Was hiring Mike Modano a good call?

About 70 days ago, the big question for the Detroit Red Wings was whether or not Mike Modano would sign on with the team for a year contract. Modano is an amazing player, and one of the all-time goal leaders. He is also a local boy, having been raised in Michigan. But Modano is also old for an athlete, having turned 40 in June. And his season average goals has been on the decline for some time. So when Modano agreed to sign a contract about 67 days ago, the question quickly became "is this a good idea?"

The idea is that Babcock will use Modano as a centre on the third line, with Jiri Hudler and Dan Cleary. Nominally, this is to provide third-line depth that most people don't have, but that's not the real reason he's there. The real reason is so that Datsyuk, Zetterberg and to a lesser extent Holmstrom can be put on the same line. It's all about getting the Eurotwins back together and hoping Zetterberg's Swedish Magic™ will come out in his pairing with Datsyuk.

By the way: Thank god for Sweden. :) And anyone else notice how few Russians there are on the team right now? Bizarre.

But. This is all predicated on the idea that Modano will keep the third line strong enough to shuffle things around. And while Modano has had a nice first few games, I'm going to point out the obvious - He's old. Even in a club like the Red Wings, which has been at times jokingly called the senior centre on ice. He doesn't have many years of good hockey left in him, if he has any at all. Yes, his first shot in his first game was a goal. But long-term, will he have the staying power? In the regular season they can just idle him down for a game or two, but in the playoffs, what then?  There's no nap time in the play offs, when Modano will be expected to consistently bring his A-Game. So while the experts are saying good things about Modano and the Red Wings, I remain cautiously optimistic at best. I'm often wrong, and I look forward to being wrong about this too.

More Navel gazing

I won't commit much more time to the Habs' upset over the Caps beyond this, except to point where the Caps went phenomenally wrong:

Can Ovechkin have similar success one day? Yzerman was drafted in 1983 and won his first Cup in 1997 -- not a time frame destined to cheer Washington fans, especially this morning. The Wings faced some of the same criticism the Caps are now hearing, specifically, that the team was built for the regular season, not the playoffs. Eventually, that changed.
Ovechkin is a polarizing player in ways Yzerman wasn't. He is brash and bold and would rather spend his $9 million on Dolce and Gabbana than, say, haircuts.
But Yzerman had one advantage over Ovechkin: From the start, he was the ultimate team player. Heck, his nickname was the Captain, a moniker usually reserved for yacht club blowhards and Tennille's musical partner. 

 Exactly this. Ovechkin (Or Overcompensating Ovi, if you prefer) acts like he's in it for Ovechkin, and no-one else. He doesn't create opportunities for his line. When he's hot, the caps are hot. When he's not, they're not. His club deserves more than that arrogance.

2010 Semifinals

Here's what I picked and how I did:
   1. Caps in 4.    Habs in 7
   2. Fliers in 6    Fliers in 5
   3. Sabres in 7.    Sabres in 6
   4. Pens in 5.    Pens in 6

And in the west

   1. Sharks in 5    Sharks in 6
   2. Blackhawks in 5    Chicago in 6
   3. Kings in 7    Canucks in 6
   4. Wings in 7    Wings in 7
So I got exactly 1 right (wings). And I missed the Habs upset, and the Canucks win. I guess that makes me worse than chance. :p
Honestly, I don't see the habs going far. Most of the Caps SOG were easy shots. Halak is good, but not that good. Canucks I'm pleasantly surprised. I can live with that! ;)

For next round: Pens in 6. Honestly, I see aggressive play pushing through their defence (believe me, I'll dance if Sid loses!). Boston in 5, Boston is hitting harder, and so Fliers can't play their physical game. Wings in 6 - SJ has a morbid fear of the Wings. Skilled, with a smoking hot goalie and 40 yearolds who can skate like they were born on ice. Chicago 6 - I'm shakiest about this. I didn't catch enough BH's games to get a good feel for them.

So I can put it in writing, my cute hockey loving friend had her picks, and I'm recording them for posterity. She figures "Flyers in 5.  (Pens, if they win, will take 7. Habs in 6 if they win.) WC - Wings in 5. Hawks in 6." ;) She cheated though - you're not allowed to pick both teams to win!

Playoff time!

If you're a Stargate: Universe fan, (or even watcher hoping the show gets good), you should click this link for some funny. Otherwise, don't, because you won't get the joke. Yes, I'm a bit of a nerd. :( 

 Well, we're out of regular season hockey, and into the playoffs. It's been just a strange year, with all the "good" teams being bad, and all the "bad" teams being good. Here are my thoughts in no particular order.

• The Red Wings need new blood desperately. They keep getting jammed up by injury, and they're not skating as fast as they once did. I like older players - it shows people this is a game of skill, too. But some of the wins roster is pushing it.
• Last year, someone commented watching Blackhawks play the Kings was like watching two 10 year olds fight. Well, this year, that sounds more like a plausible Playoff face-off.  Who would have thought? However, the Blackhawks have gone and jinxed themselves, as a internet friend in Chicago told me they commissioned a hockey mural with them having the cup in it. This is on top of having "Hossa'ed" themselves (not my words).
• I really couldn't bring myself to care about any of the races between Ovechkin and Crosby. One overcompensates, the other is a crybaby. The Penguins are goons, the Capitals are Thugs. When they played each-other, I hoped a girder would fall from the ceiling or something. Not, I admit, the healthiest attitude. 
• The Coyotes are back. And honestly, they're the only team that shouldn't have cried at night in fear of playing the Red Wings first round. Any one else, playing the Wings in the First Round would have sounded like a death sentence. A few GMs went on the record as saying "We really hope it's not us." The Coyotes look like they can be competitive against the Wings. The big difference between them, though, is the Wings have decades of playoff experience, and a steady hand on the wheel. As a fellow hockey fan pointed out "The Playoffs isn't the regular season." 
• Is this the year the Sharks avoid an early exit? Right now, they're up against the Avs. The Avs are a franchise in ruin. As a Wings fan, it is my solemn duty to hate the Avs, but right now I can't really bring myself. It's like picking on an unemployed jerk who has heart problems. If the Sharks can't win against this, they need to seriously shake things up from top to bottom.

That said, here's my predictions:

1. Caps in 4.
2. Fliers in 6
3. Sabres in 7.
4. Pens in 5.

And in the west

1. Sharks in 5
2. Blackhawks in 5
3. Kings in 7
4. Wings in 7

Watch me get everything wrong. :)

Smoking Nooks.

Anyone else catch the Nanooks on TV? I caught both the U of M game and the Mercyhurst game, and neither was pretty for the other team. Where UAF had a shaky power play before, both times special teams managed to capitalize on the single man advantage and puts some pucks in the net. It almost makes me feel good about the season.

I wish things looked so good for my other team, the Red Wings. They're solid as a rock; a strong mix of old skill and new talent. Except for that one tiny bit - except for the guy in front of the goal, Ozzy. And that person is pretty important. Last season he was pretty lacklustre, and this year it looks like a repeat.

Great one leaves the Copper State

According to my news this morning, the Great One (Wayne Gretzky for the unwashed) has left his job coaching the Phoenix Coyotes. He attributes it to the Coyotes possibly changing ownership, but I think this is him stepping away from a team he never had success with, and a career he was poorly suited for. 143 wins, 161 losses. So much the better - I prefer to remember him for all the good hockey he played, and not the horrible hockey he coached.

Counting birds

So, here's a picture of a flock of birds. Penguins, to be exact. How many do you count?
If you can count to 6, you've beat the refs at the last game. Apparently counting on two hands is tricky.

Yeah, Zetterberg might have covered the puck - maybe. Maybe. Other hand, Malkin should have been suspended. You had some just absurd dives by both teams. Tonight's slashing? I'll give it to you. Deserved a penalty. And some of the penalties they have called on either team have been laughable compared to what they let slide. It'd been like arresting jay walkers, while letting bank robers stride on by.

But a half minute of too many men on the ice takes the cake. The CBC broadcasters noticed it after just a few seconds. The officiating offically stinks.

Mike Babcock, when asked about it, bit his tongue:

"What do you want me to say? You know, see you guys tomorrow," he said.

Dang thing is, not much else can be done.

Hockey and other earthquakes.

I had some grand post in my head this morning, but I got distracted with the ill effects of yesterday's dinner (naulluugua :( ). So I think instead of a big post in the morning, I'm going to make a vague small post about how happy I am with the hockey game. I'm so pleased that the Red Wings got so far. I was ready for them to lose early this year... luckily, they didn't ask my opinion! I liked when Malkin tried to pick a fight with Zetterberg, thinking `he's already injured, he's an older player.` I was at Ivory Jacks, sorrounded by Pens fans, and they thought it was going to be all Malkin. But then Zetterberg proceeded to wallop Malkin bad. So crazy!

Oh, and for the first time, I finally felt one of our earthquakes yesterday. It was a good little shake. They reported 4.0 right after, but now the news is saying 3.8.

Random thoughts

Can we make the Ducks-Wings series best of 15? Not because I want to give my boys in red and white more chance to win, but because there have been some great games. It's been genuinely enjoyable to watch.

Also, here's a poorly worded caption:

Bristol Palin on NBC's "Today Show" this morning with father Todd Palin and infant Tripp.

Uuuuuh. Ahem. Yeah. So!

So I'm drinking tea, and organizing my thoughts for the day. It's not been a great day, so far - I lost 3 hours of work this morning, when all the data I entered went ka-blammo before I even went into the office. I'm hoping things turn around before Avise swings by. Dr. Avise pretty much invented most of the scientific tools we use in my field, so I'm fairly humbled to have him visiting my few square metres of earth. And while I organize my notes, it occurs to me that people outside science don't really understand the importance of a lot of what we do.

No, I don't mean the math, and beaker, and measuring part of what we do. I think that's fairly understanble. But the social side - the meetings, seminars, symposia, poster sessions, and conferences... I'm not sure there's anything quite like it outside Science and Engineering. To someone else, it might look like I'm spending time getting ready to waste an hour with a big-wig, but to us, this is an important part of what we do. Ideas get exchanged, and you get feedback on where you're going. To scientists, ideas are king. Any idiot can count moose, but it takes ideas to turn that number into something useful, and productive.

And this is about where it dawned on me that I've got two feet in about three different cultures, here. The research world has its on social norms, its own language (That even scientists in other countries use), its own importent events... all it needs is its own foods, really.

Food for thought.

Busy busy!

It probably goes without saying that I've been busy. When I haven't been outside, I've been outside. And when I haven't been doing that, I've been busy butchering a moose. One thing most people who don't work with game biology, or don't hunt fail to realize is that moose are huge animals. A moose head is bigger than my torso. And considerably tastier, too. However, they're quite the animal to butcher on your lonesome.

Life should be calming down just a wee bit, now, so I can throw more frequent bloggage your folks' way. Here's a random picture from off my snowmachine:
Something really interesting I noticed was the two sorts of replies I got when I told people how much moose I'm giving away (a lot). Most of my friends from the city got hung up on it. They couldn't understand how or why I was giving away three quarters and a bit of hamburger, which is a considerable porting of an animal. However, when my friends from the bush have found out, not one of them has bat an eye. The divide might be all up in my head, but from my perspective, it seems real enough.

Anyhow, I'll be adding my pictures from the field to my wed. photo rotation, so you'll get to see them.

Oh, before I forget: What the heck happened to the wings this weekend?! Did they fall asleep on the ice? This is just wrong! How could they go from a great Shark's game earlier this week to this monstrosity?And to top it off, the Nanooks lost the Gov' cup. Again. Glad I didn't put any money on it. This has been a bad weekend for me, hockey-wise!

Random thoughts, bulletpoint style

Some bullet points.

• I abandoned Google Analytics after messing with it for a while. I can't get it to work again. Switched over to StatCounter with @Cathy's suggestion. Turns out I already had an account with them. Huh.
• Hey, wasn't the weather supposed to warm up, here? It's still been -20 to -30°C these last few days, despite promises last Friday it'd be tropical by now. I feel cheated!
• The Wings have been winning this last week, but I'm not ready to fly the jolly-rodger. SO against the Kings last night? You're kidding me. It's the LA Kings. It's like being tied up by Lathrop Highschool, it's just embarrassing for an NHL team. And that's been their week. 'Nooks have had an even worse mixed-bag, of which I will say no more.
  
• I foxes in my area. They're raiding me nightly. This annoys me. I've never trapped for fox, but now is a good time to learn. If I trap now and say `defence of property` (which is of dubious permissibility), I'd have to surrender the whole thing to the state. Best to wait until Nov 1st when I could just trap it under a general license.
  

Hockey, Cats, and Random Questions

First, Hockey:
The nooks got blanked by that Maine team, and the $&$*ing Seawolves took the the Gold Rush. Not pretty. Again, they weren't hot on the powerplays - obviously, since they were /blanked/. The Wings had a `meh` weekend, with an overtime win against the Rangers. Technically a win, but nothing good enough for me to raise the jolly-rodger. Especially after the Canucks game.

Second, News:
Anchorage has a Feral Cat problem. I've got a solution to the Feral Cat problem, but it's not quite what the story's author had in mind... God those biologist folk are so mean, eh? I find the bit about `You can't kill them, it's illegal!` to be rather incredulous. Under ADF&G rules, deleterious exotic species may be killed whenever, wherever, with nothing but safety related restrictions (e.g., no firing your 40 cal at pigeons downtown Anchorage). I don't see why Feral Cats would be exempt from that.
As a side note, there's an interesting line of thought linking schizophrenia to a zoonotic disease from cats. It sounds bizarre, but there might actually be something to the `crazy cat lady` phenomenon.

The ADN ran a story about Palin's Yup'ik connections via her husband. I'm not going to address the `is he Yup'ik or not` talk. That's not for anyone to decide, and it's not strictly a matter of heredity (though, that's got a role to be sure). I will, however, reply to the story by saying Charles Curtis was a lower 48 Native. He was also our first Native Vice-President. Never hear of him? Well, you didn't miss much. Mostly, he spent his time trying to stomp tribes out of existence, before becoming a do-nothing VP. Just being married to a group, or even being a member of a group, does not make you good for that group. You have to look at how that person actually acts.

Random Question:
Hey. Why doesn't ice form around where the mirror attaches to the windshield? Anyone know? Here's an older picture to show what I mean. Not from this month, obviously!

Playing the field.

Some miscellaneous stuff from this weekend in bullet point style. Let's see if we can hit every major blog subject!

• It dumped a load of snow in town! It was supposed to be 1", but it ended up around 5 here, and more on the hills. Hooray! Except it meant my truck slid all over the roads, because I've been too lazy to mount the studded tires. It's on the to-do list, honestly!
• A reputable newspaper, one with a conservative bent, talks about a growing rift between McCain and Palin over Palin's rally-tactics. Interesting if true!
• The Nooks took the Kendal Ice Classic! Hooray!
• Urban Bears are heavier, reproduce earlier, die younger.
• This is what happens when you mix a field crew, kitchen cook ware, and boredom: Pan-pong.

The guilty parties deny there was alcohol involved.

11 Oct 08 Hockey.

The Redwings sent the Senators packing back to Ottawa in a 3rd period rally, winning 3 to 2 in regulation play.

The Nanooks spanked Connecticut 5 to nothing in regulation. They didn't do so hot on the powerplays (only one of the goals on a powerplay), but they killed a 5 on 3 easily, before taking a point right after. I forget what the guys on the TV (It was live on fox) counted, but the shots-on-goal was really telling.

Here's hoping Northeastern wins against the Seawolves, so the Nooks will win the tournment.

Hockey Season!

We're in the beginnings of civilized sport's season: Hockey. It's like chess on ice, except way more interesting. Tonight! 3 2 Nanooks over North Eastern, in the shootout. Yesterday, Redwings... well, we won't talk about the start of their regular season. I want them to get all the choke out of them right now, though.

Still! Good start for the Nooks this year, thus far!