It’s that time of year again! The playoffs are down to the final four and are exciting as ever. I will save my always wrong predictions on those until later and focus now on the Canes. The team finished 33-33-16 good for 82 points. On paper that LOOKS like .500 but it’s not. The 16 is overtime losses which is quite annoying for a loyal fan. All year we knew that if the game got to overtime they were as good as done. If they would have won a little over half of these games they would have been in the playoffs, but as I always say, a team like this wouldn’t have gotten far so I am happier with the better draft pick then paying for playoff tickets and having the team get killed by the Rangers in the first round.

Some quick stats

–Power play was 16.7% good for the bottom half of the league.

–Penalty Kill was 80.6% good for bottom third of the league (not good), but the saving grave was that they scored 12 short handed goals second in the league only to the Devils.

The season’s positive was that we got rid of Maurice as coach and brought in Kirk Muller behind the bench. He has brought a great up tempo style but focusing on clearing out the rebounds from in front of the next and working hard at both ends of the ice. The team looked great after they got used to his style (about 10 games in) and played real well the rest of the year. There is definately a ton to be positive about going forward and I will talk more about that at the end of these articles.

So now here is the grades for this year’s defensemen. Since I did this last year I will put what my prediction was for last year and last year’s grade and then my grade for this year and outlook for next year.

#4 Jamie McBain

Last year’s Grade C-  My prediction/outlook for this year– McBain is obviously here to stay and at 23 he’s got plenty of time to grow. I am going to be optimistic with him and say I think we will see a better first half next year, as usual providing they put something around him on the blue line. He will need to step up defensively if he is going to get prime ice time next year.

McBain didn’t wow anyone this year and yet didn’t make himself a liability on the blue line. He’s been a 4th/5th d-man who logs good mins at the point on the PP. He managed 8 Goals (5PP) and 19 Assists (27 points) in 76 games. His Plus/Minus of -7 was among the better of the D-Men on the team but that’s a bit deceptive. Not being a top 4 D-man most of the year he was n’t tasked with primo minutes at primo times so it’a a bit hard to guage. He is a guy right now who isn’t a top 2 D man but you can tell that some day he might very well be, as he continues to make good strides.

Grade B- While not spectacular on the blue line McBain does what the Canes ask him to. He’s gotten better each year and you don’t cringe when he is out there. Give him 2 or 3 more years of this growth and you will have a very useful 2/3 D-Man for sure.

Outlook –> Next year all depends on what the Canes do with the likes of Bryan Allen, and if they move Pitkanen. If they can keep enough guys on the roster where McBain isn’t tasked with too much ice time and he continues to be the 4/5th D-man in this corps then he will continue to grow. I don’t think he can be a guy who logs 22+ mins a night yet. I see them doing this and him having a good season. I think he has a good year getting to -2 and breaks the 10 goal plateau.

#5 Bryan Allen

Last year’s Grade B My prediction/outlook for this year–> Allen is signed next year for 2.9 mil against the cap. I think he’s good value for the money and a great start for the back end to work with next year. Happy to see him in a Canes uni for at least one more year.

This year– Allen did this year what he has become known for. A big, solid D-Man who can cover his own end and bring the pain with some hits. He got some great chemistry with Tim Gleason about mid season and the two of them became a shutdown pair going up against other teams best lines game in and game out. He played in all 82 games and was only a Minus 1 on the year. He even managed to score that one goal I wanted him to score last year. He had a respectable 13 assists 111 hits and a nice 188 blocked shots.

Grade A-  He might have had some bad games here and there, 3 seperate 3 game stretches where he was -4 or worse, but all in all he was a defensive force. He’s easily the best pure defensive defenseman on the team and I want him to be here for long term. When he’s out there you know he’s going to be in position and make people pay for trying to get near the net.

Outlook–> Unfortunately he’s an unrestricted free agent. This is a hot button topic for me b/c I think Rutherford should have been talking to him ALL YEAR to make sure he can re-sign him. The team NEEDS Allen on it and needs to be able to keep him. If not then they should have dealt him for the 1st round pick he would have undoubtedly brought back at the deadline. I want them to deal Pitkanen for whatever ANYONE will pay and give his money to Allen to keep him here long term. I don’t see if happening. I hope I am wrong. If I am correct it wil lbe YET ANOTHER way Rutherford has failed in the last few years to manage the roster going forward (Add him to the Whitney debacle list).

#6 Tim Gleason

Last year’s Grade B My prediction/outlook for this year–> Like Allen here as well Gleason is signed for next year. At 2.75 mil for one more year, he will look to improve on his penalty killing and manage to get  that hard shot back on track. Another guy whom I am glad is here and if they can pair him up with a two-way D-man or an offensive one, looks to be a good top 4 D-man for years to come for this team.

This year— Alternate Captain Gleason started the year off poorly. Despite being Plus 1 on the first two months he was brutal. He was slow, out of position and just looked disinterested. The hiting of Muller really brought the best out of Gleason. In Dec. he turned a corner and in an instant he was the leader and defensive force I wanted him to be. They re-signed him in January to a 4 year 4 Mil per extension and he lived up to it the rest of the year. He plays every game every year and you know exactly what he will give you. Not a whole lot on the front end, but when paired with Allen, you know they will shut down just about any set of forwards in the league. A great top 2-3 D-man who is going to be one of the faces of this team for years to come.

Grade A-  As I said above, he was real good the last two-thirds of the year. He’s just not a guy who can score even tho he’s got some passing skills and a hard shot. He was a real reliable guy on the back end and his plus 12 on the season was tops on the team, and he played in peak times and against the best the opposition had to offer. His 129 hits and 112 blocked shots were down from last year, but this is deceptive in a good way. I think Gleason was more defensively responsible and in better position b/c of the lowering of these stats and I think his game was ultimately better as well. I was pleased with his year and hope he’s got this in him for the next 4 years as well.

Outlook –> Depending on who stays (Allen?) or who they bring in, they are likely to lean hard on Gleason for the foreseeable future. He’s going to be on the top shutdown pair and either 2/3 on nights that they want to have one defensive and one offensive D man on the ice for each shift. He’s going to log big mins next year and I think he’s up for it. Look for a good year out of Gleason next year!

#8 Jaroslav Spacek

Acquired in the deal in which Rutherford moved “mistake” signing Tomas Kaberle to Montreal, Spacek brought some good veteran leadership to the blue line. He had some injury troubles but he was a great addition to the locker room and played hard when he was out there. He managed to put up 5 goals and 7 assists in his brief 34 games with the Canes as well.

Grade B  This may seem a bit high for a guy who only played 34 games with the team. Yet, when he was there he was real good. He wasn’t in the front light all the time but he quietly put up those 5 goals while shooting 13.5%. He’s always in the right position when he is back there and as I keep saying, everyone in the locker room raves about his impact there.

Outlook–> He’s 38 and a Free Agent so his options are limited. He’s not going to get the 3.8 mil he previously made from anyone. I would be happy to get him at 1 mil or less for 1 more year, to keep his leadership on the team. But my prediction is going to be either him retiring or grabbing whatever money someone else might offer him. Highest bidder for one last year.

#25 Joni Pitkanen

Last year’s grade D- My prediction/outlook for this year–> He’s an unrestricted free agent this year. YIPPPIE!!! I can only hope someone offers him a contract worth more then he’s worth so that Jim Rutherford won’t re-sign him. For some reason the Canes front office loves the guy, even tho he’s a waste of money. He made 4 million this year. Hey Jimmy, if you re-sign him for any thing more then 1.5 million you are complete moron. I would rather see more youngsters from the minors then this stiff.

This year. Well I knew it was coming, the Canes signed him for 3 years @ 4.5 mil per. And like I said Rutherford was a moron for doing so. He was hurt almost all season only playing in 30 games, and of those he left the ice early in 5 or more of them with injuries. I know concussions happen but he has a history of missing 10+ games a year and not finishing another 10+ each year. I am disgusted this guy is on the team. He might be a great player if he wasn’t so bad defensively and if he played 82 games, but I would rather him be another team’s headache.

Grade F  Concussion or not, this year was an utter fail for Pitkanen. He might have played in 30 games but he was a BRUTAL minus 15 in those games!!! He’s a waste at the blue line defensively and his 5 goals don’t make up for it. He’s not much more then a PP specialist right now and that’s not worth 4.5 million. Neither is sitting on the IR either.

Outlook–> I think even the Canes know he doesn’t fit into their plans. There is rumblings that they might deal him to either free up the cap room for Allen or a power forward, or  try and bring in a useful forward for him. The optimist in me says they will move him. The realist in me says no chance anyone takes him off our hands. We will be saddled with this stiff for 2 more years of injury prone bad defensive hockey.

#27 Derek Joslin

Last year’s grade C+/B  My prediction/outlook for this year–> Joslin is a restricted free agent. I think they will tender him a qualifying offer and see him sticking around. I don’t think Goose is top 4 material, but he is definitely a guy I can see them having at top 6. Depending on who they sign or bring up he is likely #6 and/or a healthy scratch/injury replacement on most nights. Keep up the good work Joslin I am rooting for you.

This year-- So they kept him around for 2 years @ 700K per year. He was exactly what I thought. A 6th D man who actually spent more time on the wing on the 4th line then he did on the blue line. He’s not a great forward but for a team that doesn’t roll four lines all that often it’s a sly way to get 7 D men on the game day roster for injury replacement or to have a couple of guys who are only there for the PP (Laviolette often did this with Wallin back in the 06 season). He was minus 15 in 44 games and had 35 pims. He throws his body around well enough and blocks shots well enough but he doesn’t do any one thing good enough for me to think he warrants a top 6 spot right now and he’s just not a good enough skater to get good ice time up front. He was just a bit of a filler player this year but he tries hard and does what the team asks of him.

Grade C  I won’t bash on Joslin much at all. He’s the type of player I am and like on the team. You do everything the coach asks and put 150% into everything you do. I am rooting for him, but he just wasn’t that good. His lack of skating ability often had him out of position, and not even in the zone, when the opposition scored. When he DID play D he was a hard nosed D-man who brought the pain in front of the net. I am not sure there is room for a 3rd defense only guy on the back end if Allen is still here next year, and that might be why he found his way up front at times this year. Not good not bad, but just a fringe player this year at best.

Outlook —> To date Joslin is one of the six D on the roster. (Including McBain RFA but Not including Allen–UFA) However, I don’t see that continuing to the start of the season. I think they will get another D on the roster by then and force him to be either the 4th line winger or often scratched/injury replacement. He’s a decent insurance policy for the team to have tho and I am happy if he’s used in that role.

#28 Justin Faulk

The 20 year old 2nd round pick from 2010 burst onto the scene this year. He had a great year as a top 4 D-Man and should have been on the ballot for the rookie of the year this year. He’s got a cannon of a shot from the point and by mid year was a staple on the point on the 1st PP pairing. An Avg sized (6′ 205) D-man but smart and still able to deliver his fair share of hits (113).

Grade B  If it wasn’t for his streaky lack of defense (-16) and his learning curve in the NHL skating department I would have given him a slightly higher grade. He did seem quite at ease on the PP netting 5 PPG and 7 PPA, 12 of his total 22 points on the year. He scored a few one timers from the point that were such blasts that even Shea Weber would have been impressed. I want to see more scoring out of him even strength and also want to see him step it up in 12-13 defensively.

Outlook –> As you can see in his dominating defensive and offensive performance in the worlds right now, this kid is going to be good. He’s already the #4 defenseman on the team and he’s going to be a great player for the Canes for the next few years. I hope he continues to grow and be a huge presence both offensively and defensively  for a long time.

#44 Jay Harrison

Last year’s grade B-  My prediction/outlook for this year–>Harrison made 500K last year, and is an unrestricted free agent. I don’t see too many teams that will throw big money at him, so I see Rutherford giving him a slight raise, maybe to 700K and him sticking around for another year to see if he keeps improving. I see him being the 5/6 D man on this team and playing most every night.

Well I couldn’t have hit the nail on the head any better then Harrison. He got the 700K and played as the 5/6 D man every night (72 games played). Harrison more-so then any other D-Man (Even Fault) surprised me. He had career highs in goals 9 Assists 14 Hits 117 and blocked shots 153. He looked real good at both ends of the ice and was even useful on those offensive odd man rushes he found himself on. He’s started to rise to the occasion on the back end and I can even see him chipping in with time on the top 4 next year.

Grade A-  Sure he might not be a household name, but Harrison went from a guy who you thought would be cut at any time, to a guy you were happy having in the lineup each night. you don’t find too many guys who don’t make over a million dollars that can near the ten goal mark. Great value for the money and a team guy too boot. Great year Jay keep up the good work.

Outlook–> As much as I like Harrison, unless they get an offensive D man in here I think 12-13 will be a let down year. I think they might lean on him a bit too much do to how well he played this year. Not sure if he’s a guy who can put up those 9-10 goals when the rely on him to do so. He’s much more valuable when he does it when he’s expected to do nothing. I hope they get in a decnet 2 way D man keep Harrison as a 4/5th D man and he has a good year. It will be interesting to watch. But a good team player and hustler like him is good to have.

Conclusion: The D this year was decent and quite improved but still allowed a few too many goals. They were better mainly b/c they cleared out those pesky rebounds quite well at times and it lead to some great games. They still have a tendency to be lazy in front and not clear it out as well as I would like but baby steps I guess. A lot of the future will depend on what they do with Allen and Pitkanen, and who else they bring in or up. They have some good youth in the system and I wouldn’t be surprised if they try to look for the next iteration of McBain/Faulk for 12-13.

Finally, I leave you with a quote I had as a conclusion of last year—> Mark my words, if Pitkanen comes back next year they will NOT make the playoffs.

Boy sometimes I hate being right

–GeekJock

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Gamer for Cures

Despite the week and a half long bout of nasty hit after nasty hit, the world still goes on. Sure, they did bring us a few suspensions but despite the cries of the sky falling from some anti-NHL fans out there, the playoff still continue as scheduled (Who would have thunk it right?). I had my complaints about suspension czar Brendan Shanahan last week and I won’t repeat those, but I have no problem starting a new rant. It’s not as long as the last one and in the interest of time, and wanting to get to my round two predictions I will keep it quick.

First, I won’t disagree with the suspending of Raffi Torres. I don’t think the hit was an intent to injure and I think it really was a borderline “leaving his feet”, but it was a real hard hit and he did contact the head so I am fine with the suspension. What I DO disagree with is the length. Repeat offender or not, you simply cannot put Torres into the Dale Hunter hall of shame and infamy for that hit, stretcher or not as well. I think it was a “I’ll show them” and knee jerk suspension by Shanny here, and it sucks that a hard nose, hard skating player like Torres had to get the length of suspension he got. No one in hockey says Torres is a dirty player, a guy who plays every shift as if he wants to kill someone sure, but he’s not “dirty”. He plays hard, and he plays to win. 25 games is too much.

However I DO have a HUGE problem that after the Torres hit Shanny apparently went on vacation. Oh and so did the hockey media. It’s as if they were happy and didn’t care about any other hits. CASE IN POINT—> The Chris Neil hit on Brian Boyle. It was just as hard as the Torres hit, he left his feet, he contacted the head of Boyle, and it also produced an injury. So where is the suspension Shanny? Where is the outcry for suspension? No where. Shame on you Shanahan, shame on you hockey media. Everyone is silent just  trying to move on after the hammer fell on Torres. And what’s worse? The fact that Ottawa is now OUT of the playoffs, so we won’t hear anything about it anymore. Once again Shanny has lost all credibility in my book for lack of action, and lack of consistency.

Moving on to the 2nd round of the playoffs I will give my predictions.

Rangers Vs Capitals

After the game 7 heroics by Lundqvist the Rangers are riding high, and they know they got away with one. They couldn’t score and their big names looked like ass on the ice. It’s time to nut up or shut up in this series. As for the Caps, they caught the Bruins napping and looking past them in round 1. Before the B’s could realize they needed to concentrate on the Caps it was too late.

While both teams won in heroic fashion it will be the Rangers who will win this one. Expect the Caps to steal one or two on home ice giving them some hope but it’s going to be the Rangers in 6.

Flyers Vs Devils

The Devils are the final team to advance to round 2 with yet another heroic OT finish to the series. And like the Caps they will simply be out gunned, and out classed in round 2. The Flyers are rested and stacked. As long as they don’t look past the Devils like the Bruins did to the Caps they will have no problems with the Devils. Marty Brodeur might be in the top 5 goalies of all time but he looked bad in round one and is simply done. Look for the Flyers to take control early and win this series in 5.

Kings Vs Blues

As great as the Kings were in the first round, I think it was more Vancouver being a train wreck then the Kings being good. Don’t get me wrong I have been a fan of the Kings for a couple of years now and Kopitar is among my facorite players, they simply won’t be able to keep up with the Blues in this series. The Blues will win this one in 6.

Predators Vs Coyotes

The whole world is buzzing about how good the Preds are this year. They are right but despite what YAHOO! sports says they aren’t the top team yet. That being said they are still better then the ‘yotes and will push this series to the brink. I think this is going to be the most fun series to watch out of all 4 of them left, and it will go to a game 7. Look for a Shea Weber OT winner in game 7 to be the difference in this series. (Yeah I know bold prediction but they are fun too!)

Sure I know, not much of an upset pick anywhere but it sets up a couple of fun final four match-ups for the Con Finals.

Rangers Vs Flyers and Blues Vs Predators. Check in next week to see how I did with these predictions.

–GeekJock

Another fast and furious season has come and gone. Despite both my Isles and Canes missing the playoffs it was still a fun one to watch. They both seemed at times like they were going to finally show us something positive pertaining to the post season but alas, they both came up short. The Isles’ youth is finally coming into their own and I think the league has taken notice that this will be a REAL good team soon enough. And as for the Canes, GM Jim Rutherford killed their whole season before it even began by not firing Maurice after last year and waiting  2 months to do so this year. Well, that and not signing ANYONE who can put the puck in the net but I’ll get to that rant when I do the Canes end of season rant over the next few weeks.

So as the faithful readers might remember I did some prognostications in Sept. about this season and it’s now time to see how well, or poorly I did. I went out on a limb on a bunch of these and for the most part I crapped the bed (yup I’ll admit it), but hey that’s what’s great about making crazy predictions and giving anyone who will read/listen your opinions.

So lets start with a couple of quotes…

First pertaining to the Canes, I wrote…

You can basically pencil them in for 88-92 points every year. Sure not 100 points, but to predict them at 83.5 points is just screaming to lose your money when smart hockey watchers see this error. Cam Ward himself can take them to 70 point then they only need to squeak out 7-8 more wins despite a bad night of his, or when Boucher starts (a guy who can get hot and throw 2-3 shutouts in 5-6 starts himself) to put them over the 90 point mark. Do I think they will make the playoffs? Nope, but I think they get over 84 points pretty easy.

Tuns out that Vegas’ over-under had it damn close on them. They predicted 84 and the Canes got to 82. Couple of things stand out… First 16 OT losses will kill you. Hey Canes win a damn shoot out will you??? And Second, while Cam Ward was decent to good, and his numbers show this (30wins 2.74 GAA .920 Save %), but in all honesty I think the numbers where a little better then he was. He never had that stretch of games where he was the sole reason the team won. He had THAT game here and there but not like in other years where he would go a week winning single handedly. That to me, is the difference in the season. Well, that and the fact they have 2 guys who can score on the whole team and 1 of them was hurt for almost a month.

So I’ll take a loss on that prediction but hey I was pretty close. I knew they would likely miss out barely on the playoffs and that part was true.

My biggest gaffe was pertaining to the NJ Devils.

I don’t care how good people think Kovalchuk is I don’t see the Devils getting to 90 points. In fact I think 85 is a stretch for them. It’s just a team in transition that is in need of some changes. They will make them, hell, they might even be in 1st NEXT year after they make them b/c they have that tendency to do it. But for this year they won’t be good and they won’t hit 90 points.

I still don’t know how they got over 100 points this year. And I still don’t know who would have or could have predicted it. First they got amazing seasons out of 35+ers Elias and Sykora. Sure good players but they both appeared to be on the decline and not improving over last year by 15+ points. David Clarkson 30 goals??? WTF, who saw that coming. 20 maybe but 30? And finally the REAL reason the Devils beat my prediction of 85-89 points, is Johan Hedberg. His 17-7-2 record accounts for 10 wins that no one saw coming (and 20 points). Sure Brodeur would have likely went about 5-5 in those but that brings them closer to reality. Great job “Moose” you are the real reason the Devils finished in 6th this year.

Next up a quick wrong and a quick right.

First I said that the Pens would fail to get to 100 points. Sure dead wrong, but I think their eminent demise to the hands of the Flyers will show that the 108 points is a bit artificially inflated and they were “The team we thought they were!”

For the quick right I’ll move to the Red Wings. I said they wouldn’t get to 105 points. Sure, it’s a cheesy right, but hey I’ll take what I can get. I don’t think they are the team they have been for 10 years, and that was my main point in the prediction and I think we will see an exit this first round or second round of the playoffs. They just find a way to win a ton of games in the regular season and I am just not sure how. Eventually they will have to rebuild but at this rate it won’t be till 2040.

And on to another predicted under achiever…

As for a team who won’t hit 90 points, I will put my eggs in the basket of The Ducks. I see this as being a huge down year for Anaheim and I think they will struggle to break 85 points this season.

80 points, bout damn time I got one totally correct.

So are you ready for a doozy? How about 3 ones I not only got correct, I knocked out of the PARK!!!

Ok so who do I think will over achieve on this list? Ok as much as it PAINS me to say it, I see the Rangers as a 100 point team. I think they finally have the leadership and the firepower paired up with the defense and feistiness to go to the next level. I see them at or near the top of that division and finishing with 100+ points and a 2/3 Seed in the conference. Hopefully to get their doors blown off in the 1st round of the PO’s since I cannot stand to see that team win.

Also moving up? The Blues. This one isn’t as drastic as 100+ point Rangers, but I think the Blues are better then 92 points this year. They have the goal tending, and the goal-scoring to win more games and finish in the mid to upper 90s.

One more team to get above what they are predicting will be the Phoenix Coyotes. Sure, who the hell knows who will start how many games in net for them, and will they or won’t they have anyone to watch the games. All that being said… I think this is a 90 point team. Granted that’s not a huge increase over the 87.5 they are predicted, but I never said they would be awesome, I just said I would take the over for them.

Basically I predicted the Rangers, Blues and Coyotes to ALL make the playoffs and do better then predicted and the Blues and Blue Shirts are both among the best 2 teams in the league. I am still hoping the Rangers find a way to blow it this post season, but the way things are shaking up I think they are destined for a deep cup run, possibly even winning the damn thing. There will be no living with the GD Rags fans after this year.

As for a final recap of predictions I was trying to go WAY out on a limb and say that the Blue Jackets and Isles would both get to sleeper status and hit 80 points. The Isles are the ones who are up and comers so I will take being wrong on them as no big deal… oh and Columbus just plain SUCKS. The addition of Carter did nothing for them, they got nothing out of any youth, their goal tending sucks, and Rick Nash is a bitchy pre-madonna.

It’s hard for me to make too many post season predictions b/c some of the series are already 3 games old but, I will say Rangers over the Blues in 5 games. I don’t have stats, arguements or huge basis for it, but hey since I said they would both be real good in the beginning of the year I might as well stand by it.

And now….A Shanahan Rant for Monday

It’s becoming more and more apparent as this year unfolded that suspension Czar Brendan Shanahan has no clue rhyme or reason as to who gets what with regard to suspensions. From inflated pre-season ones, to completely missed ones in the regular season to now the gaffe/joke which is the post season. I will give him one single credit to what he does. I like how it all ends up on Twitter and there is a video explanation to all of them. Sure it tries to wrap it up all a nice package and tries to show us he has a reason, but it’s all smoke an mirrors. There is NO WAY you can justify giving Matt Carkner 1 single game for going after Brian Boyle on Sat night and just pounding away on a guy who had no idea a fight was coming (at that time). I am sure Boyle was well aware they would be gunning for him, but there is a code in hockey. You don’t pound on a guy out of no where when he hasn’t done a thing on the play. Apparently Carkner has no honor at all for the fighters code. They hadn’t even been jawing at one another. If they were bitching at one another, and a fight was about to happen and Carkner just got in a ton of quick punches, I can deal with that. This is an episode which deserved a bunch more games then was handed out.

At the very least, he should have gotten the same punishment that Carl Hagelin received for the elbow to Alfredsson (3 games). To give Carkner 1 game is inviting anyone and everyone to just pound away whenever and on whomever they want to and know they will only get 1 game for it. BAD BAD precedent set here.

Hey Shanny, where is the suspension for Shea Weber? His face shoving is arguably AS BAD as the elbow from Hagelin. And Weber gets off with a fine? I won’t argue about the amount of the fine b/c that’s a CBA thing and can’t go any higher. But not suspending him is either saying you are blind, or letting stars get special treatment with suspensions.

I am wondering if the equally as much of a joke game from yesterday with Philly and Pitt will garner any suspensions of it’s own. For the sake of the name of the NHL it better, and the league better cut down on this crap that is playoff hockey, or else  people won’t care. The game finally has gotten a ton of people watching for fast hard hitting hockey, we cannot afford to lose that. Sure, fights and yelling and emotional hockey is part of the playoffs, but scenes straight out of “Slap Shot” are what makes our game a joke in the eyes of fans of other sports. Reign it in Shanny or we won’t have a sport to be passionate about.

Pep-talks were over, equipment was on and now it was time to line up for the introductions. We all looked at the list making sure who we were behind and we started to hear it. That killer sound of the siren and “Rock You Like a Hurricane” blaring over the loud speaker. There was one main thing I wanted to do that day(Besides score and not screw up of course), I wanted to hop onto the ice to the sound of that song. Go to enough games, regular season and playoffs, and it just has a way of getting your pulse racing and blood moving. We all got onto the ice with no casulties (no one fell or tripped etc), and we even got some smack gestures from Jeese Boulerice who gave us a you’re dead mime as he skated on the ice. A couple of the guys, including Steve Rice even went the whole way down the line and slapped everyone’s gloves as they came on, which was a very cool thing.

I will have to preface my next few parts with a little “confession” I guess I will call it. Other then a few times during the game, just about the whole thing was such an adrenaline rush, and a blurr, that I almost cannot recall many of the other guys on the ice, and my interactions with them. There are a few instances, but for the most part I was focusing on playing so hard and trying to do everything right, that I hardly remember any of the guys from the other team that I covered or went up against. Well, except for Ryan Meluch (#5 White) and Denis Korobov (#15 White), who I seemed to be matched up with every shift out there.

The first period I was primarily paired up on D with Steve Halko, which was probably my favorite part of the game. I think besides another regular joe, like me, Jonathan Pollock, I played the most with the former Cane Halko. Halko was a real easy guy to talk to and play with. He read my plays well, we moved well off of each other and just had a real chemistry out there. Granted, I am well aware it was 99.999% him making me look good and feel this way, but it was still very cool. He had a way on the bench and on the ice of making the shifts be about me, and not about padding his stats for the game. He’s got great hands and still has a cannon of a shot. Unfortunately, the only thing that is really sticking out in my mind personally from the 1st period is a decent rush I had up the ice. I poked the puck free from someone in the neutral zone and was off to the races. I had one man to beat, and he was a good one. Meluch was waiting for me on his Left D side and I was going to have to make a good move to get around him. I got the first step nicely around him and poked the puck past him on the boards, but unfortunately he was able to reach back and get a second swipe at it and knock it behind me. Fortunately for me, it skitted out to one of my guys who sent it towards the net. In fact, since I was curling up the wing, it skitted right to where I was. I had exactly what I wanted…. a 1 on 1 down low with Tripp Tracy. It was just me and him…. BUT, I could feel footsteps, and knew the Tracy poke check could be coming too…  I knew I had to be fast…. I tried a little head fake and tried to go 5-hole… I didn’t get it along the ice like I had wanted and Tripp got his stick paddle on it before it beat him 5 hole… STONEWALLED… I sooo wanted that goal. I am not really looking forward to the DVD for this one, b/c I will see that I prolly had ALL DAY to make this shot and prolly also had a ton of room on the far post. Oh well it was just awesome to have that scoring chance.

I also had a few shifts with Aaron Ward in the 1st period but other then a couple of good point shots that were right on, that Tracy made more good saves on, that’s all I can pretty much remember about the 1st period. It went fast, but I guess rolling 3 D lines and the running clock make for quick periods. I am sure it will ALL make more sense to me when the DVD of the event finally comes out but for now all I can do is try and remember what I can.

2nd period was a bit more exciting in my memory but half of them aren’t pretty for my day hehe…

So when an NHL game is in the 2nd period the teams switch sides on the ice to which goal they defend. And so they tend to skate around a couple of laps to warm up on their side. When we came out I was trying to kick start my legs and get the pulse going to I hit the ice full steam. Unfortunately someone on the White team

Jesse coming in on me and Halko

must have forgotten that he was supposed to be on the other side or, if not, basically by or on the bench. So as I had the train on the tracks he was in no mans land in the middle of the ice not looking where he was going, and I hit him quite hard. The good news is he was about 1/2 my size so I was able to actually catch him as we collided, and all was kinda well. I am not sure where he was headed but hey, in all fairness it could have been my fault. Again, I have no idea. I am just glad I didn’t get hurt (and  I think he was fine too). Naturally this wouldn’t be my only collision of the period.

I was out on the ice with Halko a couple of shifts into the 2nd when Jesse Boulerice was bringing the puck up the ice. He was having a great game and had a few goals already. I was anticipating him trying to storm around me so I was getting ready to try and force him to the outside. But, he didn’t…. He had a trailer whom he dropped it to, and he started to skate a bit to my right, trying to head to the front. But I wasn’t having any of that. The best I could, I was going to get in front of him. I kept my stick on his to make sure I knew where he was while I sized up the puck carrier and we got closer and closer to the net. We jostled a bit and he got behind me but I was still able to keep good position between  him and the puck carrier. I also still had a hold of him with my body. The guy shot the puck and I BLOCKED the shot. The puck squirted to the high slot and our team started out with it to center. I got a “NICE BLOCK!” from Halko as I started to chase the play up the ice. There’s nothing like making a good defensive play to give you a boost up the ice. As I was

Trying to keep Jesse away from the net

coming up out of our zone I saw two guys got a bit tangled and the puck was trickling out to the right from their skates. This was my chance to grab it quick and be gone! Well without the benefit of a replay or the DVD of yet, all I remember is either the pile moved a bit or one of the guys fell, b/c as I was getting there I collided with former NHLer Dave Watson (avg Joe in this game but he played some in the show in the late 70′s early 80′s and actually was a childhood friend of Henry Staal’s). I ended up getting my feet taken out a bit and went flying head over heels. All I can hope is it didn’t look as bad as it either felt or sounded with the oooohhhh’s in the crowd but I suspect it looked just as bad from all angles. Oh well again, the good news remains, at least I wasn’t hurt, just shaken up a bit. And  being me, I hopped back up RIGHT away and made sure it was safe to change and got off the ice.

Another big highlight for me was near the end of the period, I believe it was my last shift of the 2nd… I got the puck behind the net and brought it up with a head of steam… I crossed over the blue line and knew I had Shane Willis on the right side with me.  I sent a back hand pass his way and headed toward the net…. SMACK!!! I hear the shot and it buzzed the tower, nearly decapitating Tripp Tracy in the process and skittering high off the glass…Would have been a beautiful assist to get but nay, nothing yet for me this game. On to the third period as we were getting KILLED 7-1 in the game, but no one cared about the score we were just having a great time out there.

3rd period AKA time for a comeback… Sorta….

The 3rd period I think I got one shift each with Ward and Halko, and the rest of the game I spent with Pollack. Which was not a bad thing b/c he was a real good skater with some good hands and we seemed to work well together too. About midway through the 3rd I picked up a loose puck at my blue line and surveyed the land. One man was coming slow and I was trying to find a lane to pass to someone on the move. I saw Pollock getting a head of steam from my left so I sent a backhand pass between the oncoming fore checker’s legs (IIRC it actually hit his leg and got to Pollock), who brought it up a few more feet and dished to Willis , who, this time, found that upper corner with a LAZER of a shot and we had ourselves another goal… And… a GeekJock assist!

Later in the period, prolly about my last regular shift, I was trying to put some pressure on and the puck squirted free near the top of the circle in front of me. I knew it wasn’t coming that fast so I had to reach quickly. I started to race in to take the one timer, but about a step away I noticed there was no way I was beating Brind’Aour to this loose puck. I tried to poke it forward but he poked it first sending it behind me. I turned and gave it everything I had to get back. I caught up to Brindy, who had sent a pass to the right wing. All I wanted to do is keep big Rod from scoring and hope Pollack could cover the other side. They had a 3 on 1 sort of with me hooking Brindy’s stick and trying to interfere so he couldn’t get the pass. He wasn’t having anything of it and his quick hands and stick were keeping me away pretty well. As luck would have it, as the pass was coming our way the middle man tried to catch it and ended up sending it harmlessly into the corner. Another goal avoided!

REAL Late into the 3rd period we were down 9-5 and we were frantically trying to scream for our goalie, Phill Poetzingerto come to the bench for an extra attacker… well that’s how it

Partial team shot

normally goes… In our Canes Alumni game Forslund screamed out EMPTY THE BENCH!!! So we did. We threw all 19 skaters onto the ice to try and score a goal… and score we did! I was in decent position for the 19-5 advantage, but good old Korobov, in white, saw me out there and grabbed a hold of me. A good play, in fact, since I was going to be in good scoring  position, but we managed to net the goal anyway bringing it to 9-6. (A nice goal by NAathan White IIRC his 2nd of the game)

We pulled the goalie again, and about half the bench went this time.  We didn’t manage to score this time and the game ended. An amazing game was at an end. Feelings of both joy at the experience, and sadness that it was over washed over me. Yet, I felt I had a pretty good game and enjoyed every second of it. AND if memory serves me correct, I don’t think I was on the ice for 1 single Goal against. I will have to check all of these “facts” with the DVD when it comes out but if that’s true, it’s quite a good feeling in a game of this type!

We lined up and scooted together for a full (both team) picture on the ice. Everyone, winning and losing team a like were smiling wide.

Back in the locker room we exchanged jersies around the room and I managed to get all the pro’s to sign the back of my game jersey which simple is an amazing feeling and helps the memory all the more when I see it hanging up. A couple of guys actually went around the WHOLE room getting all the guys signatures pro and avg Joe alike to sign their sweater. Thinking back later this is one thing I regretted not doing. It would be great to have them all on there to remember all the guys I got to hang with on this special day. But oh well… maybe there is next year???

As I left to the parking lot there was a line to get out. Child and adult autograph seekers were out there getting the Alumni Canes’ signatures as they left the event. But… what was this??? A kid came up to my window… “Can I please have your autograph?” A tingle up the spine came over me and a huge smile over my face. “Sure, no problem at all”, I said and signed his paper program from the event. The day was complete, I now felt even more like a pro.

My daughter with Glen Wesley

The capping off of the event was a cocktail party up in the club lounge for a couple of hours of food and knocking elbows with the greats we just played with. Getting to have a few laughs with the pros outside the locker room and getting a couple of pictures was truly special and, as I beat this dead horse a bit, something I won’t ever forget. Simply one of the best days of my life by far, and I am forever going to be making it up to my lovely wife Mrs. GeekJock, who surprised me with the spot in this big game. Thank you beautiful, I cannot begin to think what miracle I performed to deserve an Angel like you.

Another Thank You! to all the fellow Caniacs who came out to the game. B/c of, the donations you made at the door and the donations we made as players, the Alumni event raised over $50,000. That’s the true amazing thing of the event. The fact that 3,000! screaming fans came to watch us play out a dream and to see Canes Alumni back on the ice was simply breath taking to say the least.

Another special THANK YOU to Shane Willis for organizing the event. To the rest of the Canes Alumni for playing and being great sports during the whole thing. To the other players I got to play with and have a great time with. To Ted Enarson and the other guys on Twitter who helped pump the game up to the fans, and keep us all in the know to things leading up to the game. To Mike Sundheim, Doug Warf, Michael Smith and all the staff of the Canes and PNC Center for making us feel so welcome. And of course thanks to Coaches John MacLean (our bench) and Dave Lewis (White team) for coming out and coaching as well. And for all the rest of the people behind the scenes whom I might have forgotten thanks to you as well!

I will leave you with what Philip Poetzinger said which sums it up the best—- “That’s a tick-mark in the bucket list.!”…. You got that right Phill!

And Some more from the cocktail party:

With Henry Staal and Tripp Tracey

With Steve Rice, and Jesse Boulerice

Me and great D partner-- "The Sarge", Steve Halko

I tried to get as much sleep the night before, but it wasn’t easy. I tried to take a 30 min nap before I left for the event, but that wasn’t happening either. I simply was too wound up. You see, what started as an amazing surprise 10th Anniversary gift from my beautiful wife, was now here and a reality. My day to play with Ex-NHLers in the Carolina Hurricanes Fantasy Alumni game for charity was here and I could not wait for it to get started.

The Day started like most Sundays of late. We had to get up a bit early to head to my son, DJ’s hockey game. It was only his second game ever as a u8 player and he was raring to go. He managed to net 2 in an exciting game up at the Wake Forrest Ice House. (U8 hockey is like watching little kid soccer, everyone goes for the puck at all times and whoever can remain on their feet comes away with the puck and a good scoring chance) Then it was the drive home for a small snack and double check my bag to make sure I wasn’t forgetting anything when I got to the PNC Arena. Before I knew it, it was around noon and time to head to the Arena to start the day. I gave the kids and Mrs. a kiss and left them at home coloring in the signs they would bring to the game (my daughter was REAL into it which made my heart just melt watching her color in the red hurricanes squares at the bottom of the sign).

Right at 12:30 I arrived at the PNC center, to the back players entrance and was already feeling like a king. The attendant waved me to the walled in parking and we were greeted by Doug Warf (asst marketing for canes and for Kids N Community Foundation). Doug was awesome the whole day at directing us and generally pumping us up and making all of us feel welcome (Thanks Doug!). Once I got into the building through the players entrance I started down the hallway. I immediately got goosebumps as I saw the Canes symbol on the floor down one hall, then the Canes flag down the next hall….. edging closer and closer to the Canes locker room where our locker/stalls were waiting for us all. As I rounded the corner I saw some guys hanging out all smiles and then I proceeded to look around the room. It was all surreal. I couldn’t believe my eye and how great it felt. I was going to be changing here (I know I am a broken record but can you tell I was/and am excited about this event?) amongst some of the greatest players ever to lace up skates in the NHL.

Then I noticed something. Huh? Where is my locker? I was casually trying to scan around the room to see where guys where and where they pros were. The pros were all prolly where they once sat in this very room, and Mr. Henry Staal was likely in his son’s (Eric) locker space. But, again where was mine? I couldn’t find it. I was trying to act cool, but deep down I was shivering, I haven’t been here one minute and I felt like I screwed something up already. Then I turned around and AHHHHH there it was. I just happened to be the very FIRST locker as I entered the room. For whatever reason I just walked by it when I was looking around. Yet, the BEST part of all was seeing the most amazing sight of the day. MY jersey hanging up in MY locker, like it was supposed to be there all along. All was at ease and it was time to start the big day. So I unpacked my gear and took a few pictures of the room and the inner workings of the behind the scenes of the Canes. Things you don’t see every day, like the trainers room, the stick room, the sharpening station. I then just went out the door where the Canes room joins to the ICE, where the Cane rush onto the ice every night. A few of us just hung out on the bench and took it all in. It was an eerie quiet, yet a gentle one as well. All four of us on the bench  could just tell what we were thinking WOW. We remarked how glass smooth the ice was and how cool it was to see the jumbo tron this close. We all had a nervous energy about us and no one was yet at ease. But about 15-20 mins later that would all change. When (My fav all time Cane) Rod Brind’Amour came into the locker room, he went around to each and EVERY participant and shook their hand and introduced himself. He took a couple of mins with each guy and made us feel welcome. Right after him Ron Francis did the exact same thing. There was something about these gestures from two of the greatest Hurricanes, no, two of the greatest NHLers! ever to play the game which seemed to put the guys at ease. We all of a sudden started to chat a bit in the room. We let our guard down and started to meet each other and exchange names etc, right up until it was time to hit the ice for warm ups.

But before warm ups Shane Willis, who organized the event and a damn good NHLer in his own right, came walking into the room saying “Get ready boys, looks like a packed house, we just had to open up a few more sections!” Holy cow, more?!?! They orig were going to just have the east side open at center ice, but now they opened a few more sections. Spilling over to the area behind the white team goal. This place had the very big possibility to get LOUD tonight. Then it was time to hit the ice. We all lined up to head out for warm ups in the hall leading to the ice. Tripp Tracy, long time color man for the Canes and the white goalie lead us out. Being pretty close to the front I was going to be one of the first few Red players to the ice for the warm ups so I wanted to make a good entrance. One which would get us and the fans fired up. I hit the ice in stride and sprinted as hard as I could to the far boards and made that turn to head to the net. People were going crazy and this was the first time I could feel the ROAR and energy of the crowd starting to get us fired up to play.

Warm ups were quite a blast. I got to get a few laughs in with Henry Staal, and with Aaron Ward. As well as somehow being able to uncork some decent shots. My first shot was a blast, but was about 5 feet wide left and I thought it was going to be a long day haha. But, I rebounded and put some nice shots on net, and scoring some on them, which always helps to get  your confidence up in the pre-game. Once basically all the pros were gone I tried to help organize some more drills for the remaining guys, grabbing some pucks in the corner and doing some passing to one-timers drills for those of us who were left. Most of the passes were spot on and some guys were getting off some GREAT shots so it seemed we ALL were feeling that adrenaline rush. After this I was about to head off the ice to rest for the big game (after all you can’t leave it ALL on the ice for warm ups) when Canes announcer, and emcee for the day, Mr. John Forslund grabbed me for a pre-game interview. This was yet ANOTHER great way we all felt like pros for the day. Johnny grabbed each and every one of us at some point in the day and did a decent length interview. I felt like I was being asked how the team was going to do headed into the playoffs! Another great guy Mr. Forslund and a class act. He took time before the game to learn our names, how to say them, and some trivia about us. He seemed to have it all down perfect, interjecting it throughout the game as if we were all on the team for years and years.

Not to get ahead of myself but there is just something AMAZING about grabbing the puck and skating up the ice and hearing Forslund announcing your name to the entire crowd. So awesome.

The Pep Talk

So it was time for the pre-game speech. Canes Assistant coach, Dave Lewis had asked a special friend from back in Detroit to come join us and give us a pre-game pep talk. The lad did an EXCELLENT job and you could see all the boys smiling and enjoying his Herb Brooks like speech 100%.

It was now time…. time for the pre-game intros and time to get serious. Don’t do anything dumb, don’t make any bad passes, keep the puck out of the middle of the ice, was all I could think of. After all being a D-man with 2 killer former Canes, Aaron Ward and Steve Halko, I couldn’t let them down. I couldn’t let down the fam. Nope this was my day to play my heart out and my day to skate with the pros.

Check in later in the week when I finish up with PART 2 of “My Day as a Hurricane” covering the game itself and the aftermath.

–GeekJock

#19 Red Team

Couple more pics

I think Joe was telling Jesse "I am glad you're on my team"

My Daughter's awesome sign for Daddy!

Hanging on the bench with the guys pre-game

I have mentioned a few times on Twitter and Facebook about the amazing 10th Anniversary gift my beautiful wife surprised me with a few weeks ago. And just in case you missed it I will do it again!

Mrs. GeekJock got me an entry into the Carolina  Hurricanes Alumni Fantasy game this upcoming Sunday April 1st. The game will feature 10 Canes Alumni and 30 of us “average Joes”. The ten pros include  the two team captains Ron Francis and Rod Brind’Amour. Also playing will be Glen Wesley, Aaron Ward, Shane Willis, Robert Kron, Steve Rice, Steve Halko, Tripp Tracy, and Jesse Boularice. Also playing with us will be Henry Staal, father of Canes Captain Eric Staal. I simply cannot say enough about how amazingly excited I am to play in this game. It’s going to truly be a dream come true. Not to mention that every step of the way Mr. Willis has gone above and beyond to make each and every one of us feel welcome to thegame and has stated in the press that “We’re going to let these guys feel something we were lucky enough to do for a career.”

As the days tick closer and closer I have to say that there has been a little bit of growing butterflies in my stomach but hey that’s to be expected. To be on the ice with 10 guys you have idolized all throughout their playing days, and two guys who have been favorites of mine their whole careers (Brindy and Francis), simply is a bit overwhelming to think about sometimes. But hey all I can do is get some more practice this weekend and plenty of rest to be ready I guess. I will be on the ice  a couple of times before the event this weekend, once helping out my son’s U8 practice and another on Sat when my B team plays a scrimmage against a team coming from out of town (Philly). So those two should get my legs under me a bit coming off a work week where I haven’t skated in over a week. I will try and get a few quick blog posts this weekend leading up to the event and I am fairly sure I will post a ton of pics after the event since I know the Mrs. will be taking a ton.

Here is a link to the page on the Canes site so you can see the Fan Guide to the Alumni Game. It’s going to be a fun time, and a great way to raise some more money for the Kids ‘N Community Foundation. There won’t be any charge for going but they will be taking donations at the door as well as have a snack bar open for purchases. So come on to the PNC Arena (former RBC Center) and see us avg Joes have the fantasy hockey experience of a lifetime, Sunday April 1st at 3pm, doors open at 2pm.

So keep an eye out for #19 in Red and try not to laugh at me when you see that my point shot can’t break a pane of glass! But hey, maybe it’s still good enough to beat Tripp Tracy glove side!

–GeekJock

My apologies for lack of real posts in a while but I am headed on my annual pilgrimage to Vegas this week for the Ice Hockey Tourney we play in every year. So I have had to work a bunch extra to get these extra days off. So after tonight I am likely unable to post much for about a week and a half but I will try and get back on the horse ASAP when I get back in town and off from work.

BUT… Until then I wanted to talk quickly about a few games I got last week. I went to a different FLGS (Sci-Fi Genre) then I normally go to, mainly b/c I needed to grab some comic book boxes to re-box my collection. It’s not a huge collection but it’s about 3 boxes of all comics being 20+ years old. They have been in my garage for a bit so I now want to get them in new boxes and see if I can inventory them a bit and even estimate what it might actually be worth. I am under no delusions of grandeur, but I am hoping holding on to them so long is going to one day pay off. But back on point, the good thing about this game store is it has a different sort of selection of board games then The Gamers Armory. The Armory has a great selection, but of what it has I generally have everything I want that isn’t brand new, so sometimes it’s good to see some of the out of the ordinary things other stores have. The other good thing about Sci Fi Genre is that it has a little different rewards program then the GA. The Armory has a program that for every $100 you spend you get $10 store credit towards a future purchase (which is great). The alternate program that Sci-Fi has, is a pay a price per year (I think it’s at or just under $20) and then you get special on line only pricing on purchases. This generally evens out after 1-2 trips at absolute most.

While there I was wanting to pick up Egizia, which is a great next step in worker placement since my group, and wife all love Stone Age. It’s easy to learn, deep to master and a ton of fun. I also had wanted to try and grab the 1st expansion of Fresco which has expansion modules 4,5,6 (yeah I know it’s weird-they package “expansions” 1,2,3 with the game itself), and Alan Moons amazing followup to Ticket To Ride—> Airlines Europe. Well I was 1 for 3 as they at least had Airlines Europe in stock. I also saw Dungeon Run (Plaid Hat Games), which I had wanted for a while  and Donal X Vaccarino’s Kingdom Builder which I had played before a few times and have fallen in love with. Since I couldn’t make up my mind which 2 to get I ended up with ALL 3!!! The Mrs would have been upset but b/c of the online pricing I basically got 1 of the games for free which worked out well enough for me!

Here is my quick impressions of each of these:

Airlines Europe: I start with this one b/c it’s the only one of these 3 that I didn’t have the opportunity to get to the table yet. However, that’s not to say I haven’t played it. I have previously played this game twice, and I loved it both times I played it. Think Ticket To Ride with a sort of bluffing, Stock component to it. Instead of collecting tickets to lay down routes, you are paying money to purchase routes for certain colors. You also can buy stock in certain colors, and lay down stock/share cards in each color which determines how many points you get when it’s a scoring round. Each time you play a color plane to get a route the stock of the plane goes up as well. So what you basically have is a give and take to decide between, do I buy routes, do I pick up share cards, do I lay down share cards? Buy too many and other people won’t touch that color and you are increasing it by yourself, or someone will use their turn to steal all the shares. So it’s got a great element just like TTR to bide your time and try and not give away your real intentions too soon.

As I already said I love this game and I think not only will my group love it, but Mrs. GeekJock and my parents should get into it as well. The only down point being this isn’t going to be a good 2-player game.

Dungeon Run: I wanted to get this one, b/c it’s a light dungeon crawler with simple mechanics, so it’s a good introductory dung. crawl for both the group and for my 8 year old daughter. She just loves playing games with me and I know this is one we can house rule a bit and play completely co-op and have a great bonding game session. In a nutshell you each have a character, with unique powers/stats/abilities, and are going into a dungeon trying to fight monsters, level up and ultimately defeat the dungeon boss and get the summoning stone. Normally once you get the stone you become the new boss with your own big time special power and then it’s even man for himself as you try and get out with the stone alive. But again, with my daughter I figure we will both just try and level up and try and defeat the boss together.

Fighting is simple as every monster has a number(s) of dice to roll, numbers which they hit you and a defense #, that you have to roll higher then to hit them. You can equal their to hit number of yours when you roll to block, And/or you can just roll higher then their defense to hit them. This is all done with six-sided dice. Now, it might sound a bit confusing, but do it once and you will know exactly how it goes. The beauty in the game is the varied monsters, the simplicity in it all and the ease of set up/strip down. Our one play had a few problems to it unfortunately. When we shuffled up all the monster/encounter cards we ended up with what seemed to be an endless run of trap cards. So not only did we have problems with these, but we also didn’t get enough EXP from them, so it felt like we were running in place. So when the boss was finally revealed (upon turning over the last dungeon tile in the stack, the boss tile is placed the furthest tile away from the entrance) none of us felt like we had a chance to beat the boss. I went on a nice roll as I was trying to get TO the boss so I was able to kill him and then each of my opponents and escape with the win.

I don’t think either of them particularly liked it, but I think they also both recognized that it was more our bad luck in the draws then the game itself. Hopefully, this has made them enjoy it enough so that I might be able to sometime soon play it again, and then borrow one of the D&D board games (Castle Ravenloft or the Dizz’t game) and have them like it.

So all in all I like the game but the jury is out I think from the rest of the group, and I hope to get my daughter to play it soon enough.

Kingdom Builder: A lot has been debated both online and in person by many people about this game from Dominion’s creator Donald X Vaccarino. I got into a couple of spirited debates on Twitter, but only one did I think was totally off his rocker (no not you Gamer Chris— I definitely agree that a first turn 2 card draw can be a beneficial variant– but 1st turn only like you say as well–Click his name to check out his very good, very through review). The reason I get annoyed at people who dislike games like KB are the same reasons I get annoyed with people who don’t like Ascension. They all say the same thing. There is no real choices, b/c all of my choices are pre-made by what is drawn or on the board. My response to this is, once you TRULY know how to play the game you will notice this is not the case. B/c once you learn the strategies and how to really plan ahead you will see the tons of options available to you. I will admit 100% that both of these games have that slight possibility that every 10th or more games you play that you will just get screwed by the luck, and well both those games (especially KB) are so short that the next game is never more then 30 mins away. Of course any real reviewer who has played the game more then a couple of times would be able to see this themselves. I suspect some of the real haters out there just have not played it enough.

So after my derailment how the hell do you play this game. The game comes with double sided boards which can all be used as a game side with varying hexes as terrain, and a scoring side with a scoring track. You shuffle each of the boards up and place four of them together to create the game board. You also take the final scoring cards (I believe there are 12 in all int he base game) and you shuffle them up and only use 3 each game. So right there you have 2 great aspects of random set up and game variability/re-playability. Each player in turn takes one of the terrain cards from the stack and then places 3 of his houses on the board on the terrain type of that card. The biggest rule is that if you can you MUST play adjacent to an existing house of yours on the board. There are also special power pieces that you can acquire to use which allow you to cheat a little but I am not going to go into all the rules here. So you basically go around the table placing your houses on the board until one person is out then play out the round. The whole time you are just trying to put yourself in to position to score points at the end game based on the 3 end game scoring cards which are out. Again it’s not a secret that I LOVE this game. The subtle complexity, and deep strategy are what I like, but the EASY as all hell to learn and harder to master is what I LOVE. My group has played this a ton b/c when you all know how to play it can be played in 30 mins or less (and max of 40-60mins even with teaching) and they all loved it as well. I haven’t shown the wife or fam yet but that’s soon to come, as I know Mrs GeekJock will love it, and who knows maybe even my 8 year old will be good at it too!

Well as always I started off thinking this would be a quick blurb but I can never manage to shut up. There has been no “real”buyers remorse from my 3 purchases from the store, the slight BR from Dungeon Run will go away once I get it to the table again.

I hope you pick up one of these great games and better still let me know what you think of these three games as well! Drop me a line by clicking the contact me up top, or just comment here, I will get back to you after VEGAS BABY VEGAS!

–GeekJock

Killer Elite (2011–116 mins) Jason Statham, Clive Owen and Robert De Niro

I am a HUGE fan of all three of these action giants in this spy triller. I have been saying for a while now that Statham is an actor who is really coming into his own as a vehicle for action movies as long as they don’t go to martial artsy with him. Owen has that silent but funny way about him which works well in fast action romps (Yes “Shoot em up” is a guilty pleasure movie which I loved). And of course De Niro is De Niro so nuff said there. So naturally I wanted to see what this pure action romp had in store for me. It’s got more of an Indy feel to it which is ok for these types of movies, and it also is “based” on a true story so I knew it would also be bogged down with some confusing “history” points it was trying to make (or rather it’s own version of said history which those “based on” movies tend to do). All in all it’s a mindless action film which you can’t try to overly dissect or understand b/c it will make your head spin. So rather just sit back, watch chases and people being killed left and right, and enjoy it a bit more.

In a nutshell, Statham is a retired British spec-ops officer who has to come to the aid of his former mentor (De Niro). In order to do so, he is blackmailed into doing some deeds for some unsavory characters. But trying to stop him from doing said deeds, is another secret society spec-ops guy in Owen. So the whole movie is spent trying to figure out who is doing what and why and wondering who is going to bite the dust next. We rarely know who we REALLY want to root for cept for the fact that we know Statham and Owen are the stars and we think Owen is just a tad more of a jerk the Statham so he must be on the perceived ” bad” side of it all. Honestly don’t try and go too much further into it or like I mentioned above it will make your head hurt and you won’t enjoy it as much.

As much as I make fun of the confusion of it all, it’s still a good pizza and beer guy flick. Don’t go into it expecting a whole lot of De Niro, you just won’t get as much as you think you might. But for the other two, they are both excellent and you get what you expect out of them both.

Verdict–> It’s a good guy pizza and beer movie but not much more. Don’t bother trying to show this to women who don’t enjoy testosterone action flicks b/c they will be sleeping in 3 mins. Not a movie you are going to buy and watch over and over either, but for a rental for chases and fighting it’s worth the couple of bucks.

The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1 (2011–117 mins) Kristen Stewart, Robert Pattinson and Taylor Lautner 

Twilight is a pretty polarizing franchise. On one hand you have the teeny-bopper girls, and love struck women who faun over the guys in the movie and the doomed from the start love story. Then you also get the people who hate it simply because it’s both a love story and so damn popular (I am looking at my co-host on the Geek Allstars Podcast—-> Gyroplay for this one). Me? Well, I will say I don’t go to either extreme, and sit fairly in the middle.

It’s no secret I love Sci-Fi and Fantasy type movies and Vampires and Werewolves are both equally welcome in my movie going world. I have also been pretty patient with the lovey-dovey,depressed b/c we can’t be together and free crud we get forced to watch in each movie. I still maintain that if you remove that stuff you are left with some decent Sci-Fi stuff. This next to last installment in the series is, unfortunately almost entirely a love fest. However, if you didn’t know that going into it, it’s your own fault. It’s the wedding/honeymoon installment so sure, there HAD to be all of that. After said nuptials, the marriage is consummated and lo and behold Bella is PREGNANT (we will have to go with the WSOD on this one to allow our mind to wrap around the idea that  Vampires can procreate). So we spend a good amount of the movie watching the downward spiral of Bella’s body b/c a Vampire baby not only grows extremely fast but it takes quite a toll on a human’s body.

The part that gets us a little back to enjoyable-ness is how this offspring is effecting and going to effect the delicate world of Vamp-Werewolf relations. And there is where the movie starts to bring us to some action and the setting up of the inevitable action packed (I hope) last movie which will be out this year (due in NOV). Bare with me, as I have not read any of the books and have no idea what is in store for the last movie, but I suspect we will get some fighting with the werewolf clans and I am sure the whole Volturi will come involved and want to have their hand in controlling the baby as well.

All in all the movie isn’t ALL that bad, just a bit slow for those of us who can care less about the soap-opera part of the series.  I still enjoy the “family” dynamic of the Cullens , how they interact, and I have a full on crush on Alice (Ashley Greene) who is possibly IMHO the sexiest, coolest and most fun vamp to watch (yes, I can’t believe I just said that too). These aren’t cinema classic’s by any stretch but for a couple of bucks there are certainly worse things to watch from the Red Box.

Verdict–> It’s kinda simple really, if you have enjoyed the series you will likely enjoy this movie. If you are a guy, there isn’t much here you will watch with your buddies but you certainly could do worse then getting this for a date night. If your better half enjoys these then do her a favor and grab it and earn some much needed brownie points. It’s going to bore you at first but should have some redeeming qualities in the 2nd half. Girls who like it will of course love it.