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Post by jan on Dec 2, 2009 12:53:08 GMT -5
Ooops! Keith Ballard Slashes Tomáš Vokoun with his Stick!
Fortunately, Vokoun's injury wasn't so bad.
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Post by Black Cat on Dec 3, 2009 0:02:18 GMT -5
Oh, yeah! Saw it today. How do you think Ballard felt after knowing what he did? Of course, he wasn't targeting the goalie but the post, but still, that's one freak accident.
Totally not related to hockey but to follow up with my previous post, my team won the game on the final play! If you know how football (the North American ones, Canadian and American) is played, a field goal on the final play of the game is the most exciting way to win a game after the touchdown on the said final play. That's what just happened: a field goal by the kicker who had been terrible the whole game except when the time had came for him to shine. He did miss his first attempt and the game was over in favor of the other team, but they had too many players on the field for that final play so they had to replay it and this time, the kicker didn't miss it. I went to the parade in downtown MTL today and what a day it was. Pics are going on my facebook right now!
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Post by Simey on Dec 8, 2009 9:38:58 GMT -5
Well, congratulations to your football team!
And Happy Hundredth Anniversary to the Canadiens!
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Post by Black Cat on Dec 9, 2009 11:16:12 GMT -5
It's official: I'm going to see the Habs again, this time in MTL... I think! The thing is, there's a bar where I live that had a special promotion: on every Tuesday night during a Habs game (they play on almost every Tuesdays), for every bottle of a certain kind of beer that I was buying, I was getting a chance to win a pair of tickets for a game. And yesterday, since there was maybe only 6-7 persons who took part in the contest and that I bought two bottles (my friend also bought one, so more chances for us!), I won! So i'm going to see that Habs again this year!
However, that's not all: I will get to the game on a special bus with all the other winners of contest from the other weeks with FREE BOOZE on the ride there! And since it is the big brewing company that made the contest (you know, Molson, the same guys who bought the team last summer), I wonder if I will not be in a luxury suite! The big unknown is when the game is scheduled since the waitress told me that she didn't have the tickets yet. So maybe I'll be going to see the Habs outside MTL, maybe Toronto or Boston.
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Post by Simey on Dec 9, 2009 20:08:22 GMT -5
THAT
IS
AWESOME
!!!!!!!!
Nice one, BC! Well chuffed for you!
Look forward to hearing more about that!
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Post by Ghost Bear on Dec 11, 2009 4:11:10 GMT -5
Quality. Party bus sounds ace.
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Post by Black Cat on Dec 30, 2009 11:36:32 GMT -5
Tonight is hockey game night as I'm going to Ottawa to watch the Sens play against the Colorado Avalanche. Will surely be fun!
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Post by jan on Dec 30, 2009 12:01:45 GMT -5
Oh, you're a lucky boy, Black Cat! Enjoy the match!
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Post by Black Cat on Dec 31, 2009 17:24:59 GMT -5
And they lost, 4 to 3. It seems that every time I go see them, they lose. I bought a nice little flag to hang on the car's window. And I broke it today. No wonder it was on a sellout price. Now I'm waiting for the new year to arrive while watching the Habs play the Panthers while I make supper.
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Post by jan on Jan 21, 2010 6:13:06 GMT -5
OK, so we have a nomination of the Czech team for the Olympic games in Vencouver: Goal-keepers: Ondřej Pavelec (Atlanta Thrashers/NHL), Jakub Štěpánek (HC Vítkovice Steel), Tomáš Vokoun (Florida Panthers/NHL). Defenders: Miroslav Blaťák (Salavat Julajev Ufa/KHL), Jan Hejda (Columbus Blue Jackets/NHL), Tomáš Kaberle (Toronto Maple Leafs/NHL), Filip Kuba (Ottawa Senators/NHL), Pavel Kubina (Atlanta Thrashers/NHL), Zbyněk Michálek (Phoenix Coyotes/NHL), Roman Polák (St. Louis Blues/NHL), Marek Židlický (Minnesota Wild/NHL). Forwards: Petr Čajánek (SKA Petrohrad), Roman Červenka (HC Slavia Praha), Patrik Eliáš (New Jersey Devils/NHL), Martin Erat (Nashville Predators/NHL), Tomáš Fleischmann (Washington Capitals/NHL), Martin Havlát (Minnesota Wild/NHL), Jaromír Jágr (Avangard Omsk/KHL), David Krejčí (Boston Bruins/NHL), Milan Michálek (Ottawa Senators/NHL), Tomáš Plekanec (Montreal Canadiens/NHL), Tomáš Rolinek (Metallurg Magnitogorsk/KHL), Josef Vašíček (Lokomotiv Jaroslavl/KHL). It's definitely not the strongest team we've ever had, but still one of the medals can be reached with it. I'm really looking forward to the Olympics. Not that I would be a great fan of the Czech national team - I just hope I'll be watching a good Canadian, Russian, Slovak or Czech hockey on TV. Especially the Slovaks will probably be very strong this year.
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Post by jan on Jan 21, 2010 8:31:21 GMT -5
Perhaps I should also add the Slovak team: Goal-keepers: Jaroslav Halák (Montreal/NHL), Peter Budaj (Colorado/NHL), Rastislav Staňa (Čerepovec/KHL). Defenders: Zdeno Chára (Boston/NHL), Milan Jurčina (Columbus/NHL), Andrej Meszároš (Tampa Bay/NHL), Andrej Sekera (Buffalo/NHL), Ľubomír Višňovský (Edmonton/NHL), Richard Lintner (Dinamo Minsk/KHL), Martin Štrbák (Balašicha/KHL). Forwards: Marián Hossa, Tomáš Kopecký (oba Chicago/NHL), Branko Radivojevič, Martin Cibák (oba Spartak Moskva/KHL), Pavol Demitra (Vancouver/NHL), Marián Gáborík (New York Rangers/NHL), Michal Handzuš (Los Angeles/NHL), Marcel Hossa (Dinamo Riga/KHL), Jozef Stümpel (Barys Astana/KHL), Richard Zedník (Jaroslavl/KHL), Ľuboš Bartečko (Bern/Švýc.), Žigmund Pálffy (Skalica), Miroslav Šatan (bez angažmá). This is a rather strong team, I think. I'm really looking forward to seeing them in action.
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Post by Black Cat on Jan 21, 2010 14:53:09 GMT -5
Mmmh... don't know about the Slovaks. They took so many former NHLers that left the league to play in Russia because they didn't felt they weren't good enough anymore for North America. well, we'll see when the tournament starts.
On another level, there's currently a hockey tournament here where I live. The players are 16-17 years old. Last weekend, a fight broke out on the ice between a few players. The referees tried to separate the players but one of them started hitting the official. That was very disturbing since some parents applauded the player! The whole incident was caught on tape and was shown on TV last Monday. Not a good publicity for the tournament that exists since 1978.
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Post by jan on Jan 21, 2010 15:20:54 GMT -5
Well, as you said, we'll see. It's true that many Slovakian stars are... "eariler born"... to say it in a polite way. I'm really very interested in the performance of these older players. We also have Jaromir Jagr in our team - he was already playing on the highest level when I was a kid, 20 years ago, he was my hero! So... yeah, we'll see. It's like Rambo IV or so, an old dog against the young pups! ;D Gosh, the tournament starts on February 16, it's less than one month! I wish I lived in Canada! The funny thing is that our first match will be against Slovakia - we were one country with one team until 1993, so Czecho-Slovakian matches have always a special atmosphere, and this one will be very special (lol - Jaromir Jagr used to represent Czechoslovakia in his earlier carrier... boy, he is an old dog!). We also have Russia in our group, so it's not going to be easy. LOL, and the first Canada's match is against Norway... oh, my, this is going to be a massacre.
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Post by Simey on Jan 21, 2010 18:43:46 GMT -5
Yikes. The fighting in hockey is generally fairly harmless in and of itself - though I'm aware that you've pointed out circumstances in which it has been very harm ful - but if it is ingrained in the culture of the sport to the extent that people will simply applaud a hockey player hitting anyone related to the game, opposition player with whom he has had an incident or not, that is rather worrying. And rather sad. You'd kind of want them to be able to say that if we're going to allow fighting, we're going to have a zero tolerance approach to it. That kid and anyone who applauded his action should be banned from official matches for a good long time. You have to go further in hockey than in most sports before you 'cross the line' - though from what I've seen the officials usually command a pretty good degree of respect from the players (unlike in football [soccer]) - but there should still very definitely be a line to cross, and crossing it should be dealt with decisively. It's an awesome sport - too awesome for the allowance of fighting as is to ruin it. But the fighting is nevertheless an embarrassment that such an awesome sport should easily be able to survive with out. The funny thing is that our first match will be against Slovakia - we were one country with one team until 1993, so Czecho-Slovakian matches have always a special atmosphere, and this one will be very special (lol - Jaromir Jagr used to represent Czechoslovakia in his earlier carrier... boy, he is an old dog!). We also have Russia in our group, so it's not going to be easy. The Czech Republic, Slovakia and Russia are all in the same group? Yoiks! Which poor saps are in there with them? Stay out of that group's way! Sadly the G.B. team didn't make it to the Olympics (again). But under the tutelage of Paul Thompson - also the Coventry Blaze head coach (and, I think, the only British coach in the EIHL) - they are improving steadily. In a few years' time when they're making another push to get there, who knows? My fingers will be crossed, that's for sure! Meanwhile, can't wait for the Winter Olympics! There are a fair few exciting sports involved, of course, but hockey is by far the best - bring it on! ;D
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Post by Simey on Jan 21, 2010 18:55:02 GMT -5
Hey! Sudden thought!
What say a few of us have a very simple fantasy Winter Olympics hockey tournament? (I think I vaguely recall something like this perhaps happening related to the World Cup or something on old TotS.)
I don't know how many would be interested in joining, but there're at least three of us that are going to be following the competition and keeping track enough to do it. I'll have to adopt a 'home' country, of course....
Whadja reckon?
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