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Saturday, January 1, 2011

Happy New Year! How 'bout some hockey on a football field?

The Winter Classic.  Love it or hate it, I don't think it is going away anytime soon.  I was pretty pumped yesterday after hearing about the delay to "primetime" for the game start.  It meant 1-2 more bowl games that I could pretend to care about and watch.  Plus, something about playing at night is just more appealing.

This year's Classic, as everyone knows, is in Pittsburgh at Heinz Field.  We have the two teams that have had their share of streakiness this year in the Penguins and Capitals.  While the Pens went on a rampage for a while in November and December, the Caps had been struggling (quite publicly for anyone that watches HBO's 24/7...which is AWESOME by the way).  Both streaks have ended and here we are.  January 1, 2011.  This could be a preview of the playoffs or a changing of the guard game.  It's only regular season and it's only worth 2 points but this is somewhat of a statement game.  Both teams are in a position to hit a stride at this point in the season and this could be the boost that both teams need.  But I digress.

So I thought I would do a review by period of what we now know.

1st Period.

1.  Both teams don't like each other.  I'm not even real sure they respect each other.
2.  Ovechkin is afraid of no one.  Beast.  I hate him.
3.  Fleury makes some sick saves.  He holds that crease better than I have ever seen him.
4.  The Crosby/Ovechkin rivalry is akin to John McEnroe and Bjorn Borg, or Muhammed Ali and Joe Frasier.
5.  I had bets with my brother on which Pen would take the first fight.  We both lost.  It was Mike Rupp.
6.  According to Mike Milbury, goalies are pointless.  They serve no purpose I believe were his words.
7.  I didn't think the crowd would be that loud, boy was I wrong.
8.  The Pittsburgh Airport has way too lenient rules on incoming flights from Washington.  That's a ton of red out there.
9.  This could come down to another shootout.

UPDATED  9:01 PM

2nd Period

1.  Ice Skates are not like Roller Skates.  They don't have breaks.  Tell Brooks Laich.
2.  This game is fast.  I'm not sure if this is because of the wet ice or what but these guys are playing fast.
3.  Fleury better get an assist on the Malkin goal.  That pass was incredible.
4.  I can't believe they counted that goal by Washington.  I thought for sure Fleury's stick was interfered with.
5.  If these guys don't slow this game down and stop hitting so much, someone is gonna die.
6.  I thought it wasn't going to rain anymore tonight in Pittsburgh.
7.  Fleury is lucky Brooks Orpik was in the right place at the right time.  Maybe he has snapped out of his zone from the first period.
8.  Now I take it all back.  Fleury is an idiot.
9.  Is it just me or do these camera angles suck?  I can't be the only one here.  Also, hockey pucks don't have breaks.  Tell Tyler Kennedy's face.
10.  Hooray!  2-2...oh, wait.  Rupp cheated again.  Nevermind.
11.  Crosby got his head taken off in an open ice hit.  No call.  No acknowledgment.  Nothing.
12.  I can't believe they tried to rip off the Blackhawks puck shooting thing they do during intermission.  Bettis has a nice wrist shot but sucks at throwing a football.  Go figure.

UPDATED 10:00PM

3rd Period

1.  Well apparently we (ie. Americans) are finally getting a National Hockey Day.  February 20th or something like that.  It is supposed to feature a day filled with rivalry games of US based teams.  That should be interesting.  I wonder how they will promote it going forward?  Of course it's sponsored by McDonald's so I'm sure it will be something stupid.
2. The Geico commercial with the caveman and the announcers...lame.  Enough with the caveman already.  The Gecko I get but the caveman needs to just go away.
3.  Did I mention I don't like Fleury?
4.  These teams really, really, really don't like each other.  6 tenths of a second left and a fight breaks out. 
5.  No matter how much they skated on this ice in the third period, it still looked like it was freshly Zamboni'd.
6.  Doc Emerick's brain moves faster than his mouth sometimes.
7.  The NHL will definitely rethink where they are going to put next years Classic.  The weather here played too much of a roll.
8.  Did I mention I don't like Fleury?

Final score...Washington 3, Pittsburgh 1.  Game Over.  Good Night.

3 comments:

  1. Doc Emerick sounded so disappointed that the Caps won. Sorry, the NHL is not just a showcase for the Squid or the Pens. And you can plainly see that Steckel was tucking the shoulder to try and avoid Squidney, not kill him. Watch where you're going Fee-nom...
    Great game!

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  2. You didn't like the view from the blimp? That's probably what it looked like from the 3rd balcony (or whatever) of that football field.

    ReplyDelete
  3. No I didn't. My brother went to the old timers game on Saturday and then the Classic on Sunday. They put the people for the Saturday game all on the bottom tier...seats were not good that low. They had seats in the second tier for the Classic. He sent pictures...they were good but it's hard to watch a hockey game in a football stadium. You don't realize how small the rink is until you stick it on a football field.

    ReplyDelete

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