Live Blog: Blades vs. Jackals (4/6/10)

The Blades take on the Elmira Jackals tonight for the first game of the Kelly Cup playoffs. Here's hoping the Blades keep up their winning ways from Friday.

-----------------

The best way to describe the first period was WOOOOO! The Blades had it togethrt (for once), they dominated the Jackals. A flukey goal 39 seconds in (the jackals goaltender pushed it in with his glove) gave the Blades the first goal, it was credited to Ryan Lang. Another goal by the Lampe in the later part of the period put the Blades up 2-0. As long as the Blades keep up their aggressive play, and as long as the Jackals keep playing sloppy as heck, this might just be the first game they win with me in atendance.

-------------

Well, the best way to describe that period was WTF?  A lot of Jackals penalties were not called, and the Blades had a goal dissalowed. The Jackals took advantage of that BS call, and got one past Chris Beckford-Tseu to make it 2-1. Even with the officials doing their best to hand it to the Jackals the Blades got a goal with one second left to take a two goal lead once again.

Lets hope they keep it up! Some even-up calls wouldn't hurt either.

-------------

Whoa, my heart is still pounding! The third period was nuts! We went into the third period up 3-1 on the Jackals. The period was pretty back and forth, the Jackals were not going quietly. It was pretty normal, with the exception of the scoarboard having a minor meltdown (seriously Bushy can we upgrade already?). All the action hapened in the las three(ish) minutes of the game. The Jackals pulled their goalie and were able to take advantage of their extra attacker, narrowing the Blades lead to 3-2. They pulled the goalie again, but the Blades got the empty netter to make it 4-2. The Jackals pulled their goalie yet again. The ref then decided it wasn't exciting enough so he called a penalty on Brad Zanon. The Jackals were able to convert on the power play (who couldn't with a 6 on 4?) to make it 4-3. Thankfully nothing else happened and the Blades won the first game of the series.

The Blades looked awesome. They were playing great hockey. Lots of shot blocking, and aggressive checking. The Jackals looked compleatly overwelmed for most of the game. Becks was solid, and the Donati brothers were non existant in my opinion. As long as things keep up like this the Blades may have a chance.

YouTube Tuesday

I hope everyone is ready for tonight. I'll say this again, if your going tonight or tomorrow you better have your tickets purchased, unless you enjoy standing. Until tonight enjoy Benn Olson's fight from last Friday (sorry it's just the tail end of the fight, I'm stil not used to my new camera).



I'll be live blogging as well as tweeting tonight game. Check back!

Pictures (4/2/10)

Here are some of my faorites from Friday night's game. Enjoy.

LiveBlog: Blades vs. Checkers (4/2)

The second to last regular season game is about to start. Last chance to humiliate the Checkers before they become our affiliate.

The starting line: Duffy, Olson, Carlson, Gajic, and Lemay (2nd start in goal!).

The first period was all about the back and forth hockey. The Checkers were pretty dominant for the beginning of the first. The Blades took over during the latter half of the period. They had two chances on the power play but were unable to convert. Benn Olson took on a player at center ice, although it was more of a hugging match than a fight (either way it's on video). The period ended scorless. The SOG were 7 for the Blades and 12 for the Checkers. Here's hoping the second goes better than it usually does for the Blades.

So, I'm sure none of you are suprised that the Blades were awful during the second period. A shortie and an own goal put the Checkers up 3-1 on the Blades. There was an exciting moment when Keving Baker scrapped with a Checker player after a tussle in the corner.

Hopefully, Cameron will rip into them in the locker room. They really need to wake up and quit hanging Lemay out to dry.

Well, they cut down on letting Lemay suffer, and they put tons of pressure on the Checkers, but nothing worked. They had so many chances, but they just couldn't convert. The final score was 3-1.

I'm hoping they don't plan to play like that during the playoffs. If they do, it will not be a long post-season.

Friday Links

Tonight is the first night of fan appreciation weekend, and as sad is it is to be down to the last two regular season games, it means two games until playoffs start! To hold you over until tonights live blog, enjoy these links.

- This article on ice rinks was pretty interesting for me... of course I'm a huge hockey nerd.

- Your (timely) Wikipedia hockey page "Playoff Beard"!

- Any of my Aeros peeps want to identify the players in these "vintage" pictures (skater and goalie)?

- This old article mentions (aside from the death of the Wildcatters) that the Zamboni company makes an effort to buy back old Zamboni machines. They actually fix them up and sell them again. I wonder how much a used Zamboni goes for...

- I'm pretty sure I make faces like this during games. Of course, I'm not a dude so I can get away with it.


see more

I also want to add this minor side note. From what I hear Anton Khudobin is expected to start in his second NHL game against the Edmonton Oilers at 9:30. You can catch it if you get Center Ice (or don't mind googling for an illegal feed of the game). My DVR is set!