I am so tired of being postive and an optimist....why do I even bother? It isn't as though anyone really cares.....sigh, I give up.
Yes you are a glass half full person. But I don't agree that the Flames should be okay as they "always" start slow. They just can't keep playing Russian Roulette with early season slumps.
Last year the Flames recovered on the road with their big winning streak led by the top line. And the thing that got it going was their 1st road game with Tanguay's goal against Florida with less than 10 seconds to play.
Keep in mind - the Flames had no significant injury last year to a core player. If a top 4 D or top 6 F goes down for the better part of a year we're in tough. Also most of the non-playoff teams in the West are better - Edmonton, Phoenix, Chicago, and Columbus and St. Louis have good young talent that has made them tougher.
One of these years the Flames WON'T recover from their slow starts.
He deserves to be too. He put up horrible stats last year, and has been declining every year so he gets a fat contract extension.
If he wants to be paid like an elite goalie he damn well play like one, and he likes like frickin Raycroft from last year.
22 goals in 5 games is a disgrace. And before you say those aren't his fault, think about how many goals an ELITE goalie would have let in like say Luongo, Brodeur or Lundqvist compared to Kipper.
8.5 million to do jack squat. I'm sorry he sucks.
Hypothetically if he was a new goalie last year(same age) and he didn't have the past years to lean on, we would be looking for a new goalie. The guy put up nearly identical GAA,SV% and SO to Martin Gerber and he's viewed as crap. Vokoun easily outplayed Kipper behind a bad Florida defense, and Vesa Toskala wasn't too far behind him stats wise- he put up more SOs I believe.
Keenan has a system where it relies on the goalie to be brilliant at all times. Kipper hasn't been at all. Period. Hasn't bailed out his team. So why the hell do we pay him to not bail us out and be god-awful?
and Conroy starting off the third period with a quick penalty. That's always smart.
The thing that disappoints me the most is the lost leads.
Calgary has looked great at times.
We've held 2 goal leads at least 6 times this year, and blown them every time.
And this is the prime cause for my disappointment and frustration with this team. Consistently throwing away not a single goal but DOUBLE goal leads.
At the end of the first my roomie turned to me and said it's gonna be a walkover for the Flames, and I hadta reply "No no, you watch it. The Flames will make this more exciting than it needs to be and will be tied 2-2 or 3-3 going into the third.
I expect, nay I DEMAND better than this, and we all can see glimpses of the elite team the Flames *could* be if they would just get their poop in a proper pile.
Edit: Also I still love my Flames and I will never stop cheering for them. Hell I have ink in my arm attesting to the fact that The Flames are my boys. But I am still not happy with their efforts with the noteable exception of Bertuzzi who's been amazing.
Last edited by Lanny'sDaMan: 10-19-2008 at 11:51 AM.
Reason: Cause Hyde needs to know We still love the Flames.
He deserves to be too. He put up horrible stats last year, and has been declining every year so he gets a fat contract extension.
If he wants to be paid like an elite goalie he damn well play like one, and he likes like frickin Raycroft from last year.
22 goals in 5 games is a disgrace. And before you say those aren't his fault, think about how many goals an ELITE goalie would have let in like say Luongo, Brodeur or Lundqvist compared to Kipper.
8.5 million to do jack squat. I'm sorry he sucks.
Hypothetically if he was a new goalie last year(same age) and he didn't have the past years to lean on, we would be looking for a new goalie. The guy put up nearly identical GAA,SV% and SO to Martin Gerber and he's viewed as crap. Vokoun easily outplayed Kipper behind a bad Florida defense, and Vesa Toskala wasn't too far behind him stats wise- he put up more SOs I believe.
Keenan has a system where it relies on the goalie to be brilliant at all times. Kipper hasn't been at all. Period. Hasn't bailed out his team. So why the hell do we pay him to not bail us out and be god-awful?
I beginning to agree with this view. But I still cant blame Kipper for all the bad on this team... yes Kipper could be better but the team in front of him does very little to help out. And maybe Kipper has confidence issues, when he feels like the game isnt all on his shoulders he can perform better. On top of that I think the whole Flames team suffers from confidence issues and thus rarely play well for a long time.
But yes, Brodeur and Luongo are top notch goalies (even though the other is just average but is twice the size of normal goalies and has twice the pads as normal goalies). But Kipper Im beginning to think is not an elite goalie. Maybe a change of scenery would do the trick but then again I would hate to even think about loosing Kipper.
But I bet if the Flames could figure out the funk on the blue line Kippers performance would change. It should be a major priority to make this team more defensive minded team.
Hypothetically if he was a new goalie last year(same age) and he didn't have the past years to lean on, we would be looking for a new goalie. The guy put up nearly identical GAA,SV% and SO to Martin Gerber and he's viewed as crap. Vokoun easily outplayed Kipper behind a bad Florida defense, and Vesa Toskala wasn't too far behind him stats wise- he put up more SOs I believe.
Following your logic, why didn't Dan Ellis or Jean-Sebastian Giguere win the Vezina last year?
Kelly Hrudey correctly pointed out that Kiprusoff overplayed Cogliano's third goal. He was too far over and too far out.
People on here keep saying "don't blame Kipper" but I saw Garon stealing a game for his team tonight.
That's the only goal I would question Kipper about last night. The first two were a direct result of Conroy missing his defensive zone assignment again.
I hear a lot of people complaining about how poor our defense was last night. I thought they played pretty well with the exception of Conroy. If he sticks with Moreau or Pisani last night, then we could have easily won the game 2-1. However, when you let a guy walk to the hash marks untouched, or leave him all alone in the high slot, you can't blame Kipper.
I thought it was really nice shot by Cogliano perfectly placed in the top shelf. Though please what do I know, Hrudey is the "expert".
I wouldn't blame Kiprusoff for that goal. That's his style of play. Out from the net to reduce the amount of net to shoot at. It generally works pretty well on breakaways (ala Nilssons shots). The defence should be clearing the rebounds and trying to limit a players ability to go cross ice. That's where Kiprusoff's style hurts him. If the player can go across it opens up a lot of net if he can't get back, and if the rebound isn't cleared quickly it can lead to a couple chances.
I am so tired of being postive and an optimist....why do I even bother? It isn't as though anyone really cares.....sigh, I give up.
Don't lose the optimism Hyde, it's far too important. And though it may not mean much, I am still optimistic that this team can get over this slow start.
Yes it hurts losing to the Oil back to back and that's what makes the whole situation seem magnified, but there were some positives from last night.
Our PK went a perfect 4-4, something that drastically changed from Friday. And not only that, the Oiler power play looked downright bad. I don't know all the stats, but I recall that they had 0 shots on their first PP. We also saw some sweet shot-blocking by Regher.
Mike Camellari in the face-off circle won 4 of 6, winning 4 of 5 in the offensive zone. Though the rest of the team didn't do all that well, I saw Cammy winning the draw multiple times, especially on the power play, which is huge.
And I thought Kipper played pretty well, he stopped a few shots that were right on the doorstep.
Yeah it hurts because it was the Oilers, but I see improvements happening every game, and when (not if) Iginla gets going, these early games will be long forgotten.
There seems to be a lack of a sense of urgency in the team. The players are giving the usual dull post-game talks: "We have to be better. We're inexcusable. gotta give a full effort, help out our goalie. next time i guess. Anyway, cya" I get the sense of a lack of motivation.
First two losses to the Canucks and then two to the coilers! We are 1 for 5 in our division so far.... terrible.
I hope things can be better but the team is as inconsistent as usual and it does not bode overly well if this trend continues... hoping for change but even a bright spark other than Bertuzzi's great play would be encouraging
For everyone saying to be positive, I don't see giving up rebounds and kicking all the pucks into the slot for streaking players, is something that I can be happy about.
We won't get into the playoffs with Kipper playing like this.
Just want to briefly give kudos to a couple of Flames, Boyd and Prust.
I can't believe that Boyd didn't do anything to avoid that hit from MacIntyre. That was just insane. If he does anything that makes you doubt his heart or desire in the next 25 games it's because all of his ribs are broken and both of his shoulders are dislocated. IMO the instigator should have been evened up with a boarding/charging penalty on that one. There were definitely more than 3 strides involved in loading up for that hit.
Prust did pretty damn amazing against a guy twice his size, I glad for the Oil that he wasn't fighting Stortini.
Just want to briefly give kudos to a couple of Flames, Boyd and Prust.
I can't believe that Boyd didn't do anything to avoid that hit from MacIntyre. That was just insane. If he does anything that makes you doubt his heart or desire in the next 25 games it's because all of his ribs are broken and both of his shoulders are dislocated. IMO the instigator should have been evened up with a boarding/charging penalty on that one. There were definitely more than 3 strides involved in loading up for that hit.
Prust did pretty damn amazing against a guy twice his size, I glad for the Oil that he wasn't fighting Stortini.
Your team has heart, no doubt about that.
Watch the replay. He coasted into him. Stopped skating all together from about the faceoff circle in.
The three step rule is if he had continued to skate until the moment he hit him. It was a huge hit, and it was perfectly clean.
Exactly. Take away his past and I think people would want him out of here. He lives off his name.
It's always the defenses fault;never Kipper's. I mean he can't control his rebounds, he kicks them right into the streaking player in the slot, goal. But it's the defenses fault for even letting a shot against him. But he's an elite goalie still
I just want to say, I really like Mikka Kirpusoff and I think he had a good game last night. Oh and one more thing his Cap hit since it was mentioned in this thread is 5.8 million. The fact he is taking home 8.5 million this year....as long as it isn't the Cap Hit I don't see why it bothers some people.
Though if it does, I must say please take it to a "Sutter Thread" I am sure you can find one.
It's always the defenses fault;never Kipper's. I mean he can't control his rebounds, he kicks them right into the streaking player in the slot, goal. But it's the defenses fault for even letting a shot against him. But he's an elite goalie still
I guess, we watched different games, as I cannot remember him kicking a rebound into the streaking player in the slot yesterday.
You tell us to take away his past, but you bring it up on your own to prove your point? Not the smartest rationale, don't you think?
I have on occasion, faulted Kipper too. I think it was quite observant last night when it was mentioned that the Flames have played moments when they were brilliant. That includes Kipper. Anyone who thinks he is going to end the season with a 4 or 5 gaa is talking through their hat.
Enjoy it while you can naysayers. This too shall pass.
For everyone saying to be positive, I don't see giving up rebounds and kicking all the pucks into the slot for streaking players, is something that I can be happy about.
We won't get into the playoffs with Kipper playing like this.
Exactly. He's just throwing rebounds out into the slot. It doesn't help that the defence doesn't clear the puck or the man from the front of the net, but still Kipper is playing like it's tennis sending it right back to the other team. I know he and the team usually start slow, but if it keeps up they might need to seriously look at a change in net. Or try and get a better defensive scheme going, but Keenan doesn't seem to have any interest in that. Even if they get hot (which they will at some point) it will be deja vu, they'll squeak in at 7th or 8th, put up a good fight against a top seed and lose in 6 or 7. If they could tighten up defensively and Kipper can play decent there's no reason they shouldn't be able to win the division.
