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Sens Cream Pens
by SENShobo on 10/06/08 at 08:55 AM ET
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- Sens dominate Pens in 3-1 win.
- European adventure a hit with players and fans alike.
So how’s that for a weekend of hockey? Not a bad way to put an end to all this summertime withdrawal. Not only was it sweet to watch both games (even if the one ended on a sour note), it gives you a lot to think about in anticipation of Saturday’s home opener against Detroit. I’ll have to imagine that I’ll be joining many fans in feasting on Wings that night.
- My, how a win can lift your spirits (Ottawa Sun, Ottawa Citizen, TSN).
So that’s what Hartsburg hockey looks like.
Battles won along the boards. Near-perfect special teams. Opposing players on their faces in front of the Senators net (when did you last see that?).
The Senators got Craig Hartsburg his first win behind the Ottawa bench and flew home happy last night, with three of four points from their European experience after a 3-1 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins at the Globe arena.
Probably not a single Ottawa fan was happy to see the Sens lose their opener. More than a few might have focused on all the little things that went wrong in allowing the four goals that sunk them. But you have to admire the little ways in which things got better this time around.
There were little improvements all around. Jesse Winchester looked as solid as a rookie could be defensively, and set up Vermette for his breakaway goal. Ruutu showed us his loveable self when a linesman ‘pushed’ him to fall on Crosby’s face, and probably surprised more than a few who thought of him as a straight-up agitator with his penalty killing acumen. For those who might have thought Heatley a tad surprising choice as alternate (/assistant/associate/another, I’ve heard them all this weekend) captain, Paul posted a good story yesterday extolling the many little things you wanted to see and got from our newest leader.
Last year, the Penguins were 4th in the League with a 20.4% Powerplay success rate and Ottawa 12th with 18.3%, both teams tied for 22nd with an 81% effective penalty kill. Now, the tables appear reversed, with Ottawa scoring on 30% of their powerplays, and Pittsburgh needing 14 chances to finally score a meaningless last second, shutout-bid erasing goal. Not only that, but all three goals required extra work yesterday: Heatley’s blast needed the extra boost of him dropping to one knee to trickle past Fleury, who got a piece of it, and both his other goal and Vermette’s tally were initially stopped by Fleury, with both players needing to shove it past the sprawling goaltender, not at all like the flashy one-timers we are used to. For all those who thought Spezza looked horrible when he tried to beat four players to win Saturday’s game, and wound up turning over the puck to Kennedy to wind up losing it instead, it was just as ironic watching Malkin in the last minute doing the same move against four Senators, only when he lost it at the blueline, no real scoring chance was generated.
As last year proved, the last thing we want to do is to get ahead of ourselves. We’re still wondering if Gerber was a fluke on Saturday and whether Auld will get the start in Ottawa or not. We still hope that Fisher heals soon, but don’t know when he might return. You can’t feel good seeing Kuba averaging 27:30 or so a game, showing our concerns with both roles for our defencemen, and you have to wonder if Hartsburg has really instilled his systems in the team. But, aside from all those concerns, the weekend had to leave you feeling good, and now we can all be glad that the start of the season is finally here.
- To both players and fans alike, this year’s European games were a big hit (Ottawa Citizen, Ottawa Senators’ web).
“It’s an experience, it’s fun,” centre Jason Spezza said. “I don’t think we want to be coming over every year, but for the league to bring a couple of teams over every year is a pretty good thing. It’s a neat thing to do.”
“The legitimacy of the regular season means a lot,” he said.
“I think you see that in the way guys prepare and focus. For regular-season games, you have to be ready. Preseason is tough sometimes to sell.”
Personally, I (sadly) couldn’t tell you how the Senators’ efforts over the weekend compared to their effort against the Frolunda Indians on Thursday. From what I hear, the raucous fans on Thursday far surpassed both the Globe’s fans on the weekend - who only seemed to notice Mats Sundin stepping out for the ceremonial faceoff, and whenever he was shown on the scoreboard - and even our own fans back in Ottawa. Not something to be saddened over though; use it as motivation to make Scotiabank Place louder and rowdier. It wasn’t just the players who enjoyed the trip however.
STOCKHOLM – The Sens Army has invaded this city this week.
Fortunately, “Sens Army Operation Sweden” – the operational name for this mission – was a peaceful occupation as almost 60 die-hard Ottawa fans have spent the week cheering on their team – and making the city their own; soldiers spreading the gospel of Ottawa hockey and Canadian culture to everyone they engage.
“It’s been absolutely amazing,” said Bev Crepin, an Ottawa resident that has owned season suite tickets for the past eight years. She made the trip with her daughter, Kelsey, and sister-in-law, Debbie Crepin. “The people here are so friendly.”
Yet another special endeavour, following on the footsteps of the players delivering tickets to special season’s ticket holders. I think I saw them on CBC, in ‘SWEDEN 08’ Sens jerseys. With all the efforts the Sens have been making to give back to fans - along with an unspoken promise that we won’t see any more spartans - I hope we finally see the Sens’ fans starting to give back to the team in the most important way: eliminating any jealousy Spezza and the Senators had in Goteborg due to the fandemonium you don’t yet see over here.
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Who is SENShobo?
Fully addicted to hockey, Andrew Dodds finds it safe to live in the alleys, considering his allegiance to the Ottawa Senators in the middle of Leaf County. He tries to bring you as many worthwhile Sens stories as he can find, along with his musings on the team and the NHL in general; musings indeed since he is but a humble hockey hobo.
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“I’ll have to imagine that I’ll be joining many fans in feasting on Wings that night.”
Yeah, you’re going to have to imagine it…
Posted by Garth on 10/06/08 at 01:06 PM ET