vees:blog

Luke Curadi may not have said a word at morning skate today, but he’s ready for Vernon.

What the…

Wow

Luke is ready!

There is usually one on every team. Like a court jester, the job is to garner laughter. Jokes keep the mood light, and stories make the bus rides shorter.

On the Vees, that man is Matt Paltridge. The 20-year-old defender from Tecumseh, Ontario may be better with his tongue than he is with his stick.

We caught up with the loquacious one this afternoon to talk Summer, hockey, and other.

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What would you do with nearly two weeks between the games?

As you can see, the Vipers got hair cuts!

There’s no issue if they keep winning, but that sure isn’t golf club hair!

Well there have been worse hairdos…

Always scientific, sometimes controversial, never boring!

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With zero goals on the ledger, it’s time to give Matt Paltridge, Derik Johnson and Max Grassi a ribbing… Kaare Odegard narrowly escaped the gauntlet by scoring his first as a member of the Vees on Wednesday!

My money is on Grassi to break the goose-egg first!

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Some call it ‘Insomnia’, I call it time to hunt for random hockey information on the internet.

Here the top NHL quotes I found last night, errrr… At 4 this morning.

“I told all the boys after, thanks. It’s been a long time”

- DALLAS STARS Goalie Marty Turco after collecting his first win in Joe Louis Arena after posting a (0-8-2) record in his previous 12 starts in Hockeytown.

“It’s a debacle of monumental proportion”

- EDMONTON OILERS Coach Craig MacTavish following a 10-2 home loss to the Buffalo Sabres following the All-Star Weekend (they had fun with this one in Calgary).

“I think that’s probably the problem with his back… He was taking that money to the bank”

- DETROIT RED WINGS Coach Mike Babcock on Henrik Zetterberg missing Thursday’s game with the Stars after signing a 12-year, 72 Million Dollar Contract Extention.

“That’s good. Now I’m the top scoring European on the team”

- CALGARY FLAMES Goalie Miikka Kiprusoff taking a humourous poke at the Flames roster, after he was notified he was credited with an assist in the Flames 5-2 Win over the Sabres. Kiprusoff is the only European on the team.

As the league’s annual showcase event moves along I’ve decided to keep a tab of all people, places and things BCHL using the simple measures of good and bad.

ALL-STAR POWER RANKINGS (V.1)

HIGH FIVE

#1 - Geoff Courtnall - Raffled off a signed St. Sundin Jersey (he nearly walks on water) to the All-Star Players after winning the Live Auction for the Jersey ($$), and earns bonus marks for purchasing evening rounds of Earl Grey Tea.



#2 - Dave Sales - League VP brings down the house with dry humour in pinch hitting speech at banquet.



#3 - Coffee! - Today is a great day to celebrate the coffee bean and it’s invigorating effects.



#4 - Vernon Vipers - Okay, so I know Vees hate Vipers and all that, but the host organization has done a great job welcoming and entertaining the BCHL masses.

#5 - All-Star Jerseys - I wasn’t warm to the silks at first, but the jerseys have a retro feel to them…Think Houston Astros of the 80’s!



LOW BLOWS

#X - Banquet Horseradish - brings more tears than an Oilers Farewell Press Conference!



#XX - Westside Warriors (& Merritt Centennials… kinda) - I can understand Merritt not making it to the All-Star Game with their financial restraints and perhaps the paperwork after the trade deadline fiasco, but Westside not in attendance last night (aside from their 2 All-Stars)? What the heck?? The other 14 teams had brass at the banquet last night, and none are closer than the Kelowna area… boooo!

#XXX - BCHL Schedule - The only thing that got hit harder than the buffet (there are now a dozen less cows on earth) was the Schedule-Maker, haven’t heard a positive word about this years set-up with only 8 games Out-Of-Conference.



(Working on 2009/2010)