THE Hockey Thread.

Well sports fans, the 2001-2002 NHL season is under way and I figured we are gonna need a place to vent our spleens when our favourite teams get their heads handed to them on a platter.

Conversely, we will also want to jump up and down and gyrate madly when our teams are the ones taking heads.

I am a lifelong Habs fan and because I live here in Edmonton I also root for our hometown Oilers (as long as they don’t play the Habs). What about you?

So far, tonight has gone pretty well. My Habs faced those godless Maple Leafs and walked out with a point. As always, it was a great game to watch and the overtime had me on the edge of my seat because the only thing better than a point is TWO points… especially when you take them from Toronto.

Here in the capital we retired #17’s jersey. It now hangs from the rafters next to Wayne Gretzky’s #99 and Al Hamilton’s #3. It was pretty touching to see Jari Kurri take a skate around the ice and listen to a sellout crowd cheer their lungs out.

I seriously hope that a similar ceremony will be held for Paul Coffey, one of the games greatest defensemen. It will be really fucking embarassing if they don’t.

Did anyone see the opening ceremonies at the Molson Centre? Four minutes and forty five seconds. That was the standing ovation that Saku Koivu received when he appeared. My hopes are with him that he beats that fucking cancer.

If you are asking why I put this rather sedate post in the Pit you probably don’t realize what kind of passion the game invokes in it’s loyal fans. As the season wears on and tempers get short there might be some R rated language. Just wait until some of us get going…

For example, if I called the Chicago Blackhawks a bunch of no talent, figure skating, mama’s boys with no hope of winning the Grail, jarbabyj would be in here tearing me a new one faster than you can say:

“HE SHOOTS…HE SCORES!!!”

Actually, I am hoping that the Blackhawks can overcome the two goal deficit they presently have to defeat the Calgary
Flames, we don’t need those cow-towners getting any stinking points. Not when they might be fighting the Oilers for a playoff spot later on.

This will teach that Hawks [sub]jarbabyj[/sub] fan for telling me I don’t talk enough about hockey… and tonight I’m even cheering for those godless figure skating wannabes that she seems to like so much.

Oh boy, here we go again.

This early in the season, all I have to say is: Go Pens!

It’s gonna be a long year…

So…

Should I start cussing out the Blues for being a team of chokers now, or wait untill they actually choke in the second round of playoffs?

It’s so sad to realize that those no-talent Frenchies are reduced to bribing the officials in order to steal a point from my beloved long-suffering Leafs.

I can only hope that a Royal Commission will be formed to conduct a full investigation and set right this stain on the integrity of the game.

No matter. We shall overcome. We’ll keep our heads up and our sticks on the ice, and we will triumph.

After all, we have the Canadian flag on our side.

Go Maple Leafs!

As a goaltender myself I’ve idolised Patty Roy as who I want to play like. Always calm and in control – make it look easy…unlike some dominator guy who wrote the book “ugly goaltending made easy”

So I an a Habs fan, always have been sense I began following hockey…

But now that Patrick moved to Colorado, I have to cheer for them too…

so, Go Avs!

Slip- Flag?

You’re a cop, you should know that the emblem on the front of Toronto’s jersey is a big assed canabis leaf, that would explain their propensity to choke. It’s because they are thinking of running for Doritos when they should be thinking about hockey. Look at last year, Ottawa could have beat them wearing their street clothes.

Yeah, I know my Habs didn’t even make the playoffs. Bite me.

How about what Hockey Night In Canada is doing now? Replaying classic matchups from the past is great. A double header of hockey followed by MORE hockey.

Tonight’s classic: 1993, Toronto vs. L.A. in the Stanley Cup semi final. Toronto goes into this leading the series 3-2 with an opportunity to knock off L.A. and go on to play Montreal in the final.

We remember what happened that year don’t we? I recall my joy as I watched my Habs hoist the cup after beating L.A. in seven games. I remember the stick call against McSorly.

Slip- I’ve got some kleenex here if this is to hard for you to recall that horror. I too was looking forward to a Toronto - Montreal final. Pity that this will never happen again with the way the divisions are set up.

Crunchy- Start cursing them out now, I don’t mind.

Airman- I like Penguins, I hear they BBQ nicely. They lost tonight didn’t they? Bummer.

jarbabyj Where are you? Your boys are coming here on Tuesday for a dose of our hospitality. Our hospitality entails checking your team into next week, skating circles around them, and scoring many a goal.

This years Oiler team looked pretty good tonight as they skinned those Coyotes.

I have high hopes for them.

kinoonsRoy (pronounced Ru ah) is anything but calm. Tommy Salo is calm, Roy is a fierce competitor with a nasty temper. He hates that fucking puck with an unbridled passion.

He rocks. Winning two Cups with the Habs makes him one of my heroes, the day he left Montreal was a dark day indeed.

As another former hockey player, primarily goalie, I too will watch CO play just out of admiration for Roy. I don’t care if they win or lose, but I love watching him play. I like the Redwings, which is almost suicide when living in St. Louis. People here really don’t care if the Blues win or lose, they only hope Detroit loses. (They line up in bars in my area if Detroit plays anyone just to hate them… it’s bizzare…) Being from MN, I loved the Northstars until they left. (By the way, if anyone has an old Northstars jersey they want to get rid of, I will make it worth your while). But I’ll even watch the chuckle Mighty Ducks over the Blacksucks.

The coolest story right now is that the NY Islanders are in first place! For the first time in years they’ve got a team with real potential. I bet they’ll surprise everyone this season.

LC - How do you figure that? Detroit, Calgary and the Islanders all happen to have four points. I’ll agree that the Islanders are a much improved club and should be worth watching.

Turbo Dog You are indeed a brave man. This would be like me going to an Oilers - Montreal game wearing a Habs Jersey (which I hope to do on the 30th). Whenever the Habs play here tickets are scarce so I might end up having to take my chances with the scalpers. Owning an old Northstars Jersey would be great, if I find one here I’ll let you know.

Personally, I’ve always wanted a Canadiens Jersey with a #9 on it…

Sure they’re tied for first, but they’re still first! You can’t blame me for being happy, I’ve been an Islanders fan ever since the tail-end of their '80-'83 dynasty.

Feynn, revelling in past glories serves no purpose other than obscuring one’s vision of the present. The Frenchies should trade in their uniforms, get clown suits and take their act on the road as a comedy troupe. They were falling down so much last night that I’m surprised they didn’t get a penalty for melting the ice.

The universe may tremble and wobble, but it always regains it’s balance and justice will prevail.

This is the year of the Leafs. I’m been saying that since I could talk. The laws of probability are on my side.

My four year old son runs around the house yelling, “Go. Leafs!”

It’s a sign.

HERETIC !

Let it be known here that the only reason the Maple Laughs have a slim, very slim (OK, non-existent) chance at the cup, is that we took pity on the league and we didn’t have THE CUP bolted to the floor of the much lamented Montréal Forum. :smiley:

Two games in, and the FLYERS are poised to win the Cup, so the rest of y’all (and yinz out in Western PA) can just stop playing now.

Go FLYERS!

Man, this is the year. The Edmonton Oilers are going to MAKE THE PLAYOFFS! Not only that, they are going to get to the SECOND ROUND.

And some people call me crazy for this, but we are going to get through an entire year without trading a single marquee player for financial reasons ('cause we don’t have any left after trading Weight and Guerin)!

And NEXT YEAR, any of the new players that blossom into budding superstars this year will make it ALL THE WAY UNTIL CHRISTMAS before being traded.

Ain’t hockey great?

I thought this thread was gonna be about The Cold War.

detop- AMEN!!!

SamCan you say Ryan Smith? He’s every goalies nightmare. I expect great things from the Oilers this year and no-one in their division should take them lightly.

Slip- Is that like… a really long time? It must be. I will have to meet your son some day, it may take a while to de-program him but I will have him seeing the light eventually.

Cranky- It is a cold war, of sorts. We haven’t broken out the nukes yet but the season is still young.

Montfort- You should know better than to be telling jokes in here…

You poor, poor deluded souls. There’s this one team, from Boston. I think they’re called the Bruins or something…they’re going to humilate you all, particularly all of you Canadiens fans. They shouldn’t even bother having this season at all, and just put Joe Thornton’s name on the Cup right now, along with the rest of the greatest team on earth.

Well, it’s true that Montfort has a well developed sense of the absurd, but then so do the rest of you heathens.

Rest assured that I’ll be dredging up this thread at the end of the season and demanding that the mods change the title to, “I Told You So.”

By the way, what does the CH on Montreal’s sweaters stand for? I heard it was for Centre Hice, but I think it means Clown Hockey.

There’s a couple of stumblebums at the division who also think the Habs are gods, but they’re rookies and don’t know jack squat.

GO LEAFS!

Since I didn’t see it anywhere else on this thread I feel the need to point out that the Capitals are posed to do something this year. They opened a can of whoop-ass on the Devils, who were in the cup last year. With the exception of an occasionaly questionable defense (except for Kolzig), the Caps are a kick-ass team. And there’s plenty of time to shore up the defense before the playoffs. And you can expect the Caps to go far when they get there. Note: as a fan of DC and Baltimore area teams (except for the Ravens, may they burn in hell) I’m too used to sudden disapointment to claim they’re gonna win it all, I’ll just be happy with a conference finals appearance.