Nightly wrap-up and whatnot

So, I was kinda dreading the Aeros game last night. I mean really. That Rockford series was like a weeklong thumb in the eye. But last night was good. Nice way to leave things before they run off for like 3 weeks of no home games. It was also nice to not be playing Rockford. I'm so over that big red pig.

Plus, it's never a bad night when Kassian scores, amiright? I'm guessing he would agree, either direction you wanna go with that.

At one point, I said, "Dubie's playing really well" and John about fell out of his chair. Yes, I can be objective. Even about goalies. Even about goalies I don't like. That said, he wasn't as good in the third. So there.

Up in Trenton, things were even rosier in goal, at least for the Everblades, for whom Brusty was fantastic, stopping 25 of 26 for a really solid win. And the one goal against was a power play goal that was poorly played by the defenseman covering the back door. But other than that, the team played pretty well in front of him, so muchas gracias for that.

Anyway, the big goalie took home first star honors, which is full of win and awesome and well deserved for sure.

This was his third straight start for the Blades and now they head back to lusty Florida for the All Star Break. They face Trenton 3 more times again before the month is out. Soooo, sick of them by February? Yeah, I figure that's a big affirmative.

BTW, here's videos from the shootout of Friday's game in Trenton. Good stuff.

Meanwhile, the Wild in Arizona. How about those Yotes, my friends? What a great story they have going this season. What's going on really though? I'm gonna say a lot of this is just plain better coaching. Imagine if Gretsky had bowed out 3 years ago and let someone else coach this club.

But of course, there's the whole "us against the world" factor that brings a group of guys together.

Back to the Wild, though, Latendresse! Name a trade that's been so mutually beneficial in the history of trades in any sport. I'm not kidding. 6 goals and one assist in 11 games for Benny, and frankly (more importantly) a huge smile on his face every time I see him. I love that.

And Latendresse is virtually unrecognizable, he's such a new man. Look at this:

In almost equal games, from scoring to PIM to +/- to shots on goal, the guy has gone from Clark Kent to Superman. Seems some Habs fans are still cranky with him, and I guess that's fair to some extent. Like, "where was that when we had you?" but I sure don't feel that way about Pouliot.

What's interesting is that they're praising Pouly up and down up there for going to the net and getting his nose dirty, when that's exactly what he wouldn't do for the Wild. You have to wonder if there was a certain mental block after all he'd been through with the Wild.

Maybe it wasn't so much a reluctance to do that stuff at all, but to do it for the Wild. Not consciously, I don't think, but you really have to be committed to play like that, and it's hard to be committed to a team you don't feel is really committed to you, right?

Ohhh, I thought the psychoanalysis of Benny would go away when he finally got traded. That's probably the last of it. But it is pretty fascinating.

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Tonight is supposed to be my only game of the week, but I've asked Scott to sub for me. My knee is still aching badly and I'm back coughing again (this shit will just not go away), so I think my body is saying it's time to take advantage of not playing Monday or Tuesday and also take Sunday off to really rest everything.

We'll see if he's up for it. I hate missing a game, but I've never missed a weekend of games and NOT come back fresher and better for it. Still. :( I hate missing a game.

Thinking I'll go get a good massage and see if Cheryl can work on my IT band and hamstrings so I can do some good stretching this week.

I was sitting on the edge of my bed the other day and held both my legs out in front of me (okay, I admit I was doing it to admire my wicked quads) and I couldn't straighten my left leg out completely without a ton of tightness. So there's definitely a kink in the works.

Hope I can get in though. The Houston Marathon is today and many of her clients are runners who will likely be seeking relief this week.

I should go out this morning and cheer for our friends who are running, but meh. I've done my marathon and watching people at Mile 21 where I live brings back not the fondest memories. Have I mentioned how much I don't miss that shit? I hope to god I never look back on playing hockey the way look back on that.

Not that I regret it, because it gave me a ton of courage to do the things I'm doing now, but man was that a helluva lot of time doing something not remotely fun and entirely painful.