Ottawa vs Pittsburgh LIVE blog

We going live baby!!

6:47 – I am a bit nervous, this live stuff is kinda anxiety building. The deal here is that I will watch the Ottawa game and type in my observations live, live, LIVE as they happen!!

I stole the idea from the Sports Guy Bill Simmons, but I am sure he stole it from
someone else, whatever, I am not sure I will be able to top the live blogs going on at nhl.com where they have such luminaries such as the guy from the TV show ‘Bones’ doing playoff blogs all being hosted by Christie Brinkley.

( I would have loved to be in that meeting in some café in NYC – the hockey epicenter, the very soul of the sport)
- ‘yeah uh, who do you think we could get to host the whole deal and stay within budget?
- What about Christie Brinkley?
- Call her agent, see if she will do it for $40 000, if he says yes lets get this thing committed to paper’
Was Boy George busy? Did anyone try to get Dan Rather? He has some free time…


6:54
I haven’t turned to TSN yet. I am a little scared to go there as I caught a bit of their 72 hr marathon of pre playoff coverage – I think they went from the trade deadline overkill straight into playoff hype. I think I saw a monkey making picks on TSN. I also saw a benobo chimp making picks. I guess the monkey was allowed some time away from his handler Belinda Stronach. How they got the suit over it’s massive head I will never know…

6:58
The weather woman on CBC is calling for snow and freezing rain. Wow, we are getting hockey weather with the playoffs…

6:59
Just cracked a beverage. I didn’t want to get all sloppy so I picked Pabst as my beverage for the evening. Pabst should change their tag line to ‘Yes. It’s supposed to taste like that.’ Somehow I don’t think they will be going down very quickly…

7:00
Ok. They went ahead any way. I was concerned that without the Leafs and the Habs, they might have canceled the playoffs, but they decided to go ahead. Great, I was a bit worried.

7:01 CBC’ opening montage has a bunch of highlights – goals, hits, plays, - what no fights? Ottawa native Katherine Edwards singing ‘I got moves you never seen..’ nice work CBC..

7:02
Dun da dun da dah, Dun da dun da dah !!!!!!!
7:03
Ron McLean opens and goes to Elliot Freidman in Ottawa.
Freidman still has the ‘I can’t believe I get paid for this’ look in his eyes on camera. He says Ottawa coach Bryan Murray will let Spezza cover Crosby. Anyone with Crosby in their playoff pool just made some money.

7:07
Camera panned on Sidney Crosby while that hockey Mountie sings the American anthem. He. Looks. PSYCHED.
They won’t be able to stop him tonight. Just a small prediction.

7:09
Alfredsson looks like a small town drifter with that buzzcut

7:10
Mountie dude does that pull the hanky out of his pocket and rev the crowd up thing that he does while singing the Canadian anthem. The crowd seems less than enthused. Maybe they saw Crosby on the big screen. Once again, he will be unstoppable.

7:11
Bob Cole puts his dulcet baritone to the play by play duties, and Neale his able colour guy. I love Cole and Neale, but the truth is these guys needs spotters. They are 105 and 101 years old. Thy couldn’t see a train coming towards them. They need help on the replays. I’ll do it.

7:13
Fleury is overplaying the angles and got beat. He is letting rebounds go all over the place.
Comrie scores 1-0 Ottawa.

7:14
Now the Ottawa crowd is into it. They start the ‘Fleuuuuury, Fleuuury chant!”

7:15
Not Harry Neale doing colour, but one of the fifty former goalies doing hockey commentary - Greg Millen.

7;16
Mesaros holds Stall and Pitt catches a break.

7:18
Fleury stops a shorthanded 2 on 1 with a through the crease side to side save.

7:19
Hoff calls to call out Pittsburgh coach Therrien. “Why doesn’t he have Roberts and Recchi start the game so the kids get a chance to lose the pressure jitters?” Good point.

7:21
Ottawa scores again. I think I jinxed Crosby. Fleury looks like as jittery as a deer in a shopping mall. We will see Thibault soon I think….

7:23
Cut to Mario in a trillion dollar suit in his owners box. Yeah he probably would help here…

7:24
9 shots for Ottawa. 2 for Pittsburgh.

7:25
Fleury holds on to his first rebound of the night. Two goals too late..

7:30
Ottawa power play. Double penalty. I think the question is when will Ottawa score on this power play not if. …

7:32
Hey Pittsburgh might just get through this…

7:33
Fleury holds onto anther rebound. Glory be..

7:34
And another rebound held. The tide be turning billy!!!

7:35
Fleury just made about four big time saves in a row. Sure his defenseman made one of them but…
Shots are 15 to 3 for Ottawa.

7:36
Gary Roberts draws a penalty. Can Pitt follow through? Nice first period so far.

7:41
Another Ottawa penalty, Pitt has them on their heels a bit now.

Just saw the massive VIAGRA ad in front of the Ottawa bench. I don’t want to be crude, but, if ever a team needed ‘stiffening up’ in the chase for the big prize, Ottawa is it..

7:45
The glass on the boards has to be changed and the rink crew comes on the ice to change it. They are all wearing helmets. Thanks Insurance industry. Say a hello to your cousin 'irresponsible litigation' for me will you?

7:46
Pitt penalty. Every play ends with one player or another gesturing to the ref protesting their innocence or complaining about a missed call. We need the 'no crying to the ref' rule in hockey . Call it hockeys version of the Rasheed Wallace rule. We will all be the better for it…

7:50
Pitt looking good killing yet another 5 on three penalty kill. U
h, Mr Bettman? Mr Campbell? Two 5 on threes in one period sucks the life out of Playoff hockey. I will just write a letter to you or send a quiet email.
Don cherry is about to go ballistic during his three minutes of slobber over this.

7:53
Coaches Corner
Hockeys John Madden credits Ottawa’s lead to ‘playin smart. Thanks for the detail Don.
Ron baits Don with a penalty question. Ron is such an enabler. If I was a functioning drug addict, I would ask for Ron McLean as my partner.
Cherry spends half the time talking about the Leafs. A team that didn’t make the playoffs.
Blue Blood folks, what can I say?

7:58
TSN here we go!!!
Let the screaming begin!! HELLO PIERRE McGUIRE!!!
Nashville vs San Jose Cheechoo vs Too Too!!

8:03
TSN has an in studio playoff desk with James Duthy, Darren Pang, Jeremy Roenick - and his massive head - , and Bob McDonald. Can you have a hockey panel with only one ex goaltender? Did the Hockey broadcast union know about this?

8:06
I like that funny Casino Rama commercial – “we showed people what excitement was”. Plus it stars the current Canadian commercial champ. She of the 5 national commercials at the same time my agent is kicking ass actress/champ. Don’t know her name but she is a redhead with that husky halting Brittany Murphy voice. She is my minor celebrity crush right now. She got some moxie.

8:10
San Jose/Nashville
Anthems playing. Players a rocking. Lets get it on!! Is there anything that gets your inner fan going better that the side to side tension release rocking by Hockey Players during the anthems at the start of the game?..

8:11
Don’t know who is calling the game but he is no Bob Cole. Oh great Pierre McGuire is doing colour. And our first penalty two minutes into the game.… I sense a theme here.
Back to Ottawa.

8:13
I need picture in picture.

8:17
First close up of Nashville coach Barry Trotz. I’m speechless. Only Claude ‘bobo the clown’ Julien looked more comical behind the bench. I am reminded of a Prehistoric Stegosaurus. Back to Ottawa.

8;21
Both teams settled down a bit. This is going to turn into a wait until the Power play type of game.
George Laraque sighting!!! Everyone drink!

8;24
98 year old Mark Recchi cycles down low for about an hour and skates through three or four crunching checks into the boards. Someone sneezes near Malkin and he falls…..


8;26
1-0 San Jose! Carle scored? I need Picture in Picture!!!

8:27
Greg Millen does a nice job explaining how the Pens kept the pressure on during the last shift. See Pierre? He didn’t scream or gush once! It can be done…

8:29
Staal, Malkin and Crosby. Zero shots on goal…

8:35
Preissing scores over Fleury’s shoulder. Perfect shot. Even though Fleury has been rushing about halfway to the blueline to cut down angles, Preissing picks the corner.

8:41
Staal gets a junk goal. Maybe Pittsburgh can make this close? You’ll never convince me that Staal doesn’t deserve the Calder over Malkin..

8;49
After two periods Ottawa has the Pens in almost every area. Where the hell is Malkin? I jinxed Crosby I am sure of it. This game has turned into a penalty fest. See leaf fans, It isn’t just Kerry Fraser.

8;53
HotStove!! They could not make this any less exciting. Even the commentators look bored. Someone needs to check Harry Neale for a pulse.
Stirring observation, they feel that Martin Brodeur will be a factor in the series against Tampa bay. You can’t buy that type of riveting analysis anywhere else folks ..

9:04
Nine seconds into the third, Heatly ices this game. Fleury lets another rebound free. Therrien should have pulled Fleury after the two goals. Mario Lemieux needs a real coach next year..

9:05
Five seconds later. Um. Funny thing happened. Crosby kicks it in. Millen hasn’t caught it yet. The ‘goal’ is under review.

9:07
Still waiting.

9:08
Still waiting. They are reviewing this in Toronto at the League officiating office. The rest of Canada must love that.

9:08:30
Goal is disallowed. Why didn’t they just call me? I told you they need a spotter in the booth. As long as the commentators are going to continue to average around 79 years of age, they need someone who can see without his progressive lenses…

9:14
Ottawa slowing the game down to a crawl. Icing. Icing. Long shot. Icing. Time for Mr Blue Ribbon again..

9:14:30
San Jose and Nashville are tied at 2.

9:17
Ottawa. Icing.

9:19
Breakaway goal by Neil. 5-1 Ottawa. Good thing my Crosby prediction isn’t making me look like a fool. Wait a second…..

9;23
Ottawa has been abusing Pittsburgh with their transition game. The Sens go on the attack in a blink.

9:24
Comrie scores. 6-1 Sens. Therrien? Pull Fleury now? Maybe? Whadaya think?

9:25
Crosby on the bench in Pain. It couldn’t possibly go any worse for Pittsburgh. Does Malkin still play for Pittsburgh??

9:27
George Laraque sighting!! Everybody drink!!

9:30
Finally Therrien lets Fleury out of the shooting gallery…
Thibault!! Now here comes the inevitable ‘late in the game and we are getting smoked’ scrum.

9:32
Eight minutes left. This game was done a while ago. Eight minutes to let the Refs shine!!

9:33
Gonchar scores on a 5 on 3 power play. Talk about garbage time. At least there is some genuine animosity building between the two teams. Any team that plays Ottawa eventually comes to hate them.
They wait till they have a big lead then start pasting everyone into the boards. They have pests in Fisher and Neil, and another in Swedish veteran pest Alfredsson. They boo your best player regardless if he is a decent guy or a mope. And the team is famous for falling short in the end. They never met a blowout they weren’t willing to pad with empty net goals. Ottawa is the biggest small town in Canada. If you play Ottawa more than once it is a virtual lock that you will begin to despise them…. Just saying….

9:47
Mercifully Crosby scores his first ever playoff goal. The Ottawa crowd boos. Don't wanna say i told you so….

9:47:50
Meaningless end of game scrum #38.

9:52
George Laraque sighting!! Everybody drink!!

9:52:35
Game over.
Pittsburgh is lucky they have an extra day before they have to play again. Ottawa smoked them. The only thing I saw Pittsburgh do well was that their Power Play had nice puck and player movement. No good scoring opportunities, just movement.
Will Malkin show up for the next game? Did he miss the filght? Will Therrien open the next game with Veterans, or will he throw his kids to the wolves again.

Whew! I wonder if this was good enough for Christie Brinkley???