Braggin' on my goalie

So, while the Aeros soiled the bed at home this weekend, Brusty and the Baby Senators found their game on the road. I'mma tell you about it because I'm pretty proud of him.

It all starts with Mike Brodeur getting run and bonking his head last weekend. Welcome to Concussionville, Mikey! So he's out, and Brusty gets a start at home last Saturday. Yay!

Tweet!

Well, yay turns into boo when we discover that the rest of the team is Bad At Hockey and it ends up such a mess that Venice sinks an extra inch into the Adriatic Sea.

But never fear, Binghamtonians! Rookie phenom Robin Lehner has finally gotten his visa squared away and will be in town to start the next game. Phew!

But alas, Pascal Leclaire, being Pascal Leclaire, found a way to break himself. God bless him. I mean that. I hate that he's so fragile but he's really and truly Mr. Opportunity for everyone behind him. Anyway, it's some kinda groin thing with some kinda indefinite timeline that they're checking into this week.

Whyyyy? Whyyyyyyyyy?

Regardless, that meant that Lehner spent all of about 3 days in Bingo before getting called up on an emergency basis. But first! They let him get a game in for Bingo to get his game speed going. But that didn't go so well, as he got lit up just as bad as Brusty did in the last game. Guess he is what he is, too.

After the game, Lehner heads to meet the Senators in Montreal and Brusty is finally a #1 goalie in the AHL again and all is right with the world. And just to prove it, he holds the Crunch to 2 (from what I hear, very nice) goals. It's a loss to the Crunch but only because Bingo can't freaking score.

Rawr.

Regardless, finally, the score is less footbally and my friend in the stands (see Chairman How's Glorious Army) told me Barry played great. But apparently he was also quite drunk (my friend, not Barry). Never the less, I trust his judgment in goaltending quality through the boozy haze.

Even the boards in Syracuse know what's up.

The road trip continues up to Toronto where things get really good, because not only is Brusty pretty much the only choice to play (other goalie is an emergency backup) but the game is being broadcast on CBC in Canada and NHL Network in the US.

Holy crap, I get to watch Brusty! I really believe the hockey gods love me and want me to be happy that they knocked out all those other guys to make this happen. But to be honest, I've only watched the first period. I had to shut 'er down because of computer issues and the TV was taken up with football. But it's on my DVR and I've already marked it KEEP. If I could have marked it OMG KEEPKEEPKEEP!!!, I would have. You know this is gonna be up there with The Princess Bride and Office Space for "Number of Watches" before long.

What I do know is that it went amazingly well. He stopped 41 of 42 shots, 18 of which were in the 3rd period, and they won 3-1. He also got the first star, natch, and hopefully enjoyed a little skate with a big grin and lots of Marlies fans hating him for being so fucking awesome in their barn. So clutch.

I'm gonna guess we're looking at the aftermath of a poke here. Shaaaahhhh. I like the new pads.

More cool pics of the game here. The lighting is weird for these shots, like they're in the sun almost. Gives them a strange paparazzi-ish quality that I kinda like.

Anyway, that's the Brusty Report. It's just one game and when everybody's healthy again, I don't know what happens after that. But it was one game on the biggest stage the B-Sens will play on all season and he made the point he spent all last season trying to make. Not only does he belong in this league (or better), he can dominate it.