Played hookey and treated myself to a lower-bowl seat tonight. Some random game notes for the Oilogosphere punters:
Not dressed tonight: Staios, the Kid Line, Eberle, Stortini, Brodziak, either real goalie, Plante, Gilbert, Pouliot. And Bouwmeester.
Drouin-Deslauriers's 27-saves-on-29-shots performance looks good, especially in light of him being named first star. But the Panthers didn't have many open scoring chances to speak of—both goals in regulation were junk—and JDD doesn't yet display the assurance you associate with a viable NHL goalie. I worry about his lateral movement, or I will just as soon as one of the starting tandem gets hurt.
Up the left side of the ice the most attention-getting player was Theo Peckham. The guy defines physical, he won a fight going away (Mike Duco fell down and made the mistake of trying to get up), and the crowd loves him. But he simply can't advance the puck and at times in his own end he reminds me of one of my cats trying to figure out an unfamiliar object. That said, it is hard to imagine a fan-favourite infuriator-type like this not eventually becoming a contributor. The decision-making just needs to improve, and he's still like 14 years old or something.
Up close Erik Cole radiates intelligence even more intensely. Even when he's squeezing by a defenceman along the boards, he's moving his shoulders and hips, trying to keep the guy off guard. A joy to watch. And so's Visnovsky, who is a man among boys in our D package. He passes at least as well as Pitkanen, and supposedly the Kings discouraged him from playing as physically as he wanted to in L.A., so I'm waiting for evidence that there is anything he can't do.
As other reports have attested, Schremp is flying up and down the ice, but there's still that curious lack of aggressiveness. The team wanted him to get faster, and he went out and did it: you have to respect that. But has it actually made him any more useful as a player?
Also confirmed: Taylor Chorney's not ready to think the game at NHL speed, but the tools are there. Seems like he could still develop into any D role you can imagine. He's a stem cell.
Liam Reddox is still working his ass off, which earned him the Oilers' second goal on a rebound not long after he got boarded and had to have his head stitched up. Unfortunately, God may just have cast him in this role for good—as a hard-luck kid who enjoys intermittent success.
Hemsky had an off night and still managed to be Hemsky at least once. Playing PP on the first goal, he took a diagonal feed from Horcoff, threw two distinct fakes at the Florida penalty kill within about a second to successfully distort the PK box, and mailed the disc back to an unguarded Horc for the seeing-eye one-timer. (Did you know that the Italians call a puck a "disco"? Truth.) About 35 of those during the regular season would be nice.
Sorry, no photos. I tested Rexall's formerly-haphazard camera policy, and they're now impounding all SLR cameras indiscriminately. (The explicit rule is against "professional cameras", but good luck pleading that you have an entry-level DSLR with lenses that would probably be doorstops in a pro's household.) However, if you want to take shitty photos of the Oirasu or your buddies with the pinhole camera on your cell phone, and it seems you do, that's still permitted.
Comments (7)
I suggest bringing your camera to the next game and when security comes beginning to yell "DO YOU KNOW WHO I AM?" at the top of your lungs. Bonus points if you can find an excuse to stuff one of those National Post editorial pages with the bad line-art portrait in your pocket.
Posted by Lord Bob | September 25, 2008 11:21 AM
Posted on September 25, 2008 11:21
The problem is, there is nothing on earth to stop anyone from saying "No, I don't know who you are."
Posted by Colby Cosh | September 25, 2008 12:24 PM
Posted on September 25, 2008 12:24
This guy could probably get away with it. Looks like he shoots Canon, too! "We're sorry, sir, your flash diffuser clearly indicates that you intend to take professional-quality photographs."
Posted by Colby Cosh | September 25, 2008 12:51 PM
Posted on September 25, 2008 12:51
Thing is, most entry-level lenses now run circles around what pros had in their bags thirty years ago.
In any case, simply tell security that you need the camera to photograph any Nazi graffiti you find in the stalls of the men's washroom.
Posted by Sean | September 28, 2008 2:00 PM
Posted on September 28, 2008 14:00
I assume that lenses have improved in chromatic correction and the manufacturing quality of the moving parts generally. I don't know about other respects.
Posted by Colby Cosh | September 28, 2008 2:59 PM
Posted on September 28, 2008 14:59
Actually, I don't know if lenses have improved much at all in terms of imaging.
APS-size sensors have driven a generation of lenses that are smaller, and I think Colby's right about the colour thing, but I don't think there's any new super-lenses that are obviously superior to modern stuff.
Autofocus and autoexposure are clear benefits, but in many cases those features have been added to optical designs that did not change at all.
Also, sports-length zooms are not the hot end of the market right now, because most lens designers are concentrating on the extra-wide lenses needed by APS DSLRs to compensate for their effective "zoom" relative to 35mm SLRs.
The cheater's solution to your camera problem is to buy one of the better compacts (the pricier sort of Panasonic Lumix cameras stand out for not looking like they're sporting enormous zoom lenses even though they are).
Posted by Ryan Cousineau | September 29, 2008 4:28 PM
Posted on September 29, 2008 16:28
Well, now I'm just resentful. The arena-legal Lumix FZ50 stretches to the equivalent of 420mm at f2.8 (!), which would do the job fine even if you were back on the terrace, plus you get Leica glass and image stabilization. And the camera runs $500. Meanwhile I get screwed with an $1,800 kit (sans IS) that can't go past 210mm/f4, just because I have lenses that twist off. So "prosumer" means "sucker", then?
It's a clever solution, anyway. Pardon me while I talk to Google in its native tongue: hockey game photograph sports basketball fool trick delude evade security policy asshole arena coliseum anti-SLR insanity they made me leave my camera with a nice old lady at guest services lubyanka gestapo stasi police state
Posted by Colby Cosh | September 29, 2008 5:12 PM
Posted on September 29, 2008 17:12