Wait... what?

Yes, it's been a while since we've updated and it's not that we don't love writing; but somehow we both get busy with other things including watching hockey. :) Hopefully we can get a chance to maybe get back in the swing of things and update more often.

But I just wanted to pop in and share a link from the local paper here in Hooterville that covers the Tips. It's a video of my boys being funny and dorky and pretty much being teenage boys in front of a camera. They did one like this last year too; but I think this year is even funnier.

Loser! Loser! Best baby in the WORLD!

Yes, it's a lovely day here at Chukker Central. Not only is it sun shining here in the great NW, but Round Two of the playoffs starts tonight with a battle of Bobby Lu and his Canucks versus Johnny Dakota and the Blackhawks.

As we did in the first round, Lisa and I have taken it upon ourselves to give our separate predictions, as we have a few differences of opinion. :)

Lisa's predictions:
Alright here we go. Round two of the big boys starts tonight with just one game on the docket but it could be the start of a very rough and tumble fight night sort of series.

Since it’s the game tonight and Amy’s favorite team, we’ll start in the West with the new second seed.

Vancouver v Chicago: Remember about a month or so ago when these two teams met in Chicago and it melted into a slug fest? These two teams really don’t like each other. It could come down to a battle of hot goaltenders. I think Vancouver will pull this one off in 6.

Detroit v Anaheim: Amy and I are gonna not hold our picks in this one against each other. Detroit will be rested (hopefully not rusty) and Anaheim had a long series against a good team (who granted, mailed a lot of that series in). I’m hoping Detroit doesn’t look past this round as they have been known to do, but I’m taking ‘em in 7.

In the east we’ve got two other series that should have some great hockey. I say should because you never know right?

Boston v Carolina: I’m tempted to pick Carolina just so the “Did you know that the Staals are brothers?” drinking game can stay alive (yeah, that’s a hint for the second pairing) but I don’t think the Canes can do it two rounds in a row. The Bruins have too many weapons to toss at you. You want a high scoring game, ok, the Bs can do that. You want a grinder? They can do that too. You get past the D? Hi there Mr. Thomas. Bruins in 5.

Washington D. C. v Pittsburgh: I wanna say Pens in 4 but I’m a realist. The Craps have a good team and a hot goaltender. But I think the Pens will pull this one out in 6 again.

And what so I say?

EASTERN CONFERENCE

Boston v Carolina: She pretty much said what I would say... Bruins in 5.

Washington D. C. v Pittsburgh: I hope that the Rangers wore out the Craps out; but they're young so I'm sure they'll bounce back. It's not going to quite as physical as the series with Philly; but there are going to be a lot of bumps, bruises and hopefully some free candy given out. :) Pens in 6.

WESTERN CONFERENCE

Detroit v Anaheim: It's a good thing we love each other because inevitably our two teams meet and it's really hard to talk hockey to each other when they do. So, what do I say? I know that you can never ever take the Wings lightly, but the series they had two years ago was a doozy. I'm going to have to go with my gut again as well as my heart and hold tight to my Ducks after the major jobbing they laid on the Sharks.... Ducks in 7.

Vancouver v Chicago: I think the Blackhawks have a lot of weapons that people forget about and they're going to match much better with the Canucks than with the Flames; but then the Canucks have all of their weapons on board unlike the boys from Alberta. It's gonna be a slugfest and I'm going to love every minute of it! I agree with Lisa about this one... Canucks in 6

And there is also some good stuff found on the web the last few days:

Lisa sent this clip with our good pal Cabbie on the street...


A fun piece about Sid in Rimouski that I stumbled upon this morning. The video and sound don't quite match up, but it's good anyway; and a big CaP favorite in Monsieur Lecavalier has a guest spot in here too...



And for those of you who are not able to see television from Canuckistan, I have some great commercials that you may or may not have seen...

First are the Molson Canadian hockey ads. I love love love the goalie with the Cheetos!...







and finally, the fabulous Mr. Bobby Orr and his Mastercard ad...

West Coast Story

As Lisa said, I have been following the Ducks and Sharks quite closely. In the three games played so far, it's been quite entertaining and the fans have definitely gotten their money's worth, especially those of Les Canards. To be quite honest, as much as I love the team I was a bit surprised that they were able to get out of the SharkTank with both wins; but considering how they stormed through the last few weeks of the season, I'm not totally shocked.

The best game of all has been game 3, which was the first one that the Sharks have won; but it was still a dog fight from the word go. It was also an amazing display of offense from defenseman who scored 5 of the 7 goals that night as well as 4 of the assists. Also scoring was PattyMarleau for the first time, which was nice to see, even as a Duck fan.

So tonight, they're back at the Pond for game 4, and I hope that the Ducks can take a 3-1 lead; but I have a feeling that even if they do lose the Sharkies won't go down easy.

Since Lisa talked about the rest of the NHL schedule for tonight, I'll go with the A. In the AHL tonight, three teams that have ties to the Silvertips are going for a third win and a lead in their series: Riley Armstrong and the Worchester Sharks, Zach Hamill and the Providence Bruins; and Taylor Ellington and Shaun Heshka with the Manitoba Moose.

There was a barn burner last night with the Peoria Rivermen and the Houston Aeros in game 5 with Mitch Love, John Lammers and the Aeros coming back from down two goals to win in overtime. Now they will go for the series win on Saturday night.

So, it's almost lunch time here in the NW corner of the country and I'll leave you with a few clips I have found...

Marty Broduer's hissy fit...


Mike Commodore not quite timing this hip check right...


and the handshake and interview with Alex Burrows from Tuesday night in St. Louis. Be sure to watch it in HD... it's lovely!

Is it 4 o'clock yet?

Happy Friday everyone! Lisa is entertaining one of our good pals this weekend; so I'm rolling solo today. Be kind and don't throw rotten produce!

So, we're done with game 1 of all 8 series and things are par for the course for the most part; but there have been two surprises so far.

The Rangers eeking out a win against the Craps was definitely not something I expected; and last night with the Ducks and Sharks was also one that I thought would turn out so different. That was one that I knew would be good, especially being at the Tank in San Jose; but I can tell you as a Duck fan and having been on the other end of the SJ attack, this shutout was a bit of a surprise.

The rest of the games from the last two days were won by the teams that were supposed to win, and that is good I suppose; but I am hoping for a few more upsets. I'm the girl who always seems to lost the basketball pools because I will choose the higher double digit seeds just in case they might squeak it out. lol But I can't wait for the rest of this round because it's gonna be good no matter who wins.

But anyway... for your viewing pleasure tonight:

Pens vs. Flyers, 7pm EDT/4pm PDT, showing on Versus and the Ceeb
Devils vs. Canes, 7:30 EDT/4:30 PDT, showing on Center Ice and TSN
and the night cap, Nucks vs. Boos, 10pm EDT/7pm PDT, showing on Versus and the Ceeb

And for a little viewing right now are a few little tidbits I've gleaned in the last few days.

A very happy Chris Kunitz after the game Wednesday night talking about his new baby Zachary James, who was born that morning...

http://penguins.nhl.tv/team/console.jsp?catid=19&id=39940

Bill Patrick calling the goal scorer for the Hawks/Flames before it happens...



and the best of all...Calgary TV doofus Roger Million drops a naughty phrase on live TV and I think the editor of this clip is going to be looking for work...



That's about it from me today... Oh, I do have one thing more. Mike Keenan? You evil piece of shit? Karma is coming to collect, it's from Trevor Linden and it's COD, bitch! Oh, and that goalie interference? Jordan Leopold bumped Ladd into Kipper... suck it!

Have a great day kids!

We're off to see the Wizard....

First I would like to give a big shout out to the Columbus Blue Jackets for capturing their very first trip to the Stanley Cup Playoffs. The Jackets and quite a few of their players are on the list of favorites here at Chica Central; and no one more than the captain, Mr. Richard Nash, who tied the game to give them that last point that they needed to clinch.

This is a picture I took of Ricky at the Draft two years ago when it was in CBJ; and Lisa and I drove down from MI so I could watch two of my Tips boys get drafted. It was big fun and if you're ever there, eat at Schmidt's Sausage Haus. Okay so it was the only restaurant that we ate at besides Waffle House, but I love German food and it was good. Anyway... here is Ricky...



Also going on this week is the last week of games for the AHL; as well as the ECHL will be opening up their quest for the Kelly Cup this weekend. Why is this important you ask? Well, there are a handful of former Tips are playing in the A and the E and we still love our boys here in Hooterville long after they're gone... just ask Mitch Love. :)

So tomorrow starts the series of Moises Guiterrez and the Elmira Jackals vs. the Trenton Devils; though our pal Mo is on the 30 day IR as of last week. I'm still trying to find out what happened, and hopefully he will be able to return soon. Then on Saturday is the Victoria Salmon Kings with Dan Gendur vs. the Idaho Steelheads. Danny's had a pretty good rookie season up in Victoria, which I'm sure is no doubt due to it being his hometown, and he probably gets to live at home with his mom taking care of him.

Then over in the AHL, it's still not quite decided yet for our pal Mitch, John Lammers and the Houston Aeros; but they have a good shot of getting in tomorrow night. They'll join Riley Armstrong and the Worcester Sharks, Zach Hamill and the Providence Bruins; and the favorite team here in Hooterville, the Manitoba Moose with Shaun Heshka and our good pal Taylor Ellington. Tay hasn't played yet for the Moose and may not in the playoffs, but it's good for him to be up there. The only former Tip that I know of that is playing in the A that won't be in the playoffs is Leland Irving. His Quad City boys have had a good run as of late, but they are just going to run out of time.

I love playoffs time... it's always fun when the playoff races are actually races; and you are rooting for teams to win that you'd cut your tongue out than admit you were rooting for, other than the fact that the team they're playing is neck and neck with YOUR team.

So, to bookend today's post with the Blue Jackets, I'll give you a little bit of funny with a former BlueJacket turned Atlanta Thrasher Ron Hainsey. Just watch it... it's funny. :) Have a good day kids!

Video killed the radio star...

Well, it appears that I'm going to be updating here in the evening, since lately at work I've had to actually do, you know, WORK! lol So anyone in the time zones to the right of mine will get to see this when they get up in the morning. Don't all clap at once! *crickets*

Anyway, tonight was the first of two year end parties for the Silvertips with the first at Sporty's. It was nice to see as many boys able to make as did including my good pal Dale Hunt. He's such a great boy; I don't think we had a rotten one in the bunch this year, but I got to know him a little bit more than most of the others this season and I'm glad that PG let him go so we could have him. And the best thing is that he was only 18 at the beginning of the season so he'll be back this next season and hopefully so will everyone else other than the 3 overagers.

And now... on to the videos for today!

First is a clip from a Pittsburgh TV station about the Skates and Plates dinner that I would have loved to be at last night. Ah... hockey boys in tuxes serving me food! Sounds good to me!

Next is an interview with Christian Hanson from the fine folks at ESPN... the son of Dave Hanson, aka one of the Hanson brothers from Slap Shot, has been signed by the Leafs. He's adorable and I love how his dad still sports the same hair as he did in the movie.

And last but, not least is a goodie from Youtube by way of the Windsor Spitfires, who are not only #1 in the Ontario Hockey League, but they are also #2 in the entire Canadian Hockey League. It appears that they're relaxed and ready to take on Plymouth in the second round as is apparent in this video. Man it's funny, and I could so see my boys doing this too.

Another day, another dollar or two...

Good morning friends and neighbours out in the land of Puck. It's Monday, which means nothing other than there is a shitty game on Versus and I rolled into work at 9:30; but only because I have a standing 10:00 meeting. *sighs like Sid playing PSP*

And the party is over here in Tipsville as of about 10pm on Saturday night. The boys gave it a good ride, but just couldn't keep up with Tri-Cities; and so the season has come to an end. Considering a lot of experts picked the boys to finish 9th or 10th in the Western Conference, I think that coming in as 7th and making the playoffs is an achievement. It's just too bad that they had so many injuries and dropped some games that they looked like they had won; otherwise they might have finished higher and with a winning record.

I should have a season end post, but I think I might have to wait a few more days... I'm not sure I'm ready to say goodbye to them, especially the three 20 year olds: Taylor Ellington, Graham Potuer and Daniel Bartek. They're really great guys; and with Tay and Potsie, they've been here 5 years, along with I've gotten to know Taylor a little better than the other two.

I guess the upside is that they will be going on to bigger and better things with either school or professionally; and that is where Taylor will be. He will either be playing in Victoria with the Canucks' ECHL club, the Salmon Kings, which is where another of our good pals Dan Gendur has had a great rookie campaign; or if he has a good camp, he might start the season in Winnipeg with the AHL Manitoba Moose with another former Tip, Shaun Heshka.

So, we're going into the second to the last week of the NHL season, and there are still logjams in both conferences for the last few spots, and I think it's going to come down to that last weekend. Talk about nail biters! I have two teams that are pretty sure of a spot unless they somehow lose all of their remaining games; but the last, aka Les Canards, are playing well but they're dependent on a few teams in front of them losing as well. *sends bad juju to Nashville and St. Louis* I know Lisa is feeling the same way for the Buffaslugs and maybe even the Kitties too since they're 10th and 9th right now, but only by a few points behind. *sends more bad juju to Montreal and the dirty Rangers*

And I also have some video this morning for those of you who also have a case of the Mondays...

Courtesy of the girls from Puckhuffers is a super funny video of Cabbie on the Street from Score Network, that has a few of my favorite boys in it.



I also wanted to share the video from the fabulous line brawl that was surrounded by the Canucks-Blackhawks game last night. The only bad part about this? Ben Eager didn't finish the job and rip Kevin Bieksa's shirt completely off! ;9 And holy shit are the sin bins huge at the Hawks' barn. I know the one at Comcast will fit only three comfortably or maybe 4 if they're the skinnier boys. ;)




Anywho... that's about it from me today. Have a good one youse guys!

It's the most wonderful time of the yeaaaaaaar!

Since Mitten Chica is in a musical mood this morning, I thought I'd add mine in there too. :) For a girl like me who's not only addicted to pucks; but a certifiable sports junkie, March is a wonderful time on the sports year. It's the beginning of baseball season, March Madness has begun; and the hockey season is down to under 20 games left.

Yesterday was a really good day... one of those rare days that had wall to wall hockey and I barely left my chair other then to use the bathroom and get snacks. It started with the Pens and Bruins at noon and ended with my main men taking care of the Avs. The only speed bump in that day of bliss on ice was Les Canards losing to the Sharkies 1-0; and that one goal was scored by Travis Moen who until two weeks ago was a Duck. Isn't it ironic... doncha think? lol

There's only two games tonight with the the Craps and the Thrashers; then the Preds visit Staples Center to play Los Reyes. I don't really care who wins that second game, but it's something to watch this evening. Hopefully JMFJ will give it to Tootoo, the little bastard.

Anyway... I had in mind to talk about my baby boys, do a little end of the regular season wrap-up; but after the kind of pathetic third period at home Saturday night and the disgusting display last night in Kent, they're sleeping on the couch for a few days. Don't get me wrong, I love those guys with all my heart, but sometimes... I just want to throttle them. Maybe they'll get a couple of good bag skates in 'em and I'll feel like talking about them. I just hope they win at least one game out of the first 4 so I don't have to see them lose at home. Watching an 18 year old boy sobbing on the bench is not something I want to see for a second year in a row.

So to end today, I leave you with something that makes me laugh like a maniac every time I see it; and it doesn't hurt that JM Liles is cute as a button.

How ya gonna keep 'em down on the farm....

I really don't have a lot to say about the big boys since I wasn't home to watch any games last night; but I did catch the post game show of the Tips game and I heard about a great fight that one of the younger guys had. Cameron Abney is a kid who will hopefully be able to score a few goals in the future, but he's beginning to carve a niche out for himself as a fighter. He's doing okay so far, but he's still got to fill out a little so he doesn't hurt himself; 6'5" and a little less than 200 does not a good balance make. However, he's not 18 for a few more months, so by the time he's 20, I have a feeling he's going to be a bruiser... I've met his very large father. :)

Anyway, here's a clip of the very short tussle Cam had with Taylor Jordan of the Portland Winterhawks. It's not great quality, but it's not bad.



And I also wanted to share a video courtesy of the fine folks at WHL.ca about my baby boys and how the franchise has grown in 5 1/2 years. My favorite part, besides our goal horn is at about 2:00 with one of my favorite boys who is also a baby Canuck, Taylor Ellington.

So, enjoy a bit of the boys and I'll have more after hopefully a successful weekend both on the road Friday and back home Saturday.