Mo-Vember is over, bring on Mo-Cember!

One of the finest Stache's EVER!

With the win tonight the Flames finished the month of November with a 4-7-2 record – a far cry from last year’s 10-2-2 domination over the month of Moustaches.


For his part, Jarome Iginla continued his November tirade scoring eight goals and adding five assists in 13 games. Not only did he score more, but Iginla began asserting himself more in the play. He was the Iggy of old and it really couldn’t have come at a better time.

Funny enough, Alex Tanguay had 13 points (2G 11A) as well in the 13 games in November. This has been a definite bright spot for the Flames this year as Tanguay and Iginla actually have chemistry – which has been hard to come by recently.

Arena #17 - Consol Energy Center

My mission is to see the Flames play in all 30 NHL arenas, a mission that began in October of 2005 while at a local pub watching the Flames take on the Oilers. With the previous season’s work stoppage, and the season before’s run to the Stanley Cup Finals, Flames tickets had become a very hard item to come by. I was then struck with the idea of combining two of my favourite activities; watching hockey and travelling. You can follow my quest to visit all 30 arenas right here…


November 27, 2010 – Pittsburgh, PA



Consol Energy Center in Pittsburgh, PA

 After visiting New York and Philadelphia, Pittsburgh seems quite docile.  There doesn't seem to be any energy or any character, and fans don't yell things at opposing fans or players, or at vendors, or at passing cars.  The people of Pittsburgh seem to be more like, well, Canadians.  With their timidness, there wasn't a lot of anxiety walking into the Consol Energy Center on Saturday afternoon.

Pittsburgh is home to the NHL's newest arena, with the Flames being the opponent in only the 13th game there.  Tickets had been hard to find leading up to the game, so much so that we didn't have any yet when we arrived in Pittsburgh following the Flyers game on Friday.  In the morning before the game, tickets started to become available on the Penguins' website, but wouldn't accept my credit card because I don't have a ZIP code!  Furious, and worried we wouldn't be able to see the game, we raced to the arena to check the box office.  The same tickets I had seen on-line were available, so we weren't going to be watching from the pub across the street.

Flames return from road trip un-changed

Here are some numbers from the five game road-trip the Flames just came back from:


A record of 1-2-2.

Outscored 14-9.

Average of 2.8 goals against per game.

Average of 1.8 goals for per game.

Outshot 161-146.

1 for 15 on the PP or 6.67% completion, including going 0 for 12 in the final four games.

16 for 21 on the PK or 76.19% efficiency

1 -1 in shootouts

Only one blown lead – to blow a lead, you must first have a lead and those were few and far between.

1-2-1 against the Atlantic division.

Injuries: Stajan (2 games), Regehr (1 game). Both returned before the trip was done.

Arena #16 - Wells Fargo Center

My mission is to see the Flames play in all 30 NHL arenas, a mission that began in October of 2005 while at a local pub watching the Flames take on the Oilers. With the previous season’s work stoppage, and the season before’s run to the Stanley Cup Finals, Flames tickets had become a very hard item to come by. I was then struck with the idea of combining two of my favourite activities; watching hockey and travelling. You can follow my quest to visit all 30 arenas right here…

Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, PA

November 26, 2010 – Philadelphia, PA

Philadelphia was an interesting experience, but not at all what I was expecting.  After hearing all the stories, I have to admit, I was ready to have things thrown at me as I walked the concourse, but instead, all I heard throughout the entire game was two "you sucks", one "Iginla sucks" and one "Canada sucks."  It seems that like New Jersey fans, 'sucks' is a big word.  Like at the Devils game, the fans yelled 'sucks!' after each name was read for the Flames starting line up, and the refs were told they suck and, well, you get the idea.

Flames finally win, thanks to Pronger acting like Avery

The Flames beat the best the league had to offer, or at least the best in terms of points coming into today, downing the Philadelphia Flyers 3-2 in a shootout.


The win didn’t come without its share of controversy as the Flyers had an apparent winning goal disallowed in overtime due to Chris Pronger doing his best impersoation of Sean Avery. With the Flyers on a power play with less than two minutes to play in the extra frame, the Flyers Captain Mike Richards appeared to have ended the game with Pronger screening in front. However, the ref waved the goal off immediately and sent Pronger to sin bin for two minutes. Not for goaltender interference, but for acting in an unsportsmanlike manner by waving his hand in front of Miikka Kiprusoff’s face in an attempt to flap the seemingly un-flappable goaltender.

Arena #15 - Prudential Center

My mission is to see the Flames play in all 30 NHL arenas, a mission that began in October of 2005 while at a local pub watching the Flames take on the Oilers. With the previous season’s work stoppage, and the season before’s run to the Stanley Cup Finals, Flames tickets had become a very hard item to come by. I was then struck with the idea of combining two of my favourite activities; watching hockey and travelling. You can follow my quest to visit all 30 arenas right here…


November 24, 2010 – Newark, NJ

I'm now at the halfway point in my mission to see the Flames play at all 30 arenas, after seeing the Flames play the Devils at the Prudential Center in downtown Newark, New Jersey.  Unfortunately, for Calgary, the game was yet another loss, although this time in a shootout.

Road Trip XV - Arena #12.2 - MSG

November 22, 2010 - New York, NY

The World's Most Famous Arena:
Madison Square Garden  circa 2004

 What can I say about last night's game?  Truth be told, I missed most of it.  We left Kingston a little before ten in the morning, but apparently that wasn't early enough to get to a Rangers game on time.  Naturally, I have a long list of excuses, which pretty much absolves me of any responsibility for missing the first 37 minutes of game time.

First off, it rained for a good portion of the drive.  And not like a little drizzle that makes golfers pull out their umbrellas, but a hard, steady rain like the one the Bishop Pickering played through in 'Caddyshack.'  Needless to say, I found myself yelling rat farts more than once, while shaking my fists at the heavens.  We then found ourselves tangled up in New York's rush hour traffic.  The roads are packed in every conceivable direction, making progress nearly impossible.  The last 100km of our trip took almost as long as the first 700km.  Throw a missed exit into the mix and you find yourself in a Clifton, NJ grocery store asking customers how to get to Newark.  As an aside, it seems the people of New Jersey aren't very familiar with their state's largest city, as most times I asked for any directions, I was given a blank stare like they had never heard of it.

Flames continue slide

Photo Courtesy: calgaryherald.com

The Calgary Flames lost 2-1 to the New York Rangers tonight.


The Flames had their chances to tie the game, but were stymied by the post, Martin Biron’s pads/glove, or a combination of both.

This is an all too familiar tale.

So what else can I say that hasn’t be said already. Nothing really, and so instead I will look at some individual efforts that have stuck out recently – both good and bad.

Iggy Ignites, but Flames lose late

From satisfaction to utter shock.


What just happened? Did that just happen? Did I just witness that?

Surely, some of the many responses from shocked Flames fans after they blew a late two goal lead in Detroit to lose 5-4 to the Red Wings.

But really, they didn’t do the things necessary to win the game. They took too many bad penalties (see Stajan tackling Filppula near the end of the game) and when they were HANDED an opportunity to close the game out, they decided to take the conservative route instead.

Let me explain.

Road Trip XV

The Rev is heading out on another Flames Road Trip.  This time, our travels take us to the East Coast, with plans to see the Flames play the Rangers, Devils, Flyers and Penguins.  I say plans, as I currently don't have tickets to the Penguins game.

Penguin tickets have been a little harder to come by than I had originally thought.  It seems that when you have a young exciting team, people enjoy watching you.  But, I think the biggest reason is the new arena.  This will only be the 13th game ever played at the CONSOL Energy Center.  I'll keep searching, and if worst comes to worst, buy something off a scalper outside the arena.  By the by, if anybody has any connections in Pittsburgh, I'd be very grateful!

Whilst on the road, I'll be updating the progress of the trip, so if you'd like to follow along, you can do so in a a variety of ways:

1. On TSR @ the Flames Road Trips page

2. Updates on

3. Progress on The Map

4. Photos on Flickr

Now the only hope is the Flames play like they did against the Hawks on Friday, and less like they played against...most of their other opponents this year.

-TheRev

twitter.com/TheRevBW

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Olli gets 3 games for crosscheck

Olli Jokinen was suspended three games for cross checking Wojtek Wolski in the face last night during the third period of the Flames 3-1 loss to the Phoenix Coyotes.

He is able to return to action next Wednesday against the New Jersey Devils.

This is kind of expected given how harsh the crosscheck was. I thought is was a little too much, and maybe 1-2 games was more appropriate. Having said that, it was an extremely dumb penalty to take and pretty much sank the Flames chances last night. Olli isn't making it easier for himself or the Flames by doing that.

What does this mean for the team? Well it will allow someone (Backlund hopefully) to get a chance for more ice time get a chance to produce on a more consistent level.

The Flames are in trouble regardless. This upcoming string of games (Chicago, Detroit, NYR, Devils, Flyers, Pens) could all but sink this team and cue the official rebuilding process.

Times are a changing.


Newman
twitter.com/TSRNewman 
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Source: http://tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=341753

The trade that didn't change anything

I’m baaaaaaaack!!!!

After spending a week talking about whether Man U could really win the premiership this year or whether the England victory over Australia will really shake the foundation of the rugby world, I am back in North America to talk about the sport we all know and love: ice hockey (or at least that’s what everyone kept calling it over in jolly old England).

Every time I mentioned hockey some guy would say, “Oh yeah, I just came from the pitch from a great hockey game.” And I would respond, “Field hockey?” and he would say, “Yeah, what in the bloody hell are you talking about?”

Well, it’s time to talk some ice hockey. I’m tired of waiting in this damn queue.

Stamps vs. Riders IV

Well, I guess this is what was supposed to happen; the Stampeders and Roughriders will face each other in the Western Conference final, after the men in green beat the Lions on the weekend in double overtime. As a Stamps fan, I would have rather seen the Lions come to Calgary, but for the sake of atmosphere and excitement, it’s better the Riders are here. There isn’t a more intense rivalry in the league.

At first glance, I’d have put my money on the Stampeders winning this game, and advancing to the annual “West vs. Montreal” game, aka the Grey Cup. But I should of course look at the match up a little closer before I fill out any Sports Select tickets.

Crime in Detroit? Shhhh.....

Did you happen to read the Edmonton Sun on Wednesday? I didn’t either, but I did hear about an article written ahead of Edmonton’s game against the Detroit Red Wings. Robert Tychkowski, staff writer for the Sun, opened his article with, “Welcome to Detroit, where the forecast, as always, is muggy, with a chance of murder. When you’re trying to breathe a little life back into your year, this is not the place to visit. And not just because they use more white chalk at crime scenes than they ever did in the schools.”


Brilliant. Of course not everybody saw it this way, especially those from Detroit. The outcry has been loud, aggressive, and well, ill informed. Some have called for him to be fired, while one commenter even said he “…should be careful if he ever returns to Detroit, as that chalk will be for (him).”

What the hell has happened to society? Can people not put anything into perspective anymore? To begin, there are a lot of murders in Detroit. In fact, there are almost as many murders each year in Detroit as in all of Canada. So this means people are pissed off because this writer was…telling the truth. Maybe people think that if no one ever says it, it won’t be true. I suppose that strategy is cheaper than social programs or police, but I still have doubts about its’ effectiveness.

I try to avoid reading the comments of any newspaper article, as I’m worried I’ll pop a blood vessel or break something. But the comments on this article were too much to resist. Let’s see, there’s “…you try backing yourself up by saying something is ‘statistically accurate?? So pathetic.” This guy doesn’t have a problem with the comment it seems, but with the fact that it is backed up with ‘statistics.’ Another suggested he should have “…molten glass poured down (his) rectum.” Not sure where that came from, perhaps he just got back from the middle ages.

When I was last in Detroit for a hockey game, in April of 2007, across from my hotel, sat a thirty storey building that had been abandoned. The bottom floor was boarded up, and the other twenty-nine floors didn’t have any windows. Somebody had simply dusted their hands off, threw the keys into the lobby and walked away, washing their hands of an entire skyscraper. This wasn’t the only one either, as the downtown area was filled with abandon buildings. Tiger Stadium, which last hosted a baseball game in 1999 was still standing. The Packard plant, a giant factory complex was still standing even though Packard went out of business in 1956. But, when I was walking away from the arena in my Flames jersey, somebody yelled at me, saying, “…your city’s a dump!” How ironic I thought.

But besides the laissez-fair attitude towards their buildings, there is a lot of crime. The fact that this writer pointed that out, in jest, shouldn’t be a problem. While Detroiters preach their freedoms, including their right to carry a gun, which results in their extremely high murder rate, they obviously don’t include the freedom of speech. Perhaps if their energies were directed at the sources of their crime, instead of people talking about their crime, they could kill (pun intended) two birds with one stone. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to watch my new favourite show, Detroit 187, which I can only assume never mentions murder or crime.

-TheRev




twitter.com/TheRevBW
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Guest Columnist: Flames down Avs

Newman is on hiatus for a little while, so I'll be trying to fill the daily negative, I mean reality-check based, Flames' blogs that he is so aptly known for.
Last night the Flames gave up the first goal of the game for the first time in as long as I can remember. Maybe we should get back into the Delorean and get it up to 88 mph ... nope, I'll just use the internet. It was on October 16th against the Edmonton Oilers. Damn. That was almost a month ago; at the very least it was a span of 9 games. What does that mean? Who knows. The Flames are an enigma, wrapped in a riddle, rolled in a slice of bacon right now. There was no way I (or most Flames fans) thought they could turn it around and win after Christ Stewart scored less than two minutes into the third period. But they did.
Credit to B Sutter for changing up his lines and uniting David Moss, Mikael Backlund, and Niklas Hagman together though. That was very Keenan-esque of him, seeing as despite moving Morrison from wing to center and then back to wing, and dropping Jokinen off of the first line (after forcing that combination for an eternity) are the only real line changes he's made all year (edit: I just realized that we're only a handful of games into the season and not an "eternity"; so, why is everyone getting on Iginla already again?).

Round and round we go

Do you remember the scene from National Lampoon’s European Vacation when the Griswold’s enter a traffic circle and then gets stuck in it and goes around and around and around and around, unable to break through and drive in another direction?


Well, the Calgary Flames are the Griswold’s and are stuck in said traffic circle.

With every gut-wrenching 2-1 loss, with every failed power play, with every game where the players say, “We had a really good first period, and then kind of let up.” The same trivial excuses day in and day out: The players haven’t bought in; they weren’t battling hard enough; the power play can’t find ways to score.

It’s a tad monotonous isn’t it?

Remember, remember, the month of November

“In view, a humble vaudevillian veteran, cast vicariously as both victim and villain by the vicissitudes of Fate.”

Is that Jarome Iginla? Well, it’s entirely possible.

A man who is both chastised for what he doesn’t do, but loved for what he does. It’s a fascinating situation to be in and now that November is upon us it is historically Jarome’s, and the Calgary Flames time to shine.

Let me explain.

The Weekly Roundup - November 1, 2010

This past week has been an interesting one in the world of the Calgary Flames. It has been a week of blown chances, missed opportunities, and horrendous defence.

The Flames went 1-2 over the seven day span beating Edmonton, and then subsequently losing to Colorado and Washington. They blew a 4-1 lead to the Oilers, only to salvage the win in a shootout. They blew a 3-1 lead to the Avs – eventually falling 6-5. They jumped out to a 2-0 lead on Washington, before allowing an avalanche (seven) of goals in the next 25 minutes of action. These are not exactly defining characteristics of mentally strong, defensive minded hockey teams – something Calgary was supposedly thought to be.