Eight random points

Le Colisee Desjardins... tough place if you're Moncton... and looks like it should be housing a Sears Home Decor instead of a hockey team.

- Apparently Yanick Jean found that beatin' stick of his... which is really strange because I could've sworn I saw him throw that stick at Corey Cassidy many years ago. Cats hopped into bed and promptly soiled the sheets, dropping a 7-3 decision to the Tigres last night. Just a bad game all around and by all accounts, featuring alot of the stuff that usually gets you killed on the ice... venturing away from the game plan, lack of discipline, less than stellar goaltending, etc. Now time to lick the wounds and do what any good team should do. Take it out with extreme prejudice on the next team that pops up in front of them. That team would be the Acadie-Bathurst Titan and that game will take place Tuesday at 7PM at the Coliseum.

- One bright spot from last night was the rather successful debut of Connor Garland, who drew positive reviews from Neil Hodge in this morning's paper and popped home his first goal in the Q on a great individual effort behind the Tigres net late in the first period. Really looking forward to seeing this guy on home ice next week.

- As bad as last night was, it wasn't as bad as the last time the Cats rolled through Victoriaville. For one, they had more than 14 skaters dressed... and no call-ups, either! Huzzah!!! Last night was also better than this or this.

- The last two hyperlinks don't work on every browser (I know they work on Firefox, for example... but not on Chrome) so in the event you can't open them, let me tell you what they are. Those are game summaries from a two game set the Cats played up in Victo in 1996-97... and lost by a combined score of 20-1! One of my most vivid memories of those games was something Roland Collette said (this is not an exact quote, by the way) in the paper after the second game: "We went with Plan A last night and that didn't work so we changed to Plan B. That didn't go too well either". Thank god it was only two games... I don't think the world was prepared for "Plan C" just yet.

- Reading those two game summaries also reminded me how awesome a player Daniel Corso was during his time in the Q. He might be the most underrated star player I've ever seen in nearly 20 years of following this league.

- The Commandos head to Truro tonight to face off against the Bearcats in a 7PM start. Truro hasn't played since last Saturday, a 3-2 shootout loss to the Miramichi Timberwoves, who get my vote as peskiest team in the MHL this season. The Commandos have cobbled together a modest two game winning streak thanks to throwing literally everything at Maxxim Feener in the Metro Shipbuilders net on Tuesday night in their 6-4 road win. This might be the toughest test Jeff Leblanc and his crew have faced yet this season... that being said, they've made life difficult for all the top teams in the league in their own barn this year. Here's hoping that trend continues tonight.

- Speaking of Maxxim Feener, the netminder received a reversal of fortune last night as he went into Campbellton, made 30 saves and helped the Shipbuilders defeat the Tigers 2-1. It's just the fourth win for the Ships this season... and their first win again a team not named the Lumberjacks. Plus, the win helped potentially widen the gap between the Tigers and the T-Wolves, Commandos and Slammers in the hunt for playoffs spots/positioning in the Meek Division. I think it's a safe bet that Maxxim Feener might be the Commandos' most popular player right about now.

- You know what I miss the most about Movember? Gino Reda's legendary 'stache. That made any episode of "That's Hockey" feel like an episode of TSN Sportsdesk circa 1989.

... and it was definitely more enthralling than lockout coverage.