The Stig
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Post by The Stig on May 15, 2010 0:23:40 GMT -5
Wow. That game was a microcosm of the whole series. That's a collapse for the ages.
As much as I can't stand them, hats off to the Flyers for overcoming a heck of a lot more than just a 3-0 deficit. I can't remember a team that's lost their starting goalie to injury so many times in one season.
So now we have 1 vs. 2 in the West and 7 vs. 8 in the East. Man the NHL playoffs are wild.
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One
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Post by One on May 15, 2010 13:09:49 GMT -5
As a western conference guy, I was hoping for Habs-Bruins in the east because the pure hatred between those franchises would have been fun to watch. Tough one for Bruins fans to swallow, but they can all take some degree of comfort if they just think of the future and the gift that keeps on giving - - MLSE and Brian Burke. Tuuka Rask, Taylor Hall/Tyler Seguin, and another undoubtedly high draft pick again in 2011. The B's will rebound.
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Boz
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Post by Boz on May 15, 2010 15:10:49 GMT -5
I had to go out and get myself another tattoo today to assuage my sorrow.
I feel much better now.
I have never rooted for the Habs in my life, so I guess it's meteor for the Eastern Conference. Gotta go with Chicago in the West, though I don't think they'll win. San Jose is beyond their own regular choke point and they're playing great.
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jgalt
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Post by jgalt on May 15, 2010 16:56:28 GMT -5
I would love to see a Habs-Balckhawks final. Great to have an original 6 match up. NHL would hate it because of the ratings, but is SJ much better? Im going to have to root for the habs to go all the way only because they have been such huge underdogs all along that it would be crazy to see them win the cup.
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CAHoya07
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Post by CAHoya07 on May 15, 2010 18:42:47 GMT -5
Let's go Sharks! Never been to the Stanley Cup in their admittedly short history.
Also rooting for the Canadiens, because I want to see what more their fans can do to the city of Montreal if they win another series.
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jgalt
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Post by jgalt on May 18, 2010 0:17:42 GMT -5
the games yesterday were interesting, ill reserve judgment on the habs series- remember they got "blown out" by the caps a couple times, halak was pulled, and then he played amazing after going back in.
But why are both series being played on the same nights? Yeah yeah its probably scheduling with arenas, but it sucks to have of nights like this
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Boz
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Post by Boz on May 18, 2010 8:06:33 GMT -5
the games yesterday were interesting, ill reserve judgment on the habs series- remember they got "blown out" by the caps a couple times, halak was pulled, and then he played amazing after going back in. But why are both series being played on the same nights? Yeah yeah its probably scheduling with arenas, but it sucks to have of nights like this Today's the last day for that. And today won't be much of a problem, since one game is at 7 and one is at 10 EDT. After the Game 2's, they're on alternate days the rest of the way, I'm pretty sure. I didn't get it either in Game 1, but I'll allow for scheduling difficulties and not slam Bettman for once.
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One
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Post by One on May 18, 2010 9:21:51 GMT -5
I think a couple factors caused the league to schedule the first two games the way they did. League rules meant Hawks-Sharks could not start until all the second round series were over. With Boston-Philly going to game 7 Friday night, that delayed the start of the series out west. Then, ideally, Hawks-Sharks would have started Saturday night, but HP Pavilion had a concert scheduled Saturday night, so they got bumped to Sunday because NBC had to have a game this weekend.
Boz is right, though, the series go to alternate nights after tonight. Philly-Habs resumes Thursday night, while the teams out west get an extra day for travel and resume Friday night in Chicago.
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The Stig
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Post by The Stig on May 18, 2010 14:51:03 GMT -5
Apparently Philly fans were upset that Montreal's fans were the only ones getting press for their bad behavior, so they decided to redress the balance by vandalizing a Montreal reporter's car and the CBC's French language production truck during Game 1: sports.espn.go.com/nhl/playoffs/2010/news/story?id=5198646
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jgalt
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Post by jgalt on May 18, 2010 17:00:49 GMT -5
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RusskyHoya
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Post by RusskyHoya on May 21, 2010 22:24:00 GMT -5
Meanwhile the Russian team has won 26 consecutive World Championship games, dating back to 2007. Russia vs. host Germany in one semifinal tomorrow, Czechs vs. Sweden in the other one. Most of the national team rosters bear little to no resemblance to the Olympic ones, Russia being the major glaring exception. Largely an unfair fight - the powerplay unit is Ovechkin, Datsuyk, Kovalchuk, Gonchar, and Malkin. What the hell are you supposed to do against that.
U.S. fell flat on its face and was borderline lucky to not be relegated. Unprecedented performances by the Germans, Danes, Swiss, and Norwegians, largely for the same reason (Big 7 rosters full of youths and some lower-wattage players).
PS/On edit: Who knew that there was such a bitter rivalry between Germany and Switzerland? One of Germany's assistant coaches has been suspended for the remainder of the tournament for taking part in a post-game melee. What happened to mild-mannered Euros?
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RusskyHoya
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Post by RusskyHoya on May 23, 2010 16:41:03 GMT -5
Apparently, the answer to my "what the hell are you supposed to do against that" question above is "Have Tomas Vokoun as your goalie." Career day for Vokoun, along with a couple of highly fortuitous strokes for the Czechs, such as the gamewinning goal coming after Ovechkin and Kovalchuk collided with each other as they both went for the puck. 2-1 was the final. Jagr looked like he was ready to announce his retirement. Malkin gets the dunce of the game award for picking up an utterly idiotic roughing penalty - randomly punched a guy in the face after the whistle - 15 seconds into a 6 on 3 power play for Russia. Yes, 6 on 3.
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whatmaroon
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Post by whatmaroon on May 23, 2010 21:05:45 GMT -5
Glad to see my predictions of early round doom not panning out for the Blackhawks. Niemi's played MUCH better than I expected, and playing with 5 D really hasn't hurt them. I still think this team can be had by a team that takes advantage of offensive opportunities and plays responsible defense, but that description didn't fit either VAN or SJ. I hope they give Martin Erat what credit they can for that pass in the last minute of game 4 in the first round.
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The Stig
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Post by The Stig on May 23, 2010 23:01:25 GMT -5
With Philly looking like they'll come out of the East, it'll be a great final for the NHL. Two huge, sports-crazy markets that are also traditional hockey towns, but also an unpredictable matchup that nobody expected. I'm no fan of the Hawks or the Flyers, but it'll be very good for the NHL to have them both in the Cup finals. For hockey fans, it's a refreshing break from Pittsburgh-Detroit, and for the NHL it's a huge improvement over media-weak matchups like Carolina-Edmonton or Ottawa-Anaheim.
The same will be true if the Habs come back. As much as I hate them right now, Montreal is the best hockey market in the world.
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Boz
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Post by Boz on May 24, 2010 10:12:56 GMT -5
I would just like to point out that, for me, watching the Canadiens lie down like dogs for the most part in these conference finals is not frustrating or infuriating at all. Not in the least.
Nope. Just fine with it.
Really.
[edited]
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The Stig
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Post by The Stig on Jun 9, 2010 22:37:30 GMT -5
And that had to be the strangest ending to a Stanley Cup finals series ever. Kane was the only guy in the building who knew that puck was in the net.
The whole thing was strangely similar to the Gold Medal Game in the Olympics. Favored team is winning, underdog gets a late goal, but the favorite wins it on a shot that you know the underdog's goalie would like to have back.
If the Flyers had come back to win the Cup after that Hossa own goal, I think he might have shot himself after it was done. It wasn't his fault at all, but the hockey gods sure made him sweat it out.
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jgalt
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Post by jgalt on Jun 9, 2010 22:39:02 GMT -5
Alrighty then.
16 days to the draft. Then just a few short months til the season starts. Time will fly by
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hifigator
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Post by hifigator on Jun 10, 2010 10:39:07 GMT -5
I'm not too upset with the outcome, although I was slightly pulling for Philly. My main disappointment is that we won't be treated to a game 7 Friday night. Game 7 for all the marbles is just awesome. Oh well.
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The Stig
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Post by The Stig on Jul 20, 2010 23:47:48 GMT -5
Some pretty stunning news - The NHL appears to have rejected Kovalchuk's 17 year deal with the Devils. Apparently the NHL ruled that the years at the end of the contract were added solely to reduce the cap hit, and that nobody expects Kovalchuk to actually play those years. The case is now likely to go to arbitration. Common sense says that the NHL is spot-on here, but proving it to an arbitrator may be difficult. I hope the NHL wins this case and puts an end to these ridiculously long front-loaded contracts. The Hawks pulled the exact same nonsense with Hossa. It's one thing to sign a 10 year deal with a 22 year old (Backstrom), it's another thing entirely to sign a 17 year deal with a 27 year old. Everybody with half a brain can see what is happening, so it's time to stop it. sports.espn.go.com/new-york/nhl/news/story?id=5396861
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jgalt
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Post by jgalt on Jul 24, 2010 0:50:48 GMT -5
Also, in Backstrom and Ovie's deals, the salary gets higher as the contract goes on. I dont think they should put a limit on the length of contracts. Though its easy to say no one plays after 40- with the training getting better and better every year it becomes easier for guys like Chelios to keep going.
The best suggestion i have heard is that no single year of a contract should be able to be less than 50% of any other year. So if you pay a guy 10 mil one year you cant pay him less than 5 mil in any other year of the contract.
I would also think a sliding cap hit would help curb the problem. So if the deal is 9 years the the cap his in two parts: the average of the first 4 years and the last 5 years (or something like that). So if you want a 9 year deal that is a total of 90mil, you cant front load 60 mil in the first 4 years because the cap hit would be 15 mil- a huge hit and against the CBA where no single contract can be more than 20% of the cap.
Just my thoughts on it. Im just hoping this kind of thing doesnt lead to another lock out.
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