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Here’s an article that I found on YardBarker titled “Is Miikka Kiprusoff and the Calgary Flames cursed?“. I am thinking that this is the only rational explanation for what is going on in Flames country.

Ok, it’s no secret I love NHL hockey and now that its under way, I’m even more stoked. The Calgary Flames are my favorite team and I’m gonna break down what I think will be keys to their success this season.

• Duh! Forward Jarome Iginla and goaltender Mikka Kiprusoff. The best forward is the captain Iginla. The best goaltender is Kipper. If those two don’t play well, it’ll be tough to win games.
• Powerplay. The powerplay specialists need to dominate. In my mind, Alex Tanguay and Kristian Huselius are the keys to the Flames powerplay success. And did you see Daymond Lankow’s shot tipping skills? He’s the “Joe Nieuwendyk” for the Flames powerplay unit. Macinnis and Suter no longer man the powerplay unit, but for now Dion Phaneuf and Adrian Aucoin are gonna be key players.
• Penalty Kill. Obviously staying out of the penalty box is key, but if you need to kill penalties, these are the key players for the Flames. Kiprusoff, Regehr, Sarich, and Yelle. If everyone else plays like them, it’ll be tough to score against the Flames.
• Even strength. I agree with Mike Keenan’s strategy to make sure the passing game improves. If that improves, the overall team speed improves as well. If you took a look at Detroit Red Wings from last year’s playoffs, they totally dominated the Flames with crisp and accurate passing. The other team can’t score if you have most of the puck possession.
• Intangibles. The Flames have plenty of leadership to go around. I can count at least 5 former captains in the lineup. The Flames no doubt are more skilled than in years past. The key ingredient missing the last two years was a “consistent” hard working effort every shift, every battle along the boards, and every time without the puck. You can’t simply have a poor 1st period and then dominate period two and three and expect to win games any more. Consistency is key.

Well, there you go. Thats my assessment and I’m sticking to it! Work hard, play hard. Go Flames go!

Canada wins 3-2! Just finished watching the final. It wasn’t as entertaining as the last game that Canada played against the Czech Republic but it was a good one nonetheless. Four Calgary Flames players were in the roster for both Canada and Finland. Mikka Kiprusoff and Ville Nieminen for the Finns. Jarome Iginla and Robyn Regehr for the Canadians. Should be interesting Flames locker room chat if a NHL season ever gets underway. I just can’t believe that the players union and the NHL cannot reach an agreement. So much is at stake. Both sides will lose big time if there is no season. Oh well… greed only begets greed.

I’m finally back from my hiatus (vacation). Despite the game 7 loss in the Stanley Cup final, the Flames had an incredible run. They were quite unlucky to have lost the last two games in the series. I watched the series and it could’ve gone either way. Hopefully, if there is a next season, the Flames will be viable contenders for the championship. They obviously need to make some changes in their lineup to sign their star players and stay within a reasonable budget. I think Jarome Iginla and Mikka Kipprusoff are top priorities for GM Darryl Sutter. Locking up Jordan Leopold and the younger nucleus of players is vital to long term success. I would imagine that Roman Turek will not be around unless he is willing to take a significant pay cut. Well, here’s hoping for next year.  

The great swammy has decided to offer another bold prediction for the NHL Stanley Cup finals between Calgary Flames and Tampa Bay Lightning. Based on the lone regular season meeting between these two clubs, Tampa Bay obviously has a very good forward group, but I believe they can be stopped by great goaltending and the solid defense core of the Calgary Flames. Everyone seems to be picking the Tampa Bay Lightning in 5 or 6 games, but I think the Calgary Flames could stick it to them in 6 games. The key players to watch for on the Flames are Iginla, Nieminen, and Kiprusoff. I predict that they’ll come up big when the time comes. Tampa Bay will have the likes of St.Louis, and Khabibulin, who will have a great couple of games, but I predict that their luck will run out for the other 4 games. Here’s hoping I’m right. Cheers!

In case you didn’t get enough media coverage of the Calgary Flames, here’s what they’re saying. And some of the comments just make you want to stick it to them! I mean the nerve of one of these writers saying that the Flyers or Lightning are far superior than the Calgary Flames.

East Game 7 winner to also claim Cup – Experience gives Flyers edge over Lightning; winner Saturday will go on to douse Flames.

So far I’m not buying the “will over skill” mantra that has been beset the Flames hockey team. If they didn’t have the skill, they would’ve been out of the playoffs a long time ago.