It's HOCKEY time. Yeah baby.

So, played some good ol' ice hockey tonight... after playing only once in the past 3 years. Yup, it's been a long, long time. Surprisingly, I did alright. I tripped over my own stick once (which I didn't think was possible, haha), and fell a couple times without any help from anybody else. :P But otherwise, I was able to somewhat match the speed (though these guys seriously are way too fast) and my positional play was decent. But my balance, man... no balance whatsoever. Really need to work on getting my center of gravity lower. :P

Other hockey news. Professional hockey returns to Calgary. Time to see how the new CBA/Rules/Teams work out. As for the Flames... looking pretty good, but then again. New rules, and everyteam has changed so drastically (excluding Washington, Minnesota and Carolina) that its really hard to tell how the team will do this year. Anyhow, here is my prediction for the Flames lineup.

Amonte - Langkow - Iginla
Reinprecht - Lombardi - Kobasew
Simon - Nilson - Donovon
Wiemer - Yelle - McCarty
Ritchie
(Looks like we should be able to have all 4 lines rolling since all 4 lines are fully capable. Hopefully Lombo has gotten over his concussion and Kobasew finally breaks out after a stellar year in the AHL last year. Wouldn't want to be playing against our checking line of Wiemer/Yelle/McCarty and the other 3 lines all have speed to kill, sweet. haha)

Regehr - Leopold
Hamrlik - Ferrence
Warrener - Phaneuf
Montador
(Defense looks like it will be top 5 in the league. Even with injuries, we have so many defenceman that can play 25+ per game, it should be awesome. Regehr (possible Canadian olympian) Leopold (possible American olympian) Hamrlik (possible Czech olympian) Phaneuf (future Canadian olympian) and both Warrener and Ferrence are more than reliable. Montador, has got to be the best 7th d in all the league)

Kiprusoff
Sauve
Krahn
(Hopefully Kipper can play up to his extremely high expectations now. It doesn't look like he'll be a one-year wonder since he played really well during the World Cup and had good numbers last year in Europe. Sauve... needs work before he becomes a decent backup. Krahn, needs the minutes, will be in AHL for sure.)

Now for some Oiler bashing. :P Getting Pronger and Peca was a nice move. Losing Brewer and more than a few young up-and-coming players was not such a good thing. Ryan Smyth so far hasn't signed a contract yet. So your defensive side has improved... but now you have no scorers on your team. No offense whatsoever. Smyth? He's good in the corners and in front of the net, but most of his points is from playing with more talented offensive players and garbage goals. Maarkanen (sp?) broke his collar bone last week, but even with him and Conklin playing net. Neither is proven and at most will be average netminders for this season. Both require more experience... but then again, one of them might break out with a stellar year. I think they still have a chance in making it to the playoffs since they still have a ton of speed to kill and their defence got a much needed facelift... but I highly doubt that with the team they have now, that they will be able to make it deep in the playoffs. :P Okay, you oilers fans, lets hear what you have to say, haha.
And flames fans as well...