Lou Lamoriello's Marbleopolis

Oh my God so much to bullshit about.

I forget most of what happened the past few games, except for the one I went to Thursday against Atlanta. A) I won't show up to a game late again this season, B) I won't drink in Manhattan before a game over Newark again so long as I can help it. Both have proven to be jinxes. I could harp on about how bad that Thursday game was, but the Devils seem to have recovered from their general malaise with last night's win in LA. Tonight's game against the Flying Vs will be a real test, though.

Thursday Booze Tally:

Pre-Game
3 Guinnii at Mona's

Mid-Game
2 Bass

Post-Game
2-3 Bass at Brick City Grill
1 Brooklyn Lager at Cozy's

Brick City was pretty okay, but it kills me that all these Devils-centric bars all have the same Jersey guido motif going on, like there aren't perfectly good NJ dives or taverns to be found. God forbid I drink somewhere without fountains or marble.



Parise and (presumably) his girlfriend sat at the table two feet behind me. His dinner guest's visible discomfort led to a conversation as to why he would bring someone to the bar RIGHT ACROSS THE STREET IMMEDIATELY AFTER A GAME, to be surrounded by jersey clad nerds like me (to say nothing of doing so after the worst game they've played since the Meadowlands). Yet another of my female friends has now fallen under his handsome thrall, though this one did remark that he looked "a little dumb". I looked pretty dumb paying $30 for that fucking game, too, so I'll reserve judgement until I see some SAT scores.

I missed last night's game against LA because I've been inexplicably tired at random moments since falling ill last week. I also blame this exhaustion on NHL 09, which is fucking amazing. I did see highlights, though, and it sounded like a great effort all around - congrats to Rolston for his 1,000th game and Parise for his 100th goal.

As for the elephant I've kept over here in this corner...I like Brendan Shanahan. I've never said an ill word about him, even when he played for the disgusting, disgusting Rangers. I've actually praised him constantly over the years, so it's no surprise that I'm very glad to have him as a Devil again. I think the fact that Lou didn't sign him during the injury spell of November says a lot about the care and consideration he puts into every move - he wanted to give the current roster a chance before risking feather ruffling by bringing in outside help. So long as this doesn't precipitate some bad trade before the deadline (oh my God Madden needs to stay no matter how iffy he's been this year), I like having Shanahan. He's old and slow as shit, but time on the 3rd or 4th line without monster minutes while rocking the special teams will give the Devils an extra little edge to work with. It also lights a fire under the asses of Rupp and Clarkson (though who gives a shit about Rupp aside from Stan Fischler?) to fight for a roster spot.