News
When reading this, keep in mind that some of it is old, and that
the addition of news has absolutely nothing to do with chronological
order, or current events. At times, it doesn't even have anything to
do with reality.
Avs open a can of whoop ass on the quacking twats o' anaheim
It's been a fairly flying game, which I haven't actually been
paying attention to (mostly mulling over code, though I did catch the
wicked Yelle goal, which should be pasted all over the hilight
reels). The big news since last I updated:
- Ozo is back, and they've been winning ever since! Oh, and a
correction, he was giving up the puck in his driveway in Latvia, not
Lithuania.
- The Russian Rocket has landed! It's about bloody time, I say. As
expected, the Canucks look like they got the shitty end of that
particular stick, especially with Pavel's 6 goals in 3 games (and an
assist last night).
- Sakic didn't get invited to the allstar game! Ridiculous. At least
they gave him player of the week, but no one can possibly have a good
excuse for Sakic's abscence (nor the abscence of Rod Brind'amour). At
least Sakic would've tried to hit the targets, which is much more than
I can say for one player.
- Potvin finally got moved (yes, it has been that bloody long since
I updated this... then again, it's more like talking to myself than
anything else ;), and the leafs got, get this, Brian Berard. No, not
the Brian Berard that drives the Zamboni in Calgary, the calder trophy
winning defenseman. Aparently, the decision to move Berard had a lot
to do with his off-ice performance... obviously, it's much better to
have a goalie who can't buy a win, than a young offensive defenseman
with tremendous potential. Strangely, Mike Millbury resigned as head
coach of the Islanders not long after.
- Mike Keenan, on the move again. I'd say that those of us who
follow Vancouver with slight interest were dismayed, but I'd be
lying.
Avs move 2 games over 500
In a display of third period heroics by new linemates Joe Sakic and
Peter Forsburg (and let me tell you, when that line takes the ice, the
fans in the first two rows are getting talent splashed all over them),
the Av's rode their now 5 game winning streak all over the hot
Rangers. It wasn't a terrifically exciting game to watch, but the Avs
big guns came out with a vengance in the third.
On the downside, the Avs still have a bunch of injured players
- Adam Foote: came back strong and rearin' to go, then got himself
kicked in the head; not surprisingly out with a concussion.
- Shjon Podein: quick third liner who came over in the Keith Jones
deal, out with a shoulder problem, I think.
- Eric Messier: former roller hockey playing defenseman, he should
be back soon.
- John Klemm: solid 5th or 6th defenseman, out for quite a while
yet.
- Stephan Yelle: solid 3rd line center, out with a wrist injury.
And, of course, the wizard of Oz, who's back home in Lithuania,
turning over the ball in his driveway.
Notable (Avs, this ain't no democracy) players
Valeri Kamensky: nice plays to assist on the two Av's goals, it's
kind of a shame he'll be moving on soon. He's spent most of the past 4
or 5 games playing on a line with Rene Corbet and Jeff Odgers.
Jeff Odgers: he's got the same kind of feisty spark that made Mike
Ricci valuable to the Av's, and he can move his legs as well as his
fists. His days may be numbered, though, with the much scarier Scott
Parker doing a little bench warming these days.
Warren Rychel: every team really needs a guy that you can just
point and laugh at; for the Avs, it's Warren Rychel. From getting
pummelled by the smallest guy he can pick a fight with, to taking a
stupid penalty in the corner, or just falling down for no apparent
reason, Warren spreads mirth wherever he goes.
Peter Forsburg: gotta love how he takes the time to make each
defensive player on the ice look bad.
And, of course, Joe Sakic: when he gets that intense, somewhat
insane look in his eyes, you know that twine's gonna move. What's
more, you can see the goalie soil himself in the slow mo replays.
Holy Leaping Weinerdogs, Batman!
With trading underway in the Usenet Hockey Draft, they vaulted up to
position 47, from the dismal ~150 position they occupied last
week. More moves are expected.
Garlic pasta farts suck
Not news, but true, none the less.
Avs pull one off against Vancouver
It wasn't the wide open game that these teams played against each
other last year, there was a decent pace to the game after the first
period. Brian McCabe started the scoring within the first minute,
blasting a shot past Roy off the faceoff. For the most part, the Avs
dominated, with their skill players, particularly Foresburg, putting
on a show, and Garth Snow getting back on the over-achieving track.
The Canucks couldn't hold out forever, though, and Adam Deadmarsh
finally potted an ugly, scrambling goal to tie the game, and then got
one on the powerplay to win it. The Avs killed something like a
million penalties.
Notable Players
Adam Deadmarsh: hey, he's getting good and stuff! That's 4 goals in
the last 2 games, and hopefully he'll get back to playing the way he
did in the 96-97 campaign, where he potted 33 goals. We deserve it,
having to see his mouthguard sticking out all the time.
Peter Foresburg: I'm not the biggest fan of the big Swede, but I've
gotta admit, this guy has it all. Except the best sense of when to
shoot the puck (sometimes he waits for the plays a bit too long). He
makes so many good defensemen look like pilons, and he's a treat to
watch when he's flying.
Garth Snow: it's a pity... this guy should be, bar none, the best
goaltender in the IHL. With the way of the league today, though, he's
the first goalie for an NHL team, and he's overachieving
beautifully. It ain't permanent, but it's fun to watch while it lasts.
Drury, Hejduk: you know, better, I like the way they look, yada yada
yada... I say it after every Avs game, but these are two good rookies
(now if only they hadn't traded Mark Parish for Tom Fitzgerald
ugh). They took turns on the Sakic/Deadmarsh line.
Toronto beats Ottawa in a yawner
This was not a game with tremendous excitement. There were some
dazzling flurries at both ends of the ice, particularly during
Ottawa's first powerplay, when they had 5 shots, with at least 4 of
those quality chances. Joseph was up to the task (finally, some might
say), stopping most everything they could chuck at them. On the other
end, Rhodes was mostly solid, with one goal going in off an odd
shot/pass by Steve Thomas that bounced off a Sens defenseman, and the
other coming on a 2-1 shorthanded rush by the Leafs, that saw Kris
King (no, not a misprint, Kris King!) launch a bullet backhander that
beat him short side. The only Sens goal came from on a slightly broken
Leafs play, caused by some players (well, Domi, actually) that just
wouldn't leave the ice, throwing off their defensive zone coverage,
and leaving Arvedson (that's definately spelled wrong) open in the
high slot to wire a shot past Joseph.
Notable players:
Modin wasn't so much the gentle giant tonight, throwing his weight
around and getting some opportunities from it.
Steve Sullivan looks like he could be a good fit on the first line
with Sundin and Thomas (ok, I mostly like this because I suggested it
while watching a game the night before they tried it ;). But they
either have to stick this guy out on the ice with a couple of barrels
of pucks, or they have to put up a sign that says 'Let Sullivan pass
to you, don't pass to Sullivan', because though he gets a ton of
scoring opportunities, he's got one the worst sets of hands in the
league.
Karpotsev continues to be an enigma (those Ranger russians can
frustrate ya)... at times, he plays some great defense, then he gives
up a gift at his own blue line (unfortunately, this isn't a rare
thing, either). It still seems that Neil Smith got a steal here, but
it wasn't Glen Sather grand larceny (would hockey be nearly as much
fun without him milking the slower gm's for all they're worth?).
Alfreddson: notable for his absence (is this guy an injury magnet or
what?)
Avs follow Toronto lead, open can of whoop ass
The Avalanche went back to McNicholls this evening, and showed Tampa
Bay just how unhospitible they can be when they put their minds to
it. With a final score of 8-1, this really did look like an
Avalanche. Joe put up 5 points (1G, 4A) to gain his 900th (and 901)
nhl point (way to go, Joe!).
Other notes: Jeff Odgers had a goal and a scrap (of course);
Hejduk (2A) & Drury (1G-1A) keep looking better; Nazarov is gonna get
a suspension after the vicious cross check to Cam Russell, which lead
to Odgers power play goal... it was a gift, plain and simple, but this
guy gets punched in the head so much he deserves something extra; and,
probably the most important, Roy only allowed 1 goal again.
Avs news & moves
The Av's pulled the trigger on a deal yesterday that sent RW Keith
Jones to the Flyers for LW Shjon Podien. In Podien, the Av's get a
solid third liner, who was an important contributor to the Flyer's
playoff run in 96-97, on a line with Trent Klatt (now in Vancouver)
and Joel Otto (now retired). On the Flyers side, they get a
potentially strong power forward, if his knees can hold out. He had a
strong 96-97 season, before totalling his knee in the first round of
the playoffs against the Hawks. He missed the first 58 games last
season, and doesn't look like he's completely recovered, getting only
4 points in his 12 games this season.
In the sigh of relief catagory, someone must've stolen those
insanity peppers Pierre Lacroix's been munching on over the past year,
because the Av's penned a 2 year contract extension with premier
(albeit currently injured) defensive defenseman Adam Foote. Apparently
Pierre was trying to lowball Adam to the tune of at least a million
short of Foote's market value, (something I won't quibble with, even
though the salaries are becoming quite ludicrous), leading to comments
from Foote suggesting that he was playing his last season in Colorado,
which would be one way to make sure the Colorado defense sucks eggs
for a few more years. Now all he needs to do is get Ozo back, and
Colorado could become a decent team again.
Another winner in Pierre's non-insanity lottery has been Jeff
Odgers, who also landed a 2 year extension (way to go Jeff, now go
beat someone up).
Leafs open a can o' whoop ass on the Blackhawks
With a final score of 10-3, you'd think that this wasn't a very
competitive game, but don't let that fool you; the Leafs could've
added another four or five. Jeff Hackett gave Mats Sundin his second
hat trick as a Leaf, though he could've been nicer and wrapped it for
him. The Hawks were totally dominated; they got 2 of their 3 from Leaf
boredom. Instead of rallying after the first two periods, which only
had them down by three (not an unclimbable mountain), they folded as
badly as my laungry. They were never in the game, and the 6 goals in
the third by the Leafs were mostly an afterthought in a game that was
decided before the start of the second period (some might say before
the start of the first; it's no secret that many of the Hawks aren't
happy with head coach Dirk Graham, and what better way to get rid of
an NHL coach than to toss some games).
Other notes; a Domi/Probert scrap (again!?! yawn), the ref logic
that gives Steve Thomas a two minute major after he's jumped and
tackled by two Hawks, and another of Tie Domi's occasional sparks of
offensive genius, dropping a sweet pass to Sundin on the hattrick
goal; Freddie Modin's (accidental) highstick of Sundin during the
celebration of said goal... Freddie, they meant 'play nasty' against
the *other* team; and newfie Dan Cleary, who seemed to be doing
something good on what is not a good team: he picked up a goal to make
it 4-1, when it looked like the Hawks still had a slim chance to rally
back.
New edition of lcshockey
Issue 107 of the net hockey 'zine LCS Hockey. It's a good read for
hockey fans, with more than a little irreverance, and a picture of
ALF. You can also find the first 106 issues
at the site. If you like it, click on their banners (it's a good
'zine, and if you can pay the ridiculous price for the hockey news, you
can spend a few minutes for these guys ;).
Weinerdogs password recovered!
Another victim of the hard drive crash, USENET/WWW Hockey Draft
adminstrator Gilles Carmel provided the oft maligned manager of the
Weinerdogs with the password to access the team. Apparently, the
players were so overcome with joy, that they partied in anticipation
all week and failed to produce on the ice, dropping the Weinerdogs
from 85 to 154 in the standings after week 4.
To quote myself: "Yeah, Fedorov is really earning that 14 million."
The question is: did he really spend it all on tennis balls and skimpy
skirts? (that's two, two, five and a game misconduct for an Anna
reference!).
Notable bemoans at this point in the season:
- I was *that* close to taking Wendel Clark!
- Injuries, injuries, and more injuries.
- Fedorov is too busy mooning over Cornie to put the puck in the
net.
Avs tie in Phoenix
The Avs managed to hang on and gain a 1-1 tie in Phoenix tonight. They
pulled off a trade earlier in the day, sending forward Roman Vopat
(aquired with a draft pick from LA for Eric LaCroix) to Chicago, for
defenseman Cam Russell, to shore up the vastly depleted Colorado blue
line. Russell played solid game for the Avs, and brought a bit of
enthusiasm to a defense core which sorely needed it. The Av's defense
this season has an annoying tendancy to watch plays as they develop,
up until the puck ends up behind Roy. I fully expect to see someone
eating a hotdog out there in front of the net. Russell actually made
an effort to pick up a loose puck, though he had trouble making a good
clearing play once or twice.
Also of note: perpetual call up defenseman Dan Smith got the snot beat
out of him by some Coyote whose name I can't recall (at least he tried
;); Foresburg (who had the only Av's goal) made a nifty 'forget the
puck and level the defenseman' play; and Hejduk and Drury look better
and better, though the green (and lack of confidence) does show at
times.
It was a good effort against a good team, and a good performance by
Roy, and that's about the most you can expect from Colorodo right now.
Avs drop one in Calgary
What's to be said that hasn't already? Light, fluffy snow, maybe,
but this is no Avalanche (ok, they've fallen as quickly as one). They
are tied with Nashville with 9 points, only one ahead of the league
worst San Jose Sharks, and are a game more than either of them. This
game also resulted in the av's defense becoming even worse (if that's
possible), with Lefebvre taking a shot to the face, and going down
with an eye injury that will keep him out indefinately. They've called
up Dan Smith... this is obviously necessary, as signing Ozo is out of
the question (that would be downright sensible, and they can't have
that).
Avs
win their second road game in Edmonton
After their pityful effort in Toronto, the Avs laid the hurt on in
Edmonton, pulling off a 5-2 win that saw good defense, good
goaltending, and an awake Valeri Kamensky for the first time this
season. Though this was their second win over Edmonton, it was the
first game this year where the Avs dominated (they could easily have
lost that first game against Edmonton in Colorado). Of the two goals
Roy allowed, one was a long point shot, tipped halfway, and one was an
odd one where the puck rolled up his stick, bounced off of Andrei
Kovalenko, and went in. It was a team to cheer for, even with the IHL
calibre defense.
crack.com folds
It's too bad, really. They supported linux and released the source
code for abuse (a spiffy little side scroller, written in lisp! :).
More info links than I have the time or energy to provide are
available from Slashdot. Their
last act was to release the code for Golgotha to the public domain,
which has been picked up by a group on the net (yeah!), at the Golgotha Forever site.
Avs get shut out in Toronto
The Avalanche decided to make a little bit of history during their
last trip to Maple Leaf Gardens, losing their first (and last) game to
Toronto in that building. The final score was 3-0, thanks to some very
nice give-aways by Avs defencemen (Lefevbre's nice pass to Modin
deserved an assist). Roy wasn't as bad as in previous starts, but had
no support whatsoever. The only highlight for Colorado was Jeff
Odger's tenative victory over Tie Domi when they dropped the
gloves. Two other fights also broke out during that stoppage, which
saw four players (including Jason Smith, the Leaf's best defensive
defensman) ejected from the game.
Toronto still hasn't scored a powerplay goal, which brings them close
to 50 tries with no success (they went through the same thing last
year).
Weinerdogs drop!
After two weeks of consecutive improvement, the Weinerdogs lose a
bit of ground, going from 74 to 85. With the number of players on the
injured list, it's surprising that they've stayed in the top 100,
although the prospects for the coming week don't look too good.
Avs win their first on the road!
With Roy thankfully sitting on the bench, the Avs clung to a 3-2 lead
to win against the Hurricanes Monday night, before a crowd of what
appeared to be 53, give or take. Billington has been in net for 2 of
the Avs 3 wins, and it's probably all Billington in Colorado right
now.
Avs lose to Nashville!
This is starting to look less like a slump, and more like a really
shitty team. A bright and dark spot to the week was the trade of Eric
Lacroix to LA for Roman Volpat (sp?) and a third (or fourth, can't
quite remember) round pick. Eric was the center of a ton of rumours
about unrest in the dressing room, and the trade was pretty much
inevitable. He never should have been there in the first place, and
was just one of Pierre Lacroix's really stupid moves... Mark Parrish
(who could really be a candidate for the Caulder trophy) + a draft
pick for Tom Fitzgerald, who played 11 games with the avs, then moved
on to Nashville [and had an assist in the 3-2 loss], is tied for
number one stupidity, along with Marha for Rychel the punching bag,
and leaving Uwe Krupp unprotected in the expansion draft. The Avs
owners have to stop drooling in anticipation of the Pepsi center, and
realize that they ain't gonna fill it with a last place team.
Weinerdogs somehow improving
With the USENET/WWW Hockey
Draft entering week three, the Weinerdogs make another jump of
around half their previous standing, going from 154 to 74. With most
of the team in the doghouse, it's unlikely that they'll be able to
attain a value much higher until after the 6th week, but the
performance is still not too bad for a rookie coach ;).
Avs lose another one!
After barely hanging on to beat the oilers Saturday night, the avs
took on the Coyotes on Monday. Roy did a great impression swiss
cheese, and everybody got a chance to go five hole on him. The avs
manage one measly goal, and get a right good drubbing, losing 5-1.
Guile gc notes available
I've hopefully massaged the notes into something readable. They're
linked from my guile page.
Avs win first game of the season
After piling up a depressing record of 0-5-1, Colorado finally pulled
off a win against Edmonton. Highlights of the game included Claude
Lemieux's 300th goal, another solid performance from Joe Sakic, and
damn near everyone getting in touch with their inner goon.
Roy still looked like shit.
Weinerdogs vault to 154!
With the second week underway, the Weinerdogs, leapt up the the
standings of the USENET/WWW hockey
draft to 154, from their rating of 241 for the first weekend.
Players currently on the retarded cow/complete waste of
points list include:
- Adam Deadmarsh
- Jason Arnott
- Jarome Iginla (what was I thinking?)
- Josef Marha (really bad, I was hoping he'd center Selane/Kariya,
instead he went and got hurt)
- Saku Koivu (get moving you Finnish turd!)
Avs sucking big time!
They haven't won a game yet, and don't appear likely to do so
anytime in the near future (they could only manage a tie against L.A's
injured goalies). Trade Roy for some D!
Wonky harddrive :(
My second hard drive (a quantum viking ii, 4.5g) bit the dust,
spewing out errors on damn near every block, munching up /home,
/usr/local & /usr/src (i.e. everything I was working on). Life is a
bowl of shit.
gcl news
I've gotten gcl 2.2 working with glibc on linux... I've also
cleaned it up quite a bit, and it actually compiles from scratch
now. So far the only new features are an ansi loop, defpackage, and
general package semantics. I really should find out what the current
situation is with official releases. It also looks cute running on a
k6 ;)
The behemoth has landed!
My new pooter is here (ok, it's not that big, but compared to my
old one, it's a monster). Running an AMD K6-2 300mhz processor with
256 megs of ram really makes emacs look like less of a hog ;) I've
nicknamed it dethfart, 'cause that's what it sounds like when two
quantum viking ii's are really spinning. Currently happily running
Redhat 5.1
I just blew my nose, then made a cup of coffee!
Which I am currently drinking. No, none of the results of the nose
blowing went into the coffee making. Sorry to disappoint.
New version of angscore added!
That's right, all none of you who downloaded the first version now
have a chance to not download the second version! At the Angband page.
WP: Angband page added
I've added a page dedicated to that quite addictive roguelike
game, Angband, here.
Zangband torch passed on
Topi Ylinen recently announced that he will be no longer be
maintaining Zangband. Luckily, Robert Rühlmann has taken over (at
least until a permanent maintainer can be found). More info on finding
it is on my Angband page, or rr's Thangorodrim
page.
Fixed Links
A cheer went up from no one in particular when I fixed some broken
links on my page, about five minutes ago.
Man eats own ass!
(Erquat, Washington) Farmer Joseph Beers, suffering under recently
diminished Government subsidies (he's only pulling in 150k a year, can
you believe it!), today had to rid himself of a longtime field
companion and friend, George the donkey. Rather than letting all of
that meat go to waste, Beers decided it would be best that George go
out with one last helpful act: providing Sunday dinner. When asked
about the meal, Beers said, "Well, we'll probably eat the ass first."
Web sight non-news
The uninteresting things that have happened here...
- Jun 28, 1998 ++ Added a Blue Treble Clef link in the endpage.
- Feb 19, 1998 ++ went around making little snips and changing all
of the totally incorrect stuff.
- Jan 27, 1998 ++ added the software page, mud page, and changed
the address information on all pages to be more complete.
Fixed everything that I found broken.
Some automation, now.
When you get to the bottom you go back to the [TOP] of the slide.
What's with this
lumpy crap?
By Greg Harvey
<Greg.Harvey@thezone.net>
My ICQ#: 60927702 
Copyright (c)1997, 1998, 1999
Last modified Fri Jan 29,1999
Contains some annoyances for page harvesters >;^).