Good day and happy Friday everyone!

I’m not sure how the weather is where you are, but it’s an absolutely gorgeous of a day here and sitting in this air conditioned office waiting for the business day to retire and the weekend to start is becoming increasingly painful.

Anyways, I would like to take this time to announce that I will no longer be writing for Hockeybuzz following the elimination of the Calgary Flames. I started writing for the site over three years ago in my spare time which I thoroughly enjoyed. As my life became busier with promotions, job changes, and now having a baby boy on the way, I found that my writing and interest levels have diminished.

As such, I’ve decided that it wouldn’t be fair to my readers to put out a poor product as frankly that has been all that I’ve had time to offer, for which I apologize. That being said, the number of people which I’ve befriended from this gig, the contacts I’ve made, the promotions from companies which I’ve received and the appreciation from a Calgary fan-base that I’ve felt over the years has been one hell of a rewarding experience, and I thank you all.

Heck, I remember when I started writing with all of 72 Twitter followers which has turned in to 3700+ since…really goes to show how popular this team truly is around Canada despite their lack of success beyond this current season. I will certainly miss writing for this site and the reactions I could create from expressing an opinion or even going against others.

With respect to the rest of this playoffs, I will continue to write blogs for you fine folks until the Calgary Flames are eliminated at which point the site will likely be looking to fill the spot. If you questions about becoming a blogger or would like advice/tips, I will gladly offer what I can!

Thanks for the years of reading, the years of comments (both positive and negative), and GO FLAMES GO!

**

For those who read my blog yesterday, I talked about how truly big game three was for the Calgary Flames and how crazy of a call that “non-goal” truly was.

Since, there has been numerous videos and play reviews being posted which (actually) seems to warrant that it was in fact a goal. Yeash. Thank god for everyone involved that the Flames ended up winning game three anyways because that would have caused quite the uproar.

Moving in to tonight, and as I expressed yesterday, the keys for Calgary will be to get in Andersen’s head, and in his way. I don’t mean to say that the Flames need to bump him or do anything silly (though it’s playoffs so I’m not against it, either), but in order for Calgary to find any success tonight they will need to screen the hell out of Andersen and cause havoc in the offensive end.

Watching over some game footage, Calgary generally finds success when they play super simple hockey with respect to their transition game; cause a turnover by rushing the passer, and move that puck immediately up the wings. By staying clear of fancy passes or trying to go through two bodies to hit someone cycling down the middle, the Flames typically avoid coughing up the puck in a dangerous transition play where they may end up with an odd man rush.

By moving their feet in their own end and forcing the Ducks to chase the puck rather than give them the option to play the body, the Flames should be able to force errors from Anaheim whether that means drawing penalties out of frustration, or simple mental breakdowns with their assignments. Coming out of tonight with a big win, I personally feel would make this series much more interesting for both sides than we initially thought it would turn out to be.

Going back to Anaheim tied at 2 games apiece, with two games left, would have both fan-bases on the edges of their seats as each team would need to play at one another’s barn one last time. I’m certainly excited and hope that the Flames’ most recent win gives them the needed confidence to secure an extra win tonight and brings smiles to Canada as they look to be the last Canadian team standing! Who woulda thunk…

I hope you all enjoy the game tonight and for those of you lucky enough to attend tonight’s game, I am ever so jealous!

Thanks for reading!

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