IPB Blogging Questionnaire: Forechecker Edition

We’ve discovered another blogger has answered the IPB Blogging Questionnaire. In this case, though, it’s not just any blogger — it’s Forechecker, the brains behind the preeminent stats analysis hockey blog, On the Forecheck. On the Forecheck was one of the first blogs that drew us in, thanks to the unique approach Forechecker took; it was just so much more lively and engaging (and needless to say, so much more in-depth) than the analysis we’d been used to from the MSM hockey sources. We are very pleased to present his answers here, but you can also read them at his blog.

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A Holiday-Themed Programming Alert

IPB is going on radio silence for two days here in order to celebrate the holiday. We’d like to wish everyone a Merry Christmas, and to our friends who aren’t celebrating anything this Monday and Tuesday, we’re so sorry you have two days without hockey for no good reason! We’ll be back in full swing on Wednesday. In the meantime please enjoy this picture of Santa (as depicted in felt and sequins by Boomer, circa at least 30 years ago) and this residual “woo!” from last night’s big Devils win: WOOOO!!!

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Devils @ Flames, 12/23/07

For some reason we thought this game was scheduled to start an hour later than it was. Thank heavens MSG decided for the thousandth time this season to interview Brandon Dubinsky during the first intermission of the Rangers-Senators game, or we never would have gone to peruse the guide to see what else was on and notice the correct start time for this one. So there you go – something the Rangers are good for. Namely: driving a hockey fan to desperately change channels in search of something, anything less heinous to watch.

Steve opens the broadcast by telling us all about how this is Sutter v. Sutter tonight, and oh by the way, Zach’s out with the flu. Pookie: “We’re losing tonight.”

FIRST PERIOD

19:44 Filling in this evening for Zach on the Popper line is… Rod Pelley. While we love Pelley, he is not quite as interchangeable with Zach as maybe we’d like in this situation.

19:13 We’d be remiss if we didn’t mention that the picture tonight is surprisingly good for a coming-from-Calgary feed. The sound, though, is really bizarre, and sounds like the crowd noise is being piped in through a long metal tube.

19:06 Madden carries the puck up the wing on a three-on-two, and shoots way wide.

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A Holiday-Themed Pre-Game Prediction

For those of you wondering how tomorrow’s Devils-Flames game will go, we offer you this pictoral essay.

The part of the New Jersey Devils will be played by Favre the cat.

The part of the Calgary Flames will be played by this tiny glass Christmas tree ornament filled with white “snow”.

When the two go head to head, the only possible outcome is this:

Tune in tomorrow for a game diary of this exciting, snowman-shattering, Flames-crunching action.

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IPB Blogging Questionnaire: Sherry Edition

The 20th response to the IPB Blogging Questionnaire has rolled in, this time from one IPB’s earliest blog influences, Sherry at Scarlett Ice. As one of the goddesses of HLOG, Sherry knows a thing or two about blogging, and as a student of marketing, she brings a unique perspective to some of the questions. We’re pleased to present her answers here, but you may also read them at her blog.

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Devils @ Edmonton, 12/21/07

Having completely suppressed all memories of the Devils’ last game, tonight we head out to Edmonton. We’re feeling warm-hearted toward this fine Canadian city after all the nice things Lowetide pointed about our home state today. Our broadcast opens with a promise from Steve that the Oilers’ building is packed with Sutters this evening, and then he threatens us with a two-part interview with Brent Sutter during the intermissions. *Shudder*

Doc and Chico report to us that the ex-Devil of note on the other team’s roster tonight is, of course, Sheldon Souray. The give us the delightful news that Sheldon specifically asked them to wish a happy holiday to the people “back east”, and then add the totally unsurprising news that Oilers fans were super-excited when they found out Shellie had signed with their team, but have been disappointed by the fact that he brought his injury problems to Edmonton with him.

Wait, were we at all hopeful that something good might come of this game? We aren’t anymore, after Steve tells us the lines Sutter invented for tonight are Zubrus-Elias-Clarkson, Parise-Zajac-Gionta, Brylin-Madden-Langenbrunner, and Pelley and Asham as the loose parts. Steve conjectures the dreadfully slumping Patty and Gio might figure their shit out this way; we conjecture that they might figure their shit out if they get put back on the really effective line of them and Zach again. This is like the rookie player spazzing out and trying to do too much on the ice while playing for the first time in front of friends and family, except the head coaching version. On D, Brookbank’s out, Oduya and Greener are in. We adjust our expectations accordingly.

FIRST PERIOD

19:35 We hate that the cameras are on the same side of the ice as the benches in Edmonton. But we’ll at least be big enough to say that the picture, normally wretched, is not as bad as anticipated.

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Sometimes The Officials Get It Right

We are like every other hockey fan in that we spend a lot of time bitching that the officials never do anything right. We’re always ready to heap scorn and outrage on some hard-working referee after we get to review his every call in excruciating detail and from multiple angles. So we’d like to take a moment now to appreciate a call made in this evening’s Bruins-Penguins game.

We were in the middle of dinner, up to our elbows in chicken tacos, when our attention was drawn to the TV by the quivering excitement in Bob Errey’s voice. It seemed that Georges Laraque and Zdeno Chara were squaring off to fight, and Errey squealed that this was the bout he’d been looking forward to for weeks. And so the two behemoths struck ye olde boxing poses, and spent a long moment sizing each other up while the officials swept their discarded gloves aside. Then they spent another long moment waving their fists at each other in what they surely thought was a menacing manner. Then they spent another long moment bobbing and weaving in nearly imperceptible, spastic torso fakes. Then they spent another long moment waggling their eyebrows at each other as if to say, “Wanna go? Let us earn our keep by our fists like men!” Then they spent another long moment wondering if they’d turned off their stoves before leaving home. Then they spent another long moment clenching their fists into ever more imposing weapons of flesh. Then they spent another long moment whipping out the financial pages of the local newspapers and reviewing their stock portfolios. Then they spent another long moment waiting for the airplanes passing overhead so the noise would not be a distraction.

What we’re saying is that they spent ages wasting time posturing like a couple of preening, pantywaisted peacocks on parade.

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