Jorge!

Warrior.

We can now all breathe a sigh of relief and continue thanking Craig Rivet for 6 more years, as Josh "Jorge" Gorges just got his lovely contract extension. Also now people can stop bitching about how the Habs have a silly mandate to wait until the year is done to give out extensions.

Oh. Right. People are just going to bitch about how he could have been cheaper if they did this in the summer. You know, before seeing if his knees were going to hold, which even he didn't know. (And wasn't on a Markov level of seniority yet).

That's one important piece locked up...

JORGE! And some other stuff...

Big day, Habs fans!

You can stop freaking out now that Josh "JORGE!" Gorges is signed up for the year and avoids arbitration. Thank god because I was sick of hearing all your hand wringing crap over how the team is probably going to sign some old veteran instead and how he's NOT in the Habs plans. (No, because Gorges is the not-old veteran they wanted). Now that that's done, you can start bitching about the fact it's a standard one-year 2.5 million dollar deal--which is a pretty sweet raise from what he was making before. And judging from my Twitter feed, most of the unreasonable media types (hello Brian) are pulling the "I can't believe this team! What a horrible message to send to a heart and soul guy! He doesn't want to stay here long-term anyway! He's totally gone next season!" crap speculation without even talking to the guy. The fans, well, like I said, they always freak out about everything. Remember Price's contract last season? Our defense has a lot interesting questions and new people entering. This year, we'll see some tinkering going on and we'll see how Emelin does with the game over here. And after sitting out for half the year, I can only picture Gorges like a caged animal, ready to bust out and show Gauthier that he could be worth a Marc Methot deal.

Remember, when Jorge scores a goal it's a glorious day!

Coaching team is set. Randy and Randy move up, and Clément Jodoin takes over Hamilton. I'm very happy Pascal Vincent buggered off to the Jets as an assistant coach 'cause I did not want him in Hamilton. Jodoin (who was an assistant coach with the Habs for a bit) has over 30 years of experience and quietly quit the Rimouski Oceanic for a bigger challenge. He was actually thinking about taking jobs in Latvia, guiding their national teams of various levels. Instead he decided to stick around here. Meanwhile, having the Randys up here is so fucking awesome you have no idea. This is awesome news for the kids as they now have someone in their corner that Martin knows to help get them off the bench when he starts pulling the veterans card. Also Cunneyworth knows Martin's system but knows how to integrate a proper fourth line with it.

Winnipeg Jets new logo! Kind of cool, I guess. Though I would feel like I'm basically wearing the jersey of an army team since it's combining the RCAF logo and a Hornet. Here I was thinking they'd trot out in Blue Bombers gear with a puck instead of a football.

Congratulations are in order for Max Pacioretty, who married Maxim Afinogenov's tennis playing sister today. And to my boy Eli Sherbatov, who actually found a job playing pro hockey in the Netherlands! Yay! Power to the 5'4" hockey player with skills up the wazoo.

And on this day with the horrible news comming out of Norway, all I can do is hug my puppy Ziggy. He was more than happy to hug back.

Breaking news!

It's been discovered that Josh Gorges was actually running on Gatorade-powered hamsters for 7 years and he finally has to fix this. Hamsters can only do so much, you know. To honour these mighty little hamsters, my next hamster will be named Gorges. (Or guinea pig, if I find one I really like. Hey, they're sort of like big hamsters).

Don't worry, Pleky's still around. But he refuses to come out of his hut unless it's important like a potty break or cheese. (He's hibernating).

A 2-1 score and 40 years ago...

Forty years ago the Sabres came into this world, blinking into the poor lighting of their old crappy arena. And probably the only things people really remember is ice fog and the death of a poor little bat by a high stick. The Aud may be gone now but someone managed to take some nifty abandoned pictures before that happened.

Forty years ago the Habs, wearing their road reds, were visitors and beat the Sabres wearing home whites 3-0.

The Pens called the Sabres after the game and apologized for forgetting to tell them that if they want to celebrate an anniversary, don't call the Habs. Party poopers.

Two of the most chillax goalies in the League and probably two of the only goalies in the League continuously hung out to dry by their teammates.

We all know how Buffalo plays. Lindy Ruff and Jacques Martin makes strange bedfellows. Both are system strong coaches, except Lindy screams a lot while Martin swears under his breath and doodles notes on his notepad all game. Both teams came off a rather annoying loss the game before, except the Sabres didn't score a single goal while getting outshot 35-24 by the shorthanded Devils. In fact, it was hard to tell which goalie was angrier after the result of their last game. Price entered this game as the only goalie in the League to face the most shots in 3 games. One thing's for sure, in spite of crap ice, the Habs came out way more determined than a supposed "angry" Sabres team.

- Ryan Miller is Ryan Miller. Carey Price is Carey Price. It's like "Hey, I made THIS save!" "Oh really, well I made THIS save!"
- After the penalty fest on Wednesday, nice to see the boys play more disciplined. Also the refs in this game decided they weren't going to call every little twitch or twat for once, probably keeping in spirit of the 40 years celebration.
- Who pops the cherry on the powerplay? JOSH GORGES! Complete with sound effect.
- Also on that note, El Jorje scoring means there really is a God. No sticks needed to be sacrificed either.
- For once a defenceman kicked the puck into the net NOT covered by Carey Price.
- Still can't make any saves while being glomped by 3 guys though. Seriously, why you do this to him... Why won't you let him have a shutout?
- Andrei Kostitsyn or bull in a china shop? If the Sabres set up a brick wall at their blue line he'd break through that too.
- Only thing, Andrei, dear... Kovy would have totally picked that far corner while having a tea and biscuit.
- I was upset that Rhino was benched for Picard, yet it turned out ok. Honestly I think he might have had that epiphany. With Eller drawing everyone's attention, he actually had the presence of mind to continue on the puck for the opening goal. And he only got caught once or twice, but there was no harm done.
- PK is special. He screws up, yet he fights hard to cover for his errors. This is why I love this kid.
- Yea, the ref that fucked up that too many men call after Miller left for the bench, I'm thinking you're in trouble.
- Of course after that travesty on Wednesday, we were happy to see some officiating in our favor for once... And to see Derek Roy pissed off is always lovely.
- Not cool sending out the truculence with 4 seconds left, Lindy...

Solid team win. For once, no passengers. Even Pouliot. And holy puck possession, Batman! You guys finally got the concept! And it was lovely seeing the goofy victory moves again.

The New Bulldogs!
Hey hey! The Bulldogs opened their season tonight! And they spanked the Amerks 5-2. It's weird though because Chuck Weber, ex-coach of the Cyclones, is now the Amerks coach. I'm sure he was proud when Wyman and Desharnais scored on his team. Rough time for Jacob Markstrom, Florida's prize goalie prospect (and WJC drama queen). I mean, CONBOY scored! Also Cunneyworth used to coach the Amerks.

What is this, Coach Swap?

Dogs didn't start off too good and found themselves down 2-0 early but then scored 5 unanswered goals. No one was a minus. Mayer held his ground. A couple of fights (typical Amerks/Dogs game). And they got their new coach his first win in his first regular season game.

Round 1 Game 7: WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!

The video is right after the game from my balcony. You can hear the city take to the streets and miles away a good "OLEEE OLE OLE OLE OLEEEEE!" Downtown was crazier, this is just the suburbs!

Recap:
- Caps played exactly how I thought they would.
- JARO! Though not as busy as the last game, surprisingly enough. Guess we got into their heads.
- HMCS HAL GILL!
- GORGES!
- Seriously, if you don't think Gill and Gorges deserve to share a Conn Smythe you don't understand how many shots those guys blocked. The count was OBSCENE before this game even started. I even thought the shot clock was counting blocked shots otherwise the numbers would have been hilarious.
- Also it hurts a bit when you make a save even with goalie equipment, THOSE GUYS AREN'T WEARING GOALIE EQUIPMENT!!!
- GIONTA IS A GIANT!
- Sorry Bulldogs but uh we want to keep PK...
- What if Mike Green weren't such a colossal fuck up? History will be made.
- Slippy wasn't useless for once!
- HOLY SHIT DOMINIC FUCKING MOORE!
- I just realized this is the second time in Lapierre's life that he assisted on a 3rd period goal that buried a #1 Boudreau-lead team. Last time was the shorthanded Ajay Baines goal that made it 2-1 for the Calder Cup in Game 5.
- Bouhoohoodreau
- Still cheering in the streets
- Bench was full of manhugs!
- Only shaking going on was in the handshake
- "Blood in the beard. Part of the playoff portrait, isn't it?" - Dominic Moore
- Pens will be waaaaaaaaay tougher (though, if they can get to Fleury I have no doubt they'll score more on him).
- We're coming.
- Party like it's 1993!

Round 1 Game 6: Bouhoohoodreau

Boudreau's in shock.

Ovie's shaking as he's drinking from the water bottle.

Semin's still...not there.

Green's gone green.

And the Habs smell like team spirit.

Jaro in the zone. Cammy's on drugs. PK SUBBAN INSERTED AND INSTANT AWESOME! Gorges for Conn Smythe! HMCS Hal Gill for captain (ahoy) now called The Battleship! Bergeron kept far far away from anything not a powerplay (and still sucked)! And how sexy was that 5-on-3 kill that was all Gorges, Gill, and BabyPyatt/Pleky until the puck fumbled it's way to Jaro? SEXY!

The Maxim Lapierre Hat Trick: two dives and a goal.

Stabbity stabby in the heart by Fehr, of course. Whatevs. But Thomas Jagr got it back with the empty netter! (Oh how it's been a long time since we had one of those).

Oh yea, note to Tim Peel: BRIAN GIONTA DOES NOT DIVE! Also BRIAN GIONTA DOESN'T DIVE ESPECIALLY WHEN HE HAS A FUCKING STICK WRAPPED AROUND HIS LEGS! Fuck you Tim Peel.

And before you continue wondering what's up with the Caps powerplay, did it ever cross anyone's mind that maybe, just maybe, the Habs PK is better? After all, they had a shitload of practice this year.

Game seven on Wednesday. I'm so depressed though... I have a day off (which is good), BUT the building committee scheduled a meeting...ON GAME SEVEN! Dying here...

Go Habs Go. Don't make me explode the garage ok?

Double-header Survivor Playoffs 2010: The Buffalo Sabres and the Nashville Predators


So long Buffaslugs. Sorry we couldn't have had the honor of destroying you in the playoffs but eh, the Bruins will do. Best goalie in the league? Check. But it doesn't matter if the rest of your team is playing in a playoff series with the will and determination of a Tuesday night game against Carolina.

So much for this being the year eh Ruff? Gut check time.

And the Chicago Blackhawks just eliminated the Nashville Predators to set up a round 2 rematch with the Canucks. Too bad for the Preds, they did their best, but the Hawks were just better. I still don't trust Niemi, and if Rinne were behind a stronger team, he'd be set for a good run to the Cup.