I’m disappointed that the Leafs lost to the Flyers, especially after that third period comeback to tie the game. I wouldn’t have felt as bad if they had made it to a seventh game, and then lost. I feel bad for fans in both Toronto and Philadelphia. It’s always more exciting for the winning team, and less difficult for the losing team, if the final game is in the winning team’s hometown.
That said…
Colorado is GONE! Thank you, San Jose!
And thank you, Calgary! Being a Predators fan, the Red Wings are obviously not a favorite of mine. (I do like Steve Yzerman a lot though, and wish him a full and speedy recovery.)
Now, I’ll still be rooting for a Flames/Lightning final. I’d prefer to see the Flames win the Cup, but Tampa Bay was my pick before the playoffs started. After that, I wouldn’t mind seeing San Jose win it all. And, although I’m not a Flyers fan, it’ll be nice to see someone besides Colorado, Detroit and New Jersey win the Cup.
So, can we now start talking about potential Conn Smythe winners? There are a few players who come to mind, but I can’t think of anyone in particular just yet. Of course, even if one player totally carries their team through the first three rounds - and they’d never be in the finals if it wasn’t for that one player - if someone else has a great Cup final, the former player tends to get little serious consideration.
My father and I were discussing the other night how sweet it would be if we could snuff Flyers out of the run for the Cup just like we snuffed the Eagles out of the NFC Championship game a couple of years ago. So,
**
Bring it on, Philly!**
Or, as my six year old son likes to say (I think it’s from watching too much DragonballZ): “Let’s do this!”
Just what the NHL needs, the Stanley Cup in Florida. It’s only a matter of time before someone drapes it in light blue polyester, or uses it as a pill dispenser.
Let’s go FLYERS.
Nah, we’ll use the top part of build the corners of sand castles. We’ll repaint the bottom orange and white and use it to route construction on the Lee Roy Selmon Expressway.
There is joy in Mudville, otherwise known as San Jose, today!
The San Jose Sharks have advanced to the Western Conference Finals for the first time in franchise history! We wore out the Avalanche and we’re going to take it all the way, baby!
I just have to throw in my thoughts on hockey, Calgary, and the Flames. I’ve never liked hockey. I’ve never really liked any sport, but especially didn’t like hockey. Hell, I can’t even skate!
But seeing my town’s team going to round 3 has been awesome! I’ve watched pretty much every game. I’m now not only watching hockey, I’m loving it! The win over Detroit the other night was fantastic. The street party that followed was incredible. 17th Avenue, one of our prime nighttime entertainment strips was shut down by police because of the thousands and thousands of revellers that poured out of the bars and onto the streets. And it all ended without a single arrest.
Everywhere you go, there’s Flames paraphanalia stuck to cars, painted on houses, and adorning attire. What a wonderful way to bring this city together and make it feel so much more like a community. At this point, I think I’d even shell out for season’s tickets next year (if there were going to be a season).
Based on my vast hockey experience of watching maybe thirty games in my entire life, I’d say we’re going to have a bit of trouble getting past San Jose. But, if our guys play a tight game, play smart, and exploit SJ’s weaknesses (whatever those may be), we just might be able to go on to the Cup.
Actually, when watching the game the other night, my Mom, who is close on 70, asked wasn’t Martin St. Louis awfully young to be playing hockey. I bet he gets carded when he doesn’t have the scraggly stuff on his face.
Without the scraggly stuff and the musculature, I think he’d be a very pretty man. girlyHe’s got gorgeous eyes.end girly The height thing doesn’t help the whole effect. He looks like a Keebler elf, bless 'im.
Well, bugger. I’m a Wings girl, so here’s hoping the Sharks kick some Flames ass.
Here’s something I’ve always found interesting regarding hockey players. They start young in the NHL (18 or 19 isn’t unusual), so even after having played 15 years they’re still only in their early thirties, or so. Sometimes I’ll check out a player on www.hockeydb.com and think he’s sooooo old because he’s been in 1000 games - only to find he’s still fairly young and could well play another 5-10 years.
I believe the average length of an NHL career is only six seasons. (I suspect this average doesn’t include players who’ve only played a couple games now and then, and never won a permanent place on a team for at least a good portion of one season.)
Igor Larionov - who just retired - was the oldest player in the NHL this past season. He was born on Dec. 3, 1960, making him 43. Mark Messier is also 43, but was born on Jan. 18, 1961. (Eight days before Wayne Gretzky.)
Larionov only played 14 seasons in the NHL, compared to Messier’s 24, but had played ten seasons in the top Soviet league before coming over. Ron Francis (March 1, 1963) has been playing in the league since 1981-82 (22 seasons).
The sad thing - for New York Rangers fans, at least - is that Messier was one of the few consistent players on the team this past season. I hope he plays at least another two years, and ties Gordie Howe’s record of 26 NHL seasons.
Wait a second, something doesn’t add up? The record books say that Howe played 26 seasons. But they also say he played from 1946-47 to 70-71, then one more season in 79-80 (after a brief retirement and six seasons in the WHA).
Is there something wrong with my counting? Are my fingers broken? 1946-1947 to 1970-1971? That seems like 24 seasons to me. Add his final season in 1979-1980, and that’s 25 seasons. What’s going on?
(And who was the youngest regular player in the NHL this past season?)
Patrice Bergeron, of the Boston Bruins. He’ll turn nineteen July 24th. Scored an OT goal for them in game…three, was it? He’s gonna be somethin’ else, once he gets a few more years under his belt.
Wings fan checking in. I would’ve earlier, but have been busy.
The worst part about the wings losing is that the team likely will be a lot different next year. Hull will likely be gone as will Chelios. I also can’t imagine them resigning Schneider and it seems they might not even resign Shanahan :mad:
In the end, it wasn’t so much that the wings were to old, it was that management was unwilling to use the young players that they had. Deveraux and Williams sat out large portions of the season, and when they did play they were on fourth line duty no matter how well they played and were replaced at the earliest opportunity. Maybe next year, assuming that there is one, the wings will learn to settle for less regular season points in order to give players some time to learn. If they did that, I’d forgive them for not winning the cup or even making the playoffs.
By the by, seems somebody here didn’t think the avs had the depth to win the cup. Bet that person is feeling pretty good right now
Man I hope that we don’t get a Tampa/San Jose final. It’d be about the worst thing for the sport at the worst time. I’m not saying that they aren’t good teams mind you. It’s just that they aren’t “hockey” areas or even areas with a large fan base.
How would less season points give the youngsters more time to learn? You want them to finish worse than first place? They’d have to play a higher-seeded team in that event, if they did make the playoffs.
They may have a lot of great young players, but they were built to win the Cup this year (and last) with their cadre of Hall of Famers. As I recall you wondered earlier:
At any rate, it’s an organization that’ll go for veteran help as needed, so even if they jettison some of the old farts I bet they get suitable replacements.
What I meant was will they sacrifice a few wins in order to let players like Williams, Devereaux, Hudler, etc. see some major playing time. It’s a hard thing to play under thirty games in a season. If they had some ice time, they might actually improve. Besides, as this season has proven higher seed means very little in the playoffs
As for replacements, I’m hoping they’ll go for Madden or Rolston to get some grit and defensive ability into the forwards. Datsyuk and Zetterberg are slick, but gritty they ain’t which is a liability in the playoffs.
Well, three of the four remaining teams are high seeds; only Calgary (6) is a lower seed.
Depending on the year, of course, a 1-seed can face a brutal or a creampuff 8-seed opponent in the conference quarterfinals. This is where having a high seed can have the most impact. Detroit got past Nashville without too much trouble. Ditto for Tampa over the Islanders.
- is that Messier was one of the few consistent players on the team this past season. I hope he plays at least another two years, and ties Gordie Howe’s record of 26 NHL seasons.
