While we nap...

So, I woke up this morning to leaking, puffy eyes and a snot-faucet for a nose (stuck in the ON position). Alavert didn't touch it, so I hit the Benedryl. By 9:30, I passed out cold and woke up an hour and 45 minutes later.

As often happens when I turn my back to my laptop for a few minutes, all hell broke lose. Well, kinda good hell, actually, for some guys. Not so much for others.

The big bomb is that the Wild FINALLY got Backstrom re-signed! Four years, 6 mil-ish per. This is excellent news and you could hear the collective sigh of relief in Minnesota all the way from down here in Texas. Or maybe that was all me. But it seems most folks are awfully happy about not only the signing, but also eliminating the prospect of losing ANOTHER guy to free agency for absolutely no return.

As contradictory as this might seem given the brutal netminding I provide my novice team each Sunday night, I'm positively compulsive about my pro teams having good goaltending. After Daum's final season in Houston, with Miro and Swiss as our only goaltending options, I'm scarred for life. Give me good goalies or give me death. Contrast that with be spoiled by our goaltending in Houston last season... well, my expectations are sky high, and it seems Backstrom can come as close as anybody to meeting those.

I guess we'll see tonight how this affects his play. None at all, I would hope. Or he's elated, because it was clear he wanted to be here pretty badly, and will be even better. Nice interview with Backy here.

What is it with these Finnish goalies? I need to find a nice Finnish name to put on the back of my goalie jersey. Maybe I'll suck less?

In addition to this news was a waiver wire that runneth over, including some familiar names like Peter Olvecky. I suspect he'll just clear and return to Houston. There are too many big names on the wire today for him to get much attention. It will be really nice to get him back, especially with this experience under his belt.

Other familiar names... Aaron Voros and Erik Reitz. Doh! I wonder if Sather's still talking to Riser these days. Seems he didn't ultimately find what he was looking for in the Wild's sloppy seconds (really, he could have just asked the fans and saved himself some trouble). And speaking of which, the Rangers DID pick Avery up off the wire. I guess losing AV and Reitz and sending one guy back to the minors was enough to clear cap space for the Mouth.

And now that Avery is back... and Brodeur is back in New Jersey and playing like a MFing beast... how many of you have the only remaining Rangers v. Devils game circled in red on your calendars? March 30. Be there or be square, kids.

Finally, on a totally unrelated note, Justin Bourne, the minor league player/THN blogger gives another divine slice of life. It is a must read, especially if you play or have played hockey for fun. All I'll say is that I'm a little irritated that the boys know they look that good in those suits. Dammit!

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6 Things I Need to Say (but don't deserve their own posts)

1. High in the 60s tomorrow!!! WOOO! I may go sit on the deck and wait for the front to blow in. Then come in and pull out all my 3/4 length-sleeved winter clothes! And my warm flip flops! Huzzah! Cool weather is HERE (well, almost... in about a week, it appears to be here to stay). This is a very happy time for us sweaty Texans, doncha know.
   
2. Wild FINALLY play tomorrow night. It's been too long since one of my teams played, though watching the archives of Sunday's Aeros game on AHL Live took the sting out of it. But I can tell you, Wild fans get restless with this long between games, especially with the Gaby extension controversy erupting. Looks like Zidlicky and Sir Spin-o-rama will be back in the line-up, so two will sit. I'm guessing Reitz and Boogaard. Or maybe Mojzis. Shouldn't his 30 days since clearing waivers be approaching pretty rapidly? I'd like to get a look at him down here. (Oh, he was waived on the 29th last month, so he's got a few days before they have to send him down or officially call him up... or however that works).
   
3. Aeros play Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. I'll be out on a voting date Friday night with my equally liberal friend who I always go and vote early with, so just in case we get hit by a bus over the weekend, our lonely little liberal votes will be counted. Then they're back at home Tuesday. Not much of a break for the boys after a tough 3-in-3, but everyone knew going in that this schedule was going to be a ball buster. So it begins...
   
4. My fantasy teams should have come with cyanide capsules.
5. Check out this story about a letter Aaron "No really, my ass is as spectacular as advertised" Voros wrote to Jacques Lemaire thanking him for everything he learned from JL and Co. last season.
6. Cal Clutterbuck. Just because.

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Hockey is back!

Sure, it's just pre-season, but that's as exciting to me as regular season since it merges both my worlds with prospects playing with the big club. Everything is full of promise right now. Very exciting.

Watched the Rangers at Senators and it was fun seeing Voros again. He kinda went screwball on the Wild at the end of the season and spent a bunch of time in Lemaire's chateau bowwow, but he's still just pure energy on the ice and so much fun to watch.

Great intermission interview with him, too. He's having his "new guy, great backstory, loveable style of play" moment of glory. He had it in Minnesota, too. Who else remembers the Aaron Voros as Chuck Norris thread on the Wild board? Good times.

• Chuck Norris' tears cure cancer. Voros made him cry.
• Chuck Norris does not sleep. He hides from Voros.
• The chief export of Chuck Norris is pain. Thanks to Voros, that is now also the chief import as well.
• Chuck Norris doesn't believe in God, he only believes in Voros.
• Chuck Norris has never blinked in his entire life, but Voros made him flinch.

Heh.

Pardon my sentimentality. It doesn't appear much. But AV was an unwitting key player in lighting my hockey fire, both in Houston and in his move up to the Wild. No matter what, he'll always have a special place in my hockey heart. Plus, he has a spectacular ass. But honestly, it's more about the other stuff. The magnificent ass is just gravy.

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Prospect Watch 2008: Cal "Land Mine" Clutterbuck

NHL.com sez:

Cal Clutterbuck -- Minnesota's third-round pick in 2006 is coming off his first season of professional hockey, which was spent with Houston. In 73 games with the Aeros, Clutterbuck, a 5-10, 196-pounder, scored 11 goals and added 13 assists to go along with 97 penalty minutes. The Welland, Ontario, native had back-to-back 35-goal seasons in his final two junior campaigns with Oshawa.

"We think he can be a solid, two-way, physical player," Thompson said. "He would have had more points if (Houston) had used him in offensive situations. He had 70 goals his last two years of junior. He can score if you put him those situations. He can shoot. I think he's got a good chance with us."

Ms. Conduct sez:

It's no secret, Clutterbuck is one of my favorite players in the Wild system, if not all of pro hockey. If I were writing a book about him, it would be called How I Learned to Relax and Love the Agitator.

Cal is smart, wiley, calculating, and nasty. He's a shit-stirrer (watch him during warm-ups skating juuuuust inside the center line). I'm told he runs his mouth constantly, though I think he's got some kind of ventriloquism thing going, because I've never seen his lips move other than in a direct confrontation.

Even though Cal is a classic agitator, he doesn't push the boundaries a la Avery. He doesn't do silly shit to embarrass his team and he's a great guy in the room (from all indications). But he's pure nasty on the ice and I love him for it. He crushes guys with gleeful abandon AND he's strong enough to do it without getting himself hurt. I'm sure he had some injuries last year, but you'd never know it.

So, even if he doesn't get a ton of points, his value goes way beyond that, and I think the NHL.com blurb doesn't capture that at all. However, it is cool to see that TT thinks, given the opportunity, he's got some offensive firepower in him. I tend to agree and think he hasn't hit his stride in that regard yet, as he's had some really nice goals in Houston, so I know he's got a bit of sniper in him. But that's all gravy to me... it's the dozen other terrific attributes he brings that makes him the valuable player he is.

Things that are awesome about Cal:

• His poker face. I've never ever seen him smile or appear frustrated or angry during a game. And when you've got a guy who's so infuriating to the opponent, the fact that he has absolutely no reaction to THEIR reaction just makes it so much sweeter.
• Along the same lines, I love how he'll just CRUSH a guy into the boards and we're all going, "WTF? Did a bomb just drop in here?" (or if you're a seasoned Aeros fan, you just start looking for Cal's number because you can be pretty sure he was the culprit) and the other team's enforcer is on his ass and Cal's wearing this look like, "What's everyone looking at?" It's like someone causing a 10 car pileup during rush hour and just getting out of their car and walking away like, "You dudes deal with this shit. I gotta go." Awesome.
• That he claims to have no talent. That everything he's got is just from hard work. Now, while I do believe that he's probably one of the hardest working guys on the team, I don't believe for a second that he's not blessed with something special. But his humility is charming, so who am I to argue?
• He manages to avoid crossing the line between being a distraction to his own team and being a distraction to the other team. Occasionally, Scotty has had to come in and cast a dark shadow over some altercation that Cal stirred up, but I think those little dramas do more to fire up the team than to throw them off. But it sure gets the other team hating us and hate is distracting.

So, I hope TT is right and my little Land Mine gets a serious cuppa in Minny this season. The only thing is that Minnesota's never had a true agitator like this. Some folks there think Voros was an agitator. No. He was a pest but mostly harmless (unless you're Novotny). And it seems most of these old skool hockey types don't like agitators. So, it remains to be seen if they can find a spot in their heart for one who's on their side for a change. To those people, I think Cal would say:

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Happy F'ing Canada Day

As predicted... Fridge is gone and I'm totes sad about it. Like tears sad. What a girl I am. So embarrassing but whatever. I must be PMSing.

Congrats to HipCheck for her Yotes picking him up. Honestly, you're gonna LOVE him if Gretz uses him properly. He really can play hockey. He's such a cool cat. Not much of a fighter anymore (though he will protect the stars) but still tough as nails and funny and lively and just a swell guy. He's the kind of spirit Minnesota needed to keep, IMO. You've won the lottery as far as I'm concerned.

But nooooo, we trade away a totally charming, leaderiffic prospect in Ryan Jones (who I was so excited to watch this year and apparently has spent the whole summer in St. Paul working out at the X) and a second rounder (which would have been a bust anyway) for a d-man from Nashville whose name I haven't quite learned yet. Zidlicky. Had to look it up. All I'm saying is this guy better knock my socks off. I'm very unhappy to lose Jonesy (though in all honesty, if I were only a Wild fan, I'd be pretty pleased).

More later, I'm sure.

UPDATE: While I was making a sandwich and fighting back tears, Aaron Voros signed a deal with the Rangers. My day is redeemed a bit. I'm delighted he's going to a team a watch a good bit. Though we'll see if he actually makes the big club. If they're thinking he's an Avery replacement, they're SORELY mistaken. But whatever. I'm smiling again.

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Suddenly Florida?

We've had thunderstorms every single day here in Houston lately. Kinda weird as it seems like usually summers go more in a drought/flood/drought/flood cycle. I actually prefer this in some ways because my garden is even lower maintenance without having to water it, plus it cools things off nicely. But the dog is terrified of thunder so we get trapped at home sometimes in order to calm him so he doesn't tear up the house.

Anyway, Coach and I hit the driving range and then I helped her tear some vines out of a tree behind her house. All I needed to hear was Coach--Ladder--Alone and I knew I wasn't willing to risk that. She never gets hurt playing hockey... it's always some harmless thing around the house. And I don't like when she's injured, so I held the ladder and performed other safety duties, along with yanking vines. Needless to say, between those two activities, I'm done for the day. Of course, I sucked at the driving range. Never should have tampered with my swing because now I can hardly hit anything. Ugh. I quit with several balls left and one sitting on the tee. I swung at it twice, and missed it twice, and decided I was done for the day. FU golf ball. See if I care.

At least I didn't hurt myself this time, though it didn't work out any soreness.

Man, I'm watching the NHL Network and on the bottom scroll they're showing potential UFA left wings and Fridge's name just came up. :( Oh, and there's Voros. *sigh*

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Thursday skate

Had some personal stuff weighing on me a bit this evening, so it took me a while to get going on the ice. In fact, I'm not sure I ever really did. I know I didn't accomplish much. Still can't do those f***ing swizzles. Did get closer to doing a crossover (though Coach Stalin says I'm probably not doing it right... and she's probably right, but it's a start).

I dunno. Just wasn't much fun, except for a few times when I really got in my groove and had some solid laps. Did skate for quite some time and only had to take the skates off once. They are VERY slowly breaking in. Unfortunately it seems like we skated in the same direction for a good 45 minutes and my hip was killing me by the time they said to reverse directions. By then my legs were tired so I only got a few, somewhat unsteady laps in. Wish they'd have done that earlier.

Amazing to me how different ice can be from rink to rink. The ice at the Galleria was VERY hard, where the ice at SLICE was incredibly soft. Felt like I was skating with my soakers on. I don't like that feeling.

Now I'm watching the Wild/Avs game. Backs is having a tough time, but looks like maybe he's pulling it together. Sucks for him to own-goal though. That's gotta mess with your head. The boys in front of him need to play that much better.

Question for the night: Why are these announcers (pretty much every place the Wild play) too stupid to say Voros' name correctly? It's not hard. It's just like it looks. Yet they always say "Varos"... WTF?

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