the league and in the top 5 for both GAA and save%. Mastropietro is not as lucky - his save % is on par with Corbeil's. The Tigres are not as busy this weekend, with a Friday game against Gatineau and a Sunday game against the Moose, so I am keeping my fingers crossed that we face Mastropietro in nets.

Conclusion:

To increase our chances of getting what we want I have no problem resorting to mysticism. So if someone can rub Hynes just to see if you can make a wish for even a single Moose win - that would be great.

News links: 

Wuest

'Big brother' leads scrappy Mooseheads squad in dropping the gloves 

NHL Central Scouting taking notice of Corbeil

Palov

Moose feeling fans’ love 

Injuries sideline defencemen

Corbeil wins QMJHL award again   

Yes the spacing on this is awful. I don't know why.

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.

What fuckery is this?

Dude do you get paid...

(because I don't, so I can make mistakes like 1: the other day with the Marty thing and I was like Wha? when my boyfriend told me he had his 1000th game but I rolled with it even though I thought "didn't that already happen" 2: and all the times I spell Hannay "Hannah" and Metcalfe "Metcalf" and 3: like how Pierre McGuire said Marchand and Latendresse were on the same Canada World Jr team the other day when he was broadcasting live during the Boston vs Montreal game- that's an el booboo and no I am not Pierre McGuire)

...because you submitted this to your newspaper and you (or someone else) fuck it up THIS BAD.


Akex NacDonald is NOT how you spell Alex MacDonald.

I mean really Neil Hodge, it is nice that you want to include your Monctonian Moosehead in there when you are talking about how Moncton will be playing the Mooseheads this weekend but...Alex is no longer playing for the Mooseheads and his name is not Akex.

Good Day good Sir.

Thanks to Dan for the link

News links/Motivation

The flu is systematically wiping all the hotness from the Mooseheads. It is starting with the cutest boys and working its way down to the dregs.

The last boy who gets the flu shall be well aware that the flu was just using him for his body. The flu does not think he is hot*. The flu didn't really want to get intimate with him, it was only desperate to reproduce and spread. No, much like me, the flu chooses to climb into the orifices of the young hotties first: the Desjardins, the Grondinseseses and the Hannays. I mean honestly, if you were the flu isn't that who you would hit?

Speaking of cold and flu seasons, the Moose have not only been hit with the flu but for two weeks now they have a bad case of COLD. Cold of course being where they stand on the Sportsnet CHL Hot/Not list.

The Sea Dogs and Tomas Kubalik of the Victoriaville Tigres are hot, while the Mooseheads and Mickael Audette of the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies are not.

The rebuilding Mooseheads had another week of set-backs as they continue to search for their second win of the season. Halifax was beat in both outings against Montreal and Cape Breton by a combined 10-3 margin. It won’t get any easier for the Mooseheads this week as they will face Saint John, Val-d’Or and P.E.I.

In order to motivate the players I have created a series of embarrassing blingees (what am I, 12?) to show them what they are in line to earn should they actually start to put some points on the board.

No pressure!

Victim #1: Gabriel Desjardins
Sure it is great to be defensively responsible. Defensively minded players make me feel funny in my lady bits. Defensively minded players are also shortlisted as possible draft picks by the New Jersey Devils. Devils also make me feel funny in my lady bits.

Unfortunately, as a forward, you have to be at least a 0.5 PPG player (please ignore the drafting of Ashton Bernard) in the CHL for anyone to take you seriously come NHL draft time. Being a 1.0 PPG is even better.

Getting drafted officially ups your status to QMJHL *superstar* and practically guarantees you shitloads of money if you can work your ass off and make it to the big-boys club. Furthermore, if you want to be a total princess like Dany Heatley, it is still OK - you can still get paid.

Mo' money, mo' problems? Bullshit!!! Wipe away that #21. Your new number is $$$.

Last but not least: points = money = classy ladies... and not those Cole Harbour tarts you are used to. Classy ladies would use your money to buy Dior, not American Eagle. Furthermore, everybody knows classy hockey wives don't earn their own money (I am looking at you Willa Ford).


*does not include feverish feelings

lynx

ugh. No, stop coming here by searching puckbunny. I think I have had 5 hits for puckbunny in the past 2 days. That is just cootietastic.

It is amazing the things people can google search which will bring them to this blog.

1) "Alex hockey player of Mooses in Halifax" - half of the Mooseheads are named Alex so this search makes sense...kinda.
2) "Joel Grondin has a baby?" - he had better not or I will chop his wang off.
3) "girls tits game" - sounds like fun
4) "when men don't want to talk" - I assume that all my Moose are mutes and that we have never talked because they can not talk. Well, all except Alex MacDonald.
5) "tits slapped hard" - owwwww
6) "Film hot" - I get a lot of searches for this and I suspect that it is not because of people looking for this interview with Ron Hextall. Ohhh la la... now that is film hot*.
7) "cookie pender" - OMG he comes in cookie form!


So The Moose play the Montreal Jr on Thursday at the Metro Centre and I have just been sitting around waiting for news (and for someone to tell me that they actually want to go to the game with me).

This is what I learned:
1) Moose tweets tell me that Abeltshauser is feeling good in his wrist area and may even be feeling good enough to play Thursday vs Montreal. He heals faster than the speed of Mats Sundin's ejaculate...or superman's ejaculate...or Mats Sundin's eye...I forget the joke. Anyway, the point is that he heals quickly.

2) Alex Lemieux is the Mooseheads' Scholastic player for the month of September. mmmmm brains.

3) The Mooseheads are cold again. Booo. I will warm myself be sidling up to the super hot teeny, tiny Drew Owsley of the Tri-city Americans - my adopted WHL goalie boyfriend. To think that I loved him when he was a press-box dwelling back-up to the back-up.*sigh*

According to the Sportsnet Hot/not list:
"The losses continued to mount for the rebuilding Mooseheads, who have yet to win since Oct. 3 in a 6-1 rout over Val-d'Or. Halifax has lost their last nine consecutive games, acquiring just one point in a shootout loss over that stretch in a loss to Rouyn-Noranda on Oct. 9. Halifax has a dismal 1-15-0-1 record this season."

Yes, they used the word dismal.

4) Everyone else is doing it (See Toronto Maple Leafs), why can't we?

_________________________________________
* :^::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

Stuck in the middle...

Ahhhh Wednesdays. Is any day more painfully boring for a hockey fan stuck in a 2 week drought and desperate for the sounds and smells (yes, smells) of the game.

What has happened since the last game in Baie Comeau? Nothing. Boys got on a ferry/bus and came home. Apparently since they got home they have been practicing hockey. Who'd 'a thunk it?

Other things are happening in other places - like Stinziani was traded from Cape Breton to the Chicoutimi Sagueneens and Maxime Renaud was moved from the Bathurst Titan to the Drakkar. Both overagers were aquired for a third round pick. Kinda makes you wonder about what the Moose could do with their slack over-agers. hmmmmmm?????


According to Matthew Wuest the Mooseheads are expected to make a couple of roster moves by the end of this week and before they head out to play Bathurst on Friday. It turns out that 26 sets of balls (plus coaching staff) are just too many balls for one locker room.

Wuest predicts that forwards Matt Stoddard and the recently signed Lester Brown are on the bubble, but that trimming down from 9 defenceman may have to wait until Abeltshauser and Gillard are healthy.

When Wuest made further predictions about who is safe, and who is not, he threw overage defenceman Alexandre Brunet into the mix. This may be because the recent acquisition of Paul Dimitruk from the Moncton Wildcats is supposed to provide experience and stability on the blueline. Of course, when I say 'experience' we all realize that Dimitruk only has one year of Q experience, right? He came into the Wildcats organization as an 18 year old. We have been told that he may be able to rack up points from the blue line but so far the only thing he has been racking up with the Moose is penalty minutes. We are told this despite the fact that in 64 games for the Cats last season he only had 2 goals and three assists. That's 5 points. What is the word that is tossed around again? oh yeah - potential. Whoopee do!

Alex MacDonald also had 5 points in 49 games last season while playing on the last line; except his points were acquired as a 17 year old on a struggling Mooseheads team. What he doesn't have are the penalty minutes that so often get this team into trouble. Some would say that makes him 'soft'. Is there no place on my team for the type of defenceman who is a 'lover not a fighter'.

It's not that I hate Dimitruk, I just don't know him yet. I have a tendency to give new boys the side eye. I don't trust boys.*

But just because Wuest gives an opinion on who will go it does not mean that this is the case. I hate suspense. In today's Chronicle Herald coach Cam Russell leaves us hanging by talking about both trades and demotions:

Russell said he may look at reassigning some guys to junior A before the end of the week or may even pull the trigger on some trades.

"Right now we’re almost a quarter of the way through the season and I think we’ve brought in a good mix of young guys and veterans," Russell said.

"We’ve given everybody opportunities and some guys have taken advantage of that and made the most of it, and others haven’t. The ones who haven’t are the ones who are on the bubble and we’ll have to make a decision about those guys this week."

Because league rules restrict trades to 20-year-olds and Europeans right now, Russell’s options on that front are limited.

He surely won’t move import players Tomas Knotek or Konrad Abeltshauser at the moment so that leaves overage forwards Linden Bahm and Yuri Cheremetiev and defenceman Alexandre Brunet as his only tradable players.

Russell conceded he’d fielded some inquiries this week for some of those players but wouldn’t say which ones.

So Goldilocks may be safe... for now. You know, until I get my hands on him and try to brush his mullet and maybe trim a few of the hairs that caress his neck.


Other news links:
Mooseheads in search of balance
C.B. trades Stinziani
Bursting the bubble

Moore's blog - Clarke stepping up


*Though if I did trust boys (specifically Randell, Pelletier, Corbeil, MacDonald, Bernard and Bahm) I would watch them on Breakfast TV, Friday on ATV between 7:00-9:00.

Things

1) According to John Moore's tweets, Lester Brown is now officially a Moosehead. He signed a contract this morning.

2) With two players absent from the blue line, Konrad Abeltshauser because of his wrist and Steve Gillard because of his hip, the Moose decided to call up second round 2009 draft pick Jamie Bishop to join the team. This leaves the Moose with 7 defensemen on the current Quebec road trip. If Alex MacDonald still does not get playing time I will know that something is most definitely 'up' (when the only sinister thing that should be 'up' in the world of teenage boys is their penis). I am prematurely plotting our revenge whether Alex likes it or not.

3) The votes are in and a whopping (:S) 5 votes out of 14 suggest that Tomas Knotek is more cookie-worthy than Sawyer Hannay. In his most recent blog post it would appear as if even John Moore thinks that Hannay is worthy. Anyway Tomas, enjoy your ill-gotten cookies. At this point they have probably gone stale. I am sure you will have a killer game at some point in the future and at that point any reward you receive will be much fresher and tastier. Either you got them for being consistant or my readers just thought you were malnourished and needed a little more meat on your bones.

As for the 5 people who said that Hannay did not deserve cookies - What kind of jerk are you to deny a teenage boy his just desserts (the good kind)? Clearly you do not understand my reward scheme, which gives prizes for stupid things and not necessarily for being the best player on the ice for 60 minutes. For example, say Tomas Knotek had a shitty game and didn't win a single faceoff and could not make a single connecting pass but somehow uncharacteristically made a huge hit at center ice which knocked a guy out - instant cookies.

4) Read John Moore's latest blog post about Konrad Abeltshauser.

5) According to Sportsnet the Mooseheads are still not 'cold' despite the huge loss to Moncton last weekend. Good, it is freezing here in Halifax and I need the team to stay at least tepid in order to keep me not uncomfortable when we cuddle. Look out Prince George Cougars -we are only one point behind ya for worst team in the CHL- RAWR.

6) Former Mooseheads goaltender Mark Yetman is Brock University's Male athlete of the week. The Brock Badgers are currently 3-0-0 and Yetman has a GAA of 1.67 and a 0.848 save%.

7) In order to appear as if I'm not just "obsessed with goalies" I wanted to let you know that I stalk any person with Newfie blood. For example: former Moose defenceman Justin Pender has 2 goals in 2 games with the Trenton Devils. That kinda looks like Pender's chin in the blue shirt - right? Perhaps I am not 'pathetically' obsessed enough with former Mooseheads defencemen to recognize their chins in pictures. Though, later pictures in the series inform me that I have mad chin-spotting skills.

8) I am very happy that David Stich has found a home in the QMJHL since he couldn't (yet) find a home in the North American pro-circuit. He is one of my favorite defencemen in the league. This is because I am pretty sure the guy has balls of steel. HUGE balls of steel. The Saint John Sea Dogs have traded his rights to the Montreal Junior.

8) the CHL top 10 is out and 3 Q teams are on it:
1. Calgary Hitmen (7-2-0-0)
2. Drummondville Voltigeurs (9-1-0-1)
3. Windsor Spitfires (7-3-0-1)
4. Gatineau Olympiques (9-3-0-0)
5. Kamloops Blazers (7-2-2-0)
6. London Knights (7-2-0-0)
7. Kitchener Rangers (6-0-0-1)
8. Vancouver Giants (7-2-0-2)
9. Barrie Colts (7-3-0-0)
10. Rouyn-Noranda Huskies (8-4-2-0)

9) Go Moose Go!

Quick links

Moore on the Moose

A Guillaume Pelletier story from the Chronicle Herald.

The Halifax Mooseheads forward has hardly played any hockey in the past year thanks to a painful knee injury he suffered while playing for the Rimouski Oceanic last season. Pelletier broke his kneecap just before Christmas and missed the remainder of the season, with the exception of one game in Halifax at the end of the schedule.

...As if that wasn’t bad enough, Pelletier found out just nine days later he had been traded. He was part of the deal that sent forward Logan MacMillan to Rimouski, which deprived Pelletier of the opportunity to play in the Memorial Cup as part of the host team.

"I was a little bit disappointed about that but I was really interested in coming here," Pelletier said. "It’s a nice organization and I told (former Mooseheads general manager) Marcel (Patenaude) it would be something good for my future.

"I like it here. The organization, the billets and everything around the team is great. It’s really good here."

Mastercard CHL top 10
1. Calgary Hitmen (2-0-0-0)
2. Drummondville Voltigeurs (4-0-0-0)
3. Windsor Spitfires (0-1-0-1)
4. Gatineau Olympiques (4-0-0-0)
5. Mississauga St. Michael’s Majors (1-0-0-0)
6. Saskatoon Blades (1-0-0-0)
7. Quebec Remparts (3-0-1-0)
8. London Knights (1-0-0-0)
9. Brandon Wheat Kings (1-1-0-0)
10. Saint John Sea Dogs (4-0-0-0)

Hooray's for Maxime Clermont - the CHL goaltender of the week. Feed him marshmallows.

Now that is a power play. PEI are actually starting to scare me.

Links are easy.

We have a new boyfriend

His name is Joel Grondin and he is a goalie. Hooray. So young. Yes, I feel shame.
from Palov (Chronicle Herald)

Russell only has Joel Grondin and Randy Chisholm still competing for the backup goalie job, but it’s almost certain Grondin will be given the assignment. He was the team’s ninth-round pick in this year’s draft and has had a solid camp so far.

"I like his work ethic and I think he plays the puck well," Russell said. "He’s got good composure and he seems like he’s very mature for only being 17 years old, both physically and mentally. We like what he brings. We want to get younger and he fits into that plan."

Grondin, 17, said he already feels comfortable with the speed of the major junior game and is "really anxious to make the jump this year," even if it means seeing limited action.

The team has also been cut back to 29 players. Forward Kody Orr and defencemen Matthew English and Sam Caldwell have left to preserve their NCAA eligibility, while goaltender Gatlin Burt and defencemen Ryan Matheson, Trey Lewis and Ryan Nickerson have all been released. Forward Dylan McGuigan and his broken hand have left camp but Dylan remains on the protected list. His broken hand has not.

According to Wuest this leaves 16 forwards, 10 defencemen and 3 goaltenders at camp. 16+ 10 +3 = 29. Wuest then posted an analysis of the remaining players on the roster. I am glad he does my thinking for me. With 60 boys in camp this year I didn't bother trying to keep track of who was who. This is great because it illustrates who has a spot and who are left to fight for the final spots.

There is also a story on the overagers: Bahm, Brunet, and Cheremetiev.

Cheremetiev was the team’s co-leading scorer last season and was expected to earn a spot. Brunet was a solid defender with the Memorial Cup host Rimouski Oceanic last season and will be an important leader for the team. Bahm had the most to prove coming into camp and has been outstanding. “We have a 20-year-old defenceman (Brunet), a 20-year-old scorer (Cheremetiev), and a 20-year-old hard-working, character player (Bahm),” Russell said. “They all bring three very different but three very important traits to the table.”

Pffff. Of course Bahm was outstanding. I saw the guy in one pre-season intrasquad scrimmage and fell into 'the love'... and this was AFTER I had prejudged him to have funny hair and look terribly stupid in that ugly Shawinigan jersey. No forward has ever earned second string boyfriend status so quickly.


Boyfriends on other teams:
Did former Mooseheads defenceman Richard Greer earn a spot with the Eagles? I suddenly don't have such a fear of them anymore. Greer will likely be with the Eagles untill concussion boy Saab (brilliant name, I know) is able to play again.

I declare Nick MacNeil my Eagles boyfriend on forward and if I catch Ward looking at my boobies one more time he can be my defenceman boyfriend. It was SUPPOSED to be Sam Finn but then he and Ward swapped teams last X-mas. Finn will have to settle for being my Lewiston boyfriend whom I never get to see. It's OK, I am sure Finn is not sad about this. I mean look at him - he probably has an imaginary girlfriend in every town. I like Sam Finn so much that I have this creepy feeling that the Penguins will draft him. They do such things just to fuck with me - they don't need the defence.

Victoriaville Tigres boyfriend and my unrequited love Tyler Noseworthy made the team by a hair. Whew, I was getting very scared.

Speaking of boyfriends on other teams - I just came across last year's Moncton Wildcats team photo. mmmmm. Oh my exes!!! They wanted to get so far away from me that Tomy moved to France and Zach joined the Penguins organization. Ugh!

You know how boys like to watch girl on girl action? Well... with Joly standing so close to Sill my mind can't help but wander. Other than that all I notice from the team photo is that LBD remains totally adorable. Give him a lollipop.

I don't have a Titan boyfriend this season. The Titan stink. Here they are doing a fashion show. Let's all laugh at the Titan.

So informed/ so winning/ so-long Benny Boy

Things need to change. New defence, new jersey, new goalie coach... new blog layout and format(?). Yeah, I'll get on that eventually. So if the blog vanishes for a short period of time over the next couple of days it just means that I am reformatting it.

I will have to get rid of the banner since that jersey is right out. I will have to get rid of Benny and Alexis in the side panel because those boys are also right out.

When games start I will bring back the cookies, which is essential because Mathieu loves cookies and I do whatever goalies tell me (telepathically) to do. No really, I do whatever goalies tell me. It is sad. I am also considering keeping track of cookie-worthy players on a game by game basis in the side bar - until I have 68+ cookie receptacles listed.

I really will get on that you tube page so that I can post the most embarassing intermission interviews online. Like this one:



Let's get to business:
For those who are not in the know- Ben MacAskill has been released from the Mooseheads and will not be occupying one of the limited 20 year old roster spots. Nineteen year old goaltender Justin Collier of the Yarmouth Mariners has also been released.

Meanwhile Forward Maxime Belanger and defenceman Jonathan Clarke have broken up with us. Clarke didn't want to be the "other" Clarke on the blueline. It is bad enough that we had a McDonald and a MacDonald, but to have two Bernards and two Clarkes would not help ease the confusion.

But Collier, Belanger and Clarke are irrelevant. Benny is the boy of interest here. I am sad to see him go.


When my girlfriend A.N. needed a Mooseheads boyfriend I assigned Ben to her. Given her string of shitty relationships she needed someone nice. She totally fell (except she still has a real boyfriend - ugh). She once said "MacAskill is the cheese on my Mac and Cheese". Maybe she should have said "Ben is the Mac in my Mac and cheese", it is slightly more punny that way.

She also once said "Ben, Oh how my heart flutters for thee... I wasn't sure our relationship was going to work, with so little to offset your unfortunately obvious misaligned chin. Although your eyes tell me you are a pure and innocent angel, I also secretly hope you are terribly naughty in bed. But for now I suppose I'll have to settle for slick on the ice.... sigh :D
(Also, I don't like reading, but it's totally hot that you do.)"*

The boys say Ben is nice. To top it off he is smart and if he ever needs lab experience in Neuroscience/ Psychology at Dal I can totally hook him up.

I was a firm believer in Ben and instead of dwelling on the negatives I always like to point out when Ben got things right in a game. His smart moves were not uncommon. Once, during a game of pick-up hockey he even got a goal off a pass from my boyfriend (shhhhh, that's kinda a secret).

I wish Ben the best of luck in his future hockey endeavors and future science endeavors and I am serious about that lab position in Neuroscience. My boss keeps filling the lab with pretty girls. It is about time he gave back and got us a boy. We are all tired of hanging out with 60 year old men.


PEI still suck:
This is why the Moose were able to defeat them 6-4 in the preseason game at the forum. I confess I was not in attendance. My parentals were visiting and I was forbidden from getting my skank on with one of those long, hard, wooden (oh my) benches at the Forum. For more information on the game see Matthew Wuest's write up for the Metro or Willy Palov's write up for the Herald.


* she is going to kill me for that

So there is a hurricane and you are bored...

...the hockey game is postponed, the alumni game is canceled, you are filled to the brim with blueberry pancakes, too lazy to shower and you are on the internet. What to do? Where to visit?

1) Well you could find your favorite dirty talk partner and chat away....if they are online. Don't have one of those? Fine!

2) Maybe you can visit the QMJHL website and check out the scores from games being played in other non-hurricane affected towns.

3) Willy Palov at the Herald has an article about the 5 man battle for the overage position:

MacAskill and Louis-Seize, teammates and good friends for three years already, dropped the gloves in the first fight of training camp and MacAskill took on Bahm the next night. MacAskill, not known as a fighter during his four years in Halifax, is clearly prepared to do anything it takes to stick around for a fifth season and Louis-Seize is doing the same.

The two surely are working off the clear indication they are behind the other three in the competition and are pushing themselves beyond their usual comfort zones to show the coaching staff how badly they want to stay.

"I think it showed a lot for them to go," said Bahm. "For them to drop the mitts and fight when they’re friends like that, it shows a lot of character.

"(The competition) is a little (awkward) but we try not to think about it. We don’t really talk about it and we’re all friends. We were teammates last year but we know we’re here fighting for spots."

4) There is a new blog called Saint John Sea Dog Snippets. I have had the link in my sidebar for a while but I have been waiting to see if they stick around and post consistently. Hooray, they do.

5) Play with your Stefan Dumaresque voodoo doll. Make him stop every puck.

Game Cancelled

From Matthew Wuest (Halifax Metro)

"The Halifax Mooseheads have cancelled their QMJHL pre-season home opener, originally scheduled for Sunday at 6 p.m. at the Halifax Forum, because of Hurricane Bill. The alumni game against the Halifax Regional Police has also been cancelled.

No details are available for a makeup date. The Mooseheads next pre-season home game is next Saturday, Aug. 29, at the Forum starting at 7 p.m."

Getting down to business

From Wuest at the metro:

The Mooseheads have put the majority of their top roster hopefuls through rigorous fitness testing this month...

“We wanted to get a good gauge of where these guys are at a month before training camp,” said Mooseheads head coach and general manager Cam Russell. “If some guys aren’t where they should be, it gives us a chance to have a chat with them and make sure they’re (in shape) at training camp.”

The tests will be repeated at training camp — which opens Aug. 19 at Cole Harbour Place — to give Russell and his staff an accurate read on what progress has been made.

“It’s something we all talked about from (owner) Bobby (Smith) right on down,” Russell said. “If we’re going to establish the staple of our team as hard-working, energy hockey, we’re going to have to be well-conditioned to do that.”

There is more to this article so just go to the Metro already. Also, the metro article has a picture of everybody's favorite Moosehead Jessyko Bernard. Pffft - you know he is secretly your favorite. Even Scott McDonald's parents like him more than they like Scott*.

This all sounds good to me. Honestly, when you look at last season's games I wouldn't necessarily say that the team lost all of those games in the third period but what I would say is that the third period is when they had a tendency to get stomped. Badly.

Better conditioning might not allow the Moose to win but it may allow the boys to keep the score a little tighter until the end of the game and it may also allow them to kick ass and crunch bones for significantly longer periods of time - Milan Lucic style. If I had it my way I would have a team full of Lucic's on forward.


AUS:
StFX is making moves, and those moves involve a lot of Cape Bretoners. How many Capers do they have now?

Up front, St. F.X. has added forwards Ryan Sparling (QMJHL’s Saint John Sea Dogs), Brennen Wray (WHL’s Red Deer Rebels) and Murdoch MacLellan (Cape Breton Screaming Eagles and MJAHL’s Dieppe Commandos).

It is nice to see Murd being appreciated.

*this is likely a fabrication on my part.

Training Camp - squee!

I am just here to pass on news from other sources.

Wuest has posted the training camp schedule on the Q-files blog:

"The Halifax Mooseheads will hold training camp from Wednesday, Aug. 19, to Friday, Aug. 21, at Cole Harbour Place, with morning and evening scrimmages.

The camp roster will be divided into three teams, with 5-on-5 action running from 10 a.m. to noon in the morning and from 7 to 9 p.m. in the evening. The Mooseheads travel to Cornwall, P.E.I., on Saturday, Aug. 22, to open the exhibition season at 4 p.m. against the Prince Edward Island Rocket"

...and the Mooseheads have announced an Alumni game vs the Halifax Regional Police:

"The Mooseheads announced today that they will be hosting the first Halifax Mooseheads Alumni Game on Sunday, August 23^rd at 3:30pm at the Halifax Forum when they take on members of the Halifax Regional Police. The Alumni game will take place prior to the Mooseheads Exhibition Home Opener against the PEI Rocket at 6pm. Proceeds from the Alumni game will go towards Feed Nova Scotia and the Diana Thorton Education Fund.

Tickets, which include both admission to the Alumni game and the Exhibition game against PEI, are just $7 each. Admission is free for children 12 years of age and under. Fans are also encouraged to bring a non-perishable food item to the event in support of Feed Nova Scotia

A pre-game BBQ will also take place just outside the Forum at 2:30pm with proceeds going to Feed Nova Scotia. Mooseheads players will be on hand at the BBQ to mingle with fans and sign autographs."

You need to know this so that you can stalk your favorite Mooseheads.

*Sigh*. Once upon a time there was a Moose I wanted to meet but I had told myself I was never going to meet him during a team sanctioned event. He didn't seem to understand why this was weird and inappropriate. It seems far to 'fan-like' and not like 'hey I'm a person and you're a person and we like some of the same shit' and all that shit so we can chill, and have a beer, and talk or whatever...
...this went on for a year
...but we never met
...and we will never meet
...and sometimes I want to punch walls!

Sometimes I may seem crazy, but it is just because some boys can drive you to behave that way.

I have banned team sanctioned events from my life because they make me feel weird. Why would a grown woman (in a sense) want to meet a bunch of boys. I can't discuss the things that boys like to talk about: titties, who in their class gives the best head, drinking, and video games. These things are not my forte.

I would however like all of my Moosies to know that I DO appreciate them for the hours of entertainment that they provide me, and I will continue to love them even if this season is an epic fail. Yes, I have my season tickets booked and even if I never meet them I will love all of my Moose from afar - through some glass, as if they were a zoo animal. From seasons past I have learned my lesson about these creatures - look, don't touch, and most importantly 'NEVER feed the animals'.

I mean honestly! See this post from 'Fuck you, Penguin' - Petting zoo goats. Replace "petting zoo goats" with the words Jr Hockey Player. Fine let me do this for you:

QMJHL arenas are a hotbed of teenage hubris. With children constantly saying how cute they are, it's important to let the QMJHL players know that not everybody is on their dicks 24/7. This dandy here hasn't gotten nearly enough humble pie, because he apparently thinks he's next in line on the runway* in fucking Milan. Ummm, not every teenage boy just gets to lie around all day waiting for little sluts to come and rub them ______. Some boys actually have to work hard all day to find lady friends to rub them _______.

Whether you are dealing with petting zoo goats or QMJHL players the last thing you want to do is make them more smug or arrogant than they already are.


* you know, like a model...or Garred Grant. I wonder if the wrist surgery is interfering with his 'love life'

Pre-draft Brouhaha

There is sooo much news before the draft that I simply can't cover it all. This is why reporters get paid to report, while I am a lowly scientist getting barely paid to poke insect brains. That being said, I am posting a bunch of links for those who think it is relevant. I also suggest you pay attention to the frequently updated Q-files RSS feed bar on the right hand side of the page.

Matthew Wuest is going all out, having included Twitter amongst his weapons of choice for this year's draft. It is going crazy over there on his twitter. You should hit it!

For those of you not in the know, the QMJHL does an NHL style draft with tables and GMs running around like crazy. Local cable TV crews are there, interviews are held, a prospects game takes place, young girls in dresses guide drafted boys down an aisle to the stage where they are handed their team Jersey and hat. It is all tres adorable. The boys get to be little be-pimpled stars for a day.

If you are lucky there will be at least one French boy wearing white shoes - preferably a goalie. Then they take the inevitable 1,2,3 photo and it gets plastered all over the internets *sigh*.


As it now stands the Moose have confirmed their one deal - Alexis Piette and a seventh to Lewiston for Garrett Clarke. Oh my eyebrows!

Coach/GM Cam Russell says that no one is untouchable but with the way he has been swooning over Gabriel Desjardins I have a feeling that Desjardins is pretty much untouchable.

Apparently the Moose may be on the hunt for a goalie (bonus boyfriend) for me, someone with a little experience who can push Matty to be the best little goalie that he can be. Maybe they should also look for someone to cut his hair. I would not be terribly disappointed if we didn't pick up a used Q goalie but decided instead to just go with Dumaresque. I am crossing my toes that we do not trade Duma's rights.

If anything exciting and Moosie or goalie related happens I will remember to squee in your general direction.


News links

Nova Scotia teams:
Matthew Wuest:
Mooseheads after a goalie?
Russell on Cheremetiev
Piette a big loss, but still a good move
Piette shipped to lewiston for Blueliner
Weak draft class may pay dividends for Mooseheads
Weekend draft a crucial step for Mooseheads rebuild

Willy Palov:
Moose looking to make picks count
Draft weekend buzzing with activity

TJ Colello:
Adam deal done - Cape Breton get Luke Adam. Newfies do like the Isle! Oh snap, we are toast! It cost them Chouinard. I did oft cooo for Chouinard.
Berry ripe for the picking

NB teams
Scott Briggs: Second year goalie ready to step up
Neil Hodge: QMJHL top prospects presented today

PEI
Charles Reid: Rocket makes early trade

Just news links

Graham really did deserve his own post. At 6'3" and 217 lbs* he is big enough that I might squish him should I try to fit in other news around him. Thus, newslinks get their own, albeit much less sexy, post.

Matthew Wuest- Mooseheads GM in no mood to beg at Q draft
Willy Palov - Eagles will move pics for scoring
T.J. Colello - Eagles not afraid to trade first round pick
Telegraph Journal - Central Scouting's final list of QMJHL Prospects
Neil Hodge - What will cats do in trades?
Neil Hodge - Twin brothers won't let QMJHL separate them. More wonder twins? The Moose do not take orders from players anymore. I guess they won't be coming here.
Peter Assaff - Titan GM comfortable heading into Saturday's QMJHL draft.


Yes, I am still having an affair with the Sea Dogs:
Former Sea Dog and QMJHL smrt guy Payton Liske won the award for Outstanding Acheivement in the Field of Excellence... or something like that.

Simon Despres showed up at the combine about a week early and they wrote a story about it. Read it and then tell me - how can you not love Simon? Effort alone should count for at least 100 bonus points. I would suggest you give him cookies but it is getting hot and he needs to look fit for the draft, so give him a popsicle or something.

Bonus info EDIT:
Trade Rumours:
From the Times and Transcript

The Lewiston MAINEiacs have made three deals that will be announced when the league trade period opens on Friday morning.

They're sending defenceman Garrett Clarke to the Halifax Mooseheads and goaltender Peter Delmas to the Quebec Remparts. They're also acquiring forward Stephane Fournier from the Acadie-Bathurst Titan.

Some other mid-season trades will be finalized this week.

The Saint John Sea Dogs will acquire the rights to 20-year-old forwards Mike Hoffman from the Drummondville Voltigeurs and Nicholas Petersen from the Shawinigan Cataractes.

The Chicoutimi Sagueneens are sending goaltender Francois Levesque to the Prince Edward Island Rocket. The Rimouski Oceanic are shipping forward Philippe Cornet to the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies.

Rumour has the Montreal Juniors dealing forward Luke Adam to the Cape Breton Screaming Eagles.

To throw in my own personal note - I like the Delmas to the Remparts deal. The boy needs a change of pace and St. Patrick and crew should be able to get the best out of him. I found it weird that no one was going after him at Christmas trade period last season. Just because he did not have the best season last year does not mean that the boy doesn't have skillz.

*D'oh. 117lbs is girl sized, 217 lbs is MAN sized. RAWR.

Ouch

The Stransky Ordeal:
So it has been well established by now - Jan Stransky is no longer a Moosehead. His billet parents know it, reporter Matthew Wuest knows it, coach/GM Cam Russel knows it through 12th hand sources, and strangers from the west coast who read my blog, yet know very little of the Mooseheads, now know it.

We the fans are feeling the sting because we have to live with the pain of knowing that the Moose gave up their 1st overall pick in the CHL import draft thinking that both Stransky and Knotek would be returning next season. We can be happy that Stransky didn't pull a 'Kana' on us and decide to leave after the draft. This way we still have a chance to replace him with another, albeit much lower drafted, Euro.

In today's issue of the Chronicle Herald Willy Palov discusses the situation and this time it is Stransky feeling the sting:

The Halifax Mooseheads forward has apparently signed a two-year contract with Plzen, but has not yet informed Halifax coach and general manager Cam Russell or his agent, Petr Svoboda. That type of bizarre manoeuvre does not reflect well on the 18-year-old sniper and it wouldn’t be an overstatement to say it will cost him a chance at the NHL.

A handful of teams have been in regular contact with Russell this spring and it was starting to look like Stransky was going to get a legitimate look at the draft in June. But now that he’s shown such a poor lack of professionalism and judgment, that ship has surely sailed. The draft is only seven rounds long nowadays, so NHL teams are certainly not going to waste a pick on a player with that kind of flaky personality.

Need I say SNAP?


Depth Chart:
Wuest also posted a very informative depth chart in one of his pieces and I am just going to cut and paste it here. Arts and crafts are fun. My ultimate goal is to be a crafty spinster. Please remember that X = possible overagers... and then there is the mysterious Y.

FORWARDS:
x-Yuri Cheremetiev (20)
Tomas Knotek (19)
Alexis Piette (19)
Gerrad Grant (19)
Gabriel Desjardins (17)
Jessyko Bernard (18)
Travis Randell (18)
x-Linden Bahm (20)
x-Eric Louis-Seize (20)
Charles Bety (19)
Alex Lemieux (17)
x-Matt Boland (20)
Ned O’Brien (19)
Guillaume Pelletier (18)
William Cloutier (18)
Andrew Smith (17)

DEFENCEMEN:
Gabriel O’Connor (19)
Pascal Amyot (19)
Alex MacDonald (18)
xy-Alexandre Brunet (20)
x-Ben MacAskill (20)
Scott McDonald (19)
George Dunn (19)
Ryan Matheson (18)
Richard Greer (18)

GOALTENDERS:
Mathieu Corbeil (18)
Stefan Dumaresque (19)
Jeremie Forbes-Brisebois (19)
Kody Blois (18)

Yes "Y". Wuest has listed Alexandre Brunet, a defenceman from the Rimouski Oceanic as one of our 20 year olds. Brunet is a possible future from the Logan Mac Millan trade at X-mas. The acquisition of Brunet means that only two of Cheremetiev, Bahm, Boland, Louis-XVI and MacAskill get to stay.

While Boland seems nice and occasionally sports a fancy fauxhawk, he eats all the marshmallows after he plays chubbeh bunneh and he is a perpetual broken machine - so he has to go. Did you ever get the impression that management hates Cheremetiev, what with the way he is shuffled through the lineup? Despite the fact that the Moose will be low on goal scoring prowess, I can still see them giving up Cheremetiev... or at least I could until Stransky split.

I don't like to speculate. Let's just say that we all have no idea what will happen and then wait and see. While I hate the wait, it seems like the only logical thing to do. You can wait too. It's not like I showed you my titties and then split town - leaving you longing for more. We are all stuck here together... waiting... fully clothed.


Trades and the Draft:
The loss of Stransky was a definite blow to our offense, which was one of the worst in the league to begin with. The Moose had the second worst PP with only 16.3% efficiency and 193 goals in 68 games. Only the Titan and the MAINEiacs were worse in Goals per game - but even they made the playoffs.

Apparently Cam Russel was going to focus on defence for this draft*, but the loss of Stransky may have changed that.

Stransky’s departure may also alter Halifax’s strategy at the QMJHL draft. Russell initially wanted to focus on defence, but a scorer might pique his interest now.

“You’ve always got Plans A, B and C,” Russell said. “We’ll take that into consideration at the draft … Who we’re trying to bring in with the picks that we have. It also gives opportunities to some of our other guys to play on top lines.”

Other than that, there is still the possibility for a trade. While a rumored trade with Lewiston has been bandied about* (OK, only by me - and I know nothing, and my commenters may be fucking with me) for young defenceman Garrett Clarke, Russel has recently told reporters* that no trades are finalized though he is working on a deal:

Otherwise, Russell said he’s "very close" to finishing off a deal to acquire a solid 17-year-old player in exchange for one of his veterans and a late draft pick. It would be Russell’s first trade since taking over as GM in January.

"Nothing is finalized but it’s a trade we’ve worked hard on since the season ended," Russell said. "If it goes through, it’s something I think could really help us."

Yar (pirates are everywhere nowadays), speaking of commenters. You know you can do that right? You can write to tell me all of your secrets, to giggle about trade rumours, to whisper about boys, or to just insult me and call me a cum-guzzler. You wouldn't be the first one. I find this to be a hilarious insult because despite the fact that boys will use it to put you down, they all wish that their girlfriends (or boyfriends, if they swing that way) would do it.

For everyone else...playoffs start today

I don't know if you noticed but I seem to have gone missing. I don't know if I checked myself into a mental institution or spent my week in a drunken stupor. Perhaps I have been working hard and then spending my evenings in a drunken stupor. I may have been mourning the end of my hockey season and also the loss of the AUS championship by the UNB Varsity reds and that lustworthy thing in the UNB nets. Five goals allowed in the final game does not make me bitter... no not at all.

When you have no hockey there is not much to say. That is unless you want to spend your time analyzing this year's team and next year's team and verbally fellating Piette. But I don't need to do that because that is what we have "reporters" for. Just look at the hockey headlines that were in the paper this week:


Wuest:
Potential favorites for herd fans left in the post season lurch
2009- 2010 roster at a glance
mailbag: we're No. 1 right? Wrong.
Mooseheads player-by-player year-in-review
Q & A with Cam Russell
Plans for Czech stars still unclear
Piette seized his opportunity from rebuilding Mooseheads, (and has great eyebrows)
Mooseheads still face obstacles after rebuilding year

Cochrane:
Next Moose rebound not immediate
Back to Hockey Basics

Palov:
Finding a silver lining
Screaming Eagles, Wildcats among first-round favorites

Apparently, in Moose Country, the off season is much more exciting than the regular season.


In QMJHL news:
Rimouski boyfriend Keven Veilleux is the offensive player of the month. Kevin Marshall (Remparts) gets defensive props and Marc-OlivierMimar (Drakkar) gets rookie props and children's digestable cookies.

The finalists have been announced for the golden puck awards.

Nicola Riopel (Moncton Wildcats) is the ADT CHL goaltender of the week. He is also the league defensive player of the week. I probably should have mentioned that on, oh, I don't know....Monday. Joel Champagne gets offensive props for his pretty face... and the weird way he has no jawline and his face just melds into his neck. It confuses the enemy. Especially the part where we think that despite the face/neck merge he is still whole worlds of dreamy.

Gabriel O'Connor not only hogs the cookies but he also hogs the Academic player of the month award for February too. Our Ex boyfriend Guillaume Monast (Remparts) was also deemed adequately intelligent for the month of February. I wonder if I were to text them and they replied- would I be able to understand what they were trying to say? Are they smart enough to spell most words correctly?

Mah ears is burnin'

PEI are talking about us.

Drained of talent after last season’s Quebec Major Junior Hockey League playoffs, the Mooseheads dumped its few remaining assets, including trading forward Logan MacMillan of Winsloe to Rimouski, fired its general manager Marcel Patenaude and stumbled with a rebuilding team to a 16-37-3-3 record, dead last in the QMJHL.

But that doesn’t mean Halifax isn’t dangerous in a circuit where any team can win on any given night — the Herd has six wins against Saint John and Acadie-Bathurst versus the P.E.I. Rocket’s one victory against the same teams.

So when the Rocket and the Mooseheads meet tonight in Halifax (7 p.m., Metro Centre), P.E.I. can’t linger in the glory of last Saturday’s 5-3 comeback win over the Quebec Remparts at the Civic Centre or its 5-0 record against Halifax.

This is not lost on Rocket forward Simon Olsson.

“We want to pretty much destroy (Halifax),” Olsson said after Rocket practice Wednesday. “Not give them a chance and finish them off early.”

Bitch please! My Poll is not closed but apparently amongst 13 voters (ugh. I know more people read the blog than that), many (6) agree that the Moose can take PEI at least once this season. At least three of us would rather take a load to the eye than watch PEI play. I am one of those three. I figure that if I am blinded in one eye then I can still watch my Moose with the other... and maybe take occasional peeps at Bobby Nadeau. Either that or I would throw peeps at Bobby Nadeau. It is close to Easter and they are readily available.

The Rocket skate tonight without Joël Champagne (broken left wrist), Maxime Provencher (concussion) and Jean-Philippe Mathieu (suspension).

Brendan Wright, scheduled to return to practice Wednesday from an injured left rotator cuff, is out indefinitely after his left big toe was stepped on and the tendon attaching the toe to the foot was severed by a skate earlier this week.

-owwwwwwwwwww.

The Moose know what they have to do - Work hard & play smart. No one is talking about playing smart, no, NOT FANCY... JUST SMART:

"It’s definitely desperate hockey for us right now," said Mooseheads defenceman Ben MacAskill. "We’re coming down to the wire here and we’re trying to catch a couple teams. Hopefully we get rewarded for our hard work."

..."We’ve got to find ways to get some points right now," said forward Alexis Piette. "We are playing against good teams for the rest of the season so we have to somehow find a way to win some games."

So it is a supper date then?

Just a few quick points:

1) The Montreal Junior now have pictures from Monday's game up on their website. Most of the pics are of Junior players, but I saw Yeti, Stransky, MacAskill, Yeti, Randell, the backs of some Moose jerseys, and Yeti again.

2) The Chronicle Herald has posted a story and interview with Logan MacMillan in which they discuss his return to the Metro Centre this Saturday with the Rimouski Oceanic.

"I really have no idea what to expect," MacMillan said. "I’ve never been in the situation of getting traded and then coming back to the place where you played three and a half years. It’s all going to be new to me.

"I remember Kevin Cormier getting traded and Garrett Peters too. I was close to those guys and they just said it was all really weird; walking into the building and going to the visiting dressing room, then coming out on to the ice from the other end. I’m expecting it to feel the same way for me — weird."

"I kind of knew it was coming so it wasn’t too bad, but it was definitely different coming to a new city and putting on a different jersey," said MacMillan, selected in the second round of the 2005 QMJHL draft by the Mooseheads. "Those kinds of things did take a while to soak in.

"But it’s been great here. There have been great crowds in all the games up here. They pack the rink every night and they’re right on top of you and they’re really into it. That’s been fun."

Logan still owes me a dinner at The Cut Steakhouse from way back in July when he signed his contract with the Ducks. Cha-ching. Well he probably doesn't remember that he owes me a dinner, in fact he probably never knew he owed me a dinner... so I just thought I would let him know. He needs a good gourmet dinner since he is a boy in recovery. He was not playing with Rimouski last week because of injury. When he was out they suddenly became awesome, and have won their last 5 contests. Do you think that Logan is cursed?

3) News links, now with more criticism:
Chris Cochrane (Chronicle Herald) - Rainmen, Moose send bad vibes.
*bad link now corrected

4) Did you see that "hooked-up" segment with Matt Boland that aired on Eastlink when the Moose were playing the Remparts? Delightful! Personality is 1/2 of hockey, at least for women. Look at Boland laugh at children (or with children, whatever) because they can't read. Equally delightful. If they stick around long enough I do eventually grow to like them.

5) Oops - Moncton have fallen out of the CHL top ten:
1. Windsor Spitfires (44-6-0-1)
2. Vancouver Giants (44-4-0-3)
3. Calgary Hitmen (44-7-3-1)
4. Shawinigan Cataractes (40-11-2-0)
5. Drummondville Voltigeurs (40-9-0-3)
6. Quebec Remparts (39-10-0-3)
7. London Knights (37-12-0-2)
8. Belleville Bulls (34-14-2-2)
9. Saskatoon Blades (38-12-3-1)
10. Brampton Battalion (34-14-1-1)