Props and dates (part 1)

A while back we gave props when three members of The Steamer reached the 100 career goal mark . We also meant to also give props when the career leader moved into the 200 goal club.
So - belatedly - lets take a moment to say "nice work on 200 goals", and - in a timely fashion - say Happy B-Day to E5!

First goal of the season - Fall '09

This guy is on a roll. Gets his name on the Lord Steamer Trophy at the golf tournament for the first time in September, adds to his impressive career-lead for on-ice yakking in October, and then scores the first goal of the Fall season. Who else, but The Natural Goal scorer!

Dates - part 2 - NHL Anniversary

November 1st is the 50 year Anniversary of Jacque Plante donning the first goalie mask. While we can all agree that keepers are flaky, this seems like a good idea.

While Plante's initial mask was a crude effort, they have become part of hockey folklore. The most famous is probably that of Bruins goalie Gerry Cheevers from the 1970s. He used a marker to indicate where he would have needed stitches had he not been wearing the mask. In the modern NHL, the masks are more like helmets and are decorated with impressive artwork. One of the more amusing is that of AVS keeper Peter Budaj who has a ripped Ned Flanders - from The Simpsons - holding a Slovakian flag. The NHL Network has a show on the development of the mask this weekend.

Things that amuse me....warning

Dates - part 3 - NHL in October

Reminder that October is "Hockey Fights Cancer" month. So, get on-line and click your mouse to support the cause.

Rules in life....again, keep your head up...

We've been over this before. As this video shows - Willie Mitchell re-affirms the rule for Jonathan Toews.

Dates - part 4 - Halloween

Reminder that Saturday is Halloween. Celebrate as you see fit:

Rules in life....

...Always keep your ego in check.

Dates - part 5 - Election Day

Next Tuesday is Election Day. As a reminder, one of the former Steamer Democrats wanted to give props to his favorite Republican Meghan McCain.

The good news for the Leafs.....

....they signed former DU center Tyler Bozak and - as we know - he is the real deal. While in the pre-season, this beauty was his first NHL goal.

...and the bad news for the Leafs.

Yes, in another new feature, we want to keep track of the Leafs season since the Boston Bruins have their 1st round pick next year. Towards that end, every so often during the season we will update the Leafs record.
So far: 0-6-1, 1 point, last place / 30th in the NHL!

Editorial - the AVS resurgence.

Top 13 reasons for the AVS resurgence:

13. Release of the floaters, see Arnason, Tyler. It has to be hard to play motivated when guys get to coast w/o repercussions.
12. The free agency period - some decent players didn't get signed in the off-season and remain without contracts. That has to be a motivator for veterans (Tucker).
11. Health - while the defense is banged up it would be unlikely to miss as many man-games as last year.

10. Lowered expectations - they aren't seeing everyone's best game yet.

09. Management - Lacroix finally admitted to some mistakes this offseason. He destroyed the roster with his ego and stable of yes-men. He still has issues, but they appear to have a direction and bringing in heart-and-soul guys like Lefebrve, Konowalchuk, and Deadmarsh was a good move.
08. The Defense is so average, that the addition of Kyle Quincey has been huge. Amazing what a difference he makes. Further, 6 of the Top 7 are making the most they ever will, and may be playing with that in mind.
07. Early road trip - typically this would be bad, but sometimes early bonding for a team with a lot of new players is a good thing.

06. Speed - maybe its the youth, but they seem way faster.

05. Penalty Killers - most of the young guys can kill penalties, this should allow scorers (Stastny, Hejduk) to focus on just that, not the PK.
04. Youth - there appears to be renewed vibe and energy.
03. Getting rid of Tony Granato - he is horrible. No accountability at all. Last year is more proof of what a good job Quenville did the year before.
02. Sacco has nothing to lose - especially if he is keeping the seat warm for Roy. He can do what he wants and the players know that and have to perform.
01. Goaltending - Raycroft and Budaj are best at opening the door for defensemen. Craig Anderson had great numbers last year and is now seeing less shots (although still too many).

I still think they will regress to the mean and not make the playoffs. The old defense and Anderson's workload will wear them down. Regardless, it is great to watch them play with passion again!

Reflections on college...

more college

Speaking of college, your Denver University Pioneers travel to Minneapolis this weekend to play the always annoying Minnesota Golden Gophers. The famous Tyler Hirsch meltdown is here.

Look at the spark....

....precious! But seriously, you need to see this clip from the NESN break-away challenge that they play between periods of the B's games. Check-out this PREPOSTEROUS goal from a 9 year old from Maine!

Summer Stats

The Summer season came to a disappointing - and late - conclusion. Nevertheless, we want to give out the kudos.

First off, much thanks to our keeper Matt (3 wins and 3.67 GAA) and our Defensive Corps of Adam, Chris, JVR, John, Mike and Randy (2 goals - nice!) - plus the occasional sub. These guys don't always show up on the score sheet, but they bust arse and battle the ringer-fest our league has become.

Scoring: a tie for the scoring title between E5 and Harlan Pepper who both had 20 points in 10 games.

Goals: HP with 14 (1 hat), The Prof with 7, E5 and The Howitzer with 5, and the Tripod with 4.

Helpers: E5 with 15 (1 play-maker), Prof 7, HP 6, Chowd with 4; K-Pax, Toast, and TP with 3.

Other: HP with 2 GTG, The Prof with 2 GWG (Howie and TP with 1), Chip with 3.0 ppg.

Star of the Game points: HP with 25; E5 with 22; Matt with 20; The Prof with 17; and The Howitzer with 16 (including a team leading 3 # 1 stars of the game, and the only on-ice yak of the season)!

Nice work boys, let's get ready for the Fall season.

The Top 25 Hockey Movies of All-Time - # 24

Number 25 was "Ferris Bueller's Day Off."

I know what you are thinking: The Forgotten - did that movie suck, and how much hockey is involved? The answers are: not totally, and not much.

What struck me was that one of the characters was portrayed as an ex-New York Ranger, and the crew actually did a good job of trying to make that realistic. There are actually pictures / photo-shops of the guy in the gear, and playing. I appreciated the effort.

More importantly, that character - Ash Correll - was played by Dominic West - who turns 40 years old today! You may know him as the Greek villain in 300, or more importantly as Jimmy McNulty - the fantastic main character of one of the greatest shows of all time - The Wire.

How is that for a stretch? Speaking of stretches......more on that later.

Off-season training reminders

Not sure if this is a version of the butterfly - but get your leg work in early for the Fall season.

New York Rangers ''Top Ten'' at David Letterman (HD)

I hate the Rangers and Letterman is a "cheater" - but this is pretty good!

NHL Opening Night

Last Thursday was the NHL's opening night. The Summer is over (I think we covered that) and another dreadfully long off-season ended.

Last year the AVS opener was against the Bruins. The Versus Network - who had already showed their love of the Steamer with a special cameo of 'The Nutty Brothers' - was in attendance again.

So, in October of 2008 Versus continued the love promoting three more Steamer members (Tripod, Chowdah, and The Prof) on television after Blake Wheeler's first NHL goal - look at the 18-20 second mark of this video.

Great hockey quotes????

Steamer Summer 2009. JVR gets the puck at center ice and accelerates into the zone. A lumbering left wing tries, but can't clear the zone.

• Tripod - "Dude, you've got to slow down so I've got time to get out of there!"

But really, a great quote from football was from former Tampa Bay Buccaneers coach John McKay....

• Reporter: "What about your team's execution?"


• McKay: "I'm in favor of it!"

Speaking of opening night, we are a week into the NHL season. Here are my timely NHL predictions. Wagering is encouraged.

East
1. Penguins – The 2-headed monster up the middle. A great young keeper and Kunitz and Guerin should have huge seasons.
2. Capitals – lost some Russians, but still loaded with scoring talent. Questions remain in net.
3. Bruins – Not likely as many guys will have career years, but they are tremendously deep and have 3 legit scoring lines to go with the Norris and Vezina winners.

4. Flyers – Revamped defense, two great lines, and a big gamble in net.
5. Canes – very underrated team with a great goaltender and 3 quality lines.
6. Rangers – their defense looks really thin, and they are iffy at Center, but a great goalie sneaks them into the playoffs.
7. Devils – Jacque Lemaire back behind the bench? Can you say snooze-fest? Great goalie and defensive system means boring hockey and in the playoffs.
8. Senators – Lost the streaky Vermette and Heatley and added LeClaire, Kovalev, Cheechoo, and Michalek. That looks like an improvement to me.

9. Canadiens – out of the playoffs? Huh? Too many roster changes, they look to slip.
10. Florida - missed the playoffs on a tie-breaker last year. Close but no Lewinski.
Tampa Bay – a re-vamped defense and two good lines. Should be a playoff bubble team.
11. Toronto - re-vamped defense, but little scoring. Not this year.
12. Buffalo – sort of a blah team. Too many guys with un-guaranteed productivity.
13. Atlanta – still an iffy team that seems to lack managerial direction.
14. Toronto – revamped defense but iffy scoring. Not this year.
15. Islanders – Re-building and heading in the right direction, even with 3 # 1 keepers.

West
1. Chicago – The future is now as they have major cap problems starting next summer. Great coach (yes, AVS fans) and a lot of young talent, is their keeper good enough?
2. San Jose – Very good keeper and Top 6 forwards. Will be good during the regular season, but afterwards?
3. Vancouver – Maybe the best keeper in the world and a solid defense. Is there enough scoring, and what about that long Olympic road trip?
4. Detroit – lost a bunch of good complimentary parts, but still have hardware winning talent on the roster. Have to worry about a bunch of guys adding games at the Olympics.
5. Calgary – revamped defense, and solid goal-tending. Enough scoring? We’ll see.
6. Anaheim – thinned out defense, but have solid forwards and two # 1 goaltenders.
7. St. Louis – loaded with young talent, and likely learned a lot after being swept in the first round last year. Can Mason do it again?
8. Dallas – sneak into the playoffs as they get a full year of health from Richards and Morrow.

9. Columbus – the western conference version of the Devils. Can the other Mason play that well again? Don’t think they get there this time.
10. Edmonton – too small and do not seem to care.
11. Los Angeles – loaded with young talent, but still a year away.
12. Minnesota – change in coach and GM, so they should be less boring. Great goaltender, but who is going to score?
13. Nashville – preposterous defensive corps, but little offense on a true “small market” salary cap team.
14. Colorado – let the re-building begin. Lots of bad contracts ending and a lottery pick give hope for next year.
15. Phoenix – what a disaster, these Winnipeg Jets. With ownership being decided in court the roster, and the vibe, suffer.

Trophies:
Hart (MVP) – Alexander Ovechkin (WASH) makes it 3 in a row (Crosby, Getzlaf).
Norris (D-Man) – Shea Weber (NASH) gets his first of many (Pronger, Boyle)?
Vezina (Goalie) – Henrik Lundquist (NYR) a shaky defense in front of him gets him the hardware (Luongo, Fleury).
Selke - (defensive forward) – Mike Richards (Philly) finally gets his due (Datsyuk, Madden).
Calder (Rookie) – John Tavares (NYI) – he is the face of the franchise and sells tickets, he will see a ton of ice time (Filatov, Varlamov).
Adams (Coach) – Joel Quinneville (CHI) winning the Conference gets you votes (Bylsma, Stevens).
Rocket Richard (Goals) – Ovechkin – may break Espo’s record for 550 shots on goal in a season, that equates to at least 50+ goals (Kovalchuk, Nash).

Playoffs:
EAST:
1. Pens vs. 8. Sens – too much of the two–headed Monster for the Sens. Pens in 5.
2. Caps vs. 7. Devils – tough series for the Caps. Caps in 7.
3. Bruins vs. 6. Rangers – too much depth on the Bruins. B’s in 5.
4. Flyers vs. 5. Canes – unless Ward goes crazy, Flyers advance. Flyers in 6.

1. Pens vs. 4 Flyers – Flyers get physical and take the series, plus the Pens hired Tony Granato. – Flyers in 6.
2. Caps vs. 3 Bruins – Caps are worn down, B’s advance. Bruins in 7.

3. Bruins vs. 4 Flyers – a re-match of the Winter Classic – everyone is undervaluing the Bruins and they stun the Flyers in 6.

WEST:
1. Blackhawks vs. 8. Stars – Dallas sneaks in for a short ride. Hawks in 5.
2. San Jose vs. 7. St. Louis – a healthy Blues team is scary. What? Not again! The Blues in 6.
3. Vancouver vs. 6. Anaheim – the Ducks are tough in the playoffs and the Canucks disappear again. Ducks in 6.
4. Detroit vs. 5 Calgary – another early Calgary exit? They beat the crap out of the Wings but lose in 7.


1. Blackhawks vs. 7. Blues – Great match-up of young talent, but the Hawks win in 6.
5. Wings vs. 6. Ducks – not a great match-up for the tired Wings. Ducks avenge last year’s game 7 loss as they win in 6.

1. Blackhawks vs. 6. Ducks – the Ducks age gets the best of them. Hawks in 6.

FINALS:
An original 6 match-up and great TV – Blackhawks vs. Bruins – get ready for another parade chowderheads – Bruins in 6.

Baseball playoffs

Who doesn't get tired of celebrities telling you who you should vote for during elections? On the other hand, I do like them to show some team pride (except for that sniff "turtle" on Entourage). Anyway, the Denver-based Steamer suggests that you root for where you were born, or where you are living.
When in doubt, or if you need help, choosing who to root for, we present some options. Actress Eliza Duschku suggests the Red Sox. We agree.

So, to review - root for the Red Sox and against the Phillies....which means rooting for the Rockies!

Lucic signs extension!

The Bruins arguably overpaid to re-sign Milan Lucic. While $4 million per year seems high, you have to remember that he is already a Bruins icon at the age of 21. And along with his fearsome hitting, he brings that one other intangible. I already put the warning out there, but here is that "intangible" against Senator Chris Neil in the pre-season.