Last game you've seen live?

[Lidas]

I havnt seen a live game since I moved to Japan (2 years ago)

Going back home for the first time in December, and planning to see Vasteras - Leksand then.
Hoping that Vasteras scores several times behind Belfour!

[Shadd666]

Yesterday night was the first round of the French Cup, and the Toulouse Bélougas (Division 2) were facing their rivals of the Bordeaux Boxers (Division 1) for a classical Battle Of The Garonne. We already faced the Boxers in the pre-season games, and had a 0-6 loss, so everyone knew there was very few chances for us to skate away with the win.

After his solid performance last week againt the Brest Albatros, Raphael Vincent was in net again for the Bélougas.

The first period showed the big weaknesses of Toulouse. They can't skate, can't pass, can't stickhandle, lack some offensive creativity, and lack discipline. Impossible to attack this way, and we took 4 penalties, including 3 very stupid ones. Fortunately, the team works hard defensively and play with big heart. Vincent made a couple of big saves to keep his net clean and the period ended with no goal from either side. The shots were something around 10-1 for the Boxers. What surprised me is the way we played without the puck in the neutral zone. We were slighlty dominating Bordeaux physically (which was a big surprise as we're a fairly small team with not that much strength), but instead of forcing the opposition to go along the boards and crush them easily in the corners, we were challenging them frontaly while they were at full speed, and the Boxers forwards easily put us out of position and entered the zone. Yeah, once again, we're just an amateur team...

In the second period, the Bélougas pleased the crowd by taking the lead. If we don't know how to create offense at even strength, we have a strong powerplay (over 30% last season) and fortunately used it, as it's our only offensive asset. Bordeaux took their first two penalties of the game early in the second bracket, resulting in a 5-on-3 situation for the Bélougas. At 26:23, Terry Prunier found player/coach Benoit Pourtanel, who delivered a big shot to beat Xavier Chatelin and open the score. The crowd of about 600 people started to think about a miracle. And we thought of it harder less than one minute later, when newcomer Martin Serra found the net on the 5-on-4 powerplay, assisted by Jeremy Pradel (another new signing) and Dominique Blondin. 2-0 Toulouse, while we were obviously dominated. Unfortunately, we started again to take bad penalties, and the Boxers came back on a 5-on-3 situation by Gautier Lafrancesca just 2 minutes after our second goal. Lafrancesca scored again another 2 minutes later on a weak shoot that Vincent should have stopped easily. All our efforts were downed in just 4 minutes, and the team took a hit moraly. As a result, a very bad pass on the powerplay was intercepted by Lafrancesca (again!), who sent Jérôme Patard beat Vincent all alone on a breakaway after a nice deck. That's 5 goals scored in just 8 minutes of play, and 3 goals allowed in less than 5 minutes. Nothing else was scored in the period, end the teams went back to the locker room with a score of 3-2 for the Boxers.

Bordeaux built their win at the start of the final period, with goals from Yann Vannienwenhove (44:27) and Stephan Tartari (47:38, PP). Patard had his 4th point of the game (1+3). The Bélougas looked tired in the period, both physically and mentaly, and made tons of bad passes that aborted the offense and lead to fast counter-attacks by the Boxers. By the end of the game, Dominique Blondin gave some pleasure to the crowd by scoring our third goal of the night at 58:30 on another powerplay, assisted by Jeremy Pradel. Both are their second point of the night (1+1 for Blondin and 0+2 for Pradel). We ended with a solid 3/6 on the powerplay, but took way too many penalties to resist against a solid team of the upper division. With more discipline and a better passing game, we should have make the surprise, but finally had a logical 3-5 loss and are now eliminated of the Cup, our second elimination in the first round in a row.

That's two consecutive loss against big teams, but the boys played with heart and enthusiasm. Talent is not really there, but we don't ask that much, and the team was applaused for their efforts as the final buzzer rang. Now it's time to concentrate on the championship...and learn to make passes!

[Tasku]

And that was sports with Shadd, reporting live from the sizzling hockey action in Toulouse, France.

Next, weather by Batdad... uh oh, he looks to be on a cranky mood, must be a rainy day coming up our way. [/News anchor]

Heh... good stuff Shadd.

[CatchUp]

Nice report Shadd!

I also went to a game last night - the Vancouver Giants home opener against the Kelowna Rockets. It was a pretty cool - got to see Pat Quinn there for the Memorial Cup banner raising.

The game itself was out of hand almost right away. The Giants didn't score in the first, but ended the period up 16-0 in shots on net. In the second they came out tearing - particularly Repik - Florida scored big time drafting this kid. Repik was all over the ice and finished with 3 helpers. Giants scored 3 times in the second and ended up with 48 shots on 2 different Kelowna netminders. The poor Rockets only put 9 on Giants goalie Sexsmith - giving him a very easy shutout at home to start the season.

There were also a few good fights - all won by the Giants.

Other players I noticed had a good game:

Blum was dominant on D. I didn't see him miss a pass all night.
Evander Kane was like lightning out there and managed to score two on the Giants goals.
Spencer Machacek scored a nice shortie and was very good on the PK all night.

[batdad]

Kane used to be a real little dufus. Last year he stepped on a kid with his skate blade in major midget and was suspended for 16 games in that league, or something silly. Then the Giants had him practicing and playing a few games during that suspension.
I have heard that he has changed his attitude (and his dad has too, which is more important) and so far so good with the Giants. Who knows? Maybe the doorknobs can change their locks.

Anyway...the Giants don't even have Milan Lucic yet, and they may get a 20 year old back (Mikkelson, Franson, McArdle, or one other)...so they could get scary fast.

Big test is on Friday vs Calgary Hitmen, the #3 ranked team in the country. That will be interesting. and of course every single game vs the TIPS from Everett is always fun. Though not as fun without Constantine.

[getzlaf15]

I believe that Mikkelson and McArdle with play for Portland and Rochester respectively, not sure about Franson though, its gonna take a big effort to win the Memorial Cup again, they got lucky last year as they were only allowed to play becuase they were the hosts, lots of hockey to be played though

[batdad]

Luck you say? Luck? Come on man...that Medicine Hat Vancouver WHL final series may have been some of the best hockey I have seen in decades. Yeah, Med Hat won 1 more game in OT, but although they got to the Cup becuase they hosted...I think both the Giants and Tigers proved they were

1. Extremely equal teams.
2. The best teams in junior, and on any given night could beat each other.

As for this season..yeah it is gonna be a hell of a task to get back to the Mem Cup for them. No question. Everett, Calgary, Brandon...all awesome teams. But the G-men are pretty darn tough..should be a heck of an interesting season.

Honestly, I don't think any of those 3 will come back. The other guy is Bliznak, and since he is Canucks property there is a good chance we could see him. He would be a great fit and help to the team. Was huge in the playoffs/Mem Cup last year.

Anyway...last game I saw live was my kids team...a 3-1 loss. But twas only game 1.

[laskey 16]

Last game I've seen now would be the second, Sunday game of the NHL Premiere in London. As I'm sure you'll probably all know, it ended 4-1 to the Ducks. The Kings were awful in my opinion. It was a decent game but pretty slow and scrappy. I think the ice was pretty bad. The 02 Arena (formerly the Millenium Dome) is brilliant and not even 100% finished yet. It was my second NHL game, I saw the Toronto Maple Leafs lose to the Atlanta Thrashers a few seasons ago at the ACC. There is no comparison between the two games, I enjoyed the Leafs game far more. The game yesterday was lacking in atmosphere as nearly everyone was a neutral. I still enjoyed it but would probably only give it a 7/10.

[crosby87]

Wait a minute, having visited the ACC myself I don't think it beats anywhere for atmosphere!

[Calv]

Went to see Phoenix play Hull yesterday. Ended 3-2 to Phoenix thanks to a nice breakaway goal from Tallari late in the 3rd. Should have been more after Passmore had a couple of easy chances that he fluffed as did Tallari, Hull also have Kudrna to thank in net after he made some good saves. Phoenix had a goal ruled out after one of the Hull defencemen was pushed into his own net dislodging it, and Hull's 2nd goal was contentious after what appeared to be a hand pass.
There was a good atmosphere in the rink even though it was half empty, unsurprisingly for a Thursday night. It was a scrappy game as Hull are a physical side who are really good at breaking out and getting 3 on 2's etc...

With 1.22 to go in the 1st the power went down, and didn't come back on for almost an hour! So we were sat in the dark for a while. One of the Phoenix players strapped a torch to his helmet and skated out and took some shots and started celebrating which kept the crowd entertained for a short while

[batdad]

Some catching up for me.

Last weekend saw Grandview Steelers beat Ridge Meadows Flames (Junior B), but the best part was the scrap between a Steeler and a Flame. The Steeler player broke the helmet of the Flame with 1 punch, and then the next 7 broke his nose and cheekbone. What is amazing, is the kid is the calmest nicest guy you see...until he got called something racist, and snapped. The boy can play hockey, and wow he can sure protect himself after getting jumped.


This weekend saw:

Vancouver Giants beat the Hitmen 4-3 in a shootout. Standouts: Alzner is a force, and Evander Kane was absolutely amazing in the shootout. Other than that, the Giants really need some defense help. The d was average at best, including John Blum.

habs fans: Note that your third rounder from 2006...Mr. Ryan White from Calgary was BRUTAL. Slow and dumb, and not able to handle the puck. Maybe just a bad day..but he was terrible.

Then last nite out to antoher Jr B Steeler game against the Pt Moody Black Panthers. Steelers were horrible for 2 periods. No sign of desire from about 10 kids, and they lost to the worst team in the league 6-5. Granted Grandview did not dress 2 of their better forwards...because final cuts are coming today. Ugh. It was ugly. The one defenseman stood out again because he is soooo smart. But that was a horrid game.

[Shadd666]

Saturday night, i've been to the Jacques Raynaud arena to see another Bélougas' game. We were battling against Meudon, a very weak opponent, and couldn't expect anything else than a demolition, as they lost 0-19 against Brest, the biggest team of the division. No need to make a full coverage of the game, it has been a total demolition, with a final score of 10-0, which was the minimum expected. Thomas Picavet and Raphael Vincent easily shared the shutout. Defenseman Benoit Pourtanel had his second hat-trick of the season. Terry Prunier (D) had a goal and 2 assists. Very promising winger prospect Jeremy Pradel had a goal and an assist. He is around 16 or 17 years old i think, but already by far our best forward. He can skate, pass, stickhandle, defend, works hard everywhere on the ice... Very talented young guy (at least for a French guy ), but i doubt we'll be able to keep him on the long term. A note of fun on the Toulouse bench after Blondin, a veteran who's talking about retiring for over 5 years, missed a breakaway... Once he get back to the bench, one of his mates told him "heh, you should have beat him 2 years ago!" with a large smile Blondin finally found the net a bit later, scoring our 7th and last powerplay goal of the night.

Although there was no suspense about the issue of the game, it's good to have the job done for once, as we had two bad road games, with a 4-4 tie in Caen (after leading 4-2 just 5 minutes before the final buzzer against their young team), and a 2-4 loss in Cherbourg, a team that we should have easily beat. Our powerplay, which was struggling since the start of the season, scored 7 times. Let's hope it will remotivate the troops with the man advantage.

The only stupid moment of the night came by the end of the game, when a Meudon player insulted the ref, certainly frustrated by the score. Game misconduct. There was no need for that stupid talk. Plus, the refs did mainly a good job, although there was some mistakes here and there, but about as many mistakes on both teams, keeping things equal.

Next week, the TBHC will be in Boulogne to face the other weak opponent of the division. A strong win is expected. Then the boys will be back home for a very hard game against La Roche, certainly the second best team of the division after Brest. If we play well all game long against La Roche, we can beat them. It would be tough, but we can do it. If we don't play at our best level, it will be either a loss or a demolition. Players know it, so it's up to them...

Stay tuned!

[Iceman90]

I just got back from the Saddledome, where I watches my Flames get their asses handed to them by the Sharks.

It was my first live game in over 3 years!

[Leeman14]

I grew up in Halifax, Nova Scotia throughout the 80s and 90s. I've seen everything from the former Halifax Citadels (with Owen Nolan appearing in a game) to the Halifax Mooseheads and even the WJC a few years back.

Now living in Rimouski, Quebec, I treat myself to free tickets for the Oceanic games although I must admit that it's been a rough couple of years and the team is rebuilding. My next live game will be on Nov. 14th at the Colisee against my hometown Halifax Mooseheads.

On a side note, I've watched games at the ACC in Toronto, HSBC in Buffalo and Rexall Place in Edmonton (back in 2002). The ACC is a melting pot of fans who love or love to hate the Leafs. In Buffalo, I was (jokingly) threatened for wearing a Leafs jersey but the best arena I've ever visited had to be back in 2002 with Colorado visiting Edmonton. It was quite a game and the Edmonton faithful love their Oilers even if they're down by 4 goals.

Best game seen live: Los Angeles vs. Toronto in the 1999-2000 season. Toronto won in overtime and Steve Thomas tallied 2 goals (including the game-winner) and an assist. There's been nothing close to that for me in a long time.


Cheers,
Leeman14

[rjw8625]

Last one was Binghamton 5, Rochester 4 Sunday night. Rochester dug themselves a 5-2 hole on a couple of defensive letdowns before Clarke MacArthur led them on the a futile comeback.

THe night before I saw my alma mater RIT knock off Cornell 4-1. Great game, great atmosphere. Dueling bands!

[Shadd666]

Yesterday was a big game in French Division 2, with the Toulouse Bélougas (4th in the West division) facing the Eagles of La Roche/Yon, the 2nd seeded. After a difficult 5-4 win on the road last week against the last seeded Boulogne (thanks to a hat-trick by Pourtanel in the final 5 minutes!), the boys had to show better things against one of the strongest team of the division, with a roster full of foreign players. A game in the game between the Ribanellis brothers was also expected. Both Christophe and David Ribanelli were playing for Toulouse last season, but David gone to La Roche during the off-season.

The game started pretty well for Toulouse, who pushed hard in the opening minutes and quickly opened the score by Martin Serra at 3:11, assisted by Blondin and Pourtanel. La Roche reacted, but Raphael Vincent started is long rush of big saves to keep the score at 1-0. Both teams were playing at the same level of play, leading to a really exciting game. At 10:07, Christophe Ribanelli released a wrister that somehow went through the opposing goalie, even if it looked easy to stop. It was on a breakaway play set by Alexis Codevelle, but Christophe didn't even try to deke the goalie to make it 2-0 and open the Ribanellis battle. Taking a 2 goals lead so early was unexpected and the guys didn't manage it well, being a bit lost on the ice during a few minutes. It resulted in more pressure on Vincent and some bad penalties, allowing La Roche to cut the lead in half by Cyril Selin on a 5-on-3 situation at 12:46. The rest of the period was pretty even, and we had to wait until the end of the period to see the score change. After a bunch of penalties on both sides, we found ourselves with a 4-on-3 situation when Benoit Pourtanel re-gave us a 2 goals lead at 19:35, assisted by Terry Prunier and Dominique Blondin. So the period ended with a 3-1 lead for Toulouse, but everyone knew it would be hard, especially since the guys have difficulties to play a full game at their best level.

And after showing great things in the first period, the Bélougas started the second bracket on the worst possible way, allowing 3 goals in just 2 minutes to find themselves trailing 3-4 at 22:17! David Ribanelli scored twice, the other goal was for Etienne Paradis. Immediately, the timeout was called by Toulouse and Pourtanel re-motivated the troups. Everyone knew that we had to tie the game quickly, or it would be a loss. And at 27:55, Christophe Ribanelli lighted the lamp on the powerplay, assisted by Blondin and Prunier. Toulouse: 4 - La Roche: 4. Christophe: 2 - David: 2. The tension was there, and we started to see some bigger hits on both sides. At 33:09, a nice play by Toulouse ended with a goal from Alexis Codevelle, who already had an assist earlier in the game. He's been assisted by Christophe Ribanelli and Terry Prunier. 5-4 lead for the Bélougas. La Roche pushed a bit harder, but Vincent made solid saves to keep the lead, and nothing else was scored in the period.

The third period was dominated by nervosity, big hits, and powerplays on both sides. Bodies were flying here and there, and some players lost their nerves in the La Roche team has the clock was going down and they couldn't get one past Raphael Vincent. At about 10 minutes before the buzzer, La Roche had a huge opportunity to tie the game. Vincent was down, the rebound went on the stick of a La Roche player who shooted it high, and Vincent somehow managed to throw is leg in the sky to make an unbelievable pad save and hold this tiny one goal lead! A few minutes later, he made numerous big saves on a scramble in the slot, before putting his glove on a huge slapshot from the point. It definitely made some La Roche players loose their nerves, and two of them quickly get a 10 minutes misconduct with less than 10 minutes to play. One of them was David Ribanelli, after he thrown the stick of his brother out of the ice, being immediately booed by the whole crowd. At 58:10, a Bélougas player (don't remember who...) took a stupid penalty. The boys will have to come up big on the shorthanded if they want to win this game! Timeout for La Roche, who call their goalie back to the bench for a 6-on-4 situation. During the timeour, Pourtanel talked about the fundamentals of killing penalties (being at less than 6 feet of him, i heard everything of what he said ) and motivated everyone. A big win was close, but so far in the same time... The 800 people of the Jacques Raynaud arena (a big crowd for us ) was cheering as hard as possible, pushing the guys to do their best penalty killing job to get the win. And even with a two men advantage, La Roche couldn't take any big shot on Vincent. The boys were well positionned, blocked at least 5 shots, and the only 2 shots on the net were easily blocked by Vincent. Great 5-4 win for our little amateur team made of 100% French players against a semi-pro team full of foreign guys!

Other results of the day:
Nantes @ Caen: 6-5
Boulogne @ Meudon: 4-9
Cholet @ Brest: 3-12
Cherbourg @ Font Romeu: 3-9

Standings (after 7 games)
1. Brest: 7-0-0 ; 14pts ; 68GF ; 15GA ; 31.7% PP ; 92.6% PK
2. La Roche: 5-2-0 ; 10pts ; 43GF ; 18GA ; 29.2% PP ; 90.5% PK
3. Cholet: 5-2-0 ; 10pts ; 66GF ; 31GA ; 34.3% PP ; 82.8% PK
4. Toulouse: 4-2-1 ; 9pts ; 36GF ; 26GA ; 26.5% PP ; 79.5% PK
5. Font Romeu: 4-3-0 ; 8pts ; 39GF ; 41GA ; 27.5% PP ; 82.7% PK
6. Nantes: 3-4-0 ; 6pts ; 27GF ; 30GA ; 18.9% PP ; 78.7% PK
7. Caen : 2-3-2 ; 6pts ; 34GF ; 40GA ; 15.1% PP ; 74.3% PK
8. Meudon: 2-5-0 ; 4pts ; 23GF ; 67GA ; 15.6% PP ; 62.1% PK
9. Cherbourg: 1-5-1 ; 3pts ; 30GF ; 55GA ; 13.6% PP ; 71.3% PK
10. Boulogne: 0-7-0 ; 0pt ; 20GF ; 63GA ; 18.9% PP ; 67.7% PK

[eme]

Went to see HIFK vs SaiPa a while ago. The game itself was horrible, and I was ashamed since i took my girlfriend to her first hockey game. The game had no intensity and it ended 0-0, and HIFK took the win in the shootout, as they have done for quite a few times this year. I'm getting sick of the 2 point winnings from shootouts -_-

[Gige]

Last game was a few days ago in my hometown of reading.

[Icos]

My last game was Acroni Jesenice against Vienna Capitals in EBEL league. It was an epic game, since Vienna was in town for the first time since they eliminate us in last seasons final regular season game after penalty shootouts. Meanwhile they also took three of our last season players and last but not least, Jesenice were sitting second with one point behind Vienna on the league standings. Therefor, Jesenice were chasing place number 1 for the first time in their history (second season in EBEL league) and went into the game with 10 straight wins and (even more amazing) four consecutive shutouts. The team hadn't conceded a goal for 241 minutes. The game was a sellout, which happend second time in this season and also second time since I'm attending Jesenice games. 5000 fans expected another win, preferably with a shutout, but it turned around completely. Vienna scored in fourth minute to score a first goal against Jesenice in 244 minutes, and then they added two more in next two minutes. Jesenice coach Kim Collins took a time-out, but the team concedes again in eight minute and after 10 consecutive wins and 4 shutouts, the result was 0:4 in 8th minute. Robert Kristan was replaced in Jesenice net and the game turned around. Jesenice scored in 16th minute to get a glimmer of hope into the game and the first period ended 1:4. In the second period, Jesenice scored two shorthanded tallies to get to 3:4, but Vienna scored again in the same PP2 to get a two goal lead again. Home team pressed again and managed to tie the game at 5 till the end of the second period, then added another goal in 56th minute to get an impressive win 6:5. You can imagine the atmosphere in Podmezakla hall, after the comeback, that brought Jesenice to the top and got them eleventh consecutive win. If not, you can see it here, although it's bad quality.

Anyway, the next game I will attend live will be tomorows game against - Vienna! Meanwhile the teams played another two games, with Vienna winning both of them and Jesenice managed to get a record 12th consecutive win first and then loosing the game in Villach, which means the standings is the same as a week ago. Jesenice trailes for a point again, sitting second behind Vienna. We can expect another great, great game and hockey fest in Jesenice tomorow.

[Shadd666]

Heh heh, pretty happy crowd! And great comeback

[bigargon]

two weeks ago i saw Norfolk at Bridgeport. it was fun. my wife went with me and we had a good time. I was really curious to see the Norfolk Admirals because of the Blackhawk challenge. I was surprised to find Norfolk is no longer an minor league team for Chicago ( it the Rockford Ice Hogs, now).

the Sound Tigers kick their butts 3-0. Me and my wife are going to try to see some more Sound Tiger games this season. They have a pretty good deal of 5 games for 100$. Live hockey is alot of fun.

[Shadd666]

Saturday was another game for the Toulouse Bélougas, against top opposition as we were playing Cholet, ranked 3rd. After a disastrous 3-12 loss in Brest (the top team of the division by far), Cholet had something to prove in Toulouse, and everyone knew it would be a very tough battle.

The boys played disciplined all-night long for the 2nd consecutive game, against 2 big teams, after beating La Roche two weeks ago. That was so far the main concern of the team: play hard during 60 minutes. Let's hope they'll be able to build on those games for the future.

The scoresheet was opened pretty early, as Anthony Wagret made it 1-0 for the Bélougas at 6:29, assisted by Emmanuel Delpet. It was a very close period, where Thomas Picavet did solid saves in Toulouse's net. The only deception came from the powerplay, absolutely unable to generate anything, while it's usually one of our strength.

The second period was mostly a copy-paste of the first, exept that the score changed faster, as Alexis Codevelle made it 2-0 at 21:02, assisted by Christophe Ribanelli. Picavet made some great saves again, and the powerplay sucked again. But the essential was there: a two goals lead entering the final period, a great discipline, and a hard work of every moment everywhere on the ice, which kept Cholet into trouble, even if they were still dangerous.

The third period seen two light injuries for the Bélougas. One on a dirty play by a Cholet player, and the other when one of our guys (don't remember who) went down commited to block a shot on the penalty kill. Other than that, both teams were falling back on a solid defensive play, and the minutes gone with still a 2-0 score. But at 54:47, Anthon Wagret scored his second of the game on the powerplay, with the second assist of Emmanuel Delpet. For the first time that we managed to put our powerplay system in place, it striked and gave us a 3 goals lead with just 5 minutes on the clock. And a potential shutout for Picavet... With 3 minutes on the clock, Cholet's coach made a surprising choice by pulling is goalie for an extra-attacker. I don't think he thought about a comeback, but more about avoiding the shame of the shutout, after the shame of a 3-12 loss. And at 6-on-5, Cholet was able to keep the puck in our own zone and create a lot of offense! We could barely handle them 5-on-5, but 6-on-5 was a bit too much to handle, and we couldn't shot in the empty net. But the boys were commited defensively, and Picavet made some more nice saves to keep his shutout alive. But at 59:06, the refs allowed a penalty shot. Honestly, there was nothing to call. The puck was running free, the Toulouse's defenseman didn't even touch Cholet's forward... Really nothing. Julien Pihant starts his penalty shot, dekes, releases a wristshot, and Picavet makes the pad save! But he hit the post in his sliding save and moved the cage. The ref thought it was intentional (while it was absolutely not! just a sliding save) and therefore allowed a goal to Cholet. Brutal. But still 3-1. On the following shift, we took a stupid penalty. With a 6-on-4 situation, the pressure was too intense, and Cholet finally came back within one at 59:33 by Thomas Neveu, assisted by Romain Gentilleau and Julien Pihant. The last shift at 6-on-5 didn't produce anything, and the Bélougas finally emerged as the 3-2 winners.

Too bad that Picavet missed the shutout, but the most important was our second consecutive win against two of the best teams of the division, leading us to a solid 4th seed, trailing Cholet by just 1 point, but with one game in hand, as we couldn't play in Nantes last week (their arena was unavailable, so the game has been moved to a further date). Next week, the Bélougas will probably loose, no matter how they play, as they'll be in Brest, the unbeaten leader.

Standings:

1. Brest: 18 pts ; 9GP ; 9-0-0 ; 92GF ; 21GA
2. La Roche / Yon: 14 pts ; 9GP ; 7-2-0 ; 63GF ; 22GA
3. Cholet: 12 pts ; 9GP ; 6-3-0 ; 74GF ; 35GA
4. Toulouse: 11 pts ; 8GP ; 5-2-1 ; 39GF ; 28GA
5. Font Romeu: 8 pts ; 8GP ; 4-4-0 ; 42GF ; 51GA
6. Nantes: 8 pts ; 8GP ; 4-4-0 ; 32GF ; 31GA
7. Caen: 6 pts ; 8GP ; 2-4-2 ; 35GF ; 46GA
8. Cherbourg: 5 pts ; 9GP ; 2-6-1 ; 40GF ; 74GA
9. Meudon: 4 pts ; 9GP ; 2-7-0 ; 28GF ; 82GA
10. Boulogne: 0 pt ; 9GP ; 0-9-0 ; 25GF ; 80GA

[Shadd666]

Wow, it's been ages since my last update in this thread, even if i've seen some other games of my local team.

Tonight we were facing the 5th seeded Nantes. After an average 4-4 tie in Nantes in december, the Corsaires were coming to Toulouse.

Things started pretty early with the Bélougas scoring 3 times in the opening 5 minutes. The pace of the game was pretty slow and Toulouse didn't look that dangerous, but Nantes' goalie let some really bad rebounds that our veteran forwards benefited from. Then the refs started to target us like crazy, as we spent about 10 minutes shorthanded nearly all the time, sometimes at 3-on-5. Most of the penalties were justified though. But some were clearly not, and the refs totally forget about obvious Nantes faults. But Picavet stayed solid in Toulouse's net, even if Nantes finally found the net in the middle of the period. 20 minutes buzzer, time to have a good beer.

The second period was nearly a copy-paste of the first, exept that we scored 'only' twice, including a shorty, before seeing an ocean of penalties more or less justified that just brought the game down. Nantes scored late in the period on a 4-on4 situation, and the score was 5-2 in favor of the local team after 2 periods.

The Bélougas started the final period with their second shorthy of the night, scoring more goals than Nantes with a man down! Then another goal a few minutes later, and a mid-period answer by the visitors to seal the final score of 7-3 for Toulouse. Picavet made about 40-45 saves for Toulouse, while Nantes goalie barely made 20.

With just 2 games to be played before the end of the regular season, Toulouse has now secured the 4th spot, and are still in the battle for the 3rd. The next game will be decisive for the 3rd spot, as they'll go to Cholet, the actual third seeded, just one little point ahead. Both teams will end the regular season with an easy game, so this one in Cholet will sort it out. However, the Bélougas have absolutely no hope to win the championship and go in the upper division, but they could certainly pass a round or two.

[Sbufkle]

Last game I was at was when the Leafs played my hometown Habs a little before Christmas, Habs won!! Yay!!

The game before that was more memorable as in late October my kids rode the zamboni between the first and second period when the Bruins were in town, Habs won that one too.

I have Leaf/Habs tickets for the game Feb 7th or 10th. One of thsoe dates! lol! Actually one game is the NHL match the other is a Red Wings vs Habs oldtimers game at Bell center I have tickets to as well... I think the oldtimers is the 10th.. woudlnt make sence to have it on weeknight.

I normally go to about a dozen games a year, sometimes more, this year I have only been to 4 or 5, but should make up for it as I tend to go in latter part of season the last couple of seasons.

[Sbufkle]

Wait a minute, having visited the ACC myself I don't think it beats anywhere for atmosphere!

This is gonna get me some heat, but Ill call it as I see it!

I have seen games at the Stanpeede Corral (First ruink for algary Flames, sat only around 7,500, the Maple LEaf Gardens, ACC, Montreal Forum, Bell Center, Colisee and whatevert they call that abomination in Nashville. Saw at least 6 games in each rink except Nashville where I saw one game.

How I rank them

1-Montreal Forum (BY A MILE)

A Tie For second

2-Stampede Corral (So small it was really a treat, saw Flames play there plus the Calgary Wranglers in the WHL when Mike Vernon was thier goalie)
2-Bell Center (No matter who is in town the crowd is always loud and always full of fans, not suits)

4-Colisee (REALLY a good place to see a game, good fans totally into game)

5-Maple Leaf Gardens

6-ACC (All suits, nobody in the first 10 rows when a period starts because they are all talking business deals over a 9$ beer. Every time a penalty is called against the Leafs no matter how much the player deserved it they boo. Really embarrassing to be honest)

7-Nashville (I dont have to be told what Icing is after the play and people just werent into the game at all)