Linkage

I've mentioned this a few times in the past (ed: a few?)... but Hockey Night In Canada is one of the thangs I REALLY miss about living in Dee-troit, especially when the playoffs roll around.  While NBC's and Versus NBCSN's hockey coverage has improved a lot in the past couple o' years it still has a way to go before it equals HNIC, the gold-standard of hockey broadcasting.  I came across this interesting piece in the Montreal Gazette on the making of HNIC's video montage intros to the program, thanks to the Usual Hockey Source.  Here's one such intro:

They're all pretty much like that and I've posted a few of HNIC's montages over the years... most especially their end-of-season tributes, which are always spectacular.  And now I know a lil bit about the guys responsible for those montages, and why those montages are as vivid and striking as they are.

And speakin' o' hockey... it's time to watch the Kings and the Blues.  This might could be an elimination game, so there will be HIGH drama.

Update, 1545 hrs:  Simply amazing... those Kings SWEEP the Number Two seed St. Louis Blues, after taking out Number One seed Vancouver in five.  These guys could go all the way.  I'm a believer.

Just... Awesome!

Hockey Night In Canada's opening montage from last Saturday night...

Watch in HD if ya can.  While the video is heavy on Canadian teams there's a lil something in it for almost every hockey fan.  Most excellent, indeed.

I'll say it again: Yet another reason I miss living in Dee-troit.  I may have mentioned this a time or six before, but HNIC sets the bar for hockey broadcasting -- there's NONE better.  HNIC was a weekly fixture Chez Pennington in the wayback; would that I could still enjoy it today.  (sigh)

h/t:  Kukla's Korner

Story Book Endings

We almost had two such endings yesterday... one worked out and one didn't.  Here's the one that worked:



The game was a 0-0 tie until nearly the last possible moment in OT when The Captain brought home the win.  It doesn't get a whole lot better than that, Gentle Reader.  I was semi-upset when it came time to tune into the game last evening and found The Powers That Be mandated US coverage of the game would be provided by Hockey Night In Canada.  This wouldn't upset me normally but last night?  Yes, and that's mainly coz the HNIC guys are such homers.  It gave me GREAT pleasure when the Wings won the game, if only because it shut the HNIC guys right the Hell up.  Well, that and back-to-back wins over the Hated Leafs.  The fact the Wings took a home and home over Toronto... in very convincing fashion... is sweet, indeed.

I was conflicted last evening, given the Wings and ND were playing at nearly the same time.  I got to watch all of the hockey game's first period without interruption but the remote sure got a work out after that.  Remote workouts ended with Number 40's OT goal; I watched the second half of the ND game in its entirety and that game certainly lived up to its billing, to the point where I think it was prolly the best football game I've seen this year... except for the ending.  I jumped up off the couch shouting "Yes! YES!!" when Golson completed a pass into FSU's end zone with 14 seconds left for an apparent game-winning TD.  But, no.  The play was negated by a VERY dubious pass interference call and FSU squeaked out a win.  From the linked article:

Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly was not happy with the call.

"We execute that play every day," Kelly said "And we do it legally and that's the way we coach it. We don't coach illegal plays."

I can vouch for the fact Mr. Kelly wasn't the only one who wasn't happy with that call.  A couple o' thoughts come to mind here... (1) "Sometimes it bees that way" and (2) "It's always sumthin'!"  It was a great game, even if the Irish were robbed.

Beautiful

Hockey Night in Canada's 2010 NHL Playoffs Montage, with some of the best bits of the 2010 Playoffs.  The CBC/HNIC folks know hockey like no other network on God's green earth.

Congratulations once again to the Blackhawks.  Sigh.  October is SO far away...  but WHAT a season this was!

h/t:  Kukla's Korner.

It Ain't Over...

... until HNIC sez it's over.

It's over... (Sigh)

What a season, what great playoffs.  Is it October yet?

"It's Bad You Know..."

Best reason I’ve heard for an auto industry bailout:

Pierre LeBrun mentioned during the Hot Stove on HNIC (ed: that’s Hockey Night In Canada for the uninitiated) tonight the Wings have had a few conversations with Zetterberg’s agent, The numbers being tossed around are 8-10 years and $7-8M a year.

The two parties have not found that “sweet-spot” or else a deal would have been announced.

Al Strachan chimed in with this- If General Motors goes bankrupt, and it could very well happen, the Wings would not survive in Detroit. The city would be a ghost town.

My tongue is only partly in my cheek, ya know. (a week-old item from Kukla’s Korner)

While we’re talking Wings… another lil item from KK:

This season- Johan Franzen- 11 games played, 8 goals, 4 game winning goals.

Last season, playoffs- 16 games played, 13 goals, 5 game winning goals.

Last 16 regular season games of 2007-08- 15 goals, 6 game winning goals.

Totals in that time period- 43 games, 36 goals, 15 game winning goals.

Most major hockey markets, he would be in super star status, in Detroit, still known as the Mule!

It ain’t the number of goals that’s notable (although that is impressive); it’s the number of game winning goals. Now that’s amazing.

―:☺:―

R.L.Burnside on the state of the economy… or the outcome of the election. Take your pick.

“It’s bad you know…” R.L. is bad in his own right. God, but I love the riffs… harp, organ, vocals, you name it… in this tune.

Of Limited Interest

This is the third time I've graced (?) a post with this title and it's coz only about two people besides me will actually CARE about the subject matter which, of course, is hockey.  Today it's an extended interview HNIC did last night with four-time Stanley Cup champion, six-time Norris Trophy winner, Olympics world champion, and Red Wings captain Nick Lidstrom.   

The piece is of obvious interest to Wings fans.  Hockey fans in general will also like it, as Nick and the interviewers go beyond the Wings in the discussion.  Non-hockey fans might be interested, too... if only to contrast the attitude and accessibility of one of our sport's biggest stars with that of athletes in the other major sports.  And to learn what it's like to suffer a ruptured testicle in the Stanley Cup playoffs and then come back to win the Cup after missing ONE game.  There's tough, and then there's TOUGH.

h/t to Kukla's Korner... where you can find a similar interview with Mike Modano.

―:☺:―

One of the things you saw in the interview above... assuming you watched it, of course... is Mr. Lidstrom's incredible modesty and self-assurance.  Not boastful assuredness, just a quiet unassuming confidence that has no need of self-promotion.  His deeds speak for themselves.  Which brings to mind this... my final excerpt from Hitch-22: 

Over the course of the last decade, I have become vividly aware of a literally lethal challenge from the sort of people who deal in absolute certainty and believe themselves to be actuated and justified by a supreme authority. To have spent so long learning so relatively little, and then to be menaced in every aspect of my life by people who already know everything, and who have all the information they need…

More depressing still, to see that in the face of this vicious assault so many of the best lack all conviction, hesitating to defend the society that makes their existence possible, while the worst are full to the brim and boiling over with murderous exaltation. It’s quite a task to combat the absolutists and the relativists at the same time: to maintain that there is no totalitarian solution while also insisting that, yes, we on our side also have unalterable convictions and are willing to fight for them.

After various past allegiances, I have come to believe that Karl Marx was rightest of all when he recommended continual doubt and self-criticism.

To give you the proper context of the quote... Hitch is mainly on about Lefties in politics but none among us are immune from hubris.  Mr. Hitchens is a wise man and it's a pity more people don't take his counsel about doubt and self-criticism, common as it is, seriously.  You can rest assured that anyone who claims to know it all most certainly doesn't.  Insecurity breeds a false sense of superiority; it's always been so. 

What Might Be This Season's Last Hockey Post

Hockey Night In Canada's closing montage after last night's game.  "War, children, is just a shot away!" 



Ooh... hockey and the Stones.  YES!  Well done, HNIC, well done.

H/t: the Usual Hockey Source.

Just a Little Hockey...

I’d like to point out the fact that it’s not “All Wings, all the time” where hockey is concerned at El Casa Móvil De Pennington, just in case you get that impression. Not that it wouldn’t be easy for you to feel that way, Gentle Reader, as all available evidence points in that direction. But no, that’s not the case. At all. I’ve been watching nearly every game during these play-offs. Part of it is because there’s such a dearth of hockey here in rural New Mexico during the regular season, but that’s a small part. The biggest part is because while I’m a Red Wings fan, first and foremost, I’m also a hockey fan.

All that was an intro to discussing last night’s Sabres – Senators game, the second in the Eastern Conference Finals. A great, great game…with a dramatic, double-overtime ending that broke a lot of hearts in Western New York. The Sabres, who were up 2-0 at one point in the game, lost 4-3. What’s worse is Buffalo, the Number One seed in the East and the President’s Trophy winner (in a tie-breaker with the Wings), lost two straight at home and are now down 2-0 in the series, which moves to Ottawa tomorrow night.

But…back to last night. You want drama? How about Buffalo forcing the OT by tying the game with 5.8 seconds left in regulation? It doesn’t get anymore dramatic than that. And it’s the second time during these play-offs the Sabres have accomplished that particular feat, what with winning Game Five in their series with the Rangers in similar fashion…but with seven-point-something seconds left in regulation (I watched that game, too, btw.). So…we go to overtime. The first OT comes and goes, with the Senators generally dominating the period but unable to beat Sabres goalie Ryan Miller…who was every bit as good as he was last year when it looked like Buffalo would go all the way to the Finals. Well, almost that good. Until 4:58 of the second OT when Ottawa’s defenseman Joe Corvo beat Miller cleanly after Jason Spezza won a face-off in Buffalo’s zone. The puck went right to Corvo…who one-timed it toward the net and… that was that. Game Over. The series moves to Ottawa and Buffalo finds themselves in a deep, deep hole. No one is writing off the Sabres just yet, but they sure have their work cut out for them.

So. Excellent game. It doesn’t get a lot better than that. Unless the Wings are involved. (Insert smiley-face here.)

Here’s a tidbit from Kukla’s Korner:

An interesting note from the HNIC (ed: that would be Hockey Night In Canada) folks last night.
If the year ends in ‘7’, only a Canadian team or the Wings have won the Cup.

Hmmm. The way the East is going, it looks like the Sens have a much better than even shot, eh? Or can it be The Fates have spoken and it’s Detroit’s year, again?

By the way: I took this morning’s coffee out of this cup…one of two Stanley Cup Commemorative mugs I have, the other being from the 1998 win. I don’t have a 2002 cup, but I’ll buy a 2007 one later on this year. Ya, I’m that confident. Really.

So…in other news. I’m keeping an eye on the evolving weather picture for next week’s trip to points north and west. It’s a jaundiced eye at this point, because it’s beginning to look like I’ll be doing a bit of riding in the rain. SN1 and I are going to meet in the Fort Collins, CO area next Saturday. The ten-day forecast for P-Town shows showers and T-storms in our future next Thursday and Friday…and the extended week forecast currently running on The WX Channel shows those storms extending north into Colorado. “Extended” forecasts, being what they are, may or may not represent reality. Still…I’m not too comfortable with the possibility, however slight. I hate riding in the rain. It can get ugly and cold, not to mention dangerous. But…it is what it is.

Why go to Colorado, you ask, Gentle Reader? Well…it’s a long story, but I’ll give you the Readers Digest version. SN1 originally proposed Fort Collins as the approximate geographic mid-point between SN1, SN2, and I. SN1 was also trying to float the idea of Sam riding out to Fort Collins and meeting us there…and we’d all go riding, something we’ve never done as a family. Plus there was the extra-added-attraction of SN3 being potentially available, as well, since he lives with Mom in that part of the world. Alas, SN3 will be otherwise occupied on a camping trip to the Black Hills. And, as it turns out, it looks like Sam won’t make it, either, as he may have to go to Dee See to brief some Very Important Stuff to a Very Important General in the Pentagon. It’s still up in the air for Sam, but…life does have a habit of intruding on even the best-laid plans, nu?

At any rate, Buck and I decided we would meet in Colorado, anyway. SN3 will be back from the Black Hills on Sunday, and we just might be able to spend a few hours with him before we leave for SLC on Monday. Unless TSMP reads that Mother’s Day post below. (That was a joke. A bad one, true, but a joke, none the less.)

Success

That would be last evening's Hockey Night In Portales.  All the sticks fell in the proper places, not the least o' which was the good guys WON, even though it took OT and then the dreaded shoot-out before they snatched victory from the jaws o' defeat (the Wings were 0-6 in the shootout goin' into last night's event).

We had a bonus last evening, as well.  The game was on the NHL network, which usually just pisses me right off due to their (the NHL net) general ineptitude.  But last night?  The coverage was from the CBC, which meant we... SN1 and I... got to watch Hockey Night In Canada, an oh-so-rare treat for us hockey fans.  The CBC does hockey like NO other network; they're The Gold Standard.  And they have Don Cherry!

Speakin' o' HNIC... here's the opening montage from last night:



Brilliant... just brilliant.  Boy, Toronto looks COLD, don't it?  Christmasy, too.

Another Great HNIC End-of-Season Tribute

Some of these scenes are painful... unless you're a Bruins fan.  Coz there's only ONE Stanley Cup champion.

Next year, bitchez.  Next year!

Pretty Cool

HNIC's opening montage intro to last night's Leafs-Habs game:

Pretty cool, as I noted in the post title.  But let me say a few things about this...  The Leafs and the Habs have an historic rivalry, to be sure.  But it's not the ONLY rivalry in the league... similar and just as storied rivalries exist between Boston and Montreal, Boston and the Rangers, Chicago and Detroit, the Wings and the Leafs, the list goes on.  And on.  

Whitehorse isn't a unique city, either.  There are many open-air rinks in Michigan, New York, Minnesota, Wisconsin, North Dakota, and all the other northern-tier US states.  And while we're on about North Dakota... there's  college hockey, exemplified by the Fighting Sioux, just to name ONE team... that's alive and well in these United States.  Northern Michigan University, Boston College, Colorado College, Big Blue, the Spartans, and MANY more college hockey programs mean just as much to the game as the NHL or the Canadian Junior League and mebbe more, depending on your point of view.

MY point, when ya get right down to it, is that Canada may have invented the game but they no longer own it.  Hockey belongs to all of us now, and I haven't even mentioned the Swedes, the Russians, the Finns, and all the other countries that play and love the game (scroll down at the link and note the medal winners over the years).  

Yeah, we owe ya, Canada, but back off on all this chauvinistic crap, will ya?  Please?  It's not all that becoming for a nation that prides itself on accomplishment AND humility.