Sutekh

Kings blow out Florida 7-0 yesterday, and Sean Burke gets a shutout. Really? A shutout now? I'm not sure if this makes it better or worse. Garon and J-Lab are both UFA this summer. Ideally, we could keep J-Lab and give him a decent backup. The problem is that that's supposed to be Cloutier, not Burke. Can we unload Garon now for a pick, then buyout Cloutier, then pay Burke to watch over Jason. That's not going to be cheap. Still, watching Cloutier fail over and over again can't really be an option. Could we wash our hands of all of them and go after an established goalie? Khabibulin? Biron?

I bought WoW and have been giving it a go over the past few days. It is incredibly addictive. I've played it so much today that my eyes hurt. *rubs eyes* With the computer perched on my lap, I had the second series of DW on in the background-- does this count as multitasking?-- which just hit the shelves here and sets you back $80. Well worth it, if you're mad about it. But still, $80?! (Sometimes I wonder if there's anything less affordable than an interest in DW, or any product of the BBC for that matter.) I made the mistake of going straight to the "special" features, and to Billie's Video Diary in particular, which is shockingly rubbish. I'm hoping I've seen the last of BP filming herself having a rummage through the fridge or a kitchen drawer. I mean, really. Nobody is pretty enough to make that interesting. She's close, though. ;-)

Sean Burke's injury seems to be a conditioning problem.  The word is that the problem was dehydration.  Much better news than injury.  There's still hope that they beat the Flyers to the bottom of the league, never fear.  I'm hoping to put something up about re-entry waivers tomorrow (and Burke and Labarbera), if my work goes well.

A gem I found today.  Estonian metal:

http://www.estmusic.com/index.php?0133109422401145108  

Now how do I buy it?

A big game day. Robitaille's jersey retired and Sean Burke swings into town to patch a sinking ship. I have long mememories of the play of both, so I'm excited. Hard to justify wasting any more money on this year, but I suppose it would be an insult to fans to let things stand as they are.  After six straight loses, is it too much to hope for a win?  Probably.  

Sean Burke's Career:
http://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/pdisplay.php3?pid%5B%5D=674


Post game.  Another loss-- and Burke out with a hand injury in the third.  This is just comedy now.  The Kings are hopelessly cursed.  They played an inspired first period, with an outstanding goal by Kopitar that makes you think it won't be long before his jersey joins Luc's up in the rafters.

Luc's retirement party had an appropriate amount of fanfare, and sincere praise from his colleagues and coaches.  Wonderful game to have a ticket to, and one I won't soon forget.

A great day. I have buckets of busy work, but there's plenty of games on TV to keep me happy as I push to get my exams ready. (Watching the Miller-Thomas matchup in the Bruins-Sabres game was a treat. Some really fantastic saves on both sides. They're heading to a shoot out as I write. Love the Bruins' rally helmets!)

Another thing that makes a work day at home not so bad.

http://www.kpsdeli.com/


The Kings lost their fourth straight today to Dallas. Forsan et haec olim meminisse iuvabit.

Well, the Kings are fairly nearly the worst team in the league. Fukufuji played net the other night for a period during the 6-5 loss to St. Louis, setting a milestone for the league-- and for me. I don't think I've ever seen a team's fifth goalie play net before. Not sure how excited I am about that. The real downside in all this is that the one move the Kings might have made is now probably going to be wasted on picking up a goaltender instead of securing some depth up front. Let's hope our goalies heal quickly.

Standings as of January 14, 2007

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Just looking over the 1994 draft over an early lunch. Some small things to notice: Jovo went first overall of course, but the big suprise, to me at least, is that Tverdovsky went second. One other little factoid to notice, this is Storr's draft (7th) AND Cloutier's (26th), who both went long before Turco (124th) and Nabokov (219th).

I watch Tver and Cloutier now and despair.

The audio commentary is an absolute must. Baker can be counted on to lay out off colour comments that produce deafening awkward silences, and I can only imagine what his lechery must have been like in its prime. He compares Sladen's backside to an apple and absolutely slobers on Judith Paris throughout the whole thing ("I'm feasting on your pulse"). I'm saving the Swap Shop interview with him and Sladen for when I'm a bit down and need a good laugh. I have to say, I'm suddenly dead keen on reading Baker's autobiography.

Columbus-LA tomorrow night. I'm still high off the Dec. 26 win over Phoenix that I saw with the folks. Very nice win and I appreciate the effort for my out of town guests.

Well, I'll have to find something nice to say about Avery. His goal wasn't bad at all, and he should get full credit for Blake's as well. Tverdovsky was back, without impact (-2, no shots), and Sopel filled in decently for Visnovsky who is out with something or other. Brust played decently as a stand in, but I'm looking forward to the normal days of Cloutier-Garon, even if that has been an unsteady combo. Fukufuji was Brust's back up. As fun as it would be to see F. become the first Japanese player to play in the NHL, I think he was as relieved as I was that he wasn't called on to serve. He hasn't even played a game for the Monarchs this year.

I'm still waiting and hoping for McCauley to come back and add just enough extra two way depth to turn a close loss like this into a victory.

By a windfall, I watched the game from the 100's. A nice novelty-- fantastic for the SO-- but not the easiest place to watch the game from.

I'm sure life would be a lot better if Cloutier would make the difficult save at least some of the time. I'm not even asking him to steal a game anymore. Just one save, every once in a while, on a rather difficult shot. Not so reliably average, please. Give me a save of quality and a SAA of over 87%, both to keep my blood pressure down.

Other notes:

Blake put up 8 shots (of the total 37 Kings shots) in the loss, well placed ones but not with the umph of years ago.

I've given up on the Frolov-Avery combo. Avery's energy is being mistaken for skill, a quality in short supply with him.

McCauley is supposedly out with the team today. Thank Christ!

A gritty win by the Kings, where they came back twice when down by a goal. There was a lot to be happy about. Players that I've come to see as fillers played well. Kostopoulos had a goal and a good game; Thornton picked up a goal as well; and Conroy kept up his recent habit of spending time in the box, but his goal was welcome and seasonal redemption. Cammalleri's two goals were a god send, and the first was a perfectly placed laser from the top of the faceoff circle. It was the twin of Kariya's 2003 playoff goal after he returned to the ice in the playoffs following Scott Stevens' hit. Cloutier looked average and less than average again. He can't even be relied on to stop shots of intermediate difficulty on a regular basis. It is utterly depressing. Tverdovsky and him are bloody expensive albatrosses to have around your neck, and you really can't have that sort of garbage on your team locking up precious cap space. Still, it was an exciting win, and hopefully an end to the dark cloud that's been following this team.

I suppose I'm supposed to be excited about the fight between Avery and Lappy as well. The only thing notable about it was the intense, enthusiastic look on Lappy's face who was clearly hoping to lay a beating on Avery for all the players in the league past, present, and future. It would be impossible to underestimate how hated Puppy is.

Kings Stats After 26 Games

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I am hoping this is a turning point. Calgary down on Saturday and now this brilliant win in a shoot-out. Garon looked amazing-- and very able and aggressive in the SO victory, starting far forward of the blue paint as the players came in. That's two strong, strong games for him. Fingers crossed that this is the start of a run for him and that Crawford will stop dreaming about Cloutier being a number one netminder. Hats off to Brown, who is playing with fire and skill, and to Kopitar as well, who was the first man out in the SO and the first to score in it! Attendance at the game was depressingly abysmal.

I thought I’d watch a few more Daleks roll about. Yesterday, I went with “Genesis of the Daleks”, which is as fantastic as it gets for DW.

Memorables:

The opening shot of soldiers in the mist being mowed down by machine gun fire, in slow motion no less, let’s you know right away that this episode has jump to it. I'm a sucker for anything that opens with gasmasks and a few honest rounds of bullets.

Davros steals the show. He’s the mold for the mad genius, and this is about as patient a character exploration as I’ve seen in the old series. The scene where DW and Davros chew over the morality of the creation of the Daleks kept me glued to the TV. Boy, evil on a screen holds the attention a damn sight better than kittens. On top of that, kiddies get a fine answer to that ol' chestnut, 'What's wrong with being an autocrat and trying to create something that will kill everyone?' It's hard to upstage that scene, but it has a serious challenge in the one where DW, given the opportunity to destroy all Daleks, hesitates and reflects, quite profoundly really, on the moral implications of his actions. The whole thing is madly deep, and quite somber.

Tom Baker is in his usual form, grinning madly at pretty much everything. He’s not given as many zingers as usual—- though he does toss out once classic, “Can you help me? I’m a spy.”--, but I think he does very well with the heavier lines and this rather dark story in general. God, he's good at this.

Fantastic stuff and great fun!

Aside. The current DW magazine-- cover, giant menacing Dalek underwriten with "Black Death: The Daleks Are Back!"-- asks the actors in the new series what they think the bumps on the Daleks are for. Radar? Sensors? Sign of disease? Thwarts speeding? Food storage? The first issue of my subscription. Damn expensive, but worth every red cent!

LA Kings 2006-07 Schedule (Local Times Listed)

Pre Season and Regular Season

No games against the Leafs, Sens, or Habs. Four million against Dallas. Great. Sigh.

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It's only a rumor, but the Kings are supposedly interested in picking up Daniel Briere, since the Sabres may find his arbitration award a bit rich. A good pick up, if he can be had (and can shake his abdominal injuries). He'd be nice compensation for the Roenick experiment last year.

Daniel Briere

I think this is my favorite Colin Baker story. A very good Dalek piece, with Davros behind a rather elaborate scheme to ensnare the Doctor. The supporting cast is fantastic, and it was fun to see Clive Swift ("Keeping Up Appearances")as something other than a sweet henpecked husband.


Grrr.

i. The sexual banter between Peri and the Doctor, which turns out to be about a watch. I think they were hoping for a comedic moment. More than slightly weird, and goes on a bit so even the youngest viewer is given an opportunity to pick up on it. Much more frightening than daleks!

ii. Baker, who clearly has packed on a few pounds since joining DW, called "porky" by Peri.

iii. What role does the doctor have in the plot here, besides trotting up and down corridors? "Porky" is strangely ineffectual here, and a spectator to the resolution.



Still, loved this episode. The Grand Order of Oberon would be great to bring back in the new series, and Orcini was fantastic. And who doesn't like a plot with cannibalism (quietly) in it, and dalek civil wars at the centre of things.

Well, the Avery years, to my surprise, aren't over. He avoided arbitration today by signing for one year at $1.1 million. If he can keep his head in the game-- and out of the box-- it's a good deal. Ultimately, I’m happy about this for a couple of reasons. First, I have the ‘What Would Avery Do?’ t-shirt. If he leaves, that would end up being an expensive duster. Also, you just get the feeling, don’t you, that he would shine with another team and end up being on that long list of trades we regretted.

Best part? Lombardi says that this isn't a clean slate for Avery, and that he better watch his Ps and Qs because he's on "double secret probation". I think that means early to bed, no friends over, and absolutely no dessert.

Double Secret Probation

I'm not sure pulling a line from "Animal House" like this gives me a lot of comfort. I'm sure he was trying to be funny, but the line kind of underscores the point that they really don't know how to contain Avery's escalating outrageous behavior.

I'm trying to slog through some Dr. Who this summer and sat through this 7th Doctor episode. You have to be fairly serious about your fandom to like the McCoy Sophie combo. I don't find it as painful as most, and Ace probably has one of her best showings in CoF. The plot is a bit crowded for my taste, but lots of rubbery monsters stumbling around, and vampires are liberally tossed about as well.

The Goods:

Ace comes of age in the episode, flirting with soldiers, cooing at babies, and confessing an attaction to marriage. Line up! She's on the market!

Vampires, Viking legends, rubbery monsters and period zombies, genius in wheelchair, priest who loses his faith. Sweet!

Pepsi, JNT's dog, walks into the background of a shot in Episode 2. Ooops. No retakes! This is Dr. Who.

McCoy's Paddington Bear coat, which went over his smashing new jacket, which mercifully hid his horrible jumper.


The Bads:

Ace-isms: the constant use of "wicked" and fascination with explosives. Things for the kids in the audience, I suppose, the few that were watching.

The majority of the audience by this point was over 35 and only a small fraction of the viewership was under 15.

Still, good fun.

Not the greatest game, but the Kings pull out a win anyway and stand second in the west a hair ahead of Vancouver.

What to take from the game?:

a. Garon plays the butterfly like he just read about it in a textbook. He can look stiff out there, and he holds his glove hand really high. If the NHL keeps this pace I wonder how goalies like him are going to transition to this new game where they need to be amazing at reading the play rather than being amazing at quick drops and covering as much as possible.

b. As Dustin Brown has drifted down the lineup, I rarely notice him. The third line is always a dog's dinner, and it's hard to play off of. Ask S. Heinze or M. Eloranta. Extended third line duty destroyed them.

c. Flinn's head hit the ice hard during a fight. Funny to hear the crowd go from frenzied hysteria to dead silence. The Gong Show part of this sport has to stop. I grew up hearing Cherry tell me that it's just a couple of good guys entertaining the fans, and nobody gets hurt. Hard position to hold while you're watching Staples crew scrape the ice to cover up what looked like the remains of a shark attack. I hope Flinn's alright. He sure didn't look like he was.

d. Norstrom has now played more games for the Kings than any other D in the organization's history. The perfect guy to be at the top of that category.


A few stats:

a. As of today, the Kings have three players in the top 20 in NHL scoring. Demitra (7), Frolov (13), Conroy (20). That's a hell of a line.

b. Visnovsky is 32nd in league scoring, and 2nd among D-men. Gleason is 40th and Corvo is 45th in scoring among blueliners.

c. Sean Avery is top of the league in PIM with 75. Most of those are minors, I bet, and a lot are for his mouth. He's spent almost four full periods in the box so far.

d. Conroy is 10th in the league in shooting percentage right now.

I'm not sure there's much point in pointing out that this was a loss for the Kings. Clearly, testing line combinations was more important at times than getting actual production. Miller's goal came when he was paired with Norstrom on PP.

Notes:

Frolov had good chemistry with Demitra, and those two can make something out of nothing. In fact, Belanger sent a shot wide behind the net-- nothing-- and Demitra flicked it back to Frolov in front who then scored-- something. It was amazing.

Demitra isn't Ziggy, but he's got moves. The shoot out went to 11 rounds, and Demitra's goal was a beauty. Fantastic little shoulder dip that threw Nabokov off.

Petiot. Big rookie Dman. He looked better when he played against Phoenix on Sunday. Less effective being physical than the other night. In fact, the D group was mostly off. Gleason was almost terrible and I was wishing him off the ice every now and then. If Norstrom is injured for long, we're doomed.