Think there's nowhere to go but up?

Think again.

The Canadiens continued their colossal meltdown, losing their fifth straight game to no other then powerhouse, the Toronto Maple Leafs.

Well, no matter how bad it gets ... it could always be worse.

Karma was not on their side.

It all started when Tom Glavine of the Atlanta Braves (and you know my sentiments about baseball) said that he thought Sidney Crosby was a "Great, young American athlete."

Wait, wait, wait... what? Back that bookmobile up. Great? check. Young? you bet. Athlete? obviously... what was that third thing, again? American? nope. Someone hit the "YOU'RE WRONG!" buzzer. Poor ol' Glavine is gonna be feeling pretty sad when Crosby is tearing up the USA at the Olympics.

Then Joe Louis public address announcer Budd Lynch called him Steven Crosby. For a bit I tried to rationalize it... I looked across the room at a perplexed Garreth and said. "oh he's just old, I think he said Sidney... maybe". No I don't think he said Sidney, he definietely said Steven. Did he look at the wrong part of the page? Maybe he confused it with Steve Yzerman, who was coming out for the ceremonial face-off. Of course that would only makes partial sense because it's Steve Yzerman, not Steven. Awww, whatever he was born in 1917.


Before that, Marc-Andre Fleury fell flat on his face in front of the entire crowd in Detroit. He was attempting to do his super-run onto the ice for the beginning of the game, but instead did a face plant into the ice. It was slightly less embarrassing than when that anthem singer fell that time, but still embarrassing. I won't lie, I laughed.

But again... the karma. It's almost like the ghosts of Ottawa, New York and Philadelphia were cursing every step the Penguins took. (except when that goal got called back... more on that in a bit.) The Pens looked flat, were making bad passes, and they seemed to collectively trip just like poor ol' Fleury.

On top of it all, how many times were Detroit fans staring in horror as the puck sat idly in front of an open net with nobody on the Penguins able to pull the trigger. The answer is, A lot.

Back to that goal that was called back. If you didn't catch it, here's the recap: Holmstrom was in front of the crease and had his stick in "groin area" of Fleury. The Penguins, who seemed to be paying an ungodly amount of attention to the right-wing, didn't really notice Lidstrom pinch in on the left. The puck squirted over to him and he sent a rocket of a shot to the roof. The goal was called back because of "goaltender interference" and when a ref does that the rulebook states that the perpetrator must go to the box and feel shame for two minutes. So off paraded Holmstrom to the box and Mike Babcock looked like he might blow an artery.

I'm not saying that it wasn't goaltender interference, i'm sure any male would cringe in terror of the thought of getting smacked with a stick in the groin. But it's not like Holmstrom full out Chris Simon'd him. Let's just say if it was Henrik Zetterberg, they probably wouldn't have called it.

But I have to say I agree. In this case, I condone a double-standard. And before you hang me out to dry, let me explain. Holmstrom has a history of keeping his butt a little too close to the goaltender, and there's not really a rule against it becuase that toe-in-the-crease rule is thankfully gone. But, if you look at the replays of Holmstrom in front of the net, he is obviously obstructing the goaltender. A message needed to be sent, and sent early in the series. If you are going to call Sean Avery's shananigans a penalty than what Holmstrom does in front the of the net needs to be as well. There was a goal called back last series for the exact same reason, and he obviously didn't learn. My advice? Holmstrom, you're a big guy, just take a step forward. You'll still be screening the goaltender.

Brent Burns is a monster

quick updates from work.



Brent Burns has scored twice against Russia in the Gold Medal game to put Canada in the lead 3-1 at the end of the third period. TSN.ca was so excited that they mis-spelled Burn's name:

"Defenceman Brunt Burns scored his second goal of the game and third of the tournament on a 5-on-3 powerplay to give Canada a 3-1 lead in the first period. Russia immediately called a timeout following the goal."

Chris Kunitz has the other goal for Canada. Alexander Semin has the lone goal for Russia.

*update* Period 2, Russia scored on the powerplay, i have no idea who scored, although i'm sure ovechkin has something to do with it.

*update* Dany Heatley scored to make it 4-2 Canada!! The camera cut to Prime Minister Stephen Harper who was in attendance with his son. Apparently the PM is an avid hockey fan who is actually currently writing a book about hockey.

*update* Russia has brought it to within one with a goal by Tereshchenko(Stephen Harper looks worried) halfway through the third period.

*update* TIE GAME. 5 minutes to go. (Stephen Harper was right to be worried.)

*update* regulation ended with a 4-4 tie. Overtime in IIHF rules are a 20 minute overtime period of 4 on 4. And then if nothing is decided, a shootout. Seriously??? A shootout. ridiculous.

Also, it's now 1-0 Pittsburgh over the Flyers after an early Ryan Malone goal (assisted by Sidney Crosby and Marion Hossa)


*update* It's over. Canada loses. Kovalchuk scored both the tying and winning goal. Gold to Russia and Silver to Canada.
Russia scored on a powerplay... one of the most brutal penalties of life. I hate the delay of game for shooting it over the glass. I will rant about this later.

overtime heroics.

Philadelphia came out and gave me that feeling I got in Game six of the Boston Montreal series... that "oh dear" type feeling. Well actually the feeling is potentially described with a few more colourful words than "oh dear" but let's keep it civil here.
As I was saying, Philadelphia built up a 2-0 lead after the first period, (this is after Andrei Kostitsyn missed a penalty shot and Brisebois got a goal three seconds after the period ended.

The Canadiens managed to tie it up by the end of the second period with a goal from Andrei Kostitsyn and Alexei Kovalev. Kovalev's goal brought a bit of controversy as it first appeared to have been put in with a high stick. But after some tense examination it was ruled that the stick was at crossbar level when the pick made contact with the stick. Then to start the third, the Flyers greeted the Bell Centre with a power play goal. Kovalev decided to keep it exciting by waiting until just 29 seconds left in the game. And then Killer Kostopoulous decided he didn't want to play overtime and scored 45 seconds into the extra period.

Montreal's third period was akin to the Ottawa Senator's second half of the season——meltdown. Each team managed to score a goal early in the game and it stayed that way until the colossal meltdown in the third period. The icing on the ugly ducklings cake was a short handed goal right after they had just scored the go-ahead goal... yes, the ducks scored shorthanded on montreal's powerplay.

The game was full of shots as Carey Price faced 35 shots which for he most part handled very well, with lots of them very good chances from in close.
But lets go back to that first goal that Todd Marchant scored for the Ducks 21 seconds in. First of all, i'm pretty damn sure that Doug Weight touched the puck before it crossed the line. And Doug Weight was standing behind the net and reached over the crossbar... hmm...

"An apparent goal scored by an attacking player when any part of his stick makes contact with the puck above the height of the crossbar of the goal frame shall not be allowed. The determining factor is where the puck makes contact with the stick. If the puck makes contact with the stick below the level of the crossbar and enters the goal, this goal shall be allowed."

Anyway, regardless, the Habs lost the game 3-1 and didn't bother to try and pull Carey Price as they were shorthanded near the end of the game. Speaking of, this game was penalty city. And unfortunately for the Canadiens it was them killing them off.

The team is expected to try and head back to Montreal right after they finish up with this game, ETA in Trudeau airport is 4am! Next game is Tuesday against the Devils, which is a HUGE game as the two teams are battling amongst the top of the Eastern Conference standings.