Gotta give it up to Tampa Bay. They played a great defensive game. What a bummer.
Gotta give it up to Tampa Bay. They played a great defensive game. What a bummer.
"Who would have thought a whale would be so heavy?" - Moe Sizlak
That's the beauty of the 4 out of 7 format; nobody flukes out a series win. Tampa were fully deserving of moving on to the Finals. They've had quite the playoff run so far, knocking off 3 quality teams. 3 original Six teams to boot!
"Corn Flakes pissed in. You ranted. Mission accomplished. Thread closed."
-Cozy 3:16-
MacDonagh was playing on a broken foot and Staal a broken ankle. Man these guys are tough. Losing Zuccarello turned out to be HUGE.
On to the Tampa Bay bandwagon I climb...
"Who would have thought a whale would be so heavy?" - Moe Sizlak
Can they beat Chicago or Anaheim???
"Corn Flakes pissed in. You ranted. Mission accomplished. Thread closed."
-Cozy 3:16-
If I had to guess, I'd say they have a better shot against Chicago. They seem to do very well with smaller, speedier, less physical teams. Against the heavy Ducks, Bishop will have someone in his face all game long. That's the trick against that guy. Personally, I'd prefer to see Tampa/Chicago because I think it would be a blast.
"Who would have thought a whale would be so heavy?" - Moe Sizlak
I think they need to play Chicago solely because it would give them a chance to knock off 4 Original Six teams to win the cup!
"Corn Flakes pissed in. You ranted. Mission accomplished. Thread closed."
-Cozy 3:16-
Richards has to be happy playing Tampa #blackhawks #chicago
"Always ready with the ray of sunshine"
And then there were two!
So, a little off-topic. Ollie Jokinen played 6 games with the Leafs this season. He wasn't here long, but the class with which he accepted a trade that he obviously wasn't happy about really impressed me. Then he came here and played his ass off before being traded to St. Louis. He earned my complete respect in that short time. Then, today, I was reading the Wikipedia article about him where I read something that I didn't know...
What a total class act this man is. I wonder how many players would change their number out of respect for a player not even in the game any more. I would love to see Jokinen back in Toronto some day. Alhtough, at age 36, that's not likely to happen.On February 15, 2015, Jokinen, along with Brendan Leipsic and a first-round draft pick in 2015, were traded to the Toronto Maple Leafs in exchange for Cody Franson and Mike Santorelli.[35] He wore number 11 in Toronto as opposed to his regular number 13, out of respect for Maple Leafs' great Mats Sundin, saying, "There's only one No. 13 for the Maple Leafs and that's the way it should be."
Chicago gets a jump on the series by taking both games in Tampa. They then go home and split with the Bolts before finishing the series in 5 games on the road.
"Corn Flakes pissed in. You ranted. Mission accomplished. Thread closed."
-Cozy 3:16-
Hey Rangers fans. What do you think about Keith Olbermann's rant about players playing hurt in the playoffs?
http://news.nationalpost.com/sports/...cost-your-team
Think of a book as a vase, and a movie as the stained-glass window that the filmmaker has made out of the pieces after he’s smashed it with a hammer.
-- Russell Banks (paraphrased)
Blame Lou Gehrig! Wally Pipp goes down and never plays again... That is the fear that motivates these players to play through just about anything. Of course you can add the machismo inherent in professional athletes and the sense of invulnerability one has in his mid-20s, to the mix. Team trainers usually know just how hurt a guy is but they're also under pressure to find a way for starters to start, esp. in the playoffs.
"Corn Flakes pissed in. You ranted. Mission accomplished. Thread closed."
-Cozy 3:16-
It's not only a sports thing. I've seen it at work, especially in high tech. People who are so sick they should be in bed, drag themselves into the office and end up infecting everybody else.
Think of a book as a vase, and a movie as the stained-glass window that the filmmaker has made out of the pieces after he’s smashed it with a hammer.
-- Russell Banks (paraphrased)
"Who would have thought a whale would be so heavy?" - Moe Sizlak
Pretty "meh" game until Callahan's breakaway. B'hawks 2 in 1:58 right after that took the crowd and whatever energy the Bolts seemed to have out of the building.
"Henry Cow always wanted to push itself, so sometimes we would write music that we couldn't actually play – I found that very encouraging." - Lindsay Cooper, 1998
"I have nothing to do with Endless River. Phew! This is not rocket science people, get a grip." - Roger Waters, 2014
"I'm a collector. And I've always just seemed to collect personalities." - David Bowie, 1973
I stand by my series prediction posted above. I think yesterday's game will play into the psyche of the Bolts. Tampa beat some good teams to get there, but now they're playing a better team, imo...
"Corn Flakes pissed in. You ranted. Mission accomplished. Thread closed."
-Cozy 3:16-
Tampa came out on fire in the 1st and after they scored simply just sat back and played D for the rest of the game. You can't do that against Chicago. They will eventually score and they did...twice.
"Who would have thought a whale would be so heavy?" - Moe Sizlak
If the Blackhawks win the series, I don't want them to but they probably will, then the trend continues.
2012-Kings
2013-Blackhawks
2014-Kings
2015-Blackhawks
2016-Of course the Kings will win again.
Even numbered years its the Kings, odd the Hawks.
I say all of this in jest, but I am hoping the trend continues next year!
Eric: "What the hell Hutch, it's all Rush, what if we wanted a little variety?"
Hutch: "Rush is variety, Bitch! Rule number one: in my van, its Rush! All Rush, all the time...no exceptions."
From "Fanboys" 2009.
I think the Hawks will win this year but I predict an Eastern swing, maybe as early as next season. The East is closing the gap on the West.
I'll be going away for a week to somewhere where I will have no TV. However at the rate they're playing the games right now (2 days off without travelling?) I'll probably only miss 2 or 3 games! The NHL season is too long, imo... The Cup will be hoisted in the 3rd week of June, then a mere 3.5 months later they'll be starting a new season!
"Corn Flakes pissed in. You ranted. Mission accomplished. Thread closed."
-Cozy 3:16-
Props to Uncle Norm for the link:
"Always ready with the ray of sunshine"
Jeff Blashill has been named the new coach of the Red Wings. He is a very popular choice here. The guy was born and raised in Michigan. He coached Western Michigan University (here in my home town) to one of their best seasons ever and has also been coach of the AHL Grand Rapids Griffins for the past 3 years (about 45 minutes from where I live). The Griffins are a Red Wing affiliate, so he has already worked with many of the players on the current Red Wing roster, especially the young ones. He only has 1 year of NHL assistant coaching experience so that may be a slight risk, but he has been being groomed for this for quite a while, and was not much of a surprise when it was announced.
I predict that the Stanley Cup will be decided in double overtime of game 7.
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