But I will never ever count Montreal out of anything until the fat lady sings, the last video replay and Youpi has left the building.
On the other hand, the idea of a Vancouver-Montreal final would make me very happy.
Canucks in 7, (the more writhing green guys the better) and its gonna be as chippy as hell. The 'nuck’s better get the PK going, and going strong because there is no way they are staying out of the box against the Hawks.
Detroit in 6 (but rooting for Anyone But Detroit and always will. Hate the Tigers too.)
Montreal in 7 because the Rouge Blanc et Bleu never quit.
Flyers in 5 (may be good hockey but least personally interesting to me)
Montreal in 7…I’m hopping on the band wagon!
Bruins in 7…I’m just glad that one group of drunken foul mouthed idiotic fans will be disappointed this round…I guess it’s gonna be Philly’s turn.
Vancouver in 7…The twins will be deadly, more so than Nashville was.
Detroit in 7…Just because it’s the Sharks.
Penguins in 6 - I believe in Sid. Too bad he has to beat his favorite team.
Boston in 7 - Just a guess really.
Sharks in 5 - If I had to place money on picking a winner of one of the 4 series I think this would be the safest place.
Canucks in 6 - This team has the burning drive to avenge losing in the 2nd round last year
I just heard something very similar on Vancouver radio. They talked about how Halak won that series for the Habs, then after a commercial break, they had a long segment about how the loss was Alex Ovechkin’s fault. That would be the Alex Ovechkin who was the led both teams in scoring in that series.
Dammit stupid guy at work. I thought the Red Wings game started at 9. and mentioned it at work, but stupid guy managed to convince me it started at 10 :mad: So I ran some errands and got home at 9:30 to turn on the TV to see the game started at 9 and were down 0-2. I call for an official do-over of the first 10 minutes.
A butterfly flapped it’s wings in Tokyo, and was given a two minute penalty when a San Jose shark fell over. The NHL goes from a first round in which virtually nothing is called to a second round where everything and anything is called. Way to go guys.
The “too many men on the ice” seems to be the officials’ pet call this year. They called more in the first round than they did in the entire playoffs last year.
I feel the need to ask. Are the Sharks hidden Wings fans or something? I ask because every time a Red Wing touched a Sharks player, they seemed to faint. Maybe they’re just made of paper mache and balsa wood. I’d hate to suggest that they were mugging for the oscar committee.
Furthermore, on the subject of the refs, they continue to be awful. In the first period there was clutching, grabbing, and feet being kicked out to impede opposing players all over the ice with no whistles from the stripes. These are some of the best the NHL has to offer for some of it’s most important hockey? At one point, there were so many Sharks hands on Detroit players that I thought the pope was going to send them to a different parish. It got so bad that both teams were suprised when any penalty was called.
Again, I am aware of the conceit of the “second season” and I’m not one to rail against physicality, but these aren’t hard checks or gritty play. This is simple obstruction/interference that is going uncalled. You remember what that is, right? There was that whole group that got together during that lockout business to figure out how to improve the game by cutting down on that crap?
I find myself not wanting to watch games now. I’ll admit that the versus crew has something to do with that; at one point they actually referred to a goal as being “sassy.” Next they’ll be calling hits “flirtatious.” I just hate to watch clutch and grab hockey. It’s slow and worst of all it’s boring.
The Sharks were diving eh? How about that call when Stuart cross checked Heatley into howard resulting in a goantender interference call? Were the Sharks diving when Detroit got called twice for too many men on the ice? Did Rob Blake snap his own stick when he got slashed? Did diving win almost every faceoff for the Sharks?
Both teams had 2 power play goals a piece. Take those goals away and the Sharks still win 2-1.
Nobody’s arguing that sainted Detroit shouldn’t have gotten any penalties at all; but when even the Versus commentators point out that, er, some of those Wings’ calls might not have been, you know, strictly deserved, then you can figure they must have been awfully fricken weak. Sure, the ones you mentioned aren’t terribly arguable, and the too many men penalties were foolish, and I’d even throw in Kronwall’s slash that gave them the 5-on-3 as legit, but the two goaltender interference calls when Nabokov got brushed while he was two feet out of his crease? Please.
(and I’d say that, acknowledging that SJ’s goalie interference penalty was a dumb call too.)
As I pointed out, there were bad calls and non calls aplenty on both sides. That said. Two Sharks forced Bertuzzi to nudge Nabakov who then went backwards to draw a goaltender interference call despite the fact that the only thing Bert could have done was shoot straight up and even then he’s to damned slow for it to change anything. Stuart happened to nudge someone by the Detroit net who then flew forward as though he had been flattened by a semi, hands and stick up in the air, head back, and back arched.
And as was said right above me, even the chimps at Versus are getting a bit critical of some of the Detroit penalties in both games.
I stand by my claim: the Sharks have thus far proven themselves to be dive artists of the highest caliber second only to Sidney Crosby. I’m not saying that every call against Detroit has been undeserved or that Detroit would be winning the series if not for those calls. I’m just saying that San Jose has taken some (in my opinion) pretty weak dives.
I guess you’re entitled to your opinion. Seems like the effectiveness of diving and the performance of referees is something that gets evened-out over the course of a 7 game series. We’ll see how things stand after a couple games in Detroit.
Funny though, I’ve been a Sharks fan since the beginning and I’ve never heard them be accused of diving. In fact, this particular Sharks team is probably one of the toughest and most physical that its ever been. Are there any non-detroit based sports analysts making this claim? Couldn’t find anything on ESPN.com
I’m not saying that every call against Detroit has been undeserved or that Detroit would be winning the series if not for those calls. I’m just saying that San Jose has taken some (in my opinion) pretty weak dives.