Drake12

Some of the best hockey, period. You're welcome, and totally get the bias there, have a bit myself.

Tell me they've improved. I got blasted up and down the street at Four Continents back in February because the options sucked in the arena. I'll take that in the spirit it was intended. Also, had the Black Rice Ale at AVBC. Darker beer, but definitely a three-season pounder at 3.8%.

Pre-Olympic tour? Saw them in San Jose on that tour, great game, especially with all the roster uncertainty on the US side of things.

Ducks with a little more info, looks like some special packages will be on sale as well as game tickets. https://www.nhl.com/ducks/fans/we-play-weekend I signed up, will let you all know what the offerings are when I get the email.

San Jose doesn't look anything at all like a playoff team. Throw them in with LA and Edmonton, there's your bottom three in the division. I also think Calgary is going to be worse than people think. Lot of pundits have them penciled in to make the playoffs, just not seeing it pan out.

Went to Anderson Valley a couple of weeks ago, plenty of good stuff on tap. Had the latest incarnation of their Gose series, a Cherry Gose. Delicious. No Winter Solstice as of yet, but the Chai Summer Solstice was good. Hit up Heretic a few hours later, and man, are they killing the IPAs. Primo Diablo is still my favorite pepper beer, their Evil Cousin IPA with Habanero. And they've got the Hazy New England type IPAs on lock, even running a Double IPA called Juicier than Thou. Looking forward to getting over to Noble and possibly Bottle Logic later in the season when I'm down haunting the Ponda. And for anyone down by Great Park, Left Coast has a tasting room just down the road from the new practice facility. Lot of variety, and food.

I've been hearing rumors over the last month, and USA Hockey confirmed that the women's national team will be playing at Honda Center on February 8th of next year. Tickets go on sale November 13th. https://teamusa.usahockey.com/news_article/show/1054532 For all you Hilary Knight fans, this is something to bookmark. And odds are that Orange County's own Annie Pankowski will be part of the squad taking on Canada that day. Short of the apocalypse, I'll be there! (Admins, feel free to move this, but as Knight practiced with the Ducks, and Pankowski's a former Lady Duck, I'm hedging my bets.)

Sharks, iced! Nice to see the fledglings not sit back after getting clocked early. Also, Ritchie....jeeez dude, get some hands.

LOL, Kings.

At which point, they'll have another team to fight to make it into the postseason. Fall off after Vlasic, Burns, Karlsson in the D corps is steep. And the carousel of the third and fourth lines has already begun. Goodrow and Melker Karlsson have had plenty of time to develop, and last season's numbers from them, wah-wah-wah.

Getz until he retires. Then, we'll talk. As for the A's, no Kes, no Perry. Give 'em to Rico, Silf.

Good Gulls, keep building for the push. Oh, and keep beating up the Reign. This isn't a damned monarchy, it's a constitutional republic!

With the way assistants have been shuffling in and out since Gabby got the hook, it doesn't surprise me. Then again, having MacLean didn't seem to make much difference. I'd like someone who can sort out a room, see who needs what kind of motivation, and work on their mental resilience. Especially with the younger guys. This old boys club Dehydrated Donkey Dung gets tired when you see someone on their third or fourth NHL coaching job, and still limited success. If you're going to blow it up, make sure you use the right stuff to make a good boom. You know what DTS, #7 sounds about right if they were truly mucking about to get Carlyle binned. And I thought we were harsh. Funny how Hall, who apparently liked Eakins in Edmonton, is doing pretty well now that he's out from under the sludge. And Yakupov is a double bust at this point. If Eakins wants to stay in SD, I'll have him as long as he's willing. But, he's done his penance for offending the WHA's proudest, along with some learning in the interim. The days of the dictator are gone, the days of the communicator are here. Explain things, teach the young guys, they'll go straight through Kassian and Lucic and the rest of the throwbacks on their way to the net. That is the sin. They must atone. They quit on him so much, and there were nights were you could see Gibby getting to the point of quitting on them in return. But he's too much of a competitor to just sod off out of pettiness. My four cents (adjusted for inflation): HE GONE! Eakins has earned an interview at the very least. He set the tone in San Diego, and even with the I-5 shuffle at full-tilt boogie, the fledglings are looking good. That Teaford article in the register has a lot of nope, but names are good to work with. No Q, no Stevens, no Hitch. Q's had his turn, the Hawks were done by a combo of roster and coaching problems, no more of that needed. Stevens, didn't do well in Philly or LA. No reason to give him a shot at #3 after this year. Hitch should have been done, but he keeps pulling a super ball move. Yeo and McLellan, both twice burned, but did well enough to make things happen. Interview if the pickings are slim. Like Thom said above, fresh air is good. I've been staring down lists of NCAA coaches since Carlyle came back. Quinn and Montgomery could've been had after the debacle at the Tank last spring, but Murray had his thumbs in his ears. Looking at Keith Allain at Yale, Rand Pecknold at Quinnipiac, and Scott Sandelin at Minnesota-Duluth. All good contenting teams over the last five, ten years, long enough that a big step up might be just what they're looking for. Talent from all three has proven themselves at the NHL level. Pecknold in particular seems to be adept at bringing lesser-known players along on D, and making them stars. Don't rightly know who in the AHL we could poach, but there's gotta be someone, or a few that have been working on adapting to the new style of play, conditioning and mindset. Let's get a jump on things for once, let the rest of the league watch our feathered butts pull away in winning style. Sorry for the TL;DR, was at Four Continents when the news broke, haven't really digested until this afternoon.

Luponics have been bunk since about 3 or 4. So the fact that one might be good is surprising at this rate. Had a FW Rosalie last week. Had a sixer in fact, some kind of lager/rose hybrid. I would drink the hell out of it when it gets hot. Easy drinking to the point where two a day was easier than my 3 Nalgene a day water habit. Went to Noble Ale Works on Saturday during one of the breaks in the Four Continents schedule. Naughty Sauce always on point. The imperial stout got me good and toasted, glad I got kebabs after.

I'm impressed at how much front loading in signing bonuses is built in. Toronto will have to paaaayyyyyy to keep him as a UFA when that's up.