Introspection

This webpage all the hockey activity that is happening in India:

http://hockeyvolunteer.blogspot.com/

The ice hockey program there is on the shoulders of Adam Sherlip who is taking  hockey to distant and remote parts of India.

I am very optimistic about the growth of hockey in India. I think this sport has a huge market in India and its only a matter of taking it to the masses. I think there is a huge market for hockey there and this sport will earn huge revenues if it picks up there.

It has taken 20 less games for Cory Clouston to win the same number of games that Craig Hartsburg won in 48. That sums up the senators season. This team would have made the playoff if they had played the entire season like they played under CC. As the season winds down. I am more elated than disappointed at the state of things to come.

Say what one may, Eric Karlsson will play with the senators next season and on top of that if we are able to get a top notch forward in free agency or other means I think we'll be back in business next season. If O'Brien or Weirloch can fill that place for us than we won't have to delve in the expensive free agency. We still need to keep the core intact for this team. Murray, Melnyk or anyone else who will make those decisions should not get driven away by the constant criticism of Heatley and Spezza.

It would be great if Heatley is still able to get to the 40 goal mark this season.
He and his Slovakian Twin have roughly the same number of points thats not too bad for a guy playing on a team not making the playoffs.

And we'll finish ahead of the leaves, how good is that?

The Last one:
First of all, salut to the Toronto maple laffs. They have a good group of players there and an excellent coach. Given the minimum resources they had this season and that they are a more than 10 million away from the salary cap, its just amazing how well they have done. If Burke wants to make the playoffs next year itself by getting a few good players then they will be an extremely competitive team.

The two goals that the sens got were just fortunate chances unlike the laffs goals which were all excellent plays. It looked like they gave away the goals on purpose. Leaves seemed eager to get a few goals in early and after that for some reason they eased their foot of the accelerator wilfully. I think this is the reason why they have defeated several top teams this year and then lost against bad teams. And if it is not any clearer I would like to say that they have thrown away games this year just to be able to stay in the running for a high draft pick. And then once again they got a goal early in the 3rd period.

Here is a thought that makes me twist and turn in my sleep: What if Bowmeester signs with the laffs? They have more than enough money to throw at him and Burke likes to go after players like him. Also, I think there is a good chance pronger might end up there too. Bowmeester, Pronger, Schenn, Gustavsson, Toskala DAMN!

Hopefully, Murray will get things done in the off season for us too.

I hate to say this but for the sake of the few true fans they have best of luck to the ego centric Canadiens for the playoff. They didn't finish at 7th as I thought they would, but hey atleast they made it.

A thought:

In order for a team to qualify for the playoffs it has to have atleast a .500 record after adding the Regular time losses and over time losses.

For sens this win-loss record is: 34-44
Sabres: 38-40
Panthers: 38-40
Rangers on 8th spot: 40-39

Apply this on the Western conference and it seems to be that only the 8th place spot is open there as the ducks are 41-39. So they need to win only 1 out of the remaining 3 games to qualify for the playoffs. While to get the 8th place either the predators or the blues will have to win 2 out of 3 remaining games.

2)


I think this applies to last year's standings but not the one before that because it depends on how poorly do the bottom dwellers do.

In 06-07 the B D's really sucked (especially in the western conference) so the number of points required to make the playoffs were higher. This year a larger number of teams were in the running for a longer time so the .500 rule applies.

Boy o Boy. This has to be sweetest win of the season. How wonderful it would be when the habbies don't make the playoffs because of 1 or 2 points.

.500 again. The third consecutive comeback victory. This definitely beats the fact that the leaves lost today. And yes, it is a 3 game streak!!! I am beginning to lose count of the streaks now. Also, it is easier to beathe when your team has no longer scored the fewest number of goals in the nhl. These teams that we have defeated were looking for a playoff spot and not teams who want to lose and get a draft pick.

I think Spezza's play has improved since he got more time with the Heatley and Alfredsson. This marriage was made in heaven so I don't know why so many coaches have tried to tinker with it. We just need better players to get secondary scoring not destroy the already existing chemistry.

Looks like Kuba will get career high points after all good choice by him in sticking with the senators and vice-versa. Now we only need to start playing better on road.Wow, If we had only played like for the majority of the season we would have been somewhere at the top of the standings. A 5-4 comeback victory against the Canadiens who are barely holding on to their playoffs spot.

Montreal fans are getting squeamish over their teams stanley cup hopes. Patience is the word for the Canadiens. There are calls that they can't win the cup with europeans in their roster. And i thought that myth had alreday been dispelled by the Red Wings last year. All you need to disprove the theory of europeans can't win is one and only 1 proof. Its called proof by contradiction looks like those who are saying these same things again don't know much about that.

There are also calls for Price to be benched for the remainder of the season. Once again, he is the only guy on that team who has won consistently at every level he had ever played- which is the mark of a true champion. The person he reminds me most of is Scott Neidermayer.

I feel bad for Gainey he is a good man. Make him the GM of Ottawa next year. What Montreal needs is JFJ.

Or better still merge the Canadiens and Leaves and make JFJ their manager, problem solved!

The habbies wailing and screaming when their priced possession doesn't deliver for a short period. And you wonder why you havn't won the cup in such a long time? Price is a gem, I will trade him for Leclaire anyday. Ofcourse, Halak is playing better than him so let Halak play,

They are saying that Gainey is playing Price because he was drafted by him and he so he is his baby. C'mon its because Price has always delivered under pressure too bad its not working right now and you selfish fools will jump on gainey like a bunch of blood thirsty pirranas. The stupid media sells you these story's in the newspapers so that they can sell the bloody newspapers and they buy both the newspaper and the idea.

The Montreal Canadiens and the Leafs had the chance of being the Manchester United and Real Madrid of Hockey but they have blown it big time because they don't have any patience.

THIS IS WHY I DON'T LIKE MONTREAL CANADIENS AND TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS.

Once again, Send price, koivu and Gainey to Ottawa any day.
The Canadiens won so many cups not because of the magical ability of the french to skate on ice upside down but because they drafted, developed and remained loyal to their players, coaches and managers for years and years.

Also, the western teams are really happy. "West is best" calls are getting pretty loud. They should really not get into that. Not if they want my support during post-season. lol

Ottawa had a 2-1 win against the leaves who had been on a tear against the sens this whole season. Before today they were 3-0-1 against us.

Leafs took an early lead but the sens made a comeback with goals from Alfredsson and Heatley.

The leaves tried everything they could to get back including an illegal stick call by Wilson on spezza's stick. Which turned out to be correct!!! This resulted in a powerplay for the leaves in the last 3 minutes of the game but the senators were able to kill it off. The kill included some really good play from Ruutu in which he dove near blue line to clear the puck and went after it in the leaves zone and got a shot on their empty net goal which had got it if it wasn't for the ankle of one of the leaves players.

What a dud of a trade deadline. Good thing sens made a few moves. I thinking signing of Kuba was a good move. Pmd’s don’t come cheaper than that nowadays. Also, he is going to be paid less than what Mike Commodore is being paid (4.3 mil/year). The best move of the day was the acquisition of Jokinen by Sutter. I really like Jokinen, he has a decent set of skills and he fights for the puck every time. He is a genuine #1 center at a paltry price of 5.250 million.

Kudos to Spezza for fighting Phaneuf the other night. I think Phaneuf went a bit easy on him but then again Spezza gets full marks for trying. And tonight he was yapping at an Oiler. That is the kind of player he needs to be.
 

Vermette got traded for Leclaire and a 2nd round pick. Vermette is the kind of player about whom you can’t really predict anything unless he does it or doesn’t. He had decent speed an ok set of skills and was a very good penalty killer. I liked the price at which he was signed. I think he was similar to Fisher in many respects; only thing really going for Fisher is that he is definitely one of the most physical forwards in the league.


Ottawa won the game against the Oilers tonight. Gagner was the only standout player for the Oilers with 2 goals. As his sophomore season winds down he is getting more relaxed and playing well. He is very good in shorthanded situations. Watch him next season, he will have a 60+ season next year.
 

The only thing that we can salvage from this season is the points for the CASH line and if Fisher and Comrie get back in form and start scoring. If the CASH can finish this season at or more than point/game I think we would have something to smile about. I would really like to see us spoil the playoff aspirations of several teams. In all likelihood we’ll be drafting in the top 10. I wonder what we’ll get. If its some highly touted unknown like Karlsson from last year I would be happy with it.

The Comrie-Campoli deal is looking good 2 games in, now that Comrie got the game winning goal against the Canes in a 4-2 win. Campoli got his 3rd point in 2 games for the sens.

We need Kuba and Comrie to sign for b/w 2-3 million. I believe that Comrie's best days are still in front of him at 28 he is good for at least another 5 years and if he gets 15-20 minutes a game on a Senators roster his point production will pick up.
Also, we should say bye bye to Lee and Smith  before or at the trade deadline for draftpicks, prospects or other players. Even Ruutu is dispensible.

I saw some talk on sportsnet about Neil. I hope he is not being shopped because that would be aweful for the sens. He ranks right up there with Alfredsson when it comes to heart. And ofcourse, Kudos to Alfie to keep playing despite that horrible jaw injury. Most players would sit it out at least for a few games but not Alfie. That is why he is the captain.

Heatley got to the 30 goal mark in a dismal season with today's game. If the good form continues their is no reason why he wouldn't hit the 40 goal mark. 

Sens traded Dean McAmmond to Islanders for Mike Comrie and Campoli today. They are over the salary cap by $522,329 as of now, so Murray will have to do something to fix that too, I believe.

It is an attempt to bring one of the few genuine pmd's that we need in Ottawa. Campoli is signed on for the next year after which he is a RFA while Comrie is a UFA next year. So, maybe he will sign with us for a cheeper price because his numbers havn't been great exactly or we will have a 4 million cap space next season to sign someone else.

Murray wanted Comrie to sign with the sens before and let him go only because he was too expensive. Dean Mcammond wasn't doing much anyway, never had. But yes, the center piece of this deal is Campoli about whom too things remain to be seen. Frist, If indeed he will become a genuine pmd and second, if he will sign with Ottawa if he does become one.

From what I have read so far both Comrie and Campoli are happy with the trade. Apparently, Comrie had told Murray a short time ago that he really was disappointed when he left Ottawa and that He enjoyed it here and he felt that he should have stayed here.

And you know what I like this deal. Who knows what we could get at 29-30th spot in the draft and how long that asset would have to be groomed in the minors. On the other hand Campoli already has several seasons under his belt and can get only better as the pmd for the sens. He will not get any heavier as at 24 he is 190lbs and it is around th.

So, the Islanders have started their yard sale, when will we open our garage doors?

This team has had 12/14 points from the last 7 games. When the game goes in overtime, its really anybody's guess who would win.

Good to see Shannon score 2, it would have been great if he had a hatrick. Worrying stat for me has always been that when the big 3 are missing from the point production this team seldom wins.

Stamkos scored a hattrick against the Hawks and the Lightning still lost.

I miss the old loser Ottawa Senators.

lol just kidding

Sens got a 2-0 shutout against the preds. Missed watching both the goals because I was seeing House on Fox. There is a difference in this team for sure. They are scoring first and able to keep the lead. Since, it is generally accepted that firing a coach does light a fire under a team in the short term. Therefore, the question is, how long can this continue. In any case, their current play has been inspirational to say the least.

Too bad the Pens lost in the shootout today. Atleast, they get one point from the game. Only if start going on 2-3 game streaks from now on will they make the playoffs.

I am in no way, shape or form thinking that the senators can get anywhere this season from their current dismal standing. What we saw in the last 1.5 years was not just a team lacking a correct playing style which the newly installed coach is bringing. Their are serious problems with the senators lineup and they will have to be fixed. Hopefully this years trade deadline would see atleast 1 pmd in Ottawa. God, knows we need more than 1 to get anywhere.

 How about that 3rd test in Antiga, eh? England just killed the windies in the 1st innings. The worst that can come from this test for them is a draw. Also, they got the windies at 1 wicket down already so they have an upper hand already. But, who ever thought that the England would have such a turnaround after a dismal 1st test? 2 centuries and 3 half ones! Too bad Flintoff didn't capitalize and went for a duck.

Next game is today vs. Avalanche. It will be tough game as they have only 24 hours to prepare for a high altitude match.