Oil in 6.
Kings are out. Caps are out.
I’m rooting for the Flyers in the playoffs this year, actually. I saw them twice on NBC and I really liked what I saw.
Long-suffering Islander fan here, too. But D_Odds, I think you misspelled “Let’s Go Mets.”
Okey Dokey. Game 1 is out of the way for Detroit. 3-2 in double overtime. Couple of thoughts.
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I really hate OLN. It’s like they went out of their way to find the dumbest commentators possible. I really really really hate OLN.
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The Wings are falling into a bad habit. They’re just firing off shots without considering anything else. Rolusson is going to have a huge save percentage, but most of the shots were easy stops to make. They need to start thinking more and not just firing the puck.
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The refs swallowed their whistles in overtime. Franzen put a hit on someone that looked a lot like an interference call, and an Oiler commited a pretty blatant holding call on Draper. No calls on either. :mad: I really hope we’re not falling in to old habits here.
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Did I mention how much I hate the OLN broadcast crew? I did? Oh. Well, I still hate them.
Ottawa looked really good tonight, especially in the latter portion of the game. Plenty of speed and chances. We need to cut down on the shots against and the stupid penalties, but all in all an excellent start to the playoffs.
Were they called or weren’t they? 
:wally
(I surrounded the wally in winkers to highlight the “winking” part and not the “putz” part. Hopefully I can win some hearts and minds IRT changing how the wally smiley is viewed. Please don’t take offense)
[random moment]
Holy crap, they fired Pat Quinn!
I have to admit, as much as I disagreed with and sometimes hated his coaching, I’ll miss his interviews and seeing his face at the games.
Now, what’ll happen with Ferguson?
[/random moment]
Dat’s it!!
drops the glove, pulls fetus’ jersey over his head, begins whuppin
I’ll teach ya ta point out my stupidity and overexplain a joke.
ahem “drops the gloves”
Pointed out my own stupidity. Have to beat myself up later. :smack:
Wish I could have posted befoe he first night of play, but FWIW, here’s my picks.
In da west…
Wings over Oil in 5. Too much depth and the wings PP is awesome. Oil still have a quesion mark in goal.
Stars over the Avs in 6 games. Better goaltending with Turco, and the Avs defense is pretty thin after Rob Blake.
Calgary over the Ducks in 5. Flames don’t lose at home. Kiprisov is the best goalie in the league. Phaneauf will win a Norris trophy in a few years.
Man, I hate them.
Nashville over SJ in 7 games. Kariya and depth on defense will wear out Thorton and Cheechoo. And the coin came up tails.
Eastern Conference…
Ottawa over Tampa in 5. Ottawa is going to the Eastern finals. TB gots no goalie.
Carolina over Montreal in 5. Canes are deeeeeeeep. Could sweep this series.
NJ over the Rangers in 6. The Devils know how to win in the playoffs. The Rangers rookie goalie will have trouble trying to outplay Brodeur.
Elias is back and the Devils are hot.
Buffalo over the Flyers in 7 games. Sabres have better goaltending and depth on all four lines. But, I expect a close series with at least 3-4 games decided in OT.
.
Go Rangers! Two and a half hours until they drop the puck on game 1.
I didn’t start trying to become a hockey fan until around 98, and it didn’t stick until 2000. Imagine how much my hockey fandom has SUCKED to this point.
I’m not expecting much in the playoffs; the Rangers are close to mirroring the Giants, and many of us remember how well the Giants good season translated into the playoffs. Ugh.
But even still, I’m optimistic. And if the Rangers get swept without scoring a goal, well, I’m already mentally prepared for that. (Stupid Giants.)
Assuming the Rangers don’t win the cup, I’m rooting for anybody other than Tampa Bay just so that Shibb has to change his location. hehheh.
Avs won!
I didn’t get to see it, though, cuz I had to work.
grumble
Hell, in Detroit, when we played our usual studly defense, he’d yell at the defensemen to get involved in the offense more, that he had the goal secured.
Hasek was a bad man. Definitely one of the top goaltenders ever (top 15 or so).
Then again, the Wings have been super guilty ovre the recent years of not shooting enough and passing one time too many to always get the perfect shot. I’d much prefer them to put the damned puck on the net and see what happens.
I also prefer them to swallow the whistle permanently for playoff hockey. The old days would have meant shitty teams could clutch and grab and rely more on luck to beat faster, slilled teams like Detroit (I’m talking to you, Calgary).
Meh, we shall see. Should be a fun postseason. Too bad we don’t have OLN in Buffalo. Stoopit lockout.
A-friggin-men. The Stanley Cup, the toughest trophy to win, doesn’t belong south of the Mason-Dixon line.
and it should be back in Detroit where it wins. We need the Pistons and the Wings to win it all so it can counteract the suck from the Lions.
:smack: where it BELONGS.
Fingers…no…type…what…brain…tells…it…toooooregojrewghiurehgiuearg
Did you mean to say that you’d prefer them not to swallow the whistle?
These playoffs have vindicated the NHL’s obstruction crackdown. The speed is back in the game, and it’s awesome to watch. The Sens-Lightning game was a thing of beauty, and the Buffalo-Philadelphia game was awesome. I certainly don’t miss the clutching and grabbing.
Some Thoughts:
[ul]
[li]I really though Ottawa was going to choke again yesterday but this seems to be a new team (which is good for my playoff pool).[/li][li]The check from behind on Joe Sakic has to result in a suspension. A couple of the other hits were the result of a player turning his back away from the check but this was not one this cases. It was a dirty hit. I’m not even sure who it was who did it.[/li][li]What kind of year would Patrick Elias have had if it wasn’t for the hepatitis A? That little kick pass to Langenbrunner today? It had me cheering as a hockey and soccer fan. I pray that Leafs can find some way to pry him away from Devils this offseason.[/li][li]Carolina looked young and inexperienced today and Gerber looked more like Arturs Irbe during his last days in Carolina than anyone else.[/li][li]Peter Forsberg is an absolute magician on the ice. It’s a shame that he plays for the Flyers. He will be missed whenever he decides to retire.[/li][/ul]
I’m a fan without a team but, by default, it falls to whomever is playing the Flyers. So…LET’S GO BUFFALO!!!
Since you didn’t say *pro *team doin’…My team already won it all. U Wisconsin Badgers men team beat Boston College 2-1 in the championship. With 1.4 seconds left BC banged a shot off the goalpost…close. We barely got by to the final 4 after a triple overtime game, 1-0. 3 OT’s, 111 minutes, 99 shots saved, 1 goal. Best game ever.
To complete the sweep, the UW womens team beat Minnesota 3-0 in the finals. Our freshman goaltender had 2 shutouts in the last 2 games. Not bad.
There’s a brother & sister that play on their respective teams too, so they each brought home a title.
It’s been few and far between that I get updates on hockey, but I’m glad to see that my Devils are coming off of an eleven game winning streak.
And due to my general lack-of-following-the-season this year, I’m just going to say I’m rooting for my hometown team . . . again. 
Tripler
Devil Worshipper since 1982–but I’ve already mentioned this before.