2013-14 NHL Season: "We Are North American Scum"

[cmm]

Another nice comeback win for the Isles tonight at MSG. They play well as long as they don't have an early third-period lead to blow.

[Kramerica Industries]

If the Islanders are this good, then they probably shouldn't wait for January to start showing it because, jeez, no wonder they made the playoffs when the season only started in January.

[Corvus]

I'm sure I'm wrong, but Kellan Lain certainly looks like the tallest guy to ever play forward for the Canucks.

[The_Admiral]

The last time I saw the Jackets win a game in person was 11 years ago almost to the day. Jan. 20th, 2003 - they beat Chicago 5-1.

I could easily be mistaken because it was 11 years ago but I do believe that was the time Theo Fleury and Tyler Arnason got their asses kicked at a strip club in Columbus.

EDIT:

In the very early morning of January 21, 2003 Arnason was involved in an off-ice incident. Arnason, Phil Housley and Theoren Fleury were leaving the Pure Platinum strip club in Columbus, Ohio when Fleury punched the club's manager in the face. Housley and Arnason had to step in to prevent Fleury from being beaten by the bouncers.[5]

[infrared41]

The last time I saw the Jackets win a game in person was 11 years ago almost to the day. Jan. 20th, 2003 - they beat Chicago 5-1.

I could easily be mistaken because it was 11 years ago but I do believe that was the time Theo Fleury and Tyler Arnason got their asses kicked at a strip club in Columbus.

EDIT:

In the very early morning of January 21, 2003 Arnason was involved in an off-ice incident. Arnason, Phil Housley and Theoren Fleury were leaving the Pure Platinum strip club in Columbus, Ohio when Fleury punched the club's manager in the face. Housley and Arnason had to step in to prevent Fleury from being beaten by the bouncers.[5]

Now that, folks, is how a memory for details works. Kramerica's got nothing on you, Admiral. How in the world do you remember something like that? It's not surprising that you remember the incident, but that you remember the date is impressive as all hell.

What I remember from that game is: I went with a buddy of mine who almost never stops talking - his incessant babbling made it difficult to follow the game. His kids had bought him hockey tickets for Christmas and I was the only hockey fan he knew. I knew full well what I was in for, but it was a free trip to see NHL hockey so it was worth it. Of the five they scored that night, one of the Blue Jackets goals was an absolute work of art. And...I remember thinking how silly the Blue Jackets sweaters looked in comparison to the Black Hawks.

[dbadefense1990]

So 5-3 Jackets today. Here's to the Kings fighting with Vancouver (and even the stupid Coyotes if not careful) to avoid the God-damned, dreaded wildcard pool, and a 1st round date with either Anaheim or Chicago.

{grinds teeth in frustration}

[Kramerica Industries]

Now that, folks, is how a memory for details works. Kramerica's got nothing on you, Admiral.

Challenge Accepted

[infrared41]

Now that, folks, is how a memory for details works. Kramerica's got nothing on you, Admiral.

Challenge Accepted

You're pretty good, but after seeing what he did with that Blue Jackets game, my money is on the Admiral.

[Still MIGHTY]

Holy Christ, this Ducks/Jets games is one of the most frustrating things I've ever seen.

[The_Admiral]

Well, Fleury's career (and Chicago's season) was basically ended by getting his ass kicked in Columbus, not an incident one soon forgets given the stature of the player in question. Figure they made two or three trips to Columbus a year under that scheduling system, it probably would've been around the middle of the year that everything went bad, and I had a pretty good shot at it. It's less pure memory and more just having enough dots to connect.

That was the first full season that I really followed the Blackhawks in earnest. Whoops!

ANOTHER EDIT: checking h-r, yup, it wasn't long after the Fleury incident that the Hawks dropped 12 of 13, going from 59 points in 55 games to 63 in 68. Ah, the Arnason-Bell-Calder line, quite possibly the Hall-RNH-Eberle of its time.

[monkeypower]

It was fun while it lasted, but why did it have to be the Jets? My teacher's going to make fun of me now.

So are the Ducks 20 of 22 now or have they lost two of the last three?

[Still MIGHTY]

So the Ducks finally lose one at home in regulation... 20-1-2.

The Ducks had 42 shots. Winnipeg blocked 36 shots. That's 78 total, not to mention the amount of shots the Ducks just plain old missed. While Winnipeg, only 21 shots on goal plus only the 4 the Ducks blocked. It was a game the Ducks pretty much dominated everywhere except the goals column. 42 shots to 36 blocked shots... that's insane.

It was just "one of those games", and frankly it's amazing that it took this long for one of those to happen, but as it does all over hockey, these nights just kinda happen. Hiller had an off night, letting in two softies over the glove. Ducks had one full defensive lapse on the 2nd Jets goal, and like I said earlier, the rest of game was just pure frustration. (As evidenced after the game when Corey Perry being Corey Perry shot the puck into the Jets net after a offsides with 2 seconds left to ignite a little skirmish.) Ultimately, the Ducks just couldn't overcome it.

Ducks/Kings in Anaheim on Thursday. Ducks/Kings in Dodger Stadium on Saturday. Perfect opportunities to get that frustration out.

[Kramerica Industries]

I'm going to totally spitball in the name of exhausting my memory, but I'm going to use that same timeframe, the middle of January 2003. Hmm, lets see...

I remember the Lightning played the Flyers on 1/18, and that must have been on a Saturday afternoon because there was definitely no school that day and lets say that I had done something I shouldn't have and was thus confined to my room (11 years ago, damn, I was still a child back then!) and had to listen to the game on the radio. An old favorite player was the Flyers netminder back then (Roman Cechmanek) and the Flyers won that game 3-2. This was back in a time when the Lightning NEVER, EVER won in Philadelphia. In many ways, that game actually spelled the end of that dominance, which I will actually touch on at the end of this post (albeit, with a little bit of a cheat involved, admittedly; blame Sun Sports, not me).

I'm pretty certain they played the Dallas Stars and Nashville Predators at some point right there after that, and I'm pretty certain it was in that order, both games on the road. The Nashville game was exactly one week after the Philadelphia game, and it was the night before the Bucs played the Raiders in Super Bowl XXXVII; I can recall Lightning radio play-by-play man Dave Mishkin (that's the screaming dude) wishing the Bucs good luck the next night as he was doing his postgame recap. Damn, when I was younger and confined to a room without a TV because me older brothers had priority, I would listen to the Lightning on the radio all the time, and Mishkin, who I'm pretty certain was in his first season behind the mic for the Lightning (and is still there to this day) became a hero of sorts for me. He would end every single telecast saying "we wish you fond farewell and a very good evening from [insert venue] in [insert city, state]. Once again the Lightning [won/lost] to [opponent] by the score of [score]. Good night everyone". Hmm. I wonder if he still does that. Lightning games aren't broadcast on 620 WDAE anymore, so I'd have to actually seek out the station where they are broadcast now.

Oh, speaking of that Stars game very, very briefly, I want to say the Lightning won that game, Ron Tugnutt was the Dallas starting goaltender, and Martin St. Louis scored a short-handed goal in that game. Yes, when it comes to Martin St. Louis, I'm going to type out the phrase "short-handed goal".

And lastly, to tie this full circle, the Lightning actually returned to Philadelphia on 1/28, ten days after their previous trip. Remember how I speak about cheating with this one? That's because, apparently to the bright minds at Sun Sports, John Grahame turning in a shutout performance in a 3-0 Lightning victory, their first win in Philadelphia in their last 13 games, qualifies as a "great moment in Lightning history". Hey, I can't disagree; the Lightning have sucked giant turds for the vast majority of their history. That 2002-03 season was only their second playoff season and they had been in the league for 11 seasons by that point. And I speak of the two Philadelphia games being turning points in the Lightning's history? The previous game was that 13th straight non-win in Philadelphia. They won this game on 1/28, and since I definitely remember them winning both games in Philadelphia the following season (regular season games, not the ECF games), they began a relative run of dominance of the First Union Center Wachovia Center Wells Fargo Center that began on that date, nearly 11 years ago.

--

Any one of you can look up to see whether any of the information from those first three games (Philly, Dallas, and Nashville) is accurate. I pretty much wrote this post in a "writing exactly what I'm thinking" stream of conscious manner. It's always kind of cool to me, for no reason at all, to show just how the inner machinations of my mind work (and whether it really is an enigma or not).

[The_Admiral]

Mishkin . . . became a hero of sorts for me.

the :censored:'s wrong with you

[ninersdd]

I don't really want to remember the wretched 02/03 for the Sharks. I remember what really dashed their playoff hopes was a 1-6 roadtrip in February with the only win over the aforementioned wretched Blackhawks.

Also checking hockey reference on that season, it showed results like MDA-SJS. I didn't know what the hell that was until it said Mighty Ducks of Anaheim. Yeah, I forgot they went by that.

[Kramerica Industries]

Mishkin . . . became a hero of sorts for me.

the :censored:'s wrong with you

dude, do you really want me to go in depth about that as well?

[Still MIGHTY]

Never post stream-of-conscious.... ever again...

[infrared41]

No offense, Kramerica, but that huge post was entirely unnecessary. What I said about the Admiral wasn't meant to challenge you. And I'm pretty sure no one cares who's better at recalling...well...whatever it is you were trying to prove with that. Relax, dude. We get it, you have a good memory. When it comes to the NHL though, Admiral is still way smarter than you.

Also...

It's always kind of cool to me, for no reason at all, to show just how the inner machinations of my mind work (and whether it really is an enigma or not).

Yeah, but not so cool for us.

[infrared41]

Never post stream-of-conscious.... ever again...

Now you know what I mean. (Inside BASS/BAFS reference)

[Kramerica Industries]

No offense taken, of course. When it comes to hockey, Admiral skates circles around me. He does most of us. That's what makes him the Admiral.

In any case, that wasn't *actually* me taking that as a challenge. I was just having fun poking around with the useless accumulation of junk in my mind. It's one of the more strangely relaxing things I can do. No need to worry - it's all in good fun from this side.

I think that's also my first really "lengthy" post in a while, so, eh, cut some slack, will ya?