estogoalie

Merzlikins has seen quite a bit of tragedy already in his life. His father died when he was 3. His mother re-married and moved to Switzerland, and then she died when he was in his teens (his step-father was a hockey coach). I'm sure having another Latvian goalie on Columbus, they must have gotten pretty close, and this must have been hard on him. On the bright side, being married with a kid on the way, I hope he has some more positive things to look forward to in the future....

If you would have told him right here he'd be dead in a few hours, I'm sure he wouldn't have believed it. Funny how life is. I know it's cliche, but it really reminds you to enjoy each day.

Sad First Latvian goalie to ever beat Canada (with a shutout no less). Dead at 24. *Edit: First it was reported he slipped by a hot-tub and hit his head, but now it was updated, and he died in a firework accident, a mortar shot him in the chest. https://www.iihf.com/en/news/26534/matiss_kivlenieks_1996-2021 https://apnews.com/article/columbus-blue-jackets-matiss-kivlenieks-hockey-nhl-sports-032b8580cdc3cd53c4a950886714c6d2

"...but I'm not really a goalie..." Yea, real goalies have minimum 30 sets, but OK, since we see you are trying and have a cute "starter kit" going on there, we'll let you stick around anyway

Do you notice a difference going from the smaller N.American ice to the larger European ones? I've been in Europe the last 20+ years, last time I played on the smaller rinks was late 90's. Are the angles different? The game speed faster/slower?

I try to avoid Amazon and buy from smaller/independent stores whenever possible. I think the petition to keep Bezos in space and deny him re-entry to earth is brilliant.

Sounds like a basketball score, LOL. I don't think I'd even bother counting anymore if it went over 10 or 20. That sucks. Most of the Harley guys I know aren't exactly early risers, LOL. Maybe get some earplugs? ...or pull his sparkplugs? LOL

That sounds horrible. I hope no bears were injured.

I don't see why you need to make references to animal abuse. It's a very serious issue. If you wish to read more about bear abuse, please visit the World Animal Foundation. But getting back on topic: I haven't played hockey since October, I blew my knees out jogging, and now our summer roller hockey looks to be scrapped also. Hope to get back on the ice in Sept, but who the fk knows. Until then I'm killing time. So anyone hear any good jokes lately?

Oh wait, I got a good shower joke: a guy in jail drops the soap, nothing inappropriate happens, then he picks it back up and goes back to his cell. I guess that's about as funny as I can be here without my posts getting deleted CJ, you're a bag of laughs, you hear any good ones lately?

Does anyone here know Kevin Bacon?

Well, I was pulling for Finland, but congrats to Canada. They played kind of undisciplined, but pulled it out at the end. Nice GWG in OT. And congrats to Magnapane for MVP award And congrats to USA for the Bronze. Kind of symbolic that once again the US defeats Germany on June 6 Germany's goaltending was Jeckyl/Hyde. Or Niederberger/Bruckmann. Niederberger played great 1.7 GAA and 93 save%, while Bruckmann had 3.7 GAA and 81 save%. No idea why they played Bruckmann for the medal game, made no sense considering his garbage performance in the previous games. They would have had a much better chance for a medal with two solid goalies to go with. Too bad Germany banned Greis from the team for political reasons. But that's what you get when you put politics before performance. Well, maybe someone will be nice and give them a "participation trophy" If you sense I have some schadenfreude towards the German team, you're 100% correct

Your cuz got the GWG again against USA He's turning into a real Magiapane-in-the-ass for every team he plays against The US played much better than I expected tho. They played very good as a team, they just lacked a sharp-shooter, and altho I can't complain too much about Cal Petersen, I don't really like him and don't think goaltending was one of USA's strong points. Canada has got strong and solid goaltending from Kuemper, and Magiapane is a scoring machine, so that combo seems to be working well for them.

Use appropriate vehicle for appropriate job. The "Free Pudding Pops" magnet sign works like a charm

Yea, I do have trouble fitting my 27.5" paddle into my Ferrari. My goalie sticks have a little trouble fitting in there too.

Yea, for sure, paddle length is really a preference thing, within reason. But I had the impression that larger paddle lengths were trending in general more lately. Was just a little surprised you guys were all using 25". ...or maybe I'm just the only one here swinging a big paddle?

Go to GoalieMonkey and put 2 sticks in the shopping cart and see how much the shipping charges will be. Should be the same cost for you roughly. IIRC 2 sticks will probably cost around 20-30$ to ship.

I see what you did there Very cool of you to do a give-away ...but why no love here for the 27.5 stick? Me and my son both use them and I'm 5'11 and my son is a little bigger, maybe 6'1. No problems with the paddle length for either of us. Even my younger 14 year old son (5'9 maybe?) used one and was OK with it. I really do like the composites, they stay stiff, no soggyness. If someone gave me a used wood/foam stick I'd be a little leery of it, but used composite, no problem.

Unbelievable. Canada barely squeaked into the semis, now they're in the half-finals. Gotta be proud of your cuz getting the GWG. Since I told you to tell him to get it in gear, I felt like I had a hand in this, LOL. Great give-and-go between him and #70, sweet moves by both. Shocker that Russia is going home with no medal. I had them pegged to be in the finals. Finland is still my favorite, but who knows. I also thought Switzerland would beat Germany today, but that didn't pan out. Let's see. Since I'm part American, I'm going to have to be rooting against your cuz in the next game USA/CAN Saturday, so don't be sending him any inspirational messages from me this time, LOL

Hey, IIHF has nice things to say about yo cuz ... altho Canada could fail to make the semis if the Latvia-Germany game today goes to OT. That game is gonna determine the last 2 semi spots, so should be a good one. I'd say Germany has been playing well and probably favored, but Latvia is at home (paper cut-out fan advantage?) and will be fighting hard to stay in. Goaltending has been pretty good on both ends, so it could be close and OT could be possible...let's see!

Coming soon...

Keep your pants on there Bill Cosby

Alrighty then, jello shots are on me