::alio!::

God Loves Mike Fisher.

First things first:

Could somebody PLEASE tell me the name of the song that plays in the ad for "Walking Tall?"

OMFG! Shakespeare for the 1337! {warning: it's friggin' long.}

Have recently become addicted to a singer named Jason Mraz. Like a combination between Jack Johnson and Ani DiFranco. Almost exactly that. 'Cept he makes a helluva lot of money. He's in Toronto, at the Massey, in May, and I checked out the tix: 35$ a pop! Not for me. You should check him out, if that's your thing. The Johnson/Ani thing, I mean, not the ticket prices. Maybe a smidgen of someone like Remy Shand. Mel Torme? Best scatting I've heard in a while, at least. Cait says that, like John Mayer, she wants to punch him in the face, but I quite like him, despite my distaste for John Mayer.

I don't know where Stefan finds these things, but he sent me this. It's like Matrix-style. Highly amusing.

Hockey fun:

Sooo . . . Danton . . . Hmm . . .

Teams I'm rooting for: Calgary, Montreal, Ottawa. Go CANADA.

Nobody shaves during the playoffs, right? So most of the Ottawa players don't, and they get the playoff beards. Fine. Whatever. What I have issues with is the dudes who TRIM the beards into weird things. Look. Either shave or DON'T. No in-between in the playoffs . . . Bonzai's a good example. That dood has a BAAAAAAD playoff beard.

The SCORE:

So we were all big balls of tense today. Well, it was mostly just me. But we all followed our special rituals. Made sure our underwear wasn't blue. Hell, we even dyed my hair red. Playoff red. I didn't put the pictures up today, in a conscious decision not to. I find that, after a game in which they play like pooh, not putting them up makes them win. Playoff socks. Washed jersey. Mojo shirt. We played a specially crafted (by me) CD of hockey songs, where every second one was the HNIC theme. We blasted it in the car with the windows down when we went to pick up Sarah.

The countdown began. We prepared ourselves, sitting in the same places we sat before, when they won 4-1. Five minutes. Four. Two. Duh-duh-DUH-duh-duh . . . and it had started.

And it started badly. Domi knocked down Lalime, and then Bonzai (the ineffective twit) got four minutes for high sticking "Touqué." The one nice thing about that was seeing Tucker cry blood and then come back to play with six stitches over his eye. Then de Vries (also an ineffective twit) got a tripping penalty on Nieuwendyk. So of course they were going to score with two-man advantage. Bloody McCabe. How dare he suddenly become useful? Patty shoulda stopped it, too. It was a softie and it went five-hole on him. After all the great saves he had . . .

It got better, though -- marginally so. Belfour was already chirping at the referees. This is a good sign. You see, other goalies, e.g. Patty, talk to the refs at breaks for fun. They have conversations about whatever they talk about. They laugh. They joke. In the third, Patty had a nice one with Kerry Fraser, prolly about the mega check Smolinski gave him that had him grinning even before he'd stopped spinning around on the ice. But Belfour is different . . . When he talks to the referees, he does what other Maple Leafs do -- he COMPLAINS. This meant he was angry.

A beautiful check by Alfie on McCabe and a delayed penalty helped to shake him, especially as the mess at the net was at HIS net this time.

We listed to Grapes in the intermission. He never finishes a sentence. Odd man. ACID green suit tonight. Odd man. Who makes his collars?

I think the Leafs have devised a new tactic. Domi did it last game to Neil, and Roberts did it tonight to White. They fall down and then hold onto the Ottawa player's leg, sort of like a small child when it doesn't want its parents to go out. The refs can't call a penalty on it, because they have no idea what they would call it as. Odd play. Very irritating.

Before the game started, I said that Volchenkov would have a good game. And he did. He checked and then he checked and then he ran for pucks and then he checked again. I love that boy.

The second period was "piss Chara off period." It worked. I told Sarah I had a dream about her marrying big Z. She thought about that for a minute, then said, "But then I'd be Sarah Chara." I hadn't thought of that. Hm.

At the end of the second, it was time to call in the big guns. Cait and I had one more ace up our jersey sleeves. It was Timmy Time. Let me elaborate. Last year, Game Six with the Devils (out of the playoffs, WOOHOO!), the boys were down going into the third. Cait and I BOOTED it to T. Ho's, purchased Canadian goodness, and were back in time for the opening face off. Our boys proceeded to whoop the Devil's ass, and they won that game. So we pulled the Timmy Time card tonight. Only works on Game Six, and we can't use it again, but boy, was it worth it.

Chara, really deadly when he's pissed off, checked Nieuwendyk and made him fall. Then he took a feed from Schaefer and knocked it past Belfour at a STOOPER angle. I have no idea how it worked, but it did. Chara then proceeded to flip out, he was so happy.

Phillips made a nice defensive move on Kilger that involved him pushing Kilger over in an abbreviated Chris Phillips move, and that sparked a video review of Ottawa hits of the night. We were amused that most of the checks revolved around Touqué. The "BELLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLFOURRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR" Chant started up in earnest. Leaf Nation was strangely strangled.

Fisher was brilliant.

Patty was a freaking genius.

My notes as we went into overtime are a little sporadic. I was too tense. I could feel a pulse in my jaw, and my hands were shaking. I had to lie down during a break once. What do my notes say . . . Nice offensive play by Philly. Beautiful check by Schaefer. Nice defensive moves by Philly. Pretty damned tootin' check on Roberts by the lovely and talented Anton Volchenkov. Then Stef took my notepad and scrawled "Holy Shit" on it.

What do my notes say for the SECOND overtime period? Well, it's in AllyCode, but I'll translate. The page is blank except for a really large signification that Mike Fisher scored (assisted by Neil and Vermette). God really does smile upon that boy. Nice to have Him on our side.

There was a moment of calm in the Anstee living room as we basked in the glow from the television and the joy it projected upon us, but then we again fell silent, in contemplation of TUESDAY. We have returned to our state of tension. I'm glad I have a chiropractor's appointment tomorrow. I would be broken otherwise.

Rod had a good point, however. He couldn't understand why we were so hyped up. It was Game SIX of the FIRST Round. Pfft. It IS the Leafs, after all, but still, he was right. I would hate to see me in the third round . . .

I've taken one of my handy-dandy little blue horse tranquilizers, because I know I would never sleep without it tonight. I'm starting to feel it working now, so I will close.

Keep those fingers crossed.

Posted by Ally at April 18, 2004 12:00 AM