Monday, March 03, 2008

California Dreaming - Sharks Game Preview and Open Thread For Those of You Up Late or Living Out West

California? Seems like it's been forever since the Habs were there. Spring of 2004 to be exact since we last played in San Jose. If you can drag yourself away from the beach babes, let's take a look at what's in store.

Details - 10:30 PM EST start at the HP Pavillion. HP Pavillion? Really? I clearly know nothing about San Jose. And 10:30! Yeesh. That's my bedtime.

I'd love to be a blogger on the beach - stick with the Battle of California throughout this road trip. And there is some dude going to all 82 Sharks games this year. That's impressive.

Different, but the same - Habs and Sharks have nearly identical records - 36-21-9 for the Habs and 36-21-8 for the Sharks. Both teams average at home and great on the road. Both teams on win streaks - Habs 3 in a row, Sharks five. But we've done it differently. Habs are an offensive team, Sharks play D. Did I just seriously write that the Habs are an offensive team? Pinch me.

Hot between the stripper poles - Nobokov 4-0-0 1.44 .938 coming in, Price 3-0-0 1.33 .957. Yowsa.

Hot on the beach - Kovy and the various parts of the old #1 line. For the Sharks, Joe Thornton is always good, leading the team with 74 points.

Chilly at night - no one really. As we said, both teams pretty hot coming in.

Shut the fuck up - yeah, I know San Jose is not on the beach and has way more to do with Silicon Valley than hot chicks in bikinis. Work with me here. Photos of microprocessors are not hot. Unless they're inside Seven of Nine (sorry, HF10).

76 comments:

fezworth said...

Love the 7o9 reference 29.

Finally, a habs game at a decent hour! I don't have to rush home from work to get to RDS.

Habsfan10 said...

I'll forgive you this time, 29. But if I ever see a picture of Dr Beverley Crusher on this site ...

Anonymous said...

You should really qualify that part about Joe Thornton always being good. Unless you've forgotten, oh, every playoff series he's ever been in. Especially against Montreal. Ha ha ha. Oh man.

The extra-nice thing about a 7:30 start is there's no Canucks game tonight, so I'm not stuck with the odd disconnect that comes from listening to the Habs on the radio and watching Vancouver on TV. I can dig up one of those lousy mostly-illegal internet RDS feeds and squint to my heart's content.

Young HF29 said...

I totally forget to mention we get to see Craig Rivet tonight! For some reason that exites me.

fezworth said...

He does that to me too, 29... something about the stubble and strong chin, I'm sure. It's very confusing.

fezworth said...

But maybe you meant a player who was always a stalwart for the Canadiens, who bled blue, red and white for 10 years, and deserved better than to be unceremoniously shipped off to California.

Maybe that's what you meant. Ahem [cough, cough]

Bryan Driscoll said...

jeez. it feels like i have all the time in the world right now. i can go out and vote against the conservatives in the provincial election today, i can make supper AND eat it before the game. shit. this is how i remember it. primetime baby.

fezworth said...

it's nice bryan, isn't it? I'm going out to vote now, take my dog for a leisurely walk, make supper, maybe watch a movie, write an epic poem... then watch the habs. A perfect evening.

Speaking of perfect evenings, is anyone watching the Caps decimate the Broons tonight? 4 minutes to go in the 1st, and it's already 5-0. Ovie already has his hat trick.

Young HF29 said...

now 6-0 fezworth. Bruins screech to a halt

Bryan Driscoll said...

bahaha boston

poor HueT has to wear his Habs helmet (which I fuckin love btw) and wear number 38

fezworth said...

Because of HueT, it feels as though the habs are (vicariously) beating the bruins like a rented mule

Bryan Driscoll said...

HueT is out of the game? I didn't hear why...

Bryan Driscoll said...

D'Oh ! I just realized it starts at 830 mountain time. i thought it was 730. oh well.

Young HF29 said...

10-2 final! yikes

Bryan no idea why HueT was taken out

Anonymous said...

Tweaked back, I think. One of the announcers said he was stretching at intermission.

Bryan Driscoll said...

yeah back spasms

Young HF29 said...

hey look at the time. what a solid effort by the Habs. great game!

wait, what?

oh jeez. have fun west coasters.

Bryan Driscoll said...

you not stayin up?

fezworth said...

Dog walked, vote cast, epic poem composed.... Et on y va!

fezworth said...

wow... well, that's not a good start.

Dave said...

cue jaws music.

fezworth said...

@33: You were saying? ;-)

Dave said...

awesome.

Dave said...

sorry fez.

Dave said...

I said cue the jaws music.

fezworth said...

@33: Carry on. feck.

This has got to be some sort of record. 2 Fluky goals in under two minutes.

Dave said...

You a poet, Fez?

fezworth said...

Well, that's an interesting question. How would you define 'poet'?

Anonymous said...

*sigh* I finally get home after rehearsal and get to settle down with my bowl of popcorn to watch the Habs game, and there are two fluky goals that mess up my evening...

Side note: all you whiny East coast pussies - wah wah wah! I'm gonna suck in Court tomorrow, but I'm gonna watch it all!! ;-)

fezworth said...

Good for you, LG! I would imagine that everyone'll be a bit slow tomorrow. I wonder if there's any discernable effect on worker productivity in Montreal during a Habs western road trip?

Any researchers/economists on the board?

Anonymous said...

Just a word of thanks to msevigny, who gave me the idea to look for a live feed. Watching it now. Weird start, though.

fezworth said...

A good road game, this ain't so far. I might have to go back to Rock Band.

Anonymous said...

Fuckitty fuck. 5 on 3...

fezworth said...

Woooo TFS! (who am I kidding? I'm here till the bitter end).

Anonymous said...

The feed is Fox and their guy seems to have privileged info. He says the Gainey/Kovy talk this summer took place while they had a long walk together, and they ended up on a bench in Old Montreal. Very romantic. Is he making this up as he goes?

Anonymous said...

Fezworth - if this were a playoff game, the city's productivity would be over. As it stands, I don't know that many people who are going to be staying up to watch this.

(Granted, I have my boyfriend and our two buddies over right now, but we're a bunch of sick night owls anyway!!)

Anonymous said...

Wow - I may lose my reputation for being a Homer now, but seriously, that is a lame lame penalty to the Sharks.

Anonymous said...

And they don't freeze their pucks well at all in So Cal - follow the bouncing puck, people...

Anonymous said...

W00t!! GO RHINO!!

fezworth said...

Thank fuck for that. Hopefully that's the 2nd of many more. So is that O'Byrne's first of the year?

Bryan Driscoll said...

how lucky are they to be tied right now? should be like 5-2.

1st goal and 5th point for Rhino

Anonymous said...

Kind of a rocky start, particularly Smolinski, he hasn't been waived yet? We also increased (I think) our league lead in shooting the puck over the glass penalties.
Oh well, 2-2, let's go boys....more shots.

Bryan Driscoll said...

well the conservatives are winning 72 to 9 to 2 right now. at least my riding looks to have a liberal winner. i thought this was supposed to be the 'new' west.

Bryan Driscoll said...

i'm surprised slowinski hasn't been benched yet

Bryan Driscoll said...

oh, and was it just me or did the habs seem nervous to start the game? maybe just confused? jet lag?

Anonymous said...

Bryan, they definitely did. Hopefully they clean it up to start the second....
Smolinksi out there to start the second...sweet.

Anonymous said...

Whoa, that linesman is FREAKISHLY tall!!

fezworth said...

oh bryan. Are you from Ontario? So idealistic, so innocent.

Anonymous said...

WHAT THE FUCK ARE THESE CALLS (BOTH WAYS!!)

fezworth said...

Wow. another 5-3. Well done guys. Really working hard there.

Anonymous said...

Where the FUCK was the interference call in that????

Bull. Shit.

fezworth said...

Explain something to me: It's only 3-2, why do I feel like we've already lost?

Anonymous said...

@Fezworth - I know EXACTLY how you feel. I didn't think we'd win this game (or many games out West, for that matter), but I am filled with crazy amounts of dread right now...

FUCK, another goaltender interference missed call...

Bryan Driscoll said...

yeah fez from ottawa lol

LG im glad you mentioned popcorn. bought some yesterday but had forgotten about it
p.s. fuck the refs

Anonymous said...

Uh, what the fuck? He was bleeding - uh, isn't that supposed to be a 4 minute penalty?

I give up. I'll just start ignoring the refs now...

Anonymous said...

Bryan - I wouldn't recommend the popcorn. It's now churning in my stomach from the anger/righteous indignation.

That being said, it was most tasty when I was munching on it...

fezworth said...

well, at least Ottawa's losing as well...

fezworth said...

LG, you're fucking right. These refs are fucking blind. It's one thing to miss goalie interference or hooking or somethin,g but holy shit, McLaren just about killed Tenderness with that hit from behind into the boards.

Anonymous said...

Nice work on that shift boys!
More more more.......

Anonymous said...

@Fezworth - You should hear the swearing from the boys at my house... I've been feeling much more zen ever since I started ignoring them.

Best line of the night from Mr. LG77, in response to the fact that there are no penalties being called on players in white jerseys. "So THAT's why they chose to wear their white jerseys at home!"

Anonymous said...

FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK.

Anonymous said...

Matt - that was great work on that goal. Too bad utter garbage is going in at the other end.

Anonymous said...

I can barely stomach this anymore. It is one fucking fluke goal after the other.....
When Shelley scores there is something seriously wrong.......

Bryan Driscoll said...

yeah but matt, ryan o'byrne also scored.. 0_o

let us now bow our heads and pray that we lose in overtime.

fezworth said...

You go right ahead bryan, I'm just going to pray that we GET to overtime.

Anonymous said...

Please boys - momma wants some chicken wings (okay, and a point wouldn't hurt either!!)

fezworth said...

Wait.. La Cage aux Sports has free wings even when the habs aren't playing in Montreal? Son of a bitch. Every time the habs score 5, it feels great, but hurts so much, when you montrealeurs crow about your free wings. I want them to score again... but I want wings too!

fezworth said...

Well then. That goal puts a fairly emphatic mark on the game.

Anonymous said...

Fuck. Fuckitty fuck.

Well, looks like we won't be getting wings tonight.

I don't think we played like shit - I just think that this wasn't our night.

Ah Markov - way to mouth off to the refs in the last minute of the game...

Anonymous said...

Besides, it was only a matter of time before Price's percentage came around...

Anonymous said...

G'night people... "pleasure" staying up with you...

Bryan Driscoll said...

i stayed up for that?

i swear i saw the linesman say "fuck you" to markov as he was escorting him off

Anonymous said...

Guess that means we'll see Halak for the 1st time thursday...

'Night folks!

Bryan Driscoll said...

say halak beats phoenix, does he get the start saturday in LA too? and then Price gets the Ducks?

fuck im gonna be tired as shit tomorrow. 11:15 pm. this is like WAY past my 8 o'clock bedtime.

Bryan Driscoll said...

i hope someone calls out the refs tonight. gainey or carbo. calls were shit both ways. worst reffed game of the year.

and ice those goddamn pucks ! ice was bad too, i must have seen 37 people fall down tonight

Anonymous said...

The reffing in the Sens game was pretty terrible too...I stopped watching after the 5th goal, did Markov get thrown out of the game?