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Optional practice for the Flames today, 2 goalies, 8 forwards and 5 D-men took to the ice for 40 minutes or so. Adrian Aucoin did skate today, and Tim Ramholt remains with the club.

The team participated in the league wide drug testing program today; it happens a couple to three times a season.

A lot of talk around the team today about confidence and this teams lack of it, I talked to both Adrian Aucoin and Kristian Huselius and they both went out of their way to explain that it is lacking from the team. Mike Keenan also used the C word to describe this team’s woe.

Left the building lat night wondering if there would be some sort of big story today, a shake up if you will, guess what? That’s the new reality, you pretty much are going to live and die with the players you brought to camp. Mike Keenan dismissed my question about a shake up as just not practical anymore.

Thanks again to everybody who called into overtime, great show again with some really good discussion.

A thousand apologies for the lack of Blogging over the past couple of days, I am fighting a cold and have been limited to the amount I have been working, so let’s catch up on some things.

First off big thanks to everyone who called Overtime after the Detroit game, it’s been a while since we went 3 hours, but we id Tuesday, and for the most part it was great calls. It does get a little old when callers want to just bitch and whine, but man we had some really good debates that night which makes it fun.

Quite a milestone for Jerome Iginla tonight as he becomes the Flames all time games played leader. It is such a cliché I know, but if there is a better person in the game of hockey I haven’t met him. It is the part of my job that I think I enjoy the most is watching him day in day out; he is a refreshing change from some of the miserable S.O.B’s you meet in the business.

Injuries are starting to catch up to the Flames as December nears, that is a part of Hockey which Calgary has escaped from most of this year. The worst is to Rhett Warrener who will be out 2 months with a leg/ankle injury. Yelle is out a week to 10 days with a groin injury, and Adrian Aucoin is a game time decision tonight. For the record neither Aucoin nor Nolan took the pre game skate in the am.

What an odd choice to recall d-men Tim Ramholt, he had fallen off the radar a bit, last year his first in North America as a pro was a learning experience in his coaches eyes in Omaha. The Flames staff we talked to this year who had followed the Quad City Flames said that Adam Pardy was really playing well and looked liked the first guy who would be recalled by the big club. I am excited to see what the kid can do, the players brought up this year by the Flames have been at the times odd choices but for the most part have worked out. For those looking for a mobile puck moving defensemen, he would be the one in the organization at this moment.

Tonight’s lines

Tanguay Conroy Iginla
Huselius Langkow Boyd
Nystrom Lombardi Moss
Nilson Smith Goddard

Phaneuf Ramholt
Regehr Sarich
Eriksson Hale
(Note: d-men didn’t skate in pairings so this is a wild guess)

Kiprusoff McElhinney

Optional practice today a handful of players skated.

Injury news:

Stephane Yelle has a wonky groin and will miss up to 10 days.
Adrian Aucoin is having his shoulder checked and is a game time decision.
Owen Nolan skated today and should be good to go tomorrow.
Rhett Warrener will be lost for 6 to 8 weeks with the ankle injury.
Marcus Nilson is close to being cleared to play.

The Calgary Flames travel to the home of the Boogeyman tonight, as they play at Joe Louis for the 2nd time this season. The “Joe” has been a haunted house for Calgary, as they haven’t won there since December 2005; as a matter of fact they really haven’t been competitive in Detroit since that 3-2 win.

Not good news for the Flames when it comes to Defensemen Rhett Warrener, at first it appeared that he had a broken leg, but know it seems like it maybe a high ankle sprain, so his return will now be measured in months rather then weeks.

The Flames will have Owen Nolan back in the line-up for this game; he sat out Sunday’s game to rest an injury.

No surprise the goalies will be Kiprusoff and Osgood, Detroit has really stumbled upon a break with their goaltending. Dom Hasek has been a bust, but Osgood has been brilliant, leads the league in goals against and has just 1 loss in regulation this year to go along with 10 wins.

Flames are averaging just 25 shots per game, well not quite there they are getting closer to the Detroit Red Wings who allow the fewest shots against at just over 23 per game.

The Calgary Flames are coming off a very big win in Colorado last night, I thought in many ways it was there best game of the season, and arguably their best road effort in a couple of years. I know that they gave up a little bit in the 3rd, but part of that is a very good home team pushing back, but don’t under estimate the value of the 5th goal in terms of quashing a come back, the game was in hand for the Flames after the 3rd goal.

According to Peter Maher, Eric Goddard will not have to sit out the next 2 games, Eric was assessed an instigator penalty for jumping in to aid Dion Phaneuf after Scott Parker cheap shoted the Flames D-man. Goddard already had two instigator penalties and a 3rd would mean an automatic 2 game ban.

Rhett Warrener has an injured ankle and has returned to Calgary to get treatment, no word on how long he will miss.

Curtis McElhinney will get his first start in the NHL this afternoon against the Blues.

No word on any other line up changes as neither team skated in the morning.

Is anybody else tired of seeing the Flames play the AV’s? Now before you think I have abandoned my love of the current schedule in the NHL, I haven’t, but Gawd I am tired of the Avalanche and the lack of success that the Flames seem to have against them. I respect the heck out of Denver, but man weird stuff seems to happen when you play Burnaby Joe and the rest of the gang.

Yesterday I blogged that Dion Phaneuf practiced as a forward, but I suggested that was a mere chance, that do to the number of players having Dion up on the top unit balanced the lines. Well low and behold I got a note from Peter Maher today saying that it looks like Phaneuf will play with Jerome Iginla and Craig Conroy, and that the Flames will also dress 7 forwards. If this comes to fruition remains to be seen, I can’t count the number of times we have blogged something on a game day only to have it not happen.

If Phaneuf does indeed play as forward it strikes me as a desperate move to get something going and that if it fails the GM is going to be the one making the next move that is of course just a hunch.

Neither the Flames or the Av’s skated today so no word on goalies or other line changes.

Let me start off by saying that I am not shocked that the Flames are where they are at this point, I believe I made it quite clear at the start of the season that I saw only 2 outcomes, success or a train wreck. While I think its way to premature to make any assessments on the season as whole, to date it has been anything but boring.

Last night the Calgary Flames dominated Chicago in the final 40 minutes surrendering only 7 shots against while amassing 26 of their own. Problem, 2 went in for the Hawks, just one went in for the Flames. In a bizarre twist the 2 hawk goals were short handed a feat Chicago has now down 10 times in the season, and 5 times in the last 2 games. On both of those goals Flames were guilty of not making a sacrifice, that sacrifice being taking a penalty. It is arguably the dumbest argument in pro sports ripping into a team for not taking penalties, but in the end if the Flames took two more minors they probably win the game 1-0.

There is no doubt in my mind that the Flames game has changed in the last week, shots against and scoring chances are way down, they are not exciting games to watch, but it is a system that I think they can be successful at. The question for me is, did the coaching change or did the players just start to by into the system? My guess is the latter!

The team practiced today before heading to Denver, they were supposed to get on the ice at 11:30, and they finally started practice at 12:30, read into that what you will.

Some new Line combinations at practice today.

Tanguay Lombardi Nolan
Huselius Langkow Moss
Nystrom Boyd Goddard
Nilson Yelle Smith
Phaneuf Conroy Iginla

Yup, Dion was skating on the top lines, now before you start thinking Phaneuf is going to be a full time forward, by moving one defenseman up front it gives you an even number of lines and pairs of defensemen. That said Dion saw some time upfront in the game last night and didn’t look out of place. Mike Keenan also told us early in training camp that he likes to experiment.

I don’t like making predictions but I will make one, I think McElhinney will play versus St.Louis on Sunday.

The Flames have recalled forward Dustin Boyd from Quad City, I am sure he will play tonight; it is a little strange that there has been a lot of talk about this team being too old. Actually if I were to bet the call up was made because of the volume of games the Flames play in the next 6 days.

Is it ever nice to have the Chicago Blackhawks come to town with a little buzz, the top two rookies in the line up and the team as a whole in a playoff spot (yes I know its November).

Not to oversell this game tonight, but the Calgary Flames really need to take a step forward tonight with a win. Chicago has a great road record and their special teams on the road maybe the best in the league, so this will be a challenge for the Flames. Calgary didn’t dominate Colorado on Tuesday, but really could use that kind of game against the Hawks.

Marcus Nilson is out skating in practice today, that indicates to me that he is real close to getting back into game action.

Lines for Tonight

Tanguay Lombardi Iginla
Huselius Langkow Moss
Nystrom Conroy Nolan
Boyd Yelle Goddard/Smith

Phaneuf Aucoin
Regher Sarich
Warrener Eriksson/Hale

Kiprusoff McElhinney

I have never seen this before but the Flames broke 3 panes of glass during wam up, hmmmm I wonder what it means?

Day after a weird game versus Colorado last night, you never argue with a win, especially a 4-1 victory over a rival like the Av’s. But I am hard pressed to try and define the game; it wasn’t an overwhelming effort by either team, but when 60 minutes was over the right team won the game.

Marcus Nilson skated today, which is an indication that he maybe making progress in his return from the concussion he suffered on Sunday.

Optional day for the Flames most chose to work off the ice and take a day off the rink.

The mood around the team today was good, but not overjoyed, which is a good sign; they know they need to put a streak together. I guess with everything swirling around the team over the last couple of days today is probably best described as a deep breath.

The drum beat of change can be heard around the Calgary Flames, but is it being heard within the Calgary Flames? My friend Bruce Dowbiggen wrote the story that I expected was going to be written, and should be written, questioning the way this current team has been built. Although I don’t agree with everything Bruce wrote today in the Herald, I believe it is important that the debate take place. As you are aware I get really frustrated with people who just regurgitate things they have heard from another source, I do think that the Flames will pull themselves out of this funk and get back into the race, but this of course is no guarantee, so I do think we should discuss how we got here.

I wish I had empirical data to back up my gut feeling that Calgary will turn things around, but I don’t. I guess my faith in change comes from my belief that Miikka Kiprusoff will turn his game around and lead this team back into a play off spot. But what if it doesn’t happen, does somebody have to pay a price? History says yes, but man am I getting tired of firing someone every time something goes wrong (i.e. The Calgary Stampeders).

Forgot to mention yesterday that Robin Regher practiced with the team, after missing most of the game in Vancouver with an ear injury. Talking to Regher after practice he indicated that the big concern was with the eardrum and making sure there was no damage to it. He said he didn’t get any stitches and doesn’t anticipate any further problems.

Mike Keenan was in a very surly mood on the ice during practice yesterday, and after with the media he certainly got a number of points across. To nobody’s surprise he was very critical of his teams first quarter of the season, saying that the expectations set for his team were too high based on their current performance. When I asked him about Miikka Kiprusoff’s first 20 games, he told me he didn’t have to say anything as the stats spoke for themselves. Dean and I debated it last yesterday on Sportsline, but is my belief that all of things that you have heard about Iron Mike before are playing themselves out behind close doors right now.

Lines

Tanguay Conroy Iginla
Huselius Langkow Moss
Nystrom Lombardi Nolan
Smith Yelle Goddard

Phaneuf Aucoin
Regher Sarich
Warrener Eriksson

Kiprusoff McElhinney

By the way the Calgary Flames have lost 7 in a row dating back to last year against the Colorado Avalanche.