It's *still* a great day for hockey!! ~ The 2009-2010 NHL Thread

[Aaron W]

Blackhawks defeat the Sharks 4-2 and take the series 4-0! Now onto the Stanley Cup Finals! :cheer2:

[CaptCrunch]

It would be nice to see the Blackhawks win the Cup. Haven't done so since 1961!

[deltask8er]

"deh deh DEH, deh deh DEH, deh deh DEH..." (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RzHqNVgMkCg) :cheer2: :cheer2: :cheer2:

((((((Duncan Keith's mouth)))))) :yikes:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sports/hockey/blackhawks/ct-spt-0524-haugh-blackhawks-sharks-c20100523,0,2622227.column

Wanna buy Stanley Cup finals tickets on Chicago craigslist? :bribe: (not as much as I imagined they would cost...so far)

http://chicago.craigslist.org/search/?areaID=11&subAreaID=&query=stanley+cup+finals&catAbb=sss

[IceAlisa]

Stupid Sharks. :(

[AragornElessar]

((((IceAlisa))))) I was thinking of you yesterday at the end of the game.

If things stay as they are in Philly right now, I'll be jumping on the Hawks bandwagon. Not surprised at all they're headed to the Final. Just surprised it's happening *this* year. Thought it was another year away for them w/how young their core is, but I was obviously wrong about that.

Come on Habs!!!

[IceAlisa]

Thanks, AragornElessar. I am bummed. Being a Sasha Cohen fan, you would think I'd get used to the choking.

[TalentedButHumble]

IceAlisa :lol:
I should've gone to be waaay early tonight. Instead I've been trying to watch:
Evan not doing super great on DWTS and Montreal still behind in the 3rd as I type. (And now half-rewatching Olys stuff on Universal Sports. Oh well, at least Evan will win this. :P)

[mocha-ice]

Sigh... so sad for my Habs, but it has been a great season, and never in a million years would I have expected them to make it to game 5 of the third round...

[AragornElessar]

It really was one Hell of a run, but I had a feeling after watching Game One they'd finally come up against a better team. Philly was just skating circles around them and I knew that wasn't a good sign.

Sigh...As I said earlier tonight, I'll now be jumping on that Hawks bandwagon. Just can't bring myself to cheer for Philly. BTW...I missed the PoW Trophy presentation. Did the Philly Captain even go near it or did he do w/Toews did Sunday w/the Campbell Trophy. Which is be as far away from it and still be in the Official Picture? :D

[bobalina77]

He picked it up and went directly to the dressing room with it.. didn't want to celebrate too much :lol:

[Desperado]

Sigh... so sad for my Habs, but it has been a great season, and never in a million years would I have expected them to make it to game 5 of the third round...
Yes, looking at where they came from during the last part of the season, every series win was a gift. I don't think they choked at all, I think they got were they did mostly through Halak's miracle wins and by killing themselves and that couldn't last forever. Also thought Cammelleri, Gionta, Gill, Lapierre, Georges gave it all they had. Cannot wait to see what next year will bring.

As for the Flyers, I can't stand them so yeah - Hawks in 4 for me!!

[professordeb]

Count me in as rooting for the Hawks because for me it was ABP (anyone but Philly). However, just to be evil and protest against Bettman, I won't be watching any of the games.

[deltask8er]

It's official: the Winter Classic in Pittsburgh

http://www.postgazette.com/pg/10148/1061397-61.stm

Now I need to decide if I'll go to that or the All-Star game :drama: .

---------------

The Calgary Flames will host an outdoor game against the Montreal Canadiens in February, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman confirmed Friday.

The event is scheduled for Sunday, Feb. 20, at McMahon Stadium, home of the CFL's Calgary Stampeders.


http://www.cbc.ca/sports/hockey/story/2010/05/28/sp-nhl-winter-games.html

And other comments from :hat1: Bettman:

http://nhl.fanhouse.com/2010/05/28/gary-bettman-gives-his-state-of-the-league-address-rips-iihf/

Asked about the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) and its recent criticism of NHL players for declining invites to the World Championships and the possible impact of not having pros from the world's top league in the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, the normally even-tempered Bettman let loose.

"You just hit one of my hot spots," said Bettman, with fire in his eyes. "If you remember the debate [IIHF chief] Rene Fasel and I had during my media availability in Vancouver, one of the things I said . . . was I don't believe the IIHF respects our game, our players, our business or our schedule."

http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=530410

[AragornElessar]

And Bettman proves that he's an idiot yet again. The man is the worst enemy of the sport he's supposed to be helping to foster for crying out loud!!

Speaking of that...Did anyone else see the interview between him and Scott Oake of the CBC during the last game in Vancouver? I mean...He's in *Canada*, holds a Press Conference where guess what the most asked question is and gets mad at the Press for "pushing the Winnipeg factor during a time we should be celebrating the game"? Hello...Earth to Dingbat...You're *in Canada* after all. What on earth did he think would end up happening!?!

That wasn't the worst part though. After he's asked that same question by Scott Oake, and gives Scott a run around kind of an answer that really wasn't one, Scott goes after him for a straight answer regarding the rumours about the Coyotes coming home to Winnipeg and what happens?

First he questions Scott's Journalistic Interigity to his face and on a Nationally broadcast game no less, but he then followed that up by accusing Scott of bias because Scott's from Winnipeg. Scott's face was quite the picture and not one you'd want framed either. Bettman's damn lucky that Scott isn't the things that he was being accused of, because Scott would have been well w/in his rights to think, "Okay twerp...You do this to me on the air and live? The Gloves are OFF!!"

Especially since Bettman's next idea was to compare what's going on in Phoenix w/how things were in Chicago a few years ago during the bottom end of their cycle of rebuilding the team. Yeah....Nice try....You've got a franchise that was snatched out of the place it never should have left and dropped in the middle of the desert where it was a novelty for the first few years, but now reality has set in and you're comparing all of that w/what's the natural part of a cycle that an Original Six Team was going through!?! Oh excuse me...I forgot. Reality doesn't have any place in Bettman's brain when it comes to the true health of this game. If it did, he never would have tried to make that comparison in the first place!!

Sorry for the very long rant on this, only a few hours away from the start of the Stanley Cup Final, but a shame that whomever hoists that Silver Chalice high in the next couple of weeks, can't let just slip on top of Bettman and...."Oooops!!"

Yeah...I know...Not nice, but what that idiot's doing to the NHL's not nice either....

BTW...Did I mention I was up all night and haven't gotten to bed yet? Not that sleep will change my mind on this one, but...

[AshleyN]

I don't know what's weirder: eleven goals being scored in a Finals game, or the fact that the Flyers (the FLYERS!) didn't take a penalty in the game.