Ch-ch-ch-changes
A lot of things have happened since I last blogged about the Sens, for me personally and for the team. Let’s start with me:
- I spent the better part of three weeks in California, where I was able to attend homegames for both the Los Angeles Kings and the Anaheim Ducks. Coincidentally, the visiting opponent in both cases was the Ottawa Senators. I wore my Spezza jersey, cheered loudly, and managed not to get beaten up by Ducks fans, who are, despite what you might think, very friendly people. I witnessed two miracles during my time in California: a Jonathan Cheechoo goal in LA and an Ottawa shootout win in Anaheim. Well, technically, that’s three miracles since a shootout win and a win in Anaheim are both pretty rare.
- I finished school. HELL YES.
- I left Vancouver. I have now moved back to my beloved hometown of Ottawa. This move leaves me with a bit of a dilemma as I am no longer a displaced Senators fan and the title of my blog technically no longer applies. Some editing will be required, but I don’t think I’ll change the name. Thoughts?
- I joined the world of the gainfully employed. This partially explains why I haven’t been blogging: for once I have a job that actually requires me to spend most of the day working. The horror!
Major life changes, as you can see. Now, let’s recap what the Sens have been up to:
- Winning an assload of games.
I think that about covers it.
Tonight, the boys are back in town post-Olympics (OLYMPICS WOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!! CANADAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!) and we start to see just how much momentum they have left from their pre-pause play. Hopefully, it’s a lot. As friend of blog Senators Lost Cojones pointed out via email the other day, “NO Ottawa Senators were harmed in the making of this Olympics.” This is key. In fact, it’s fair to say that all Ottawa’s hockey Olympians suffered some form of embarrassment at the games — Daniel Alfredsson, Milan Michalek, Filip Kuba, and Anton Volchenkov were all eliminated in the quarter finals, with Volchenkov’s Russian team suffering a tremendous ass kicking at the hands of Team Canada (CANADA WOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!); Jarkko Ruutu won a bronze medal for Finland, but I’d like to see him try bragging about that after the so-bad-it-defies-belief collapse the Finns had against the United States in the semi final. Could the anger and shame these players feel motivate them to play at a higher level in Ottawa? Who knows, but we can hope so.
Deadline Fever
As you may have heard, tomorrow is the NHL trade deadline, a day when many NHL players start looking for moving companies. (By the way, Global Pack N’ Ship of Vancouver? Terrible.)
In advance of tomorrow’s frenzy, the Sens today sent San Jose’s second round pick to the New York Islanders in exchange for defenceman Andy Sutton. I’m going to be honest: I don’t know anything about this guy, but I looked him up and apparently he’s 6′6″. That’s really tall. With the pre-Olympics (CA-NA-DA! CA-NA-DA!) trade of Alexandre Picard and the injury to the awful Chris Campoli, the blue line was looking a bit thin, so it makes sense for Bryan Murray to go after another d-man. Like I said, my Sutton knowledge is very thin but 12 points in 54 games this season on Long Island tells me he’s not an offensive force and he’s in the NHL’s top 25 hitters this season so I assume he’s a physical type. Balance on the Sens’ defensive line appears somewhat skewed now, with Chris Phillips, Anton Volchenkov, Matt Carkner, and Sutton all being primarily defensive players and only Erik Karlsson and Filip Kuba expected to put up points. (Campoli is too bad to count.)
As for Volchenkov and his pending UFA status, I’m completely with The Universal Cynic on this one, as I said in my brief contribution to Cycle Like the Sedins’ Northeast Division deadline-themed post: I understand that Murray is in a predicament, but it simply does not make sense to trade a hugely important component of the team right now just to avoid losing him for nothing on July 1. The worst case scenario here — complete destruction of team chemistry, things fall apart, no playoffs, mass firings, trade the entire roster, move the team to Kansas City … okay, maybe that’s a bit of an embellishment, but it could be horrific — is bad enough to make the best case scenario not worth the risk. The A-Train should stay put, for now and hopefully forever.
1 commentWe’re Sorry
So, I think it’s fair to say that the Vancouver Olympics are not going well. Everywhere you look, there’s some kind of delay or technical problem. I’m starting to wonder if the organizing committee spent all its time shopping at Lululemon and drinking expensive coffee instead of actually, like, organizing stuff.
People always say Canadians are so polite and love to apologize for things, and the fact is: this is our bad. We seem to have messed up. And even though Vancouver completely excluded my home province of Ontario from their “cross-country” tribute to Canada in the opening ceremonies and I could easily distance myself from the whole debacle, I’m going to be Canadian and stand by my countrymen by helping them apologize for their incompetence.
Opening Apology
We’re sorry we made you watch a kid flying around over a fake wheat field for five minutes. We’re sorry about the whole hydraulic cauldron fail thing. Finally, we’re really, really sorry we inflicted a Bryan Adams/Nelly Furtado duet on you and dragged out Sarah Mclachlan again. It could have been worse, though — at least she didn’t sing that I Will Remember You song (she’s probably saving it for the closing ceremonies) and at least she wasn’t Celine Dion.
Wet Apology
We’re sorry Vancouver has failed to live up to Canada’s reputation as a barren, icy wasteland. Really, though, this one’s at least partially on the IOC. They probably should have picked up on the fact that Vancouver tends to have warm, rainy winters before awarding the city the Winter Olympics.
Non-Zambonic Apology
We’re sorry the “Olympia machine” at the Richmond Oval is apparently a giant piece of crap. You’d think we’d be able to get that right, wouldn’t you? Weather delays are out of anyone’s control, but you would really think it’d be possible to avoid delays at an indoor venue. Apparently, not so much.
Luge Apology
The death of Georgia luger Nodar Kumaritashvili was an absolute tragedy and my heart goes out to the Georgian Olympic team and the entire luge community. Which is why I’m so disgusted by the comments from Canada’s luge coach, Wolfgang Staudinger. World, we’re sorry our luge coach is such an insensitive, heartless prick. Please note that this man is actually German. (Just like Dany Heatley!)
Pants Apology
We’re really freaking sorry Nate Holland of the USA snowboarding team doesn’t like our snowboarding pants or our “own the podium” slogan. Oh wait, no we’re not. How’s the view from fourth place, Nate?
Attitude Apology
We’re sorry for my previous statement. There’s nothing wrong with finishing fourth. Although, if you do try to force someone from another country off the course to benefit yourself and your teammate, you should probably be prepared for a karmic bitcshlap of some kind. Like, say, a big wipeout.
Fashion Apology
We’re sorry our speed skating outfits look so weird. They gave the contract to The Bay for some reason when we all know Roots does a much nicer job.
Advance Apology
We’re sorry in advance to whichever country has one of its hockey players’ brains scrambled by Chris Pronger. Lord knows he won’t apologize for it himself. Honestly, we don’t like him much either.
Moguls Mogul Apology
We’re sorry former Canadian and moguls skier Dale Begg-Smith is such a douchebag. Yeah, he was born and raised in Canada and he might actually be responsible for some of the spyware on your computer. We feel bad about that.
But we probably feel worse about the fact that this guy hates us so much that he may be trying to rob us of our best moment at the games so far. Australia, it’s your turn to apologize now, though I know you’re also not his biggest fans.
And, uh, I know I said I’m sticking with my countrymen on this one and everything, but I just want to note that I don’t live in Vancouver anymore, so … totally not my fault. I’m over 3,500 km away. Nothing I can do. Really.
4 commentsWords on a Legend
On New Year’s Eve I said I’d write a ballad about the exploits of Jordan Eberle. I have not followed through, but I think his performance tonight at least deserves a terrible ode. It is also certainly worth a post in my sadly neglected blog. So:
Eberle
by Meaghan
I think that I shall never see
A man as clutch as Eberle.
A teen whose stick is clearly blessed,
Who when behind does never rest,
But miracles at will performs,
He nations, teams, and fans transforms.
He lifts them all in hope and joy!
Who is this awesome prairie boy?
Can he also outrun trains?
Does blood of gods run in his veins?
Although sixth gold was not to be,
They’ll never stop young Eberle.
* * *
Oh yeah, and I think the Sens probably lost, at least I assume they did since they were down 4-0 last time I checked.
1 commentYou can run away from Ottawa …
Too subtle?
It doesn’t seem quite right that the Sharks don’t play in Ottawa this year, does it? Heatley skipped town and he gets to avoid the consequences for at least a full year. Well, the Sharks do have to play the Canucks this season. Tonight, in fact. And although my disgruntled Sens fan voice will be a tiny minority in a room full of Canucks fans who probably don’t care that much about our pain, I will try to make myself heard.
Tonight, Ottawa, I boo for thee.
3 comments
