Official NHL Thread

[daigong]

And Edmonton is moving on.  I care little for NHL, but being in downtown Edmonton, you have to care when the Oilers knock out "the best team in the league".  Lots of sirens, horns, and screaming.  I guess I'll be hearing more in the coming weeks.

You mean, the molotov cocktails missed your house? LOL. So good to see the community come together, too bad I was at the wrong side of Whyte and didn't see any flashing. The scene was amazing, Flags flying, everyong chanting in unision. Probably 10,000 people in the local pub district, and more people driving all over the town waking up Chatin.

BUTT what a game. still enjoying simply the best 3rd period in the history of the Oilers. They been doing that all season, so I knew when we was down 2-0, they could pull one outta the ass. Just needed a quick goal. Then Pisani and Hemsky go crazy. Total hustle plays, grit dedication has defined the Oilers.



Yeah, they can skate and score in hopes of playing "Oiler Hockey" of the Dynasty Era, but we got all those character guys like Pronger (seeing him make tape to tape passes gives me wood), Mike Peca, Jason Smith (what a set up on the intial tying goal by The Captain), Steve Staios, and Ethan Moreau (blocking a shot in the dying seconds).



TOTAL Euphoria in E-town guys. It's a beautiful thing. It's what drives all red blooded men during the months of April to June. October to November. January to February. And leaves girlfriends lonely.

DEE-TROIT SUCKS!! Choking once again. Legace is such a whiner. Yzerman is class sure, but hopefully Chelios will call it a career too.

The last minute of the Habs-Canes goal was FUCKIN crazy, how many penalties coulda been called. That's Playoff Hockey. If ya can't enjoy that, you don't love hockey. Cory Stillman's goal was NUTS!! top corner left pocket BOOM! Props to Spruce Grove, Alberta's Cam Ward but...I still  think New Jersey is gonna eat em up. My gut feeling is that Brodeur and friends are gonna go to the Finals.

And LMAO, Philly is a joke. Hatcher and Rathje are just too damn slow. Get a fuckin goalie, fire Bob Clarke. WERD. quite enjoyed Mike Grier going nuts on the scoresheet. Buffalo over Sens in 5.

Here's hoping the Flames and Ducks beat the hell out of each other tonite! I don't care if it's Battle of Alberta Part VI or going down to San Jose. Oilers match up well with anyone now. CUZ DALLAS IS OUT! (sorry Thim and T-Duck )

Bring me THE FUCKIN STANLEY CUP!!

ETA:

FLAMES LOSE!!

man, I was hoping they'd win so Georges Laraque could kick their ass but hey, it's win-win for me!! Bring on Thornton, Cheechoo and The Sharks!!

[Sponge Bob]

-_- I had $5 on the battle of Alberta

[daigong]

hmm...my First Round predictions, 5 for 8. Not bad

Round 2 Predictions (adjusted):

Oilers over Sharks in 6
Avs over Ducks in 7

Sabres over Sens in 7
Devils over Canes in 5

...Oilers over Avs in 5
...Devils over Sabres in 4

OILERS over Devils in 7 !! Fuckin Stanley Cup here we come!

NHL Award nominees were pretty gay:

The New York Rangers' Jagr and San Jose's Thornton, who went back and forth in the NHL scoring race, are two of the three finalists announced Thursday for the Hart Trophy as league MVP. Calgary goalie Miikka Kiprusoff is the third nominee.

-- Sidney Crosby of Pittsburgh, Alexander Ovechkin of Washington and Dion Phaneuf of Calgary for the Calder Award as top rookie.

-- Peter Laviolette of Carolina, Tom Renney of the Rangers and Lindy Ruff of Buffalo for the Adams award as outstanding coach.

-- Martin Brodeur of New Jersey, Kiprusoff and Henrik Lundqvist of the Rangers for the Vezina Trophy as top goalie.

-- Rod Brind'Amour of Carolina, Mike Fisher of Ottawa and Jere Lehtinen of Dallas for the Selke award as top defensive forward.

-- Nicklas Lidstrom of Detroit Red Wings, Scott Niedermayer of Anaheim and Sergei Zubov of Dallas for the Norris Award as top defenseman.

-- Pavel Datsyuk of Detroit, Patrick Marleau of San Jose and Brad Richards of Tampa Bay for the Lady Byng award for sportsmanship

Pronger gets no love!!

and hilarious. This mockumentary about the Jets opens up here. "Death By Popcorn"

[Sponge Bob]

Av's over the ducks?
Not with Jose in net for the avs and Temu + Macdonald for the ducks

[Masa]

My favorites:

HART TROPHY (MVP) - Jaromir Jagr, New York Rangers; Miikka Kiprusoff, Calgary Flames; Joe Thornton, San Jose Sharks.

Without Jagr Rangers would have never made it to the playoffs. I gotta admit that I wouldn't mind if Kiprusoff won cause finns have never won Hart.

VEZINA TROPHY (Goaltender) - Martin Brodeur, New Jersey Devils; Miikka Kiprusoff, Calgary Flames; Henrik Lundqvist, New York Rangers.

I'm a fan of the Rangers an' all but I still want Kipper to win. He has been so consistent this season that I'm gonna be surprised if he doesn't win. It's also interesting how Lundqvist is nominated for Vezina but not for Calder.

CALDER TROPHY (Rookie) - Sidney Crosby, Pittsburgh Penguins; Alexander Ovechkin, Washington Capitals; Dion Phaneuf, Calgary Flames.

Alexander Ovechkin is the man, 'nuff said

JAMES NORRIS TROPHY (Defenceman) - Nicklas Lidstrom, Detroit Red Wings; Scott Niedermayer, Anaheim Mighty Ducks; Sergei Zubov, Dallas Stars.

Scott Niedermayer is one of the biggest reasons why the Ducks have been playing so well even after dumping all the expensive vets.

FRANK J. SELKE TROPHY (Defensive forward) - Rod Brind'Amour, Carolina Hurricanes; Mike Fisher, Ottawa Senators; Jere Lehtinen, Dallas Stars.

Lehtinen will hopefully get his 4th Selke.

JACK ADAMS AWARD (Coach) - Peter Laviolette, Carolina Hurricanes; Tom Renney, New York Rangers; Lindy Ruff, Buffalo Sabres.

I had my doubts about Renney before the season but he proved me wrong. Anybody who can get the Rangers to the playoffs during the rebuilding season deserves an award.

LADY BYNG TROPHY (Sportsmanship) - Pavel Datsyuk, Detroit Red Wings; Patrick Marleau, San Jose Sharks; Brad Richards, Tampa Bay Lightning.

The worst trophy ever, they're gonna give an award to the biggest bitch in the league. Needless to say that I couldn't care less who wins

LESTER B. PEARSON AWARD (MOP, as voted by NHLPA) - Jaromir Jagr, New York Rangers; Alexander Ovechkin, Washington Capitals; Joe Thornton, San Jose Sharks.

Ovechkin might actually take this one, he has been that good and I'm sure most of the players agree with me. However I still want Jagr to win

And then some good news:
Canadiens captain Saku Koivu expects full recovery from serious eye injury

MONTREAL (AP) - Canadiens captain Saku Koivu still doesn't know the full extent of his eye injury but expects to make a full recovery.

Koivu was struck in the left eye last week by the errant stick of Carolina forward Justin Williams during Montreal's 2-1 overtime playoff loss in Game 3 of the first-round series. For 48 hours, Koivu didn't know if he would be permanently blind in the eye.

It was not the first major health scare for Koivu, who was diagnosed with cancer in 2001. But recovering from that illness made it easier to deal with this latest setback.

"I was asking the doctors what they could tell me, and they didn't really have an answer for me at that point," Koivu said Friday in his first public comments since he was hurt on April 26. "It crossed my mind that maybe I'm never going to play again. But at the same time, all the memories from my cancer came back and I realized that we're not talking about my life, we're talking about hockey."

Koivu said a full prognosis on the health of his eye was still impossible to make because there is blood in the back of it. But doctors are confident that Koivu will completely regain his sight.

"It looks like the vision will be back 100 percent," said Koivu, with his injured eye half shut. "Right now we have to wait until all the blood is gone so we really know for sure. But whatever there might be wrong, they can fix it.

"So maybe the vision won't be 100 percent over the next couple of months, but it should be back for the start of the season or sometime soon."

Koivu said the front of his eye escaped significant damage, but there may be a tear or some other problem in the back that could eventually require surgery.

Koivu was pleased that Williams made the classy gesture of calling him on his cell phone the day after the game. Williams left a message expressing his regret, but Koivu absolved him of blame because he felt the high-stick was unintentional.

"I've seen the replay, and I don't think there was anything wrong," Koivu said. "I was in the front of the net, getting the puck from behind, and it was just very unlucky that he missed my stick. And the angle that the stick came to my face was just the worst possible one. I have no bad feelings against Justin."

Referees Dennis LaRue - who was closest to the play - and Dan Marouelli didn't call a penalty on the play, and linesmen Michel Cormier and Jean Morin didn't see it, either.

"I guess we all make mistakes, but the puck was right in front of me and I was right in front of the net," Koivu said. "There were four guys watching the play, and nobody apparently saw it. It should have been a 4-minute penalty, there's no doubt about that."

The Hurricanes cut their deficit in the series to 2-1 that night and then won the next three games to advance to the second round against the New Jersey Devils.

http://www.nhl.com/news/2006/05/271486.html

[daigong]

BAH!! I forgot all about Toskala. Finnish Fucker didn't even get any rubber tonite. Georges Laraque or Todd Harvey got check in and get some toughness back in the lineup. And Matt Greene.



Its funny, everyone after the game was grumbling. WE NEED MORE SHOTS! BAH! Good thing next game is tmr.

And who'd thunk Bryzgalov would be this HOT. Fuck. But hey, Ducks held serve. Time to go back to Pepsi.

Bah! masa ur awards pix are so biased. I want Pronger for Norris!!


Did ya hear about Koivu and the French?

Koivu admits 'lazy' tongue

MONTREAL Saku Koivu was challenged by a reporter yesterday for his inability to speak French after 10 years of playing in Montreal and seven seasons of serving as Habs' captain.

He admits it would be "ideal" to have a French-speaking captain, and he hasn't tried hard enough to learn French.

"Should I or could I make an effort to learn? I think, yeah," Koivu said. "I guess when you're not forced to do something, you become lazy. And the (hockey) schedule is very demanding."

[Sponge Bob]

Ryan Miller is a TANK
 
Sabres with another BIG road upset vs the sens
 
Same with Cam Ward
 
Brodeur, time to retire?

[daigong]

TOSKALA!!:evil: :evil:

[daigong]

HORCOFF!!!



I STILL AIN'T GOT ENOUGH SLEEP.

The funniest thing. Georges Laraque finally gets decent ice time, and his legs are back. Then he cleanly slams Cheechoo face first into the boards and HE GETS A GAME MISCONDUCT!! :lmao:

...Oilers come back and win this, the Ducks look fuckin tough.

[daigong]

Counted out when down 2-0. Oilers DOMINATED Sharks 6-3 to tie the series!!
CAPTAIN OH CAPTAIN!!

[Masa]

Scores:
Buffalo - Ottawa 3 - 2
Carolina - New Jersey 1 - 5

The Senators are out
They are never gonna win the Cup.

[Asmodai]

Doesn't look that way. The Sens have choked in the playoffs for almost a decade straight now.

[daigong]

SMYTTTIE!!  

They guy has been the Messier of the 21st Century. Busting his ass in front of the net, loses his stick, grabs a new one and scores. WHATTA SERIES!! 6-3 win over the Sharks. Total domination. Quote of the week from Toskala: "Shit happens, you know."



If you missed the game. Peep the highlights on OLN:
http://www.olntv.com/NHLVideoGallery

Cuz dudes, if y'all are missing out on some of the best hockey ever. THANK GOD FOR THE NHL!

I like this article about the people of Edmonton:
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/14542035.htm

The team's nickname is the result of Alberta's status as a petroleum center -- Canada's oil erserves are second only to Saudi Arabia's -- and the people who work in the refineries are Oilers fans through and through.

In terms of provincial image, Edmonton likes to think of itself as Calgary's less-pretentious, more blue-collar brother. But that's too simple a stereotype. Edmonton's metropolitan area includes more than a million people, and there are plenty of cultural diversions, but it still wouldn't be a huge stretch to call this city the Green Bay of hockey.

Look at the profile: Sports-mad town splayed out on the tundra, fiercely proud of a championship tradition, lovers of meat and more meat . . . sound like any American football city you know?

And there's another parallel: When the Packers were threatening to leave Green Bay a half-century ago, the citizens basically bought the team to keep it from moving. Eight years ago, when the Oilers were struggling financially and the Alberta Treasury Branch put the team up for sale, a group of 37 local businessmen purchased the franchise to keep it from going south.

And now, after years of trying to get over the hump, the Oilers are back in the second round of the playoffs. It's the first time that's happened since 1998. And the town is going nuts. Most of the fans still carry memories of when the Oilers won five Stanley Cups between 1984 and 1990. Wayne Gretzky has a street named after him.

In those halcyon days, the players would chow down at the Fireside coffee shop across the street. And there are legendary stories about the Stanley Cup making guest appearances at the adjoining strip joint.

It's just too bad a couple of idiots ruined it. bet they were bums fighting over scrapped pizza. The booing of the national anthem was blown up too. I'm loving the fact that we are now "Canada's Team" and yet Toronto, Ottawa, Vancouver media rather talk about how they suck.

6 CUPS IN '06

The Senators are out
They are never gonna win the Cup.

And Canes knocked off Devils 4-1...Brodeur magic ran out.

The Buffalo-Ottawa series was off the chain, Alfredsson again proves how soft he is. So good to see black players excel like Ray Emery had a solid series. and ex-Oiler Mike Grier was solid:



WEDNESDAY!! It's gonna be Shark Fin Soup for THE OILERS!

[Sponge Bob]

DWYANE ROLOSON SHUTOUT

[daigong]

PECA!!  :bounceblob: :bounceblob:



GO OILERS GO!!

[daigong]

LOL. I guess I'm the only one watching hockey. Well, solid win by the Oilers last nite!! Incredible pass by Roloson to Peca. IIILLLYAAA!!



Sabres and Canes look to go the distance, both got key injuries. Goalies are untested. I say Sabres in 7.

[JFC]

LOL. I guess I'm the only one watching hockey.

It isn't that. It's just that after seeing your "enthusiastic" posts, nothing more needs to be said.

[ahcheungape]

everytime i see the oilers win, i fell bad about the canucks.

[daigong]

^ C'mon, it's all fun ... likewise last time when Canucks bounced the Oilers out. Canada keeps going "Oh, Oilers not as good as the Gretzky Dynasty Era." FINALLY. We're building a new Era. Looking at  Canada sports networks coverage, they iffy to join the bandwagon.

It isn't that. It's just that after seeing your "enthusiastic" posts, nothing more needs to be said.

Hey. Born and raised. Always had faith in my boys through good time and bad so I gots to say GO OILERS GO!!

CRUSH DEM

MIGHTY FUCKS

OF ANAHEIM!!



Here's an interesting article for you Peg Sheety folks:

http://winnipegsun.com/Sports/Hockey/2006/05/21/1590601-sun.html

Carlyle + Teemu connection?? Oilers beat em = Jets. And don't forget, Oilers always win a Cup after a Calgary Finals Appearance.

Hope the Canes-Sabres go the distance, Miller looked rough. Cam Ward let in 2 quick ones. but Canes hung on 4-3.

[kaede]

I have a feeling that Oilers will end up like the Flames in 2004, surprising people by getting to the Stanley Cup Final but...............