Skate Soldier

Wellllll ... frak.

Not exactly the result we were hoping for, but it's my opinion that there are some definite positives we can take from this game. As the subject line says, Rome was not built in a day. This losing streak and general crappiness we've built up over the last several months is not going to be undone in a single game. Rather, it's a series of baby steps and that's basically all we can clam onto at this point.

Jason Spezza got the Sens' only goal on the powerplay at 6:33 of the second period from Meszaros and Stillman. The shitty thing happened immediately after the goal was scored, and while I should not claim referee bias, it's kind of difficult not to with all the calls that seem to have gone against us lately. Basically Martin Biron took exception to Spetz celebrating right in front of him and crosschecked him right in the back. In the ensuing scrum, Spezza butt-ended a Flyer while being restrained by one of the linesmen - the Philly player, I might add, was not restrained - and got tossed out of the game for his troubles.

That was essentially the turning point, and even through Fish tried his best to centre Alfie and Heater, it just was not to be. Emery let in a somewhat weak goal off a long shot by Dowd, and it all went down from there. Shots ended up at 33-38 in favour of Philadelphia. Penalties were roughly even, although it's my opinion that Biron should have been assessed at least an instigator for his role in the scrum. There's just no excuse for that kind of behaviour.

I may as well break the rest of this recap post down into positives and negatives, it seems the easiest way to organize it.

Positives

- The Senators' work ethic. It was MUCH improved over the last few games, they actually looked as though they wanted to be there and were listening to Murray. Their passes were crisp and they didn't sort of stare down at the puck when they got it like, "What the hell is this and what am I supposed to do with it?" The effort was 1000% better.

- Razor's goaltending. Yes, there was that one weak goal, but he looked sharp on the blocker side and was able to turn aside most of the Philly chances. On two out of the three goals, he didn't have a chance.

- Jason Spezza. He got kicked out of the game, and I can't help but wonder what might have transpired had be been around in the third period to kick some ass and take some names. At least goals-wise. He seems to be back on form and is a lot crisper with his passes and shots. Very nice performance.

Negatives

- The score. Clearly, we still have some work to do, because we didn't come out with the two points tonight. Our ability to hold leads - and more importantly, build on them - still appears to be diminished.

- Offensive zone penetration. No, I did not mean that to sound naughty. Not at all. XD It seemed incredibly easy for the Flyers to clear the zone and start odd-man rushes back the other way. We need to stop that, and stop it quickly. More importantly, we need to continue to work on our sustained pressure, because that's the only way we'll keep scoring.

- Reaction after the opposition scores. It seems like when the opposing team gets a goal, it really deflates the boys and they can't recover and get any chances to try and even things up a bit. To their credit they did try quite hard in the third period, I don't want to imply that the effort wasn't there. Still, I remember back when a 1-1 tie or even a 2-1 lead by the opposition meant nothing. It would be nice to get those days back.

I must remember that the Boston Bruins are back on my Christmas card list, heh. They defeated Pittsburgh by a score of 5-1 (!!!!) and managed to knock Marian Hossa out of the game in the process. Thanks, Bruins. We owe ya one! (Except really not.)

LJ, however, is definitely NOT on my list. After I pressed Post it gamely proceeded to eat my carefully-constructed recap and show me a "Internet Explorer cannot display the webpage" screen for my efforts. Thank goodness for Autosave.

Well, Sens Army, welcome to your first day AP. After Paddock.

Unless you've been vacationing on Mars, you'll know that John Paddock was fired yesterday, but I'm tossing the link up just in case. It's to the TSN story and has the bare-bones details. Basically, as so often happens in professional sports, the coach took one for the team in the most brutal sense imaginable. And really, if you think about it, it makes a certain amount of sense. Team that should not be playing shitty plays shitty. Fans get restless. Fans demand action. GM can't fire the team, so bye bye coach.

I think what intrigues me most about the whole situation is the reaction that fans of other teams have had. There were a ton of people on hockey yesterday saying that the firing seemed really sudden and unnecessary. Many were not Sens fans. Most cited the team's 15-2 start as evidence that Ottawa is really not as bad as it looks right now. But the Sens fans in the bunch, myself included, know better.

The pair of games that have been played this week are among the most horrible that I've seen my team involved in. Now, nothing will quite equal the debacle that was a 6-0 loss to the Leafs on home ice in the second game of 2006. I should claim a small bias here in that I was present at the arena for that game, and so my interpretations are coloured by the drubbing we Sens fans received at that game from the Ottawa annex of Leafs Nation. Nevertheless, the inescapable fact is that I've been a Senators fan for eleven years and I've rarely seen them play so terribly.

What fans of other teams fail to realize - and they could be forgiven for that - is that ever since that 15-2 start, the Senators have been the worst kind of inconsistent. We were on top of the Eastern Conference by a fairly wide margin thanks to our terrific start, and we were able to hand out enough defeats to enough of the league's elite teams to fool most of the people most of the time. Now, however, the chickens have come home to roost, as it were. The same issues have been plaguing us for a long time now. Poor goaltending. An off-ice circus surrounding Ray Emery and some of his antics. A defence that looks like it would really rather be somewhere else most nights. An inability to win without Alfredsson, Heatley and Spezza carrying most of the load.

So, Paddock takes the fall for all of this. Paddock basically takes the fall for the Sens being shitty, unable to pull up their socks, etc. etc. I know I'm not alone in hoping that this proves to be the final turnaround, but I'm probably also not alone in being afraid that it might not, that nothing is going to fix this. I don't know what kind of a fan I would be if I didn't believe, so I'm going to try. But it's hard. Damn, it's hard.

Murray will step behind the bench for the rest of the season and in interviews last night he said he hoped that the players were "embarrassed" by Paddock's firing, that it jarred some sense into them. I heartily agree. This should serve notice that they are in deep trouble right now, that they aren't even trying, and that they need to elevate their game. They are capable of so much more. They know it and we know it. Now it's time to start walking the talk.

I haven't done game notes for the past few games, mostly because I'm sick and tired of reporting on the same damn things: losses, poor goaltending, poor defence. If the Sens pick up their game a bit and give me cause to stop repeating myself, I may begin again. But for now, I'm going to stick to writing accounts of the games the day after. I knock myself out and sacrifice three hours of my night and for what? Another loss. Another crappy performance. Well, this isn't worth my time anymore. I'll still watch the games, because I can't do without my hockey fix. But the game notes aren't happening. At least for a little while. Sorry guys, but I need to do other things right now. Take it up with the team if you're annoyed. XD

Philly tonight. Go Sens Go.

For some reason I have "Another One Bites the Dust" going through my head at the moment. Not sure why; it may possibly have to do with our shitty record right now or it may possibly not. How we keep blowing game after game, showing up and then going to sleep, dropping two points here, there and everywhere. But I'd be lying if I said I'm outright panicking anymore, because I'm really not. Instead I'm just kind of ... puzzled, to be quite frank. We used to be so awesome, we used to be able to hold leads, we used to play defensively and get goals from our big line and, in short, do all the little things you need to do to win games. Now, we may as well be asking the boys to split the atom or fly to Jupiter and back before supper. It's just not happening. Paddock promised on the evening news yesterday that there would be some changes - namely, splitting up the big line and possibly putting Heater on the Fisher line - but we'll see. About the one positive has been the Stillman-Vermette-Kelly line; they've been tearing up the ice as our only source of scoring in the last few games. But we need more. Waaaaay more.

Today's opponent is the Pittsburgh Penguins. How apropos considering they're one of the teams in the hunt for our Eastern Conference top spot. Both Andrew and I agree that the Penguins are highly likely to come out with all guns blazing and that if we can survive the first five minutes we'll be frakking lucky. But surviving is not thriving. We survived against Philadelphia and it was the purest form of survival imaginable. The Columbus game proved that if nothing else. We need to get back to our previous form if we have any hope of staying in first place ... which is something I've said about 305559342304 times in the last week.

( Click for game notes )

Hey everyone! Well, I'm baaaack. XD I definitely missed doing these game notes last game, but being actually at Scotiabank Place, there wasn't really any way I could post anything. Hehe. And it was certainly a great game, at least results-wise. True, Ottawa fell asleep for half the game. True, we never should have blown that 2-0 lead. True, we usually suck at shootouts and I didn't think we had a hope in hell. But nevertheless, the boys pulled it out, got the two points and kept their place atop the Eastern Conference. We've got to keep winning, though, or we could be staring at fourth place quite quickly with how close things are.

Tonight's opponent is the Columbus Blue Jackets. I always thought that was such a weird name for a hockey team. I mean, why name them after an article of clothing? Surely there had to be more creative monikers out there to award. This was before I found out about the connection to the Civil War, yes, but truth be told I still find the name sort of ... stupid. The team isn't, though. Despite being last in offense in the entire league, Columbus are no shrinking violets and have managed to beat even the likes of Detroit before. We can't be complacent, that's for sure.

( Click for game notes! )

Let me set the scene for you. The time is 6:59 p.m. The place is Liz's living room. Liz relaxes on her couch under an expansive Ottawa Senators blanket, laptop nestled securely on her lap. A cat or two perch by her feet. Her boyfriend's in the kitchen, finishing off supper. The Hockey Night In Canada Theme blares from the TV screen and Liz smiles, knowing she has nothing but a night of awesome hockey to look forward to and after that, a week which she can spend however she likes, without the confines of school and work. She does, however, worry about the fortunes of her favourite hockey team, which hasn't been playing terribly consistently of late. The only thing that could make this evening more perfect, for her, would be a huge Senators win.

Yeah, I'm pretty relaxed at the moment, but that doesn't mean to say that I'm totally blasé about tonight's game. I worry about how Ottawa's been playing, I worry about their lack of consistency, I worry about their defence, I worry about their playoff hopes. In short, I worry plenty. And I hope to hell they can assuage my worries with a nice little win tonight. A nice, consistent, hard-working, plenty-of-scoring-by-the-Pizza-Line win.

Tonight's opponent is once again the New Jersey Devils, who walked away on Wednesday with a 3-2 win in overtime off a somewhat questionable goal. Anton Volchenkov was slewfooted by Brian Gionta just before the latter slid the puck into the net, a scoring chance that I'm sure had the A-Train been on his feet, he'd have stopped. But hey, if ifs and buts were candy and nuts ... you know the rest. We just have to put in a better all-around effort tonight to be sure those kinds of chances won't work against us when push comes to shove. Given recent events, I'm not sure how possible that is. But I'm a hockey fan. Eternal and sometimes foolhardy hope is an essential part of my toolkit.

( Click here for game notes )

So I wrote a post-game/pregame letter to the Sens at IWP and to be honest, I was not terribly complimentary. That's because I'm really starting to get sick of this inconsistency. One night we're great, the next night we're zombies who couldn't shoot a hockey puck to save their goddamned lives. I don't understand it and Paddock is probably even more at sea. All I know is, we're not going to be able to get away with this kind of bullshit in the playoffs. Inconsistency counts for nothing when you're competing for the Stanley Cup. Well, nothing except an early playoff exit, that is.

Tonight's opponent is the New Jersey Devils, who are coming off an impressive 6-1 win over the Carolina Hurricanes. I'd say that the Sens shouldn't be such pushovers, but you know what? I'm not entirely sure. After last night just about anything is possible so far as us blowing games. All I know is, we definitely can't afford to get behind by a goal. The Devils' specialty is the trap, and once they've got you down they just don't let you back up. We'll need to be sharp.

( Click for game notes )

This just came over the wire at work: TSN.ca reports Patrick Eaves and Joe Corvo have been traded to the Carolina Hurricanes in exchange for Mike Commodore and Cory Stillman. Stillman is a forward with 21 goals and 25 assists in 51 games. Commodore, a defenceman, has three goals and nine assists and 74 penalty minutes. Both were scheduled to become unrestricted free agents as of July 1.

My first reaction to this was to go, "BWUH?" though I guess I can kind of see the logic behind it. Commodore is a big guy who could easily be paired with Volchenkov for an extremely physical checking line. (Commodore's 6-foot-5, and if he's put with the A-Train that'd be more than enough to give opposing forwards nightmares.) And hey, we can always use more support for the forwards. Eaves has had some injury problems of late, and Corvo has often been derided for his poor defensive play in the offensive zone. But each has their strong points as well.

I don't know a whole lot about Commodore and Stillman other than what the stats say, but it'll be interesting to see how they end up fitting into the overall lineup. Hopefully team chemistry won't be disrupted too much, and I wouldn't put it past Alfie to stand up in the dressing room and make sure everyone's clicking with everyone else. I also wouldn't put it past Murray to make a few more deals before the February 26 trade deadline rolls around.

Team 1200 is discussing it, of course, and saying that another possible deal could see Nikolai Khabibulin coming to town in exchange for a goalie and/or a couple of picks (and perhaps Vermette as well, though I've only seen that particular rumour quoted in one or two places). They now have some cap room to at least entertain those ideas with Corvo's and Eaves's salary gone. I guess we'll have to see. I wouldn't mind getting Khabibulin, necessarily, but I'm not sure how I feel about giving up Vermette. And don't even TALK about Wade being part of any such deals. Heh.

Murray will apparently be holding a press conference in about twenty minutes to address the precise details of the trade; if I can I will edit this post at that time with any additional details. For now I have to go write this up for our website. :)

Other Sens news? Mike Fisher left practice early today nursing what's described as "an ongoing groin injury," but Murray says he will be okay to play tomorrow. Emery will start against the Buffalo Sabres. And Jason Spezza's six-point performance last week, including his first career hat trick, has earned him the NHL's First Star of the Week. Congrats, Spetz!

As far as Richard Zednik's condition goes, he underwent emergency surgery last night and is resting comfortably this afternoon. He's still in the intensive care unit, but his condition is stable and by all accounts he'll be all right. Apparently the skate just missed cutting his jugular vein, and it severed his carotid artery completely. Get well soon, Richard. You're still in my thoughts.

Aaand I guess I'll be saying goodbye to this icon. Heh.

I just saw one of the scariest things I think I've ever witnessed: Richard Zednik being taken off the ice after taking a skate directly to his neck. It was totally a freak accident but that does not make it any less frightening. I've never seen so much blood. Zednik has been taken to the hospital and is reportedly in stable condition. The entire arena just fell completely silent and Rick Jeannerette was almost crying right on air.

My thoughts are with Zednik. I'm not by nature a religious person, but if you are, you may wish to toss in an extra prayer for him tonight.

I'll edit if I hear more.

edit: MSG Buffalo says the outlook is good, condition is serious but stable and he is expected to make it through the night. That's a credit to the arena medical staff, who attended to him immediately and managed to get him stable before he left for hospital.

First off, HAPPY HOCKEY DAY IN CANADA, EVERYBODY!!!! How did I celebrate, you may ask? Well, I'm not the athletic type and I never have been, so no street hockey for me. After morning chores and lunch I curled up on the couch with a cup of coffee and watched first Rangers/Philadelphia and then Toronto/Detroit. Might not sound too exciting to some, but to me, it was an absolutely perfect way to spend the afternoon. Wish I could do it every single day. XD

And what about tonight's game? Well, once again we face the Montreal Canadiens, and once again a divisional and conference title could potentially be on the line. The good news for us though is that we'll have our big line of Alfie, Heater and Spetz back together for the first time in ... to be perfectly honest, what seems like forever. Hopefully they can provide a bit of a spark of offence as we try to get the first goal and not play so horribly defensively. In keeping with Paddock's "win and you're in" policy, Ray Emery draws the start after his victory against Florida on Thursday. Let's see if he can win again tonight.

( Click for game notes! )

Icon in honour of one Mr. Dany Heatley, who is returning to our lineup after an 11-game absence. And oh, how we need him. We've gone 3-8 without him, and Jason Spezza at times looks lowst on the ice without his typical scoring partner. (He looks lost without Alfie, too, but I guess you can't have everything. XD) The Sens probably couldn't need a win any more desperately than they do right now, and what better balm for our wounds than Heater? At least, that's the hope. I've got every single crossable body part crossed right now.

Tonight we return to Scotiabank Place to play the Florida Panthers, who have often been helpful in the past in breaking losing streaks. Trouble is that right now they're on a three-game winning streak, and pounded the Leafs 8-0 the other night. We can only hope that they expended the week's allocation of goals on that victory, and that they're going to go down in defeat tonight for lack of scoring. We'll see.

( Click for game notes )

Well, it hasn't been a fun few days here in Hockey Country, that's for damned sure. Recriminations and open criticism are flying. Fans are flooding the postgame and call-in shows on the Team 1200 with vitriol, complaining about how the Sens aren't winning and how they need to put in a better effort. Goaltending and defense are in question, and teammates are getting into fights at practice. To make matters worse, Alfie and Heater still aren't quite ready to lace up their skates. Sounds like a recipe for a really bad situation, with the only remedy being a lengthy winning streak. Or so it would seem.

Tonight's game, therefore, is vitally important. A win will go a long way towards reestablishing the confidence fans used to feel in the players and the confidence the players used to feel in themselves. But it won't be easy. We're playing the Montreal Canadiens, who haven't exactly been shrinking violets. After a shitty start to the season, they're coming on ... and are just three points behind us for the top spot in the Eastern Conference. In short, we've got to win - or risk losing our supremacy as Eastern leaders.

( Click for game notes )

I'm not a fan of the word "circus."

To me, that word implies that everything is going wrong, that folks are tossing chairs in the dressing room, that the GM is searching through the collective bargaining agreement for that clause that says definitively he can't fire the whole team, and wondering if there's a possible way he can have it repealed. That, to me, is a circus.

And while I don't think we've quite reached that point yet, it would be foolish to deny that things aren't going well at the moment. Our loss on Saturday to what basically amounted to the Toronto Marlies team is not sitting well with Sens Army. Actually no, let me correct that: the loss itself isn't what's bothering people, it's the way the Sens lost. There is a difference. If you play your ass off for sixty minutes and fling the puck at the net like your life depends on it, and if your defense and goaltender do everything humanly possible to prevent the opposing team from scoring and you still lose, that is infinitely more justifiable than simply not bothering to show up in the first place. What happened on Saturday night was not technically a game, because for a game to happen, two teams have to show up. The Toronto Maple Leafs did that. The Ottawa Senators did not.

I don't want to call out the whole team here, because there were undeniably a few players who gave it their all. The forwards, to the extent that they were able to penetrate the offensive zone, got some excellent chances. Nick Foligno and Dean McAmmond in particular turned in solid efforts, and Mike Fisher was his usual never-say-die self. We could use more never-say-die guys on that team in my opinion. Ray Emery could only be faulted on one of the goals, and although he still needs to work on his rebound control, that's more a matter of semantics than anything else. When the most help your defence can offer you is to just sort of stand and wave vaguely at the puck as it sails past them, you should be congratulated for only letting in the four goals that you did.

Now, as with the forwards, there were passengers and there were drivers on defense. (Why do I suddenly feel as though I'm trapped in a Volkswagen commercial?) Anton Volchenkov would show up to play hockey even if a nuclear war broke out, and he was his usual self against Toronto, flinging himself in front of shots and smashing Leafs into next Thursday. The bad news? He was, er, the only member of the defence to do so. And when you've only got one guy skating, hitting and blocking shots, you are not going to win hockey games. Plain and simple. It wasn't Chris Phillips's fault that he got the flu. But where were Joe Corvo, Luke Richardson, Randy Robitaille, and even Wade? Christoph Schubert gets a free pass here because thanks to refing that sucked donkey balls and laughed about it, he couldn't even breathe on a Leaf player without getting penalized for it.

Where do we go from here? I'm not sure, but I hope to hell it's up. According to TSN.ca, the Senators held a 40-minute closed door meeting before practice today, so maybe that will help to iron out some of those bugaboos and convince the passengers that they'd best start chipping in. Unconfirmed reports say that Neil sparred with Emery again and that even Wade and Neil got into a bit of a spat, but I'm not going to comment on those until I see a reliable source talking about it. TSN had nothing, nor did Sportsnet, nor did Team 1200.

On the injury front, Alfie and Heater skated today but both will probably miss tomorrow's game against the Montreal Canadiens. Eaves also skated for the first time since injuring his neck on January 29th. So those are all encouraging signs. Alfie may even be ready for Saturday against Montreal (we play them in a home-and-home series, and given that they're only three points behind us, those games are doubly important).

Martin Gerber is to start in net tomorrow. I love my hubby, but on the other hand, I've got a rant inside me just bursting free about how Emery needs the playing time if he's ever going to get any better. I don't agree with this "win and you're in" policy Paddock seems to be adhering to and in the long run I think it can only damage the confidence of both goaltenders. But that's a discussion for another day.

Oh, and apparently some team called the New York Giants beat some other team called the New England Patriots to win a contest known as the SuperBowl. From what I saw of it - and as a non-football fan, this was mostly limited to peering out from behind my laptop's screen every half hour as my boyfriend watched the game - the Giants were full value for their victory. Especially considering they were not even expected to have a sniff in the first place. And so, to them, I offer my heartfelt congratulations. Good job, guys.

Okay, no more sacrificing of dignity. XD From this point forward, it's game on. Also, I love love LOVE this icon.

I've pretty much said everything there is to say regarding my feelings about this game in this post, so I won't regurgitate all that. Suffice it to say, I want them to win and will be most upset and annoyed if they don't. The Battle of Ontario is truly a battle, in absolutely every single sense of the word. Let us hope we come out the victors tonight.

I don't need to tell you that tonight's opponent is the Toronto Maple Leafs. The circus surrounding the Leafs has calmed somewhat in the past few days, though the Mats Sundin trade rumours simply refuse to die. Cliff Fletcher has been keeping his cards pretty close to his chest on that point, so no one is quite sure what he intends. The Leafs need to keep winning, though, if they have any chance of gaining the last playoff spot. And we need to keep winning if we have any hope of keeping top spot in the Eastern Conference. It's also a pride issue. If we don't win, we'll lose out on not only points, but our confidence and our ability to say that we rule Ontario. The Leafs face the identical possibility.

( Click here for Battle notes! )

There's about a half hour to go until game time as I type this. CBC News's Saturday Report is just winding down, and soon the dulcet tones of Scotiabank Hockey Tonight will fill my apartment. In light of the fact that we are playing our provincial rivals tonight, and of the additional fact that we stunk like overcooked cabbage against the Boston Bruins on Thursday, I decided the time was ripe to issue a very public plea to my boys. And what more public forum could there be than my journal?

Tonight we play the Toronto Maple Leafs. I will make no bones about it: I hate the Leafs. There is no other hockey team that makes my blood boil more than Toronto. There is no other team that I pray more to the hockey gods to beat. When I see "Toronto Maple Leafs" on the schedule I have an urge to start tossing furniture around. I wouldn't hope for them if they were the last hockey team left on Earth. I tune into Hockey Night In Canada when the Leafs are playing specifically to see them lose. Etc., etc. I hate them. That's all you need to know.

The last time we played the Leafs, my worst fears came true as we were beaten 3-0. Not even a single measley goal. I don't remember anything about how we played or which players showed up and which didn't. That's because in the end, the score is all that stands up. The score is what I remember, the score is what depresses me, and the score is what we will need to work on tonight.

We need to fill the net. Yes, we're without Alfie and Heater, but you know what? That by itself does not make us a shitty hockey team. We've got tons of secondary possibilities. Spezza, Vermette, Fisher, McAmmond, Neil, Foligno, hell, even our defencemen! The point is that everyone needs to start stepping up. Everyone needs to start playing together, playing like a team. Playing like all the fans know they can play. Sure it's an adjustment not to have our top three playing together, but we CAN adjust. I have faith that we can because we had to do it at various points last year. It's possible. We just have to be determined, and work for it. We need goals, in abundance, and quickly.

Secondly, goaltending. The defence needs to back Razor up - and yes, it's Razor who will be strting - and Razxor himself needs to stand tall and prove that he deserves to start, game after game. At this point any goalie who can actually keep the puck out of the net is looking awesome. Ray, you can be that goalie. I know you can.

Don't be intimidated by the ACC, guys. Go in there, play a good road game and pay no attention to the haters. You can do it. You've done it a million times before. Don't make me face my Leaf fan cousin again having lost by some ridiculous score. (I'm going to stop short of saying "if you loved me, you'd win!" but believe me, it's on my mind.)

Beat the Leafs. You can do it. I KNOW it.

On a totally off-topic note, I'm just watching the Twin City Harmonizers, who won the CBC's The Hockey Song Challenge. They're pretty awesome! Definitely better than the people who won third place IMO. Check them out! I'm sure there's a link somewhere on the CBC website.

GO SENS GO!!!

I can't believe it's the last day of January already. Holy cow, where on earth did this month go? Let me know if you find out, because I'm really not sure. XD There seems to have been lots of hockey played, though, some of which went great and some of which went ... well, not so great. Still, the Senators find themselves in a relatively good position, at least standings-wise. We sit comfortably atop the Eastern Conference with a nice points cushion after our most recent win against the New York Islanders. Nevertheless, that doesn't mean there aren't issues. Oh boy, there are most certainly some issues.

Tonight's opponent is the Boston Bruins, a team against whom we have had a pretty good record so far this season. Previously they've had our number for whatever reason, but we seem to have found a solution and are undefeated against them going into this game. We will, however, be facing the boys from Beantown without Mr. Everything, the Saviour, God Himself, aka Daniel Alfredsson. Alfie reaggravated a hip flexor against the Isles and will sit out tonight's game and likely Saturday's as well. The good news is that he says he won't return until the injury is 100% healed, so the odds are high that when he does draw back into the lineup, it'll be for a long time.

The other sideshow has, of course, been the Ray Emery drama, but it seemed we were able to put that aside the other night and play a pretty solid game. Let's hope that can carry through to tonight.

( Game notes thisaway )

We may have won last night, but it's looking like that win came at a fairly significant cost. I mentioned in my game notes and my IWP postgame letter that Alfie left the game after the second period with a suspected reaggravation of his hip flexor injury. Today TSN.ca has this:

The Ottawa Senators may be without the services of Daniel Alfredsson for Thursday's game against Boston, as the captain is day-to-day with a hip injury.

Alfredsson injured his hip during the second period of Tuesday's 5-2 win over the New York Islanders. He played a few more shifts before taking himself out.

All I can say is that I hope he actually lets it heal this time, and gives it the rest that it requires. Someone mentioned on IWP last night that Alfie missing time now would be preferable to his doing it in April, when we can ill afford to be without our captain. I heartily agree.

Not much else on the Ray Emery front to report. Everybody and his brother and their dog thinks Razor is on the trading block, and I'm inclined to agree. Murray probably doesn't want to trade him, but at this point it would be difficult to make the case why he shouldn't. Damned if Bob Mackenzie isn't going to try, though. It's an interesting point of view.

Sure, they don't the need all the aggravation that he has caused and his teammates will be the first to tell Emery that, but in case you haven't noticed, there is lately an air of desperation about the Senators. They are not playing well and they are not getting good goaltending from either Martin Gerber or Emery, and if they have any hopes of being a legitimate Cup contender, one of the goalies has to step up and step up soon.

And for as much grief as Emery has caused them, the Sens aren't particular about which guy steps up, so long as one of them does because Ottawa isn't in any position to trade for a No. 1 goalie. Let's call it for what it is -- their season rests on the shoulders of Gerber and/or Emery, so as much as they might like the idea of burying Emery, don't be surprised if in short order they do exactly the opposite and start giving him more starts and a greater opportunity to get on a run.

As much as you can't argue with Mackenzie's logic, I think he's missing a crucial point: the theory that Gerbs and the rest of the team are stumbling precisely because of the distractions and uncertainty. Gerber is at his core a No. 1 goaltender, and it's possible that having Emery look over his shoulder is proving more of a distraction than he's willing to admit. The only problem is that Sens management may not be willing to take the chance that this is the case, which is why they're keeping Razor around.

Either way, I have a feeling things are going to come to a head soon - or at least before the trade deadline.

In other news:

Two teams have emerged as the clear frontrunners in the Marian Hossa Sweepstakes - the Senators and the Detroit Red Wings. Word is both have intensified efforts to land the Thrashers star since Teemu Selanne returned to the defending champion Ducks. It's also believed that whatever reason the team is giving, the Senators recalled Nick Foligno for tonight's game against the Islanders at the request of another club - possibly Atlanta - that wants to look at him as possible inclusion in a package.

To get Hossa, I'm guessing it would take Foligno, maybe an Antoine Vermette and probably a decent to first round draft pick.

Interesting stuff, although I'm going to file it purely in the "rumour" category for now. I would LOVE to see Hossa back. It just depends on the price.

Using this brand-new icon in honour of our captain, who as I mentioned in an earlier post was last week named the NHL's first star. Alfie has truly carried us on his back in the first half of the season, culminating in a seven-point performance in the last game before the All-Star break against Tampa Bay. Today's chatter, while it could have been all about the All-Star game, Paddock's coaching and what Ottawa has to do to get the train back on the rails, was instead all about Razor. *sigh* I've already expressed my thoughts on that, so I won't regurgitate all of that. Suffice it to say ... he needs to shape the hell up. NOW.

Tonight's opponent is the New York Islanders, whom we last met on a bit of an emotional letdown after our big win against the Detroit Red Wings. Now, our performance against the Lightning has to at least bolster our confidence if not outright catapult us into a situation where we can win. I just hope to hell we don't embarrass ourselves again, and that Razor's behaviour doesn't prove to be too much of a distraction.

( This way to game notes )

Oh, Ray. This is not what I needed to see upon visiting TSN.ca this afternoon for a hockey fix during my brief break at work. Your picture, screaming out at me from the front page with the news you're going to be fined by the Sens:

One day after showing up late for practice again, it was back to business for Ray Emery as the goaltender returned to the Ottawa Senators' game-day skate on Long Island.

Emery, who is expected to back up Martin Gerber against the New York Islanders, did not speak to reporters after the practice, but Senators general manager Bryan Murray said he expects to fine the 25-year-old netminder.

"Whatever the collective bargaining agreement allows us to do, we will be doing," Murray told reporters following the morning skate. "It's probably monetary at this point."

On Monday, Emery was not allowed to practice with the team after showing up four minutes late for a skate at the New York Islanders' practice facility. It was the first practice since the All-Star Game for the Senators, who face the Islanders on Tuesday night. Emery maintained he was late because he thought the practice was at Nassau Coliseum and not the practice facility.

Bryan Murray went on to say that "substantial fines" will most likely be involved here. Sounds like he and Paddock may have accepted the excuse that Ray couldn't find his way to the practice rink (or forgot where the practice was going to be held) but that this has happened one too many times to be overlooked. Quite frankly, I agree. It gives the whole team a bad image when one guy continually (not just once, but continually) shows up late and demonstrates a bad work ethic. And really, this sort of behaviour would not be tolerated for as long as it has been at any other job. If I showed up late to work ten or fifteen times without reasonable cause, proceeded to put in a half-arsed effort and then leave early, my boss would kick my ass and very possibly fire me. He'd have reason to, as well.

I also read via a friend's journal today that Spezza was apparently being encouraged not to hang around with Ray, saying that the latter had "developed some bad habits." No kidding. Now mind you, this is unconfirmed, and I want to stress that, but in light of everything else that has happened it would not surprise me.

What else is there to say except I hope to hell he gets his act together? I don't want to see Razor shipped out of town. I really, REALLY don't. Gerber is my internet hubby, and he always will be, but Ray occupies a very special place in my heart. He's sort of like a messed-up little kid at times, the kid who keeps coming home with detention notices but whom you shower with love and cuddles anyway. Maybe that's the problem - maybe we as a city and as hockey people have developed too much of a blind spot where Ray's concerned, and so we're willing to forgive a whole lot more out of him because hello, Stanley Cup Finals? No other goalie has done that for us!! And yet ... I don't know. It's tough. The whole damned situation is tough.

I'd talk about it more, but I've got to get back to work. Game notes will be up tonight as per usual.

Edited to add: TSN.ca is now reporting that Emery has been fined the maximum allowable amount under the NHL's collective bargaining agreement, which amounts to one day's pay or $14,705.88. Big fat honkin' deal. Still, apparently Ray was profusely apologetic, and so perhaps this will do a little bit of good. Or maybe that's just me and my wishful thinking.

Two concepts which, on first sight, don't seem to go together. And you're right, they don't. But I'm combining them all together in one post because I don't want to clutter up your f-lists. I'm nice like that. XD

So what does any self-respecting hockey fan do when she realizes there won't be any hockey (well, hockey that matters, anyhow) for four whole days? Why, she makes herself a hockey mood theme, of course! An Ottawa Senators mood theme to be precise. I first got the idea from lost__emotions and some folks on the IWP community, who had some beautiful mood themes to their names. I decided then that I would make one for myself at some point, and I'm happy to say that I've finally gotten my act together on that front. I spent the last few days looking for appropriate pictures and resizing them, and tonight I installed the whole thing on my journal. I also re-worked the layout, because I'd sort of gotten sick of the other one I had. I'm really proud of the mood theme, and a lot of that has to do with the fact that I made it all myself!

A quick little disclaimer before we go on. I know I don't have to direct this to anyone on my friends list, so you guys can just scroll on down to the next paragraph if you like. This is for casual passersby to my journal. Let me make it quite clear: I made the mood theme for myself and myself ONLY. It, and the other graphics which will soon adorn this journal, are NOT to be taken and used by anyone else. They're look-but-don't-touch, basically. If you ask nicely and promise to credit me I may make a mood theme of your favourite team or a header for your journal. But the graphics you see displayed here are for PERSONAL USE ONLY. Please do not take them. 'Cause stealing's not cool.

Okay, now we've got that out of the way, let's talk some hockey, shall we?

Even though official NHL hockey was not ongoing, it was still a pretty action-packed weekend where the League was concerned. Saturday night brought the Skills Competition, and even though my boyfriend complained it was boring, we watched it all the way through. Hey, it was fun, no matter what he says! The NHL seems to change the format every year and as a result parts of it were a bit strange or messed up, but overall I think it worked. The players certainly seemed to be having fun, I saw a bunch of them laughing and talking together. For me, the highlight of the night was seeing Alfie, Spezza and Hossa standing in a circle chatting. A bunch of media picked up on that too and speculated that he might be coming back to Ottawa, and while I'm not sure of that, it was still a ton of fun to see them together. In terms of the actual competition, my favourite part was the very first event, where the players had to work together to score points and there were a bunch of different ways to do that. I also loved the goalies trying to score, and was not all all surprised to see Roberto Lungo pop a couple in there! He got the most goals of any goalie that night.

The All-Star game itself was yesterday, and although at times it felt like a carbon copy of last year's, I really enjoyed it. It's basically the one time of year when the players get to forget about the standings and just play some hockey, and you could see from their faces that they were really enjoying doing that. Best moment? When Ilya Kovalchuk was shut out for a second time by Evegeni Nabokov, and he just fell backwards onto the ice and raised his arms in defeat. My goodness but that was awesome. You'd never see it in a regular game, and yet everyone seemed to agree that it captured perfectly the fun and sheer lack of seriousness of the night.

From a Senators standpoint, both Alfie and Spetz were held off the scoresheet, but Alfie did have the most shots on goal of any player on either side - six. Both of them seemed to be having a grand old time. Spezza seemed to work very well with Ovechkin, I noticed; at one point he shot Alex a pass that was almost an exact mirror of one he'd fired at Heater a few weeks beforehand. That's Spezza's specialty: the quick pass that allows for a goal. It's also one of the reasons he's had to adjust to being without Heatley.

Other Sens news of note? Ray Emery was late for practice again today according to TSN.ca:

Emery showed up four minutes after the team took the ice for a 4pm skate at the Farmingdale Iceworks practice facility in Long Island on Monday as the team prepares to face the Islanders Tuesday. He was then told not to join the team on the ice for practice.

"I decided we wouldn't go on the ice until 4pm and when he wasn't here, it was done with until I talk to him and talk to (Senators general manager) Bryan (Murray) or we both talk to Ray," Paddock said after practice.

Sources tell TSN that Emery maintains he was late because he thought the practice was at the Nassau Coliseum, not the Islanders' practice facility.

*tsk* Oh Razor, Razor, Razor. When are you going to shape up, sweetie? I thought Alfie gave you a talking-to and we moved beyond this whole business of missing practices and generally behaving like a bit of an arse. Sorry to say that, hun, but I love you dearly, and if I can't be honest with you, then who will? Yes, you took us to the Stanley Cup Finals last year, but you still need to work hard so that we can actually hoist that Cup. And working hard involves coming to practice on time, practicing for as long as the coach wants you on the ice (preferably even longer!) and not scowling and looking all sullen on the bench because Gerbs is in the net and you're not. Okay?

In positive news, Alfie was named the NHL's first star for the week of January 20-26! From CBC.ca:

Alfredsson's seven-point performance (four goals, three assists) during Ottawa's 8-4 win at Tampa Bay last Thursday earned him more than the weekly accolade.

It was also a career-best effort that set a franchise record and vaulted him to the lead of the NHL scoring race.

The right-winger now has 67 points (32 goals, 35 assists), one ahead of Tampa Bay's Vincent Lecavalier, who was held scoreless during the Jan. 24 outing.

Alfredsson's seven points were the most in one game since Jan. 11, 2003, when Jaromir Jagr racked up seven points (three goals, four assists) for the Washington Capitals in a 12-2 win over the Florida Panthers.

Go Alfie!!!!! Alexander Ovechkin of the Washington Capitals was second star, and Pascal Leclaire of the Columbus Blue Jackets was third.

The Sens get back into the action tomorrow against the New York Islanders.

Well, I think it's fair to say that a wee bit of panic is setting in, at least among some fans. Perhaps people are suddenly looking at our record and noticing we've lost five of the last six. Perhaps they've been watching the games and realizing what a poor work ethic and effort the guys have been putting forth. Perhaps expectations are so high now that any extended losing streak causes concern. But whatever the reason, there is some definite worry in the air. I was listening to the Team 1200 this morning while getting ready for class and three people called to say Paddock should be fired. Another person hinted that the goalie coach could be fired, and two more said the entire coaching staff ought to be let go. Sheesh! I mean, I'm a bit worried, I guess, but I'm not going to fricken panic. It's a little early for that still.

Tonight's opponent is Tampa Bay, those selfsame Lightning that cruised - and I do MEAN cruised - to a 2-0 victory on Saturday. We just looked terrible that game, we really did, and I think my game notes alluded to that. I only hope we can put together a better effort tonight and at the very least, score some more. Goals have been a problem for us of late. A few reports have said that Heater is progressing faster than expected with his recovery, though, and so may be back soon. We can only cross our fingers and hope to hell.

( Click for game notes! )