Jon and Kate Minus Lidstrom

I'm doing my fantasy hockey thing again this year. Last year was a big bust for me, partly 'cause Ozzie played so poorly for the first 80 or so games of the season and screwed me on all my goalie stats other than wins, but mostly because I had no idea what I was doing. And when I say no idea I mean, I had about .0000001% of a clue what was going on. And that .00000001% was pure homer - I think I had about 12 wings on my roster.

Last year I thought for sure there was no way I was going to lose the PIM stat, not even one week, I mean really I had Lids and Dats - together those two rack up less penalty minutes in an entire season than the number of free throws Shaq can sink in a single game. Little did I know, the goal in fantasy land is to actually acquire penalty minutes.

So this year I figured I'd do more research, actually try to draft from other teams, check out stats, pick some guys who actually take penalties, blah blah blah. This year I was gonna do good dammit! And the some beyatch drafted Lidstrom before I could get to him - which really makes you look stupid to have a team named "Osgood as Lidstrom" and not have Lids.

Not getting Lids was a disappointment because I had spent a ton of time picking and repicking players and mock drafting the shit out of it so that I was pretty sure I could get who I wanted. It also f'ed up the rest of my draft order and I ended up with some retard players, one of whom doesn't even have a contract. Whatever.

So here's who I thought I wanted and who I actually got:

Round Wanted Got

• 1. Pavel Datsyuk Pavel Datsyuk
• 2. Mike Richards Mike Richards
• 3. Chris Osgood Chris Osgood
• 4. Nicklas Lidstrom Andrei Markov
• 5. Andrei Markov Jamie Langenbrunner
• 6. Jamie Langenbrunner Dennis Wideman
• 7. Dennis Wideman Alex Burrows
• 8. Kris Versteeg Steve Montador
• 9. Alex Burrows Jonas Hiller
• 10. Steve Montador Owen Nolan
  
• 11. Jonas Hiller Michael Ryder
  
• 12. Owen Nolan Jason Arnott
  
• 13. Michael Ryder Ryan Malone
  
• 14. Jason Arnott Ville Leino
  
• 15. Ryan Malone Jonathan Ericsson
  
• 16. Ville Leino Darren Helm
  
• 17. Jonathan Ericsson Jon Quick
  
• 18. Darren Helm Matt Duchene
• 19. Didn't know I got 19 picks Nikolai Zherdev

Markov got put on the IR after the first game. That sucks! Jon Quick is a goaltender and I don't want to carry three goalies. Darren Helm is on long term IR. Matt Duchene sounds like a feminine hygeine product so he's gonna have to go. And for the extra bonus: Zherdev doesn't have a contract.

So I moved Markov to the IR and picked up Willie Mitchell from Edmonton and I dropped Zherdev and added Ian Laperriere even though it disturbs me to have a Flyer on my team, but really what can you do? So I've still gotta figure out if I want to move Helm and I have to figure out who to replace Doucheanay with.

Freakin' Markov. Man that sucks.

Fun Weekend

Checked out the Orange and White game at RIT, followed by Skate with the Tigers on Saturday and then finished out the weekend with the York vs. RIT game on Sunday. It was pretty hard not to notice that this year's team is more physical than last year's right from the start. Sure York was pretty intense with their shiz but RIT definitely has some grit (wow that was pretty lame but not purposely, if I was going for purposely lame I would have said grrrrrit in a Tony the Tiger kinda way but anyway). And maybe it's just me but it seems like this year they're even more aggressive offensively on the penalty kill than last year - which I absolutely love because nothing says, "Damn you really suck!", better than a shorthanded goal. I think this is going to be a good year for RIT hockey!

F'ing Huds man, F'ing Huds!

Not sure what the big todo with the Hudler situation is. Maybe I'm crazy but it seems pretty obvious what's going on - the Wings don't have the cap space to sign him at a reasonable amount so he's going to the KHL for a season or two...big deal...he went to arbitration so he could remain a wing and he can come back when they've the cap room for him. Seems to make sense to me. But then again, maybe I'm just doing that wishful thinking thing

So long Hoser, I'll Miss Ya (Damn You Scotty!!)

I got a chance to meet Hossa once, or Hoser as I like to affectionately call him, and even though I didn't get to talk to him for long, didn't say much to him, I got the feeling he's a pretty cool guy. I'm gonna be sad to see him leave. Although, I'm not entirely sad - because I'm hoping this means the wings will get to keep Huds. And as much as I respect Hossa, I blame him for everything that went wrong this season :) If he had stayed with Pittsburgh they wouldn't have won the cup - they wouldn't have had the money to pick up/keep a bunch of their players. And now it all starts again - the wings can't afford him and keep important role players on the team - so they're letting him go. Man, it must be rough to have all that talent and not be able to succeed. Here's wishing you ~some~ luck and success Hoser, but just keep out of the wings' way while you're at it!

Goodbye Conkblock

Sad to see Conks leave. I wish him luck wherever he ends up.

Just What I Needed

This makes me weep with pity laughter:

Things I learned Last Season

1) I suck at fantasy hockey

2) Putting a hot player on my fantasy hockey roster is a 100% guarantee that he will start sucking.

3) I really seriously suck at choosing a fantasy hockey team.

4) FSN Detroit is by far my favorite network to watch hockey on (Ken and Mickey rock!)

5) The Center Ice package is worth the cost, but only because I can't get FSN Detroit.

and I'm sure there's a bunch of other crap I learned but really the only one that matters is: I SUCK AT FANTASY HOCKEY!

Cool things I got to do last season:

1) Went to the charity poker tourney in Detroit and sat at the same table with Samuelson, gave him a lot of crap while we were playing too :) Got beat hard with pocket kings way too early but got a chance to talk to Sammy a bit. Had a pretty cool conversation with Ozzie and got to meet Dats. Got to meet Ericsson and picked Larry Murphy's brain in the casino bar. And a whole bunch of other crazy stuff but the experience was so enormously huge to me that I can't begin to try to type it all!


2) Went to Round 1, Game 2 of the playoffs. Watched Ozzie get a shutout! (yep, I love me some Ozzie)

3) Told Derek Meech to "Make me a bicycle, clown!" [another charity poker thing!]

4) Went on our first, "Girls Only! Hockey Trip" with Carin and Riley. We went to watch RIT play Army. Riley enjoyed knowing that our trip was for girls only, no boys allowed :) We had a really good time - Riley made her signs in the hotel room, we went 'camping' under the blankets, and her weekend was complete when the whole RIT team walked into the restaurant while we were eating dinner.

5) Watched Air Force take out the number one seed in their bracket - would have preferred it was the Tigers who were there, but it was cool to see a team from Atlantic Hockey go that far. Hopefully that will help the AHA get some more respect

6) Watched my husband get stitched up in the Strong ER after he got hit in the forehead with an errant "Mercyhurts" puck during the pregame warmups. We missed the entire game on Friday but we were back for the Saturday game!