Friday, November 13, 2009

Notes From the Yotes

Unfortunately, I had to go to bed before the best part of last night's Habs/Yotes matchup. But in the two periods I saw, I have come to some unalterable conclusions, including:

-Carey Price MUST wear a neck protector. I've always had a problem watching that long expanse of exposed throat sticking out of his sweater. Those too young to remember Clint Malarchuk's brush with death in the '80s, courtesy of a slashed corotid artery, might recall Richard Zednik's horrible encounter with Olli Jokinen's skate blade two years ago. I think all players should wear throat protection, but goalies especially. They're constantly exposed not only to flying pucks, but sticks and skates hacking and slashing at random during crease scrums. And nine times out of ten, the goalie is down at skate level while those scrums are taking place. If Price was wearing a throat protector last night, Paul Mara's stick wouldn't have dropped him like a cannon and the first Coyotes goal wouldn't have gone in. He should take the incident as a warning and realize it could have been a skate. He practices with the guard on, anyway, so it's not like he's completely unused to it.

-Bob Gainey MUST re-sign Tomas Plekanec in January, before he heads into free agency. The man is currently the first-line centre on the team, without any wingers. He's a no-quit worker with the wheels of an F-1 car and the hands of a brain surgeon. If he leaves via free agency without Gainey doing his damnedest to keep him, I will lose all faith in the GM.

-Tom Pyatt is surprisingly good. His acquisition is making the Gomez trade almost palatable.

-If Glen Metropolit doesn't win the team's unsung hero award, there is no justice. I love everything about the guy, from his gap-toothed, incredulous grin when he scores to his dogged work on the PK. He's got to be one of the best waiver pickups in Habs history. It's hard to believe he's as good as he's been when you remember the first shift he took as a Canadien last season. Remember? He gave the puck away and the Flyers immediately scored. Then he took a boneheaded penalty right after. Boy, was THAT game misleading! Too bad he's not five years younger.

-If Spacek is seriously hurt, the team's patchwork D will not be able to compete with most teams. It's going to be a very tough stretch if he's out.

14 comments:

GoldenGirl11 said...

Still laughing at the Miss Havisham reference. In fact I woke up laughing. The image of the wedding dresses and the "retards who paid $15,000" a table to eat with them. I love dark humour. I will laugh all weekend. Missed you in the third. The Coyotes suck but we sucked less last night.

J.T. said...

@GG11: Glad to be of service. I once wrote a Harlequin Romance (long story, involving an employment layoff and a dare) but it was rejected because it was too dark. I sense a theme developing here. And, while Gomez and Cammalleri might be funny in their wedding dresses, I think Laraque would be more ghoulish than is comfortable.

GoldenGirl11 said...

Goulish yes. But the sight of BGL holding his back as his hemp dress keeps popping open would be good for a laugh and/or cry. Oy.

Ok I have to ask. What does the H stand for?

J.T. said...

The dress would be too small for Laraque, being made, as it surely would be, from hemp that fell naturally from the plant without having been cruelly cut down in its prime.

And, the H stands for 'Hockey,' of course. ;)

GoldenGirl11 said...

My brother did the hemp/rubber thing for a while. Sounded like George Costanza when he walked. Dies Laraques still play for us? Seems like he signed a contract and then disappeared.

Of course H stands for hockey. Vaccine has drained my brain cells.

StephD said...

I always wondered about Price and the neck guard too. I had no idea he wore one in practice either. What's with not wearing it in the game then? Personally I hate wearing a neck guard, but I hate the idea of bleeding out like a slaughtered pig more.

Anonymous said...

If Price dies during a game, do we get a 5th pick overall?

Is there mulligans in hockey?

AndyF said...

Wow... uh... sorry to barge in on the Harlequin Romance discussion, but... ummm... :-)

I was just gonna say that Pleky was great 2 years ago, was very good last year, and is excellent this year.

The only two things he's done wrong are not being able to carry the team last season when everyone else's play went south, and shouldering the blame himself for the team's poor play.

Without that girlie comment, very few of us would have said he had a bad season. Too bad he had no one to play with...

Sign Pleky now!!

GoldenGirl11 said...

@J.T.
I finally took the time to read some of your stuff - dear god I don't have any more time to follow another blog - and I was captivated. I will look at it as another way to avoid all of my kids.

And btw, still laughing. I think I may have to put together a special photoshop for Dec. 5. Maybe BGL in hemp and Gomez in something off white. If any other dark ideas come to mind please let me know.

J.T. said...

@GG11: Thanks! I write to avoid all my kids, so we have something in common.

GoldenGirl11 said...

@J.T.
Why do you think I spend so much time on Photoshop!

Number31 said...

Price wears a slash guard instead of the bib. It's underneath and doesn't get in the way. I also notice he's accustomed to tilting his head so the chinguard of his mask covers his neck when facing pucks. One in a million, the stick went under and up. Frankly I'm more annoyed with Benoit Brunet...

pfhabs said...

JT:

-I guess what Pierre McGuire said a year ago about the insanity of a no in-season negotiation policy wasn't so off-the-wall afterall

-beyond Pelkanec; Mara, Metropolit, Bergeron, Leach & Sanford are UFAs. 2 key components to worry about there

-the fun starts with the RFAs; Price, Halak, S Kostitsyn, D'Agostini, Carle, Pyatt, Chipchurra, Lapierre, Latendresse & Stewart...I would wager an offer sheet or 2 is in that bunch..

-for all those with faith in Mr Gainey better start praying soon that he sees the light or that someone else is running this ship

Unknown said...

Eesh, 41-9 in shots in favour of Nashville so far, 2nd period not over yet. I know half our team are Hamilton Bulldogs, but wow...