I am having perhaps the worst week in Fantasy Hockey ever. Actually the last three weeks have been dreadful, but this week my squad is just flatlining, and my management of said roster could not be worst. Last evening was another fraught with game time decisions, who to start, who to sit, who's hot, who's not, and so on. Well Captain Bosh, made all the wrong choices last night. Let's start with my biggest one.

Starting Ilya Bryzgalov. The Anaheim Ducks backup goaltender who was thrust into the starting role after number one keeper Jean Sebastien Giguere went down with a groin injury, has been dreadful. Granted the star rookie from last season's playoffs has had his confidence all but destroyed by the maniacal efforts of Coach Carlyle this season. Earlier in the year, if he allowed a goal, he was yanked. Then he went down with an injury, and now he is playing so tight......that he can't play at all. Brygalov also does not have the benefit of playing behind top defensemen Chris Pronger, or Francois Beauchemin (I probably just murdered his name again), as Giguere did, and the team's play as of late is more than an indication of that.

Ok, off the soap box, and onto the ice. The Ducks carried a 1 goal into the second, and appeared to be comfortably sitting on it, until the Oilers tied it late in the period on a goal by Jason Smith. The wheels were probably already off at this point, but Oilers forward Toby Peterson made sure they stayed off at this point by scoring again less than half a minute later. How many times during this losing stretch have we seen the Ducks totally collapse like this (remember Columbus 2 weeks ago?)? After that, and I know it sounds hokey, but the Oilers never looked back as forward Ryan Smyth scored his 22nd, and 23rd of the season, to give his team the 4-1 victory.

Quick Shave:
My other Fantasy Hockey decision last night was not to start Montreal Canadiens goaltender Cristobal Huet, against a very strong Atlanta Thrashers team. The Habs haven'tt looked great lately, and Huet has taken a beating in his last few games......so I thought there was good reasoning behind my choice. Montreal, and Huet however, decided to turn in one of their finest performances of the season. The Habs defeated the Thrashers 4-1, on a 44 save performance from Huet, and even got a goal from recently benched Sergei Samsonov. The Vancouver Canucks remained one of the hottest teams in the NHL, by edging the Ottawa Senators 2-1. The difference was Roberto Luongo who made 34 of 35 saves on the night. The Canucks only managed 14 shots on net?! And they still won! Near All Star defenceman Rory Fitzpatrick recorded his first goal of the season in the win. The Los Angeles Kings aquired goaltender Sean Burke on re-entry waivers from the Tampa Bay Lightning yesterday. This is a move of desperation obviously as their starting goalies are pretty much done for a large part, or the entire season, and the rookie call-ups have been described as NHL ready. Burke however has seen little action during his AHL stint, and may not be NHL ready either....but for $350,000 I guess he is worth the gamble. Tampa Bay went on to defeat the New Jersey Devils last night 3-2 in the shootout on a goal by Brad Richards. Richards also scored both goals during regulation, and while not technically a hat trick, I will give him the guy nod. Well done sir.

Game of the Night:
Vancouver at Buffalo 8:00 PM

If the Canucks can defeat the Senators by taking only 14 shots on net, I'd like to see them defeat the Sabres by taking less than 10. Make'm count boys! Enjoy the games!

Your friend on ice,
Captain Bosh