Hockey Beat » Fan Fare

I Met Kelly Hrudey and Robyn Regher Today

Jeanne Dupuis — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 23:32:18 +0000

I had the chance to meet Hockey Night in Canada commentator and former NHL goalie, Kelly Hrudey, and current Calgary Flames defenceman, Robyn Regher, at the grand opening of CrossIron Mills in Balzac, Alberta. There were so many hockey fans, it was crazy. I’m used to seeing jerseys since I live in a suburb of Calgary but it was nice to see fans of all teams congregating.

I have got to say that Hrudey has been one of the nicest sports personality’s I have ever met. I had my three kids with me and my husband and he wasn’t rushed or anything. He took pictures with everyone and was just incredibly friendly. It was really nice.

I have met Robyn Regher before at a private party when the Juno Awards were here in Calgary and the incident was so unfortunate that I won’t even explain it except to say that I was terribly embarrassed and was left with a poor impression of Regher. I had hoped that things would be different this morning but they weren’t. He wasn’t mean or disrespectful or anything but he’s not the most sociable guy and you just can’t tell if he’s doing something because he wants to or because he feels like he has to.

The images with him have my kids in them so I’d prefer not to put them on the internet but here’s a picture of him sitting there looking very happy

images: Jyle Dupuis

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NHL Plays of the Week – March 17, 2009

Jeanne Dupuis — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 17:08:04 +0000

There were some great plays this past week across the NHL but there were a couple goals that stood out for me – Evgeni Malkin (Pittsburgh) scoring on the Florida Panthers with his back turned to the net, Jamie Lundmark (Calgary) wrapping around the net to surprise Ty Conklin (Detroit) with 1:20 left in the game and then Olli Jokinen securing the 6-5 victory in a shootout after making a major comeback. Jokinen also scored an amazing breakaway goal for the Flames (who lost) against the Toronto Maple Leafs.

There were great saves too – Steve Mason (Columbus) denies the Boston Bruins, Cam Ward shuts the door on the Washington Capitals, Tomas Vokoun narrowly stops the Buffalo Sabres (it looks like his glove was just on the line) and Marc-André Fleury shocks RJ Umburger (and the crowd) who was celebrating a goal that never was.

Watch the highlights:

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My Ears Are Bleeding! Lady Gaga Song Used to Promote Calgary Flames

Jeanne Dupuis — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 08:14:16 +0000

As if I don’t hate that awful song enough, Energy 101.5 has decided to create a tribute song for the Calgary Flames inspired by Lady Gaga’s “Poker Face.” I’m serious – I CANNOT STAND THAT SONG and I like Lady Caca even less. The worst part about it is that Freeway Frank and Ian MacKinnon actually manage to make it sound even more awful than the original. Listen and cringe.

Some playoff songs are more tolerable than others but, of course, being in Calgary, I only really get to hear the ones for the Flames. I liked “In Da Dome” which was based on 50 Cent’s song “In Da Club” but I’ve learned to just tolerate the others.

I’d love to hear about the ones in your area. What awful/good songs are you hearing?

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Jokinen Works Hard While Flames Cool Off

Jeanne Dupuis — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 18:08:02 +0000

As far as trades are concerned, Olli Jokinen is delivering all that the Calgary Flames could have asked for when they acquired him at the trade deadline. The man has managed to post eight goals and two assists in just six games. Unfortunately, his new team appears to be struggling. Despite Jokinen’s big numbers, they’ve just won two of their last six games.

I was over on Puck Daddy’s blog and he is blaming Jokinen for the team’s demise. I’m not sure I’d go that far but I will concede that the man has some extremely valid points. As he mentions, I’ve been scratching my head over Miikka Kiprusoff’s play in these last six contests. Granted the defense has been just awful (the goalie had to stop 26 shots in the first period alone during one of the games last week) but Kipper looks a little frazzled. At one point, my son and I were actually laughing because it looked like he was afraid that coach Mike Keenan was waiting in the wings with a gun. The whole thing has just been really baffling.

Some are accusing Jokinen of being selfish with the puck (the numbers would seem to support that theory), causing his teammates to be resentful. To be honest, while it was a sweet move, when Jokinen used the boards to assist himself in making a flashy, mid-air goal on Saturday against the Toronto Maple Leafs, I did wonder what the other players were thinking of him. I hope that the Flames can get it together and they can figure out a way to work with their new acquisition because he really is talented.

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Martin Brodeur Ties Patrick Roy’s NHL Goaltender Wins Record

Jeanne Dupuis — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 05:13:09 +0000

New Jersey Devils goaltender, Martin Brodeur, has celebrated his 551st win by turning away 22 of 23 shots on goal by the Montreal Canadiens tonight, which has tied him with the record set by star netminder, Patrick Roy. "It feels great, the first crack at it I was able to do it," Brodeur said during his postgame news conference. "Definitely, I’m enjoying this moment pretty good."

Roy was in attendance at the game and was excited to see the moment so that he can tell his grandchildren that he there to see it happen. "He deserves every minute of it," Roy said.

He has not only tied Roy’s record for most wins, he’s also got Terry Sawchuk’s shutout record in sight (Brodeur has 100 career shutouts and the record is 103).

Could he take over Roy’s record on St. Patrick’s Day at home?

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Calgary Beats Detroit in Incredible Comeback

Jeanne Dupuis — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 18:02:08 +0000

Last night, the Calgary Flames played the Detroit Red Wings and there were a number of reasons why I didn’t watch all of it. The first problem is that the Flames have been sucking majorly on this road trip and the other is that I just hate Detroit. My son kept checking the score and my non-hockey loving husband kept complaining that he didn’t want to watch the game and, for once, I agreed with him. The last time we checked, there was about 8 minutes left in the game and the Wings were up 4-2.

I slumped down onto my couch and starting looking through the PVR for stuff we could watch after dinner. I was really disappointed because the Flames were continuing their losing streak and I just didn’t want to hear about it. I saw my son sneak upstairs to check the score and he almost stumbled down the stairs in his rush to tell me that the Flames beat the Wings 6-5. He’s a bit of a prankster so I wasn’t even sure he wasn’t pulling my leg but he wasn’t – I checked the score myself and kicked myself for not watching the game but how could I know?

Anyway, here’s how it went down. Detroit was looking as though the game was over (fans were already leaving) but wth 3:22 left in the third, Jamie Lundmark (Calgary) scored to bring the score up to 4-3. Then, less than a minute later, Olli Jokinen (Calgary) scored and finally, with 1:20 left on the clock, Lundmark struck again to put the Flames in the lead!!!! Just 38 seconds later, Dan Cleary (Detroit) put one behind Mikka Kiprusoff (Calgary) and tied the game. No one scored in overtime so the game went to a shootout.

In all honesty, I’m happy that I didn’t watch this game because I already get overly stressed during shootouts but this would have been brutal. In the end, only Pavel Datsyuk (Detroit) was successful while both Mike Cammalleri and Jokinen put one in the back of the net for Calgary.

Watch the highlights:

I know it’s just one game but I feel like turning around to all those commentators on trade day who said the Flames weren’t on the Wings level and telling them to eat it. You don’t know how a team is going to play with new lines and players so it’s stupid to underestimate them.

image: TSN

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Ron Wilson Ejected From Game For Fighting With Officiators

Jeanne Dupuis — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 17:04:12 +0000

Toronto Maple Leafs head coach, Ron Wilson, was ejected during a game last night against the visiting Tampa Bay Lightning after he started an argument with the refs. "Yeah, I’ve been kicked out before," said Wilson. "It’s not a big deal… What happened is, we killed too many penalties in the second period and lost our momentum. They gained it and we could never find a way to get it back."

The man’s got a point. The Leafs were outshot by the Bolts 30-21.

Here’s a video of Wilson getting a game misconduct. You can see the officiator warning him and saying “you wanna go?” What a tool…

This isn’t the first time Wilson has been talked about this week after his team lost. He also hoped his Leafs could forge a comeback in a game against the Ottawa Senators by securing a power-play for reporting Jason Spezza’s illegal hockey stick.

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Oilers Lose for Moreau’s Return, Thrashers Lose Kovalchuk.

Jeanne Dupuis — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 16:49:58 +0000

The Edmonton Oilers might have been celebrating the return of captain, Ethan Moreau, but the excited was short-lived since they went on to lose 4-3 in overtime against the visiting Atlanta Thrashers. Unfortunately, the night also turned bittersweet for the victorious team since they lost their captain, Ilya Kovalchuk to an undisclosed upper body injury during the first period. "We don’t want to say too much right now because we don’t know for sure," said head coach John Anderson. "He’s day to day as we speak right now. He had a little problem yesterday and I didn’t practice him. He said he was OK to go today and obviously he wasn’t, but I’ve got to give him credit for trying."

I hope Kovy is alright and can rejoin his team soon. You really don’t want to be without your leader at this point in the season.

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Carrie Underwood Celebrates Mike Fisher Goal – Video

Jeanne Dupuis — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 06:57:33 +0000

American Idol winner, Carrie Underwood, was again spotted cheering on her hockey-playing boyfriend, Mike Fisher, which his team, the Ottawa Senators took on the visiting Tampa Bay Lightning. Fisher scored the game-winning goal, in overtime, on March 11, 2009 and Carrie can be seen jumping up and down and hugging someone in the box (I think it looks like she says “my boy.” Here’s the video:

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Flu Bug Sweeping Through Buffalo Sabres

Jeanne Dupuis — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 08:14:52 +0000

Let me just say that, if I were one of the reporters talking to Lindy Ruff, I would have kept my distance. He revealed that a nasty virus, which they are calling a “flu bug” but, because it is causing stomach issues, is probably something like Norwalk, is sweeping through the Buffalo Sabres team and is even making it difficult to come up with lines. Here’s a video of Ruff talking about the situation:

I read the following on the Buffalo Sabres website (some is taken from the video above): “What’s really made it tough is that we keep having players fall out of the game on us. Even last night we start the game and want to use Max (Afinogenov), and after four or five shifts Max isn’t feeling well so we have to change lines. We haven’t really been able to put any lines together from game to game, due to the fact that somebody has come up ill. Max isn’t doing very good. Jochen (Hecht) is doing a little bit better than Max. Tim is just coming off going through it. He’s been a little bit drained so we decided to just keep him away today.”

Tim Connolly is struggling while Patrick Lalime and Derek Roy were among those who battled the flu last week. “It’s definitely tough… especially when it’s stomach problems,” Roy said. “When you get hit throughout the game or try to skate or whatnot, it’s definitely tough. But no excuses this time of year… the other guys that are healthy have to step up and play that much harder. That’s what we need. We need a different hero every night.”

I hope the players can get well and get back to playing hockey. This is a bad time of year to have a lot of your best guys out of the lineup.

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