Seriously .. check it out:  http://www.cjhl.org/sites/3333/page.asp?Site=9963&LeagueID=9963&SeasonID=33&DivisionID=29&page=Players&TeamID=49&PlayerID=4052&Section=Home I wonder what the odds are of there not only being another Brad Lazaruk anywhere, but in Alberta.  Only a few hundred kilometres from here. 

I usually don't put too much stock into the performance of any NHL team until the 10 game mark. By then you can get a better sense of who they are, who they want to be and what blocks there are preventing them from getting there, if any. That being said ... Here I am anyway with some thoughts after the Flames have played only eight games. It is roughly 10% of the schedule though so maybe I'm not violating too many karmic rules. What irks me is the seemingly constant work on "discovering the team identity". This seems to happen nearly every season and by the time the team has decided on who they want to be 20-25 games have passed and they are looking at a 10-15 point difference between themselves and the last playoff spot. Now I know that this off-season saw some comparatively major changes in tone around the Flames, with the new general manager putting stamps on things and bringing in his type of players. But when is it going to end? With ...

(Found this old rant of mine on archive.org … thought I’d re-post it just for kicks.) (Original posting date May 2000) What should we talk about today? How about hockey? How about the fall of the Toronto Maple Leafs? No. Although the commercial brand of hockey sprouting from Toronto is fun to laugh about, how about the fact that the Calgary Flames will be leaving town in three years, on the outside? Is this official? Not yet. But let's face it. With the deadline to renew season's tickets less than a week from now, the Flames have a 30% renewal rate. That's approximately 3000 tickets. They've sold 1500 new seasons tickets so far in their drive to ensure "Flames Forever". All said that's 4500 people paying for the seat even if they aren't there. That's almost 10000 short of the number they've demanded that they have sold by June 30th. Are 10000 Calgarians going to show up in the next 7 weeks to buy tickets? No. ...