"Now if I've told you once, I've told you a thousand times, poise counts! It's just as important as the others. Swimsuit! Evening wear! Talent! POISE!"
- Coach Cosmo Kramer
At first glance TFS and my numbersake would appear to have nothing in common. Ken went to law school in the off-season, Carey goes to the rodeo. Carey has been known to get emotional (when he's not totally chill), while Ken was as stoic as me the day after a meth binge. But Carey is developing the one quality I always felt made Ken great. It's self-confidence, it's calmness in the face of adversity, it's composure, it's POISE. And POISE COUNTS! I'm not sure if Carey has the swimsuit and evening wear portions down, but he always had the talent. Now he has developed the poise. He's halfway to Miss America as long as his doves aren't murdered. Let's recap his performance against the Stanley Cup-contending 'Nucks:
- Canucks get a 3 on 1 while the Habs have a 4 minute PP. Let that shot hit him in the CHest. POISE!
- A Sedin breaks in all alone. A blocker stop he makes to look routine. POISE!
- Habs defense falls apart in the last couple of minutes, Carey makes one save after another to preserve his shutout. POISE!
- Carey has the puck on his stick and an open net 200 feet away. Sure, he'll calmly shoot the puck to try to score. POISE!
- Carey receives the Molson Cup for October and the cameras zoom in on his barely-hit-puberty Movember 'stache. He doesn't even blink. POISE!
Vodkov. Played easily his best game since his return. Forget his goal (though it was nice to see), it was his old calming influence on the ice that seemed to return. You know, poise? It's like, don't worry about it, I'll get that pass to you. Don't worry about it, I'll calmly clear the puck or take care of it in my own zone. Don't worry about it, I'm returning to form. Let's hope.
The CzeCH Connection. There has been much complaining about Hamr and SpatCHes so far this year around these parts. All of it deserved. But last night they returned to the solid pair they were a lot of last year. JM matched them up with the Sedins at every chance, and the duo helped to hold them to zero shots through the first two periods. And I could have sworn Hamr scored a goal on the PP, but that must have been a hallucination.
The CoaCH. Of course you could never tell from outward appearances if JM was poised or having a coronary, but he (or Muller, or Pearn) coached the hell out of that game. Great matchups, solid game plan. It wasn't firewagon hockey, but hey, it's a W. And even a strategic timeout!
The centers in the faceoff circle. I don't care to do things like "research" or "easily click over to a game summary to see the stats" but I swear we must have won 65-70% of the draws. And it seemed to be all of the centers. You know what you need in the faceoff circle? POISE!
The PK. That was the leading PP in the league? If you say so. Habs' poise in the face of 4 opportunities for the Nucks was off the poise charts.
Chris Lee. He was almost competent. A huge step up.
Of course, it wasn't all poise and puppies for the Habs last night. Despite the goal, we continue to have PP issues. That 4 minute one was beyond embarrassing. We continue to have zero offense, whether on the PP or otherwise. I could nitpick about a couple of other things too, but I have too much blogger poise to put a damper on this one.
21 comments:
TFStand™
TFStaCHe™
NEEDS MORE STRIPPERS
He's halfway to Miss America as long as his doves aren't murdered.
Excellent.
@29 & @GG As much as it is your Blog given right to annoit, I feel that I must raise a (small) objection to the picture of TFS that adorns this latest installment. You of all people will know how sacred that pose is. NO ONE does that pose! That was a pose that will forever be reserved for (IMO) the greatest goalie ever. Now I "get" what you were going for with the comparisons and yes, he does look like the real deal so far this season, but he has not yet climbed the heights needed to draw direct comparisons be it in print or photoshop. Besides, Are you trying to jinx the fuckin' guy? Let's just let him be TFS(tm) - he can develop his own pose in time - in reality the only pose we want to see him in is the one with the Stanley Cup over his head!
Gotta go with Kmaxx on this one. That pic is just asking for the wrath of the Hockey Gods to come a smiting.
Stop jinxing, more strippers, stop jinxing, more strippers..... why can't I get that through my head?
Ptuh, ptuh, ptuh
Great post. For those of us on the ugly side of 50, "Poise" has another important meaning.
@Kmaxx, 10. Dryden is a hockey god! and I suspect he would find that photoshopped picture funny. Heck, he might even chuckle and explain the history of photoshopping and it's sociological impact.
I think we saw the secret to the otherwise anemic powerplay last night. It happened at least once before, too. The strategic miss. Spacek's slap shot is not going in on its own, but he can generate a hell of a bounce. Then somebody sneaks into the Kovalev space and BINGO!
And the last two saves Carey made last night- Mastercard worthy.
@soperman: I hear you
I wonder how much money she has in her poise.
Hey..you forgot Plekanec.
It takes poise to wrist the puck from one goal line, to the other end of the ice and over the glass.
Wow, you went way over any metaphysical lines with that. To this day we can wonder was Dryden a great goliel I buy the legended, but TFS exists in a world where stone tablets are not a proof. Fuck as if he did not have enough sideline pressure and now the FHF gives him the spotlight.
Until TFS™ tells FHF to CHill out, the pic remains golden.
Kenny! Oh how I loved him. I wanted to marry him when I grew up. I shed a few tears when I saw him on the ice in full goalie gear last December. *sigh*
@money did cANADA not lose when he was not made leader. Argue about anything and that tells you nobody realy cares.
Never forget the 1971 series against the big, bad, Bruins with Espo and numbah foah, Bobby Orah.
The Dryden pose in the crease as he relaxed after making one unbelievable save after another. The looks of disbelief on Esposito's face...a 76 goal scorer during the regular season.
Ken Dryden was the best. Period.
And to think he retired at the ripe old age of 29. Maybe the Habs would have won another cup or 2 if he had stuck around a little longer.
Wow, Halak and Ty have collapsed tonight. Against Colombus of all teams. 8 goals with 10 mins still to go. I think that's as many as the Blues have let in in the last 10 games. I'm not even exaggerating.
Oh, and the Laffs are being shut out again in Florida. Someone needs to use this collapse as a parody to that I Touch Myself song.
The leaf is again playing like shit and mcsplooge and the tsn'ers have nothing but praise and hope and pearl clutching. Do these wads fear mlse and burkake? BTW, the fact that the leaf is playing like shit is a good thing, for Canada.
I have enjoyed the discussion today about whether I've screwed Carey and our karma forever. w00t!
in my defense, i never meant for the post to mean that I was comparing Carey to Ken. I just wanted to show they both have POISE. the stance is the ultimate symbol of POISE
hahaha, Leafs get worse by the day
Roy also did The Pose.
Carey's got his own pose. I call it "Cave Monster" because after he makes a few saves and the puck goes the other way, he creeps back into his net hunched over while scanning the ice with his eyes looking like he's ready to jump out and eat whatever comes in front.
All I can say is CHockula still sucks with his low-lustre chess game crap. And he is ruining Lars our arian pastry god.
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