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 Pavel Datsyuk’s nominee for “Goal of the Year” against Nashville, the Pierre McGuire drinking game, teaching pets to react to hockey and if Toronto should trade for a veteran goaltender.

As a fan of the Columbus Blue Jackets, I’m just glad the guys didn’t pick on them in this afternoon’s conversation.

By the way, neither of these guys have a girlfriend.

This is their email conversation the following morning.

Final scores from 2/19/13
WPG 2, BUF 1
MTL 3, NYR 1
OTT 3, NYI 1
TAM 4, TOR 2
SJ 2, STL 1
NSH 4, DET 3 F/OT
CHI 4, VAN 3 F/SO
LA 3, EDM 1

Pasquali: Howdy, Eddie. It is ‘Love Your Pet’ day. Do you love your pet?

Theisen: Well, I named my cat Johan after Johan Franzen, but now I want Franzen to be traded. So, I guess I could go without the cat right now. Does your Buster mean something to you?

Pasquali: Buster means a whole lot to me; he is a pretty good puppy. He is named after Buster Bluth from “Arrested Development”, of course. Maybe you should have named your cat Pavel. He’d never let you down.

Theisen: After Pavel Datsyuk’s goal last night, I may have to switch its name to Pavel. That goal was unreal, but I feel like we shouldn’t be surprised by anything Datsyuk does anymore.

Pasquali: Possibly the goal of the year and yeah, I guess we can’t be surprised by anything he does anymore. That coast to coast goal tied it up at three and forced OT. He was trying to put the Wings on his back last night and get them a road win, but Nashville scored 40 seconds into OT and sent Detroit to their 4th straight defeat. Shea Weber got the game winner and appears he has finally found his form in 2013, which is good news for Predators fans.

Theisen: That game was frustrating as a Red Wings fan. They got outplayed in the first but then outplayed Nashville the next 40 minutes. The OT goal was a bad bounce for the Red Wings too, even though there was a slight defensive breakdown. Weber definitely looks back to normal though, he had a great game against the Avalanche in which they lost 6-5 the day before. Looks like they didn’t need Ryan Suter that bad?

Pasquali: Time will tell on Suter leaving, but yes, right now it looks like Nashville is going to still be a playoff team and Minnesota hasn’t quite found it’s form yet. Chicago won AGAIN last night, in a dramatic shootout with Vancouver. The Blackhawks tie the record for longest point streak in league history but lose Marian Hossa in the process. Do other teams just really hate Marian Hossa? Jannik Hansen dropped a ‘bow on his ass.

Theisen: No kidding. Jannik Hansen’s cheap shot last night actually made me feel bad for Hossa. The guy isn’t a dirty player that is worthy of these hits and is tearing it up this year. I’m hoping Hansen gets no less than three games for that elbow. It amazes me how the Blackhawks can keep winning like this. They blow a two goal lead late and still manage to win in a shootout. Even Kane’s goal in the shootout was complete luck. I guess when you’re hot, you’re hot.

Pasquali: Yeah not vintage Kane in the shootout, but a goal is a goal.

Elsewhere in the West, we saw San Jose finally win 2-1 over St. Louis in a fairly boring game. Yes, the Sharks won a game. That had to be a huge weight off their shoulders. Tommy Wingels (Tommy want Wingy) was a goal away from the Gordie Howe Hat Trick. He had a nice fight against T.J. Oshie and an assist on the game winner by Tim Kennedy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wHvJ7Miobfw

Theisen: It was a fairly boring game. I was mainly flipping between the Blackhawks and Red Wings games. That, or I didn’t want to listen to Pierre McGuire talk about how the Sharks assistant coach Jay Woodcroft played at the University of Alabama-Huntsville.

Pasquali: You don’t appreciate Fun Facts with Pierre?!

Theisen: As long as you’re playing the Pierre drinking game.

Pasquali: God, he does say all of those things a lot…unless you are drinking Zima, I don’t suggest playing this game.

Theisen: Or some Mike’s Hard strawberry… My fav!!!

Pasquali: That stuff is too strong for me.

Anyways…the LA Kings scored with under a minute to play and then added an empty netter to beat Edmonton 3-1 late last night. Kings looked really good, outplaying Edmonton the entire game and they deserved the two points.

Theisen: Like I said yesterday, Edmonton is just a disappointment this year. The Kings did deserve the win and it has to be nice to get a road win now, with three of their next four games coming at home. I’d have to think if things don’t turn around soon, GM Steve Tambellini’s job will be in jeopardy. Brian Burke is looking for some work?

Pasquali: Haha, I don’t know if that would be the direction they want to go, but it’ll be interesting to see if the Oilers feel the pressure from the fans and fire Tambellini.

Back East, Steven Stamkos got his 10th goal of the year as Tampa Bay beat a hot Maple Leafs team 4-2. Toronto pulled Ben Scrivens after he allowed all four goals on just 13 shots. Up to this game, Scrivens had been very solid since stepping in for the injured James Reimer and you have to wonder if this is just a fluke game, or if Toronto is in trouble in net.

Theisen: I think it’s just a bad game, but then again, it is the Maple Leafs. With that game now do you think that Toronto needs to seriously inquire about Roberto Luongo? With Reimer hurt and Scrivens still unproven, it could call for a big trade. The way Schneider played for the Canucks last night, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Luongo be traded soon.

Pasquali: I think Toronto will make a movie if Scrivens doesn’t bounce back. This is the best Toronto has looked in a while and this franchise is SOOO hungry for a good season. If they think they have a chance and they are just a goalie away from a playoff run, they need to pull the trigger.

Well, I guess it is time to talk about the red elephant in the room. The Montreal Canadiens won again, defeating the New York Rangers for their 5th straight win and I am officially aboard the French bandwagon. I said the other day I would buy a Habs t-shirt to show my support, so let’s take a look at some options.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EFfFcGBJhq8

Theisen: I think you need to go with either Guy Lafleur or a nice Lars Eller.

I have no idea what this really means, Montreal in 7? So they are in the playoffs? And it will go the distance but they’ll win? If you are confident in your team shouldn’t it be Montreal in 4?

Theisen: I think it’s referring to the time they beat the #8 seed Bruins in the first round and they proceeded to riot about it, like they had won a Cup or something.

Pasquali: Oh, I just noticed the burning car and the destruction. It is perfect. But, do I get it in French?

This needs purchased!

Theisen: In the true spirit of the thing, I think you have to Frenchy on this one.

Pasquali: I’ll have to talk to my Canadiens friend Justin about this shirt. Do you think it would make Montreal fans mad? Is it making fun of them?

(*Editor’s Note*) – It’s a fact that Canadians love to riot, so I don’t think this makes fun of them. The t-shirt encourages more of that behavior…so, but it.

Theisen: I think it’s showing the true greatness of the Montreal franchise.

Pasquali: OK, that is the shirt I am going with. Now, back to the game. Good win for Montreal, you could argue New York played the better game but just had a few breakdowns that the Canadiens pounced on. John Tortorella was NOT a happy coach. In the post-game conference he said “It’s probably one of the worst hockey games I’ve been a part of, both teams. It was two bad teams playing, and we were worse than they were.”

He really wasn’t sitting on the fence and it felt like a sore loser mentality. It’s one thing to rip your team but to bash Montreal too after they beat you seems immature.

Theisen: You can always count on John Tortorella for some entertaining press conferences, win or lose. I don’t think he was a happy coach after he led the Lightning to the 2004 Stanley Cup. He always seems pissed off. Last night, he had a good reason though. Not that the Rangers played bad, but they didn’t work hard enough for the goals. Rangers are a mystery team this year. I wonder if this will be like old Ranger’s teams we’ve grown to know.

Pasquali: Could be. They were a lot better last season at least. But hey, more about Montreal they seemed to click it into gear right after we had our big discussion on them. Can you think of more reasons why they could win the cup??

Theisen: The only reason I can think of is that they Riot in Seven, bro.

Pasquali: Damn right, they will. Hey, Winnipeg beat the Sabres 2-1 in the indie hockey game of the night. Catch any of it?

Theisen: Caught as much as I could. Seemed like a decent game and also the Sabres losing again. That game definitely had a “Sleigh Bells” feel to it. I don’t get why this team is losing this much. Imagine if Thomas Vanek played on a good team.

Pasquali: Are you and Johan watching the Penguins v Flyers game tonight?

Theisen: Since it’s the only game on before 10pm, yes. What about Buster? That pup like puck?

Pasquali: Oh he loves it.

I am going to try and giving him treats every time someone scores a goal. That way, when that horn sounds he’ll get really excited as well. A sort of hockey version of Pavlov’s training.

Theisen: I’ll throw my cat across the room every time someone scores.

Pasquali: Perfect. Blues at Avs, and Kings at Flames tonight. Can’t say I am excited about either of those, but apparently, NBC Sports Network is billing the St. Louis/Colorado game as a “rivalry” as well. WTF?

Theisen: Yeahhhhhhhhhh. I think NBC sports is stretching the rivalry a bit here. Flyers vs Penguins is one of the biggest rivalries in the NHL and I didn’t realize the Blues and Avs had such hatred. That’s like Nickelback following Led Zeppelin at a concert.

Pasquali: I am not calling it the “indie” game of the evening, since we only have three games on anyways. We’ll dub it the “you are still awake and you don’t feel like watching Anchorman on HBO.” But who wouldn’t want to watch Anchorman?

Theisen: You could say Kings vs Flames is the hipster game of the night. It’s not cool to like the Kings anymore because they’ve won and are now getting marketing.

Haim – “Forever” [Hipster Hockey Song] 

Pasquali: Eh, OK we’ll go with that. Well Eddie, I am out. You stay classy.

Theisen: I’m… Eddie Theisen?

Pasquali’s Picks (season so far 71-70)

Flyers over Penguins
Blues over Avalanche
Flames over Kings

Theisen’s Picks (season so far 70-71)

Penguins over Flyers
Avalanche over Blues
Kings over Flames

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