Cue Rocky theme song... with disco beats

OMG. You are such a big studly winner. KO in the final round. Did I call you big? Have I given you your championship belt yet? Did I remind you that you were Studly? Were you planning on studding with anyone? No really, I totally meant it when I said that you were studly; even with Bernard, Boland, Pelletier and MacDonald out of the lineup and Corbeil riding the pine like a pine riding cowboy...still, totally studly!!!


The Halifax Mooseheads have defeated the Victoriaville Tigre 5-4 in the shootout. The Moose had a dull first period which finished off with them down by two. They rallied back in the second to get three unanswered goals and chase Mastropietro from nets. Victoriaville tied it up within the first minute of the third on a power play goal. Tomas Knotek had some lovely chances and when he finally did make a shot at the net, instead of passing, he brought the Moose back into the lead with five minutes remaining. Unfortunately Victoriaville, with their goalie on the bench, forced overtime when they slipped one past Yetman with only 45 seconds remaining on the clock.


Goal summary (I think...I may have messed up the details):

1st
1) Victoriaville - Tulupov (from Nestrasil and Hinse). This goal should be credited to our own Scott McDonald. It was going wide until he deflected it into the Moose net with his own stick.
2) Victoriaville - Bonneau (from Hynes and MacIssac) a two on one rush???

2nd
3) Halifax - Gerrad Grant. A low shot from the slot that went between the legs of Mastropietro.
4) Halifax PP - Knotek (from Stransky and Amyot)
5) Halifax PP - Cheremetiev (from Randell and MacAskill). A one timer from the low circle.

3rd
6) Victoriaville PP - Tanguay (from Earle and Chouinard). A power play rebound goal from close to the net which went just over the pad???
7) Halifax - Knotek (from Stransky and Bona). I was in the kitchen...had given up on life, began scavenging for comfort food.
8) Victoriaville - Labonte ( from Tanguay and Robichaud). 6 on 5.

The Moose ended regulation in a tie despite winning less faceoffs, laying less hits, having fewer power plays, and less shots overall - only 22 shots (~8 dangerous) compared to the Tigres 38 (~20 dangerous).


Items of note:

• Bona's shot blocking was beautiful again. He even took a shot to the leg, hobbled around a bit and was back on the ice shortly thereafter. Unfortunately, to offset his defensive play, Bona sometimes has a tendency to try to carry the puck too deep into the offensive zone from time to time, and if it gets nabbed, the Moose end up weak on the back end. I only mention it because it happened again today.
  
• O'Connor was the strong silent type. Totally studly!!!
  
• Penalties went to Bety, Bahm, Pender and Piette. Once again it was Piette's penalty on the forecheck that led to a power play goal for the opposition. Was he benched for the early part of the third... because I did not see him again until the end of the game. I am also not so fond of his backwards passing. It looks nice but this team is not a fancy team... when they try fancy things it rarely works.
• Grant can bop and weave around the opposition like this is a dance party, which it is...

Just Dance

• Knotek had two goals, and five shots on net, but he could possibly have had more. He is too fond of passing when on the break-away or an odd man rush. Did you hear that every other goalie in the league - I SAID TOMAS PASSES ON THE TWO ON ONE RUSH. There...*whispers* now it is safe to shoot.
• Just in case you did not notice, 7 D were dressed tonight. Pender was playing forward.
• Dunn was playing. I heard John Moore say his name...once.

Shoot out:
Yetman stopped both Nestrasil and Tanguay. Boivin was able to stop Tomas Knotek but both Stransky and Cheremetiev were able to slip one past him.

Game Stars:

1. VIC - Labonté, Alexandre
2. HAL - Knotek, Tomas
3. VIC - Bonneau, Jonathan

News links:
Matthew Wuest - Lineups Mooseheads at Tigres
Matthew Wuest - Yetman shines as Mooseheads close out rough road trip with a win
Willy Palov - Moose win shootout; secure two key points
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*All these guys want in a band...except maybe Yeti, but he is there because the picture dictates it. Gerrad Grant gets to wear the cape because he is has the body of a model and capes are the hot new accessory for spring 2009. That does not explain why he looks like a girl, however. Gerrad also gets to wear the cape because I totally called dibs on the orange dress.

**party image modified from the origional artwork by Megan Whitmarsh. You can learn more about Whitmarsh at her website http://www.meganwhitmarsh.com/.

Moose vs Eagles: Game 1

Shut up, shut up, shut up. I sat by a certain set of season ticket holders again. The ones who have little knowledge of how a goalie actually functions (cogs, gears, bolts, lots of lube and impeccable programming, I assume). They talk a lot, but if you are going to talk at least get shit right. I mean, I am an idiot when it comes to hockey, I will never understand it in the way that a player could understand it (my hockey playing friend assures me I am correct in my hatred of them), but if I miss something or I am having a dumb as paste moment, I surely do not run my mouth for a full 2.5 hours (instead I blog my idiocy for the world to read). The femme of the couple was not aware that a goalie could come out of the crease to play the puck in front of the net (what has she been watching these past 35 + home games?) and the homme seems rather neurotically nervous every time the goalie leaves his crease, especially during shootouts or breakaways.

Moose
Well done boys. Golf claps followed by louder Flamenco claps. I have mad clapping skills and you showed me that you have mad hockey skills (sometimes). You had me scared there before Marchand's goal at the end of the second. That goal really shifted the momentum of the game. Roy was being as slutty as Tim Thomas and letting things slip in 5 hole. It was the least he could do to make up for the shitty goal Yeti let in that bounced off his glove. Oh God, I swear I was watching that in slow motion. It was horrid.

Yeti, despite stopping 35 of 37 shots, still looked like he was a little off when trying to follow the play. I cannot fault him for tripping over his own skates, Fully does it all the time and I giggle and then profess my love. I think he may have gotten a little lucky today, which could be one of the reasons he did not get stars despite a 0.946 save %. I would nuzzle him nonetheless. It exhausts me when he just leaves the puck there for some guy to pick up behind the net on the PP. Lucky for me, he is trying to be a bit more adventurous and has started playing the puck. Sure he did not leave the net but he did shoot it down ice, which is a start. Last game against the Tigre he had one good pass to Bona and one bad pass that ended up on the stick of a Tigre. If we have him next year I hope to see him develop more in this area.

I was drinking again (no, it is not a problem!) and I began early (4:30) because some departments at the university have socials after Friday lectures and beer is only $2.75. As a result my attention span and memory are lax. A few things stood out. At some point the Eagles were putting a lot of pressure on us and I was nervous as hell, but who swooped in to grab the puck and clear it - Knotek. It was an 'oh my....' moment.

There were lots of nice hits today. Maybe it is a benefit of sitting in a corner by the net that you are privy to the hits. You get to become one with the hits as it were.

Three stars :

1) Brad Marchand (Hal)

2) Joey Haddad (Cap)

3) Ryan Hillier (Hal)

The Metro currently has a writeup about the game posted online, and Wuest's Game transcript is also available.

According to Wuest - in news that will come as a shock to no one, Stephen Lund (my one and only #4) will be out for the rest of the season. However the Moose do expect him in training camp next summer. Let's hope he can kick those concussion symptoms that he has been suffering from for the greater part of a year.


Scores around the Q:
Halifax 4 Cape Breton 2

Saint John 4 Acadie-Bathurst 3 - Travis Fullerton was first star...I am currently trying to think of ways to reward him. I haven't seen the game yet but I am sure he rocked it...and look at how happy he was that he won, and look at how sexy he is when he gets stars (animal sounds). Would nibbling on him be reward or punishment? I just want to bite him, just once, on the neck or jaw. Please!!! Fine, instead of a bite, I will settle for being allowed to run my tongue over him, maybe for the purpose of playing connect the dots with freckles on his neck.

Let Fullerton's style be a lesson to Yeti, when you play the puck you get assists (and ladies), and Fully is the king of playing the puck during the PP. It speeds up the Dogs' PP immeasurably and he looks so good doing it my panties actually just fly off unaided. It's magical.

Gatineau 3 Quebec 1

Rouyn Noranda 4 Rimouski 3 (OT) - This was scary because Rimouski was up 3-1 at the middle of the 3rd and I was all like - "what the hell got into the water in Rimouski"? I was making that face that Logan MacMillan makes. He only has three looks: "goal", "What the..." and "Fuck this". There are subtle differences between the last two that can only be discerned with a trained eye.

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The Q has a blast from the past with Martin Biron, my second favorite Marty. Tonight he and the Flyers shut out Sweet Marty #1 and the Devils (you are blowing it Devils - your last game is against the Rangers- and you know how those games go). I want to get a daschund and name it Martin Gaston Biron- no really. If the Flyers make the playoffs (they are back in 8th right now with 1 game remaining) Marty will be the starter, and get this, it will be his first ever playoff game in nets for an NHL team. I know what you are thinking...."but that motherfucker has been around forever". Indeed. Stupid Ryan Miller usurping my sweet Marty #2.