#that’s my soon to be 50 goal scorer

[barzyhughes]

i love that kuzy just used the off season to basically go on a world tour

[nothingbutnowhere]

Hockey Player AU! Kyle "Gaz" Garrick Headcanons

...

Superstar. Forward. Drafted first overall. Alt captain. Left wing.

Raised in the UK but was soon recognized for his potential. A US family took him in to play in the states where he would have better opportunities. Trained at all the top notch facilities though high school with the best of the best. Drafted right out of high school and went straight into the NHL on a truly wild contract.

Top line, but put him with anyone and he'll make something happen. 50+ goal scorer, plus sooo many assists. Always in the right place at the right time. Guy you don't want to see four on four / three on three, he's dangerous on open ice.  

Wheel, snipe, celly. Crazy aim, bar down all day everyday. Moderately flashy but honestly he can't help it, he's got HANDS; can stick handle in a phone booth. Seriously the compilation videos look like they should be from chel not real life. 

Still responsible defensively, he's not going to leave his guys hanging. Soap's a defenseman and they work super well together. Soap will put it on net from the blue line and Gaz will grab the rebound and put it in, he doesn't care how good the goalie's rebound control is. 

Always has a fun celly ready for the crowd! Amazing sportsmanship (aside from the chirps). Clean player, no cheapshots here. He always apologizes for bad hits or accidents. Well known in the league for just being a great guy behind closed doors too.

Could be a contender for literally any award he's eligible for. MVP, points, sportsmanship, community activism, you name it. 

The Only charismatic hockey player. Does lots of interviews, is active on personal social media, has his own brand of activewear. Started a program to make hockey more accessible to underserved youth in his city.

Kills at chel. He was the cover last season!

Thigh. That's it that's the tweet. Insane thigh muscles. Wears short shorts around pregame so the social media people can get some good photos. And we all go nuts over it on twitter.

Mic'd up status: absolutely has and does want to be mic'd up, always gassing up his teammates, throws devastating chirps with Soap. They have to beep most of Soap's though because they're too explicit.

Hockey hair status: Sure it looks nice short but where's the flow!!! Natural?? Locs??? Please consider. Facial hair during the playoffs... the beard isn't up to par but the mustache is fine.

Roster pic status: smiling, manages to look hot where everyone else on the team looks like shit

WAG status: His girlfriend is hot and basically queen of the WAGs. Always in their box during games with the other girls having a fun time. They look sooo good together it's not even funny. Hosts parties at their house for the team. Their couples halloween costumes are the best!!

She's also a community activist and dropped the puck at one of their home games. Gaz, of course, took the face off. And then got down on one knee to propose to her. Obviously she said yes and the video went viral instantly.

....

I do NOT consent for my works, part of my works, or my ideas to be used for ANY form of AI.

More hockey au: Ghost | Soap | Price

Note: "Chel" is an abbreviation of NHL referring to the video game. WAG stands for wife and girlfriend or the plural, used to refer to sports guy's significant others. Yes it is heteronormative.

The WAG part is absolutely welcome to be interpreted as self insert :D

[fratboybeezer]

Flyers Primer - Text Version

Presentation version here

featuring many of my personal opinions on players & some phantoms i find notable

*edit: fuck carter hart and i was very harsh on sam for no reason also there’s a lot of typos sorry

Cam Atkinson

forward (rw), #89

drafted 157th overall to CBJ in 2008

amazing instagram comment-er

on the nhl player inclusion coalition

played for torts in cbus

seems just happy to be here

basically #1 gritty fan

Sean Couturier

forward (c), #14

coots, couter, no chest

drafted 8th overall to PHI in 2011

playing this season after being on ir for like a season and a half

should have an a or c

used to live with now gm danny b

last of my fav ginger trio (him, g, and jakey)

toothless

Marc Staal

defenseman, #18

drafted 12th overall to NYR in 2005

2nd of 4 staals

homophobic, boycotted pride night with his brother eric in florida last season

career overall +/- of +50, over 1100 games played

Scott Laughton

forward (c), #21

our one and only a

laughts, laughtsy, scotty tatum

drafted 20th overall to PHI in 2012

passionate LGBTQ+ ally

always the one to put up the pride flag in front of the farg

first guests of the season were a lesbian couple celebrating their 1 year wedding anniversary

best drip on the roster (decided by me after that horrid drip night they had)

kinda reminds me of a cat idk

drinks a black, hot coffee

let atkinson wear his a for atkinson’s first game back in cbus after being traded to philly (back when we had a c and 2 a’s)

had an a with team canada at world’s

has a cat named brucey

Travis Konecny

forward (rw), #11

tk, teeks, tiki bar

drafted 24th overall to PHI in 2015

literally one of the best (if not the best) player on our roster idc argue with the wall

called a “short king” (he is 5’10, there’s shorter guys on the roster)

certified DILF!!

my mom’s fav flyer (she can only name 3 total)

once lost his shoes on the plane and therefore postponed press

pest/rat/raccoon (affectionate)

lives in penalty box yet an absolute goal scorer

his best on ice comparison is a chihuahua

best flow on the roster idc

our media rep this year!!! Slay!!

best chirps on the roster

Joel Farabee

forward (lw), #86

beezer, young beezer, bee, young beezy

drafted 14th overall to PHI in 2018

my favorite player i could go on and on about him

had neck surgery after 21-22 season and came back and played all 82 games in 22-23 season

is already becoming a leader on the team

bought a house from coots early 22 and now it’s a hub for the young guys on the team

gives off frat boy vibes in the best way

is such a teammate guy

asg shootout hater

has (at least 1) tattoo

his game day coffee order is an iced coffee with almond milk, no sweetener, on off days gets a brown sugar shaken espresso, prefers iced over hot coffee, and never met a coffee he didn’t like

grew up liking the flyers & phillies and really wanted to be drafted to philly

“i thank my lucky stars” -bee when talking about getting drafted to philly

claimed in a tk mic’d up that he was dropping a mixtape and never dropped it :(

silliest guy on instagram

Carter Hart

goalie, #79

hartsy, cahtah haht

drafted 48th overall by PHI in 2016

our starter <3 love him

as i’m making this is injured but is practicing with the team so hopefully he’ll be back soon

deserves better than philly but you can pry him from my cold dead hands

@st-louis has a great primer about him

Samuel Ersson

goalie, #33

drafted 143rd overall to PHI in 2018

not the best but he’s trying (i think)

would benefit from some time down with the phantoms

tbh shouldn’t be our #2

Cal Petersen

goalie, #40

drafted 129th overall to BUF in 2013

looks like he would blow away in the wind ngl

me and my friend hate him i’m sorry (sorta)

has spent most of his career so far with the kings

Felix Sandstrom

#32

drafted 70th overall to PHI in 2015

he should be our #2 idc

or down with the phantoms to improve

i can’t think of him without thinking of those pics @mad-bee posted of him like

👁️👁️

Bobby Brink

forward (rw), #10

drafted 34th overall to PHI in 2019

a baby!! (is a 22 y/o man)

my friend knows him specifically as “our rookie”

a REAL short king (5’8)

university of denver

Cam York

defenseman, #8

yorkie, yam cork

drafted 14th overall to PHI in 2019

umich boy, would’ve graduated with team 101

also a usndtp boy

i’m too lazy to look for evidence but probably part of the hughes summer club

Tyson Foerster

forward (rw), #71

drafted 23 overall to PHI in 2020

even more of a baby than brink (he’s a 21 y/o man)

roomies with beezer, stayed in philly during the off-season

i don’t think he stops smiling

described by beezer as “like a little adhd kid”

seems to be besties with yorkie

Egor Zamula

defenseman, #5

undrafted

was super excited to play alongside pr*vorov when he got called up from the Phantoms

part of beezer’s summer group

Nicolas Deslauriers

forward (lw), #44

nic, des, delo

drafted 84th overall to LAK in 2009

french canadian

hit 600 games 10/10!!

usually one of the top guys on the team in hits, pim, fights

has a career overall of -91 but like isn’t a goal scorer so. averages about 6 points per game in overall career

great fighter very hot 10/10

Nick Seeler

defenseman, #24

seels, seal team

drafted 131st overall to MIN in 2011

underrated!!!!!!!!

another great fighter that’s very hot 10/10

there’s not much to him other than punches but that’s ok i love him

fought des when des was playing with the wild

Noah Cates

forward (lw), #27

catesy

drafted 137th overall to PHI in 2017

has a brother who was with the organization but now is with bridgeport in the ahl (got to play some nhl games together!!!!)

once said flyers locker room lacked the “swagger of the winning mentality” which is a fucking hilarious way to word it

was on 2022 us men’s olympic roster

Morgan Frost

forward (c), #48

frosty

drafted 27th overall to PHI in 2017

never captions his instagram posts

angered torts or something because he keeps getting benched with no chance to properly prove himself

flyers hater

Travis Sanheim

defenseman, #6

sanny, sandy, sandra

drafted 17th overall by PHI in 2014

besties + neighbors with tk (known together as travii or travis²)

whl boy

besties with tk’s oldest kid

Owen Tippett

forward (rw), #74

tippy, tipper

drafted 10th overall to FLA in 2017

got him when we traded our captain :,( miss you G

hair looks unnatural but like i’m 90% it is natural

Garnet Hathaway

forward (rw), #19

undrafted

signed as free agent in july

part of phd line (w/ des & poehling)

UHM HIS FIRST NAME IS FUCKING JOHN?!

i don’t like him please don’t ask why i don’t have an answer

Ryan Poehling

forward (c), #25

drafted 25th overall to MTL in 2017

another guy signed in july

saved him from the penguins 🫶🏻

phd line

honestly i don’t know much abt him

Louie Belpedio

defenseman, #37

drafted 80th overall to MIN in 2014

has like 3 nhl games under his belt (12? as i’m making this)

signed july 2022 but has chilling in lehigh valley

went to miami of ohio

has a totally of 3 points but like i said only 11 games he’s got a lot of space for more

Victor Mete

defenseman, #98

drafted 100th overall to MTL in 2016

signed as a free agent in july

more of an assists guy than a goals guy and honestly i’m content with that

career overall +/- of +19

about 250 games under his belt

Sean Walker

defenseman, #26

walks

undrafted

bgsu grad & 2 seasons as captain there

his trade helped us send pr*vorov on his way, hope the door hit him on the way out

not rly talked abt but i think he’s cool (i’m going to bgsu lol)

Long term IR Boys

Ryan Ellis

defenseman, #94

drafted 11th overall to NSH in 2009

i don’t think he’s played a single game with us

like was injured when he was drafted and has been on ir the whole time

we lost phil myers for him (and nolpat too ig)

back injury? i think?

i have no thoughts on him ngl

Rasmus Ristolainen

defenseman, #55

drafted 8th overall to BUF in 2013

horrid career overall +/- (-176)

traded robert hagg & 2 draft pics for him?

i like him tho ig

looks like a different person in like every photo i’ve ever seen of him

his injury is undisclosed

The Phantoms

Wade Allison

forward (rw), #19 (#17 with flyers)

wader, ally, ally cat

drafted 52nd overall to PHI in 2016

he’s my girlfriend i miss him

lived in beezer’s basement last season

part of the fratboys (w/ frosty & beezer)

wmu boy

spent all of last season with the flyers

Tanner Laczynski

forward (c), #9 (#58 with the flyers)

drafted 169th overall to PHI in 2016

OSU boy (ew)

has never spent a whole season up with the flyers :(

my mom once told me he looked like a loser before finding out he was an nhl player

buds with wader

Zayde Wisdom

forward (rw), #14

drafted 94th overall to PHI in 2020

used to live with foerster?

he would cook and tyson would clean

i need him to be called up so we have that duo back

scored 29 goals in his second ohl season

Emil Andrae

defenseman, #6 (#36 with flyers)

drafted 54th overall to PHI in 2020

played 4 games with us this season

not much of a goal scorer but can do it

kinda looks very stereotypical swede

Ronnie Attard

defenseman, #12

drafted 72nd overall to PHI in 2019

was tri-city storm captain for the 18-19 season

another wmu boy — played a season there with ally in 19-20

played 2 games with the flyers last season and 15 the year before

[chanelfunnell]

Q@A Trevor Zegras

A) anon, yes Trevor Zegras is an overgrown baby on the skates, a showman playing his acts and stunts, a playboy but also incredibly playfull and creative on the ice and from technical side.. He is the top scorer of tanking Anaheim aducks and although lacking finesse of his idol Kaner he is almost like him lolcjeck his cheeky a puck between the legs video.

B) anon, yes, McDavid's girlfriend Lauren is very trendy and sexy, the Pens Wags quite dowdy and I like Blackhawks wags and their style and meet ups. I just need to sort out my cookies on other phone ...

C) anon, Tazer is downhill for more reasons one of that is without doubt the pregnancy of his ex gf Lindsey Vechione who is expecting her 2nd child (well, she's 36 soon so no shock, not anybody is Kathy Leather and a simple rule of an ice hockey is You don't score and you don't defend ..You get a goal). Also he went on memory lane and whining prior of the season how all is different and he can't imagine to play for other NHL franchise..search it. Obviously we have no insight into his health struggles as well but I bet that 50 per cent is it u to his head . He has no puffy face in 2020,2021 and first half of 2022 before he has met a hippie yuppe Megan Butler from the group of Marcus Aubrey. I mean something else to be a fan of it and other thing is to have their stuff home with a fanatic admirer as a gf. Desperados do desperate things so his blindness with crazy woman Ashley who is behind Crosby Interesting to unfollow her on Insta. Marketa has cut him off for that and reading her gibberish about Crosby and all name calling and slut shaming of wags you know why. Their friendship is over. She moves and adjust even quicker than Lindsey as there was anything intimate between them. Kaner is gone in NYC and he is left alone and Tazer loves his routine and all exactly the same things and set ups. Last Mustang and the Blackhawks back office with CEO and their carousel roster does not make it easier for him. He's silly but obviously faithful hating changes

D) anon, I will post anything nice about clothes, cute nhl puppies and ice fun but I need to access and upload photos from my other cell phone. I don't cover pyckbunny topic and I don't bother what girl dates certain player and I don't watch it.

E) yes, Chicago Blackhawks wants Connor Bedard for sale of jerseys and as a top pick on rebuild. I

[seventhrounder]

I went thru my folder with old hockey magazines I had saved from around 2011 to 2015 and came across this one and thought it could be a fun to make a post about now in hindsight.

This is Jääkiekko magazine from May 2012, they always have a section of "99 questions with ..." and in this issue they interviewed Teräväinen.

I’ve translated the questions I found interesting under the cut! It ended up being about half of the interview. (*) are my additions.

On the cover "seuraava superjokeri" means the next super joker, he played for Helsingin Jokerit so it's a word play from that. Under, on the blue print it says: "The 17-year-old forward will become a first round draft pick in the summer. The natural goal scorer can dominate in SM-Liiga as soon as next season."

In the 2nd photo the headline and lead paragraph goes:

"A post with dents* - A year ago Teuvo Teräväinen was known only within a small number of hockey insiders. Few passers-by recognize him now either but after a flashy rookie season the Jokerit sensation is on the radar of every NHL team and is a strong contender to become a first round draft pick. Next season with Jokerit the talented second line center will be one of the main talking points in the SM-Liiga."

(*references the net Teräväinen had in his backyard and into which he practiced his shooting)

3. You've been described as a magician, top scorer, wunderkind and a prodigy. What do you think of these descriptions?

TT: Heh, those are some descriptions yeah. What can I really say? Don't really wanna comment on them much.

4. How nervous are you about the Draft?

TT: I try not to be nervous as best as I can. In a way I don't have anything to be nervous about since I don't care which team picks me or at what number I go.

6. Which is stressing you more, English interviews or physical tests?

TT: Maybe both. Bench press (laughs) and English interviews can be tough.

12. How far along have you planned your career with, for example, your parents or your agent?

TT: Haven't really planned things with others but I've thought about them myself. I try to go step by step and not jump too far ahead.

14. How does it feel to be so young with all the star players in Jokerit?

TT: How to say it? I haven't felt like I was young but a part of the team instead. The team's been very good with me and they haven't been looking down at me like: "oh he's young". It's been fun to play in an experienced team.

15. Is there a generational gap between players?

TT: You can see the age difference, older players look older but we're all childish, at least with our topics.

17. What does a 17-year-old do in the sauna nights of the team?

TT: I actually haven't been in any yet. I've always been at national team's camps or something.

19. Did you get the number you wanted?

TT: I did, yeah. I could've taken #18 but Semir (Ben-Amor) has it. But i'm happy with #86, it's good.

23. What are your strengths as a player?

TT: Offensive play and with that playing with the puck, passing, IQ, power play and skill, just the usual skill - skill with hands.

24. And weaknesses?

TT: They are to do with defensive play, strength and physicality. Battles and such but I think I took a step forward last season. That's a good thing.

25. Have you ever been "pressed into a mold" or has your playing style gotten to develop naturally?

TT: As a kid the play was mostly offensive/attacking, I didn't have to think about playing defence. Up until 15 years old, I got to attack pretty freely. Playing defence became more important when I started to play in A-juniors a couple seasons ago.

26. On a scale from 1 to 10 how determined are you?

TT: Maybe 8, feels like an 8.

32. What kind of role are you planning to take with Jokerit next season?

TT: I think a pretty big one. I try to be a top player and not just take others' example but give others example myself too. So that someone in the team can take something out of the way I do things on the ice and off the ice.

35. If you could pick anyone, who would be your car driver?

TT: Nico Manelius for sure. He's been my driver this season. I've had others too, like Riku Hahl but he's not nearly at the same level. Nico’s clearly the best.

36. What are the most important qualifications to be a good driver?

TT: The car is obviously important. Hahl's car is totally awful, he takes a lot of heat for it from the guys too. I wouldn't dare driving with him. Manelius is a steady performer, never lets you down.

38. What sports did you play as a 10-year-old?

TT: Hockey and floorball, probably football (soccer) during the summers at the time too.

42. When did you decide to focus only on hockey?

TT: So when I stopped playing other sports? Three years ago, before that floorball was kind of a side thing, I played a couple of games in the regular season and playoffs.

45. Do you follow floorball or other sports? Go to games?

TT: I don't go to games but I like to watch floorball on TV, it's an interesting sport. Sometimes I watch football too but I don't follow it much. Feels like they never score there.

47. Have you ever played with a wooden stick?

TT: As a kid I did play with a wooden stick.

49. You won the hockey players' golf tournament last summer even though there were more experienced players too. Are you good with all stick games?

TT: Well, I've been pretty good in all of them. I've played golf for a long time and still play it.

50. How is your swing?

TT: Pretty bold, kind of a hockey swing. I don't really care where the ball goes - as long as it goes far.

52. What do you think of off-ice training?

TT: Let's just say it's more stupid than being on the ice but you still gotta do it to be better on the ice.

56. Which word describes your professional relationship (with his coach, Tomek Valtonen), tranquil or colorful?

TT: Colorful of course. At times we're joking around, other times it's more serious but the relationship is really good.

57. Coaching you has been described in many words: good, bad, worse. What are they?

TT: Heh, well... I won't tell them here. He (Tomek) keeps the discipline during practices but sometimes when things haven't gone to a plan I've had to jump on an exercise bike in the middle of a practice.

58. What have been the reasons?

TT: I'll quote Tomek: "when I haven't been present".

59. Have you ever tried to turn the resistance of the bike to zero?

TT: (Laughs) Of course I have and sometimes I've even succeeded.

60. Describe your diet in three words?

TT: Greasy, healthy and good!

64. Your first name is not common for people your age. How did your parents come up with it?

TT: I actually don't even know. Maybe they didn't want a usual Ville*....

(*very common name for men of all ages in Finland)

66. Which of these is the most important: skill, unexpectedness or courage?

TT: Skill!

68. Your longest video game stint?

TT: Six hours, at least. I've played a lot of War of Duty lately.

72. The dumbest thing that has made you upset in hockey?

TT: Probably if I didn't get an assist on a goal even though I should have. Or even worse is if I score and they mark it down for someone else.

79. Have you had any concussions?

TT: I haven't had any, I've managed to always dodge them.*

(*ouch, tho it's good the recent one is his only as far as i remember)

84. In 2011 Team Finland finished in the 5th place at the U-18 tournament. Why only as 5th?

TT: Because we lost to Team Russia in the quarter final, just as well we could have won that game too.

89. You didn't get to be on the ice to accept the SM-Liiga bronze medal (because of the U-18's). When and where did you get it?

TT: I actually still haven't received it, I don't know where it is.

93. What is the population of Helsinki?

TT: There's like 5 million people in Finland so maybe around 500k in Helsinki? (to be exact 596k) Did i really get it right...?

94. Who's the mayor of Helsinki?

TT: I don't know, I barely know the president.

95. Do you think the municipalities in the capital city area should merge?

TT: Luckily I don't have to decide but they probably shouldn't.

96. What do you check first in the news paper?

TT: The sports section.

97. Your favorite tv show?

TT: Putous* was pretty good, I liked a lot of the characters. The grandma was pretty good.

(*Finnish live improvisation comedy/sketch show (there are still new seasons, the latest just finished). Every actor comes up with a humor character with a catchy phrase and one of them wins. "The grandma" is Marja Tyrni and I just got such flashbacks from typing this sentence.)

98. Last book you read?

TT: I don't read many books. The last book was a study book, a Finnish book. I wrote an essay on Tiki (Esa) Tikkanen's biography. An eventful book, great career and a lot of chirps.

99. Who should we ask the 99 questions next?

TT: Riku Hahl could have good stories, he's also seen a lot of the world.

[steadytigerobject]

Elgin Baylor wasn't going to be the beginning of anything. He certainly didn't set out to be the beginning of everything: the superstar who saved the Lakers and brought them to the NBA, L. A.; the transcendent athlete who "reinvented everything but the rim game" and changed the geometry of the sport; the avant-garde innovator who was, in the words of legendary Hoops writer Bob Ryan, “the most influential offensive lineman of the last 60 years.” He was fair ... Let's go. Trying to use the tools at his disposal to put the ball in the hole, in any way he can.

“The way I played the game was just natural, " Baylor told Bleacher Report's Dave Schilling in 2018 . "I never sat down and thought about what I was going to do. I was just reacting to the situation, to the way the guys were guarding me. I've done things that people have probably never done before. I just instinctively did it.”

These instincts, combined with a considerable amount of skill, strength, and athleticism, have produced one of the greatest and most important players in the history of basketball. They sketched out a plan that generations of super-sports wing scorers would follow-and, in fact, still do.

They propelled Baylor, who died Monday of natural causes at age 86, through a remarkable Hall of Fame career that helped lay the groundwork for the NBA’s transformation into a nightly highlight factory but that, for several reasons, has never quite seemed to get its proper respect.

These days, Baylor is most often discussed in the language of ancestry and lineage. In the NBA’s creation myth, he’s a Promethean figure—an early skywalker who, in the years before frequent nationally televised games and widely distributed video footage, helped pave a path toward the sort of eye-popping feats we now see every night.

“He just might be the best player I ever saw,” legendary Lakers play-by-play man Chick Hearn once said. “He was doing things that Dr. Julius Erving made famous 20 years later, the hang time and so forth. But Elgin didn’t have the TV exposure. Nobody did in those days.”

Those who did see him, though, never forgot it—and learned from the experience.

“In basketball, you watch and emulate the things other players do,” Michael Goldberg, former head of the National Basketball Coaches Association, said in Basketball: A Love Story. “Once one player can do a ‘wow’ move, then every kid in every school yard tries to do that themselves. Those that can refine it take it to the next level, and so on down the line. I would say that Elgin Baylor begat Connie Hawkins, and Hawkins begat Earl Monroe, and Monroe begat Dr. J, and Dr. J begat David Thompson, and Thompson begat Michael Jordan, and Jordan begat Kobe Bryant, and there’s more begats going on.”

Off the court, he was a fearless trailblazer who fought against the racist, segregationist policies of the Jim Crow era. On it, he was a groundbreaking slasher who, as Ryan wrote in the foreword to Bijan C. Bayne’s 2015 biography of Baylor, took “a game that was essentially horizontal and occasionally vertical and [made] it diagonal.” He was a tradition-flouting talent, an improvisational creator constantly unlocking new possibilities.

“His ballhandling ability at 6-foot-5, 220 pounds made him a one-man revolution,” Bayne wrote. “He had all the fakes and a sure handle, and some of his spectacular plays culminated in twisting, hanging, or gliding near or past the basket. Yet, it was the combination of those elements—the yo-yo dribbling, the subtle feints, the knifing reverse layups between taller defenders—that set Baylor apart from his predecessors and peers. Where such players as Hawkins, Erving, and, of course, Jordan became known for their trademark dunks, Baylor scored on one-hand push shots, banks, floaters, and fallaways.”

Baylor had the deepest off-the-dribble bag of his era, and he used every trick in it to score a ton. He totaled 23,149 points over 14 seasons—all after entering the NBA at age 24, all compiled without a 3-point line—which made him the third-leading scorer in NBA history behind Wilt and Oscar when he retired in 1972. (He now ranks 36th on the all-time NBA/ABA leaderboard.) He averaged 38.3 points per game during the 1961-62 season, the fourth-highest single-season average in NBA history, while spending a large chunk of it as an active-duty Army reservist who could play only on weekends and when given special clearance.

There was a bitter irony in that: Baylor performing at an all-time-superstar level while on leave from serving a country that continued to treat him and people who looked like him as second-class citizens.

Two years earlier, on January 16, 1959, the Lakers were scheduled to play the Cincinnati Royals in Charleston, West Virginia. When they arrived at the Kanawha Hotel, the desk clerk took one look at them—specifically Baylor, Boo Ellis, and Ed Fleming—and told team captain Vern Mikkelsen, “The three colored boys will have to go somewhere else. This is a nice, respectable hotel. We can’t take the colored boys.”

Rather than submit to the discriminatory policy, the entire Lakers team left, staying instead in a motel that welcomed Black guests. Later, Baylor went out with his teammates to get something to eat, only to be denied service at a restaurant, too. An incensed Baylor decided not to play in the game, boycotting to call attention to the inequality and mistreatment he and other Black people faced in the town.

“I'm human, " he told his friend and teammate Hot Rod Hundley, who was white. "All I want is to be treated like a human being. I am not an animal that is put in a cage and released on the show. They won't treat me like an animal.”

The NBA and the Lakers stood by Baylor. From then on, the Lakers will require that there be no segregation clauses in their contracts when organizing games. Soon after, then-NBA Commissioner Maurice Podoloff " promised to make sure that such treatment of black players in hotels is a thing of the past when they represent the League.”

” Of course, I don't regret doing it, " Baylor said in a March 1963 sports magazine op - ed. "I'm not a trailblazer or anything, but I'm interested in my people and progress. My name is Elgin Baylor, and I don't want anything more than I have a right to.”

That perseverance is evident again at the 1964 NBA All-Star Game in Boston, when Baylor, Robertson, Jerry West, and other star players “barricaded themselves in the locker room and announced that they would not play unless they were guaranteed benefits originally directed by the commissioner last summer”—namely , improved playing conditions, athletic coaches on all teams, and a retirement plan.

“[Lakers owner Bob Short] said to an Irish cop that guarded the door, ‘Tell Elgin Baylor if he doesn’t get out there, he’s through,’” Celtics All-Star Tommy Heinsohn told Mike Bresnahan of the Los Angeles Times in 2011. Baylor didn’t budge. The stoppage worked.

“For Elgin, in particular, the Black athletes, they had to be crusaders in this league and in many cases were vilified for it,” West told Sam Smith in his 2017 book Hard Labor: The Battle That Birthed the Billion-Dollar NBA. “That day has always resonated with me as one of the seminal points of this league. … That day in Boston probably was the beginning of something that few could comprehend.”

Baylor represented an inflection point on the court, too. In the early years of the NBA, the run of play was dominated by towering post players like George Mikan and Dolph Schayes, or sweet-shooting perimeter playmakers like “Jumpin’” Joe Fulks, Paul Arizin, and Bob Cousy. Baylor split the difference, combining the bulldozing strength and rebounding of the league’s best bigs with the speed, quickness, passing, and shotmaking of its top guards, all in a bruising 6-foot-5, 225-pound package. You know how James Harden is sometimes described as being built like a tank? Baylor was the same size and, in his day, just as tough to stop; Knicks forward Richie Guerin, a Hall of Famer in his own right, once said defending Baylor was “like guarding a flood.”

The way Baylor moved could move people. Stylistic successor Julius Erving described it as “just ballet in basketball.” To Hall of Fame guard Charlie Scott, watching Baylor was “like watching poetry.” They weren’t alone in their hosannas; Baylor’s play inspired some delightfully creative and high-minded descriptions from the ink-stained wretches tasked with capturing his brilliance. One favorite: “When Baylor gets the ball, the opposition scatters like quail at the sight of the hunter.”

You can only earn prose that purple with pure production. Baylor is one of only four players to average more than 25 points and 10 rebounds per game in his career, joined by Chamberlain, Karl Malone, and Bob Pettit. Of that group, only Wilt delivered as many assists per game as Baylor, a heady passer who still ranks 20th on the all-time triple-double list:

Baylor is one of only 10 players ever to have at least 10 appearances on an NBA first team; only LeBron James, Bryant and Malone have more. Nearly 50 years after his retirement, his career scoring average of 27.4 points per game still ranks third, behind only Wilt and Jordan. He still ranks 11th in rebounds per game, and in the top 30 in player efficiency, field goals, free throws, and total rebounds.

[torentialtribute]

MATCH OF THEIR DAY: Jim Magilton’s hat-trick in play-off epic that had it all 

He has made his way through two games, the second of which went to extra time, 12 goals, one penalty miss, a hat trick, a line with Tony Mowbray and two red cards on a throbbing Portman Road, Jim Magilton stands out: & # 39; 7-5? In a play-off?

It was May 2000 and for a fourth consecutive season, Ipswich played in the playoffs to reach the Premier League . Needless to say the first three were lost.

The most recent defeat, in the 1999 semi-final, was from Bolton. Now, in 2000, it was Bolton again in the playoffs.

<img id = "i-e5efe9855c3b7aeb" src = "https://dailym.ai/2GoGjwX image-a-32_1555878255758.jpg "height =" 420 "width =" 634 "alt =" <img id = "i-e5efe9855c3b7aeb" src = "https://dailym.ai/2CXoYdR /21/21/12548810-0-image-a-32_1555878255758.jpg "height =" 420 "width =" 634 "alt =" Jim Magilton (right) scores Ipswich's third goal against Bolton in the semi-final play-off "(right) scores Ipswich & # 39; s third goal against Bolton in the semi-final play-off"

Jim Magilton (right) scores Ipswich & # 39; s third goal against Bolton in the play- off semifinal

CONTEST FACTS

FIRST SEPARATE SEMI-FINAL SEMI-FINAL, EMPTY SECOND. May 17, 2000

IPSWICH 5 BOLTON 3 (agg 7-5)

Ipswich: R Wright; Croft, Brown, Mowbray, Venus; Clapham, Holland, Magilton, Scowcroft; Johnson, Stewart

Subs: Naylor, Reuser, Branagan, Thetis, Wilnis

Clapham 94 (pen), Reuser 110.

Administrator: George Burley

BOLTON: Jaaskelainen; Bergsson, Fish, Ritchie, Whitlow; Johansen, Jensen, Elliott, Warhurst; Johnston, Holdsworth

Subs: Banks, Hansen, Phillips, Farrelly, Passi

Scorers: Holdsworth 6, 39, Johnston 50

Sam Allardyce

Magilton had arrived from Sheffield Wednesday, initially on loan, in January 1999. At that stage Ipswich was no longer the Premier League for four seasons and Magilton says his first impression was: & everyone at the club was desperate to get up again. You could smell it.

I was also desperate. I had left the Premier League to go to Ipswich and that first Bolton defeat brought it home. We had a great time afterwards. George Burley had us together. & # 39;

Bolton had lost the previous Watford final, so they had their own motivation. In the first leg in Bolton, the home team was 2-0 in 26 minutes.

Even then, Magilton says he believed. & # 39; We still felt ready, it was an open game, unusually open, without any warning from one of the managers or a group of players. Marcus Stewart scored two great, really calm goals for us. They had started as a train. We ended up as one. & # 39;

It ended with 2-2 and the second stage was only three days later. Eidur Gudjohnsen was unsuitable for Bolton. It gave Ipswich a boost.

<img id = "i-2812345896cf6aed" src = "https://dailym.ai/2ULEDrr -36_1555878296725.jpg "height =" 579 "width =" 634 "alt =" <img id = "i-2812345896cf6aed" src = "https://dailym.ai/2Pmn8rQ 21 / 12548804-0-image-a-36_1555878296725.jpg "height =" 579 "width =" 634 "alt =" <img id = "i-2812345896cf6aed" src = "https://dailym.ai/2uS4u1n /1s/2019/04/21/21/12548804-0-image-a-36_1555878296725.jpg "height =" 579 "width =" 634 "alt =" Magilton (right) celebrates after scoring equalizer goal from his side of the penalty point "scoring the equalizer from his side from the penalty spot"

Magilton (right) celebrates after scoring equalizer goal from his side of the penalty spot

But Dean Holdsworth put Bolton ahead and although Magilton equalized with a penalty, Holdsworth scored again, before the break Ipswich received another penalty and this time Magilton missed. & # 39; There were many shenanigans, it took forever to take that kick. And I changed my mind. Jussi Jaaskelainen made it. & # 39;

When he was half-time, with Ipswich trailing 2-1, Magilton went straight to the toilet. & # 39; I felt like death. & # 39;

Burley was reassuring and, four minutes after the second half, Magilton again scored – & # 39; upper corner, probably one of the best goals I have ever scored. What a relief. & # 39; That sensation lasted a whole minute. Bolton winger Allan Johnston made it 3-2 for Bolton in the night, 5-4 on total.

There were 40 minutes left and Portman Road produced the best atmosphere Magilton can remember in the stadium. The game was from start to finish and the heartbreaking midfielder remembers the question over time over and over again. Then, in the 90th minute: & # 39; Mark Venus launched one, (Tony) Mowbray won a head and it fell on me.

& # 39; Even with all this I had real clarity. I shot through Franck Passi's legs once and in.

<img id = "i-d0fb97ee7d8c0989" src = "https://dailym.ai/2Gvn2tJ image-a-34_1555878275509.jpg "height =" 442 "width =" 634 "alt =" The midfielder makes his way back to his half after clearing his second goal of the match "

The midfielder makes his way back to his second goal of the match "to his half after delivering his second goal of the match

Martijn Reuser told Magilton: & # 39; Know you have just scored a hat trick? & # 39; Magilton did it.

Amid the 5-5 chaos, Bolton & Mike Whitlow was sent. He was the only one of an 18-year-old career started as a youth player in Liverpool The visitors were a man who started the extra time Ipswich was soon given a penalty Magilton went there Captain Mowbray disagreed. & # 39; discussion. Not nice, & # 39; says Magilton.

And while that happened, Jamie Clapham picked up the ball and took the penalty kick. I scored 6-5.

Three minutes later, Bolton was nine men when Robbie Elliott was fired. Reuser then assured Ipswich's progress with a fifth in the night, 7-5 out of the total.

Barnsley, managed by Dave Bassett, was the opponent in the Wembley final. They had to be defeated if Ipswich did not harden the fourth consecutive play-off slump. It was another remarkable match, Ipswich trailed 1-0 after six minutes, and then recovered to win 4-2. & # 39; With 3-2 up, we were left with & # 39 ;, says Magilton, & # 39; and Georgi Hristov missed a babysitter. & # 39;

And in 2000-01 Burley & # 39; s promoted team exceeded all expectations by finishing fifth and reaching the semi-final of the League Cup, a club with a glorious European tradition was back in the Uefa Cup and defeated in November 2001 Ipswich Inter Milan 1 to 0 on Portman Road.

Back home, unraveled by Ipswich, he falls down.

Magilton was named player-manager in 2006. They missed the twice hardly any play-offs.

If those boys need training in drama, Jim Magilton knows how to play them.

]

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[burning-up-ao3]

WILKES-BARRE, Pa. – With the Penguins out west and my partner, Jason Mackey, there with them eating In-And-Out burgers and working on his tan, I decided to head out to beautiful, sunny Wilkes-Barre to spend a couple of days with the AHL club. This was my first time in Wilkes-Barre, unless you count stopping for gas and a sandwich at Sheetz on my way to New England, where my wife is from. I can’t say I did much exploring, other than twice visiting the TGI Friday's next to my hotel. One night, some employees and a few patrons groaned as Flyers goalie Carter Hart got beaten for a goal. One bartender estimated the city has a 50/50 split between fans of the nearby Flyers and those who root for the Penguins and the prospects developed here. Driving to the rink on Coal Street for the first time, my GPS led me to a building that included a beauty school and an industrial supplies shop. As I walked in, I thought this was an odd place for an ice rink and was right. Thankfully, a hair stylist in training pointed me up the hill. The Baby Penguins have a nice little setup at their facility, branded the Toyota SportsPlex. My favorite part was the lobby plastered with pictures of prospects who made the NHL club. On one wall are the words: “The road to Pittsburgh starts at Coal Street.” I watched a couple of spirited, high-paced practices and chatted with coach Clark Donatelli and a handful of players for a couple of stories you hopefully will read in the coming weeks. Shoutout to PR maven Nick Hart for rolling out the red carpet. After making it into the postseason 16 years in a row, the Penguins, 40 games in, are on the fringes of the AHL playoff picture with a 19-16-5 record. Game-to-game consistency has been an issue for the minor-league club, too. They started 3-0, lost nine out of 11 games, went on a five-game winning streak during December then immediately dropped five of six. “We have some young guys on our back end that are grasping our concepts now, the way we want to play. I think the young guys are coming along great in the system. They’re working hard,” Donatelli said Wednesday. “So now we’re just trying to put some consistency together. … It comes down really to their effort, competing day in and day out, shift after shift.” Donatelli likes the way his team has performed in its past 10 games, despite going 4-5-1. It’s no coincidence that it coincided with goalie Tristan Jarry returning to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. Probably the most talented player on the roster, Jarry has been better than his .910 save percentage and 2.77 goals against average suggest. With an inexperienced blue-line group and no elite prospects up front, the Penguins have hung Jarry out to dry on some nights. But the coaching staff is thrilled with his focus, consistency and his improved practice habits. “He’s been awesome,” center Teddy Blueger added. “We feel great with him in net, and I think he’s one of the best goalies in this league, for sure.” Photo via Matt Vensel, Post-Gazette Blueger is the team’s leading scorer and best all-around skater. Donatelli trusts him in every situation – key faceoffs, both special-teams units, late in the game winning or trailing. He has 17 goals and 31 points and is a plus-14 for a team that has a negative goal differential when he’s on the bench. Watching him practice, it’s clear he is currently a cut above the rest here. Ethan Prow, however, is the team’s only All-Star – and it’s hard to argue with his numbers. He was a healthy scratch at times last season but has taken advantage of openings on the depth chart. The 26-year-old defenseman, a right-handed shot, runs the power play and is a strong puck-mover on the back end. The late bloomer could be on an NHL roster next season. Given that the Penguins will be looking to deal a defenseman once Justin Schultz returns, we probably won’t see Prow in Pittsburgh for the playoff push. But Blueger could get a look if Derick Brassard gets dealt. Jean-Sebastien Dea is another option here, too. Big Jimmy Hayes, the veteran journeyman, probably is not given he is similar to Garrett Wilson. Speaking of Wilson, the AHL club definitely misses him. He had 18 points in 18 games and was slated to be the team’s captain this season. But NHL coach Mike Sullivan likes what he brings to his fourth line, so Wilson might not be back anytime soon. Donatelli and the Baby Penguins have not picked a new captain. Instead, they are getting leadership by committee. “He's our guy,” defenseman Kevin Czuczman said of Wilson. “He’s the one everyone looks up to and he’s our ace up front. It’s tough not having him, but we’re happy for him. He’s doing awesome up there. He still keeps in touch with the guys, so it’s like he’s still here.” The Penguins are back on the ice at Mohegan Sun Arena three of the next four days, giving them a chance to climb to firmer playoff footing. While this team obviously wants to extend its long streak of postseason appearances, Donatelli said the top priority here in Wilkes-Barre is developing prospects for Pittsburgh, whether they arrive this spring or two years from now. “Winning is part of that, and that’s a balancing act,” he said. “Sometimes, we have to put some of our young prospects in situations where they are going to fail, and that’s the only way those guys are going to learn. They have to bounce right back and get better at it.”

[jfbuckley]

My sports correspondent excels himself!! Two match reports in one. Whatever next?

hi - if i had written a report for the match at arsenal (as opposed to the verbal one i gave this blog's owner) it would have said that despite the 3 - 1 loss united were rather unlucky not to come away from the emirates with at least a point - any 50/50 VAR decisions seemed to go in favour of the gunners and dalot hit the woodwork on 2 occasions - the outcome of the match turned on a penalty for united early in the second half - surprisingly united's scorer ronaldo allowed fernandes to take the spot kick - bruno's reliability from 12 yards is a fond memory that is being tarnished by his current malaise - bruno missed and united's fate was sealed

anyway onto chelsea - the londoners dominated the 1st half - they looked fitter and pacier than injury hit united - havertz could/should have scored 2 and kante shot straight at de gea who also denied an early james effort - rashford appeared neglectful of his defensive duties failing to track back allowing full/wing back james free reign to attack united on their left flank

on 60 minutes chelsea went ahead - a james cross was flicked on by havertz to alonso who cracked a left foot volley past de gea's left hand - it was no more than chelsea deserved but they were shocked just a couple of minutes later - matic lifted a lovely ball over the chelsea back line - ronaldo ran onto the pass, controlled with his first touch and with his second smashed in the equaliser

the remainder of the match was fairly even though chelsea nearly won it when james struck the outside of the post - so a draw stops the rot - once again de gea and ronaldo were the star men - where united would be this season without those 2  i dread to think - the season is nearly over and for united and their fans the end can't come soon enough

bye

[fossadeileonixv]

WTF Serie A Whiparound!

Here we go!

I’ll go in order of the current table.

This a MILAN blog and we are in first. ‘Nuff said.

For those that thought Gattuso had no idea what he was doing offensively... Surprise! NAPOLI is virtually scoring at will with 14 goals in 4 (actual) matches. The scoring is spread out and most importantly their leading scorer, Lozano, is a guy that people were starting to worry would be a flop. Also, they kept Koulibaly.... probably the best non-transfer of the summer.

The top three currently consists of the three coaches I opined back in June that I thought were handling subs and rotation the best since the break.... Pioli, Gattuso and SASSUOLO’s Roberto De Zerbi. With a packed schedule and the random Covid curveball it’s a must. While Sassuolo isn’t keeping a clean sheet any time soon, they haven’t yet, they are gonna come at you for 90 straight minutes with skill AND numbers. 

On the other end of that scale is Antonio Conte. The roster is bizarre and his subs even more so. Barella and Lukaku seem to be excelling in spite of his nonsense. Eriksen clearly is not. How INTER is in fourth I’m not sure anyone knows but I’ll bet their fans will take it. 

So Pirlo was an idiot, then a genius, then an idiot, then a genius..... you get the point. Which is it really? Who knows. The bottom line is after all the tinkering he’ll wake up one day and realize he can just put Ronaldo and Dybala out there everyday in that JUVENTUS kit. In this whacky season that may once again prove to be enough.

I picked ATALANTA 6th before the season. Right now I look like a genius! Yay! The previous super long season, the backup of CL fixtures and the mostly invisible Ilicic are conspiring against them right now. It’s weird that top 4 is now an expectation for Atalanta. Maybe it shouldn’t be? 

SAMPDORIA lost their first 2 pretty badly. Of course now they have beaten Fiorentina, Lazio and Atalanta on the bounce by a total score of 8-2. The tinker man is tinkering and the old man, Quagliarella, is young again after being old again. I’m sure another year of finishing between 8th and 17th is in the cards. It’s what they do. Oh and I like Thorsby!

In a league where half the teams are scoring 2+ goals a game, VERONA is averaging only one. They have scored 5 goals in 5 games. BUT..... 3 of those actually came due to a forfeit. In truth over 4 games Verona has scored only 2 goals on the field but also conceded only 2. Will this last? I think the inept offense will. It stinks. I don’t think the super stingy defense will. They’ve had a cupcake schedule so far. 

ROMA was the team on the wrong end of that forfeit. With a win there they are tied for second. But they’re not. We call that deceiving folks. ROMA are better than their numbers suggest! Pedro and Kumbulla were sneaky good moves to balance out this team that looks to be strong enough for that 4th place finish they always seem to find a way to get. 

After 2 games people were high on FIORENTINA.... despite a soul crushing loss to Inter, selling their best player, having a complete idiot for a coach and their second best player being an old French fellow that has now played 50 good minutes all season. Oh wait, I just got word that Castrovili is rumored to go to Juve in January....

The bottom ten teams get less words. My rules!

Over a year later and the only thing CAGLIARI has done to address the defense is build a retirement condo for Diego Godin. Good luck with that!

LAZIO has more guys out with Covid than goals scored. Good luck with that!

In 1983 the Denver Nuggets scored 184 points in a single basketball game and still lost. That’s the best analogy I could find for this current BENEVENTO group. Good luck with that!

SPEZIA’s Andrej Galabinov scored 3 goals in his first 2 games and then limped off after 20 minutes against Milan. I always have a soft spot for newly promoted teams so I really do wish him and his team good luck with that!

PARMA may have angered the gods by firing D’Aversa after he led them all they up from the 4th division. Good luck with that!

GENOA already beat the only team in the league worse than them in Crotone. They haven’t scored a goal since. They stink. Moving on...

Why in the world my buddy Mihajlovic keeps starting the 38 year old pony tail wonder at striker for BOLOGNA I have no idea. No one else does either. It’s like he’s trying to punish the other 10 players on the pitch. Good luck with that!

I can’t stand UDINESE. At least when Di Natale there they were fun. This is just ugly. 

TORINO had the balls to hire Marco Giampaolo as coach after last years debacle at Milan. So far it’s going really well! Good luck with that!

(Ok they are actually showing some signs of life, it’s just that I really can’t stand Giampaolo)

At least CROTONE can say they managed a draw against Juventus. Good luck in Serie B next year!

It’s gonna be a really strange season folks. 

Stay tuned!

Lisi

#ONWEGO

[xqr]

LLSIF Things 29: The First UR Pair

And by that I mean on the same account (and not on the Helix which came to me equipped with 2 pairs). 

JP

Our sacrifices. Our event SRs I doubt I’ll ever get a copy of. Our SR healer Mari. And our timer shit Nico. 

I’d like to thank everyone for smashing it even tho the 4th dude dropped out.

This occasion on the other hand... Wtf were y’all doing? I s2g wao-wao powerful day was too much for some people. This wasn’t the only time I got an A on this.

Thank u, Klab.

Wow look that person has 7 mics!! Wow look at that person’s name! It’s somehow funnier to me bc it’s on JP and misspelt. 

Anyway, it was a fun event. The morning it finished I was enjoying my holiday in Spain, and I thought, nah, I won’t wake up before maintenance for a few more event points. I have the Hanayo at 60k already.

BOY IF I’D GOT MY ASS UP I WOULD HAVE T2′d AGAIN.

wew klab u shouldn’t have

Nice and easy, thanks

OTANJOUBI OMEDETOU!!

Anyway this is the actual birthday I care about. Give me that sweet step-up box (I wasn’t going to, but JP was rich and wasn’t chasing after the new Yohane UR).

I’m currently running a pure Printemps team, so only pure Honks needed. I might as well for 30 gems. Just 30, I said.

HOLY SHEET

PURE HONK? CHECK. SCORER? YES. UR FUCKING PAIR??? YESSS

wew. Nice. And that Initial Honk I got last August, so an instant seal.

FOOKIN GLORIOUS. Let’s just look at it a little longer. I love them.

In my excitement I forgot to screenshot the 2nd pull bc idk why you’d expect anything more than a 1SR pull after getting a UR, but I was just like !!!! PULL AGAIN PULL AGAIN.

At which point I was like well I might as well get an SSR while I’m here. Honoka doesn’t even have a pure SSR yet so Idek why I pulled tbh.

WHAT THE FLYING FUCK. HOW DO I PULL 2 URS in 120 gems and yet EN couldn’t even get 1 in 1200. I’m calling the fucking idol police. This is bullshit. 

Look she even came with an SR too. Goddamn. Not a single SSR lel. And I fucked up this shot bc I was so excited. 2 SCORERS. TWO. Both into teams immediately.

FUCKING NICE. 

Shame I couldn’t get her to lv3 too, but idek how I pulled these skill supports out my ass lel.

This was actually alright. But at 924 notes it took some time to get it all right on the same attempt.

Idolising for the Aqours team. No more PLs, only scorers.

ur too kind

blessed be the scorers

tfw I was almost in T1 for score.

9% smile, 3rd yrs bonus, scorer. I wanted this Eli. My smile teams on both damn servers are the only ones still running 12% centres. :( Also the Honk was cute.

I can’t believe I forgot to SS. But this is a fair pull. Shame no one’s going into a team any time soon.

EN

Even the PLs can’t save us.

For a song I’d already FC’d on JP I was disappointed with how long this took :(

Thank u, WW klab, even if Lantis or whoever it is hasn’t given the UK a live viewing.

well, i got my smile UR, but not even she can save us from 4th place in SMs. But -288 is an improvement on -500.

Holy shit I’m in T1??

Me: is enjoying being in T1 Senpai: appears

I’ve been a fan of OtakuReborn’s scouting Quests since they began. So I am quite aware of how powerful his teams are/have the potential to be.

Well this was unexpected. Still got smashed in terms of MMR, but my score wasn’t too far off. Sometimes I wonder if whales play with aesthetic teams or something.

Bc look even when I brought out my best team I was only a few scorer skill activations away from winning. 

Me: haha dildo420!! Great name Dildo420: haha -474!!

EN is poor, but any Honk is potential team material. Ideally would like a 2nd copy of the initial SSR.

Ok cool, got the new SSR which is also a scorer. 

And she’s idolised with skill lv 2!! Good stuff. Nice bonus 2 SRs too.

What a good team member. The EN cool team continues to out-do everyone else.

I finally made it. And in the end I picked Aqours bc there’s no chance of timer skills, guaranteed 9% boost, and they’ve generally got better stats. 

Beautiful. I love this Kanan. But tfw I already have an Aqours pure UR and really wanted either of the other attributes (lol who am I kidding I wanted another smile UR).

Also can u believe after all this time I only have 1 pure Heal SIS. Such bullshit.

And the most points lost this SM goes to the smile team (no surprise) which even beat out that time we had a powercut and I came last when I should have won.

This will help in the next Aqours event.

I actually spent a gem outside of event time so I could make 50 gems before midnight. What I didn’t know was the new summer goals gave 3 gems for the FC of a Master. So I didn’t even have to spend that gem...

Yes!! Got the initial!! Also China Dress following me again

Make the smile team great again! (lol when was it ever good? Back when I first started and it had an idolised SR!! Wow so strong!!)

Dem sacrifices. China Dress Honk was just begging me to let her go.

Iwillnotbuythealterfigureiwillnotbuythealterfigureiwillnotbuy

She’s beautiful. I love her. I need all my Hanayos idolised asap. 

thanks for my 2 Rs.

1 miss :(

1 good. If only I’d remembered to buy the supports. :(

Picked You bc best girl and I’m a sucker for China Dress y’know.

Helix

Goodbye, girls

wew nice skill.

And then I went into the pool with my phone in my pocket on day 1 of my holiday and the Helix account had to wait 2 weeks.

Here we can see the Helix’s tier. I was halfway to Ruby :( Such a shame I missed out on the rest of the SM, on 2 birthdays, on Aqours Live login bonuses. The game has been good to F2Ps this past fortnight and Helix has missed out on it all :(

We have been reunited tho :) In the Helix’s stead I created a new account, the NaCl we see above, having just reached the first Ruby (thank u LP overflow). It was an account ‘just for fun’ during my holiday. And I did have a lot of fun. And a lot of salt bc it is now 3 URs rich. I’ll post the story of the NaCl account soon and it’ll be given away.

‘welcome back to idol hell.’ 2 goods. Should have bought the supports. :(

[redhood5092]

Penguins 1st Round Recap

    The Blue Jackets crossed the 50 win threshold this year, and were eliminated in 5 games. Wow. What you saw in this competitive, yet short, series was the Pens’ strengths being HUGE strengths and the Blue Jackets’ weaknesses lead to their downfall. How’d it go down? Vezina? Really?: I thought Bobrovsky would steal a game, maybe two. He SHOULD have stolen a game or two. And the narrative that had begun to be written about Bob only furthered itself this series. The narrative being, Bob is great in the regular season, but crumbles in the play-offs. But’ that’s exactly what happened. Bobrovsky led all NHL starters with a .931 save percentage. Bob’s play-off save percentage was .882. This Vezina winner (soon to be x2) gave up 3.88 goals against per game vs. these Penguins. That’s the last thing the Blue Jackets needed. The Blue Jackets relied on defense and goal tending all year long, and when one of your pillars fails you, you don’t have a chance. Centerpiece Superiority: Alexander Wennberg is not a #1 center, despite what Columbus fans may tell you. He’s a decent #2. Brandon Dubinsky is NOT a #1 center, despite what Columbus fans may tell you. He’s a really good #3 (think a dirtier Jordan Staal). Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin are #1 centers and it showed big time. What plagued Columbus in the last few weeks of the season, plagued them most of the series. They had no play-making. They have a few guys who can finish (Atkinson and Saad) and a few guys who can pick up the dirty goals (Anderson, Dubinsky, Calvert) but no one who can create offense on their own. The closest thing they had was Zach Werenski and he took a brutal puck to the face. At the end of the day, the Penguins, while outshot for the majority of the series, had the far better chances, courtesy of their superior offensive talent. Penguins were out shot in both Game 1 and Game 2, but did it ever feel like they were in danger of losing? That’s how Columbus does it. They fire a crazy volume of pucks at the net and hope to collect the garbage. You need that sometimes, but you can’t always rely on it. They needed more finesse, more precision passing leading to open looks. They needed a better center.  

Flower Power: So how about this script-flipping? Last year, Penguins goalie Marc-Andre Fleury gets hurt towards the end of the season, only to see back-up Matthew Murray steal his job and win a Cup in his absence. Then, during warm-ups, Murray tweaks a pre-existing injury (NJ I would guess). Insert Flower in the lowest pressure situation he has ever been in. And he loved it. Fleury stop 119 of 123 shots in 3 games at PPG Paints Arena. Flower has some work to do away from home (9 goals in 2 games), specifically with rebound control. But Columbus is an excellent home team and the defense in front of him was very sloppy. Regardless, the crease is Fleury’s till he loses it. It’s hard not to go right back to the guy who won you the Cup last year, but when your back-up is also #1 and a Cup winner, you stick with what works.

 In the end, the Blue Jackets carried more of the play, but the Penguins had the better of, and made the most of, their chances. The Penguins elite offensive play-making made the projected Vezina trophy winner crumble. Columbus’ dirty play ended up being a very small factor, because, as predicted, the Pens just skated away. That was especially evident in Games 1 and 2. Columbus was the youngest team in the league this year, and that, most likely, means they aren’t going anywhere. They have the franchise net minder, they have a great young defensive corps (Werenski and Jones will be the best pairing in the league, mark my words), and their forwards are deep (they just desperately need a top line center). It’s unfortunate that these two teams had to meet in the first round (Thanks Bettman), but they aren’t going away any time soon. 

Few things to note: 1)Penguins have the top 4 scorers in the play-offs right now, led by Geno with an astounding 11 points in 5 games. 2)Look out for the goalie controversy if Murray is healthy enough to return for the 2nd round with this long lay-off the Penguins earned. 3)With said long lay-off, look for some speed to return with Hagelin. That will be greatly needed vs. the football team on skates Capitals or the speedy Maple Leafs. 4) How about the Blackhawks getting swept? I thought Toews was better than Sid because of his OMG LEADERSHIP!?! I predicted Penguins in 6, Pens did it in 5. These are the best times to be wrong. On to the Caps (I really want the Leafs to win but talent usually prevails).

[hockeyknowitall]

NHL Awards explained

Someone asked me to go through each Award given at the NHL awards and explain how they’re given and what they’re for so instead of answering an ask I decided to make a separate post.

All these awards are based on the regular season only and votes are cast before the playoffs even begin.

Hart Memorial Trophy

This is the leading lady of the NHL Awards. The Hart Memorial Trophy is in essence the MVP award. It was first awarded in 1924 and is voted on by the Hockey Writers Association. Each member of this association votes for a first, second, and third place winner and they are all added up with first place votes weighing more then third and so on. This association votes on most of the awards. It officialy goes to the player most valuable to their team and does not necessarily go to the best player in the league, although most of the time it does.

Lady Byng Memorial Trophy

This trophy basically goes to the most gentlemanly player in the league. Imagine playing a sport know for being so rude you award players who are nice. It was donated to the lead by Lady Byng of Vimy in the 1920′s. Anze Kopitar is the current holder of the award, and like a lot of awards the winner is chosen by the Hockey Writers Association. A lot of the time it goes to a player with the highest playing ability matched with the lowest penalty box score. Usually theyre a top 6 forward on a team and some only go to the penalty box once or twice all season.

Vezina Trophy

This is another big ticket, the Vezina trophy is the MVP but for goalies. Goalies can still win the Hart, Carey Price for instance one both in a single year. The trophy is named after a goaltender for the montreal canadiens who played for the club from 1910-1925. It was first awarded in 1927 and the current holder is Braden Holtby of the Washington Capitals. It’s generally used as a good measure to how good a goaltender is, which may sound weird to clarify but a lot of these awards don’t measure what they  say they do according to critics. However, the Vezina is pretty straight forward. 

Calder Memorial Trophy

the Calder is another headliner at the NHL Awards because it’s the MVP for rookies. It is named after Frank Calder who was the first ever president for the NHL. The Oldest ever player to win the calder was 31 years old, as he played in the KHL for most of the career before playing his rookie season in the NHL. After that they changed the rules so only rookie players under 26 as of September 15th of that year, could win the calder. This is also voted on by the Hockey Writers Association.

Art Ross Trophy

This one is different because this is not a trophy that is voted on it’s earned. The Art Ross Trophy goes to the player with the most points at the end of the season. It was donated to the league by Art Ross who was a GM and coach for the Boston Bruins until the mid 50′s.

James Norris Memorial Trophy

this is one that I personally don’t really like. The Norris trophy is supposed to be a sort of MVP for defensemen but it doesn’t really measure good defensemen it measures defensemen who score a lot. A lot of people would tell you that a defenders job is not to be a forward. It was named after James Norris who was the owner of the red wings from the 30′s to 1952. Bobby Orr won the award 8 straight seasons. The winner is chosen by the Hockey Writers Association.

Bill Masterton Trophy

This trophy is awarded to the player who shows the most perseverance and dedication to hockey. This trophy tends to start a lot of controversy because people like to think it’s the award that goes to the player who was closer to dying. They obviously do not see how terrible it is to award a player for almost dying. But that’s another conversation. It was named after Bill Masterton, a North Stars player who died after he sustained an injury in a hockey game. The trophy has been around since the 60′s. The winner is chosen by the Hockey Writers Association.

Ted Lindsay Award

This is a unique one, and it’s usually paired with the Hart trophy but not always. Basically it’s another MVP award except the big difference is that this award is voted on by the NHLPA, basically the players vote on the MVP. It was called the Lester B Pearson award but in 2010 they renamed it after Red Wings great Ted Lindsay.

 Jack Adams Award

The Jack Adams is another award I don’t like much. It’s awarded to the best coach at the end of the regular season. But it usually ends up being the coach that over-preformed or a coach of a team that over-preformed. For me it’s usually the “wow we didn’t think your team would be this good” award. Usually the team that wins it baffles us so much that it could only be the coach. This though means coaches like Quenneville only won it once,a nd he was with the Blues at the time. Other coaches like Alain Vigneault have never won it after leading his team to the President’s trophy and now rehauling the New York Rangers. instead it goes to guys like John Tortorella, who was being paid not to coach the canucks for a bit. And Dan Bylsma who was fired from the team he won it with because of how poorly the team was preforming. My favorite was Patrick Roy, who won it in 2014 and 2 years later quit because he was doing nothing. Basically, in my opinion, it’s like another Vezina trophy except the goalie gets no credit. The only time it really semed to actually go to the best coach recently was this past winner was Barry Trotz.

Frank J Selke Trophy

I like to call this trophy the Bergy because he’s won it 3 times and has been nominated almost every other year he’s been eligible for it. This award, like most of them, is voted on by the Hockey Writers Association. It goes to the best two-way forward. Basically a high scoring player who is also defensively inclined. Players usually up for this award are like Bergeron, Toews, Kopitar, last year there was also Ryan Kesler ect. Basically the guys who aren’t high scorers but big names anyway on their team. It’s been awarded since about 1977

William M Jennings Trophy

This is another award that is based on stats and is therefore earned differently than the other ones. This trophy goes to the best goalie tandem, or the goalies of the team with the best goal for.  As in if your team lets in the least amount of goals during a season both goalies will receive this award. It’s a little goofy in my opinion because goal differential is a team stat but i like the idea of multiple goalie awards.

King Clancy Memorial Trophy

This award is awarded to the player who exemplifies leadership on and off the ice and has made a humanitarian contribution to their community. This usually goes to players who have some sort of leadership place on their team whether with an A or a C but who also is known for charity and programs for their community. It’s one of the two Charity awards. It is voted on by the Hockey Writers Association.

NHL Foundation Player Award

This award is the other charity award. Basically this award goes to the player who applies the “values of hockey to enrich their community.” The winner of this award gets a 25,000 check donated to a charity of their choice from the NHL.

Maurice “Rocket” Richard Trophy

Soon their going to change this one to the Alex Ovechkin trophy, just kidding kind of not really. Anyway this one is another one based on stats. the Rocket Richard Trophy is awarded to the highest goal scorer that year. This is just based on goals and not on points total like the Art Ross is. Rocket Richard was the first ever NHL player to hit 50 goals in a single season and he’s an iconic Montreal Canadiens player. The Habs donated this award to the league in 1998 and it was first awarded in 1999 to Teemu Selanne. And I joked a little at the beginning but Ovechkin has a record 6 Rockey Richard trophies

Mark Messier Leadership Award

This is a unique award because the winner for this award is chosen by Mark Messier himself, who also awards it personally to the winner on stage. The winner of the Messier Leadership Award is usually a captain who best shows leadership skills on and off the ice for his team.

The NHL General Manager Award

This one is pretty self explanatory. IT is awarded to the best general manager of the year. It has been awarded since 2010 and has not been given to someone more than once. the winner is chosen by a panel of all the general manages, a few executives and a few media members. 

[stevesax-blog1]

Wayne Rooney’s burden of English expectation

Wayne Rooney – The Guy

Stephen McConnell – 13/09/2015                                                            

50 goals for England and now their top goal scorer of all time. 233 Goals and 119 assists for Manchester United. The third highest goal scorer in Manchester United history (with the number one spot in touching distance.) Soon to be the second highest Premier League goal scorer of all time. ‘Fat piece of s#@*’, ‘Sell him now’, ‘Shouldn’t play up front’, ‘Can’t finish!’, ‘Lost it!’, ‘I f***** hate him!’

As a bemused Thierry Henry pointed out to England fans during Rooney’s biennial media backlash, on this occasion during the 2014 World Cup, ‘This is your guy!’ Henry points out that no other nation takes such zealous joy in blaming their star player for their nation’s footballing failures. And he’s right. Hate him or despise him, the goals, assists, the trophy cabinet, the potential to change a game, and his all-round ability, undeniably points to Wayne Rooney as ‘The Guy’ of English football. The figure that even Manchester United fans now seem to so gleefully criticise and ridicule more and more, is becoming starved of the love that seems to drive his performances. For it is affection, or the lack of, which has ultimately been the fuel that has orchestrated Rooney’s brilliant yet turbulent career.

Rooney has always been one of the most emotionally charged players of his generation. When in the correct mind set, composed or enraged, Rooney has gifted Manchester United fans with some of the finest goals ever scored at Old Trafford. Look no further than his stunning volley against Newcastle, seconds after viciously scolding referee Neal Barry, the sublime overhead kick against Manchester City during a time when he was once again top dog at Old Trafford, or his miraculous return to form after the departure of his, at the time, antagonistic father figure, Alex Ferguson. When Rooney is appropriately motivated, he is unplayable. Times of emotional trouble for Rooney inversely highlight long goal droughts, a characteristically poor touch and a lack of composure in front of goal. These same emotional obstacles have also arisen whenever Rooney has had to face boyhood club Everton. Rooney rarely found the net or a composed performance against the Toffees and, perhaps by coincidence, was only recently able to score against the Merseysiders after receiving a rare positive reaction from the Everton fans after agreeing to play in Duncan Ferguson’s testimonial. This unbreakable bond between emotion and form has been frustrating for England and Manchester United fans over recent years. Rooney has shown more often an inability to bear the burden of such high and unrivalled expectation without the accompanying adoration.

Rooney’s sensitivity has been evident recently when looking back to his comments after his poor start to the season: “I’ve had one bad game this season and everyone’s all over it…I’ve had this all throughout my career.” His wife, Coleen, also struggled to contain her lust for vengeance towards Rooney’s incessant critics by tweeting: “Ssssshhhhh!!!” after his hat trick against Club Brugge last month. It is perhaps no surprise that Rooney names Paul Gascoigne as his boy hood idol - another England legend capable of genius, but tormented by his emotional instability. ‘Gascoigne was my hero when growing up… I wanted to be just like him.’

Thierry Henry pointed out last year that Wayne Rooney is ‘England’s Guy’, and the lack of love he receives will only intensify this vicious cycle of inconsistency, frustration and criticism. Wayne Rooney is by no means perfect, but like it or not, he is the closest thing England and Manchester United have to the perfect footballer. The Guy is still only 29 and could go on to be Manchester United’s, The Premier League’s and England’s top outright goal scorer of all time. The realisation fans must gain from Rooney’s history, is that they will be the ones who pay the ultimate price by so proudly and publically celebrating his failures with fireworks, bonfires and burning effigies of The Guy.

[paradoxicalca]

r/hockey NHL Power Rankings Week 9: Flying High Edition

/r/Hockey NHL Power Rankings Week Nov 25, 2019 - Dec 1, 2019Thank YouThank you to all of the volunteers doing the power rankings. Each ranker has their own system and have their own reasonings and analyis. It truly is a lot of work.RankersSpoilerOrganizersSpoilerVisualizationThe visualization contains historical data, so you can see how your team has done over time. Hopefully, we can run this for many years in hopes that we can see the rise and fall of teams by /r/hockey opinion.It automatically updates so feel free to bookmark. You can find it hereProcessHow does this work? Throughout the course of the week rankers are able to access an app that will allow them to rank teams. At the end of the period we calculate the average ranking for every team and collate all of the analysis provided by rankers.The app then generates a post that is first proofread and then posted to /r/hockey!Rankings (27/31 Rankers Reporting)Ranking (avg)TeamDeltaOverall RecordRecord This WeekComments1 (1.42)Boston Bruins219-3-54-0-0🍝🍝🍝🍝🍝🍝🍝🍝🍝🍝🍝🍝🍝🍝🍝🍝🍝🍝🍝🍝🍝🍝🍝🍝🍝🍝🍝🍝🍝🍝🍝🍝🍝🍝🍝🍝🍝🍝🍝🍝🍝🍝🍝🍝🍝🍝🍝🍝🍝🍝🍝🍝🍝🍝🍝🍝🍝🍝🍝🍝🍝🍝🍝🍝🍝🍝🍝🍝🍝🍝🍝🍝🍝🍝🍝🍝🍝🍝🍝🍝🍝🍝🍝🍝🍝🍝🍝🍝2 (2.06)Washington Capitals-19-4-53-0-0Squeaking by the Cats and Wings wasn't great, but coming back from way behind against the rounding-into-form Bolts was the kind of victory that makes you believe. I recognize that I'm (mildly) complaining about a 3-0-0 week but the only important thing in regular season hockey is process, am I right or am I right. Nicky come back soon we all miss you dearly, Carlson start scoring again Edmonton's getting ideas, and Sammy my sweet darling muffin keep doing everything you're doing you're a perfect little angel in net. Go Caps.3 (3.97)St. Louis Blues217-5-63-0-1Down our best goal-scorer, our veteran 2-way forward, and our breakout young guys from last year and this year, the Blues haven't lost a step. The O'Reilly-Perron connection continues to be a thing of beauty, our captain is putting up a Norris-worthy season so far, and Binnington looks to be here to stay (Snake isn't half bad either). 5/6 points on a road trip through Tampa, Nashville and Dallas is nothing to scoff at. This team has an incredible amount of balance and resiliency. Once again, it's a great time to be a Blues fan.4 (4.73)New York Islanders-317-5-21-2-0The streak came to a crashing halt with 1 point in 3 games on the California road trip. Thomas Greiss seemed to have hurt something on Saturday night, will be a situation to monitor closely for Isles fans. Another worthwhile note is Anders Lee ended his goal drought during the first game he was reunited with Barzal and Bailey.5 (5.33)Colorado Avalanche216-8-23-0-0The Big Moose is back and I think the NHL needs to be afraid. The Mackinnon show wasn't over earning a 2nd Star of the Month Mr. Novemeber kept this team above .500 in Mikko and Gabes absence. This week saw us take advantage of McDavid and Draisaitl not at their best, then two thrashings of the Hawks. The team is starting to get healthier but we also lost Burakovsky this week, so the hockey gods give and take. Next up is a hockey mecca road trip as we take on Toronto, Montreal & Boston. Makalder update: Makar only had 1 goal this week, but with Johnson out he took over as our #1 RHD. He still has a bit of work to do to become a full blown #1 dman but I would not be surprised if he has that role firmly handled by the time Johnson comes back.6 (8.42)Edmonton Oilers-217-9-31-2-0Small slide for the Oilers with losses to the Avs and the Canucks. They did still pull out a victory against the Canucks today. The Oilers are in a bit of a pickle. McDavid and Drai have slowed for 5-on-5 (for their standards), and Nuge and Kassian are injured. Both losses were thanks to poor games against them. Notably, certain key players are putting together some poor performances (like Nurse). The team still, somehow, remains at the top of the division but now the Blues have create some separation for top of the West. The next week is games against the Sens, Kings and Sabres. Oh, and I forgot. Archibald finally got his goal. Some results for the hard work he's done so far this season.7 (9.21)Carolina Hurricanes-116-10-11-2-0If it wasn’t for the heroics for James Reimer on Saturday this could have been a winningless week. With Boston coming up the boys better be on their A game8 (9.88)Philadelphia Flyers1215-7-54-0-0The flyers have literally gotten the most points out of the NHL (AFAIK) in november, are 5th in the league, yet still only 3rd in the Metro. I hate the Metro. Aside from that, we went a perfect 4-0-0 this week, had a lot of good things happen this week. Ghost was scratched for two games, but that was good for him. Hagg played well enough to then force Myers to sit, which doesn’t sit well with most of the fanbase but was also the right decision. We could still use our veterans contributing more, but we are managing depth contributions pretty well and that’s a definite positive. Hopefully you all had a wonderful thanksgiving, and now its back to the last few weeks of school. NHL PLEASE LET THE SENS/WINGS/KINGS GO ANY ORDER OF 1/2/3 IN THE DRAFT LOTTERY SO THE WEAPONIZATION OF THE METRO CAN BE SLOWED. thanks for coming to my ted talk, Praise Gritty.9 (9.94)Dallas Stars-15-10-31-2-110 (10)Winnipeg Jets116-10-12-1-0This week featured a road trip through California, a trip I fully expected the Jets to emerge 2-1-0. And they did, but they lost to the least expected one of the bunch. Flashes of brilliance and signs of stupidity abound. Our goal differential is finally positive again, so that's a start. Not much to say other than the Jets keep defying the advanced stats underneath them. Next week features a home-and-home with Dallas, the central team that just passed us in the standings. Should be fun, provided Benn doesn't go god mode again.11 (11.45)Arizona Coyotes-214-9-50-1-212 (11.52)Pittsburgh Penguins-114-9-42-2-0As much as he has been the fire since Crosby has been out Malkin cannot carry this team alone.13 (12.85)San Jose Sharks615-12-13-1-0Another solid week for the Sharks, who moved into a divisional playoff spot for the first time this season. The team is still plagued by consistency issues as seen in the 1st Kings game and the Jets game, but picking up 3 wins this week wasn't a bad thing. Very nice to see the first win this season when trailing after the 1st period, all the early deficits this season have felt much bigger than they are and hopefully the team can turn that around. Goodrow and Gregor are looking really confident, and the forward lines are meshing really well. Go Šimek!14 (15.85)Florida Panthers213-8-51-1-0Judge Driedger shined in the Panthers' most complete game of the season against Nashville. Bob has been temporarily taken off the case.15 (16.61)Vegas Golden Knights-13-11-42-1-0Vegas going into their New York road trip winners of two straight hard fought games against Nashville and Arizona. They have not won three straight all season and they get a chance against Rangers on Monday.16 (17.09)Toronto Maple Leafs513-11-42-1-0The search for a backup goalie is on. The Leafs are now 4-1 under new head coach Sheldon Keefe, with their only loss being played with a backup goalie, this time on the front of a back-to-back. Michael Hutchison got another opportunity, and although the team didn't play great in front of him, the Leafs rely on Andersen to make the big saves to keep the momentum on their side, and they always miss it when he's not in net. Earlier in the week, it was a 6-0 win over the almost-emergency-goalie Red Wings, which isn't very impressive because they suck, but it's nice to see if you're a Leafs fan, as this team always seemed to struggle against bad teams under Babcock. On top of that, the PK looks much better and is getting the results, too. PP is looking good in small sample size too. An OT win against the Sabres at home on Saturday night wrapped up a solid week for the team. A tough week ahead, with the red-hot Flyers, Avalanche (B2B) and Blues up next.17 (17.09)Tampa Bay Lightning-412-9-31-2-1Not a good week for the Lightning, collecting only 3 points in 4 games. Kuch seems to be picking it up again, scoring 2/6/8 in 4 games. Point is as well, with 3 goals this week. Stamkos was invisible on the scoresheet this week, which is a concern, but Point a Kuch starting to pick up the pace might be what this team needs to start winning some games. As of right now I really don't have high hopes for this team, I would be surprised with a playoff appearance at this point. Can't get swept in the first round if you don't make the playoffs.18 (17.39)Vancouver Canucks-413-11-41-3-019 (17.48)Nashville Predators-212-10-42-1-1It was the Preds of times, it was the Perds of times, it was the age of Fabbro, it was the age of our third pairing, it was the epoch of comebacks, it was the epoch of playing 59:59.7, it was the season of Carr, it was the season of Olivier, it was the spring of Juuse Startos, it was the winter of being shutout, we had Duchene before us, we had no Turris before us, we were all going direct to the Playoffs, we were all going direct the other way – in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest fans insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.20 (18.64)New York Rangers513-9-33-0-1Very very solid week. A 3-0-1 record is feeling fantastic. Zucc returned to MSG to start off the week, and we pulled out an OT win against the Wild. Next we took out the Canes and Hank made 41 saves. We fell to the Bruins in OT, but we won't talk about that. But what we will talk about is shutting out the Devils 4-0. We scored 2 shorthanded goals, which was beautiful. I'm hoping we can keep it going with this momentum into next week. LGR.21 (20.52)Buffalo Sabres-312-10-51-1-2Buffalo has managed to squeak out a win and two overtime losses against two teams struck with coaching controversy this week, which isn't bad if you look at the rest of November's record. It feels like Eichel is carrying the team at this point, and if you look at the rest of our team it reinforces that feeling. He's on pace for over 100 points; unfortunately, however, the team is on pace for 88. One more interesting stat: with split starts, Linus Ullmark (13 starts) has allowed 1 fewer goal on 3 more shots than Carter Hutton (14 starts).22 (20.61)Calgary Flames-13-12-42-0-123 (22.64)Montreal Canadiens-1111-10-60-3-1To fully understand how it feels to be a Habs fan right now, I suggest a reading of Byron's "Darkness". #41 is deep! Since that distant win in D.C., the Habs are in free-fall. 8 straight losses and counting. Hope and patience are in short supply, and those fans sober enough to discuss it are often philosophical, with an eye toward history, wondering how long we have to wait until this team is a real contender again. No matter how you measure it, we can all agree it's been a while. Many fans expect change is on the horizon, whether in the form of a trade, or a coaching change, or whatever. Others expect an even darker road ahead. "Their feeble breath blew for a little life, and made a flame which was a mockery." Damn right.24 (22.67)Minnesota Wild412-11-43-0-1Suddenly the Wild are playing...not terrible? They're unbeaten in regulation for 9 straight games now, going 6-0-3; imagine if they knew how to play 3v3 hockey. A stick tap to Kaptain Koivu for the shootout winner Sunday in his 1000th game. No doubt #9 will be the first player to have his number retired with the Wild when he hangs it up. There's a lot of the season left to be played; once mid-December rolls around, the schedule completely flips and Minnesota gets 18 of 22 games at home. How many points they get in that stretch will align perfectly with the trade deadline and GM Bill Guerin should act accordingly based on their chances (even if they're within reach of a spot, the Wild should not be buyers - it's sell or stay put.)25 (23)Anaheim Ducks-212-12-32-1-0This team continues to meet expectations s of a non playoff team with too much talent to tank for a top draft pick. It really sucks watching this team claw to a shootout loss in Arizona and then not show up to play against Winnipeg on Friday. Stay tuned for the battle for the basement on Monday with the first ducks v kings in Anaheim.26 (24.88)Columbus Blue Jackets111-11-42-2-0.500 in a tough week and made up no ground in the standings. Werenski is out for 4 weeks. Elvis is still without a win. The power play does seem to be clicking, so I guess we got that going for us.27 (25.91)Chicago Blackhawks-110-11-51-2-0Saturday, Duncan Keith missed just the 18th game in his 1102 game NHL career due to injury. Drake Caggiula and Dylan Strome are both out with concussions. Patrick Kane extended his point streak to 15 games. His 11G, 13A - 24P in November are the most points of any month in his career. Alex DeBrincat has been held goal-less in 11 straight games, but has managed to contribute 9 assists in that span. After allowing only 1 goal in 2 games against Dallas, the Blackhawks committed defensive atrocities against Colorado, such as this.28 (26.61)Los Angeles Kings111-14-22-1-1Same old hollywood story. Wish I had something exciting to add...29 (28.12)Ottawa Senators-511-15-10-4-0This is exactly the kind of week the Sens needed after our recent success in the standings - a pure focused noseline dive away from "contender" territory and firmly into the "rebuilding" zone. The Wings have really stepped up their tanking game with a remarkable 9 game losing streak, and the Sens have a LOT of ground to cover in Operation DernièrePourLafrenière. It's also reassuring in the midst of this much needed losing streak to see Marcus Hogberg a good game versus the Flames; he will likely be backup to Nilsson next season when we, hopefully, are less interested in picking first overall.30 (29.18)New Jersey Devils-9-12-41-2-0Are you kidding me? Beating the Habs must have been a fluke Thanksgiving miracle. How in the love of hockey gods do you go 0/8 on the powerplay in a single game, including a game misconduct 5 min PP?? Normallyy I try to give a more extensive blurb but at this point there is almost no good to the "Good, Bad, Ugly" breakdown. This team is god damn mess. We put up 6 against the Habs, then lose to the Wild and get shut out by the Rags? I'd be less salty if I didn't have the misfortune of spending Saturday at the Rock to watch that travesty become a home game for the Rangers. There weren't even enough red jerseys at the end of the game to do "Fire Hynes" chant if we wanted too. The only reason that we aren't 31st is because Detroit has come completely unhinged in terms of bad. Hughes is hurt, which is honestly just icing on the 7 layer shit cake. Hall (+Vatanen and Simmonds) is gone unless we get some sort of divine intervention. It's only December 1st, and I'm ready to pack this season in.31 (30.94)Detroit Red Wings-7-19-30-3-0Just a couple notes since thinking about this team gives me a migraine * Fastest team to reach a -50 goal differential in the last 20 years * Mantha out with injury at the usual time of the year * Larkin slumping * Goalies can't stay healthy or buy a save. * Fabbri is the GOAT r/hockey NHL Power Rankings Week 9: Flying High Edition Source

[mancitynoise]

This article is part of Football FanCast’s Pundit View series, which provides opinion and analysis on recent quotes from journalists, pundits, players and managers…

Manchester City forward Gabriel Jesus does not mind playing on the wing so he can make room for the club’s top gun Sergio Aguero.

What did he say?

Jesus has been a fantastic goalscoring addition to City since he signed for £27m, scoring 50 goals in 112 appearances already. This season, the Brazilian has often kept Aguero out of the side and has scored five times in the 12 games he has played.

However, Jesus told The National’s Richard Jolly that he is happy to play a sidekick role for the club record goalscorer.

He said: “It is difficult to describe Sergio.

“Sergio is the top scorer of the club and every game he shows us why he is the top scorer so, of course, I have to learn from him because he is a legend. Every game he scores.

“I want to score every game but I think it is different. I am 22 years old, I have to improve and practice my finishing.

“Since the Copa America, I play right winger. I like it. I started with the position in Brazil at my old club [Palmeiras] and after I got to play as a striker but of course I like to play both positions. I think it is very important you can play more than one.

“It was my first game as a winger with five at the back for Southampton so it is difficult when you dribble past one [defender] and have another one.”

Aguero still the top dog, for now

Jesus’ start to this season has once again been positive. Five goals in 12 outings is a good return for a man who is still just 22. However, Aguero is still surpassing the ex-Palmeiras man as the club’s main goalscoring threat, with the Argentine bagging 12 goals in 12 appearances so far.

However, at 31 years old, there will not be many more years left for the legendary striker at the Etihad. Plus, with his contract ending in 2021, and his desire to return to Argentina, there is maybe just two years of his service left.

For now, Jesus can learn from Aguero as he continues to dominate up top. Also, playing on the wing will only benefit his abilities and versatility like we have seen with stars such as Thierry Henry.

Soon, however, we are likely to see the Brazilian become the main man at the Etihad.