| Touring and Toys |
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| 02:42am 02/07/2007 |
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Been on the road non-stop with Static-X over the last few months. We did a 10 week tour of the US with Otep, Invitro, and 2 Cents which was a lot of fun. On the last night of the tour we were at the House of Blues in Vegas. After the show, Mikey from Invitro and I hit the BlackJack tables. On my last hand I won $600. Needless to say I put the money towards some new toys:
Desert Eagle .50:
Sig 556:
I also picked up some new ink after the run. I added a tattoo of Michael Myers to my left arm adding to my sleeve. Unfortunately I have no pix of it at the moment because my camera was in my luggage which got lost on our flight to Hamburg for our European leg. We were supposed to do 3 weeks in Europe/UK, but we ran into nothing but problems. Our bus broke down and with all the touring going on over there at the moment, there were no spare buses available so we had to cancel the run. We did manage to play Graspop though, which was awesome. We played with Type-0, Papa Roach, Joe Satrianni, Chris Cornell, and Aerosmith. I ran into a ton of old friends including all my boys in Stone Sour. This at least improved my mood. Pretty tough to do considering I went over 10 days without clothes over there. We're now home with a week off before heading off for Ozzfest. Not sure what Ozzfest is going to be like this year, but I'm sure we'll have some fun.
While I was home I got to play some paintball with my paintball team, Tri-State Spec Ops. We had a blast and I got to try out my new guns.
We're currently sponsored by Tippmann, so I got to try my new X7. The thing is sweet as hell!! So sweet that I'm selling my old A5 and replacing it with another X7. Right now I have the thing pimped out to look like an AK47 thanks to my Apex AK47 foregrip/barrel.
I also put 1/2 down on my Flyers season tickets for this upcoming year. The Flyers made some MAJOR moves over the past two weeks to totally transform the team. They dealt they're 1st Round pick they got from Nashville in the Forsberg trade back to them in exchange for the rights to Kimmo Timmonen and Scott Hartnell. Nashville knew they were losing both players to Free Agency and wanted to get something in return for them. The Flyers in return got the jump on signing them, signing lucrative new contracts with both players before the draft. Then yesterday the Flyers opened up the 1st day of Free Agency by landing the most highly sought player in Daniel Briere. They signed him to an 8 yr $52 mill contract which included a new movement clause. Briere opted for Philly over Montreal due to a longer contract, more lucrative first year bonus, and playing with his buddies Martin Biron, Denis Gauthier, and Simon Gagne. Then just when you think the waters were calm, they traded Joni Shitkanen along with Geoff Sanderson and a 3rd round pick to Edmonton for team captain Jason Smith and Joffery Lupul. This deal made me SOOO happy considering how much I despise Pitkanen. The guy has a ton of ability, but no heart or desire to raise his game. We prolly could have gotten more for him, but I'll gladly take a strong defensive minded captain and one of their top fwd prospects with a scoring touch. You gotta love it when your team steals away 3 NHL captains from their former teams in a matter of weeks. haha |
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| Edsel Vs Madden Killer = $100 Richer |
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| 07:55am 14/03/2007 |
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So I'm out on tour with Dope and one of Edsel's main time killers is playing Madden on PS2. Apparently he hasn't lost a game in a long time to anyone. Anyways, we're playing one night in his season. He's controlling his god team made of the best players in the game and I'm using a standard team. Honestly I'm not paying much attention to the game as I'm on the phone with my girlfriend. Edsel winds up with a huge lead, like 82-48 and comments "I never got 100 pts in a game before", so I proceed to help him achieve his goal by pulling my defenders off his recievers. He ends up winning something like 108-62. Anyways, the next day he starts talking shit that he can blow me out in Madden. I remind him that I was on the phone with my girl and was helping him get 100 pts. He continues to talk shit. I had enough. I put $50 down on the line betting him he couldn't blow me out. Stipulations: We had to use standard teams, he had to give me 14 pts since I hardly ever play Madden and I consider anything over 14 pts. to be a blowout. Bet taken. So we play later that night. Edsel scores early and proceeds to talk shit. I remind him it's only the first quarter. Virus then heads to the back of the bus to get in on the taunting. Both Vi and Edsel go back and forth jabbering shit talk. Vi asks me "Are you Nervous? You look nervous Dink." I just smile and tell them "it's just a game". I score a TD, turn to Virus, and tell him "most important thing about playing a game is to have fun." Virus just laughs as he walks out the back lounge and heads up to the front of the bus. 30 mins or so passes and I emerge from the back lounge. Vi is on his way to his bunk from up front. I just put my hand on his shoulder and inform him "It's all about fun... and I just had a blast!" End result: Not only do I cover the spread, but I beat Edsel something like 71-42 handing him his first loss in over a year. Not having enough, Edsel wants to go double or nothing. I give him back 7 pts to make it a little more fair. End Result: I'm $100 richer and Edsel just suffered another 62-56 loss. HAHAHAHAHA |
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| New Combichrist = Da Shit! |
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| 02:52am 14/03/2007 |
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music: Combichrist - What the F**k is Wrong With You People?
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Got an advanced copy of the new Combichrist album What the F**k Is Wrong With You People? a few weeks ago and I absolutely LOVE it!!! The new CD is killer!!! Has some great anthem tracks, and it doesn't have as many filler tracks as the 1st album had. Definitely top notch! |
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| 300 |
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| 02:51am 14/03/2007 |
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music: combichrist - What the F**k is Wrong With You People?
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300... Quite possibly the best movie ever!
Fantastic Imagery
Great Character Development
Awesome Dialogue
Incredible Battle Scenes
Jaw Dropping CGI/Costumes
Killer Score
Simply AMAZING!!!
I've already seen it twice in less then 24 hrs. |
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| La Reunión de la Familia ...Hitting the Road with Dope |
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| 02:48am 06/02/2007 |
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La Reunión de la Familia
That's right, for the first time since 1999 (when I got in this business) I'll be hitting the road with the family that started it all. Starting Feb. 22nd I'll be hitting the road with Dope again, my original family in the music business. We got started in this business back in 1999 with Elektra/Sony and have both seen numerous changes in our careers along the way. Well we're getting back together and hitting the road again. I can't wait for the Family ReUnion! Dates for the tour are posted in my Calendar. |
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| Guns, Paint, and Marriage |
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| 06:07am 22/01/2007 |
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This weekend was definitely.... well different. Sunday morning Jim, Paulie, and I headed up to Zionsville, PA to meet up with our paintball team, Tri-State Special Ops, to play a lil paintball at Iron Triangle. This was the 1st time in like a year and a half that I had played paintball, much less then with my boys in T.S.S.O.C. We had a complete BLAST!!!! I hadn't had that much fun in so long... I totally forgot how much I love playing paintball.
I had a killer day... one of my best ever:
15 kills
3 surrenders
5 deaths
2 flag captures (The 1st by walking into the enemy base, looking 6 enemies in the eye, taking their flag, and walking out of their base with it. The 2nd by taking out 2 enemies in front of their base, grabbing the flag, and returning it to our base within 45 seconds.)
in 6 games
Definitely a great fun filled afternoon.
Sunday evening was a completely new experience for me... I performed my 1st wedding. Earlier in the week I recieved an urgent message from Sue Ellen asking me if I could perform a last minute ceremony over the weekend for her and her fiance, Hicham. I was really skeptical at 1st seeing how I had never performed a ceremony before and had little time to prepare it, but in the end it worked out very well. We did a nice standard ceremony in their home with a few friends and family members present. So I've broken my officiant cherry as it stands. Got in a nice little practice for Jim and Petra's wedding as well. hehe Definitely an interesting weekend. |
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| Benefit to help a friend of mine who has been diagnosed with a brain tumor |
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| 02:09pm 16/01/2007 |
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Ok so I've been getting some people asking me what's up with the JS goalie mask in my sig. The JS goalie mask is actually a sponsor patch for a buddy of mine in canada named Jim Szczepanowski. Jim works at one of the largest hockey stores in Toronto, Ward and Patch, and he was recently diagnosed with a brain tumor. He actually was operated on this past Thursday and they removed 30% of the tumor and so far tests are showing that it seems to be non-agressive which is good. He will undergo radiation for the remaining portion of the tumor once tests are complete.
Jim is a fellow goaltender and right now they are doing a fundraiser for him/brain tumors on one of the other goalie boards I'm on. They are asking for $10 and $20 donations. When you donate $10 you recieve a patch like the one in my sig that is sent to you to be sewn on your jersey or anything else you'd like. For $20 not only do you recieve the patch put you also get a drawing in a huge raffle they are having. Some of the prizes include a pro-return set of Tim Thomas Pete Smith game used pads and other various goalie/gear related prizes. Doug from Weaselhead has also donated a Supreme paintjob as one of the prizes as well. So those of you interested in acquiring a replica of Martin Houle's 40th Anniversary Flyers mask could easily win the paintjob in the raffle. You'd just have to supply the mask.
Many of us on the board are posting this patch on other various aspects of our lives to show our support for our friend. Jim is a wonderful guy, and I've been very fortunate to have become friends with him over the years in my passings through Toronto and whenever I want to buy new gear. Unfortunately Jim is the 3rd person I know that has developed a brain tumor in the past 5 years. It's a very unfortunate thing, but like anything you can overcome it if you catch it soon enough and you have strong will power.
If any of you are interested in making a donation to the benefit and taking part in the raffle, you can find all the information about it on the following page: http://www.goaliestore.com/board/showthread.php?t=59565&highlight=raffle
Thanks for your time! |
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| Looks like the new year will be spent touring with the family |
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| 12:04am 09/01/2007 |
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mood:  nostalgic music: Skinny Puppy : Rabies - Tin Omen
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Looks like the beginning of the new year will be spent touring with the family. Not only am I going out with Static-X again in March, but it looks like I may also be re-united with the circle that I started this business with. It looks like I may be heading back out on the road with Dope. Edsel called me up the other day to see if I was interested in a 3 week tour they're doing starting Feb.22 and it looks like it should fit my schedule perfectly. We still have to iron out the details, but it's looking pretty good. I hope everything pans out because I'd love to hit the road with them again. I haven't toured with these guys since 2000, so it's been a long time. I miss them and the good times we had a lot, so it should be exciting. |
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| It's official... I'm an ordained minister |
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| 05:29am 04/01/2007 |
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mood:  amused
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I know it sounds a lil nuts, but I'm now an officially ordained minister in the Universal Life Church. I can now perform weddings, funerals, baptisms, etc. I got ordained to perform the ceremony at Jim and Petra's wedding in Feb. Looks like I can add something more to the resume that I never thought I'd be able to say. hehe
Oh, and Rick is currently passed out stark naked on the toilet in my bathroom with his head in our trashcan. Apparently someone had too much to drink tonight. HAHAHA He disappeared in there a few hours ago. When we went to check on him, alls we could get out of him was "My head hurts...I'm ok... I just feel really hot, and need to be naked!". There's just something hilarious about seeing someone naked on a toilet, giving a thumbs up, as "I'm ok" echoes out of the trash can their head is currently buried in. |
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| Xmas 2006 |
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| 11:32am 26/12/2006 |
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Headed over to Jim and Petra's on Xmas eve to exchange gifts. They gave Heathyr an awesome pin-up book, and they gave me a bunch of japanese horror DVDs: the Audition, Suicide Club, Moon Child, and 2LDK. We got Petra a shitload of Devil Duckie stuff and Jim got dash board ninjas and a whole bunch of monkey stuff: monkey belt buckle, Captn Danger Stunt Monkey, an animated monkey that asks for hugs, sleeps, needs to be fed, and best of all freaks out.
This morning Xmas started out pretty shitty. It turns out LA Style was right: Jame Brown is Dead! James Brown died this morning at the age of 73.
For Xmas this year I got Heathyr a bunch of goalie equipment since she wants to start playing net. I picked her up a pro chest protector, a set of jr pants, and an Itech jr mask. After we spent some time at home we headed over my folks place for Xmas dinner. Dinner was awesome! We had our typical turkey dinner complete with mashed potatoes, stuffing, etc. After dinner we exchanged gifts while watchng the 1st 1/2 of the Eagles game before heading over to Marks at halftime.
When we got to Mark's we immediately had food shoved at us. Mark made a killer deep fried prime rib and Jackie, his sister, made an awesome cheese cake. They had some other killer food, but that's really all I could eat. We hung out there the rest of the night before heading home. I'd say we had an alright Xmas. I still need to get over to Rick's this week so he can put in the speakers he got me for Xmas for my car. |
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| Recent happenings |
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| 10:05am 23/12/2006 |
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mood:  energetic
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Wow! The last couple of months have been nuts, but now with the holidays right around the corner things are finally slowing down. Heathyr and I retured home from the Congress of Corruption tour at the beginning of November. I was out Tour Managing Ill Nino and taking care of their merch as well as Godhead's, while I got a gig for Heathyr handling the Tour merch as well as Ra. The tour went well, but we're really glad to be back home and just able to veg for a while and appreciate being home.
Since arriving home my life has basically been consumed by hockey. I'm basically on the ice 3-4 times a week now (Cop Hockey with Rick Monday mornings, Open Hockey at Power Play in Exton on Wed., Open Hockey at Iceline on Fri in West Chester, and then Coyotes games once a week). Then I got together another dek hockey team to get the guys playing again and so Rick can start playing goal. The new team was primarily thrown together at the last minute and has a lot of new guys so we named them the Suckville Terribles. The name is something Jim came up with one day while we were joking around. So far we've lived up to the name losing everyone of our games. Some have been close, while others have been blowouts, but we're having fun. Heathyr is even getting into the action. She's taken up goaltending and is starting to play. She may even wind up being our back-up goalie for the Suckville Terribles.
Then there's the Coyotes. No sooner was I home then I was getting a call from my ice hockey team, the Coyotes, asking me to return to the pipes and play goal. I was literally on the ice 2 days after I got home in my 1st game of the season. Apparently the Coyotes didn't get off to a good start to the Winter season. They were off to a 1-3-0 start on a 3 game losing streak and sitting in 6th place. Since my return to the team, we are now 7-3-0 on a 6 game win streak. We've beaten every team in our league, including two teams we previously never defeated: the Vipers and the Fossils. Now we're going into the holiday break in 2nd place. We'd be tied for 1st, but the Fossils (the team in 1st place) have 2 less losses on their record.
The other huge part of hockey in my life is the NHL. Not only do I have my Flyers season tickets still, but this season I got the NHL Center Ice package as well. That means heading to a Flyers games at least once a week and catching the rest of the league on TV at home every other night. As I'm sure you can imagine Heathyr LOVES this. HAHA Not so much, but she's been very understanding and I at least try not to shove hockey down her throat. Heathyr's got plenty to keep her occupied though. She's been really involved with her pole dancing classes. Since returning home she's moved up to the advanced class, and been getting her friends to take the class as well.
Aside from hockey, I've really dived back into my digital art/graphic design since returning home. Isac and Vince have had me working on some new album artwork for Cesium 137's new album which has really goten me motivated. I'm working on their new album artwork as well as their press photo's. Plus I have a few more things going on the back burner that should keep me busy till I hit the road again.
When I'm not keeping busy with hockey, my artwork, or spending time with Heathyr, you can find me spending my free time playing my Xbox 360 and my Nintendo Wii. You can usually find me on Xboxlive (Gamertag: DinkusMaximus) playing Call of Duty 3 and NHL 07 on my 360. Can't get enough of WW2 first shooter action and god knows I can never get enough hockey. I'm also in LOVE with my Nintendo Wii. This system is soooo much fun. In case you live in a box and haven't heard about it, you control the games with a motion sensitive remote that make you actually get into the action. So not only are you playing games, but you can get a workout as well. You also get to create your own Mii characters that you can make to look like lego-esque versions or yourself that play in various Wii games. For some reason I love playing Boxing just so I can knock my opponent down and make my Mii character dance over him with his arms pumping in the air. My main game for my Wii though is Rampage... that 90s classic game where you're a giant monster gaining points for destroying various cities and the people within it. This game is SOOOO much fun!!! Just one of those mindless games that you can get lost in forever. My favorite character that we've unlocked thus far is Plucky the giant chicken. There's just something about a giant, lunatic, cross-eyed chicken running around clucking it's head off as it destroys major cities. HAHA Apparently there's also a mutant poodle named Fifi that we've yet to unlock which should be interesting as well. The Wii also lets you go online and download classic arcade titles, Nintendo titles, Sega titles, and Turbographix titles like Donkey Kong Jr, Super Mario Bros., Altered Beast, Bonk's Adveture, etc. I haven't messed with the downloadable games yet though as I have most of them for their original systems already. I also picked up a PS3, but I'm going to try and sell it. I love the fact it has a Blue Ray disc player, but right now the games out for it are definitely lacking so I'll wait.
More then likely I'll be home till late February and hitting the road again in March. I've got several offers on the table for the new year. I've already heard from Static-X, Ill Nino, VNV Nation, Dir En Grey, etc. I can't wait to hit the road again, but right now my main concern is Jim and Petra's wedding in mid Feb. I'm actually officiating the wedding and performing the ceremony so I gotta be home to help prepare for that. Plus Heathyr's designing/making Petra's wedding dress so there's lots do be done in the meantime. So as you can see we've been busy with lots of work and a whole lot of having fun. We're more then likely throwing our annual New Years party, but there's a few things that need to get in order 1st. |
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| 29... 1 more down |
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| 05:59pm 23/10/2006 |
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29... it's funny, I don't feel old at all. Not even with everyone coming up to me and asking me "You don't feel old now do you?". I'm only 1 day older in my life so why would that make any dramatic impact? LOL
Thanks though to all of you for the happy birthday wishes! It's very much appreciated. |
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| Flyers Clean House |
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| 08:02pm 22/10/2006 |
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The Flyers have fired Ken Hitchcock as head coach after their 5th straight loss and the teams worst start in 15 years. Bob Clarke has also stepped down as the teams GM. Replacing Clarke will be Paul Holmgren and John Stevens will replace Hitchcock as head coach. Stevens led the Philadelphia Phantoms to an AHL championship in 2005. |
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| Added some more hardware to the trophy case this weekend |
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| 11:37pm 18/09/2006 |
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I added some more hardware to the trophy case this weekend. I won the Mens B National Championship for dek/ball hockey in Leominster, MA this weekend and took home the Most Valuable Goalie trophy. While it was no doubt a team effort, I didn't want to say my team won as this wasn't with my usual team. My team wasn't going this year as we're currently in a rebuilding mode and I was asked to go and play for the South Jersey Gamblers along with my normal Team Mercenary teammate Nick Beard and a couple of players from Long Island (JJ Deviny, Martin Schomes, Anthony Cillo, and Jay Meechum).
I ended up actually playing subpar this weekend allowing at least one bad goal a game. Luckily I came up big in the Championship game making a huge game saving glove save with about 15 seconds left in the game. A pass came out from my right corner to the top of the slot. While I didn't exactly see the initial shot coming, I knew there was a one timer coming to my left as that was how they scored their first goal. So I slid across in the butterfly. As I was sliding across I saw the shot break through the players screening me at the hash marks. I quickly got my glove down in time as the ball whizzed over the top of my pad hitting my glove and going wide. They had a few other small chances in front before my defensemen dumped the ball with 3 seconds left as we beat Fall Rivers 3-2 to take home my 2nd National Championship. This year was the B National and my Mercenary Team took home the Pittsburgh C National Championship 2 years ago.
I won the Most Valuable Goalie award finishing with a GAA of 2.33 while our right wing Martin Schomes was awarded the Most Valuable Player award finishing with 6 goals on the weekend including the game winning goal in the Championship. Along with the Championship trophy, we were all given Championship jackets as well. Definitely a fun weekend and an honor to be a part of. |
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| Something's definitely afoot at the Circle K |
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| 06:52pm 12/09/2006 |
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Much is going on in Flyers land.
The Flyers have finally signed star forward Simon Gagne to a 5 year deal worth $5.25 a season. However Clarke is still making moves.
The Flyers put out an offer sheet on Canuck Center Ryan Kessler today for $1.9 mill (http://tsn.ca/nhl/news_story/?ID=177269&hubname=nhl). The Canucks have the option to match the offer and sign him, or if they pass the Flyers get him and are forced to give-up a 2nd round draft choice in compensation for him. Now this hasn't been done in the NHL since the Hurricanes made an offer on Federov in 98 which the Red Wings matched. Now why would Clarke do this? We're already in the red zone on the cap with signing Gagne. Something is definitely up here. Why would Clarke make a move this bold and risk losing a 2nd round draft pick, especially for a guy who isn't even as good as Richards or Carter? I mean the kid is a good prospect, but I don't think he's as good as our current prospects. It doesn't make sense. Now there has been lots of talk that Clarke has been trying to get Naslund from Vancouver to add more scoring and make Forsberg happy enough to extend his contract. It's also been said that Vancouver didn't want to talk trade for Naslund until the season began. Well now that they've apparently matched the offer for Kessler they are at the Cap and forced to possibly make some moves. Could it be that Clarke did this intentionally to force a move on Naslund sooner then later? That's the only thing that makes much sense of all this for me. The only problem is who would we trade? Obviously cap room would have to be made for us to afford Naslund. Do we deal Hatcher, Nedved, Dimitrakos... maybe even Gagne? Time will tell, but something is definitely afoot. |
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| NHL 07 360 Demo now available for download on Xbox Live |
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| 12:32pm 07/09/2006 |
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That's right guys, the new NHL 07 360 Demo is available for download on Xbox Live Marketplace. The demo is free and features a shootout between the Oilers and Hurricanes. So far this game is AWESOME!!!!! Goaltending is spectacular and gorgeous looking. Very smooth... goalies actually push off and come across with huge butterfly and leg pad saves. They actually catch the puck in their gloves instead of it just hitting them and sticking. The game is simply gorgeous. The skill stick is quite interesting and will take some getting use to, but so far I like it a lot. I've yet to score, but I did beat Roli between the legs once. It hit off his pad and trickled off the post wide. Really fun demo.. I recommend downloading it right away and giving it a try. |
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dinkusmaximus's journal
