Two hockey guys talking hockey.
Joe Pasquali and Eddie Theisen are two die-hard NHL fans. They both watch every hockey game, every night (almost).
The guys talk about subliminal messages in Disney movies, Minnesota Wild’s coach Mike Yeo’s job security, the Staal brothers and which NHL games are they most looking forward to this weekend.
After you read a few of their morning hockey conversations, you start to understand why these guys didn’t have any Valentine’s Day plans last night.
This is their email conversation the following morning.
Final Scores from 2/14/13
NYI 4, NYR 3 F/SO
CAR 3, TOR 1
WAS 4, TBL 3
MTL 1, FLA 0 OT
NSH 3, PHX 0
COL 4, MIN 3 F/SO
Pasquali: What it is, brother Eddie Theisen, WHAT IT IS?! How was your romantic evening? Did you treat yourself well?
Theisen: Pretty good, I enjoyed some good NHL action last night and watched some Lion King. Pretty successful Valentine’s Day.
Pasquali: Love me some Lion King. What brought you to watch that last night? I still prefer Aladdin myself.
Theisen: It was on the Disney Channel when I was flipping through, thought I’d give it a whirl.
Pasquali: How was it? Everything you remember?
Theisen: Yup, subliminal messages and all.
Pasquali: Subliminal messages?
Theisen: Yeah, you know Disney is full of subliminal messages. The Lion King has the word “Sex” when the flowers float in the air.
Pasquali: Oh. Interesting. Well, sounds like you had a fun evening. I hit the gym, fixed my fence, ate Chinese food and watched hockey.
Theisen: You’re a regular Tim “The Tool Man” Taylor.
Pasquali: I guess I don’t have a future in construction, but I think if the world goes to shit, I can make zombie barricades. I mean, it keeps my puppy in the yard.
Theisen: Speaking of “The Tool Man”, the Red Wings play tonight. You pumped?
Pasquali: Yessssir. Big game against Anaheim. Before we get ahead of ourselves, there was some great hockey last night. Islanders came back on the Rangers and got a shootout win, easily their best win of the year.
Theisen: Yes it was, going into Madison Square Garden and beating their biggest rivals while on a five game losing streak. I thought the best Islanders last night were John Tavares and Evgeni Nabokov. Anyone stick out to you?
Pasquali: Nabokov was great; he made some key saves (36) and kept them in it. For me, it was Mark Streit. Veteran defenseman had over 29 minutes of time on ice, four hits, and two blocked shots. You don’t win gritty road games without someone playing that kind of role.
Theisen: Henrik Lundqvist played decent for the Rangers and the only two players stood out to me, they were Ryan Callahan and Rick Nash. Both getting an assist and each almost getting 25 minutes of ice time last night. A player who didn’t do so hot was Brad Richards, only one shift in the third period and none in overtime. Tortorella must have thought he wasn’t trying hard enough?
Pasquali: Tortorella always lets everyone know exactly how he feels. Most coaches only roll two or three lines in the third period, so I guess it just shows where Brad Richard’s is on the current depth chart. If you’re a Rangers fan, you have to be concerned a little. They gave up a three goal lead against Boston Tuesday, and now a two goal lead last night. This time they weren’t as lucky in the shootout.
Theisen: Maybe the Rangers thought they’d ride last year’s success into this season, which can never be the case. Another team that’s been blowing it lately is the Minnesota Wild. They fell to the 15th place Avalanche via shootout last night and Minnesota is now 6-7-1. How is this happening with that roster?
Pasquali: Free agent moves don’t always equal success and we are seeing that this year with Minnesota. They can’t score! 29th in the league in goals a game and they are 23rd in PIM against. They fail to draw penalties and can’t outwork their opponents to generate chances 5-on-5. Last night, the Wild only had ONE power play against Colorado, a team that is toward the bottom of the NHL in giving up penalties.
Theisen: That’s a good point; the only player on the Wild that hustled every shift was Zach Parise. He is definitely worth every penny Minnesota is giving him. Once he got out of the penalty box, did you see the shift he had in overtime? If his other third-line mates would’ve worked half as hard, they would of scored. The Wild just seem uninspired, even going back to the last half of last season. I don’t think Mike Yeo is the right coach for the Wild, but that could just be me
Pasquali: The expectations in Minnesota are pretty big this year. If they keep dropping games they should be winning, Yeo could be out of a job.
The Washington Capitals won their third straight last night and are now in a three-way tie in the basement of the Southeast Division. Troy Brouwer got his 7th goal of the season after having 14 all of last year and Eric Fehr scored his second and third tallies of the year ( after scoring two goals last season). Do you think Washington is going to keep it up and get themselves in playoff talk?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E2mXjxEGPgk
Theisen: I thought the Capitals would finish sixth in the East this season and I still believe it. We’re used to seeing the Caps start out hot and then tank during the last 20 games. Maybe this year they are doing it at the beginning of the season.
The Lightning on the other hand have now lost their last six and only picked up one point in the process. The point they got against the Canadiens probably shouldn’t have happened either, scoring three goals in the last five minutes to send it to overtime. Are the Lightning going to stick around?
Pasquali: I think so, I think Tampa keeps themselves in contention and gets in this year. Just too much talent to fall off completely. Still first in the league in scoring and fifth in PP percentage. They play seven of their next ten games on the road, so the next 20 days are going to be crucial for this team. Hey, how about those Canadiens? 1-0 OT win at Florida last night with Rene Bourque getting the winner. They respond to the 6-0 drubbing against the Leafs with two wins this week.
Theisen: I know you were very upset to see your Panthers lose a tough one in OT last night. The Canadiens have been the most surprising team so far this season to me. They finished dead last in the East last season and are currently 8-4-1. They are only one point behind the Bruins for the Northeast Division lead. Could we see the Canadiens contend this season?
Pasquali: Contend as in win the cup? No, I don’t think so. But they are a playoff team and should be fun to watch. Besides beating New Jersey in OT back on Jan 27th, they don’t have a GREAT win. Their next three games are against Philly, Carolina, and the Rangers. If they win two of those, I’ll be impressed. Win all three and I’ll buy a Habs t-shirt, throw me on the bandwagon.
Theisen: Speaking of that, I may have to jump off the Coyotes bandwagon. I’ve liked watching this team the last couple of seasons and especially in last year’s playoffs. This season they seem to be missing something from the previous years. They lost last night 3-0 to the Predators and it wasn’t really a close game except for a couple good chances stopped by Pekka Rinne. Phoenix is currently 6-6-2 and sit 9th in the Western Conference. Their next five games are Columbus-Calgary-@Edmonton-@Calgary-@Vancouver. The Coyotes need a good stretch here versus some mediocre competition. I expect them to go at least 3-1-1.
Pasquali: If the Coyotes win four of those are you buying a Phoenix shirt? We need to stand by our beliefs in these teams, Eddie. If we don’t have integrity, what do we have?
Theisen: If Phoenix wins all five, I will buy a Teppo Numminen Coyotes jersey.
Pasquali: BOOM, love it…Go Coyotes! Carolina ended Toronto’s four game winning streak with a solid 3-1 win last night. Canes have won six of their last eight, and four of those wins were in the middle of a six game road trip. What I am trying to say is, I think Carolina is pretty damn good.
Theisen: Carolina is a very good hockey team this year. The additions of Alex Semin and Jordan Staal have been paying off big time for them this season. Semin gives them that sniping winger that Eric Staal didn’t have with him last year and Jordan Staal gives them the second line center they were missing. Jordan Staal would be a first line center on many teams but I’m sure he doesn’t mind being second to his older brother Eric, especially as he was a third line center in Pittsburgh. They just need Cam Ward to be a little more consistent and I think they could do some real damage.
Pasquali: There was a good fight in the game too; Colton Orr and Kevin Westgarth dropped the mitts. Also, two of my favorite names in hockey.
Theisen: Some Rock’em Sock’em Robots going on there. My favorite NHL name has to be Grant Clitsome of the Winnipeg Jets.
[*editor’s note*] – I miss having Grant Clitsome on the Blue Jackets. Yelling “CLITSOME!” out after goals and hits are sadly missed.
Pasquali: Poor guy. LOTS of hockey this weekend. What are your weekend plans Mr. Theisen?
Theisen: Drink, watch hockey and do the worm. How about you?
Pasquali: Typical Eddie weekend. Going to a concert tonight, little band called Bad Books. Show is up in Michigan, always great to get back to the motherland. The rest of the weekend will be spent with hockey, watching you do the worm, playing video games, and texting ex-girlfriends. So yeah, the usual.
Bad Books – “Forest Whitaker”
Theisen: Do these women realize that you were dating?
Pasquali: When you date Joe Pasquali, you know it. I may not be a lot of things, but I am memorable. So which games are you most looking forward to? Tonight: Flyers v Devils and Sharks at Blackhawks for me. San Jose has to stop losing sometime.
Theisen: I got to go with Flyers vs Devils and Ducks vs Red Wings. Philly and New Jersey is a great rivalry and as a Red Wings fan, it’s always fun to watch them play the physical Ducks
Pasquali: Saturday: Anaheim v Nashville should be a great game as two of the hotter teams in the league face off.
Sunday: How can you NOT watch Calgary at Dallas? It’s a rematch of the eleven-goal game from Wednesday. Hipster pick of the weekend, boom.
Theisen: How are you not picking Oilers vs Avalanche for the Saturday hipster game?
Pasquali: Oh, good point. OK, that is the hipster indie game for Saturday, Flames/Stars is the Sunday game. Just make sure you got enough PBR to get through the weekend.
Theisen: I’ll have plenty, just make sure your scarf is washed and ready.
Pasquali: Hardest part about watching this many obscure hockey games is squeezing into my skinny jeans. Know what I mean?
Theisen: Well, my skinny jeans are people’s normal jeans so… no, I don’t.
Pasquali: Exactly, just had to get one fat joke in, enjoy your weekend, asshole.
Pasquali’s Picks (season so far 50-55)
Friday Saturday Sunday
Bruins over Sabres Lightning over Panthers Sabres over Penguins
Devils over Flyers Leafs over Senators Hawks over Kings
Penguins over Jets Canadiens over Flyers Bruins over Jets
Ducks over Wings Islanders over Devils Stars over Flames
Hawks over Sharks Predators over Ducks Wings over Wild
Flames over Blues Coyotes over Jackets Rangers over Capitals
Canucks over Stas Oilers over Avalanche Canucks over Blues
Kings over Jackets
Theisen’s Picks (season so far 48-57)
Friday Saturday Sunday
Bruins over Sabres Lightning over Panthers Penguins over Sabres
Devils over Flyers Leafs over Senators Hawks over Kings
Penguins over Jets Canadiens over Flyers Bruins over Jets
Wings over Ducks Devils over Islanders Stars over Flames
Hawks over Sharks Ducks over Predators Wings over Wild
Blues over Flames Coyotes over Jackets Rangers over Capitals
Canucks over Stas Oilers over Avalanche Canucks over Blues
Kings over Jackets