Penner 4 prez

While new Kings whipping boy Dustin Penner was having his best game in recent memory, the rest of the team decided to show up in time for the third period before carelessly losing in the closing seconds.

Fire Terry Murray. Promote Dustin Penner?

A quick three-save compilation from my game last night. One of my best games, so, naturally, we lost. I owe my teammates some additional video from both games, but goodness, editing video is time consuming.

"Put THAT shit on YouTube."

So says the ref at my 4 on 4 game last night.

While I was safe from the unwashed masses and their pepper spray over the Thanksgiving holiday, I found myself struggling to avoid buying unnecessary electronics. After making it through Friday, I thought that I had succeeded and allowed myself to privately gloat about my self control. But a text from my dad informing me that Amazon was having a sale on GoPro Hero cameras cracked my resolve and, 3 hours before my game on Monday, I found myself unboxing the camera and ruthlessly deleting photos from my SD card.

Scheduled to play the hapless Honeybadgers, I figured it'd be as good of a game as any to try the camera out with minimal risk of seeing a slapshot ricochet off a newly shattered consumer electronic. I found the camera to be moderately uncomfortable when worn with the head strap as it compressed my mask into my forehead and increased its weight substantially. Regardless, I played for half the game with the camera on, facing about 5 shots, 3 on penalty shots, allowing no goals and acquiring 24 minutes of incredibly dull footage.

First, warmups (make sure to watch all of these in HD if you check them out on YouTube):


Here's a penalty shot that resulted in the ref making the remark noted in this entry's title:


During the intermission, I traded the camera with a teammate. The footage from his time on the ice is substantially more interesting, if slightly nauseating. Interestingly, the save highlighted in this video saw my blocker deflect the puck directly into the former location of the GoPro. Hooray for life's fortunate timing.

Some skater-view:


There's more interesting footage that I haven't yet found the time to edit. Hockey definitely dictates shooting in 720p at 60 fps to get cool, smooth slow-mo and a wider angle. I might try some 1080p for science.

Adult League Hockey

Image credit: Dad. Game is versus the Caribou, and puck is just off my leg pad.

Much like everything else after graduating college, my hockey has become expensive, serious, and exhausting. 48 minute intramural games against relatively sedate, but skilled, fellow Northeastern students have turned into 60 minute league games against violent, hodgepodge groups of miscreants whose primary focus is injuring others without getting called for enough penalties to be forced out of a game. It's been an interesting transition, but I feel as though I'm slowly getting better, undoubtedly aided by the frequency with which I now play and my far superior equipment. Stepping into 2010 after learning to play in the '90s has been a delight for my knees, although the puck certainly finds holes in my pads and strikes exposed flesh more than probability seems to dictate.

I play in what's ironically called the "novice" league at a rink in El Segundo. In reality, novice league is a league for people who want to play on Friday nights. The advantages to playing on Fridays are numerous: no work the next day with late games, the ability to mesh one's post-game drinking with the established routine of the night, relieving stress through sport at the end of the week. Unfortunately, for the learners I encounter weekly at stick time, this league is a hilarious misrepresentation of the term "novice." Nobody in the league is truly a novice, and players typically hang around the league for over three years. How somebody can be a novice for three years is certainly an interesting question, and one best explained by the ratio of ringers to appropriately skilled players.

My team, the Ice Crue (undoubtedly named by some player following an in-game concussion and a post-game beer), started off the season 2-0 while combining to score 17 goals while allowing 3. We feasted on the two worst teams in the league. The league administrators rewarded us by removing our two best players, neither of whom was in our top 5 scorers at that point. This woud've been okay had the league followed through with the even-handed removal of all ringers from all teams, but all this action truly achieved was making the Ice Crue utterly uncompetitive.

We lost our next game 14-4, the next 4-1, and last night's game 4-0. After seeing a total of 32 shots in my first two games, I saw 118 in the next three.

Last night's game was a superb example of the inequity in the league. Both teams had 10 players a side, so there was no real advantage in conditioning. However, the first goal was scored by a player who, while falling down, put the puck into the high glove corner of the net on a one-time pass from the corner. The next goal was scored when a player skated from his net, got all the way to my blue line, cut over to his back hand and cut through three defenders, then came across the crease and put the puck off the corner pipe short-side above my blocker. This is not a novice procedure. Meanwhile, my team struggled to string together more than two passes in a row, and accumulated penalties with a confident resolve.

The previous game was similar, with our team managing to tie the game at 1-1 early but then falling to a team which actually utilizes a coach on the bench. Yes, they have former NHL player Daryl Evans standing on the bench for their "novice" league games. The entire team is ringers, and they will not lose a game this season.

It's frustrating, but also exhilaration. My first two games were marked with the peculiar feeling that there was nothing I could do which would allow my team to lose. Ken Dryden spoke of this feeling in The Game, and it's not particularly attractive. Certainly, winning games is delightful for everyone involved, but I felt no different than a backup goalie, a scratched player, or a spectator. My efforts were ultimately unimportant.

Obviously, this changed when we lost our best players. Suddenly, I became critical. Giving up a goal is no longer a mild inconvenience, but an enormous obstacle, and an obstacle which I am hopelessly unable to assist my teammates in overcoming. The 14-4 game was a transition, played with 5 total skaters for the Crue and countless acts of idiocy by the opposing team*. Now, the team has entered a phase where it must play perfect hockey to win. Whether this is possible remains to be seen.

For anyone interested, statistics are logged in this league and published online. You can find me here by looking for the Ice Crue. You'll find my league-leading 125 saves and mediocre .833 save percentage under the Goalie Leaders link.

*Ironically, the team was the Huskies.

Yes, the spinorama is bullshit

Two good posts: One from Fanhouse and another from Jewels From The Crown , both talking about goalies growing a pair and ending the awesome, very successful, and essentially unfair spinorama move in the shootout.

For those of you unacquainted with this move, see the video below (Facebook readers, you'll need to visit my actual blog by clicking on "View Original Post" to see it:

I chose Gerbe of BC over the NHL because college hockey rocks. BC still sucks though.

Cool, right?

The problem is that, as far as I'm concerned, it's a borderline play that is usually poorly executed and thus illegal. The puck needs to be moving forward at all times during a shootout. Often, when executing a spinorama, the puck stops.

Meanwhile, the save percentage on this move is low. Take a typical .500-.750 save percentage for most goalies and cut it in half. This is a virtually indefensible move-unless, of course, goalies start throwing their weight around.

Back at Northeastern, I was playing my second to last game on ice. At this point, I still wasn't very good, but I was feeling a lot more confident than I had during my first game, so when this guy skated into my crease to screen me [Dude. It's INTRAMURAL hockey and you're waving your stick in my face and bumping me?], I shoved my glove into his back. He didn't move. I provided some additional motivation with a forceful application of my stick to the back of his knees.

This was more effective.

After falling down and watching my teammates skate away with the puck, the guy pushed me hard enough to skate me back into the net and knock it off its moorings. Regardless, the message was received. He stayed away from the crease the rest of the game.

All it's going to take to end the spinorama and force players to think of more innovative techniques during the shootout is a modern day Hextall* (Carey Price, anyone?) dropping the hammer on a shooter. And I can't wait.

*If you've never watched Hextall flip a shit on Chris Chelios, this is a video you need to watch.

Stream of Consciousness Hockey

Photo taken by Mark, liberally damaged in Photoshop by me.

I realize that nobody who reads this blog ever bothers to read my hockey posts. Unfortunately, they're also the most fun to write. Just another Blogger's Dilemma, I suppose.

The Kings opened their season in Vancouver while I was in Florida. Being on the east coast meant the game didn't start until 10 PM, I would have to watch the game over a Slingbox through a terrible free WiFi connection on a 12" laptop, and I'd have to leave the sound off to avoid disturbing a sleeping girlfriend.

Please don't sue me for fair use of your photo.

The game was mediocre, but the Kings looked resplendent. Jon Quick was wearing faux-vintage brown pads and a Rogie Vahon tribute mask, the team was wearing purple and gold as they had in the pre-Gretzky years, and Bob Miller was undoubtedly calming a hyperactive Jim Fox on commentary. Anze Kopitar took an inadvertent stick to the mouth and needed 15 stitches halfway through the first, then returned to play the entire second, third, and overtime periods before scoring a goal in the shootout. There's no sport quite like hockey.

With the end of my unemployment rapidly approaching but the promise of a paycheck beckoning me to the ice, I set out in search of new pads to replace that which I had left at Northeastern. Faith in your equipment is one of the pillars of goaltending, so I set out to find reaonably priced upgrades to my old pads.


Craigslist yielded a brand new Reebok Premier Series 2 glove and a freakishly light stick for hundreds below retail, while a visit to the local hockey shop netted some Bauer Reflex RX6 pads and CCM skates. The pads are fairly entry level in the grand scheme of hockey, but 20 years more advanced than the ol' Reactors, offering things like knee padding and five-hole closure.

One of the most inexplicable and frustrating things about living in the city of Boston was a complete lack of in-city hockey shops and rinks. This limited my ice time to my intramural games and my purchases to secondhand vendors. Oddly enough, the greater Los Angeles area offers substantially more value to a hockey player than the metropolitan Boston area, with all three major online hockey retailers calling Southern California their home and two rinks within 7 miles of Venice. This, of course, allowed me to break in my new pads within a day of their purchase at the Toyota Sports Center.

Stepping onto the ice for the first time in months was less difficult than expected. Unfortunately, goaltending after avoiding the gym for months is an intensely painful activity, making conditioning my greatest obstacle. Regardless, I stopped some pucks and made it out to two days of stick time, seeing lots of pucks and doing incalculable damage to my knees and groin.

Making a predictable rookie mistake, I removed the thigh boards from the new pads thinking that they'd be more trouble than they were worth.

This is how it looked yesterday. It now looks like one of those blue potato chips they give you on JetBlue.

Wrong. It's incredible how a puck seeks the least protected areas of your body and finds them within five minutes of stepping into the net. Thighs, collar bones, arms, and necks all make saves you'd rather make with your forehead. Ken Dryden wrote in "The Game" that despite all the protection, goalie was still a fundamentally painful position, and despite decades of equipment improvements, I still manage to block a shot with nothing but bone at least once every game. I find it silly that shooters always apologize for hitting me in the mask. Shots to the mask don't hurt. Shots to the thigh do.

Somehow, after barely managing to drive my heavy-clutched car home, staring at bruises and cuts, and struggling to stand up, something drives me, and presumably all real athletes, to get up and do the same thing the next day. Maybe that's why Northeastern hockey has season ticket holders from the '50s. The team is rarely good, but the game is more important than the results.

On the topic of Northeastern hockey, I am confused by optimism. A team which drastically underperformed last year and has neither gained nor lost anyone truly critical is likely to drastically underperform this year. A loss in an exhibition match to a miserable Canadian team, a loss to miserable Providence, a loss to excellent Boston College, a tie with bad RPI, and a tie with a mediocre UNH squad spells "BAD TEAM" in bold letters. Perhaps not as bad as the 3-24-7 team of my freshman year, but likely worse than last year's 16-16-2. Let's remember that this team has yet to win a game despite having played an exhibition, an out of conference game, a game against Providence, and two home games against Hockey East Opponents. The team that made the NCAA tournament started 5-0-1 against better competition.

Thank goodness for the Kings, because the Huskies are beginning what will amount to one very long season. I do miss them, though. Every day.

Hockey and brain injuries

The quote below is from BoC, sourced from a person discussing traumatic brain injuries and the game of hockey. I thought it was interesting, and it appeals to my sports injury-prevention interests, so I figured I'd let my reader(s?) take a look at it.

Author Bio: Chelsea Travers is an outreach representative for CareMeridian, a subacute care facility located throughout the Western United States for patients suffering from traumatic brain injury, spinal cord injury or medical complexities, such as neuromuscular or congenital anomalies.

Hockey and TBI

Hockey is arguably one of the most physical professional sports. Hockey players are constantly getting body checked, slammed into boards, falling to the ice, slapped by a stick, hit by a dense, speeding puck or getting punched during a fight. If that isn’t bad enough, hockey players take part in one of the longest regular seasons of any sport, effectively taking on harsher pain for a longer amount of time throughout the year. Risk of injury couldn’t be clearer as you all too commonly see hockey players missing their front two teeth. With all of the injuries that can occur, one of the most dangerous is a traumatic brain injury (TBI). A TBI is a silent injury that can cause harm to the mind and body of an individual. An injury to the head or brain can alter someone’s life and can even require long-term rehabilitation and care from a skilled nursing facility. These injuries are often far too common in the sport of hockey and if not properly treated can permanently leave a hockey player's life challenging than the game they play.

TBI is an injury that Philadelphia Flyers player Ian Laperriere knows all too well. In game 5 of an NHL playoff game with the New Jersey Devils, Laperriere took a slap shot to the face that immediately caused him to bleed excessively from the wound above his eye and lose sight. Laperriere was diagnosed with a brain contusion after having a MRI a few days later. While Laperriere may have originally thought that losing sight in one of his eyes was the worst of the two injuries, in reality the bigger concern could wind up being the long-term effects of the brain injury.

A concussions have been dismissed as minor injuries because the physical nature of most sports causes them to occur regularly, but, frequently occurring or not, they are still head injuries where the brain is forced to move violently within the skull and the way it functions could change permanently. When the brain moves in such a manner, it can bruise, bleed, and even tear, which can cause irreversible damage to the victim. For a sport like hockey, this type of injury is very common and unfortunately at times ignored. Many hockey players don't take into account the possible effects of the injury and because it might not seem like a serious problem exists at first, they keep on skating as if nothing occurred. Their unawareness of the injury makes the it so much more dangerous because a mild brain injury can turn into a life threatening injury in a very short period of time without seeking immediate medical treatment.

Studies by the National Academy of Neuropsychology's Sports Concussion Symposium in New York have shown that since 1997, 759 NHL players have been diagnosed with a concussion. Broken down, that averages out to 76 players per season and 31 concussions per 1,000 games of hockey. That is far too frequent of an occurrence for such a serious injury. It's a frightening statistic that should send up a red flag to hockey officials that actions need to be taken to further prevent this type of injury from occurring.

The best, and sometimes only, treatment for TBI is prevention. For the National Hockey League new rules are being considered that preserve the game but also help protect the players. Rule changes concerning blindside hits, rink size (which affects players' space from each other and their proximity to walls), and stronger helmet requirements all have been considered to help curb TBI and its effects. This demonstrates that the NHL is aware of the seriousness of the injury and is taking proactive steps to help prevent it from happening.

Hockey is one of the most popular sports in North America and has millions of people participating in it every year. Unfortunately, the sport comes with the risk of a TBI. With the right awareness of the injury and the necessary precautions in place, the game should be able to continue with players excited to lace up their skates and enjoy it.

Yes, that was long. If you didn't read it, here's the crux of the issue: Hockey players sustain a lot of concussions, concussions are really bad, and they are preventable.

There's a few ways of reducing the risk of injury, most of which would require fundamentally altering the game of hockey. One of those ways is removing hits, another is a rules change that slows the game, and another is playing with a marshmallow for a puck inside a rink of pillows. None of those options are realistic for a professional sports league that draws at least limited support because of its violence. The only viable solution, in my mind, is technology.

Looking back at Wayne Gretzky, it's now well known that his helmet wasn't really a hockey helmet. It was a broomball helmet, designed to keep the noggins of drunk college students safe while they lumber around an ice rink with brooms and a soccer ball while wearing sneakers. Ryan Smyth wears a slightly upgraded helmet today. Most players wear their chin straps so loose that their helmets fall off when they fall down, or rotate backward onto their necks when they throw their heads backward. Moreover, many players choose to play with absolutely no facial protection of any type, eschewing even the small clear visor that offers some protection to the forehead and eye region.

This is ridiculous.

If the NHL is serious about reducing injury, it doesn't need to focus on blind side hits. Fixing bad hits is one thing, but what if you could limit injury from blind side hits and nearly every other injurious action on the ice?

Improving helmets, and forcing proper usage, is a simple way to drastically reduce hockey head and facial injuries at every level of the game without requiring a fundamental change in the way the game is played. The NCAA mandates that the players wear cages, and play is halted if a helmet is lost, encouraging proper equipment fitment. The NHL loses nothing by forcing players to wear modern, carbon fiber/kevlar helmets with full face shields, except for a half second for the equipment to be removed before a fight.

Purists will, as they always do, whine about losing some "important" aspect of the game by adding a level of safety. But I disagree. Losing Kopitar, Crosby, Ovechkin, or Briere for a season because they got an errant high stick to the eye is far worse for hockey than requiring face shields. Having former players relegated to wheelchairs because they've severely damaged their brains in '70's-era equipment is far worse for hockey than requiring good helmets.

It's up to the NHL to do the right thing, or do nothing. But, like the NFL, the league risks creating a generation of brain damaged alumni if it continues to ignore the blatantly wrong safety practices it espouses.

A 5-on-3 proposal

The Kings managed to lose 3-2 last night to, of all teams, Minnesota. They earned a 5 on 3 power play on consecutive penalties during a single play, allowing them 2 minutes of time with a sizable advantage to score the go-ahead goal. Instead, the penalty was successfully killed and the Wild would go on to score and win the game.

The problem with the Kings power play is, in my mind, their inability to generate quality shots from the points. Doughty is the only player with a reliable shot from the point, but he tends not to get the opportunities his teammates get because his skills are widely recognized. This leaves guys like Stoll and Johnson, both of whom have displayed good shots in the past, but who have been struggling for quite some time this season.

With that in mind, I wanted to create a cycle that plays to the Kings' strength...that is, good puck control (Frolov) and an accurate shot (Kopitar).

The first image in the sequence is a typical umbrella formation for a 5 on 3 power play. The second shows how the defense adjusts when a player on the overloaded side has the puck. Defenders try to guard the player with the puck and either post. With my play, the goal is to lure a defender off a post and allow Frolov to make a wraparound attempt or get an easy pass to Kopitar, open in the slot.

Click for a version you can actually see.

Essentially, once the right pointman gets the puck, he can fling it down the boards or make a good pass to the player at the near post. This forces the slot defender to slide across to guard against a pass while the defender already over there is tasked with getting the puck. Meanwhile, the defender at the back post must now move up into the slot to guard the player already there. Once the player has the puck down low, he should have three options: pass back to the left point, pass to a covered player in the slot, or attempt an open wraparound. The key, as with all power plays, is repetition. The defenders forced to move across post to post also have to drop to a knee to prevent the pass. This gets tiring quickly, and the defender responsible for covering the man in the slot is liable to make a mistake, leaving Frolov with the option of the wraparound or passing to an open Kopitar.

Goalies and goalie equipment

Picture-heavy post.

Goalies get saddled with a lot of unfair assumptions. It's a position which heavily relies on equipment, and as a result, most people see skill as secondary to equipment. It's unfortunate, because the strategy behind goaltending is fascinating, particularly as you watch the progression from standup to butterfly to profly over the last 100 years. While watching the women's Beanpot over at Harvard, it was interesting watching the equipment progress as well, from the original dark leather pads to modern flat-face box pads. The fact is, though, that Patrick Roy, Martin Brodeur, and Ryan Miller are all good goalies because they are positionally sound and extremely fast, not because they wear enormous pads. But that's a discussion for a later date, because I just wanna catalog my equipment.

Items arranged in reverse order of personal preference...if I don't like it, you see it first.

Mission Boss Glove (2008, new)

It's hard to describe how bad this glove is. When I first bought it, it wouldn't open, so I would keep it open with a 15 pound weight in the pocket whenever I wasn't using it. 6 months and 25+ games later, it still doesn't open fully, but now it won't close properly either. Splendid. Purchased largely because it was cheap, it's a great example of "get what you pay for." It's the second thing I plan on replacing behind the leg pads, only because it's new.

Bauer Reactor 6 Leg Pads (1999?, used)

These pads are actually perfect for a learning goalie. They have intrinsic faults which demand added attention to technique, including their inability to seal properly to the ice. This means that your stick needs to be in position in front of the pads if you want to make a five-hole save. There is no knee landing gear of any sort (although I added some, check for duct tape in this image), so there's nothing to stop the puck there either, and before adding that foam, dropping down was discouraged unless absolutely required. These faults, of course, are some of the reasons I'm buying new pads as soon as I have the required income. Other reasons: really heavy, too many straps, about an inch too short.

These pads, incredibly, were worn by a couple NHL goalies in the late '90s. Similar pads were worn by a couple others, as these were made immediately after Nike bought Bauer, and were essentially re-branded Cooper Reactor pads. Found for $50 on Craigslist.

Unidentified CCM Pants (19??, used)

I mean, they're pants. They're hard to screw up, but who ever has pants they really like? Their best feature is that I don't notice them when playing, making them better than my glove and leg pads. And for $15 on eBay, it's hard to complain.

Bauer Vapor XIX Skates (2006, used)

These skates have been better than expected. Purchased at the last second when I realized that playing goal in player skates would lead to broken feet, I was forced to settle for skates about a half size too large and with about a year less of blade than I wanted. I added Overdrive blades, which helped a lot in my first few games, and changed the insoles after getting massive foot cramps during my first game. The cowlings are great, I can take pucks off the foot without getting hurt, and they aren't a constant burden, which is nice. They'll need replacement soon.

Sherwood 9950 Stick (2007, used)

This stick, along with my preferred but falling apart Montreal stick, was a $20 throw-in with the skates. It's definitely better than the skates, though. I discovered why you don't tape a goalie stick handle while screwing around with the stick during a roller game, and have subsequently learned that I prefer a little tape above the paddle and just a knob at the top, no handle. There's probably a little too much curve (Lalime, I think) on this stick since I rarely play the puck, but it's perfectly sized and in good shape, unlike most of my equipment. The black/white tape on the bottom is mostly aesthetic, although it reminds me to keep the stick centered.

Bauer Supreme One55 Chest/Arm Protector (2008, used)

Another cheap ($70) eBay purchase, this C/A has been a lifesaver. I've seen some pretty hard shots into the solar plexus and off the elbow, none of which have hurt. It's not huge, either, and the protection is definitely a class above the entry-level TPS and RBK pads I was looking at. Again, its best feature is that I don't notice it when I'm playing.

TPS Summit Blocker (2008, new)

Most of the time, a blocker is a lot like goalie pants. Nobody ever really gets excited about a blocker, because they're generally all the same. This one, though, is particularly nice. This isn't actually the blocker I purchased for $30, this is the blocker they sent me, and it costs closer to $130. It features player glove-like finger protection, relatively uncommon in blockers, and has a little bevel on the end that makes it easy to go paddle-down or scoop up a dropped stick. The hardest shots I've seen have hit me in the blocker, and I feel nothing except a little pressure as the puck gets directed into the corner. I will own this blocker until the palm gets completely worn out.

Hackva 2608 Mask (2009, new)

This mask is a thing of wonder. Forwards, during warmups, generally try to avoid hitting goalies in the head. I don't really mind it. I've gotten hit with ice pucks, roller pucks, roller balls, sticks, and skates, and nothing ever makes my ears ring or my head hurt. It is an advanced mask, the best that can be bought at its $300 price point, and should be a replacement mask for every single goalie wearing an Itech 1200, the mask known as the "Widowmaker" to many goalies.

I added, obviously, the bricks with electrical tape, something I've discussed before, and the back plate has a California decal. I also added the Vauhgn throat guard after getting hit with a roller ball almost immediately.

Nectar of Victory

Yeah, the title is a Northeastern football reference. Expect those to seriously date my writing as I graduate and incoming freshmen attend a college devoid of a football program.

I had my first, and likely last, victory as an ice hockey goalie at Northeastern last night, beating Eishunde 8-5. Of course, the fifth of those five goals came off the stick of Jeff, so it's unlikely that I ever hear the end of it.

Certainly not my best game, but not my worst, either. I had a clean first period but only saw maybe 4 or 5 shots, mostly from bad angles or from relatively far away. The only save worth writing home about was a blocker save that only kinda hit my blocker and mostly hit my arm in a place with surprisingly minimal padding. We scored thrice in the period, courtesy of the Noble Trifecta of good shooting, porous defense, and mediocre goaltending.

The second moved me to the away side net, a net which always seems to give me trouble. I don't know if it's mental, if I'm a little tired in the second, or if it's all the engative karma and "sieve!" chants directed to that side of the ice, but I never play well over there. Regardless, I let in a terrible five-hole goal, but I'm blaming my pads*. Modern pads explicitly designed for modern goalies don't have any gap between the top of the pads and the ice surface when down on the ice. My pads, however, are vintage 1997, and have an irritating and unfortunate puck-sized hole right where they should be stopping pucks, so if my stick ends up out of position, I'm screwed. In other words, if I play a puck perfectly, but don't have my stick down as I drop, the shot turns into a goal. It's aggravating, and why I'm replacing those pads once I leave Boston.

I think I gave up three in the second, but we scored three, so no harm, no foul. Plus, I made my first legitimate glove save of the semester, so that was nice.

The third started with the clock stopped for probably 90 seconds, during which I grew increasingly frustrated. A 3 goal lead isn't really enough for me, and giving a team with a huge bench that much extra time leads to scoring chances. Regardless, I would only give up 2 that period while we scored a pair of our own, so the team earned its first W, moving to 1-8-0 over the last two semesters. Progress.

I had an opportunity to play the puck with some degree of success, although I imagine the opposing forward would argue I was more of a hindrance than a real threat. After shoving the puck down the boards, I got back in net just in time to make a mask save off my forehead. Immediately after that, one of our forwards took the puck all the way up ice only to get hooked and sent shoulder first into the net. I was pretty sure he was dead, but he got up and played the last 1:29, scoring a goal on the ensuing power play. Hockey players are weirdly tough.

I've got one game left, two games of broomball, and five games of floor hockey.

*I have yet to catalog all my equipment here, but it'll happen. Goalies are vain.

Oh yeah, I have a blog

I've discovered that I have substantially less to blog about when the teams I follow are playing well. If the Angels win the Series, the Kings win the Cup, and the Huskies win anything, I'll probably spend months away from here.

Regardless, after watching the US demolish Norway 6-1 despite playing about 20 minutes of good hockey and 40 minutes of crap, I figured I'd talk about sports.

Angels

I promise to have a season preview up before the season actually begins. With most projections showing the Angels to be an 85-win team, I'm fairly confident they can win 90, but it's going to take repeat or better performances from Morales and Kendrick, along with some degree of recovery from Kazmir and Santana. Santana is probably the most important player on the Angels. If he can return to his 2008 performance, he becomes a cheaper, younger, and better John Lackey. Kazmir as well, although I expect less from him, largely because he hasn't showed the solid peripherals he maintained during his first couple seasons for the last three seasons.

Joel Piniero was a waste of money. But that will become clear shortly enough. I've said it before and I'll say it again: Tony Reagins is not a top-tier GM.


Huskies

This is a big weekend for Northeastern. The hockey team opens at Matthews against BC tomorrow in a surprisingly crucial game. I say "surprisingly" because the Huskies were clinging to the final playoff spot three weeks ago, giving games in hand to powerhouses like Merrimack, and with the distinct possibility of missing the playoffs for the second time during Cronin's tenure. However, they've since won 6 of 7, with the lone loss coming in the Beanpot, and sit a single point out of fourth place. Fourth is where the home ice is, and that would be wonderful. I'm missing the final home hockey game of the season, so if I want to see more than two hockey games at Matthews before I graduate, the Huskies will have to make a valiant run to 4th.

Saturday brings Louisiana Tech to Matthews for a Bracket Buster battle between* NCAA tournament hopefuls. The Huskies can and should win this game, in front of what will likely be the largest home basketball crowd since Reggie Lewis called Huntington Avenue home. If Northeastern can win its final two CAA games, it wins the CAA regular season title and guarantees itself a spot in the NIT. Win three more in Richmond, and the Huskies dance, forcing me to scramble to find tickets to the regionals on short notice, ensuring the flight will cost more than my annual hockey budget.

Sunday, the hockey team plays BC at BC in a weird 3:00 game, a game I'd like to go to but probably can't make. Later, the US plays Canada in the closest thing we'll have to an NHL All Star game this season.


Marcus

So I updated the Ice Sports Schedules on the right side of the page. My hockey team is an expected 0-3, although my idiot teammates (and I say that in the most loving way possible) decided not to show up to a game on the 14th, so we lost by forfeit, instead of the usual "give up way more goals than you score" method. My next game comes, thankfully, after an Aerodynamics test, and we'll be playing Jeff's team, so our first W might be in sight.

My broomball team, on the other hand, has no losses and two wins, something that's never happened before. I've allowed a single goal on the season, and have posted consecutive shutouts for the first time in my career. It's a weak league this year, but if we can win our next two games we'll make the playoffs for the first time.

Coming up later this semester: floor hockey.

Joel Piniero and the game of hockey

For some reason, the quotation mark speaks to me today.

The Angels added a pair of moves to their offseason bottom line, signing Joel Piniero to a 2 year, $16 million dollar deal, and trading offloading Gary Matthews Jr. to the Mets in exchange for reliever Brian Stokes.

The Piniero move ranks from expensive to mind-bogglingly stupid, depending on what sort of performance the Angels get this season. Piniero is, for all intents and purposes, a replacement-level pitcher. Replacement level players are worth $3-4 million in salary, and can usually be had for the $400,000 major-league minimum. That's if Piniero is as "good" as he was last year.

If he plays like he did before last year, he'll have a tRA above 5, which means he'll either be really lucky and have an ERA below 5 or play to his skills and have an ERA over 5. This means he'll owe the Angels about half his salary...assuming he can stay at about replacement-level.

Getting rid of Gary Matthews was another "meh" move. Sure, you're getting rid of him, but the problem with Junior is the dollars invested in his contract, not his physical presence. So by sending him to the Mets and acquiring a mediocre-to-awful 30-year old relief pitcher, the Angels save $2 million over the next two seasons. That's not worth it, frankly, and I wish they'd have taken a better player in an exchange of bad contracts. Zito for GMJ?

These moves, in combination with the Matsui signing, the GMJ signing, the Teixeira and Lackey debacles, and even "positives" like the Hunter signing, have led me to believe that the front office is incompetent. Not godawful (Royals), not terrible (Mets), but definitely incompetent. Tony Reagins has not shown any evidence that he understands the concept of advanced baseball statistics, and his continued reliance on things like RBI and average as accurate metrics of a player's value has severely damaged the Angels' ability to contend in the AL West for the foreseeable future. It's time for him to go.

All hope is not lost. The Mariners, just two years removed from Bill Bavasi single handedly destroying the franchise, have assembled a team on a smaller payroll which projects to win 85 games to the Angels' projected 86. They have signed a young, star pitcher to a long-term deal, avoided expensive, backloaded contracts assigned to aging veterans, and managed to maintain their draft picks and improve an already strong farm system. The Mariners are what the Angels will need to become to continue their success in the division and league.

Fire Tony Reagins. You heard it here first.


High Glove Side 2, Reptar on Ice 8

I think my High Glove Side is one of the better names in Northeastern intramural ice hockey, but Reptar on Ice is pretty solid.

This game wasn't really as uneven as the score suggests. I really didn't play that poorly, either, outside of the last seconds of the second and third periods. We were playing with a short bench, and the other team was composed partially of club players, so the result was largely expected.

I saved the first shot of the night off my right arm, the first time in 6 games I've managed to keep the first shot from becoming the first goal. They would, however, score on a relatively simply five-hole shot that would've been stopped had I put my stick in the proper location. One problem with my current leg pads is that they don't seal the five-hole when in the butterfly, so even though I've really improved my dropdown, pucks still sneak through if I'm perfectly square to the shooter. Yes, I realize it's ridiculous that my being positionally sound leads to goals, but that's my story and I'm sticking to it.

Their second goal was a fluke. I came down to stop a low shot, but a defenseman got a stick on it and it flew right into the top of the net. It happens, and goals like that are something that NHL goalies don't stop, so I can live with that. We finished the first period down 2-1, unusually close, as my first period is usually my weakest.

Not so this night.

The second period was brutal. I was making lots of saves, but I gave up 4 goals on various shots, 2 of which were decidedly soft. I had a deflection off a skate in front of me go five-hole, which is fine, and a nice shot over my left shoulder (hence the name High Glove Side), but the other was a trickler from a bad angle and the last was a shot I never saw.

The third was tiring, particularly since our short bench meant most of the players had been on the ice most of the game. Without much defense, I saw a few most shots, almost made a brilliant glove save before the puck bounced out and back into play, and allowed a breakaway goal with like 5 seconds left. Maybe it wasn't a breakaway. Whatever it was, it didn't matter.

So that was the first hockey game of the season. I'm going to miss one, but my next game is Sunday at 5:00, so if anyone's interested in watching me/UStreaming the event, it's at Matthews Arena.

Also, I thought this was pretty funny. Not the part where Carey Price gets run over, that scares me, but the part where he drops the gloves as if he's actually going to fight the enforcer. And the part where Conklin skates over like he's actually going to enter a goalie fight.

Facebook users, there's a video here, so click on "View Original Post" if you wanna watch it.

Miscellany

Just some quick notes today, mostly off-topic:

• My previous post was rehashed and published as an editorial over at the Huntington News. The only real difference is that I nominate myself as Northeastern's next athletic director.
• The Lakers beat Jose Juan Barea and the Mavericks 100-95 last night despite DJ Mbenga and Luke Walton each playing more than 10 minutes. Oh, and Pau Gasol didn't play.
• The Kings followed up an awesome streak of like 10 or 11 games without a pair of losses with a 4? 5? -game losing streak. Welcome to fandom in the Kings' fiefdom.
• I'm playing on two, possibly three, hockey teams this semester, plus broomball. I'll be goaltending for one, backing up for another (and possible taking the ice as a forward), and backing up a third. Schedules will be up on this blog once they're finalized.
  

The difference between me and Brodeur is like .500 in save percentage

For those of you reading this on Facebook, there's a 90 second video in here. Click on "View Original Post" to check it out, if you so desire.


If Kenny Loggins has a problem with 1:30 of his song being used in this video, then dude, nobody has listened to anything you've done since Caddyshack. And nobody reads this blog, anyway.

Lucic Crew 4, Eishunde 6

At this point, I'm taking what I can get from my 36 minute games. I figure I probably saw 15 shots and allowed 6 goals, so we're not talking NHL here, but the improvement is coming. More importantly, the experience has gone from completely nerve rattling to mostly enjoyable, and I'm certainly not afraid of the puck like I was when I first started playing floor hockey over the summer.

The video above is a compilation of most of my saves and one particularly nice backdoor goal. Big thanks to Jeff's friend Frenchie and the always helpful Beth for dealing with my ridiculous taping demands.

You'll see good form on a couple of those shots. The last save was probably my best...it might be the first save I've made that looked as routine as it was. The stops on the breakaways were nice too, particularly the shorthanded attempt about 10 seconds in. Please note that this is not one of the saves with "good form."

The goals were mostly ugly. I think three of them were straight through the five-hole on the ice, one was a stupid five-hole trickler that went in off someone's skate, the first was probably a good shot, and the nice little backdoor play that we'll see plenty of with the Rat Dogs visiting Matthews this weekend. I don't know why I can't seem to keep my stick on the ice when I'm dropping down, but that'll come with practice.

The other goalie pretty much stood on his head, and one of our guys hit him pretty hard at one point. I was a little concerned they were going to come after me, but letting the first two shots you see go in usually tells the other team to take it easy.

Jeff, by the way, got railroaded by someone. It was awesome.

I've got one more game, then one more semester of this. I'd like to win one at some point.

Ha...and hockey!

Any team with a competent lineup and a smidgen of defense will bring down the Yankees in 5 games. I didn't think so before this series, but the Angels tried, with all their might, to hand this series to New York in three games, and the series still went 6.

It's going to be an easy title for Philadelphia. New York has one reliable starting pitcher, one reliable reliever, and one reliable bat. Ryan Howard sez hi.


Lucic Crew 5, Flying V 6

We were winning 5-3 with 5 minutes to go. I hadn't given up a goal since halfway through the first period. I then allowed the same guy to score three consecutive times on the same shot from the same place to lose the game.

Positives? Well, I only gave up 6, which is a new personal best. I had a clean second period. I had a nice glove save and I'm pretty sure I stuffed a breakaway, but it might've just gone wide. I successfully skated from the crease to the bench with 50 seconds left without falling on my face. I played the puck up to a forward from above the circles. I had a nice butterfly slide.

Negatives: I gave up a goal on the first shot, again. I gave up three consecutive goals on the same shot from the same place to lose the game. I didn't see anywhere near as many shots as I usually do, so the 6.00 GAA is misleading. I left out a rebound but didn't get a whistle when I covered up and got run over by 4 skaters in the crease.

Whining and more goalie talk

I swear, baseball fans can be some of the most myopic sons of bitches in the world. At least twice a day, while I'm out reading about baseball when I should be studying circuits, I see some joke about the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim name.

Let me make this perfectly clear. The name change happened in 2005. 2005 was 4 years ago. Here's some other things that happened 4 years ago:

-George W. Bush was inaugurated for his second term.
-The Patriots won their second of three Superbowls.
-Hurricane Katrina.
-Youtube goes online.

All of these things are more important than the Angels changing their name, yet none of them receive the constant discussion.

Stop it. If it's really a problem, do what everyone else does, and call them the Angels. Arte Moreno got a multi-million dollar TV deal and other such niceties out of the name change. STOP. WHINING.

Mariners fans are bad about this, but the never ending Dodger inferiority complex takes the cake.


Lucic Crew 2, Chinatown #1 8

I'm pretty irritated about this. My first period was awful. I gave up 6 goals, 4 of which had no business even getting near the net. I actually had to ask one of my teammates if the second goal went in because it was just such a bad, short-side goal on a nothing shot.

My second and third were okay, giving up one late goal in each period, but I'd really like to know whether I (and the team) improved between the first and second or if the other team stops trying because they've got a 6-2 lead. Either way, the only time I wasn't fighting the puck was the third, and I was 8 seconds away from a clean period before somebody NHL '94'd me with a wraparound. My crease movement is crappy, although slowly improving.

I actually felt pretty good during warmups, which is weird, because last game I was pretty sure I was going to pass out, and I don't think I stopped any of the first 20 warmup shots. I had a pretty nice streak going at one point today, but then you step back, and you realize that I'm talking about warmups.

Jeez.

What I'm learning is that I need my defense to play a substantially different game than they might with a real goalie. I always prefer them to try and deflect the shot, because I can usually see where the puck is going to be passed, but 4 out of 5 times I'm screened on a shot. I prefer the defenders forcing play to the middle because it lets me move to the center of the crease where I'm more confident in my motion. And I prefer facing breakaways to point shots.

I just can't see the puck very well when it's in the defensive zone, and so I start playing the "Guess where the puck is!" game, and that game sucks. It generally ends with me dropping into my "butterfly" without really knowing where the puck is going, only to see it pop out from the maze of defenders and soar into the net as I slide the other direction.

During the second and third, my defense blocked a lot of shots and mostly left me 1 on 1 with shooters, which was actually pretty nice. I can stop a breakaway because there's nothing else but me and the puck, and players these days either aim five-hole or try a toe drag for a top shelf shot, both of which I'm prepared for. I had one worthwhile save that wasn't on a breakaway, but that's pretty much it.

To recap, my combined first period goals allowed for both games: 11 goals
My combined second and third period goals allowed for both games: 6 goals

Just for kicks, that means my full game GAA based on first-period stats extrapolates to 16.50, while my full game GAA based on second- and third-period stats extrapolates to 4.50.

Hmm, that's Dan Cloutier territory!

Just not a good game, although still mindbogglingly fun, and I managed to avoid pulling my groin again. The next game is 2 weeks away on a Sunday evening, so I'm hoping I can force my friends to watch.

Goalie is hard

I am in moderate pain. Let's recap.

Wildabeasts 0, Other Team 2

Hopping back into the crease in broomball is almost nothing like riding a bike. It's more like remembering the first time you fell down during a heavy night of drinking, then waking up and noticing that your knees are purple and no longer bend.

My game was mediocre. I let in a softie in the first on a rising shot that got between my arm and my body, but the second saw a penalty shot that I had absolutely no chance on. It was one of the nicest shots I've seen during my illustrious broomball history, and I'm just thankful it didn't hit me in the cojones.

Our offense was...as expected, to be honest. We didn't convert either of our penalty shots, struggled to move the ball into the offensive zone, and spent way too much time dicking around with finesse passing instead of shooting. The penalty shots are a real problem. Those need to turn into goals 3 out of 4 times, but I'm pretty sure we're converting at a pace more along the lines of 10%. It comes down to approach, and really all that needs to be done is putting the ball on net and in the air. Most goalies are also very, very weak five-hole, so a hard low shot up the middle tends to be effective.

Anyways, I made one nice save, probably, throughout the game. I saw a lot of shots, but the save was on one I didn't see, where I managed to get the stick to the post just in time to nick the ball wide. I don't get those reaction saves very often, so it's nice when they happen.

Next game isn't for a while.


Lucic Crew 6, Mighty Ducks 9

Honestly, not a bad effort. Mark uploaded a video...I'm the goalie in white. Three saves and a goal is sorta the theme of my night.

Sitting in the locker room while strapping on my pads was one of those intense moments you tend to find only in sports and war. I haven't played competitive sports in 7 or 8 years now, and I've never actually spent time in a dressing room before a game.

It's pretty scary.

Most everyone else was focusing on the game ahead, talking about where they used to play, and whether they were gonna play wing or D. I was just worried about accidentally putting my pads on backwards. I was worried about falling down the second I hit the ice. I was worrying about the inevitable first goal and the first shot to hit me in the mask. The first to hit me in the cup. In the back. In the shoulder.

Too much thinking, for the most part. I had been hoping to skate around for a half hour or so before having to strap on the pads, particularly as I've never worn goalie skates before. No such luck, though, as the club team was practicing. I'd like to note the extreme disparity between the club team and the varsity team, and the similar drop in skill to the intramural teams. With each drop in talent the game seems to slow down.

Not so much in net.

Warmups were interesting. My pad straps were dragging on the ice and getting caught in my blades, which wasn't helping the fact that my skating was extremely suspect with enormous goalie skates and pads. Plus, the ice was all cut up from the club team practice, so my stick was getting caught on little mounds and grooves. I stopped a couple pucks during warmups, but mostly just got tired almost immediately. And seconds later, they were dropping the puck.

The first shot I saw went over my right shoulder and into the net. My form on the shot can best be described as an octopus falling out of a tree, but an octopus likely has better net coverage. It was a breakaway situation, and I was in the middle of the crease trying to shuffle over. Moreover, I didn't even realize the guy was on the other team. Brutal. Just brutal.

The second shot I saw went over my left shoulder and into the net. Another breakaway and another early bite and we were in a 2-0 hole about 3 minutes into the game.

Improvement during the first was minimal. We put two on the board, but I gave up five, with only one of those being a semi-reasonable goal. By the final third of the first, though, I was feeling a little better about being on the ice and managed to make a couple glove saves and a remarkably nice blocker save. Once I stopped thinking about stopping the puck and focused on watching the puck, it got a little easier.

The second was a good period, both for me and the team. I believe I only let in two while we scored three, moving the score to 7-5. Our offense was good when given the chance, and was aided by an opposing goalie who, despite his $2300 Itech pads, insisted on dropping to the butterfly on every shot. I think we roofed two goals and sent another in on the same backdoor play which typically mauls Northeastern. I also made my first cup save (kinda hurt, but really not bad) and had a nice poke check.

The third was a little rough, mostly because I absolutely cannot move across the crease. At this point, I had my defensemen lined up in front of me blocking shots a la Scuderi, which was nice, but also limited my visibility a little. And the opposing team managed to figure out that the wraparound was a reasonable solution to my "goaltending," so they were just moving it back and forth behind me until I got stock on one side and they could put it in. The period did have its highlights, though, with one puck hitting me square in the forehead and bouncing away, and another getting stopped by my shoulder before shooting directly up into the air and falling in front of me for an easy rebound goal. That damn puck is tiny.

It was a good experience. Most of the guys on the team were okay with my complete and utter disregard for stopping the puck, and gave Jeff lots of shifts where he played some pretty solid defense. He had a great clear from his knees on the near-side boards that I could've sworn was going to turn into a 3 on 0 situation.

My reactions are crap. My positioning is also crap. But for now, I want to work on getting post to post, either through a t-slide or the butterfly slide. Either of those will improve my game in an easily noticeable way. I just need some ice time for practice.

Ice Sports and Baseball

Angels

I've missed the last few games, but what I haven't missed is a disturbing downward trend from Kendry Morales. Kendry, who at one point led the team in batting average at over .310, is now batting .298. OPSing a Superman-like .930+, he's now down to .895.

Yeah, those numbers are still pretty good.

But at the same time, Kendry's been racking up strikeouts and seems to be having more 0-4 and 0-5 nights than at any other point in the season. Last night, he managed to go 1-5 with a double and 4 K's, Brandon Wood territory. Supposedly, he'll be getting some time off, and that might not be a bad thing, although I don't think young players benefit from benching quite as much as veterans. Much like Mike Napoli's whole season was derailed by lack of playing time, I'm nervous when Morales is on the bench.

The playoffs cometh. We'll see.


Northeastern Huskies Ice Hockey

Read the preview, if you haven't yet. The roster has been posted over at GoNU with surprise addition Steve Morra. Morra will be wearing #12, and thus needs to routinely hit opposing forwards with sufficient force as to break the glass.

Again, we'll see.


Marcus's Ice Sports

So I'll be suiting up for two sports this winter, broomball and ice hockey. As far as broomball, it'll be the usual suspects, with Jeff centering the top line and Mark providing energy and a scoring touch. Ill be in net, except this year I'll have played a reasonable amount of hockey before my first game, so I expect very few mistakes and a playoff run. Anything less is unacceptable.

Hockey, on the other hand, is a different story. Here are my goals for each game this semester:

• One glove save.
• One blocker save.
• One save on a closed five-hole.
• One stick save.
• One pad save.

And, at some point over the five game schedule:

• One breakaway save.
• One poke check.
• One outlet pass.
• One complete game. (games get mercy-ruled with a 10-goal deficit at any point in the third)
  

My team consists of Jeff and a bunch of people I don't know. I have skated with one of the others, the appropriately named Cam, and beyond that, it'll be an experience. Winning a game is probably out of the question unless Drew Doughty and Jack Johnson are playing the blue line in front of me, but the team has the potential to score lots of goals.

Schedules are on the right side of the blog...all games are at Matthews Arena, and I'd really like it if you guys could make it out to one.

I have a dream...

I mean, I'd prefer something better than a huge 486DX stationed behind the catcher, but this is still way better than humans.

Angels 1, Boston 4

The supposedly awesome the offense carried through the summer seems to be a product of fluke performances and luck, and you'd have to be an idiot to really think Maicer Izturis is an everyday player. Of course, the offense isn't really as bad as it's recently been, because Juan Rivera isn't really this terrible, and Vlad is stuck between being passable and being Vlad.

But this was a loss with lots of moral victories: The Angels made hard outs against Matsuzaka, including a Torii ball laced at the third baseman with men on second and third. Moreover, when Terry Francona idiotically brought in Papelbon with a 4-run lead, the Halos managed to scrape out a run, something I'm not sure they've ever done against Coin Slot. John Lackey pitched pretty well, although his fielding still leaves lots to be desired. At the same time, a third baseman really should be able to field a one-hop throw from the pitcher. Practice, Mr. Figgins.

I included the above Photoshopped image as an example of a situation which would improve the game of baseball. Check swings are impossibly hard to call, and yet umpires exhibit the utmost in confidence in exercising their judgment in an unbalanced fashion. Balls/strikes are hard to call, and yet umpires and the league remain steadfast in their assertion that blown calls are "part of the game." No. Enough. Replace them with our already 99.9999% accurate PitchF/X technology and end this farce.

I'll be at the Saunders/Byrd game tonight. Pray for offense.


Hockey

Hockey preseason is here! Well, for the NHL, at least. I maintain that I will write a complete preseason outlook on the Northeastern Huskies and, to some degree, Hockey East, before the season begins. The same goes for the Kings. I just need to get off my ass and get to it.


The mask is pretty much done, with the exception of the back plate. The bricks around the chin are a little messy, but overall, it's pretty good for something which required my artistic talents.

My goodness, welcome back to football

I didn't see tonight's 5-3 loss to the Yankees, but the reaction over at HH seems to indicate several missed opportunities and miscues, which seems to be par for the course in throwaway games like tonight's. The Angels head to Boston for three in a game with wild card implications before facing off against Texas for three. I'll be at Wednesday's matchup between Hokie Joe Saunders and Paul Effing Byrd. Why the Sox threw away Penny in favor of an identical pitcher in Byrd is beyond me.

But the real game tonight was in Foxboro.

Patriots 25, Buffalo 24

Let me preface this recap by explaining the Curse of Marcus as is pertains to fantasy teams. This past baseball season, I had more players hit the DL than anyone else in my league. Naturally, I drafted lots of Angels.

So my fantasy football draft comes around, and all the players I drafted have had miserable opening weeks. Every single running back and receiver, along with my tight end and defense, all undershot their projections between 15 and 85%. My last two players to suit up? Tom Brady and Wes Welker.

I was half expecting a bomb to go off in Gillete Stadium, but the only thing explosive was the general flatulence exhibited by the Patriots defense. The Pats were also saddled with two insanely bad roughing the passer calls, both of which dramatically changed the game. When New England allowed Trent Edwards to connect with Fred Jackson for an 11-point lead with 5:32 left, I was already dreading class with the self-anointed "Buffahoes" in class tomorrow.

Of course, I conveniently forgot about Ben Watson. Ben Watson is the tight end I should have drafted for my fantasy team instead of Vince Shiancoe, and he connected with Brady with 2:06 remaining.

At this point, Bill Belichick made a smart move: Forgo the onside kick and hope for a defensive stop. With all three timeouts remaining plus the two-minute warning, the Partiots had an opportunity to stop the Bills without giving them better field position with a 10% recovery rate onside kick.

Gostkowski shellacked a ball into the endzone, and McKelvin decided to run it out. His decision made sense...if he gets it out of the endzone, Buffalo can burn 40 seconds off the clock instead of 5. His mistake, however, was trying to gain a couple meaningless yards at the end of his run. Merriweather stripped it, and Gostkowski, of all people, came up with the ball. Another Brady to Watson touchdown sealed the game.

It's funny how a secondary which has played like crap all day can come back and win a game. Sports are weird.

My only real problems with the Pats, outside some pretty poor defense, was the dropped passes and overthrows to Welker and Moss which are so atypical of a Brady-led offense. I'll chalk it up to rust, but if it's still happening next week, it's cause for concern.

US Open

I'm planning to have Mark guest-blog here, if I can. I didn't watch the match, but he did, and besides, he knows more about tennis than I do. I didn't even know Nadal was eliminated.


Hockey

The brick motif is terribly inaccurate, but a sieve pattern looks too much like polka dots.

I believe I have a team. I have an almost completely covered-in-electrical tape mask*, and all the equipment I need to play goalie in a semi-competitive setting. Kira provided the artistic know how, and the general concept was inspired by some of the goalies over at the Goalie Store boards.

First game should be coming up pretty quickly. Also, wearing this mask in broomball should provide a pretty distinct intimidation factor, or at least a "hey look at that moron" factor, which tends to be equally effective.

*From what I've been told, the electrical tape will stay put. And it better, as it took me most of an evening to cut tape into 1.5 inch bricks and then carefully mold it over compound curves. I'd still like to find a small California flag decal to go with a small American flag decal for the back. I'm probably also going to fill in the chin with bricks until I think of a cool nickname.