Takes and trash talk from both ALL sides of the NHL's most obscure PATHETIC* rivalry

* Thanks, Kevin Lowe!

Monday, February 26, 2007

BoC Gameday—Ducks trade away a real S.O.B.

Anaheim Ducks (36-17-10, 3rd in west) at San Jose Sharks (38-23-1, t-4th in west)

(Author’s note: Sorry this post is so hasty, but I’ve got very little intuition about trade scenarios Anaheim is involved in or what sort of game the Ducks will be bringing tonight.)

Well, the Ducks and Sharks play tonight’s late game on Versus, and it really has caused some emergency prioritization in the Sleek household, as now there are three simultaneous programs that are regular DVR-recordings: Ducks hockey, Heroes, and 24. Sorry to say, Jack Bauer, you’ll have to catch those terrorists without me this time.

Both the Ducks and Sharks have made trades this past week, but it’s a little tough to comment on them until the other shoe does or does not drop. I’ll leave the Rivet-for-Curious-Gorges trade for the Shark guys to discuss, but as for Anaheim, here’s what I keep referring to as “Deal 1A”—Ducks trade D Shane “S.O.B.” O’Brien and a 3rd round pick to Tampa Bay for G Gerald “Gary” Coleman and a 1st round pick. O'Brien is a mildly effective player, and I’ll throw some proper commentary on this if and when we see a “Deal 1B”.

As for the game, Sharks are back from a season-high 8-game road trip where they managed to go 4-4 despite being outscored 19-29. The Ducks, meanwhile, have been mostly reliant on their division-heavy schedule to stay atop the Pacific. Ducks since Christmas:

vs. Pacific opponents: 7-3-1, 3.2 GF – 2.5 GA
vs. non-Pacific opponents: 2-9-3, 2.2 GF – 3.4 GA

Prediction: Ducks 4, Sharks 2. Selanne, Penner, Pahlsson, and I’ll leave one open in case there’s a “Player 1B”.

p.s. Check out BTJ’s Behind the Blog this week, featuring Mike Chen, who apparently is brimming with postseason confidence (hee hee, about the Ducks, that is).

7 comments:

Mike said...

Maybe I missed the post that explains your man-crush on Sammy Pahlsson, but you seem to predict a goal for him in every game. Seems a little foolish for a guy with only 8. Unless you're going with the "he's due!" theory.

Earl Sleek said...

Man-crush posts on Sammy Pahlsson can be found here and here.

I'm pretty much of the same mind as a lot of Anaheim's HF Boards: Pahlsson is God. I guess the irony is that I don't really care if Sammy ever scores--he's still one of the most important parts of the team and can have monster games whether he pots goals or not.

Anonymous said...

Can we get some love for that skinny red kid in goal for the Ducks?

He was on fire tonight...

VeryProudofYa said...

Boy oh boy, seems like the ducks are reverting into how they started the year.

Excellent first period, poor second period, pull win out of ass in third.

Perhaps they'll continue the cycle and start ripping the opposition down in a little while.

In any case, Bryz really kept them in. I missed the total SOG for the ducks in the third. They put 2 on Nabs? Geez.

PJ Swenson said...

I haven't watched it, but all the 24 episodes this season are online for free on myspace. So save your space for those Grease reality show episodes Sleek.

Viva la LNH.

Earl Sleek said...

Really I'm not that big a 24 junkie, but have been following it this season. And any way, last night's game ended early enough that we were able to catch the 2nd half of the episode, so basically crisis averted. :)

jamestobrien said...

I think the Ducks probably could have used Guerin more than SJ, but shit, that's great for my fantasy hockey team...which is all that really matters. Right? RIGHT?!?

Also, I took down some notes of the Ana-SJ game. Show of hands on who wants a very belated game journal post sometime tonight? [My car is in need of a new battery and what not so it might be a while]