Leonard and his travels west

Now as many of you know, my friends and I recently attempted to climb the Andes during winter to prove our manhoods. That failed miserably and I lay dormant and injured in a remote hospice just east of Chile recuperating for much of the early spring. All I had were financial statements and a tv showing the NHL playoffs which were lovely. I found solace in actor Vincent Vaughn's excitement and court side seating at game 5 when Betty Bolland scored. His name is Betty isn't it? Oh and the song Kyrie echoed loudly in the hill tops every morning. I began writing one day. Chenz went top shelf and we went from there. A little boy at the local blacksmith's laying the framework for a sword. My cat hairs on edge.

As my strength returned I contacted Camille and we met atop the summit to imbibe Cutty Sark.

He told me of the hardships that many faced in a double dip the chip recession. He told me of Scott Hartnell's hair and the effort he put forth during the finals. He told me of the last airbenders and how air can be bent in the fortesque. He warned me of Kobeee and Lebron. He explained Jonathan Toews muttontown chops on his face. He compared them to a frightened turtle and George Jason Lexington Lewis Costanza. Stop me when I've reached the actor Barry Pepper and the wheels have completely fallen off your comprehension of my discourse.

My fall in the Andes that left me in bed for 6 months can best be described by this picture.

I was climbing with Dandenault, Leschyshyn, and McMichaels and we got to the cloud level and it felt like I was falling for two days maybe. They counted on their way down...I....Leonard Thomas the Cat fell about 4 stories into a dewey underhang that broke my fall however I cracked every vertabrae in my body left virtually immobile and like an idiot continue to have limited use of my legs. You know...a lot goes thru your mind as you plummet four stories...maybe these pictures can summarize my thoughts on the way down.

Currently as I fully recover I am writing a short story. It will be called the Life and Times of Broadway Tony Ess. A schematic essay set in the time of Tony right around the time of the last airbenders. It will speak of Surfing Briere, Joe Sakics mid stride toey, J.R.'s awesome hair, the opposite of Pierre Maguire and Eddzo and everything terrible about those two. It will touch upon the blublocker cam on Pronger before the game last night, the way Kane was the only person to know he'd scored the most important goal of his career, John Liles and the aftermath of WWII.

I don't always drink Beer, but when I do....

Well you know the rest

Have a soak my friends,

Leonard the Cat

What you missed last night because you got head faked.

Like I said on twitter last night, everyone at the bar was either a Flyers fan (unlikely) or rooting for a game 7 (more likely). Nemmy said that when the Flyers tied it up there was no way the Hawks would win the game. He didn't count on Kane's mullet shake distracting Kimo and giving him enough space to beat Leighton.




Soft goal? Maybe. Its a quick shot thats probably harder to stop. Ask Ryan Miller.


Some final thoughts on game 7 and the series in general:

• Did Pronger get dirtier or did the refereeing become stricter as the series went on?
• Briere and Hartnell were the only Flyers to show up after game 4
• Matt Carle got walked by Hossa with like 2 minutes left in the 3rd. Leighton got his chest in the way of the puck.
• Does Niemi catch pucks in the weirdest way possible?

I wish this went to game 7. Now I have to go to a karaoke birthday party on Friday. Thanks a lot Kane!

Holiday Weekend Wrap Up OR Does anyone know where I can watch the daytime hockey games online?

First I'll review the last weekend of the NHL before the Olympic pause, and then I''ll talk Olympics.

I didn't anything of real interest happened Friday night, except for this sweet game-winner from Nicolas Bergfors:



And Dion falling back into his bad defensive habits:



Calgary HATED when he chased guys behind the net.

However, the Fridy Canadiens/Flyers match up did set up this:



I love a good opening face-off fight and Lapierre did some nice work. Jeff Carter was also happy


And then danny briere went at got a hat trick. I'm not sure he deserved a penalty shot for the 3rd, though.



Nice finish, nonetheless.


Heres some sweet backhand sauce, courtesy of Robbie Schremp:





As for the Olympics...

First of all, for all Team USA news go here: http://teamusanews.org



We'll be keeping that widget up for the remainder of the games.


Second - it sucks that the hockey won't be on the main NBC channel. I don't really care about exposure or audience size - I mostly just care about watching great hockey in HD. I don't know if CNBC or USA or MSNBC or HGTV have HD versions. If I'm the NHL, I'm pissed because of the numbers stuff. They shut down and then get put on channels that only do slightly better than Versus.

Speaking of Versus, if Comcast owns NBC now and has always owned Versus, why aren't games on Versus? Thats rhetorical - ad space is sold way in advance, yada yada, but shouldn't Versus at least do a nightly recap show of the hockey. Yea, that would be logical and helpful, so of course they won't.

Anyway, USA starts on their road to Gold (or bronze) with an afternoon game vs the Swiss. Where can I watch this online?

Thanks,

Bress

2 Things

Brad May scored last night by the way. I can't even believe....I can't BELIEVE they did not call that a goal. Now obviously I'm a little salty because I started Howard last night in one league but looking through the lens of truth at what happened it was totally a goal. May throws a whimmy back-hand at the net in case you missed it...in live play you didn't see anything and than the whistle blows and one of the wings throws his hands up. We watch the replay several times with the announcers with sound so you could clearly see the puck in the net..1..2..3..4..5 secs pass and than the whistle blows. The ref initially says no goal so you need evidence to overturn which if it went up to Toronto there would be. The ref wants to continue play and TORONTO not the ref TORONTO which I have never seen actually calls for it to go up-stairs for review. They wave it off. What the hell did you want another look for than. It went in...five seconds later the whistle blows. I'm missing the point totally I guess.

Secondly...James Van Riemsdyk is 16 million right now. Lets look at his game-log as of late because he has done something that in fantasy I have NEVER ever seen adn you probably won't see for a very long time.

First off, 6 goals, 11 assists in 15 games. Yes! American born...6'3" 205lbs. From Old Bridge, New Jersey...scored my first ever away travel goal against that team...the Old Bridge Wings. Making a case for an olympic spot. He'll most likely have to wait four years but 1000.

3 games without a point in his rookie campaign. But most impressive...truly unbelievable is in the last 5 games, he has 4 goals...ALL of which are the GWG. Carrying fantasy teams right now...just carrying them. 2 out of the 4 games were big wins so it was by chance obviously however the last 2 games were 3-2 wins...yes!!!! I like Philly...i really do...I did last year...they need to just validate me and make it far this year. Ton of upside on that squad. Carter, Richards, Gagne, Briere, Hartnell, Pronger, Coburn, Van Riemsdyk, Giroux, Emery, Boucher backing up. Good stuff there.



I don't know why I find this funny but this is me and Nemmy in our minds all day everyday...yours truly at the 2man.


- Claude Giroux