dobbles

even though i live in western illinois, i get teh flyers rangers game. i dont remember the last time i got any western conference games. i am so sick of watching the capitals v. the lightning and other s***ty eastern conference games.... my only chance is to watch via the internet, and sopcast rarely works... when i use the links on the myp2p site, they always tell me they are offline. i even tried that other one suggested and i just get a black screen flickering with no sound.

i wasn't chastising anyone. so you can check your bad attitude at the door, son.

even though i live a few blocks from the mississippi, i keep getting all these eastern conference games that start before noon. god forbid they actually show games from the conference i live in. if i have to watch another capitals - hurricanes game i will shoot myself!

yeah, it was obviously a typo. yet i was amazed at all the people in the thread that didn't notice. with several multi point players last night, why would the 1st star go to a guy that only had 1 sog in less than 3 minutes of ice time??? way to pay attention folks.

ok, i am a big guy. i unfortunately outgrew 2x clothing a year or two ago. and though i am finally on my way back down the scale, i have been unable to find red wings apparel, or much sports apparel at all, in the 3x size. do you guys know of anywhere online i can get stuff? i live in illinois so i have zero chance of a local retailer having anything. i would love to have shirts, sweatshirts, shorts, whatever i could find. thanks in advance everyone.

i wasn't at the game, but it was during his time down in the ahl here in the quad cities. it was part of a local fundraiser that raises money for various local charities. they do a jersey auction and the players have skits and stuff to help drive up the price. everyone here enjoyed it.

one problem with wrigley is that they are trying to sell the stadium to the state of illinois on the cheap so they can get the state to pay for renovations. while a sale isn't a lock, or certainly not imminent, that could negate any of that probability due to familiarity. (i kinda liked that combination of words, hope it makes sense to everyone!) one thing on drainage as well... being a baseball field, they would have all winter to make sure the place was ready. i don't think any kind of on field activities occur in winter there. unlike in buffalo 2 months ago, when they only had like a week to get the field ready after the bills last played on it.

i am fairly new to this board, so i don't know any of the history of mccarty hatred/support. i can say this though. i saw him play a couple weeks ago and he didn't look very good. he looked a step slow against the ahl guys. while he did shot that hustle to get back to the d-zone unlike most forwards, he wasn't exactly turning heads out there. i agree with people that there isn't much bad in the situation. they simply have to cut him a few checks that won't exactly bankrupt the team. but the problem i have is so many people think he will have a legitimate impact. i found it funny reading this whole thread in 1 reading. there were so many people that basically said this would win the wings a cup this year. then someone would reply along the lines of 'your dumb. mccarty is washed up' so then soeone would flame them back with 'we never said he was wayne gretzky' but the problem is, lots of people really do think he will have some huge impact. i also am amazed that so many people out there seem to have the impression that winning fights wins hockey games. i think the physical play of someone is much more important than their ability to drop the gloves. being a tough player that doesn't take stupid penalties and even draws a few, that is helpful. but having an enforcer that just fights other enforcers doesn't really help the team in my opinion.

thats great he can still fight and all, but last i checked, the wings needed someone to score some goals? having 2 thugs to protect skilled players sounds great and all, but this is hockey, not boxing. i don't get peoples obsession with fight skills. you can be a tough player and draw a lot of penalties and shut down scoring lines without dropping the gloves. unfortunately, i don't think mccarty is really bringing that to the table. i got to see him first hand the other night, and he didn't look too impressive against ahl players.

espn does indeed hate hockey. but its understandable considering how during the lockout they got similar ratings with shows like stump the schwab or as someone mentioned above, the world series of poker. with that said, i don't think espn is really competing with vs. versus is a small fish in all this. its going to be a long time before vs. can ever threaten espn's ratings. while they so show hockey, they follow it up with bass fishing or european cycling. not exactly stuff espn is tryin to get their hands on. really reminds me of espn in the early days when they couldn't get any major sports. i don't think they are shaking in their boots as they watch vs. grow into a sports giant or anything... though the people that are saying if we don't like espn, watch something else... for many of us americans, espn is all we get. i live in illinois and get stuff from both the chicago and st. louis markets. so i can catch some of those local games. but i don't get nhl network in my cable package. so the only sports channel worth watching is espn. i will say i think versus coverage is pathetic. maybe its different for you guys, but they show about 1 game a week for me. and even though i live in a western conference market, every week i get the capitals against the bruins or some other pathetic eastern conference matchup. if i have to watch the thrashers play the panthers 1 more time, i might cut off my leg. i recall last year, they really stepped up their number of games at playoff time, but this is awful. how can i get excited about the stretch run when theres only 1 game on a week, and its 2 bottom feeder teams from the east??? i need to fork over the bucks and add HD back so i can watch the games they broadcast on the hdnetwork. i certainly don't want to watch it on the internet considering i paid a lot of money for my tv, and pay a lot of money every month for cable. /end of rant.

saw mccarty play tonight against quad cities. though i was totally excited to see a 'real red wing' this time, i was fairly disappointed. he looked pretty pedestrian. he certainly did his job got to the front of the net, skated hard back to his zone, but really didn't seem to offer any more than the other guys out there. i would be hard pressed to say he deserves a roster spot based on tonights game.

ty, just hoping to provide that inside info i get being stuck here watching flames prospects a few nights a week.

don't be fooled by numbers. kolanos is still a bum. i get to see him a few times a week as a loyal qc flames fan. he didn't even start the season with us. why you ask? after being told by calgary he was being sent down, he and his agent decided to go play in europe till we offered more money. once we started off the season terrible, we caved adn gave him what he wanted. though his numbers are pretty good, he has benfited from our top line center, grant stevenson. he was player of the month for the ahl last month and is top 5 in points. while having kolanos certainly has helped him, having seen them play, i would say stevenson has helped kolanos more. kolanos plays awful. he does not play physical at all. i can understand being cautious because of his medical history, but it makes him ineffective on the ice. additionally, the only place he shoots from is at or behind the goal line from the corner. while his weird angled rebounds occasionally trickle to the slot for scoring chances, he usually just wastes his shift behind the net. he never backchecks and doesn't skate hard at all. my, along with most qc fans, opinion is that he is simply trying to score enough points to get called up to calgary. nothing else seems to matter.

i moved to a town with the calgary ahl team this past fall. i was totally pumped to see hockey only minutes from my house. first thing i did was look for grand rapids games. had to wait until late december when they first came. was really excited to see wings players that i always read about online and even saw on tv in some cases. was stoked to see howard play, then he gave up 2 early goals and got yanked. i still love him though! i even think g.r. came back adn beat us, though we're not very good.

a little bit of back story to this... ryder's younger brother is in the flames system. he started here in QC with the flames ahl team. after a few games he went MIA and was suspended by the team. he is a fairly good looking prospect for the flames, so they think having his brother would help get him back.

http://public.fotki.com/downstroy/flames/season/01_09/ i live 5 minutes from the calgary ahl team. another guy that goes takes tons of pictures every night. we play grand rapids on sunday so he will most likely have pics from that as well. hope that helps.