NHL Playoffs

TCrouch · Post by **TCrouch** » Wed Jun 06, 2007 11:45 am

Yeah, I guess that's true. They're not superhuman, but Giggy appears to be when teams can't make cross-ice passes like that. I've seen games where he just looks dominant, and rarely have I seen him look so bewildered like Ottawa seems to make him from time to time. Then again, even in the 5-goal game, he gave up more redirections and deflections than straight-up shots, so I have no idea. So tough for me to analyze anything hockey-related since I barely know what the hell is going on. I'm ignorant.

10spro · Post by **10spro** » Wed Jun 06, 2007 11:50 am

TCrouch wrote:Unless I'm mistaken it's the Toronto Maple Leafs in like 1942 or something ridiculous, isn't it?

Where were you doing the regular season? Bingo!

TCrouch · Post by **TCrouch** » Wed Jun 06, 2007 11:58 am

Just watching what I could. The NHL has a ridiculously low TV-schedule here, even with Anaheim and San Jose being my "local" teams based on proximity. I couldn't even watch half the games, and missed a bunch of early-round playoff games that weren't on a channel I could get (mostly FSN stuff).

I'm still a very new NHL fan, but I've been to a couple of Ducks games before the lockout. Just not a hardcore guy so I generally don't post much to avoid sounding as ignorant as I am.

Jimmydeicide · Post by **Jimmydeicide** » Wed Jun 06, 2007 4:39 pm

TC your far from ignorant mate dont sell yourself short .

Your thoughts are pretty much spot on. A lot of the ducks games were on KDOC 56 not sure if you got that channel up there but needless to say the nhl coverage overall is horrendous even though versus do a great job, one game a week sucks.

pk500 · Post by **pk500** » Wed Jun 06, 2007 5:39 pm

I'm tighter than two coats of paint, but I would collect cans on the roadside to pay for NHL Center Ice every year. Easily the best $150 I can spend for in-home entertainment for seven months per year.

Between the Oilers and others, I easily watch 100-120 regular-season games per year. Plus Center Ice gives you all of the playoff games from the first two rounds that aren't on Versus.

Take care,
PK

Feanor · Post by **Feanor** » Wed Jun 06, 2007 8:13 pm

I just don't have the time, or frankly, the interest to watch much hockey apart from Flyers games. And I stopped watching them too much when they decided to be the worst team in the league this past regular season.

Bring on the Draft.

10spro · Post by **10spro** » Wed Jun 06, 2007 8:47 pm

Big hit on C. Pronger by the Vermette @ Neil duo, he may have suffered a head injury. Boy, that C. Perry is hard to move around the net. Nothing seems to be going right for OTT.

TCrouch · Post by **TCrouch** » Wed Jun 06, 2007 9:11 pm

If the Ducks lose this one, it will be a meltdown of epic proportions.

Ottawa has absolutely no backbone anymore, won't fight for anything, and is getting their asses handed to them at every turn. I was worried the Ducks would come out tight, commit a bunch of stupid penalties, and give up a quick goal. I had no idea Ottawa would be that team...wow.

And how about my boy Beauchemin! Save of the period haha...talk about the poster child for journeymen overachievers while in the spotlight...!

10spro · Post by **10spro** » Wed Jun 06, 2007 9:24 pm

TCrouch wrote: And how about my boy Beauchemin! Save of the period haha...talk about the poster child for journeymen overachievers while in the spotlight...!

When things are not going for you, you end up in a rut like J. Spezza. Wide open net and he hits Beauchemin's shaft's stick. It's going to be tough for OTT to come back, ANA is skating well and that bigger size is just too much for the Sens. You have to win those battles around the board, create some loose pucks but Ducks are in control of that department.

10spro · Post by **10spro** » Wed Jun 06, 2007 9:56 pm

Well, here we go, it could be the last period of the season. I don't think ANA is playing well enough to be up by two goals, but they are getting the breaks. R. Emery looked shaky tonight, although a couple of goals were just a bit flukey like the Phillips' goal, so what do you do if you were B. Murray?

I say bring in M. Gerber, the season is on the line, Ducks are going to trap to death in the third, what do you have to lose? C. Pronger is back although I can tell he's not feeling 100%.

XXXIV · Post by **XXXIV** » Wed Jun 06, 2007 10:34 pm

The Ducks showed us that the better team can pound that point home.

The Sens...out with a whimper...Ugly.

Gratz to the Ducks. They literrally beat the Sens into submission.

How many cups is that for Niedermeyer? Talk about a HOF career tha hasnt gotten its due.

XXXIV · Post by **XXXIV** » Wed Jun 06, 2007 10:41 pm

WOW!

I take back the Niedermeyer statement.

He is now recognized.

10spro · Post by **10spro** » Wed Jun 06, 2007 10:50 pm

I believe this is the fourth time he raises Lord Stanley. A great Captain, a great leader and deserving of the Conn Smythe trophy. The Paul Coffey of the 90's and 2K's, best defensive-offensive minded player in the league.

XXXIV · Post by **XXXIV** » Wed Jun 06, 2007 10:55 pm

10spro wrote:I believe this is the fourth time he raises Lord Stanley. A great Captain, a great leader and deserving of the Conn Smythe trophy. The Paul Coffey of the 90's and 2K's, best defensive-offensive minded player in the league.

Great player no one ever talks about...Its very cool to see him win the CS.

Though I would rather have Niedermeyer as I think he is a better Defense man when he has to be...I think you found the perfect guy to compare him too.

TCrouch · Post by **TCrouch** » Wed Jun 06, 2007 11:14 pm

Hey, a couple of us predicted he'd win the Conn Smythe earlier today...

I am officially head over heels for this sport. I've never been so emotional watching games as I have this playoff series. Amazing stuff.

XXXIV · Post by **XXXIV** » Wed Jun 06, 2007 11:19 pm

TCrouch wrote:Hey, a couple of us predicted he'd win the Conn Smythe earlier today...

I am officially head over heels for this sport. I've never been so emotional watching games as I have this playoff series. Amazing stuff.

Welcome aboard!

After the NFL ...The NHL SC playoffs are my favorite thing in sports.

Post by **ScoopBrady** » Wed Jun 06, 2007 11:28 pm

I'm happy for ex-Devil Scotty Niedermeyer and ex-Hawk Travis Moen. I've always felt that Niedermeyer was often overlooked when talking about the games best defensemen. I would kill for him to be a Hawk or to go back to the Devils. Glad to hear you are embracing hockey Terry. The sport can definitely use more fans. IMO there's football and hockey then there's everything else.

JRod · Post by **JRod** » Wed Jun 06, 2007 11:31 pm

Man Ottawa really did themselves in tonight. You knew after the own goal, the gods of fate were not going to favor them.

Then they get a shorthanded goal and in the next 15 seconds Anaheim scores. You know the hockey gods were punishing Alfredson for his game 4 headhunting antics.

Here's the order of importance in my sport watching world.

Denver Broncos - Couldn't really care about the rest of the NFL.
Anything that involves a soccer ball.
Stanley Cup and the playoffs.

I like the excitement in the announcing, the fast pace of the game and little commercial interuption. You get 20 minutes of action and then you get a break for a beer or something.

pk500 · Post by **pk500** » Thu Jun 07, 2007 12:02 am

Congrats to the Ducks. Clearly the better team won.

Elimination games in hockey are as much of a test of will as they are talent, and there's absolutely no question that Anaheim has an iron will. Name me one player on that team who is soft.

You can't.

Even the offensive-minded guys and small, fast guys like McDonald play with grit and are willing to submit themselves to any punishment to gain possession of the puck. I'm starting to wonder if the Anaheim management has some sort of special NHL Wonderlic test because every player on that roster has balls of steel.

Ottawa can't say the same thing. The soft Sens returned to the Stanley Cup Finals within the the first period of Game 1 when they realized that their opening barrage of hits against the Ducks was met with a shrug and then a thorough pounding by Anaheim.

The Ducks had the series won then and there because the Sens' will was broken by physical force that Ottawa never had seen in the first three rounds, just as I predicted (small pat on the back -- you've got to be right at least once in your life.

).

Half of Ottawa's blue line is Cottonelle soft -- Corvo, Meszaros and Preissing. And Heatley and Spezza are just a disgrace. No heart, no will, no fire. I would burn their jerseys tonight if I was a Sens' fan.

As Pronger said in the post-game interview, Anaheim plays on the edge. They were the most-penalized team in the league this year and the first team to win the Cup with that distinction since the Broad Street Bullies in the mid-70s. But they also have such skilled big men and such competitive zeal. I really admire that.

The interview with the Niedermayer brothers after the game had me beaming, as did the emotion shown by Selanne. It would be so fitting if Teemu hung up the skates on top, especially after two excellent seasons rebounding from the disastrous tenure in Colorado.

I had mixed emotions watching Prongs hoist the mug for the first time. I love him as a player; I hate him for leaving Edmonton. But I started to feel physically ill when Lauren Pronger stuck her perma-tan mug into the screen during Prongs' post-game interview. F*cking Yoko Ono. 'Nuff said.

It's a shame more people don't enjoy this greatest of all sports, especially when it's televised on NBC. I'm no Emrick fan, but the Peacock Network's analysis teams of Hull and Ferraro, and Olczyk and McGuire are EXCELLENT, every bit as good as the guys on CBC. I think Kelly Hrudey breaks down film a touch better on "Behind the Mask," but NBC is really doing hockey right.

Finally, on the sixth day, God created hockey. On the seventh day, He sat back, cracked a Labatt Blue and admired his creation while watching NHL Center Ice on the couch. I think that tells you where I put hockey in my sports' pantheon.

I honestly will be lost a bit at night, after my wife and kids go to bed, for the next week without games. I sh*t you not.

The NHL regular season starts in about 15 weeks. My countdown already has started.

It's been a great time talking pucks with you cats all season and especially for the last two months during the playoffs. I feel the same passion for the game in you that I have, and that makes it even more rewarding.

Long may it continue here, boys!

Take care,
PK

10spro · Post by **10spro** » Thu Jun 07, 2007 12:08 am

Those of us that play Hockey know how resilient and tough players have to go thru with their aches and pains especially at this time of the year. D. Alfredsson was by far the best player for OTT and if the rest of the gang did not syncronize with him it was because the Sens were sooooo banged up, that not many could even pick up a stick for this game like M. Comrie who had a separated shoulder, W. Redden played with a bad hip, M. Fisher had a groin problem, Schubert had a leg problem while Corvo and Preissing were hurt as well.

C. Pronger after that hit in the 1st period played with a partial separated shouder that kept popping out and therefore his limited minutes afterwards. These are tough injuries to cope with, but when you play in the finals, you try to forget the pain. Injuries are part of the game no doubt, and credit to the ducks for playing such a physical game, especially during the first two games of the series.

Whether people like him or not, B. Burke has a lot to do with this winning team and he changed the whole chemistry and attitude in ANA. He brings in S. Niedermayer, resurrects T. Selanne's career, brings in C. Pronger trusts the services of R. Carlyle, but the main core of the group, the youngsters, Penner, Getlaf, Kunitz, McDonald, were players drafted by B. Murray (that's right, OTT's coach) while he was the GM in ANA.

All tough and big guys that will make ANA a difficult team to play and will contend for the next few years.

Kudos also for that amazing checking line of Moen, Niedermayer and Pahlsson for shutting down every single top line they faced.

If they re-sign Giguere, this team will be on top for awhile yet, congratulations Ducks, the only thing missing is the 'Mighty' name. Hope the people in South CAL enjoy this feat, a great accomplishment since W. Gretzky was a King, although I fear many were more interested in Bob Barker's last gaming show. Just don't tell Ottawa that.

10spro · Post by **10spro** » Thu Jun 07, 2007 12:16 am

pk500 wrote: I honestly will be lost a bit at night, after my wife and kids go to bed, for the next week without games. I sh*t you not.

The NHL regular season starts in about 15 weeks. My countdown already has started.

It's been a great time talking pucks with you cats all season and especially for the last two months during the playoffs. I feel the same passion for the game in you that I do, and that makes it even more rewarding. Long may it continue here, boys! Take care, PK

I know what you mean Paul. Another fun season, (maybe not so much for you this year) always good sharing views and chatting about the coolest game on earth with you. Hey, there's the awards coming up and who's going to sign where that will keep us puckheads alive during the summer.

greggsand · Post by **greggsand** » Thu Jun 07, 2007 1:09 am

Being in LA, I look forward to the 55 seconds the Ducks will get on the news tonight!!!

Templehorn · Post by **Templehorn** » Thu Jun 07, 2007 1:42 am

GARAGE AND MOUSOLINI , STANLEY CUP CHAMPS! CONGRATS!

LAking · Post by **LAking** » Thu Jun 07, 2007 11:21 am

greggsand wrote:Being in LA, I look forward to the 55 seconds the Ducks will get on the news tonight!!!

True. I've heard lots of fellow kings fans say this is good for the Kings and hockey because it will finally get recognized in So. Cal. NEWS FLASH! NO ONE CARES! This is HORRIBLE for Kings fans and does NOTHING for hockey in So. Cal. Time to get some anti-depressants and try not to think about what just happened.

Jimmydeicide · Post by **Jimmydeicide** » Thu Jun 07, 2007 11:58 am

Yeh this blows if your a Kings fan but so do the Kings im about done with their BS. Time to get the check book out.