A Great Weekend for a Sens-slash-Rangers Fan!

Here comes a bit of a mish-mash Blog with recaps of hockey games, Survivor, and the Amazing Race!

So the NHL's regular season opened up this weekend with four teams taking to the ice in Europe - the New York Rangers playing against the Tampa Bay Lightning in Prague, as well as the Ottawa Senators taking on the Pittsburgh Penguins in Stockholm.

I got my answer to my "Who do I cheer for?" question on Saturday afternoon. I watched most of the Rangers game, but my interest was centred mainly on Wade Redden, and while I was happy the Rangers posted a 2-1 win that day, I was mostly just disappointed that Wade didn't get on the scoresheet.

Then, while watching the Sens game, I discovered my allegiance still lies strongly with them when Shean Donovan scored to tie the game at 1 in the first period, and I did my automatic fist pump. I still have that reaction when the Sens score, so I guess they're still my team! Unfortunately, due to some shaky goaltending, we lost that one in OT, 4-3.

Yesterday, all four teams were back at it again. I didn't get to see the Rangers game, although I was quite thrilled to hear they won 2-1 again, and that Wade contributed big time by scoring to tie it up, and then assisting on Scott Gomez's game winner. I still have a hard time seeing him in Ranger blue, but I'm happy he seems to have gotten off to a great start this season with New York.


The Sens re-match vs. the Penguins was much more to my liking, as we almost had a 3-0 shutout, until the Pens FINALLY scored a power play goal in the dying seconds of the game. Alex Auld looked strong for the part of the game I saw, and Alfie was flying in his homeland of Sweden, collecting assists on both of Dany Heatley's goals. Antoine Vermette also scored on a break-away for the Sens. I'm still a long piece off from knowing who's who out there - still too many new faces and numbers - but it was great to watch NHL hockey again, and I was a happy fan!


Now, I promised a Survivor re-cap, but it's been so long, I barely remembered what happened. I know for sure that Marcus is still hot, despite the uproar over his thingy last week. Unfortunately, his tribe failed for the first time since the game began, and they failed miserably, losing both the Reward and Immunity Challenges. Someone's gotta knock Ace down a peg or two - he jeopardized his entire team in order to protect his alliance with Sugar. Is it just me, or the people on that tribe thinking WAY too far ahead?? I mean, Ace is already talking final 2 with Sugar...Anything can happen, but that's a long way off to be planning for...

I thought the dopes had wisened up and were going to take him out when they could, but they wussed out and went with Paloma instead. Not a great loss, she was a ditz and quite annoying in her own right. But if they have any sense at all, they'll target Ace this week. The dude is far too controlling and he's risking too much to keep Sugar around. And now that she has the hidden immunity idol, her stock has risen in Ace's eyes. Time to flush that idol out, or at least weaken her by removing her closest ally.

As for the Amazing Race, it was another interesting leg, with Tina (the aging Barbie) somehow getting an airline to change the size of a plane so that they could get on it. Unfortunately for Tina & Ken, it backfired somewhat, as the changing of planes allowed everyone else to catch up and make the same flight. I suppose it would have happened regardless if they'd had to wait for a later flight, but all it really did was get them to their next destination a few hours earlier. Tina pranced around reminding everyone how they owed her for getting them the bigger plane, but really, it didn't have that much of an impact on the race at all. I'm still a little shocked that a potential passenger pleading for seats on a flight actually got an airline to get a larger plane!

My boy Dallas and his mom, Toni, continued to impress me. He seems so patient with his mother, even though she has trouble keeping up with him. He just encourages her and so far, they remain my favourite team. They even stopped to help Terrence and Sarah when they went the wrong way looking for taxis - the only team to do so. I'm not even sure I would have if it had been me, but I was so proud of Dallas for his truly class act, and hopefully it will benefit them down the road - Terrence and Sarah should definitely remember that.

I don't remember the last time I watched this show that so many mistakes were made for not reading clues more carefully. Terrence and Sarah were one example. Then there were the divorcees who spent valuable time digging on a beach looking for some container that wasn't there because it was for the other challenge. They also forgot to ask their cab to wait at the Road Block, causing them more anxiety over a mis-read direction. And then we have the Bimbos who wanted to do one challenge, but ended up doing another because they didn't read their directions properly.

At the end of the day, my thoughts are still pretty much the same. I love Dallas and his mom, I dislike Terrence and Sarah, Ken and Tina, and I still can't warm up to Nick & Starr. Anthony and Stephanie were never able to get out of the basement, and they landed on the mat last, eliminating them from the race. I'm still a little shocked at Anthony's farewell speech...He's still happy because he's got "my health, my parents, my looks...and Stephanie". Wow. Those are some straight priorities, there!!