Ya, I thought I was having a brain cramp ............... wasn't Ronnie Hawkins a "heavy hitter"?

Edit: p. 111 ... hoo-ray!!

Connor being interviewed for 15 minutes on After Hours ,, & he didn’t say “obviously” once! See, all you veterans, take it from the kid!

It's not often that I hear players use "obviously."   

If I'm not snoozing or TIMing, my remote comes in handy.  From the interviews (?) I do see, obviously seems like an appropriate response ... Obviously the interviewer is an expert, so the player can grunt in agreement or agree by saying "obviously."   I know a guy who expresses agreement with "Absolutely"  .... dunno which is better/worse.

On to another page already, eh? Well, given the fact that my beloved Bruins are showing every sign of being a complete mediocrity this year, I guess I gotta cheer myself up somehow.

Well, congratulations to the Toronto Argonauts for a Grey Cup win today. The slogan on the front of their helmets read “PULL TOGETHER” , hearkening back to their beginnings in the late 1800’s as a rowing team looking for some sport activity in the off season. It’ll be a long row home, down the west coast, through the Panama Canal, and up to New York, up the Hudson, across the Erie Canal, then over to the Welland Canal up to Lake Ontario.
The losing Wnterpeg BooBummers squad will be heading east via dog sled.

Ya ... I guess!!   

I suppose the obvious cliche is the Blue Bumblers never seemed to get "untracked" ...  For the most part Olivera was rather mundane, and I thought their passing attack looked uninspired .... probably in large part due to the Argos.   Guys like to look for explanations (?) but from what I saw, [only a couple of quite short naps, I'll have you know], the Argos looked pretty solid.

It was looking to become a nail biter until the Argos socked it away - unlike last year's thirteen seconds to go win for the Als. Looks liked the Argos peaked at the right time. Too bad their fan base is so abysmal - and I blame the NFL obsessed T.O. sports media for that (at least in large part).

Yup…

quote:

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Originally posted by chuckv97

Yup…

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There were interviews with several Bruins - Marchand, McAvoy and Pastrnak (the Captain and the two Alternates) posted on X today. All of them gave off vibes of guilty schoolboys.

Here in Noo Wingland, there have been calls for Montgomery to be fired for the past two weeks. Steve Conroy, who writes about the Bruins for the Boston Herald (and he's one of my favorite hockey reporters) put out a beautifully snarky tweet this morning:

Look, I get it. The team is not without talent, and it's the coach's job to figure out ways to get the best out of each player. Nothing Monty tried worked. It is gratifying to see the team leadership recognizing that a lot of it was their fault.

And IMO plenty of blame rests in the head office.

Yeah, I read Pastie’s quote online somewhere this morning. He loved the guy as a coach.

here's more ,, you've probably seen this https://fb.watch/v_2uRZrM0-/?

 I'm not particularly knowledgeable, but  maybe Neely and Booby Clarke went to the same school of business management??  [ ... or stayed away from the same school.]   

Growing up 90 miles north of Maple Leaf Gardens (Gahd’ns in the Bay State) Gord was a big Leafs fan,, always watched the games or asked how they did when on the road. Moi, on the other hand, was 32 miles south across Lake Ontario and despised them.

Hmm,, wonder what that last statement means..
“ Yes, the Utah Hockey Club has been attracting fans since its first season in Salt Lake City:
Early interest
The team's arrival in Salt Lake City generated a lot of interest, with over 34,000 season-ticket deposits in the first 48 hours.
Strong attendance
The team's inaugural game against the Chicago Blackhawks was sold out, with an official attendance of 11,131. However, if you include fans who could only see one goal, the attendance was closer to 16,020. ”

quote:

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Originally posted by chuckv97

Hmm,, wonder what that last statement means..
“ Yes, the Utah Hockey Club has been attracting fans since its first season in Salt Lake City:
Early interest
The team's arrival in Salt Lake City generated a lot of interest, with over 34,000 season-ticket deposits in the first 48 hours.
Strong attendance
The team's inaugural game against the Chicago Blackhawks was sold out, with an official attendance of 11,131. However, if you include fans who could only see one goal, the attendance was closer to 16,020. ”

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The Delta Center, where UHC plays, was designed primarily as a basketball arena - and my understanding is that its configuration makes it a brilliant one. However, the slope of the seating in the balconies is such that many patrons in those seats cannot see everything between the blue lines and the end boards.

Supposedly, team ownership has figured out a way to modify the arena to address that. Seems like a mighty big engineering challenge to me, but then again I've not been in the arena and don't know doodly about how to engineer and build such modifications. The city is on board with helping that transformation.

It's also worth noting that Salt Lake City has been awarded the 2034 Winter Olympic Games, and that was announced after the NHL announced that the 'Yotes would move to SLC. It wouldn't surprise if a new arena were to be built at some point.

Did a little more digging. The upgrade of the Delta Center will occur over three off-seasons. This spring they'll blow out the wall at one end and rebuild it to provide better seating. Next spring they'll add a parking garage and other amenities, creating an entertainment district. The following spring they'll blow out the other end and finish the arena seating, along with installing a new ice floor.

This arrangement was apparently made with the idea that this WILL be an Olympic venue, rather than building another.

The part about the new ice floor makes me a bit curious as to whether the new arrangement will offer the option to switch between International-dimension hockey rinks and NHL-dimension rinks.

How to up your salary as an NHL coach:

1) Get hired by the Bruins

2) Get fired by the Bruins

3) Wait one week, and the angels will sing.

Read all about it.

Not to belabour the point,, ex-Bruin Jumbo Joe has his jersey retired.

“Thornton played 1,714 regular season games over his entire career, recording 1,109 assists and 430 goals. He was a four-time all-star, an Olympic gold medalist for Canada in 2010 and won the Hart Trophy as MVP and Art Ross Trophy as scoring leader in 2005-06 after getting traded early that season from Boston to San Jose.”

and this... https://x.com/SanJoseSharks/status/1860460326476742737

quote:

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Originally posted by chuckv97

Not to belabour the point,, ex-Bruin Jumbo Joe has his jersey retired.

 

 

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There is certainly a catalog of boneheaded moves made by Don Sweeney, but I doubt he ever did - or ever will - make a move as dumb as Mike O'Connell did with that trade. Sturm was okay until he started getting hurt. Primeau was almost useless. Brad Stewart wasn't awful but didn't exactly set the world on fire - and we got all three in exchange for a guy who's a lock to be a first-ballot Hall of Famer.

Reminds me of the terrible trade Tommy Ivan made in the 1960’s sending Esposito, Stanfield, and Hodge to the Bruins for Pit Martin, Jack Norris, and Gilles Marotte. The beginning of the end for Bobby Hull staying in Chicago,, he loved Espo.

quote:

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Originally posted by chuckv97

Reminds me of the terrible trade Tommy Ivan made in the 1960’s sending Esposito, Stanfield, and Hodge to the Bruins for Pit Martin, Jack Norris, and Gilles Marotte. The beginning of the end for Bobby Hull staying in Chicago,, he loved Espo.

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"Sometimes it seems like a bad trade. But... bad trades are part of baseball! Now who can forget Frank Robinson for Milt Pappas, for God's sake? It's a long season and you gotta trust it. I've tried 'em all, I really have, and the only church that truly feeds the soul, day in, day out, is the Church of Baseball." - Annie Savoy, "Bull Durham"

Watching the Utah/Moan-ray-all game ,, noticed no. 13, not 22 anymore.
“ Montreal Canadiens forward Cole Caufield changed his jersey number from 22 to 13 to honor his late friend and fellow hockey player, Johnny Gaudreau:
Tribute to Gaudreau
Caufield announced the change on Instagram days after Gaudreau's passing. Caufield said he wanted to honor Gaudreau, who he called an "amazing person" and "down to earth". He also said that Gaudreau paved the way for smaller players and inspired him.”

I figure IF Mennonite stuff passes muster, this surely must too:

m.facebook.com/story.php?story...784733989

Congratulations to the Boston Bruins and fans on their 100th year in the NHL. (Glad to see at least one ex-TeePee as part of the ceremony ;-)

(btw, I noticed something …. when did they re-name “linesmen” as “linespersons”? …… might’ve been when stewardesses were re-named “flight attendants” & I missed it )

I think it was not too, too long after Ken Linseman was doing his thing .... probably a pre-emptive strike to limit confusion.   I missed ^^ broadcast ... is that big box (?) some sort of mausoleum or funeral pyre or ???

Fwiw, I still think it would be good to get Puloch, Pelech, Pollock, and any/all similarly named players onto one team ... and on the ice at the same time!