Neil bumped to 4th line... and other Sens news

asq2 wrote:
I'm sure it will look better when all three of Kuba, Phillips and Volchenkov are in the line-up. We could use an upgrade over Campoli, though.

Cowen can come on down anytime now. He's better than our bottom 3 guys combined.

Cap'n Clutch wrote:I think November is going to be a tough month to try to scrape out wins and that Devils game will come back to haunt us me thinks. The Sens can't afford to give away points like that.

Not to be overly dramatic, but I said the same thing when we lost. I took that loss really hard. If there ever was a time to eek out a win - it was in that game, leading up to what will be a hellacious schedule against tough-as-nails teams. And the Pens might have Malkin back apparently, so it's not gonna be a cakewalk against them, that's for sure.

Diddle I'm depressed. Even if we had blown the Devils game in OT, that one point would have been nice.

Cap'n Clutch wrote:I think November is going to be a tough month to try to scrape out wins and that Devils game will come back to haunt us me thinks. The Sens can't afford to give away points like that. I guess we can consider ourselves lucky we're facing a weakened Penguins team and a Bruins team that is struggling to find the back of the net. The problem is we lost to a struggling Nashville team and a Kovalchuk-less Atlanta team and a struggling Bruins team already. I'm thinking even if we can't come out of November with a similiar record to October we're going to be in real trouble.

I have a feeling the opposite will happen. It's hard times that call for hard play and I can see us going on a bit of a run. The games I'm most excited for is the Ranger and Philly this week, as it will eb a true test of where we stand this year. Let's not forget, we have games in hand.

SpezDispenser wrote:

jamvan wrote:Absolutely, it has cost us enough already. Some of the calls though have been brutal.

Oh yeah, it's cost us three wins at least. And fine, some of the calls I can deal with, but when the other team does the same and doesn't get called, I start seeing a problem with the officiating.

There are only 2 teams that average more minor penalties per game than us. One is the Anaheim Ducks (13th in the West).

Can anyone guess who's the MOST penalized team (for minors)?

Yep, I can feel what your feeling. It's frustrating as hell to watch these games and see the lopsided play calling. I'm not one to complain about the officiating, but when it's this evident it's brutal. Who else feel like throttling these zebras?

marakh wrote:

MurderOnIce wrote:I really think the last thing we need right now is less of what Neil brings. We need to be banging bodies and throwing other teams off their game.

After what he did in the last game, this feels totally ok to me. Ruutu and Neil for 10 min each in the 3rd period is unacceptable.

I am not sure that you can blame either for those calls. Neil brushed by Clarkson (who I normally like) and he went down like he was shot. Poorly acted but accepted by the refs. And then Ruutu got 10 for allegedly sticking his fingers in that douche bag Peters mouth. I am sorry but those are bad calls all around.

If you look back to the Tampa game... Neil's hit on Hedman was a real momentum builder (and clean). Why would you want to lose that? And Ruutu has the most points per minute of any player on the club, plus he is killing penalties for half of his shifts.

Yeah, I thought Clarkson was getting 10 minutes for unsportsmanlike conduct for being a silly little diver. That was pretty sad in all honesty.

SpezDispenser wrote:

jamvan wrote:I'm fine with this, because as is; is not working.

Fair enough, but we need to stop the 5.5 (average obviously) minor penalties we're taking per game or we're just going to lose over and over again.

I'm not sure we're "taking" those penalties as much as the refs are handing them out to us.

Clouston was right about "opportunities" for calls on opponents were being missed. The fact that he spoke up about it only defeats the purpose. You can bet the Leaf-loving refs are going to stick it to us twice as much since he had the nerve to say something.

Why don't we just employ the "Burkian" style of play and take so many penalties that they just simply can't call everything.

SeawaySensFan wrote:

SpezDispenser wrote:

jamvan wrote:I'm fine with this, because as is; is not working.

Fair enough, but we need to stop the 5.5 (average obviously) minor penalties we're taking per game or we're just going to lose over and over again.

I'm not sure we're "taking" those penalties as much as the refs are handing them out to us.

Clouston was right about "opportunities" for calls on opponents were being missed. The fact that he spoke up about it only defeats the purpose. You can bet the Leaf-loving refs are going to stick it to us twice as much since he had the nerve to say something.

IT's almost like the officiating is baiting the Senators to lose their cool because of the bad calls. Without my rose coloured glasses, the officiating has been outright brutal. Some of the calls are a complete joke.

I am biased. There's no two ways about it. But I can take the Dung reffing with a bit of a grain of salt, within reason.

This is just Diddling nuts.

SeawaySensFan wrote:I'm not sure we're "taking" those penalties as much as the refs are handing them out to us.

Clouston was right about "opportunities" for calls on opponents were being missed. The fact that he spoke up about it only defeats the purpose. You can bet the Leaf-loving refs are going to stick it to us twice as much since he had the nerve to say something.

It's both I think. We're doing things that warrant penalties, but the idiot refs seem to conveniently miss when the other team does the exact same thing. It's really getting annoying to be perfectly honest. Call us, by all means, if we're guilty, call the penalty, but don't sit there and 'miss' all the same calls for the other team. That means we're gonna need to check your bank accounts - soon. The NBA had one ref that was proven to be throwing games - and if that isn't enough to begin some serious pondering in the NHL, I'm not sure what is.

It's been bloody horrendous this year. Horrendous.

jamvan wrote:IT's almost like the officiating is baiting the Senators to lose their cool because of the bad calls. Without my rose coloured glasses, the officiating has been outright brutal. Some of the calls are a complete joke.

It gets to a point where I'm thinking Diddle this. We're gonna get a call anyway, might as well take the knees out from some guy or run a hot goalie (Pavelec). We're gonna get called for something anyway, might as well make it worthwhile.

And I'm not that kind of guy who likes injuries to other team's players. I get frustrated though with the officiating this year - and if I'm getting to that pitch, isn't it possible that the players are as well? And if they are, is that why there's been an upswing in serious injuries this year?

SpezDispenser wrote:

SeawaySensFan wrote:I'm not sure we're "taking" those penalties as much as the refs are handing them out to us.

Clouston was right about "opportunities" for calls on opponents were being missed. The fact that he spoke up about it only defeats the purpose. You can bet the Leaf-loving refs are going to stick it to us twice as much since he had the nerve to say something.

It's both I think. We're doing things that warrant penalties, but the idiot refs seem to conveniently miss when the other team does the exact same thing. It's really getting annoying to be perfectly honest. Call us, by all means, if we're guilty, call the penalty, but don't sit there and 'miss' all the same calls for the other team. That means we're gonna need to check your bank accounts - soon. The NBA had one ref that was proven to be throwing games - and if that isn't enough to begin some serious pondering in the NHL, I'm not sure what is.

It's been bloody horrendous this year. Horrendous.

No need to check bank accounts. Just mailing addresses. Etobicoke, Scarborough, Markdale, Don Mills, Mississauga...

What an expensive 4th line we have.

SpezDispenser wrote:

SeawaySensFan wrote:I'm not sure we're "taking" those penalties as much as the refs are handing them out to us.

Clouston was right about "opportunities" for calls on opponents were being missed. The fact that he spoke up about it only defeats the purpose. You can bet the Leaf-loving refs are going to stick it to us twice as much since he had the nerve to say something.

It's both I think. We're doing things that warrant penalties, but the idiot refs seem to conveniently miss when the other team does the exact same thing. It's really getting annoying to be perfectly honest. Call us, by all means, if we're guilty, call the penalty, but don't sit there and 'miss' all the same calls for the other team. That means we're gonna need to check your bank accounts - soon. The NBA had one ref that was proven to be throwing games - and if that isn't enough to begin some serious pondering in the NHL, I'm not sure what is.

It's been bloody horrendous this year. Horrendous.

Just the one ref? Hahaha...Tim Donaghy has written a book ousting almost the entire officiating ranks in the NBA for being complacent with throwing bets. You can read excerpts of the book online and see some truly scary Dung.

PKC wrote:Just the one ref? Hahaha...Tim Donaghy has written a book ousting almost the entire officiating ranks in the NBA for being complacent with throwing bets. You can read excerpts of the book online and see some truly scary Dung.

Even worse. I don't follow B-Ball, but I knew of that one nerd who threw a game. Maybe there should be a quick and tidy investigation into the reffing this year. Not just us, most teams and fans appear to be questioning it.

SpezDispenser wrote:

SeawaySensFan wrote:I'm not sure we're "taking" those penalties as much as the refs are handing them out to us.

Clouston was right about "opportunities" for calls on opponents were being missed. The fact that he spoke up about it only defeats the purpose. You can bet the Leaf-loving refs are going to stick it to us twice as much since he had the nerve to say something.

It's both I think. We're doing things that warrant penalties, but the idiot refs seem to conveniently miss when the other team does the exact same thing. It's really getting annoying to be perfectly honest. Call us, by all means, if we're guilty, call the penalty, but don't sit there and 'miss' all the same calls for the other team. That means we're gonna need to check your bank accounts - soon. The NBA had one ref that was proven to be throwing games - and if that isn't enough to begin some serious pondering in the NHL, I'm not sure what is.

It's been bloody horrendous this year. Horrendous.

Here's the problem: This isn't about the refs. It isn't new. The refs are just a little more blatant than they used to be and fans are finally starting to catch on.

This goes all the way to Bettman---what a name for this discussion, huh? But in reality its not individual game bets that matter. It's the whole season. Fans forget that this is a multi-billion dollar business. Gary Bettman doesn't. Is it a coincidence that we're in a recessionary year and we just happen to be witnessing the most questionable reffing in recent memory? Is it a coincidence that they missed a call on Gretzky just as the league was trying to expand throughout the US west coast? Is it coincidence that Anaheim was given the green light on the dirtiest play in history for an entire season, and after winning it all, it stopped?

Believing in the spirit of the game is all well and good, but believing in the bottom line is just realistic. This is a money game and Bettman doesn't place bets he knows he can't win. That's why Phoenix will stay where it is.
The fortunate part for us is that his strategy might just end up working, at which point we can get back to some evenly called games.

SpezDispenser wrote:

SeawaySensFan wrote:I'm not sure we're "taking" those penalties as much as the refs are handing them out to us.

Clouston was right about "opportunities" for calls on opponents were being missed. The fact that he spoke up about it only defeats the purpose. You can bet the Leaf-loving refs are going to stick it to us twice as much since he had the nerve to say something.

It's both I think. We're doing things that warrant penalties, but the idiot refs seem to conveniently miss when the other team does the exact same thing. It's really getting annoying to be perfectly honest. Call us, by all means, if we're guilty, call the penalty, but don't sit there and 'miss' all the same calls for the other team. That means we're gonna need to check your bank accounts - soon. The NBA had one ref that was proven to be throwing games - and if that isn't enough to begin some serious pondering in the NHL, I'm not sure what is.

It's been bloody horrendous this year. Horrendous.

I believe the term horra-awful covers that. Horrible and awful at the same time. Heh heh.

Kudos to Shaq for that one.