The Most Wonderful Time of the Year - Playoff Hockey

[Cards4ever]

ML-I agree with you analysis of the refs. There is just no way that everything is going to be called.

Fidatelo-removing the redline, bigger ice, and tagup offsides are not that radical, to throw it in with 4 on 4 is ridiculous. I'm not saying make the net bigger, I'm advocating things that are already in place in major places, NCAA and International hockey.

Sach-Get ahold of Chief Rum, he might be able to help you out with that.

[sachmo71]

I've already got the Chief on the line!

[bbor]

Originally posted by sachmo71
Does anyone here follow the LA Kings?

L.A has a team?

I thought they folded when Gretzky left town and Mcnall went to jail

What was with Roloson and Fernandez last night?They could'nt hold a rebound last night if their life depended on it.

Now if you are Lemaire...who do you start in game 4?

[Cards4ever]

Originally posted by bbor
L.A has a team?

I thought they folded when Gretzky left town and Mcnall went to jail

What was with Roloson and Fernandez last night?They could'nt hold a rebound last night if their life depended on it.

Now if you are Lemaire...who do you start in game 4?

After Anaheim scored the first goal it was over.

As far as goalies, is that kid from the Mighty Ducks movies available?!

[bbor]

Originally posted by Cards4ever
As far as goalies, is that kid from the Mighty Ducks movies available?!

Goldberg!!

i think that was his name.

Maybe Minnesota's all-time best goalie is still ready to play...Don Beupre(sp?)

[Cards4ever]

Originally posted by bbor
Goldberg!!

i think that was his name.

Maybe Minnesota's all-time best goalie is still ready to play...Don Beupre(sp?)

I always prefer Gilles Meloche myself bbor. Ah, the good old days, Secord still sucks!

[henry296]

Originally posted by bbor
Now if you are Lemaire...who do you start in game 4?

None. Pull your goalie so you hope to score at least one goal

Todd

[Cards4ever]

For you guys that follow the NHL draft, CSB has released it's final rankings, here are the skaters for both North America and International

http://nhl.speedera.net/futures/cssr..._naskaters.pdf

http://nhl.speedera.net/futures/cssr...uroskaters.pdf

[bbor]

Thx Cards......I am a total NHL draftnik.

[Cards4ever]

Do you have some info on the Canadian skaters? Who looks good?

When is the Major Junior draft, I want to see who takes Crosby?

[bbor]

The OHL draft is already done......

I have an excellent draft source link but it is on my laptop(i hope)I'll have to wait till i get home to see if i still have it.

[Cards4ever]

I believe that I heard that he would be playing in the QMJHL.

Do you ever go to http://www.hockeysfuture.com that is another good site.

[Maple Leafs]

Originally posted by Cards4ever
Another thing I'd like to see is the tag-up rule instituted on offsides.

For whatever it's worth, the tag-up rule was taken out precisely because they thought removing it would bring some skill back to the game. The thinking was that it doesn't take any skill for a defenseman to just hammer the puck back into the zone as soon as it comes out, so they took the rule out in order to force the d-man to handle the puck or make pass while his team clears the zone.

I think it's a good rule, although it does create some extra stoppages over the course of a game.

[bbor]

Originally posted by Cards4ever
Do you ever go to http://www.hockeysfuture.com that is another good site.

That's the one i have Cards...it is an awesome site.Specially around draft day.

ML i REALLY think it is time for another round of useless Names...or whatever you call that game of yours....cept we need to do a hockey only version

[Cards4ever]

Better yet, we do uniform numbers. Someone puts out a number, then the next guy names someone who wore that number, and then gets to name the next number.

[bbor]

Hrm...now that is an interesting game

[Maple Leafs]

Originally posted by bbor
ML i REALLY think it is time for another round of useless Names...

That would be "Shady Players" (tm)

[Chief Rum]

I thought I would post to move this thread up to #667. Not normally a religious man, but I can be superstitious, and I don't see the need to associate evil with hockey for so long--that's for the NBA

Chief Rum

[Karim]

Cards4ever - Thanks very much for those PDFs.

Horton's stock has dropped. Anyone that follows the OHL know why? Does anyone know when Marc-Andre Fleury is projected to go? The Flames have the 9th pick and we have no goaltending depth... (The trading of Giguere may go down as the worst trade in Flames history.)

sachmo71 - The Kings are underrated IMO. They have good men up top. Dave Taylor has made some great trades getting rid of Blake and Schneider for substantial quality back. Andy Murray is a fine coach but this year was a wash with the amount of injuries they had. I saw a TV report on Deadmarsh and it was downright scary how bad he looked...

The uniform numbers game sounds interesting...

[Cards4ever]

I heard that they traded JSG because the Wild were going to take him in the expansion draft and wanted to get something for him.

Ok, we will try the uniform number game, but I think we will do all sports to keep everyone interested, I'll set it up on the main board.

[sachmo71]

Here is an interesting article from the Stars color analysist Daryl Reaugh:

All apologies

On behalf of Colin Campbell and the collection of incompetents (headed by yours truly, Gary Bettman) at the NHL offices, this is an open letter of apology to Stars fans, hockey fans across North America, and the management teams of the Dallas Stars, Detroit Red Wings, Colorado Avalanche and Toronto Maple Leafs.

We at the league office would like to extend our deepest regrets in regards to promises made that have been catastrophically broken.

The fact is we don't know what we're doing, and now it's really beginning to show.

I know you, the fans, were told that if you continue to shell out great gobs of not-so-disposable cash, you would be treated to a fast-paced, star-driven, entertaining product.

Well in fairness to us, we did come through on that promise, for a while. Remember October?

Why the games eroded so quickly and so deeply is open to conjecture. But we here at the NHL feel a big chunk of the blame should be slathered on us for telling you that "The level of obstruction enforcement will remain high through the season" and that "Our viability as a governing body depends upon the strict rules being enforced as an avenue to open up our game, and showcase the wonderful skilled players we have playing in it."

Whoops!

Talk about your all-time crow fondue.

As for those of you in Dallas, I know you'd like my head on a stick after watching your sexy, skilled Stars thrill you throughout the regular season, in spite of officiating that appeared to have the biggest vendetta against Texans since Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna in 1834. Then, to add insult, you had to watch those beloved Stars being ground into cayenne pepper by the Foul Fowl of Anaheim in round two of the playoffs.

Which reminds me, Mike: Please, no more tapping the vein analogies. We got the message; so let's try to keep the focus on our NHL heroes, not heroine.

Switching focus for a minute. I'd like to point out some statistical information that supports our initiative and gives us the belief that with just a little more time, patience and understanding our NHL will be the premiere sports entertainment brand on the globe.

Scoring: It was up from 5.2 goals per game to a whopping 5.3. Tell me, that was an accident?

Time of Games: Our games were only two hours, 20 minutes on average thanks in large part to our hurry up line change rule. That was 13 minutes shorter than the previous years average. We intend to keep whittling away at this until our games end immediately after they begin. This will allow teams better travel schedules and it should give you, the tardy fan, reason to get into your seat for the national anthems.

Top Scorers: Five players exceeded the 96 points with which Jarome Iginla won the Art Ross Trophy last season. Peter Forsberg, who didn't play last season had 106; Markus Naslund, who broke his leg last season, 104; Joe Thornton, who played second fiddle to Bill Guerin last year, 101; Milan Hejduk, who didn't play with Forsberg last season (see Forsberg above), 98; Todd Bertuzzi who didn't always play with Naslund due to his broken leg, 97.

See, it's not so bad.

But what is bad is our game's television ratings.

A decade ago I, Gary Bettman, sold the owners a bill of goods. I told them a plump, pocket-filling national U.S. television contract was on the horizon. What I didn't tell them was we (the NHL) weren't going to do anything to help the game grow into a viable TV sport.

Sorry about that. I must have forgotten.

So, what has happened is, Fox has turned to Nascar, ABC is turning to the NBA and ESPN is turning its nose up, cutting 30 percent of its coverage while burying what's left on ESPN2.

I guess we could have partnered better with our rights holders, giving them what they wanted instead of what we felt they needed -- but our focus group in Palm Desert didn't think that was necessary.

In regards to the teams who have spent, developed, assembled and drafted with full belief that we would hold up our end of the obstruction abolishment while protecting your star players the way all the other leagues do. …Wow, did we screw you guys on that one!

What can I say?

We lied.

We should be ashamed of ourselves.

We should be embarrassed.

So in summation, I guess this season was a categorical failure, and on multiple levels. One needs only to bare witness to our final four teams to see evidence of that in clutching, grabbing, trap-nicolor. The fact that Anaheim, Minnesota, New Jersey and to a lesser degree Ottawa are our four best teams this year. …well. …shame on us. We will be keeping a pulmonary expert on hand just for the sure-to-be-cardiac-arresting TV ratings to follow.

Once again, to all of you, please feel free to respond with angry hate mail, public protest, rotten fruit throwing, or, if you're in metro Toronto or Tri-State areas, drop by our offices and kick our dogs. We deserve it.

Oh, I almost forgot. Hockey Rules!

[Fidatelo]

The article would have meant a lot more if he'd written before the Stars were kicked out of the playoffs. Although he makes a lot of good points, it just sounds like sour grapes now.

[Cards4ever]

Most of it is sour grapes. But, not unexpected either. Let's switch it around, lets say the Stars were playing like Anaheim or Minnesota, and were in the next round, then he'd probably be on the other side saying Defense is underrated, blah blah blah.

TV ratings are down for alot of other sports too, not just hockey. What hockey needs to do is take care of itself and not worry about the ratings.

[sachmo71]

I think hockey is always going to worry about it's ratings. They are always trying to trick it up and they go for the short term fix. If they sat down and REALLY took the time to address the shortcomings of the game, they might be able to increase the popularity. The exposure will come with a better product.

[sachmo71]

Originally posted by Fidatelo
The article would have meant a lot more if he'd written before the Stars were kicked out of the playoffs. Although he makes a lot of good points, it just sounds like sour grapes now.

It does come across that way, which is surprising. He's usually a fair guy, and has no problem pointing out when the Stars play is flawed.

[Fidatelo]

How come no one has addressed my Sumo-Goalies thoughts? I was serious with that post, I honestly think it would be worth a try in a farm system somewhere. At worst it would be a decent publicity stunt (can you say Manon Rheaume?).

[Maple Leafs]

Originally posted by Fidatelo
How come no one has addressed my Sumo-Goalies thoughts? I was serious with that post, I honestly think it would be worth a try in a farm system somewhere. At worst it would be a decent publicity stunt (can you say Manon Rheaume?).

Unless the guy was actually six feet wide, he couldn't cover the whole net. And assuming he couldn't skate, you'd lose the ability for him to play the puck on dump-ins which would result in your defencemen getting killed.

Probably would put some fans in the seats, though.

[Cards4ever]

Originally posted by sachmo71
It does come across that way, which is surprising. He's usually a fair guy, and has no problem pointing out when the Stars play is flawed.

The difference this year maybe that the Stars were expected to go alot further, but when they crapped out he was a little pissed. I think that Turco not having experience in the playoffs is what hurt Dallas more than the other junk that he wrote about, well, that JSG is on a huge roll right now.

[Fidatelo]

Originally posted by Maple Leafs
Unless the guy was actually six feet wide, he couldn't cover the whole net. And assuming he couldn't skate, you'd lose the ability for him to play the puck on dump-ins which would result in your defencemen getting killed.

Probably would put some fans in the seats, though.

That brings up an interesting question: Is a goalie actually required to wear skates? I'm thinking if he wore broomball shoes or maybe just some protective booties he might be even more effective.

The way I see it, a sumo in full equipment would take up almost the entire net. All he would then need to do is be able to push from post to post, preferably in the butterfly position the entire game. Shooters would have a few inches of space at the top corners but that's about it.

[Maple Leafs]

OK, at bbor's request, it's the return of the Shady Players game (hockey edition). These are players from the 80s and 90s.

Shady goalies:
- Shady Leaf and Ranger goalie: M.L.
- Shady one-year-wonder: S.P.
- Shady Vezina winner: J.C.
- Shady playoff choker: T.C.
- Shady goalie who stopped Gretzky on a penalty shot on HNIC: P.I.

Shady Europeans:
- Shady Finnish Flame: H.L.
- Shady Leaf/Flame who wore #93: A.G.
- Shady Canuck sniper: P.S.
- Shady Leafs brothers: M.I. & P.I.
- Shady expansion team specialist: J.G.

Shady tough guys:
- Jets tough guy was known as The Barbarian: S.C.
- Played for just about every Norris division team: B.M.
- Certifiably insane Sharks tough guy, a.k.a. The Missing Link: L.G.
- Name both shady Leaf tough guys from the early 90s who shared these initials: K.M.
- Shady Caps enforcer: A.M.

[Fidatelo]

how does this game work?

[Cards4ever]

- Shady Finnish Flame: H.L. Hakan Loob!

[klayman]

- Shady Leafs brothers: M.I. & P.I.
Miroslav and Petr Inachek...oh man I butchered that one

[klayman]

- Certifiably insane Sharks tough guy, a.k.a. The Missing Link: L.G.
Link Gaetz...oh I think I butchered that one too

[klayman]

- Shady goalie who stopped Gretzky on a penalty shot on HNIC: P.I.
Peter Ing

- Jets tough guy was known as The Barbarian: S.C.
Shawn Cronin

[Maple Leafs]

All answers given have been correct so far.

[klayman]

- Shady Leaf/Flame who wore #93: A.G.
Asshole 'Doug' Gilmour

hehe

or Alex Godynyuk (looked up how to spell that one )

[klayman]

- Shady Leaf and Ranger goalie: M.L.

The only leaf goalies I can remember are Bunny Larocque and Mark LaForest that match those initials. I don't recall either of them playing for the rangers though. I'm sure Bunny didn't, as he went from the Habs to Leafs to Flyers, and St. louis I think. (he was one of my favorites growing up ), so I'll have to say Mark LaForest...

[Maple Leafs]

Godynyuk and LoForest are correct. LaForest was dealt to the Rangers in the first Tie Domi deal, although I can't honestly say whether he ever played for them.

[ISiddiqui]

Weee.... Devils win again . This time 1-0 (though it really should have been 2-0).

Oh, and I agree about the whininess of the Dallas article. Defintely sour grapes.

2-1 for the Devs.

[klayman]

- Shady Canuck sniper: P.S.
Petri Skriko (hated him)

- Shady playoff choker: T.C.
Tim Cheveldae

[bbor]

Shady one year wonder:Steve Penney

Shady Vezina Winner:Jim Carrey

[bbor]

Name both shady Leaf tough guys from the early 90s who shared these initials: K.M.

Kevin Macguire

[bbor]

- Shady expansion team specialist: J.G.

Played for just about every Norris division team: B.M.


Shady Caps enforcer: A.M.

those are the only unanswered 3 questions left i beleive

[bbor]

Shady expansion team specialist: J.G.

Johan Garpenlov

Hit the cross bar in game 7 Vs the Leafs in overtime while playing for the Sharks

[klayman]

Shady Caps enforcer: A.M.
Alan May

[bbor]

Nice job Klayman...that was killing me

[klayman]

i give up on the B. M. one...

As a guess I'll say former North Star Brad Maxwell. I think he played a year for the leafs, and maybe the blues...not sure.

[Maple Leafs]

Strange. I thought B.M. would be the easiest of the enforcers.

You're still missing one of the two K.M.'s from the Leafs.

And bbor, Garpenlov's crossbar was game six, not game seven.

[klayman]

F*** Bob McGill