Have I Mentioned Lately Just How Much I Loathe the Flames?

I needed to vent some rage..

Because I do. A lot. Today's 2-1 loss was horrible. The game might have turned out differently if the stupid ref hadn't waived off that goal. I was watching the game while attempting to be productive, but that didn't go too well for me. The Shames are now on top of the division...but we play a string of crappy Southeast teams coming up, so I'm hoping that will help us out. I have no idea who Calgary and Vancouver are playing coming up, but I hope they are good teams.

Mark Parrish scored on a feed from Mikko Koivu, proving why his office is right in front of the net for a reason. The Flames had goals by Conroy and Langkow.

JOE SAKIC IS SUPPOSED TO PLAY TONIGHT! I'm so torn, it's the Oilers, so I want them to win, but I want Sakic to get a goal or something.

Up Next: the Caps...um, I don't really have a lot to say about them except for that we had better win! I must admit, I know they've been fairly decent for them, but I don't much beyond that. Go to A View From the Cheap Seats if you want to actually learn about them.

Oh yeah and Nick Schultz signed for six more years. Now it's only a decision between Rolston, Bouchard, and Demitra for this offseason.

@#$*&)(!!!

Ugh. I missed most of the Canucks game yesterday, but Elise informed me that I didn't miss much. I watched part of the Chicago game tonight, and I have to say, I'm pretty pissed that we lost to the Blackhawks. We have an excellent record against them, partially helped by the fact that they have really sucked in recent years. This is a much improved version of the Blackhawks, but a 3-0 loss is unacceptable. Especially since goaltending was the one area that I am actually owning this week in fantasy hockey. Step it up! I expect you guys to be better than this! You are leading the division in an extremely tough division, holding onto that lead will require some effort! PLAYOFF HUNT! Do those words mean anything? They had better, because when I get home in May, there will be hell to pay if there is no Wild hockey for me to watch.

Now then, on to happier things.
Congrats to Mark Parrish and his wife on the birth of their daughter!
Did anyone see the Habs game yesterday? It was totally sick. They came back from a five goal deficit to win. That's the largest comeback in all of the Habs' storied history. I was SUPER stoked that I chose to spend a little of my precious bandwidth watching them beat the icky Rangers.
Joe Sakic had his first full practice today! I'm so excited for him to come back.
I got an amazing holiday card in the mail today from my HLOG sister Tracy. It has a GIANT Joe Sakic trading card on the cover and shiny, silver stars. I love it! Thanks, Tracy!

Up Next: Calgary. I really dislike Calgary, but they have a couple of awesome fans in HG and Leanne over at Double d(ion) and Open.Ice. Hits., respectively. We need to beat them! This is one of the teams that is creeping up on us in the standings, and we've had trouble against them all season. Someone needs to be assigned to Iginla...hit, kill! Something, anything.

Mikko Koivu Gets Revenge

Photo Courtesy of the Canadian Press

Clearly MK was taught the phrase "don't get mad, get even". Or maybe he wasn't. I don't know if they say that in Finland. His revenge against the Canucks game in the form of the GWG, and also a rather obnoxious goal celebration. What would have made the night even better is if he had beaten on the Sedins a little more, but I'll take a win. I think this means that Mikko Koivu can officially become my second favorite Wild player. He likes pancakes, revenge, pranks, loud music, seems to be reasonably intelligent, good hockey player, and he's Scandinavian. I hear those Scandinavian types are pretty effing cool.

In addition to the revenge, we had Pierre-Marc Bouchard rocking the taco. He had two goals and two assists to be a +3 overall on the night. Butch has been on fire lately, and last night he notched his 200th point in a Wild uniform, becoming only the second Wild player to do so. Marian Gaborik was the first. Brian Rolston snapped his scoring drought. He hadn't gotten a goal since December 29th. Overall it was a good night. The game was fun to watch, but I am sad that the Vancouver feed didn't show Koivu's celebration as well as the Minnesota one did.

Random notes:

My fantasy team cleaned up last night putting me up 8-0 for the beginning of the week.

It's weird being on the other end of the time spectrum. When I lived at home, I'd always hate West Coast games because they were so late, now I love them because the game isn't on during the dinner hour or when I'm still trying to do things.

The Wild are now first in the Northwest division. Hopefully a win tonight over Calgary will help us hold onto that title...hint hint, Hockey Gods.

Leafs GM John Ferguson was fired this morning. TSN has lots more on that story, and they will be having a video clip on the press conference later today. We all knew this was coming, it was just a matter of time. According to Cliff Fletcher, the interim GM, Maurice and his assistant coache's jobs are all all safe for the remainder of the season. The search for a new GM is on.

Tonight's matchup: The hated Calgary Flames. Hopefully we can get Burns to steamroll Iginla so he will stop owning the Wild. Game is on at 8 PM CST on FSN looks like.