Team Canada news!!!! And my shift key doesn't work properly

Fucking wings; what the hell is wrong with Colorado? Come on boys, kick the dead things ass!!! Red Wings now lead the series 2-0. I got to see the game today. I couldn’t believe red wings kept getting goals. I walked out to get the mail, came back in and they had scored in like the minute I was gone! Although the wings won the game, Colorado won the fight! It wasn’t as good as say a Carcillo fight, but it was good to see a fight.

I didn't actually watch the games Friday night (I had a bunch of errands to run). Stars also won in OT. I am so happy about that. I hope the Stars can keep it up and beat the Sharks in this round.

I also didn’t get to watch the games Thursday night. Both were early games for me and I thought hitting the gym was more important then coming in for half the game.

I’m a little disappointed that the Rangers let the Penguins come back and beat them 5-4. Next game.

Montreal beat the Flyers in OT. Looks like Flyers are up 3-1 in the second, as I type.

In Coyotes news, they signed two of their European prospects. Goalie Joel Gistedt. He was one of the higher rated goalies in last year’s draft. He had a bad season. From my understanding, the coach didn’t give him much of a chance and basically wrote him off before the season begun. Hopefully he will come over this year and get a better chance somewhere in the Coyotes’ system. He seemed to be one of the better goalies at rookie camp (Tordjman was probably the best, IMO).
They also signed Jonas Ahnelov. It sounds like he is ready to come over and play where ever management thinks is best, which is always good. It also sounds like him and Gistedt are friends, so that should help the two of them adjust to the changes.

Word is rookie camp starts Monday June 23rd. Last year it started on a weekend and was open to the public. I am hoping they have some open sessions on the following weekend, as that would be when I am able to go. I don’t know if I could take any days off that week. I think someone in my department is taking that whole week off. :(

Team Canada has been busy with our yotes lately. Turris has been added to the training camp roster but will not be on the actual playing roster. And none other than our own Shane Doan will again be Team Canada captain. That just goes to show we have one of the better captains out there. He is always ready and willing to serve his country for hockey. I just hope this year we don’t have to go through the whole ordeal that we did last year. It was absolutely ridiculous. Damn politicians.

Rumors:
Flames will likely try to keep Cujo. I am all for this. I want to see Cujo play longer. He is awesome!

Not much else to report on the rumors front. Most of it is too general to post all of them!

It's turning out to be a sad day for me

Iget home and turn on the Caps game. Its tied. Then it ges to OT. Then the Caps get a penalty. Then the Flyers get a goal. NOOOOOO. Fuck. And those were the exact words out of my mouth.

So it's Flyers and Montreal (Go Montreal!)
and Rangers and Penguins (Go Rangers!)

And now currently I am watching the Flames/Sharks game and it was 2-2 and hten suddenly it's 5-2 Sharks. Flames pull Kipper and put in the great Cujo though! Go Cujo!!!

Looks like it will be Detroit and Colorado (Go Colorado!)
and Dallas and Sharks - unless of course Calgary bounces back (Go Dallas!)

I was looking through forcasters website and found this today:
BOOK OF DANIEL The poster boy for "old-time hockey" Daniel Carcillo had a goal and two minor penalties in the first period alone against the Dallas Stars Friday. The NHL leader in penalty minutes added a power play goal in the second period and an empty netter in the third. INTEL Despite being the polar opposite to his former style of play, Phoenix Coyotes coach Wayne Gretzky loves Carcillo. With the ice time The Great One is giving him (nearly 13 minutes a game), the feisty winger will be the penalty minute king for years to come.

Also, Nashville extends the contract of all their coaches. It looks like they will try to resign Ellis and Suter. Although with 8 dmen, they may need to make a trade. I'll take Suter and give you Jovo. Straight up. Good thing I am not a GM. I would end up with all dmen and Goalies. And a couple of forwards.

Nothing new in rumors. Same old stuff floating around out there.

Well that's it for me today. It's been a long day.

Playoffs, Yet Again

Both the Caps and Canadiens won tonight. That means the Habs move on and Caps force game 7.

San Antonio Rampage won against the Toronto Marlies tonight. 3-2. They now lead the series 2-1.

That's it for me tonight. I can't think much after spending the day looking at housing websites. haha

I checked the rumors and there wasn't anything that interesting out there. The one somewhat involving the Coyotes has Mike York going back the Germany to play next season. I predict this will probably happen because he didn't really prove that he belonged in the NHL this past season. All he proved was he was good at falling down. :)

WooHoo!

Calgary beat San Jose!!
They are forcing a game 7; I just hope they can win game 7.

Dallas beat Anaheim!!! Final score 4-1.
That makes me so happy. Selanne and Niedermayer should have stayed retired; they would have went out on a good note, not a loss in the first round. haha. Sorry, I can't help but laugh at them!

Looks like it's going to be Detroit and Colorado, Dallas and the winner of Calgary/San Jose (according to Hockey Central).

In the East, we still have to wait for the winners of Philadelphia/Washington and Montreal/Boston. Washington needs a win to force a game 7. No word on what the match ups will be yet. If there was, I missed it.

I am just so glad Dallas beat Anaheim. It almost makes up for Nashvilles loss to Detroit earlier today. Almost. :)

And I discovered the Winchester is from Wisconsin also. I have another Wisconsinite to cheer for now that Suter is out. Well, and Kessel is still in but I really want Montreal to win!

WARNING: Long Ass Post Ahead. Mostly Detroit/Preds Game and Rumors.

Preds fans were loud and proud at the start of the game. I wish I was able to be there to cheer them on. I am thinking about maybe taking a trip next season to Nashville. I don’t know if I would go when they play the Coyotes or not.

After watching Detroit four times this year against the Coyotes and the games in this series I have come to the realization I really don’t like Detroit. They get away with so much more than most teams because of who plays there and probably because of their history. Just because you’re an original six team or you are a “superstar” doesn’t mean you should get to play dirty. It reminds me of the Chris Simon/Chris Pronger and the disparity there. Also, the comments from Bettman about Chris Simon and then what he said about Tocchet were very hypocritical. Anyway, I am just sick of refs and the NHL favoring certain teams and certain players. I can’t wait for Bettman to be done. Can the NBA take him back please?

Ok, now that I am done with that rant, I will focus on the games.

Colorado won last night. Thank god. I watched the game and was surprised that Minnesota didn’t start playing dirty in the third. They usually do when they are losing. Every game I’ve seen, if they are losing, they will start to play dirty in the third so they can win. Looking at the other teams in the playoffs in the west, I wouldn’t mind Colorado advancing. I wouldn’t mind Colorado, Calgary or Dallas going all the way. I will in no way cheer for the Ducks, Sharks, or Detroit.

Looks like the Stars game will be on tonight instead of Sharks. My original program listing showed Sharks; now it shows Dallas. I am not sure if I will watch this game or not. I guess it depends how I feel at 6 and if the game holds my interest. I am a little tired of the Ducks and Stars. I’ve already had to endure them eight times this season (thank god for the schedule change!). It’s looking like I may not be watching this whole game. I need to make dinner and get a work out in yet today.

Ok, so the first period of the Preds game was great. The Preds really seemed to control most of the first period. They had a lot of really good shots on goals. Arnott is still out but Legwand was back in and he was getting a lot of good chances. Ryan Suter was getting a little bit feisty. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him fight. I saw a clip on youtube once of him trying to fight (in defense of Ellis) and it wasn’t that good. Suter, leave the fighting to Hordichuk and Tootoo. But keep up the big hits!

In the second period, Detroit got a lucky bounce off a dump in (what it looked like to me). There was no way Ellis could have known which way the puck would bounce. It should not have been a goal. Preds seemed to be falling apart a bit in the second. They were getting sloppy. They had almost a full minute of 5-on-3 yet couldn’t do much with it.

Start of the third and the fans were still going strong. Detroit was still up to their tricks, diving and making it look good. Legwand had a good chance shorthanded; too bad he couldn’t get it past Osgood. Not too soon afterwards, Detroit scored to make it 2-0. Detroit also scored on the empty netter. Preds are out and Detroit moves on to round two.

I am still proud of the Preds. They played well and forced Detroit to play six games. At the start of the season, it didn’t look like they would even make the playoffs. But Ellis emerged as a great goalie and they were able to fight their way to the playoffs. Since the Coyotes couldn’t make that 8th spot, I’m glad it was the Preds. I think the games would have gone different had Arnott and Legwand played Friday night and Arnott played tonight. They were missing a big presence without them.

During the season, I tried to do quote of the day. Towards the end of the season, I kind of tapered off but I will try to do that again with the start of the season. For now, I am going to start trying to post some daily rumors and my opinions on them. Most will be from Spectors, Forecaster or Eklund (Hockey Buzz) So here we go (I had to play catch up, so there is a quite a few):

Ryan Miller has one year left on his contract in Buffalo. I just read on Forecasters that Detroit is interested. Now this could just be because Miller is from Michigan. But then again, Hasek is getting up there in age and as he showed during the first few playoff games, he’s not as good as he once was (don’t get me wrong, he is still great, but you can tell he’s not the goalie he once was). Detroit has Osgood now. I don’t know what his contract is but I would imagine they keep him around as he has done well for them. I am not sure what Detroit has in their farm system but they are known for developing players no one else thought would be great into amazing players.

There are a lot of rumors surrounding Minnesota so soon after losing in the first round. Gaborik (1 year left on his contract) may be part of a trade and head coach Lemaire may not be back. He said he needs time to think. One of Brian Rolston and Pavol Demitra probably won’t be back next season (both are UFAs). According to our own Jim G, Rolston may be a guy the Coyotes target this summer. A lot of people have the opinion that Minnesota will resign him but according to Spectors there will be many changes with Minnesota this summer. Maybe Maloney will pursue Rolston.

Big news in Ottawa: they will most likely buy out Ray Emery’s contract if they can’t trade him by June 1. Also, Wade Redden will probably be UFA this summer. I doubt we will see either of these two in Phoenix. Our goalie situation is set (and I doubt our owners/coaches would want the drama here). Our d is pretty much set. I can only see us signing another dman if we trade one of Boynton, Jovo or Morris. I don’t see a trade for any of them except maybe Boynton. Morris was outstanding this year and well, Jovo is just too difficult to trade (no movement clause and a huge salary). Plus, if we don’t get any offense players, we could always move Jovo to forward!

Penguins may have trouble keeping both Malone and Hossa, even if they spend to the cap. I know, I know, this is nothing new but I just thought I’d throw it out there. Malone has been thrown around as a possible signing for Phoenix. I would prefer him over Hossa. Hossa we would have to pay out the butt to get and I’d rather not tie up all our money on him when we have some great young guys coming up who will eventually require more money. Plus I think they would have to sign Hossa to a much longer contract then Malone, JMO. I feel that Malone would fit in better with the young team too. I know we have the other Hossa, but I don’t think that’s going to be the driving force that gets him signed. He hasn’t really expressed much interest in playing with his brother and for Phoenix. I’ve read more about him wanting to play with Chara.

I found a good article on HF about our rookies:
http://www.hockeysfuture.com/articles/10302/coyotes200708_rookie_review/
The part on my fav rookie Daniel Carcillo:

You can never blame Daniel Carcillo for not trying. That is, trying everyone’s nerves. While he’s shown to be an irritating middleweight, much of Carcillo’s full potential has been locked away as his mouth and muscles have kept him of the ice. If he wanted to show everyone that he could lead the league in penalty minutes well, he won. Racking up a whopping 324 minutes in 57 games - including a league-leading four game misconducts - it’s astonishing that Carcillo wasn’t able to muster up a match penalty with all his antics. Regardless, when he wanted to play some effective two-way hockey, he was able to play at a high level. He was able to display this when he scored five goals in the last two games of the season – which even left Gretzky laughing at the anomaly – even though the Coyotes were out of postseason contention. He finished with 24 points (13 goals, 11 assists) and was a plus-1.No one discredits Carcillo for being loyal to the franchise and defending his teammates. However, as it was seen during the season, Carcillo really lacked a sense of when and where it was acceptable to flex his muscles and his jaw. It didn’t help that the Coyotes had one of the weaker penalty-kill units in the league. It even got to the point in the season where the Coyotes had to send him a stern message by shipping him out to San Antonio to play in the AHL for a brief stint.Come next year, Carcillo needs to really balance out his game. Seeing how he has the tools, great drive, and some good upside, he shouldn’t look to covet the league’s pest award.

I believe that after his stint in San Antonio, Carcillo got the message. He received a lot of phantom calls after that and then showed he does have skill with that last stretch of games, especially the last two games.

Also included were Peter Mueller, Martin Hanzal, Daniel Winnik, Enver Lisin, and Keith Yandle. It’s a good read. I recommend it to any Phoenix Coyotes fan or anyone interested in a good up-and-coming core of young guys.

Holy Shit

I wasn't planning on posting again today, but the Montreal/Boston game just finished and I just wanted to say how amazing that game was!

Boston ended up winning 5-4 but it was back and forth all game. All of the goals were just pretty. I couldn't believe how great each goal looked. Wow, what a game!

Chris Higgins had two goals for Montreal, as did Phil Kessel for the Bruins. Lucic had a big goal for Boston.

As much as I want Kessel to do well (he is a Wisconsinite) I don't want the Bruins to advance.

This was a nerve wracking game. I am looking forward to Monday's game. It will be on Versus, so I can watch.

Next up, Colorado and Minnesota. Come on Colorado, kick the crap out of the Wild! I don't want another game 7!!!

Weekly Playoff Update, Coyotes News, Rampage Info

I didn’t have much time to update this week. There were too many games on and I was trying to fit in some exercise and other errands.

Two teams have now moved on to the second round: Penguins and Rangers. As of this morning all the teams in the West are 3-2 in their series.

Caps are on the verge of elimination. I am watching the game as I type. Ovechkin just scored so they are leading 1-0.

Montreal is up 3-2 over Boston. I want Montreal to win. I’d like to see them advance to the finals and maybe even win the cup. I have like a man-crush on their goalie. Plus I think overall they are a good, solid team. Versus is actually going to show their game tonight!

Nashville had an amazing comeback and won both of their games at home to tie the series 2-2. Last night they lost in OT. They tied it with 45 seconds left in the third. Holy Shit. And let me just tell you, yes Ellis made 53 saves (or something ridiculous like that) but his dmen bailed his ass out countless times. Very early on in the first, Ellis got himself so far out of position that Detroit had pretty much a whole open net. Ryan Suter stepped in and got the puck out of there. It was amazing it that the puck didn’t go in. The series goes back to Nashville tomorrow. I hope Nashville can win again at home and then find some way to beat Detroit at home.

Current Leaders in West:
Colorado (C’mon beat those dirty Wild!)
San Jose (I want to see Cujo advance!!)
Dallas (Beat those quackers!!!)

Also, as far as I know, the Senators used Gerber in net for all their games. Now I know Emery is a diva and they were probably trying to punish him and send him a message, but if Gerber sucks PULL HIS ASS. He let like 4 goals in each game. Emery got you to the Finals last year. He’s a good goalie. By not playing him, you punished the rest of the guys. You didn’t give them the chance to win!

And I am cheering for whoever is playing the Pens next round. I don’t care who they are, I don’t want the Pens in the finals and I don’t want them to win the cup.

Ok, so random Coyotes news (thanks to the new video on the website):
Congrats to Keith Ballard. He will be getting married this August.
Also, congrats to Steven Reinprecht; he and his wife are expecting their first child this July.

And in Rampage news, they are now even with Toronto 1-1. Last night they won 6-3. Porter and Kolarik have joined the team. It seems they have found some chemistry and been welcomed to the team. I didn’t see game 1 but there might have been some adjustments with the new guys joining the team. Game 2 Kolarik had the hat trick with 2 assists from Porter. I believe the series moves to San Antonio for game 3 on Monday.

Wow. I can’t wait for rookie and training camp. It should be quite interesting this year! Rookie Camp: July. So, only about two and half months. I can wait that long. I think. I will break it up a little bit with a vacation in early June. I read somewhere that training camp will start September 19, so only 5 months. I. Can. Handle. That. I think. Haha

Well, I am going to watch the Caps beat the Flyers and then hit the gym. Until next time!

Playoff Post 2

Well, Nashville has lost both games so far to Detroit. The series now moves to Nashville. I’m hoping that Nashville can get the two home wins and come back to beat Detroit on the road. I continue to be impressed by Ryan Suter. His passing is so spot on. I still want to trade for him! J I know, I know, it will never happen.

In Friday’s action:
Pittsburgh beat Ottawa again. Come on Senators, kick the crap out of those dirty, whiney, spoiled players! (Can you tell I don’t like the Penguins?) This game wasn’t broadcast on my cable, so I didn’t get a chance to watch it.

Washington and Philadelphia, great game! I thought the Caps were going to lose it but Green gets his second goal to tie it. Then Ovenchicken comes in and gets the game winner. It was a good, physical game. Fast paced. Although, this game again showed how dirty Daniel Briere is. I’m actually glad he was traded, even if the Coyotes knew he would be great in the new NHL I wouldn’t want him here. I’m glad I was able to see this one. I swear I saw the guy that cried at the game my friend and I went to in DC. It looked just like him and his wife. It also looked like it was in the same area. Weird. Also, if I remember correctly Ovechkin is in a class with Gretzky. Both are the only players to get 2 points in their first playoff games (both had 1G and 1A). Huet was getting pissed. He did not want any Flyers in his crease. I love Huet. I wish he had been there when I went.

I didn’t get a chance to see the Minnesota/Colorado or New York/New Jersey games. Damn Minnesota won. So did New York. I want Colorado to take out Minnesota already! I also want New York to win even though I have a friend that is a Jersey fan. I just love Henrik and Sjo!

Montreal takes Boston in game two. Another good game. Carey Price just continues to impress me. He is an amazing goalie and just 20 years old! I really would like to see Montreal move on; they have an amazing team this year. There was a lot of pushing and shoving going on this game. I thought a fight was going to break out. This game went to overtime (damn it). I thought for sure Montreal had scored with like 1 second left in regulation but it bounced off the post. OT goal by Montreal! The Canadiens take this one in OT thanks to their Captain. It was a sweet, sweet, sweet shot!

Later tonight it’s Stars and Ducks. Ducks totally embarrassed the Ducks; I hope they can do it again. It would be nice to see Turco advance. I will probably watch this game as it’s on and there is nothing else on, on a Saturday night. Eh, maybe I will watch a movie.

It’s nice to see the refs just letting the guys play. I wish they would call like this more during the season.

Up Next
Sunday:
Montreal at Boston
Philadelphia at Washington
New Jersey at New York
San Jose at Calgary
I am recording the Caps and the Rangers games. I don’t really care about San Jose; I see them enough. Montreal isn’t on my cable. L
I’m going to be a little busy tomorrow. I’m not sure that I will be able to watch the games right away or post.

Monday:
Pittsburgh at Ottawa
Detroit at Nashville
Minnesota at Colorado
I have my DVR set to record Nashville and I think Colorado. I will probably start watching Nashville when I get home from work (it’s an early day!) and I don’t know if I will actually watch the Colorado game. I just can’t stand watching the Wild. They are so boring! Pittsburgh and Ottawa are not available on my cable. I should be able to update at this point!

Summary (as of 7 pm on Saturday April 12, 2008):
Canadiens lead 2-0
Capitals lead 1-0
Red Wings lead 2-0
Colorado/Minnesota tied 1-1
Penguins lead 2-0
Rangers lead 2-0
San Jose/Calgary tied 1-1
Stars lead 1-0

I watched part of the Norte Dame/Michigan game. I was impressed with Summers. He has an amazing shot from the blue line, hard and accurate. I don’t know if he should stay at Michigan another year or try for the big team (and probably end up in the A – which wouldn’t be a bad thing for him). Porter and Kolarik have some great chemistry together. Porter had a sick pass to Kolarik for an amazing goal. Michigan ended up losing but Porter was named the recipient of the Hobey Baker. Congrats to him. From what I have heard, they are probably headed back to Michigan to finish up the semester. Maloney would like to sign them and get them into the playoffs with the Rampage. I am not sure when their school year is done so I am not sure this is possible.

Playoffs, Day 1 and start of 2

I didn't get a chance to watch any of the games yesterday.

Calgary beat San Jose. I must say I am both impressed and happy. I hope they can keep it up. I am not a San Jose fan. I'd like to see Calgary win this series; even though it's probably not going to happen.

Avs beat the Wild. THANK THE LORD. I want the Wild out in the first round. If that means cheering for Colorado, sign me up!! I will be their biggest fan for this series!

Sens lose to Pens. I hope the Sens come back and kick some butt. God I hate the Pens. I have watched more than enough of them this season.

Rangers beat the Devils. I like Lundqvist and Sjo, so I'm rooting for the Rangers in this series.

Looks like Montreal is going to beat Boston. They are up 3-1 in the second. I really want to see Montreal sweep this series. They are a really good team with an amazing young goalie.

I am currently watching Detroit and Preds. I hope the Pred win. It's 1-0 Detroit in the second. Ellis is doing so well for the preds. He is making some amazing saves. Suter has had some great passes up the ice. Fiddler looks like he's going to start something. Ok, it's now 1-1!! Way to go Preds!

I am not planning on watching any of the other games tonight. I will do an update this weekend on the reast of today's games and Friday/Saturday/Sunday.

GO PREDS!

Draft Lottery

Well, we are still picking 8th. We did not win the draft lottery.

Tampa Bay actually won and they were already set to pick number one. Im just glad LA didnt move up. Tampa Bay will most likely pick Stamkos. They had him on the show and were asking him how he'd feel playing for Tampa. Now, I know Tampa will most likely take him but isnt that just a bit premature? And Tampa better pick him, I dont want LA to get him.

From all accounts I read, it sounds like Phoenix will end up taking a Dman. We are pretty well stocked on quality young forwards, so I can see that.

Playoffs start Wednesday. I probably wont update until then.

The Final Game: Coyotes at Ducks

Wow, what a game. The first period was held at 0-0. Bryz had an awesome first period. And second period. Apparently Carcillo wanted the hat trick again. His first goal came off the shot of Kyle Turris. So our newest youngster gets his first NHL point. Vrbata was really trying to get a goal but Carcillo ended up getting it.

We played hard but then seemed to sit back again in the third with our 2-0 lead. Bad idea. Ducks came back to tie it. The game went into OT. Damn jovo so freaking slow, anaheim almost got a goal on a break away. Mueller and Ballard both had a good chance. Just couldnt put it past Hiller. Turris had some good moves during OT. We had it in but the official waived it off, it went in after time ran out. So we have to go to a freaking shoot out. Even though we lost the shoot out, we got to see Turris score a sick goal. Man does that boy have skills! He is going to be gold for us in shoot outs. Him, Mueller and maybe Vrbata can be money for us in the future.

Interesting PP on which Carcillo got his first goal. No defensemen. 4 rookies. It was Mueller and Turris on the point. Vrbata, Carcillo, and I cant remember the fourth one.

With this game, we are in the 8th spot for the draft. Tomorrow Versus will air the draft lottery. I plan on watching, so I will update at that time.

Heres my predictions for the first round winners:
Detroit over Nashville (even though Im hoping nashville has the surprise upset, it wont happen)
I think Colorado will upset Minnesota.
San Jose will take Calgary
Anaheim and Dallas is a difficult one. I think Anaheim will ultimately win that one.

Canadiens will beat the Bruins
Ottawa over Pens
Im hoping for the upset, Caps over Flyers. I think the Caps have really come into their own
Im going Rangers over Devils. I just think NYR will take it. Plus Id like to see Sjo advance. :)

We'll see how I do. Cant wait for the playoffs to start. This time next year the coyotes will be in! I just know it.

And Carcillos going to get his 25 goals next year. And way less PIMs. Seems the refs have stopped giving him crap calls. finally.

Its going to be a long summer!

End of the Season

It has been awhile since Ive posted. Ive been busy with work and other stuff.

First off I saw this on another forum and thought Id take a shot at it:

Best turn around game (positive): I think I will have to go back to the start of the season and say either the LA game when we first got Bryz or the NY Rangers/NJ Devils games. The fact that we could beat those two teams gave the guys a big confidence boost.

Best turn around game (negative): Calgary, we were up by 3 and then let them come back to win. It seemed we started getting worse from there.

Best Game of the Year: Sharks game where Carcillo got hurt. We were down and our Captain did what was needed to win the game. After that, we showed we had a chance to hang with the sharks (even beat them a couple more times!)

Worst Game of the Year: Either the Columbus game (the goal seen 'round the world) or the last Canucks/Oilers games. We didnt show up for either of those games. I think half our guys were already thinking about their summer golf outings.

Quick hits:
Best Offensive player: Vrbata (until his recent slump) and obviously Doan. Hes had an amazing season. Im wondering if playing for so long with a broken hand has kind of come back to bite him as he hasnt seemed himself lately.

Best Defensive player: Derek Morris, he really stepped up his game from last season. I hope he comes back and does that again. Z would be a close second. You don't notice him as much, but hes there quietly keeping us in some games.

Best Rookie: this is hard. Mueller and Hanzal both had great seasons. Each were asked to play different roles, so you cant compare them. Also, after the SA send down, Carcillo played well and really showed that he has the skills and he now knows it and is going to use it.

Biggest Surprise player: I would say Winnik. He has just gotten better and better as the season has progressed. Some would say Vrbata, but I had high expectations for him as he was a vast improvment over Adams. I knew we got the better end of that trade since day one.

Wow, that was hard. Trying to think back to all the games and evaluating. But it was fun to do.

Ok, and in news Turris signed with the big club! He has two games under his belt so far and you can just see the potential there. He is such an amazing passer. He shoots it high on net, something a lot of our guys dont seem to do (at least not lately).

Another signing was that of Nick Ross. He is now in SA. I hope he does well. I really liked him at rookie camp and they even let him play one pre season game. He wasnt bad but it showed he had a lot of work to do yet. Hopefully at least one year in SA will be a lot of help for him. Im thinking he will be there for at least 2 seasons, 1 seems like it would be rushing his development.

In Blake Wheeler news: he may stay at school for another year. This is what Ive been saying all along. Everyone was going on about how he doesnt want to sign and hes holding out but I had a feeling he just wasnt finished yet. If he goes back next year, he will be the captain. Why wouldnt he want to be captain? And what if they are better next year and get to the frozen four? If Wheeler wants to stay in school, I think thats great. I think hed learn more with a year in SA but ultimately its his decision and he has to do whats best for him.

The season ticket holder signing was this week. Went and got a few sigs. We only got through one table. They cut the lines off early. They said they would cut the lines at 8 but they actually did at 730 and that was about when we finally got through the first table. We went to the tables with Turris. That kid has so much energy and enthusiasm. Its refreshing and I hope a few of our guys catch it! Yandle was giving Turris/Rhino a hard time. Turris was signing my bros hat and he asked where he should sign it and my bro goes, "Right next to the great Steven Reinprecht" and Yandle looks at him and goes; "Who?". It was classic. Jovo was giving Bryz a hard time. It was hilarious. Jovo was totally joking and Bryz was getting all mad. His voice was getting all high pitched. I was laughing my ass off. The guy in front of me had a pic of bryz as a duck and Jovo goes, "that pucks going in" and bryz was like, "no its not. that is playoffs. no goals go in that game". And Jovo went, "no, no thats going in" and bryz's voice gets high pitched and basically repeats what he said before. I also got Fuhrs and Tocs autographs and a pic with Toc. When I was waiting a guy had some old school pics of toc so he was having fun with that. And he seems like a really cool guy. The guy was like I have a ton of stuff for you to sign and Toc was like Really? thats cool. And the guy was cool, hed have toc sign for him and then let who ever was waiting get a pic or autograph instead of just hogging toc. And then this lady walks up and goes, "who are you?" and Toc sticks out his hand an shakes hers and goes, "Im Rick. Im one of the associate coaches". And the lady was like oh ok! nice to meet you. haha, it made me laugh.

Last and final home game against Dallas Stars. Wow, first two periods sucked. but we came back in the third (too bad we couldnt pull off the tie, thanks jovo). I upgraded for this game. I figured last game of the season, why not. Carcillo got the team and crowd going when he took barch out with 2 punches. And i read that barch ended up with a slight concussion. The crowd was literally on their feet cheering for like five minutes. Then they cheered again when he came out of the box. Bally made up for his flub by scoring later in the third. Oh and Lisin got a goal with assists from Kapi and Carcillo. Its about time that line got some points, they have been the best/hardest working line for quite some time. Bryz was pulled and for whatever reason Jovo tried to pass when there was a Stars player right in front of him. So he passes to the stars player who has Jovo in front of an empty net. Hrmmm, yah, not that hard to put it in. So a sad ending to the home games. But, it was a great third period and kind of fitting since their home record was bad this year.

Last night they were in Dallass. And Carcillo gets a hat trick and a fight. It was awesome. We ended up cheering so loud when he was on his way to the empty netter. I liked how he carried it into the zone and right to the net. He wanted to make sure that baby went in! Too many times we shoot from too far out with the empty net and miss. But yah, he just showed how much skill he had. he totally had turco going with that second goal. Hanzal got a goal too. There was a time when i thought we were going to lose it. We let Dallas catch us too often. Im so glad I went and watched this game. AMAZING. And Carcillo was named NHLs FIRST star of the night!

Last game of the year for us agains Anaheim Ducks on Sunday. Pronger will be back. We can and will beat them. No matter if we win or lose we will end up either 6, 7 or 8 in the draft (depending on what others do). Im not worred where we pick, I have trust in our scouting department (they have found some great draft picks that are usually below others radars and in trades ie Carcillo, someone had to have an eye on him). Plus we have like 6 picks in the first few rounds. We could even trade up if it doesnt cost much. But anyway back to the Anaheim game. Its on local tv, so I will be watching it and cheereing my ass off. I predict Turris will have his moment this game. He will get either an assist or goal. Hes had a couple of games to adjust and it would be great if he got a point and then went back to school.

Also, Lisin and Yandle were sent back to San Antonio Rampage. Im glad. Lisin should get a shot at playing for the playoffs since he helped get them there. It will be good experience for him. Yandle really needs some more time to develop this year. He had far to many flubs this call up. Give him a chance to work on his defense and then let him see if he can make the big team out of training camp.

And Im excited, looks like Preds and Caps will be in the playoffs. I will be watching them. Buffalo is out. :( I dont care about anyone else in the west that made the playoffs. The east has a couple of other teams I will be interested in seeing how they do in the playoffs. So, I will hopefully be able to write some more on the playoffs once they start.

Ok, I have written enough for today. Once the season is over, I plan on doing an entry about the last game. I will also have plenty of time to go over the UFAs and RFAs on this team and evaluate each player and give my opinion on what we should do with them. (And Ive got some opinions here). I also need to look at the list of upcoming UFAs for the entire league. I havent looked at that much this year since we've been playing pretty well and there was the excitement of maybe making the playoffs.