Great minds think alike.

This is some encouraging news, for sure. He looks poised to take the step forward into pro next year.

Long as the drunken douches from the 300s stay the hell away from my Hitmen games (I swear, the last time I sat up there for a Flames game, there was a steady stream of people walking across the play for the first period and a half — why isn’t security telling them to wait?), the rest of you are welcome to join us.

I saw game 2 live and I was wholly unimpressed with Backlund’s play. He scored two goals, but the first was the result of an impressive drive to the net by #10 (I think that was the guy) with Backlund, the trailer, picking up the rebound, and the second was off an unforced turnover and a horrible save attempt by Jones that he ended up putting in himself.

Other than that, Backlund looked like a non-factor. His skating was effortless – unless you’re Lidstrom that’s not a good thing – and his forecheck failed to impress. He did seem to make efforts to backcheck (in that he was not usually the last guy back in the defensive zone). I’m hoping that game was an anomaly.