Some NHL thoughts

Believe it or not the NHL has almost reached it's midway point in this shortened season, and if the season ended right now the Leafs would be in the playoffs!  The Leafs making the playoffs actually presents somewhat of a crisis for me, I tend to work evenings, and if I have work during a Game 7 of a Leafs playoff series I will lose my shit. This hasn't been a problem for me in the last 9 years (ugh), I guess I am going to have to get that diarrhea disease I said I had to get out of work when I worked at the GoodLife call centre.  Speaking of hell, I always liked getting my stats for the day and finding out I took over 25 minutes worth of shit breaks hahahahaha.  Anyways back to hockey, I have to say I am enjoying the way the Leafs are playing this year, mind you they've had some disaster games but who hasn't?  The goaltending has been spotty at times but both James "Optimus Reim" Reimer and "Big" Ben Scrivens have both had great games, and like I said it my first hockey post, if the Leafs can get consistent goaltending they'll be playoff bound.

One of the main reason for the Leafs being in a playoff position is London Ontario's own and former London Knight Nazem Kadri.  (kudos to TheScore for that Naz as Nas pic, lord knows I'm not that clever).  The guy has been lights out this year, his hat trick last night against the Islanders was a thing of beauty.  I've been on the Kadri bandwagon since his London Knights days, the way that Ron "Wrong" Wilson and Brian Burke treated him should be amongst the main reasons neither is employed with the organization anymore.  Even Dallas "Do you want a bus ride to Petrolia or a cab ride to the Air Canada Centre" Eakins calling him fat at the start of Toronto Marlies training camp is laughable and an example of the clubs shitty handling of him.  Some might argue all this tough love is the reason he's doing so well, I argue that you need your head examined and he should have been on the team all last year.  The only good thing Pierre McGuire has said in his entire life was when he said Naz had "nifty mittens" after a particularly impressive shoot out goal a couple of seasons back.  All this playing on a line with this guy...

The goon Colton Orr!  Seriously Randy Carlyle has been playing this guy a regular shift on his line.  The guy is an ankle burner, who should be buried on the 4th line at best not leading the team in ice time. Don't get me wrong I love hockey fights, I know it's the cool thing to hate on hockey fights, many bloggers and columnists I respect rally against it....but fuck em.  I know all the arguments against it, concussions, and the fact that when it comes down to it they truly serve no purpose whatsoever, but I don't care, a good scrap is awesome.  That all being said, hockey skill wise Colton Orr sucks.  I think Kadri should centre the first line between my boy Phil Kessel and James van Riemsdyk aka van Dreamsdyk.  Speaking of whom, has been incredible this year, kudos to Brian Burke for trading Puke Schenn to Philly for him. 

My boy Phil Kessel has been a lightning rod of controversy in his tenure in Toronto, mainly because of the controversial deal that brought him here.  It seems like I am constantly defending the best player they've had since Sundin. Granted he hasn't scored at the pace we're used to this season, but he has still put up a ton of assists, and some of his passes to van Dreamsdyk for goals this year have been things of beauty. One of my managers at work Ryan, is a die hard Red Wings fan, and he shits on Kessel and the Leafs non-stop.  During the last World Juniors he was going on about how great this nobody Tomas Tatar is for Slovakia and he was a Wings prospect.  I correctly dismissed this plug as a sure fire bust bound for the Circus Leagues.  Anyways Tommy Tatar (pronounced T'Tar in a weird accent) made his NHL debut during Phil Kessel's minor goal scoring slump at the start of the season, and Ryan made a bet with me that this loser Tatar would score before Phil Kessel, and if he did I was not allowed to eat donuts for a year.  Obviously I won that bet, and now Ryan owes me beers, which he conveniently seems to forget.

Amongst many reasons why the Ottawa Senators are the worst team in the history of sports the above video is perhaps the number one reason why.  What a complete and total disaster, I have a hard time picking my favourite part, his crappy helmet falling off, the mic cutting in and out, the lines glued to the back of his shield, the fact that this Roman Warrior is in about as good as shape as I am, or when he says "welcome our heroes" while the Penguins skate out on the ice and the audience boos.  I actually tweeted this video to Mike Commodore, who can be seen standing at the start thinking "what kind of shitty half-assed organization am I a part of?" and he told me that was the most embarrassing moment of his career.

The Sens are so fucking brutal, and I hate all the flukey luck they've had thus far this season.  Jason Spezza, or "Jayshun Scheptcha" as Bryan Murray calls him and Erik "Overrated" Karlsson's injuries should have plunged the shit-stained Sens to the basement where they belong, yet riding flukey goaltending and winning shoot-out games they have some how managed to stay in the conversation in the Eastern Conference playoff race.  I predict this will end very quickly.  Craig Anderson and Ben "Billy" Bishop will regress back to the shitbags that they are, and Daniel Alfreddsson will thankfully retire after this season and we will finally be rid of this ugly Krusty the Clown looking dirtbag forever.   That toolbox owner of theirs Eugene Melnyk went crying to the media about Karlssons injury, saying Matt Cooke did it on purpose, that was an accident.  What that dork and the rest of dorky Sens fans seem to forget is that Marion Hossa blinded and effectively ended Bryan Berard's career with an errant high stick back in 2000.  To me that was a lot more intentional especially considering Berards (justified) decision not to report to the Senators after they drafted him first overall 1995, seems like a bit of a coincidence to me.

As for the rest of the league, you really can't ignore how good the Blackhawks have been, besides the Leafs they're a surefire Stanley Cup contender.  I think in this shortened season anything could still happen, the standings now could look totally different by the end of April or whenever the fuck the playoffs start. 

Anyways that's all for me tonight, we're going to King of the Pigs this coming Wednesday so expect one of my famous food reviews on that.  Big Brother Canada has started, and I am already hooked.  Big Brother is my favourite show and I'm thinking of writing a weekly blog about that.  By the way Suzette on Big Brother Canada is actually the worst.  The woman can barely string a sentence together and she hosts a radio show.  My Heavens.   As always give me a follow on twitter @didhenley