Is it golf season yet?

All of this wet weather in Vancouver is getting more than a little depressing. My golf clubs are shiny, not used since last year, just waiting for a sunny day. Here's our upcoming forecast...

Perhaps I should just take up swimming.

Flames need to pick up their socks

Okay, before you other NHL fans jump all over the title of this email, let me first get a few things out in the open.

I have never been what would constitute a "fair weather fan". I have stuck with my Calgary Flames through out the glory days of the 1980s, the inability to get out of the first round of the playoffs in the 1990s, and then a decade with out making the playoffs. I was rewarded in 2004 with the Flames miracle playoff run that fell one game short of the Stanley Cup. Still, it has not been an easy haul.

Last season people kept asking me if I thought the Flames were a Cup contender, to which my reply was "I just want them to make the playoffs". Given the decade of no playoff appearances, that was still the goal. If they went further, that was the icing on the cake.

This year, I saw the improvements the team had made and thought there was going to be something more. At this point though, given their recent slide in the standings, I'm back to "hoping for that playoff spot".

I have made reference to it before, but I am still at a loss as to why Calgary can't win on the road. It certainly reflects poorly on the leadership in the organization.

In saying all of that, the big achilles heal for this team has been overtime and shootouts. Calgary has just 3 wins and 10 losses in OT, including a dismal 0-8 record on the road. The Vancouver Canucks by comparison have 16 wins and 6 loses over the same stretch. If both teams were .500 in OT, Calgary would actually be ahead of the Canucks.

The only thing I can hope for at this point is that the playoffs, should we make it, will be a different tale. There is no 4-on-4 and no shootout. It's hard nosed 5-on-5 hockey - just the way it was meant to be.

Down to the wire!

The NHL's Northwest Division looks like it will come down to the wire with a little over a month left in the season.

Vancouver, Calgary and Minnesota all have a crack at winning the division, but who will prevail? The Calgary Flames of course.

Okay, granted I'm biased being a Flames fan, but here's my logic, as flawed as it might be.

Calgary has the worst road record in the Western Conference, even lower than the last place Los Angeles Kings. With a home record of 27-6-1, Calgary is just "too good" not to do better on the road. I mean, it doesn't really make any sense!

There are the same number of players on the ice, the nets are identical, the puck is no different, and the rinks are all virtually the same size. What would account for the Flames having a dismal 8-15-8 road record? Having eight shootout loses on the road doesn't help much, but seriously, how can the difference be so stark?

So, there in lies my flawed logic. They're too good not to win on the road. I'm a Flames fan, I have to believe it.

Either way, it's going to be a heck of a ride to the end of the year!