Thoughts on the Game: San Jose, 10/15

-In all the warm and fuzzy pieces written about Q at the start of the season, they all call him something like ' shot blocker and PK specialist'. I'd like to add 'hardest forchecker', 'fastest player without the puck', and 'underrated checker' to the list. Q is routinely getting to loose pucks first, tiring down the opposition in the corners and creating turnovers. He's now a defensive specialist/sandpaper guy who happens to block lots of shots, which hopefully will lead to a steady NHL job for years to come. I love this guy more and more.

*(An aside: At the STH Party, I asked Q what type of shinpads he wears. After thinking about it, he answered "Reebok". When Reebok bought the CCM company (which included KOHO and Jofa), they put the RBK logo on everything that was formerly Jofa (which was the preferred shin, elbow and shoulder pad line in hockey). As I wear Jofa shinpads, my response to Q was "Great! I think that means I'm safe then!" If it's good enough for Q, it's good enough for me and probably every other beer-league player out there.)

-A thought on Theodore: his glove never moves. If pucks end up in it, it's because they're shot right at it. Last night's lone goal against went top shelf and the righty catcher just sat there about his pad. Varly gets grief for his glove hand, but it's very fast and gets to pucks. His problem is that when pucks are shot directly at it, they often catch the cuff rather than the webbing. Given the two gloves, I tend to lean towards the one that actually hits, if not necessarily traps, the puck. I just wish his rebound control off that cuff was a little better.

-I'm going to gloat a bit and say "Told you so" about that Ovechkin/Morrison/Knuble line that went out and dominated last night. I kinda called that back in August and actually had reasons other than "it worked for Morrison in Vancouver".

-On the PP, Joe Thornton stood uncontested directly in front of Theodore for what seemed like 10 seconds. A shot anywhere towards the net would have been a fairly easy scoring chance for San Jose, but they were tentative to fire the puck. No idea why.

-Credit to my buddy Stevo (SteveS86 on Twitter), for informing me that the bad ice at Verizon Center last season was due to under-inflated tires on the Zambonis (Olympia Ice Resurfacers for all you sticklers). Soft tires apparently cause the blade to bounce and leave a nice 'wave' in the ice surface. I haven't heard about any problems with the VC ice so far this season (granted, the Wizards have yet to start sucking begin playing yet) so stay tuned.

-The fan celebration at the end of last night's game was similar to the ones after last season's playoff wins. Loud, joyous and heartfelt. The Phone Booth is definitely the place to be these days. I do agree, however, that we're missing some red seats in the joint.

-AAW CRAP! I have Nabokov on my fantasy team. Happily, there goes my week...