Seen Stephan?

Remember ol’ Tobias Stephan, 08-09’s backup goalie?  The one who was a complete failure because no one believed in him?

Well, in the off-season he signed with a team in the Swiss league and we’ve heard virtually nothing since then.

Until now.

Read the translated story here.  Or watch the YouTube down below:

So not his fault.

Blame Marek Malik.

You Gotta Be Joke-inen: The Early Birthday Post

Hey, I gotta say something super important.  Tomorrow is Jussi Jokinen’s birthday.  On  April Fool’s Day.

Happy (early) birthday, Juicy, you shootout assassin.

Just saying.

Ahem, onto the Stars…the Stars play the Sharks tonight.  I’d love to see them win, but let’s face it: this season is O-V-E-R.  I’d hate to see them go for the high draft pick.  I just hate seeing them lose, no matter the results.  It’d be nice to know that my team is somewhat dignified like that.

Prediction: 4-2 Stars.  We always play pretty well against the Sharks.  Goals by Brad Richards, Mike Ribeiro, James Neal, and Loui Eriksson.

Let’s kick some ice.

Go Stars!

Playoffs? Who Needs ‘Em?

Yeah, that’s my sad attempt to feel better about the Stars not making it…again.  But you know, whatever.  I have some reasons why this isn’t the worst thing ever.  My belief is that there is ALWAYS a silver lining.

So, I give you my reasons why the Stars not being in the playoffs isn’t the end of the world:

1. You don’t have to stress over how the Stars are doing in the playoffs.  Since they’re not in the playoffs,the only thing we have to worry about is who they’ll draft, free agents, etc.  I learned last postseason that that is actually a really good feeling, a welcome break from the stressful playoff runs of the past few years.

2. The opportunity to get to know other teams is worth taking.  Last year, I jumped on the Capitals bandwagon and eventually the Red Wings bandwagon.  Throughout the playoffs, I learned more and more about these teams.  They became my teams and I felt their happiness when they won and their heartbreak when they lost.  At the end of the playoffs, I could name every player on every line of those two teams.  I was a Caps fan before, but now I’m still a Wings fan.

3. We have high hopes for next season.  With the end of our second straight  playoff-less season, we once again have a lot to look forward to.  Jamie Benn.  Tom Wandell.  More James Neal and Loui Eriksson.  Kari Lehtonen.  These kids will continue to grow and impress us all.  Besides, next season hasn’t even started.  We can hope all we want to.  It’s a fresh start.

4. They don’t have high hopes for us next season.  They being the media and the so-called “experts.”  They won’t expect anything great from the Stars.  We’ll either wallow in a pit of misery like they expect us to, or we’ll have an amazing season that makes them go, “Wow.  How about them Stars?”  It’s a no-lose situation.

Guys, this is, like, a new beginning.  Like in that song, “Second Chance” by Shinedown: Sometimes good-bye’s a second chance…

You’d better like it.

Go Stars!

Links…

I have some random links and thoughts that just don’t justify a post, so here we go:

First off, Allan Muir of SI wrote a heartbreaking article about Mike Modano.  It’s heartbreaking because it brought tears to my eyes.  Although, honestly, EVERY Modano ‘end of an era’ article makes me about to cry.   I just hate that his is probably his last season.  It kills me.  Read it here.  Watch for the Patrik Stefan reference.

Next, an excellent article about my favorite superstar in the NHL, Alex Ovechkin.  It’s written from the Pittsburgh media’s point of view.

I like the quote from Nicky (Backstrom):

He always gives money from his pocket to homeless people – every time – when we are going to a restaurant or walking to practice. Did you know that?  Nobody tells that story, and I’ll show you why.  Ask him about it

Nick’s a good kid, defending Ovie like that.  He can’t be thaat bad, right?  Of course, Sidney Crosby probably says simialr things about Matt Cooke to anyone who will listen. 

Read the rest here.

Mike Ribeiro will not play in tonight’s game because he missed a team meeting today.  Heika says Ribs will be a healthy scratch tonight.   Ribs is such a punk, but I love him. 😛

Should be a good game tonight.

Go Stars!

Ponder This…

Kari Lehtonen has allowed two goals on the last 65 shots he’s faced.  Besides, the little blemish of the 4-goals-on-29-shots debacle, he’s been extremely solid.

In five games, he has allowed 11 goals on 170 shots.

Uhm, that’s pretty much amazing.

Kari has been playing out of his mind right now.  I can see why we made that trade and how it’s paying off now.  Just think how different the season could have been had Turco not been the starter at the beginning.  Kari Lehtonen has showed us that the Turco era is SO over in Dallas.   I want Lehtonen to be the new starter.

For those naysayers, the stats don’t lie.

Lehtonen is the future.  You’d better believe it.

Jersey Swap

It’s been announced that the Stars will swap their road and third jersies for next season.  Needless, to say, I’m not too pumped about that.  I hated the white alternate sweater when it came out and I still do.  It’s not as classy and smooth as the home one.  It’s just boring.  Plus, I love, love, loke the current road jersey.  I mean, at least it still has the REAL logo on the front.  And I like those cute little Texas patches on the sleeve.  Like, I really, really love them.

It’s so sad.  I just wanted to ditch that awful alternate and now it’s the new road jersey.  Gah.

Oh well.

Hey, speaking of Stars jersies, anyone in favor of bringing back the Mooterus?  It’s sooooo retro.

Fun With Anagrams

I was recently exposed to this amazing site that changes names to anagrams. It’s pretty awsome.

Here are some Stars and hockey-related anagrams:

The League Finally Gets It Right

The NHL has suspended James Wisniewski eight games for his hit on Brent Seabrook the other night.  I just wanted to say that Wisniewski completely deserved it.  See for yourself:

I think he’s selling it

That has got to be one of the worst things I’ve ever heard an announcer say.   Shame on Brian Hayward.   That was just horrible of him to say.  The way Seabrook went down was disgusting. 

Wisniewski is a dirtball and that was a dirtball hit.  Think about it: Wisniewski is a defender, and he comes in from the blueline well ahead of speedster, Teemu Selanne.  What does that tell you?

Seabrook himself had had a questionable hit on Corey Perry, but that was nothing compared to Wisniewski’s.  He deserved all eight games.

Thank you, NHL for finally getting it right.

 

We Made Some Shark Stew

It doesn’t get much better than an 8-2 win over the top team in the West, the Sharks.  I always love playing the Sharks…they really bring out the best in the Stars.

First of all, Kari Lehtonen was amazing.  That loss against Pittsburgh didn’t count as the Pens have always had their way with the Stars.  If he plays like he did last night, this may very well spell the end of the Turco era in Dallas.  He faced a whopping 46 shots!  Atta kid, Kari. 🙂

Brenden Morrow always seems to end Evgeni Nabokov’s night, doesn’t he? 😛 Was it “Olympic” Morrow or was he just doing his thing against the Sharks?  Stay tuned…

Can I just say how ridiculous Robi’s boarding major was?  Clowe’s a dirtbag and he should have been called for interference earlier in the game, but the refs ignored it.  I very much hope that Robi’s not suspended.  It would be as stupid as the favoritism showed toward Matt Cooke.

Did you know that the Stars haven’t scored two shorties in a game since November 2002?  That’s crazy.

I don’t really know what else to say about the game. It’s shocking when the Stars score eight goals in a game, let alone eight goals in a game against the Sharks.

These sort of games make me so, so, so, so happy.  I know that the Stars are pretty much out of the playoffs, but I can’t stand watching them lose.

What A Joke

Why does the NHL have to epically fail every time they must take disciplinary action on someone? 

Cases in point:

Alex Ovechkin- I’m a huge fan of Ovie and I’ll try to be as impartial as I can, but there’s no guarantees here.  The league suspended Ovie for two games for breaking Brian Campbell.  I personally don’t believe that he was trying to injure Campbell, but it happened and Ovie’s paying the price for it.

To me, it wasn’t dirty.  Ovechkin is a reckless rebel.  He sometimes gets carried away and too forcefully passionate.  While watching the game, I saw the hit and just had a horrible feeling that Ovie would get suspended.

Verdict: reckless and dangerous and definitely not dirty, but the league made the right call.

Steve Downie- To put it bluntly, I hate Sidney Crosby.  However, this was a dirty, dirty hit.  Downie is a repeat offender and a dirtbag.  Guess what his punishment was?  A fine.  What bemuses me about this one is that this was Bettman’s boy who was the victim…I’m just surprised Downie didn’t get, like, a lifetime ban.  Seriously, though, I didn’t like the way Crosby fell.  He’s lucky he’s alright.

Verdict:  dirty all the way…Sid didn’t even have to dive on that one, it was so dirty.  The NHL got this one wrong

Matt Cooke- This is the one that really makes me angry.  Cooke is a repeat offender who deliberately tried to injure Boston’s star player.  It was obviously dirty and yet the league didn’t suspend him.  Oh sure, it’s not technically illegal, but that shouldn’t matter when the intent to injure was there.

Verdict: dirty, dirty, dirty, dirty, DIRTY.  Completely wrong call by the league.