This is going to be short and sweet! I am sick of all the “lukewarm” Flames fans that I know, as soon as the Flames lose a game they quickly try and jump off the bandwagon…spraining their ankle as they do so. Either get on and stay on or get the #$*$ off and stay off, we don’t have room for you love em when they win and sell em when they lose fans.

As I stand up to see outside my cubicle listening to “Times Like These by the Foo Fighters”, I see a glimpse of Spring. Spring usually means one thing in Canada, PLAYOFFS. And as I sit back down I look at the Flames upcoming schedule and I get butterflies in my stomach. When I see that we play the Oilers, Wild, and Canucks, I think to myself “We have 3 Game 7’s in a Row”.

Like game 7 (againts the Canucks) in the first round of 2004 playoffs, we were in overtime in the enemies building. Score you live, get scored on you die. Somehow we found the courage, strength, and heart to score and live another day (we should have signed Gelinas). Can we do it again - 3 times in a row? Yes, I think we can. But if we do, every single player on that bench must take a good look in the mirror and say “Yes, I have prepared myself my whole life for this situation” and come out and leave everything on the ice.

No matter if you feel like you legs are going to give, knowing that blocking a shot will mean a nasty bruise tomorrow or getting a your ass kicked in a fight (I want to see someone like Lombardi dropping the mits and showing heart).

There will be minimal room for error tonight as we face a very desperate hockey team. We know that the Oilers will come out hard in their own barn to start the game; we need to be ready, steal the momentum early, and here is the kicker….finish strong! something that the flames have struggled with all season closing games. I hope tonight the boys show up for 60 minutes, if they do that I think we can start planning for a playoff drive. So no more excuses, no more clichés just go out there and get the job done!

GO FLAMES GO!

As we had mentioned in our previous blog, we were confident in a win against a bunch of snot-nose kids from the windy city of Chicago. It started out in our favor with a rocket from Aucoin. From there, the Flames seemed to be in total control. So we thought. Jonathon Toews (He says it’s pronounced ‘Taves’, how the hell do you get ‘Taves’ from Toews? So if I have a last name of ‘Smith’ do I pronounce it ‘Peterson’?) gets a weak goal on Mikka and my hands started sweating.

Like a bad scene from the 90’s, the New Kids on the Block were Hangin’ Tough and wreckin havoc on us. Boys versus Men, and the boys were taking to us. We weathered the storm and a former Lethbridge Hurricane (Brent Seabrook) gift wraps a pass to the one person you don’t want. Iggy goes down and shots it past Lalime’s 5 hole (which was wide open for business like the $1000/hr prostitute ring in New York).

Then Huselius rifles a shot that was labeled for the top corner. Lalime had as much chance to stop it as Mayor Eliot Spitzer trying to be faithful to his wife. Phaneuf decides to join the party and scores a weak one past Lalime!

Lalime did not start the third since his performance was as good as Britney Spears at the Grammy’s (but hey, she’s still looks dang good!).

All I have to say is I am glad that the Flames decided to keep the bubbly on ice until the final horn sounded…I hope that another win is in store tomorrow night against the Jackets.

I will let the pessimist in me come out one final time, everyone remembers what happened to the flames last year. Four straight losses to end the year barely sneaking into a playoff position, well this year if they try to pull that stunt they won’t be so lucky. We need to finish strong for 2 reasons; 1 so that we seed high (home ice adv. obviously would be nice) and 2 to gain some momentum into the first round. The Flames need 13 of their possible 20 points (6-3-1) to make the playoffs, 15 of the 20 points gets us the Division title. Like true performers, we need to keep a good pace and finish of with the jack hammer (cause if you don’t, we all know what happens)! We do this and good things are going to happen!

Till next time, this is Hose & Shooter!

Before we sound the alarms and start preparing for playoffs without the Flames lets remember how good this team is. We can’t forget that the Flames scored four goals last game, easily enough to win the game…so why didn’t they, because our d-core were still in Washington looking for their jock straps…which were later found in Ovechkins locker.

Last night the team was celebrating a huge win over the lowly Thrashers on the bench during the second period. Hand shakes, high-fives, and good game taps where going around when the Flames realized that a player wearing the #17 had other plans (by the way that player got me 4 points in my draft :)…back to business). Like an unwanted guest, he ate our food, drank our booze and ravaged the women. By the time the Flames realized what had just happened it was too late. Their skates were already off and most of them were already making their way to the airport with two points in their pockets, including Iron Mike.

What’s the moral of the story? Work hard for 60 minutes and the rest will take care of itself (and the women will come back!).

So do we panic? Big fat NO! Lets just play some solid D (like the Flames have a rep of doing), the forwards need to keep scoring, and don’t let Huselius try to defend Iggy with his stick, and we’ll be fine. But I can’t stress enough how much we need the next 4 points (against Chicago and Columbus)…which we WILL get. And the only way to do this is to bring your lunch pale, boots and your hard hats (this includes you Lombardi…if you jump over one more shot Iron Mike will shoot you). If not, the button will be pressed!

Hoser & Shooter