Road trippin'

The regular season is finally upon us!  Hallelujah!  Thanks be to Crosby!

I'm going to take this moment to mention that Sidsters is lookin' good in practice.  Hopefully he'll be back and ready for a game soon, since he's officially CLEARED FOR CONTACT!

It is very exciting for me to be able to say that I have watched the first three games in their entirety and only missed the first half of the game on Tuesday (Yummy Indian food at Saffron!  Thanks mom and dad!). 

Yay!  As much as I wish I could keep up the pace all season, I know it's just not going to happen.  We came home from the road trip with five points under our belts and no regulation losses.  We also came home with an injured Geno.  Personally, I'm crossing my fingers--and my toes--and anything else I can get my hands on--that it's just a teensy-weensy, minor setback.  Not playing, playing and now not playing tonight?  I'm not sure that it bodes well.  I was very excited that we beat Florida in the home opener.  Though, let's be real, one of the goals against us should never have happened.  Tsk, tsk.  It's ok.  Came out of it with a WIN.

Umm...Washington.  I'd like to take a moment to say that I hate playing them.  Bastards.  You realize we are now 0-8-0 on home ice against them in the last 8 games in Pitt?  And Hovechkin thinks it's like...scoring heaven? 

WRONG.  We need to change that next time around.  It was, however, a well-fought (not referring to Asham's post-fight gestures) game.  Definitely a lower score than I expected at least!  The tying goal was a beauty.  Got my hopes all up and everything!

Side note on Asham.  I will say that the fight was a beauty (I mean, seriously!  Did you SEE that punch???) and at least he kept a hold of Beagle's jersey as he was falling, keeping him from smacking his head back against the ice.  The gestures afterward...  Well, obviously not well though-out.  And offensive.  And just plain bad.  I'm glad he's not trying to defend the actions and I'm glad we're not trying to defend him either.

By we, of course, I mean the team of which I am not technically a part of.  MY team, as in my fantasy team (For the extended commentary, see previous post.) is kicking ass as well.  There are a couple changes that are going into effect tomorrow.  I've traded out Johan Hedberg (MOOOOOOOSE!) for BJ,

backup extraordinaire.  Apologies to Goose, who no longer has an animal bestie.  Also, to my great surprise, I discovered that no one had picked up Cookie-Monster! 

Now, I understand he's not the most popular player in the league.  I understand--not really--if maybe you're morally against having a Penguin on your fantasy team.  (Kind of like how I would be morally opposed to having Ovechkin.)  But, Matt Cooke, despite having a reputation for being a dirty player, is fantastic for fantasy hockey!  (Also, REAL hockey.  But that is not the point.)  He scores goals.  He has line-mates that score goals.  He plays on the penalty kill--very well.  He plays on power play sometimes.  He racks up the penalty minutes.  He shoots quite frequently.  One of the most well-rounded players in terms of fantasy stats.  It's appalling he didn't get drafted in my league at all.  (My apologies for not doing it sooner.)  My league manager finally changed it so that players listed on the IR list could, you know, actually be put on IR.  So there Sid went.  And now I have an empty spot.  I'm hoping that my waiver request will go through Monday and I'll pick up Steve Downie (PLEASE, don't shoot me!  Or don't let me shoot myself!  I can't stand this guy usually!).  I need the penalty minutes.  It's the category I'm seriously lacking in.  So I'm hoping between Cookie and Downie I'll get somewhere.  I AM at the top of my league now.  Woot, woot.  And all of my boys are playing tonight.

Moving on from fake hockey and back to real hockey.  I will not be watching tonight's game.  :(  K-Wings home opener is tonight and I cannot WAIT!  I'm hoping that a few more practices together will have helped the new guys meld better.  (The preseason game I went to...well, they lost badly.)  I have yet to decide who my new favorite is, since Babyface is gone.  (Cue tears.)  I'll put that off until at least after tonight.  I DO have a fun fact to share, though!  It's kinda baller.  No lies.
Two current K-Wings both fought the same current NHLer in the space of a month when they were all playing in the AHL.  When said current NHLer was playing in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.  Said NHLer?  Paul Bissonnette (AKA @BizNasty2point0).  Said K-Wings?  Wes O'Neill and Darryl Bootland.  (Bootland and Bissonnette have also both squared off against Brandon Prust, of the the New York Rangers, a billion times.  Bissonnette did it three times in two games.)  I would totally post videos, except no one was thoughtful enough to film them and put them up on youtube.  Boo hiss.
Back to current events, the K-Wings are playing the Cyclones tonight.  My plan is for the K-Wings to kick some ass and score some goals.  Hopefully they're on the same page.
Side bar:  Another fun fact (I know, I've got too many of these): two Cyclone d-men have NHL older brothers who faced each other in the 2010 Olympic gold medal game.  Keith Seabrook and Garrett Suter.  Hockey royalty, that one.
Oh!  Tonight!  It looks like Riley Gill will be starting in net, which I am super excited about.  I think he's going to do well with more playing time.  I was looking through the bios for the guys yesterday (they finally got posted!) and happened upon a couple of comedians.  Darryl Bootland put big bro and coach, Nick, down as his favorite player.  Suck-up.  He better be getting some extra minutes for that.  And El Capitan Wes O'Neill put down teammate Brandon Svendsen down as his favorite player.  I LOLZed pretty hard.  Thanks, guys.  We've gotten a little younger with the new guys on the roster this year.  Mostly because of the players we got from Vancouver and New Jersey.  Luckily, we've kept the solid veterans around.  I have high hopes for Justin Taylor's sophomore campaign and little hope that we'll keep him the whole season.  I have absolutely zero idea how the new recruits play, so we'll see tonight.  Let's go Wings!  (I can't beLIEVE I just said that...)

Music moment of the day is (obviously) Red Hot Chili Peppers.  It couldn't be anyone else, what with the title of this post.

Good song.  Also, the Chili Peppers are kind of awesome.  My Christmas presents last year, music-wise?  Chili Peppers, Black Eyed Peas, and Smashing Pumpkins.  Get it?  Vegetables?  My parents thought they were pretty clever.  And I'm inclined to agree.