Ok, this rules. Kudos to the guy who made this and put it up for auction. I still maintain that if so many of the players wanted to play that they should have been able to get "their" union to take action in their favor. I also don't understand how some will forego that much money for a year and then go to the UHL or other lower leagues making diddly. I think the whole mess underlines the fact that some people there are more concerned with their paychecks than they are about playing the sport - they don't love it like they should - if they did they'd play just for the sake of playing.

So my rant for today involves how pathetic the local northerners have become. This isn't North Carolina, don't be such wussies. Cancelling school BEFORE THE SNOW COMES? Hello! By 5pm we barely had a dusting. If we DO get the 12-18 inches they were calling for surely the world will fall apart.

Tallari and Dobben scored today in the first, but our silence for the remainder of the game once again forced us to overtime and into the shootout. Which, we all know how that tends to turn out. *sigh* Mississippi did win however, 2-1. Anthony Battaglia had the game winner. The box score has Bates denoted as assisting, but the game summary reads differently.

Instead of heading home to listen to the Mississippi game Beff, Slippy and I headed to the Blvd Grill for some chow. From there we up and decided to make a Walmart run for entertainment purposes. Some interesting purchases were made... and I came home way too late. Now of course I have a couple pissed off dogs who probably won't let me sleep tonight. I guess I deserve it. I did have a cup of coffee (a Dutch coffee that is) at the boulevard, so who knows if I'll be able to sleep anyhow.

I guess I'm as bad of a fan as you are of a brother... as I missed the Mississippi games the past two nights. I don't have an excuse for Friday's game in which Bates had two assists. Last night's game I can just blame on having company. Somehow Mississippi managed to lose to Pensacola last night despite a goal and assist from Anthony. Bates pulled an assist off of his brother's goal.

With aforementioned company we learned a few things in our discussions. 1). Having wood is better than having gas. 2). Nothing compares to Christine's free wood. 3). And the quote of the evening goes to Beff. "Do you know how many people have seen my breasts over the years?"

As to the Chiefs game last evening: if it wasn't for a last ditch come back effort on the part of Toledo we could have easily hung. Instead, we helped them tie up Wheeling for 1st place in the division. I guess sometimes other teams just want it more. Demo, Courchesne, and Tallari all scored last evening. Hopefully today's game will go a little more smoothly. It's been a rather quiet streak for Jean DesRochers. Time to snap out of that streak toots.

How about that Scott Dobben scoring in the first with just two seconds remaining to keep the Chiefs in a tie situation heading into the second. I think a great deal of our game right now is mental - and that point could make a world of difference. Unfortunately in the second a puck bounced off of Bilodeau's foot and went sliding past Cann. From there things just couldn't come together and we dropped 4-1 to the Storm. EH!

In between paper writing efforts this evening I've also been on the hunt for the ellusive leather coat. I found a bad-ass style in the tastes of Underworld and Matrix, but not in my size. You'd think with the Internet at my side I'd be able to find this cursed thing, but no dice. I always seek out the odd things and have a heck of a time. Of course, if I wait a year whatever I like becomes 'popular' and thus available everywhere at half the price of what I finally found it at. *curses*

Team building. That's what they call it. So last night after work I was out "team-building" until midnight. I guess I should have been paper-building, but there is still time and heaven knows I work to the last minute almost religiously regardless of how much time I get on a paper. Wow. All this team-building sure does leave a girl tired the next morning. I think it's time to implement team naps.

I bowled well this evening, and we had enough people bowled out that I was out of the alley a few minutes after 8, just in time to see the huge beautiful flakes... the ones that keep falling, but don't seem to make a mess of the roads. I've been saying for weeks that I was looking forward to nicer weather to start walking again. Well, it wasn't too cold and it was nice in it's own way so I dumped off the bowling ball on my walk from the alley and continued on down the road for another half an hour.

All the while listening to my Chiefs in Reading of course. I know how much Jean DesRochers loves those crap penalties... ;) hooking AND high sticking eh? It's okay, we still love you. C'mon. Smile, you know you want to. You're so easy to get out of a pissy mood.

Scott Dobben tossed one in to get us off of 0-2 before the end of the first. We were borderline robbed on a few. Matt Reid snagged a puck that the goaltender didn't have under control and scored, unfortunately after the whistle. Another close one where the puck would have crossed the line had it not run into Mike James' fallen stick right on the line. Going to the third we're still 1-2 and holding our breath. Unfortunately as things wrapped up we were down 1-3. All streaks must end, but that doesn't mean a new streak can't start immediately. But I REALLY wish we could have wiped Reading. *hiss*

The beauty of this evening is... I also got to listen to the webcast of the SeaWolves. Yes, I'm officially a SeaWolves fan now *wink* and I have a new favorite ECHLer. Bates scored one and brother Anthony was sure to perform well in front of big bro, netting one as well. Not wanting to miss out on any aspect of the game Bates made sure to spend a few in the box for high sticking and elbowing. (Both of my boys seemed to want to "feel shame" this evening. ;) )

Great game to listen to as the SeaWolves (I always want to type Sea Cows.. but that's a whole other joke from high school swimming) came climbing back responding to goal after goal and bringing it to a 5-5 hockey game just in time to go to overtime. Good work by Jay Legault pulling a hat trick in the effort, snagging all three goals in less than 4 minutes of play. Shoot out. Dang, how many of THOSE have I seen this year. Well, with me working the photo table after every game... I guess seen is a bad way to phrase things. Regardless. Bates didn't score on the shoot out *pout*, but neither team scored in 5. Anthony went up in the 6th round empty handed as well. 7th round SeaWolves score. WOW, great game.

It's been a while since I checked in on Jeff Zehr and was pleasantly surprised to see his team is kicking some butt. The Alymer Blues are first in their league by leaps and bounds. Jeff is also playing pretty well with 14 goals and 37 assists on the season putting him at the top of his team. Keep it up Zehr! I was spurred to go do some research after finding yet another cool Zehr jersey. Seems like they're crawing out of the woodwork. Now why can't I find some of the other jerseys I'd be ready to die for? I guess it's for the best.

Ok Mr. ECHL schedule making person... now I demand to know why the Mississippi SeaWolves don't come here and play against the Chiefs. Bates signed there! I guess he decided to be less of a 'bad brother' and learn a little about the league I tried to explain to him in January by signing up to play since the NHL keeled over. Yes Bates, same league - different division. ;)

It's been a busy and productive hockey weekend for the Chiefs. On Saturday Beff continued her prediction streak successfully stating that Desrochers would have the goal bringing things to a tie and Cavy would give us the game winner. In addition we had scores on Saturday from Bowman and Tallari to finish off Dayton. A great game with a decent crowd. Hopefully as the team picks up momentum the crowds will grow.

Sunday was pretty busy as I had to hit church and the grocery store before the game. But unlike my dreams have led me to fear I wasn't late in any way (I've had a reoccuring dream about being very late for the games - go figure). Mather, Tallari tallied for us - Joe Tallari putting up not one, but two, to finish off Trenton. A much more important win than that over Dayton the previous two days. It's pretty hard to be lower than us in points right now, but that's where Dayton is. A few more points and we can start working on picking of Peoria. Keep climbing guys.

Lesson for the weekend: even if you're trying hard to wish someone happiness, sometimes seeing it as being true can be painful.

I spent a little time working more on my taxes. Things are not looking peachy. Right now I owe around $1600. Quite the change from getting a couple grand the past few years. I'm glad I didn't shift withholdings or I would have really been screwed. It would be nice to have consistent taxes from one year to the next. It's clear however that I'm taking quite the stab because I'm single again. Higher taxes, higher car insurance - Thanks America - I guess the lesson is to just go marry someone, anyone and save a few bucks.

"cause I know, I don't belong... here in heaven. -Eric Clapton"

I didn't hear before tonight, but it appears that David Currie injured his hand on Sunday and will be out for a little while. Get healed back up David! So far this evening in Dayton: Cavy tied things up for us in the first at 1. The second period stayed scoreless and the third struggled away... we were back to overtime.

We didn't even have to take this one to the shoot out as Joe-Joe kicks it in and gives us the two points. Great work Tallari! Scary part however... Beff predicted today at work that Joe would win it for us in OT. Better watch out Desrochers - Joe passed you in goals, those overall points are going to start catching you if I don't start hearing your name soon. I am trying to convince Beff that she needs to make a prediction w/ your name in it.

I remember the year in Carolina when we had an over-abundance of overtimes. But we had such luck in overtime, to see us struggling in the third would have me saying "if we can just get to overtime, we can take this game", and sure enough - I was right pretty darn often. Such has NOT been the case for the Chiefs in overtime this year. Waiting until February to pull a win out of 11 OTs (tonight was our 12th) and then two in a row? Maybe we're turning over a new leaf.

"Don’t you forget I had him first. - Toni Braxton"

Squeaky wheel squeaky wheel. Yes, nagging my friends and fellow Jtown fans alike seemed to help in some way - as Jean Desrochers was named the Reebok All-Star Idol! Many thanks to all of my friends who humored me to go vote for our Chiefs representative.

To quote a friend of mine: "How many times and from how many computers DID you vote for Jean from? He beat out the hometown kid!!!!"

The answer: once. I don't believe in non-democratic elections. One person one vote!

"Heaven holds a sense of wonder. -Delerium"

Enough silence in the mourning of the NHL. I'm not too terribly shocked that an agreement wasn't reached, but I am disappointed. How can you come so close and then crumble - especially knowing this means they'll probably sit on their thumbs until September and .. deja vu!

It's not something I typically advertise to the world, but I'm suppose to be open and honest here. If you don't like me when I'm spilling my real thoughts, then you know where the Address field is on your browser is - so, here goes. I have profiles up on a couple dating sites just looking (I'm not a member anywhere as I can't see myself paying for what Johnstown has to offer). What I don't understand is why a plethora of completely foul looking, fat and bald, and/or old as dirt individuals feel the need to contact me. *STRIKE* I do believe that more often than not people tend to pair off at comparable levels, meaning - ugly people hook up with ugly people and hot people hook up with hot people. Think about it, more often than not - it's true. SO... while I don't think I'm a super model, I also don't think my level fits into the box bounded by the individuals who seem to find me worthy of their attempts.

Yes, maybe I'm being overly critical casting someone aside based upon a photo and the cliche junk requested on such sites. I try to tell myself that there is more to people than what you see from across a room, then I'm reminded "THIS" is the photo they selected - that probably means it's their BEST LOOKING photograph. *STRIKE* Further, if they are members to one of these sites and they opt to rocket off an email to me... the spelling, language, punctuation, and grammar skills are INCREDIBLY disappointing. *STRIKE* (I don't mean just one or two minor mispellings. I'm talking someone who doesn't understand that the space goes AFTER the period, not before. Or people that use i meaning "I" or u meaning "you", which I find utterly repulsive.)

Okay, that's three. You're out. How many innings do I get? I don't think I like this game anymore.

"He would adore me, he wouldn't ignore me. - Tamia"

Unprecedented, unbelievable - AMEN! The Chiefs win... in a shoot out! Good work Canner in keeping Peoria down. It was nice to hear that Cavy and Joe-Joe put the puck in the net to keep us in this one to overtime. Reid and Demo gave us the 2-1 shoot out win. I can't believe it took until midway through February for us to win in a shoot out, but to do so right after the horrid loss on Sunday will hopefully ease a great number of ills.

My Valentine's day will be spent doing something I enjoy. Watching hockey. Much to my pleasure the AHL all-star game is on ESPN2. So, after turning down too many people who felt that I needed to do something other than sit here and be pissy - I found something that will distract me for a few hours.

I have to say, I look forward to next year's AHL all-star game, as I'm hoping to see Jean Desrochers on there. I don't know why - I just really believe his career has potential... even if he doesn't always feel that way. I'm not saying other Chiefs don't stand a chance, I can just see him getting there and beyond if he can just keep his own counter productive thoughts contained.

Kind of pointless to be cheering for any of the guys in such a way. It's not like they really give a rats ass what I think about their potential or careers. Hell, half of them date girl that probably couldn't even spell their own names, much less tell you the three main rules of hockey. Ok. Game on. Time to put some spinach and artichoke dip in the oven.

NOTE: Due to some questions I've received about the 'date' statement I made - allow me to clarify. I've switched from "women" to "girls" and there is a clear difference between those that "date" vs have "relationships". I think you get my point.

"Do I ever cross your mind, anytime? - Brian McKnight"

We WERE winning. For a brief shining moment. But at the end of the first it was Riverwomen 3, Chiefs 1. And... the 1 was a short-handed from Bilodeau. *blink blink* We scored. Short handed. But then tumbled back down the hill. What gives? How to snap out of this!

There were a few nice attempts on goal by Tallari, Desrochers, and Van Hoof from the sound of things that were snapped off by the Peoria goalie (Michaud). Come the end of the 2nd... 1-7 (some of those scored short handed by the Riverwomen) and finished up as such. I'm actually crying... crying over a game that _I_ didn't participate in and _I_ have no means by which to change the outcome. How pathetic is that? No, it's not hormones or anything else people will assume.

I hear Toby was a wee bit peeved at the end of last night's game. I guess it's things like this that really show how much all of this weighs on him. I sure wouldn't want the stress of being the person who has to figure a way out of this mess.

Well the only way I can help is to go mourn. So Davey T, Slipster, Beff and I are off to celebrate anti-Valentine's day. I think I'll start off with a load of garlic on my wings - that should ward off the vampire known as St. Valentine as he looms set to drain me and my desire to breathe. All he did was steal the glory from Lupercalia and all the delightful lust it encompassed. Leave it to the Christians to take a perfectly good holiday and smash it to bits with the elusive concept of love.

Athletes tend to have a lot of seemingly silly pre-game rituals. I guess that type of thing carries over to some of us nutty fans. We've tried shifting parking spaces to get a winning streak going, we've tried during game routines to turn things around... all to no avail.

Last night, it was time for something drastic. Last night was the first game I did not attend or listen to this season. While I'll always back the team regardless of our track record I just needed a break. If we had won I would have feared I was bad-luck, at least now I don't feel obligated to NOT listen in the future. While I was off in Altoona consuming massive amounts of sushi and hanging with "Teej" and Rian the guys dropped to the Storm 3-0. I slept for what seemed like an eternity yesterday before I woke up with heading to toona-town on my mind, so I just packed up and headed over.

More changes gallore, many of them out of our control. Looks like JT is back and Scott Dobben a newbie to our roster is also coming down from Cleveland. Glenn Olsen is leaving us already, and we signed Joe Gerbe, who played in the CHL earlier this year. We'll see how things roll on Saturday. I still say we'll see one more change from Toby. Maybe this Gerbe signing puts us to a point where someone has to go... who will it be? I give it a week and I think we'll have our answer.

Lent. What really gets me about lent is the herds of self centered fixations that are proclaimed during this season. Yes, giving up sweets or caffeine or whatever may be good for YOU but what exactly does that have to do with preparing for the death and resurrection of Christ? If anything, lent should be a time of changing attitudes and demeanors. So what to do for lent? Maybe trying to not jump to conclusions about other people's motivations, giving someone a second chance, reaching out to someone - THOSE are lenten focuses that demonstrate some level of Christian based growth and attempt to be more Christ-like.

I, of course, have opted to not change a thing specifically for lent. It seems too much like the 'second shot at a new years resolution' for most of America to me. Make a perminant change in your life for the good of your spirit and those around you - and have a freaking donut.

I'm in shock and awe! Everyone has all been but calling for the head of Toby if he doesn't make some cuts or trades - and mayhaps the rabid mob will be quieted for a little while as we've trade Hildy *gasp* for Brian Collins from Pee Dee. I guess it was a matter of time, but everyone was waiting to see "who". I'd put my money this isn't the only act that we'll see played out in the near term.

I was hoping to leave work a little early today since I had extra hours from earlier in the week - just to relax a bit before running back out, but I didn't get out the doors until 4:30. So much for relaxing. I did my bible study thing and made an attempt to chill by doing some light window shopping after. Big mistake. I forgot about all of the Valentine's Day crap that would be smacking me in the face. *hiss* Well I left with a few new packs of incense but it even made it's point. When you take them out of the cardboard you have no way of knowing the scent, so I mark the plastic w/ a sharpie. I purchased Spring Rain.. what did I write on the packaging? Spring Pain.

Ok, enough piss-poor attitude. One with the rest of the work I need to do this evening. And to think I even will get started before 9:30!

I would smack my head off of my keyboard a little, but I just got it fixed. It's been a long several games. Jamesy and Sully scored tonight but we fell to the Titans 5-2, pushing them up to 4th in the division. Interestingly enough Bowman was playing wing to help compensate for our overload of d-men (how ironic given we were short on d-men earlier this year when we were winning).

I've been staying hella busy at work and bringing way too many things home to be dealt with as of late. Sadly, I'm half looking forward to traveling for work just to get out of the same old same old routine - that is if I can resolve all of the issues surrounding the travel arrangements for the team and determine who's babysitting the fuzzy ones.

I'm a terrible Christian as I didn't make it to an Ash Wednesday service today, despite being invited to hear my bud singing. At least I got a few things done for my class tonight while listening to the game and got a little bit of vacuuming done. I'm actually looking forward to a weekend w/o hockey in town just so I can catch up on my cleaning. Of course my next question is what am I cleaning for - not like anyone is ever here, including me. Maybe I should just invite over some of the scary guys that keep contacting me over messenger and just embrace the axe-wielding psychos that I attract. To further detail, if I get abducted after a game some night it's probably the guy I don't know who sent me a picture of me from the game Saturday. Yeah, creepy huh. Time to stop babbling - maybe an early night to bed would serve well.

This is rude, and I'll probably feel bad about saying it in my blog but ... SOUCY WAS RECALLED TO SPRINGFIELD! WOOHOO! I'm sorry, I am usually the one bitching at people for smashing players to bits but this one really shocks me. I thought for sure we'd be "stuck" with him for the remainder of the season. Granted, the number of stupid penalties he drew and the foolish attacks on other players after the whistle was blown (such as the knee drop) have slowed down, but I'm still surprised by this recall. Personally I just say good riddance because I didn't dig how he acted off the ice either.

On other bright news - my laptop is healthy again. Thank you Dell tech support!

"Na-na na na, na-na na na, hey hey hey, goodbye! -(who cares who sings it, it's the perfect song for today)"

Guess what. We lost again. Blah. 6-3 today. Desrochers started us off, and in the second both Mather and Courchesne snagged one within a minute of one another to try and get the ball rolling, but it just didn't happen. What can you do.

Post game I sat in the room at a get together while the super bowl was on, but I haven't been into football in years so it didn't really keep my attention. Then I come home hoping to just blog and read email and go to bed... no. Get this. Laptop, mid-sentance - KEYBOARD STOPS WORKING. Ugh. I rebooted I hit all the wierd ass function keys thinking maybe Vixen hit something odd (she likes to lay her head on the keyboard to get my attention) but all to no avail. Thank goodness I'm resourceful and plugged my regular keyboard in. But this simply won't do. Eep. I guess we'll see what can be done about it. Fingers crossed for me here people!

Ok, so maybe I should have just stayed late at work friday night. Eh. We started off first with a goal from Demo, but that is where things ended and we lost to AC 3-1. No, it was nice to be back at a home game. I had to argue with another fan club member who called Mike James her husband... how can that be? He's my wife! More entertaining about it was having the iron puppy bring Thompson his birthday puck and cupcake :) Post game everyone headed out for a sip or two at Jerry's. It was nice to get to sit and bs with Beff, Slipster, Thompson, Mitthy, and Mike.

Today I got up and spent way too much time struggling to wrap up my paper. I'm sure it's terrible, but I just couldn't come up with more valuable content. At least I was able to go to the game w/o a paper on my mind. We started off looking great against the Gulls and we were up 2-0... but let me just summarize by saying we went into a shootout and lost miserably (again). Mather and Cavy scored our goals, for what it's worth.

BK is in town getting more of his things as the Griffins are most definitely keeping him - which is wonderful news for him. Beff, BK and I chatted for a few minutes, it's good to know that he got the emails from the website and it seemed like they put a smile on his face. Keep up the good work in Grand Rapids BK!

Amusingly enough we ended up going to Scott's by Dam with rather interesting company post game. "Uncle Jake" was nice enough to drag our little girl crew out to have a few drinks with Paul McIntosh, a professional hockey scout from the Dallas Stars. I love being able to sit and bs hockey with people, but to actually have him telling us ladies that we knew a good bit about hockey was quite the compliment. It's nice to know someone is here peeking at our boys. We even convinced him to stay here instead of heading to Wheeling tomorrow, okay he was already borderline on that one but our charm won him over. You're welcome boys. I ask you little Chiefs boys - were you naughty or nice this year? How do you think you ranked on this Santa's list? Hopefully our friend will remember to join us for pre-game warm-ups.

From here out I will take on the comment made about me by this cool guy for any and all practical purposes when it may come in handy... "fooled you eh?"

I saw some of this last evening, but was too lazy and overwhelmed at the same time to even blog. Cleveland has assigned another left winger, Glenn Olson, our way. I'm not trying to be rude here, but hopefully his attitude will be similar to two of the three that have appeared here recently - none of this wild behavior that draws stupid penalties - and thus he won't be here long. Gee, does that hint at who I think the one who cannot maintain restraint is?

A weekend of hockey seems like the perfect therapy for some stress that has me pressed under it's thumb. Hopefully in between the games I'll be able to wrap up my first writing assignment for my new term. Some days I can't believe I'm ALREADY half way to my masters, other days I can't believe I'm ONLY half way to my masters. Let me tell you, this week is mostly of the later attitude. I feel like I have 4 million different things that I'm falling behind on at work too. I know I'll eventually get everything in order, and that stress is what helps me get things done, but I still have pangs of panic.

Go figure, Tremblay was recalled to Cleveland. This is great news for him... I guess Sully will have to level Clair on his own.

"..of how my life would be, if you were here with me. -4 Strings"

Due to delays we were a little late getting to 'practice' today - missed the tail end. But at least we picked up the tickets and additional 10-ticket pack I needed. Regardless, I guess it was my day to pass by. Welcome back into Jtown cutie, even if it's only for a quick visit w/ the boys on your trip back North.

I also happened upon an article which clearly stated that it is, in fact, immigration issues and the screwy visa laws this year which have Paulie (aforementioned cutie) on his way back to Nova Scotia.

"You're holding the rope, I'm taking the fall. -3 Doors Down"