So.
This is not really a good thing. I mean, it's not like they didn't
try, it's just that CYCLOPS has this annoying habit of stopping all their pucks.
The game started well, with Hossa and a ridiculous amount of scoring chances. There were more Sens fans in the audience, which was nice to see, but they were drowned out by the end of the third.
Who made mistakes this game? REDDEN. Other players, too, like Volchenkov and Smolinski (eg, on the Sundin goal), but still a good many from REDDEN.
I missed most of the second period because of Easter dinner (wherein everyone got drunk and teased me about my stupid hockey team), but apparently, I didn't miss much. I came back to see some nice chances by Bonk and Hossa, and a few nice saves by Lalime, but none of the energy of the first period. Then at the end of a penalty to Phillips, Nieuwendyk scored. What a bunch of mistakes that were made! I mean, Volchenkov left Fitzgerald all alone in front of Lalime, and just watched him take the shot. Redden did the same thing a few seconds later. It was weird.
Lalime took a penalty for hooking or whathaveyou, and so Spezza went to the box. When he came out, he raced to the Toronto zone. The Cyclops came out to play the puck but fell. If Spezza hadn't had to disentangle himself from Belfour, he would have scored into the empty net. So much for inserting him into the lineup to make an offensive change. I think we should put Vermette back in. Or scratch Bonk, maybe?
Chara got a dumb penalty. There was a lot of diving on the Leafs' side tonight, I noticed, but the refs were letting a lotta shit go tonight, too. They didn't call a blatant high stick to Hossa, but then they didn't call a blatant high stick to McCabe(?) a few seconds later, either. At least they were consistent in their idiocy. Anyway, during the penalty kill, Phillips started a nice play that gave Hossa and Fisher ridiculous chances, but again they were stoned by that blue guy with one eye. And so much for the second period.
In the third, we were treated to the sight of Lalime skating slowly backwards, falling flat on his ass, and then ever-so-gently bump into the rear boards. Hm. This was a bad omen. The only thing good about this game was that Ottawa won over 60% of the faceoffs, which is amazing, considering that it's OTTAWA we're talking about. Seriously NICE check by Wee Todd on TUCKER, of all people. Haha, what a raccoon. He said in the paper today that his son asked him if the bad man hit him with the stick again. His reply was, "No, *I'm* usually the bad man." At least he knows he's evil. That's more than DOMI will ever have. Did you notice that Domi looked a little purple tonight? I mean, I know he has dark skin, but PURPLE? Is he getting enough fibre? That might improve his mood slightly.
Nice defensive/offensive moves by Chara, especially in shutting down Roberts on a sure goal, and nice defense/offence also by Volchenkov, who must've kicked himself in the butt during the intermission, because he had a much better third period. It looked, for a while, like Ottawa just might tie it, with several (and I mean a FUCKTON) of neat chances, but it was not to be. Sundin's goal was the result of Smolinski not being able to catch him up and shut him down, but it was ultimately Patty's fault. This should have been an easy save. Instead, it went five-hole. He's slipping down the notches on my Respect-o-Meter.
Martin pulled him with a few minutes left, and Chara raced Domi down to the empty net. Chara went down and stretched out, but missed. Luckily, however, so did Domi. All that blood rushing to his head must've made him blind, as well. Aim for the white space BETWEEN the poles, Tie, not the poles themselves!
But really, the only thing that saved the game for the Leafs was bloody Belfour. They made just as many stupid mistakes as Ottawa did. Hell, Ottawa OUTSHOT Toronto. So they had a good many chances, and I saw the Toronto defense make some ridiculous gaffes. So my boys just have to solve Belfour. They just have to put a lot of traffic in front of him, and they just have to piss him off. They were starting to do that in the third, as I saw him go off to talk to the referees, but they didn't do it enough. They know that an angry Eddie is a seive. They've just got to work on that.
So yeah, so much for THAT game. I'm really pissed off. Not so much at the game itself, but for the amount of bullshit I've had to put up with in the past few days from detractors. Especially today. Now, when I trash talk, I generally stick to the factsand the stats, unless people start name-calling. I KNOW what I'm talking about. But I've had these dinner guests in my house since five o'clock this afternoon. They've been getting progressively drunker and drunker, and they know precisely FUCK-ALL about the game. They're going for Toronto just to piss me off, and it's working, because they haven't the foggiest idea what they're talking about.
Look. I can take whatever people dish out. I'm a patient person, and it's all in good fun. You guys who trash talk in my writebacks at least have some inkling about what you're spewing, and there's some respect on all sides not to let this get personal. But when ignorant people go after other people with no other aim in mind than to propagate anger, it's not in good fun anymore. And I'm not just talking about hockey. I mean everything. ONE of said dinner guests often goes off on political rants, really hard-core right-wing bullshit that I don't agree with. Generally, I prefer not to talk politics, because I don't really know what most of it is about. But I have my ideals, and I have my leanings. I read the news. I know what's going on, who is doing what. I DO NOT APPRECIATE being informed, in a pompous and patronizing manner, that my ideas are wrong, and that I am a fool.
EXCUSE ME. Give me five to seven years, and you'll be calling me DOCTOR BELL. I am obviously not an idiot, if I am at the top of my graduating class. It's like these fucks (aka the GOOBERMONSTER) who try to tell me off about anthropology, who try to go on and on about how what I've spent the past three years studying from some of the most respected scholars in the world is bullshit. WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU KNOW ABOUT ANTHROPOLOGY? When you've read as much as I have on the subject, then maybe we can talk. But if you want to spout an ignorant opinion about a field in which I have a little more expertise, you are only going to make me angry.
It's the same with hockey. Of my friends and acquaintances, there are very few who know more about the game than I do. If even that. Not trying to blow my own horn, but we all know it's true. I'm a freak. So the last thing I need is this same pompous prig, who knows NOTHING, ranting on about how I'm a complete idiot to like this game, this team, whatever. Is it my fault that they lost tonight? Does it make me stupid to be a Sens fan? Yeah, yeah, Leafs fans, you say yes. But we all know it's not true. Because we all KNOW what we're talking about. HE does not. He's in the Navy. He knows how to drive ships and give orders. If we were on a boat, I'd give him the helm. But if we were on the ice, I would expect him to give me the fucking puck, not rant on and on about my stupidity at being a girl and liking hockey. For the last fucking time, I am NOT a puck bunny. If you knew me at all, you would know that.
I'm sorry. I have just spewed a lot of unintellible anger about people most of you don't know, to people I don't really know myself. But you know what? I may be a student. I may only be twenty-two years old. But I am far smarter than the majority of people in my world. I DO NOT APPRECIATE being patronized and talked down because of my youth or my gender. I do not generally involve myself in major arguments when I don't know what I'm talking about (minor ones, yes, and I usually win them because I'm so damned stubborn!), but when I know my shit, I can hold my own. But it makes me so very, very angry to be shut down and dismissed because some ignorant imbecile needs to be right all the time.
There are too many of these imbeciles in positions of power right about now. I can name three at the moment: my dinner guest, my boss, George Dubya. It's fucking terrifying to know that they hold my life, my future, in their hands. Why are they in control? Because they are arrogant and ignorant enough to ignore the input of others, and talk down those who disagree with them. Their personalities are so -- what's the word? -- domineering -- that they get exactly what they want.
I was just talking to Dave after I wrote the above paragraph. I mentioned about the shits in power being shits, and he was like, "but that's how they get there." He's right. It's upsetting.
Okay, I'm done. Talking to Dave took some of the steam out of me. I can't rant in good conscience any more.
But you know what I mean. I'm assuming that most of you who read this page are around my age. I'm sure you have an inkling about what I'm saying, right? We are the future, folks. We are the ones who will be paying for care for the elderly shits when they become octagenarians. Don't they realize that? No. They're busy grooming the next shits to inherit their dirty thrones.
Okay, I'm done.
Posted by Ally at April 12, 2004 12:00 AM