Serious Courtroom Drama Folks
Posted by admin on October 9th, 2007 filed in Maple LeafsComment now »
A seven-year-old boy was at the center of a Toronto City courtroom drama yesterday when he challenged a court ruling over who should have custody of him. The boy has a history of being beaten by his parents and the judge initially awarded custody to his aunt, in keeping with child custody law and regulations requiring that family unity be maintained to the degree possible.
The boy surprised the court when he proclaimed that his aunt beat him more than his parents and he adamantly refused to live with her. When the judge then suggested that he live with his grandparents, the boy cried out that they also beat him.
After considering the remainder of the immediate family and learning that domestic violence was apparently a way of life among them, the judge took the unprecedented step of allowing the boy to propose who should have custody of him.
After two recesses to check legal references and confer with child welfare officials, the judge granted temporary custody to the Toronto Maple Leafs, whom the boy firmly believes are not capable of beating anyone.
Thanks Scott!
Pittsburgh and Tampa in Prague?
Posted by admin on September 30th, 2007 filed in Penguins, Tampa Bay LightningComment now »
Just heard this on Ducks radio as they’re calling the Ducks vs Kings game. Apparently, with the success of the overseas game, the NHL may consider making this a regular annual event. Next year, it sounds like Pittsburgh and Tampa Bay could be playing in Prague…
Matt’s NHL.com Draft and Analysis
Posted by admin on September 29th, 2007 filed in League, DraftComment now »
1 4 Dany Heatley RW
2 7 Jaromir Jagr RW
3 4 Henrik Zetterberg LW
4 7 Brendan Shanahan LW
5 4 Andy McDonald C
6 7 Ryan Getzlaf C
7 4 Ryan Miller G
8 7 Petr Sykora C
9 4 Brian Campbell D
10 7 Lubomir Visnovsky D
11 4 Tom Poti D
12 7 Joni Pitkanen D
13 4 Todd Bertuzzi RW
14 7 Peter Budaj G
15 4 Dustin Brown LW
16 7 Niklas Kronwall D
Again, the team Matticus strategy never waivers: Load up on fire power up front, snipers in the back, and roll the dice on goalies. I’ve got a far better idea how to draft again for sunday (my last one). Once it got to the middle/late rounds, I was beginning to panic at the lack of wingers. The NHL.com league is another Head to Head league. Not as streamlined as the yahoo one, but still fun for the most part.
Draft Analysis
We had three people absent last night which threw a HUGE wrench into the whole drafting process. There were a lot of picks that made a lot of people go “HUH?!”. Roberto Luongo got picked 3rd overall in the first round. Daniel Sedin got taken in 6th position by Teams Tran and Choy respectively. The next surprise saw Jonathan Toews get picked in th second round ALSO by Team Tran :D! Team Wong in the third snapped up an inactive Teemu Selanne. Scott Niedermeyer was taken in Round 9 by Team Haggerty for a dice roll. Amazingly, Kristian Huselius somehow lasted until Round 12. The last pick was Nikolai Khabibulin by Haggerty. Team Bird is banking on rookies this year with both Erik Johnson of STL and Patrick Kane of CHI.
Team By Team Breakdown
Team Bird
Doc boasts a star studded lineup. His LW and C’s are strong with the likes of Thornton, Briere, Gomez, Gagne, Kariya and Wolski. The RW features Radulov, Michalek, Havlat, and Kane. The Defense is young and underestimated with Gonchar, Johnson (Erik, not Jack), Whitney, and Rozsival. He’s banking on the 1-2 punch from Pittsburgh to help offensively. The Goalies are mediocre with Emery and Backstrom, but both teams are strong in their own ways. His will be the team to beat in the East division.
Team Haggerty
He got the 1st pick and (as expected) chose Crosby to lead the way. He’s assembled a decent supporting corps around him with Staal, Kovalchuk, Nash, Rolston, and Huselius. Frolov and Satan will make excellent bench players should the need arise. His defense is manned by Souray, Corvo, and Ehrhoff with Niedermayer on standby in the hopes that he will make a come back. Most of his points will come from Crosby and Kovalchuk. Fleury and Roloson are decent in the backend.
Team Matticus
This is yet another stud team led by yours truly. Shanahan and Zetterberg from the left, Jagr and Heatley on the right with Getzlaf, McDonald and Sykora manning the centers. The defense corps. is young with Poti, Campbell, Bisnovsky, Kronwall, and Pitkanan. Miller and Budaj will be between the pipes. I’m very happy with my picks given the circumstances. Colorado got stronger this year which should help Budaj. Buffalo got weaker on paper but still looked great during pre season. No questions about this groups of players. Team Matticus will give Team Bird a run for it’s money and make it competitive.
Team Winning Wong
Features the 1-2 punch from TB: St. Louis and Lecavalier. Nylander, Zubrus and Savard round out the C’s. His LW contains Brunette, Cole, Tanguay, and Nagy. The RW aside from St. Louis is Gaborik. He slipped up here and missed out on a Defenseman when he needed four. But could probably manage with three for the time being with Pronger, Liles, and Kaberle. I know he’s making a few drops and attempting to pick up a replacement defenseman. His backend has depth with Giguere, Lundqvist and Raycroft. Unless the waivers clear, I expect Team Winning Wong will stumbled out of the gates but remain in the middle of the pack after the first month.
Team Tran
Unfortunately, Team Tran wasn’t around when the draft was being conducted. But his team is not the absolute worst team. He has a strong foundation with Kopitar, H. Sedin, Semin, Pominville, Hejduk, Murray, Tkachuk, Whitney, and out of no where pick Toews. His defense is manned by Chara, Jack Johnson, Boyle, and Bouwmeester. His Goalies will dominate with Luongo leading the way followed by Vokoun and Mason. Boyle is out for a while so his defense will suffer slightly. Other then that, there aren’t really any other stand out shooters in his team. I expect this team to dwell in the basement of the East for a while.
Predictions
It will be a three way dog fight for first amongst Team Bird, Team Matticus, and Team Winning Wong. Team Haggerty and Team Tran will be duking it out for the last playoff spot.
The West will come tomorrow.
NHL Predicted Rankings
Posted by admin on September 28th, 2007 filed in Rankings, LeagueComment now »
This is my prediction once the season ends on how the standings will look.
EASTERN CONFERENCE
1. Pittsburgh
2. Buffalo
3. Washington
4. Ottawa
5. Philadelphia
6. Tampa Bay
7. NY Rangers
8. Montreal
9. Atlanta
10. Carolina
11. Toronto
12. NY Islanders
13. Florida
14. New Jersey
15. Boston
WESTERN CONFERENCE
1. Detroit
2. Vancouver
3. San Jose
4. Colorado
5. Anaheim
6. Calgary
7. Nashville
8. Minnesota
9. St. Louis
10. Edmonton
11. Chicago
12. Los Angeles
13. Dallas
14. Columbus
15. Phoenix
Dirty Hit In “O” Town
Posted by admin on September 26th, 2007 filed in Senators, Flyers2 Comments »
Thankfully it looks like McAmmond is alright. He’s released from the hospital now. He left that game with a concussion. From the video, it sounds like the Philly player received a 5 minute penalty. Pre season’s looked really rough. Theres been a lot of fights going on. A few nights ago, there was a line brawl between the Rangers and the Islanders game. Ryan predicts fighting will be back in hockey this year. I’m going to reserve judgment.
20 years… where’d it all go?
Posted by admin on September 26th, 2007 filed in Canucks, UncategorizedComment now »
I am now officially old. I don’t feel any different. 19 was a blast. I got to drink for the first time. Now? Gee, I don’t know. What can I do as 20? I guess I’ll drink some more. To help kick off my 20th day, I made up a list of 20 things I wanted to do this year. I wonder how many I can get done.
20: Pick up another computer.
Honestly, how can I play the latest video games if I don’t have the latest hardware? It’s like trying to outrun the police without the best wheels. I know I can build myself one for a decent price.
19: Guitar Hero 3 and DDR.
I want both of them for the Wii. I’m determined to get them.
18: Lose 20 pounds.
If I want to join the force, I won’t be able to be much use in this kind of condition. I need to do some laps. There’s two things holding me back: Lack of motivation and Vancouver weather. Pouring rain leaves little incentive.
17: Drink twenty different brands of beer
And these would be brands that I have never sampled before. Wayne, a former supervisor, suggested to me something called Anchor Steamed beer? I think he said it was from San Francisco.
16: Make out with Hang out with 20 different girls
I’m a harsh chick magnet. Simply irresistible. This one shouldn’t be too difficult to accomplish… I hope.
15: Watch 20 movies
To be honest, there weren’t a lot of good movies that came out last year. The only one I really liked was Transformers. But we’ll see how this year holds.
14: Watch a hockey game
I watched a hockey game live for the first time. It was glorious. I still remember it. It was a 3-2 OT win against Carolina. I went with Ken, Curtis, and Trevor. I felt like such an idiot since I had to repeatedly ask Curtis what the calls were. In my defense, I was sitting super high up and I couldn’t see.
13: Earn 20 bucks
I quit Partyworks. I am now a jobless bum. If I can make 20 bucks somehow, great. If I can earn more, even better.
12: 20% less time playing WoW
Ouch, tough to pull off. This will require some real effort :S.
11: The Canucks make it past the second round
I don’t care if they get to the finals or not. I’d sure love it if they pulled it off, but it’s highly improbable. Just going past round two will be a huge improvement.
10: A new jersey
Yeah, yeah, everyone says the new jersey is hideous. So what? It’s our new jersey and its our identity. Like it or not, get used to seeing it more often. I think it would make me look bigger in net. “Lowongo, 1″. I’ll definitely need to upgrade to an XXL jersey. I had a heck of a time putting on the ones I have. I don’t think my mates like to help dress me up anymore :S
9: 1000 hits on my website
My site just broke over 500 hits today. I’m quite happy and quite proud of myself. Now I need to work harder and push harder so I can break 1000. If I can do that consistently, I can start running a few ads and get a little bit of income.
8: 20 Hawaiian shirts
I’ve got like 8. I think I had the reputation for them in high school since I wore them almost all the time. Time to expand my stock.
7: 20 more points than Scott
You’re going down Cardwell. I don’t care if we’re at the bottom of the list as long as I’m above you! 
6: 20% increase in GPA
I’m sitting at like 2.21. Apparently I need to break 2.30 to get into Criminology. Going to have to pull some miracles here. Alicia’s so awesome. Without hanging out with her last year, I would not have picked up on her subtle studying tips or methods. Here’s a good one for all you first years: Make friends with the smartest people in class :D. Now I’m a little worried as I won’t have as many people to go to for help. Discipline will be tested here.
5: 20% better in hockey
I’m going to cut down my GAA by 20%. I can do that two ways: I either get bigger, or we use a smaller net. Maybe a combination thereof would work.
4: Win 20% more poker tournaments
My play has dropped so bad. I’m making stupid moves. I’m making all the wrong guesses. Doing all the stupid stuff that I’ve learned not to do.
3: Do (at least) 20 good deeds
I GUESS I can do something nice once in a while.
2: Ask out a girl
It’s been three years! I don’t even care what the response will be. It’s the ACT that counts RIGHT? It’s time I got my own self respect back. She says yes, great. She says no, that’s cool. They just miss out on my awesomeness. Tough luck, girls.
1: Hang out with friends 20% more
The past year’s been very tough. University and work and other factors have further decreased the amount of spare time that people have over all. But that still isn’t an excuse for not being able to hang out with friends. Supposedly, it help increases cognitive ability and is good for the brain (act of socializing). Cynthia was ever so kind enough to gently point that out to me. I stopped asking to hang out with people because I didn’t think it was fair of me to do that. I was beginning to expect no’s and just over predicting as usual. I guess I’ll have to be a little more aggressive. Event planning just sucks in general since you need to find a schedule that works well for everybody. I propose that we extend the week into 8 days. The 8th day must be a no work day, no school day, all free day so that all of us can chill at least once a week.
Twenty goals for my 20th birthday. We’ll come back in a year and see how many of those I’ve successfully accomplished. If not, I’ll be 21 so I can head south of the border and drink to my hearts content anyway. hah!
My hockey draft picks
Posted by admin on September 23rd, 2007 filed in Draft2 Comments »
worldofmatticus.com
Round Pick Player Position
1. (6) Vincent Lecavalier C
2. (11) Jaromir Jagr RW
3. (22) Daniel Briere C
4. (27) Marty Turco G
5. (38) Ryan Miller G
6. (43) Thomas Vanek LW
7. (54) Andy McDonald C
8. (59) Paul Kariya LW
9. (70) Brian Rafalski D
10. (75) Brendan Shanahan LW
11. (86) Wade Redden D
12. (91) Brian Gionta RW
13. (102) Zdeno Chara D
14. (107) Shea Weber D
15. (118) Alexander Radulov RW
16. (123) Tomas Holmstrom LW
17. (134) Todd Bertuzzi RW
18. (139) Peter Forsberg C
19. (150) Dwayne Roloson G
First number indicates round, second number indicates overall. In this particular league, it’s head to head. I somehow ended up in 6th position, but there’s my pick folks. I think my forwards look very strong. My D isn’t the best (Schneider, Pronger, and co were taken). As you can see, I made a 17th and 18th round gamble. Rounds 16 - 19 are extra players I can use in the event of injuries. I opted for one extra forward on each position and an extra goaltender. I just hope my defense doesn’t get hurt.
As I figured, Crosby got taken first over all, followed by Thornton. Dany Heatley was next. Ovechkin was 4th. Scott drafted Luongo first and when it came to me I didn’t wait long before I picked Vinnie. Round 7 saw… Jason Spezza picked? That one was a surprise for me. The 8th round was Iginla being drawn. The draft went as I expected with a few surprises here and there. Niedermayer got taken in the 7th round overall. Selanne got picked in the 12th round.
I think my team has a lot of firepower up front with the likes of Jagr, Lecavalier, Briere, Vanek, Kariya, and Shanahan. I’m expecting big numbers from all of them, hopefully.
My two sleeper picks are obviously Bertuzzi and Forsberg should they remain healthy later in the season. My defense corps revolve around Rafalski (has served me well), Redden, Chara, and Weber. I think Chara will do better this year with Fernandez on the backend of Boston now. Rafalski has always been a great puck mover. I’m certain Redden and Weber will do their part.
My right wingers look a little weak. Jagr will produce, I hope. I don’t know how Gionta and Radulov will do.
The goalies I have aren’t the greatest, but they are decent: Turco, and Miller as my starters with Roloson backing them up in case one gets injured. I might switch Roloson with Miller early as I’m not sure how Buffalo will start off the season.
Personally, I don’t care what position I end up in as long as I beat Scott’s team:
Scott
1. (5) Roberto Luongo
2. (12) Ilya Kovalchuk
3. (21) Martin St. Louis
4. (28) Evgeni Nabokov
5. (37) Dion Phaneuf
6. (44) Lubomir Visnovsky
7. (53) Eric Staal
8. (60) Mathieu Schneider
9. (69) Chris Drury
10. (76) Ryan Smyth
11. (85) Brian Rolston
12. (92) Sergei Zubov
13. (101) Corey Perry
14. (108) Cam Ward
15. (117) Mark Recchi
16. (124) Ray Whitney
17. (133) Martin Straka
18. (140) Chris Kunitz
19. (149) Saku Koivu
My match starts this Saturday with Anaheim opening against LA. I might consider switching in Bertuzzi for another right wing. He had a strong start last season. Who knows what will happen this year after his back surgery?
I’m liking this pre-season
Posted by admin on September 21st, 2007 filed in Oilers, CanucksComment now »
Welcome to my new hockey blog! I’ve found that I have a bit more time then usual even with five classes that I can afford to write a bit more. Don’t expect daily updates like the way I’ve shaped my other WoW blog, but DO expect a lot of opinion, hearsay, and youtube videos.
Don’t mind the theme for the time being as I’m in the process of redesigning and decorating the place. But I just wanted to get my thoughts down for the games so far.
It’s a shame that the season didn’t start a few days earlier, otherwise we could be at the top with 2 wins and an overtime loss (5 points).
I’m liking what I’m seeing for our younger guys offensively. Kesler picked up three points, I think, in last nights game. A lot of the older guys are injured with sore groins and the like (Hansen breaks his thumb?). Hopefully they’ll be fine once the real season starts and we won’t give up four goals like that ever again. There’s a lot of offensive sparks this year, but out defense just seemed kind of out of it. But I suppose it’s not too bad considering the amount of penalties we’ve had in these games. If our guys can stay out of the box, it will be a great season for sure.
Like I said, with Hansen out, I’m thinking Shannon now has a higher chance of making it on to the big team.
Kesler’s begun to generate a lot of energy. I’m interested to see how he will perform with Naslund and Morrison on the top line. I think they’ll definitely rotate him around, however.
With Salo injured (yet again), expect Edler and Bourdon to start the season.
I’ve been busy this week formalizing my picks for the upcoming Fantasy drafts (I’m participating in two). They look fairly identical, but with all this injury crap, I ranked Salo down a bit more. I’m so pumped! I can’t wait for my fantasy draft on Sunday!
What we need to do to win out the season
Forget offense for a second here, and think about last season. We spent a lot of time in the box. So what do we need to do? Stay out of the box. We don’t have Jordan Staal around to help us score short handed so that isn’t really an option. I think the main reason we had so much trouble getting goals because the opposing team had a lot of man advantages. If we can cut down on that more, we won’t have to worry so much about defense and can focus more on scoring.