Open Gameday Recap Thread Kings @ Ducks
by Daniel AC on Feb 8, 2010 10:44 PM PST
in Gameday
7 comments
DANIEL:
Three streaks came into this game, but only one survived. The Kings had a 5 game win streak against the Ducks, they had won their last 9, and the Ducks had a 9 game home winning streak. The Ducks now have a 10 game home winning streak. Unfortunately, it came at the expense of Ryan Getzlaf's ankle. Associated Press reports that Getzlaf sprained his ankle and that x-rays were negative.
Still, being able to solve the Kings might go a long way to helping the Ducks' confidence considering how the Kings had found so many ways to beat them. Jonathan Quick made some phenomenal saves early on, but was eventually solved by Teemu Selanne while the Ducks had a 2-man advantage. After that Getzlaf and Saku Koivu put the Ducks up by two and Corey Perry answered a power play goal by Anze Kopitar to preserve the 2 goal lead.
An overall solid effort by the Ducks, although I still think we can't trade Wisniewski soon enough. Some of the things he does are just infuriating. It'll take more games like this to get the Ducks to close that gap between them and the 8 seed in time to make the playoffs.
7 comments | 0 recs
Open Gameday Thread Kings @ Ducks
by Arthur from Anaheim Calling on Feb 8, 2010 11:51 AM PST
in Gameday
37 comments
ARTHUR:
The Ducks put their 9-game winning streak on the line at the Pond tonight, but it's side-by-side with their 8-game losing streak against California teams and 5-game losing streak against the Kings.
According to The OC Register, Toskala's in town wearing 36, but Left Wing Lock has an unconfirmed Hiller/Quick matchup for tonight. The lines figure to be the same, with Jason Blake coming off his first Ducks goal and the Bottom 6 showing up on the scoreboard last game.
Voting for Whitney/Wisniewski closes at 8:30 tonight, but I think we can call the race for Whitney. The 6'4" defenseman has a graduated contract, with a 3.5M salary this year and a 5.5M salary in 2012-13. That contract, which he earned by virtue of a 59 point (22% of team scoring) season with the Pens in 06-07, seemed to be a big problem for Whitney voters, even though Wisniewski is only making 750K less this season. In their time together, Pronger attempted to teach Whitney how to front players in the West, and that's emblematic of the BU alum's trouble with the physicality in the Ducks game, to say nothing of his ability to play the system and not make a first pass into the middle of the ice (which is really easy to do in Pittsburgh). So, introducing your choice for the worst Ducks defenseman to sport the 'W' above the numbers: Ryan Whitney.
Tonight is Bon Jovi night at The Pond. I'm dating myself here, but I was a big Bon Jovi fan as a kid. I mean still-own-a-cassette-copy-of-Runaway-somewhere, air-guitared-the-I'll-Be-There-For-You-solo-on-a-regular-basis fan. That being said, he effectively died for me sometime in 1991, after the Young Guns II soundtrack but before he recorded Bed of Roses. So I consider tonight a retro night. RIP good Bon Jovi songs.
Post any game info and lineup changes in the comments.
FOWL!
37 comments | 0 recs
Anaheim Calling's Gamecenter LIVE Review
by Arthur from Anaheim Calling on Feb 8, 2010 11:30 AM PST
in Arthur
5 comments
Editor's Note: Gamecenter Live is a subjective experience, so take note of the following: I ran the program during the month of February on a 15" 13" Macbook (2.4 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo with 2GB RAM) running OS X Version 10.5.8. Note that no application is installed, therefore no minimum capabilities exist for using the program. I used a variety of DSL connections (none of which I clocked) in the states of Nevada and California. Also, and this is important, Anaheim Calling received a free preview for the remainder of the season, so I did not have the monthly or season long fee (or even the 30% off fee) to balance against my delight or disappointment.
ARTHUR:
If you're watching hockey on your computer, the actual watching experience is still the killer app. Gamecenter LIVE has chat rooms and even stat-trackers (which seem to update a bit slower than an ESPN Gamecast), but the program's ultimate competition is still the television screen.
For a live game, Gamecenter LIVE holds its own against the traditional tube + DVR. On a fast connection, the resolution can be sharp, or on par with the source broadcast, and on slower connections, the bitrate settings allow for a smooth stream. The DVR capabilities allow you to scrub through the broadcast with play, pause, rewind, fast forward and return to Live, but you may also pull up the timeline for the game at any point and scrub to a timecode of your choosing. If you're a real hockey junkie, you can even watch five games at once, live or otherwise, by using the program's four-panel screen and its picture-in-picture screen. Simultaneous viewing and navigating a game by timeline (which will include event markers once the stat-tracker updates them, but more on that later) instead of rewind/fast-forward are really the main advantages of watching a live game on Gamecenter LIVE as opposed to television or, say, a Slingplayer. Though, if you factor in blackouts, the TV and the Slingplayer may actually let you watch the game.
If you live in the same market as your favorite team, Gamecenter LIVE probably isn't for you. The blackouts are identical to what you would find on Center Ice, and they last 48 hours. After that two day waiting period, Gamecenter LIVE adds all blackout games to its archive, where you may watch them at your leisure. However, as an archive game, the picture quality and resolution can vary slightly, and it should be noted that ALL archive games can only be watched in 800kbps or 1600kbps, not the 2200kbps or 400kbps offered for games you watch live or less than 48 hours after they conclude. Thankfully, the archive is where Gamecenter LIVE does its best work.
Assuming you want to watch old games, nothing really competes with Gamecenter LIVE. Granted, the resolution/screen size gets progressively smaller from this season to last season to the 2007-08 season, but there are no simple methods for storing three seasons worth of games on a DVR. You can relive a playoff run, or catch up on an entire season (with all of the commercials edited out). With the stat-tracker widgets, you can even skim games by choosing highlights from a geographical chart of shots, goals, hits and penalties or a text-based play by play. Watching the games sequentially can be tough, because the archive can only be searched by team and opponent or by date, but if you have an old season schedule handy, you can find everything easily enough.
Ultimately, for live games, Gamecenter LIVE cannot improve upon the television or Slingplayer experience, especially if you factor in blackouts, but it's a reasonable alternative depending on your circumstances. And if you're interested in having a handy, manageable and navigable archive of NHL games, Gamecenter LIVE has no equal.
5 comments | 0 recs |
*The Rumor Mill*: Blackhawks-Ducks Talking Wisniewski
by Daniel AC on Feb 7, 2010 9:56 AM PST
in *The Rumor Mill*
33 comments
DANIEL:
The Daily Herald is reporting that the Blackhawks are trying to reacquire James Wisniewski from the Ducks. The Hawks might be dangling Cam Barker in order to pry Wiz out of Murray's cold dead hands. Wisniewski is apparently a fan favorite in Chicago. I for one would be glad to see him gone and would appreciate the more responsible and larger Barker. But that's just me. Moral of the story, Chicago might be crazy enough to take Wisniewski off our hands. Maybe we can throw in Todd Marchant and get Dustin Byfuglien too.
33 comments | 0 recs |
***Anaheim Makes The Souray List***
by Arthur from Anaheim Calling on Feb 6, 2010 1:22 PM PST
in **The Teletype**
0 comments
THE TELETYPE:
TSN is reporting that Oilers defenseman Sheldon Souray has given his GM Steve Tambellini a list of six teams to which the Edmonton defenseman would accept a trade and waive his no-trade clause. TSN identifies the teams as Anaheim, Dallas, Los Angeles, Washington, Philadelphia and New York.
Souray had previously stated that he would be willing to waive his no-trade clause to help the team, with many expecting he preferred a west coast team to be near his family in California. On Tuesday, the 33 year old defenseman underwent surgery to repair the hand he broke last week in a fight with Jerome Iginla, who delivered the hit that kept Souray out of the lineup for most of the year. According to TSN, he intends to return by the end of the season.
0 comments | 0 recs |
Hurry Up And Wait
by Arthur from Anaheim Calling on Feb 6, 2010 11:43 AM PST
1 comment
ARTHUR:
Anaheim calling to the hockey world...
After a tough loss to the Kings, Anaheim now has just four games before the Olympic break. The team will face Los Angeles again on Monday at the Pond, but will have two games against the league-worst Oilers and one against the Flames to close out their pre-Vancouver Games schedule.
Just 5 points out of the 8th seed mix, these next four games seem a prime opportunity for the Ducks to jockey for position on the playoff bubble and, perhaps, return on March 3rd as a playoff team, however ephemeral that designation might be. Daniel, assuming it's possible for the Ducks to become an 8th seed before the Olympic Break, would doing so have any effect on their actual playoff chances?
1 comment | 0 recs |
Whitney or Wisniewski?
by Arthur from Anaheim Calling on Feb 5, 2010 3:02 PM PST
in Arthur
20 comments
ARTHUR:
I started writing a post called "How Bad Is Whitney, Really?" but in drawing up the charts, the conclusion was no different from the last time I did this, that is to say, all of the Ducks defensemen suck.
So, I'll just put the numbers here, and ask you lot which one is sucking it up worse, Whitney or Wisniewski. Is it the 5'11" defenseman who hurts himself pretending to be 6'4" or the 6'4" defenseman who plays like he's 5'11"?
(Thanks to BehindTheNet for the advanced stats through 56 GP; the shot type/distance data represents 5-on-5 shots only. All other stats taken from NHL.com)
Whitney
Wisniewski
Games Played
58
53
Giveaways
44
43
Takeaways
12
23
Blocked Shots For
63
46
Blocked Shots Against
34
37
Shots/Missed Shots
101/44
118/49
Wrist Shots/Missed
13/6
19/9
Snap Shots/Missed
8/3
10/4
Slap Shots/Missed
29/15
46/21
Avg Shooting Distance
49.4
49.7
Avg Snapshot Distance
44.3
51.8
Goals
4
3
Points
25
24
ES Time/Game
18:42
18:19
PP Time/Game
3:34
2:16
PPG
3
2
PPP
12
7
Hits
63
102
Minor Penalties
22
11
Penalties Drawn
10
10
Goals For On Ice
45
39
Goals Against On Ice
47
43
SH Time/Game
2:18
3:35
20 comments | 0 recs
Open Gameday Recap Thread Ducks @ Kings
by Daniel AC on Feb 4, 2010 11:11 PM PST
in Gameday
7 comments
DANIEL:
The Ducks blew an opportunity to pick up ground in the playoff race and instead fell to 10th in the conference. The Ducks erased a 3 goal deficit in the third period only to fail epically and surrender two goals in the last five minutes. Jason Blake scored his first goal as a Duck, Ryan Getzlaf had a couple of assists, and Matt Beleskey scored in his return to the top line.
Jonas Hiller on the other hand, got lit up. It wasn't all his fault, seeing as how his vision was constantly impaired by Michael Handzus' backside. The Ducks inability to clear the front of the net was ultimately their undoing tonight. It's hard to tell if the Ducks were owned by the Kings, or if they just didn't fight for the full 60 minutes. Either way. It's two points they won't pick up in the standings.
7 comments | 0 recs
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| GP | W | L | OTL | PT | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
San Jose
|
59 | 39 | 11 | 9 | 87 |
|
Phoenix
|
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|
Los Angeles
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(updated 2.9.2010 at 1:15 AM PST)
Ducks Schedule
Next 5 Games
|
Edmonton
|
Wed 02/10 | 7:00 PM PST |
|
@
Calgary
|
Sat 02/13 | 7:00 PM PST |
|
@
Edmonton
|
Sun 02/14 | 4:00 PM PST |
|
Colorado
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Wed 03/03 | 7:00 PM PST |
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@
Phoenix
|
Sat 03/06 | 5:00 PM PST |
Last 5 Games
|
Los Angeles
|
Mon 02/08 | W 4 - 2 |
|
@
Los Angeles
|
Thu 02/04 | L 4 - 6 |
|
Detroit
|
Wed 02/03 | W 3 - 1 |
|
@
Florida
|
Mon 02/01 | W 3 - 0 |
|
@
Tampa Bay
|
Fri 01/29 | SO - W 2 - 1 |
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