For you fan club members here is a BONUS CODE: CHAMPIONS (expires Oct 20th at midnight)!
Got an e-mail from Wayne Fleming earlier today, one that he sent out to everybody who had sent him an e-mail after the tragedy earlier in the week in Omsk. I want to just share a bit of it with you, quite honestly it is quite an emotional read.
“Alexey Cherepanov (19 years ) was one of the finest & definitely one of the most talented young men (perhaps the most talented) I have ever coached. He was the complete package, very mature for his age, very respectful of his teammates, staff and everyone around him and always had a great little grin on his face. He was truly Omsk’s favorite son.
The team has taken it very hard & obviously some harder than others. The impact of what has happened has devastated a city, a state & a country.”
A little bit of what has been like for former Flames Coach Wayne Fleming this past week. Wayne did say later on in the e-mail that at no time did he question why he was over there, that’s good; I can only imagine how hard it is to be in a foreign country dealing with a tragedy.
The morning skate is a little different today, bulk of the players can out early with Nystrom and Primeau wearing white jerseys as opposed to the black uniforms traditionally worn by everybody on game day. A bunch of players practiced the power play for about 15 minutes with Nystrom and Primeau acting as penalty killers. The main group hit the ice at 10:30 and everybody switched back and the media was a little less puzzled with everybody back wearing the same color.
Looks like Kiprusoff will play tonight and as it was pointed out to me by another member of the local 5th estate it wouldn’t be that surprising to see him play tomorrow as well. The Flames don’t play a lot in October, divisional game, and he may need to play out of his funk.
Lines
Bertuzzi Langkow Iginla
Cammalleri Lombardi Bourque
Glencross Conroy Moss
Roy Primeau Prust
Pardy Boyd Nystrom
Vandermeer Phaneuf
Giordano Sarich
Regehr Aucoin
Kiprusoff
McElhinney
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08-09 regular season prediction:
- robJarome Iginla plants Sean Avery so deep into the boards that he looks just like one of those little monkeys on the TELUS ads.
Robbie, I was one of Keenan’s biggest supporters last year. I always gave him the benefit of the doubt. However, I can’t help but think he has done a really sub-par job behind the bench so far this season. It’s almost like his heart isn’t into it. And it’s a bit sad, considering the job Sutter did this off-season, which by all accounts was a pretty well played game of roster chess. But some basic coaching fundamentals just are not being applied, and it’s a bit sad.
Oh well, it’s early yet I guess.
- EricWhy are Conroy and Primeau playing? Give the kids a chance, Nystrom and Prust should be playing every game. Here are my line combo’s:
Glencross-Bertuzzi-Iginla
Nystrom-Cammalleri-Langkow
Bourque-Lombardi-Moss
Prust-Boyd-Roy
Give the kids a chance and play them lots!!!!!!
- AA