I'm not a draft junkie by any stretch, and living in the southern US means I don't see any Canadian junior hockey.  So, I don't know much about these guys, to be honest.  And, nothing happened during the first round to make me take any particular notice.  Other than the fact that only two of the six Canadian teams actually made a draft pick.  I mean, those poor teams that knew before the draft they had no first round picks - the Leafs who only have Phil Kessel to show for losing out on Tyler Seguin and...uh...the...uh...Flames who uh...have...uh...never mind.

Feel free to comment on how boring that first round was, or if you have something more interesting to add, all the better.

I've stayed pretty quiet vis a vis the Flames for the past month, mainly because the Flames blogosphere is mostly consumed with teeth gnashing and unhappy post-mortems.  All justified, mind you, but at heart I'm an optimist so I thought I'd just sit and listen for a while rather than dive in. Besides, Robert and Hayley and Richard and Kent over at that other place are all much better than me at doing the post-mortems - I appreciate the advanced stats and think there is value in them but I can't make them dance like they can.  So, I haven't had much to add, other than it feels like a bad time to be a Flames fan.

But while watching the little kid with the Boston Bruin jersey crying his eyes out in the stands after game 7 of the Bruin-Philly series, I realized it could be worse.  I'm never one to say I'd rather miss the playoffs than lose in the first round, because more Flame's hockey is always preferable to less.  However, I was in the stands when they lost game 7 in double OT to San Jose back in '95 and I'm pretty sure I felt worse than I do right now.  So, for fun, I thought I'd give my opinion of fan-bases that are happier than us and those that have it worse, as of right now.  I'm basing it on how the last year went, how it ended, and how the future looks.  If nothing else, it will remind us all that we're lucky not to be Leaf fans.

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I confess that I didn't watch the game tonight too closely.  I don't hate Minnesota, so that natural angle wasn't available to pique my interest.  Practically the whole bloody Flames team is signed again for next year, so it wasn't like it was a night for goodbyes.  Sure, it may be Craig Conroy's last game, but noone thinks he'll disappear from sight.  And while all the conjecture about Jarome Iginla being traded this summer is probably just starting, I don't think it will happen (and don't want it to, quite frankly). 

From what I did see, they did play pretty well, again, and had no finish, again.  They had not one but two five-on-three power plays (and I can't remember the last time they had one), but didn't score on either of them (now that looked more familiar!).  They had a lot of pucks bouncing over sticks, or hitting the outside of the net, or smacking goalie pads dead center - darned bad luck seemed to be with them all year.  Couldn't just be a lack of skill, could it?

It was nice to see Mikael Backlund play quite a bit.  He didn't look out of place with Iggy and Rene Bourque, and they were amongst the fowards with positive Corsi.  Of course, the Wild had noone healthy, and their good line (Mikko Koivu et al) played against Matt Stajan, Niklas Hagman and Ales Kotalik (who, not coincidentally, were the forwards getting their heads kicked in tonight).  Wait a second - the Wild were missing Havlat, Latendresse, Nolan...who else?  Oh yes, Dubielewicz had to come into the net for Backstrom during the third period.  And the Wild still won.  And I'm still trying to write about this game?

I guess it's fitting that, as Peter Loubardias said, the Flames finally have a three-point game when the extra points won't help them anymore.  And even more fitting that they finished below .500 at home for the year, because they lost the final game in a shootout.  Sad but fitting that Iggy didn't score in the shootout.  Predictable that Kipper's pokecheck in the shootout didn't work tonight.  Ironic that instead of shooting first like most home teams, they went last and allowed the home fans to see only two Flame shooters.

On the bright side, the Canucks are losing 4-0 tonight, although they now have a ridiculously long 5 on 3.  Why do I care?  Don't know, although thought it was really funny that I look up to see a Canuck on the ice and my wife, who doesn't care about Vancouver one way or the other, says "he dived".  Even she knows the Canucks are despicable poor-sports. 

In this year of the Flames dropping into the ranks of the non-playoff teams, possibly for the first of multiple times, I have to now take my joy in the pain of the Canucks.  Yes, that's really sad.  And that says everything that needs to be said about this game and this team.

Hayley was kind enough to get the post game thread up and running to allow for continued venting on the year that was (and is still, to a bitter end).  There didn't seem to be much point in specifically discussing last night's game, other than I have no idea how Daniel Sedin didn't score with a minute left to deny the Avs any points.  Oh, wrong game.  Never mind, I have even less thoughts on the Sharks-Flames tilt.

So, instead, I wanted to get a jump on the season review.  Well, not a jump, really just a small step.  We here at M&G love us some haiku (well, non-traditional haiku anyway).  So I took an attempt at summarizing the roster, one player at a time.  Enjoy...

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And just like that, the positive vibes have ebbed a bit.  Calgary plays well but loses to their white whale in Chicago.  Colorado defeats San Jose in overtime.  The final week is upon us, and the Flames find themselves in the same place they've been for most of the last month - on the outside looking in, and in desperate straits.  The foundation of the final playoff run is shaken much like my house was after the 7.2 earthquake hit across the border in Mexico a few hours ago. 

But they're both still standing, and if nothing else, the effort against the Blackhawks gives enough optimism to Flames fans to sustain us through these last few days.  Yes, the score was 4-1, but if this NHL season has shown us anything this year, it's that efforts and results have had an uneasy relationship.  In the last week, Calgary has taken advantage of the breaks and great goaltending to get back in the race, and today that luck (and goaltending) went the other way.

Quick summary:  Flames pressure, lots of puck at net and puck missing sticks, nothing getting behind Antti Niemi.  Then a small defensive breakdown and it's 1-0 Chicago.  Flames follow up with more pressure but can't seem to get their stick on a puck bouncing around the empty net, or get a bounce past Niemi.  Late in the period, the flow changed and a Blackhawk powerplay is followed by a Calgary icing, a faceoff loss, a big rebound and a back-breaking goal by Troy Brouwer

After that, it didn't much matter.  Patrick Kane and Dustin Byfuglien both showed they know where to beat Miikka Kiprusoff, with great shots up high, and Ian White scored on a great individual effort to account for the other goals.  Beyond that, Calgary was the better team for much of the night (although Chicago showed they also know how to play the shell, almost to their detriment).  Rene Bourque had another strong night moving the puck forward (the largest number of defensive faceoffs combined with a solid Corsi) and nearly all the forwards looked pretty good.  There was some loose play at the defensive end which allowed a couple second chance goals and shots from far too deep into the slot, but really, that's just being picky.  Three more games like this, and the Flames will have their 95 points.  Then, it's just up to Colorado.

Now, there's a new puppy in the house, and I'm off to do some cleanup!

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The most anticipated Flames game of the season - what better game to keep a running diary, Bill Simmons style!

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The Other Side

When the Flames play a period of hockey as bad as they did in the first period tonight, the universe is shaken.  I know this because while I was trying to clear my head get my bearings, I swear Doug Maclean said something that made sense, and I'm certain the words of Charlie Simmer were echoing in my head (and yes, I'm aware he wasn't announcing the game). 

"Move your feet"  "Move your feet"  "Move your feet"  "Move your feet"

(Shaking head)

Maclean noted that the Flames spent the entire period chasing the puck, that they're not classically a puck possession team, they're a dump and chase team, but if they are chasing the puck all the time, they're going to get killed.  Nothing approaching brain surgery there, but he's right.  Let's leave aside the obvious question (Why aren't they more of a puck possession team? Isn't that the way the winning teams all play?  Does anyone win with primarily a dump and chase style anymore?).  Okay, that's three questions.  Anyway, the Flames are what they are, and that is a team that chisels the puck of the boards in their own end, tries to win battles to the puck in the opposition end, cycles (sometimes, ad naseum) and if all is going well, goes to the net and scores that way. 

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If I'm going to take the time to project out the rest of the regular season, it may as well turn out well for the Flames.

March 31 - Colorado manages to defeat the Ducks at home, ending Anaheim's season once and for all.  But Calgary gets the needed win at home against the Phoenix Coyotes, who are a bit lethargic after clinching an unlikely playoff berth.

Colorado - 42 wins, 91 points, 6 games remaining...Calgary - 39 wins, 87 points, 5 games remaining

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Imagine you're a hockey team that is potentially a handful of games from the end of the season.  You know every game is critical, you are going on the road for a quick three game trip - across country no less - knowing that the team you're about to play is likely the worst you'll see the rest of the year.  Desperation doesn't begin to describe your position.  So, of course, you'll be coming out like gangbusters, perhaps the best first period you've had since the Olympic break.

Now imagine you're the Calgary Flames in that same situation.  And ignore the part about "gangbusters" and "best first period" because, damn, you're just not wired that way.  You'd rather get your brains beat in for most of the first period, losing the possession game, getting gifted with six power play minutes and doing less than nothing with them.  Against Anaheim, a similar start was overcome and the spell broken by a nice tip by Nigel Dawes for a goal.  However, in this game even another nice tip for another goal by Dawes didn't help change the flow.  The whole first period was ugly, and the Flames were lucky to be tied 1-1.

Fortunately, they play three periods.

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It's no secret that Calgary has struggled against Anaheim for the past few years.  The longest losing streak for one team in another city (by time, not number of games) is Calgary at the Honda Center (or the Arrowhead Pond, since the streak goes back far enough).  There was the playoff debacle in 2006, losing game 7 at home.  Even at home, they've rarely done better than a split the past few years.  Tonight was a must-win (and we may as well retire that cliche, since they all are until they're eliminated) and it didn't warm the heart that the Ducks were the opposition.  (Of course, I felt better when I realized that noted Duck killer Brett Sutter was in the lineup!).

But, for the second time in the last dozen games, the Flames put the hammer lock on Anaheim on home ice and won 3-1.  The Ducks have a classic top heavy lineup - Ryan Getzlaf and Corey Perry both played over 22 minutes - and it's always interesting to see if Brent Sutter can maximize his player's abilities against a top heavy lineup.  In this game, he appeared to choose the kitchen sink method.

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My initial choice for the name of this story was "High and Wide", because the bullet by Jarome Iginla in the last few minutes that went, yes, high and wide, is a good metaphor for the entire season.  I also thought it could be "The Kid Wasn't Hot Tonight" in honor of Vesa Toskala (and our very own Loverboy fanatic!  Sorry, Bob, I couldn't resist!) but he's pretty old and it was an afternoon game, so that didn't work on multiple levels. 

Well, hold on, before we get too far.  Why the hell was Vesa Toskala in there?  I mean, it's a nice story that he had a couple decent outings (by the results, if not necessarily the process).  But unless Kipper is begging out of the lineup (which would surprise me), I want him in there every night the rest of the way except maybe next weekend in Boston.  I'm guessing the game stories across the blogosphere (and in the MSM) will point to Toskala being the difference in the game, and not the right way.  And they'd be right - I firmly believe that they win that game with Kipper from start to finish.  But beyond this short rant, I'll leave that story line alone.

Anyway, I settled on the theme for the game noted in the headline above.  And it's not because it's not clear from game to game which team we'll see.  Whether it was Peter Loubardius noting multiple times "that's the first goal for (insert player) in a Flames jersey" or feeling the pain when one of the few long-time Flames, Daymond Langkow, was felled in a scary incident, it is clear that this is a team of strangers.

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OK, we know we're supposed to drown our sorrows after a loss by tossing a pint or two and composing haiku upon haiku in the post-game comments.  It's easy to figure out how to react.  But do we know how we're supposed to celebrate after a win?  A win that looked like that?  Sure, after the Ottawa game I noted that I finally found out what it felt like to be cheering for the Avs.  But I didn't mean I wanted to feel like that after every game.  Hell, we managed to out-Colorado Colorado tonight, which is no mean feat.  I want to keep feeling superior to Avs fans for having to watch that hockey all the time, but the Flames are starting to play that way all the time too.  And, by the way, don't let tonight's result fool you, the Avs are going to the playoffs and the Flames aren't. Not if the next three weeks look like this game.

Why am I so down after a win?  I really don't know.  Let's analyze a bit and see if I can feel better after that.

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The season isn't at an end, but you can see it from here.  I'm on the record as saying that there is no outcome that may result from the Flames missing the playoffs that is worth it happening.  Even first round exits are better than not geting the chance.  However, as Resolute noted below, playoff hockey in Calgary may only be the junior variety this year.

Having said that, I'm not here to write obituaries.  There are still 13 games left.  So, let's talk about this game in particular.

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I have nothing to add, nothing to report, no analysis to give.  Seriously.  I got home late tonight, planned on fast forwarding the first 10 minutes or so to get an idea which way the game would go, and, well, you know the rest.  I decided to fast forward the entire game and didn't see any reason to watch on normal speed.  Other than to confirm that Robyn Regehr only scores in games I didn't see and am glad I missed.

So, we'll try again after tomorrow night's game.  It's a pretty important game.  And there isn't anyone on God's green earth that knows which Calgary Flames team will show up.  In the meantime, here's another thread to vent.

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Thursday night is beer-league hockey night in San Diego and therefore this game was scheduled to be viewed in full tape-delay mode.  As I settled in to watch and spent the first five minutes fast forwarding past Mike Brophy and John Shannon killing time while the glass was being repaired, I had the first of two major revelations on the night.  Namely, I was going to regret not taping more than three hours on the DVR!  Sure enough, just as Daniel Alfredsson was apparently icing the result with a hooking penalty in the final two minutes, the screen went blank.  Oops!  I figured I didn't miss much anyway, given the result, but a look at the play by play of the game showed the obligatory Rene Bourque offensive zone penalty and a lot of "SHOT OTT ONGOAL".  No sense the Flames making it easy on themselves.

The other revelation was revealed bit by bit throughout the whole game...

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Through two periods, this sure appeared to be another in a long line of frustrating Flames games this year.  Playing a very good team with tough PvP matchups, the Flames were losing the top 6 battles, winning the bottom 6 battles, taking too many penalties, not giving up a ton of great chances but not generating many.  And they were down a goal.  And 2-16-3 on the year when trailing after two.  And playing a team that was 21-1-4 leading after two.  And on the road.

On the other hand, the Craig Conroy - David Moss - Niklas Hagman line had a lot of jump and was dominating the lesser lights for Detroit (I'm looking squarely at you, Sparklepants) and you just had a feeling they'd be rewarded in the 3rd period for their efforts.  Sure, it was hard watching Jarome Iginla, Matt Stajan and Rene Bourque in tough and generating next to nothing for two periods - incidentally, is Pavel Datsyuk not one of the top three players in the league, or is it just the Flames he looks so damn good against - but Conroy et al was about to break out!

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The Flames and Wild were kind enough to schedule an afternoon game to make sure that their tilt wouldn't interfere with Hollywood's grandest night and deny us all a chance to see that Steve Martin is still alive.  In that vein, the envelope, please...

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Alright, raise your hand if you thought the game was over at the end of the first period.  Come on now, raise it up - don't pretend you weren't skeptical the Flames would ever score a goal again.  Hell, I missed the first period and wasn't sure I wanted to kill the rest of my Friday night watching periods two and three.  Fortunately, I recalled that I rarely have anything better to do on a Friday night, and thus watched Daymond Langkow open the heavens. 

And it is fitting that Langkow got the goal (his first in 22 games - wow!), if only because he's been one of the stars of the comments here on M&G lately - should he be traded, is he valuable, with whom he should play.  It's also fitting the goal covered five feet or so from stick to goal-line, because that was the theme of the night (and not coincidentally, the subject of coach Sutter's discussion with the media after the game on Wednesday night against the Wild.

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I'm not sure what is more depressing - that this game is the first I get to write the post-game writeup, or that I started writing it at the end of the 2nd period.  I went back and re-read the last post-game before the break, titled "Causes for Optimism".  At the time, I was optimistic about the Flames chances coming out of the Olympics.  Jarome Iginla did look like classic Iggy,  Jay Bouwmeester did look like a full value shutdown defenceman who could and would take on all comers and still help drive offense.  The new forward core was pushing the puck in the right direction.

So what happened?

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Darryl Sutter can't help himself.  He may not be as loud and self-promoting as Brian Burke but he can't let a trade deadline go by without thrusting himself into the spotlight.  He has once again proven himself unpopular with the readers of this site for the continued re-making of the Flames.  I'm on record as being more of a fan of Daz than most and even I don't see any good news from today's moves.

And yet...I don't really see bad news either.  In fact, I see no news.  I'm trying hard to be outraged, or excited, or interested in the moves that Sutter made today and the truth of the matter is, I don't really care.  The trades before the Olympics mattered - they reshaped the team, for good and for bad, and changed the look of the roster (in concert with the contract extensions) for the next few years.  The impact of those trades on the rest of this year are measurable.

But today?  Let's take them one by one.

Curtis McElhinney for Vesa Toskala.  A bad backup that we're tired of watching in Calgary for a bad backup that other teams were tired of watching.  Neither one can replace Miikka Kiprusoff and the Flames are screwed if they have to.  Neither one will play more than two games the next two months.  Toskala was once considered good.  That's about the sum result of that trade.  Moving on...

Dustin Boyd for a 4th rounder.  Don't like this, again I'm a huge Boyd fan and always have been.  And yet...I realize I'm a fan because he's always been a Flame, and because he has a good back story with the Canadian junior team and I've always liked the Moose Jaw Warriors.  I really don't know if he was worth more around the league than a 4th round pick and neither does anyone else in the outsider's world.  And in the Flames current setup, a 4th round pick is worth more than Boyd was.  We can argue that he was handled poorly, but it's been four years and the ship has sailed. 

Steve Staios for Aaron Johnson and a 3rd.  The complaints about this trade are that he is a 3rd pairing D with a big contract.  Is he better or worse than Pardy right now?  I don't know.  Was he better than Johnson?  Probably.  Either way, a pointless move that has little impact.  Trying to project the impact into the summer, though, feels like a fool's game.  Sutter always seems to be able to deal with contracts that he doesn't like, which would be a skill if he wasn't responsible for causing his own problems in the first place.

In summary, not a good day for the Flames but not bad enough to cause the wailing that has accompanied the trade deadline threads, in my opinion.  Let's just play some hockey, already!  Let's make the playoffs, let's give ourselves reason to live and die for a few more weeks, let's enjoy the collective experience and leave the summer for the summer.

Now that we're finally done with this glorified exhibition tournament, we can finally get back to the real hockey of the NHL.  Iggy can finally be allowed to play with some decent linemates (did you see all those goals Hagman was scoring in this exhibition tournament) and the Sex Panther looks like he's back to his goal scoring form.  Which means a new set of fans has their hopes up, only to inevitably see them crushed (sorry Ranger fans).  Kipper is well rested (thanks USA), so McBackup may stay there for the next 6 weeks.

Just to get everyone in the mood, a quick lookahead (see the thread below or one of the 95,679 blogs/writers on-line to continue to talk about the exhibition tournament).  Well, hold on:

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!

OK, now we're past it.  Anyway, looking ahead.  This week has two games with the suddenly unbeatable (for the Flames) Minnesota Wild and one against NJ.  The Devils start the post Olympics out west, so Zach Parise and Jamie Langenbrunner don't have to go home yet.  Watching them play may give us our first indication of what kind of effect the Olympic hangover will have.  After seeing Jonathan Toews, Patrick Kane and Duncan Keith be three of the best Olympians, we can only hope it is huge or else we can expect to see the Blackhawks representing the West in the Stanley Cup Final. (Note, Brent Seabrook's name was absent there for a reason - free Jay Bouwmeester!).

Another item of interest in the week ahead is the trade deadline.  We've likely already seen it come and go in Calgary.  Cory Sarich and yes, sadly, Dustin Boyd are about the only trade chips left, and I don't see what comes of that.  It likely isn't best to have Kipper have no backup at all, but the Flames only have one back-to-back left, so it isn't out of the realm of possibility that he starts every game here on out. 

Speaking of that back to back, it happens in two weeks, and it is Vancouver (road) followed by Detroit (home).  In fact, two Red Wing matches beckon in the next 15 days.  And if, in 16 days, Sutter wants us to still be talking about the Bourque signing (my verdict, 95% happy for the first 5 years, 55% happy for the last 1) or how successfully the new guys are fitting in (please Chris Higgins, score a goal for the love of all things holy)  the Flames had better come out of those two Detroit games (and the Vancouver/Ottawa/NJ/Wild x2) with 10 or 11 points.

Since we have an off day, and there's enough analysis of Team Canada to clog the internet, I thought I'd throw out the results of some quick research I did.  I looked at the rosters of the various Olympic teams going back to 1980 to see how many Calgary Flames have played in the Olympics.  Now, I didn't spend a great amount of time looking at the rosters so I may have missed a few (especially if they played for Yugoslavia in 1984 - I skipped that one entirely).  However, it passed the time and, well, this is a Flames blog so I'm just staying on the keynote.

After the jump, the list (with comments, of course).

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Now that Kent has passed on his news (see below), it's as good a time as any to introduce myself as the newest contributor to Matchsticks and Gasoline.  Kent was kind enough to note to me that since my typical comment is almost as long as one by RO or Lawrence (if nowhere near as sage), I might as well join the team!  I haven't had a chance to talk with Kent, or Robert, or RO in any detail to determine where I'll fit in.  Since I typically record all the games and watch them late, perhaps I can look for certain things and highlight them in post game threads (or I can closely analyze the number of Telus ads and figure out if the goat is capable of expanding its repertoire).  I certainly can share opinions (like the one that I haven't noticed Dion Phaneuf is gone yet). 


So, although I have no illusions about filling the hole created by Kent taking his insights (primarily) elsewhere, I look forward to contributing to M&G.  Living so remote from Calgary now, I was very happy to discover the burgeoning on-line community of Flame fans over the past few years.  Stumbling upon Five Hole Fanatics (and through FHF, also Battle of Alberta and Hit the Post and others) was eye-opening for me - it allowed me the opportunity to think about watching the Flames in a new way.  Because of these blogs, and eventually M&G, I enjoyed watching the Flames even more, win or lose, just to share the experience with all of you who read this site.  So, let's keep it going.

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It's become apparent that recently NHL teams are firing their coach after losing to the Vancouver Canucks.  Clearly, GMs can't stand the embarassment of losing to the Canucks and fans are up in arms.  First John Stevens in Philadelphia and then Andy Murray in St. Louis have fallen victim to this trend.  In other news, Blue Jackets coach Ken Hitchcock, Dave Tippett in Phoenix and Calgary's Brent Sutter are nervously awaiting their teams games this week with Vancouver.

It's good to know that our love of Kipper and knowledge of his true value here in the M&G community is spreading nationwide!  Award voting from last night's extravaganza...

Hart:

20. Miikka Kiprusoff, CGY 6 (0-0-0-2-0)

Not just one, but two different people had him top 4 in the league for most valuable.  He just wins, baby!

Vezina:

8. Miikka Kiprusoff, CGY 3 (0-1-0)

Yes, with just a little more work, we can even get him Norris votes!  Geez, I like Kipper more than most on this blog (just can't shake the images from a couple of years ago), but those voters seriously need to give up their rights.

OK, since it's hard to find things to talk about for tonight's game - well, other than that it's bad enough the Brier is taking the 'Dome for 2 weeks (or whatever it's called), at least Saskatchewan could have won a couple of games...I mean, seriously, more Glen Howard and Kevin Martin, that's what we needed? - let's talk about team MVP this year.

I'm open to suggestions...my first choice, mostly because he's also my favorite guy on the team, is Robyn Regehr.  I think their D has been less than the sum of the expensive parts, even though they've been OK, and Reggie is the guy who is holding them together.

Honorable mentions - Bourque, Moss, Iggy, Cammy...