Sharks finish the postseason on a 2-7 run and are now 1-8 in the past two conference finals. :banghead:

Great Sporcle quiz of Michel Therrien's rant from the 2006 season.

Can you name the following details from Michel Therrien's famous rant? by sem | Online Games & Trivia by Sporcle

Well, at this pace the Sharks will win 2 games in the WCF in 2012, 3 in 2013, and should be able to make the finals by 2014.

I think the Sharks are still set up to be a very good team for a while. They need to fine tune something, but they have a good core and I think they have solidified their netminding for a while with Niemi. The only albatross like contract they seem to be saddled with is Heatley. He looked a step slow all playoffs long and 3 goals just isn't enough. His production in the regular season was down as well. Sure, he may play some better defense than before and do more of "the little things", but you don't pay a 25-30 goal scorer who does that sort of thing $7.5 million a year.

Ever since the cap era, I think the best way to really determine a value of a player is to see how they are playing against their contract. Heatley isn't doing that in any way.

Thank you Brian Rafalski for some great seasons in Detroit. Best of luck to you in a post-playing career, wherever it may take you.

After taking some time to wind down from cursing out linesmen, the hockey gods who seem intent on adding Raffi Torres to the shameful names on the Cup and the kid I met at age 11 who convinced me to be a Sharks fan in Michigan instead of naturally gravitating to the Red Wings in the first place, I can breathe again.

Vancouver's been the best team in the regular season, and once they got past their mental hump of Chelsea Dagger, started playing like it. I think either San Jose or Detroit *could* have beaten them if one team had finished off the other in 5. (San Jose not pissing away games 4/5, Detroit showing up for games 1/2) Instead, they battered each other down through 7, and the one left standing didn't have much more left in the tank then the one that fell. They needed a bit of luck and some health to topple the Canucks, and got neither.

The other problem is that it took them until game 3 of the Western Conference Finals to find a 4th line that could play more then 5 minutes a night and not be an automatic -2 across the board. That's the 16th postseason game. McLellan waited too long to switch that up.

Boyle needs another D-man that can play and let him go less than 29 minutes a night in the regular season, and they need to figure out what the hell is Heatley's deal. Boyle earns his paycheck, Marleau's just a streaky player (10 goals in 8 games, then nothing for the next 10, end with 40 on the season), and Thornton's finally realizing his potential in the postseason. If he's hurt and that's why he can't skate or bend, tell him to copy Selanne and take off all the time he needs even if it's until January. If he's not, keep him on the 3rd line/limited PP time until he's willing to waive his NTC (assuming it's still in effect) and get some cap space out of it.

Fucking Bruins. Pathetic effort tonight.

Classy fans in Tampa.

They deserve to get trashed for giving out artificial noisemakers.

Yeah I'm not sure I've ever seen a home team win and then the hometown fans toss junk on the ice.

It must be a Florida thing...back in the 90s the Panthers' fans use to throw rubber rats on the ice.

At least Lucic got his end of game sucker shots in again though.

That was great.. some of those noise makers were smacking players on the heads, doubt they will ever give those out again.. good thing for helmets.

Mike Smith for Game 7?

Watching these two old-timer goalies struggle this series, I'm surprised more NHL coaches don't think about resting their veteran goaltenders every 5th game or so... Seems to me you can afford to do it when you're up 1-0, 2-1, 3-2, or even when you trail in the series so long as you're not staving off elimination.

I do love watching Martin St. Louis play. He's very good and such a very, very wee little man.

I hope Simon Gagne scores the GWG in Game 7 again this year against the Bruins.

Go Bruins....us Leaf fans want that extra 2nd rounder if u make the cup final:)

2 1sts and a 2nd for Kaberle...excellent

I really believe had Tampa played anyone BUT the Pittsburgh Penguins in the first round; they would be out by now. They learned how to play playoff hockey against the Pens, and with their scoring being low, there wasn't much danger of the Pens running away with a game.

This game is going to kill me.

Let me join the "This game is going to give me a fucking coronary" club.

Dola: GOAL HORTON!

Congrats BOSTON for losing 4 games to 1 to the Stanley Cup Champions: The Fucking Canucks!!!!!!!!!!

Bruins Win!

That was the most intense thing I've ever witnessed. I need another beer.

Bruins!

seriously, though, Doc Emerick and Pierre McGuire are both completely unbearable.

(sorry Pumpy)

bite me etc

Un-Effin-Real!

Soooooooo excited right now.

dola

I'm one of the guys who thought Tuukka deserved the majority of the starts this year.

Or hey, let's give the whole Vezina to Timmay. Awesome.

Great game. Boston deserved the win IMO for being the more active team for 55 mins but definitely could have gone either way. I do feel bad for Roloson who was excellent, if he'd have had one more game like this it wouldn't have gone to 7 games.

I can't figure Hedman out. He never seems like he's trying out there. I don't see him as the next Pronger that's for sure. You can understand young defensemen making mistakes but a lack of physical play and effort for a guy that size is worrying.

The puck control by the Bruins was a one-sided affair, good game though, zero penalties? When does that ever happen?

I don't think he's ever supposed to be Pronger, he just got labeled that because of his size. He plays a position game of Lidstrom in Prongers body...or the next Bouwmeester.

But I agree he's frustrating. But he's also 20.

Against Pittsburgh, he was awful the first 3 games. The last 2, seemed like he was on the ice every other shift and single-handedly diffusing the Pens entry.

I understand how Game 7s tighten up in general, but I'm not as supportive of swallowing the whistle when you have a team like Tampa who thrives on the power-play. I wasn't paying the closest attention, but I saw Marty get hooked early in the game, and i'm sure there could have been the usual 3 penalties per team if the zebras were willing to make the calls. The fact that they didn't essentially torpedoed any chance the Lightning had.

Hedman is a good offensive defenseman, for sure, and I've been alerted to good defensive plays he makes when I'm not actively worrying about him. But he does seem to get into a ton of defensive pickles. Thankfully for Tampa, he is only 20, and his defensive game can continue to grow into his frame and his skill set over the next few years.

from what I remember, Hedman was compared to Pronger a lot before the draft.

I remember everyone calling him the next Pronger before the draft, but that's obviously not his game. I will say that he's never going to be Lidstrom with that size/skating ability, and if he can't play a bit more physical he's never going to be worth a top 3 pick.

As for not calling any penalties, meh. As a completely neutral observer who wanted the Lightning to win, I though Boston was on the short end of way more no calls than the Lightning were.

Atlanta to Winnipeg is set to become official in just a few short hours: True North calls press conference for this morning - Winnipeg Free Press

Good for Winnipeg, but damn if the more I read about it, the more ASG sounds like Rachel Phelps from Major League. Probably be worth it just to get them out of the ownership in the NHL.

This! :popcorn:

Something we can all agree on

http://communities.canada.com/thepro...n-show-up.aspx

Victor Hedman = The new worse than Tyler Sloan?

While I am happy for the folks in Winnipeg, I hate it when teams move. Really, really hate it. I was all right with the idea of Phoenix moving to Winnipeg, since Winnipeg sort of "had them first", but it sucks for all of the Atlanta Thrashers fans (or fan) out there. I never like to see this.

I also don't quite understand why the NHL has been twisting itself into knots and bending over backwards and there have been all of those endless legal proceedings to keep the Coyotes in Phoenix and Atlanta just sort of... goes out with a whimper. I haven't followed the Phoenix stuff too closely, because I find it boring (I deal with enough legal mumbo-jumbo in my daily life), but it strikes me as odd.

You oughta had to endure them up close. Wait, you haven't done anything remotely bad enough for me to wish that on you. Let's just say that the closer you get, the worse they seem.

They make the Smith family (ex-Falcons ownership) look like geniuses, they make Bernie Madoff look respectable.

Beyond that, I don't have any thoughts about them at the moment that I can express without incurring some degree of legal liability. I don't have anything planned nor any intent to act, but I certainly have some colorful wishes for them suffering the fates they deserve.

I feel bad for the ATL fans, they got screwed with a bad owner then had their team stripped away pretty quickly. I pull for all the Southern teams and I was hoping to make a trip to ATL to watch a game next year since it would be a quick flight but that won't be happening.

Guess I'll have to check out Winnipeg when they come through Raleigh (three times :lol: ) next season.

Woo

They want 13,000 season ticket holders in order to get the team to Winnipeg. Seems they should tell people what the team will be called, but I'm guess they won't yet.

No name yet, my guess is they wait until the initial surge of ticket sales dies down, then announce the name as a way to renew interest.

Why not just go with the Jets again?

I assume that option is still on the table.

Wondering this too, similar with the return of the Browns after the first Browns became the Ravens. IIRC, the new Browns and the old Browns share a record book, team history, etc, while the Ravens history starts as of 1995 (or whenever they formed).

Curious how it will work out if they use the Jets as the name.

The post-mortem from the beat blogger for the Thrashers.

Thrasherville will not soon forget what Atlanta Spirit did here » Comment Page 4 | Atlanta Thrashers: Ice Man

edit to add: Regular staff columnist also sums it up
http://blogs.ajc.com/jeff-schultz-bl...iven-a-chance/

I believe it is an option (although with True North there is never anything but 'No Comment' so everything is hearsay). The local speculation seems to lead to the following list of candidates:

Winnipeg Jets
Manitoba Jets
Manitoba Moose
Manitoba Falcons
Manitoba Polar Bears

I'm not sure anyone really has a good handle on what way TNSE is leading at this point, I think they've just floated those names out there over the past few weeks to get an idea of public reaction.

I'd be very disappointed if it's anything except the Jets but who knows. I loved those uniforms but I guess even if they keep the name there's a good chance the uniforms will be updated.

You never go full Cleveland in a sporting matter.

Agreed. The best fans in sports are the diehards of poorly supported teams/sinking ships. From one who is a fan of a couple such teams, it sucks most of the time even if you aren't losing your team outright. No diehard ever deserves to go through this.

In happier news (and a bit of smart marketing), the ECHL Gwinnett Gladiators issued a press release today highlighting their season opener in October & made mention of negotiations underway to secure new NHL & AHL affiliation agreements. They also pointed out the new three year lease extension they signed last week (allaying fears that they might move downtown from the suburbs that have worked well for them).

Smart move on their part, definitely wise to point out that they aren't likely to remain tied to the Thrasers franchise (whatever it'll be called).

Chris Pronger Thinks He Is Not On Air, Says A "Shitfaced" Mike Keenan Once Stormed Gretzky's Hotel

I think that's awesome. I'll never forget Mike Keenan and the time he spent here in St. Louis as the Blues coach.

Any chance the Glads would be interested in stepping up in weight class to the AHL in the future? It totally blows that Atlanta's gone, but it'd be neat to see Gwinnett move up to the A and give the Checkers a local rival along with Norfolk (not to mention kinda-sorta add to the Charlotte-Atlanta regional rivalry already ongoing overall).

So Winnipeg will play in the East?

I suppose there's always a chance, if the AHL was looking to expand, etc. There was some minor chatter at least among Thrasher fans about that possibility.

I kind of get a sense that the owners may be reasonably content where they're at. Less travel, 5th in attendance about 20% above the league average, not much pressure (that I can see) from their affiliated clubs. The attendance wouldn't likely change much (if any) with a move up & I think an uptick in ticket prices would turn fans off in a hurry, not sure how many additional costs they'd absorb with a league change but the travel would definitely be worse. At least for the next couple of years I see them staying right where they are & I'm okay with that.

I really hope they name them the Jets and retain at least the team colors with an updated logo. I believe the old Jets records carried over to Phoenix but who cares? Winnipeg gets their team back. I know if Hartford got a team back I'd want them to be the Whalers.

For next year they will play in the East in the Southeast division.

Looks like he was right all along

Atlanta Thrashers will move to Winnipeg; KC to host exhibition game - KansasCity.com

Another masterful NHL decision. They are already probably the weakest team on the ice in the league in a market that is very touch and go to begin with, let's give them a backbreaking road schedule. Not setting the team up for failure at all.

How long have they known that Atlanta was a real possibility to move to Winnipeg for?

Darren Dreger reporting Colin Campbell is stepping down and speculating Brendan Shanahan will take the role.

That sounds awesome... have a lot of respect for Shanny

The bruins powerplay is worse than the second Caddyshack

This. They've had a fuckload of opportunities in this game and haven't really done jack.

They've had two 5 on 3 this game so far and nothing. That's going to come back to bite (no pun intended) them.

Burrows BIT Bergeron?

What a classless POS move.

I've said this before...if you put your fingers in someone's mouth you deserve to get bit.

I blame Matt Cooke

I blame Crosby for all the diving.

No actually I do blame Cooke...where do you think burrows first learned it?

I'd blame Mike Richards, but the last thing the NHL needs while trying to showcase their finals in a captain crying to the media.

That would be true if he talked to the media

Bah...fuck embedding

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZmgT15PTUjA

And, yes I know it's nearly 2 seasons old.

Fuck. Seriously...how do you lose with 18 fucking seconds left?!?!?!?

Ugh.

This was a game that Thomas essentially stole for them and they couldn't deliver. I'm not sure at all that they can beat Vancouver in this series.

Stanley Cup Finals
2010 Game 1 - 11 goals
2011 Game 1 - 1 goal

Hey Turner, if you're still following...maybe update this now that the Finals are underway? If you can't get around to it, no worries, I can try to work the numbers tomorrow.

Would be curious to hear what casual sports fans who watched game 1 without regularly watching the NHL would say. Like Sak pointed out, 11 goals last year. While I enjoyed the game, outside of all the penalties, new watchers probably won't be tuning in to game 2.

Am I alone in wondering why the NHL is going head-to-head with the NBA in terms of the time frame for their finals?

I think its the best of the given options. Playing vs. the NBA finals, on opposite days, gives the best chance to get more casual viewers. Say the SCF started 2-4 weeks ago, those games are competing for viewers vs. multiple NBA games per night for viewers.

That said, as someone who would be watching these games regardless, I am all for trimming 6-8 games and starting the playoffs 2 weeks earlier.

I would definitely be considered a very casual hockey fan (only watch in the playoffs, even then just on and off). But I love a 1-0 hockey game as much as a high scoring one, if not more so. Playoff hockey where goalies are pulling off incredible save after incredible save feels even more intense than a goal-fest.

Sorry about that, I'm on it now.

EDIT: Here's the latest standings with the two players left for each team:

1. Honolulu_Blue - 126 points - Kesler and Chara
2. Dr. Sak - 121 - D. Sedin and Chara
3. Logan - 121 - H. Sedin and Lucic
4. TurnerONU22 - 119 - D. Sedin and Thomas
5. bhlloy - 118 - Luongo and Kaberle
6. Sublime 2 - 109 - Edler and Bergeron
7. Suburban Rhythm - 109 - Kesler and Chara

In non-SCF news, the Rangers acquired defenseman Tim Erixon (Jan's son) from Calgary for Horak and a couple 2nds this year. Calgary wasn't going to be able to sign him before the deadline, but the Rangers got him signed. Considered NHL ready, and the Rangers had him rated in the top 10 if he made it into this draft.

Rangers have a pretty good D for next year

Pretty entertaining game last night.

I am not sure about the Bruins use of Chara in front of the net. I understand the idea/theory behind it. The Blackhawks had great success against Luongo the prior two years thanks in large part to Byfuglien making life a living hell for Luongo in front of that net. I assume that the Bruins were trying to create the same effect with Chara. The problem with Chara, however, is that not only is he more dangerous at the point, but he doesn't do the front of the net thing very effectively. After having watched Holmstrom do this for the last 15 years there is a lot more to it than just standing there. The biggest problem with Chara is that he was always getting out of the way of Luongo right when the shot was coming so Luong had a clear view of the shot and the shooter. I think they need to re-evaluate this strategy.

Definitely agree with this. There's a lot more to it than "get a big guy and park him in front of the net". Power forwards spend years perfecting the skill of screening the goalie and tipping/disrupting pucks. Game 1 of a stanley cup finals is not the time to start experimenting with these kinds of things and tells me that Julien is desperate (although who wouldn't be with those kind of PP numbers)

+1

This is up there with the idea of the sumo goalie-- just get the biggest guy you can and fill up the net. Just get the biggest possible guy at plant him in front of the goalie to screen him...except Chara not getting the "art" of it. Like HB says about Holmstrom, he's perfected it. Alot of times blocking the goalie's view is also blocking the shooters lane.

So long as they don't play on the same night, I don't see it being much of an issue.

The ratings were solid (from a NHL point of view) for last night's game:

Last night’s Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Final, which featured the Vancouver Canucks defeating the Boston Bruins, 1-0, produced the best overnight rating for a Game 1 in 12 years. The broadcast generated a 3.2 overnight rating and 6 share up 14 percent compared to last year’s Game 1 (Philadelphia-Chicago, 2.8/6) and the best overnight for a Game 1 since 1999 (Buffalo vs. Dallas, 3.7 on Fox).

No suspension for Burrows.

that bites

Milbury is fucking irritating

Go figure Burrows playing comes back to bite the Bruins (pun intended). So much for the B's chances in this series. Thomas stole them Game 1 basically and they couldn't deliver, and now here they fuck up 10 seconds into overtime.

Down 2 games they're not eliminated yet, but I'd imagine their chances are VERY slim. Oh well.

I'm disgusted by there play in the 3rd period of both games. They seem to play a "prevent" type of game, have terrible passes, which inevitably get picked off by Vancouver.

Then once again, start of OT and and yet another piss poor attempt at a pass, which is broken up, and who knows what Thomas was doing jumping that far out of goal, let alone Chara not crashing his guy or even hooking him to make sure he couldn't get around the net to make the worlds easiest goal. Heck a 2 month old baby could of pushed the puck into the net since it was wide open. :banghead: :banghead:

Congrats to the Canucks.. The Biter.. I mean better team won.

Hey, any truth to the rumor that Mike Tyson will be the new mascot? :)

While I can appreciate the hate for Burrows, who by precedent should have been suspended...a bit of irony after Horton plays game 7 vs. Tampa and scores the game and series winner after escaping suspension for the water bottle incident?

I love that the Canucks won last night thanks to Burrows, who shouldn't have even been playing. Thanks for the screw job, NHL.

I don't know if this is supposed to be tongue-in-cheek, sarcastic, or what.