hockey gives me feels... also gif warning

[oanja]

The Wild won a game, whee~ (4-3-3 right now) but Brodin took a puck to the face and now has a broken cheekbone. When it happened I was like:


That's not good at all. I really hope he didn't get concussed too, because that would just be adding insult to injury.

Not to mention that two of the next three games are against the Hawks.


Also: Freaking Colorado, feel free to start sucking any time now! You are ruining our chances of making the playoffs!


Wanna talk about how the central division is the weakest division now hockey bloggers/commentators? Huh? Huh?! What about that one division, hmm what was it called? Oh yeah, Metropolitan! If the Wild were in the metro division we'd be third! Also third in the Atlantic division.

Comments

[cupric-acetate.livejournal.com]

Don't worry, bb, Colorado is going to have to start sucking eventually and when they do you'll probably be playing more games against them since it seems like teams are getting all the cross-conference games out of the way early in the season.

At the end of last season I went and listened to all the podcasts I have and their preseason predictions and it was pretty interesting to see how they didn't pan out due to all the different factors that affect hockey (injuries, luck, trades, etc). They all made sense in terms of what was known at the time, but seemed so ridiculous in hindsight that it was so good for a laugh.

Honestly, were a lot of people expecting to Central to be the worst? I was under the impression that the Atlantic minus the Red Wings and the Bruins (and maybe the Sens) was going to suck the most and that wasn't a unpopular opinion. I'm actually really impressed with what a clusterfuck the Metro has been, especially the Flyers.

[oanja.livejournal.com]

I really hope they do, because sometimes it's possible to maintain momentum for one season, even if you really shouldn't.

It's true, things change pretty quickly in hockey. During summer I listened to a lot of backhandshelf podcasts (I hadn't followed them during the season) and some of the things they said, even right before the playoffs started sounded laughable in hindsight. :D

There were enough people saying it, that it stuck with me. I can't remember where I read/heard it, but basically people were saying that the Hawks and the Blues were the only good teams and that all the other central division teams were going to be bottom feeders. (and yeah the pacific is doing better than the central, but then again the pacific is just doing crazy good against anyone, if you start comparing it)

And yeah I think a lot of people thought the Metro was going to be good, I don't think anyone thought the Rangers would be that bad or even the Flyers. And now they are all doing terribly if you don't count the Penguins. (and in comparison, the penguins only have one more point than the Wild...)

Things are crazy! I wonder what the standings will look like in March...

[cupric-acetate.livejournal.com]

It's really hard to maintain that kind of momentum when it's an actual 82 game season. And their defence really isn't up to the level of most of the division and according to some people they're really only doing well because they play an unusual style of defence for the NHL level (I think Marek was talking about how one of his scout friends mentioned that they're playing a junior style of defence on the MvsW podcast) plus their goalies being on a hot streak. Oh and so far the only really good team they won against was the Ducks. So there's much to be hopeful over if you need them to crash and fail.

It was all stuff that would have been so reasonable based on the previous season and not seeing any of the teams play yet too. Even this season you can already see how some teams are much worse or better than expected.

Maybe it's a different media sources thing? People tend to be so much harsher with the teams they follow or get to see often because the only slagging of the Central division that I heard was how much easier it was going to get with Detroit being out of it. Like, I had the impression that people considered the Wild to be a team that was going to get good in the next few seasons. No one could have expected the Avs to to not be crap, but the Wild and the Perds weren't considered complete bottom feeders compared to say the Panthers or the Sabres.

It'll be interesting to see how all the teams are doing once they play more in-division teams.

[oanja.livejournal.com]

Yeah their goalies have been crazy good so far. They did win against Boston and the Penguins (also caps should count as a good team), but it's true that they've mostly been playing eastern teams, so who knows what will happen in the long run.

I actually think people who were saying that stuff about the central division weren't from it. I want to blame some of it on Edmonton people, just because they always seem to be talking shit about the Wild, but there were definitely people talking about it more widely in the beginning of the season when the realignment was talked about the most.

But aanyway... :D You mentioned that you spend a lot of time on tumblr, wanna be buddies over there? I'm oanja there too, so if you want to follow me I'll follow you back.

Oh and while I was watching lumbus - leafs yesterday I noticed that I definitely don't like the Leafs more than Lumbus, (Lumbus and the Bruins are my East teams atm) but I will cheer for the Leafs if they play against a random team I don't care about. So I'm not super invested in them... yet. :D

[cupric-acetate.livejournal.com]

IDK how I blanked out that Boston game or forgot the result from the Pittsburgh game (wait, no that last one is probably because I tried watching the game but turned it off because internet issues and incredibly boring game). But yeah, they've been playing the east for the most part.

Maybe it's just a my selective choosing of sources thing then. I definitely got the vibe that people were expecting the Central Division to get easier because you lost Detroit in exchange for the Jets (lol the dregs of the Southeast).

I don't really spend much time on tumblr anymore, and when I do it's usually me bookmarking recipes, comics, a and random non-fandom things, but I can still follow you. I just don't check it often because it makes me feel socially isolated and backreading my tumblr feed can take hours.

The Leafs really aren't a very good or interesting team to watch unless you're into watching goalies flop because they're being let down by their defence. Although I did like (and embarrassingly ended up cheering for) them last night against the Penguins because I enjoyed the dedication to "Is Crosby on the ice/near the net? If yes, hit him hard" from Bolland, Clarkson, and Phaneuf. And they even managed to spend a decent time out of their D-zone in the third period (I'd grudgingly cheer for them more often if they played like that all the time).

[oanja.livejournal.com]

But that is part of it (Detroit leaving) people were saying the only good teams left were the Hawks and the Blues. But it's true that I will take these comments more seriously and remember them, because they are about my team's conference. ^_^;

Ah okay, I think I remembered a comment wrong or something. No need to follow me then. :D I like tumbrl for mindless scrolling and looking at pretty pictures and gifs of my fandoms, but yeah it's not a good site for talking to people at all. And when people use it for that, it's pretty annoying, because there is no way of not seeing those comment chains as the whole post keeps getting reblogged for everyone to see. Urgh...

There are some interesting players there, like Kessel, Lupul and Kadri and of course the whole Bozak controversy is delicious to follow. I like cheering against the Penguins for some reason... I think it's that they already won their cup and now I don't want them to get another one (same for the Hawks...) but now they have Jussi Jokinen on the team and I like him as a Finn, so I'm kind of torn. (one game I watched he got a hattrick and the Penguins still lost, so that was kind of the best of two worlds for me) It's that underdog attitude, I just like cheering for plucky teams, who try really hard to win. :D

[cupric-acetate.livejournal.com]

I know people who can do fandom on tumblr, but I haven't managed and it's almost as huge a timesuck for me as facebook used to be so I just can't let myself use it much anymore. I do waste a bit on time on twitter (@cad_yellow if you want to talk there) and gchat.

There are some players I like and they are hilarious to follow for both terrible decisions and media and fan hysteria, but I wouldn't wish cheering for them regularly on anyone. The whole Bozak thing drives me insane though because I don't even mind him on the team or overpaying him to be Kessel's comfort goat, but he's just not someone who should be a first line center on any team.

lol and yes, the game being against the Penguins did make it so much easier to cheer for them even when I usually don't. It's just so easy to wish for the Penguins to do badly when they're talked about as being the best and a part of their fans expect another cup to land in their lap because CROSBY AND MALKIN. I enjoy two kinds of sports fandom related schadenfreude best: 1) when people are being delusionally optimistic and they're brought back to reality and 2)when people know that good things will happen and aren't prepared for disappointment.

[oanja.livejournal.com]

It is a huge timesuck, I spend way too much time on it. >_> I never really got into Facebook, so at least I dodged one of those social media things. ^_^; I'm terrible at twitter, I still don't really know what you're supposed to use it for, so right now I just follow hockey teams/players/writers on it and never post anything myself. Can I use gchat with my gmail account or do I need google+ or something else?

Haha~ but first line centers don't grow on trees, and I think he seems very serviceable? Kessel is adorably faily and shy, I like him just for that. :)

YES! Fans who think their team will always be the best and keep on winning forever, urgh. I mean Penguins fans were calling for their coach to be fired after last playoffs, for them anything but winning the cup or getting to the final at least is a failure and idk, they don't even realize how good they have it. :D