Chuck Norrii win 13-4

Chuck Norrii made it a convincing win this past Tuesday with a solid 13-4 thumping of Buck Dodgers. I was obviously unable to attend, but my co-captains filled me in on the action. Here are some excerpts from their emails:

NICK:

A pretty good game....it was 8 to 3 at the half, and they won the last game (before the all in). I was happy Simon had a strong game though, 'cause I started a bit slowly, and Sim won a few games for us early.

Play of the night was Simon catching a ball with his ankles (not even his knees!) while doing a typical Brassard. (spread-eagle leapfrog jump) What made it even funnier was that one guy on their team also caught one with his legs (knees) 2 games later. HA! The throw of the night belonged to Alex during the all-in game. In the previous game, I saw that guy not paying attention, running to pick up a ball near the line. So I winged one quickly at him, and caught his foot (the ball went right through his legs). His teammates razed him for the play. Then on the first throw of the last game, Alex threw a very hard throw towards him, and I guess he wasn't paying attention then either. It hit him square in the nuts and he bent over. I laughed very, very loudly. Just awesome.

One of their girls - I know she was frustrating the heck out of Sim, and I was finally happy when I caught one of her damn throws late. She would throw a mean, mean drop. Very hard to catch those. She caught Jeff on a nasty one early on. I was sitting right behind him and saw it drop and curve right towards his foot. Nothing he could do about that.

SIMMER:

We're just warming up and I hear "Our captain is the guy with the hat". I turned around and told Nicky I thought he was the co-captain. He looked at me with a huge grin as the opponent's captain walked up to me.

My best game was by far the 1st where I caught (no shit) 4 consecutive balls and on a roll until I threw one at the captain which she caught. I didn't much dodgin but sure got my practice in catching since we'll be missing Nick :( Poor Nicky had his hands full with the chick in the jeans.

I thought Mandy played awesome as she stood halfway up the side and sniped away at whoever threw from centre court. Alex is improving and throwing from center line instead of our back line lol And made some key catches. I pissed myself laughing when he reached back over the stage to retrieve a ball but got nailed in the back, NOT PAYING ATTENTION! The one girl at one point singled me out when they had all 4 balls and I yelled out "What did I do?" She has the meanest drop I've ever seen. Nick made some fingertip catches too but missed on a few of hers lol

STREP

My apologies to all faithful followers of the GMs Blog (ballpark 2-3 people) I've been stricken with strep throat, which began as chills and a fever Friday evening, and has escalated to full blow strep. (Fever and chills remain, plus swallowing is ridiculous...no jokes please). I'm on anti-biotics which is supposed to clear everything up within 24-48 hours. As of this typing I'm about 19 hours into the first 24 hours since starting the meds, and have had no improvement. Hopefully things turn around after supper sometime. Work's had to scramble in my absence, as there are 4 of us in our department, and one was on vacay this week. Two people doing the work of 4 is a bad situation, hopefully the help they farmed out today will make life easier. (Farm joke intended, as any work farmed out of Kemptville, well, you know).

In the meantime, The Sweat Hogs DID win on Sunday evening, marking an undefeated February for the club (2-0) and momentum heading down the stretch drive to the post-season. We've got some tough teams ahead.

Chuck Norrii makes it's return to the court tonight in a tilt with the Buck Dodgers. The Norrii have dropped their last 2 decisions, and look to rebound favourably tonight. Look for a strong game from Simmer, who played no less than 6 games on Saturday, and lost in the finals in a dodgeball tourney.

Anyways, hope to be back to 100% soon.

M@

Armchair GM: Weighing in on the Comrie / Campoli trade

I like the trade, it's a great deal for the Sens, and Bryan Murray is smarter than people give him credit for.

To make a trade in this market at all is tricky enough. For Murray to land a guy like Campoli who has all the potential in the world to be what Mezsaros should have been, and at 600K comes at a fraction of the price....this is a good move. Let's break it down:

Comrie for McAmmond is a win for the Sens. Both are unrestricted at the end of the year, and Comrie is much more than a 4th line center, and 6 years younger. He's gonna contribute, and play his way in or out of Murray's favour. He left Ottawa with dollar signs in his eyes, realized how much losing SUCKS on the Island, and will relish the chance to play for a team that, while not making the post-season this year, DOES have a chance to be a solid team for years to come.

The 1st rounder for Campoli is the other part of this trade. And here's the part I find interesting. Look at it as a 1 for 1 trade: GM's are gonna look at this deal as essentially the 1st rounder for Campoli. With 26th to 30th pick overall in the first round, are you gonna find someone who's got more potential than Campoli? Maybe, but it'd be a big gamble. This is a safe move that helps the team, and, more importantly:

It drives up the price up puck moving defensemen with less than 2 weeks before the deadline, which, if this is Murray's plan all along...is genius. Now that he's defined what these d-men are going for, he can command a HEAVY price for Kuba, and land somewhere higher than 26th-30th overall. You KNOW teams are gonna be clammoring for Kuba, and since Murray spent a 1st rounder for Campoli, there's no doubt Kuba's gonna come with a hefty price tag.

And for those skeptics who say Campoli was a 7th round pick for the Isles....this is a ridiculous argument, considering how late some of the best NHLers have been drafted, and what monumental flops have emmerged out of the first round of any given NHL draft.

Let's not forget too, some GMs are really stupid, fear for their jobs, and would deal more than just a solid first round pick to tighten up their D for the post season. Remember what the Thrashers paid the Blues for Tkachuk for a run at the post season? (Not a D-man, ok, but you'll see my point) The Blues received: a first in the 2007 draft, a 3rd in the 2007 draft, a 2nd in 2008, and a conditional 1st in 2008 if Tkachuk resigns in Atlanta. Oh, and Metropolit. The Thrashers went on to get swept, and Tkachuk strolled on back to the Blues that summer.

This is nothing but a win-win for the Sens. Comrie gets a 2nd chance and will be more likely to resign now that Murray's shown faith in him (unless he plays like crap, and then Murray can wash his hands of him....I honestly think Comrie will be a good fit, and will take a small discount to resign in July), and, we acquire a solid D-man with potential in Campoli.

AND we drive up the price of puck-moving defensemen in the process.

I like this trade.

M@

GAME SUMMARY: Chuck Drop 2nd Straight Game

Chuck 12 Sofa Kings Cheap 13

Chuck norrii didn't do themselves any favours if their hope is for first place overall, as they drop their second straight game and drop their record to 3-2, with a hard fought 13-12 game Tuesday night.

The games went back and forth and Chuck overcame several game deficits to tie things up with one game to go, but ultimately dropped the final game to the Sofa Kings.

I can't tell you much more than that as I wasn't in attendance, but apparently the team played well, played a solid, fair opponent, and Sim apparently made a mid-air catch with his legs.

Next week's opponents are Buck Dodgers (2-3, -32). Expect Chuck to bounce back from this 2-game skid, and put up a solid performance.

GAME DAY: Chuck Norrii vs Sofa Kings Cheap

After suffering their first defeat last week at the hands of the Blue Balls, Chuck Norrii (3-1, +20) head into action tonight against Sofa Kings Cheap (2-2, +14) who currently sit 7th out of 12.

So far the only roster change has Cox likely in the press box as Laura is scheduled to make her second start of the season.

Look for Chuck to come out guns blazing, as key members of last week's team indicated they were less than thrilled with their efforts. Tonight should go a long way in making up for last week's disappointing loss.

Ball dodge is at 6:00 p.m. at Hillson PS.

Family Day

Living Room: Nathan resistant. Note extra carpeting wrapped around fireplace, and hand towels taped around end table legs)

1,000,000 toys, nowhere near as exciting as toilet paper.

(He used to sit still for Baby Einstein. Now he wants to get inside the TV to play)

Normally, my Blog entries are concerning things I'm considered the GM for. Fastball, hockey, dodgeball, etc, etc. However, I'd have a hard time convincing anyone that I'm in charge of anything at home, lol....

Since it's Family Day, I'm off work, Laura's doing a workout video and the little thing is sleeping for once, I thought I'd throw a family-related blog out there.

To give all you new parents an idea of what a normal day's like, here's an example of how Family Day is going so far:

Last night my folks came over to watch Nathan while Laura and I went out to Valentine's Dinner, 1 day after Valentine's. After good eatin' at Johnny Farina's, we head back home, and my folks left. Nathan hardly made a peep while we were gone, we learn, and they never even had to go in and check on him. A perfect little angel.

Twenty minutes later, he's crying, and Laura heads in, rubs his back and soothes him back to sleep. Another 15 minutes pass (I'm 1/3 of the way through the new Simpsons on the late feed) and so I give it a shot, soothing him back to sleep. 10 More minutes of peace before he's up again, this time Laura gives him a feed to settle him down. For a bit....

2 a.m. Crying begins.

4 a.m. Crying ends.

Teething. Tooth #7 on it's way we suspect. Laura and I, between the hours of 2 and 4 am, take turns rocking him, calming him, settling him down, ignoring him (hoping he'll learn to settle himself - this lasted 2 minutes), giving him Children's Tylenol, anything to calm the teething-enduced moaning and crying.

At one point, I'm lying in bed trying to catch some Zs, while Laura's desperately trying to calm him down, and not only am I wide awake and listening to my poor kid's cries of agony, but stuck in my head is: "....Winnie the Pooh! Winnie The Pooh! Tubby little cubby all blah blah blah....AARGH!!! Get this f*#%ing song out of my head!!!!"

We'll be getting rid of that CD today....

But, and this is the lesson in all of this for all you new moms and dads out there: All is forgiven when he wakes up at 6:30 a.m., he sees us for the first time as he's standing at the edge of his crib (where all the teeth marks are) and goes, "Dadadadadadadadada".

KEEPER POOL: Blockbuster Trade!

Made a significant move in the Keeper Pool today, reacquiring two LA Kings I previously traded away, this season. In Jack Johnson I've re-acquired an unproven but highly skilled defenseman, and with Patrick O'Sullivan, a forward who also hasn't reached his full potential, but could soon. I also acquired Phoenix rookie Kyle Turris, and San Jose defenseman Marc-Edouard Vlasic, along with a 3rd round pick.

I sent to 1st place Paul Swinwood my lower first round pick in 2009, a 4th in 2009, and a low 2nd rounder in 2010. Valuable picks to be sure, but I'm quite happy with my return.

With Turris, I get a player selected 4th overall in our pool this year, and with Vlasic, I get a Dman on pace for +40 points. Along with Johnson and O'Sullivan, I've added some solid depth to a team still growing. My roster, now at 25 players, looks like this:

FORWARD: Kane, Toews, Kessel, Zherdev, Turris, Mueller, O'Sullivan, Voracek, T. Ruutu, Cogliano, Penner, Svatos.

DEFENSE: Barker, Erik Johnson, Jack Johnson, Pietrangelo, Sekera, Vlasic, Carle, Campoli, Russel

GOALIES: Price, Dipietro, Rask, Pavelec.

At this point, I'm in sell mode, as I can only protect 17 of the above 25 players, meaning 8 will fall by the wayside unless I can move them for draft picks. Should be a tall order, but I think I can get a couple picks at least before the submission deadline in September.

Look for more moves before the March 4th deadline passes!

M@

GAME SUMMARY: Chuck Norrii vs Blue Balls

Chuck Norrii lose 11-7 in slugfest.

It was a war! The two best teams in the division went toe to toe Tuesday night, and in the end, Chuck Norrii simply ran out of steam. Trading game for game for two thirds of the contest, Blue Balls (or Sponge Worthy, as they were calling themselves, I guess) stepped it up in the final 15 minutes and took the play to Chuck, who couldn't quite keep up the pace and ended up dropping the final 4-5 games.

The first big game came when the score was tied 1-1. With 5 Blue Ballers against only Joyce for Chuck Norrii, Joyce managed to catch a bullet over her head to bring Cox back into the game. This shifted Chuck's momentum until only Cox and Duane Nearing were left standing. With 7 seconds left before a 2nd player was allowed to come back on, Cox managed to tag Duane on the toe, winning the game.

Then he almost collapsed! So winded from all the running around, and poor physical conditioning, Cox flopped onto the stage and rested, while the team went back to work. Cox played the rest of the game, and was admittedly dogging it for some games, but managed to pick up a few kills.

Nick admittedly didn't have one of his strongest games, though an average night for Nicky is usually good enough for a Chuck win. And poor Simmer was Team Fragged a couple times, once by Nicky as a deflection from him hit Simmer in the head, then again when Matt deflected a ball 2 feet to his left right into Sim.

Holly made the catch of the night, halfway up the court. Duane threw a rocket right into her arms, sending the Blue Baller to the benches. Karen was last one standing in several games, and Tom, Alex (who I still owe $13.85, d'oh!), Joyce and Mandy had very solid outings as well.

And hats off to the now sole owner's of 1st place, Blue Balls (or possible Sponge Worthy). Shannon, Dickon, Amanda and Duane and the rest of the crew played a solid, even game to keep pace and ultimately wear down Chuck Norrii. Great job.

Next week's game is at 6pm vs "Sofa Kings Cheap", at our old stomping grounds on Hillson.

GAME DAY: Chuck Norrii vs Blue Balls

Tonight is the battle to end all battles!

Chuck Norrii (3-0) take on Blue Balls (3-0) for the right to claim sole possession of first place in the Tuesday Night Rec Dodgeball Division, a division comprised of 12 teams.

Making tonight's match-up all the more intriguing is that Chuck Norrii will be facing a VERY familiar foe in Blue Balls, made up of 2 former Chuck Norrii members Dickon & Amanda Sandford. Additionally, making this a MUCH more formidable foe than they've yet faced, is Captain Shannon Fitzpatrick and Duane Nearing, who are former teammates of several Chuck Norrii members. (2007 Wednesday Rec Winter League Champions - "The Spoilers", made up of Shannon, Duane, Dickon, and current Chuck members Cox, Calve and Desjardins).

This should be one for the ages. While Chuck have had a blow out, they've also had a couple close games, and are far from their full potential. Blue Balls on the other hand have dealt with a series of setbacks including roster issues and injuries. That they've battled through these setbacks and remain not only undefeated, but dominating in the process, is a true testament to their core.

Chuck Norrii: 3-0, +40, -16, +/- of 24 pts.

Blue Balls: 3-0, +36, -14, +/1 of 22 pts.

Tonight's matchup will be a true test for both squads.

GAME SUMMARY: Hogs Win!

Sunday night the Hogs took to the....floor....against a very talented Havoc team. Tonight, however was not a good night to be playing the Sweat Hogs. Equipped with a solid line-up, complimented with a last minute spare in Mike Henter, proved to be too much for the Havoc squad to handle, as the Hogs put up 8 goals for a solid 8-4 victory.

Henter opened the scoring in the first after the Hogs were down quickly 2-0. (Some disorganization as the lines were not set, being short 2 people to start the game - everyone arrived soon). Henter took a feed from Cox on the right wing and fed it top shelf to cut the lead in half. Once the full team arrived, Henter was placed on a line with Dom Peluso and Jeff Barton, and they put together some nice offense to get us another goal quickly to tie things up. Havoc would storm back and take the lead with 45 seconds left in the half. In a desperate play to tie things up before the half ended, the Energy line of Bedford, Cox and Menchions put up another nice goal. Bedford won the draw and moved it forward to Cox, who reached forward with one hand and poked it towards the net. Menchions cashed in on the rebound to tie things with 10 seconds left in the break.

The score being 3-3 in the half, and the final being 8-4, I don't have to tell you much about the second half. Both lines played extremely well, with the energy line collecting 2 more goals from Bedford, one on a nice wrister top shelf on a feed from Mike Peluso on D, and another on a fluke back hand that eluded the Havoc netminder. But it was the play of Henter, Peluso and Barton that put on a show, keeping the ball on a string, ripping many shots top shelf to find the back of the net and put Havoc on their heels.

With 45 seconds left, Havoc inexplicably called a timeout, but it was way too late and the Hogs had done the damage. Our D in particular did a fantastic job of shutting down the Havoc snipers, and jumping in on the play down low and in the offensive zone. And Dave came up huge making several key saves, at times getting bombarded with shots and having his crease crashed.

Next game is in 2 weeks, at 10:20 PM against the Maniacs.

Game Day: SWEAT HOGS vs Havoc

Tonight the Hogs are in tough as we play the 7th place Havoc (7-5-2). The Sweat Hogs (3-11) currently sit in 16th place of the 18 teams in the league, and hold down th last playoff spot. Ball drop is at 7:00 pm.

While Havoc does pose a legitimate threat, it won't be an impossible task to come away with 2 points. The Hogs went toe-to-toe with the third place Flying Elbows (10-2-2) and came away 1 goal short in a 10-9 slugfest. If the Hogs hope to have a chance, they'll need to channel that scoring output from 3 weeks ago.

On a side note, I must apologize to all Sweat Hogs fans who follow along on the website. I haven't updated the site for over 4 games now, as work's become impossibly busy, and home life, just as much. If I'm unable to consitantly update the site, hopefully this Blog will help you follow along.

Look for a game summary here tomorrow. Go Hogs!

#5

I've come a long way, maybe....

In the 2006, I joined an NHL Keeper Pool as an expansion team. For those of you unaware of the awesomeness that is a Keeper Pool, I shall summarize: It’s a hockey pool where you keep the same players year after year. You’re permitted to keep 15 plus 2 rookies, and have to drop the rest, and there’s a 5 round draft at the start of each season. (Draft rookies, or anyone else not selected.) Your top 8 forwards, 5 D and 2 goalies count for you, and if you trade a player to another poolie, he gets that players accumulated points, and you lose them. I point per goal and assist, 2 for a goalie win and 3 more for a goalie shutout.

Anyways, I was brought in as an expansion team in 2006-07, and as an expansion team, I was to select from a pool of players that were made available to me by the other 11 players in the pool. It was slim pickin’s. Here was my team:

FORWARD
Mike Ribeiro
Mike Comrie
Brendan Morrison
Mike York
Mike Johnson
Trent Hunter
Fredrik Modin
Jeff O’Neill

DEFENSE
Adrian Aucoin
Roman Hamrlik
Nick Boynton
Tom Poti
Patrice Brisebois

GOALIE
Marc Denis
Dan Cloutier

As one of the poolies said to me, "Welcome to the pool, Matt. Your team sucks."

In the draft lottery for that year, I was awarded 2nd pick in each round. Oh the regret. With 2nd pick overall I chose Martin Gerber, who was coming off a career year with the Canes, and was coming to an environment in Ottawa that made Patrick Lalime look awesome. (Our pool does not include playoffs). I chose Gerber, I’m sorry to say, over Ryan Miller and Cam Ward.

Anyways, flash-forward to now, a month from the trade deadline in the 2008-09 season. I’m still mired in last place, but through a TON of wheeling and dealing, and what I like to consider pretty good drafting, I like to think my team has improved significantly. Check it:

FORWARD
Patrick Kane
Jonathan Toews
Phil Kessel
Nikolai Zherdev
Peter Mueller
Tuomo Ruutu
Andrew Cogliano
Jakub Voracek
Marek Svatos
Dustin Penner

DEFENSE
Erik Johnson
Cam Barker
Andrej Sekera
Alex Pietrangelo
Matt Carle
Kris Russell
Chris Campoli

GOALIE
Carey Price
Rick Dipietro
Tuukka Rask
Ondrej Pavelec

Still in last place, but not by much, and with a deep draft coming up in September (guys like Tavares, Hedman in the rookie department, plus undrafted guys in our pool like Mason, Versteeg, Setoguchi, etc) there's definitely room to get better.

Anyways, this is just to give you an overview of my Keeper Pool, so when I update any trades I make, you’ll know what the hell I’m talking about. If you wanna see the pool in it’s entirety, there’s a link to our website on the right.

#5

Blog Overview

Welcome to my Blog. I've never had one before, but I hope you enjoy it:

The main focus of this site will be my life as a General Manager. Not at work, by day I'm just a lowly graphic designer. It's when I LEAVE work, I become a GM.

In 1999, in it's inaugural season, I became Owner, General Manager, and Captain of the Rogues Fastball Team. We are entering our 11th year, our 3rd in the BMFL, starting in May of 2009.

In 2003, I created the Sweat Hogs Ball Hockey Team, which I have been the Owner, General Manager and Captain of as well. We're currently playing in the OBHL, at the Hunt Club / Riverside Community Centre.

In 2003 I also co-founded the National Capital Poker Tour, and am currently 51% owner. I carry the title of NCPT Regional Manager, and my underling carries the title of Assistant (To The) Regional Manager. I haven't won a tourney since November of 2004. All the regulars make it a habit of reminding me.

In 2009 I took over the reins of Chuck Norrii, a rec Dodgeball Team playing in the OSSC on Tuesday nights. I've been a member since 2007. The name Norrii is the plural of Norris, as there are many of us.

I'm also the GM of my NHL Keeper Pool team. There'll be LOTS of discussion on this topic, as it's a constant source of stress and intrigue, as I follow my poor team through losing season after losing season, faintly hoping that maybe, MAYBE next year will be the year I get out of the cellar. I've built up quite a nice young team....it's just a matter of time!

I'm also bound to yack about TV, movies, music, sports in general, and anything I can think of to adequately waste your hours not doing your job at work while reading my blog. And I'll throw in the occasional Nathan pic as well, the best looking baby that ever existed in the entire history of the universe. (That's my nickname for him).

Anyways, hope you like.

#5