Quote:
Originally posted by sterlingice
Damn straight. Nothing like blaming a guy for the offense scoring 1.5 goals per game.
GO HOME WINGS! Join the Hawks watching the rest of the playoffs at home. No Cup for you!
SI
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There have been a number of reasons for this criticism, both fair and unfair. For one, he has been compared to Hasek all season long, and has not lived up to the expectations that Hasek set. He was very streaky all year, never really showing a strong consistency, and had a habit all year of letting in some bad goals. Yes, he did only allow ten goals in this series, but probably half of them were very soft; Game 2 comes to mind when he let a couple softies in in the last ten minutes of the game. Also, there is a looooong history of poor goaltending here in the Stanley Cup playoffs (basically pick any goalie of the last fifteen years, excluding Vernon and Hasek) tied in with somewhat unreasonable expectations from the fans; only a Cup will do here. That being said, leading into year's playoffs there didn't seem to be the buzz around town normally associated with the team. Maybe its because they are just coming off a Cup victory last year, or three Cups in six years, but people just didn't seem as excited as in years gone by. Frankly the only reason I'm upset right now is because I know that next year will be the last year they will make a run at it; they will probably blow things up and start over when the labor mess finishes in two years.