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Old 09-17-2018, 12:14 PM   #1
MissTeeks
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Flames September 17, 2018

Flames in awe at Great Wall of China

https://calgaryherald.com/sports/hoc...1-61e3b41f37fd

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Judging by his on-ice antics, he must be a relentless negotiator.

You can picture Calgary Flames forward Matthew Tkachuk, mouthguard dangling from his chompers on one side, trying to knock a few extra bucks — er, renminbi — off the price of souvenirs for his loved ones back home.

“I bargained for a couple shirts for my mom and my sister, and I got my dad a shirt, too,” Tkachuk reported after the Flames’ team trip Sunday to the Great Wall of China. “I didn’t get my brother anything. He can pay for it on his own.”

Ah … sibling rivalry.

While Brady Tkachuk — the fourth-overall selection in the 2018 NHL Draft — is attending his first training camp with the Ottawa Senators, his big brother Matthew enjoyed a pinch-me moment of another sort as the road-tripping Flames’ regulars snapped selfies (and snapped up souvenirs) at one of the most famous landmarks in the world.

For Tkachuk and the rest of the skating stars, Sunday’s sightseeing excursion to the Mutianyu section of the Great Wall will undoubtedly rank as a highlight of this pre-season junket to Shenzhen and Beijing for the 2018 O.R.G. China Games.

Several of the Flames were sporting bamboo coolie hats for the team photo.

Superstar winger Johnny Gaudreau instead opted for a ball-cap that resembles a panda head.

With flurries in the forecast back home, they wore shorts and T-Shirts as they ‘tobogganed’ down a slide on their way out.

“That was a lot of fun,” said the 20-year-old Tkachuk, who scored on a YouTube-worthy deke during Saturday’s shootout loss in Shenzhen, where the Flames dropped a 4-3 decision in their exhibition opener against the Boston Bruins.

“You have a great view coming down — you can still see some of the wall. But being on the wall and getting pictures up there, that was definitely the best part.

“It was an awesome day.”
Flames goalie Rittich aims to lock up back-up

https://calgaryherald.com/sports/hoc...a-b4308f07e6a8

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With no disrespect to the Great Wall of China or the O.R.G. China Games, David Rittich was perfectly happy to be in Calgary this weekend.

The 26-year-old netminder is vying for the back-up job with the Calgary Flames this season, a job he proved he was capable of for the majority of the 2017-18 campaign.

He didn’t earn the gig off the hop, mind you. Last fall, he was dispatched to the Stockton Heat of the American Hockey League to start the season before being recalled in late November amid the Eddie Lack implosion and in the wake of an injury to starter Mike Smith.

A likeable guy in the dressing room and a suitable No. 2, Rittich remained with the club until the end of March. In the end, he played 21 games and started 16, posting an 8-6-3 record with a 2.92 goals-against average and 0.904 save percentage.

“I can take everything (from last year),” Rittich said. “I’ve been in two positions, regular back-up behind Smitty and the goalie No. 1 when Smitty was hurt. I have to learn from last year. Actually, I don’t want to look back and I want to look forward to this season and be the best prepared I can.”
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The Flames technically opened their main training camp Thursday with medicals and hit the ice Friday through the weekend.

After Monday’s game, it’s Wednesday at Vancouver, Friday at Winnipeg, and Saturday back at the Scotiabank Saddledome versus the Vancouver Canucks. Given the scenario, Rittich is likely to get into a big chunk of action during that span, competing with Flames’ prospects Tyler Parsons and Mason McDonald and PTO netminder Jeff Glass.

Of the four goalies in Calgary, Rittich, who re-signed with the Flames this summer for another year, has the inside track.

“Everyone wants to play in the NHL, there are 100 goalies that want to be a back-up too,” said the Jihalava, Czech Republic, native. “I just want to take this place and I want to stay in Calgary with Smitty. If I play some games, I want to win … for me, it’s way better to stay (during training camp) and play games here and to be ready when the guys come back.”
Meet Johnny Hockey's Buddy

https://calgaryherald.com/sports/hoc...e-7a624f42f32c

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He’s a good Buddy.

He refuses to divulge personal information about Johnny Gaudreau that might red-face the Calgary Flames star, even though he’s known the National Hockey League dynamo since they were young Americans.

Yeah … that’s Buddy Robinson, a lifelong close friend of Gaudreau’s looking one day soon to join the fellow Jersey product on the same hockey ice …

Once again.

“I was four, and I think he was three,” said Robinson, when asked how long he’s known and played puck alongside ‘Johnny Hockey’. “His dad taught me how to skate. We grew up at that rink — his dad still runs the rink in Salem (N.J.), and we skate there all summer and see a lot of each other.”
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But nearly a decade later, they’re still best pals, with Robinson unwilling to shell out a little dirt on his childhood friend, especially since he’s hoping to become a fellow big-league Flames forward.

“I don’t know about any of that stuff,” said Robinson with a smile when asked to spill the beans on anything juicy about Gaudreau. “He’s a hard-working guy on and off the ice, and he’s great to be around.”

Unfortunately for Robinson, all that time playing with Gaudreau hasn’t rubbed off on him skill-wise. Kind of tough, though, given the difference in body types, with the 6-foot-6 Robinson being nearly a foot taller than Gaudreau.

“You know what? I don’t think I’m going to toe-drag six or seven guys before I score a goal,” Robinson said. “But I might stand in front and ask him to shoot one in off my pads or screen the goalie for him. Different elements, right?”

“I always stand up for him. It’s tougher in high school when everybody’s got the cages on. But I’m never afraid to stand up for a teammate, and it’s no different with him. And if the time comes, I’m willing to do that for any of my teammates.”
Sting of Stanley Cup defeat drives new Flames forward James Neal

https://calgaryherald.com/sports/hoc...5-ab0792dc1718

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This sort of sting doesn’t fade quickly.

Or easily.

In back-to-back springs, James Neal has skated in the Stanley Cup final.

For the Calgary Flames’ prized free-agent addition, both runs have ended in heartbreak.

“It’s hard, it really is. There is no beating around the bush — losing sucks, especially when you’re that close,” Neal said. “And the last two years, it was on home ice. In your barn, and they’re skating around with the Stanley Cup and you’re sitting in your dressing room …


“It’s tough. I guess you have to try to take what you can from it, make yourself stronger and try not to let it happen again. You want to come out on the other side. I have that drive to win. I want to win sooooo bad. I’ll do whatever I can to get there again, and hopefully come out on the winning end of it.”

We are, of course, at the very beginning of a brand-new season, months and months from the winning (or losing) end of it.
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Flames fans have been envisioning Neal — signed this summer to a five-year doozy worth US$5.75-million per season — as the ideal lamp-lighting compadre for Johnny Gaudreau and Sean Monahan on Calgary’s top line, and he will certainly audition in that spot, too. (Trade acquisition Elias Lindholm gets the first crack, in part because Monahan’s faceoff work will be limited during the pre-season as he recovers from wrist surgery.)

“The first thing is, it’s just a great group,” Neal said Friday, sizing up his new crew. “Coming into a locker-room, whenever you go to a new team, you always say, ‘It’s a great group of guys.’ But it really is. And I get the sense they really want to win. They weren’t satisfied last year with the way things ended up.

“There’s been a lot of change here — a lot of new players, new faces, trades and then a new coaching staff. So a lot of change, but good change. We’re excited to get on the ice and start building a team and start building belief in ourselves and in each other that we can win.

“I mean, every single team is going to come into camp and go into their first game talking in their video room, saying they’re going to win a Stanley Cup and they’ve got the team to do it. For us, I think we have those guys. I think we have the game-breakers you need to win. I think we have the goaltending you need to win, and we’re solid defensively. When you have all that together, you just need to build a belief in each other and in yourself that you can go out there and win every game.”
GOOD AS NEW - Monahan says his wrist 'feels great' after first test in game situation

https://www.nhl.com/flames/news/good-as-new/c-300158690

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Saying and wishing and even believing is all well and good.

In the actual doing is always where the proof of the pudding lies.

"My wrist,'' announced Sean Monahan, passing his first in-combat test since undergoing surgery with flying colours, "feels great.

"Not taking face-offs was just kind of precautionary. Being a centreman and being a hockey player, you want to play your role so I started off, took the first draw, won it, so you want to get back in the circle.

"I let Lindy (Elias Lindholm) go in there a couple times. He's a good in the circle.

"So that's a nice little piece for our line."
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Yes, the full, flat-out, give-him-a-free-foot-at-your-peril Monahan is officially back.

Hallelujah, new Flames' coach Bill Peters must've been exclaiming under his breath, watching Monahan and familiar sidekick Johnny Gaudreau, in tandem with recruit Lindholm, start to warm to each other's abilities.

"Real good player,'' he praised. "Johnny's more of a playmaking winger and Mony's more of a scoring centre. It was the other way around back in the '80s and '90s.

"They complement each other really well and Lindy is a very smart player."
CONSISTENCY IS KEY - Pollock knows that to realize his NHL dream, he has to be reliable, night in and night out

https://www.nhl.com/flames/news/cons...ey/c-300162102

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Talent, alone, can only take you so far.

For young players looking to make an impression at the pro level, such as 22-year-old Brett Pollock, applying that skill on a regular basis can often be their biggest obstacle.

"But," Domenic Pittis, the assistant coach of the Flames' American Hockey League affiliate, reminds us: "That's what makes this game so hard, and what separates the good from the great.

"Consistency… it's everything."

Brett Pollock, now 22 and a firm believer in the old axiom, is entering his third pro season with that sage advice tattooed in his mind's eye.

After all, what typically comes to the forefront after a good season are the expectations to exceed the previous year's bounty.

And to do it…

"Consistently," Pollock said. "It took me a while to get going last year, but once I got clicking and found some confidence, it really made things a lot easier and I felt I could play - and play well - at that level."
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Old 09-17-2018, 12:16 PM   #2
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Tkachuk savage AF on his brother lol
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Old 09-17-2018, 12:23 PM   #3
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The Quest stands upon the edge of a knife. Stray but a little, and it will fail, to the ruin of all. Yet hope remains while the Company is true. Go Flames Go!

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Old 09-17-2018, 12:32 PM   #4
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Lazar getting beat by Hathaway (to the cab). Looks like he lost a step or two over the summer.
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Old 09-17-2018, 12:58 PM   #5
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https://twitter.com/user/status/1041397556356407296
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Old 09-17-2018, 01:09 PM   #6
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A few more:

Flames mourn death of owner Clay Riddell: 'He cared deeply about the city' -CalgarySun

Flames Need Net Depth for Season Success -TheHockeyWriters

Stitched-up Hathaway earns praise from Flames coach in Shenzhen -CalgarySun
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