You Can't Handle the Stupid: Stanley Cup Finals Prediction

as you may (or may not) know, I wrote a rather glowing piece on the Toronto Maple Leafs last weekend.

That will go a long way to explaining why I'm picking them to win the Prince of Whales Trophy as the Eastern Conference Champs in the playoffs.  The other reason is... um... well... I have no idea.  Just a feeling.

But, their opponent in the Final?  None other than the CALGARY FLAMES!!!!!!! Just kidding (though I'd love it if that happened).  My pick for the Western Conference Champion is the San Jose Sharks, which explains why Ryane Clowe is with Kessel on that picture up there.  Why Ryane Clowe?  Only because he has the awesomest name ever!

Since I've already shared my forty cents on the Leafs, it's the Sharks' turn to be in the spotlight.  Yay.

I've been raving about how good the Sharks look ever since they exchanged (only current roster players are considered, which is why these exchanges look so bad for the Wild) Dany Heatley, Devin Setoguchi, and... that's it, for Brent Burns, Martin Havlat, and James Sheppard (who?).  In that flurry of trades, the Sharks upgraded the only two things they needed upgrades in: Defense and Speed.  The Wild got some considerable firepower, which is something they really lacked, but beyond that... their defense looks downright terrible now.
Martin Havlat may not quite have the offensive prowess of Dany Heatley (at least not the goalscoring aspect, though you wouldn't know from last season) but, unlike Heater, Havlat is quite good defensively.  He also happens to be one of the finer skaters in the league, whereas Heatley... isn't.
Though the Sharks already possessed one of the deeper groups of defensemen in the league, they added a considerable amount to the high-end in Brent Burns.  When a player like Burns is your second best dman... that's a good position to be in.  I'm sure Dan Boyle appreciated the move, since he was, quite literally, doing it all for this team last season.  He saw the toughest competition, the most powerplay time, a lot of penalty kill time, AND put up 50 points.  Not bad for a 35 year old.  Somehow, he's one of the most underrated defensemen in the NHL.  I'm not sure how that happened.  It's always the guys like Boyle and Mark Streit... ahem, anyway.  When your supporting cast looks like Douglas Murray, Marc-Edouard Vlasic, Jason Demers, Colin White, Jim Vandermeer, and Justin Braun... well, let's just say GM Doug Wilson knows what he's doing.

I've said this many times, (but never here) but the Sharks also have probably the best top 6 forward group in the league (yes, that includes Vancouver).  Last season, Joe Thornton, Patrick Marleau, Joe Pavelski, Ryane Clowe, and Dany Heatley all put up more than 62 points.  It's worth noting that Havlat did too.  Rookie Logan Couture wasn't too far off with 56, including 32 goals.  That's 6 players with 1st line production.  6.  2 lines worth of 1st line forwards.  Pretty good, if I do say so myself.  It's worth noting that several (Couture, Pavelski, Clowe, Havlat) are also worthy hard-minutes players.

Goaltending isn't exactly their strong-suit, but Antti Niemi is about as consistent as they come.  He's one of those guys who just never seems to have a bad game, and most of the time he looks like an, at worst, average starter.

So, to conclude with the prediction:
WEST CHAMP: San Jose
Strengths: beyond elite top 6 forwards; stupefying defensive depth; good mix of defensively responsible forwards, and Power/Power capability on the top line.
Weaknesses: they're still not a fast team; goaltending isn't the best; bottom 6 forwards are dangerously close to fringe outside Michal Handzus and perhaps Torrey Mitchell.

EAST CHAMP: Toronto
Strengths: talented and diverse defense; team speed; Kessel is a natural goalscorer, and can be a gamebreaker when he feels like it; goaltending with Reimer is solid.
Weaknesses: they've been riding some cushy percentages to this point in the season; short on defensive injury replacements; hard minutes forwards.

THE VICTOR: San Jose, 6 games, 1st championship.
Series Breakdown:

Toronto wins game 1 in overtime (2-1).  Shockingly, it's Colton Orr with the goal (he also sunk the Flyers in game 7 of the Eastern final).  Kessel and Couture with regulation goals.  Orr could have gotten a Gordie Howe Hat-Trick if the hockey gods had been willing, as he tried to goad Ryane Clowe into a fight numerous times over the course of the game.  He also nearly got an assist on a scoring chance for Mike Brown in the 3rd period.

San Jose dominates game 2... but still loses.  James Reimer makes 40 saves for the shutout.  Clarke MacArthur gets the goal in the 1st period after some great work by Mikhail Grabovsky off the rush.  The Leafs were very lucky on this one, as a Grabovsky pass went off the heel of Nikolai Kulemin's stick, off the skate of a back-checking Joe Pavelski, and straight onto MacArthur's stick.  His seeing-eye shot eludes Niemi, flying right under his blocker after somehow finding a way though colossal defenseman Douglas Murray.

The Sharks pick up where they left off, dominating possession.  This time, they're rewarded, and come away with an easy 7-0 victory.  Niemi is solid when he actually faces the puck, but is only forced to make 18 saves.  Thornton with a hat-trick, Havlat with 4 points (2-2-4), Clowe scores game-winning goal (1-3-4), and Torrey Mitchell pots an empty netter.

Game 4 goes to the Sharks in a much closer contest, winning 3-2 to tie the series.  Logan Couture's 2nd of the series at 19:57 of the 3rd period keeps the game from going to overtime.  Other goals (all in 1st period, and all on PP) to defensemen Dion Phaneuf, Jake Gardiner, Dan Boyle, and Marc-Edouard Vlasic.

The Sharks take their 3rd straight win in dramatic fashion, as the score remains deadlocked at 0-0 going into overtime.  John-Michael Liles almost wins it, but his shot rings off the post right onto the stick of Brent Burns. He finds fellow former Wild Martin Havlat at the opposing blueline, and a tipped pass eludes Mike Komisarek and goes straight to Ryane Clowe, who roofs it behind James Reimer for the win.

Game 6 goes to the Sharks, of course.  The game is a goaltender's duel, going into triple overtime deadlocked at 2-2 on goals by John-Michael Liles (2), Patrick Marleau, and Joe Pavelski.  Toronto(and Wild) fans groan when the game finally ends, as Dion Phaneuf's stick explodes on an attempted one-timer, and Martin Havlat jumps on the loose puck.  The Sharks go 3 on 1 the other way, and a pretty passing play between Havlat and Joe Thornton undresses the one defenseman back (Carl Gunnarsson) and results in a final pass to Brent Burns sneaking in on the back door.  His five-hole shot eludes Reimer, and the Sharks win Lord Stanley's mug.

Joe Thornton hoists the Conn Smythe Trophy.

* I don't actually think the series will go exactly like I say.  That would be crazy though.

Kill the Messenger: The Mighty Leafs?

It seems like every time I watch the Toronto Maple Leafs this year, I'm marveling at how good they are.  Even as I write this sentence, I'm witnessing Dion Phaneuf murder the Pittsburgh Penguins on a high-tempo shift, which leads to a top-shelf goal for Clarke MacArthur.  Every game I catch, the Leafs' once laughable power play goes off like clockwork, often leading to a textbook offensive play resulting in a goal.  Brian Burke has seemingly finally managed to put together the team he wanted, a team which consistently out-works its opposition, and gains scoring chances through puck possession and smart decisions.  I know this team had a good start last season too, but I think this may actually be the year they return to the playoffs.  Why?  What makes this team any different from the rest of the various incarnations of Leafs teams which have repeatedly missed the playoffs since the lockout?

THE FORWARDS

For the first time in years, the Leafs have managed to put together an attractive group of quality forwards.  The biggest change is up the middle, which in years past has been a huge weakness for the team (last season, they had Tyler Bozak slotted in the top 6.  Laughable).  When your top 3 centers are Mikhail Grabovski, Tim Connolly, and Matt Lombardi, you're in pretty good shape, provided they're all healthy and producing, as they are all capable of 50+ points.  Of course, Lombardi has been playing wing of late, in order to have Bozak in the top 9.  I don't mind Bozak as a 3rd line center.  David Steckel as a 4th liner is nothing to sneeze at either, as he is a quality player who wins draws and plays lights-out defense.
Phil Kessel has been a machine lately, putting up some pretty ridiculous offensive numbers (9-7-16 +5 in 9).  As I'm writing, he just made that 10 goals in 10 games.  Holding a goal-per-game rate over that many games is pretty impressive, especially for a player like Kessel who is a model of inconsistency.
Mikhail Grabovski has taken heat in years past for being a lazy player who produces inconsistently.  Now, he is a reliable 2-way center who is responsible defensively and drives possession for his line.  So maybe he's not Sidney Crosby (lol) but when he has a supporting cast like he does, he's a desirable player.

THE DEFENSE

I don't know how long it's been, but the Leafs finally have a decent-looking defense corps.  And that's not just because a lack of depth no longer gives the illusion that Keith Aulie is a good player either. It's talented and diverse too, supplied with quality puck-movers like John-Michael Liles and rookie Jake Gardiner, powerful (if overrated) shut-down defenders Luke Schenn and Mike Komisarek, and high-end all-around players in Dion Phaneuf and Carl Gunnarsson.  That's a group of defenders to admire, especially being a Flames fan and having to deal with the likes of Anton Babchuk, and trying to swallow Chris Butler (a quality player, but no star) playing on the top pair.
Phaneuf seems to have finally regained the form he lost after his Norris Trophy nomination in 2008.  He currently sits at 7 points (2-5-7) and a +7 rating in 9 games.  When I watch him play, I'm reminded of the player we Flames fans saw so much promise in several years ago.  He makes smart offensive plays, winds up big slapshots, throws big hits.  He does it all.  And he does it wearing the 'C' proudly on his sweater.
John-Michael Liles, when properly kept from playing against top players on opposing teams, is a player I have liked for a long time.  He doesn't require sheltering to the extent of Anton Babchuk, because he isn't a full-on liability defensively.  Watching him skate is a pleasure for any fan of the game, as he possesses a nearly perfect stride.
The Leafs don't only have diversity on their blueline, they also have plenty of flexibility.  When they need to shut down a few high-end forwards on the other team, they have the luxury of choosing between 4--count them FOUR--players on their roster who have experience in that role.  Dion Phaneuf can do it, provided he's utilized in an offensive capacity.  The others are Carl Gunnarsson, Luke Schenn, and Mike Komisarek.  Talk about flexibility.

THE GOALTENDING

No longer do they have to choose between a big, talented goalie who seems to have had trouble adjusting to the speed of the North American game  (Jonas Gustavsson) and a slightly washed-up mediocre starter (Jean-Sebastian Giguere) who needs a strong defensive team to be successful.  They have James Reimer, who appears to be the real deal.  Of course, he's injured now, but there are several talented goaltenders in the system, including Ben Scrivens and Jussi Rynnas.

To conclude, it really surprises me how good this team looks in the early stages of this season.  Of course, as the Avalanche proved last season, it's a long year, and even the mighty (or those that appear mighty) can fall.

Oh, and the Leafs just beat the Pens 4-3.

Prospecting: Roman Horak

BORN: May 21, 1991
HOMETOWN: Ceske Budejovice, Czech Republic
HEIGHT: listed at 6'0", but I doubt he's even 5'11"
WEIGHT: 171 pounds
DRAFTED: 5th round, 127th
ACQUIRED: with 2 2nd round picks (Markus Granlund and Tyler Wotherspoon) for Tim Erixon and a 5th round pick (Shane McColgan)

If someone had told me 2 months ago that Roman Horak would make the Calgary Flames' lineup out of training camp, I'd have called them an insane optimist.  "Obviously," I would have asserted, "Paul Byron is much closer to the NHL, having been a 50 point player in the AHL last season.  I think you may have been taking your positive pills this moring.  Horak may be a decent player in the NHL some day, but that day is a few years down the road."  Well, I would have been wrong, so it's good that no one tried to make that claim.  Indeed, I don't think anyone saw this coming.

After sitting for 2 games, Roman Horak found himself back in the roster for the Nashville and Colorado games.  The Flames are probably pretty happy that Sutter put the youngster back in, because he potted his first goal, and added an assist in a win over the pesky Avalanche.

The main reason Horak has seen a recent rise in his stock is because he is a highly cerebral player.  He already thinks the game at a pretty high level, and he has good playmaking and puck handling skills.  He plays an advanced defensive game for such a young player, and his offensive game is, being a playmaker, reliant on his linemates.  He has looked fairly good in the early stages of his first season, with 3 points in just 6 games, coupled with a +1 rating and no penalty minutes.  His only 3 shots on goal so far were all in the same game.  At no point has he looked to be overwhelmed by the speed and strength of his opposition (as T.J. Brodie was last season), and he has been good in the faceoff circle as well (though that part of his game has waned over the past couple games, capped off by a 25% performance last night against the Avs).  So, how good has Horak really been?

He has faced oddly stiff competition for such a young player (he'll turn 21 next May).  In fact, he's been facing tough competition for a player of any sort as, early on, he was getting caught against other teams' top lines (likely home teams taking advantage of the last change).  Because of this, the fact that he's been so thoroughly murdered possession wise (-16.76 on ice Corsi, -15.7 Corsi Rel) isn't surprising, or even discouraging.  So, what do we look at to evaluate him?  Well, the fact that he has a +1 rating with 3 points gives an excellent indication of the way his defensive game is going, given his strong quality of competition and hilariously one-sided shot differential.  Of course, this is all over a small sample size, but given that his competition should eventually start getting better-managed (or that he'll be playing with Stempniak rather than Kostopoulos) I don't foresee any reason to expect him to stop being a useful player.

Roman Horak (falling) lifts the puck over Jean-Sebastian Giguere

Horak celebrates his first goal with (from left) Jarome Iginla,
Jay Bouwmeester, and Mark Giordano

As stated before, Horak potted his first National Hockey League goal last night at home against the Colorado Avalanche.  As if he needed a way to make that moment any more special, there were some pretty good players on the ice, as the assists went to Alex Tanguay and future Hall of Famer Jarome Iginla.  The defensemen supporting the play were alternate Captains Jay Bouwmeester and Mark Giordano.  Kiprusoff was, of course, in goal at the other end.  Horak scored the goal against Jean-Sebastian Giguere who, while no star, has been a solid performer, and is a former Conn Smythe Trophy winner.  There were a few quality skaters on the other end, as well, with David Jones, Matt Duchene, Jan Hejda, Chuck Kobasew, and Shane O'Brien guarding Giguere.

Later, early in the 2nd period, Horak drove a shot at the net on a bit of a broken play.  Lee Stempniak picked up the rebound and buried his first of the season, and his first as a Flame.  Apparently Stempy, who is Horak's roommate on the road, has become something of a mentor to the young Czech Center.  No doubt it felt good to help his friend get his first.

Another, rather selfish reason to take pride in Horak's suddenly steep development curve is that it makes that notorious Tim Erixon trade look a lot better.  Having one of the assets work out almost right away softens the blow of losing the team's best prospect.  Now we just have to wait and see on Markus Granlund and Tyler Wotherspoon, the 2 2nd round picks the Flames received in the deal, to truly evaluate the trade.  Really though, Jay Feaster deserves credit for getting the best of a bad situation, and even more for targeting Roman as opposed to some other prospect.

Anyway, let it not be said that the Flames never give youth a chance, and wish Roman Horak lots of luck for the years ahead.

1000 Words: How Ironic

the only thing ironic about Alanis Morissette's song "Ironic" is that not one of the lines in the song is ironic.  Maybe she should take a look at some of these pictures!!!

Scouting the Flames: October

So my Flames haven't gotten off to the start they wanted, going 2-3-1 so far.  I'm not particularly surprised, myself.  The New York Rangers OT loss last night was really the only game they lost that they actually played well enough to win.  As always, there's both good news and bad news surrounding the team these days. (Sorry in advance about the length of the post).

THE GOOD

Jarome Iginla seems to have finally found his stride, as he played an exuberant game against the Oilers (in which he constantly tried to do too much himself) and an even better effort against the Rangers (whereupon he scored a goal and an assist in the 1st period).  We knew it would happen sooner or later, and if you're like me, you're definitely glad it was sooner in this case.

After a couple shaky games early on, defenseman Chris Butler has managed to string a couple strong outings together.  Butler will, unfortunately for him, always be known as the guy the Flames got in the Regehr trade, but I think he's actually managed to acquit himself well playing on the top defensive pair with Jay Bouwmeester.

Speaking of Bouwmeester, he was unfairly saddled with a -2 rating last night, in spite of playing a very solid 2-way game for the most part (though he definitely deserved the minus on the Brandon Prust goal).  Aside from the St. Louis game, Bouwmeester has been steady so far.

Miikka Kiprusoff has looked good so far this season, especially since he sat out game 2 in favour of Henrik Karlsson.  Oddly, Kipper's .926 sv% is still only 18th overall.  Good starts for just about every goalie in the league, it seems.

There never seems to be anything bad to say about Mark Giordano.  He and Scott Hannan have been the Flames' most consistent defensive pair (at least, the most consistenly good).

Speaking of Hannan, he's been worth well over the $1million he's earning this season.  I'm saying that relative to the rest of the league, of course.  Unexpectedly, he's also shown a bit of offensive touch, as he has 1 goal and 2 assists so far.  That's the same production as Giordano, by the way.

Roman Horak was decent in his 4 games, and he managed an assist in his 1st game.  He actually faced rather stiff competition for a first year bottom 6 forward and, predictably, he got murdered in possession.  He still had an even rating though, and no penalty minutes.  He was good in the faceoff circle as well, as he was bellow 50% in only one game.  I expect he'll be sent to the Abbotsford Heat at some point in the coming days, unless the Flames manage to trade someone (*cough*Stajan*cough*)

Speaking of Matt Stajan, he has, shockingly, been quite... okay so far.  His defensive game has been top-notch in spite of a lack of strength, and he's made some good plays offensively as well.  Regrettably, some of his best passes have been wasted on the likes of Tom Kostopoulos.

I like Lee Stempniak on the Jokinen line.  Unfortunately, he'll probably be demoted when Moss is converted back to RW.  Not that that's necessarily a bad thing.

Olli Jokinen has consistently been the best Flame so far (other than Kiprusoff).  I'm liking his high-speed 2-way game.  He's not Henrik Zetterberg, but he's the best guy for the job right now in Calgary.  His point streak ended last night though.  His linemate Curtis Glencross has been solid as well, though the Flames have yet to win a game in which he scores.

Raitis Ivanans was waived.  To no one's surprise, he cleared.  On another note, I had no idea that gorillas could skate.

THE BAD

Offensive defenseman Anton Babchuk sat out yet again last night in favour of Derek Smith.  I still can't decide if this indicates some marked improvement in Smith's game of late, or if Babchuk is really just that bad.

Tim Jackman and Tom Kostopoulos have been complete non-factors so far.

While he hasn't been bad, David Moss is clearly not a 1st line center.  Brent Sutter is counting the days until Mikael Backlund comes back from his injury.  Hopefully he'll stop counting when that happens, if you understand my meaning.

Sarich has been throwing a lot of those hits he's famous for.  In my opinion, if he keeps on like he is, he's going to be suspended one of these days.  Without Sarich, there's a distinct lack of physical presence on the Flames' blueline, though Giordano and Hannan do bring a little mustard.

I have yet to see any real coaching from Brent Sutter.  The Oilers game showed a glimmer of it in the 3rd period, though those 2 goals were really just dumb luck.

THE PROSPECTS

There's actually a lot of positives for the Flames on the prospect front these days.

Abbotsford

The Heat are off to a 3-1 start, their best ever.  Leland Irving has played every minute in goal for them so far, and has been good.  I have a feeling his .917 sv% would be better if the Heat gave up more than 21 shots/game.

Good: Greg Nemisz and Brendan Mikkelson are leading the way with 4 points each.  Jon Rheault, Dustin Sylvester, Paul Byron, and Ben Walter have been in the mix as well.  Though he only has 1 point so far, T.J. Brodie has been solid.  Clay Wilson has arguably been the Heat's most consistent defenseman with 2 points.  Sylvester leads the team with a +2 rating.  Ben Walter and Jon Rheault lead the team with 13 SOG.  Greg Nemisz and Guillame Desbiens are next with 12 each.  Brendan Mikkelson and Jordan Henry lead the way for dmen with 8 each.  Brodie is next with 7.  Paul Byron has 2 goals on just 4 shots.  G Joni Ortio hasn't played a minute of hockey yet--he hasn't had to, as Leland Irving has been a rock.  Still, you'd think they'd want to get the Finn some action...

Bad: Chris Breen has no points and a -2 rating.  Same for Jordan Henry and winger Ryan Howse.  John Negrin was sent down to the ECHL for some incomprehensible reason.  Lance Bouma has been a complete non-factor so far.  Logan MacMillan has been just plain bad.  Oft injured C Mitch Wahl and newly signed D James Martin have yet to play a minute of hockey this season.  Wahl was recently sent to the ECHL for icetime.  After being waived by the Flames, Raitis Ivanans was assigned to the Heat.  I cringed.  C John Armstrong was recalled by the Heat for no particular reason.
In semi-unrelated news, Bryan Cameron was sent to the ECHL after not making the Heat roster, and has yet to play a game.  Not sure if injured...

Elsewhere...

Randomly realized a little while ago that a whole bunch of Flames prospects wear letters for their teams.  D John Ramage is the only 'C', but C Max Reinhart, D Joey Leach, LW Sven Baertschi, LW Michael Ferland, RW Patrick Holland, and LW Turner Elson all wear 'A's for their team.  The ones who don't?  D Tyler Wotherspoon, C Bill Arnold, LW Johnny Gaudreau, C Markus Granlund, and G Laurent Brossoit.  And presumably LW Nick Larson, though I always forget about him and thus haven't checked up on him in a long time (having just remembered about him right this moment).  I'm not even sure what team he plays for...

NCAA
Ramage's Wisconsin Badgers are off to a... not good start.  He has no points, which isn't really surprising considering the type of player he is.

It's a different story for the BC (Boston College) Eagles, however.  They have just one loss in 4 games, and Bill Arnold and John Gaudreau have both gotten off to great starts.  Arnold, rather surprisingly, leads the team in points with 7 (2-5-7) in 4 games.  His hard-hitting 2-way game is as good as ever.  Smooth-skating, oft-dangling "Cheese" is second with 6 points (2-4-6).  Interestingly, both are out-scoring NYR super prospect Chris Kreider (3-2-5).  I expect that will change over time, I just thought it was interesting (especially since Gaudreau is currently on their 3rd line, and is a ridiculously under-sized player at 5'6" and 140pounds).

Europe (SM-liiga)
Markus Granlund has 1 goal and 4 points in 10 games in his first season playing with/against men.  I was told at one point that he was on the team's 2nd line playing RW (out of position) and the team's stats seem to support that conclusion as he's 6th among forwards.  Brother Mikael (MIN) leads the team with 18 in 13 games.

CHL (WHL)
I'll start with mr. Boring.  Turner Elson has caught fire of late, but he still only has 4 points in 8 games for the Red Deer Rebels.  He also boasts a -4 rating.  I'm having trouble figuring out why the Flames liked him enough to sign him this summer, but to be fair he looked alright in the Penticton YoungStars tourney.

Michael Ferland is 2nd on the Brandon WheatKings with 9 goals and 15 points in 11 games with a +3 rating. He has accomplished this on the strength of a couple 3 point nights.  Looking pretty good for a 5th rounder these days, I could see him as a 3rd line winger for the Flames in the future.

The Kootenay Flames (I mean Ice) are led in scoring by the surprising Max Reinhart (5-9-14 +5 in 10) and (shockingly) D Joey Leach (2-8-10 +3 in 12).  If Leach improves his skating quite a bit, he could be a pretty good defenseman in the NHL.  The hope seems to be that Max Reinhart will be Daymond Langkow reincarnated.  That wouldn't disappoint me at all, and he is that kind of player.  It's more likely he'll be a Manny Malhotra though.

In Portland, Sven Baertschi has been sizzling lately after a slow start, and currently sits at 17 points (5-12-17 0) in just 8 games--BETTER THAN 2 PER GAME!!!  A couple 4 point games will do that, though.  Tyler Wotherspoon seems to have found an offensive touch to go with his rugged style, and has 3 assists in 6 games, with a +2 rating.  He's currently playing with Troy Rutowsky on the Winterhawks' top shutdown pair. I expect they'll eventually split up Joe Morrow and Derrick Pouliot, so Wotherspoon could find himself playing with one of them eventually.  The team has been struggling a little out of the gate, in spite of the scoring from Ty Rattie and Sven.

In Try-City, Patrick Holland recently scored his first goal of the season which, combined with his 11 assists, gives him 12 points in 12 games.  He also has a +4 rating, and is widely regarded as a candidate for Canada's World Junior team.  I was dubious about that until training camp started.  He's a really smart player, and formed a dangerous 2-way line in Penticton with Max Reinhart and Sven Baertschi.

Edmonton Oil Kings goalie Laurent Brossoit has had a decent start with his team, and currently sits 9th with a 2.33 GAA and 11th with a .918 sv%.  Not bad for a goalie taken in the 6th round, though I wasn't a fan of the Flames taking another goaltender last draft.  He's still quite raw technically speaking, and tends to get by because he's tall rather than through impeccable positioning like a Leland Irving (or a Carey Price if you want to go for the top of the list).

Kill the Messenger: SURPRISE!!!!

So apparently, telling students what's going on in the course has gone out of style.  Gone the way of the dinosaur.  Dead.  Vanished.  Mystically evaporated.  Transformed like so many handfuls of daisies into a cote of doves which then proceed to flutter away..

ahem.  Enough with the analogies.  Back to topic.

I was surprised to learn (in all but one of my classes) that it is midterm week this week.  Surprise!  Yes indeed, my instructors managed to schedule and write up their midterm exams all in one week without letting us know!  Isn't it wonderful?

This is not the only instance of what has become a group of very tight-lipped instructors here at <THE UNIVERSITY I ATTEND, subsequently referred to as MyUni>.   In my current business course, our teacher has decided that putting all the stuff we need to do for each class on the back of the course outline is enough.  This isn't horrible on its own, but it can get annoying if, say, you have work to do in other courses and happen to forget to check the schedule one day.  It doesn't really help that she neglects to send out emails or course announcements either.  I often have to read whole chapters in one sitting without taking satisfactory notes.  I'm eagerly awaiting the day I'll come to class greeted by the following sentence: "Hello everyone, I hope you remembered to bring in your assignments today!" Surprise!! *gulp*

My current elective is the worst for this.  The instructor (we'll call him "Doctor Negligent") put downloads of the Research Paper and Unit Assignment (which all happen to be research papers as well, though cleverly disguised as something fun, new, and creative) outlines online, and essentially never mentioned them again. "Oh, by the way, your next unit assignment is due next class." SURPRISE!!!  I don't even know if I have a Midterm in that class, much less when it is..  I didn't end up doing the 1st unit assignment for 2 reasons... The 1st is that we had another assignment IN THE SAME CLASS given out right at the beginning of the year, and it was due LATER than the first UA.  The 2nd is that he actually did remind us about this one.. the week before it was due.  I didn't feel like doing a paper in 1 week, especially since... well, 2 more reasons.  1) I have other classes. 2) we only have to do 3/5 UA's.  *relieved sigh*  I do find it annoying that Doctor Negligent has a Research Paper assigned basically over the entire semester, while simultaneously giving out UA's due periodically--but not regularly--over the semester, while, at the same time, assigning long readings which aren't the least bit interesting and only telling us who wrote them, and the title once AND expecting us to be able to find this thing online..  "Oh, I think you read the wrong article by Avery Boring.  You were supposed to read the one on the long-term psychological effects of post-secondary education, not the short-term effects."  SURPRISE!!!!!!!!!


Well, it just goes to show you how very important every course thinks it is.  Especially electives that you basically have no choice on whatsoever.  "You get to choose between this course, and this other course that sounds exactly the same." "Um, I'll pick the second one.  It sounds slightly less arduous." <LATER>  "Uh oh, I was wrong."

What am I going to say now?  Yup, you got it.

Lost Yo Marbles: Shakespeare the Fraudulent

So a movie is coming out based on the belief (held by some, I kid you not) that William Shakespeare was a fraud.  Because, of course, no mere peasant could have written words of such beauty, such eloquence, and certainly not so frequently.  I mean, come on! 37 plays, 154 sonnets?  A peasant, bah!

So why, if all this was the work of some intellectual noble or aristrocrat, did a peasant get all the credit?  Well, of course, it's because no well-bred British man of good standing in those days could be seen to be writing!  That's too much like actual work!

That said, I do want to see this.

1000 Words: Bad Publicity

Everyone knows that the symbol the Nazis used was the swastika.  But they did not come up with this symbol, no sir.  Originally it was a sacred Hindu symbol.  Isn't that cool?  Some other examples of symbols meaning two things..

interestingly, Charlie Chaplin and Adolf Hitler were born in the same year.... maybe they were really the same person, because I can't imagine many people look in the mirror and say, "You know what would look really good...?"

In the words of Dan Brown: Poor, poor Poseidon. What's that?  Haven't they ever told you that the Devil will take on a pleasant form? Don't judge me!

Turns out, the Nazis were copying everybody.  EVEN THE ROMANS!!!

In some parts of the world, this gesture isn't a great idea.


















this could be construed in soooo many ways..

Not just the Star of David.  The Hexagram is a symbol in the Occult community, as well as in Hinduism and Islam.

Well, that's all for today.  If you have anything to add, feel free.