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Not quite sure why Keenan waited until the 4th goal to pull Kipper. Served zero purpose at that point. What was Kipper thinking (or not thinking) on that 3rd one? Lazy play that no on top of his game goalie would ever make. Reminded me of a goal in our rec league. After that goal, everyone around me was screaming to pull him, but he waits until they score another weak one. That said - if you can't score on a long 5:3 in the playoffs (or even get a decent shot) you will never make it past the second round anyway. Said it before and I'll say it again, this team's chemistry was destroyed at the trade deadline. The early penalties were quite a joke. Refs have completely disregarded the intent of certain rules (like holding) and now use the free arm as an excuse. If holding the stick is a penalty (except for Chicago last night who had 4 blatant holding the sticks that were let go) then why is holding someones glove not a penalty. To me, its akin to diving when a guy clamps down on someones arm and holds on trying to draw the penalty. If the refs understood fair play - they would not call anything or call both for holding.

Really not sure there is anything that PC could do that would satisfy everyone.

Most teams sit back when they are on penalty kill. One of the cool things about a PVR is that you can rewind to watch plays over and over. Although the TV guys missed it (think Pierre was blowing kisses to Toews) if you still have the game rewind to the Oli slahing penalty and watch it again in slow motion - two wicked hacks on his stick right where it broke just the penalty - in slow mo you can see his stick was broken before he made the slash. They even showed it once on TV and neither Cuthbert or Maguire noticed. Hawg - if you were upset an the non-calls early, how about no call on the iginla trip late? I think Kipper let in one bad one - the others were stoppable, but tough saves. All he needs to do is outplay Khabibulin and he did. Losing Conroy and Langkow is a killer (looked to me like Langkow's arm was broken but who knows). Calgary is missing Reggie, Giordano (remember him? - he was one of our best this year), Bourque, Bertuzzi (okay - wishful thinking), Conroy and Bourque.

I'd say goaltending was the difference. Kipper's best game and Bulin's worst. IMO - this was the first game in the series where the Blackhawks outplayed the Flames and deserved a win (albeit penalty aided). Two goalposts for the Hawks in the third. Other than Montreal/Boston Detroit/Columbus- I don't think any team is dominating - goalies have made the difference. The team that has been by far the most outplayed is Vancouver - they have not played a decent game yet (Game 3 was their best and both they and the Blues were pretty weak) - hope San Jose comes back and Vcr gets Detroit. Sweep for sure. I just love the announcers - guy just asked Burrows if he has ever seen the Vcr defence play better - 49 shots against lol. I really can't take the idiots that work for the CBC anymore. Have to feel bad for the Blues - out in four and deserved to win every game. Game 1 1st Star Bobby Lou, Game 2 1st Star Bobby Lou, Game 4 1st star Bobby Lou. 'Nuff said.

Close games - but I haven't enjoyed watching any Flames game this year that was close. I won't go off on our friend again, but when the Flames are up - you just know that the puck will go in. Our players know it, so does the other team, and so do the announcers. The worst part is that this is the best the Flames will be for 5 years. Any other GM would be castrated publically for what he did to this team at the deadline. How many teams couldn't even ice a full squad in the last few games of a critical playoff race? A number of people commented on here that deadline trades seldom pay off for the buyer - Sutter's moves at the dealine and his (and most of Calgary's) denial regarding our inneptness in net will ensure that we will struggle to make the playoffs next year. P.S. - I'm saying this, because normally when I count someone out they go on a tear right after, just to make me look bad!)

I think BHURT hit it on the head - you can get good or bad service anywhere. When I came to Calgary in '95 I went to a shop in the south of Calgary and found the two staff members I spoke with pretty elistist and less than helpful. Ended up going to Frenchy's (closest thing we had to big box then) and ran into a really friendly fellow who will remain nameless (but happens to have recently opened his own shop ) - he asked me my name, where I was from etc etc. - when I went back a few weeks later, he recognized me and asked how the fishing was going. Other times - service at Wholesale wasn't so friendly. Last week I was travelling in BC, and stopped into one of the flyshops owned by someone who posts on here occasionaly - and the reception was not very friendly - one or two word answers to my questions, so after about 5 questions I left. My one expereince at the Green Drake in Canmore was excellent. I don't buy much gear (my wife probably would disagree) but i'll liley go to Bass Pro Shops because it is by far the most convenient for me.

Unfortunate game. Kipper made some very good saves, but his positioning has not been great. The big difference between Kipper and Luaongo (in that game) was while both butterfly too early leaving the top of the net open, Luongo's glove hand was so quick that he stopped 'em whereas Kipper was way late and they went over his shoulder and in. The first and fourth goals probably should have been stopped, the other two - tough but makable saves. That said - was one of the best efforts the Flames have had in some time - not sure how Oli didn't get at least one. For Vancouver - they played as poorly as any time I've seen them this year. Bad time for them to start losing it - if i were a Vancouver fan I'd be nervous. They throw one away against Anaheim, horrible goaltending in Edmonton and lose, outplayed badly and shotty goaltending against Colorado, badly outplayed against Calgary. I wouldn't be surprised to see a Vcr loss to LA and a Calgary win against Edmonton in Edmonton. Feeling better about Calgary than I was 2 weeks ago. Hope Rene can get back soon. Don't think anyone gives Bourque the credit he deserves for his season - all I hear about on the Commie Broadcasting Corp is Ryan Kesler, Alex Burrows and how awesome they are, how they should be on the Olympic team etc etc. Bourque. 0.69 points per game, +18 (leads team), scores on 14% of his shots. Burrows: 0.638 points per game, +23 (T2 on team), scores on 16% of his shots Kesler: 0.725 points per game, +8 (7th on the team), scores on 14% of his shots. IMO - Bourque's season has been every bit as good as the other two - but if one of them went down, that is all you wuld here about on hot stove etc.

Guess they were the only two way contracts available. Man - I missed the 1st period on TV last night, but caught the highlights this morning. Was hoping that it was the rookie defence that let Minn walk around them for the three goals. The 2nd, 3rd, and 4th goals were brutal. Why wouldn't Keenan just leave Curtis in the net for the rest of the game? After the game in Dallas, I was back in denial and thinking that they were in better shape then they are. How can a goalie play stellar one night and let in not one, not two, but three softies against one of the lowest scoring tems in the league the next night. Just hope Rollie can out duel luongo tonight. Go Oilers.

Too right! Please ask you friend Al if i can start using that line. As to the original question - I think it was a good one, because how people feel is a big part of what's going to happen in my opinion. I too recently have been much more optomistic. For every so called expert that will tell you we are set for a recovery later this year, there is another that will say we are following the exact trends of the depression and we have a decade of woe ahead. In November I started ignoring the opinion editorials and experts, because just about everything I read was trying to compare 2008 with some other economic period. The world in 2008 is absolutley nothing like it was in 1930, or even 1983. The biggest difference is that in 2009 there is no place to hide. Think of it like musical chairs. Lets say there were 8 contestants and 10 chairs, well everyone would just keep dancing because they weren't afraid of not getting a chair. If you had 10 people and only 7 chairs, fear would be higher and people would start playing defesnively (1980s), at 10 people and 4 chairs, their would be panic (1930's). But what if there were 10 people and no chairs - well, people would initially start to compare it to the 1930s, but then they realize they just have to keep dancing. The difference between now and every other economic recession/depression is that the world is truly globalized and there can only be winners if they all continue to win. This includes OPEC, China, Europe, North America, Japan, and every other economically significant entity in the world. Long way to say - if everything thought like Al, we'd have no issues. Enjoy your reel. The recession will end, in my view, sooner than later, but it will end. once it does, our kids are going to experience the greatest period of econmic expansion that the world has ever seen for at least 10 years.

Big Win. Important not just for the 2, but because Kipper was huge in the 3rd. He and the team needed that - gives them both confidence. Mind you it was Dallas - but killing two penalties in the 3rd. They need to go into Minn tomorrow and do it again. A big noght by the offence would be perfect.

Flames and Vcr 1st round would only happen if one finshes 3rd and the other 6th. Flames are 4 pts ahead of CLB with 1 game in hand. If Calgary can win tonight - very little chance that Columbus could pass them. Right now - I think Chicago would be a better draw in the 1st round than Columbus for either team. Mason is as good and as hot as Luongo. Anything can happen in the first round - but would be a shocker to see either Detroit or San Jose lose. In that case, Calgary and Vcr wouldn't play each other in the 2nd round either (assuming the horseshoes don't fall out of Lou's butt and Vancouver makes it through). So it looks like Vancouver likely won't lose out to Calgary until the conference finals. No shame in losing to the eventual cup winners. Kidding aside - tonight will be the toughest game for Vcr and they play an Anaheim team that played last night in Edmonton - could easily see Vcr winning out from here. Chicago plays Columbus twice and that could very well decide 6th place.

If anyone wants to argue that bad defence loses games - they should have watched the third period of Minn/Vcr tonight. For the 2nd time in three games, Vancouver played miserably and got two points. Outshot 11-0 in the third and Minn had 0 powerplays. A complete reversal from 2004. Then Calgary had a weak team but outstanding goaltending with Kipper. Vancouver had a very strong team, but weak goaltending. Almost feel sorry for Bert. Luongo has faced an average of 28.56 shots per game this year - Kipper 28.4. Luongo GAA 2.34 Kipper 2.85

Pretty good effort tonight. If they hadn't pissed away 1 10 point lead in less than 3 weeks, I'd be satisfied with the effort. At this point though, they need wins.

Sometimes its frustrating posting on here.

I like Kipper. When he plays well - I note it, as do many. When he plays poorly - I also note it (as do many). Based on his play this year, I was surprised when Sutter didn't pick up a veteran goalie at the dealine. I hear many of people suggest 'quality of shots' affects save percentage - but since it is not something that is tracked and is subjective, it is tough to say. Other than Detroit (who definately shoot more lower % shots at the net) - I think the quality of shots follows a pretty normal distribution raging from routine saves to spectacular saves over a reasonable sample of games (I chose 10 games - ~300 shots). I think its a fair assumption, but again, some will sugget that defence affects the quality of shot more. Until someone shows me some data, I'll go with the normal distribution. So for me, save percentage is the most telling variable in goalie performance. GAA is more of a team issue (give up more shots, you give up more goals). I'd say the sympton here is goals in the back of the net and the root cause is that not a high enough % of them are being stopped. If the team far outplayed the other team every night, then they could compensate for poorer save % - like they did against Minnesota Saturday (Minn save % .925, Calgary .867) or like Vancouver does most nights (last night they win 4-0 while being outshot 26-23). I haven't looked at the numbers but I'd wager heavily that when Vcr was prepped to fire their coach earlier this year the Save % was low, and in the past 20-25 games it has been very high.

Could easily have been 6-1. Great game all around. Hard to dominate like that every night though. I'm still shaking my head at the two waved off goals. I can't quite understand the second one, from the straight-on shot it was pretty clear he made contct below the bar. If that was TO or Vancouver - it was a goal for sure. As for the first one - not sure how the guy can make that call from behind the goalie - they should make that reviewable if the puck goes in.

...and Bert hasn't lost a step . Actually - thought he played pretty well tonight I had a look at the 10 games prior to "The trade" and the 11 games since. Pretty interesting. Prior to the trade the Flames were 7-1-2 for 16 points. In the 11 games since they are 4-7-0 for 8 points. The PP prior to was 21% and since is at 16%, the PK prior to was 83% and since is 75%. Goals For and against: prior to 40-29. Since 31-42. Here is the most telling thing in my opinion. In the prior 10 games (the games they were winning), the Flames had been Outshot by opponents 313-302. Kippers GAA was 2.9 and his save percentage was 91%. Opponents GAA was 4 and the Save % was 87%. In the last 11 Games, the Flames have Outshot their opponent 360-334. Flames GAA is 3.8 and save percentage is 87%. The Opponents GAA is 2.8 and oppnents Save% is 91%. Almost a complete reversal of fortune So much as I would say that Kipper was a big part of their winning record prior to the trade, it is definately goaltending that is responsible for the slide in the past 11. Again - I'm not sayying Kipper has been bad every game - just that the other goalie is consistently better. In order to win in this league you need a goaltender that has a 90% or better save percentage (or you need to be Detroit).

Yikes, Not sure I've seen the Flames this bad in the past three years. They have absolutley nothing going well right now. Goaltending is at best average - and only good when the other goalie is better, PowerPlay can't score (even on 5:3) and has given up more shorties then any other team in the league, the penalty kill is brutal (seems like a key component is missing), and Iginla is playing reallllly poorly. The last time they played a good game was Philly at the start of the last road trip. Since then they lost 6-1 to Carolina, 5-2 to Atlanta, 3-2 to New Jersey, won in a miraculous comeback against Detroit 6-5, lost 8-6 to Toronto, won 2-1 against Dallas with a very late goal, lost 3-2 to St Louis, won 5-3 to Detroit in game they were badly outplayed in, lost 2-0 to Pittsburgh, and are getting there butts handed to them tonight. Never mind holding on to first - these guys will be lucky to hold on to 6th. Montreal of the west. And starting a brawl when you're down 4-0 is brutal and cliche. Embarrassing.

I'd have to say that I think that was a brutal performance by most of the team last night (though I agree with hawg that Boyd looked really good as did Peters). Once again it came down to who was in the net and Kipper played really well til the third and Osgoode did us a real favour. Lundmark - I never understood why they didn't keep him at the start. Lundmark, Borque and Glencross would be one hell of a line. Leopold and Phaneuf were neck and neck for the 'who looked most like a pylon' in the third. At least Phaneuf scored a goal to make up for his own end problems. I still really like the guy, but even I have to admit, he doesn't look like he is trying in his own end. As for Leopold - can't believe they sent Pardy to the minors to play him. Pardy is far better IMO. A win is a win - but that could so easily have been a 5-0 beatdown by the wings. What gets me is how after the game the ANALysts were talking about what a great job the Flames did. They played far better against St Louis in my opinion. EDIT - Wouldn't want to be Edmonton tonight. The Wings are gonna be mad. Just checked and Luongo is doing his thing again. Dallas 14 shots, Vcr 7 - Vcr leads 2 to 1.

With respect -I would argue that accident was not about beating a yellow light. Cars turning left in front of oncoming traffic is a common accident - mkost often when the light is green. In this case the person turning would be found at fault for failing to yield to oncoming traffic. If a drunk person is driving through a green light and someone comes through the red and crashes into them - did the drunk driver cause the accident? Accidents happen and if I thought this would prevent more than it causes, I'd be for it. The best way to protect drivers is to have them drive defensively. Never assume the other driver won't make a mistake or do somehitng stupid. Let's say that the cameras do work (and I suspect they'll work about as well as Photo radar has reduced speeding on the Deerfoot). Time goes by and people start to notice that when the light goes yellow almost all cars stop, so they proceed to turn left before they are sure the car has stopped. After awhile, instead of ensuring that the oncoming traffic has stopped, people just assume they will stop. Works great until one day you're turning left and the driver coming the other way is from another province and decides to beat the yellow.

Good. Your going to see that some of us have trouble detecting sarcasm. SJW - for you're next case, maybe you could enforce: In certain Ethiopic languages, sarcasm is indicated with a sarcasm mark, a character that looks like a backwards question mark at the end of a sentence, similar to Alcanter de Brahm's proposed irony mark (؟). Subtitles, such as in Teletext, sometimes use an exclamation mark in brackets to mark sarcasm: (!). ...unless your too busy(!)

I see this as another tax. I've never seen nor have I heard of an accident at an intersection caused by a car speeding through a yellow turning to red. I've heard of people running reds (In the middle of the red) because they were distracted, but the only time I've seen an accident is when someone slams on their breaks when the light turns yellow and the guy behind them ran into them (of course the guy behind is at fault - but isn't the goal to reduce accidents, not ensure that proper blame can be assigned?). My expectation is that this will cause more rear enders in the first few months than it will ever prevent. This will be especially true for drivers from other cities, who won't be expecting the guy in front to stop. Until I see evidence to the contrary, as far as I'm concerned, this ranks right up there with the speed traps at the "Construction Zones" at new bridges like the one that used to be on McKinght at 36th. No construction had been done for about 9 months and the road was three lanes wide on each side and fully open, yet the speed limit was still 50. I used to sit in my office and watch the cops nail one car after another, day in and day out. Were they making this streets safe? I don't think so. I bet they helped pay for the bridge, though. Next time you're out and you go through a yellow (at normal speed) have a look in your rear view mirror and see how far you get before traffic starts going through the intersection on the green. One other thing - someone brought up the "Baby on Board" signs. I always wondered what the purpose of those was. Is that so that when I am about to crash into their car, I see the sign and decide not to?

Grammer Police! I think this is a capitol idea that will have a positive affect on things around here. There should be far less mute points made and everyone will just have to except it. If someone does not believe in the principal of learning the correct use of of words, than for all intensive purposes, I could care less.

I got to that spot (or at least a spot near Cranston) at 4:00 p.m. and saw no sign of anyone (or any fish blood and guts), other than one fly-fisher walking out. He didn't seem to happy (was it you?) but if there was somoe poaching going on, I can understand the foul mood. Saw one other guy upstream but he was flyfishing. *EDIT - oops I was there on Friday the 20th* I've been fishing the Bow since 1995 and I had the best 3 hours on the Bow that I can ever remember. Not a fish under 20 inches and one brown so big that I won't even say how big it was on here, 'cause i'd be called a liar (I did get a pic with a reference object in though!). I have to thank rickr for pointing me at the right fly in one of his posts. I really don't think poaching is having much effect on the Bow. I do think it is wrong, and what bugs me more is when you explain the regs and people don't care. I've only seen two groups poaching in the last few years (though I've seen plenty of evidence, including getting tangled in about 75 yards of 30 lb mono with three snelled hooks at the end of it last summer). I called it in both times, but neither group was caught. If you don't call it in, you can expect that it will continue. Keep the card and call it in is my recommendation.

Two games by the Blues - against Vcr they badly outplay Vancouver, outshoot them outchance them - but they get shut-out. Tonight, with exception of part of the first and the first 8 minutes of the third - the Flames absolutley dominate, outshoot and outchnce the Blues but lose 3-2. The reason that Vancouver will make it through the first round and Calgary will not is in net.