Photos: 11/26/08 (+4), more irresponsible journalism

First, when and why did NHL Network stop covering, or even mentioning, fights? Dom Moore and Jason Smith fought in the 2nd period of the TOR/OTT game (not that I would know, since I was watching that trainwreck the Thrash put on). I'm not sure if that's like, a fantasy come to life, or horrifyingly mis-matched, and thank god for the YouTubes, because NHL Network didn't even MENTION it. Not only did they not show clips, but they glossed right over it as if it never happened. When did this start happening? Dominic Moore drops his gloves and takes on Jason Smith and that's not worth mentioning? Even casually as an aside, perhaps? Dumb dickheads.

There weren't a lot of great photos for this game. Clearly the photographer(s) was a homer, because there's a lot of photos of Caps.

Even though preseason means nothing...

The "Crazy" Ron Wilson-led TML defeated the Buffaloes, 7-4. On the strength of two goals by my #1 all-time favourite Leaf, Dom Moore. I should point out that until Dom Moore, I despised the Leaves. Mostly I still do, but I like that Finn goalie guy they have too. I mean, not like I like ours. I would totally put Kari in net for Finland over Toskala, any day. I'd let Vesku pick my next purse though...

Baby Thrashers beat the Baby Preds in a shootout, putting the Baby Thrash at 4-1 for the preseason. Will this luck carry over into the regular season? Could do. The Preds put up a video of post-game reactions from their rookies, and seriously, their babygoalie is adorable - he comments on how the guys in front of him kept the shots against him down, and it was "very nice of them." I hope within our organisation is making note. Also? They already have VIDEO up! We have nothing! Do the Thrashers need a videographer? Can someone slip Scott Cunningham a video camera please? Jeez.

I've got a lot of theories about this season, but before I post anything resembling a preview, I want to see how camp shakes out, and get a semi-relevant assessment of our starters and depth.

But listen, TML won. With Crazy Ron steering the ship. So at this point? Anything's possible.

Leafs claim Dominic Moore off waivers

In my continuing bid to also be Dominic Moore-Central....From TSN:

The slumping Toronto Maple Leafs claimed forward Dominic Moore off waivers from the Minnesota Wild.

The 27-year old Moore has one goal and two assists in 30 games with the Wild this season [and averaged a whopping 11:56 a game.....-Ed].

In 186 career NHL games with the New York Rangers and the Wild, Moore has accumulated 41 points.

Moore was acquired from Pittsburgh for Minnesota's third-round pick in the 2007 NHL Entry Draft on Feb. 27, 2007.

The Leafs are 2-8-2 in their last 12 games and have fallen to 14th place in the Eastern Conference.

For Dom, this is nothing but good. He's from GTA, the Leafs were his favourite team growing up, and Jacques Lemaire didn't like him. I'm so excited for him, and can't wait to see him in Blue & White, even though I personally can't stand the Leaves. But thank GOD he's out of Minny!

You like us! You really like us! And league stuff

Sometime during the early morning or late night hours while most of us slept, an insignificant statistic was achieved. FireWagon cracked 1,000 unique hits. So thank you, from the bottom of our hearts, for reading us (we see you, repeat visitors! We have like 5 regular readers now!) and for visiting each time we make a post. And most of all for thinking we're funny because damn it, we are! We totally love you. Do you need a date for your company holiday party? We will totally be your arm candy! Now if y'all could only stay on the site for more than 00:00, we would consider being your mistresses. Mistressii? We would give you sexual favours. Or, you know, link your blog. Whichever you prefer!

Right. Moving on.


We're #1! We're #1! We're #1! OK not really, we just felt like chanting that. But we are the most winningest team in the SE Div in the past 10 games. Which is kind of like saying you're the skinniest kid at fat camp, even with the Cups that have graced our beautiful South in the past couple years, but hey, we'll take it. Hoss and Kovy are hitting their strides, Waddell separated the wonder twins, Ex and Mac (thank God) so we can actually get some defence from Ex, and Moose and Pavs are busting ass in the fight of "who gets to stay when Lehts is healthy again?" Sorry Pavs, we've got our money on Moose. He's got a contract, after all, and we'd lose him on the waiver wire. Hey have we mentioned Lehts is about 2 weeks away from a return? We know we have, and we know we'll mention it another 300 times in the next two weeks, but we're super cited. Someone send us pictures of our beloved goalie in Duluth! We will... um... offer prizes! Yes! Prizes! We aren't sure what yet, but damn it! Robbie? Talkin' Practice Tom? Someone!

Brody finally broke the elusive 500 wins mark on Saturday night against the Flyers (we dance a jig of glee, yet cry for Gator), and if he's not blowing Elias for that GWG, or his defence for, well, you know, playing defence, he needs to re-evaluate a few things. Can I be the first one to say I'm kind of surprised that landmark win didn't come against the Capitals? Because pretty much every landmark occasion in hockey comes against them. But we'll get to that.

Mikko Koivu apparently had either his leg bone broken in two places, or both bones broken different, but whatever, Mattias Ohlund did it. And got a 4 game suspension for his troubles. Now, here's where we're kind of ... ennnh. Obviously we here at FWH are big supporters of Team Suomi in international competition. The Wild are saying Mikko will only be out for a week........ Wait. What? DUDE. World Cup is in less than a year! Take some time off, let that shit heal! Also, it creates the opportunity for more ice time for Dominic Moore. Who, btw, the Denver Post kind of made a shitty remark about, although it was probably made with the best intentions:

The Canucks face the Wild in St. Paul on Wednesday. If some members of the Wild get too caught up in retribution, they could ask their young center, Dominic Moore, about the phenomenon. He's the younger brother of former Avalanche forward Steve Moore.

Is it just us or is that like, totally insensitive? Because there's a player left in professional hockey who is unaware of the whole Moore/Bertuzzi incident, that they need to ask Steve's little brother? Tasteless. And we're like, the queens of flaunting our complete lack of taste. If we call you tasteless, you got issues.

Leafs beat the Sens Saturday night, eh? That totally fucked us in our sports betting, because hello, who wouldn't drop 1,000 chips on the Sens in that matchup? Fuckin' Leafs.

Alexander "Sasha Vanilla" Semin is set to return to the Caps lineup tonight in time for their game against the Panthers. We love Sasha Vanilla. You should too. Lined with Alexander "Sasha Mocha" Ovechkin, there isn't a single god damned reason in the world these two can't 1-2 punch the entire league in the nuts and win the Stanley Cup by themselves. Except for that whole, curse of the Washington Sports teams. DC is where athletes go to die, you didn't know? We love the Sashas, we just hope they can either turn the curse around, or get the fuck out of dodge.

Speaking of the Kittens, there's a fucking hilarious article about Stephen "I pulled off the heist of the century" Weiss in today's Miami Herald. We'll just include a relevant quote.

Weiss is playing better of late, and after a slow start and one goal in 17 games, and has scored four points (with a goal and three assists) in the past five games.

OK, no. No no no. Six points in 22 games puts him on pace for 22 points on the season, which puts him at 26 points less than his "career season" last year. And this dude took the Panthers for $3m+ a season? Wow. Does he work at Dewey Cheatham and Howe in the offseason? Also?

The Panthers are hoping the recent improvement from Weiss will not only continue, but also be contagious.

We doubt it's Weisser's "improvement" that's contagious, but hey, best of luck Kitties. Only not really.

Stuff from around the league

WESTERN CONFERENCE

Divine Retribution, Illustrated: Anaheim forward Todd Bertuzzi has not played since Oct. 14 because of a concussion, but took part in on-ice drills this week for the first time since the injury. Bertuzzi told the Los Angeles Times he had been symptom-free for a number of days, but was going to take small steps in order to prevent another concussion. Payback's a bitch, ain't it, Bert? Speaking of assholes, Bertuzzi's lawyer ran crying to the press this week to whine and moan because Steve Moore and his lawyers turned down a settlement offer of $350,000. If you'll recall, Moore is suing Bertuzzi for $15m. That's $15,000,000. Which is 2 more 0's than Bert's legal team offered Steve. We here at FWH also would've told Bertuzzi to go get fucked, strictly on principle, but seeing as how one of us actually has Esq following our name, we also know Steve's lawyer should've taken the offer and been happy with it. Steve, if you need a new lawyer, call us!! We will totally take your case!

Dominic Moore played his third game back last night after an abdominal strain kept him out for 12 games. His minutes are increasing exponentially, and he's currently the Wild's 2nd best faceoff man, behind Eric "I had four points last night!" Belanger. Hopefully Dom will continue to see his minutes rise, but we doubt it. In the world called "reality," we hope he'll get traded to an Eastern Conference contender come trade deadline day.

All-Star nominee Sheldon Souray has had a setback with his shoulder injury, and will not be returning to the ice any time soon, which is really a punch in the nuts for the Oil, who have two (2) veteran defenceman (Staios and Tarnstrom) followed by 5 rookies. At least Dustin "I got a 1000% raise" Penner is finally stepping it up and earning his paycheque.

---

EASTERN CONFERENCE

Sid Crosby has quietly extended his point streak to 18 games, sliding into 2nd place for points with 28 (behind Lecavalier). Yeah, wow, right? 18 games and you hardly hear about it. Probably because the Pens are 8-10-0. Heyyyy, wait a minute! The Thrashers are also 8-10-0! Correlary, anyone, anyone? Look for Therrien to likely get the sack soon, and join Hartley in the PQ unemployment line.

Broddy can't buy his 500th win, it seems. He tried against the Isles on Saturday and was shut down, 2-1. Then he tried against the Rags Wednesday night, and was again shut down, this time 4-2. The Devils host the Isles tonight at the Rock, and hopefully he can get the win while home. He's still 51 wins behind Patrick Roy for title of "Most Winningest Goaltender in History" (wow that's such bad English), but he's more concerned with the logo on the front than the name on the back. "Right now we're a .500 team, win one, lose one. It's not fun. We had a great opportunity here with the Rangers in town to get over that hump. We just couldn't do it." Bonne chance, Broddy!



Did you vote today? Go vote! http://fanballoting.nhl.com/ Vote often! And vote for Kari, damn it!

Post-game Review

4 - 5
(SO)

• Hedberg has made hockey a full-contact sport for goalies. This is full of WIN!
• Perrin was, completely unshockingly to us here at FWH, a BEAST on the ice, with 3 points (2 goals), and nearly scored the OT winner for the hatty.
• Where the HELL were the rally helmets?
• If we knew Antropov was going to deke on the shootout goal, how did Hedberg not know? Hedberg has a damned 5-hole you can drive a Zamboni through.
• Toronto announcers: Hedberg's first name is said yo-HAHN. It does not rhyme with man. And Kovy's last name ends like chuck. It is not chook. And Lehtonen's name is not Carrie. It's KAH-ree. OK? Make a freakin' note.
• Congrats to Heddy for going 5-0 career in the shootouts,

Watching 2 somewhat crappy and desperate teams playing is always pretty awesome. It was indeed a barn burner - we'll have to download this one for posterity. Not quite a football score, but we were pretty close in our prediction.

Huge congrats to Tobi Enstrom on his first NHL goal!


(AP Photo/Frank Gunn, The Canadian Press)

Your three stars are:
* Kovy
** Sundin
*** Enstrom

---

Dominic Moore was finally taken off D2D after 22 days, and placed on IR today with his abdominal strain. No article on this, but google-news it and you'll find one-line mentions in a few different publications. Get better soon, Dom!

4 more sleeps

Who cares that technically NHL's begun for the Ducks and Kings? Who cares that it begins on Wednesday for many other teams. For us, and for many of our fellow fans of the A-T-L, the season doesn't begin until Friday, and really that's as it should be. No one sits in trembling anticipation of Wednesdays, ferchrissakes! But Friday, nearly everyone looks forward to Fridays! And now that anticipation is increased, oh, hundredfold. Four more sleeps until the 07-08 season begins for us. We. Can't. Wait!

Do you read other blogs and articles about hockey and the league? If you do, and like us, tend to stray to media in other markets, you may have noticed that many articles written during this pre-season, concerning the Thrashers, seem to've been written by Chicken Little. "The sky is falling, the sky is falling!" they proclaimed, certain the twinge in Lehtonen's groin was indicative that his season was, if not over, at least heavily delayed. After learning of the almost-injury and writing their dire predictions, most prognosticators wandered off, forgetting of the Thrashers almost entirely, and putting them in the bottom of the league for a finish. I guess no one bothered checking the scores to see that not only did Kari play 2 consecutive games, he also stopped 58 shots. And yes yes, against the Panthers, but this is the form we want for our starting goaltender. Oh, you haven't heard?

Lehtonen will start Opening Night

By Craig Custance | Monday, October 1, 2007, 02:19 PM

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Seriously, that's all you need to know. I mean, there's other stuff in there worth reading, you can go check it out on your own. But Lehts will be in his rightful place between the pipes when that banner is raised and those anthems sung, as it should be. I hope his form comes as a shock to all the writers who stopped paying attention when they heard the words "Lehtonen" and "groin strain."

Also on the subject of the Thrashers, there's a nice article in the Laval (PQ) paper about Eric Perrin finding a home in Atlanta.

Moving on to other teams:
Filthy Flyers - named Jason "Gator" Smith their captain today. Possibly the only redeeming thing they've done in many years.
Minnesota Wild - Dominic Moore dropped the gloves last night with Martin Lapointe. I know, right?! That's what I said. What the hell, Dom!

That's all we've got, really. Hey is there some sort of prize for having probably the ONLY Kari Lehtonen blog? Cause we totally nominate ourselves for it!

Oh, lastly, because it can't NOT be mentioned: Britney Spears lost custody of her kids today to ex-husband K-Fed. Or Fedtard. Also known as Cletus. Seriously, how awful of a parent do you have to be for that tool to be the responsible parent in the pairing? Think that one out, BritBrit. Oh how the mighty have fallen. To go from world's biggest star to cautionary tale in 2 short years, that's impressive. Downgrade of our generation, eh?

Bucci gives props to Moore

Because of their early success, the Wild have been unable to develop a real world-class talent other than Marian Gaborik. The 25-year-old forward is one of the most talented players in the NHL. If he could somehow play 78-82 games, he would sniff 50 goals. He has also produced in the postseason. No player is more exhilarating to watch in the open ice than Gabby. It appears Dominic Moore (17 goals, 21 assists in 156 NHL games) will center Gaborik and Pavol Demitra. On the surface, Moore seems like an odd guy with those numbers to center the top line, but Moore has good speed, he wins faceoffs and obviously knows how to play all three zones.

--John Buccigross

It's about god-damned time!

We here at FWH have a few favourite players we follow regularly, and have for a long time. One of those players is Harvard graduate and New York Rangers draftee, Dominic Moore. Yes, brother of Steve Moore, who was made infamous by "The Bertuzzi Incident." We follow Steve too, but there's not a lot of story to follow there.

Last season at the trade deadline, Dom was sent packing from the Pens to the Wild. He was played 4 games, including the best of his career, then was benched for the duration of the season and the playoffs. You'll note that the last game he played was his first in Vancouver since The Incident, his first visit to the city and to GM Place since his brother's career was ended. Understandably, it was a difficult game for him. Seems that's not something his coach took into consideration.

Wild camp has been a raging success for Dom this year. This article from the Minny Star Trib proves our point that Dom is a man you want on your team, if not on your top 2 lines:

Moore getting plenty of positive feedback

By Michael Russo, Star Tribune

Last update: September 25, 2007 – 10:38 PM

After being pushed aside late last season, Wild center Dominic Moore could be earning a significant role this season.

Coach Jacques Lemaire has been delighted with Moore's training camp, in particular his inspired play during Monday's 2-1 victory against the Buffalo Sabres.

"He's doing something," said Lemaire, who scratched Moore in all five playoff games and seven of the final 11 regular-season games last year. "His vision is good, he gets the puck, he makes some plays. When it's time to drive at the net, he drove. When it's time to support the guys, he did. Defensive zone, he wasn't responsible for any chances against. It was an all-around game.

"[Last year], we didn't see passes, we didn't see as great of a defensive player, we didn't see the skating that he's showing now, we didn't see the confidence that he has now."

Lemaire admitted that confidence goes two ways and possibly one reason Moore didn't show it after his February trade from the Pittsburgh Penguins is because he received little feedback from the coaching staff.

"I like what I see now. It's different," Lemaire said. "If he keeps going like this, he's going to play."

Said Moore: "When you get some positive reinforcement, you know you're on the right track."

Moore could wind up between Pavol Demitra and Marian Gaborik. Not only does he have the speed to keep up, Moore finished 22nd in faceoff winning percentage last season (.526). Possession means Demitra and Gaborik can do what they do best -- generate scoring chances.

"You start the shift without the puck, it could be the difference between playing in your end or their end," Moore said.

Good luck, Dom. We're cheering for you!