Sens at Land’s End

I just thought I would take a moment here to acknowledge the excellence of Sens captain Daniel Alfredsson. I’m not speaking of his hockey excellence — that is something I totally take for granted: he’s Alfie, and he’ll always be there, and one terrible day when he retires I’m going to get a nasty shock — but rather of his excellence as a human being.

What brought this on? Well, I read today that he is lending his support to a Royal Ottawa Foundation campaign which is “aimed at raising awareness and reducing the stigmatization of mental illness.” The campaign’s website (You Know Who I Am) points out that one in five people will suffer from some form of mental illness in their lifetime, but many people never seek treatment because of the stigma attached to it. Here is why I give big love to Alfie for doing this:

When I was a kid, I went through a horrible phase where I would be so scared to go to school in the mornings that I would cry and throw up and refuse to go. For a long time, I would get sick every year on the first day of school, without fail. I was too scared to go on field trips. I hated going to parties because I’d get so stressed out beforehand and often made up excuses so I wouldn’t have to go. I couldn’t eat in restaurants because I’d feel too anxious. I still don’t like eating at other people’s houses. I never wanted to tell anyone about any of this because I was too embarrassed. I only ever referred to my problem as being “nervous.”

Then a couple of years ago I had a panic attack. I thought I was dying, but it was panic. Then I had another one, and eventually I went to my doctor and told her about my symptoms as about my previous issue with “nervousness,” and the doctor said I likely had a mild anxiety disorder. It made a huge difference to me to put a name on it, because I was finally able to tell people my problem instead of just avoiding it. When I looked up a list of anxiety symptoms on the internet I found things that I’d had but never knew what they were. It was a great comfort. Once I started telling people about my problem, I soon discovered that many other people had similar problems, which was also very comforting. It occurs to me often that a whole lot of people suffer from this kind of thing, and no one really talks about it. I think that needs to change, and I think having Alfie’s image associated with the problem will actually help, given the way he is perceived around these parts: if Alfie, who was strong/brave/tough enough to play in the playoffs with a torn MCL this year, is telling us a condition is serious, then it surely must be serious.

That is why I think Alfie is excellent. Well, one reason.

In other Sens news, it seems New Coach Uncle Ben spent a lot of time on the phone this weekend, introducing himself to various Sens players. (Though I guess it wouldn’t take that long to phone all the players, given that we only have about half a roster right now. Oh how I’d laugh if it didn’t seem so dire!) Here is what Alfie, in all his awesomeness, had to say about his telephonic tete-a-tete with Hartsburg:

“We had a talk and it was a chance for him to introduce himself,” Alfredsson said yesterday. “I know everybody talks about us having to have this guy who has this no-nonsense approach. Whether he has that approach or not, we all want the same thing here: We want to win.

“If we’re not doing the things that it takes to win, then he’s going to help us to get better. He’s an ex-player, who was an elite player. He knows what it takes for us to be successful. I think we’re really going to welcome that approach. It’s going to be a positive situation.”

I don’t know whether the mental health campaign has me extra full of confidence in Alfie today or what, but that seems like a really super good point and it made me feel even more positive about the new coach. I revisited his Wikipedia page (it is my #1 source of info) to see what I could find out about the man’s playing career — specifically his playoff experience — which I had not really looked at before. I found that he made it to the Stanley Cup Final with the Minnesota North Stars in his second season in the NHL (1980-1981), but Minnesota lost to the New York Islanders. He also made it to the Conference Final as a rookie in 1979-1980, but aside from that there wasn’t a lot of playoff action happening in his career and so in the end, I did all that work clicking around Wikipedia and I still come up wishing he had more post-season experience.

Despite that one shortcoming, I do like the way the coaching staff is shaping up. The Sun is now reporting that it is Calgary Flames assistant coach Wayne Fleming who is the top candidate for the second assistant position in Ottawa, and not Regina’s Curtis Hunt as they had previously said. Fleming and Hartsburg were assistants to Ken Hitchcock together in Philadelphia for two seasons. In 2003-2004 they took the Flyers to the Eastern Conference Final.

By far the most important news of the day, though, is that this blog got its first ever link back, from Senators Lost Cojones at Five for Smiting! To celebrate, I’m buying myself a new pimp hat.

The Sens — I think it’s probably okay to use the name again — won 5-4 over Pittsburgh yesterday, and played much better. Not perfect, but better. Several players, I thought, had good games, though I still want both goalies dead (really, I yelled DIE GERBER! at the TV at one point during the game). The team has probably gone to California now, which I think will probably do them good: they get away from the media in Ottawa for a while, and go to a place where almost no one cares about hockey. Ahhh, relaxation and sun. They have Anaheim tomorrow, San Jose on Wednesday, LA on Thursday, and then Phoenix on Saturday. None of these games, with the possible exception of Phoenix, is on TV here, even though I’m on the west coast. It makes me want to cry.

I look forward to seeing how they respond to the Ducks in terms of emotion. It is also an interesting game statistically: Ottawa is the highest-scoring team in the league (213 goals for, avg 3.23 per game); Anaheim is 27th (out of 30) in the league in goals scored (165 goals, 2.46 per game). The Ducks have allowed the 4th fewest goals this season (158 total, 2.36 per game); meanwhile, the Sens are a truly pathetic 23rd in terms of defense (195 allowed, 2.96 per game). It’s great offense vs. great defense, and horrible offense vs. horrible defense. Which will prevail?! I just don’t know!

Tonight is my first hockey class. I’m interested to see what kind of people will be in the class, and how bad my skill level is going to be compared to them. Maybe no one else will be able to skate at all, and I’ll end up looking like Gretzky by comparison. Hey, it could happen. It looks like there are only 7 in the class so at least it shouldn’t be overwhelming. The class goes from 8:30 to 9:45 which isn’t really ideal, especially considering that I have an 8am class tomorrow. But it’s okay.

Other than that … I have watched about 10 or 12 episodes of The X-Files since yesterday. I made a conscious decision not to do any schoolwork this weekend. It seems less like slacking if I’ve actually decided not to do it, don’t you think?

This morning I bought the final piece of my hockey ensemble: a stick. I just got one of the cheapo $10 sticks. When I am in the NHL, then I will consider spending $100 on a stick (ie, I will never, ever spend that much on a hockey stick). My stick says “Kovalchuk” on it. I noticed it when I was paying and started laughing and the guy at the store laughed and said, “You like that, eh?” Of course I like that, dude! Kovalchuk has scored over 40 goals in each of the last four seasons. What’s not to like? Also, he was Heatley’s linemate in Atlanta, and was the only guy taken ahead of Spezza in the 2001 draft, so if you think about it … without him there would probably be no Spezza in Ottawa. Anyway, I have named my stick Kovie, and no doubt it will help me become the greatest goal scorer in the history of the UBC women’s beginner hockey class.

On the subject of those other hockey players, the ones I like, I have decided to try to be more positive. It occurred to me that if the players are thinking as negatively as I have been, then it’s no wonder they still suck. Today, they play Pittsburgh at noon, as they did last Saturday, and the game is on CBC, as it was last Saturday. Last Saturday’s game was the one that had me apoplectic with rage, if you recall, but I believe today is going to be different. It’s the exact same scenario as a week ago, except it’s a new coach, a new month, a new position in the standings (yesterday they fell from 2nd to 5th in the East), and we are going to go with a new outlook on life. Yes. Dean McAmmond said this in the paper today:

“It’s like a thread on a sweater. You keep pulling and pulling and pulling, and all of a sudden you have one sleeve on your sweater. And then you look and you’ve got half a sweater. And it doesn’t just take one game to get your sweater back. You need to knit it back.”

I wonder if McAmmond is a knitter, or maybe he’s just a really big Weezer fan. Either way, this is a great way of putting it. I have faith that the boys can remake this tattered sweater and turn it into something that is not only wearable but even quite attractive, if they put their minds to it.

Whatever is going to happen, this week will likely make or break them. It’s their western road trip: on Monday they play Anaheim, and if they can’t at the very least get fired up for that one, then I think that’s the season. I will try to take advantage of the fact that they’ll be geographically closer to me than usual to send extra good vibes. Too bad I can’t just say eff school and eff money and take a California/Arizona road trip myself.

Flyers 3, Senators 1. Another day, another loss for the stinky team. What can you do? I thought they played a bit better but nothing is going their way at the moment. Two of Philadelphia’s three goals came off unlucky bounces. The normally extremely good-natured Jason Spezza was kicked out of the game, and he seemed quite pissed off about it. There was one bright spot: Mike Fisher beat up Steve Downie. Downie has had that coming for a very, very long time, so it was good to see. The highlights showed Dean McAmmond — Downie’s first victim — on the bench saying “Atta boy, Fish!” Which is pretty much what I said.

I went out after class and finished buying my hockey ensemble, except I didn’t get a stick. I tried it all on and I must say that me in full hockey gear is just about the most ridiculous thing ever the most awe-inspiring and intimidating vision of greatness you could ever hope to see. I would post a picture of myself but I can’t take one with the gloves on and there’s no one around to ask to take one for me, so here is a picture of the equipment instead:

Yes, that is an old Montreal jersey, but I swear I’ll be thinking of that other team the whole time.

I recently decided to take up hockey: I spend enough time watching it, so it seems like it’d be a good idea to try playing it. I also love skating, and am hoping to improve in that area. I’ve registered for a women’s class offered through my university. I expect to be playing in the NHL within a few months.

To participate in this class, I’m required to have a full set of hockey gear, so I went to buy my hockey pants this morning. I was very amused because there’s that commercial with the hockey players’ beauty treatments, and Joe Thornton is in there saying “Do these pants make my butt look big?” One pair I tried on had a picture of Joe Thornton on the tag, and they were much bulkier than the other ones. They did make my butt look big!

When I paid for the pants, the guy helping me asked where I was from. I told him, and the conversation naturally turned to the fortunes of the major sports team in that city. When I left, I said I would probably be back to buy shoulder pads on Friday, and I thought by that time John Paddock would have been fired from his job coaching the aforementioned team.

What do I see mere moments after arriving at home? Paddock fired as of about 15 minutes ago, and Bryan Murray is taking over.

While I feel badly for Paddock just because I generally think being fired and basically publicly humiliated sucks, this move pleases me. These guys seem absolutely lost, like they have no idea where they’re supposed to be or what they should be doing, and it’s not hard to see why when the same group of forwards never seems to play together for more than a few shifts. I don’t think the problems are entirely his fault, but I definitely do believe he’s to blame for some of what’s gone wrong.

Now, if the idiot squad will only respond to this change, that will just be bloody freaking awesome.