JoeSchmoe

Canadian here. I know a LOT of Canadians who aren't crossing over and say they won't until Trump is out... even if the trade situation improves. Rightly or wrongly, the media here is very anti-Trump and they've done their best to paint the worst picture possible. I'm not a black or white person, and I still actively cross... though bad exchange and US inflation has reduced the frequency (I'm going to the Finger Lakes on Friday). I suspect part of the 37% are people like me. I think the border has actually gotten friendlier since the tension started. The US border guards are better than the Canadian ones! Maybe they had customer service lessons with all the poor media attention.

Barring a miracle in net, this team isn't good enough to make the playoffs. That said, last year was the low of lows. Our offense sucked two years ago, and by losing Skinner and Mittelstadt, we made it worse. Everything was bad and there was nothing to hope for. Last year our offense was okay. Losing JJP hurts, but there's reason to believe we could make that up with some growth from the kids. Moreover, we added some good expected goal % players while getting rid of some really, really bad ones (Clifton, Cozens, and Lafferty). Our defense is a lot better and it will be nice to see Mule in a highly reduced role. With surprise goaltending and growth from Benson and Peterka (and a full season from Norris, Dahlin, and Thompson), there's a way into the playoffs this year. At the beginning of last season, there was no possible path no matter how you sliced it.

My theory is balanced lines don't work. When you take really good players and put them together, they'll score more in total than if you separate them and put them with JAGs. The reason is you usually need to string together multiple good plays to score. If you have just one guy making great plays, they'll usually die on a JAGs stick before they get in the net. My daughter's hockey team last year was a great proof of this concept (yes, obviously not the NHL 😀). They had 3 good forwards that could see the ice and make good plays and 6 that were defensively responsible, but didn't have any offensive instincts (3 lines total). The coach initially ran 3 balanced lines but the team couldn't barely score on any of the lines because the 3 girls with offensive skills weren't getting the puck or had no one in the right spots to pass to. Eventually the coach put the 3 offense minded girls together and they started scoring a LOT and became a pretty good team. Again, it's not the NHL, but it proves the concept that multiple good plays are usually needed to score goals.

I agree, but I'm just hoping one of them will be far above a PPG and showing themselves better off in the NHL. Unlikely I know, but this is hope season!

Kulich Thompson Tuch Benson Norris Quinn Zucker McLeod Doan Greenway Krebs Malenstyn By the end of the season, I'm hoping Östlund or Helenius can step into a 2nd or 3rd line role and demote the vets down. Not likely to happen though.

The pizza thread was my favourite. Still another month+ until we have something meaningful to talk about. 😔 It'd be nice to get another fun topic to discuss.

He was the first sports talk-radio host I would listen to on WGR. I didn't listen often, and I'm not sure if he only said this once or twice, but I still hear him in my head saying "Ottawa-Ottawa-Ottawa-Ottawa" when someone brings up the Senators.

We need some good OT threads to get us through the next month.

I think you're right PA. These really are the dog days of hockey.

I'm hoping what we saw last year is nowhere near Luukkonen's prime.

Even in their limited roles against limited competition, Lafferty and Gilbert were two of our worst statistical players. Clifton was less sheltered but was still our worst defensemen next to Bryson. The guys we got to replace them are pretty decent in similar roles.

I know it's been touched on many times as part of other threads, but I wanted a full discussion on the addition by subtraction for next year's roster. We dropped quite a four boat anchors and by my math we picked up one. Clifton Lafferty Cozens Gilbert I feel like Danforth is the only new guy we got that will be drag on the team (I've got no idea what they were thinking with him). How much does losing these guys improve our goal differential?

Really enjoyed the "Adirondack Pale Ale" earlier today! Mostly 2-row pale malt, a little Munich, and flaked wheat. Hopped with Cascade, Citra, and Simcoe. US 05 yeast which doesn't fully clear, but tastes like it does. Pretty basic, but I would definitely make it again!

Problem with UPL is his contract. He'll be given every opportunity to prove how bad he is... And by that time he'll have us squarely out of a playoff spot.

With Canadian beer prices, a batch that costs $40 all-in would easily be $120 at the LCBO. With my time, obviously the per hour savings aren't great unless I'm also having fun making it... which for now I am. The biggest benefit is the ability to customize the beer. I'm not sure if I've ever seen a cherry wheat on this side of the border. Now that I can make my own, I can make as much as I want if I like it. To your point about washing bottles I hear you! A keg would be really nice! 🫣

I'd do it, even though there's no way Oloffson does. He had a really good season last year offensively and was one of the best ExG% on Vegas. No way he pulls those numbers unless he seriously fixed his defensive game. He may be a better PP player than JJP and would do well on our 3rd line or as a 2nd line fill-in.

Here's the last batch I bottled on Tuesday. My daughter made me the labels for our trip to the Adirondacks (we leave tomorrow). TBH they could use a bit more bottle time, but I'll be damned if I don't drink an "Adirondack Pale Ale" in the Adirondacks. By the last day or two of the trip, I'm sure they'll be fine.

I love German wheat beers. Good on your neighbour for brewing something other than the ubiquitous hazy IPAs that plague the whole craft beer scene.

I definitely don't want a fruit bomb. I'm hoping for a Blue Moon level of fruit flavour, only with cherry instead of orange.

So the cherry wheat is in the fermenter. I bought a 750ml bottle for cherry concentrate and used about a 1/3 of it to somewhat match the 236ml shown on your bottle. I was kinda hoping the colour would be a bit more subtle.... There's no mistaking this is a cherry beer. I actually didn't realize how much impact the cherry would have on the colour so I had added a 1/4lb of Crystal 120L to the 10lb grain bill to redden it. Looks like it didn't need it, but it does provide a bit of a fruity flavour anyhow. Hopefully the taste will be subtle as you said. In reading recipes online, that seems to be the consensus. Edit: Here it is brewing up in my old dungeon of a basement. Everything is pretty stirred up by the active yeast... the cherry hues are somewhat muted by yeast and hops colouring.

Here in Ontario a pint of IPA is running about $4CAD. Some a bit less some a bit more. I learned this from my cider making days. I was meticulous, while my friends that also made it (as a group) were c'est la vie. I can still remember two of their batches... One was drinkable but it had a BBQ sauce aftertaste. Another was so bad that no one would even touch the stuff unless they were way beyond the point of caring, but there was nothing else to drink. On the other hand, people would tell me they liked my cider better than the stuff you can buy. I would make mine hard and dry, sometimes adding a few cans of frozen raspberry or cranberry juice concentrate.

You couldn't have said that better. Hazy IPAs are so overrated. I don't mind the odd one but its gotten out of hand.

Great idea! Thanks! There's a place near here that sells cherry concentrate. It's not cheap, but a cherry wheat sounds delicious.

I'm not sure what size that fermentation vessel is, but it looks like that mead kit has everything you need to make beer except a pot, a mesh bag, and a thermometer. If you've already got a large pot and a decent digital thermometer, the bag is less than $10 on Amazon. As an aside, I've never tried mead. Is there something to compare it to flavour wise?

For me, the draw is the suspense of not knowing what the beer is going to taste like until close to a month after you put the work in. It's like a kid waiting for Christmas. I don't think I'll ever graduate away from BIAB and get into what you guys have done, nor would my wife sign off on it. It'd be nice to have a tap, but I seriously fear Weave's story, and my willpower not to grab a pint or two with dinner is not very good. If I did, at most I could see myself getting something like this as it would easily fit in the spare fridge. https://www.vevor.ca/beer-mini-keg-c_10709/vevor-beer-growler-tap-system-170oz-5l-mini-keg-304-stainless-steel-pressurized-beer-growler-keg-growler-with-pressure-display-co2-regulator-faucet-leak-proof-ring-for-draft-homebrew-craft-beer-p_010690630801