Calgary Flames

By b.chandler ⋅ October 27, 2009 ⋅  Email This Post ⋅  Print This Post ⋅ Post a comment

Welcome to the Calgary Flames blog. I’ll be following the flames for you this season, right until the Stanley Cup I hope.

First a little about me, I’m from Quebec City, and when the Nordiques left town in 1995, I had to choose another team to cheer for. I had two conditions, it had to be a Canadian team, and it wasn’t going to be Montreal. My little league team, L’express, wore the flames jersey, so the flames became my team. Cheesy I know…

Since then we flames fans, have had a lot of good seasons, one Stanley cup finals appearance, and a lot of expectations, But enough about me. This is 2009 and after a couple of move, the flames should be a force to reckon with this year.

First let’s recap the off season moves:

The thing to notice is the age of the players, with an average of 25 years old. Bouwmeester was signed after the flames acquired the rights to negotiate with him after sending Jordan Leopold 28 to the Florida Panthers. The others are good prospect/in development players to replace the like of Bertuzzi, Camallerri, Warrener, Vandermeer, and Aucoin.I have to add Oli Jokinen to the mix, even thought he got traded at the limit last season.

We’re now at the ten games played mark. The flames started the season in lions with a 4-0 record, before losing to the Dallas stars 5-2. It was the first game of Curtis McElhinney, but he had nothing to do with the lost as the flames played like everyone were tired. After the Dallas game, the team traveled to Chicago, they took a 5-0 lead early in the game only to lose 6-5 in OT. The day after, even though they played a great game against Columbus, they still lose 2-1. Calgary won 4 straight since then to show a record of 7-2-1 after ten games.

It’s still early to talk about the change that Head Coach Brent Sutter had on the team. Jarome Iginla talked about trying to get to know the system, and the coach learning to know the players. One thing is sure, the flames got a lot of help from the 3rd and 4th line, and as a result, Jarome Ignla and Oli Jokinen saw their ice time cut until they see their stats to the level they’re expected to be. Just look at the first five pointers and you’ll notice that the names that appears are not those expected.

-Here are the stats for the first 5 players after 10 games:

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-The next game is vs the Colorado avalanche, and surprisingly an already important match-up against the division rival that are 3 points in front of the flames as the northwest leaders.

-The flames are 5-0 against the division, including 3-0 against their Albertan rivals, the Edmonton Oilers.

- I have to mention the awesome fight that occurs Saturday between Steve MacIntyre and Brian McGrattan. I’m not one for violence but what a fight… found it on youtube:

That conclude my first blog, I’d like to thank Dean and James for the opportunity. I’d also like to hear from you guys as English is not my first language, what do you think???? The next blog entry will be in French and English.

GO FLAMES GO

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