Ah, 4-1 leafs. As the kids say, the senators got pwned; one more year of Toronto/Philly. That was a good series last year. Let’s hope it repeats.
As for your “ha” shib, I was just thinking of what would max the ratings out. Montreal/Toronto and Detroit/Colorado would do that pretty well. And think of all the press an original 6 series would get. It would certainly be more watchable than say… a San Jose/Tampa Bay sunbelt series. I don’t even think I would watch that one. :eek:
You may be right, but I got stick with my team. Loyalty and all, y’know. Good luck to the Habs, I hope we trounce 'em. Maybe we can do a Tampa Bay vs Western Canada final and then no one outside of Canada or Florida will tune in. Actually, if the Bolts can make the final I don’t really care who they’d play. But I’ll watch whoever’s in, even if it’s all played north of the border. Maybe I can find some Canadians down here in Florida to watch with. Rumor has it there are one or two down here.
Before the “Bertuzzi Incident”, I envisioned a Vancouver/Tampa Bay final. After that, I wasn’t sure, but I did know that I didn’t want to see Detroit or Colorado (definitely not Colorado) go far. Of course, being a Predators fan, I was hoping for Nashville to go as far as possible. Though Detroit beat them :mad: , I’m pleased with how well Nashville played, and can’t wait for next season, whenever that is. :rolleyes:
I also root for all the Canadian teams. Of course, with two all-Canadian first round series, I had to make some choices earlier than I’d have liked. I chose Calgary over Vancouver. I tend to root for the underdog, and the Flames are a hard-working team with plenty of underrated players. Toronto/Ottawa was more difficult. I’d like to see a well-grown team like the Senators do well, but I’m much more familiar with a lot of the Leafs.
So, I was very pleased to see Calgary advance, and was happy to see Toronto win tonight. And, of course, Montreal was my underdog pick in the east. Of all the Canadian teams, I’m probably rooting for them the most. I’d like to see a Calgary/Montreal final. But I wouldn’t mind seeing Toronto, Tampa Bay or San Jose go all the way either. Again, as long as Detroit or Colorado never win the Cup again, I’ll be happy.
I actually see all four second round match-ups being very close. I do believe Montreal will give Tampa Bay a difficult time. Philadelphia/Toronto should be very close, and very rough. Whoever makes it out of that one might not be in very good shape for the conference finals. In the west, Calgary has the potential to really frustrate the Red Wings. They’re a lot tougher than Nashville, and the Preds easily annoyed Detroit.
And, although I’m not very familiar with San Jose this season, they’ve surprised a lot of people. (Wasn’t this supposed to be somewhat of a rebuilding season for them?) So I’m really hoping they surprise the Avalanche. It would be excellent if San Jose swept Colorado. I’d buy myself a Sharks shirt if that happened. 
Anyhoo…
What an atmosphere in the ACC!!! What a game!
The best part of it was that I was sitting directly behind five Ottawa Senators fans. No wait, the best part was screaming “La-lame-oooooooo!!!” into their ears throughout the entire first period. They left with five minutes to go in the 3rd period while the entire section serenaded them with “Na, na, na, na, hey, hey, good bye,” it was great. Way to go Toronto!
My Picks:
Calgary (bar none) in the West.
Toronto (with some hesitation) in the East.
Am I allowed to just cheer?
Even though I don’t generally follow hockey (yet Lacrosse, which plays almost exactly like hockey logisticly, is one of my 2 favorite sports, go figure), the Stanley Cup playoffs are so tremendously exciting that I have to adopt a team, just for the cup run. This year, I have adopted the team from my lovely wife’s hometown (ehh, Ft. McCloud, close enough)…
GO FLAMES!!!
I can’t wait until they cut those geriatric Detroit players off at the knees!
After that Daniel Alfredson guarantee after game 5, I couldn’t be happier that the Leafs won.
Well… looks like us hockey fans get one day to rest, then on with the mayhem!!
GO LEAFS!!!
Flames 7
Leafs 6
Avs 5
Habs 7
Especially when one of the teams has a player who’s been known to hide behind his teammates after he cheap-shots someone.
Here in Canada, Maggie the monkey - The Sports Network’s guest hockey analyist - had a terrible 2-6 record with her first round NHL playoff predictions.
Well, she’s now made her second round selections. She picked Toronto over Philadelphia, Tampa Bay over Montreal, San Jose over Colorado, and Calgary over Detroit.
I’d prefer to see Montreal over Tampa Bay, but Tampa Bay was my pre-playoff pick to make the finals, so… Otherwise, I like Maggie’s picks!
Anyhoo…
I’ve said it before, but OT hockey in the playoffs is probably the greatest single thing in all of sports.
Just wanted to post this while it was still burned into my brain.
Whilst watching the wings/flames game, Al Svobodka spun an octopus over his head as is tradition in these parts during the playoffs. Bill Clement, one of the monkeys ESPN sent to cover it says “The traditional octopus is on the ice…not the guy (Al had picked it up at this point), the octopus.” 
He seemed to think it was funny. Maybe he just knew how the pilgrims felt.
That is why I hate watching hockey on ESPN.
Are you sure you remember it right?
I thought (and I could be wrong, too) that it was in Calgary, and some wag had tossed something else on the ice as a homage of sorts to Detroit fans. (I want to say a weasel.)
This is going to sound like an awfully stupid quesiton, but, is Maggie actually a monkey, or is this a playful nickname?
Yes, Maggie is an actual monkey. A macaque, to be exact. Last season, she picked Anaheim to win in every round. She became a celebrity in California, even appearing on the front page of the Los Angeles Times. But Ottawa fans hate her. She picked New Jersey over the Senators last season, and picked Toronto over the Senators this year. (Ottawa fans have actually sent her hate mail.)
Actually, she doesn’t really pick the teams in each series; she just spins a wheel. I don’t like this at all. Anyone could do that - human or monkey. They should give her two identical objects with the names or logos of the teams stamped on them, then let her choose between those. Then we’d really see if she’s as good as all the other pundits on TSN or elsewhere.
Anyhoo…
I’m watching game 2 Detroit/Calgary and two things struck me.
Ville Nieminen has the biggest head I’ve ever seen. Big skull, big nose, big mouth with big teeth.
With 5 minutes left in the third, Calgary gives the wings two 2 man advantages in a row! Suprise surprise detroit scores twice. How stupid is that? You can only take “making a statement” so far. They also charged the net (literally) several times giving the wings 2 power plays and the wings scored on one of them. I think Sutter better get them under control and fast or this will be done in five games.
Woohoo! Yzerman, Hull, Shanahan, and Lidstrom all had good games, and points. I’m afraid there will be a lengthy lockout and some of those guys may not come back. So the only thing I want more than to watch the wings lift the cup, is the wings lifting the cup on the back of the old time core wings(Okay so Hull isn’t really an old time wing, but he feels like one:) ) Having fun sitting on the porch Sergei? 
Avs Game. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. I will not consider Forsberg as one of Hockey’s players as long as he keeps getting stupid and hurts his team regularly, and he did it again today. San Jose has real desire right now. And christ they look good, they just don’t give up. I’m really scared if the Wings end up playing them.
Tampa Bay looks like the real deal in Hockey( Damn that phrase just seems wrong somehow) If it weren’t for the Wings I’d have to root for these guys playing their asses off all year.
Right now my head says Sharks-Lightning finals, but fortunately with the assistence of beer I am able to overrule my pesky brain and still say…
Red wings will win it all
Detroit has home ice advantage and games 1&2 are at Joe Louis. And if Calgary fans toss anything onto the ice it will probably be a Cow Tounge (I believe they have done it once already in the first serises).
I suspect you meant “tongue”. I actually looked up “tounge” at Dictionary.com, just to see if it happened to be some obscure bovine body part.
Red Wings fans will throw octopi on the ice, Predators fans will throw catfish, and Panthers fans used to throw plastic rats (after Scott Mellanby killed one in the locker room the season they went to the Stanley Cup finals).
What have other fans thrown on the ice in honour of their teams? Have any come close to being tradition, like Detroit’s octopi? (Hopefully, Nashville’s catfish will stick around long enough to become tradition.)
I think they throw 100 dollar bills on the ice at Rangers games. Oh, wait, that’s the owners, not the fans.
Anyhoo…
Hey, Toronto fans.
Your team has a real py of a goaltender. Oh, and a total py in Tie Domi. And your coach is a chicken*** who’s trying desperately to make everyone forget he ever coached the Flyers.
That is all.
It’s going to have to go 6 or 7 games for Montreal to win now.
Noticed that. Anybody up for a Detroit/Philly rematch?
Kinda sad that a team with as much firepower as Toronto has to rely on Tie Domi to score goals. I wonder if they will come back in Toronto by playing smart, or if they will choke and start “playing harder;” playing harder being a euphamism for taking cheap shots and stupid penalties and practically handing the series to the flyers.
Anybody want to comment on Colorado? Seems to me somebody said something about them lacking depth and relying on a newly rebuilt blue line 
I will admit to being a wee bit stunned that Granato scratched Teemu Selanne. I know he hasn’t had the greatest season, but he’s still a possible threat for San Jose to watch for. Taking him out means that they have even less firepower and they have to rely more on Sakic, Hejduk, Forsberg, and Tanguay. I’m still not counting the Avs out of this one, but it’d take a lot for them to win this series with the way they’ve been playing.
The one thing that Roy gave the avs that Aebischer can’t is that aura of invincibility. He made a 0-0 game seem like a 1-0 avs lead, and a 1-0 avs lead into 3-0. No lead was safe. No series was guaranteed. Without him between the pipes, the Avs seem like just another team.
Lecavalier seems to be finding his game :eek: Wonder if we can stop hearing about how good he could be yet. I think he’s plenty good right now.
I’m still sick of this Cinderella crap that’s being shoved down me gullet. The **only ** team that should be called a Cinderella is San Jose. They weren’t even supposed to make the playoffs. Instead they made the second seed in the west and have the “mighty” Colorado Avalanche looking like they are out of their league.
Calgary may have lost game 2, but at least they made a statement. That statement was “We love the penalty box.” I know that they love to play a physical game and that it has worked well for them, but you have to put an ounce of smarts into it against a team that has a power play like Detroits. The wings, having learned from the Nashville series, have been keeping their cool and staying out of the box. If Calgary can do the same, they stand a chance to win the series.