Takes and trash talk from both ALL sides of the NHL's most obscure PATHETIC* rivalry

* Thanks, Kevin Lowe!

Wednesday, September 26, 2007

Aubservations From Austria

They were showing the game online at NHL.tv, so I ignored work for a while and watched the game. The Kings won, 4-3.

-Jack Johnson is a very good stick handler for a guy his size.

-You can't blame the goaltender for any of the goals the Kings let in. (I'm actually not sure who allowed what; Bernier started but was removed some time before the middle of the 2nd.) The first goal was Blake's fault; he jumped up during a change, lost the puck, and hung Lubo out to dry on a 3-on-1. The next two were both tip-ins on the power play.

-Patrick O'Sullivan looked pretty good. He was out there on the penalty kill and really got after the puck. He scored with a rocket from the circle.

-Brady Murray looks like he's skating underwater; he's pumping his arms and legs really fast but isn't actually moving that much.

-Lubo looks amazing on a large ice surface. Can he and Scott Niedermayer play together once? He scored on a power play that was almost ruined by Brian Willsie running into the goalie. I despise that dude.

-Cammy had a ridiculous goal where he went around two guys and then flipped over the goalie's far pad while he was almost past the net.

-Anze outdid him, though, scoring with 46 seconds left in the game. He had a partial breakaway, took a shot, got hauled down, then flipped a backhand over the goalie while he was on the ground. Is it possible for me to have his children? (Side note: he won MVP for the Kings and was given a jersey. The goalie for the other team won a PSP. Apparently tournament organizers thought the particpants were twelve.)

Overall, it was a pretty good game. I hadn't seen the Kings play yet this season, so I was happy. They outshot the other team 47-32, but penalties did them in. I hope that's just because of the larger ice surface (it's way easier to bring the puck in on the power play) and the fact that the refs called everything. The Kings still needed some work and they lacked any real secondary scoring without Handzus and Frolov out there. (I think Nagy was taken out of the game at some point, but I don't know why.) And now, London.

7 comments:

Earl Sleek said...

I hadn't seen the Kings play yet this season, so I was happy.

I really wish some SoCal marketer would decide that it might be worthwhile to show any preseason for the Ducks or Kings. I know it's a busy time for sports, but dammit, there would be people watching.

And as far as I can tell, pretty much zero people are aware the season's starting on Saturday morning. For shame, FSW!

Anonymous said...

I remember when it was Cheechoo who looked like he was skating underwater. Then he did some crazy drills in the off-season, ate a lot of moose, and look at him now! Wait, don't look at him now - look at him the season before last!

So basically you can expect Brady Murray to win the Rocket if you can sign Joe Thornton.

Maybe try him on a line with Scott Thornton and see if you can fool him?

dbushik said...

Suprises me that Murray looked slow. In Vegas, the one thing he seemed to stand out for was his speed. He was skating circles around guys (without the puck, but still). And speed also seemed to be what got him his current roster spot (or has at least delayed his demotion). Suppose we shall see if he sticks...

RudyKelly said...

He didn't look slow; he just isn't actually fast. He looks like he should be the fastest man alive, when in reality he's only average. It's the fact that he's little that makes him look so fast.

Marie said...

The goalie for the other team won a PSP

Didn't the PSP come out over a year ago? What they couldn't splurge on the XBOX 360? Didn't Halo3 just come out? Piss poor planning, that's all I have to say.

BreAnn said...

I couldn't stop laughing due to the side note about the prizes being for 12 year olds.

I wish that someone would actually of made it known that the game was going to be showing on nhl.tv. Teams are doing these odd things but not telling anyone about it. I like to watch an odd game on the big surface, it gives many new dimensions to the game.

I have always been amazed at Kopitar's skill since I watched him in the 2005 Rookie camp here in San Jose.

BreAnn said...

lol @ magalodon. Cheechoo did play a bunch of games with both Thorntons.

If I recall the story right Cheechoo went back home and all he did that off season was skate and he worked with a speed skater and a figure skater to learn some balance and such.